Ronaldo & Portugal Humbled In Ireland

22:59Steve Nicol:So that's a big part of what a manager has to plan for. And last thing on this England midfield jigsaw, is Elliot Anderson indispensable? I mean, is he... We've got Jordan Henderson back now. He's got a role back a few years here. But is he... Well, I think the way that... I think Newcastle were actually disappointed to lose him, but there was a PSR issue and so they had to sell a player. Eddie Howe touched on that. He said, we did not want to lose Elliot Anderson. He's gone to Forest. He's getting more game time. He's proven himself a really good player and I think at the moment, yes, he is. But, as the guys have said, he potentially could drop Jude Bellingham back a little bit deeper and make things happen that way.

23:42Steve Nicol:But at the moment, the Rice and Anderson partnership has worked very well for England. So, kudos to Elliot Anderson for the way he's playing for club and country. Yeah. Ned, the only question is, could Declan Rice perhaps move back there and play that role to shoehorn in the players we've been talking about? Yeah, I think obviously he could do it because he's such a fantastic player, but then you miss out on some of the attacking threat that he has as well. I think when you see that sort of double pivot in there, you can see the plus side of it all, understanding when to stay, understanding when to go, timing the runs well, knowing whether it's a longer pass, a shorter pass, or even driving with the ball.

24:19And I think if you put him into that sixth position, you almost anchor a player that's got so much more to give. And it wouldn't surprise me to say, if there are two in there, he could step up and score, or maybe important goals, get an important assist. But if he's playing in that six, I think it makes him probably a bit too one-dimensional, and you'd be wasting, you know, what are England's best players. All right, great stuff. England safely through to the US. ESPN FC available every day. Believe it or not, we'll be back tomorrow. Every day through the World Cup as well, just to whet your appetite for that.

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26:06Steve Nicol:But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger 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 Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. Well, meanwhile, an African World Cup qualifying, DR Congo and Nigeria victorious. The Nigeria victory wasn't without some controversy, though.

26:43A big penalty shout for Gabon that was overturned after a five-minute VAR intervention. But Nigeria through to play DR Congo in the final. Nedim is with us. But Colin Udo joins us as well. Colin, talk us through the 90 minutes you went through with the Super Eagles there, because it looked like a penalty was going against them. Look, they'd won it. Then they gave up their late equaliser. You must have been up and down like a rollercoaster. You know, I was just about to say it was up and down. I said you've got to do what's right out of my mouth. When it happened, we thought, oh, it's a nothing burger.

27:20And then all of a sudden we saw the replays and I'm thinking, that's a PK for sure. Like, there was no doubt about it. And then the VR went on and on and on and on. And I thought, well, if it's taking this long, then I guess it's not going to be called. And eventually it wasn't called, but huge relief for hundreds of millions of Nigerians back home and to the chagrin of tens of millions of Gabonese. But, I mean, in fairness, Nigeria had dominated that first half and really should have been two or three goals up before that incident. And I don't know if that was the turning point, if that goal could have made a difference in the way the game proceeded.

27:57But I think that not having that goal was good for Nigeria. And when they got that goal to Akor Adams, I mean, it just put everything back in Nigeria's hands. And so from that point, it was almost like it was a foregone conclusion, so to speak. Even when Gabon got the equalizer late in the game, you thought, well, Nigeria always has this. And in extra time, just the way they played in the first half, after a bad second half, they dominated. And, you know, the goal by Juki, who was responsible, by the way, for that equalizer by Gabon because he didn't track Lemina. but once he got that goal and then Osimine got his first, it was just about done.

28:39So Nigeria march on to the final where they will face the DRC. And something I mentioned yesterday is that these African qualifiers, as far as I'm concerned, are going to be much harder than the intercontinental qualifiers, especially for Nigeria. And the reason I say that is that when you look at all the teams that are in line to qualify, Nigeria are among the two highest ranked teams. so if they do get to that intercontinental qualifiers they will be seeded and that means they only get to play one game to get to the World Cup. Needham, your thoughts on the Super Eagles? They bring so much to World Cups and yet they've still got two more wins that they need to get there.

29:21Yeah to be honest I didn't think we'd be here in November talking about a playoff for Nigeria to qualify for this World Cup but I think for the campaign that they've had I think there have been certain times where they have had to ride their luck, I think to have the opportunity to sort of be in this game, you know, it's great. Maybe they'll make it through to the tournament itself and we can celebrate them in the same way I've done so many times before. But sometimes, you know, if you can't be good, you've got to be lucky. And I've got to say that pull for me is a penalty. And yes, I know Nigeria were the better side before that.

29:47And in some ways, you know, if I look down the camera now, I'll say, oh, you know, it definitely wasn't a penalty. But in reality, it was. As a Nigerian person, I would take all day long, not least of all because the person that pulled the shirt at Brighter, I say, Samuel that's one of my old teammates as well so I think for him, those hundreds of millions of fans, they may have had something to say to him if that would have been given as a penalty, so I'm relieved for him in some ways, but ultimately for Nigeria, they've still got this game to go on the Sunday, and they know they have to be better, this generation of players you see the ages, most of them are between say 25 30 years of age, we should be seeing the best football from them, but instead every time they play, you almost watch the game from behind your hands, hoping that maybe something good can happen i think ultimately it has to be better but you know they've got another chance in another game you know to get that little bit closer towards the world cup it's baffling isn't it we can sit here watching a couple of replays and all come to the same conclusion that it should

30:44Steve Nicol:have been a penalty kick in a big game yeah and we ever what and he took about five minutes at the bar having a good on sometimes that's the problem you're looking for stuff that's just It's just not there. I mean, it's crystal clear. There's a pull-up, there's a tug on the shirt, which is clear. The ball is within playing distance, which is clear. So it ticks all the boxes for a quite simplistic decision for a penalty. So, I mean, it does. And it's not just, you know, the African qualifying. It's across the world. We're seeing this in every league, every weekend now that, you know, the referees go to VAR.

31:17Steve Nicol:And for some reason, they cannot see what Joe Public is seeing at home. watching the TV. And it is, I think, for players and particularly supporters, particularly baffling and frustrating. Colin, just give us your quick thoughts on Sunday. I'm sure you were probably thinking it was going to be Cameroon awaiting them, but no. Democratic Republic of Congo. What's that task like for Nigeria? Yeah, I mean, I really thought that Cameroon were going to make it. But when you watch that game, I think D.R. will deserve to go through. and you've got to think that them doing it so late was even a disservice to them because they had multiple opportunities throughout that game to have wrapped it up early.

31:58And Ananamé, one great save, they had a couple of messes, and so, you know, it went all the way to the wire. And don't forget, look, the DRC, I know, I mean, you can't shake your sneeze at them. They led Senegal 2-0 during the qualifying season before Senegal came back to win 3-2, and then now they've eliminated Cameroon, So it's not going to be a walk on the path for Nigeria by any stroke of the imagination. If Nigeria do get through, they'll have to work for their meal. But the one thing that they can rely on is the fact that they've got Victor Osimine. Whenever he's played for Nigeria and scored, Nigeria always wins.

32:37I think Nigeria has never lost a game in which Victor Osimine has scored. And in every game that he's played for World Cup qualifying, Nigeria has only lost two games where he's played. And those games he has not scored. So it's good for Nigeria to have Victor Ossiman. And if they play the way they play today, especially in the first half and the second half, let's pretend we didn't see what happened in the second half, the first half and extra time, then I do believe that Nigeria have what it takes to get past the DRC because what we saw is what they should have played all through these qualifiers.

33:13If they had done that through this qualifying series and they had Victor Ossiman, because don't forget, he missed like, what, six games? they wouldn't be here talking about playoffs no more. Nadem, I saw you chuckling a little bit there. What was tickling you? No, because Colin, you know, as a Nigerian brother of mine, the fact that we can just disregard a second half, that's the right way to think about things. If that never happened, then everything's going to be great. So you said it really well, Colin, really, really well. Yeah, good stuff. Colin, thank you, sir. I hope you get to enjoy, if we can call it that, Sunday.

33:44We will be watching because Nigeria against DR Congo is on ESPN Plus 2 p.m. Eastern start time. And remember, the winner still has to get through an intercontinental playoff in March as well.

33:58Steve Nicol:And is it a lilac day on Sunday as well? Yes. You and Colin? We didn't even set this up between the two of us. It's worrying. Both went purple. Our ESPN FC podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Primarily on Apple. Hope you can now give that a listen. Smalls here. If you're heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, you're taking a risk most people don't think about until it's too late. Summer colds can turn into sinus infections that last weeks, ruining your perfect vacation getaway. And when you're traveling, finding a doctor and a pharmacy, it's stressful. That's why I ordered a medical emergency kit.

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35:50Tonight, La Quinta, tomorrow you shine. Terms and conditions apply. Turn the focus back to European qualifying group A standings. No games today. Those games coming tomorrow. Germany against Luxembourg. They're locked together with Slovakia on nine points. to play Northern Ireland. But ahead of the Germany game, Gab got to travel to Germany, to Wolfsburg in fact, and talk to Serge Gnabry. You're playing centrally in a number 10 role. Jamal Musiala's injury is obviously a big part of the reason why. And I think you're killing it in that role. Can you talk a bit about how it's different changing roles and how when you're number 10, you're in the congestion area with people all around you.

36:40When you're wide, you know nobody's going to be coming from that side. Yeah, for sure. It's always difficult to manage, I would say, what system you're playing if you change roles, what the coach demands from you. I think it's obviously a good strength of mine to be able to play different positions. In my youth I've always played in the number 10 or striker role. I only started playing winger when I was I think about 14, 15 and then ended up staying out there. But yeah, this season I think I'm playing a bit more deep, I'm a bit more interacting with the whole game. Whereas before when I was playing for the national team and also sometimes for Bayern I was more the number nine when we didn't have a striker.

37:27So I managed to stay up top a little bit more and I think it really suits me to becoming coming deep to be within the game a lot more. I think this is a big reason why it's going so well right now in this role. And yeah, as I said, it's a strength because I can play multiple positions. So whenever somewhere is needed, like in this case right now where Jamal's out for a long time, I can fill in. It's an age-old debate with players who are versatile. Some people say it's better for them or sometimes it can be better to say, no, this is my position, you have to build the whole squad around me. Does that make sense to you?

38:07It does, it does. I think it's come into discussion a lot of times in the past. If it's with my agent, with my dad, with people in football, I would also say it's a curse because obviously when you're having a momentum in one position and suddenly you have to go somewhere else, you need time to adapt. It's not the same to play on the wing as in to play a number 10 role. So it definitely is also a curse. I would still say it's more a blessing because it still makes you play more. And you know, you can have different strengths in different positions. But I definitely see the debate. For example, like a Ribery.

38:47Back in the day, White was sure him and Arjen would play only wide. There's no number 10. I heard the stories about Van Gaal trying him in a number 10. He said no, no, no. So, yeah, I see both sides. Gab, a whirlwind 24 hours for starters, going to Wolfsburg to talk to Serge Gnabry, back to do the Gab and Jules podcast this morning. It never ends. What was your main takeaway from talking to Gnabry? Well, it's interesting. I mean, when you look at, he's had highs and lows in his career. He just seems very mature. I think he realizes he's one of the leaders of this Germany team now, for better or worse.

39:30And I think if you look at what happened at Bayern, if you look at the negativity, just when the transfer window closed, they took Nico Jackson. Nobody seemed to be excited about that. They obviously missed out on Woltemade, who I also spoke to, by the way. And of course, Florian Wurtz before that. Musiala was injured. Alphonso Davies was injured. and then boom, they win 16 games in a row. And a lot of that is with Serge Gnabry in the number 10 position. So I think that speaks to a guy who was ready to step up again, as we heard from him, in a different role and has done the job. And a lot of times heading into major tournaments, form is just as important as talent.

40:16Yeah. Nedim, I know you know Vincent Kompany pretty well. And for him, it must be fantastic having a player who's prepared to play with the flexibility that Gnabry has. Oh, absolutely, yes. And I think from when Musiala was injured, we sort of wondered, well, how would he be replaced as such within that Bayern side? But I think to talk about that 10 position that we've just been mentioning there, I think the 10 at Bayern isn't just an exclusive position because it's working alongside Harry Kane. And I think company is very big on the relationships that those two can forge. because if Harry Kane is dropping off, somebody has to go the other way.

40:50If Harry Kane is high, somebody has to go the other way. Like we can see from this clip here, he's playing, let's say he's playing as a 10, but some of these times he's playing more like a number nine because the number nine is Harry Kane dropping into the 10. So I think somebody that's able to understand the game from that level and obviously it helps the fact that he's experienced the fact that he's been very much available for the majority of this season and he has a style of play where with his speed he can really stretch the line, but because he's been so good and so patient that on the wings previously, you know he can also get the ball in tight areas and have a little burst to sort of create space as such.

41:20So I think it's been a fantastic sort of moment for him to start the season. And it will be interesting to see when Musiala comes back because firstly, we know he won't be necessarily in the best of form straight away due to how long he's been injured for. But the fact is he plays that position just that little bit differently to Musiala and Kehle Musiala is a great partnership, but maybe it's not the best partnership for every type of game they have between now and the end of the season.

41:42Steve Nicol:He really has forged out a great career for himself. I didn't realise he was 30. I thought he was a little younger than that, but he's been around for a while. But when you think about how it started for him, particularly in England, the time at Arsenal, they'd had a period at West Brom. To think about where he is now for club and country from where he was, it's an incredible growth. I think he's a terrific player. And as Gab was saying, he's versatile. He admits he's, he knows he's versatile. He knows that kind of a downside, but also has some sort of upside. But when he goes into different positions, he generally performs very well.

42:14Steve Nicol:Now, if you looked at his stats and the graphic we had up there, there's been a little bit topsy-turvy, but still, you know, it's still pretty good, relatively consistent. He's had a couple of seasons where he's sort of blown it away. And, you know, I think the last couple of years, he sort of lost his way a little bit, but he's back playing, playing with confidence. He's fast, he's powerful, he's strong. He's technically very good. And as I say, from where he was in his career in England, he has forced out the most magnificent career because his confidence, his chin must have been on the floor.

42:48Steve Nicol:And all of a sudden he goes in, he's back in Germany and he's playing great. And it's really good to see because if you'd have said 10 years or so ago, would he have had this kind of career watching him and looking at him? You'd have said, no, no chance. Of course, you can see Serge Gnabry and Bayern Munich all the time right here on ESPN. plus the upcoming schedule for the Bundesliga after the international break at Bayern at home to Freiburg. That will be on the Saturday morning, 9.30 Eastern start time. Now, let's have a little switch of focus back to the Premier League. We all saw Arsenal ship two against Sunderland.

43:27Ten-game winning streak snapped. All those games and minutes without a goal gone, conceding two for the first time in 18 games. You have to go back to last May for that. and as many as in the 13 games combined. How did Sunderland do it? Well, David Rier did an interview and he was pretty interesting on what he had to say about Arsenal's defence and what Sunderland did. Is that the first team that could sort of match Arsenal's physicality? I think in the Premier League anyone can match their physicality. It's just the way they play, the way they approach the game and they know their strengths. They just come up from the Championship and obviously that league is very, very physical.

44:07So, no, it's just credit to them. They're doing a really, really good season. They haven't lost a game at home and they've been beating and getting points from the big team. So, full credit to Sunderland. They are a tough team to beat. What's like playing behind this current Arsenal backline and what makes them so difficult to get past? Well, I think the difficulties that we love to defend, the love of defending, the love of not conceding, not even goals, just chances, trying to stop the teams further up the pitch with the pressing that we do. And then if they push us back into a low block, it's just that love of defending to not let the ball go into the box.

44:55That interview, by the way, with ESPN's Rodra. Ned, I'm going to start with you. What did you make of what Raya had to say? Have Sunderland established a blueprint for what to do against Arsenal? Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. I think there is an element of physicality when you play against Arsenal, which you do have to sort of reach. But then also you have to take your moments. And I think for Sunderland themselves, the way that they start the season doing so well in the league, the belief that they have with their fans in the stadium as well. And in the game itself, they're just super, super competitive.

45:27I think David Ryan made the point, you know, they've come up from the championship and so on. But if you look at most of that team, most of them haven't, weren't in the campaign last season from the championship. So it's just new to them. But this is how they're going to play. They're going to go toe-to-toe with absolutely anybody. They're not going to try and outpass you. You know, they're not necessarily just going to shell it long all the time. But you know that if you're going to be getting points from them, you're going to have to earn the right to do that. And I think Arsenal basically felt that as of other teams in recent weeks.

45:54You know, this is a Sunderland team. to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge not too long ago as well. But I think to sort of add on to what he was saying, you know, that defensive side of things for Arsenal, I think that love for defending. Once upon a time in sort of my career, you'd hear that in Italy when you see goalkeepers high-fiving defenders when they make a tackle and so on. But enough of those guys. That's how they do it. They're good defenders individually and they're committed to defending as a collective and that is from front to back. And that's what makes Arsenal really soft. So in some ways, it was a surprise to see them concede two goals away at Sunderland, not least of all because the two goals essentially were quite simple there's somebody missing an assignment from the throwing so Dan Ballard basically pushes his way through and scores and then for the second goal is it the goalkeeper's ball is the defender's ball no it's Brian Broby's ball because he's committed and thrown himself at it and those are the sort of things which we don't really see Arsenal give up very often so yeah it's a nice reminder for them but they're still a very

46:47Steve Nicol:very strong defensive unit yeah he threw himself at it and the man doing the interview wasn't quite as committed was he the goalkeeper if we're being honest about right he came out a little hesitant because he knew there was going to be physical contact had he really thrown himself out there and outstretched his arms to punch it yeah he may have just have got there uh before the attacker and put it in the back of the net look is this espn fc finding the uh the crack and they asked notice how i said that as if it's not me is this the fc way of finding the crack in arsenal this is how you get yeah arsenal can be physical against every team we've talked about it this is part of their game that they are equipped to deal with or should be they have some of the biggest most physical players in the premier league uh here's the news for you if you're the bulk of the premier league teams and you try and go toe-to-toe with arsenal in our game of football you're probably going to lose are you going to come out second best so you have to find a different way long balls throw in getting it forward quicker squeezing them in crosses into the box being a bit more physical you're going to have to use all of that because if you try and take them on in a head-to-head game, they're going to get the better of you.

47:56Steve Nicol:So Sunderland have been very good at that. They've been very good when they've came up to the Premier League about understanding what works for them. The Chelsea game was a classic example. They sat in for long periods of the game and defended stoyily and got the result. So, yeah, this is just, you know, one for Arsenal that got away. But, you know, if you think you can just roll this Arsenal team over and that's their weak point, I would disagree with that. Right, that is the problem isn't it Gab, if this is the blueprint to get the better of this Arsenal's defence, how many other teams in the Premier League can play this way?

48:31Fulham aren't playing this way No, look, I mean this was the right way for Sunderland to approach it but let's not get carried away here those goals feature two I think massive individual errors from two players who happen to have been two of Arsenal's best players this season, Declan Rice and Gabriel. If you want to give some blame to Raya as well, sure. But, you know, Declan Rice misjudges the flight of the ball in the first one, and Gabriel gets bullied by Brian Broby, one of the few players who probably is heavier than he is. These guys don't make many mistakes. occasionally, even the very best, make individual errors.

49:16It happened. Move on. If these guys make individual errors like this next week too and the week after, sure, then we can talk about maybe things not working in the system or we can talk about blueprints that work against them. But, you know, somebody slipping on a banana peel does not make you a genius. Put it that way. Yeah. All right. Finally, you know, it's International Week, so we've had a bunch of interviews, as you might have noticed. but only one player addressed a subject very dear to your heart, Craig and that was Matty Cash who was talking to the football reporters James Olley and Rob Dawson.

49:50This is what he had to say. Do you really drive a golf ball 350 yards? Yeah, I do, yeah. Have you not seen the YouTube channel, no? I've seen the video where you were nonchalantly walking up the stairs and go, I'll drive me 350 and it should just cause carnage on the internet. Yeah, I know. I saw that and then people were like don't believe me I'm like well I do do that what are you playing off now is it two three scratch

50:19Steve Nicol:well he's not driving at 350 if he's playing in Connecticut at the moment because it's freezing the bottle's going it didn't look that warm there wherever he was playing it was to be fair I've been down to scratch myself in the last couple of years and I ain't driving at 300 can you drive at 350 no but I dare say I'm giving Matty Cash a few years but that's a lot of footballers past and present do tend to play golf but that's pretty impressive. In your younger days you must have been close I'll get it 300 if it was a windy day. Downhill but no 350 that's kind of Rory Macleuray fair play to him.

50:59I think it's about time you hosted an ESPN FC Invitational at your club. We've got a few plays, Nedham plays Gabby.

51:07Steve Nicol:If it was nine holes, you'd play. If it was nine holes, I'd be there. You were the nine-hole king back in the day. I love my nine holes. It's too long. You always had to slip off somewhere. You've got five hours to play. Oh, I've got to go and do some painting. I've got to go and do some shopping. Right. But that's not that. 350. Yeah. Nadam, how far can you hit it? No, the philosophic one is like three, three-something. But let's just say it doesn't have to be on the fairway for it to count for me. Let's just put it that way. No. We're not talking about direction. Just two. And by the way, I liked his swing.

51:38Steve Nicol:I did like his, as a bit of a connoisseur, not only is he hitting it 350, but it was a lovely swing as well. Right, yeah. So he did. You can't, you know, scratch golfer, spending too much time in the golf course. Yeah. We may delve into this a little further on Extra Time, which is just around the corner. The ESPN FC Invitational will be with us. Thanks for watching, everyone.

52:06so much about pride i want to go and prove them they're completely wrong

52:13gotham has a chance of the crossbarlin wow gotham the eight seed is moving on to the semi-final people outside don't believe in pride but pride is still the champion people need to have a little bit more respect about it you know i lied we weren't quite done with the show uh NWSL playoffs, semifinals, Orlando Pride and New York, New Jersey, Gotham, Sunday, 3 o 'clock Eastern, ABC, and right here on ESPN+. And the latest edition of Football W with special guests, Jaden Shaw and Croy Bethune, available now. Same place, ESPN. I like that, though. It's admirable. Trying to get us off here early. How does it feel to be back in the hot seat?

53:00Almost saved us 20 seconds there, but we'll be back. Extra time coming up.

53:15You haven't got the questions, have you? I don't have the questions, no.

53:18Steve Nicol:Welcome back. I didn't know it. Welcome back to the supremely organised I didn't know it just, in the old days, I mean, I started this show by calling it Press Pass. You did? Did you do that on purpose? No. Well, you had been talking about Press Pass before we came on the air. I did. And it was still in my head. I know, I know. It was still in my head. I haven't got any questions. Why don't you throw your phone on the ground and break it? I have the questions. So when you come on the air, you said Press Pass, which is, for the slightly younger viewers, is the old version of FC, which was an international show, which Mr Mercotti worked on for many years.

53:57Steve Nicol:He's a founding member of it, I believe. I did as well, back in the day. Yeah. There was an eclectic mix of guests back then and presenters, Ewan, Derek. Yep. Tommy, Janis. Who's part of that? Robbie Musto, Robbie Errol. I was in the fold for a while. Yeah, I mean, there's a history to this. There's a rich history. I think we can call it rich. Something. Okay, I have the questions. Thanks to producer Mike for that. Who do you think... Don't thank him. He left you hanging. Well, he did, but, you know, it's all live television. Good stuff. Who do you think Cole Palmer will replace if or when he returns to the England squad?

54:37We were talking about Tuchel's no room for the three big guns, but he didn't even talk about Cole Palmer.

54:42Steve Nicol:It depends how Cole Palmer... I mean, he seems to have been away for quite some time, but it depends how he plays. It's as simple as that. You know, the Cole Palmer, I can't remember. It's all rolled into one. At one point a year or so ago, he was just outstanding. But there's a lot of people putting their hand up for that kind of position. And it just depends on form. Now, if he's playing well and he's fit again for Chelsea and he's creating and he's doing what Cole Palmer can do, he'll be in the squad. There's no doubt about that. Will he be in the starting 11? I don't know. Yeah. Gab, would Thomas Tuchel start Cole Palmer if he's fit?

55:29Well, I mean, he answered that question for us. But, you know, what he said, orthodox wingers. If he sticks with the wingers, there's only one place Cole Palmer can play. Unless something happens to Harry Kane and you decide to play him up front, which he's done a little bit of in the past. But that's a number 10. And as Craig said, for number 10, he'd have to beat out Bellingham and Morgan Rodgers and Phil Foden. On his day, he can do that. But 2025 Cole Palmer hasn't been as good as 2024 Cole Palmer. So if we get 2024 Cole Palmer, I think he definitely has a shot. But we just haven't seen that in this calendar year yet.

56:10James with a question for Nedham. Nedham, what's the ceiling for Nico O 'Reilly at left back for England and for Manchester City? And how much is he worth? James wants you to put a figure on it. Do you know what's ridiculous, to be honest? It's the fact that City have been on this better run now with two attacking midfielders playing full-back. It's not something that I saw would happen. And, you know, for long parts of the season, I thought, well, this just isn't going to work out. You know, Nico, at the start of the last season, I think it was in Community Shield, was basically playing as an attacking midfielder for Man City.

56:40Now he's just like a left-back and starting left-back for England. That's where he's made his debut. I didn't see it. But I think in terms of the left-back position, I think the way that Pep Guardiola wants him to play will make him a good player for Pep Guardiola. but in terms of traditional left back traits or full back traits I personally don't see that as he's going to be positioned long term, I think he'll end up going back into midfield, probably attacking midfield and as for his value you've got to ask yourself a question who's going to be the one to buy him but how well he's doing right now as a young player £50 million, maybe that's the number

57:13Steve Nicol:I just love his composure I love the way he has his socks down as well can he just lose his like a little bit confidence, not arrogance but confidence and I just love his composure. Nothing seems rushed to him and I think that's a very good sign for any young player that Mo Salah hasn't had the greatest start to the season. That's been well documented but he never got a kick basically. He had one chance in the game. It came off nothing to do with Nico O 'Reilly. I think it was a long ball over the top. The fact that he's playing out of position and the fact that he's playing with such confidence in class.

57:53Steve Nicol:And again, he steps in, makes his debut for England, playing that position. OK, it wasn't the strongest opposition, but you're still at Wembley. You're still making your debut. The nerves are there. You know, early days, but just a terrifically talented young man. Gab, care to weigh in on a valuation? What's he worth? I mean, presumably, I don't know if he's signed his serious city contract or he's still on the kids' contract, but if he signed a serious one, I don't think it's going to be far off that$50 million simply because the number of teams that could actually acquire him are going to be very limited.

58:32But I just want to say, though, if we can give a quick shout-out to Pep Guardiola because Natum alluded to it there. You have two number 10s playing as your fullbacks at Manchester City. not that long ago he won a title with basically two center backs playing at fullback. And this is the same guy, and it wasn't that long ago. So I think it just shows you how, I think there's very few managers who actually kind of continually evolve and are courageous enough to make these sweeping changes as Pep. And it's part of the reason why he's still pretty much the gold standard out there for me. Yeah. All right, Craig.

59:16I don't know if you're going to like this. Jack Cake asks a question that has been asked many times for the last three months, I think. Can or could Hugo Eketike and Alexander Isak play together up front for Liverpool?

59:31Steve Nicol:I think they could. I mean, at the end of the day, it's all about what a manager wants. If you'd said, could Alexander Sarlath and Erling Haaland play up front for Norway? You'd say, well, you know, the purists out there would say, no, no, they're two big guys. But they did, and they've been successful to an extent. I mean, I think they could, but you have to look at the way Liverpool, under Klopp and underslot have approached the game, and it hasn't been with two. Now, would that happen sometimes during a game, potentially? Yes. But I always think good players can play, clever players can play with clever players.

1:00:09Steve Nicol:And I think both these guys are. You know, Ekiteke's movement's a little bit different to Izak. So, yeah, I think they could, but I don't think we will see it very often or often at all from the start of a game. We may see it during a game if things are going against Liverpool. But, yeah, potentially, yes. All right, on we go. Globe-crushing Gab, Gab's Travels, asks Nadam, what are your thoughts on MLS switching to the European calendar about time? I think the owners voted on it today, Nadam, didn't they? And I think it's going to happen in 2027.

1:00:49I think it's a positive in some ways but what I would say is that not every state is in a good position to be able to play football over winter. I think yes it's great if you're in the south, if you're in the Floriders, if you're in the Texases and so on but how is that going to work for say other places say like if you're going to Minnesota, if you're going to like KC, like you see it in things like the NFL for example where it's just complete blizzards and so on. So it'll be interesting to see how they do manage to do that but in some ways trying to align themselves with that, getting the same sort of international breaks and so on, I think that will be a positive but for me I think the bigger thing also is in terms of viewership especially when it comes down to say some of the months where it gets a bit warmer, the games have to be played later in the day and if they're played later in the day they fall in line to where only people in the USA and maybe people in Asia somewhere can watch the games but that whole section in the middle of Europe and so on, it's just far too late to be tracking any team no matter how much you love them.

1:01:44Supposedly, Nathan, they are going to take a break. Mid-December to mid-February is built into this kind of European schedule. It'll be like a... OK.

1:01:52Steve Nicol:How do you do that then? Well, how can it be a European schedule if you're taking that... They have less games? They do have less games. So, if you had a European schedule, right, in Europe, obviously, and you took that time off, you couldn't fit the season in. Well, I guess it's Germany takes... What do they take off? Four or five weeks? but you're saying December through... Saying two months. I get it, and Nathan's right. I mean, he knows more about it than me. But, you know, it's all very well moving it to fit in with the mainstream calendar in Europe. But it's bloody freezing here in a lot of places.

1:02:31Steve Nicol:I mean, it's bad enough in Connecticut. The coldest I've ever been was... And this isn't bad. Yeah, in Toronto in December, Kansas City in December. You've got to think about the players, the fans, everybody. So, I don't know. Good luck to them. But it's marrying with the European transfer windows gap that is driving this, isn't it? Yeah, obviously that's become a bigger factor as we've seen more players move back and forth for fees. I would hope that's not the main driving reason behind it. But yeah, they're going to have to work something out with the weather. I mean, you know, Russia stops.

1:03:11They have a big, long break. Others play, I mean, the Republic of Ireland where, you know, let's face it, it can be rainy, but, you know, it's comparatively mild. They actually move to a summer schedule, right? So I think it's a great question of what's it going to be like? Are you going to get a whole bunch of postponements? Are you going to force fans to stay out there? because mid-December to mid-February is great, but you can get a blizzard in March in Toronto or Kansas City or, heck, even New Jersey, right? So, yeah, I guess they're going to see how this works out, but I hope they leave themselves plenty of space in the calendar for make-up days and finding ways to somehow make fans whole if games are snowed off or just played in absurdity.

1:04:04conditions. This is not the NFL. This isn't where like oh look, television time out let me go inside and get a hot chocolate and stuff and let me wear 87 layers to the game. It's only 8 or 9 home games. This is a much longer season.

1:04:22Steve Nicol:They're nuts aren't they? They are. I think that's the official description. Nuts. Watch the games up in Buffalo and all that and you're thinking I'm just back up. To go back to that point, one of the points years ago and it might just have been muted at the time in Scotland, they were actually talking about, and I think it only got to talks, about trying to move the schedule to a summer schedule and it wasn't for the weather because the weather's a bit drear and miserable in Scotland, a bit like me but it was more to do with the fact that the Premier League was eating up the viewership you know, the Premier League was so popular, particularly in the UK for Sky Sports and the other broadcasters that Scottish football was getting in the tip bits.

1:05:05Yeah.

1:05:05Steve Nicol:And so they thought about moving it for the reason of getting more viewership and more interest. So they would play in the summer when there was no Premier League football and that would maybe drive subscriptions and interest. So there are various ways to look at this, but that wasn't weather related. And of course, it never happened. But yeah, it's going to be, wouldn't it be great if you're a player and they say, oh, December to when? February? Yes. Am I getting it off? That's some warm weather holidays right there, isn't it? Or I'm a training manager. All right, finally, Andas asks Nedim, what's the deal on you playing in the Cheshire Vets Football League?

1:05:44What made you want to play in a Sunday league? And are you worried about embarrassing yourself since you're an ex-pro? So firstly, I'm not worried about embarrassing myself. And I've only ever played in one game. So the few guys like Stephen Ireland, George Boyd, Emil Heskey's played, Danny Drinkwater's played, I think it's a couple, Joel and Lesko's played. And Stephen Allen said to me, if you come try and play, you know, it's good fun because sometimes I play football with him on a week, like an in-house game, every other week or something. So I said, yeah, sure, I'll come and do it. I did it.

1:06:16And based on the scoreline and the fact that words were starting to spread, you know, there are a few former professionals in this team, it started to blow up. And all of a sudden now, there have been news stories about it. it's been on TV, it's been in newspapers and so on. And that doesn't really do it for me, to be honest. I didn't really want to do it for that. I just wanted to try and have a kick around on a weekend. So I'm kind of turned off by it a little bit. But ultimately, in terms of embarrassment, no. It's very tough to feel any level of embarrassment because, firstly, it's over 35s.

1:06:47And considering I'm an over 35 former professional playing against over 35s non-former professionals, it's quite tough to feel embarrassed by anything that you see on that pitch. and I can say now at this stage of my life after playing in this one game I have seen everything I've seen everything there is to see in football yeah I don't think people realize what the

1:07:08Steve Nicol:ex-professional who's in reasonable shape compared to Joe Bloggs who played with his mates down the park or even played you know at some decent level do you think that you know right so the Connecticut I get vets and never try to rub the way into the... No, the one thing that has always worried me, and that's why I don't do it, and I haven't done it for years, is I've got a few old buddies at Celtic and other clubs that have and do love to try and have the kickabout, as Nathan mentioned, but the proverbial kickabout has ended up with a snapped Achilles or a torn cruciate ligament. You know, and I'm like, I'm way past that.

1:07:51Steve Nicol:You know what I mean? So the risk is not worth the reward. Stevie Nichol, I believe, still played in some of these Massachusetts leagues to a ripoff league. Well, he played at Doncaster. He loved it. I've talked to Stevie about this. And everybody's different. A few of us couldn't wait. He loved it. He was going to Doncaster. In fact, he was with one of his buddies yesterday, James Proctor, who was at Doncaster with him. And he just loves the play. He just loved that. But yeah, everybody's a little different. I'd love to see them doing it now. Yeah. Nico. Maybe it could be arranged. As part of the ESPN FC Invitational Golf, we'll have a little side attraction.

1:08:33So back in the hot seat today. Yes, and back tomorrow. Oh. It's a twofer, twofer. Well, I don't know if you're back tomorrow after calling it press pass. That's the plan, yeah. Maybe I'll get another word after the show is better. Chaka Hislop and Ali Moreno with me. No. Are you back? No, Ali's off. We switched days. Okay. I wasn't informed about it. I'll just try to throw you. Let's call it press pass again, shall we, to end? We'll see you tomorrow.

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