Spurs Turn the Corner?

23:01Dan Thomas:Yeah, it's clearly the problem, Jan. They just need to spend more money, Chelsea do. Exactly. And it's unbelievable. This is a team that have spent billions of pounds. I mean, they could buy Big Ben behind Gab if they wanted to with all that money. And they still don't manage to get a striker. I would think that when you want to build up a club, when you want to build up a winning club, yes, I know they are the world's best club winning the club World Cup. But except for that, they haven't managed to get in a striker. I mean, you don't have to be the professor of head of recruitment to understand that Delap, Garnaccio or Pedro, they won't score you 20 plus goals.

23:40There's no chance they will do that. And I will take the analysis. I would just say, I will just use the analysis that I always used to do endorsements. Because when you see Chelsea, and I think the stats you had there, losing points after winning or being in the lead, that is also a mental challenge. And when I see the Chelsea players, when I see their play, for me, it is the same bunch of players When one go, there's not one go down, five goes down. Typical Dortmund, remember back in the days when they had all these same players in the team. And that is, for me, the biggest challenge for Chelsea right now.

24:17Same bunch of mental players in there. When the goals get tough, they just disappear.

24:24Dan Thomas:Go ahead, Gab. I just wanted to, I take your point about the strikers. That's why Emega is in the pipeline. He's at Strasburg. Obviously, that's part of Blueco. I do wonder if maybe they weren't a little too quick in getting rid of Nico Jackson, who I thought improved a lot in his second season. But then again, if you're constantly needing to shift players around to balance the books and amortization and all that good stuff, you kind of paint yourself into a corner. What I would say about the center forward 20 goals a season, I don't think Victor Gjokoros is getting to 20 goals a season. and they could win the title.

25:05Pretty sure Ollie Watkins won't get to 20 goals a season. Lewandowski might, but he's really old and he's out of contract. So this idea that you need a big strapping Jan Agafjortov-type center forward to scoring 25, 30 goals a season if you're going to win something, I don't think that's the case anymore. The problem is if you don't have one, you need others to step up and you need strikers who can contribute. And, you know, Cole Palmer, he only has so many miracles in him. And the other guys, the other wingers, the other midfielders, they don't step up with goals regularly enough to kind of bridge that gap.

25:43I take your point, Gab. I just want to say that it's good that you compare with the other teams. Because Arsenal, they've got Declan Rice, they've got Martin Erdegaard, they've got Saka. There's so many different types of players that can add to them, as you were saying. So, yes, Gercoures is good. But if, let's put it this way, if Jackson is the answer, we ask the wrong question. I mean, please. I mean, he would not have done that. And I know, Gab, we discussed this before on this show, that always a striker at Chelsea is the problem. But they need a, we talked about the stats when they're 1-0 up.

26:17They need a 2-0, as they did against Aston Villa. Ollie Watkins is a good example. He came from the bench at Aston Villa, doing the same for them. And this kind of player is missing at Chelsea at the moment. And as you were saying, Palmer, there is just a... He can do 100 miracles, but he can't do 200.

26:36Dan Thomas:Well, let's talk about something that actually went against Chelsea in this game and maybe could have turned out differently had it gone in their favour. 47th minute, you see the cross is coming in from Garnaccio. It's going to fall for Neto. If not four, it's striking Ian Mattson's arm. It's a penalty. Mattson has an arm outstretched trying to get the feel of Neto. I understand that. Defenders do that. But in doing that, sitting in today's game, once you keep that arm outstretched and it falls and hits your arm, I'm not sure how you excuse that. This didn't deflect off of anybody. This is a cross that came from 30 yards away.

27:14So for me, Chelsea have every right to feel aggrieved as to not being awarded a penalty from that. Gab? It's everything Xhaka said. It's a penalty. And maybe he's not trying to gain an advantage, but he gained an advantage by having his arm stretched outside the silhouette of his body in an unnatural position. He's not jumping or anything like that. So there's no reason for his arm to be there.

27:45Dan Thomas:VAR checked it briefly, Gab, and they were OK with the referee's decision. Sorry, I'm saying Gab again and I mean Jan. That's OK, Dan. That's OK, Dan. As Craig in the studio was saying. You know, we so often want to make sense of the handball rule. It's very difficult. But for me, there are two things. It was not only an advantage for Astrid, it was a big advantage because Chelsea would have scored. I mean, so it doesn't make any sense. Do I think that Matson tried to use his hand to get away? No, but he used his hand to take away a goal for Chelsea Football Club. But for me, that is a clear penalty.

28:29Dan Thomas:OK, so all agreeing on that one, whatever your names all are. So there we go. That wraps up our Premier League top and how things are looking there. Make sure to join the crew on Extra Time. All three of them will be with us on the latest edition, answering your questions. You can check it out over on our YouTube channel. avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is with thumbtack you don't have to be a home pro you just have to hire one you can hire top rated pros see price estimates and read reviews all on the Thumbtack app.

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30:15Dan Thomas:Whole slate of Serie A action today, and we got to see Inter, Milan, and Napoli all win their games. Inter beat Atalanta with a goal from Lautaro Martinez. Napoli had two goals from Rasmus Hojland against Premonese. More on him in a minute. But as for Milan, Christian Pulisic scored again in their 3-0 win. This time they beat Verona. We also got to see Christopher Nkunku getting off the mark for Milan. But this is what people are talking about right now with Christian Pulisic. Because since his Serie A debut in the 23-24 season, he's one of only two players who have been directly involved in at least 50 goals in the top flight.

30:55Dan Thomas:Along with, as you can see just ahead of him, Lautaro Martinez. So Pulisic really is in his prime right now, Gab. He's 100 % in his prime. He's doing it, I think, in pretty tricky circumstances. Let's not forget, he's had three managers, three different managers in the last nine months, three managers who were pretty different, one from the other, in, sorry, not nine months, 14 months in Paulo Fonseca, Sergio Conceição, and now Max Allegri. He's been productive. And the thing is, even when he doesn't score or assist, even when he's having a rotten game, he still works his backside off. He's one of the most athletic players on the pitch.

31:42And he contributes to the team. And I think, you know, that's why people love him. And, you know, the obsession that some people in and around Milan have, oh, Rafael Leal this, Rafael Leal that. What's wrong with Leal? You know what? Leal's wonderful. He's important. On his days, he's one of the best in the world. But Pulisic is 8 out of 10 every single game. And I think that's pretty huge. And I think that bodes well if you're a U.S. fan heading into 2026.

32:15Dan Thomas:Meanwhile, it's going pretty well, Jan. And I mean Jan this time. For Rasmus Hoyland. Another two goals for him today coming against Creminezi. that gave his side a win. And he's been getting high praise from Antonio Conte. He says that he's well-connected to this team, Jan. Absolutely. And I'm impressed. I'm happy for him. The Strikers Union are very happy when you see a young guy get confidence and he's scoring goals. I mean, I was doing Manchester United on the 26th, on a boxing day, and we were talking a lot about all these Manchester United, former United players like Rasmus Hoeljian, doing so well when they go from Manchester United.

32:54I mean, you can be devil's advocate and say maybe they didn't take the pressure of being a Manchester United player. That is one angle. You can say that. When Rasmus Herland came, he didn't come with the fantastic stats when he came to Manchester United. He was told to lead the ranks of Manchester United, a struggling Manchester United. But again, we have McTominay, we have Anthony doing well. and there are more examples of it. But I think that we should also discuss if the player they take in got the kind of, they can live with the pressure to be Manchester United. In all due respect to Napoli, and Gab will probably put me in prison for this, I know the passion in Napoli.

33:37I love Napoli as a football place, a football town. But it's different pressure to lead the ranks of Manchester United.

33:47Dan Thomas:Are you going to put him in jail for that, Gab? Well, put him in jail, I just say the different pressure is that if you stink and the fans don't like you at Manchester United, they'll write mean things about you on social media. In Naples, you're not leaving the house. I'd say that's the main difference if you really want to go there. Hoyland's done well. Well, I would say it's simpler. He has a much better coach than he did at Manchester United. There's two different coaches he's had at United. I mean, I don't know if he's going to keep his place as a starter or as a number nine when Romelu Lukaku comes back because Lukaku and Ancelotti have a special relationship.

34:34And obviously there's Kevin De Bruyne to come back. But I do know that, you know, he puts in the effort. He doesn't always play well, but he always puts in the effort. He's always there to be counted. and Conte doesn't ask him to do things that he can't do. And maybe that was part of the problem with the guys who were looking after him at Old Trafford.

34:53Dan Thomas:Okay, so make sure to check out the latest Gab and Jules show and get their names correct. There's one coming up tomorrow. That's Jules. That one's Gab. Tomorrow it will be dropping the latest edition. Make sure to check it out. Wherever you get your podcasts, there'll be a lot more talk about the Serie A, no doubt, over there.

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36:30Dan Thomas:That's all we've got time for in the latest edition of ESPN FC, But stick around, Extra Time's on the way. Gab and Jan and Shaka, got that one right, are all answering your questions. Be sure to stay with us. Extra Time is on the way next. Welcome into the latest edition of Extra Time. We've got Shaka, we've got Jan Agafiotov, and we've got Gab Marcotti joining us to answer your questions today. And the first question is for... Oh. Gab loves music. He does. Yeah, it's an apology. My name. Yeah, because we had a bit of trouble with the names in the main show. And I started off with saying Jules to Sheka.

37:13And one of the reasons is that in the last show I was on, I was sitting here at the same place as I do today for the Christmas show. And Jules was on. We spoke to each other and we said, Merry Christmas. and I will celebrate Christmas in Windsor, outside London, this Christmas. And next morning to breakfast, a guy came over to me and was Jules. So we were sitting in different rooms. So we were sitting in different rooms doing the show. Fantastic. And his lovely family was there. So we had a great, great Christmas.

37:47Dan Thomas:Oh, of all the places in all the world, you had to walk into this breakfast lounge with you in Windsor. All right. Jan, what player or coach gives the best post-match interview? I'm very easy in that. I like the ones who are polite and give me something. So I'm not sure who would do the best. I think there is a lot of them. The obvious one is Klopp. They say you can ask him three questions and that is nine minutes. If it's three questions without theta, that is 50 seconds. So there is a lot of change in that. But over the years, because I've followed Manchester City so much because of Erling, I kind of, I feel that I have to be so sharp when I interview Pep Guardiola.

38:37So I would stick with Pep, although I love a lot of them. Sean Dyche I had the other day. He's brilliant. And Slott as well, and a lot of them. But Pep Guardiola, you just have to be on your toes. Because your second question is the most important thing. Because whatever you asked the first one, he was like, are you sure about that? So he will kind of get you going.

39:00Dan Thomas:So you've got to be ready to get in there. Exactly. Gab, are there any talks of either of the Italian clubs potentially signing Chiesa from Liverpool in the summer? His game time has been so limited and it's clear Slott doesn't trust him.

39:16Wait, what happened with the guy who played right wing last season for Liverpool? I hear he's away at the AFCON and maybe some people are saying he could go to Saudi. Could that open? No. Look, I think unless Liverpool give you a deal and pay part of his wages, you know, people in Italy have televisions too. They can see he's not getting game time. His injury record before, even though he's been fit most of this season, his injury record before wasn't great. I think also in terms of that kind of winger, I think the top clubs either don't play with them, like Inter or Napoli for that matter, or they're really happy with what they have there.

40:05And I also think, I don't think you can even think of shifting Chiesa, given Isak's injury and given the uncertainty with Salah. If they bring somebody else in and Salah sticks around and they all become friends again, yeah, maybe then Kiesa's out. But otherwise, I think he's going to keep him around just because he's shorthanded.

40:26Dan Thomas:The next question is saying, did you guys see that interview where Lewandowski was asked about not scoring for Barcelona because of money? What's that all about? So just to add a bit of context here, it was a strange situation where he was asked if he'd been asked to stop scoring goals in order to not pay a bonus to his previous club buy in Munich. And he said, some things I don't want to speak about out of respect for the club, but he was aware of the situation. And it did leave him wondering at times if he should score or not. This was a strange situation, Gab. Yeah, it's a weird situation. It's also why clubs generally don't put clauses of that nature into contracts where they're linked to fees.

41:11Because obviously then you have misaligned incentives. He didn't really give a super straight answer. He's like, I don't want to talk about it, but I was thinking about it. I think this is stupid all along. I think if you, listen, if you want to believe Barcelona, I guess Xavi was the coach at the time. you know seriously went to him and said oh Leva please don't score because we don't want to spend an extra five million then it would have been much much easier for for Xavi simply to say hey Lewandowski you're sitting out because we can't afford in case you score that didn't happen so I don't think any coach I mean seriously speaking we believe this story's true I don't think any coach would actually put that onus on his star center forward on the pitch when he's involved in, I believe, a goal-scoring race as well.

42:02It just makes no sense.

42:03Dan Thomas:Yeah, clearly on the goals that Jan missed, this is what he just wasn't telling us that he'd been told. Or was he closing his contract? Yeah, and I said that today because I thought we would maybe talk about this. So I checked with my son if I could make a joke of some profile strikers in English football now who probably have the same clause. But I won't do that joke. I won't do that joke. I love that Jan has to check with his son. the other way around. I've got approval from my son. Why doesn't it surprise me? No, my son said, maybe not. Keep it in there. He's an Arsenal fan, by the way. Shout out to Marcus.

42:40Shout out to Marcus. I will.

42:43Dan Thomas:OK, did you... We've done that one. OK, Jan, what percentage chance do you give Arsenal to still win the league given the current form and then coughing it up and not performing up to standard in the second half of the season in recent history? Wow, that is a tough one. I know it's the famous Don Hutchinson if I put in the third club here as well. So I will stick to the City Arsenal to make it a bit easier. But now I get a feeling Arsenal, great squad, every position, two alternatives. Don't have a striker who scored enough goals. Of course, Kai Havertz is coming back. But now I will say 55-45 advantage Manchester City.

43:30So that means 45 for Arsenal. Advantage City. I still give Arsenal the advantage. Now, we were asked this yesterday, and I said Villa 10%. And I said Arsenal 50, City 40, just because I didn't want to do the... I thought it was closer than that, but I didn't want to do the math live on here. so having thought about it I'm going to stick Villa 10 Arsenal 47 City 43 and make Arsenal very slight fear

43:58Dan Thomas:when Xhaka doesn't want to do the math that's a worry for all of us because he's our mathematician on the show so just take one of those I know how these things come you'll never forget Jan and Gab how do you think Pellegrino Matarazzo will do with Real Sociedad I need to actually start there with you Jan because of the previous league. You have to start with Matarazzo by me. Yeah. I think you sort of start with Gab because he's an expert on that. Okay, go on then, Gab. Look, obviously you have to pick up a team that's done on his luck, but I'm a Reno Matarazzo fan. He's a graduate of Columbia University where I went to grad school, among other things.

44:40He came up the hard way from the lowest reaches of German amateur football. He's never had anything handed to him. I think this is kind of like a big leap into the unknown. But I love the fact that he challenged himself. I love the fact that Ralf Sotirada had been creative with this. And yeah, I wish him well. Yeah, when he was at Hoffenheim.

45:07Dan Thomas:When he was at Hoffenheim, yeah. And do you remember that Ale Moreno and I were trying our hardest to get to go and watch the games in the Matarazzo family garage in New Jersey. Now we can push for that to happen again, but it will be Real Sociedad games that we need to try and get to watch. But that's fair enough. And by the way, I knew that Gab was an expert on that. He even went to the same school. So I knew that. But what I do like about what Matarazzo has done is that sometimes the coaches need to do something else, not just be in the roller coaster. So you see that in Germany, you kind of have six, seven coaches.

45:42They just change the clubs and they just go the roller coaster in the country. He goes out there, get to influence from Spanish football, go to Sociedad, a passionate football club. We learn, we make him better. I think that is a great choice. And I think that he will learn a lot from this. And I respect him very much for doing that.

46:03Dan Thomas:So he speaks a few languages, not Spanish, but he's not worried, Xhaka. He thinks he's going to pick it up really quickly, probably like you. what they're happy from over there but we're always quite impressed by Shaka Spanish no no no no no no no no no still better than some people's on this panel okay Shaka have you ever made a save with your face yeah oh I did I remember specifically Newcastle Sunderland the first of those derbies where the fans weren't allowed at St James's Park I just remember the ball kind of bounced around the box and it came out to the top of the box and then there were bodies right in front of me so I didn't I didn't I didn't see anything all of a sudden just felt this smack in my face and and realized that it was the ball I didn't see who hit it I saw nothing about it until I was just kind of picking myself up off the floor that that was it that that was that was it did it hurt the next day oh it hurt it hurt the same day don't worry about that I'm sure it hurt the same day Honestly, because if you see it coming, you can prepare for it.

47:09But I didn't see it at all. So it just thumped me right in the middle of my face. And I stayed out. But that was it. I mean, yeah, it was ugly.

47:21Dan Thomas:And it's never been the same since. Well. You've got to do that in those derbies, though, right? I suppose you've got to do what it takes. Again, I wasn't doing anything. I was just kind of moving across the free semi-goal. Kind of wondering where the ball was. And then I knew. Okay, so the answer is, yeah, nice question, Jo. Gab, do you think Como can get into the Champions League this season? And how soon will Fabregas eventually leave to coach Arsenal or Barcelona?

47:50Well, between those two, obviously he's got legacies at both. I mean, I think Arteta and to a lesser degree Flick are pretty well ensconced there. look Como have one of the outstanding players in Serie A if not all of Europe Nico Paz he's a human highlight reel what I would say about him qualifying in the Champions League and us actually seeing Como in the Champions League they're kind of two different things because Como spent so much money it's not entirely clear to me that that they'll be able to meet financial sustainability rules. That said, what he's done with that team is really special.

48:33It's not just, you know, the expensive youngsters that they've brought in and have done really well with, like Nico Patz, for example. It's also a lot of other players who he's brought in, really relaunched their careers. He plays a football that's completely different from everybody else in Serie A, and he's just so charismatic on that touchline. I mean he is very much a born leader and yeah maybe when Arteta or Flick are ready to move on I would imagine he'll be getting a call from those clubs but you know I'm sure they won't be the only ones because few managers have shown as much promise to lead a big club in particular as Cesc has so far.

49:22Dan Thomas:Yeah, and it's not a bad place to live in the meantime, let's be honest. Okay, Gab, what positions should Chelsea look to upgrade this winter to salvage their season? Jackson.

49:37You can be a Nico Jackson hater all you want. Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you what. Last year when Nico Jackson was there. Sorry, Gab. I have a thing with Jackson. There's a colleague of mine on another channel who loves Jackson as well. He loves him. He put him up there. Bigger Michael Jackson, Phil Jackson. He's above everybody. And I don't agree on that. So I keep on my rant.

50:11I think if you are going to make a move in January, I think the striker position needs to be addressed. Look, I'm not having a go at the lap, but he's a very young player. He's moved to a club of a different dimension than Ipswich. Obviously, he was at a big club like City before that, but he wasn't the main guy. If it's important for you to get into the top five, I think you need to shake things up. And like I said, Emega is already coming over in June. The Strasbourg fans hate him for making the announcement early. so just get him out of there sooner and let him compete, let him share time with Joe Pedro for the center forward spot.

50:55I think in the immediate that is probably a move that would move the needle more so than center back where you know before if you go out you spend money and get somebody else who's good then you're kind of back to square one because what do you do when Colwell comes back. So that's probably where I would look to strengthen.

51:16Dan Thomas:Okay, I think that will do it for the latest edition of Extra Time. Thank you so much for sending in your questions. We will be back tomorrow and we will be doing it all over again.

51:31From 30 for 30 Podcasts.

51:40Brian 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. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us.

51:59Dan Thomas:Murder at the U. Listen now.