Another Arsenal win at Spurs, after Man City apply the pressure

0:22Musa Okwonga: Hello and welcome back to the Stadio Podcast. I'm Musa Okwonga. I'm Ryan Hunn. Ryan, how are you doing? John man I'm alright how are you? I'm very well indeed you sound better thank you yes that is thanks to the incredible eucalyptus crystals that I was

0:38Ryan Hunn: for those who missed it on Thursday's show for those of you who aren't stadion members on Patreon Moose was very under the weather I was indeed

0:46Musa Okwonga: my goodness

0:46Ryan Hunn: yeah I'm back good to see him back much like Eber Echese he's back yes

0:52Musa Okwonga: he is indeed

0:53Ryan Hunn: before we get going today we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are and just a couple of quick bits of admin first of all if you are listening to this on the free feed could you do us a massive favor and go and give us a rating and a review it just helps us kind of pop up a little more for people who are searching for football podcasts it'd be greatly appreciated if you aren't a stadio member on patreon and you would like to sign up and get ad free shows every single show bonus shows loads of other stuff like the newsletter there was a newsletter went out on Friday. Loads of other bits and bobs.

1:24Ryan Hunn: You can go and sign up. Or if you want to sign up to the Stadio Social Club, you get a membership pack for annual members and you get access to the Stadio Social Club Discord. Loads of other perks as well. We had a Stadio Social Club Discord hangout on Saturday night, which was great. There will be two more shows this week. So if you haven't signed up yet and you want to hear two Champions League shows this week, patreon.com forward slash Stadio. Go and sign up. All the shows, ad free, in full, bonus podcasts, loads more. Help support Stadio. final merch designs are back and they should be dropping in the next couple of weeks.

1:56Ryan Hunn: Looking great. If you are a Stadio Social Club member as well you get discounts on merch. And another massive bit of admin actually our next live show at the Southbank Centre which was supposed to be on March the 1st with Nish Kumar has unfortunately had to be rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances but it's now going to take place on Thursday the 23rd of July if you have tickets for that show and they just transfer automatically including your seat reservations. You should have received an email from the Southbank Centre if you do have a ticket and if you want a full refund, full refunds are available.

2:30Ryan Hunn: We're really sorry about it but we are hopefully looking forward to seeing you all in July and it'll be the first Thursday after the World Cup final so we can talk all about the World Cup. For good or bad. Exactly. Will football have come home?

2:43Musa Okwonga: Will it still exist?

2:45Ryan Hunn: Tune in to find out. Sorry there's a lot of admin there but quite important admin. All right, so today we're going to focus on the Premier League title race because it felt like a big four or five days.

2:57Musa Okwonga: But before that, there's only one place to begin. Schalke 5, Magdeburg 3.

3:04Ryan Hunn: Hedin Jekker is absolutely banging them in for Schalke.

3:07Musa Okwonga: They said, I was reading actually some of the press around this and they were like, it's not fair. It's not fair that he's there. He's like, he's too good for this level. I think it's like four and five four and five since arriving this winter yeah like Ed and Dzeko man like have goals will travel that guy if you look at that guy's strike rate I think I wrote a piece about this back in my ESPN days about Dzeko being maybe the most underrated like forward like conventional line target man of his generation just unbelievable just the man who scored goals everywhere and there's a great thing where he scored his first Bundesliga goal against the current Magdeburg manager like 19 years ago and then did it again.

3:53Ryan Hunn: Anyway, right, let's go to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Let's do it. Tottenham Hotspur won Arsenal 4. Mirroring the result in the game earlier on in the season at Emirates Stadium. Eberchese almost repeating Tatchik from that game. What were your thoughts on it as a neutral?

4:16Musa Okwonga: I thought that 4-1 as a scoreline was pretty wild considering the turns the game took. It's not that Arsenal weren't superior throughout. They were superior for the bulk of the game I thought with the exception of the period after Spurs' equaliser and the start of the second half where Spurs were kind of in the ascendancy. But looking at how many close shaves there were throughout the game the different phases of the game it made me really glad I wasn't an Arsenal fan or a Spurs fan for that matter for different reasons just because the pressure and asked to get the job job done from a psychological perspective and Tudor in charge of Spurs and the vast injury depletion like for me the way I look at the Spurs result the Spurs performance I cannot look at it beyond the context of Palina playing as a centre back in a derby where a player like that absolutely has to be in the centre of the field if everyone's fit and you look at the bench that Tudor had and there was just no way he could have fielded anything different this was the only available configuration and I felt really sorry for Tudor from that perspective and actually Spurs by extension not to patronize but that injury list is genuinely it's absolutely appalling everything that Spurs do this season as long as they stay up

5:28Ryan Hunn: again we're in a similar territory to last season in a way but the Champions League knockout phase is replacing the Europa League run yeah because that injury list is just I don't I don't know how you can actually manage a like Manchester City or Arsenal or any of the best squads in the league no one would be able to sustain an injury list like that.

5:51Musa Okwonga: Not at all and can we just quickly like before we start the analysis because I think it's important just to give a quick rundown. So Romero was suspended and that red card just looks worse and worse and you know Odderbert's out, Davies, Adoghi Danso, Poro, Kulisevski Madison, Bergvau, Bentancourt Kudus. Arguably half of those players start if fully fit. I'm saying that up top because we're going to analyse the game itself because I feel like Arsenal's greatest challenge in this game was actually psychological. The way they began this game was so impressive. Real intensity from the top really went at Spurs.

6:27Musa Okwonga: You know, for all of the talk about the injury list, it's still Spurs away, right? So there's a different emotional context this game and Spurs, I think, they understood they'd have to withstand a lot but Arsenal absolutely gave it to them and I I thought Victor Jokeres, this is the best full 90 minutes I've seen from him in a game of consequence in the Premier League since he arrived at Arsenal. I don't watch him every week, but the way that he was so proactive, the intensity which he attacks spaces, there'll be a lot of talk about Spurs and the relegation zone, this and that, but they didn't give this to him, actually.

6:59Musa Okwonga: I don't think they gave this to him. And I thought his movement was so impressive, not just in terms of the pressure on the high lines, but his combination play, I thought was really, really, really, really impressive, really promising. Sakatu thriving out on the flank before he had to go off. Yeah, and I just thought Arsenal at the start, again, this is the classic thing, up until they took the lead, looked just, I thought, imperious.

7:25Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I think up until the first stoppage because the referee's assistant communications device stopped working, which, man, I was watching it with English comms and Gary Neville was getting so angry about it. And I kind of agree with him on this because the start to this game was so important and it began before in the build-up, right? There was a big announcement on the Spurs PA about how Arsenal, I think the words were, Arsenal are nervous as hell, like they don't want this or something like that.

7:56Musa Okwonga: Wow, really? Trying to get the whole crowd going.

7:59Ryan Hunn: And then Arsenal came out and just played. It was the most proactive I've seen or the most front-footed I've seen Arsenal dominate a game for a while in terms of just vibe. And then you have this massive delay for something where, I think it's quite unfair on both sets of players and the fans in there. You've just got this delay where everyone's just waiting around because some guy's thing needs his batteries changing or something. A sizable delay like that in a game of that magnitude, it was just weird. And then it happened again at the beginning of the second half, which again was just... That was absolutely wild.

8:38Ryan Hunn: Yeah, so wild. To me though, that was really worrying because I have to admit, I was more nervous about this game than I've been before an Arsenal game for a while. And Arsenal started so positively that I just thought, you know what? The way things are going at the moment, that stoppage is going to be the thing that then, you know, in three years time, when people are sat around tables talking about the 25-26 title race, people are going to be like oh yeah but if that guy's batteries didn't run out in the derby well look at Morocco look at Morocco Senegal

9:13Musa Okwonga: look at the look how long that weight was before the penalty

9:16Ryan Hunn: it can have a real real effect on the game and I think the thing that was really impressive was that as soon as the game started again Arsenal just put the foot down again and territorially in the first half just completely dominated Spurs taking the lead with an Eze goal which was

9:33Musa Okwonga: I thought the first touch which was really clever, actually.

9:36Ryan Hunn: See, I thought it was at first, because I think it was, I think he, my initial instinct was, that's a crowded penalty box and he needs this to go up to go in. I think he tees it up.

9:48Musa Okwonga: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I think because the deflection, it comes through from Saka, the deflection, and then he just like, he's just like teeing it up. Do you remember that goal

9:57Ryan Hunn: that Messi scored against Arsenal?

9:58Musa Okwonga: Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. When he flicks it over him. Yeah.

10:01Ryan Hunn: I mean, it's not quite to that level, but it was... I don't know what is. it was it was a similar energy i think yeah yeah loved it spurs fans listen to this will probably not agree obviously but i did i did find his uh as his celebration both celebrations actually quite quite funny quite fun you know i must say the because this was his first i think the thing was because this was apparently his first premier league shot on target since the his goals against

10:25Musa Okwonga: spurs oh my goodness yeah yeah yeah that's that's a kind of ridiculous stat i wonder I think as a sometimes victim of perception in terms of like his game is quite like laconic quite measured quite so when he's not like pushing it well they call it redlining it in tennis when you're not pushing it right into the kind of red people think you're not trying but then again if he was pushing it more then he'd be forcing it and I think he's the kind of player that unfortunately has to let the game come to him right um but that's that is that is a wild statistic If you see how well he finishes in this game, look, you don't want to call things sort of psychological too much, but it's not for lack of talent that he's struggled this season.

11:11Musa Okwonga: It's not for lack of talent. I think it's adjustment, actually. I think if you look at like Victor Jokeres, who you can draw a parallel with, sometimes you need some time to just grow into a role. Yeah, it's a very different thing. And go into what's expected of you. Yeah, go into what's expected. Yeah, it's rather like when Greedish went from Aston Villa to Man City. like in the sense that when you're at Aston Villa you're the star man and the camera is not on you every week in the way it is internationally right and everything is new for Eze now and every single week for Eze you're expected not only be under the spotlight and your performance dissected a hundred times more than it would be if you're at Palace because just because of the eyes on Arsenal it's also like the eight out of ten the eight and a half out of ten the nine out of ten is expected every single week.

11:55Musa Okwonga: And not just 9 out of 10, but not just as a playmaker, but the other stuff, the defensive stuff. So there's a ton of other jobs on his plate. And he's probably still getting used to them, actually.

12:03Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I think the demands of playing under Mikel Arteta as well, especially in a side that is now, you know, competing on four fronts. I remember Declan Rice saying when he joined that just the amount of information that he had to take on at the beginning, it was just like, what the?

12:18Musa Okwonga: It's like, you know what he's like? He reminds me of Fabio Capello, actually. you know fabio capello like um later era in his club uh his club years when he was slightly more chill so later era fabio capello so slightly softening so really incorporating more of the flair players um so i would say capello kind of like late era seria going to real madrid i think that capello is like a tetra reminds me of that very tight tactical instruction gives his creative players freedom but only if they observe certain like parameters and i think that's just what as he's on and that's the journey he's on so he scores this like fine opening goal and the most comic moment of the game from my perspective anyway declan rice going hey everyone calm down

13:02Ryan Hunn: and then the mistake that rice makes big how it started how it's going energy no no i love about

13:08Musa Okwonga: this actually in a funny way so he tries to dribble out of trouble the moment he gets the ball rice uh to make the error when he's been closed down by conan wani another teammate he looks up and at this point Kalamani has not scored I think in the league yet for Spurs until this moment looks up he's being closed there are two angles for a pass well two different passes or just go long or just hoof out of play tries to kind of do a kind of croqueta like Iniesta style dribble out of which he which he just never does that's just not him just not the place to try that but it's also not really him that's not really who he is as a player makes the mistake and then he just like even he can't believe it and at that point I was like he knows he's going to hear about this and I thought it was such a human reaction and I kind of laughed and we laughed he was kind of like

13:53Ryan Hunn: look look

13:53Musa Okwonga: yeah I get it like hands up he was just like look I get it I get it I kind of when I thought that I thought weirdly I thought to myself actually they're kind of they might be okay actually because he laughed and he didn't catastrophize he was like I don't even know where this is coming from and actually I think from that point onwards about sort of 30 odd minutes in to just after the start of the second half I thought that was Spurs' best period but Xavi Simons was finding pockets, looking a bit dangerous. There was some decent pressure on the ball. I thought Spurs, that was their kind of window.

14:26Musa Okwonga: But I thought thereafter, Arsenal kind of pushed through, yeah.

14:31Ryan Hunn: The Jokeres goal really early in the second half, I think.

14:34Musa Okwonga: That took the air out of the stadium. You could hear it.

14:36Ryan Hunn: Yeah, and I think that, weirdly though, I think what you were saying, I think Spurs had a moment after that which resulted in the disallowed

14:46Musa Okwonga: I thought that was a bit fortunate to be disallowed I do, I think it was

14:49Ryan Hunn: I think it's really difficult with those because I feel like there is no real line or clear definition of when or not the referee should give that as a foul I think two hands on the back and a clear push no matter how soft it was and Gabriel really, really milks it but I think the problem is is that there are some games where it feels like momentum plays into the decision making King and that's where like I mean Arsenal had one a couple years ago against Newcastle. Was it last season? I think it was last season which was way worse than this and given but I think that kind of goes into the like whether or not that is given as a foul is purely just on the whim of the referee because I think the Eketike one that people were referencing earlier on in the season is probably also a foul until they just allow that kind of stuff to happen and just be like, well, you know.

15:48Musa Okwonga: It was so, yeah, exactly. Because I saw and I thought, I know that's a goal, but maybe I'm like sympathetic to a striker. Maybe it's that. Put it this way. It's a foul that Gabriel oversold. Oh, 100%. I think that's the kind of the way I look at it from that perspective. At the moment he feels any contact, he just trampolines forward. But the ref, put it this way, the ref has made his decision before Gabriel sells it. I think it's better to put it that way.

16:16Ryan Hunn: And I think also that after the decision is made, Colin Warnie's kind of fine with it. So that's a good gauge, I think, as well. He kind of is like, okay. Yeah.

16:27Musa Okwonga: Ironically, I don't know if he has to make the contact. No, I don't. I'm not sure he has to make the contact, actually. And he was... The thing about the game at that point, I'm not saying Arsenal don't eventually go on to win, but it changes momentum quite in a way because then it's like, ah like we couldn't hold we couldn't hold two leads that's a thing now that's a problem now and I think it already is a bit of a problem to be honest the game management aspect but I think losing two leads so quickly after you've scored

16:53Ryan Hunn: Well it's been a consistent problem with Arsenal recently you can see that very very soon after scoring and the two massive moments in the game I think are the disallow Kolomwani goal and the save towards the end from Raya off the line because I think if that goes 3-2 with five, six minutes left, I would have been, it wouldn't have surprised me if Spurs had got an equaliser and then we could have been sat here today talking about Arsenal surrendering two leads in the final minutes of two games on the trial and that would have been it. And I think that would have been it psychologically. But let's go back to the Eze goal because after that disallowed goal from Spurs, I think Arsenal really started to put the foot down.

17:36Musa Okwonga: Yes, yes. And they just looked consistently,

17:39Ryan Hunn: dangerous and I think the interesting thing about that front three is that a little bit of an experiment in the week and it came after the Wigan game where Bakayosaka moved centrally and why I don't hate that I actually think I prefer him a little bit more advanced as opposed to in a midfield role remember the goal we keep referencing but the goal he scored at the Bernabeu yes last season when he's essentially playing as a number nine yes that's where I want him in if he's going to play centrally. I don't really want him in a number 10, number 8 position. So he returned out to the right-hand side and I think that front three of Trossard, Jochores and Saka is just so much more cohesive than Martinelli, Jochores, Madueke.

18:19Ryan Hunn: That front three is... We've seen that so many times this season from an Arsenal point of view and it just doesn't really gel. And I think that having those three up top with Eze behind, that as a four is brilliant. And it looks amazing. Especially when you see

18:32Musa Okwonga: Eze, Saka, how they combine. before actually Eze scores there's a really nice move just earlier where he plays this like lovely not reverse pass but this angled ball into Saka which Saka doesn't quite get on the end of where he has a strike but doesn't go but that like so already their combination is so good because I think because of the way that Saka is Saka is like side on right obviously like being left would come off the right so what you have is this really nice thing where Eze's body position when he's looking forward is naturally facing he's directly facing Saka they're both like side on to the game and they're both facing each other and i think it's really nice in terms of like the eye contact is there and they also just understand each other's movement very elegant players take the time don't force the game and i thought saka actually one thing was best about his game was it was the patience actually didn't force anything jed spence you know decent defender good defender but really had a tough time about it uh and the finish was great the combination and then like slotted it and it's 3-1 at that point and at that state i think it's He's the most goals scored against Spurs in any league season since Ted Drake in the 30s.

19:38Musa Okwonga: Some ridiculous stat. It's like almost 100 years.

19:42Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I saw that from Harvey Downs. Eze has scored five goals against Spurs this season. The joint most an Arsenal player has ever scored against them in a single season alongside Ted Drake in 1934-35.

19:54Musa Okwonga: Unbelievable. Ted Drake, man. Going back to black and white. Ted Drake!

19:59Ryan Hunn: Not even sepia, black and white. I loved the breakdance. So funny. Wonderful. And then towards the end of the game, we mentioned the amazing save from Raya, which I thought, to be honest, after his error the other day, it was uncharacteristic really from Raya. I thought he was absolutely amazing in this game. Came from everything, claimed everything, no flapping, very, very good on the ball, and that kind of claw off the line. He had to be as well,

20:31Musa Okwonga: because he had a few different looks in front of him. Tudor really tried. He shuffled the pack. Solanke and Richarlison came on. Gallagher went off. I thought Gallagher gave a good shift, but couldn't really get into it. But again, not his fault. It's just a tough configuration. So he had a lot of different threats to deal with, actually, Raya. And I thought his selection of passing was great. Just, you know, went long, actually, sometimes. Sometimes I think there's... What I like about Raya is, you know, at his best, he's just really pragmatic. actually he's not like a kind of he's not a sort of tactical extremist and i'm sure there's times that arteta would prefer him to play short but he's like actually like this is like this is the land of the second ball don't mess about i think his distribution is exactly how arteta wants him to do it and when that's interesting i like it no i like it i like to see it i thought he was really

21:20Ryan Hunn: strong and then the yokaris second goal which as good as the first one was this one felt more like a proper Jokeres goal like a kind of goal that we've seen him like just there seem to be endless amount of these on the sporting highlight reel

21:35Musa Okwonga: these pockets of space is sort of inside left there's a lot of I mean Dragashin was getting dragged by different people it's completely unfair I think given the amount of space he had to cover and it's a difficult configuration for Spurs and also like he's getting blamed for this goal and if anything was like Archie Gray and Jokeres it's a physical mismatch it's basically it's a complete physical mismatch and Jokeres saw that and zeroed in on it. Gray equated himself as best as he could but Jokeres is like twice his muscle mass, right? Cut inside and it's a great finish. A really, really good goal that and again, like just highlighted, I think capped off just a fantastic performance from him.

22:15Musa Okwonga: Even if he hadn't scored and I think this was a game where he had to like take, you know, take the lead. Even if he hadn't scored, I would have said he was probably the best forward on the pitch just in terms of his intensity, the space. He was always urgent, always looking for it, and a constant threat. So just really happy for him, especially with all the criticism he's taken this year, sometimes rightly so. But look, now that's 10 and 26 in a Premier League that has seen a massive drop in open play.

22:45Ryan Hunn: I mean, 10 goals with 10 games to go in the Premier League is not a bad return. And he's heating up at the right time, actually. Speaking of heating up, I'm just looking on FopMob and they've got heat maps now. Oh really? And his heat map's really interesting. And I wonder if this is an Eze thing as well and I wonder if this is a four that Mikel Arteta will go to in games where maybe teams are going to play with a slightly higher line. Interesting, okay. Because there's a lot of it centrally in deeper roles where he's clearly linking up play but the attack, the more advanced positions are on that kind of slight inside left channel which I think really works well with Trossard outside him.

23:24Ryan Hunn: I think it really works well with Eze coming in almost like the right eight position. And it just seems that that configuration seems to work. Havertz too, if you're honest. Havertz too. I mean, Havertz can just... Havertz is the most plug and play. He can just play with anyone in any configuration, I think. But yeah, just really interesting from your careers.

23:41Musa Okwonga: I think that's a really good shout. Against a higher line, he could be dangerous. And then again, to his credit, I think even when Spurs are sitting deep, the kind of attritional style of play, I thought he was impressive. And some will say, again, look it's a team that is struggling for confidence and form okay right but it's also a derby away from home and spurs came ready and the atmosphere was really really good early on so what's it you've got to give credit at some point if you're going to give city credit for defeating newcastle in a game of real intensity at home if you're going to give them credit for that as you should then you've got to give arsenal credit for overcoming not only a spurs theme away but also Because that fixture is frightening in the calendar.

24:24Musa Okwonga: Let's be real. Especially after Wolves' result. Credit where credit's due.

24:29Ryan Hunn: Yeah, because derbies can go weird, right? But I feel like Arsenal's recent record in derbies is really, really good against Spurs. Before we transition to City and then talk about the title race, let's talk about Spurs a little bit. Yes, yes. I personally don't think they're going to go down. I think there's just too much quality there that they will hopefully start getting people back for them to stay up. I think it's a tricky job for Tudor because you know they go away to Fulham next week which is not an easy fixture especially when you've lost three on the bounce and you've not won in the league since the 17th of January so you're not winning the league in over a month I feel that there were a couple of moments in this game despite the result that he can take real positives from I don't think enough points are going to be picked up below them

25:16Musa Okwonga: the only way I think they're going to just about survive The only way I think they're going down, it's so strange because the fact this is even a conversation, says everything. If you look at Spurs' last 11 games, it's not obvious where the points are coming from. That's the thing I'll say. It's not obvious. That's the thing I would say. Now, that's not to say that Spurs and West Ham do not have the easiest run in Zyber. And then you've got the Champions League too. So you've got then the kind of wear and tear of that. I think that Nottingham Forest have a better run-in than West Ham. Just think of those last few games for Forest.

25:57Musa Okwonga: Forest have a better run-in than Spurs or West Ham. I think Spurs, the thing about West Ham is West Ham are so leaky at the back and their ceiling, well, it's clear, West Ham's ceiling is not as high as the Spurs ceiling. But I think that there's a spiralling confidence and a dogfight and Spurs are a bit goal shy. I just think, I think it's going to be touch and go. I think it's going to be close. I don't think they'll go down but I think it's going to be close unfortunately for them. But it's the injuries.

26:25Ryan Hunn: They've got some tricky away games I think because they've got to go to Chelsea away. They've got to go to Villa away. They have to go to Liverpool.

26:31Musa Okwonga: This is the thing. They have to go to Sunderland. If you're going to, this is a negative way to talk about it but it's like if you're going to lose games, don't concede. Like lose by all means but if you get beaten, okay it's 1-0, even like let's say a 3-1 or like a 2 okay but don't capitulate don't get blown the one thing I'm concerned about from Spurs' perspective is those defeats that are demoralising like Luton got a couple of those you know back in the day and it was like back in the day a couple of seasons ago and those defeats they're worse than like just a simple loss because they're like defeats that are like oh actually you can't really hold it together at this level

27:07Ryan Hunn: but then it's weird right because they pick up the point against City at home after being two goals down and they're you know they're kind of going fine in the champions league i just think it's going to be again it's weird it's because both both spurs and an arsenal have that sort of

27:24Musa Okwonga: it's the psychological component right where if you can just master that then you're going to be fine like this this starting 11 it's not a bad starting 11 actually it's not a bad starting the problem is actually you just don't have you look at the bench and you can't necessarily make the adjustments. Yeah, I just don't know if they're going to get enough people back quick enough, right? Because then like Odebe is out for the season?

27:44Ryan Hunn: Odebe is out for the season.

27:45Musa Okwonga: And a lot of those are mid-March, Ryan. Those returns are mid-March.

27:48Ryan Hunn: Yeah, mid-March, late April, just, you know, Madison's not going to, we see Madison before the end of the season, I think that's going to be quite surprising, especially with the amount of time it's been out.

27:57Musa Okwonga: It's not, yeah, it's, you see what I mean? You see what I'm saying? Those returns from injury and it's one thing like a player returning from injury then like, you know, being match fit is one thing, but being match sharp, being like in the flow of the game and slotting straight back into the rhythm, it should be okay.

28:15Ryan Hunn: I think they should be okay. As long as they have that cushion, because what are they four points from the relegation zone? If West Ham or Forest go level on points with Spurs and there's like two or three of them that are separated by goal difference in that 18th spot or one week Spurs get dragged into it and they are actually 18th in the table. I just worry about what that does psychologically. There's not a manager that people are really, Ange isn't there, which I think a lot of the players were really, really in it for Ange Postacoglu. Yeah. You know, like when they, last season when they zeroed in on the Europa League, like Ange Postacoglu was on stick to football last week and it was really interesting, him almost like confirming the things that we'd heard before and just doubling down on it and being like, look, the Europa League was the thing we knew we could win and we we looked at who played like who had won it recently and how they played and we changed our way of playing to really go for the Europa League because that was the only trophy we could win and we didn't they didn't like sack off the league but they had to manage the league and he was just like look we weren't going to go down we had this points cushion but they don't have that this season no no and there isn't this bigger picture to play for so I just worry about what that does especially with a few new players in there as well who aren't really like you know I mean yeah man I think it's I think it's tricky I still think my gut feeling is that they won't they won't go down but I just really worry for him if they do get dragged into that I worry about

29:46Musa Okwonga: yeah I mean let's let's not speak the worst into existence I think they should still have enough again concern with some of the players returning maybe a bit late for them to get their match rhythm but it's going to be a nervy nervy last few weeks and that is not an easy run and we'll say this now because it's going to be very easy for people to crow about it oh they're Spurs well look at those fixtures they're not they're not easy

30:11Ryan Hunn: this time next week West Ham could have lost to Liverpool and Spurs could have beaten Fulham and then they're kind of fine

30:19Musa Okwonga: Fulham like hey we just beat Sunday in the way yeah I know but you know it's not unthinkable

30:23Ryan Hunn: right so therefore it's like when something is that much of a margin but that shows you kind of what's going on with the league at the moment, right? Because, should we maybe transition onto City? Of course, yeah, yeah. City beating Newcastle on Saturday evening, especially after Arsenal's result on Wednesday against Wolves, just really turned the screw on the pressure and the narrative in the Premier League. Closing the gap, like actually seeing the gap to two points at the top of the league. It was a really interesting game though, I thought, because we were actually doing the Stadio Social Club Discord hangout for a lot of it.

30:56Ryan Hunn: It was interesting how weird that last period was because in recent history in seasons where City have won the title or even some seasons that they haven't they have had the ability just to kind of almost like shut a game down they're like no this is it we're ahead we're making subs this game's done and it really didn't feel like that on Saturday

31:18Musa Okwonga: I think that's because I mean it's because City's best left back is playing at left midfield I mean Nick O 'Reilly man wow that guy is a phenomenon. Let me just quickly go off on it. He's got a hat-trick. He's not, but Nico Ryan is not a left-back. This is the thing. I think he's an attacking player, right, primarily. I think he probably ended up being an attacker. But the fact that he is probably the best left-back in their squad, the second best DM, arguably, like, maybe, like, has a higher ceiling as a DM than Nico Gonzalez, who's a very good player. But, like, that's how good I think Nico Ryan is.

31:54Musa Okwonga: Probably the best left-back at City at the moment, and one of the best like, like sort of free eights or left wingers. I mean, I compared him to Angel Di Maria, which I know is a big shout, but if you look at the trust that Pep is putting in him, the variety of positions that Di Maria played in and just what he can do, I mean his goal, the way he shapes his body, the way he lets the ball, first of all, if you see the opening goal for City in this game is incredible. The range of skills this guy has, we've seen him shut down games as a conventional left back. We've seen him force the play as a left back.

32:27Musa Okwonga: We see him run the game as a DM and as a progressive DM, a DM who's not just like being a stopper, but who is actually playing progressive passes, springing the counter. And then in this game, my goodness, the opening goal is the run that he makes, like floating into that pocket. And then when he receives the ball, lets it run across the body and hits the first time strike without taking a touch. And again, some might say, oh, this is standard. This is basic. No, actually it's not. Because if you've adjusted tactically as much as this guy has in the space of like no time at all, he's scored like 11 and 60 now, like for City.

33:02Musa Okwonga: And he's 20. He's 20. It's genuinely, he's the kind of player, like any job that he's given, it's very much a Bernardo Silva thing, like a future like City captain. Any job he's given, if Pep asks him to play at some point, if he has to stand in for Erling Haaland and players are nine, he'll do it. And he'll score. Because the positions he took up, I mean, look at him for the second goal. Look at the gap he finds. He's a big dude, right? Nick O 'Reilly, if you saw him on the street, the guy would stand out. And the man went missing twice. He went missing twice. Like he'd lost his markers twice for a second goal, the way he floats in to get that header.

33:37Musa Okwonga: This is like textbook. I cannot, like, I got to say one of my joys of doing a football podcast is every now and again, you get to absolutely just like put a spotlight on a player who you think is like the ceiling is nowhere in sight and that's how I feel about watching this guy he's just he's in a different different class

33:57Ryan Hunn: yeah I really like the fact that Pep started him at left back initially because he was gonna I think the way that City play I think and the way that like the kind of the profile of player that O 'Reilly is he was gonna have loads of like creative and attacking responsibility even at left back and he's big enough and physical enough to manage it. I think there were some games at left back that he managed some really, really good attacking attackers very, very well for someone that age. And you saw it last season with Myles Lewis Skelly as well, right? People who aren't naturally left backs or right backs playing in that role because of the amount of, I think that this is something that you can do now that you couldn't do 30 years ago or 20 years ago.

34:45Ryan Hunn: You either convert to that position and you stuck and you stayed there whereas I think now the way that there's so much responsibility in an attacking sense for those two positions specifically yes especially in in top level football in the modern era that you can actually bed players in there where you know you know that they're probably comfortable enough defensively they're not going to be they're not exactly going to be like you know Beresi and Maldini kind of thing but you don't need them to be. And they get the reps, they get into the team and they get used to being in situations that I think...

35:26Musa Okwonga: You know what's wild though? No, go for it. Maldini would absolutely be doing what O 'Reilly's doing. If Maldini was playing now, Maldini would be doing what... He'd be playing as a DM. He'd be playing as an eight.

35:37Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I think so. It's the same, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? Or is it? Is it just something you and I find interesting?

35:43Musa Okwonga: No, I think it is interesting because what you're saying is what you're saying is if you can defend competently high up the pitch then why not in the back line and what i like is i love this sort of tactical experimentation because pep looked around the squad and thought you know what i know are a very good player but i need more overall from a left back as a start i just need more i need like the physical game on saturday actually you know i love about the counter-attack so the one when he like didn't square it properly didn't make the right choice you know i love about this it's because not because inherently I love him as a player, right?

36:14Musa Okwonga: Everyone, you know, it's clear from anyone listening to the podcast. I love that now as a player. It's because when you see someone like not get the counter-track right, it makes you realize that City make it look automatic. They make it look a lot easier than it is. Like the way that he, what he did is the most relatable things I've seen in the counter-track. Cause actually he looked up and there were like multiple options. And he was like, actually, I can't quite, and the window closed to square it. And he should have shot. And I was like, you know what? That is so human. And I love that. It was so human.

36:45Ryan Hunn: A very entertaining moment.

36:47Musa Okwonga: But actually, they had to be, City were not at their best in this game, but they had to be obviously the peers of the game because Newcastle gave them a good go. In the first half, at least, I think. Funny enough, I think from a Newcastle perspective, I'd be slightly disappointed by how they didn't maintain some of that first half momentum in the second half. I think they City didn't really manage the game the best in the second half but I thought that Newcastle given what they showed when they equalised I thought they could have given us a little bit more from that point of view Can I talk about the Dan Byrne

37:22Ryan Hunn: disallowed goal? Yeah go for it go for it So I have a theory I have a suggested rule change What's that? So I think if a defender pushes an offensive player offside then that player should just be active and just count as like basically that the offside should be overruled basically well that person creates a new

37:43Musa Okwonga: a new track because if you look

37:44Ryan Hunn: at Ruben Diaz he essentially just before the ball gets played he pushes Dan Byrne offside right and that's the only thing that's causing Dan Byrne to be offside because he's in the line before that

37:56Musa Okwonga: yeah that shouldn't be

37:57Ryan Hunn: I don't think that should be allowed personally that's really clever though who was it was it it happens all the time by the way this isn't a focus but do you know what I think that would be

38:07Musa Okwonga: an interesting rule change. Do you know what's brilliant about it though? Because Ruben Diaz has read the rule book and like had a chat with Pep and been like, do you know what actually? I'm just shoving my side. Yeah, exactly. Like, do you know, it's like, there's a thing in basketball, I can't remember the rule now, but there was a thing, you see this a lot in the NBA when the rules come out and players like Chris Paul, who just retired, amazing at reading the rule back and going, actually, I can work that. And that's, that's just really clever. That's clever football. Yeah.

38:34Ryan Hunn: I mean, it's the margins, man. It's genius. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But this was a really important win for City because I think if they'd... Although, to be honest, I could envision a world that Man City dropped points on Saturday and then Arsenal don't beat Spurs. You know? And it's just another narrative builder.

38:51Musa Okwonga: Forcing, forcing, forcing... I think forcing Arsenal to go out and win it is interesting. Like, you know, the Arsenal thing, taking the lead, I think it's linked to all of this. Every time Arsenal take the lead in a Premier League game, specifically in a Premier League game, the league title becomes visible i don't think players will admit that and maybe they're not even conscious of it but i do think when they take the lead it's like they're not putting three points on the board like in terms of like they're complacent it's not complacency it's like oh like the dream is closer and it is like win your games and so each time you take the lead you're putting yourself in like oh we're like on pace to get that trophy we're getting close to the finish line and that's not a judgment on arsenal i'm saying this because as a united fan and i i might have this to you earlier, but we were talking earlier today before we started recording, I was saying, look, Arsenal are experiencing nothing different to when Liverpool hadn't won for 30 years, when United hadn't won for 25 years.

39:47Musa Okwonga: We were lucky because we had Kampner who at least had won the year before right with Leeds. So we had someone who'd done it. For United fans of a certain vintage, for Liverpool fans of a certain vintage, and for Arsenal fans, this is new. and it's new for the players and I was only half joking but I said like Arsenal players should just take Instagram off their phones and like they're going to get the feedback anyway but there's something where they almost need to create a bubble around themselves for much of the rest of the season and just be like look fans can say what they want and fans can aspire if they want that's fine too because actually it is a new thing it is a bit frightening I mean look at the poor Chicago Cubs they hadn't won for 100 years before they won the World Series like that's just how it's going to be like fans will spin out and do their thing but our job actually is just to put one foot in front of the other and it's going to be you know that that's our mentality now i say this and some might say oh this is eye roll stuff but again when you haven't won a league title for a while these are the things that just pop up yeah i agree man i agree it's and it's like this

40:48Ryan Hunn: premier league we've said this before but i think it's more difficult to win the premier league at the moment than it has been for a long time in terms of just the the consistent i mean it's always look it's always difficult to win a premier league but there's something about how like the pure level of resistance feels like it goes so far down the league now yeah it doesn't feel like there are any absolute bankers like they used to be yeah 15 20 years ago look from top to bottom

41:13Musa Okwonga: in the premier league right i can say this now that there is not a poor coach in that league like when i say poor coach there is not a single coach who is out of their depth and there isn't

41:22Ryan Hunn: in that entire division. There's not a poor... I know Wolves are, in terms of points, are on course for like an all-time terrible Premier League season, but they're not playing in a Premier League from 20 years ago. They're playing in a Premier League now where like... They're not Derby.

41:36Musa Okwonga: That Wolves team plays the Derby team that went down with like, you know, and getting... Yeah, Wolves,

41:40Ryan Hunn: I think Wolves wins that comfortably. Declan Rice actually said this the other day. He said something really interesting where he said, I know a lot of people think the Prem's not it at the moment in terms of quality because of the football side of it but he was just like anyone who plays in this Premier League now will tell you how difficult it is and I think that's that's something that maybe because it doesn't translate to I don't want to I want to say like entertainment right I think some of the Premier League this season has been fairly boring because there has just been this cancelling out of ability you know you don't get the variations as much and we've said actually that the most fun teams to watch are usually when two flawed teams play each other because it creates enough variation for a genuine real entertainment to flourish.

42:25Ryan Hunn: It's kind of wild man but anyway we're not saying anything without having a single season.

42:28Musa Okwonga: I want to come back to this because I'm interested in the Premier League thing about Declan Rice and that comment. I love that he said that because I think there are things like even that mistake that he made there are things you could get away with in that right back spot maybe two years ago that you can't get away with now. Now you've got two people pressing you and they're going to be like almost like you know that even the body shape they're attacking with there's just no margins so there's an element of like oh there are not even margins there i just think that all over the field now like you know you saw it and you saw it happen with um in the nba right like a couple years ago with the scoring explosion where all of a sudden you had a bunch of players you've grown up watching the same sort of skills packages and they've grown up like doing all the exercise drills and they've optimized their diets and all of a sudden you just had five players averaging almost 30 points a season.

43:19Musa Okwonga: Like out of nowhere. And you hadn't had that before. And I think the Premier League, you've got the same thing where you've got sort of these optimized 11s or virtually optimized where even teams that are built with the best data and the best fitness stats. Shout out actually to James Milner, by the way. James Milner, holder of the Premier League record for appearances, 654. Wow. Yeah, a rare example of a player that can really evolve through eras. That's incredible considering the fitness demands on players now. Like this league is like, from a defensive point of view. It's no joke, man. It's no joke.

43:50Musa Okwonga: It's optimised.

43:51Ryan Hunn: Yeah. Well, I mean, speaking of the rest of the Premier League, do you want to just shout out some of the results very quickly? Because Palace got a much needed win against Wolves. They did, they did. For the last half an hour. Yeah, yeah. Well, 90th minute winner for Palace.

44:02Musa Okwonga: The standout result for me though is Fulham's 3-1 win at Sunderland.

44:06Ryan Hunn: Back-to-back home defeats now for Sunderland after not losing at home all season.

44:11Musa Okwonga: It's a cracker for Fulham. They've done all that and they're still only 10th.

44:13Ryan Hunn: Wild. Wild, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they've done really well there. Liverpool left it late at Forest. They had one goal disallowed from McAllister, came off his arm, and then they had another one that was allowed in the 97th minute. Great late equaliser for Villa to snatch a point after, it looked like Leeds were going to... The free kick from Stack, by the way. Oh my God.

44:36Musa Okwonga: So, so good. So good. It's absolutely incredible. I mean, I think there's maybe slightly caught... I don't know if it got napping but almost like the audacity to go from there maybe that was part of it it's like no you're not going to try me from there but he did it's like

44:53Ryan Hunn: do you remember that free kick that Chalanoğlu scored for Haas Fowl

44:57Musa Okwonga: oh yes years ago oh my yeah right the audacity it's honestly

45:01Ryan Hunn: if you haven't seen that go on YouTube Chalanoğlu Haas Fowl free kick it's absolutely wild yeah but that was I mean

45:06Musa Okwonga: that's the most disrespectful thing to attempt from there actually it's honestly I think it's one of the most disrespectful things I've ever seen on a football coach I suppose the other really notable result that day was Brentford 0 Brighton 2 really good win that for Brighton away

45:21Ryan Hunn: another much needed win yeah

45:24Musa Okwonga: very much so

45:25Ryan Hunn: but also Chelsea Burnley late late equaliser for Burnley 93rd minute equaliser away at Stoufford Bridge yeah Resenia

45:31Musa Okwonga: really unhappy about this because Chelsea taking a really early lead and at that point looked like they were just going to completely stroll through but again it's the difficulty of putting teams away and they'll again I respect Resenia for taking some responsibility and going that we should have closed this out. But that's also credit to Burnley for being resilient.

45:47Ryan Hunn: Yeah. Finally getting sent off with 20 minutes to go for a second yellow. I actually thought to be honest

45:51Musa Okwonga: it could have been a straight red maybe. Something weird going on here. So like players getting racially abused.

45:59Ryan Hunn: Right, yeah. Actually we were going to talk about this. Three clubs have come out in the Premier League this weekend to condemn racist abuse of their players. I think it was Chelsea, Burnley and Wolves.

46:15Musa Okwonga: and there's a couple things going on here I think so there's the so the Premier League puts out a statement in relation to one of them well a couple of them anyway but we're appalled by the unacceptable online racist abuse targeted at Wolves Tolu Arokodare there are serious consequences for anybody found guilty we will offer the club and player our full support with investigations football is for everyone there is no room for racism it's interesting because I had a look at some of the abuse that he was receiving and some of it looks like it is from people that aren't football fans that are using football as a as a as a ramp on onto football so one of them was like so i won't mention the sort of the uh the racist insult but it's like oh you're responsible for wolves's relegation uh no okay you're obviously not a football fan if you think that one individual is responsible for this how long will you black people continue to ruin our football okay so that's okay so that's an account which is using football to push a particular line then the other one which is interesting i won't mention again the racist insult but um all the ins whatever they are you know you've ruined my bet basically this is a big problem and this and now this is my thing general so you've got this toxic combination of the well you've got a toxic combination of the racism in football whether in or out people who are football fans or not who are using football as a particular platform to push their hatreds whether they be strategic or spontaneous supercharged by the betting culture

47:47Ryan Hunn: yeah this adds another layer to something that is already grim

47:50Musa Okwonga: yeah it's a pretty horrifying catalyst yeah so one to watch

47:54Ryan Hunn: we did an episode on Thursday on Patreon about the Vinicius thing yeah last week we recorded it before Vincent Company's brilliant what I thought was a brilliant press conference on Friday yeah we talked about like football football does have a problem and I think that's because you have people when you have people in like when you have like an institution and the head of an institution or the or the spokesperson or the front man essentially for an institution coming out and speaking about that incident in the way that they did it create that that helps to kind of create the culture where that people feel emboldened to say that kind of stuff as regularly as they do it all adds to it it all in my opinion it doesn't green light explicitly but the lack of resistance or the lack of seriousness that some of that stuff is taken it makes people feel a little braver do you know what I mean and it also just doesn't doesn't create a yeah anyway we're not repeating anything we didn't say on that show so if you want to go and listen to that also I would recommend people we'll put a link in the show notes but Musa wrote a piece for GQ the other day about that so I'd recommend going and reading that it was a really good piece thanks man but yeah anyway is that all of the Premier League?

49:05Ryan Hunn: that's all the Premier League alright man let's quickly dart around and wrap up some other stuff Barcelona are back top of La Liga after Real Madrid lost 2-1 to Osasuna on Saturday Barcelona then beat Levante 3-0 at home on Sunday to go top Budimir penalty gave Osasuna the lead love Budimir listen Osasuna listen he got booked for diving on the penalty it was really and he was like no way no there's no way there's no way and then the ref went and checked it overruled it actually I would say

49:34Musa Okwonga: on Osasuna like once again like popping up in a title race to be decisive they they like getting involved they do they love it they love a bit of it Kian Subani a manager shout out to Kian and the gang over there interesting thing Valverde going off in this game and changing the balance of the game he said because you can't take off Mbappe or Vinicius they're untouchables which I thought was fascinating I was like whatever that is I don't care let's talk about oh Madrid is different no they're a football team actually this needs to stop like this idea no no there's no there is no you're a football team actually and if you don't coordinate like a football team you're going to lose and Kian said it best he was like man like they were doing fine and then they took off Alverde who was doing everything and the complete balance of the game was lost and the one thing Osasun do not need is an invitation and they took it

50:25Ryan Hunn: they took it the goal from Real Garcia as well was great fantastic so good but yeah Barcelona top after their 3-0 win over Levante

50:32Musa Okwonga: on this game one thing from this game actually two things lovely to see Bernal getting amongst the goals more than just the DM and him back from injury and like he's arriving back like a man in a hurry other thing Firmin Lopez angry goal that third goal he absolutely smoked that so yeah check it out

50:49Ryan Hunn: game of the weekend though in La Liga for me Real Sociedad Real Oviedo Oviedo were 2-0 up they scored two goals in two minutes in the second half at Anoeta and then two goals well a goal for Oscarsson to get Real Sociedad back into it and then two goals in three minutes from Coleta Carr and then Oscarsson again gave what Real Sociedad thought was three points but then a Santi Cazorla corner for an Eric Bailly header it's just the

51:20Musa Okwonga: most chaotic the most chaotic combination in top level football

51:26Ryan Hunn: Just two names that you thought would not be combining in 2026.

51:32Musa Okwonga: But somehow belong. Somehow belong. Yeah. Yeah. It's perfect. There's a different universe where those two play in a team together that wins everything. I know. There is a different universe. Yeah.

51:39Ryan Hunn: They didn't cross over it for Real. Should have. Yeah. What a game. What a game. Unbelievable. Quickly in the Bundesliga, St. Pauli, they beat Werder Bremen to go above them in the table. And St. Pauli are into 16th, which is the relegation spot. So the playoff spot. back-to-back home wins and Wolfsburg lost to Augsburg 3-2 which means that St. Pauli are just only behind Wolfsburg on goal difference. Very, very tight down the bottom. Gladbach lost again to Freiburg. They're back into some patchy, really, really patchy run of form. They're only two points clear of St. Pauli. But at the top of the table, to be honest, I think the St.

52:18Ryan Hunn: Pauli Werder Bremen game should have been the top-spielder Wokker. I know it was... In terms of its importance,

52:23Musa Okwonga: yes, it should have been.

52:24Ryan Hunn: It was Leipzig Dortmund 2-all in Leipzig a 95th minute Fabio Silva equaliser saved a point for Dortmund

52:35Musa Okwonga: saved Dortmund's title hopes well come on let's keep it alive come on let's keep it alive

52:40Ryan Hunn: there's an 8 point gap behind Bayern Munich who for some reason decided to make that game against Eintracht way more interesting than it needed to be and that's ahead of Dortmund hosting Bayern next week

52:51Musa Okwonga: yeah so Bayern beat Eintracht 3-2 they made harder work as you say Harry Kane with a beautiful second goal to put them 3-0 up and then gives away a penalty which Burkhardt scores square pass and Kimmich across the face of goal which leads to Frankfurt's second so it's a nervy last few minutes and they win 3-2 in the end but company just came out afterwards and was like we gave them the second goal yeah

53:14Ryan Hunn: that was a wild decision from Joshua Kimmich I was just like what I think this is existential

53:21Musa Okwonga: he plays a square pass

53:23Ryan Hunn: it's so wild 20 metres across his own six foot he bypasses Urbic who's in goal for Bayern and he's trying to play it to Kim Min Jae that's actually woke nonsense that was real

53:34Musa Okwonga: five dimensional chess I don't think it was woke nonsense

53:36Ryan Hunn: I think it was the opposite actually

53:39Musa Okwonga: I think it was very un-woke that pass can you imagine what Sean Dyche would have said if he'd seen that I would have paid such good money game's gone game's gone

53:51Ryan Hunn: another cracker Heidenheim three all against Stuttgart on Sunday yes one of which was from Dennis Undav to save a point for Stuttgart an absolute wild game of football cracker some great games in the Bundesliga this weekend good win for Union against Leverkusen and that was after Union Frauen had won on Friday night against Köln great win for them in the Frauen Bundesliga they're doing pretty they're doing pretty decent they're in ninth they're 10 points ahead of the drop zone in their first season in the Bundesliga so doing really really well but yeah great weekend in the Bundesliga in Serie A title's done right

54:26Musa Okwonga: well Inter are pulling clear 10 points clear at the top now yeah yeah yeah and it's not just the way that they're playing it's the way that their rivals are kind of stumbling so Milan losing to Parma but they've been Milan have been disappointing for a few weeks now to be honest there's a few games they should have won Roma rising 3-0 over Cremonese and then Napoli losing 2-1 having taken the lead to Atalanta Juventus losing to Como in that new kit the fourth kit which is

54:57Ryan Hunn: well bad weekend for fourth kits because Milan wore their fourth debuted their fourth kit as well and lost at home and Juve wore that special kit at home which was lovely but just I didn't not I don't think that it's not Juventus yeah horizontal horizontal lines we might have to do an episode on Juve soon because identity look

55:18Musa Okwonga: okay look look at the positives look Love the stripes, not the angle of them, but I love the stripes. And love the red numbers. That was an old school Juventus, right? That was a nod to like, you know, I think it was the late 90s. I love that. But yeah. But this performance, I mean, Como just, Como gave them the business. And now you look at that league table, like you say, 10 points and the goal difference and their 20 points, 20 goals over Milan, the goal difference. And they look like they're pulling clear. The challenge for Inter, of course, is the Champions League.

55:53Ryan Hunn: Yeah.

55:54Musa Okwonga: But a glimpse. Because, strange to say this, considering that this has been for at least, well, the first half of the season, something like more of an exciting title race. It was great for a bit. But I can't help but think that if Inter do win the league and go out to Berta Glimt, that is a subpar season. Weird, huh? Strange to say, but for a team of Inter's aspirations. yeah you'd expect them

56:20Ryan Hunn: to be going deeper in the Champions League

56:22Musa Okwonga: and to have international aspirations I think and it's a bad look for them to go out to Bordeaux-Glimt I think

56:27Ryan Hunn: yeah just quickly in league PSG went back top of the league because Monaco beat Lons 3-2 came from 2-0 down actually to beat Lons 3-2 in Lons on Saturday PSG cruising to a 3-0 win at home to Mets

56:44Musa Okwonga: Desiree Douai is just in a different class at this point he's just above and beyond. You see the first touch he gets for his goal, his opener, he's taking up from his great form in the Champions League. First, then he goes off at half-time and the job is basically done.

56:59Ryan Hunn: Interesting, three of the top four all lost this weekend. Lyon lost to Strasbourg 3-1 yesterday and Brest beating Marseille 2-0 on Friday, which continues Marseille's poor run at the moment. Before we do bounce, MLS was back this weekend.

57:19Musa Okwonga: Oh man, the catch up.

57:21Ryan Hunn: LAFC being into Miami, 3-0 in the opening game at the Coliseum. They had it at the Coliseum in LA. Absolutely wild. So yeah, MLS is back. Wasn't that, do you remember the, was it COVID? They had the MLS is back tournament. Yes. Best day for a tournament ever.

57:40Musa Okwonga: You know what, there was actually, there was, as bleak as that time was, there was some really nice like collective online viewing experiences where because you just knew that everyone was tuning in so you could actually check and be like hey you're going to watch XYZ game at a certain time and the idea that you're watching gaming community was quite a welcome like despite like despite the bleakness of it all it was nice to have some kind of like some community yeah I was feeling that

58:05Ryan Hunn: yeah shout out to the

58:07Musa Okwonga: NWSL Challenge Cup in 2020 oh that was that was a banger do you know what that will always be an MVP

58:12Ryan Hunn: that was great man the glare on the the glare on the glare on the camera. The memes around the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup were the playground in the corner of the stadium behind the stadium was great. Kids playground was amazing. Anyway, before we go too far down the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup memory lane those who don't know we're going to get out of here. We hope everyone's staying safe and well. Don't forget if you would like to hear ad-free episodes in full and all the extra episodes and bonus stuff, go to patreon.com forward slash stadio you can sign up as a podcast member if you just want the podcast or if you want all the extra stuff as well sign up as a stadio social club member we really really appreciate the support we're going to be doing two extra shows this week two quick champions league ones so they'll be on wednesday and thursday and uh until then don't forget to set the stadio out just play us on spotify speaking of which playing out on a track by the thinking of the world began pounding in our ears the moment we hit shore and it's the track called wish you were anything you'd like to add Mooseh I want to do it

59:16Musa Okwonga: I mean how can I follow that nothing further alright everyone much love

59:20Ryan Hunn: we will see you later this week see you then

59:53Thank you.

1:00:16Oh, yeah.

1:00:47I'm out.