Finals, derbies and other bragging rights

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2:02Musa Okwonga: hello and welcome back to study a podcast i'm miso kwanga i'm ryan hun brian how you doing doing all right thanks man how are you doing i am very well indeed very well indeed yes nice

2:13Ryan Hunn: we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are got a big bit of admin to start the show today because got a few things that we need to mention first of all it's we've got one more week left of our March Patreon push. If you want to get 30 % off your first month as a Stadio member on Patreon you can sign up at patreon.com forward slash Stadio. You can sign up for the podcasts where you just get all the podcasts, ad free, in full, all the bonus episodes bonus episodes etc. You also get the newsletter of which there will be one this week. Or you can sign up to the Stadio Social Club where you get all of that plus access to the Stadio Social Club Discord where we will also have you know like live watch alongs hangouts you get merch discounts as well we're going to have a discord hangout this coming saturday so if you want to go and sign up go and do it you also get 15 off merch and there is merch the stadio first merch drop of the year is live now the link is in the description if you want to go and pre-order that i think it's available to pre-order for the next couple of weeks.

3:19Ryan Hunn: And final bit of admin, we've started a little partnership for the last few months of the season with Kickback Soccer. You and I are going to individually pop on one of their podcasts a month or something like that. You were on with David Gass last week on First Touch 26 to talk about some World Cup stuff which was really interesting. It was a great show actually. I did wonder whether you were coming back. You know, he's like, he's gone to Brazil. Actually, we're still in

3:42Musa Okwonga: negotiations about that. So, no, no. Ha, ha, ha.

3:45Ryan Hunn: Ha, ha, ha. But yeah, also, you know, if I go to some games, we'll do some stuff around that with them as well. If you want to go check them out, kickbacksoccer.com. It's got all the links to their socials and stuff like that. And if you follow Stadio, etc., you'll see us post them when we guest on any of their shows. But yeah, excited.

4:02Musa Okwonga: Yeah, very much. Love the first one as well. Is that all the admin? I think that's all of it. That's all of it.

4:07Ryan Hunn: Sorry, that was a bit of a bumper admin bit. Oh, come on. They were loving it. They're loving it. Today, we're going to talk about, obviously, the Carabao Cup final. we're going to talk a little bit about Premier League because it's kind of weird that as big as the Carabao Cup final was wasn't the most seismic game of the weekend in England I don't think

4:26Musa Okwonga: no it wasn't, it wasn't

4:28Ryan Hunn: which is weird right, it always comes at such a weird time the Carabao Cup final as well we will talk about the Madrid derby which was wild truly is Sarriar back on? is it back on or is it doing what Bayern did a little while ago where they catfished us into a game?

4:45Musa Okwonga: I'm still in the kind of category of catfish. I think it's catfishing us, but we'll see. I still think it's done, yeah.

4:52Ryan Hunn: So I think that will do us. But there is only one place to begin. Oh, no.

5:00Musa Okwonga: Oh, no. Oh, wait. Actually, I think I know where this is. Go on. I think it's... Is it Cone? Cone Gladbach. it was going to be oh really what is it what is it actually what is it actually

5:18Ryan Hunn: it's actually no no it is it was actually going to be

5:28Ryan Hunn: I'm getting better at this

5:30Musa Okwonga: you are getting better at this I'm going to have to

5:33Ryan Hunn: switch it up it's annoying me how good you've got at this recently it's Germany it's your weakness you can't help this but Lucas Krasniel got fired after this game so it was quite a big it was quite a seismic result really

5:45Musa Okwonga: got to feel everything

5:46Ryan Hunn: go on three, glad back three but yeah wild game in the Bundesliga goals and a red card so if you want to go and check that out go and check that out before we do get into the Carabao Cup final we need to shout out the Women's Asian Cup won by Japan on Saturday morning European time

6:08Musa Okwonga: their third Asia Cup and each time they've defeated Australia in the final. A banger for Micah Romano from distance sealed it. Hell of a strike that. Absolutely hell of a strike. Australia applied a lot of pressure but couldn't get it done. Couldn't get the equaliser and Japan did really well. Really resilient to hold out as long as they did. Yeah, like we said their third title and very much the current hegemonic force in football there.

6:34Ryan Hunn: Yeah, congratulations to Japan. And congratulations to Manchester City men who won the Carabao Cup final on Sunday beating Arsenal 2-0 at Wembley I would like you to take the lead on this because I didn't watch it live I was at St. Paulie Freiburg so I watched it back already kind of knowing what had happened and seeing people's response what takeaways do you have I thought it was

7:10Musa Okwonga: it went about as expected fundamentally, I would say, in terms of the outcome. I think that, first of all, congratulations to Manchester City. And I think for the bold approach they took, it's fundamentally the same approach that they took against Real Madrid in the first leg at the Bernabeu. 4-1-3-2, Silva in midfield, slightly advanced of Rodri. And then you had Doku, Cherki. Well, in this case, you had Cherki, as opposed to Savino. But you basically had wide players working exceptionally hard, but also tucking inside when necessary. I thought it was really bold from City. The first half didn't have that much incident, but I think City really separated themselves after the break and were really good value for the victory.

7:52Musa Okwonga: I thought Doku was spectacular. I know that O 'Reilly will get the plaudits as being man of the match, but I thought what Doku did in this game was sensational. It's just exceptional. Ball carrying into deep areas, constant threat. Rodri, Cherokee just looked superb. And this was kind of... we're looking at the evolution of Pep Guardiola's sort of City team and the next generation of City players and the next, and for them all to win together, I think, is really important for this group of players. And Semenyo, again, it looks like he's been there for five years. Yeah, City really impressive. I think for Arsenal, they were showing the loyalty to Kepa in goal.

8:29Musa Okwonga: That's just the way, you know, he got us to the final, we're keeping there. He looked really, really nervous actually, Ryan, I would say. Yeah, he did. In that second half. Yeah, maybe because there was quite a lot of talk around it but yeah maybe there's always talk around

8:41Ryan Hunn: keepers that keep their place for finals it's been like that for 20 odd years yeah do you know

8:46Musa Okwonga: what it was with him though it was that bit it wasn't even the the one when he dropped the cross for o'reilly there was a moment about 50 minutes earlier where or just at the start the second half where i think it's doku and he basically gets a bit of a wrestle with doku and i saw that i thought to myself yeah this is it's you're not gonna you're not gonna you're not in a rhythm and this is not to knock him it was more like he didn't feel like he was in his rhythm all game and that ultimately was decisive and I think as well the other thing too I think the absence of timber just gives you a different option down that flank and I think maybe there's an issue of like game rhythm with that back line in Capier struggled against Semenya but then again that's not a criticism because Semenya has been toasting most fullbacks all year.

9:32Musa Okwonga: But yeah, small margins, City deserved winners, but not a massive shock to me, I would say, in this context.

9:38Ryan Hunn: No, I thought Arsenal started very well and probably should have been ahead quite early. Kai Havertz, I think, needs to hit that chance earlier. He lets Trafford get a couple of extra yards out, which basically just narrows the angle for him. I think if he hits that first time as soon as it comes to him, I think Arsenal are ahead. And it's a completely different game then, which is a huge cliche I know but City were like they withstood that early Arsenal pressure because I was checking the the um like the stats and at one point it felt like it said Arsenal had something like four or five shots in the opening 10-15 minutes and City hadn't had a single one I was like oh wow it feels like Arsenal are kind of pretty on top here and then watching it back it was like oh yeah they I think they were on top in that early period you know after that initial wave City started to get back into it quite well and I think the main difference of the game was that City seemed to adapt in game and immediately nullified that Arsenal threat because it looked like Arsenal were getting quite a lot of joy in that inside right channel.

10:35Ryan Hunn: City just kind of like like I don't know if they changed or if they were just a little bit more switched on to it but it was something that Arsenal couldn't do throughout the game. From my point of view it was quite alarming that Arsenal didn't really seem to have any kind of answer to that until after City were already two goals up and by then it's too late because City was still very very good despite what's like the second of the Premier League they're not they're not that far behind really nine points of the game in hand isn't a million miles away you know they're still in the FA Cup yes they went out to the Champions League but this isn't you know I'm not going to name a side but this isn't a someone who is just this isn't a side that's completely struggling and fighting for their life right totally a couple of things were at play from an Arsenal point of view I think the surprise absence of Eze was really disheartening at the beginning because I think that he's just helped Arsenal look a little more fluid in attacking transitions and patterns this season since he's got more of a run in the side.

11:34Ryan Hunn: But to be without him and Erdogan for a game of this magnitude is so big when you've kind of been playing quite fluidly, for example, last week against Everton and against Leverkusen in midweek. I think Arsenal played really, really well in both games. and looked a lot more fluid than they've looked at points this season, right? So to take that away...

11:55Musa Okwonga: Ezez has been really looking himself, yeah. He's been really looking himself in recent years. Yeah, for sure.

11:59Ryan Hunn: And I think it also just seemed to stop Arsenal's willingness to remotely kind of try to play through City. And City, I think their structure played into that really well. And Arsenal just couldn't find an answer. All of that, yes, there were some absences, but, you know, that happens, right? Yes, there was a couple of errors from Kepa, one specifically for the goal. I think Saka switches off for the second one. But the main thing is just that the response in the second half was to put in probably one of the worst halves of football performance-wise that I've seen Arsenal play this season. It just felt like a really weird collective kind of breakdown bar maybe Saliba, who I thought was really good.

12:44Ryan Hunn: And actually Califurian I thought Rice, can I say the German comms? That one chance was amazing.

12:47Musa Okwonga: The German comms love Declan Rice. they absolutely love deckton rice at one of them basically like a mini podcast and how brilliant they found him um throughout this year they're huge fans of what he's doing i think to your point about the inside right channel the playmaking i think it was doku you know i think that left flank ryan like you had obviously o'reilly coming out and doing what he did but i think that the key to it was doku found this really good pocket where he would carry the ball just from deep not he wasn't necessarily always on the touchline he had that kind of inside left and he would just cannon the ball he would drag it and it was weird because he didn't actually have the ball um as much as it felt he did he didn't dribble ball that much but what he was really good at was contesting space so i was looking at the fop mob it was like he won 12 out of 17 ground deals that is a huge amount of defensive work and i think that was part of it like just this is something he didn't necessarily do at the Bernabeu so much I felt like he was tucking in more in this game and you saw by the very end I mean he almost got a third goal which he hit narrowly wide he hit a strike narrowly wide but I think that if you talk about Arsenal having a poor second half if I'm going to be a bit critical I feel like the attacking players particularly I would say Saka and Trossard didn't fully have their they didn't gamble enough Just to cut in

14:11Ryan Hunn: I think Saka's form has been not great and Trossard was not his usual self before them picking up the injury and it's a bad time for that to happen that's how I felt

14:21Musa Okwonga: watching it that's how I felt watching it

14:23Ryan Hunn: yeah it just felt like I think Arsenal weren't really offering a huge amount after that early stage in an attacking sense really totally yeah in short I think Pep and Man City maximised their chances when they needed to and that's super cliche yeah yeah and that was the main difference that they capitalised on an Arsenal error they got one really quickly afterwards which was key I think that was the thing that I think just if they don't get that second I think Arsenal maybe weathered that a little more but the fact that it comes so soon afterwards it's what four minutes apart the goals? Totally yeah it was over It just kind of killed Arsenal a bit It was done right It was done by then and it just felt very much to me watching it back obviously knowing the outcome like someone who has been and done it a million times before in Pep.

15:16Ryan Hunn: Of course, yeah. I know a lot of that side are new. It just felt like a side that knew how to win, which again is such a massive cliche, but I think those moments, or the psychological reps, let's say, I think it matters for things like, you know, overcoming that early period and then actually getting a bit of a foothold in the game and then putting a little bit more of the pressure on and capitalising when you get the moment. I don't think Arsenal did that. And I don't think they actually created enough to give them enough wiggle room to kind of hurt City on a day where they were massively under par, especially in that second half.

15:53Musa Okwonga: Totally. And I know you mentioned like your fear of sort of cliches there, but I want to add to this and just say, I'll add my own cliche just by saying this was a Bernardo Silva masterclass. It was absolutely brilliant. Like just everything, the only reason this really really works this this formation is if he tucks in alongside Rodri when necessary but also does this defensive role and he just really played sometimes he was a winger um he pushed high up this was like watching the Bernardo Silva in the treble winning season when he just went and was brilliant against um Madrid in particular the Champions League I felt like he pulled wide when necessary he was combative in central areas and just it felt like a kind of real muscle memory performance where the moment it came to support the game, he just locked in and it just felt like he just managed the game perfectly.

16:42Musa Okwonga: And Rodri looked really, after a slightly uncertain start, Rodri looked really comfortable, actually, as the game went on.

16:50Ryan Hunn: And he's not looked that comfortable for a while. No, no, right. He's a former, but he's a very recent Ballon d 'Or winner. Yeah, exactly. Rodri's not cooked by any stretch. But he did look as comfortable as I've seen him probably since he's come back to anything. Like put it this way, he was way more comfortable in this game than he was away at Bodega. Oh God, dude. Come on, yeah. Yeah, bye, bye, bye. And I think, I think an Arsenal midfield, for the Arsenal midfield, that should be the really worrying thing. Is that, Yes. There was such a lack of, how do I say it? Maybe like technical threat in the middle of midfield.

17:28Ryan Hunn: Yes. Yes. City just kind of had it all their own way. And that led to, I think, Arsenal playing passes that were just not really sticking forward. And they've done that a lot this season. And I think it's something that we're getting way ahead of ourselves. And Arsenal might go on to win quite a lot of stuff this season. Who knows? But I think next season, and I do wonder if in recent weeks it's felt more that way because you've had like Eze dropping into a deeper role sometimes like for it against Everton for example but Eze or Odegaard Martin Odegaard I think having one of them on the pitch at any one time is so vital to to central build up I think because it just adds another really really technically skilled player in there Yes

18:20Musa Okwonga: it's a playmaking function if you look at the the City players Doku, Cherki and Semenyo are all players I would regard as playmakers that can run an attack a bit more. Semenya a bit lesser because he's a dribbler, but I still think he has the creative function. And if I look at the players that Arsenal had there, and also Bernardo Silva in there too, some that can run an attack, truly run an attack, get on the end and finish. Saka Havertz, Trosser behind Jokorosh, that is not as heavy on the playmaking side. And that in the end is the challenge. And I have a further thing, which I think, you look at Maduweka who got brought on, he was basically being prepared for the sub on at 1-0 and then City score the crucial second and you see Arteta's face going god that's my plan out the window I wonder if not now because it's very early for him I wonder if and when Max Daumann puts himself ahead of other players in the pecking order I'm not saying what happened now but I'm fascinated by the next 18 months and where Daumann goes in terms of like who Arteta goes to to generate offense because Daumann is actually a playmaker he's not just the guy that beats people in the dribble he actually is someone that's patient with his passing with his movement and I totally get why he wasn't brought on in the final I'm not saying he should have been

19:34Ryan Hunn: the biggest amount of praise I have for Arteta is not bringing on Dowman yeah I get that

19:40Musa Okwonga: do you see what I mean so I'm interested more in terms of what this game means for Arteta going forward going okay actually who are the playmakers who are the dribblers that I can rely on to open up teams with patience as well as like technique because I think the patient playmaking was what was missing actually for Arsenal in this game, funnily enough. But yeah, but the Diamond thing definitely, I look at that and go, look, that 11 was still good enough to get a job done, I think, with the options off the bench. And I do, I do firmly believe, look, there's a lot of talk about Arsenal squad depth, Ryan.

20:16Musa Okwonga: I wonder if, I wonder if investments are being made in the summer in the forward line. I'm not saying they should be. I'm just interested

20:26Ryan Hunn: I'm not being knee-jerk about this

20:28Musa Okwonga: I don't want to be knee-jerk because City were fantastic and would have beaten most teams playing like this I think I'm just interested to see what Arsenal are thinking in terms of the forwards I guess

20:42Ryan Hunn: Yeah I mean I'm

20:48Ryan Hunn: not that this should be about Arsenal now and we'll have plenty of time to talk about it but it does feel like one thing they've done really really well under Arteta is actually build squads for the next phase of this process I think that they're they're now set up to win and I think this but this season they have to win they have to win and they have to win something quite big I think the league is the number one priority I'd say Champions League second FA Cup third Carabao Cup fourth however while I don't think it's you know I think I said last week when we were talking about it that I think going out to Leverkusen would have been more damaging than losing this but still I think it doesn't mean that you can just completely brush this off as it doesn't really mean anything because it does mean something I think it means something big to Pep because I think his reaction was really interesting I thought afterwards before I mention that I'll just finish that point what I mean by that is that Arsenal have to win this season and if they do we've seen them defensively and in deeper parts of midfield be very very solid and stable and pretty good I imagine that if there is a showpiece transfer that comes in next season or a marquee transfer it will be something in an attacking sense because I think that's something that they need to level up the attack to where they are on other parts of the pitch and I think if you were going to just grade it, it would be the weaker area of the pitch, while still having some very, very good players.

22:25Ryan Hunn: But going back to Pep quickly, I thought his reaction was really interesting because they went trophy-less last season, City. That's a big deal. It's a big deal for Pep. It doesn't really happen very often. Huge, yeah, yeah. Huge, yeah, yeah. And I think his reaction was interesting because to me, we've talked about this a few times before right about how how fans talk about teams and then how managers and other players talk about certain teams yes and i thought pep's reaction was quite interesting because i i think he'd buy that i think he he feels like this is like a quite a it was probably his best chance at a trophy this season especially now they're out of the champions league and yeah yeah he looked like kind of more relieved or joyful winning something like this than I've seen him for a little while actually.

23:18Ryan Hunn: His celebration for the opening goal

23:22Musa Okwonga: was absolutely huge. I think it's because Pep is making very clearly a transition between the core of his old team and the new one. And so the importance of winning something together also just the different pressures this season has put him under. He's been outspoken politically like never before. At a time when maybe professionally it was disadvantaged just to be like that. You have the charges against City. You have a lot of stuff. There's a lot of conversation, a lot of noise around the club. A lot of it earned, to be honest, but it's still stuff that he's had to navigate. He's brought in new players and integrated them into the squad.

23:59Musa Okwonga: He's had absentees from some of his key players previously. So if Pep could rank this In terms of the difficulty of City seasons, I think this would rank actually among one of his more difficult seasons. I really believe it would be because you've got the emergence, the sustained emergence of the Arsenal threat. And to your point about how coaches talk about teams, I did something very foolish the other day. I went on Twitter and Ryan, I foolishly looked at a lot of the Arsenal discourse. And Ryan, the toxicity of it, it's mind-blowing. I sometimes feel like rival coaches have more respect for what Arsenal are doing under Arteta than some of, not all the fan base, but a substantial bulk of the fan base, actually.

24:48Musa Okwonga: And I feel like this opponent, this Arsenal opponent, in its own way, is just as formidable to Pep as the freewheeling Klopp years, actually. I feel it's just as dangerous. So for him to get this victory, it's a huge deal. And to get it with a performance like this, and also to get it through Nico O 'Reilly, who is very much the face of the new City team, and who looks like being England's first choice left back for the World Cup. Well, no, not that he will be, but looks like he is, to me, and I'm not Thomas Tickle, and he's a genius, so let me not undermine, you know, let me not critique that man too much.

25:29Musa Okwonga: But you've got a guy that's basically the future of England's left back position. and maybe also the future of its defensive midfield at some point in the future if they move Rice further forward. So I think for Pep all of that emotion comes in and he saw his celebration for the opening goal what it meant to him and that's an authentic reaction. That's not Pep like mugging for the cameras. That's a relieved and also euphoric individual.

25:52Ryan Hunn: Yeah, considering some of the struggles that City have had this season and going out to Real Madrid in midweek I remember it was very impressive. I'm curious to see what you think as a neutral technically a neutral yeah I think historically it's like hatred for both right so

26:09Musa Okwonga: there's a lot of talk

26:10Ryan Hunn: after the game about you know what will this mean for the rest of the season especially the Premier League do you think it's going to have that much of a of an impact no

26:22Musa Okwonga: I don't I don't either I don't I don't because look City fielded the team they wanted to field right Right. This, I think, was pretty much there. With the exception of one or two players, maybe Mark Gay, you know, but fundamentally this was pretty much City's first choice XI. It was not Arsenal's. So automatically that is a mismatch, right? Even if all the Arsenal players have been available for selection, he still picks Kepa over Raya. Right. so that is just he artificially um inhibited his team to be true to his own players i think if anything it's like you know what the carabao cup is compartmentalized it's a separate conversation it's a separate concern and in terms of the league itself i think these players are absolutely locked in i don't think it makes a difference i don't think i don't see this as being a factor at all and I've been slightly confused by some of the reaction to this victory sorry this city victory I think the Carabao Cup occupies its own space in this context and I yeah I don't think it affects anything yeah I think

27:33Ryan Hunn: one of the things as well which is interesting is that Ars I think Ars have only lost four games this season in all comms which is I think pretty phenomenal you know one of those was on the third game of the season against Liverpool and they responded by not losing until they went and lost at Villa in the last minute after that they went another six weeks or so before losing to Manchester United and that game on the weekend was the first time they've lost since that game so if they can if they can go for another however long without losing then I think they'll be fine it does it does you do look at the calendar though and that that 19th of April game has come around it looks like it's going to come around pretty quick that's I worry more for that game specifically as opposed to like for everything else around it I think if Arsenal don't win the league this season from this position I don't for example think it's going to be because of the Carabao Cup final personally

28:38Musa Okwonga: no no I think actually funnily enough the Bournemouth game is hugely important and I don't mean like pressure pressure I mean just like look at that and go

28:45Ryan Hunn: we're getting three points there yeah that needs to be yeah yeah not with an arrogance but with a

28:51Musa Okwonga: kind of like okay look at how they navigated the game against manchester united the two will draw which united should have won but you know that's another story look at that game go at them with real intensity manage the game in stages maybe they'll be quite resilient early on wear them down and win that look at that almost like visualize okay we want to win that we want to win that game by a two goal margin. Almost visualize that and just have that mentality and I think they'll be fine. I don't think this is the... This Carabao Cup defeat for me is not a game changer.

29:28Ryan Hunn: But it's massive for City and I think if Pep does leave at the end of the season then I think... I don't know. There was a part of me that thinks he's going because I know it's purely speculation but there was something about his whole reaction to it which was very kind of like yeah this i don't really have long left here now but we've thought that before and he's gone and signed an extension right so it might not be anything you know but i just thought it was quite interesting watching his reaction really it really meant a lot to him look it's a trophy it's it's massive all trophies you know you can't you can't dismiss any trophy.

30:09Ryan Hunn: But it felt like, as opposed to how sometimes you see that as being, right, that's one down, we've got loads to go. It felt very much like, oh, this was a big, big deal. And it also means he's the most successful League Cup manager ever on his own. He's won five.

30:29Musa Okwonga: Unbelievable.

30:31Ryan Hunn: And that's wild considering they've not won it for a few years as well.

30:33Musa Okwonga: I will say this as well. like, look, I know Pep has had all the resources quite literally, you could imagine. I will always respect him for taking this tournament seriously because there have been other managers who've had vast amounts of resources who just sack off the League Cup actually. And they think it's kind of beneath them. And he's never done that. And I will always respect him for that, for like not putting the Cup conversations on the back burner going, oh, actually it's all about the league like and almost like a kind of there's a snobbery there which he's never really had towards this tournament so i've always respected that i agree yeah um so

31:12Ryan Hunn: congratulations c fans yes congratulations nico o'reilly for a double in the final a match

31:19Musa Okwonga: i love i love this player so much honestly it's amazing just like we'll probably do a nico o'reilly appreciation fest another point in the future but just the tactical smartness the adaptability the calmness he could actually play in a front two if he had to he's absolutely amazing he'll probably be asked to do that what's he like in goal though?

31:44Ryan Hunn: probably amazing he's big enough

31:46Musa Okwonga: he's 6 '4 alright

31:51Ryan Hunn: let's stop talking about this game what more do you want from me? I'm sorry we're running out of ways to cope with this

32:04Ryan Hunn: no i'm kidding and we it's just we've got a lot to get through and yes this is already going to go up late today so okay yeah hi friends sean linda from two black guys with good credit here whether you're running a non-profit a school or a small business walmart business here to support your mission they make it easy to order what you need from tech and cleaning supplies to everyday essentials, all at low prices and with helpful tools like spend tracking and tax exempt purchasing for eligible organizations. Because when your operations are smooth, your impact can be bigger. Visit business.walmart.com to get started.

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33:17Musa Okwonga: Premier League, but where? Oh my goodness, the derby. Sunderland beating Newcastle in the last minute in Newcastle is to go above them in the Premier League. It's unreal. And can I say this as well? Like the Brobby winner, have you ever seen such a spontaneous explosion of so many shirtless men? It's incredible. It's absolutely amazing. Brobby takes the shirt off and then it cuts up to the Sunland fans and like suddenly like, I think what, 40 % of them are half naked? Like in the blink of an eye. Or maybe they're half naked already. That's probably 2am in December on any given night in Sunderland.

33:59Musa Okwonga: They're built different up there, man, honestly. But yeah, incredible victory for Sunderland to go ahead of Newcastle. They got rewarded just quickly on this game. They were playing out from the back early on against Gordon and that did not end well. He got the opener and they did really well to pull themselves back into this one, Ryan. They did really, really well at Sunderland. and they played their football and they got their deserved outcome. Huge, huge win for them. A slight wobble that we've discussed, obviously, in the middle of the season, but fundamentally very good value for their league position and just probably like, get them out of statue.

34:37Musa Okwonga: Well, no, not quite, but yeah, incredible, incredible result for them and really deserved.

34:43Ryan Hunn: Yeah, it was absolutely huge. It's such a weird middle of the Premier League. I swear they were lower down recently but now Brighton are 10th and there was a lot of talk about Herzl and Brighton it's 4 wins in the last 5, they've only lost that game to Arsenal and then Sunderland level on points with Brighton, won 11 drawn 10, lost 10, scored 32, conceded 36 Newcastle, one point behind Sunderland lost 13 games, they've won 12 and lost 13 this season, scored 44 conceded 45 it's so wild that like Newcastle have got a negative goal difference in the 12th

35:24Musa Okwonga: and given the attacking quality they have the midfield strength and even the defensive it's weird I think there's a

35:29Ryan Hunn: conversation to be had soon about Newcastle

35:31Musa Okwonga: I think so and I think about unfortunately I think Eddie Howe there's a conversation there too on Brighton before we go we'll go to Forrest Spurs in a sec but just before we get to that I wanted to another quick shout for Danny Welbeck who I think is having his best ever season in the Premier League he's got 12 goals now and was superb again has just put all the pieces together and is operating at just I mean his highest level has found his spiritual home at Brighton and looks tremendous questions we'll do a conversation about Liverpool and Arnishalot at another point I think relatively soon because I think unfortunately the the vultures are circling

36:11Ryan Hunn: missing a lot of people here though

36:13Musa Okwonga: no totally but you know this course will run as this course does.

36:18Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I mean, there's nothing much I don't think I have to say about Liverpool apart from the fact that you know, with slot, I think you just have to wait. I think there's nothing really, it's FA Cup and it's Champions League qualification and, you know, hopefully they progress in the Champions League as far as they can but, like, what else can you really say? It doesn't, it's about getting to the end of the season in as good a position as possible now for slot because they're not going to win the league so that doesn't really matter so it's Champions League qualification if they can you know if they can get to it either get to the FA Cup final or win the FA Cup then if they get another trophy then maybe that's enough if they get Champions League qualification as well you never know with Liverpool in the Champions League I don't think I wouldn't have them down as a pick to win it but you just never know they might absolutely go and win it now that I've said that just a long injury list you know still

37:12Musa Okwonga: yeah yeah absolutely yeah

37:13Ryan Hunn: but Brian were brilliant and fully deserved it and yeah that's a really really great result for them right let's talk about Forest because this this game had been in the in the diary for a lot of people for a while especially with the positions of all the clubs down there and you know Leeds had Leeds had drawn with Brentford the day before so there was a chance to try and drag them back into it as well I still think Leeds will be alright I don't know why I've just got a feeling hmm But Forrest going to Spurs and winning 3-0 and it being comfortable. The first thing we should say is that news came out afterwards that Igor Tudor's father passed away and he found out about it after the game, which is why he didn't do the press conference, which is really sad.

38:03Ryan Hunn: Horrifying. And, you know, puts things like football into perspective. But, yeah, talking about the game itself, Spurs were... The thing about this game, I just feel like Spurs weren't even that bad.

38:21Musa Okwonga: They were fragile. This is the problem. This is actually worse, Ryan. This is actually worse. They were unlucky. I mean, they were unlucky in the most excruciating way. So Matty's tell, maybe their best attacker, goes off with an injury, right?

38:39Ryan Hunn: Hits the bar, goes off with an injury,

38:42Musa Okwonga: looks good throughout I would say the thing about Spurs unfortunately the place they're in is that the moment the moment they get hit they crumble and this is what is this is what is so frustrating for them and this is not at all of course the hallmark of a Tudor side this isn't what Tudor sides do but this isn't unfortunately I think a side that he can imprint upon with sufficient time I think there's just too much structural damage and Spurs are just going to have to ride out the season as best they can, their run-in is frightening. It's frightening. And, you know, one of the reasons I think Leeds are going to be okay is because I think Leeds have fewer closing contests that are, that involve grudges.

39:27Musa Okwonga: Like, you know, Spurs are playing teams that want to send them down, for example. Like, Spurs are playing Chelsea, like, in one, I think, the last two games. They're playing against teams that basically are like, we would derive great personal pleasure from your dismissal from the Premier League.

39:40Ryan Hunn: that's a horrible such a horribly menacing sentence but that's but that's what it is i mean

39:44Musa Okwonga: look at the title look look when um hazard got that equalizer to deny them to like seal the um title for leicester and look how much they enjoyed it and they're having to face chelsea aren't they in the late stages and chelsea themselves stumbling it's another story but still but on this game i thought forest in in a game that for them was really almost a kind of relegation playoff were fantastic. Elliot Anderson doing what he's done for so many months now, extremely solid alongside Sangari in that midfield. They locked it down really well. Nico Williams prompting superbly from the left back area, a couple of assists.

40:23And

40:23Musa Okwonga: then there's players like Morgan Gibbs-White just finding the spaces, although given a huge amount of space. It's so strange. If you look back to that great Spurs partnership of Toby Eddoward and Jan Vertonghen. It's unimaginable they give them that amount of space that they gave Gibbs White for his goal. If you look at the way that standards have dropped off the cliff in that context, and this is not even necessarily a knock on the centre-backs that were there, it's more of the system. And the lack of supervision around Gibbs White, for me, was the symptom of spurs throughout. The moment a bit of pressure was applied, it falls apart.

40:59Musa Okwonga: And it's really sad because this is clearly a team just so lacking confidence, Ryan. So lacking confidence. And also, on a wider point, this is a real lack of a playmaking function in the middle of that pitch. If you look at the matchup there, and this is not a knock on Gray and Saar, but I think that that sort of midfield configuration, you've got like Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Anderson, Sangari as well, and Hutchinson is a great supporting role. It's just a different level to what Spurs were giving them. And it just felt like at any point, Forrest managed the game I thought really quite well and were like okay we're going to counter punch whenever you get the chance like you said Spurs were good in the early stages actually rather like a mirror of Arsenal I thought Spurs had the better of the first half but once once Forrest decided to really go for the neck they they kind of cruised through Yeah

41:52Ryan Hunn: it just felt way too easy to me Yeah Way too easy Yep Speaking of way too easy it felt a little bit too easy for Everton

42:01Musa Okwonga: against Chelsea

42:03Ryan Hunn: on Saturday. Two goals for Beto, one for Menjai. Chelsea with quite a lot of the ball but looking fairly, I'd say underwhelming?

42:15Musa Okwonga: Yes. Everton up now with a chance of, a real chance of the Europa League.

42:20Ryan Hunn: Dude, they could qualify for the Champions League if they're not fair for. Honestly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not, they're not, they're like five points behind Liverpool. dude no sorry what am i talking about they're three points behind liverpool i can't do math they're three points behind liverpool and it's very likely that that fifth place will get into

42:39Musa Okwonga: the champions league and i gotta say i love the balance of this everton team i love it i think they're very good man they're very solid defense and really these playmakers like dewsbury hall just tucking in there element in di just absolute live wire garner prompting from deep rather like the role that Anderson has for Forrest, where you've got this playmaking function where you can regulate the game, but really just punch through gaps if you need to. He was excellent again, and Beto ahead of them, getting crucial goals throughout the season. I thought this was more the story of the quality of Everton rather than the poor play of Chelsea.

43:18Musa Okwonga: At the same time, it did expose... it exposed the team that has a clear sense of what it's doing against the team that i think doesn't now there's a lot of reasons for that you can talk about turnover you can talk about um individual um dips in quality like sanchez's mistake for the second goal you can talk about all of that but fundamentally everton is a team that is maximizing the resources on the pitch and Chelsea is not. And it's not as simple as that, but I think that is a key part of it. But yeah, Everton, superb. Absolutely superb.

44:00Ryan Hunn: We mentioned it last week after the Arsenal game, but they're very difficult to break down Everton. They've gone back to having the third best defence in the Premier League, a level with Palace and only behind Arsenal-Manchester City. They're tough to break down.

44:14Musa Okwonga: If someone had said to you five months ago, So Everton will beat Chelsea 3-0 and it'll be easy for them. And they'll do it without Jack Grealish or Dibbling in the starting 11. You'd have been like, hmm. Well, Dibbling didn't start the greatest, but still he was heralded as, you know, a great lieutenant to Grealish. And Grealish was a primary playmaker doing really well until he broke his foot. You'd have been like, no way. That's a tribute to how well David Moyes is coaching this squad. And Everton now have, dare I say it, they've got depth? depth yeah yeah and i i hesitate because i don't want to like jinx what they're doing because god knows i've done that before with my you know hot takes on everton hey look man they were the

44:55Ryan Hunn: first i think they were the inaugural stadio capisher of the year everton their relationship

44:59Musa Okwonga: with stadio goes a long way back we've been hurt before by those toffees i'm really excited to see what additions they make in the summer not because the players there aren't already very good because I think they put themselves I think they put themselves in the shop window for an even better level of of talent actually so I'm really hyped for them

45:24Ryan Hunn: you're always looking to the future man you need to live in the now why are you looking to the future so much here and now

45:31Musa Okwonga: oh trust me I'm living in the now

45:34Ryan Hunn: alright a couple of other quick results Villa back I think Villa are back are they back? they might be back they beat West Ham so no they needed that win it's been their first win for a long long time comes at a bad time for West Ham but the Spurs result above them you know gives them a little bit of hope as well elsewhere in the Premier League Fulham beating Burnley 3-1 coming from a goal down do you want to finish on Manchester United

46:03Musa Okwonga: yes but that's what I do just to say Harry Wilson continues his his his quite his quite the quietest Ballon d 'Or campaign of all time just because he's absolutely cooking but doesn't he's doing the loudest who's that Vinicius no

46:18Ryan Hunn: it might be Valverde you know Valverde feels like he's oh we'll come before people start going to start talking about Freddie Valverde we'll get to him in a bit

46:25Musa Okwonga: because that what a game that was but um yeah on United United drawing along with Harry Kane yes oh god Kane's cooking god another level um

46:36Ryan Hunn: yes go on talk about your beloved Musa Kwonka Michael Carrick's Manchester United Football Club very quickly to use the full title

46:43Musa Okwonga: yeah this was two or draw at Bournemouth was actually on the face of it is not a bad result you know listen a point a point in Bournemouth is always good in the Premier League I would say probably should have been 2-0 because I felt like that was a penalty for Amartyallo it wasn't given and then Bournemouth go up the other end and they score through Christie it was a red card but for them Maguire foul so I'm not disputing that I just feel like it should have been a penalty and it was 1-0 to United at the time and if that penalty gets given and Bruno scores it which and he'd scored the one before if he'd scored it and it's 2-0 lots of hypotheticals I know so let me just be clear there that would have been a win and would have put United a bit more clear in third place and they they look good value for that third place they do look good value for it this is the wild thing on current form in terms of current quality of play they're looking good.

47:40Musa Okwonga: So yeah, I'm just really happy with their direction of travel under Carrick and let's see how much longer that can continue. Also interesting to see them linked with a couple of players in the midfield area so it's good to know they're actually looking at that area in terms of... Who have they been linked with? Well, I don't want to name names because just throwing stuff out there but yeah, it's good to know that they are pursuing options. No, because if I say names it's just like adding to the transfer mill. They've been linked with Fadi Valverde. oh god don't make me don't make a boy dream they are not they're not they've been linked with pedry and gavi i mean i mean they're being linked with them the same way that like i've been linked with niall rogers to do like instrumentals in my spoken word album but yeah so that's that's the link that's the likelihood of it yeah yeah rumors are circulating

48:35Ryan Hunn: he's about to start a tennis podcast with nal rogers i don't even know if nal rogers likes tennis but it's just the kind of thing that would probably happen

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49:53Ryan Hunn: Right, let's go to the Bundesliga quickly because just a very, very quick shout because we mentioned it before. Harry Kane is going for, I think Harry Kane might be in a shout for the Ballon d 'Or. If Bayern win the Champions League this year and England do well in the World Cup, I think Harry Kane might legit be top three Ballon d 'Or this season. Or this year. Has to be. Also, Bayern are on some kind of like wild run that they only need five more goals to beat the all-time Bundesliga goal-scoring record for a single season.

50:27Musa Okwonga: And they have seven games to go. Yeah, that's wild. They have seven games to go.

50:33Ryan Hunn: I think it's 101 and that goes back to the 70s.

50:38Musa Okwonga: I think it's actually, we haven't really maybe given them credit for how unbelievable they've been this year.

50:43Ryan Hunn: I think we have. I think we have. I also think, and this isn't to take anything away from Bayern, but I think that a lot of the there's a bit I think the class gap has widened in the Bundesliga this season there's been such a big transfer of talent from the Bundesliga especially to the Premier League if you look at some of the massive players who have signed for Premier League players this season who were stalwarts or really key players at places outside of Bayern last season you know Hincapié Florian Wietz Hugo Echertike Nick Voltomada etc etc etc there are some big big players who have gone to the to the Premier League and

51:28Musa Okwonga: and Bayern have only strengthened yeah

51:30Ryan Hunn: but that's not to take anything away from Vincent Kompany at all I just think that they are very very good and they are in a really really good flow at the moment I think a lot of what's happened in the Bundesliga this season it feels like it's in a little bit of a it's not in a transitional year but I think that there have been so many key players from clubs outside the top two who have left that it's just there's been some real game changers that have left for those you know but yeah they cruised past Union 4-0 one for Michael Aliso two for Serge Canabry and another one for Harry Kane

52:04Musa Okwonga: Harry Kane has scored 51 goals by the way in 45 games this is wild he scored in his first season at Bayern he scored 44 and 45 last year he was utterly substandard because he only scored 38 times in 46 matches. Washed. Yeah, absolutely washed. Our washed king.

52:24Ryan Hunn: Dortmund beating Haas Vau 3-2, a late Benzabini penalty. Two penalties for Benzabini in this game, actually. Got Dortmund the win. Stuttgart with an impressive win over Augsburg yesterday, 5-2. Leipzig beat Hoffenheim on, I think it was the Friday night game, it was indeed 5-0. I was at St. Pauli Freiburg St. Pauli losing 2-1 after being a goal up and they were deservedly a goal up I thought Freiburg really went pretty good for you know the early stages of the second half, had the ball in the back of the net after the first goal Matanovic scored actually who is a former St. Pauli player, he scored both Freiburg goals, didn't celebrate but there was another goal that got ruled out for offside but then literally four minutes later Freiburg scored the second proper yeah but unfortunately they couldn't get the result right Moussa yes before we transition onto the Madrid derby in Europe's top five men's leagues this season yes can you name me the two sides who have been awarded the most penalties in either order

53:42Musa Okwonga: in Europe's top five leagues oh god the two sides um

53:53Ryan Hunn: is Dortmund one of them? they are not uh

54:02Ryan Hunn: I'll give you a hint the reason I thought about this was because of the Madrid derby and who they face in the next round of the Champions League and whether that tie is going to be an absolute penalty fest

54:14Musa Okwonga: it's those those are the two teams

54:16Ryan Hunn: Bayern have been awarded 11 penalties in the Bundesliga this season and Real Madrid have been awarded 14 penalties in La Liga yeah right so I was thinking about this when they got the penalty in the derby and I went and checked so apparently Brest have been awarded 8 in Liga yeah Pisa have been awarded 7 in Serie A along with Milan Genoa and that's it in the Premier League who do you think's been awarded the most penalties in the Premier League this season?

54:47Musa Okwonga: I mean is it United? Because we complain about them but we actually get quite a few. It's Brentford.

54:52Ryan Hunn: Brentford have been awarded eight penalties. That's amazing. Really interesting I thought.

54:59Musa Okwonga: There's something, penalty awards feel so arbitrary. Yeah it's weird. Yeah because look Bayern and Bayern it makes sense because Bayern have I mean Bayern just I mean just because of the volume of goals that makes total sense right and then Madrid I think because of the type of dribbler they have some might say

55:19Ryan Hunn: that look I'm just asking questions but

55:22Musa Okwonga: also Madrid being Madrid

55:23Ryan Hunn: I don't know about no no I'm kidding I'm just kidding I was gonna there's nothing there's nothing I love more than kind of just pushing the button on La Liga conspiracy referee conspiracy theories because I don't think I've ever seen I don't think I've ever seen a competition where two sides are that convinced about refereeing while one of them has actually had payments to this yeah exactly

55:49Musa Okwonga: I mean exactly yeah yeah at a certain point these things are really yeah

55:53Ryan Hunn: oh it's so funny anyway there you go Bayern and Real Madrid in the Champions League it's going to be an absolute penalty fest and then it might go to penalties can you imagine

56:02Musa Okwonga: we had Vinicius penalty didn't we in the last one the last time we met didn't we yeah so yeah they're um yeah it's nailed on Vinicius scoring a penalty against the Bayern in the next round but yeah this game my goodness wow

56:15Ryan Hunn: alright so Real Madrid 3 Atleti 2 that's the first La Liga derby that Real Madrid have won since 2022

56:24Musa Okwonga: and just oh goals and red cards Valverde with a red um but like all of this game let's just get into the kind of the nuts and bolts of it shout outs to Adam Olufman who finished on the losing side, but what a journey that man has had. I was talking to Ian about this in the chat, actually, about how... Do you remember how we were worried about Adam Oluwkman? Actually, we discussed it on Righties House. We were worried about Adam Oluwkman after that failed Penenka for Fulham against West Ham that I think kept Fulham down the bottom of the Premier League.

56:56Ryan Hunn: Yeah, remember.

56:57Musa Okwonga: We were really, really worried about him. And six years later, he's scoring in the Madrid derby. I mean, it's absolutely incredible. the arc he's been on but this game belonged to this game belonged to Vinicius and Valverde although Valverde

57:12Ryan Hunn: it was Valverde's fault for that goal

57:15Musa Okwonga: yes

57:17Ryan Hunn: he was involved in everything he just didn't track no no no

57:21Musa Okwonga: but he was involved in everything he did get the equal well he did get the goal the go ahead goal and he also hit the post

57:27Ryan Hunn: in the opening few minutes of the game burst into all of a sudden I was just like who's that running through

57:33Musa Okwonga: can I say this is the reason this is one key reason why Pep's formation didn't work against Madrid and worked against Arsenal because actually Valverde is probably I think on current form the world's most explosive right back

57:46Ryan Hunn: I haven't seen Valverde run that fast since the Alvaro and Morata thing I knew you were going to mention that

57:53Musa Okwonga: no you know you actually have a duty to always bring that up because it's so funny it will never not be it's amazing

58:00Ryan Hunn: ironically mentioning it after another game in a derby where he got red carded.

58:05Musa Okwonga: Do you know what I love about that red though? I think I have a sneak feeling that if he was asked to like name his top five highlights, I think he would mention it.

58:13Ryan Hunn: I think it makes the list. He's still responsible for one of the greatest tweets of all time when he's just like, I was running and I heard a voice saying, kill him. Kill him.

58:21Musa Okwonga: And it was Sergio Ramos. Of course it was Sergio Ramos. Of course it was Sergio Ramos. Incredible. Like, yeah, no, no, no, no. Valverde in this game, just a force of nature again until he got sent off. for I think I think right what do you think about the red I think it was yeah it's a red man

58:38Ryan Hunn: it's right I think it was just the red they were on the zone they were a bit like it feels a little harsh but I think it was it was it was quite gnarly actually it was quite a gnarly tackle

58:51Musa Okwonga: it's a horrible tackle it's horrible because he catches him he catches him high up and then almost like drags it down yeah and it's done with it's a mean tackle it's a mean tackle so yeah I think it's a red there um Vinicius with two goals that um ultimately clinched the game but I want to just talk about the commentary on De Zane because you watched it there too as I did it was amazing the Molina goal he rips on from distance and I think he scored a banger earlier in the season yeah the amazing thing is the guy goes and German comes he goes we are back once again we are back in the Hammer House oh my god the Hammer House sick absolutely torched it

59:31Ryan Hunn: I added that to the to our list for angry all the year oh my god it was absolutely I think it might I think I think it might be I think that's I think it's setting the pace to be honest

59:43Musa Okwonga: oh ferocity man this is pure ferocity when angry goals become terrifying like that it's a terrifying goal yes he looked as if he was trying to hit that into a different dimension via the net yeah just to bookmark this before we carry on with this game since we're mentioning awards for the stadios I forgot to mention this last time but an early frontrunner for Stadio big mood of the year has to be the president of Senegal sitting at his desk with the Afghan trophy in his cupboard. After CAF has made its announcement to award it to Morocco on appeal, he's just sitting there. Come get it. You want it?

1:00:24Musa Okwonga: Come get it. As CNN's Larry Maduro said on Twitter, he asked, what is the Waller for? Come and get this trophy. so yeah but anyway back to um the madrid derby madrid good value for this victory ultimately they just showed this thing power i want to give a quick shout out to braham diaz who's shown some really great form in a couple of games in in recent weeks obviously a very difficult period for him after after afcon but i've been really impressed by some of his showings um since then jude bellingham coming back from injury got a bit of a run out in this game very interesting time for him and for Trent Alexander-Arnold in relation to the England squad and what form their participation will take in this summer's World Cup if in Trent's case he participates at all but that I think is more reflection on where Tickle's head is at and with the injury situation they both had at Madrid than anything else in terms of their quality

1:01:22Ryan Hunn: Yeah, Bellingham's in the squad Trent isn't but I think that's also just there are a lot of people who are not I think a few more people might get called up because I think a lot of people are going to step out of the squad anyway. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Could see Ben White in there though. Yes. And Fakayo Tamore. Yeah. But yeah, massive win for Real Madrid because Barca had won the one earlier in the day against Raya Vallecano. Kind of scraped through with a... Raya were good, man. Raya were putting Barca with a lot of pressure at the end. Yep, yep. And very, very easily could have nicked it.

1:01:58Ryan Hunn: am I imagining this or have Raya Viacano always been a bit yeah they've like it's really funny Barca have only beaten them by more than one goal if they've beaten them at all once since 2019

1:02:14Musa Okwonga: God that's wild yeah

1:02:16Ryan Hunn: so they've they beat them 2-1 Raya won 1-0 back to back 1-0 then they had a 0-0 draw Raya beat them 2-1 1-1 draw then comes the 3-0 in 2024 then a 2-1 Barcelona win a 1-0 Barcelona win and then the last game early on in the season was 1-0 so they were always a bit tricky for Barca

1:02:36Musa Okwonga: yes yes

1:02:39Ryan Hunn: so just a really good win yeah yeah definitely because I think now Barcelona are in a similar position to Arsenal in the sense that I mean it's different because Barcelona well I mean it's actually not that different because Barcelona are four points clear you've got Atleti after the break at the Metropolitano which is now a massive game for both well I think for Atleti because they went behind Villarreal again and for Real Madrid and for Barcelona but they just need to kind of try and maintain that gap and count the games down there's more games left in La Liga than in the Premier League there's nine games left still in La Liga

1:03:13Musa Okwonga: hell of a lot of football yeah

1:03:16Ryan Hunn: yeah whereas Arsenal have only got seven left so tricky but yeah great derby very very ferocious it felt like it could have been like four all five four yeah Alvarez with the late one against the postman yeah yeah it never it never

1:03:32Musa Okwonga: stops that game until the very end it was the one thing I'll say it was slightly weird it felt like

1:03:35Ryan Hunn: the ref blew up like a couple of minutes early no he blew up I think uh I think it was like 15 or 20

1:03:43Musa Okwonga: seconds early yeah it felt like it felt because all because all because the thing is at the

1:03:48Ryan Hunn: you've got the clock right and so I think all of the players the athletic players like pointing being like, what are you doing? It's not finished yet.

1:03:56Musa Okwonga: Yeah, it felt like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:03:58Ryan Hunn: Hey, look. Just asking questions. Just asking questions. There he is.

1:04:08Ryan Hunn: Is there anything else you want to shout out? Do you want to shout out Serie A very quickly before we go? Because we've gone long.

1:04:12Musa Okwonga: Yeah, very quickly. Serie A. Fiorentina won. Inter won. David De Gea with the brilliant save of the death to keep it that way. Such a big point. yeah Inter going ahead but then Fiontino pulling them back and then Milan winning 3-2 over Torino to give us is it a title race we don't know it could be catfishy but let's see but again we said this a thousand times but Milan I think just going to rue their form early this year because that's what's held them back Como beating Pisa 5-0 looking very impressive and some room Como yeah some great one and also they're up to fourth now also shout out to Daniel Marlon being named Serie A player of the month which is just really lovely for him so yeah and Napoli of course keeping pace with an early winner from Scott McTominay taking him to 1-0 over Cagliari so yeah all fun and games in Serie A

1:05:07Ryan Hunn: I just want to do a very quick WSL shout so in midweek Chelsea beating Brighton 2-1 and Manchester United drawing away West Ham 0-0 Arsenal then beating West Ham 5-0 on the weekend London City Lionesses drawing with Chelsea at the Den which was quite controversial because obviously London City Lionesses formerly Millwall Lionesses who then hired with the club but they had to play there because of a scheduling clash at their other grounds but yeah nice big win for Arsenal over West Ham City beating Spurs 5-2 to get their form back on track after a disappointing point against Villa last week

1:05:46Musa Okwonga: Didn't Amy Rushkaid post this incredible stat about Bunny Shaw has scored like hat-tricks against Spurs in four straight WSL seasons.

1:05:53Ryan Hunn: Oh, really?

1:05:54Musa Okwonga: It's unbelievable stats. It blew my mind, actually. Wild. I know, I know. I love numbers like that. I'm sorry, I'm sure Spurs don't, but yeah, I do. Sorry, sorry.

1:06:06Ryan Hunn: So that means that the top three have all played 18 games. Manchester City are eight points clear of Manchester United, who are a point ahead of Chelsea. However, Arsenal are on 35 points, having played two games fewer so if they win their two games in hand which are against Leicester and Brighton they could go second and that's the WSL we've got Women's Champions League this week

1:06:32Musa Okwonga: fantastic

1:06:32Ryan Hunn: so we'll touch on those games on Thursday we're just going to do Thursday this week we're also going to do a big bit on Joran Cruyff because it's the 10th anniversary this week of his passing and who needs more than half an excuse to talk about Joran Cruyff for a bit so wait maybe let's talk about some of our favourite Cruyffisms and Cruyff moments and maybe dig out a couple of Cruyff stories you're probably

1:06:58Musa Okwonga: the only person I know who enjoys talking about Cruyff even more than me with the exception I think of Mohamed Moalim shout out to Mohamed or Pep yeah yeah yeah I don't know Pep yet

1:07:08Ryan Hunn: maybe we should maybe we should give Pep a shout so I might just honestly I might just email the Man City press team Stadio never heard of them what they want to talk about Cruyff give me their numbers

1:07:25Musa Okwonga: security security get us guys you stay there

1:07:28Ryan Hunn: I'll come to you I'll come to you Pep won't leave the mic alright so yeah we're going to do that episode on Thursday and don't forget if you want to get 30 % off your first month of Stadio membership on Patreon where you get all the podcasts ad free in full plus loads of other perks you can sign up now patreon.com forward slash Stadio you've got one more week to sign up for the first month for 30%. If you want to sign up for the Stadio Social Club, come and join the Hangout this coming Saturday on Discord. And all Stadio members on Patreon will get the newsletter this week, which will probably be out Friday, I think.

1:08:07Musa Okwonga: Great stuff.

1:08:08Ryan Hunn: All right, well, we hope everyone's staying safe and well, wherever you are. And until the next episode, don't forget to check the Stadio Archers plays on Spotify. Speaking of which, playing out on, Let's go. The remix by Doc Scott. Anything you would like to add Musa Gwanga? Nothing further. Let's go. Much love. Back with you on Thursday. See you then.

1:08:50Thank you.

1:09:35Let's go.

1:09:49Let's go.

1:10:02Let's go.

1:10:16Let's go.

1:10:37Musa Okwonga: We'll see you next time.

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1:11:52Musa Okwonga: Chicago, 2011. A cop is murdered. Police and prosecutors swear they have the trigger man. He swears he didn't do it.

1:12:00Ryan Hunn: How far will each side go to prove they're right? Like it's just one bombshell after another. You know, you're like, what? What? What?

1:12:08Musa Okwonga: The story of a PlayStation, a brain-eating amoeba, and the relentless pursuit of justice. Off-duty. Out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.