The magic of the cup is real

0:22Hello and welcome back to the Stadio podcast. I'm Musaqwagr. I'm Ryan Hun. Ryan, how are you doing? doing all right thanks man how are you very well because we are 600 up wow 600 600 episodes 600 up yeah yeah wow that's kind of wild it is indeed we hope everyone else is staying safe and well and uh while we're on the topic of 600 episodes thanks very much to everyone who has listened and uh who's recommended and all the support 600 episodes unlike me you've been on all the podcasts, haven't you? I think there was one or two. I think you have. I certainly haven't. Anyway. Ever present. Ever present.

1:06Ever present. That's a big football term, isn't it? The ever present. He's been ever present this season. Need some load management. I'm kidding. Anyway, let's get on with episode 600. Let's do it. What better way to kick off episode 600 them with a hefty dose of admin. The admin. First bit of admin is the second Southbank show. Tickets are on sale now. Link is in the description. And we will be joined by the one and only Nish Kumar. Cannot wait. So come along. It's March the 1st. Sunday, March the 1st. I think it's after Chelsea Arsenal or Arsenal Chelsea in the Premier League. Yeah, go buy your tickets.

1:49Tickets are... Link is in the description now. We hope to see you all there. Last one was great. Had a great time. the other bit of admin if you want to sign up for stadio on patreon get all the episodes ad free and in full plus little other perks if you sign up on patreon as a paid member like get the newsletter which is going to go up this week the second one is it going to go up this week have you done your piece i it is a couple of words from oh is it is it yes yes it's right here it's right here i'm looking at it as we speak is it okay yes i'm on a paragraph around about stray cats in Rabat.

2:22So yeah, it's right here. Perfect. So if you want to sign up for the podcast membership and you get the newsletter as well, if you want to sign up for the Stadio Social Club, you get all the podcasts, newsletter, other perks, Stadio Discord and more. So I think that's all the admin. All right. So today we're going to wrap up a couple of things up top and then we are going to talk about the FA Cup. it just I think it came at a good time yeah definitely we're going to touch on that a little bit obviously some of the the big results and yeah I think that'll do us do a little bit of roundup and that'll do us I think but there is only one place to begin you know where we're going Germany do you want to be a little bit more specific uh Stuttgart Leverkusen Leverkusen Stuttgart no we're actually just going to start very quickly with Bayern oh do you know Do you know what?

3:17Because something really funny happened here. So Bundesliga was back this weekend. RB Leipzig and well, St. Pauli, RB Leipzig had a snow day. What else? There was another game that was postponed, I think, this weekend. Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim. So a lot of snow in the north of Germany. The only reason I want to touch on the Bayern game quickly because they beat Wolfsburg 8-1 on Sunday. At the beginning of the game, you know, they have like the stat stuff. The win probability was 79.6 % for Bayern and 10 % for Wolfsburg. and it was pretty much matched in the goals. The goals. I just found that really weird.

3:51Well, it's also this thing about poor Wolfsburg because they got cooked by, obviously, Bayern 9-1 when Lewandowski was there. He's got five goals in like nine minutes. So every now and again, they catch an absolute hiding from Bayern, but they actually got an equaliser here after 13 minutes. I know. I know. A lot of false thorns this weekend. False thorns. So my godson is a Bayern ultra and he's always like pushing the... literally he's what he wants he'll be he'll be at some point and he was like Michael Elisa Michael Elisa like best best ring in the world like Laminia Marshall's got better PR and I have to say whoa coming from his age right he's getting on the I know I know it's wild I will say this Michael Elisa against Wolfsburg absolutely out of this world yep incredible out of this world like just the playmaking the quality the combination with Luis Diaz we've got to mention as well the Harry Kane banger as well Oh, bar them post.

4:47Bar them post. The actual, the dream. Laced it up. It sounded so good, that goal. Yeah, we're not going to have time to go through all the Bundesliga, but yeah, Bayern, to be honest, the bad thing about the Bundesliga really was the fact that Eintracht and Dortmund drew on Friday. Dortmund had a weird game. They took the lead and then they ended up having to, well, Moda, who thought he'd given Eintracht a winner in stoppage time at the end of the game and then Dortmund, Kani Chukomeka, got an equaliser the most nonchalant equaliser in the last minute because it was just a bit like what the F are we doing here actually it was a bad result for Dortmund because the league is basically done now it was semi done before Christmas but I think it's completely done now what Bayern are 11 points clear of Dortmund and we've not even reached the halfway stage of the season yet we've got English of Oka this week though so we will get super hyped about that yeah just elsewhere very very quickly in the Bundesliga a few draws Heidenheim and Köln drawing 2-2 Union and Mainz Union got back into it very late after going 2-1 down.

5:47They were 2-0 down, sorry, and they got back into it. We just mentioned before on the Leverkusen-Stuttgart, just very quickly, that was fourth versus fifth. Leverkusen, obviously, they've been really good on Hulman, but got absolutely handed to them by Stuttgart at home. It was a four at the break. Unreal. Gladbach's resurgence continues. They beat Augsburg 4-1 on, sorry, 4-0 on Sunday. Gladbach in 10th. They were bottom. They were absolutely rooted to the bottom. Don't get me started on the Gladbach season. I know. Right. Quickly elsewhere, because that was just a little throwaway to welcome the Bundesliga back, AFCON.

6:23Let's talk about some AFCON quarterfinals. Okay, can I just say on AFCON, so just the headline of this is Egypt will meet Senegal in one semi and Nigeria will play Morocco in the other. I mean, just incredible lineup. Wow. Senegal beating Mali 1-0. um Mali offered some really good resistance throughout but Senegal just had the quality to make it tell could have could have won by more he's presumed sent off on the stroke of half time right yeah yellow um Morocco beating Cameroon 2-0 their best performance so far which I we always felt was coming there was a sense with Morocco that and I write about this a bit some have said that the response so far to Morocco has been a bit muted but that's because so much is expected and they're one of those teams where the quality of the opposition rises and so does so does their own performance.

7:14They were really strong against Cameroon who I didn't think registered shot on target. Had a pretty decent line-up. Egypt beat Ivory Coast 3-2 and maybe the tie of the round. Yep. They were fantastic. Surprised they go to penalties but it's fine. Yeah. Marmouche and Salah doing that work with a really strong supporting cast. And Nigeria. Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0. Really impressive that too. Especially given all the internal conversation about Ossimen. but as a term Joe he made a real point actually at one point where Adam Ola Lutman had a shot and Osserman was in the middle and he made a real point of like applauding the intent which I was like oh this is the thing I would say about that and all that conversation about again to as I say to put a pin in that is that Osserman like he's just a very intense player and his whole conversation about Lutman was about when you're in scoring position offer options and you see him do that actually for the for the clincher and Likman runs to him and goes like great pass and he's like well that Osman's like yeah that's the point like just be unselfish and score when you're like when someone else is in a better when someone else is in a better scoring position give up the ball simple as that and I think this Nigeria team not saying they'll beat Morocco but they're well placed to do so like Morocco should still win because of their home advantage but I think the Nigeria have the tools let me put this best I think this is the stronger half of the draw the Nigeria-Morocco I think it's a stronger half in terms of the balance of players in the squad I know there's a lot of talk about Senegal they're a fine team but I think this Nigeria team has actually a really high ceiling and yeah I think it's my favourite the only thing about that though is if you look at the breakdown of like the Egypt-Ivory Coast game Ivory Coast dominated the ball had a better XG as well actually but Egypt just picked them off on the break Marmouche is such a gift it doesn't really matter how much pressure you put them under they're so dangerous on the counter well actually to your point I like this you said this because the thing about Egypt historically they've relied on well in recent history let's not forget and this is not sounds like it's a knock on but it's not named names but Salah being there but not having not really having another world class attacker to carry that burden and now the emergence of Marmoush is so good because you just crucially have another center of gravity in that attack.

9:40Whereas before, we always had that. When Egypt played Senegal that other time in the final, I always felt that it was a little bit shorthanded. And now just that, and because Egypt is so battle-hardened, because they had to get through that last really big AFCON run they had with Salah as a sole outlet, they became so good at the defensive aspect. And they've locked that down now. You're right, they've absorbed all that pressure. And actually, teams that put up a really good fight against Morocco in Morocco. And I mentioned Tanzania before. They were really, really impressive given they had relatively limited resources against morocco and a team with a bit more about them can really test them and i still fancy nigeria to put out a strong showing they have to get out early though i think you have to start well against morocco because otherwise they will really get on top of you quality of the players the crowd the playmaking is really good so yeah let's see but the thing i love about this if any four of those this is such a look at me fence sitting but yeah but it goes to what you're saying i'm cutting in because anyone can get it got.

10:38Any four of them are like worthy champions at this point. You can't always say in terms of the balance of matchups. But yeah, anyway, loving that. I want everyone to do well. Yeah, me too. All she'll have prizes. Right, let's go to Serie A very quickly. Top of the table clash. Big one on the weekend. Yeah. Delivered. I really enjoyed this game. Inter 2, Napoli 2. Napoli twice coming from behind. Thanks to Scott McTominay Incredible. Incredible. Everyone talks about crashing the near post and this guy just does it as a matter of routine. The movement in the box, the anticipation. And it was funny this game because it felt like it felt like just when Inter were pulling clear.

11:21Because Christian Keever made a big point of this prior to the game going like this, this being a really important game in the title race. So he was really talking it up. And it felt like, you know, first versus fourth, the game starting, this was a chance for Inter to really make a a definitive point of, okay Napoli like you're not part of this anymore and it looked like for certain periods of this game as if that would be the case the opener um from DeMarco is fantastic but then each time it really felt like almost like synchronized almost like 10 minutes after okay Inter have really got this Napoli were like no actually we're still here and a really good value for the draw overall.

12:01And funnily enough, I thought, even though like Inter are top, Napoli getting this point, I think it's the kind of result they can look back at later this season and go, actually, people expected us to buckle then. Four points against Inter this season. So impressive, man. So impressive. McTominay again, two X in finishes when a lot of people didn't have their heads. So yeah, great stuff. Yeah, I mean, the penalty was a funny one, right? Because it's one of those it's like technically it's a penalty but it's kind of spiritually not really a penalty exactly it's a good example of a penalty it was clearly a penalty in terms of the rules I felt but in terms of the actual the spirit of the game it's not really a penalty yeah I know but it's one of those that if you slow it down and look at it on VAR it's 100 % a penalty yeah exactly but it's just it's just one of those it's like is it really is it really a foul yeah you've trodden on someone's toe but is that really a foul?

12:59Do you know what I mean? I know that's a bit of a funny one really. Yeah. Well, great conversion by Chalanoğlu anyway. Inter couldn't capitalise on Milan dropping points away in Florence earlier on in the day. They drew 1-0 Fiorentina. Great point for Fiorentina. Another late equaliser for Milan. Isn't that Genoa? Genoa and now Fiorentina. Stoppage time or 90th minute equalisers in back-to-back games. All of this kind of panned out pretty good for Roma who have had back-to-back wins now and are now level on points with Napoli and only four points off the top. Right. Spanish Super Cup. Yes. Barcelona winning 3-2 against Real Madrid.

13:37Fun. Ridiculous. All of the above. Barcelona 3-2. Funny game this because it felt, and I was telling you before we started recording, it was wild how players were kind of jogging around as if it didn't really matter and then spontaneously decided that it didn't matter and really went for it. And at the end it celebrated like it was a major cup final which in some ways confusing as those Barcelona shirts yeah someone noted Hansi Flick 8 final wins out of 8 oh wow yes wild first time first time in a while that a side won back to back super coppers I think oof I think in the balance of this I think it was really good for Laminio Mar because he's had a couple of difficult classicos I would say and by his standards so it was really good that he came through in this one I think just for him.

14:29Rafinha again excellent arguably the player of the game very strong showing from Vinicius who gave Koundé a terrible time all night and his substitution was perhaps a strange choice Mbappe coming on and then drawing a red card from Frenkie de Jong and the benches cleared at the end of the game, expectedly so but yeah, Marcus Rashid could have got a late fourth probably should have got a late fourth yeah uh not sure what to make of the game significance i think it was pretty good for bragging rights but there you go the super copper goes to barcelain that's it really yeah wsl was back this weekend as well just a quick shout for manchester city beating everton 2-0 uh chelsea beating west ham 5-0 so those two are as you were at the top arsenal dropping further behind the junior nil at home to match the united on Saturday and Spurs went level on points after their 1-0 win over Leicester.

15:29So six points clear at the top now for Man City and that's going to be very difficult to overhaul. All right let's do FA Cup. Yes. What a weekend. Unbelievable and we look what a weekend and first word of course is Macclesfield. Just have to, have to just, we have to. Incredible. We have to. So a side who is currently 14th in the National League North eliminating the holders of the Cup and a Premier League side. They're separated by 117 league places which I think makes it the biggest shock in the FA Cup's history by league position. but it's definitely up there with one of the all-time great upsets.

16:18We did it. Obviously, we did it. Listeners from a while back, not so long ago, will have remembered the episode we did on Macclesfield. Oh yeah, when Macclesfield Town went bust. And how their struggle was symptomatic of wider problems within football. But just an extraordinary result. Macclesfield 2, Crystal Palace 1. Macclesfield 6th tier, knocking out the FA Cup holders. And some will say, oh, they rotated heavily. It's Crystal Palace, the FA Cup holders, like against Macclesfield, who basically, to all intents and purposes, did not exist just a few years ago and were in the ninth tier just a couple of years back.

17:00An astonishing performance and also made all better by the fact that Macclesfield were actually just really, really good, were superb and hounded them all over the pitch. The thing I love about this tie is the cliche of the match that players have dreamt of their entire careers. The FA Cup is all about this. You dream of having the FA Cup holders come to your ground for a huge fixture, a televised fixture, and you turn them over. You turn them over and you play the game of your lives in the process. Absolutely exceptional. Yeah, I mean, another thing to point out as well is that they lost Ethan McLeod a few weeks ago, a young striker who, so, so sad, like tragically passed away in a car accident on the way home from a game, which was only in the middle of December.

17:48Yeah. This is a club that's been like really going through it in the last few weeks. His parents actually were in the dressing room after the game celebrating with some of the players. It was, you know, just, I don't know, it just felt like a very emotional afternoon, all in all. these are people who train twice a week and to beat a premier league side a side that's in europe and a side that won the fa cup it's just i mean glasner's glasner's reaction when the second one went in which to me was such a second goal like was such a two nil goal yeah oh yeah in an fa cup upset do you know what i mean where the keeper the keeper's just kind of like oh no and everything slow it felt like everything slowed down on the macclesfield second goal but glasner's just turned around the disbelief yeah yeah yeah yeah and yeah i think it's i mean it's absolutely incredible and i think this is the great thing about the fa cup and we'll shout out some of the results and get onto a wider conversation about the fa cup in general but unbelievable i mean macclesfield undoubtedly the story of the weekend but and john john rooney the manager uh wayne rooney's brother there was a lovely moment actually yeah at the end when i when they were like just congratulating them that were sort of taking the moment together and Wayne was congratulating his brother John and like was visibly very emotional about it all.

19:07Because it's one of those things where the FA Cup just shines a spotlight on fan atmosphere and fan culture and like even the locations, even the places that the game goes to. I love watching Premier League sides or whatever full of internationals and full of world-class players playing at places that have just that slightly less bright floodlights. Yes, yes, yes. It's just the whole, it's just a great aesthetic. When they have like the four shadows. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know we talk about this a lot, but I love it when those players, when wealthier clubs go to those grounds and those wealthier clubs absolutely bring it.

19:50there might be a big result, a big reverse, but they don't patronise the opposition. I actually really respect that because sometimes people do go through the motions, actually. You could say Chelsea going to Charlton or whatever. I mean, not exactly the lowest side in the competition by any means, but took it very seriously. Yeah, totally. As it should be, as it should be. Yeah, yeah, because you want to get the best shot. But yeah, shout out to Macclesfield. Fantastic result. And elsewhere as well, some great results. Wrexham yeah Wrexham going through against Forest on penalties on Friday thriller three all after extra time great game absolutely superb yeah and it was like again the classic thing of the challenges and I would say this the overall theme of this FA Cup third round is that all the challenges brought it they came with the energy Wrexham went two goals up actually at two different points Hudson-Odoi putting them back and then a conqueror with the penalty heroics going through but yeah and that was the beginning that was the palate cleanser this is the thing this is like the opening night like a little I really like the way it was staggered a little pair of teeth before they I gotta say I like the way it's staggered over these three days I know it's for different reasons but I think it quite it really gives you that drama doesn't it like over the weekend well usually I think because you're usually used to seeing maybe like one Friday night game and then one Monday night game yeah but it was just like the sheer volume there was like four games on Friday yeah and I think I kind of go I kind of flit a little bit about this with the FA Cup I do I think I do actually like the fact that it's spread out over the weekend now I think when the teams get fewer in the competition so the further the competition goes I would like to see that condensed a little more so it feels like you know it's just like boom boom but I think realistically you kind of have to spread this over the weekend and also it it gives sides a lot of many more clubs opportunities to be on TV and therefore to get like some yeah some revenue in which is probably the the negative side of it in England this year which we will touch on maybe because it was the first year that it went pretty much the majority of it was TNT you know I think I think it should always just be free to air you can have one or two games maybe on paid if you want to but I feel like the FA Cup should really be just the FA Cup yeah yeah like BBC, ITV.

22:15It should be like the international tournaments, in my opinion. Let's shout out some of the results before we maybe talk about the wider thing about the FA Cup. Any other results to mention? I mean, those are kind of the main... Man City 10-1 against Exeter. That's an obvious one. I think that speaks to City actually turning up for this. George Birch may be the goal of the game. Yeah, it's absolutely banger. The teenage Major. Ripping one top corner. I think the keeper said that's the first time I think I've celebrated. Well, it's not many times you're 9-0 down, but like, you know, it's not often you see someone celebrating at 9-0 down.

22:54It was a great goal. Semenyo looked really at home in a City shirt. Straight away. Yes, it's quite funny. A bit worrying, actually. He patted Rodri on the head after Rodri scored a banger. I'm like, really? Well done, son. That's great. You haven't even unpacked.

23:15Elsewhere, yeah, Derby-Leeds was a great one. Fantastic game. Derby gave them the business, but Leeds came back really, really well. Mansfield beating Sheffield United was a big one. Yes, yes, yes. Great game. And to get that result there too, yeah, yeah. And, you know, look, just a quick shout out for Arsenal. Went 1-0 down very early. And people were like, oh, could this be? And then it turned out it was not to be. Yeah, Martin Leigh doing work there. Kai Havertz looked good as well. Yes, Kai Havertz back. Looking locked in. Wolves beating Shrewsbury 6-1 I only mention that because I think Wolves that was quite cathartic actually obviously having more resources in Shrewsbury I think wanting just to continue their recent fairly good run and get some momentum going Yeah you could say it's just Shrewsbury but it's the reps I think Yeah exactly I think Shrewsbury would come away from that going that didn't feel like a team that was bottom of the Premier League like in terms of a team that was like down and despondent if you look at like Wolves since December 13th narrow defeats, right, good performances and the last four games unbeaten.

24:18Picking up points, yeah. Yeah, yeah, looking good, looking good. Villa beating Spurs 2-1. More disappointment for Spurs, more boos. Kind of worry about Thomas Frank. I know we've felt like we've said this like three or four episodes in a row, but... I feel like, look, if you're losing 2-1 to a team level in points in Manchester City in the Premier League, that's not the disaster. I think, I feel like it's... You're being too sensible here, Musa. That's true. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, but I just don't think this is the...

24:45I just don't think this is the one to get too despondent about but I suppose some might say look we're not having much joy in the league the most we could look forward to is some kind of a cup run and we're not even getting that so from that perspective maybe you know and maybe the Thomas Frank appointment isn't the best fit maybe it's not going to work out and maybe well it's currently not working out so we'll see I I think anyone would struggle in that job at the moment and I'm not saying there's not a better appointment out there I'm not saying there isn't but still I just think it's a really tough gig and I thought Villa were really good too so you know yep and their first first game as new Chelsea boss for Liam Resenia a tiny 5-1 win away at Charlton yeah they look really good Chelsea great start there's a lot of talk actually I mean I was on this some talk about there's a bit of mockery of Resenia's um uh half-time talks motivational talks and early interviews as chelsea well just like come just just because of this with the communication style and i think people find some of it quite square but i think that's just nitpicking and i think he has to come out on the front foot and be confident like i think he made a comment about like that he wasn't arrogant just confident basically uh and he's been good at every job he's done so far and look it's a huge job and he has to like be confident because he doesn't want to be like a Graham Potter where you come in and people go after you because you seem a bit bewildered by this step up.

26:14Yeah, but he's also been part of that ecosystem. Yeah. So it's not, it's not, it's not unfamiliar to him. The people who he's meeting, he already knows the people who are around the club he's already dealt with because of Strasbourg. Hey, listen, he knows the club. He knows the club. I nearly said that Kai Havertz was like a new sign in earlier.

26:38right you've escaped it long enough it turns out do you know what early contender for catfish of the year was the back three was the problem two games no back three no wins Manchester United Manchester United won Brighton Hove Albion two yes another goal for Danny Welbeck against Manchester United and what a goal it was but let's talk about the game because I actually thought Manchester United looked pretty good in patches. And put the chances away. Won the XG battle. Hey, look. They lost the war. You want to copy Brighton? It's a good era to copy. Do you remember Graham Potter's The XG gods. Relentless XG wins.

27:27X-goated. He was X-goated. That was a stadio bit for ages, wasn't it? It was, it wasn't. Brighton weren't picking up results but they were always winning the XG battle. getting those good looks United got good looks in this but couldn't put them away it started very well I thought they did they did they did but this is ultimately the difference was the finishing Seshko got they scored five minutes in the end despite having all those good looks and this was it really like just Brighton Ruth as they needed to be and Danny Welbeck's fingerprints all over this one as Ian Wright predicted they would be he said Welbeck was coming for us hey shouts to Wright by the way his Wembley Rangers winning the Baller League yeah it's good to see one of us getting some silverware this year.

28:09United, don't want to put too much emphasis on them because it was Brighton's win, winning out Old Trafford. That's a huge deal. Or maybe it's not for Brighton these days because that's a standard result for Brighton these days at Old Trafford. They have a lot of joy against us in recent years. But the United line-up, I can't really fault it from Fletcher. That's as good a starting XI, I think, as was available. you could argue maybe swap Casimir in for Uate but otherwise oh my god man the was it the Welbeck goal yeah the way Uate just just was like on you go I thought oh that doesn't that doesn't look very good at all Welbeck great finish by the way lets him run across his body with the rips in the top corner incredible incredible finish in terms of how much room he was given I mean it's not not the greatest I know Lenny Oro's there and you could you know if you were going to be extremely generous you could say he was passing it on to Lenny Oro but it's not really part of the pitch that you need to pass people on you just need to you need to stop whoever it is from getting a shot away and there's no one else around you to to pick up yeah he just kind of it was really weird super weird on Welbeck though to give him his flowers again his work and the build up for Gruder's opener the hesitation dribble the hesitation dribble that he does before squaring it for the eventual opener so so good and I say this is all compliments there are some strikers who look 35 this guy doesn't this guy really doesn't I just I feel a little sad for him that he's surging at this point in his career when he's put all the pieces together yeah but I also think that there's something interesting there with Danny Welbeck in that he clearly looks after himself.

30:02He's in incredible shape. And while he was quick, he was never, it didn't feel like he was ever like wall-cut. No, no, no. Rapid. I think his game intelligence has always been something that people don't give him enough credit for. And I always thought he was great for Arsenal. And maybe not in the same way that you would, maybe not in a way that you would have thought he would have been when he was coming through at United. And what I think we're seeing at at Brighton is this finally like and we've seen it for a few years now it's kind of like an evolution of the player he was as well in terms of his link up play very unselfish decision making is rarely not on point yeah yeah yeah you know his game intelligence is I think incredible and I think that comes with experience and also that that sense of losing not losing but making up for lost time I think when he's like right I have to I need to make every moment count here because yes yes it has I've lost so much time that I think it just I think it switches it switches players into like a slightly different mentality when they're just they're almost smarter with their moves because they have to they know that they have to like manage their body a little more or manage their energy a little more especially if you come into that age of his career not having the injuries you're seeing how good Danny Welbert can be i think it's also a combination of the mental side of it there's a confidence issue there that has been resolved so i was um talking to like a not one of my lecturers at uni a few like years ago and i was working on some some project and i was expressing a lot of self-doubt and she was basically like musa she said like own it because i was like you know i was tentative and she's like own it and i never forget her saying that and like thank you sue appreciate it and um I think Welbeck had that point where it was like you have to own it like you're Danny Welbeck you came to United you're Arsenal own it no one if you look at his technical level and I was who was I reading writing about this it was one of the one of the tennis greats was saying how if you look at the top 100 in tennis the technical level between a lot of them is not actually that great the thing is the differential is the mental aspect on the big points the decision to actually go ahead and assert yourself over you know three sets five sets in a major tournament.

32:18I think Welbeck has had that and this is not a knock on him. It's like Welbeck's actual ability is one which people look at throughout and be like, that guy's got everything. There's that famous thing when he's doing the skill drill with Cristiano Ronaldo and everyone's going like, oh, I think Rory King going like, who the hell is that kid? Like he's unbelievable. And I just think Welbeck for a large part of his career hasn't seen himself as golden boot winner. And that's not a knock on him. It's like most people don't have that. He was almost too nice as well, I think, in a sense. It was like missed, I think, you know, not being a dickhead, I think maybe meant that he, I think he was very aware of his place in squads.

32:58Right. And also living up to expectation, but also how he never knew when the next injury might be coming, especially through Arsenal. That really started happening at Arsenal. So I think now what's happened is he's had a good run of fitness that has incrementally built up confidence in his own body. It's just every little element like that is like a split fraction of a second. You build that up over time and you build that up in terms of experience, confidence still being fully fit but then knowing that your body isn't going to let you down and it just gives you that slight it's super cliche but it is margins yeah i'm just really happy for him man like i know it's tricky at manchester night at the moment it looks like karak's coming in definitely till the end of the season i do quite like that to be honest yeah i do i would rather they do karak than solskjaer personally i agree i agree because solskjaer is a known quantity that would feel like a big step back i think i think so i think that's not just that's not any disrespect to are they going to solskjaer But I just think that that was a moment in time and it happened.

34:12And I think we need, I think, I think my society needs, needs an element of freshness and character is a good coach, right? It's a good coach. It's not a clown appointment, whatever happens with it. And let's see, let's see. I'm a, I guess I'm looking forward to it because actually what else, what else can I do with that? Yeah. And I also think that in terms of trajectory, I think Carrick has still got, He's got a potential long career in management. I think so. I think Carrick would be my shout. Yeah. I hope that comes through. I'm looking forward to that if that does. Anything else on that? Or should we talk about the FA Cup in general?

34:52No. All done on that. All good. This isn't a wild take or anything like that. But something felt really, really, really good about the FA Cup this weekend. And I think it's been something that's been building for a few years now. because there was a period where the FA Cup, its stock really, really fell. I think at the very top level of football, how things have, like stylistically, for example, a lot of stuff has become homogenized. The pool of teams who can realistically win big silverware has become smaller. Just how quite intertwined some pretty grim geopolitical stuff is now embedded into football as well.

35:30It felt like the FA Cup for me this weekend was a glimpse at what could be still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very much so. And I think there were a few elements to that. I think obviously the variety of tyres were great. I think also the lack of VAR. Yes, yes. It had a noticeable improvement on the game. I think, yeah, I mean, to be into those not fully aware of the full context, a lot of that is infrastructure related. yes there's no there's no var in the fa cup until the what the fifth round i think it was but i think as well within that what that allowed for was a sense that the spectacle was it's here and then it's done like there's no no second chances you knew it if the flag didn't go up it was in and it was no you can just celebrate yeah yeah and there's a difference there and this is the thing you know we talked about this before but the whole thing was set blatter set blatter being a traditionist and actually enjoying that jeopardy enjoying the human error not enjoying but embracing the fact that not ever was going to catch everything dude that dude brought golden goal and silver goal in for a while to remember i loved the golden goal silver was very much like

36:37listen during 1996 olympics golden goal against brazil one of the all-time greats i i loved that because people play with a different intensity people are like every shot matters an extra time every deflection matters you know every misplaced pass and the thing about var is of course it does allow it brings back in stuff that happens off the ball that shouldn't and that's all part of it that is part you know football basically when it mirrors when football mirrors the rhythms including the injustices of everyday life that is what makes it uniquely compelling there's no callbacks and i think the fa cup i think really benefited from that like macclesfield the energy in that ground was this is the single spectacle.

37:20And actually, you know, credit to Palace because we talk about the magic of the cup being regained and recovered. Part of the, you know, they call it the giant killing. That's part of it. That's the great heritage of it. And you have the challenges turning up ready for action. And I think because, you know, the number of teams that can win something top level is getting smaller all the time, it increases the intensity around the FA Cup a chance to get something done, a chance to actually make some history. And as humiliating as this was for Palace, I was going through the Reddit, the Crystal Palace subreddit, and there were some comments going basically like, but let me find it because I particularly enjoyed it.

38:00And I say this, Palace fans, I say it in solidarity because hopefully they'll find it amusing. Winning the FA Cup followed by losing it with the biggest upset cup history is so us. First of all, we still won our first trophy and I would have taken a first round exit for it. That sounds like me if I was a Palace fan. This is also... Actually, that makes me feel better, weirdly. Absolute peak Crystal Palace behaviour. There was a moment where it cut to Steve Parrish and Mark Bright in the crowd, and it looked like they were just in with the Macclesfield fans. And they were just... They weren't in a proper...

38:36I don't know where they were sat, but it looked like they weren't in a proper executive section. it just looked like they were just having the worst time someone said I think that's all comment please correct me if I'm wrong but that's all comment saying repeated announcements about please please no pitch no pitch invasions and the owner themselves is trying to climb the hoardings we all knew what this was hey catfish of the year contender the Macclesfield no pitch invasions announcements I should go on catfish of the year nominations

39:12Maybe we can save this for an episode for another time and expand on it a little more widely. But I was thinking, with all the talk about the League Cup in England, and I think it's under threat. We've seen the Women's League Cup this year change. Well, it's going to change where the teams in Europe aren't going to participate in the League Cup going forward. And I wonder if there is a conversation to be had about the League Cup on the men's side of it as well. like there aren't conversations going on already but you know what i mean i have to admit i don't know what the solution is but i think a solution needs to be found because not to free up space for top teams or whatever or to help top teams but it's more about creating space for the competitions to breathe a little more i don't know i feel like the fa cup has has done something quite strange in modern football when it even though the league was big the fa cup was was like the thing that So everyone, you know, winning it at Wembley, for example, was like a massive, massive, massive thing for years.

40:12And then its stock really fell when the Champions League got expanded, I think. And the financial importance of qualifying for Europe or whatever took precedent over the FA Cup. Yeah. Manchester United's infamous post-treble stepping out of the FA Cup, I think, was the first thing that really, really, really kick-started that. And I think it's done quite a strange thing in modern football when it has somehow managed to navigate through all of this late-stage football capitalism landscape, but has managed to retain and regain its identity, I suppose. Yes. Do you think that's fair or do you think that's too big picture?

40:59That's very fair. Yeah, so as you were talking, I was thinking, I was looking up actually a couple of tournaments that I think have helped the FA Cup and supplemented it and maybe offer some instruction for the League Cup could be. So, you know, do you remember the full Members Cup, Xenodata Systems, which was like, yeah, like those, you know, and then you've got like the AFL trophy and you've got these. There is a precedent already for cup competitions where you don't have full membership or full participation from all the clubs in the Football League. I think just offering some more incentive, and I've been thinking as well, broadly as well, about the UEFA Conference League and watch what they did for Olympiacos, you know, the first Greek team to win.

41:41And just giving, and Fiorentina going twice to the final, like giving these clubs from around Europe more chance of a bite at a trophy. I'm not sure what the reforms should be, but I like your thinking in terms of, is it just another trinket for the big clubs, for the big clubs, or the wealthy clubs? so I was just looking through the last like six and there have been two first time winners in the last six FA Cup finals and six different winners in those six finals and I just scrolled back through the winners and just picked an era at random I picked the early 30s or just take the 30s in general so you had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine different winners ten different winners in ten years and two in that ten year period two of those were first time winners as well that was before the FA Cup got pause because of the second world war i love that yeah it kind of found its way back against the odds and if you look at how seriously wealthy clubs take for example the carabao cup like you look actually to pep's credit pep doesn't shortchange that tournament and at the same time i think it's one that should be there to reward clubs that have fewer resources i think um so i I like your suggestion, but the FA Cup, I mean, credit to its resilience.

42:58And it's one that people really care about too. This is the thing when you hear, and I think of the context of AFCON, when you hear players talk about how AFCON would be the biggest thing in their careers. Yeah. And these are players that, these are African players that have won Champions Leagues going, AFCON was the biggest thing that I did. It was the biggest thing that I did. And you think that person's won everything with everyone. And that was the thing that gave it to them. and you look at like Didier Drogba wanting to win that AFCON for years and not getting over the line. And then when they finally won it when he wasn't in the team and his reaction to it, he reacted as if he'd won it himself.

43:31And I think there are tournaments like AFCON at the FA Cup that occupy a specific space in the imagination that maybe with our, not our, but like I see a collective, this Western focused capitalist lens, like, oh, that's the biggest thing. That's the biggest. No, the FA Cup actually, for some people, is the prize. You hear like Wayne Rooney talk about it as something that he won. And it's not, it's different now, like a different era, but there are still people that grow up playing, dreaming of winning the FA Cup as the main trophy. Not necessarily in the World Cup, although at the FA Cup, there's something about the specific glory of that tournament that needs to be protected.

44:13And thankfully, like credit to the clubs who've persisted with it and honored it. It still has that, that cachet. Yeah, I mean, if you look at the teams that were put out this weekend, even the sides that rotated, they were still very strong teams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Manchester City put out a very strong team at home to Exeter while putting in a couple of rotations. But, you know, like Haaland started and... Yeah, they offered him the business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. English football is in a very strange position, right? Because the ultra-wealthy at the top are starting to... We've talked about this before, how the Premier League is...

44:51The gulf in wealth between the Premier League and the rest of the world is kind of wild. That does filter down to the Championship as well. You're in a bit of a tricky situation with English football because, for example, if you... Let's say you cut the top 10 out of the Premier League each season, couldn't qualify for the Carabao Cup the following year, or the EFL Cup, whatever you want to call it. Then that does create a pathway for clubs lower down the table to then go and win some silverware which would then help them win you know qualify for Europe it's whether it's whether then the very top teams would give up that potential European spot but if you think about it if you're kind of finishing 8th or above in the Premier League you're pretty much in Europe anyway yeah so or 7th or whatever it is I can't remember exactly it depends on how many people are in the Champions League if you let the Football League vote on it I'd be fascinated to see if if you allowed every club in the Football League to vote on it, on that proposal, I'd love to see the poll results.

45:54Yeah, this isn't stuff we've really thought out massively. Yeah, we're just throwing it out there. But do you know what I mean? In terms of a poll it'd be quite interesting in terms of how indicative that was of sentiment. Yeah, definitely. I think maybe we should probably think about this and have a chat about some footballing future ideas. Yeah, yeah. Potential reforms. And I think maybe this is because we because we're fans of Premier League clubs a lot of people who are fans of football league clubs or lower down the pyramid they're obviously just going to be like well yeah guys like this is kind of how it is and we know that this is why people are searching out more community based or authentic for want of a better term footballing experiences I think when you see those two worlds collide it's really powerful because it reminds you of what of that you don't it doesn't have to be all completely sterile homogenized kind of like corporate in a footballing sense it can those two worlds can like mash and i think it's really good for the sport to maintain that element of this is actually just a sport it's often it's authenticity i think i know i know you mean i wonder how players talk about the fa cup as well you know we said before with like when as they took palace on that run or when he led them on that run how many players are the clubs you know earning great money but looking at what as they did going that guy created some history there that guy reminded us of what the journey feels like and I feel like it is that and this is why I say credit to Palace because yes they got knocked out by Macclesfield but do know what like that's the FA Cup and yes Macclesfield are like you know sixth place but whatever like the point is they got to live something Palace fans that the other clubs haven't seen in over a century.

47:42I've never seen. They got that moment. They got that glory. I just think that a lot of, I think that a lot of wealthy players looked at that Palace run and thought, I'd have loved to have gone on something like that. Never going to forget that. Yeah, yeah. Never going to forget that. I've got those stories. I've got those memories forever. Like, who wouldn't want that? And even some of the defeats, like, I mean, this is not to sort of knock on Portsmouth, but like, obviously the 4-1 defeat that Portsmouth had, you know the time when like Arsenal turned up to Portsmouth before when Henry was there?

48:10peak Henry. And, you know, Portsmouth weren't bad that night, but Henry absolutely brought it. And like, even, even the games that you lose, when you see that really nice moment, you have the home fans applauding because they're like, you know what? Fair enough. Fair enough. This is the magic of the cup, but also part of the magic of the cup is when the Giants turn up and deliver, right? That's all part of it. Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think, you know, I haven't spoken to anyone about it, but I imagine the players like it as well. It's not easy, but I imagine that they love that, you know, going to places like Fratton Park, maybe a place a lot of them haven't played.

48:46Victor Jokeres, you know, didn't come on the pitch. Maybe that was because he's played at Fratton Park. So he was just like, actually, you're going to let everyone else. Too real. You're going to let everyone else kind of play. Taste this. Yeah. But what I love about the FA Cup, the one thing I'll say before we move on is for players that, you know, from the wealthy clubs that haven't played at some of those grounds in a while, a lot of them would have played at those types of places, academy days or whatever. but just when the bus rounds the when the coach goes around a corner that like goes and just treats it a bit too small like or just a bit too and like everyone's on top of you going oh you're really in it now like and I know this is like this is we're not saying anything particularly new here but I just felt like I think it always comes around a really good time the FA Cup third round and yeah that reminder of just I mean to be honest it happens sometimes with the early stages of the Carabao Cup as well you don't have any VAR I think the VAR element is a massive part of it.

49:41Yes, yes. And I think that, again, I think this is something I would love to chat about properly just in terms of maybe we could pick a few things in terms of what would we like football to be like in five years or ten years. And explore, and maybe make that a bit of a regular cutaway show because I do wonder if there's a point where it's like, look, we have goal line technology, technology so the literal is it over the line or not is sorted yeah do we need to be micromanaging off sides to like the millimeter or we are we are we willing for the sake of the sport and the you know if you want to kind of talk in corporate speak the product like i think the fa cup this weekend was a better product in terms of watching it because you knew that the goal was the goal that was it yes it was just it was like i know what i know actually what i'm watching here it's like the foot you know when the people stopped doing that trope in and it's become a bit of a cliche now that if you you're seeing something really dramatic a really dramatic twist happen in a movie and then it's they wake up it was a dream yes yes yes i think i think var has had that similar effect on football where you i think maybe the combination with that and I don't know just the explosion of AI VAR you can't trust anything anymore VAR is the marvel of football in the sense that like Marvel superheroes like they never die they're always coming back yeah we can't kill it it's good for the franchise you know these big clubs can't go out these big clubs can't go out why is Robert Downey Jr.

51:15VAR? yeah why is Robert Downey Jr. in goal and VAR and playing up front what multiverse are we in? it got so bad in Marvel that when like a villain killed a major character he basically had to almost break the fourth wall and go like you're dead for real this time as in you're absolutely dead he has like uh you're actually dead there's no comeback this time it's like gonzo in the muppets christmas carol tiny tim who did not die

51:50to this day i still think tiny tim died i still think tiny tim died who did not die by the way they should just start bringing that into marvel old stuff.

52:03Look, the Muppets Marvel multiverse is a crossover I want to see. Just gonzo like narrating it all.

52:14I think that's probably a good time for us to stop. In short, the TLDR version is FA Cup, very good. Yes. There you go. Very good. Glad you're back. It's a cliche, man, but the magic of the cup It is, man. It's the real thing. Real deal. And that is episode 600. It is indeed. We hope everyone's staying safe and well, wherever you are. And yeah, don't forget, if you want to go and buy tickets for our next London Live show at the Southbank Centre, the link is in the description. If you want to sign up for Stadio on Patreon, come and support us on Patreon. You can listen to every single episode ad-free and in full.

52:48Patreon.com forward slash Stadio. We're going to do Wednesday and Thursday this week. So until then, don't forget to check the Stadio Archers place on Spotify. Speaking of which, we're playing out on Moving in the Right Direction by Steve Parks. Anything you would like to add, Musa Kwonka? Nothing further. All right, well, much love. Back with you later this week. See you then.

53:26Well, all right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, all right.

53:40Antoinette's got me moving. Grooving from enchanted music. Coming from that direction, yeah. Well, all right. Talking what I feel Talking what I feel Body's got me mumbling, fumbling Stumbling, yeah My, my But I'm moving in the right direction Yeah, oh no

54:21There's a voice within me saying Says that I'm moving Says that I'm moving Says that I'm moving Says that I'm moving In the right direction

54:40My mind You're doing it to me baby

54:50Can't you just imagine How it's going to be When illusions of love becomes you and me, yeah