Amorim sacked by Man United! Plus Vinicius under fire + the Paris derby!

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30and Paris, and somebody new talking about Stonewise. It's all coming up in this Totally Football Show.

0:42Monday the 5th of January. It's a happy new year to James Horncastle. Hello. Hi, James. And to Paul Ballouz. Hello, hello. Lovely to see you again, Paul. And you're delighted that Christmas is over. Sort of, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to be like the Grinch, but after like a couple of weeks of meeting people and Christmas dinners and everything, I'm just, I'm happy to be on my own at some point. I understand, Paul. Let's talk some football. We've got a very special guest on the way shortly. We've got all our moment of the week and usual fun and games. But first, in light of events earlier today in Manchester, joining us now for his Euro edition debut, we have Laurie Whitwell.

1:30Laurie, thank you so much for joining us. Take your break from paternity leave. Yes, thanks for having me. Yes, yes. Listen, when Manchester United drama happens, I need to drop what I'm doing, whatever time I'm planned off, and come back on and chat about it, obviously. Jump into a phone booth, don your reporter's cap, all that stuff. All right, so as I understand it, the club were fine with finishing 15th last season, getting knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the Hansel League 2 Grimsby Town, drawing with Wolves, even talked about giving in the full three years. But Sunday's press conference proved all too much for them to bear.

2:04Yeah, it was a call. He called it on, really, didn't he, Ruben Amrim? him I mean he kind of hinted at this in the Friday's press conference where you know he didn't really say much but what he did say was telling and he hinted at division behind the scenes and clearly that's been going on you know a lot more has obviously happened behind the scenes than what we're privy to at the moment obviously we are getting information to that end though anyway but then making it public in a press conference is a whole different matter and him saying you know I will be the manager until you know the 80 months are up of my contract you know I'm not a head coach even though your title is head coach.

2:39So clearly he felt that areas that were his domain were getting intruded upon, such as formations, tactics, transfers, I think was another aspect to it, where he wanted certain signings and maybe other signings were coming in. So I think the club felt that there was no alternative really. And yeah, we could ask questions of them for appointing him in the first place and their role in all this as well. But yeah, clearly I think when a manager is saying those kind of things, it's not going to end happily. Indeed not. Who comes in? We have a game coming up on Wednesday night at Burnley, which I believe the former Man United midfielder and current under-18s coach Darren Fletcher will be in charge of.

3:17What's the thinking beyond that? Yeah, I don't know. I think it's quite a movable situation, to be honest, because whilst maybe some tendencies were being thought of behind the scenes, I don't think any real major plays were done to kind of line somebody up, ready to go, which is why you've got Darren Fletcher there in as caretaker. caretaker and yeah people were saying to us maybe he could do it you know for quite a while um because he was in ruben amarin's first team coaching set up last season but that was a you know kind of uh circumstance of him being in eric ten haggs coaching team before that he was technical director he's had quite a meandering journey since he came back to the club um under oligone solskjaer as a sort of under 16s coach to begin with um to this point now where he's actually going to be leading manchester united in a premier league game at burnley um for all intents and purposes you know people I speak to speak very highly of him in terms of him being at the start of his coaching career but equally you know someone with great intelligence and humility and understanding of what it takes to be a Manchester United player so let's see what formation he picks I suppose first of all I would hasten a guess that he would return to some kind of back four system but yeah beyond that I don't know you know will he be the you know interim manager until the end of the season listen if he starts well then I can imagine maybe they just sort of let it roll but yeah I think probably longer term you need something somebody with more experience than that there's an exotic list of names currently being touted by bookmakers from Enzo Mureska Glasner, Tuchel, Carras Southgate, Monco Silva even Cesc Fabregas as well whoever it is comes in Laurie will it make do you think much difference or are the issues kind of beyond who's on the bench that's a really fascinating point because I guess that would be what Ruben Amarin's issue is right where he felt that he came into a situation that was a bit scrambled anyway.

5:02Certainly some disharmony amongst the players in terms of professionalism. That was a question that he raised. And then trying to shift it to a different system, a style of play that he thought ultimately could be incredibly exciting. If you've got two attacking wing backs, then you're kind of really overloading the front side of the pitch. But he wasn't, to his mind, given the players that he ultimately wanted. They tried for Antoine Semenu in January, didn't get him. we think he's going to Manchester City. So, you know, how much can we really put on him? Now, I do think that actually you can put quite a lot on him because ultimately as a manager, you've got to be adaptable.

5:37And I think that's what these kind of conversations more recently were about and sort of saying, listen, we can't do it, we can't accelerate this process because we haven't got the players for this squad. So can you show some flexibility within that? But yeah, I think certainly when you look at his record, 38 % win ratio, the lowest of any Manchester United manager in Premier League era. so you have to have an uplift from that. Whatever the circumstance that the club is, you can't be as bad as that in terms of getting results. But they are still sixth place in the Premier League but there's still a Champions League place there for the taking.

6:07James, you called this when Ruben was first appointed 14 months ago. We kind of broke the news for Tony listeners at least on this Euro show and I remember you saying anyone who talks about process is a blagger. I can't remember saying that but I'll take the credit. um now i was going to ask laurie what kind of an l is this for sir jim ratcliffe at this moment in time um because uh when you were first thinking about going on paternity leave um because it looked like amaranth was going to get the sack then everyone remembers the grimsby game um he then came out ratcliffe and was like ruben's my guy he's going to see out his entire contract so all the views in the media should shut up.

6:51And instead, a few months later, he's gone and sacked him. So what does this say about Sir Jim and the project above Amorim? Yes, well, James Hornstradamus, as I shall now be calling you for your, you know, premonitions. Yeah, I think that it is a big question. Right, we've had these questions already, you know, in terms of they've taken a lot of big decisions, that people have disagreed with in terms of the restructuring of the club, ultimately you kind of go, well, fine, if that's your operation, then let's see the results on the pitch. And the results just haven't been there. So then to actually get rid of the guy that you put such faith in and put support behind to your mind as owners and football hierarchy, then that is a huge question mark over your credentials to then get this club to challenge him for titles, which is what we think it is.

7:42It's a very difficult club to manage. I do have sympathy for very different aspects of it because it's just so big and there's so much historical issues, baggage there with it. So I can understand that it's difficult to turn it around. But when you've made such a bold decision as to basically look at different replacements for Erickson Haag before an FA Cup final that he then goes and wins, you can't get it done with Thomas Tuchel so you keep Eric Tanag in charge actually exercise the plus one in his contract only to sack him a few months later and then go and get this guy who great charisma but clearly came with a very strict way of playing into that squad it's a big call and there's other people that have gone by the wayside as collateral when you look at Dan Ashworth as sporting director they waited all that time to get him and then he left within a few months as well Over the Amerim appointment?

8:33A little bit, yeah a little bit over Amerim I mean, there was other issues there as well, you know, in terms of, you know, I think Ratcliffe wanted him to be more sort of forthcoming with the recommendations for redundancies in the football department, shall we say, you know, to streamline that area. And he was resistant to that. He wanted to see what was under the bonnet of the club rather than kind of go in straight away and go, right, you're out of the club. And then, yeah, but to your point, certainly, I think he recommended other managers with Premier League credentials that he thought, listen, let's make it a gradual sort of development rather than this kind of handbrake.

9:03let's go for this guy that's totally different to what we've had before so yeah I do think who they go for next and what comes next there's going to be a lot of attention on that decision It's the mother of all crises for Manchester United Laurie before you get back to your mother One last question Mother of his child It's actually my mum's birthday today as well Is it? Happy birthday Mrs Woodward Was Zamorin was he popular with his players and might we see a colossal new manager or interim manager bounce at Burnley this midweek? Well, I certainly think Fletch has got respect of players. He was obviously like around the first team squad for a couple of years.

9:43So that'd be interesting to observe. Amarin, to my knowledge, I don't think he ever really established great relationships with his players. He was more of a kind of manager, head coach, that had sort of group discussions with them, often, you know, quite strong stuff, which maybe you need because it was underperforming. So, you know, he's being strong with them. But I don't think he was a kind of guy to have kind of one-on-one conversations arm around the shoulder, kind of talk things through with players. You know, he said recently, you know, my door is always open to people, but I don't think he really ever gave that impression to them that he would take that on board.

10:15I think in a pretty good relationship with Bruno Fernandes, you know, as his lieutenant on the pitch, and he was, I think, quite instrumental, really, in Bruno staying last summer when he had those offers from Al-Hilal and other Saudi clubs. So that's perhaps one to observe. Lysandre Martin, I think, kind of got on well with him. I mean, yeah, you can kind of go back to last summer's transfer decisions with Emi Martinez being something that Amarin and Lisandro Martinez both wanted and they went another way. And I think that was perhaps one of the seeds that was sown. But yeah, in terms of the players as a collective, I don't get a great sense that there was a huge camaraderie around him.

10:48And how much do you think, touching on the impact on the likes of Bruno Fernandes, how much do you think this might change Man United's January transfer business? There were a number of players who were maybe going to be heading out the door, Kobe Mainu for one. Is this going to see them change their plans? Yeah, I think Kobe is the key factor in this. To all intents and purposes, I think he felt that his exit was a matter of time with Amarin in charge. Now he's not going to be there. I think that changes things. So I wouldn't be surprised if he stays and then they don't have to have that decision over him.

11:19Joshua Zerkesi, a bit of a different aspect maybe because that wasn't necessarily related to Amarin per se. but I think anybody that comes in, United basically will only let somebody out if they get somebody in. Their squad's too thin, even without European competition to account for that. And so they tried for Semenya, so that sort of showed that they do have money if they really want to push it out, but I don't think there's anybody that they're going to go for this window that would fit the bill. I think they kind of want to wait till the summer to get the kind of targets they really want. Brilliant.

11:51Laurie, thank you so much for taking time out to be with us. and congratulations to the new mum and baby Whitwell. And the old mum for a birthday. And the old mum. You're less young mum. Okay, handled that well. Nice. Laurie, lovely stuff. Speak to you soon. Nice one, guys.

12:15Laurie Whitwell. Of course, Man United could go the Chelsea model and bring in the manager of their sister club in France, which, of course, is Nice, Nice, who are currently down in the 13th. They drew, actually, with Liam Rossegna's Trasburg, as it happened just last weekend. Quite the parallels between Nice and Man United under Ineos. Ineos have been in charge of Nice since 2019. They've been through seven managers in that time. They are now on to number eight, Claude Puel, who recently replaced Frank Ays. And, yeah, not going too well there. Anyway, we'll be talking more about Ligue 1 with our special guest very shortly.

12:51but next let's get some moments of the week

13:00this is the totally football show part of the athletic fc podcast network the athletic is the only place you can read articles by daniel taylor amy lawrence phil haye james pierce ollie k and the very best football writers around all right it's a moment of the week paul you've had loads of time to think about it yeah what you got i'm gonna go well in spain it's been the week of the The week of the Garcias. Joan Garcia, Gonzalo Garcia, Ruben Garcia also scored for Osasuna. Eric Garcia. Eric Garcia played really well as well for Barcelona. I'm not going to mention him because he didn't get into the score sheet.

13:35But yeah, plenty of Garcias. I don't know if it's the surname with more goals in La Liga's history books. That's one that I have to dig more into. But yeah, basically highlight the huge week that Joan Garcia had and Gonzalo Garcia had. One for Barcelona. He played in the Catalan Derby. He was in the spotlight, Joan Garcia, because it was the first time that he returned to Espanyol after switching sides in the city. Yeah, he was heavily good. Right. They were talking about throwing live rats at him, I recall. Did that happen? It did not happen. It did not happen because there was like a big call and a big campaign from Espanyol for this not happening because Espanyol are warned of a potential closure of their stadium if any further incidents happened.

14:21They had incidents in the past couple of seasons. Yeah, and it would have had like a really bad impact in the club in a season that it's been the best season in the last 20 years for the club. So they didn't want this to happen. Would have been unfortunate for the Rats as well. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Well, we'll hear more about that and Gonzalo Garcia very, very shortly. James, what's your moment of the week? Gasparini going back to Bergamo a place where I think a lot of people thought he would finish his career instead he decided to leave after a decade to take over Roma so he was back with Roma on Saturday night and lost with Roma so Roma have lost four of the last six games title challenge has faded not really scoring any goals particularly not from their strikers whereas Atlanta results continue to pick up on And one of Gasp's disciples, Raffaele Palladino, thought they were well worth their win.

15:18But yeah, nice choreography from the Atalanta fans sort of welcoming this indelible symbol that is Gasparini back after a decade. No bad blood there. You know, it's a surprise, if anything, that there isn't a statue outside the romantically named New Balance Arena for Gasparini. Indeed. Looking forward to more City Hour later on. But Liga up first for us today in our European Totally Football show. Barcelona, with their first game of the year, very big one. The Derby with the Neighbours Español, who were very much the formed team in La Liga. They'd had five straight wins. This one didn't go their way, though.

15:59And that was largely thanks to their former goalkeeper.

16:09Paul, Joan Garcia, miracle man against his former side. That was outstanding, outstanding to see, because before the game you wondered if Joan Garcia would crumble with the pressure. He surely hadn't been in a place like that with so much scrutiny over him throughout the week. All the chat in Barcelona was like, how is he going to be received? Are there going to be rats thrown at him? What is going to happen in the stadium? Well, what happened is that he basically saved just everything. The save that he did just before halftime, I don't know if you've watched it, but it's just outstanding. I think that the last program that we did, I highlighted the save from Gianna Black against Girona, which was brilliant as well.

16:49But that's possibly even better. And yeah, it wasn't a great game for Barcelona. If I'm honest, I think that Barcelona deserved to maybe lose that game. But it's one of those that is a scrappy win and that if Barca end up winning the trophy at the end of last season, at the end of this season, you're going to look back to that game and say, right, that's been a defining moment for sure. and like a turning point in their season because we've talked a lot about Barca not being as good as last season, but they have 13 points more than Barca in the previous season. They are in course of like, if they keep up with the rate of points that they've had so far, they will do 98 points this season, which is mad.

17:32So yeah, Barcelona pretty much with a crucial win in a game that they could have well lost and that it was tipped before the game as a difficult one to get over the line. It was a late win because it was all the substitutions that Flick made which made the difference. Fermín López gave the assist in both goals and Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski scored them. So yeah, happy days in Barcelona, which will leave Barcelona fans not wondering too much about how well or not well their team played. Happy days for one half of Barcelona. And for Espanyol, supporters heartbreak. They were goalless, being held out only by Joan Garcia's magnificence until the 86th minute before Barcelona broke through.

18:18And their wait for a league win over their neighbours goes on. They haven't had one since 2009. Crikey. In La Liga, in La Copa del Rey, they won once against Barcelona, but it didn't have any sort of meaning because Barcelona came back in the second leg. But yeah, the last time that Espanyol beat Barcelona, Ivan de la Peña scored the goals for Espanyol. So yeah, it's a good pop quiz question, this one. Very nice. Barcelona stay four points clear at the top of La Liga, ahead of Real Madrid. However, the new year got the news that Kylian Mbappe had sprained his knee, a lot of concern over that. Not least because their first game of the new year saw them take on hot, hot, hot Real Betis.

18:59They handled this one pretty well. Paul, a 5-1 victory. I think I'm going to be cautious on how I say this, but I think that without Mbappe, I'm not going to say that Real Madrid are a better team without Mbappe, but without one of them guys, like without Mbappe or Vinicius, they are a more balanced team. And you could see that Xavi Alonso was pleased with having Gonzalo Garcia up front, a player that worked on and off the ball, and that was really spot on with the clinical end of his game. and he scored three goals, which basically decided the game to their favour. Excellent. Cantorano, an academy product.

19:41In fact, all five of the Real Madrid goals were from academy products, but Garcia, who we saw in the Club World Cup, came into the side because of Mbappé's absence and getting a perfect hat-trick here. Why, for all of that and for all the size of the victory, why were the Real Madrid fans still whistling the team? Well, basically, the main whistles went to Vinicius Junior. When Vinicius Junior was souped off in the final minutes of the game, Xavi Alonso was wary a bit that the team had dropped a bit of standards in the game. When Real Madrid were 3-0 up, Real Betis scored one goal and hit the post twice.

20:21So all the fans at Santiago Bernabeu were a bit like, wow, what's going on? Can we bottle it again? And can it be a bigger problem, this game? and then Xavi Alonso who on the torch line he was visibly frustrated with the lack of effort that Benicius had put off the ball with high pressing and everything he just decided just to take Benicius off and with the whistle in a way you can see that there's a divided opinion in the Santiago Bernabeu that's a big part of the stadium that is in favour of Xavi Alonso if you want to call it that way as in being in favour of taking out the player who is not working enough and then another side of the Santiago Bernabeu who was sort of applauding Benicius because they rate the world-class players.

21:01Of course, who doesn't? But yeah, there's this sort of clash inside the stadium and that's the reason why the Bernabeu is whistling because you still can see that things are not going spot on inside the team, inside the dressing room. There's a lot of division in there. And despite the result, which of course Real Madrid were great, but I think that Betis were a bit disappointing as well. But yeah, it's something that is going to still linger on and that place Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso in the place where he was supposed to be, to play for his future in Saudi Arabia in the Supercopa de España.

21:34Which is coming up this week. We've got Barcelona taking on Athletic Club on Wednesday and then Real go against Atletico Madrid on Thursday in Jeddah, as you say. Paul, if there is, as you suggest, one too many superstars in this Real Madrid squad, might it soon be Vinicius who's making way in the January window? I don't think it's a feasible option to see Benicius going in the January window for the contract situation that he's in. He still has a contract ongoing. Florentino Perez wants to extend his contract and has tried to extend his contract, but Benicius has denied it. As Mario Cortegana from The Athletic reported in conversations with Florentino Perez, Benicius told him that as long as Xavi Alonso was the manager, he had no intention to extend his contract.

22:21But then his salary is massive. if he has to leave any club has to pay a big fee so basically no club in Europe can afford this sort of deal in terms of the transfer fee and the wages and then you wonder well maybe Saudi Arabia can afford this yeah well does the player want to go there right now it is a bit unclear and then if the manager situation at Real Madrid it is what it is you don't do like massive changes in the squad as well because you don't know what can happen in the next fortnight so it's a bit of this situation but clearly in the eyes of the Santiago Bernabeu fan base and the Real Madrid fan base from all those talented players up front I would say that Benicius Jr.

23:04is being framed as the fall guy in a way Interesting, Xavi's position is still very much in doubt despite the run of results that he's put together since those big question marks in December Moving along, while they head off to Saudi Arabia for the Super Cup Villarreal have moved past Atleti into third in La Liga after their 3-1 win at Elche on Saturday. They're seven points behind Real Madrid, but they do have two games in hand. And they're also putting together their best Liga season ever, the yellow submarine. Absolutely. Villarreal are the only team, actually, that can avoid this become a two-team title race at this point right now.

23:43If they win the two games in hand, they will be quite close to Real Madrid. I mean, I've said it multiple times. There's something that still doesn't fully click about this Villarreal team, and I think that we saw that on the Champions League, that they didn't get it going, basically. But the depth that they have in the squad and the quality of the players is one of the best that they've had over the last decade, easily. I think that they did really smart business in Soma, letting go players that have finished possibly a cycle in the club, such as Alex Vaina and Jeremy Pino. They maximized a bit their value, and they brought in quality players like Mikel Tadze, like Alberto Moledo from Las Palmas, a top quality player.

24:27So there's this sort of change of guard going on. There's still issues to polish, but in La Liga they have been really clinical and really good with all the results, all the opposite of what they've been in the Champions League. But by the looks of things, they're going to have another chance next season. Excellent. All right. Anything else from La Liga we should know before we move on, Paul? Well, I would have liked a couple of cases which are Sevilla and Valencia, two historical teams that are really struggling and had really bad results this weekend, which basically were followed by heated reactions from the fan base.

25:03Sevilla lost at home against, which was the bottom of the table team, Levante, a 3-0 loss, and all the fans basically were waiting for the players when they left the stadium, just shouting and insulting them and sort of asking, demanding them to do more on the pitch. And then Valencia lost at Celta de Vigo 4-1. And when they came back by plane, they were like warmly received at the airport as well, to put it mildly. Carlos Corberan, which is in charge of Valencia, his position might be in doubt. And there's two historical teams who might see themselves fighting for relegation decision in La Liga, which is quite crazy.

25:46Yeah, and wanted to highlight that the situations in Sevilla and Valencia are quite bad. And then the American manager, Matarazzo, which was in charge of his first game with Real Sociedad. The team played really good, really good against Atletico Madrid. They deserved a win, possibly. Yeah, really good game from Real Sociedad in there. And what was the funniest thing of that game, in my opinion, was that Matarazzo did the flash interview after the game. He did it in English, in a perfect American English. He was translated live while he was doing the Flash interview. And I got the sense that he really understands Spanish and speaks Spanish because when the translation ended, he said, well, you didn't translate everything, didn't you?

26:33And the reporters were taken aback, like, oh, wow, do you understand us? So yeah, it was a funny exchange at the end of the game and I wanted to highlight a game from Real Sociedad that had been a disappointing decision but had a new future. Right. In a moment of crisis, they've gone to the Matarazzo. I like that. What's his background? He was born in America. He's worked with Julian Nagelsmann, if I'm not wrong, in the past. But yeah, he's been a bit of a surprise choice in San Sebastian, but one that breaks a bit with the tradition of trusting academy managers. They had Emmanuel Alhuazil the past season.

27:15They appointed Sergio Fernandes this season, but it didn't work out. They needed a bit of fresh air. And yeah, Matrajo has been the choice. Excellent. All right, Paul. Very, very nice. Thanks for that Liga Roundup. Stick around. Next, off to Serie A.

27:55Italy, James two rounds since our last show and it's very much a three-horse race now. Inter, a point clear of Milan, who are a point clear of Napoli, who face Inter next weekend. Woof. All right, loads to talk about Inter hitting form. They've had back-to-back wins over fancied sides. Atalanta over Christmas and then Bologna this weekend, 3-1. Yeah, they were mighty impressive against Bologna who knocked them out in the Super Cup on penalties. they have started to i think correct some of the let's call them mistakes of the first half of the season which in these games against fashionable sides as you call them james they would often outplay their opponents and somehow find to either lose or draw those games and instead they beat atlanta 1-0 profiting on an atlanta mistake and their win on sunday night at san against Bologna was one of the most impressive Inter displays of the season so far.

29:01It was 3-1, but really they could have won by 4 or 5. And, you know, I mean, Inter don't have the injury problems that some of their title rivals do, most notably Napoli. But they don't have Denzel Dumfries at the moment, which is why they've been showing interest in João Cancelo, at Simone and Zaghi's Al-Hilal. The back three had Akanji and Bissek in it at the weekend. And one of the goals of the weekend in City was from Zielinski, the opening goal in this game, caught it really well on the edge of the box. Unstoppable shot. And Zielinski, who in his first season at Inter made next to no impact, has really started to step up this season.

29:54and yeah, could be a long-term, I say long-term, mid-term replacement from Mkhitaryan or even Chalinole in front of the defence, which is where he's been playing. So Inter look really, really good at the moment. Excellent. They're away at Parma midweek, full midweek round in Italy. Napoli, meanwhile, host Verona. And then at the weekend, they will be meeting up with the Nerazzurri. What a huge match that looks set to be. Napoli themselves this weekend having an entertaining 2-0 victory over Lazio and the former Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri. Lovely to see goals from Leonardo Spinazzola and also Amir Rachmani.

30:36But let's talk about the rock at the end. Yeah, with Pasquale Mazzocchi and Maricic. And what was great about this is no sooner do they get up in each other's grills so to speak then Antonio Conte just sort of darts out of the dugout and plays nightclub bouncer and sort of manages to separate the two at one stage it looked like Matsuki thought he was a Lazio player which kind of just trying to throw him off him uh and yeah Conte basically kept pulling him back looked like he was going to fall over at one stage um but yeah both players sent off so Lazio ended with nine men and Napoli with 10 uh but yeah Lazio I think was the seventh red card that they've had so far this season which considering until five days ago they were under transfer embargo not really helpful but Napoli in the first half of that game were really impressive and you know if you compare Napoli with the team that won the league at the end of last year with Lukaku up front and McTominay running off him well Lukaku hasn't played a minute this season at the start of the season Napoli were playing 4-1-4-1 with De Bruyne in this kind of free role while De Bruyne hasn't played for months and Napoli now are this team that plays 3-4-3 with Rasmus Hoyland one of David Neres and Noah Lang and at the weekend it was Elif Elmas and so Conte has been really kind of creative as he gets more and more players injured and I mean he kind of had this wry smile at the end of the game on Sunday because David Neres who's been fantastic uh for the last six weeks he went off which looked like quite a nasty injury and Conte was like oh my god it's just like not another one um and so yeah he was asked if he was hopeful that they would sign anyone in the adrenaline transfer window even though they've got this kind of soft transfer embargo and he was like don't even ask me about that because the last time you asked me about it PSG came in and signed one of our best players Kevaret Scalier this time last year.

33:01I don't want that to happen. But Napoli in adversity also looked good. It's a very hard title race to call, James. Indeed. Napoli haven't actually conceded a goal in a month now. Six games in three different competitions without letting a single goal pass them. That'll be tested midweek, as I mentioned, by a visit from Verona, which is the Giulietta Una Zocola fixture, the famous Juliet Isatar banner from the Neapolitan fans. Treasured memory of that. Inter, as mentioned, will be at the Ennio Tardini taking on Parma. And Milan host Daniele di Rossi's Genoa. On Wednesday, there's also those fashionable sides.

33:45Bologna and Atalanta meeting each other. They're kind of nesting just outside the European positions. Atalanta, this following their 1-0 victory over Roma at the weekend with Giorgio Scalvini. after what's been a troubled season with injuries and that, managing to bundle one in. Also from Serie A, Juve drew with Lecce, who will be Roma's midweek opponents. Lots of facts here, lots of games coming up. But James, anything else in particular we should be focusing on? Perhaps Fiorentina? Yeah, Fiorentina have now won for the second time in three games. and their winner against Cremonese on Sunday afternoon was scored in the 94th minute.

34:32And one of their new signings, Manor Solomon, he basically came on, put the ball in, caused a bit of confusion and Moyes-Ken had a tap-in. And Ken wasn't supposed to play. He'd been kind of away from Florence for the last week with a kind of personal matter. but then Edin Dzeko sort of woke up on Sunday morning with a very swollen ankle. And so they had to basically bring Kane into the squad and he came on and got the winner. And so things beginning to look up for Fiorentina, certainly the best start that they could imagine for 2026, given the circumstances. The worst start to 2026 for poor Jonathan David, the Canada international Juventus striker.

35:19He obviously came with a really big billing after his time in Ligue 1 with Lille. And Jonathan David having a real torrid time of it, he'd already missed some really bad chances, missed some good chances, sorry, earlier in the season. But out of sympathy, his Juventus teammates gave him a penalty against Lecce. And the score was 1-1. If he put it away, maybe they would have gone on to win that game. They certainly deserved to win that game. and he steps up and delivers like this half-hearted Panenka, which gets saved. And yeah, or Jonathan David seems to be written off by certainly the Italian media as being arguably the flop of the season so far in Serie A.

36:08In a crowded field. Any big transfer stories we should be alerted to for the month ahead, James? Well, I mean, Paul and I were speaking earlier this morning about Giao Cancelo. Which team does he go back to? Is it Inter or Barcelona? Inter have got so much depth in midfield that they feel that they can give Davide Fratesi away. Fratesi, who's Italy international, scores regularly for Italy, but just can't get a look in at Inter. They could have gone in last season, mate. Yes, exactly. Jesus. so Galatasaray weirdly are showing an interest and have got you know money that only Galatasaray have for him I would quite like to see Fratesi in the Premier League I think Fratesi would do a really good job here and the events are sort of looking around for a number six but the only one that's sort of on the market is that Argentine that even can't get a can't get a game at West Ham guido rodriguez um kobi mine who we were discussing with lorry you know big target for napoli with anguisa african african cup of nations and billy gilmore out injured you know now his situation is all up in the air um so you know the the team that everyone expects to be busiest is um is fiorentina given the situation they're in but um yeah a number of teams unhappy with their strikers particularly Roma at the moment so whether Zergze for example Zergze's future might be impacted also by the news of Ameren's departure so you know it might be that they just look at getting Raspardori done and that's it but yeah it will be typically busy in City app but whether there'll be a box office name I'm not I'm not sure all right more when we know more uh Paul Yeah, no, it's sort of funny, like the Joao Cancelo-Saka that James was mentioning here, because Barca are looking for a centre-back.

38:13They have no defenders. And Flick and Deco are looking for a centre-back just to loan up until the end of the season. But out of the loo, Joao Cancelo is just tougher. He loved life in Barcelona a couple of years ago. He wants to be back in Barcelona. And yeah, it makes no general sense for Barcelona just to sign him because they are fine with full-backs. but you never know what can happen in the Barcelona wall, in the George Mendes wall and in the Cancelo wall. So it's an astonishing transfer saga to keep following. And there's also been reports, I don't know if it's come from Italy, I think so, James, but not for this January, but looking to next summer, of Dusan Blaubic potentially going to Barcelona on a free transfer.

38:56Yeah, I mean, his contract expires in the summer. He's the highest paid player in Serie A. his record since he's been at Juventus doesn't really justify that salary I think Juventus have tried to maybe get him to commit to a new deal on less money but certainly you know having Barcelona buy-in I think a lot of clubs are kind of looking at him is an option worth taking a chance on, given he will be free. And as we all know, when you leave on a free transfer, it's not free. It just means that the player and his agent gets a transfer fee themselves. So that's kind of much more lucrative for Vlajevic than staying at Juventus at this moment.

39:45Excellent stuff. With CDL wrapped up, we're going to round off today's Totally Football Show with a trip to France next.

40:00This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network. And listen, excitingly, we've got a new friend for the new year. Fresh out of Canal +, it's Louis Vicks who joins us now on the show. Louis, first of all, have I done your surname justice? It's Vicks. Vicks. Vicks, absolutely. Excellent. All right, well, so nice of you to join us today. It's an exciting start to the year in France. We've got the long-awaited derby in Paris. You've got the fallout from what looks like the Liam Rossignac departure at Strasbourg and also the ongoing collapse at Marseille and indeed Monaco too.

40:42And Long's still on top of the table as well. Where do you want to start? Maybe with Long's, completely surprising. Another win for Long's on Friday night, 3-0 in Toulouse. Well, it was tricky at the beginning, but since the start of the season, Fadis on Lens' side, definitely, and a red card given to Emerson in Toulouse's side, and after the injury of the captain, Rasmus Nikolaisen, of course, helped Lens greatly, but, you know, Edson Edouard is injured, Florian Tovin, he's not having a great game. Well, they have always a solution, and, well, on Friday night, It was Wesley Saeed who was really good.

41:27Once again, seventh goal of the season. And one player you might not know yet is called Ismail Oganou. He's 20 years old. He's a defender, but he already looks like Ruben Diaz. And the absence of key players doesn't seem to affect the team's performance that much. So, yeah, this team is surprising. It may seem less stronger than the 22-23 version that finished one point behind PSG with Luis Openda, Seco Fofana, and Brice Samba in the other. But he has just equaled the club's best run in the league with seven consecutive wins. So Pierre Sage, tone-wise, ideas are very clear. This coach is turning good Ligue 1 players into great Ligue 1 players.

42:14For example, Adrien Thomasson, the league's best passer with six assists now, never been that strong. Will that be enough to win another championship title after 1998? Probably not, but it makes you want to see how far this team can push Paris in the title race. And there are one point ahead of Paris, but eight of Marseille, which is absolutely huge in the race for the Champions League. Wow, so true. You mentioned their run in La Ligue. They also have put together four straight away victories for the first time ever with that 3-0 win at Toulouse on Friday. All right, well, let's talk about the Parisians.

42:49Where are you from, Louis? Actually, where's your hometown? My hometown is Nantes. Ah, yeah. Nantes, yeah. Excellent. Nantes had a good result this weekend, of course. Yeah, absolutely. We're going to talk about that later, I think. But we can talk about that right now, if you like, because that's part of the ongoing crisis in Marseille. Nantes, I think, hadn't had a victory since October, was it, in the league? Yeah, absolutely. Only three wins this season. two before the game in Marseille. They went to the Velodrome on Sunday and beat Marseille 2-0. Marseille finishing with nine men. Marseille, who are on a run of one win in their last four in the league.

43:30Afterwards, De Zerbi saying that he needs to be a psychologist. I personally can't think of anyone I'd be less comfortable with facing me if I was on their couch. But what do you make of the situation there? Well, I'm following Marseille in Champions League this season for Canel Pris and... I think Roberto De Zerbi's team is completely unpredictable, capable of soaring very high and falling very low. And the latest example is the game and the defeat against Nantes. De Zerbi said after the game that he would like to understand why he has these ups and downs here in Marseille. Well, we won't answer that question now, but one thing is clear.

44:12Did Italian's constant tactical changes put his player in difficult situations more often than not? Which, why switch back to a three-man defence when the four-man defence was working well, for example? Can this team improve its emotional management with such an energetic and stable coach on the bench? I'm not sure. Marseille were down to 10 after 26 minutes against non-following Arthur Vermeer's red card, who for one showed his age in the action. Then Marseille were down to nine after five minutes. Another red card for Bilal Nadia was booked twice in two minutes. So even one of the worst teams in the league took advantage of this to win 2-0 in the Vélodrome.

45:00And Marseille is third. So the ranking is not that bad, but eight points behind the leader loss, seven behind PSG, which is not a great performance given the resource deployed. And now it's time for the Champions Trophy, you know, in Kuwait on Thursday. And Marseille will attempt to win his first trophy in 14 years by beating PSG twice in a row, which is far from a fallen conclusion. Okay, that's Thursday night, PSG against Marseille in Kuwait, which is an unusual destination for your kind of Middle East and reasonably meaningless mid-season trophy. No need to talk about that. All right then, PSG warming up for what should be a hot encounter with Marseille by beating their neighbours, Paris FC, who made the long, long journey across the road to the Parc des Princes on Sunday night for, is it the first league meeting in 47 years?

46:02Is that the correct thing? Absolutely, yeah. Nearly half a century. Okay. And it went well for Paris Saint-Germain. Yeah, it went well. Before the game, Nasser Al-Anifi, the president of Paris Saint-Germain, returned from Asia, especially to assist and to welcome the Arnaud family, you know, the new shareholders of Paris FC, to his lounge at the Parc des Princes with Nicolas Sarkozy, for example. So ironically, Bernard Arnault's son, Antoine, is a huge PSG fan. Jürgen Klopp and Mario Gomez, representative of Red Bull, were in the stands in the Parc des Princes yesterday night. So, yeah, it was quite a special moment in the capital because Paris wants to be London, Madrid, Rome, to have, you know, two big teams in the capital.

47:02But it's going to take time because Paris FC's level is still physically, technically, and even if the score doesn't show it, the gap between two teams is nowadays huge. And if Luis Sennariki's teams had been more efficient in front of goal, PSG would certainly have scored four or five times. But anyway, Desirado is back Ousmane Dembe is back. Both were scorers and good yesterday. Désiré Doué, wow. In front of goal, this young man has a coolness that in France reminds us of Kylian Mbappé at this age.

47:54He is really, really good. He's not 100 % physically, but he will be absolutely one of the key players in the single half for Paris. But this PSG team still has weakness. For example, Ilya Zabarni, who is really struggling. We don't recognize the defender who was shown at Bournemouth last season. He conceded a penalty converted by William Goebbels. The score at this time was 1-1 after the opener from Desiree Dwey, but Paris FC only held onto the draw for two minutes after Ousmane Dembele beat Kevin Trapp with a completely botched but deflected shot to score his third goal of the season. And Dembele has not yet returned to his form of last spring, and it's absolutely unclear whether he will, but he's clearly regaining his physical form, and that's good news for PSG.

48:48and his partnership with Douai is promising the two extended 19 passes yesterday night during the game. So this is interesting. And so 2-1 for Paris Saint-Germain. Paris FC is only 15 in the little board, two points above the relegation zone, so the transfer window will be important. And PSG is still one point behind Lens and will try to win his first trophy on the year on Thursday night. Are you anticipating Paris FC making some big moves in January then? Big moves, I don't know. But moves, yeah, because some of the players are not at the level they were supposed to be in the first part of the season.

49:32So in terms of big names for this transfer window, I don't think they will be in the next summer. Yeah, probably. Well, in the meantime, one club that definitely will be making some changes through January are Strasbourg, who have been waving bye-bye to Liam Rossegna, yet another member of the Strasbourg set-up, heading to Chelsea. Hadn't been the greatest run of form for Strasbourg under Rossegna of late. Only one win since October in the league. They've moved down to seventh place in Ligue 1. Two questions, Louis, if we may. One is, if Rossegna does take over at Chelsea, what kind of thing should Chelsea fans expect from him?

50:16And secondly, is it true that Strasbourg are getting Gary O 'Neill in to replace him? Well, for the second part of the question, yes, because Gary O 'Neill ticks all the boxes, an experienced English coach and free of any contract. So that's exactly what Bluko is looking for to replace his time, Yann Rossegna. has his own iPad, ticks all the boxes. Yeah. And the first question about what Chelsea fan can expect of Liam Rosseignan. Well, tactical approach, modern. Free defender, pressing very high on the pitch. He was quite good in Strasbourg in 18 months on the bench. But his communication and the relationship with the players have often been criticized, very often.

51:10So it remains to see, well, to be seen how he will fare at Chelsea in this part of communication, media's relationship with players. And, well, tactically, he's quite a good coach. He has done good things in Strasbourg. But yeah, the relationship with his players, especially in Chelsea, with all the Cole Palmer and all that type of players. It's going to be tricky for him, but I think he's a perfect fit for this version of Chelsea and the expectations of the management right now. Okay. Do you think it's going to be a success? Honestly, no, I don't think so. Yes. Understood, Louis. We made the big calls on this show and we're so often, I say we in a collective sense, you are so often proved right.

52:02Louis, it was great having you with us today. Nantes born and bred. I look forward to that being a regular catchphrase on the show if you'd like to join us again. Thank you for being with us today. You're welcome. It's a pleasure. And we'll catch up with you again in a week's time. That wraps it up then, listener, for another Totally Football show. Many, many thanks to Laurie, who was with us earlier on, Paul, Louis, James, and producer Charlie, a new listener. We'll catch up with you in seven days. have a great time until then for now from all of us here it's goodbye

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