Another Barca remontada & McTominay still leads the way at Napoli

0:00The Athletic FC.

0:30Pol Ballus: of Paz and maybe the Paz of the season. All that and more in this Totally Football Show.

0:44Pol Ballus: It's Tuesday the 26th of August. All right. And we're ready to roll with another Roaring Euro Roundup. In the studio, boom. Julien Laurence. Bonjour. Bonjour to you, Jules. also here James Horncastle has literally just got off the plane James hello hello wow James has been to one two three City Ham matches this weekend and he's back to tell us all about it also here live from Hamburg Seb Stafford Blore alright Seb hello there James alright Hamburg very much a rocking football town at the moment and got a Hamburg derby coming up next weekend haven't you Seb this weekend we've got it on Friday night Jimbo which I'm really, really excited about.

1:30Watching games in the Volkspark is one of my favourite things to do. Brilliant, brilliant stadium. What's so good about that? It's very, very loud. Also, the tiers of the banks are very steep. So everywhere you go in the stadium, you get a good view and the sound stays in, which is so, so important. There was a time a couple of derbies ago, maybe 2023. I remember, this is actually me getting old, I think. I remember at halftime thinking, I was in the press box, sort of doing my match piece, and I thought, I'm going to go out into the concourse, just have a bit of a quiet down, a bit of a sit down somewhere.

2:00And I just thought it was just too oppressive, the noise of it. So that's what a derby should be like, right? But it's also a measure of how, what a place the Volkspark is to watch a football match.

2:10Pol Ballus: OK. When is it the Volkspark? You don't get the sausage train that I believe is still a feature of St. Pauli matches. Yes, the sausage train. You do like the sausage train. You go on about it every time St. Pauli come up.

2:22Julien Laurens: It's the only thing you know about St. Pauli. You just want to let it go. Skull and crossbones, sausage. I've had information edited out of what I do so that you can include the sausage train anecdotes. Have you ever tried it, though? I have not, no.

2:37Pol Ballus: But it genuinely is a train that goes around with sausages on it. It might very well be, James. But that's what I'm so obsessed by. What an incredible thing. I had a sausage at a stadium last night. You did, but you weren't very happy with it, were you, James? No, I wasn't. All right. Well, you did have, in Como, in their new bijou, redone Senegalia, was a plate of amatricana.

3:00James Horncastle: Yeah, which is not a dish from Lombardy. But it's one of those things where it was halftime, so I walked into the, I suppose, hospitality bit.

3:15Pol Ballus: Right. Because you were in the VIP section, weren't you, James?

3:17James Horncastle: Always. Were you?

3:18Pol Ballus: Right. Right. And... Who else was in the VIP section with you? I mean, luminaries of...

3:27James Horncastle: Well, I mean, there were just lots of people from all over the world, James. Okay. You know, that's what Como attracts.

3:32Pol Ballus: You're going to be discreet. That's fine. Yeah. We'll return to the Amatriciana.

3:37James Horncastle: Yeah, which, you know, it's a Roman dish. It's not from Lombardy. And so I was like, this is quite incongruous, but I'm hungry. I'll have some all the same.

3:46Pol Ballus: And it was pretty good. Good to know And what they served up on field Was pretty tasty too We'll get on to that Very very shortly One player especially One player especially Jules what was the favourite thing What was your favourite thing That you ate this week

4:01Julien Laurens: It was at Everton on Sunday For the opening of the new stadium Which was lovely Very steep Very steep which is great Because I think the atmosphere Would be great for it And they had those lovely Chicken tenders at half time With loads of sauce on it It's not from Liverpool is more from you know America America

4:23James Horncastle: I'm surprised because Jules like you know we've had many meals with Jules over the years and like I feel like I could order for Jules

4:31Julien Laurens: you know I've got an OCD I don't eat at stadiums unless it's chicken no I didn't eat it

4:37Pol Ballus: to be fair no he didn't eat it

4:38Julien Laurens: there was some but yeah I've got this phobia and she just said that

4:41Pol Ballus: so that you know we wouldn't feel yeah exactly

4:44Julien Laurens: it was too far thanks Jules

4:45Pol Ballus: why don't you eat at the stadium for health reasons?

4:48Julien Laurens: One year, a while ago, when I started doing a lot of television on Premier League matches, this guy who was doing the show with me ate in a stadium before the show and had this piece of, like, potato stuck between his teeth and he stuck with me ever since to the point that I refused to eat. Even if I'm hungry, I would not eat early kick-off, later kick-off, evening kick-offs. It doesn't matter so much. I do not eat a stadium. It's not about

5:12Pol Ballus: nutritional value of the food there. Absolutely not. It's about presentation. Yes, thank you. that's choose a job yes talk about professionalism who was it James

5:21Julien Laurens: French guy so it was I don't need to display that

5:25Pol Ballus: but yeah he stayed with me okay hey Seb have you got a moment of the weekend yeah I've got Eric Smith equaliser against Borussia Dortmund for St Pauli right at the end so they were 3-1 down with 5 minutes left to play have no more time got a penalty Filippo Mane young Italian international making his Bundesliga debut got himself sent off really unlucky and then St Pauli scored twice in five minutes. And if you watch that goal, bear in mind that Eric Smith is a centre-back. You won't see many centre-backs score goals like that. Just a wonderful goal, wonderful moments in the Milan Tour. And then followed by what we'll call sort of some unpleasantness around the British Dortmund locker room where there were some issues between the Bellingham family and Sebastian Kiel, the Dortmund sporting director.

6:09All right.

6:10Pol Ballus: Yeah, not ideal. So yeah, Mama and Papa Bellingham coming into the dressing room for a bit of a dressing room? No, in the area outside the dressing room. So Millen Tour is quite a small stadium. The catacombs of it are quite crowded. And yeah, basically there was some sort of confusion over who should be where and who should be getting access to what and those kind of things, which Brissie thought we'd have remedied in the days since. But they came down to give the club a piece of their mind about Jo being taken off. Yeah, well, I think they were down there anyway. But yeah, Jo got hooked at half time, didn't have the easiest first 45 minutes.

6:43It wasn't unreasonable that he got taken off. He didn't play all that well, which is fine because he's still adjusting. It was his first game in Germany, first competitive game. But yeah, none too happy with that decision and some of the tactics, which I thought was a little harsh, not necessarily what I saw in the game. But yeah, by all accounts, it's Dortmund and everything is all well now. And a good, strong relationship with the Bellingham family is back intact.

7:06Pol Ballus: OK, well, much more from the Bundesliga to come. Jules, you're a member of the weekend.

7:11Julien Laurens: My one is Jijio Donnarumma having the scent-off that he deserves at the Paris des Princes, from the Paris des Princes, from the Ultras on Friday night after PSG beat Angers.

7:28Julien Laurens: This was the last time that he would probably be there in that stadium. How do you feel about that, Jijio? like I will forever be grateful obviously of what he did in last season in the Champions League winning campaign obviously it's just you know if we were sad every time a player leaves your club even if he's been great before like we would not be finishing being sad really so like it's fine that's football thank you next yeah a bit like that but I felt this was lovely though because he was there in the stands obviously in his like black hoodie and then the players took him to go and be in front of the Ultras on each side of the stadium and he got an amazing tribute and homage again like he deserves.

8:13Pol Ballus: He deserves and he still hasn't got a club yet? Not yet. Okay PSG with two unemployed goalkeepers right now.

8:19Julien Laurens: Who's the other one?

8:20Pol Ballus: Chevalier yet to make a save in this season.

8:24Julien Laurens: Absolutely it was not Angers we were there to defend and defended pretty well against a very sloppy again PSG unfit PSG team and Fabian Ruiz scored the only goal of the match. But yeah, it was all about Donnarumma and what happened after the game.

8:37Pol Ballus: Okay. James, hard to pick, but what would be your moment of the weekend?

8:42James Horncastle: I mean, personally, it was going to one of the stadiums which is described, it's always described as Italy's most modern stadium, which is the Mape Stadium in Reggio Emilia. And it's not the most modern stadium. I think if you were to actually give that billing to Seb or Jules, who I don't think have ever been there, when you have to walk through a field and cross a river in order to get... It was almost like me and several Neapolitans were storming the Mape. We were coming through these reeds in the kind of Emilia-Romagna countryside. Right. Beeching on the other side.

9:23Pol Ballus: Why do they call it the most modern stadium in Italy?

9:25James Horncastle: Well, A, because by Italian standards, and it's like 20 or 30 years old, it's new.

9:32Pol Ballus: But I can think of one ground nearby that's modern, huh? No, sure. Oh,

9:38James Horncastle: James. Very good. Super. No, I mean, obviously, Juventus Stadium, the place where Udinese, but the Blue Energy Stadium, as they call it now, those are more modern grounds. However, Mape national team plays there, Coppa Italia finals there. And look, when you get in it, it's fine. But I think Alexander Seferin, the UEFA president, when he went to the European Super Cup, he was like, guys, you're hosting. You're meant to be co-hosting the Euros in 2032. Get your act together. And yeah, if the MAPA is one of the three most modern stadiums, then Italy's got a problem. But anyway, so I was there for Sassuolo Napoli.

10:20James Horncastle: I mean, in terms of moment, I imagine you'd say Bonazzoli, Sizzikic. Yeah, surely. I thought you were going through that. For Cremonese.

10:26Pol Ballus: Or would it be Nico Paz with that extraordinary turn and then a pass to rival Kakaz to Crespo in that Champions League final that went so well for them?

10:38James Horncastle: Because up until that point, Lazio, who they were playing, had been really compact, no space between the lines, and he does this kind of faint shimmy turns. Brilliant. And then, you know, I think 10 minutes later, he scores an incredible free kick. Nico Patz!

10:58Pol Ballus: Cancio di punizione sublime del 10 del Como, 2-0!

11:05James Horncastle: And, yeah, unfortunately for Tottenham fans, he will not be going to Tottenham this summer. Nico Patz is Real Madrid-alike. The boy's too good. We want him back, Como.

11:16Pol Ballus: Yeah.

11:16James Horncastle: We want him back.

11:17Pol Ballus: All right. Como Patz for Patz. Yeah. City out on the way. We'll also be hearing from Paul Belus, of course, on La Liga, but it's Bundesliga where we begin. Seb Staffer-Bloor, you're up next. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

11:46Pol Ballus: Seb, last Friday, the new Bundesliga season began, 8 o 'clock. About two hours later, the title race already looked over. Goodness me, I'm buying good. It's the best I've seen Bayern play for a really, really long time. So obviously 6-0 and 6-0 against a team who, yeah, maybe Leipzig in a little bit of flux, transitioning, still a few players who need to probably leave the club before the end of the window. But even so, I mean, all the noises that came out from Oli Werner, who was appointed, beginning of the summer, former Werder Bremen coach, a lot of the noises, really positive. a lot of players spoke about the intensity of the sessions how good the detail was in the coaching and the path forward may may may still be really really positive but the night ended with him apologizing to the traveling ebby leipzig fans which is not great for your first competitive game but i think they just just got overwhelmed this was a this is a buy-in team and there are reservations about buy-in's depth what happens when crucial players get injured but when they've got those that front four on the pitch so at least say in the more central role Serge Gnabry rejuvenated Serge Gnabry who looks fit than he has done in years on the right on the left Luis Diaz who I'm sure is going to be an absolute star in the Bundesliga has the game for it and Harry Kane when those players are on the pitch they are I think going to be far too powerful for for most Bundesliga defences and quite a lot of teams in Europe too they look especially on the counter-attack didn't do a lot of counter-attacking on Friday night but on the counter-attack the The week before against Stuttgart, they looked absolutely lethal.

13:15And yeah, it looks really, really positive Bayern. I still think it'll be okay for Leipzig. This is just, you know, always difficult to get beaten 6-0 on the first game of the season. But if ever there is a game which you can kind of draw a line under, I think it's probably this one.

13:29Pol Ballus: Okay. Luis Dears with his second goal in two games. Harry Kane with a hat-trick, a proper German hat-trick as well. Natural hat-trick, not a tritter pack, no. So all goals in the same half. Yes. So it counts this time. Excellent. He has now scored as many hat-tricks, by our definition, in just over two years in the Bundesliga as he achieved in nine in the Premier League. He's on 65 goals in 64 Bundesliga games now. Incredible. Wow. All right, so Bayern off to a brilliant start. As mentioned, their rivals didn't have such a good time of it. Erbie Leipzig, who got beaten 6-0 by the Bavarians. variants.

14:10Pol Ballus: Dortmund, who as you mentioned, managed to only draw 3-3 their game with St. Pauli. And what about Bayer Leverkusen with that Eric Ten Hag? How did they get on in his league debut? Not well, not well. They lost at home to Hoffenheim. Jim Bowen stood for context. Hoffenheim finished 15th last season, which is one place above the relegation playoff. Now, I think Hoffenheim improved over the summer, made some good signings. Tim Blumley up front, it looks like a really really smart addition from cologne but what i will say is that um and these are the caveats what happened the ten hog team is inherited a side that has not only been stripped of its best players but also there's now this leadership void because hugely significant figures in the dressing room tar and jack are among them of course but also luke's radetzky he's now playing for monaco and league uh he was the club captain he's gone as well and so ten hog is kind of balancing forming a new side but also rebuilding the kind of the tenets of uh of the dressing room at the same time you know another excuse but also it's worth remembering that malik tillman who was signed perhaps not to replace for him this but to help replace him he didn't play he probably won't be fitted until after the international break and look by the um the french international center back he's been signed from sevilla and lucas vasquez just this morning um turned up in germany and signed a two-year contract as free agent which will help um they need a new right back they need some leadership they need some seniority and it's pretty difficult it feels very much like um i'm not even sure what you did how you describe it hangover is a little bit of a cliche but when you lose someone to jabby lonzo's charisma um uh who enraptured so many of those players who made being a leverkusen player exciting in a way that perhaps um without being too harsh it probably wasn't in the past.

15:57When you replace him with someone like Eric Den Haag, I think there's always going to be a little bit of a lag. So I'm holding judgment, Jim, but it wasn't a great start. There's no real way of spinning a home loss to Hovindheim. Indeed.

16:12Pol Ballus: Leverkusen could be about to lose a Piero Hincapier as well. The defender to Arsenal. Is that happening? We think so. David Onsen, as always, knows best, and he believes that's a possibility. the Hincapié situation is indicative of of Leverkusen's situation this ties in with the problems that Ten Hag is going to face because if you were part of the Leverkusen side who won the unbeaten domestic double in 2024 you don't really have a lot left to do at Leverkusen because you're not realistically going to be a Champions League contender, you might perhaps get to the latter rounds and play some exciting games and further your own reputation but you've won an unbeaten Ligue 1 Cup double you can't do more and and so for a lot of them like Germanfoot was kind of complete and I think a lot of players you know not just for a lot of players got to the status somewhere they thought well I need to leave not because the club doesn't serve me anymore but it can't satisfy my ambition and Henk Cappier is just the latest and it's um it's a difficult one um not a player obviously that um that Leverkusen want to lose but still a success story because they signed him on the strength of um his copper america performances i think 2022 and i remember speaking to simon rolf's chief executive of sport that and he said we actually kind of planned to do the deal a year later but he was so good that we had to do it otherwise he'd be completely uh inaccessible to us you know he would have gone straight to a super club without having the stopover in leverkusen so they've planned for this and um they signed uh blossian jamal blossian who spent most of last season out injured, had a really, really serious, I think, cruciate ligament injury, made him miss most of the season.

17:51He's kind of signed to play that kind of hybrid left centre-back, left-back role in the future, left wing-back potentially. So what Leverkusen tend to do is they tend to do their planning a year or two in advance so that the players are at the club when the player leaves. So it's inevitable, but Leverkusen will move on. Perhaps not to the heights they achieved before, but they will still move on.

18:08Pol Ballus: Okay, let's talk about the massive L of the week, which came in Werder Bremen's 4-1 defeat at Frankfurt. Another club who have lost players, but seem to be doing pretty well despite that. And not just Werder, who were 4-1 losers, but also the Sky Sports journalist who did the post-game interview with the Werder Bremen captain, Marco Friedl. He'd squabbed shirts. So bad. You saw this?

18:32Julien Laurens: It's so bad.

18:34Pol Ballus: You know, let me... He'd swapped shirts before the interview with Frankfurt's goalkeeper, which led to her asking Werder's keeper if he was happy with Frankfurt's 4-1 win. He answered, I'm a Werder Premon player in case you didn't know. With a smile.

18:53Julien Laurens: He was over cross. You could tell he was cross though. He said that you saw me 90 minutes ago. I want to jump in and defend that because Frito looks... No, because from the side he does look quite a lot like Robin Koch. Oh, come on. He does. he does she's your friend that's all no it's not that i i just think i've seen the vitriol that's headed her way over the weekend and i just think it's one of those we've all been there right maybe not exactly there but we've all made a mistake that you can't take back when you're live you said something you didn't mean to never and i just found it mortifying i i know i know i know it's just that it's it's called it's also she made a mistake yeah and it's it's kind of it's been jumped on by people that let's just call them bad actors okay with some sort of bad face before the game yeah she she had done and she was clearly she was so embarrassed by it right and it was just a mistake and i've never been in a situation where i've got a producer in my ear i'm on live tv i've got an interview i've never done that and it just looks like my ultimate nightmare yeah and so i can imagine her in a peripheral vision she sees the eintracht shirt she sees that funny little bit of facial hair that Robin Cox got as well.

20:05I may be making excuses but I just felt awful for her. She's had a very rough few days since.

20:11Pol Ballus: I can imagine. Best of luck to her. Frankfurt anyway with the 4-1 win. Have they already got their heir to Eketike with the 19-year-old Turkish international? Is it Canozun? Well, he's been there a couple of years. They signed him from Nuremberg a few years ago and with this very much in mind to develop. and I tell you I think he's due a breakthrough um he'll be someone that we're talking about in the kind of the the Eketike class in a couple of years um not in the same position he's really more of a number 10 but that whole Eintracht Frankfurt front four is really really exciting so Azana's been there for for a couple of years but Aritzy Duan came from Freiburg over the summer he'll play on the right of midfield Bahoya on the left he's been there for a couple of years but up front they signed Johnny Burkhardt from Mainz who Burkhardt a couple years ago suffered a really serious injury delayed his progress a little bit had an excellent year really really excellent year by Henriksen's team last season but he's one of those forwards that yeah he has many of the attributes of a typical nine but also combines really really well with kind of supporting attacking midfielders as he's had to do because Mainz were primarily an attack a counter-attacking team and he fits Eintracht Frankfurt like a glove he's already a German international I think he'll add to his caps.

21:28I think he has a really, really good chance of going to the World Cup at the end of this year. And I think I have some reservations about what Eintracht can do without the ball. They're such a young team. They're also going to be playing Champions League football, so they're going to be stretched. I would say they've got a nucleus of maybe 13, 14, 15 first-choice players, and then it becomes a little bit experimental. So let's see how they do. But in terms of excitement, yeah, if you get the chance to watch them, and Ozan especially. He's so talented. So, so talented.

21:55Pol Ballus: Brilliant. All right, so Friday night, it is the first Hamburg derby in a long while in the Bundesliga. And I imagine there'll be something pretty special cooked up by the Hamburger fans for the game. They'll have to go a distance, though, to beat what Union Berlin's supporters came together this weekend. Just finally, Seb, describe to us, if you will, their Tifo. OK, so the context is that Frederic Renaud, that Danish goalkeeper, he was voted union of the year for for the third year in succession so that's that's the fans player of the year and i think he got something like 48 49 of the vote anyway the last person to do that was also goalkeeper so it was very much kind of a goalkeeper themed celebration and the ultras created this bit of choreo where on one side of the outforster eye there was a goalkeeper in kind of a sideways superman pose uh diving as if to make a save on the other side of the stadium um There was a ball.

22:52And over time, ahead of kickoff, the two kind of moved towards each other. And then at the point at which they met and a save was made, in inverted commas, all sorts of stuff started happening. Bit of pyro, confetti, everything. It's in, not to plug my own work, that's awful, but we featured it in our Bundlesley column this morning. And I think, I spoke to anyone over the weekend and they plan to release a bit of their own video. Then they're making something special behind the scenes. So I think that'll be out in a couple of days. It's extraordinary.

23:22Pol Ballus: The banner moves at quite a pace across the terrace. And as it does behind it, the rest of the terrace put up red and white squares just to, I mean, it's a glorious thing. I mean, I've lived in Germany for four years now. And the more I learn about the people who give the time to create TIFO and choreos and the sort of investment they make in it, it's quite extraordinary. It's very difficult to get any access to it because obviously journalists are not hugely welcome in those circles. But the care and devotion to it and some of the things I've seen, which if you've been in a stadium and you've seen sort of pre-match pyro or choreo, you know how fleeting it is.

24:04And yet there's so much care in making sure that the atmosphere is right, that the fans are represented properly. And as you mentioned, yeah, Hartzweiler will be playing their first derby in the Bundesliga. It's their first home game in the Bundesliga since 2018, since they were relegated. And even in the Zweiter Bundesliga, some of the things you saw in the Voxbar Stadium were really, really special. And it polluted my Instagram account, and I expect they will do again on Friday night.

24:28Pol Ballus: Magnificent. All right, Seb. Lovely to hear from you. And we'll get more next week. Thanks for having me, Jimbo. Bye, guys.

24:42I'm Winnalou. I write the game Connections, one of the puzzles from New York Times games, and I love horror movies. I love my dog, and I love trying to trick you.

24:50Pol Ballus: I'm Tracy Bennett. I get to pick the wordle word every day, which is not as easy as it sounds. The fun fact about me is that I am descended from a witch who was put on trial in Salem. New York Times games are made by people, like the ones you just heard from. Go to nytimes.com slash games to start playing today.

25:17This 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 Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kaye and the very best football writers around.

25:30Pol Ballus: Hey everyone, let's catch up on our friends in the league. Match day two this weekend, Jaws. We've already talked about the fact that PSG have yet to concede a shot on target. They're opening two league matches, two 1-0 victories. Yeah, not great. All right. Angers are the opponents this time around. Let's talk then about a rather more lively club. Right now, that's Marseille. They had a good week this time. Did they? I mean, the weekend's game went pretty well. Saturday was okay. They beat Paris FC 5-2. Before that, we had the fallout from now. I can't remember. Did we discuss Rabiot and Rohan?

26:06Julien Laurens: So we only discussed it because we did the show on Monday last week, didn't we? We didn't have the whole story yet. because by then he had only been... So give us the whole story now. Yeah, so after having this big fight and, you know, argy-bargy, but more than argy-bargy...

26:21James Horncastle: Extreme violence.

26:22Julien Laurens: Extreme violence. With Jonathan Rowe.

26:24Pol Ballus: What do you think that meant, extreme violence?

26:26Julien Laurens: Well, that's an exaggeration massively. Do you think so? But one of their teammates

26:30Pol Ballus: ended up unconscious.

26:32Julien Laurens: But that had nothing to do with the fight, though. He just had a... Yeah, one of the young players from the team just had a little malaise. Okay. There was nothing.

26:42Pol Ballus: But Roe and Rabiot raised their, raised hands against each other.

26:45Julien Laurens: Yeah, twice actually. Twice. First they had a fight where apparently Rabiot hit him in the, punched him in the face and then Roe went out of the dressing room and then back in to have another go at Rabiot.

26:56Pol Ballus: Okay.

26:56Julien Laurens: But extreme violence when nobody gets injured, when there's no blood, when there's no...

27:01Pol Ballus: So Rabiot's mother said no one went to hospital. No.

27:06Julien Laurens: Which is true. Nobody got knocked out. there's no Jonathan Rowe's face looked like like nothing happened same with Rabiot's face okay but I guess it was so aggressive more than maybe the punches were maybe not hitting like they should have but people were a little bit shocked I mean Roberto De Zerbe is saying that he knows what a fight is because he's from the streets he's from the streets streets of Brescia I'm not sure what kind of streets we're talking here no I mean yeah maybe

27:32Pol Ballus: you want some because they'll give it you

27:34Julien Laurens: I'm sure I find it hard to believe that Roberto De Zerbe was traumatised by what he saw in that dressing room on Friday night between Rabiot and Roe but that's what he said so the club transfer listed both players first they expelled them from the first team squad

27:47Pol Ballus: Roe is now a Bologna player

27:49Julien Laurens: yeah and then put them on the transfer list past the medical

27:52Pol Ballus: walking the mean streets of Bologna yeah

27:55Julien Laurens: maybe because neither of them apologised to the club or to each other it seemed to be very disappointing that Rabiot didn't apologise then he did apologise on Thursday yes but apparently that was not sincere enough I was too late oh

28:07Pol Ballus: because I heard he might be reintegrated but then

28:10Julien Laurens: so that was Thursday then on Friday we were being told he did say sorry but I was a bit late and not too sincere then the Zerbi has a massive go at Rabiot's mum and all the lies and everything and that it was all Rabiot's on to rise if all of this happened then Saturday the game where Marseille take the lead then get paid back 2-2 and then end up winning 5-2 because Paris FC are a young naive team really in Ligue 1 and after that the Zerbi reopens the door to hey what about Rabiouk and maybe come back with us

28:41James Horncastle: I've always backed him I gave him the captain's arm band when we went to play in Paris I've always loved him I stood there with him when they were abusing him

28:49Julien Laurens: on Friday he said I've given him more cuddles and kisses than my own son which I was like yeah I was like okay Roberto like how many kisses and hugs are we talking about and yet he still wanted him out and then the next day he wanted him back in for more hugs and kisses I mean that's and cuddles to Zerbi yeah yeah so we know

29:11James Horncastle: he's a lover and a fighter he's a lover and a fighter

29:14Julien Laurens: wow did they realise it was going to be really hard to offload him because of well maybe

29:19Pol Ballus: although there had been talk of City Art Club's being yeah

29:23James Horncastle: well no Max Max Allegri would love a reunion right sure

29:26Julien Laurens: but they can't afford him surely I mean like

29:28James Horncastle: well it depends if he gets released yes true it's fact you know which you know he's got a year left on his deal hasn't he

29:36Julien Laurens: yes year left and basically at the heart of all of this and that's what Rabiot's mum and the Rabiot camp are saying is that they wanted him to extend he they could not find an agreement they didn't really feel he wanted to extend but he wanted to stay so they just realised we're going to leave him at the end of the season for nothing

29:54Pol Ballus: right

29:54Julien Laurens: right now he's our highest earner maybe it would not be a bad idea to actually try to let him go now get a bit of money for him get rid of his huge wages and reinvest that money.

30:06Pol Ballus: But before all that, he hit Jonathan Rowe in the face.

30:09Julien Laurens: And then maybe that was just about like, yeah, this is the perfect kind of excuse. That's only how the Ravio Kemp are seeing it because, as we said last week, I think, he went from being the best player they've ever seen in their whole lives, model professional, to the pariah that they want out as soon as possible, which is weird too.

30:28Pol Ballus: Good use of the word pariah, by the way. How did you say that in French? Pariah. Pariah. I cheated a bit. All right, well, it's proving a rough start in the top flight for Paris FC. That's two straight defeats. As for Marseille, what will next week bring? Well, it's going to be interesting because they're going to be away in Lyon in the Olympico. And Lyon, after their many travails, however you say that in French, over the end of last season and the summer, are top of the division that they weren't even supposed to be in. They are in first place. What did they do this weekend? And they beat Mets 3-0.

31:05Julien Laurens: Yeah, they were very good. Tyler Morton, for all the Liverpool fans who are listening to us, who they signed for 10 million euros, which is quite a big investment considering he played really more. He was a championship player more than anything else. I know he came from Liverpool, but was outstanding. He needs how he bossed the game and dictated the play ball. Also, the second assist on the Tolisso goal, his ball to Maitland Niles was perfect. Really, really good game from him. and Malik Fofana who is obviously the best player by far who is the winger that a lot of clubs would like to get and Lyon and Michel Kan are just pondering whether to keep him which will guarantee you a much better season or cash in now and let him go they need that money to balance their books but being massively weakened by the fact that they would lose their best player really and such an exciting young talent so I'm not sure what they're going to do he's very good I think in this situation because he says, listen, I'm happy here.

32:02Julien Laurens: I would love to stay but I understand if they need to sell me, I understand that and then I would go to a club that is also good for me but I think it's been great for such a young player to be so mature really in this kind of difficult story. It's never easy, I think.

32:16Pol Ballus: Is there much talk about possible destinations?

32:19Julien Laurens: Yeah, I think Bayern looking at him, I think a lot of English clubs are looking at him too because he's really, I know he's going to cost around 50 million euros but he's really that good. The goal he scored on Saturday was just beautiful, beautiful. And he's very, very, very good, very talented. But it would be a shame for Ligue 1 to lose him and for Lyon to lose him, but they might have to.

32:39Pol Ballus: OK. Lille, sometimes they come back to Ligue 1. Sometimes they come back to Ligue 1, like Olivier Giroud, who's begun at the age of 39 his Ligue 1 campaign with two goals from two. This time he scored the only goal in Lille's 1-0 victory over Monaco.

32:59Julien Laurens: And the goal! Olivier Giroud! The goal is to win! Yes! Olivier Giroud! He's going to win the score! We're going to win! Yes! Yeah, I mean, the most surprising is maybe not that he scored. He's a very good goal scorer. It's that this was the 91st minute. And that 38 and, like you said, 39 next month.

33:23Pol Ballus: Oh, is he 39 next month? Yeah, yeah.

33:25Julien Laurens: At the end of September. He's still capable of playing for 90 minutes. doing really well in the game where there was not much between Monaco and Lille. I thought Monaco had the better chances before that. Scoring a lovely, pure Giroud-esque finish on the turn, in the box. Great finish, then missed the penalty in the 97th minute. But overall, yeah, outstanding. He's the Giroud mania, as Liki put it on Tuesday morning, where even people who are not Lille fans are just watching him. His shirt is one of the biggest sold shirt in the league, in the country. incredible and yeah he's been outstanding and he's not always going to score a goal per game he won't be able to play every game when they are in Europe as well next month but for now it's amazing to have him back like this in Ligue 1 Magnificent

34:13Pol Ballus: Lyon are up there to lose as well a 2 for 2 as are Paris Saint-Germain and Strasbourg they had a 1-0 win over Nantes looking good Strasbourg

34:21Julien Laurens: yeah Ligue 1 came on and missed a sitter and then scored the winning goal but maybe the other moment of the weekend was Daren who played in the Derby aware at Lorient got the first red card after six minutes Maddy Camara making his debut for the club after moving from Brest and then four minutes later a second red card for Christopher Hu which means that two red cards in the first ten minutes of the game I've never seen it and in all the Opta stats since 1992 they've never seen anything like that either in any leagues in Europe so yeah How did the game go Jules? Then you know believe it or not they hit the post after 20 minutes being 9v11 then Sekou Fofana with a great shot that hit the crossbar and then the post and then out.

35:01Julien Laurens: And then after that, they literally considered four goals and they could have considered ten. So they lost four nil. Good Lord. Yeah. All right. Anything else from Ligue 1, Jules? No, I think that's it. Ça suffit. Ça suffit pour aujourd 'hui.

35:15Pol Ballus: OK. La semaine prochaine, il y a encore de Ligue 1. Mais aujourd 'hui, nous allons faire la Ligue 1.

35:31You're listening to the Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

35:41Pol Ballus: Champions League is coming up soon. And this Tuesday, Wednesday, we've got the second legs of the playoff. Seven teams will be joining that league phase. Celtic are amongst them. They're 0-0, heading off to Kazakhstan to face Kairat. looking likely that Cypriot side Paphos will be there. But a glimpse, almost certainly, they're 5-0 up from their first leg against Sturm Graz. Rangers, though, ai-yi-yi-yi-yi, Rangers, who hosted Bruges or Brugge last week in Glasgow and lost 3-1. Yeah, so that's going to be a tough second leg, but you never know with football, do you? And then there'll be, once those second legs get sorted, we'll have the draw for the league phase on Thursday.

36:29Wow.

36:30Pol Ballus: Now, joining us from Spain is Paul Belus. Hey, Paul. How are you? Hello, hello. How are you? I'm fine. Very well. Excellent. Covered all the basics there. You're just back from holiday. I'm back from holiday, yeah. I went to Portugal last week. Yeah. I'm back here now for the season to start again, ready for the Champions League draw for the start of La Liga. All good to go here. Where did you go in Portugal, Paul? Oh, do you want details in here? Yeah, of course. So I went to Porto first and then I went to Braga. Oh, nice. Because I have a friend in Braga in the club. So basically I went to watch the game.

37:12Braga were playing against ASB, which is a team that are candidates to get relegated. And yeah, basically they sneaked the point out of Braga. So I was a lucky charm to my mate.

37:24Pol Ballus: Did you enjoy the quarry? Was it a special experience? I mean, I wouldn't describe it as a special experience.

37:30Julien Laurens: It's a special stadium, you know? Yeah, it's a special stadium. Yeah, that's like for sure. But I mean, I've had more special experiences in my life. Okay.

37:40James Horncastle: I thought you were going to say in Braga. I was like, oh. No, no, I mean, no. Do tell. I believe the sandwiches are like a big show. No, I'm not going to get into that. I'm not going to get into that. The Francesinha. Yeah, that's important. Yeah, Francesinha. Oh, yeah. All right, then. That's important, yeah. It's going to be a big shot from my end. I think it's... I'm not going to say bad, but it's like a bit too heavy, like the Francesinha. Oh, yeah, no, it's heavy. It's very heavy. You shouldn't be dealing with that.

38:06Pol Ballus: Okay. In La Liga news poll... Oh, Real Madrid have been playing since we last spoke. They had that game on Tuesday night. They beat Osasuna 1-0 this weekend. and rather more convincing victory, perhaps, as they went to Real Oviedo in what itself was an emotional game. Oviedo back in the top flight almost a quarter of a century on. Real Madrid, though, emerging 3-0 winners. How was it? Yeah, it's been the perfect start for Real Madrid. Xavi Alonso had a pretty striking line-up, living beneath you on the bench, Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench as well. But I think that it panned out really well for them.

38:47This is more of a stable Real Madrid. They are more like, yeah, quiet, not that much end-to-end, but they control more the game. Had a really good outcome for them. I think that basically Kylian Mbappe made the difference. He hasn't started the season in really top form. I think he's the best attacker at Real Madrid, as we could see for the lineup, as I was saying, because Xavi Alonso was ruthless with Benicio Jr., who is far from his best. And I think that we would all agree that Kylian Mbappe now is the go-to man in Real Madrid's attack and he yeah and he lived up to this label like by carving Real Madrid to the victory.

39:23At Oviedo I wouldn't say that this is an astonishing sight in Real Madrid right now because it's still a working process for Xavi Alonso but yeah he's trying to make the team really stable really to concede as less as they can and build from that because up front they have the firepower just to win any side in the world.

39:40Pol Ballus: Okay. Vinicius left out of the starting line-up but Rodrigo in there and rather unhappy when he got taken off for I think it was for Vinny later on. Vinny who contributed the third goal in his victory. What's happening with Rodrigo now? Any news? Basically, the news now, if you look at Spain, is that he's closer to staying. Xavi Alonso has sort of granted him the status of being a left-winger now, but he's going to have to compete with Vinny Jr. So I don't know if that's a great business, but at least Rodrigo is going to be played at the position that he wants to play, which is the left-wing role.

40:11and I think that yeah he's going to stay mainly for the lack of suitors to keep up like with his demands because of course Rodrigo has a ongoing contract at Real Madrid in quite positive terms for him and it's difficult to upload that and to find an European club who can yeah deal with that plus with the fact that Rodrigo wants to be in the big big stage in European football so I think that the most logical thing to believe now is that he's going to stay at Real Madrid which is going to give Xavi Lantos some issue to handle in there because he has a big list of names with Rodrigo, with Pini, with Mbappe, with Mastantuono and Brian Diaz and everyone in there.

40:49Pol Ballus: Mastantuono who started the game and looked good by most accounts. Tough result this then for Real Oviedo, but they're pretty happy just to even not only be in the top division, but actually be a football club. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for them, this day was sort of a celebration. Yeah, just a moment just to savor. I think that they were aware at the start of the season, the fixture list was harsh on them because they visited Villarreal on the first game. Now they have Real Madrid and in a couple of weeks, if I'm not wrong, they are hosting Barcelona. So it's possibly not their league. They're going to sort of enjoy it.

41:26Let's see if they can take some points out of it. But yeah, I don't think that they are going to be too harsh on the team for now. I'll see where they go from that.

41:34Pol Ballus: Okay. Barcelona got their second win, but it was a bit of a scramble. They were taking on Levante. Marcus Rashford making his full debut. They found themselves 2-0 down at half-time to the Catalans. Rashford got hooked, after which Barca managed to come back and win 3-2.

42:09Yeah, let's see how we explain that because Michael Rashford started the game he was subbed off at half time as you were saying but I don't think that he was bad I think that he was decent playing off the left wing but Barcelona were a bit sloppy in defence. They considered two easy goals on the counter-attack. Levante were great. Fair play to them. And yeah, at half time, basically, Flick felt that he needed to shake a bit the team. And Rashford, for the credential, for the background that he has, he was possibly the biggest candidate or the first name on the list to be taken off. You are not going to take off Rafinha.

42:41You are not going to take off Lamin-Yamal. Ferran Torres was possibly playing well. So Rashford was on the cards. Basically, Flick took him off. And in the second half, Barcelona brought back the remontada spirit that was one of the foundations of the team last season. And yeah, I think that a bit of a scrappy win. Barcelona need to improve a lot on defence. I think that Pau Cubercy is far from his best form. He's one of the names that has been, I'm not going to say single out in Barcelona because of course it's just the start of the season, but some criticism to the teenager because he was on the spotlight for the two goals.

43:16But yeah, at least they got the win, six points in two games and perfect start for Barcelona as well.

43:23Pol Ballus: Excellent. They're on six points. Real Madrid are as well. Villarreal 2, Getafe, Athletic Club de Bilbao. Who's not there is Real's neighbours, Atletico Madrid, who now picked up just one point from their opening two games. This weekend drawing 1-1 with Elche. Yeah, yeah, that was far from great. Far, far from great. There's like a lot of debate around this Atletico Madrid side because it's now two summer windows when they have a big splash of money and the team just not adds up to what they can do, basically. I wouldn't say that is an unfair point for Elche. I think that Atletico Madrid were more unlucky on the first game against Espanyol, but Elche were pretty good.

44:04And I think that at the second half, Atletico Madrid didn't threaten off. So yeah, that's quite a message. That's quite a statement of where the team is at, at the minute. It's fair play that they have had a lot of changes, practically a full revamp into the team. The starting line-up is totally different to what we saw last season. But still, possibly Elche, if they are not the biggest candidates to get relegated this season, they are really close to that. And not to get a win at home against a team that you're on paper quite better than them. It's not a good look on Simeone, of course.

44:38Pol Ballus: Michael writes and says, At what point does the Simeone-Atletico journey come to an end? Obviously a legendary relationship, but you seem pretty down, Paul, on their title hopes again this season. Is there an end in sight? I am quite down on the title hopes. And yeah, that's a really live debate inside Atlético de Madrid. I would say that right now still there's a faction that is really keen on Simeone because of what he represents for the club, of course, the legend status. I don't think that no one is going to ask for Simeone to be sacked. But at the same time, there's another faction inside the club who are aware or are just witnessing that Atletico is not playing at the level that they could in terms of attacking football, in terms of being creative, in terms of being proactive.

45:22Atletico has thrived when they were more reactive in the past. But with the players that they have now, they need more than that. And they are unsure if Simeone can provide that. I think that it's fair to have the scrutiny over Simeone. He's the best paid manager in the league, if not in Europe, if I don't have the data now. in the world yeah I think that in the world right now and yeah he deserves to have this sort of spotlight and yeah possibly in my opinion it's been like too many years possibly with with Simeone let's see when the Champions League arrives because when the when the knockout stages at Let's Go find and Simeone loves it but when you look when you try to envisage this team winning a domestic title as in a league title it's hard for me right now because they seem to be off anything else from the weekend Paul?

46:09before we let you go? I wanted to mention a game that I labelled as the Salary Cup Derby. Oh, yeah. Because it was Getafe and Sevilla who played the game. Both teams have five players still to register because they don't have money and they basically have to sell players. Sevilla have sold Loic Badet to Leverkusen. I think that they are about to sell Luque Vakio even to AC Milan or they are starting to talk about this. And yeah, Getafe has to sell players as well. Getafe went there with only 15 first-in-players available. And they won 2-1. Perfect start for Getafe. The guy who scored the two goals, Adrian Liso, is on loan from Real Zaragoza who are on the relegation zone in the second division.

46:51So basically, a loan from a second division side is basically making the job for them. And pretty heroic stuff from Getafe here. And one of the games that exposed the situation in La Liga, which has a lot of teams with unregistered players and questioning the salary limit model that La Liga and Javier Tebas have installed it.

47:11Pol Ballus: When's the deadline Paul? Basically the deadline is when the transfer window ends basically, it's just when they have time to register players in and out and all those teams, Getafe are about to sell Cristian to Xuche one of their best players to Wolverhampton they sold Alderete to Sunderland some weeks ago so they basically have to sell players to register new guys in Getafe hierarchy has been really critical to that, to be the hierarchy as well. They have been openly critical to Javier Tebas and all the models installed in La Liga. Let's see what happens. But it's not an easy situation for all the Spanish teams who are basically forced to sell their best players.

47:50Pol Ballus: Do you think there's a momentum building among the clubs to perhaps vote an end or changes to the salary cap? Yeah, I think it's quite difficult because Javier Tebas is well in power, not just as the chief of La Liga, or he's really close to the Spanish FA right now. I see it very difficult. I see it very difficult because it's sort of a personal project from Javier Tevar just to build this sort of system. There is the belief that this is the best thing for the long term and he's going to stick with that. That's my belief. Let's see what happens in the coming weeks. Okay. Paul, thank you so much.

48:24Pol Ballus: We'll catch up with you next week. It's been a pleasure. See you next week.

48:33This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

48:39Pol Ballus: Well, James, at last we can hear more details of your epic journey around the stadia, modern or otherwise, of Serie A. This weekend you saw Napoli at Sassuolo on the Saturday. Sunday it was the Senegal for you as Como defeated Lazio 2-0. and then San Siro Monday night for quite the performance from Christian Kivu's Inter 5-0 against Torino. Should we take these in chronological order? Why not? Alright so Sassuolo hosting the champions Napoli. Napoli now with Kevin De Bruyne playing alongside fellow former Manchester-based player Scott McTominay. How did they look together? They looked okay.

49:25James Horncastle: I think De Bruyne after the game was very self-aware that he hadn't played his best game, that he's still working on the chemistry between him and his new teammates. He said quite humbly that I'm the one who has to adapt. They shouldn't be adapting to me. And Conte afterwards also said that for me last year, it was about our three milfield players McTominay, Anguissa and Lobotka I can't drop any of them so it's like well how do you fit Kevin De Bruyne into all of this and obviously he tried in retro media so what they did was they played sort of 4-3-3 De Bruyne would sometimes be on the left wing and then he would come back into midfield to play alongside Lobotka but basically him and McTominay playing in the same space really on that left hand side.

50:20James Horncastle: Did that work? I felt it looked a little bit wooden at times. And look, it's only the first game of the season and they didn't have Romelu Lukaku to kind of bounce off. So they were playing Lorenzo Luca up front. And he sort of looked a fish out of water with all these midfield players around him. And they didn't have any natural width on that left hand side. But McTominay scored, De Bruyne scored flukily. But the McTominay goal was a carbon copy of the goal that clinched the league title.

51:07James Horncastle: And he came off in kind of garbage time, like the 91st minute. And instead of taking his place on the bench, just basically lay down. Yeah, what a great picture that is. And just watched all of these Scottish flags in the Napoli away end.

51:23Pol Ballus: There's the sunset, the Sassuolo, well, the Reggio Emelian sunset going on behind and the saltires.

51:30James Horncastle: And for me, I was speaking to some of my Italian colleagues and I was saying, like, you don't really understand, like, what a big player Kevin De Bruyne has been in the Premier League. How did they react to that? they were like oh yeah I mean because look Kevin De Bruyne as good as he's been with Man City and as Cal Doon said best player to ever play for Man City they want to build a statue for him I think a lot of City fans share that opinion of him. Outside of England there isn't that appreciation for Kevin De Bruyne that there is in England and so my impression coming out of that game was that McTominay had scored this goal.

52:12James Horncastle: You've got McTominay with his full aura. And they all love McTominay so much that the idea that someone could actually supplant him and be better than him is just like, it's Scott. And it's quite a reversal. And I think De Bruyne will have to have an incredible season to knock the crown off McTominay's head. And I know they're teammates and they'll want to win things together. but Scott is like this kind of undisputed king of Naples at the moment and for him to start the season with the opening goal of the season was very much like oh wow you know I mean here we go here we go again so I'm curious to see what happens with De Bruyne because obviously Conte when he was at Inter he signed Christian Eriksen and for the first four or five months of that season Christian Eriksen didn't really work for Conte and I think Conte has learned I mean as I said they played 4-3-3 in this game and they played much of last season alternating between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 so it's not like he's like I play 3-5-2 and that's it What manager would be like that?

53:27James Horncastle: He is being more flexible but I wonder how this all works

53:31Pol Ballus: Right Okay You possibly also wonder if Napoli have found their replacement short term at least for Romelu Lukaku in the shape of Rasmus Hojland?

53:41James Horncastle: Yeah, I think we reported that there isn't an agreement yet in terms of player to club and club to club. But certainly Napoli are intentioned to do that. And Lukaku will be out until the new year. So they do need someone. Yeah, I think for the transition style that Conte plays, because he loves his team, sort of build up from the back, invite opponents on and break on them. And I think Hoyland would be really good at that. But again, in this game, when you've got now four midfield players, one of which is Kevin De Bruyne, probably want to dominate the game higher up the pitch, which I think squeezes the space that Hoyland usually exploits.

54:26James Horncastle: But yeah, we'll see. I think that's one deal to watch between the transfer window.

54:30Pol Ballus: All right then. Colmoy, you told us about their 2-0 victory over Latia, which is a real statement victory by a club that you were tipping for big things this season. And Nico Paz, you have to check out the move that we described earlier on and equally the free kick with which he sealed the victory. How far can Koma go this time? And how lovely is their stadium now?

54:53James Horncastle: I mean, inside the stadium is great. And, you know, it is on the water. So if you're sitting in the stand that faces the lake, you can see there is this open corner and you just see the water shimmering. Even through the stairwells of the other lateral stand you can see the water, which is nice. In terms of stadiums on water, I prefer the Pierluigi Penzo in Venice.

55:18Pol Ballus: Sadly, not going to be with us for that much longer.

55:20James Horncastle: The Penzo? Well, yeah, but I mean how many people get to build stadiums in Italy, James? I think it'll be a while. It'll be a while, won't it?

55:29Pol Ballus: Penzo's basically in the middle of a yacht marina and if you kick the ball hard enough, it'll end up bombing in the lagoon. Yeah,

55:38James Horncastle: and the walk to the Penzo is brilliant. How far can they go? I think internally, they looked at the amount of money that would need to spend to break the top four and they've looked at what it means for other clubs. What kind of wage bill do you need? What kind of squad value do you need? And you're talking like hundreds of millions. But I think they've got a chance. A, because they kept Cesc and Cesc is really developing as a coach. Super impressive communicator. His ability to, for example, on Sunday against Lazio, he was without a load of players. Yes, they've spent loads of money, but he had to essentially turn a full-back into a winger, like a proper winger, going up against Matias Zaccagna, one of the best wingers in Serie A of Lazio.

56:26James Horncastle: He's reinvented this guy, Dacuña, who's basically made into a midfield player. And then they've signed Morata, but it was Duvica who obviously scored the goal that Paz set up up front. If Jules was to look at that team or just someone, a casual fan was to look at that team, aside from the buzz around Nico Paz, they'd be like, who are these people?

56:46Julien Laurens: It made Acuna very good who obviously came from France and was nowhere near this level when he was Arven even before.

56:52James Horncastle: What seems to be very good with Cesc and the club is their identifying talent in Spain and Cesc's ability to persuade these players to come and play and develop with him. So the kid at centre-back, Jacopo Ramon, is apparently top, top, top. And then Jesus Rodriguez, who they signed from Betis, like the other kid they signed from Betis in January, Asen Diao, he again, the way they press is, there is no team in Italy that presses like Como. And even for a Sarri team that loves to play short passes and pass its way through the phases. They just couldn't get anywhere. They couldn't get anywhere against Como.

57:33James Horncastle: So super impressive start. I think they have a shot, at least at European football. But the other team that impressed, there are essentially four teams that really impressed me this weekend. One is Como, one is Juve, one is Roma, and the other is Inter.

57:51Pol Ballus: Inter with the five goals and their Monday night clash against Torino. Their best game yet, small sample size, but their best game yet under Christian Kivu. Five goals, four different scorers. The fifth goal, a work of art.

58:06James Horncastle: Yeah. I mean, several of their goals were good. I mean, in terms of just really well-executed set pieces, crosses to the far post, header. Nothing necessarily spectacular, but just really efficient. and I think Inter having had a very short break after a long season of being at the Club World Cup and Kibu was talking about we've only been working together for four weeks blah blah blah they seem to come back in kill mode you know I think and I spoke to Marcus Chiramp during the Club World Cup and I mentioned all of the narrative around Inter which is you're at the end of a cycle you're old aren't you and he was like what?

58:48James Horncastle: I don't think we are like you know most of the team's coming back we're not going to sell anyone I'm not old Laltaro's not old Bastoni's not old Barella's not old what are you on about I was like oh yeah fair enough Marcus

59:01Julien Laurens: is the average like 30 years old they still feel like to be fair it was a stupid question but

59:09James Horncastle: but they have come back and I think they've read everything that people have said about them they've listened to all the podcasts pinned on the dressing room and they are like f*** you all and I think the way they came out and people can basically look at that Torino side and say oh god they weren't up to much were they they really played into his hands I think watch out for Inter this year maybe not in the Champions League but I think they really want to show in Italy like we could have won the treble last year we are that good people have seemed to have cancelled out how good we are because of what happened in the Champions League final and we're going to

59:43Pol Ballus: show you and the other games at the end of the season but yeah I take your point their new signing in midfield Suchic

59:51James Horncastle: yeah he had a very good debut

59:53Julien Laurens: the only debutant right?

59:55James Horncastle: yeah the only debutant because Inter have been rejuvenating over the course of the summer and a lot of those kids did come on I say kids, players in their early 20s but he was the only one who started and he seemed to be able to do everything well particularly win the ball back playing little reverse passes for Dumfries on the right or for Turam's first goal. And, yeah, that was encouraging. And I know that they feel that they've got a good one with him. Also, another thing that gives me confidence that he's good is that Como want to. And Como don't really miss at the moment. So that was good.

1:00:37James Horncastle: And then Bonnie came on, obviously worked with Kivu, the new intercoach at Parma last year, and good to see him get a debut goal. Excellent. Lautaro was brilliant last night. Great goal.

1:00:47Julien Laurens: I love his goal because it's a smart goal, isn't it?

1:00:50James Horncastle: Yeah. But like in everything he did, because Chalinole wasn't playing. And so Barella was playing as a number six. And Lautaro was coming short, playmaking, switching, pressing, winning the ball back. I mean, two of their goals in the second half are really from pressing that he does. And people at the club say he's come back fitter than he was last year. He looks kind of healthier. and I mean even last year I thought La Toro was good but like if he, you could tell from his body language they mean business. Right. I was impressed by them.

1:01:25Pol Ballus: El Toro against? El Toro. El Toro, interesting. All right, not a great start for Neighbours Milan who hosted newly promoted Creminesi at San Siro and lost 2-1, yikes. Lovely overhead kick for the winner which I think you mentioned back at the start from Federico Bonazzoli. Ex Interista. Milan, another team who are on the hunt for somebody up front. They had been chasing Rasmus Hoyland. They then were in for Victor Boniface, but he failed his medical, four of them, I think. They were quite keen to protect him.

1:02:05James Horncastle: No, he didn't need additional medicals. We just had a really detailed medical.

1:02:11Pol Ballus: Right.

1:02:11James Horncastle: and we decided not to sign him

1:02:13Pol Ballus: okay who do you think they'll go for will they go for anyone do they need someone

1:02:18Julien Laurens: Conrad Harder

1:02:19James Horncastle: they are signing Conrad Harder one sporting finder replacement in fact people call their kids Conrad in this day and age like Conrad Harder his name is Harder

1:02:31Pol Ballus: that's the bit that struck me

1:02:34James Horncastle: Conrad Harder sounds like he he should have like a super yacht and be a succession character right true you know The Roy's are basically thinking about going into business with Harder to save their company.

1:02:50Pol Ballus: Yeah, I see it. Anyway, hasn't signed yet, but maybe that's who Milan will be having up front.

1:02:56James Horncastle: Oh, no, it's all agreed. They just have to wait for Sporting to sign a guy who is playing in one of these European qualifiers tonight.

1:03:05Julien Laurens: Well, what worries me a little bit about Harder is what you said about Suchic and Como wanted him and him going to Milan do Inter is that Rennes were the only other team for Harden and you can't be good enough for Rennes it's just like it's not the same we're talking about Milan and Rennes no offense to Rennes

1:03:23James Horncastle: and he comes from sporting right right so you would have thought sporting this summer Victor Giocarez is gone yep if you've got faith in Mr. Conrad then you keep him no and then they sign some guy from Al Maria and they're like yeah Conrad ciao

1:03:39Pol Ballus: Do one. Yes, Margot Suarez. Apparently he's really good. Play smarter, not harder. Let's see if he makes things easier. I like that. To finish off then, James, you mentioned two clubs who impressed you. Roma and Juve. Juve had a 2-0 victory over Parma with Jonathan David scoring on his debut and Dusan Vlajevic. Still very much uncertain as to his future in Turin or otherwise, but coming in and getting the second. Nice finish there. And a good start for Igor Tudor. And Roma, with their new man Gasparini in charge and a new signing, Wesley scoring the only goal of the game. Another one, Evan Ferguson, also starting and impressing.

1:04:27Pol Ballus: Very much so.

1:04:28James Horncastle: Unlucky not to score. Had three chances in the first 15 minutes, all of them different.

1:04:34Julien Laurens: He should have scored at least one.

1:04:36James Horncastle: He should have scored at least one, but he bullied his marker, Nicolo Casale. And, you know, I think everyone knows the potential he has. Just hope he can stay fit. But he's got the right coach. Okay. Because, you know, under Gasparini, teams score a lot. They create a lot of chances. Strikers like Rasmus Hoyland go from being 15 million players to 70 million players overnight. You think last year, who was the top scorer in Serie A? Matteo Rettegui. Rettegi after two years in Italy goes to Saudi Arabia for 70 million I think Ferguson the way he started just physically he didn't seem to have any problems dealing with the players he was up against he seemed already to be kind of integrated knew what Gasparini wants from him knew what runs to make he was holding up the ball so pinning his man holding up the ball laying it off and starting transitions really really good and Roma look like they've instantly got Gasparini ball.

1:05:39Pol Ballus: Oh, nice. You call Wesley, who scored, as you mentioned, the new Cafu in your excellent roundup of the weekend's activity. Ferguson's what, the new Batty goal? Oh.

1:05:49James Horncastle: Well, I mean, it was strange. Again, like seeing how many Scots there are in the Italian league at the moment. So even at Vedra Emilia, there was McTominay and Josh Doig. and then when I was Inter against Torino, Che Adams came on and then you've got I know Ferguson's Irish but that Roma Bologna could become like the Ferguson Bowl because there was Lewis Ferguson who didn't start for Bologna but kind of yeah, it's become a Celtic league in some respects Excellent

1:06:30Pol Ballus: Well that was only round one of the season so who knows what another 90 minutes worth of action will leave us with. We'll find out when we return next week on the Totally Football Show European Edition. For now, many, many thanks to you, Julian, and you, James.

1:06:47James Horncastle: Pleasure.

1:06:48Pol Ballus: To Paul Belous and Seb, who joined us earlier on, producer Lucy, a new listener. Thursday, we'll be back with Totally Football Show previewing the weekend's action, and on Saturday, of course, there's another totally extra this will be the third one in our new saturday show and jules you're on it with me and we're talking about nicola anelka nicola anelka michael cox will be joining us in and around getting a dining table delivered absolutely quite the interesting chat that sparks by michael's curries and also there's a bit of duncan alexander in there as well absolutely i really enjoyed doing it with you Jules

1:07:27Julien Laurens: me too Jimbo me too

1:07:29Pol Ballus: and perhaps listener you'll enjoy listening to on Saturday but hey for now from all of us here that's it so cheerio you've been listening to the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network for more great podcasts just like this one including the Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts search for The Athletic on Apple Spotify and all the usual places we're also at the Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

1:08:08James Horncastle: The Athletic FC.