England win epic Sweden shootout + transfer talk & Snoop at Swansea

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1:56Totally Football Show. Today, Euro quarterfinal drama. England v Sweden, who were comfortably leading until England put Beth Mead in, and Kelly and Anjermang, who get the goals they were needing. Also today, transfers. Eketike Max and generalised facts. How much trouble are Brentford in? And, still hitting them corners, the Snoop Swansea team-up. Apart from them both having chronic records in their past, what does it mean? All that plus Cox EV producer Charlie and the Intertotally in this Totally Football Show. Unbelievable, unbelievable news. Friday the 18th of July. Yes, it's a Friday pod, and these are going to be happening quite a bit, actually, next season with our new four shows a week schedule.

2:40That's right, Jack Lang. Jack Lang's here with us, Jay Harris as well, and joining us from Switzerland, Michael Cox. Hello to you all. Morning. Hello. Morning. Yeah, that's right. Four shows. Four shows, a bit of a floater, as I believe they're termed. if there's something juicy, maybe some Champions League action on the Tuesday, we're going to drop that baby on the Wednesday morning. Boom. Anyway, today's show is all about what happened on Thursday night in Switzerland. And Michael, you were there as England took on Sweden in the Euro 25 quarterfinals. Woof. Has that been the highlight of your trip so far?

3:16Because it was a mad evening.

3:18Jay Harris: Yeah, it probably was. I think once you get to the knockout stages and it goes to extra time and penalties, There's just a kind of intensity that nothing else in football can match, really. And, yeah, the drama last night was incredible. I didn't think the play was of particularly high standards for most of the game. Sweden started well. England had their really good burst late on. And I thought it was actually a really interesting game tactically. But, of course, that became kind of completely forgotten by the end of the night. I mean, one of the most farcical penalty shootouts I've ever seen, really, just for that number of penalties to be missed, for Jennifer Falk to save four and yet not be the hero because she missed one herself.

3:59Jay Harris: I mean, yeah, it was fantastic. And also, it must be said, a great atmosphere in Zurich. Sweden probably bring more fans than anyone else, or certainly noisier than anyone else. And there were lots of England fans there as well. It's a fair play to everyone who came because it's a really expensive country to base yourself in for a couple of weeks. But loads of people have made tremendous efforts And it really did contribute to the atmosphere and to the game. Excellent. Jay, you were pointing out some of the unique elements of the Swedish support. Well, Penelope Harder, who's Denmark's captain, was in the crowd wearing a Swedish shirt because her partner's Magda Eriksson, who is Sweden's captain.

4:36But yeah, the BBC cameras just panned past her and just didn't say a word. And in my head, I was thinking, is that slightly controversial for someone from Denmark to be wearing a Swedish shirt? I know there's, you know, the relationship is important context, but I still think there are probably some people thinking, not too sure how I feel about that. Particularly after what Denmark got up to in this year is. Yeah, exactly. Not really turning up. Indeed so. But she did turn up for this.

4:59Jay Harris: Who else was there, Michael? Yeah, so I was sitting directly behind the Sweden kind of friends and family. And one of the funny things was that the Sweden fans, who are incredibly vocal compared to everyone else in this tournament, almost a kind of South American vibe, Their main kind of ringleader was actually the boyfriend of striker Stina Blaxtenius, who, you know, had he been South American or perhaps Spanish, would have been the guy with the megaphone kind of not watching the game, just like G-ing everyone up. So, yeah, it was a very dramatic night. All right. Blaxtenius, who scored the second goal for Sweden, 25 minutes in.

5:34I don't know if you noticed, as Chris Gates did, that the goal scorers were Aslani, Blaxtenius, then Bronz and Adjumang, which means the initials of the goal scorer is spelt at APA.

5:48Amazing. Amazing. Wow. Well, we'll get into that game and loads of other stuff. Jet, you'll be telling us about a bloke called Pele perhaps later on. Sure. Talking about transfers. Oh, there's the quiz as well featuring Michael and producer Charlie. That's going to be a biggie. But let's start off with events in Zurich. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

6:13James Richardson: Sits the defender down, Adjimang!

6:20James Richardson: Can you believe it? Adjimang completing England's comeback. What an extraordinary thing. Lioness is coming back from two goals down against Sweden, with only about 10 minutes to go. then twice having been 2-0 down for most of this game coming within a spot kick of their exit in the penalty shootout before finally then sealing their place in the semi-final where they'll be taking on Italy, England the first team to come from two goals down in the knockout stages of the women's Euros since the tournament began in 1984 Michael you were there to witness it and you touched on this a bit before but has that been the biggest emotional rollercoaster of the year for you sitting and watching that?

6:59Jay Harris: Yeah probably it was pretty dramatic and actually the quarter final the previous day was brilliant as well because Italy won it with a last minute goal from Giurelli so the group stages were good I think the games were pretty good but there weren't many matches where there was that real late drama maybe aside from Switzerland scoring late on to confirm their place in the knockout stage it's been a good couple of days for the tournament I think I mean the funny thing about these European games is kickoff's 9 p.m and when you have extra time and penalties it's just so late it just feels it kind of goes into a different kind of phase of your watching the game.

7:31Jay Harris: Do you know what I mean? It just feels unbelievable that it's gone on that late and finishes close to midnight. But it was a great thing to be there and be a part of, absolutely. Excellent. I mean, compared to Club World Cup with X time at like four in the morning, perhaps, yeah. But it's been a summer a bit like that. We've seen different Englands at this tournament. The one against France, not good. The brilliant one against Netherlands was. What England was this? probably resilient. They had to, as sort of Michael alluded to, persevere through a lot of chaos really. But I think they started the game, well, it's quite obvious, they started the game really badly.

8:08And Jess Carter is a jack of all trades. She plays in lots of different positions. And I think you sort of saw her put in some quite uncomfortable positions in the first half an hour until she switched centre-back positions with Leah Williamson. So she started as a left centre-back, moved to right centre-back and Williamson switched over. And I think with Sweden's first goal from Aslani, what you can see is sort of two mistakes. Firstly, Carter's pass is not great and then Walsh's pass is not great. And if we're being like really, really going into that granular detail, I sort of wondered if that sort of shows you why a left-footed centre-back on the left is really important sometimes, just like to get the optimum passing angles and having Carter there just didn't quite work.

8:52Williamson's also right-footed, but I think she was just a lot more confident in just fizzing passes quite quickly. There were so many times in that first half an hour where Jess Carter got the ball in the halfway line and turned back and passed it back to Hannah Hampton. So that first half an hour, England were just absolutely overwhelmed. Quite funny, I very, very rarely watch press conferences from games I've not attended. But for some reason, I just thought this morning, while I was having my breakfast, I'm going to watch Hannah Hampton's seven-minute press conference after the game. There are lots of funny things in it.

9:20But she'd forgotten about the save she made, I think, at the end of the first half from Rolfo. I'd forgotten about the block. Williamson makes on Blaxdinias. So really, England could have been 4-0 down at half-time. Yeah. They weren't, though. 2-0, but it seemed a pretty convincing 2-0 lead until what, Michael? The substitutes? Very late on?

9:40Jay Harris: Yeah, well, you know, two goals is a dangerous lead, as we all know, James. And I think particularly when you've got the players that England have. And I think that was the difference. I mean, Sweden, they had to take off two of their best attackers, Aslani and Rolfa. Aslani, because she's 35 now, and Rolfo because she only just got fit in time for this tournament and they didn't really have the quality to bring on and keep up any attacking momentum really whereas England obviously have great strength and depth I mean Beth Mead won the golden boot the last tournament Chloe Kelly was the one who scored the winning goal and Ajemang who actually made a really good impact against France as well in the first game even though England didn't quite come back from two goals down that that day just allows England to go direct and to be fair that's something that England have done pretty well throughout Wigman's tenure I mean previously it was Millie Bright who used to be the plan B just walked forward from centre back to centre forward to great effect particularly in a game against Spain three years ago so yeah I mean this the kind of five subs six subs era we kind of take it for granted now but we're only kind of five years into that realm and it's making a massive difference I think particularly in tournament games when you've got a match every four days you could just tell by the end some of those players I mean Russo was exhausted Lauren James could barely run poor Smilla Holmberg who was the one who eventually missed the the crucial penalty she actually thought she was getting subbed at half time because she twisted her ankle making a block from Russo and then suddenly she was sat on the dugout and was told actually no someone else is coming off you've got to go back on so I mean there's a debate to be had about extra time I think it probably is necessary in in these tournaments but if you're going to have extra time the fact you can make six subs just makes

11:20James Richardson: a huge difference what was interesting to me is that after going kind of hell for leather with all these subs you know england had four forwards and then basically kira walsh and lauren james playing central midfield after scoring the two goals it was like well you know let's just let's just leave it like this it would have been very easy for them to bring on a more defensive player and kind of settle back into the game. But no, continue to go for it. As Michael said, I thought Sweden were the better team in extra time, actually. And it was funny, after Lauren James got, picked up that knock in extra time, for about five or six minutes, you had Beth Mead playing central midfield alongside, I think Walsh was still on at that time.

11:59James Richardson: So it was quite chaotic scenes. And I thought Sweden nearly took advantage of that a couple of times in the extra time period. Lucy Bronze, obviously, she looked pretty injured, strapping her own leg after Hannah Hampton had been smashed in the face. It was just absolute carnage. And the penalty shootout really was of a piece with all that the game had. They must have changed the defence three of the four because Carter came off, Morgan came on, Niamh Charles came on. So they've had three different centre-back combinations in one game or certainly the way they were, what side of the pitch they were on, etc.

12:34just constantly changed. So even that adds to a little bit of chaos as well. I think you could see that because I remember Morgan played a pass across the box and it was sort of in between Williamson and bronze and it led to a Swedish chance. Okay.

12:46Jay Harris: I think another thing that came across, I was only watching it in the stadium and I kind of like, I'm more slightly aware of saying this one, I think it might sound kind of patronising to talk about women's football, but I thought the bravery of some of the players was just incredible. I mean, Hampton gets a face smash when coming for a cross and then Sweden get a free kick two minutes later and she's still kind of like bleeding from her nose. And it's like, well, they're going to put it right under the keeper. And she comes up and just, you know, completely goes for it, parries it two-handed.

13:11Jay Harris: And some of the 50-50 tackles when the players were, you know, basically walking wounded by that stage, it was, I mean, a fantastic effort in that respect. I think bronze got kicked in the head at one point as well from a header, which was quite risky to go for at that height. and I think it was an extra time, still went for it.

13:28James Richardson: Even in the first half, I mean, Lauren Hemp got absolutely clobbered by Lundqvist, like an elbow. How is that not a yellow card? Unbelievable. It could have easily been a red card. I thought it was real like elbow to the face. She was down for four or five minutes. Nothing. Carry on, on we go. Great stuff. Michael, what about Chloe Kelly's introduction?

13:49Jay Harris: She's probably been unfortunate. She's never really been a regular for England and yet I think she offers so many qualities. I mean, we saw in the Champions League final, she did a great defensive job for Arsenal against Barcelona. But here, I mean, her delivery is just fantastic. Particularly the, in fact, both crosses really. But she's got such a kind of fantastic whip on her deliveries. The first one, the pick out for bronze at the far post was brilliant. And the second one crucial as well. Don't usually see her playing down the left. Usually comes on down the right. But yeah, I mean, that was the effective one.

14:21Jay Harris: And I think there was kind of three phases of subs. The centre-backs, which Jay mentions, kind of stops England losing the game. Then the attacking subs, the first three attacking subs kind of built the pressure. And then the Kelly one was the one really that actually got England creating chances. So yeah, again, just like three years ago, the use of the bench really is England's strong suit. There's been a lot of games where they haven't been ahead by half-time or after an hour, but when they can introduce the subs it all changes and kelly then gets the fifth penalty which turned out to be quite a crucial one had she missed as the three people before had not been able to convert then england would have been out but let's talk about the penalties it was the first penalty shootout of the summer because there were none at the club world cup none at the under 19 or under 21 euros and it you know it was worth the wait hey wild wild my um girlfriend and doesn't really care about football that much.

15:19But she got sucked in after, she happened to just watch the game when Ajumang equalised. And she was absolutely captivated by the end. And the way I screamed when Falc went up to take that penalty, I thought that's just the most boss move of all time. You just save three penalties in a row and you're going to score the winner. So when it blazed over the bar, I must have woken up the whole street. Crazy penalty situation. I also, I know you just mentioned Chloe Kelly's penalty, but firstly, the pressure in that moment. And it also looked like... So the way it had gone, England scored first, and then the next three all saved.

15:51But luckily, Sweden had done really badly, but still not as badly. So that by the time Chloe came up, they'd scored two? Yes, I think so. And if Kelly hadn't converted, then England would have been out. But it looked like there was some sort of mind games going on because obviously Kelly's got a very specific way that she strikes the ball and she's got a routine. And I noticed that she was spinning the ball on the spot three times before she then takes her run up. and she started smiling with way through. So I'm assuming that Falk must have said something to her, but scores. And then Hannah Hampson in this press conference, I'm glad I watched it now.

16:24I should do research more often, said that the goalkeeper was the only penalty taker. She didn't have any data on, so she didn't know what way to dive. So all Falk really had to do was get it on target and we'd be having a different conversation here. But the peaks and troughs of that penalty shootout was absolutely crazy. I've never seen that many misses. it was just it was so hard to keep up with and Jonas Aideval the former Arsenal manager was on the BBC's coverage of it and I thought he explained it perfectly he said it was like watching a tennis game where someone has four or five match points and they somehow end up losing the game and that was Sweden the final spot kick falling to Smilla Holmberg who Michael you uncovered some very

17:06Jay Harris: important information about yeah quite niche this but uh so Holmberg is 18 years old only made her national team debut last month and got a start against Germany in the final group game and scored a pretty lucky goal but she did score so Swedish media tracked down one of her youth coaches from about a decade ago and this turned out to be a guy named Andreas Jonsson who people may or may not know the name but he was a is a very famous singer-songwriter who wrote the song Glorious which was, amongst other things, used in coverage, or used in the intro of Super Sunday on Sky about 22 years ago. And a pretty good song.

17:51I hadn't heard for about 15 years probably,

17:53Jay Harris: but I quite like that link, yeah. Very nice. Italy away England in the semifinals on Tuesday. Michael, did you go along to their 2-1 win against Norway? No, I wasn't at that. I was at the group game against Spain where they lost but competed pretty well. They're a decent team, Italy, much better organised than they were two years ago. But realistically, I think they're probably getting one player into the England XI. So it's a pretty good semi-final draw for England. Italy would respect probably mainly here because they've had quite an easy draw. But yeah, I think whichever side went through between England and Sweden would have been overwhelming favourites for that semi-final.

18:34James Richardson: Italy's kit, by the way, inexcusable. The green? You didn't like that? Yeah, horrible. Really? Yeah, spearmint green. I'm not having that, sorry. Not having that. There was plenty of drama in this game as well. You mentioned Girelli with the brace, the second goal coming right at the death to send Italy through. That was a 399th career goal. Norway, who had had their chances, they also had penalty drama, with the Ballon d 'Or winner, Ada Hegerberg, missing her second penalty of the Euros. She did, though, later equalise for Norway to send us to that exciting finale. Italy, anyway, qualifying for their first semi-final since 1997.

19:17If you didn't enjoy the Italian jerseys, what did you make of Norway's number font? It's runic, Jack, I'll tell you that. Runic.

19:27James Richardson: Is this the one Jonathan Pearce has been moaning about? It probably is.

19:31Jay Harris: Have a look. it is bad I can't tell from the kind of main camera I can't tell the difference between ones, fours sevens and also between eight and nines if you were an elf you could probably well maybe I think the other issue with runic stuff is it's that whole genre of typeface has been a little bit appropriated by certain ends of the political spectrum and thus to see you know yeah anyway there you go I watched this game as well by the way oh did you? yeah I did I did I really enjoyed it I didn't watch the press conference as well. I didn't watch the press conference this time. I also read Michael's piece about the game afterwards and he sort of summed it up perfectly that if you went through Norway's starting XI from front to back, there's a lot of attacking talent there.

20:14You know, Graham Hansen, Hegerberg, Gopse was really good as well, Engen. And I just don't know what they were doing for a lot of that game. Hansen, there were so many times where I think she was trying to do too much on the ball. Hegerberg was just, aside from the penalty miss, just wasn't really doing a lot, wasn't really linking up play very well. Gopse had a really good final game in the group stage where she scored a couple of goals and clearly is a really exciting talent, but I thought she was a little bit too predictable. She was playing on the left wing, right-footed and just basically only ever came inside.

20:45And I think sometimes you need to mix things up a little bit. And so for Italy, it was sort of just be compact and you'll get opportunities. And what happened with Giorelli's goal, which I think some people sort of forgot about, was that Norway's right back had just come off about two minutes before. So brought on the fresh substitute, doesn't push out to the left winger who then cuts inside, crosses. And it's fantastic movement from Shiretti, but I think she starts from outside the box and just no one clocks her run. And I think she scored more headed goals than anyone else in the top five leagues last season.

21:18So if there's anyone in the box you should be keeping an eye on, it's probably her. But it was fantastic. And I like the way that she came off after the goal, went on the slowest walk around the pitch, was told multiple times by the linesman to hurry up, but just basically just chilled with the substitutes and was just cheering on her teammates. Fantastic. Well, that's Italy who await England in the semi-final. The other semi will see either Spain or Switzerland, who face each other in the quarterfinals on Friday night, against either France or Germany. That's a game that's taking place on Saturday.

21:52Michael, you're going along to that because you're a big fan of the French team.

21:55Jay Harris: A bit unconvinced by them. I've been not sure about their midfield. I quote you, I'm not having this French team. What's the issue there? Well, I was at that game against the Netherlands in the final group game and I just don't think they were able to control the game at all. They eventually won it comfortably, but they won it because the Netherlands were 2-1 up and still needed another two more goals. So they kept on piling forward into attack. I mean, France have got great quality in attacking positions, one against one situations out wide. But I think you do need to be able to control the game better.

22:25Jay Harris: I must say I do have even more doubts about Germany to be honest because I don't think they're very good defensively individually or collectively and they've also got a problem at right back because their first choice right back is out injured and the second one or the second choice is suspended so I probably would back France in this game but I still think Spain and England are probably the best two sides in this competition which is a bit boring because obviously that was the World Cup final two years ago so it'll probably be the same i think but let's wait and say i mean the interesting thing about this game james i feel like this will be more up your street is that if you wanted to you could walk from france into germany right to this game in the space of about two kilometers so i might do that walk from france into germany to basel for a game between france and germany that's an long read in my opinion seriously two kilometers yeah pretty much there's there's a bridge called the bridge of the three countries which basically stretches between the three and is i must say i did this about seven years ago it's incredibly underwhelming there's no there's no monument there it's not a great bridge you can't build it up and then say it's underwhelming i was well excited and now you've you've shot it down there's an equivalent in africa actually although not necessarily with a football stadium adjacent but I'm pretty sure that Victoria Falls, three countries are essentially there which is a nightmare for getting visas and stuff to go across but anyway that's less relevant.

23:58Saturday night, see what happens as France take on Germany. Friday night tonight as we record it's Spain who take on host Switzerland. Spain red hot favourites. Final thought for Sweden who must be heartbroken to be 2-0 up, set for revenge against England and then see it all go to pieces with those spot kicks.

24:19James Richardson: Yeah, I'm sure it was very painful. Played better than England as well, I think, for a good, probably most of the game, to be honest. And so, yeah, it must be a bitter pill. Indeed so. All right. Coming up, we'll be looking at some exciting on this day business and talking about transfers and, yes, getting into our semifinals of the InterTotally Cup.

25:13James Richardson: We'll be right back. last selection varies by location see lows.com for more details soil offer excludes alaska and hawaii hi this is becca moore for the girls podcast all right a quick shout out to our presenting sponsor apple cash summer is here which means the group chats are already spiraling with festival and summer plans and we all know the worst part of being the one who fronts the money for the passes or housing that's why this year we're only using apple cash it's a super easy way to settle up because you can do it right in messages just tap the plus sign to get started and the best part is you can spend the money you get right away anywhere Apple Pay is accepted.

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27:03This 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 Kay and the very best football writers around. It's the 18th of July as we record. Listen, on this day in 1971, Pele played his final game for Brazil at the age of 30. I've got two exclamation marks and a question mark next to that. at the age of 30. Hands up if, like myself and producer Charlie, you'd forgotten that Pelé is no longer Brazil's all-time top scorer. His tally of 77 goals for the Celisau has been overtaken by anyone?

27:46Neymar. Neymar in 2023.

27:49Jay Harris: Well, I think the interesting thing is he'd actually retired from international football beforehand. I think he had two years away from playing for Brazil in like 1967 or something. and then I think really had to be persuaded to come out of international retirement and play in 1970, which was his third World Cup win. He'd actually had quite bad injury problems in the first two, so it was nice he had that one to kind of crown his glory. I mean, I can't remember the specifics of him deciding to retire from international duty, but he played an extraordinary number of matches. I mean, we talk about fixture pile-up these days, but there was a point where he was playing for, I think, almost four or five different teams because he was playing for Brazil's army team for a good couple of years while he was actually like a World Cup winner for Brazil.

28:34Jay Harris: So he played...

28:35James Richardson: Selection teams, like local Sao Paulo representative teams. It's crazy.

28:39Jay Harris: Yeah, and Santos went on some... Again, we talk about the World Cup now and it being a kind of money-grabbing thing, but Santos went on some extraordinary world tours where there were kind of contractual stipulations that Pelé had to play. So I think he was probably just absolutely exhausted by that point. But yeah, it does seem mad that he's won three World Cups. No one else has ever done that. And he didn't play for Brazil after he was 30. Extraordinary.

29:03James Richardson: If you read his autobiography, this really kind of lays bare the kind of workload he was put through. This was the early part of his career before the kind of, you know, the age caught up with him. But he said like they'd go to Europe and they'd play five, six games in 20 days. And he just said he was completely dead. and then fly back, play, as Michael said, for three, four different teams in the space of a month. Really flogged. Try four podcasts a week, Pelé.

29:35Here's another fun fact. Brazil never lost a game when both Pelé and Gachincha were playing. 40 matches, that is, and never lost one of them. Two World Cups?

29:47James Richardson: 58 and 62, yeah. That put me in mind. there was a really crazy statistic before the 2014 World Cup and it wasn't quite as impressive because they had lost right at the start but David Luiz and Thiago Silva didn't lose a game together for about two years before that World Cup like 25-30 games and had won nearly all of them and then Thiago Silva got injured suspended for the semi-final and all fell apart it all fell Paul Dante. Yeah. Well, anyway, that's not the only on this day action we have for you, listener, because also on the 18th of July, 25 years ago, Nick Barnaby moved from Everton to Liverpool.

30:34That's right. It was the first time that a player had made that move, crossed Stanley Park in 41 years, and only one other player has done it since. So quite an epochal transfer. the other player by the way 2002 Abel Xavier so is this one of the most taboo transfers in football a Merseyside switch

30:58James Richardson: evidently yeah because in London for example we've got Mokoudis going from West Ham to Spurs which isn't that common but say Chelsea to Arsenal it happens all the time now all the time seven players in seven years I'm trying to think there must have been people in recent years who have played for both Liverpool and Everton but have just not made the move directly directly ah don hutcherson i think would be one i'm just trying to think we had john johnny

31:24Jay Harris: heitinger popping up as liverpool assistant manager was a bit of a weird one right a slightly different situation i know gordon was linked with a move to to liverpool i think last summer that would would have been interesting to see the reception he got next yeah if that had happened because for example in italy milan and inter milan and inter it happens all all the time I looked this up and since 1995, so that's what, 30 years, 27 players have made that switch. It's the same time frame for Roma and Lazio. Actually, only seven have done it for Roma and Lazio. But the number of players, I mean, massive players who've represented both Milan's sides, Edgar Davids, Zlatan Ibrovic, Mario Balotelli, Christian Vieri, Andrei Pirlo, Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Seydorf.

32:12That was mad. Jack, in Rio, I'm guessing that switching from flat to flu, for example, is very much not the done thing.

32:22James Richardson: I don't know. People chop and change clubs so often, actually, that I think unless you kind of attain, you know, legend status, it's not that big of a thing. Is it not? Well, Rio's got four big teams, so they will often jump around between them. So I think unless you were talking about a kind of a major club hero, I mean, the managers, you'll struggle to find a manager in Brazil that hasn't managed like 10 of the big 12. Right. And it's kind of just, yeah, fine, part of the game. So in terms of rivalries where you don't make that switch, you've got Merseyside, Glasgow, presumably, and... Boca River, maybe?

33:00I think it's probably a bit... Producer Charlie says Arsenal spurs, although there is that very famous exception. Sol Campbell what other ones David Bentley William Gallas it's only two I can think off the top of my head it must be someone else what's that listener move on well I just want to mention actually Nick Barnby who mentioned featured for both sides of Merseyside is one of only five players to score for six different Premier League clubs that's quite niche trivia for you I don't know who the other four are Jermaine Jermaine Defoe Bournemouth Spurs Portsmouth maybe not We'll come back to that.

33:37We'll come back to that. But his fifth club were Hull because he came up under Phil Brown with Hull to the Premier League when they had that exciting time. Anyway, Nick Barnby. now writing in was Andrew Creasy who's listened to our Totally Gold series this goes out early each week through the summer dusting off those nostalgia fests that we made back during the lockdown when there was no football and we had a bit of a chance to indulge ourselves look back on some golden football memories Andrew Creasy points out that we in our coverage of the 2005 Champions League final managed to miss the controversies in the final, the penalty awarded to Liverpool and and Josie Dudek's positioning on the penalties.

34:20I can't remember that. Do you remember that? Was he off the line? Dudek? Dudek, yeah, he was miles off. Miles off the line, there you go.

34:26Jay Harris: They basically, on the back of that, they really enforced the rules strictly for the next season. And so the first week of the following season in the Premier League, I'm sure there was about three penalties in the first three weeks that were retaken because of that. After a period where you didn't really see that kind of pulled up at all. But that was, yeah, that was Dudek, absolutely.

34:46James Richardson: That's a great bit of progress, I think, in the game. Because you look at some old penalties from the 80s, 90s. I think there's a Bruce Grubbelaar one that does the rounds. He's halfway to the ball. It's scandalous and happy to see it enforced.

35:03Jay Harris: And also, you've got a linesman who stood there on the goal line. It's quite an obvious thing to spot. Yeah, it never really... I'm sure until VAR, never really used to get pulled up that much.

35:13James Richardson: you could like you could do handball style penalties and like let them roam free but then bring the chip into play tell us about the handball penalty well the goal you can just like stand i think it's up to halfway out okay and often the players will just like fake a hard shot and just like loft it over okay the chip that's the chip you're talking about not sure you could call it a chip if you throw it yeah yeah all right one of the many things that football can learn from Hamble. We look set. Oh, no, we have now had the first million pound player in women's football. Arsenal completed the signing of Canadian striker Olivia Smith from Liverpool for 1.1 million.

35:54She scored seven goals in her debut season for the Reds and will now be joining Champions League winning Arsenal. Michael, your thoughts?

36:04Jay Harris: Yeah, quite exciting. She's a very, just a very good all-round winger, great dribbler. And yeah, I mean, Arsenal weren't really short of quality in that position, to be honest. So it is a big statement of intent. I mean, I kind of find the... In the men's game, I find transfer fees so high now. It kind of has no reality for me. But just everyone getting excited about the first million-pound player, I found quite sweet. Because everyone always goes on about the Trevor Francis thing, him being the first million-pound player. So, yeah. There's also a kind of... Because Naomi Gomer was the first million dollar player.

36:40Jay Harris: And this is the first million pound player. So we've had the first million player twice in one year. Don't know what the next currency is. No idea, Michael. No idea. However, there was talk that maybe the men's transfer record might be broken this week. As part of a very confusing set of moves regarding Liverpool and Newcastle's Alexander Ezek. Liverpool seem to be in for Ezek. Jack, Newcastle, perhaps by way of a replacement, started talking to Frankfurt about Hugo Eketike, but then Liverpool came in for Eketike instead, and that now seems to be where he's heading. Jack?

37:20James Richardson: It looks to be, yeah. I mean, from Newcastle's perspective, if they hold on to Isaac, that's a good thing, provided that he's not outraged by all of this, which, I don't know, no suggestion that he would be. I think he is obviously one of the best strikers in the Premier League. And Eketike, who does look a very good player, but may take a little bit of time to bed in. He went to PSG early in his career and had a bit of a barren period there. Barely played for the last six months there before getting his career back on track in Germany. so I would say he looks like a talented player but maybe one that would take a couple of years to fully pay off to the extent that Isaac might OK I'm now catching up on this story and I read Newcastle have dropped out of the race for Eketike and they're trying to sign Joanna Wisser yeah well I think the sounds coming out from Newcastle certainly from what our colleagues Chris Woff was writing was that Newcastle wanted Eketike to play alongside Isaac and that would have been quite a fearsome front two and Newcastle have tried to sign Eketike, I think at least twice before.

38:30So no third time lucky for them. I actually managed to get to watch Eketike live a couple of times last season because obviously Spurs played Frankfurt in the Europa League quarterfinal and there's definitely some similarities in the profile of him and Isak. So I can sort of see why they've ended up in this merry-go-round. They're both quite lanky, but very elegant technically on the ball. Eketike was quite fun to watch when he played against Spurs. But yeah, now Johan Vista's in the mix. Nottingham Forest have liked Vista for quite some time. They put a bid in for him in January, which I think was around£25 million.

39:04They put a bid in for him this summer, which I think was less than that. And now Newcastle are in the mix. I don't know if others feel the same, but to me, this has been quite a... I've not been as excited about transfers in a long time as I have been in this window because it feels like some genuinely, I don't want to say game-changing, that's too much, but some genuinely quite exciting stuff has happened. Which one's got you most excited? The Gibbs white one, even though it's not actually happened yet because it came out of the blue. And then obviously within a few hours, you had the news that Nottingham Forest were considering reporting Spurs for an illegal approach.

39:37The Verts one, it looks like Arsenal are going to get Jokeres. It just feels like lots of clubs at the top of the Premier League have made quite powerful moves really early on in the window, like before they're shooting off to pre-season training and stuff like that. So it's quite interesting to see some teams be so aggressive. Liverpool don't really need to sign Eketike. They didn't really need to sign Virts, but they've got them to and Frimpong as well. And Kyrgyz as well. And Kyrgyz, it's a real power move.

40:04James Richardson: Jay, you should take your boots down to the GTEC because you might get a game at this rate. I know, hopefully. How much trouble do you think Brentford could be in this coming season? I think, firstly, I actually remember having this conversation with a few Brentford fans where they said that they've lost players for the last 10, 15 years. It's Brentford's model to bring in players like Mbwemo, Visser, Ivan Toni, David Rea, develop them, sell them. So they weren't really too fussed about that. They were a little bit more concerned about Thomas Frank leaving and being replaced by Keith Andrews. I was a little bit surprised Keith Andrews got the job.

40:40There was a part of me that always thought it was a bit of a smokescreen and they were going to do something quite random or out the blue at the last minute. I reported that they'd sort of had informal talks with Vange Postacoglu which didn't really go anywhere but I mean that just would have been a remarkable story they spoke to Francesco Ferrioli who'd obviously just left Ajax and I think he's now at Porto so part of me thought are they going to do something like that Andrews, you know I was there for his introductory press conference and he spoke quite well and I came away feeling a bit more convinced Brentford's director of football field Giles said it would have been a bigger risk appointing someone external because you don't know as much about them you can get all the references etc that you want but might not have been a right fit for the club but it's a huge job for Keith Andrews you know replacing Thomas Frank who'd been there for nearly seven years as head coach an extra two years as assistant he was very much the figurehead for your first role as a senior head coach to be in the Premier League with a team who doesn't have a lot of experience at the moment it's why they signed Jordan Henderson I think the oldest player in the squad is Henderson at 35, then it's 32-year-old Pinnock and then it's 29-year-old Matthias Jensen.

41:48They've lost Christian Norgard. It's just, I've written about this two weeks ago that it's shaping up to be a real summer of significant change at Brentford and probably the first since they got promoted. And then every few days, another crazy thing happens, which is just making the situation even worse. You know, if they lose Thomas Frank, Norgard and Buema and Visser in the same summer, I mean I'd still back them to avoid relegation but I can't see them finishing 10th again next season Right quite worried though that's the summary Brentford are such a well run club they've made so many smart decisions over the years when to other people it looks like they're making a bit of a gamble I think they've sort of earned the right for me to say okay you seem to know what you're doing so I'm going to trust you even though I'm not totally convinced so I think that's the situation I'm in Alright excellent Jack Jay's really excited about transfers are you pumped about John Arreus possibly joining Walsh from Flamengo yeah

42:48James Richardson: really good player superior player of the match in three of his four I think appearances yeah he's a really good player he was at the Cop America last summer and he was one of the stand-up players then as well for Colombia very tactically smart can play in a number of positions so for Fluminense this summer he was kind of just off the front for Colombia he plays as more of a shuttling midfielder very good on the ball good vision good little dribbler and full of energy and the kind of player that will get people out of their seats and kind of a not necessarily a late bloomer because he's been doing it for a while in brazil but i think he's 27 so it's an atypical transfer from south america these days right quite a quite a modest fee as well 17 million pounds.

43:36We read. We read. Bargain. Not sure what sort of figure has been involved in possibly the most exciting news of the week, which is rapper Snoop Dogg buying a stake in Swansea City

43:48James Richardson: as he explains. You know what I'm talking about. One team. The underdogs. The team that feels like me. That reels like me. I'm talking about Swansea City. Snoop Dogg. maybe. Wow. Yeah. I'm a massive hip hop fan, especially 90s hip hop. Right. I can't bring myself to watch that video or even listen to like Snoop Dogg, Snoop Lion era and that kind of stuff. Like, I don't want it to tarnish the image that I have of him. It just seems, Snoop Dogg's like, he is an uncle, right? And sometimes uncles do slightly cringey stuff and I'm just, I get that he's saying all the right PR stuff. Like, oh, I really care about Swansea City and all that stuff.

44:31But I don't think when he was 20 years old, he was staying up in the middle of the night to watch Twansey City in League One. It's a cool story, but sometimes I find this stuff slightly cringey. Wow. Never had you pegged as a cynic, Jay. Quite the set of investors they've got, they were Luka Modric. Yeah, that's cool. No, you know, Snoop Dogg is cool. It's just when they, I think what I don't like is when they do these PR announcements. It's a bit like with Tom Brady at Birmingham City and they sort of do the fake, oh, I've been following this team for a really, really long time. No, you haven't.

45:05Just say it's a business opportunity. Looking forward to learning more about the club. Right, don't Robbie Keane it up. Exactly. Jay, were you going to add something to that?

45:12James Richardson: I just like the way Fabrizio Romano referred to him as Dog, second mention as if it was his surname. Right. Mr. Dog. Top talent. Yeah. Anything else from the transfer front, Michael?

45:26Jay Harris: I'm completely out of the loop. I've no idea what's going on. Okay. There you go. Well, you do now. and with that You're right, that was useful, thank you With that, I think we're ready for InterTotally Cup semifinal one

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47:27James Richardson: is secure and protected by face ID, touch ID, or passcode, and your transactions are never shared on a public feed. Set up your Apple Cash today in the Wallet app. Apple Cash services are provided by Green.Bank, member FDIC. Terms apply. This summer, JBL is on a mission to help you tune into what you love. Audiobooks, podcasts, and everything in between with JBL's live headphones. These headphones are perfect because of their high-res sound, making your fave stories and voices come alive with so much detail exactly the way they were made to be heard plus they have 80 hours of battery life so you can binge without pressing pause all summer long find your pair at jbl.com this is the totally football show with james richardson part of the athletic fc podcast network well this is exciting 2025 into totally has reached the semi-final stage next week We'll see Tom Williams try his luck against Julien Laurent.

48:30But today, two real heavyweights of the quiz in the game collide with a place in the final on the line. Let's meet him.

48:45Up first, he routinely turns his opponents to jelly. And it's simple. If you're going to win the intertotally, you're going to have to get through this tactical warlord. He is TFS's Fox in the Box

48:56James Richardson: because he is Michael Cogs. Yes, he is. Live from the Swiss, it's the master of the quiz. Michael Cogs. I'm just inspired by that Snoop Dogg announcement, actually. Five out of five it was in round one for you, aka the quarterfinals, Michael, against Daniel Story, which was pretty impressive.

49:24Jay Harris: Yeah, I mean, a tough route to the final, obviously, the two previous winners in Daniel and Charlie, so it's a difficult one. Okay, that's who he's facing. Let's hear his intro. We ain't going up like that. We ain't going up like that. We ain't going up like that. We ain't going up like that. And his opponent. He's the brains and brawn of the Totally Football Show and the judge during execution of all those quizzes that stand before him. He is the Mastodon and the man they call Producer Charlie. Cypress Hill, soon to announce a minority stake in the MK Donners. Of course, Charlie has left the booth and come literally into the studio now.

50:06Producer Charlie, welcome. Hello there. Hello. Charlie, you in your opening game went to a tiebreaker with Duncan Alexander. Indeed, yes. slightly controversial question five from Nick Miller.

50:22James Richardson: Right. I'm expecting a similarly tough test from Michael and the quiz master. Well, indeed. I mean, Michael, who's already not one previous winner out, and you're the only other previous winner because we've had five into total. Michael's nailed three of them. But you got, along with Daniel, one of the others. There you go. Let's see what happens. As I mentioned, whoever comes through will be up against Tom Williams or Julian Laurence. So, if you're both ready to roll, we'll get the questions going.

50:57Michael, you begin. Question one. In which Premier League season did the following three things occur? Kevin Keegan resigned for the second time as Newcastle manager. Manchester United signed Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham. And Hull manager Phil Brown gave a half-time team talk on the pitch against Manchester City. What season did those three things happen in?

51:26Jay Harris: So I think United signed Berbatov just after they won the Champions League. So I think that would be 2008-2009. Is that your answer, Michael? Yes. It's correct, 2008-2009. Charlie, your first question. in which Premier League season did the following three things take place. Claudio Ranieri replaced Gianluca Viali as Chelsea manager. Leeds United signed Robbie Keane from Inter. And Roy Keane was sent off in the Manchester derby for a foul on Althenga Haaland. That was 2000-2001. Indeed it was. Jack, impressed? Always. OK. Here comes question two with the scores level at 1-1. Michael, Paris Saint-Germain have won 11 of the last 13 Ligue 1 titles.

52:16But which two teams won the other two?

52:21Jay Harris: One was Monaco and the other one was Lille. Correct. Charlie, stay level with Michael Cox. Juventus won nine Serie A titles in a row from 2012. Who was their manager for the last of those in 2020?

52:43was it Maurizio Sarri oh it was it was 2-2 this has the makings of an epic encounter question three then Charlie you start three players scored goals for England at Euro 96 not including penalty shootouts which three though so not including penalty shootouts who were the three goal scorers for England at Euro 96? Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham and Paul Gascoigne. Correct. Michael, you're now chasing. Your question three is three players scored goals against England at Euro 96, not including penalty shootouts. Can you name any one of them?

53:32Jay Harris: Yeah.

53:37Jay Harris: Yeah, The one I'm most sure of is, sorry, scored against England at Euro 96. Yeah. Patrick Liver. Yes. Go on, name the other two as well, just to put the wind up, Charlie. One of them, I think, was Stefan Kuntz. Correct. And was the first one Turkumaz?

53:56It was. All right, then. We're still all square at three apiece now as we head to question four. Michael. Carlo Ancelotti played for three clubs in his career, but which of the following sides did he not turn out for? Roma, Juventus, Parma or AC Milan?

54:22Jay Harris: I think he played for Roma, Milan and Juve. He started his managerial career at Parma, but I don't think he played for them, so I'm saying Parma. Is incorrect. He never played for Juventus. Oh, wow. Yeah. There you go. Must be mixing up with Capello. So he played for Parma? Yeah. Oh, no. That's a blow. How big a blow? We'll find out now as Charlie attempts to take a one-point lead. Charlie, can you tell me, Luis Enrique played for three clubs in his career. One was Barcelona. One was Real Madrid. But who was the other?

55:07James Richardson: I feel like it's not a Spanish side.

55:14But I don't know. So I'm going to guess Roma. He's incorrect. Charlie's disgraceful Gijón, that sporting Gijón were the answer. Right. So it's all square still as we head into the final question. If it's level after this, tiebreaker, Jay. Tiebreaker. Michael, from which Brazilian club have Nottingham Forest recently signed two players?

55:47Jay Harris: I genuinely have no idea. I haven't followed transfers at all.

55:57Flamengo? If you'd watched the Club World Cup, you'd know. that's the thing Charlie do you know? Botafogo It is Botafogo Igor Jesus who was instrumental in fact scored the goal against Pauli Saint-Germain but will be turning out at the City Ground next season along with Giacuna Alright Charlie if you can answer this question correctly you're in the final having knocked out Michael Cox so Question five, Charlie. For which club has Tammy Abraham recently signed?

56:41This for the final. It's definitely a Turkish club. It's one of two. Oh, no. I think it's Besiktas. Your answer is Besiktas. for a place in the final? The answer is, in fact, Besiktas. Charlie, you're in the final. Michael, that Carlo Ancelotti question, wow, it sounded simple.

57:12Jay Harris: Yeah, and I'm disappointed with that one. I think I was mixing that with, because Capello played. He did, yeah. Milan. He did play for Juve, yeah. Juve. Yeah. Yeah, but the second one, the second one, I mean, I must admit, I followed neither the Club World Cup nor the transfer window, which I did suspect might slip me up. But fair play to Charlie. No shame in losing to a past champion. Indeed. And possibly a future one we shall see, Charlie, when you take on either Tom Williams or Julian Laurent. But how do you feel about reaching the big one again? Incredible. Anytime you climb the mountain that is Coxsey, so to speak, you have to feel good about that.

57:54Right. Yeah. You got on top of the cocks quite literally today. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you. Magnificent. All right. Well, as I mentioned, next week we'll have the other semifinal to see who will be facing you in the final. That, though, wraps it up for today's show. So many thanks for popping into the booth, Producer Shirley, and congratulations. Many thanks to Michael for joining us from Switzerland.

58:22James Richardson: Thank you. To Jack Lang, from wherever you joined us from, Jack. My pleasure, James. And to Jay, who I think you're heading off to reunite with Thomas Frank at a press conference. Certainly am. So basically, since Spurs appointed Thomas Frank, Brentford have replaced him, introduced Keith Andrews, and Thomas Frank's just been doing, I guess, chilling on his holiday. Nice one. So it's about time. So today's his very first press conference at Spurs. First press conference, yes. Wow. And as he walks out that into unfamiliar settings, how nice it's going to be for him to see your smiling face. Yes, I guess so.

58:54Nice. Excellent. Listen, I do hope you'll be joining us next week. We'll be back with you on Monday ahead of the two Euro 25 semifinals. So have a great weekend in the meanwhile. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

59:12You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great football podcasts like this one, including The Athletic FC and our six dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places.

59:27Jay Harris: The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

59:35The Athletic FC Podcast Network.

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