Man City battered by Bodø as perfect Arsenal outclass Inter

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1:34Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

1:44The Athletic FC.

1:52Totally Extra. Today, Champions League Wednesday edition. Arctic v Mankees. I can't believe it's Bodo as Village-8 Shock City in Europe's cup set of the season. A close second, Spurs beat Dortmund. Let me hear you say best home record in the Champions League. And with holders PSG tumbling in Lisbon, we're here to round up a Tuesday of surprises in the Champions League. Arsenal, Masterful in Milan, Real Madrid, Mullering, Monaco and more. All in this Totally Extra.

2:24Unbelievable, unbelievable. It's Wednesday the 21st of January. By my reckoning, who's in the studio today? Why? Jack Lang. Hello, Jack. Hi, James. Nice to see you back again, Jack. Lovely to be back, James. That's great to hear. Seb Seferblor is literally here in person. Literally in three dimensions. Hello, James. All right, Seb. Wow, in the flesh. And also, fleshing it up here in the studio, JJ Bull. Hello. Hi, JJ. Yeah, it's a big week for you, isn't it? You've got a new single out tomorrow. Huge, James, huge week. Yeah, big single. Could change the world, I think. Well, the world needs changing.

3:01I'm going to say that. I'm trying to. Your song, not directly kind of planet-altering in its theme, perhaps, but if Dennis Bergkamp can, you can too. I know that's not referring to, but what's it about? Well, it's a myriad of themes. Okay. It's a, you know, Berkant's one of those players who's like a god. But gods are flawed. And so we put all our weight and we hold a lot of, I don't know, a lot of time for these people. But you can be let down by them and you shouldn't. But that doesn't mean they're any less magical. Like the gods can be mortal, you know. But that doesn't mean what they do is any less magical.

3:39Wow, that's a lot to get into. These are the things I've been thinking about. And then I start doing songs about like footballers name. And that's the stuff that comes out while I'm improvising. Brilliant. Give us a bit. I'll play it I'll mime it and Charlie can play it

4:01What a great song This is going to be going through my head all day long now all day long If Dennis Bergkamp can you can too If Charlie's got anything about him he'll put another song in I hope he does I've got to say though as titles go that's about as misleading as you can get. Well, I've actually called the title on the Spotify and Apple release If Bergkamp Can, because it just made sense to be shorter. You probably can't, because he was Dennis Bergkamp, that's why he's special. Well, exactly, but you can't. And then I also changed, so the chorus lyric is, it doesn't mean that you can't, but I also changed it to it doesn't mean that you can, and it alternates, and I don't know which is which.

4:37It's up to the listener to decide what it means. Like, all songs should. Exactly, that's what art should do, it should challenge. Exactly, you should interpret it where you feel. I love that. Let's have a look at some pretty non-negotiable facts, a.k.a. the Tuesday results. Early on on Tuesday, Norwegian Blues for Man City, beaten by Bodo Glimt. That's Bodo Glimt's first ever Champions League victory. 3-1, they did Pep's side. City, of course, had Rodri red-carded when they were already 2-0 down, and that's now back-to-back defeats. In fact, it's only two wins out of their seven games so far since the turn of the year.

5:13Woof. Things went a lot better for their Premier League title rivals Arsenal, who were 3-1 winners away at San Siro against Inter, the Serie A leaders, while their north London neighbours Spurs produced another surprise, beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0. Seb was there to see Dortmund going down to 10 men, and Spurs climbing to fourth in the Champions League, ahead of Wednesday's games. The rest, Hortus PSG, got beat 2-1 away at Sporting Club de Lisbon. Real Madrid emerged from their recent turmoil by thumping Monaco 6-1. Olympiacos beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0. Napoli continued their dismal European form, drawing 1-1 away at 10-man Copenhagen.

5:53Ajax kept their slim chances of reaching the playoffs alive with a 2-1 victory at Villarreal. And Club Rouge went to Kairat and beat them 4-1. Where do we begin? With the Bodo battering.

6:06Jack Lang: This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network.

6:12Martin Sleipnes: Here comes Haugge! Oh! Jens Pater Haugge and Chappes League. The first one is the blue-challiered. A new prox scoring. Hots Fjare in Chappes League. And Tobak Holov. 3-0 left! Listen all together now. Noel Gallagher, Curly Watts, Paul Kalf. Rick Waitman, can you hear me? Oh. Yeah, extraordinary. scenes in the early game Tuesday. Had anyone tuned in for this? I watched the whole thing. Wow. Yeah. It was great fun. And Bodo Glimt were absolutely good for the win. They outplayed them. Some of it was maybe tactical stuff. I think a lot of it was to do with individual players and the way they presented themselves on the pitch.

7:03I don't know if that makes sense. But Bodo Glimt do. What should I call them? Bodo Glimt? Yeah. Whatever you like. Let's ask an expert because joining us now from Norway is Martin Schleipnes of Enkelservering.

7:17Martin Sleipnes: Yes, good pronunciation. Thank you so much, Martin. Hello again. We met in Oslo many years ago. Many years ago. That was a great night. But I'm going to say that for Norwegian football fans, Tuesday was even better. What a result for Bode Glimt. I think it's kind of hard to describe the magnitude of that result because Bode Glimt, or Glimt as we call it, we just call it Glimt. As you know, they're in Champions League, the first Norwegian team in Champions League in nearly 20 years. Yesterday was the first win by a Norwegian team in Champions League for nearly 20 years, which is insane. And to do it against City, it's hard to describe, to be honest.

8:05Martin Sleipnes: Bode is a town with 42 ,000 people living there. the Etihad alone holds 10 ,000 more people. And it's impossible to describe. Also, Tottenham, as you know, where they were in Bode a couple of months ago, and we scored an own goal to let them get away with a 2-2 draw. So it felt like we had to get one victory during this group phase of Champions League. And this was it. It was it, wasn't it? Them even getting into the Champions League was presumably a huge deal for Glimt fans. And then getting this game against one of the toughest or one of the wealthiest clubs around when you hadn't played a competitive match in over a month.

8:54Was that one of the reasons, do you think, why they were able to do so well against City?

8:59Martin Sleipnes: It's an interesting question, to be honest. Glimt had a three-week vacation since the 2-2 away against Dortmund. I think maybe three weeks is a perfect amount of time to have a vacation. The players get to empty their heads of football and travel and get some sun and then come back and don't be too far behind their original levels. So maybe this was the perfect time for Glimt to host City in the cold north. Do Glimt usually set up like that in the Champions League, or did they adjust specifically for how Man City play against them? I think Bode Glimt, one of the problems with Bode Glimt is that they are so dominant in the Norwegian series, so they never get to practice against harder oppositions.

9:51Martin Sleipnes: So every match from the Conference League era to last year's Europa League and Champions League now, they practice every match on being dominated by the bigger teams. So I think the way that Kjeti Knutson, the coach, has done it, he just, he don't care about what the other team are going to do. He knows what they're good at, but he plays the way he wants to play every time, regardless of who's the opposition.

10:22Jack Lang: Martin, can I ask what it's like in the region in the days before these games? So over the last probably 10 years, there was that amazing game against Roma. You played Tottenham in the Europa League last season, in the Champions League this season, City. When one of those games is on the horizon, what's it like to be there?

10:40Martin Sleipnes: It's a bus. You really feel that you're alive and you look forward to it. It's almost like it's Christmas every day for maybe two weeks. and you have this, you tell your wife, hey, ma 'am, sorry, but I'm going to be away the whole night of that match. You know this. And you make the preparations and you wake up and you get your Glimt cup and you drink coffee from it.

11:16Martin Sleipnes: Everything leads to those matches. And so it's really, really the best. I'm living my best life now as a Glimpse reporter. This is the best time to be alive as a Glimpse reporter. Excellent. Martin, there's a match coming up next Wednesday which sees you travel to the Civitas Metropolitano. Yeah. Glimpse currently lying, Budu Glimpse currently lying 27th in the league phase. Two points off making the playoffs. Can you do it away in Madrid? I think it's possible Glimt it's harder for Glimt to play on grass as you maybe know the pitch up in Bode is artificial grass so the ball moves faster in artificial grass I think that's the main reason Glimt dominates the way they do at home but I think every player at Glimt believe that they can do it.

12:19Martin Sleipnes: Håkon Ebien, the midfielder from Glimt, he said before the match yesterday, and I quote him and have translated it freely, he said, I feel that Pep is the kind of manager who wants to win all the matches he plays. So we can't think this will be an easy match. And I think that tells something about the mentality of the players. They are all together and all in one and they don't think they are in any way below Atletico Madrid. They think their system, they believe in it, they have confidence from the system they have trained in. So I think they will go to Madrid and have a feeling that, wow, this is open, we can do it.

13:04Martin Sleipnes: We just have to do our thing and trust ourselves. Okay. Martin, thank you so much. Enjoy living your best lives. Long may it continue. and we'll maybe catch up with you again next week. Yes. Excellent, Martin. Thank you so much. Congratulations, Martin. Thank you. Thank you.

13:21Jack Lang: It's amazing.

13:28Martin Schleapness. And if you want to hear more of Martin and you speak Norwegian, check out the Encore Severing podcast, which is not about amputation, actually. That sounds like it. JJ Schleapness Nights in... well for Pep as well actually because their predicament they are Man City now 7th and they risk missing out on the top 8 as it stands that's a couple of bad results in a row and performances for Guardiola and I think it's interesting hearing that the manager of Glimt would just set up the way he wants to against you know the way he wants to play the way he wants to Knutson isn't it that's the boy in charge of them doing really well and because what Glimt did was similar to what United did out of possession against them so they were playing in like a deep like a 4-4-2 block so they're pressing them high but they drop into that block but the whole point of the block they're playing in is to show City wide so they cannot play through the middle which is exactly what United are trying to do against them and so what they end up doing as you can see in the first couple of goals well definitely in the first one anyway is the full backs end up with the ball because it has to be shown wide because of the block they go up the pitch and then when they get into the opposition half the only real pass on is probably inside and forward to Haaland who's up front in the zone so when you pull that ball across the middle of the pitch it's dangerous because defenders can jump in if they anticipate it and they do win the ball and because you then push forward you've left space everywhere so like by just by doing that you're creating this really it's quite an easy trap to set and then you just punish them hit them on the break but then that said they were excellent on the counter like so good in possession so quick really aggressive they were like determined and city players a lot of them look like they didn't realize they were there like they just turned up like oh my god i'm in a dream i don't want to be

15:06Jack Lang: in when you're watching them there was a sort of they were they were sort of stuck in third or fourth gear um particularly Rodri like I I yeah yeah I mean how many how many games has Rodri played since he recovered from injury I don't know but not many yeah it looks a bit odd by the way James um I was gonna say just a word on Jens Peter Hauger oh yeah yeah because he he moved to Eintracht Frankfurt from AC Milan when Oli Glasner was still Eintracht coach it's very exciting because it was this sort of you know getting a kind of what was then a premium talent in Europe down to Eintracht Frankfurt didn't really work out and so it's one of my favorite things when you get to see a guy like that whose career hasn't really worked out as you'd expected it to, scores such a good goal.

15:44Jack Lang: Because that's the thing, right? I mean, they beat Man City, but they would play really well. There's some real artistry in a couple of those goals too. Jens Pederhago made it 3-0. Ryan Schirke then made it 3-1. Then Rodri gets a red card, which must have been quite a shock to his system. Two yellow cards in 53 seconds. He looked off the pace. Again, another player looked like he didn't quite know where he was and what was going on. not the Rodri that you recognise. He's coming back from a serious injury. Yeah, yeah. You remember how they never won a game when he didn't play, but they won all the games when he did?

16:19Their win percentage with him now is 50%, and their win percentage without him, 84.2%. I read an article, I think it was in The Telegraph, I can't remember who it was, it said that it looks like he's not confident in his own body now. So he just doesn't trust what's going through, which is probably one of the direct effects of going through an ACL injury, especially at the age and the stage of his career he's at. So if you're, because a lot of us do with confidence, right? So if suddenly you, if not every pass you do is exactly where it's meant to go, which is what normally he does, you can trust whatever he does.

16:51It's going to go exactly there. Suddenly you start to double think it and then that's what causes the mistake. And there's a couple of passes he gave away that were leading to turnovers as well. It just, like I said, it's not quite. Thank God he's complicit in. Is that right? And then, I mean, yeah, and that's an unbelievable hit. That's like goal of the month. goal on there. Yeah, I'd love that so much. It's so funny as well because you can't help get excited about it. When a team like Glimp takes City down, it's funny. Martin mentioned the plastic pitch which is something that we saw as a factor when Maccasfield upset Crystal Palace in the cup not so long ago.

17:21How much importance should we give to that do you think, Jack? I mean, probably a fair bit. City's players are much less used to it. I think on the first goal, the way Max Lane rushed out and kind of misjudged the bounce of it, that was probably the only real goal-related situation that I thought, oh, that could be a bit of a pitch thing. But then, I mean, City still should have done better defending it after that. Like, Alain got back into position and then was completely ball-watching as the ball came to Hock at the far post. I mean, but apart from that, yeah, I mean, they were just thoroughly outplayed.

17:59I don't think the pitch can be an excuse for all of that. Right. As for Erling Haaland Who had a bit of a miserable evening Couple of chances for him Getting upset with his teammates After the game He looked positively hurt That they'd lost He said we're Man City We can't go around And not win games It shouldn't be like this He said it was embarrassing As well I think He's not very happy And I think Guardiola said Before the game That he was exhausted as well Right There's a theory That if you tell people They're exhausted They then act like They feel it So if you just don't tell people They're really tired They'll be fine Well That's what I do to myself every day A glimpse with three weeks off.

18:35City, by contrast, with seven games I think they've played so far this calendar year and only two victories, as we mentioned. After the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United at the weekend, we talked about how they'd stopped scoring. Haaland himself has only got penalties in the last... Is it one penalty in the last eight consecutive appearances, which is his worst run since he was a Molder player. So some serious issues there for City, who, as I mentioned, still lie, what, seventh? So they're still in the automatic promotion places. They take on the Turkish champions and leaders, Galatasaray, who, of course, have Viktor Ossimen fresh back from Cup of Nations.

19:12Galatasaray, who this evening will be hosting Atletico Madrid, Bodo's next opponents, Glimpse, sorry, next opponents. Galatasaray currently lying down in 18th spot, a couple of points above, missing out on the playoffs altogether. Right. lots more to talk about from Tuesday's action including what happened at Spurs and of course Arsenal at San Siro

19:39Jack Lang: this episode is brought to you by gnc and it's that time again gnc's semi-annual live well sale is here with buy one get one 50 off savings on almost everything it's the perfect time to stock up on all your favorites try something new or build the perfect stack and save a ton buy one get 50 almost everything including hundreds of new products and the latest innovations from top brands plus the live well sale is full of huge daily deals launching all month long like one dollar snacks and drinks 40 % off top brands and everyone's favorite free stuff so get a jump on crushing your spring goals stay on track or just stop in for a great deal right now at your local gnc or online at gnc.com this episode of the totally football show is sponsored by men's warehouse who are here to make you look and feel good no matter the occasion from formal to casual dressed up to dress down suits tuxes sports coats jeans shorts chinos t-shirts polos sandals underwear men's warehouse has it all and if you can't find what you're looking for their in-store experts are on hand to find just the thing you need while their on-site tailors guarantee your clothes have the right fit for your body there are over 600 stores nationwide so get ready to look good and feel good for anything from head to toe by visiting your local men's warehouse today.

21:01Jack Lang: Men's Warehouse. Love the way you look.

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21:50Jack Lang: This 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. There you are, excellent one, there you are. Odebeer in behind, slay-oh! It's somehow gone in! What in the way he meant it, but it'll count, Dominic Solanke. Tuesday night, Tottenham taking on Borussia Dortmund. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Some questioned whether Thomas Frank would even be in charge for this game. It turned out to be his best result of the season, question mark, question mark.

22:27Seb, you were there. What did you think?

22:30Jack Lang: Yeah, I was there and I went there with some trepidation because obviously I was expecting a toxic atmosphere. Obviously the atmosphere around Thomas Frank and the club as a whole has been very, very negative and getting worse week by week. actually Spurs were very good. At least in the first half, they were very positive. They played with some pace. Their counter-pressing was very good. Some nice combination football on both sides. Jed Spence playing as a left winger? It worked. It worked. Not quite a Gareth Bale against Inter Milan worked, but it also felt as if one of Spurs' issues, which is admittedly quite a long list, has been playing the right side of full-back on the left side.

23:06Jack Lang: And now Spence goes forward. Destiny Dogi comes in as the orthodox left back. Spurs looked a lot more balanced as a result. But goodness, Jimbo, the Dortmund were poor. Were they? Kovach was angry, angry, angry afterwards. And it was one of those where it was really hard to defend the individual players. Because ever since they came back from the Winter Palace, we've mentioned this on the Europod, their defensive standard has slipped completely. There's a real lack of intensity in their work without the ball. and they made almost no impression on Spurs whatsoever. And yes, Daniel Svensson got red-carded in the first half and that was a factor, but that felt like the moment which guaranteed the defeat rather than caused it because Dortmund were, yeah, really, really disappointing.

23:52Spurs had already taken the lead early on through Christian Romero with his fifth of the season. Svensson then gets sent off for that studs-up challenge on Uderberg. And then the second goal for Spurs comes from Dominic Solanke. Did you see this one, Jack? Yeah, just really beautiful finish. Magnificent. Flick flack. Yeah.

24:11Jack Lang: It's interesting, right, because I was on WhatsApp with a few of my British Dortmund supporting friends during this game, and they were upset about the red card. But it's got to the stage now where, regardless of whether you think that kind of tackle should be a red card, it just is now. Because if you create a picture where VR can freeze frame or slow something down and show studs making contact above kind of the middle of the shin, it's going to be a red card, right? And it's the price you pay for not tackling with good technique. It's kind of, Svensson doesn't get enough of the ball. He plants on Odebers just beneath his knee.

24:48Jack Lang: It's a red card. Very, very difficult. The Dortmund Press this morning I was reading, they referred to it as an ausfalt, which is a failure. And yeah, it's moving in a difficult direction because some of these Dortmund players have designs of playing a level above, of playing in the Premier League, particularly someone like Karim Adeyemi, Sarri Gerasi, Nico Schlotterbeck. And you just see kind of, I think what I describe as the physical difference between German football or every other football other than English. And I know there's a technical advantage. I know there's a financial advantage. But English teams just seem, even Tottenham in their current malaise, they just seem so much more powerful.

25:30Jack Lang: Right. The intensity. That's an interesting point because one of the big questions about Tuesday's performance is how can they do this consistently in Europe, woeful in the Premier League at home, and yet they have the best home record in the Champions League. They lie fourth in the table. They've won every single game and they haven't conceded a single goal at home. Is that because they are playing against less intense opponents? yeah I think it's also a function of playing against lesser opponents in the broader sense too because Spurs have had a pretty good draw and this is the nature of the new format where you can have to go to you know away to Paris Saint-Germain and and take your beating but then you get to play FC Copenhagen Slavia Prague a Dortmund side who for whatever reason seemed a bit jaded but I also think and this is a half-baked theory which I'm going to introduce live which that always goes well right I think like there was a time in the Premier League where if you were a big club with lots of money you didn't actually have to do a lot of things right to do quite well or to to not embarrass yourself you could have a bad season and that would mean you finish seventh right and and that would be a sort of a Tottenham like situation I think the overall level in the Premier League has improved to such an extent and also the quality of individual players has improved across the league to the point where you can't get away with it to the same extent and so that kind of disparity in in the Premier League has not disappeared but it's been minimized it's less forgiving all right do you like that I love it it's hot and fresh out your oven no one wants to challenge it no one wants to shoot me down me a slice of that fact pie how much time does this buy Thomas Frank do you think I think I was talking to a couple of my friends yesterday I don't think it's hugely relevant in determining his future I think it's a terrible thing to say and it's kind of an indictment of modern football in a way but Burnley away is probably more important than the Champions League at home to British Dortmund and I can't believe I've said that sentence out loud I've heard it you should have thought that one through yeah yeah that that wasn't just a half-fake theory that's just a crushing reality isn't it I I also think one of the issues at Spurs is what's the coaching market at the moment who's the obvious successor and I think that they could get yeah and I think that's as much of a factor in Thomas Frank's future as how we did last night it was great good to win I think a lot of the questions still remain until you see that performance replicated against Premier League standard opposition or Premier League standard intensity right the question remains right Turf Moor awaits all right let's move on to their North London neighbours Arsenal who were away in Milan on Tuesday night at San Siro against Inter JJ you were also watching this one seeing Arsenal being all masterful against the City, our leaders, and converting their chances as well.

28:17Well, this is one of the most entertaining Arsenal performances I've seen in ages because whatever you want to think of my take on this, I just think they're really boring in almost every game I watch them. I don't enjoy watching them. It seems like this massive lad slamming into the middle, nothing happens, set-piece goal. So I'm not trying to be hugely critical of Arsenal, I don't care, but they are being really boring. But this game was fantastic, really fun. And I was, like your point about Premier League being such a high level, it's been a thing this last couple of weeks. Right, I was just going to say, is it because Inter didn't play in the low block and actually tried to play?

28:51Well, I think maybe, but then I think Inter have great players and they're also very well coached. They're the top of Serie A just now, aren't they? So they're doing very well and they're good fun. And I've been thinking about this Premier League thing because for ages I've thought, the Premier League's like, I know it's really high level, but is it actually that good? Because Champions League games have been really fun. And I think the big teams go at the other big teams and there's more space opens up so it becomes a bit more like what I remember football being rather than what this is which is like a really high level Sunday league game half the time.

29:18And I think like this game was fun as Arsenal were going at them. They were playing with intensity and pace from the start. I think Inter didn't expect it from the very start. I thought they'd come out and try and like quiet the crowd down but they went for them. Didn't allow them to kill it. And so they went at them. They were excellent in the first half. I think Arsenal looked so well coached. I was thinking during it it was like they could win a double. They could do Champions League and Premier League this year they'd be good for the Champions League they could win the rest of them why not they shouldn't be allowed to World Cup this summer they could win the World Cup the Olympic's not far away and I think one of the standouts and is well the narratives come out of it is whether Gabriel Jesus should now be starting for them I love Jesus as a player he looked like prime Aguero in this one he was everywhere he was doing far more work than Aguero ever did though he was tracking back trying to win tackles in the right back position and I remember Pep Guardiola once talked about him being the best defensive forward or defensive winger in the world maybe he played a wing back against Real Madrid once for City he was just everywhere doing everything he needed him to and they have different profiles now like Arteta says up front so they've got Jesus can be darting in about he can lead the line he's a lot better at winning headers than you'd think he looks like the smallest of them all but he actually scored quite a few of his goals from headers second goal was what a goal that was Jack I mean all of their routines are clever yeah What is impressive about them, I'm sure we'll come back to Jesus, is that they're so good at corners that even the short lads win headers.

30:47Martinelli, two headers from corners the other day. Trossard towering at the back post. How annoying must that be for a defender? It's okay if Gabriel wins one, but you've got Trossard, oh, he's massive. You have to set up zonally in that front post, but everyone does it to try and protect that because you know they're going to go there. Because you can't just leave it close and then try and man-mark them all the way to the front. But you see all the players are like, where are they? I don't know where they are. And then they just appear. And then it's like a disguise, a ruse. Someone else turns up.

31:15So well coached.

31:16Jack Lang: When you run with them as well, that's really interesting. Yeah, and something like 19 corners or something like that. It's some crazy number that they've scored from. Something like that, 18 or 19. I think it is maybe 19. Jack mentions Martinelli, who's not had these seasons. What about the pass, though, for the third goal? Oh, yeah, outstanding. Pass of the game, pass of the night, pass of the week. What did it look like? It was an outside of the boot hit from, I think it's just by the halfway line. It goes right around the defenders and puts Kiyokuresh away, who runs like an extra fast fridge-freezer through to it.

31:46Ends up finishing, was it that move? I think it was that one, where he ends up like pinging it in the top corner. He's got a good finish on him from distance, that boy. It just shows what he can do when he has like rampaging room, which is all of his goals are like that for sporting and he never gets that fast. He has to get into rampage mode. Right. You have to charge him up. Maybe he also should just be a sub when they're winning and the other team is... Then you can't get the XP up, so he enters that. The bar has to go into the magic bit, so when you get him on the pitch, he's got special moves.

32:11Nice. Arsenal are guaranteed to finish top two, what with City losing and that. They've had seven wins out of seven in the league phase. Only two defeats in all competitions all season. They did concede only their second goal in the Champions League to Sukic, and it was a lovely goal too, but no difference does it make. Arsenal at the weekend hosting Man United, JJ? yeah is that going to be boring Arsenal again no that well I don't know because it'd be interesting how they play against them just judging by what happened against City United will play in the United way now so whether they can do that against Arsenal who should lock everything down and make it very hard to play against I don't know what Carrick will do to set that one up against Arsenal I'm not sure what Arteta would do other than what he normally does to try and like block the game down and win from it another interesting point is the last one in it is like whether Eze plays or not because he hasn't been in the team for a while and he came on and did okay, I would say, but maybe not quite as much as you want.

33:06I was looking into it on the Opta stats thing. So like Arsenal in the Premier League with Eze, they win 56 % of their games. Without Eze, they've won 100 % of their games. Really? Isn't that interesting? Because I love Eze as a player. But then the thing is with an Arteta team at the moment, you can't really be trying things in an Arteta team. You want to be doing what the, you know, what you have to be together. Unless you're trying to take more corners. Yeah. Right. So, I mean, There's going to be a reason for that. I've not looked into why that is. Okay. But the numbers speak for themselves.

33:37Right. Yeah. That idea is still very much in the warming up the oven phase. Very good. Shortly, we'll find out what happened to Jokariz's old club sporting when they took on PSG and touching on the other Champions League headlines from Tuesday.

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36:16Jack Lang: You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show. Shout out to Salford who beat Swindon 3-2 in the 1FA Cup third round tie that got postponed because of bad weather 10 days ago It's actually the third time this season that Swindon have lost to Salford and each time it's been with that same 3-2 scoreline Salford's reward is a trip to Manchester City in round four Manchester City where Salford lost 8-0 in round three last season Manchester City of course won 10-1 in round three of this year's cup So that's nice.

36:56Anyway, Manchester City got beaten this week, as we saw. Holders, Paris Saint-Germain did 2-1 away at Sporting Club de Lisbon. Watching this was Tom Williams, and he joins us now. Hey, Tom. Hello, James. Hello to you. So, Quel Gachi, says L 'Equipe this morning. What does that mean? What a waste. Oh, yeah? What a waste.

37:18Jack Lang: Yeah. Well, it was a bit of a groundhog day for PSG in that they lost in exactly the same circumstances in which they've tended to lose over the last 12 to 18 months. Completely dominating, not taking any of their chances and then being punished late on in the game. And that was precisely what happened against Sporting. You were wondering on the pages of The Athletic, Tom, whether PSG are different this season. are they having a wobble or just getting going? This suggests more the wobble side of things, given, you know, getting knocked out of the Coupe de France and not being top in Ligue 1 as well.

37:58Jack Lang: It does. And it's slightly puzzling because PSG's difficulties over the first half of the season could be explained away by the fact that they'd had this very gruelling summer going into the Club World Cup, getting to the final, no real pre-season, straight into this campaign. Loads of injury problems. But they've had a two-week break over the festive period. Most of those injured players have now returned. You look at the team they put out last night. The only starting players who were missing were Ashraf Hakimi, who's due back from the Africa Cup of Nations imminently, and João Neves in midfield, who isn't far away.

38:39Jack Lang: he chose to start with Fischer-Gladez-Skelia on the bench he came on and scored I think that was just rotation so PSG should be doing better than they are and yet paradoxically they did play quite well I mean Luis Enrique said after the game I think that was our best away performance of the entire season you know the pressing was there, the intensity was there they had 28 shots albeit only 6 on target They weren't necessarily creating high quality chances, but they were dominant. They just, you know, they just didn't punish sporting. And as Luis Enrique himself said, what can you do? It's a shitty sport.

39:19Jack Lang: It doesn't always reward the better team. And that's what's happened on this occasion. But it does leave PSG in a bit of a tricky position. Right. Portuguese paper, Abola, went with a slightly different interpretation. Glory, they said on their front page this morning. Do they deserve glory? Did they just get lucky, Tom? No, they do deserve glory. They weren't just lucky. They moved the ball really nicely, sporting. And apart from the two goals they scored, they did create some chances. And the goals when they came, the first goal, 74th minute, PSG failed to clear a corner. The ball falls to Luis Suarez, not that one, formerly of Olympique de Marseille, just to make that pill even more bitter for PSG to swallow.

40:02Jack Lang: So, Kvaira Scalier equalises and then late sporting break, Francisco Trincao has a shot from range that Lucas Chevalier doesn't deal with very well. And Suarez is there again on hand to nod the ball home. So, you know, they were under the cosh for long period sporting, but, you know, they weren't giving up loads and loads of chances and they were creating chances themselves. So, it felt like a bit of a smash and grab. and in terms of the balance of play and the amount of possession PSG had it was but when they had the ball you know sporting looked pretty handy. Tom there's another really tricky moment for Chevalier as you mentioned I might just be watching the wrong games but every time I see PSG concede he seems to be if not at fault kind of questionable within the goal what's been the reaction to him because obviously he's got pretty difficult shoes to fill with Donnarumma.

40:54Jack Lang: Yeah well there's a huge amount of curiosity about how he would fare there was a huge amount of expectation because he is seen as France's future number one and that's the trajectory that he has been on since his teenage years coming through the ranks at Lille and one of the curious things about Chevalier was that he never used to make mistakes like this when he was at Lille and you wonder whether is it just the spotlight is it is it you know playing for a new team is it the pressure you go back to the UEFA Super Cup which was his PSG debut he's at fault for I think it was Spurs second goal and there have been times throughout the season when PSG lost at Marseille which was in, when was that?

41:33Jack Lang: September, October. He's at fault for the goal early on. There have been other shaky performances. There was one very convincing recent performance in the Trofeuille des Champions again against Marseille where he's man of the match, saves I think maybe a couple of penalties in the penalty shootout and you thought, okay, he's had his six months betting in period. He now knows the drill and we're now going to see the Chevalier that we saw at Lille. And yet there again last night, he's at fault again. And as you say, when you're stepping into the shoes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was so pivotal to PSG winning the Champions League last season, who was the reigning Yashin Trophy award holder, it does make those mistakes even more noticeable.

42:20Although arguably Donnarumma might not have made the difference this midweek, given what happened to him away at Bodo Glimp. You mentioned a slightly tricky position for Paris Saint-Germain. They are still currently fifth in the Champions League league phase. However, with most of the teams below them still to play, they could end up as low as 13th by the end of this week's action.

42:42Jack Lang: PSG suddenly find themselves in a really tricky position. They could be out of the top eight, depending on what happens in tonight's matches. They're at home to Newcastle in their final fixture next week. Curiously, Luis Enrique said that qualifying automatically for the knockout phase might not necessarily be a good thing. Because last season, PSG had to go through the playoff round, beat Brest 10-0 on aggregate. And it kind of helped them find a bit of form. And because they are short of form at the moment, they're out of the Coupe de France. They currently don't have all that many fixtures lined up in February as things stand.

43:20Jack Lang: assuming that they do finish in the top eight of the Champions League. In the piece that I wrote that you mentioned, James, I was suggesting that might be a good thing. Gives players time to work on their fitness, gives Luis Enrique more time on the training ground. But he suggested that he might actually prefer another couple of games and he might actually end up getting a couple of games that he wasn't depending on. Indeed so. Tom Williams, thank you so much. Look forward to speaking to you again soon. Cheers, James. Speak soon.

43:54Tom Williams in what appears to be a pretty well furnished library He's got a nice set up that Tom Williams It looks like a public library but it can't have been because he was shouting about I think it's his own private library

44:07Jack Lang: I think there's more to Tom Williams than we know I think he bought those books at like a knock off price A job lot like pubs Might be all the unsold copies of Va Va Boom But that's unlikely Wow Wow, wow. It's such an excellent book. It is an excellent book. Seb, I know you've got to disappear now, but before you do, among the other results on Tuesday night was another bad one for a German club by Leverkusen getting beaten 2-0 at Olympiacos. What happened here? Actually, Leverkusen didn't play too badly. I haven't seen the XG, but they created plenty of chances. Artur missed one, Patrick Schick missed one.

44:47Jack Lang: but goodness how often we say this like just defensive discipline let them down so the first uh the first Olympiacos goal missed header at the near post from Cofane um Olympiacos take the lead and then what is a very very nice finish from Taremi um uh form into Milan Porto Taremi but you know look Bade the the French centre half was was signed over the summer as one of the kind of the the linchpins of this new Leverkusen side were meant to be part of the experience to to anchor the development of these young players. And it's another mistake. He's beaten far too easily by the ball around the outside of the defence.

45:24Jack Lang: And yeah, good work, let down by a weak defence. And Hullman's got a problem there. I mean, had that really difficult loss at home to Stuttgart. Got beaten by Hoffenheim, which, you know, Hoffenheim improved, but that's not a good result. And now in real danger of going out of the Champions League in the group stage. Bayer Leverkusen currently lying 19th on nine points. One point and a couple of places behind them are Olympiacos, who with this victory moved up into the potential playoff spots. We'll see what happens next week. You head off, Seb. Maybe we'll catch up with you on Thursday's show.

45:56Who knows? Depends what the Bundesliga sides get up to. It would be a pleasure. Lovely to see you for now. Jack, meantime, you on Tuesday night were watching Real Madrid's performance against Monaco. Real Madrid had been knocked out of the Copa del Rey last week against second division opposition. This weekend won, but saw several of their players and their president whistled and booed by the fans. What a way to respond. Yeah, this was such a fun game. Oh, yeah? JJ was saying that sometimes Champions League games are a bit more, you know, there's a bit more spice in them. And this was just end to end.

46:35Monaco, despite losing by five goals, were pretty good. They attacked a lot. They had some good shots. they had some nice intricate moves just were not very good at shooting but Madrid loved having the space that Monaco granted them took the lead very early which settled them down the second goal was absolutely gorgeous Camavinga doing a kind of little double touch to get out of trouble a lovely Goulet pass for Vinicius Junior who set up Mbappe and then in the second half every three or four minutes Madrid seemed to have like a four on three break really exciting a couple of things stood out Vinicius celebrating very ostentatiously with Alvaro Arbeloa after scoring his goal and Bellingham, Jude Bellingham's celebration after his goal.

47:23So he mimes drinking. Yeah. And he said afterwards, my celebration, a lot of people say a lot of things. You can cry about it or enjoy it, which I think is, he's saying how he reacts to other people, is he, or how we should react to his celebration. Great question. I mean, yeah, I suppose to follow his interpretation, I'm drinking down all the hate. Right. I love your hate. I wondered if it was a reference whether there have been rumours and stuff. He says, I send this joke to the fans, they know the truth. Anyway, he mimes drinking after a goal, I don't know what it means. There were some internet rumours that he's always out in the clubs and things like that.

48:03I thought it might. But it could all just be nonsense, I don't know. I can't believe anything you read anywhere now. You know the truth, JJ. That's what Bellingham wrote on his app, isn't it? Oh, right, yeah. The Jude Bellingham app. Yeah. Yeah. Haven't got it yet. Vinny Jr., celebrating, and he had a lot to celebrate, set up three goals and scored another. Yeah, really good. Very impressive. His goal was actually quite funny because he had, as you said, he had had a hand in three others and Mbappe was right there. He's like, can you just pass me that? And he just ignored him and then wouldn't even celebrate with Mbappe.

48:36I think they were laughing about it afterwards. But yeah, I mean, his first Champions League goal of the season, which I suppose is indicative of the underperformance under Alonso. He just looked like a classic new manager man, liberated. Is it Kamavinga at left back? Was he playing more inside? I was just thinking, looking at that line-up and how, I've done a sensible transfer thing recently, because Vinny Jr. probably needs to not do any defending and stay wide, and then Bellingham's going to go forward. So is that the idea? So when they didn't have the ball, Bellingham went to the left. Camavinga was left back in possession, moved into midfield.

49:11And actually, Arbeloa brought on Ceballos at halftime for Raul Asensio. So actually, but the second half, most of the second half, they had six centre midfielders, like one at right back, one at left back, one at centre back, three in midfield. So it was, yeah, strong echoes of Pep Guardiola's midfields within midfields. Very nice. Real Madrid are away at Benfica next week against their former manager Jose Mourinho Benfica who are battling for their own Champions League survival they've got a huge game coming up Wednesday night against Juventus which should be a tasty one Copenhagen had a 1-1 draw with Napoli which was pretty impressive given that they were down to 10 men when they equalised Scott McTominay Scott McTominay with the opening goal after Copenhagen had had Thomas Delaney sent off.

50:05But then Napoli had been absolutely woeful, as Conte's sides often are in Europe, couldn't manage to score another goal, and eventually the Danes equalised. Ajax come from behind a 2-1 victory away at Villarreal. That maintains their slender chances of making the playoff stages. Ajax currently still 31st, but they are two points off 24th spot. So it does depend a lot what else happens on Wednesday night. Villarreal, though, despite the fact that they're currently third in La Liga and having their best domestic campaign ever, are already out of the Champions League. As are Kairat out of Kazakhstan, who got beaten 4-1 by Club Bruges, or Brugge, as you prefer, very early on Tuesday afternoon.

50:57Not often you see a consolation goal in the final minute in a 4-1 defeat celebrated quite so strongly. He took the shirt and gave it the full, put it on the corner flag, I think. Probably won't play in the Champions League at home again for a little while. Fair play. Well done to them. Coming up on Wednesday night, nine more matches. Of course, the early games probably happening by the time you hear this. Galatasaray, Atletico Madrid and Carabag against Eintracht Frankfurt, who've just fired their manager. you've got Chelsea against Paphos or possibly Bathos in their case that's at 8 o 'clock as is Marseille-Liverpool, Newcastle PSV, Juve and that clash with Jose Mourinho's Benfica Atalanta against Athletic Club de Bilbao Slavia Prague against Barcelona and Bayern against Union Saint-Gilois Now, last thing to mention today is Monday night's action in the Premier League which was the last game of match day 22 and saw Brighton and Bournemouth face each other.

51:57Did you see this? It's one of the only days in the past few weeks and months and years that I haven't watched football. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. But I'm sure you saw Charolampos Costolas' remarkable bicycle kick. I didn't, but I'd like to hear about it. Okay, Jack? Yeah. Jumped into the air like you do with a bicycle kick. Yeah. Yeah, really good. Really athletic. He looks really good, this Costolas guy. Greek teenager yeah they signed another one Seamass as well who's a bit more of a number nine but yeah incredible athleticism and he just you know some people just look so healthy this guy just looks so oh really?

52:38you look pretty healthy Jack could be the lighting in here I'm not sure it was the equaliser and it came in the 91st minute what a dramatic time for a bicycle kick the best time or the first five minutes against Denmark. Also, that works too. Bournemouth had taken the lead through a slightly controversial penalty, would you say, Jack? No. Okay. I thought it was okay. It did touch him. All right. One of the reasons, JJ, that you didn't mark this one out for a night in watching the football was that Brighton are mid-table and Bournemouth are mid-table, and that's exactly where they stay after this result.

53:18It's everything I stand against. Okay. Also, I was playing football. All right. It is the middle of January, so transfer talk is rife. One last thing before we move on. The troubled times at Crystal Palace look set to continue because it looks like Jean-Philippe Mateta could be the next one out. In Tuesday's European show, we talked about Juve's interest in him. It now seems that Aston Villa, who rather carelessly let Daniel Marlin go to Roma, need to get Mateta in to replace him. there's talk of a 40 million euro fee would be what about only about 35 million sounds about right for Mateta do you think yeah I think he's um I don't think he's good at being a target man as you think he is he looks like he can hold the ball up and he is good at that in times when he has it under control his first touch isn't always perfect he gets a lot of chances which indicates that he's a very good player but he also has a tendency to miss those when he's on form as any striker will he scores loads and it's kind of actually similar to like Tammy Abraham loads of xg but misses a lot of the chances yeah but um I think Manteta is fantastic as a player still probably underrated and deserves a move to a team competing in Europe he should be playing in Europe all the time although he is this season so I'm lying and I'm wrong like normal we'll see we'll see if he does make the move or what implications that would have for as I mentioned a slightly fragile atmosphere at Selhurst Park.

54:42That wraps it up for today's show. Of course, we're back in about 24 hours' time with the Thursday edition of Totally, rounding up all the Wednesday night games and looking ahead to match day 23 in the Premier League as well. For now, it's many, many thanks to Tom for joining us earlier and Martin as well, from Norway to Seb Staffer-Bloor, to you, Jack, and you, JJ. Good luck with your single. What did you settle on for the title? I was settled on If Bergkamp Can by JJ Bull, if you want to look for it, on all the streaming services. All right. It's on all of them. OK. Let's play out with a little taster of If Bergkamp Can with a thanks as well to Grayson and Charlie in the booth and you, listener, wherever you are.

55:27We'll be back with you soon. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

55:33Jack Lang: You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For other great podcasts just like this one, including the Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic in all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

55:59The Athletic FC.

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