The Press Box - Ep. 282: 'Soccer Podcast' with Chris Ryan and Ryan O'Hanlon

Episode Date: March 16, 2017

The Ringer’s Chris Ryan and Ryan O’Hanlon discuss Manchester City’s Champions League exit (0:55), glance at the top English teams (11:50), and later take an in-depth look at the Champions League quarterfinalists (17:17). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hello, and welcome to SoccerPod. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an outside winger who likes to cut inside and hit it off his stronger foot. And joining me, as always, is Ryan O'Hanlon. I'm the Mick McCarthy wearing cleats and socks on the sideline, but actually the manager. You're actually more like Owen Coyle, shorts in the winter. I'll take that.

Okay. Ryan and I are here to talk, obviously, Champions League, as we've had two great Champions League weeks. Yeah. We're coming off of. But first we want to, you know, and it's a way of kind of getting into the Champions League. I want to talk a little bit about Manchester City who just crashed out. I guess crashed out is unfair because I think crashed out is something we should only say for Arsenal, right? Yeah.

Arsenal crashes. Manchester City just failed. Yeah, Arsenal's essentially retired that term. Before we get into the sort of wider Champions League conversation, we wanted to start with Manchester City who just went out 6-6-1 on aggregate, on away goals. They beat Manchester City 3-1 and the principality of Monaco yesterday. Who was in the stands for that game? Who do you think the fans were?

A lot of guys with yachts. And a lot of guys who work at casinos. They were all pretty into it. Yeah, who's a Monaco fan? Other than people with yachts, I literally have no idea. I guess, I mean, I just don't even know who, hit us up on Twitter if you live in Monaco. It doesn't seem like they should have enough people to fill a stadium.

Yeah. But, I mean, I'm sure. that it's like a great standard of living there if you own a yacht. Anyway, Manchester City went out and then today Thursday, we're recording this before the Champions League draw, unfortunately, but we did want to get some Premier League stuff in

before the weekend before Manchester City plays Liverpool, which we'll get to. But today in The Guardian, it was reported that Pep Guardiola could be getting rid of up to 18 players this summer, including deep breath, Yayatari, Gaile Klishi, Pablo Zabaletto, Willie Kiviero,

Hazou's novice, Navis, Bacari Sanya, Joe Hart, at William Mangala, Samir Nazary, who's on loan, Willifred Bonnie, who's on loan, some guy named Jason De Nair, who I've never seen,

Sergio Aguero could be on his bike, Vincent Company is always injured, Alexander Kolarov, his deal is ending soon, Fabian Delth never plays, Fernando sucks, and Colici and Ianocho, I haven't seen a ton of him this year.

These guys could all be on their way out. I find this to be strange timing for the news. Manchester City has a very important game against Liverpool. They're separated by one point. Man City has a game in hand, I believe. That's three and four in the Premier League right now. And it's going out of the Champions League in a kind of...

That was a very strange game yesterday, and we'll get to that. But I find the timing of this news to be a little strange, because if you're going to motivate guys to have a hard push through the end of the year to make the Champions League, it would stand a reason that you would want the incentive to be and then you could play in the Champions League next year with Manchester City and these aren't peripheral players I mean some of them are but guys like cliche and Sanya

have been a lot you know Aguero is now the best striker on this team yeah I mean he has been for years but it would be brief appearance of Jesus he was not but I don't know what do you think about like all this coming out in March well my first question with this is if they win yesterday, does this news come out today? Right. Probably not, right? It's two, or is it just a complete coincidence?

I mean, I think that it's suspicious that it does come out. On one hand, it sends a strong message to the roster that no one's safe. It also maybe recalibrates fan expectations, and to some extent media expectations about where Gordiola is in the process. And I think that with a manager of his caliber, he arrives, and people kind of expect there to be an immediate result, as there has been in Byron and their. had been in Barcelona. But he's obviously not gotten the kind of performance he wanted out of the league,

out of the team, and I think has had a little bit of a harder learning curve in the Premier League. I agree. I think, I mean, I guess there's one way to look at it, like, this is a way of telling all these dudes that if you want to be on this team next year, like step your shit up. Yeah. But more than that, to me, this sort of just, like, sums up the issue with the team.

Like, of those, you named 18 or so people, how many of them do you feel like are actually, like, good enough to be part of, we all expect Man City to, like, the expectation for Man City, no one's satisfied until they break into the Bayern, Barsa, Madrid. Uvei group, yeah. Yeah, like, no one will be satisfied until that happens. Nor should they be in with email where they're spending. But I just still think that there's a lot of good football left in guys like Yayo Tori and Sergio O'R. I know Tori has been bad for a while now, but I just, you look at somebody like Samir Nazari, who has essentially been the best player on one of the best teams in Spain, and he can't give you anything in Manchester City? Yeah, it's, I mean, there are, there are definitely, you know, Aguero, Nasri, based on how he's played this year.

I mean, those are the two clear names, but, like, beyond that, it's, and I think Ionacho, when, Ionacho is one of those guys that like he's played a very tiny amount but his like per 90s statistics are like incredible. Yeah. So it's kind of surprising that he hasn't played more especially because it really at this point it's just like it's not even conjecture. It just doesn't seem like Pep loves Aguero. But beyond like Aguero, Nazarian, possibly Eianacho, it's like the rest of these guys are

all I feel like they're mediocre or their average Premier League players. It's like they're relatively close to replacement level. I think at Byron, it's the guys are just all way better. And I think there's definitely a, I mean, we've talked about this before. It would be fascinating to see Cordial manage like Everton. Everton or like, even a worst team and see like, does he come in and try to have them play the same way that he had Byron playing, even though none of the players are capable of it?

And he like fights through the growing pains. because that's like what he's trying to do is city and it's just like we got super hyped about the Sonia and cliche like inverted winger thing right at the beginning of the season and it's like that just it ultimately isn't going to work. I think one of the things that is a little bit, not alarming but notable about this season

has been it feels a little bit first of all with this transfer list it feels like that's not just like we're going to fix the midfield or we're going to fix the defense. That's like we're redoing the whole team to say nothing in the fact that now he's got to go out and buy another keeper. Second of all, there's an interesting quote from yesterday's game where Guardiola said after the match,

we wanted to show personality not to let them think, but they could pass and pass the ball. And we forgot to do that in the first half. My mistake was not being able to convince them to do that. I did it in the second half, but it was too late. And he added another quote about the strikers needed to come back and get the ball. There was a seem to just be like a kind of a disconnect between what the manager wants and what the players are doing,

even at this point in the season. And when I think about these Manchester City teams, he has essentially scrap defending in the last couple of weeks, if not months. And they've won four out of five in the Premier League. So they're looking pretty good in domestic competition. But to watch them just kind of be like, we're going to go into Monaco. And instead of defending our lead and stealing a goal, we're just going to just, we're going to poorly go forward in the first half, give up goals Zimbabwe and these other guys. And then just kind of like, at the end of the game, I saw no urgency to get it in the net. Yeah, you're touching on a good point, I think, in that one of the things about this team is they don't, you know, they're, they don't, they defend by pressing the ball, obviously.

And if you break through their midfield, their centerbacks are just, they're not good defenders. They're bad. They play too high anyway. They give up, when they give up chances, they're always very high quality chances. But, like, Gordial's teams in the past had a way of, like, just completely sucking the, life out of a game. Yeah. By pressing a team to death or by just cycling the ball around and making a team run for 90 minutes.

And it's like this team doesn't seem like it can do that. They can, I still feel like they have the most devastating attack in the Premier League when it's on, like by a good margin. But like when they get a lead, it's like, especially coming into a game with a two-goal lead, they weren't able to control the game and sort of like lessen the events that were happening throughout the course of the game, they sat back and just got pounded by Monaco. They didn't really do, you can defend proactively. Monaco also looked way more athletic than they did. Yeah.

Well, I think Monaco is at least outside of city's front three or front four. Monaco is the opposite of what city is. City's old, you know, guys that are relying on their, you know, experience to play. And Monaco is all these, like, insanely athletic. but like you were saying yesterday also like very skilled players. And it's just the city issue is just so obvious when you play a team like that. There was like a mirror image gameplay at the end of the match where it was like maybe five minutes left in regulation. And Silva was going up the right flank and just got jumped by three Monaco defenders and tried to scoot through them and couldn't.

And then I think it was either Mendi or somebody basically did the same thing now on the left. for going towards the Manchester City goal and two Manchester City defenders tried to jump them and he split them and not only they split them but those guys just like evaporated. Yeah. And then he had, he switched the field of play with this like laser focused cross field pass that just completely, you know, opened up the other side of the field and basically let Monaco kill two minutes off the clock by like dinking around for a while. Yeah.

So it was just like very striking. We kind of, you know, Monaco doesn't have like the best. reputation. I think there's always like this new money thing with them. Same with City. But I was blown away by how well they played yesterday and it's been and basically how bad they made Man City look. Yeah. I mean, it's I think overall the sort of, I mean, the issue here, right, is that Man City basically played Monaco toe to toe.

And we want Man City to blow a team like Monaco off the field. Sure. Right. I think that's. You expect a Gordiola managed team to be. the expectation. Yeah, maybe a couple of things didn't go their way in this. But, like, that's not what we're, what we want from Man City. And I think Monaco, it's just, again, it's just the same point.

It's their, this is, this is fun to watch, you know what I mean? And these guys that are only getting better and are playing at, like, hyperspeed, it just makes, it just shows the decaying squad that City has, I think, in a sharper way than we've seen all season. Well, it's pretty hard for them to move all these. guys off their books. A lot of these guys, especially the ones who were a little bit earlier in their deals, make a lot of money per week. A lot of money on their weekly wages, and it's just not that easy to just

dump these guys. I mean, I'm sure some of them will go to China, but it's going to be a little bit frustrating. I think they might wind up with two or three of these guys still in their books next year, if not on their team. On their roster, that being said, they will probably be Liverpool 3-0 this week, just because all the evidence otherwise suggests

that they should just be a tired, broken team, half of whom are expecting to leave. And Liverpool has no other responsibilities other than going for Champions League, and I just have a bad feeling that Liverpool's going to get smoked. Talking about the top four really quick, England, I just wanted to mention Harry Kane is out for six weeks. Harry Kane's ankle injury comes at, I guess, the best time

that Harry Kane's ankle injury could come. Tottenham is facing Southampton, Burnley, Watford, Swansea, and Bournemouth in the next couple of matches. So do you think that they still have the firepower to finish second? I don't think they're going to finish second. their depth has been a big issue this season, especially with LaMella sort of falling off the face of the earth and Vincent Jansen.

Continuing to be maybe the worst buying Premier League history. Yeah, Kevin Clark, our colleague, sent me a clip of his goal against Millwall set to music from the Titanic. And it's just, Tottenham's whole thing this season has been they create a ton of shots but not super high quality shots. And it's either Delioli sort of heading one in on the back post or Kane just finishing something.

And now you're taking away sort of one of those goal scoring options. It'll be really interesting to see. I feel like we're, especially against a team like Southampton, I feel like we could be in for a game where they're sort of just like... There's a bit of a drop-off from Todden. It's one of those very frustrating attacking performances. Tottenham and City tied on 56 points right now. both play 27 games. Liverpool's one point behind those guys with one game more played. They are at 55 points. Arsenal. 26 games played 50 points. Man United seemings to be going for Champions League through Europa League. We'll see what happens with them today in Rostov or against Rostov. They're playing at Old Trafford. I expect them to win. Then you get to Everton on 47 points who seem a little bit too far out of it to get Champions League. And sadly enough could find themselves raided at the end of the year. Not only 4.4. for Romul Lukaku says he's not going to sign a new contract,

but possibly also Ross Barkley and possibly also Ronald Kuhman, who's been bandied about as the Barcelona manager. I know that you had some thoughts on Lukaku. Well, I think the Lukaku thing is, it's interesting because, you know, teams in England can pay more money to players than teams everywhere else. And he wants Champions League.

So essentially, you know, he wants Champions League. So what are his options? Let's just go through them. He's not going to go to Liverpool. No. Tottenham just doesn't buy guys like that. They don't spend that much money on players. No.

And they don't need him. Is he going to go to Arsenal? I mean, I guess. If Arsenal has a new manager, sure. Chelsea, where he was already sold from. I mean, they have bought players. Yeah, there was a rumor that Chelsea would write a, it would be a 100 million euro transfer of Barclay and La Cacou.

Yeah, so I mean that's the big rumor But wouldn't La Cacru almost get 60 on his own? 6070? I mean, I don't know what the market's going to be this summer. I mean, you would think he would be worth even more than that. And then Manu where he would be playing for the manager that got rid of him at Chelsea. So beyond that, then there's Real Madrid. Maybe he fits there, probably comes off the bench.

Barsa, I don't see him fitting that system. Also still, like, what's he going to do with Swares and Namar? Exactly. Where's he going to play? Byron? No. No. And then the only other option I can think of is Juventus.

Well, Juventus, maybe, but they already have three really good strikers. And then... And probably don't have to pay that much for them. PSG is the other option. Right. I guess France could be the option. Like, there are other teams, like there are many other teams that are better than Everton and the champions.

But none of these other teams can pay the amount of money Everton can pay Lukaku. So I think it's going to be really weird, I think, to see where he goes. I mean, Chelsea, I guess, since Conte's there and it's sort of a new, you know, a new person. This probably is the last year of Costa. Yeah. I mean, I think that it does actually seem kind of that would be the perfect fit. But I guess then if they're the perfect fit, who else is bidding against them? So maybe that sort of suppresses his value.

But then again, I just don't understand how many guys the United can carry. Yeah. I don't know if you can have Rashford and Marshall. And Ibrahimovych and like, Rune's gone. Yeah. Well, I don't even know if you, it would seem weird to have Ibrahimovych and Lukaku on the field together. That seems like a very, a very un-ranged thing. I think that would be insurance against Ibrahimovych becoming more breaking down a little bit, but there's no evidence to suggest that's going to happen.

Yeah. And I mean, I guess the other thing is he might not come back. I think he'll come back. Yeah. The other question that I wanted to ask really quickly is just we do this almost every time we do a podcast. So who do you think is going to be in the top four at the end of the season? Can I go out on the limb and say Chelsea's going to come in first?

Okay. I think Man City second. Tottenham third. Liverpool, fourth. Not Arsenal? No. Okay. What happens if Manu wins the Europa League and they go to the Champions League?

I mean, I know what happens. There's only two more spots open for three teams. No, they're five teams. Oh, they send five? Yeah. Oh. Yeah. But it's only five.

So if Lester wins the Champions League, then Liverpool would miss out. Let's get into the Champions League. We're finally, we don't have our draw yet, so this will be a little bit behind the eight ball in terms of, you guys will know a little bit more than we do. But we wanted to sort of rank the Champions League teams based on their performances of the last few weeks going into the quarterfinals. It's been a really fun Champions League, although I'm a little disappointed with the remaining teams to some extent, just because I feel like it's getting almost funnally repetitive now. That being said, my number one team in the Champions League rankings right now is Barsa. Just after that PSG, I just feel like would you ever bet against them in any context?

Well, let's go So they lose 4-0 to PSG They sort of have an underwhelming game at Leganese So then they beat Athletico in Madrid Then they win 6-1-5-0 and 6-1 Three games in a row And then they lost this past weekend

But I'm willing to I'm willing to write off any game after a game like that Yeah But I mean our last podcast We were sort of RIPing Barcelona And I think a lot of the stuff we talked about But all of it is accurate. It's just crazy how fast it can change.

And they've been playing Messi a little bit deeper? Yeah, they've been playing like a 3-4-3 with Messi sort of as an attacking midfielder. And it's, you know, I think it shores up their defense a little bit. I think it's also just like you get into any 90-minute situation. And if you have Namar Swarra's and Messi, you just can't really be counted out. Those are the three of the best players in the room. Well, and we've talked about this.

they didn't even really need messy that much against PSG. Right. Because Namor had the best five minutes anyone's ever had. Yeah, we've never, I've never, I don't think there's anyone that's ever played a good, as good of a five minutes. Who do you have is, who's your number one team? I have Barsall also. So who's your number two? Number two, Byron Munich.

Okay. Maybe inflated by the, we played Arsenal in the previous round. I think playing Arsenal, it does seem like it's a, it's a way to sort of, make everyone feel good about things. It worked for Liverpool. They've also been smashing people in the Bundesliga for what it's worth. Yeah, they're going to win the Bundesliga again relatively easily. I don't know if they're...

I don't think they're as good as they were last year. I think they're still really good. I think Ancelotti is still trying to figure out... Their thing is, like, they're by far the deepest team in the world. If you look through their sort of... Like Ronaldo Sanchez doesn't even get to... to play. Yeah, Renato Sanchez, like, Kimmich.

Like, there's just, there's so many insanely good players on the team. I think Tiago has, the midfielder has become, I think he's probably the best midfielder in the world right now. Really? Just because he's been healthy the whole year. And his issue is he's always hurt. He's just like a ridiculously good passer, dribbler, does a ton defensively. Just like everything you want.

So why not have them number one, just because they're not as hot? Yeah. I think Barza just has a higher ceiling, and they just have messy. I had Juventus second just to troll. I also did troll, who? Basically, it was like, it really all depends on the draw, but I just really liked the way that Juventus looked in the last round, and they also have nothing really to worry about in their domestic competition.

It would have to be really, like, an epic collapse for the Roman to catch them. and I'm just so tired of Byron and Barso dominating Europe that Juventus has been in and around the finals the last couple of years but I just would love to see them kind of make up for even if it's a team without Pirloh, without Pagba

I'm still a fan of how they play Byron 3, I have Real 4, Atletico 5 Real 4, Athletico 5 I have Yuva 3rd, Real 4, and Dortmund 5 I have Dorman 6 So yeah, I mean I just like Atletico is set up for Champions League more.

It's just there, I mean, they're one of the teams that's always there. They're the inverse of Barcelona, basically. Where Barcelona has three or four guys that could win a game by themselves. Athletico has 11 guys who can crush a game by themselves, who could just, and

just suppress that kind of attack. Yeah, and I think, I think if we want to compare them to Dortmund, because the top four is, it's clear. I think at this point, obviously. And then it's Dormann or Athletico, I think you would have as your fifth.

Dorman has, since the winter break, they've probably had the best attack in the world. They're just, like, totally incredible to watch. D'embele has, like, D'embele is, like, arguably as, like, a superstar already at this point.

I hope that Dorman plays somebody in the next round who lets them counter, or, you know, a possession team that they can counter on. Yeah. Because I think that would just be really exciting for like the world audience to see. I mean,

Byron. Yeah. I think they're, you know, they're the type of team that they could beat anyone, but also lose to anyone. I feel like they're, for as much as we talk about Liverpool and City,

they sort of play these like high leverage styles that if you break through them, they're going to give up insanely good chances, but it's so hard to break through them. Dormand is like, the elite version of that, I would say. Do you think that in the bottom, those last two, Monaco and Lester,

that's how I have it. I think Monaco might be, in terms of form, I would have a ton of confidence if I was Monaco, like I would go for it. Lester, it's great that they decided to start playing

now that they fired their manager, but they basically got by Sevea because Jamie Vardy is a crook. or he has the grit and determination that is value and great britain worse than that i don't think they're going to get i think the dream ends here yeah i think so i think monaco monaco is a team that's freaking out all of the stats people right now they have 84 goals in the league but their expected goals are 55 so they're outpacing it by almost 30 so their expected goals like explain that a little bit for people who wouldn't know

Like, what would that, how do you kind of arrive at that number? Expected goals are, so basically every shot you take, sort of based on the pass that leads to the shot, is given a percentage point. So if it, essentially, if I'm dribbling along the end line and there's no keeper and I square the ball to you and you're in front of an open net and you tap it in, that would be like a point nine or something.

Okay. So you just add all of those chances out. It's almost like a points per possession, expected points per possession thing. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So essentially, like, Monaco is finishing their chances at, like, a historically high rate. Falcow has had a great season for the Mbap is coming in.

So it's, but it, like, continued against Manchester City. So, you know, it does, expected goals doesn't pick up on literally everything. It's one of those things that, like, over time it, you know, irons itself out is correct, but in the course of a season, it can be. Like, so the other thing is, like, teams typically convert their chances at, like, less than 15%. There have been, like, 10 teams that have converted at a higher percentage than that. And it's Byron, PSG, every Barza team basically in Madrid. Okay.

And Monaco is currently has the second highest, like, conversion percentage of any team since we've had that statistic. Jeez. So, you know, it's one, are they doing something weird? two, are they just getting lucky? Three, it's probably a combination of the two things. What's the weird? I think the weird is like what we talked about. Like there just isn't a team that is that.

Like they're so fucking athletic. But these dudes are, they're all very technical too. So I think, and they have a good manager. I think there's, you know, they could, I could see them beating someone in the next round. I hope so. I feel like we're destined for a Monaco. We need an upset. I think we're going to have a Monaco-Lester matchup.

I'm predicting the draw. I'm predicting it. Okay, well, we'll have to come back and check on that. Any other, anybody you've seen in the Champions League, I'm going to put you on the spot here a little bit, who is the hottest transfer target of this quarterfinal group? The hottest transfer target. So this would obviously emphasize teams like Athletico, Dortmund, Monaco, I guess, Lester, teams that could be picked on by the bigger fish here. Vardi.

Vardi will be playing for Madrid next season. I hope so. Benzima will be his butler I think it's going back to a guy I mentioned I think it's Usman Demberley I feel like he's... They're going to have to let Ovali leave to keep Dumbali, right?

Yeah, it'll be... They can't lose both. It'll be interesting. I mean, it's like... They tend to sell in piecemeal, right? Like, don't they like, okay, Lewandowski, you can leave, but we're not going to also let Royce leave, like we're not going to... I think they got picked off like two, two ones. Like, they got...

DeGurza and Levindoski leave in the... in the same season? I feel like Levinoski was one more year. Okay, yeah. So it's like, and I think maybe they knew early on

that Levinowski was going to leave. Yeah. Which is, I hate how Byron can do that where they're like announcing in February. Like, by the way, he's leaving in the summer. It's like some awesome player on a half-nheim. It was the same thing with, I think, Hummel's last year.

We knew he was going. So it's weird. I feel like they, I would need to look at like the transfer fees, but I feel like they typically hold guys pretty close to the end of their contracts rather than selling them when they have like three years left

and getting more money. I hope they hold this unit together because I think with one more year this group could win either the Bundesliga or the Champions league next season. Yeah, I agree. And Marco Royce has been injured

basically the whole year. Goose is out for the season so if those guys can maybe get healthy for next year and they keep all the young guys, they could, that's as good of a team as they've had in recent memory, I think. but I feel like Dembele is the target

and then like every guy on Monaco other than Joao Matino even though Joao Matino basically plays for every team I know seriously when you say every guy on Monaco Ryder wrote something about this yesterday for the rear but obviously Mbapé is just

absolutely phenomenal like some of his like movement but also just like I love even his like Fox in the Box in the box stuff just feels like it's like a steel door slamming shut. It's like so crisp and exact and mechanical. And then his runs are like just rampaging.

Like he has almost Adriano vibes to me. I know people have been comparing to Henri, but I love how like he just will split defenders and they fall off of him. I totally agree. He's skinny, but like I think because he gets up to top speed so fast, it feels like powerful watching him run. Adriano is not skinny.

No. Let's hope he doesn't go. the root of Adriano, but he's, he's, it's, it's just like one of those guys where it's,

he's scoring and you just look at him and it's like, this is like how I would create a striker in a lab. Yeah. The interesting thing with him is he's so young. So does he go somewhere now? Yeah,

because he's the kind of player who could get gotten by a, just outside of the championship league team in a different league maybe, or could get purchased by Leon or Marseille or Marseilles has got new money from the McCorts.

family like, you know, PSG, obviously. He might stay in France, but it would be cool if he does not go to Ray on Madrid, Barcelona, or Bayern Munich. Okay, I'm putting you on the spot. Embapé or Lukaku,

if you're buying someone, considering what you're probably paying for each of them. Can I get Mbapet for $35? You're managing Arsenal. Can I get Mbapap for $35? I think you get him for cheaper than Lukaku, just because Lukaku's actually done it. All right, let's say it's 45.

So 45 and Locaco's 65. I take it above. I mean, there's going to be some funky stuff happening in the transfer market because I do think that there could be some upheaval. You could see Everton's manager gone. You can see Arsenal's manager gone. I think that we talked about

Dortmund getting rated. I think Tottenham is due to get picked on a little bit just because too many of their players are too good right now. There was a rumor today that I thought was hilarious about Man City going for Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. I mean, that's the Byron model, right? Just destroy the other competition with money.

If that happens, Pochitino should just go manage Arsenal. Like, they should just, like... There's nothing you can do. But Pachitino also, like, wanted to buy Musa Sosco, so I don't really know how much, like, transfer market slack he deserves. Didn't he have, like, a kind of transfer specialist from Southampton who got fired that, like, was earlier in the year, had been there? He's still, like, working with...

with the team, even though he's on his way out. So it's a very weird, like, lame duck. Yeah, there's a couple of strange front office, for lack of a better term, situations. There's rumors that Arsenal could be looking for a technical director to ease the burden, quote, unquote, on Venger, which I just, that's not the problem. Like, Arsenal's problem is not necessarily the players they buy, although that is a problem. It's their tactics, and it's their style of play, and it's their ability to, like, change what they're doing based on an opponent. To me, the thing... If anything, Venger should be the technical director.

the technical director and bring in someone else. And that would be such a, that's like the equivalent, I mean, I guess Sir Alex Ferguson was essentially still pulling strings after he left behind the scenes. But imagine like, Venger's been there.

Would you want to come in and be under him? No, but I mean, I think that you can make it, here's, I think that the smartest thing that they could do, although I don't necessarily know if it would work, I would still just be so excited for it,

is if they got Monchi and Sanpiole at from Sevilla. I mean, that would destroy Svia. I don't want that to happen, but I think it would be very interesting, like, bring those guys in and basically ratchet up the athleticism and style of Arsenal and bring in a guy who knows how to buy players across Europe at a budget. Yeah. It's obviously something that seems to matter a little bit to Arsenal's board. It's an interesting idea because this is always something I wondered with Liverpool. It's like they're always buying Southampton's players. Right.

Like, why not just buy Southampton's, like, front office? and then give them more money. And so buying Sevia is like the ultraversion of South Hampton. Well, this is the thing, right? So when you're looking at it, you're looking at Monaco, you're looking at Dortmund, you're looking at St. Everton, and you're looking at Tottenham, even though Tottenham is now fairly regularly gets into Champions League

in the last couple of years or has in the last two, there's still a big, bank, little bank thing going on. And there is still, like you said, with this Munich style of weakening your competition, by buying their players. Yeah. That could happen to a bunch of these teams. So what happens is teams like Liverpool, teams like Tottenham, and to some extent team like Arsenal,

even though they've spent bigger in recent years, have to buy these guys who were on by our Leverkusen or Bremen or a Portuguese team or a mid-tier Spanish team and not like a guy from Munich or Barser or Yuvay for the most part. And it's just, that's a lot of teams going for a small pool of players. Yeah. I It's a And every time

Liverpool gets interested in a Julian Brandt or something like that You're just going to see Other teams be like Well what if we gave him This much? Well yeah

It's you know Liverpool Totnam They just I feel like They just get used To sort of Pump up a guy's price

It's like You mentioned Julian Brandt Like Nabi Keta Who's one of the best Midfielders in the world Already puts for Leipzig

It's like Liverpool's now Being linked with him And like That would be great But like that's not going to happen. He's going to go to Byron eventually or a team like that.

That sucks. Yeah. For Liverpool. That's a tough note to end. All right. Forgive us for not being on top of it with these seeds but enjoy the draw. We have a great weekend of soccer coming up with Liverpool versus Mancetti. So we'll try to come back

probably in two weeks to talk about that's when the Champions League comes back, correct? I believe so. We'll be back in a couple weeks. Yeah, we can talk about what happens. to the US national team in World Cup qualifying. Yeah, too. Can't wait.