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0:00
And now to pigeons bemoaning the
0:02
fact you can stream Directv Satellite
0:04
freak. A Frank a little birdie told
0:06
me you don't need a satellite dish to
0:08
get Directv. Was little Birdie was a Jimmy
0:11
the sparrow. It's a figure of speech.
0:13
Point is you can stream Directv
0:15
over the internet. Now, oh sure, Nash,
0:17
You going to tell those big birds
0:20
are made of metal and filled with
0:22
people? Right Further, you mean airplanes stream
0:24
Directv without a satellite dish? Call one
0:26
Eight Hundred Directv. Terms are restrictions apply.
0:50
Welcome to the Total Soccer
0:52
Show Weekend Review. Man City and
0:54
Arsenal are storming through May, so the
0:57
title race will go down to the
0:59
final day. For Arsenal this week, Leandro
1:01
Trossard was the hero after a helping
1:04
hand from a dozy chasm hero. Eric
1:06
Tenhargseib was put together on the hoof,
1:08
and it's got more holes in it
1:10
than Old Trafford's roof. Sunthorpe City would
1:13
have drama at Fulham, but there was
1:15
none except when Noel Gallagher refused to
1:17
do the pos none. Vince and
1:19
company style of play has had
1:21
some causation in the form of
1:23
Burnley's reallocation, and at Kenilworth Road
1:25
there can't be much disputing that
1:27
the top flight dream is over
1:29
for poor old Luton. Elsewhere, Levicus
1:31
and Shono signs a fatigue. Bologna
1:33
are heading for the Champions League,
1:35
a puller sick brace made for
1:37
a joyful Milanese night, and when
1:39
NYCFC went to Toronto, there was
1:41
a big ol' fight. My name's Ryan
1:43
Bailey, joining me today to review the
1:45
weekend your friend and my Taylor Rocco.
1:48
Hello Taylor. Hello, as always I
1:50
appreciated and hated your introduction and equal measure.
1:52
Thank you Ryan Bailey, nicely done. Was
1:54
it the meme Kazimiro thing I said Taylor, was it
1:56
that? It- none of it was mean, it's just how
1:58
accurate it all is. And then the old
2:01
traffic roof falling in which is apparently a thing
2:03
that started over a decade ago And has not
2:05
been repaired if ever there were a good
2:07
metaphor for the state of Manchester United
2:09
It is probably the leaking roof. Yes
2:11
looks at when Alex Ferguson left looks
2:14
at when leaking roofs started Oh correlation
2:16
interesting It's almost like he was responsible
2:18
for everything and made all of the
2:20
decisions and when he left No
2:22
one had prepared for that and now maybe things
2:24
have not gone. Well. He was a good seller.
2:26
Yeah Playlessly on that last game
2:29
was it West Brom and that final game He
2:31
played we had the belt on with the hammer in
2:33
it and the tape and everything walking off with it.
2:35
Yeah, yeah, I'm down in tools You
2:38
all would not hire that like the tireless. I wanted
2:40
I was there to do the work. This is it
2:42
for me I'm done and yes He he has
2:44
honored that that promise to not do any more roofing
2:46
work at Old Trafford and we've seen the consequences Also
2:50
joining us Taylor a man who surely enjoyed me
2:52
rhyming none with Poznan Joe Lowry. Hello Joe. I
2:54
loved it Ryan I always appreciate your rhymes own
2:56
calm access every Monday morning. It really brightens the
2:58
start of my week. Oh Joe
3:03
with the sausage production showing how it's
3:05
made. Thank you very much indeed Joe
3:07
Lowry You just heard his voice. Also
3:09
Graham big Thunder Mountain. Rodman is here
3:11
Graham. I'm sorry my friend You had
3:13
to suffer a relegation this weekend a
3:15
sterling album. Your boys are dropping. I'm
3:17
sorry. Yeah. Hello Ryan Yes,
3:19
not ideal, but this is my fourth
3:21
relegation as a stolen Albion fan. I'm only
3:24
32 So that gives you an idea of
3:26
how common it is for stolen Albion to go up and
3:28
come straight back down again I am used
3:30
to at this point, but nonetheless still painful Painful
3:33
indeed if you'd like to see
3:35
that pain manifested in video form
3:37
listener patreon.com Total soccer show
3:39
is where you'll get our bonus content bonus videos
3:41
including one with Graham from the weekend go ahead
3:43
Graham I was just going to
3:45
trail your video from the Charlotte FC
3:47
game Which is the best patreon content
3:50
right now on CSS plus I very
3:52
much enjoyed your video from the Charlotte
3:54
game And predict that your youngest daughter
3:56
will have a big future in there
3:58
and comedy. She's hilarious. Thank you very
4:00
much, Graham, that's kind of you to say yes,
4:02
listen if you want to see me exploiting my
4:04
kids for the Patreon you can see a video
4:06
of me at the weekend where they were very
4:08
much front and centre and it is very good
4:10
if I don't say so myself. Bonus content there
4:12
and also access to our Discord you'll find on
4:14
patreon.com/Total Soccer Show if you'd like to support
4:17
the show that is the best way to
4:19
do so please and thank you! By
4:22
the way also we can review extras going on the
4:24
feed this week, we're going to be talking about the
4:26
old firm Darby, we're going to be talking about Killian
4:28
Mbappe and his new moves, promotions and title races
4:30
across the universe, so much coming on the
4:33
feed, thank you very much. Taylor?
4:35
We do need to hurry up and get to that week
4:38
and review extra because I believe there is another old firm
4:40
Darby scheduled for like four hours from now, I think that's
4:42
how it works so we've got to get this one out
4:44
before that one kicks off. Two weeks, come on! They're
4:46
not that close together. My apologies. We'll get it before the next
4:49
one but not the next one after that which
4:51
is a few hours later. We'll try and squeeze it in.
4:53
Yeah. The
4:55
Psychology 101 B-minus
4:57
student in me really wants to spend some time
4:59
breaking down the fact that Graham has gone with
5:01
an Orlando jersey on the day that, or
5:04
like after the weekend in which his club was
5:06
relegated, I feel like that is a statement about
5:08
how he is no longer in favor of Pro-Rel,
5:10
he wants single entity, he wants something I'll be
5:12
in around forever with no relegation for it whatsoever.
5:15
You've really delved deep into my subconscious there, wasn't
5:17
even aware of that but yeah there might be
5:19
something in that Taylor. Wow
5:21
Graham just pines for the cuisine that gave
5:23
his wife food poisoning at the Orlando Stadium,
5:25
was that it Graham? That's
5:27
indeed no hot dogs to get at football matches from
5:29
your heart. Wonderful
5:32
stuff. Alright why don't we get to the
5:34
Premier League? We were looking at the title race which
5:36
is guaranteed to go down to the final day of
5:38
the season. We've got relegation permutations
5:40
from the weekend as well. Burnley went down,
5:43
Luton looked like they're all but down but
5:45
not quite mathematically all three promoted clubs are
5:47
dropping again. Graham
5:49
to top line talk about the title
5:52
race it will technically go down to
5:54
the final day. Why doesn't
5:56
it feel more exciting? Because
5:59
Manse are involved in it. Man City have
6:01
the advantage, of course, they play
6:03
Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night. I
6:06
do think that people are maybe
6:08
jumping the gun a little bit on calling
6:10
this title race because Spurs have given Man
6:12
City trouble this season. They drew 3-3 at
6:14
the end he had, but of course you look at the form of
6:16
the two teams. I understand why people
6:18
think Manchester City are going to scroll that
6:21
one on Tuesday night. Kai Havert said after
6:23
the win away to Manchester City
6:25
for Arsenal on Sunday that he's going to be
6:27
the biggest Spurs fan in the world on Tuesday
6:29
and I suspect he won't be the only
6:31
Arsenal-associated person rooting for Tottenham which I presume
6:33
will make everyone feel very uncomfortable. I'm
6:36
not sure if I go that far. There's
6:38
not going to be many Kai Havert's out
6:40
there is there, Graham? Surely. Well, the thing
6:42
is, I tweeted about this, right? I don't
6:44
really understand this sense that, oh, Arsenal fans
6:46
maybe won't want Tottenham to win on Tuesday
6:48
night. If you're balancing the two things, it
6:50
would be a win over Man City for
6:52
Spurs that secures fifth place for them versus
6:54
Arsenal winning their first title since Arsene Wenger
6:56
was in charge. So when you balance those
6:58
two things, I think they can maybe just
7:00
swallow their pride and root for Tottenham on
7:02
Tuesday night. Not that it will matter, of
7:04
course. City will probably just win
7:06
that one anyway. We shall see. For
7:09
the meantime, let's talk about the weekend action. Joe,
7:11
let's go to Old Trafford, the stadium with the
7:13
leaky roof aforementioned. A 1-0 win for Arsenal that
7:15
put Arsenal back at the top of the table.
7:19
What are we making this one? Kazimiro playing
7:21
habits onside for the opener by having
7:24
a nice, relaxing walk. Just getting his steps in.
7:27
Just a scroll. Yeah, he was close to the Apple Watch
7:29
ring being closed. I was like, guys, I've got to hit
7:31
it. I'm not going to hit it the rest of the
7:33
game. I've got to do it right now. Yeah, a brutal
7:36
performance for Manchester United in the opening stages. I thought actually
7:38
they sort of rebounded and put together a
7:40
somewhat coherent defensive outing after that. Arsenal didn't
7:42
really feel the need to get out of
7:44
first gear after Landryfis-Fassard scored that goal in
7:46
the 20th minute. So it's not exactly like
7:48
Manchester United were being tested in any major
7:50
ways. I'm going to start with Arsenal though,
7:52
because this was a really, really big win
7:54
for them. There is no real
7:56
margin for error given what we know Man City
7:59
are capable of. while still taking your point, Graham,
8:01
about Tottenham being a club that has given them
8:03
some problems in the past. Arsenal needed three points
8:05
in this game. They needed to continue to push.
8:07
They cannot afford to drop points. They don't control
8:09
their own destiny at this point, Man City do.
8:11
Arsenal have to do everything they can to put
8:14
themselves in as good of a spot while hoping
8:16
that things go well around them. So this was
8:18
a must-win game for Arsenal. And credit to them,
8:20
they got the job done. The opener from Tristar,
8:22
the only goal of this game, was
8:24
such a nice strike from him and a nice
8:26
bit of off-ball movement. If you toss out some of
8:29
the Manchester United defensive issues here, like
8:31
Tristar's movement is so incredibly sharp,
8:33
lurking on the weak side. Kai Haberz
8:35
is played onside, as already discussed, and
8:38
he drives down and ends up playing this
8:40
right-footed cut back to Tristar. But it's the
8:42
timing of the movement from the left-winger for
8:44
Arsenal, working his way towards the middle, just
8:46
staying patient, staying patient, and then bursting into
8:48
that space between Juan Basaca and
8:50
Casamiro in Manchester United's back line, and
8:52
the timing is absolutely perfect. It was
8:54
a fine margin kind of game for
8:56
Arsenal, and they played a few of
8:58
those this season, but a one-no-win
9:01
is really all they needed, especially because,
9:03
assuming City don't blow out Tottenham, and
9:05
that's not necessarily something we can assume,
9:07
they do have Arsenal the goal-differential advantage. Right now,
9:10
they're up three goals, I believe, in goal-differential, which
9:12
could play a really big part on the final
9:14
day. Still a lot to be done between now
9:16
and then, though. Yeah, and in one
9:18
sense, I think this match showed how far
9:21
Arsenal have come, in that they played well
9:23
within themselves in this match. They didn't play
9:25
anywhere close to their best. And
9:27
yet, they still won one-nil away at Old
9:30
Trafford, a venue Arsenal have had historical problems
9:32
with. And I understand this Manchester United team
9:35
is not the same side that it
9:37
has been in the past, and this is where I
9:39
kind of come to the other side of the argument.
9:41
In another sense, I was surprised at how much respect
9:43
they gave a Manchester United team that right now isn't
9:45
anything to fear. They're in dreadful form. Crystal Palace put
9:47
four goals past United last week on Monday
9:49
night, and also Manchester United
9:51
are missing, arguably, their two best players, at
9:53
least in an attacking sense, Bruno Fernandez and
9:55
Marcus Rashford, who are out injured at the
9:58
moment. But Arsenal, they gave... United
10:00
a lot of the ball, certainly in the
10:02
second half, they allowed them to build pressure
10:04
in that second period to a point.
10:06
I never really felt like United were on the brink
10:08
of scoring, but nonetheless, there was a lot of time
10:11
they spent in the Arsenal half. And
10:13
maybe that was Arsenal leaning into their strength this season,
10:15
which has been their defence. Of course,
10:17
they have the best defence in the Premier League. But still,
10:20
I felt like Arsenal could have been more
10:22
aggressive and pushed more forcefully for that second
10:25
goal without risking too much. All it takes
10:27
is Garnaccio to stick one in the top
10:29
corner from outside the box or a deflected strike to wrong
10:31
foot to have a dry and all of a sudden this title
10:33
is over for Arsenal. So in terms of the risk reward, I
10:35
don't know if they got that balance right, but they got the
10:37
three points at the end, so what did I know? Now
10:40
I'm obviously coming at this from a Man United
10:42
fan perspective, but I saw it a different way
10:44
Graham. I think it's more so
10:46
the word is out on Manchester United
10:48
and they will only beat you on
10:50
the counter when you get overextended. They
10:53
are great at improvisational attacking at counter-attacking
10:55
plays. They are not good when it
10:57
comes to sustained possession and build up
10:59
and finding pockets of space and creating
11:01
one-twos and combinations. And so I think
11:03
for Arsenal, the approach was be steady,
11:05
don't give the ball away in advantageous
11:07
positions for the opposition, get
11:09
that goal and then see the game out. And
11:11
I think they executed that game plan pretty successfully.
11:13
To me, this was a team
11:16
that really didn't have to get out of like second
11:18
year and so they didn't, coasting
11:20
to a win of sorts. Yes, there are
11:22
opportunities here and there for Manchester United, but
11:24
I think overall it was more so, we
11:26
know you're not going to beat us with
11:29
possession, so have some ball and see what
11:31
happens. I think it was really interesting that
11:33
over here at least the covers in like
11:35
the 77th minute turned to surely
11:37
Manchester City would have put them to the sword
11:39
by now. And that was the talking point, is
11:41
how Arsenal hadn't scored a second goal or a
11:43
third goal, to your point Graham. And
11:45
I think that is sort of how far the
11:47
bar has been raised by Manchester City, that it
11:50
used to be champions find a way to win
11:52
and that's what it takes to win is you
11:55
play ugly, you don't have a particularly inspiring game but
11:57
you get the 1-0 win, eventually that gets you to
11:59
the title. And this season Manchester
12:01
City, who have really started
12:03
turning on the goals of late, it
12:06
feels like they have sort of raised
12:08
that bar a bit now that not only can you grind
12:10
them out, but you have to grind out to like a
12:12
2 or 3-0 win. That's the expectation. Taylor,
12:14
I know we don't spend too much time on Man United
12:17
because we do spend too much time on them being a
12:19
not very good team at the moment. But then you are
12:21
making a mistake coming to me. Let's go. Here
12:23
we go anyway. Let's ride the roller coaster here.
12:26
Is this the worst Man United team you've
12:28
seen in your lifetime as a supporter? Roy
12:30
Keane after the game, you look at that
12:32
last half an hour he said, the decision
12:34
making, nobody digging anybody out, people making mistakes
12:36
and falling over, everyone just walking away, nobody
12:38
putting demands on each other. You look at
12:40
that starting line up with Evans and Kazimiro
12:43
in the back. Can you recall a worse
12:46
Man United team? I would say
12:48
the one that beat Arsenal 8-2 under
12:50
Célax Ferguson was probably a worse team.
12:53
I don't think it is the worst team.
12:55
I think it is the most depressing Man United
12:57
team because there's just, I don't have any sort
12:59
of hope or belief that they
13:01
are going to find some combination that works. It
13:03
doesn't seem like the players do either. And
13:06
really the stadium just flooding and
13:08
waterfalls from the roof, running
13:11
down the steps, leaks everywhere, leaks in the
13:13
away dressing room. It was just
13:15
a, it had to be a very embarrassing
13:17
weekend for anyone connected
13:19
to Man United. And that
13:22
includes the players who I think you could just see
13:24
that lack of belief, that
13:26
lack of motivation, whatever it was. I know
13:29
we don't always love to get to the
13:31
intangibles, but drilling down for a moment on
13:33
the Kazimiro, whatever
13:35
it was, casual jog, it's a casual jog
13:37
back to begin with. So he's
13:40
opening up, he's trying to get in a position where
13:42
he can be an outlet pass for Andre Onana and
13:45
just doesn't, he sort of jogs back and he,
13:47
by the time Onana makes the decision, it's
13:49
sort of already made, Kazimiro isn't even in a
13:51
position yet to actually help. And
13:53
then he goes jogging forward. And the thing that
13:55
was so revealing to me is
13:58
how little he reacts to it. everything and
14:00
I don't mean that in the sense of
14:02
like oh he's stunned or or whatever goes flying
14:04
into a challenge it's just he jogs back he
14:06
jogs forward oh haver says the ball and he's
14:08
wide open and I kept him on I guess
14:11
I'll kind of casually jog to the middle oh
14:13
he played the ball in and they scored like
14:15
shrug and walked back and it was there was
14:17
just no moment of putting the hand in the
14:19
air there was no moment of I've
14:21
got to do something I've got to put out some fires I've
14:23
got to help organize it just felt like a player kind of
14:25
going through the motions I tend to
14:27
believe that he just really didn't want to be in
14:29
that position and maybe hasn't loved having to
14:31
deputize its center back I do buy into the idea that
14:34
there are other players who maybe could have done that better
14:36
but it's worth noting that even if he
14:38
had stepped up Aaron one bessaka is still two
14:41
yards behind the line as well that wouldn't have
14:43
been enough to keep Kai Havertz on but
14:46
it was indicative of a larger sort
14:48
of disconnect in that defensive
14:50
line that routinely one one bessaka was
14:52
five yards deeper or Casimir was five
14:54
yards deeper and there's just no organizing
14:56
there's no player in
14:58
there that really is sort of trying to
15:00
get everybody on board get everybody on the
15:02
same page and it feels like instead
15:05
the players who would do that have sort of just
15:07
if not given up then it feels a bit more
15:10
like why try why continue to exert myself when the
15:12
season is almost over that nothing good is going to
15:14
come of it and the
15:16
stadium is flooding so maybe we'll see what
15:18
happens next season I did want
15:20
to spotlight if I'm gonna be positive for a
15:22
moment Kai Havertz because he checks
15:25
his shoulder and you can see him almost do a
15:27
double take of like oh wow I am very onside
15:29
and the hand goes up immediately but there's just it's
15:31
it's how quick he processes like
15:34
this semi double take and then immediately hand in the
15:36
air calling for the ball and it's really good awareness
15:38
from I can't remember it's Ben White or Saka who
15:40
plays him in but either will either way it's just
15:42
very it's such a quick
15:44
efficient switch to attack and
15:46
then the balls in the back of the net as
15:48
Joe outlined again one bessaka not doing much to put
15:51
Trussard off there either so
15:53
it's again it's a sign of how kind of fluid
15:55
and consistent arsenal can be and the
15:58
opposite being the case for Manchester you know Yeah,
16:00
I think it's fair to say at this point
16:02
that Cas Miro isn't a central defender. I'm not
16:05
sure. He is at this point. Give it a
16:07
couple more games. A couple more games. No, I
16:09
don't think. I think that's a bad idea. And
16:11
he wasn't playing particularly well as the anchor in
16:13
my next midfield earlier in the season either. So
16:16
I have rarely seen a player who's just
16:18
dropped off so dramatically, whether that's down to motivation or
16:20
physicality, I don't know. But he has done it, Manchester
16:23
United, they need to ship him off to Saudi Arabia
16:25
as soon as they
16:27
can. Saudi Arabian and Saudi Arabian clubs actually want
16:29
to bid for him. To flip
16:31
it to the Arsenal defense. What? Sorry.
16:34
Manchester United should stay away at
16:36
this point. Charlotte. To flip it
16:39
to the... Charlotte. No?
16:42
OK, just me? I mean, he's paying £350,000 a week at
16:44
the moment and he's getting that for another two years. I'm
16:47
not sure many unless Angel can compete. He's got to be
16:49
on similar, surely? No. Yeah, yeah, good £300,000. I'd
16:51
say, yeah, short run. Good forward. I
16:54
love that. Nice. I
16:57
might win them a Premier League title. And
16:59
William Saliba in particular, I thought he
17:02
was... I mean, there weren't a huge
17:04
number of standout performers for Arsenal. Trussard
17:06
obviously gets the winning goal. Havarts
17:08
was effective with a lot of his movement as
17:10
the mobile centre forward and obviously sets up the
17:13
winning goal as well. I thought William Saliba
17:15
was the best player on the pitch. And I still don't
17:17
think he gets enough credit. He should
17:19
be in the Player of the Year discussion in
17:21
the Premier League. He hasn't been nominated for that
17:24
award, which I just think highlights how we... And
17:27
I'm talking about myself here as well. We naturally
17:29
favour attacking players for those awards. But William Saliba
17:31
has been excellent. He was excellent in this game.
17:33
He made a brilliant tackle in Gurnachio in the
17:35
second half where he backtracked and backtracked and then
17:37
timed the tackle perfectly to win the ball cleanly
17:40
and stop a United attack, which was... That
17:42
was one of the few moments where United had a
17:44
quick transition moment, which we know that's basically the only
17:46
way they can score a goal. I think at this
17:49
point Saliba probably is the closest we've had in the
17:51
Premier League to... Do you remember that
17:53
season Van Dyke was just incredible and there was that unbelievable statistic
17:55
about he hadn't been dribbled past in
17:57
an entire season. I think we've seen similar from
17:59
William Saliba. Saliba, he has that same quality where
18:01
it's just impossible to get past him. He
18:04
is very good on the ball. But I think
18:06
his most valuable asset is just
18:08
the natural composure that steadies that entire Arsenal
18:10
back lane. You have him alongside Gabriel, who's
18:12
very good in his own right, but he's
18:14
more like the outward aggression
18:16
in that partnership, like the Nemanja
18:18
Vidic next to Rio Ferdinand. And
18:21
I contrast Saliba to Casamiro's performance.
18:24
And that is the starkest comparison I can
18:26
make between these two teams at the moment. I
18:28
thank East tremendous, William Saliba, and this was
18:30
one of his best performances this season. Well, and
18:32
one of the most impressive parts about Saliba
18:34
Gremen, I love that you spotlighted him because we
18:36
haven't talked about him enough this year, even
18:38
within the context of Arsenal's defense being their best
18:41
attribute or their defensive structure that leads into
18:43
their defense. Saliba is also the
18:45
youngest member of that back line on
18:47
a regular basis. 23 years old, Gabriel
18:49
is 26, Ben White also 26.
18:52
Saliba is the young center back. Tomi Asu
18:54
was making up that back four and picking
18:56
up varied positions, obviously. But also 25. So
18:59
Saliba is the youngest member of this
19:01
back line and is consistently, very,
19:04
very consistently, the most dangerous and effective of
19:06
those center backs. He does so many things
19:09
while he's so effective defending as sort of
19:11
the back point oftentimes of that back
19:14
three. He's just unbelievable in every phase.
19:16
You mentioned the composure Gremen, that's spot
19:18
on. His ability on the ball is
19:20
excellent. His mobility off the ball is
19:22
so incredibly huge. Like I
19:24
think it goes underrated and under discussed
19:27
how important having like perfect
19:29
center backs are for these teams that want to
19:31
control games. If you have a center back who
19:33
is error prone, if you have a center back
19:35
who is incapable of covering ground, if you have
19:37
a center back who is not really a line
19:39
breaker or at least a ball progressor in some
19:41
way in possession, that's
19:43
a crack. That's a crack in the foundation
19:45
of your team that sends so many other
19:47
things into full chaos mode around it. Arsenal
19:50
don't have very many of those cracks and
19:52
Saliba is so, so good at just
19:54
23 in their back line. Is indeed
19:56
one positive Taylor from the weekend for Manchester United,
19:58
the women's team won the. FA Cup,
20:00
a big win over Tottenham, on the
20:03
same day that the thunder and roof
20:05
leaking and Casamiro crawling around
20:07
happened at Old Trafford. So
20:09
there you go. Jim Radcliffe chose to be at
20:11
Old Trafford rather than at Wembley celebrating his women's
20:13
team. Bad choice. Yeah. But
20:16
he did put out a tweet saying congratulations.
20:18
So that's the same thing, I'm pretty sure.
20:20
Yeah. There was not to
20:23
defend the billionaire tax exile or anything, but
20:25
there was a reason why he was at
20:27
Old Trafford. Ironically, given that the roof collapsed
20:29
on this day, the task force for the
20:31
redevelopment of Old Trafford was meeting on Sunday.
20:34
So that's why Keir Starmer, who's going to be the new prime
20:36
minister in the UK later this year, was there as
20:38
well. So there was a reason. But
20:40
yeah, maybe more than a tweet to congratulate the FA
20:43
Cup winning, women's team would have
20:45
been a good idea. All those task
20:47
force plans are all wet, all the inks run on them now.
20:49
We'll never know what they said. What a shame. Much
20:52
now. We had a plan. Now it's gone. OK,
20:55
real quick, before we go to a break, let's
20:57
talk about Man City's 4-0 win at Fulham. Just
21:00
go gradient with two goals in that. No sign
21:02
of nerves, Graham, from Man City at this point.
21:04
Obviously, we all know the highlight of the game
21:06
was Noel Gallagher sitting or standing, I should say,
21:08
with the away fans. And when they all turn
21:10
around to do the positive where you turn around
21:12
and put your arms around each other and jump
21:14
up and down, he's the only person just standing
21:17
for and going, nope, I'm a very grumpy old
21:19
man. I will stand and look forward. Kind
21:21
of loved it. Don't look back in anger. Hey.
21:26
Yes, this was a nervous performance by Manchester
21:29
City, just two games to go for them
21:31
until they can celebrate a fourth successive title,
21:33
which no team has ever done before
21:35
in the Premier League era at that point, I
21:38
think. I mean, they might already be at this
21:40
point of being the best ever
21:42
Premier League team. I'm not sure I've seen a level
21:44
of dominance from another side in Premier
21:46
League history. As mentioned earlier, they've got Spurs
21:48
on Tuesday night. I think Spurs will try
21:50
and go toe to toe with City, and
21:52
that is risky. If it all comes
21:55
together, as it has at times this season, that
21:57
game could be a real hurdle for City. So
21:59
I'm not ready to say. this this thing is
22:01
done yet but after performances like the one City
22:03
produced against Fulham winning 4-0 I
22:05
am almost there very very impressive one player
22:07
I want to highlight I always find it
22:09
a little bit weird highlighting the performance of
22:11
a defender when they score as if that's
22:14
the indicator of them playing well but I'm
22:16
gonna do it anyway with Josh Go Guevario
22:18
because he has been excellent recently scores two
22:20
goals in this game we spoke about Guevario
22:22
earlier in the season when City were having
22:24
some troubles they were conceding a
22:26
lot of fast-break goals and I specifically
22:28
remember highlighting Guevario and saying he was struggling
22:30
with the workload of playing on the left side of
22:32
that City back three but over the last two months
22:35
he's really got to grips with the role and in
22:37
this match Guevario was the one keeping the width on
22:39
the left side and there was a lot of space
22:41
in behind I think it was De Córdova Reeds on
22:43
that side to exploit and that's
22:45
what he did particularly for the first goal which is
22:48
such a calm finish for a defender the little given
22:50
goal with Foden I think it is and then the
22:52
drive into the middle it's a great goal in general
22:54
not just the finish and I'm still getting my head
22:56
around this kind of center back his
22:59
full backs trend I'm not totally sure if I'm
23:01
on if I'm on board with it let's just
23:03
say I never do that in football manager it
23:05
might just be I'm not intelligent enough for that
23:07
that's entirely possible but the way
23:10
Guevario is now performing that role he's doing
23:12
it as well as anyone else so I
23:14
think him becoming more comfortable with Pep Sisto
23:16
and with Manchester City has proved to be
23:18
a bit of a turning point in their
23:21
season and just in Man City looking unbeatable
23:23
and much more secure Graham I love
23:25
that you highlighted Guardiola it's not just like
23:27
the left side at center back but like
23:29
the left back slash left winger he was
23:31
holding the width in this game and we've
23:33
seen it before we've seen it before in
23:35
bits and pieces this was the most effective
23:37
expand for Guardiola because he scores two goals
23:39
and the first one is like I swear
23:41
a goal that Raheem Sterling probably scored a
23:43
dozen times in the first iteration of Pep's
23:45
Manchester City teams it's wild and I'm sort
23:47
of wondering is this the final form tactically
23:49
for Pep Guardiola like okay you did the
23:51
midfielders all over the field thing now we're
23:53
doing the center backs level maybe maybe he's
23:55
got to do like number nines and needs to
23:57
find ten more early Hollins and sort of take
24:00
He tacked his way through to a title with those
24:02
players. It is absurd and absurd
24:04
how effective Guevardial was doing
24:06
that job in this game. It
24:08
says so much. There was a clip going around on
24:10
social media the other day of someone
24:13
recording from basically field level a
24:15
Cole Palmer cross field switch. And
24:18
the caption was just like, it's crazy how
24:20
easy these players make soccer look. Like it
24:22
just looks so effortless. And it's really almost
24:24
like a no look 60 yard diagonal that
24:26
we all know is incredibly difficult. Like
24:28
Guevardial doing this stuff in this game in
24:31
city in general, but especially Guevardial on the
24:33
left, like dribbling forward and
24:35
slaloming like a winger and then also defending and
24:38
also having the body of a center back and
24:40
the passing ability to unlock teams from deep. It
24:43
was a reminder for me of how incredibly
24:45
good these players are at the sport. Like
24:47
it's the most basic take ever, but sometimes
24:49
it's just so easy to like nitpick and
24:51
pinpoint all the flaws and whatever. When in
24:54
reality, like these dudes are just insane at
24:56
this stupid game. And Guevardial is very, very
24:58
good in this new role. It's
25:00
almost like being really well coached in a
25:02
coach's influence is important. Joe, here's
25:04
my question then for the group. And I
25:07
say this not, I say this out of
25:09
like kind of genuine curiosity, Joe has me
25:11
wondering about like tactical innovation and moving players
25:13
around. Like at this point,
25:15
if you had to have a deputy center back, would
25:17
you rather have Casamiro or Erling Holland start as your
25:20
center back? Because I think my answer would be Holland.
25:22
I think it's like physicality and speed, like
25:24
he could do some Kyle Walker business. My
25:27
perfect answer is I would have me as a
25:30
partner to whoever that center back is gonna be,
25:32
Teddy, because when I played at college and when
25:34
I played before that, I
25:36
played center back. My job was to go up, up
25:38
and shout up, everybody get up. As
25:40
you push forward, Casamiro just needed someone to say up
25:42
to him. Ryan and Casamiro. It would have been fine.
25:44
I love it, yeah. I don't think Erling Holland needs
25:46
anyone to yell up. So I think we've got to
25:48
pair Ryan with Casamiro. My answer is
25:51
Casamiro, Taylor, but it is depressing for you that
25:53
we're having this conversation. And I did it
25:55
to myself. Thank you, Joel. All right, why
25:57
don't we take a quick break? When we come back, we'll go around the rest
25:59
of the. Premier League when it goes around the continent and
26:01
much more back shortly. Looking
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26:56
Soccer Show, welcome back to The Weeknd Review.
26:58
We go to Tottenham's 2-1 win over Burnley
27:00
which ensured Burnley will return to the Championship
27:03
for next season. They did take the lead
27:05
in this one but as we say, one
27:07
season in the Premier League just for Burnley.
27:10
I mean, Joe, you mentioned Pep in
27:12
his final form in the last segment.
27:15
It feels like Vincent Kompany's final form
27:17
was his original form. The issue being
27:19
that he's stuck to his guns hasn't
27:21
really changed the system at all whereas
27:23
you think someone like Pep, despite having
27:25
a philosophy, does change things up a
27:27
little bit. Even like you
27:29
look at Burnley taking the opening goal, it started with
27:32
a lateral pass from a defender to a goalkeeper in
27:34
their own box. They almost lost possession like three times
27:36
during the play. They got the ball in the back
27:38
of net. It
27:40
feels like they should have maybe
27:42
made some concessions to being a weaker
27:44
team in the Premier League, Joe. Yeah,
27:46
it's possible. I mean, they averaged 37%
27:49
possession in this game. On the whole, they have
27:51
not exactly dominated the ball in a lot of
27:53
these games. I think it's a little unfair to
27:56
say that they haven't changed the tactical approach at
27:58
all. But along with the general... point
28:00
that maybe you're making there, Ryan, they're not like bottom of
28:02
the table in terms of possession in the Premier League this
28:04
year. They're sitting at 46.7%. They've been okay to keep the
28:06
ball, even
28:08
if they haven't been as nearly as dominant as they were
28:10
in the championship. And I'm not even talking in terms of
28:13
results. I'm talking in terms of style of play. So
28:15
I think there is some something fair
28:17
there, Ryan. I'm just thinking that's
28:19
pretty far down the list of Burnley's problems this year
28:22
in that they don't really have a lot of players
28:24
that scare you in any way.
28:26
And that was a concern for all of us,
28:28
right? We've sort of all appreciated how
28:30
fun and controlled and creative this Burnley
28:32
team was in the championship last year.
28:34
We talked about in the Premier League
28:36
previews, like, you know, is
28:38
this good enough? That's always the question with all. We
28:41
did that same thing with Ipswich and Lester last week
28:43
on the Big Thing episode. It's
28:45
a huge question, and I don't think you can look at this
28:47
Burnley team and say, yeah, man, they've
28:49
got the talent to like feel really, really good about
28:51
staying up, especially when they've had some of the injury
28:53
issues that they've had this year. I
28:55
am very conflicted in my understanding of
28:57
Burnley because like reading a lot
29:00
of kind of obituaries about this
29:02
season, the consensus
29:04
seems to be that they started this Premier
29:06
League season with a weaker team than they
29:08
finished their championship campaign because of the number
29:10
of players they had on loan and the
29:12
number of minutes those loony players
29:14
played for Burnley. And then a few of
29:16
those players were given the option to sign
29:18
for Burnley permanently or make another loan move.
29:21
And somebody like Mattson instead decides to
29:23
go to Dortmund. That has worked out well for
29:25
him. I forget who the one
29:28
is who chose Nathan Tawa, who chooses to go
29:30
to Leverkusen. That was probably a good choice for
29:32
him as well. So they don't have sort of
29:34
key performers from last season coming in. They have
29:36
to replace them. They don't have the budget to
29:39
replace them with proven Premier League players. So
29:41
they have a really young team that are
29:44
entering a Premier League season that don't quite know what
29:46
to expect with a manager who hasn't managed in the
29:48
Premier League yet. And things go the way they do.
29:51
And that's where I then kind of flip to.
29:53
But if this were anyone other than Vincent Kompany,
29:55
I am definitely criticizing them and
29:57
saying it's a manager who is sticking to
29:59
their guns. and sort of not adapting and
30:01
there's been plenty written about how hard he has
30:03
worked and how much work has been put into
30:05
this Burnley team. And I think a
30:07
lot of that is with Vincent Company being the kind
30:09
of marquee name for that club. I understand
30:11
why they didn't want to part ways. But it's a
30:13
really confusing situation in which I
30:16
think it's commendable that they went up the
30:18
way they did. It's commendable that Vincent Company
30:20
stayed there and stuck with them when there were lots of people
30:22
that wanted to bring him in. That
30:24
they then stuck with Vincent Company is commendable
30:27
as well. But it's still a situation in
30:29
which I'm ultimately praising them for getting relegated.
30:31
And that seems really odd. So
30:33
I think my feeling on Burnley is basically
30:36
if they prove that they are a very
30:38
patient organization that has a sort
30:40
of long view of things. And if they learn
30:42
to be a little bit more pragmatic on occasion,
30:44
if they learn where they needed to reinforce in
30:46
a more, I don't know,
30:49
impactful way for the duration of a season, if
30:51
they come right back up, then I think we
30:53
can see this as, oh, they're very smart in
30:55
their approach. They're very diligent. They're
30:57
very patient. If Vincent
30:59
Company jumpship and then they're sort of
31:01
languishing mid-table to start next season, I
31:04
have more questions about some of the decisions
31:06
they've made. I think where
31:08
the point of it, pragmatism comes in is
31:10
not necessarily with how much possession Burnley are
31:12
having in games. It's more about how that
31:15
what that possession looks like looks like and how
31:17
they're playing out from the back. The number of
31:20
mistakes they made this season playing out from the
31:22
back was absolutely incredible. The
31:25
second most, ironically, the team that's ahead
31:28
of them in this category is Tottenham,
31:30
but the second most turnovers in their
31:32
own half this season in the Premier
31:34
League. And it felt like a
31:36
good number of those turnovers were punished in
31:39
a way that just doesn't happen in the championship.
31:41
I think that's maybe one thing that has Vincent
31:43
Company spoke about that a number of times in
31:45
the championship. You give the ball away inside your
31:48
own half, you likely get away with it. In
31:50
the Premier League, you're more likely to get punished
31:52
because you're playing better players.
31:54
There was two or three times in this game
31:56
where Muret's just the goalkeeper just kind of flipped
31:59
it out to Spurs. 25 yards out
32:01
from goal. And that is where the point of pragmatism
32:03
comes in. There needs to
32:05
be a recognition of when just to
32:07
play a more, I'm not
32:09
saying play Route 1 football, but maybe just try and
32:12
bypass the defense into midfield a couple times in the
32:14
game. Have a little bit of variety, even just to
32:16
throw Tottenham off with their press so that they're not
32:18
so predictable and never saw that from Burnley. The problems
32:20
that we spoke about, I remember talking about them back
32:23
in October, they
32:25
still have the same issues. That's where there
32:27
was no evolution in their team or their
32:29
approach. That's why I find them probably
32:32
the most disappointing team in the Premier League this season.
32:34
And some of that is down to naivety on my
32:36
part. I take Joe's point, they never really had the
32:38
talent to make a real go of staying up. But
32:40
then I would contrast that to Luton, who
32:43
I understand got relegated on the same day. So
32:45
ultimately, it didn't really matter for them either. But
32:47
it did feel like for a large portion of
32:49
the season, they had a greater chance of staying
32:51
up. They did make those evolutions. They did change
32:54
their approach. They leaned into a counter-attacking style. And
32:56
we never really saw that from Burnley. One thing
32:58
that I think I totally
33:00
missed until I was reading a
33:03
good piece in The Athletic about Burnley was the point
33:05
that this is only even
33:07
a sort of relegation battle because Nottingham
33:09
Forest and Everton are docked points. If
33:11
they're not docked points, this is already
33:13
decided. And it's even more of a
33:15
closed book on their season and Luton's
33:17
to some extent. So in that way,
33:19
I do have some disappointment with
33:21
the way the season went for how they came
33:23
up, for how exciting we thought they might be,
33:26
for all the promise of a young manager and
33:28
an experienced manager and a high-profile manager and Vincent
33:30
Company, or experienced player turn
33:32
manager, rather. It felt like
33:34
maybe this could be a surprise. And I think we
33:36
always like to believe that that can still happen. I
33:38
mean, again, to Joe's point, the way we talked about
33:40
Ipswich Town last week, I'm pretty sure they're going to
33:42
finish in the top four. No pressure at all. So
33:45
I still think if they're building
33:48
long-term, then it can be smart. But I
33:50
also think there just wasn't
33:52
that pragmatism needed. And even when there
33:54
was, like, Graham took us to October.
33:56
In November, Vincent Company does try to
33:58
change the formation. more of a
34:00
kind of 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot and that double
34:02
pivot, I think both players make mistakes in their game
34:05
when he makes that switch to give up goals. And
34:07
so it feels like even when there were coaching
34:09
changes or tactical changes, there were
34:12
still individual errors due to inexperience
34:14
in naivety. So it's
34:16
just a very difficult season and a
34:18
very good reminder of how strong the Premier League
34:21
is, even if we sometimes forget
34:23
that, or at least I do. Tottenham,
34:25
of course, with the win in this game. Graham, my favorite moment
34:27
of the weekend. I think this is in the pre-match press set.
34:29
There was a journalist who asked Big Ang post to Cogloo if
34:32
the words to the effect of have Tottenham given up.
34:35
And the response that Big Ang gives you
34:37
goes, oh mate, oh mate, you think I'm
34:39
sitting there with a latte and just sending
34:41
out the training? Like it was
34:43
the most Big Ang response ever that was very
34:46
enjoyable in the day. What
34:48
can he possibly say to that
34:50
question? Exactly. It was like, it's not the
34:52
kind of question you want to ask. Shots fired at Harry
34:54
Kane, the latte thing. Did anyone read that last
34:57
week, Thomas Tooklesay, and he's never seen a player
34:59
drink so much latte as Harry Kane. So
35:01
I don't know if that was delivered. Thomas Tooklesay needs to be in speaking time out
35:03
for a little bit, I think. That's sort of
35:05
where I've landed on TTV. Joe,
35:08
can we make that an official responsibility
35:11
for you? You will control speaking time
35:13
out for managers and players? That
35:15
power sounds incredible and it's going to
35:17
go to my head. Alright, excellent. Looking
35:19
forward to it. Here's from Re-neo when
35:21
he comes back. West Ham with a 3-1
35:23
win over Luton. David Moyse's last home game
35:25
in charge, which all but relegated Luton. They're
35:27
3 points and 12 goals behind Nottingham Forest
35:29
at this point. Graham, it was sad seeing
35:31
someone as handsome as Rob Edwards shedding a
35:33
tear at this game. But as
35:36
you've sort of outlined previously, Luton gave a good
35:38
go of it. I don't think anybody expected it
35:40
to go, which technically it's going to go to
35:42
the final game for them to be relegated. Yeah,
35:45
that display of emotion from Rob Edwards is
35:47
going to play very well on social media.
35:49
It's going to earn him more admirers, I
35:51
suspect. Not only is he handsome, he's got
35:53
a heart. But yes, this was
35:55
a match of goodbyes for both teams. Goodbye to Luton, because
35:57
as you say Ryan, they're all but relegated after a game.
36:00
season in which they have given a real
36:02
go. I think everyone had them finishing rock
36:04
bottom of the Premier League. I feared the
36:06
Derby County season from them and yes they've
36:08
been relegated ultimately but it was not a
36:10
Derby County season. It was also
36:12
nice to see David Moyes get innovation in
36:14
what was his final home match as West
36:16
Ham manager. I've never fully been able to
36:19
decipher my own feelings on David Moyes because
36:21
his football has never been that enjoyable to
36:23
me but I do think he has developed
36:25
as a manager at West Ham and they
36:27
are much more expansive and attack-minded now than
36:30
they were when he came in four years ago.
36:32
I think that's one of the
36:34
things that has almost cost him in the
36:36
end is there's this sense that West Ham
36:38
are ready for the next step to become
36:40
a more modern and potentially successful team and
36:42
if that happens I think Moyes will deserve
36:44
credit for the groundwork he put in. That
36:46
squad is a talented squad and you look
36:48
through what he achieved at West Ham. A
36:51
European trophy challenging for the top four that
36:53
one season playing in the Europa League you
36:55
would have to say over four seasons for
36:57
West Ham that is a successful stint but
36:59
it does feel like the right time that
37:01
is the right time for something new for that
37:03
club. I would like to have seen him on
37:05
his last game go up into the stands and eat
37:07
potato chips with the fans like he did at Real
37:09
Socio. At that time my favorite David Moyes moment of
37:11
all time. Newcastle with a 1-1
37:13
draw at Brighton, Newcastle dropping points in their
37:16
pursuit of European football. They are in six
37:18
points behind the aforementioned Tottenham in fifth. We
37:20
had a pretty entertaining game at Nottingham Forest
37:23
after 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
37:25
They went ahead in this one. This was
37:27
a very entertaining game was it
37:29
not Graham? Yeah a very
37:32
Vibes-y match because Nottingham Forest knew before kickoff
37:34
that they are essentially safe after
37:36
looking to defeat West Ham that we've just spoken
37:38
about and Chelsea have been Vibes-y all season. I
37:41
feel like we saw the strengths and weaknesses of
37:43
both teams over the course of this game. For
37:45
a team that has spent all season fighting relegation
37:47
that Forest duo of Gibbs White and Hudson Adoy,
37:50
now that he's cooking, finally Hudson Adoy, is electric
37:52
when they're on it. They're so quick to jump
37:54
on moments in the match and Gibbs White in
37:56
particular is so arrogant and in a good
37:59
way and can really see. take a grip of a
38:01
game. And then with Chelsea, we saw some
38:03
of their weaknesses, including Petrovic's vulnerability at coming
38:05
for crosses, which Forrest looked to exploit and
38:07
did pretty well. But then the runs of
38:09
Nicholas Jackson, the creativity of Cole Palmer. And
38:11
then one of the biggest positives for Chelsea
38:13
was the return of Rhys James, and maybe
38:15
a positive for England as well, with the
38:17
Euros just around the corner. He put the
38:19
winning goal on a plate for Jackson. He
38:21
has missed so much of the season. And
38:23
Matt Logusto has done a good job at
38:25
right back in his absence. But this was,
38:27
he wasn't on the pitch for very long.
38:29
But nonetheless, it was a reminder that James
38:32
is a level above with his deliveries. And
38:34
I bet Pochettino really regrets him being sidelined
38:36
for so long. Pochettino also regrets the fact
38:38
that the season is ending this weekend. He
38:40
said that he wished the season had 20
38:42
games left to go. And I can kind
38:44
of understand why this Chelsea team is still
38:46
flawed. But they definitely do have some momentum
38:48
and are growing a little bit. So maybe
38:50
next season will be more positive for them.
38:52
They're going to be in prime form for
38:54
those USA friendlies over the summer gram. That's
38:56
all we can look forward to from Chelsea.
38:58
Good stat for you from Forrest. Whichever Nottingham
39:00
Forest or Luton stays up, most likely Forrest at
39:02
this point, they're going to have the lowest points
39:04
total of a surviving Premier League team, Evs. The
39:06
previous record was West Brom in 2005 with 34.
39:10
Nottingham Forest could stay up with 29, which
39:13
I think perhaps speaks to Taylor's earlier
39:15
point about the discrepancy between the relegated
39:17
sides being brought a little forward
39:19
by the points and junctions that we have seen. We
39:22
have the championship playoffs this weekend as well.
39:25
Get ready to talk about some golf. Wait, no,
39:27
let's not do that. West Brom and Southampton playing
39:29
out a goal is draw, as did
39:31
Norwich and Leeds. Perhaps we'll save a bit of this
39:34
for Weekend Review Extra-gram because there's probably not a lot
39:36
to dig into. But did we catch any of this?
39:38
Any interest? I watched 30 minutes
39:40
of Norwich Leeds and then was
39:42
like, nah, I've got better things to do with
39:45
my time. So let's see what the second legs
39:47
bring. Maybe I'll be more engaged on the second
39:49
legs. Yeah, these weren't classics. Well, we'll need to
39:51
be more engaged because we'll get a resolution from
39:53
those second legs happening at the weekend. Final happening
39:55
on May 26. While we're talking
39:57
playoffs, I just want to talk about some very sad
39:59
news. that came from the League 2
40:01
semi-final playoffs. Crawley were playing a
40:04
team called MKDons.
40:07
MKDons were three nil down in the first leg. In
40:09
the second leg they lost 5-1. A
40:12
team in a playoff semi lost 8-1
40:14
on Aggrega. I think that is good
40:16
cause to cancel that team and to
40:18
rescind their licenses and to have them
40:21
buried into the ground. Right, yeah, anybody with me?
40:23
Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, let's
40:25
do it. All right, let's quickly
40:27
hit the Bundesliga, shall we, where Bayern Leverkusen
40:30
had a 5-0 win at Bocom. They keep
40:32
on doing it, Joe. 50 matches unbeaten now.
40:34
Their last defeat was May 2023. They
40:38
are now within one game of completing the
40:40
first part of Invincible Treble. Can you imagine
40:42
it, Joe? Imagine it. It's getting
40:44
easier and easier to imagine. Let's play a
40:46
little game called NFL score or Leverkusen versus
40:48
Volkham shot tally. 29-3, 29-3 was what Leverkusen
40:51
outshot Bocom by. In
40:55
this game, a 5-0 win, a
40:58
red card in the first half for Bocom
41:00
made this game into what it was
41:02
always going to be, just quicker. Leverkusen completely
41:04
dominated this match. They are so unbelievably
41:07
good to the point where it
41:09
kind of just didn't even feel like the goals
41:11
were registering for either team as this game wore
41:14
on. Like the last goal that Leverkusen scored in
41:16
this match is from Grimaldo. It's just your classic
41:18
FIFA sweaty goal, just like, you know, basically a
41:20
two-on-one versus the goalkeeper, and you draw the goalkeeper
41:22
out and then tap it eight yards to the
41:25
left and Grimaldo finishes. It's a
41:27
stupid, stupid game. Leverkusen are stupid, stupid good. It is
41:29
so much fun to watch. One
41:31
thing that we need to talk about because I don't
41:33
think we actually did last week and this is Thursday
41:35
Night Loud rate reporting, is Leverkusen's undefeated
41:38
season staying alive after
41:40
being down 2-0 in the 82nd minute against
41:42
Roma in the second leg of
41:45
the Europa League semifinals, to be clear, this is not
41:47
a game they needed to win to continue their progression
41:49
in the Europa League. 2-0 would have been fine. They
41:51
could have pushed it to extra time, whatever, they could
41:53
have still lost this game in advance. But
41:56
that's not in the cards for Leverkusen this season as it
41:58
turns out in own goal. from Roma in
42:00
the 82nd minute. And then Ayosep Stanisic,
42:03
97th minute equalizer, rescued
42:06
this undefeated record for Leverkusen. We were all sort
42:08
of in the slack like typing back and forth.
42:10
And I was too cowardly. I'm not afraid to
42:12
admit I was too cowardly. When Roma went up
42:14
to nil in the 66 minute, both
42:17
penalty goals from Lando Paredes, I was too much of
42:19
a coward to say all Leverkusen's got this in the
42:21
bag because part of me thought part of me doubted
42:23
that this team would do it. And then they get
42:25
down within one goal in the 82nd minute. And I'm
42:27
starting to think, man, I really should have sent that
42:29
message. So you're just doing it now. No, no, no,
42:32
I'm not even ready for this. Stanisic scores that 97th
42:34
minute in my minute winner,
42:36
minter as it turns out, in my Twitter
42:38
timeline and our slack just melted. This Leverkusen
42:40
team is inevitable and they're so much fun.
42:42
Counterpoint. Durati has him right where he wants
42:45
him. Going to
42:47
get him in the 2026 Europoli? Because
42:50
it's not going to be next year. No. The
42:52
most incredible thing about or one of the most incredible
42:55
things about that match was kind of
42:57
the dawning on me on of just
42:59
how much this unbeaten season matters to
43:01
Leverkusen. Almost as much as getting to the
43:03
Europa League final because at one nil down,
43:05
they're obviously on aggregate going through to the to the
43:08
to the to the final. And yet they're still pressing
43:10
for that for that equalizing goal. You know, obviously there's
43:12
a bit of risk there because Roma pretty decent on
43:14
the counter attack. Could it could have scored a third
43:16
and they're through. But yeah, this
43:18
Leverkusen team are just unbelievable. They do what they
43:21
want and they have scored so many late goals
43:23
this season. Can I just say a
43:25
lot of the Bokom, I only watch the highlights, but a
43:27
lot of the Bokom defending was very chasmiro from
43:29
a lot of it, what I thought to
43:31
be fair to be a very good performance
43:33
from Leverkusen. They got Augsburg at home next
43:35
Saturday to complete the undefeated league season. Then
43:38
of course, they got the Europa League final
43:40
in Dublin. And they've got the German Cup
43:42
final a few days after that against Kaiserslautern.
43:44
So they can do the invincible treble. Incredible
43:46
stuff from Javi Alonso's side. Mine's
43:48
with a three nil win over Dortmund this weekend. Dortmund
43:50
having a bit of a drop off after getting the
43:53
Champions League. Oh, I don't
43:55
know. Is it a flip flop flip flops on situation Graham? I'm
43:57
not sure what to make of that one. They're fifth in the
43:59
league and they've got Champions League either way. It
44:01
seems now. I didn't really catch much of
44:03
this match, but I did see Ed and Terzic's comments
44:06
after the game which was essentially, we do
44:08
this too often to ourselves and I think
44:10
Dortmund fans would agree with that just as
44:12
long as there isn't a performance or result
44:14
like this in the Champions League
44:16
final. We got a very difficult decision for Dortmund coming
44:18
up. Dortmund could make
44:20
19.3 million if they lose to Real
44:22
Madrid in the Champions League final due
44:25
to a bonus payment for Duke Bellingham.
44:27
They'd make 17.2 in price money if
44:29
they win. So effectively, Taylor,
44:31
winning will cost them 2 million. What would
44:33
you do? I would win. I
44:35
think they'd probably win. How could League win
44:37
for 2 million? Bargain? I
44:40
mean, that's a nice cushion, I
44:42
suppose. And I
44:44
think they will enjoy being the underdogs in
44:46
that one and having me very nervous given
44:48
results like this one from the past
44:50
weekend. I do think that was very much a, no
44:53
one is going to catch us, we are in fifth,
44:55
but fifth is good enough for the Champions League. We
44:57
are fine there. We already saw them rest players last
44:59
weekend and kind of rotate a bit. So
45:01
I can't really begrudge them for doing that as long as
45:04
they stay sharp and give us a good final. There
45:06
we go, very good stuff. Bayern with a 2-0
45:09
win over Worsburgers, or Harry Kane sitting that one
45:11
out. Apparently he's got back problems from the person
45:13
who we're stopping. Too many laughing. Lots of problems,
45:15
yeah. Too many laughing headache. Indeed, that
45:17
must be it. Yeah, the milk's
45:19
upsetting somehow. The mammal noir was given a standing
45:22
ovation after being substituted in the 74th minute of
45:24
his 500th Bundesliga appearance. I was so pleased to see him
45:26
go off and he couldn't make another mistake. It cost him
45:29
a place in the Champions League final. That's right, yeah,
45:31
it was just a, it was left over. Congratulations from the
45:33
Champions League second leg for the semi-final. Indeed, Graham. Also,
45:36
elsewhere in Germany, St. Pauli have been
45:38
promoted to the Bundesliga back after 13
45:41
years to this top flight. Very much a punk ethic going on
45:43
at St. Pauli if you're not aware of them. Taylor's
45:45
nodding along, yeah, they're very Taylor on
45:47
the team, aren't they? They fly, yeah, they fly
45:49
a pirate flag at the stadium, which my understanding
45:52
is it was like an independent supporters club made
45:54
this pirate flag and the club liked it and
45:56
said we're going to co-opt that as well with
45:58
permission from the independent supporters. supporters club as
46:00
well. They're very heavily left wing, they support a lot
46:02
of activist causes
46:04
as well. What I
46:07
didn't realise Taylor is their coach, Fabian
46:09
Huzila was born in the USA
46:11
as Bruce Springsteen would say, he was born in
46:13
Dallas. There you go. American coaching Bundesliga team on
46:15
Tuesday. Get him on that plane to the top
46:17
of America. Let's do it. The newsletter that I
46:19
definitely haven't already got written, ready to go on
46:21
Thursday says that he was born in Houston. So
46:23
I'm going to have to fact check that one.
46:25
Okay. Yeah, none
46:28
of us is wrong. We'll find out who
46:30
probably may. It's Ryan. Yeah, usually is. Congratulations
46:32
to say, Paulie Taylor, they, they, they feel
46:34
like an archetype team for you. Is that
46:36
right? I like to apply. Yes. I like
46:39
the sausage train more than anything else. The
46:43
what they have a train that
46:45
goes round the stadium, but that's definitely going
46:47
and out of context, TSS channel. Yeah.
46:49
Yeah. They have a train that runs around
46:52
that I think you can pick up sausages
46:54
off of if you are, if you are
46:56
hungry, I believe that's like only in social
46:58
boxes, like certain boxes but still
47:00
kind of an amazing thing. And yes, I like Essex
47:03
and Bali for the, the stance they take, the way
47:05
they build their teams, the way they sort of integrate
47:07
into the city as well. But then also
47:09
this season of play some good football. So congratulations to them.
47:12
Indeed. We take a quick break. Now, when we come
47:14
back, we go to the league. There we are. And
47:16
unless much more coming shortly. Hey
47:19
folks, this is Taylor from the total soccer
47:21
show reminding you that we are inching ever
47:23
closer to the start of the summer transfer
47:25
window, which means there are teams that will
47:27
buy and sell their players early. There are
47:29
teams that will leave that business very late.
47:32
And there are teams that will operate in
47:34
between, but no matter what, it's going
47:36
to be a chaotic situation. There's going to be
47:39
offers coming through willy-nilly. There's going to be
47:41
transactions to be tracked and processed and make
47:43
sure that enough money is there. There's going
47:45
to be probably angry clubs calling to complain.
47:47
There are many things to deal with. And
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unfortunately for those clubs, there is
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no sort of business tool that
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makes things easier, makes transactions simpler,
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it gets the business done efficiently
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and effectively. But for the small
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two pigeons bemoaning the fact you can
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51:48
Soccer Show, we come back to the
51:50
weekend review with a dispatch from La
51:52
Liga. Graham is there anything we're talking
51:54
about apart from Real Madrid's emphatic 4-0
51:56
win over already relegated Granada? Is that
51:58
even worth talking about? talking about. They're unbeaten
52:00
in 28 games though. I mean,
52:02
it was interesting in that we got to
52:05
see a number of players we don't usually get to see
52:07
for Real Madrid. Like a Mil Joviak. Oh wait, no, sorry,
52:09
that's fine. That was on the other side. How did he
52:11
do, Jov? Did you watch this game? Yeah,
52:15
and he didn't do a lot. Yeah,
52:17
that sounds pretty typical. Standard for him. But
52:19
Brian Diaz, very dribbly performance from a lot
52:21
of Real Madrid players including Ardagoula and Brian
52:23
Diaz, whose goal to make it 3-0 is
52:25
a fantastic goal where he turns on like
52:27
a six pins very quickly and then dribbles
52:29
past the entire Granada defense to finish. When
52:31
you see Barim in that moment, the way
52:33
that he moves and drops the shoulder and
52:35
it's low centre of gravity, I think it
52:38
is probably the closest we've got. I'm not
52:40
saying he does it as regularly or that
52:42
he's as good, but it is like watching
52:44
Messi in that moment. Honestly, they're so similar
52:46
in terms of their mechanics as players and
52:48
Barim has been a real success story for
52:50
Real Madrid this season with his contribution as
52:52
a depth option. I bet Spain
52:54
wished they had him in their squad for the
52:56
Euros, but he has chosen to play for Morocco.
52:59
One player I'm excited, I mentioned them just there,
53:01
Ardagoula. I'm excited to see more of him
53:03
next season. Ancelot has been careful not to rush
53:05
him into the team, but there's this huge expectation
53:08
on him. He's another dribbly boy and you've
53:10
got Endrick coming in the summer as well
53:12
and oh, some guy called him Bape most
53:14
likely. So, Real Madrid next season is going
53:16
to be something. They're going
53:18
to be so much fun, Graham. I love that you went through
53:20
some of those players. Like tactically, they're
53:22
already very vibesy and sort of free flowing, which
53:25
I think makes them quite fun to watch. And
53:27
then you add in some of the both young
53:29
talent and Mbappe that you just mentioned. And
53:32
I think this Real Madrid team might be turning
53:34
the notch up to 11. I'm not sure that they're
53:36
going to necessarily be better than they are this year.
53:38
I think they're going to be very, very good, but
53:41
Guler is quite the player. This was the first
53:43
time that I watched him in any real level
53:45
of detail. That left foot is absolutely
53:47
unreal. It was more of a 4-3-3 in this
53:49
game from Real Madrid and he was playing as
53:52
an inverted right winger, so constantly cutting inside on
53:54
that left foot. His first touch on
53:56
the goal is so good. It allows him to
53:58
settle and take aim at and really pound
54:01
that with his left leg. Such an incredible
54:03
bit of skill from him in the attacking third.
54:06
He is lightning quick. It's really easy to
54:08
see why Rommedrid wanted him from Fenerbache. I
54:11
am a big fan in the limited minutes I've
54:13
seen and very much look forward to seeing more
54:15
of him next year. Excellent stuff. Graham,
54:17
he scored a banger earlier this season, I seem
54:19
to remember Gullis. He's had some minutes earlier in
54:21
the season, hasn't he? I seem to remember him
54:23
getting a nice long ranger. He has, maybe in
54:26
the Coppodale raid. Yeah, he's certainly scored before this
54:28
one, but I can't quite remember exactly which goal
54:30
you're talking about, but I don't doubt it.
54:32
He's a top talent. More Ryan fact-checking required.
54:34
We go to Serie A where Bologna are
54:36
in the Champions League for the first time
54:38
ever after a 2-0 win over a rather
54:41
lacklustre Napoli. 59
54:43
years since they were last in the
54:45
European Cup competition. Congratulations,
54:48
Graham, to Bologna. A big success
54:50
story. They qualified as
54:52
well as Juventus, by the way,
54:54
because of Atalanta's 2-1 win over
54:56
Roma, who despite having the greatest
54:58
manager of all time, now sit in sixth
55:01
and could miss out on the Champions League next
55:03
season. That's awkward. Can I just
55:05
do a quick beat on Bologna? Because I
55:07
think it's worth just recognising what they've achieved
55:09
this season. You mentioned 59 years since they
55:11
played in the European Cup, Ryan. I think
55:14
Sir Stanley Matthews was playing the last time
55:16
Bologna were in the European Cup. So
55:18
that kind of puts into perspective what they
55:20
have achieved. And I think if it hadn't
55:22
been for Leverkusen, which has kind of been
55:24
the quintessential underdog story in European football this
55:26
season, maybe there would have been more chat
55:28
about Bologna, because as I say, what they've
55:30
done is incredible. They've got one of the
55:33
best forwards in the league. They've got
55:35
the best midfielder in the league, which I'm going to
55:37
keep repeating because it's factually true. He's got the award
55:39
to prove it, Lewis Ferguson. Thiago
55:41
Motta is one of the sharpest coaches in Italy. And that
55:44
is going to be the big question before
55:46
the start of next season. Will he stay? He's been
55:48
linked with AC Milan job, been linked with the Juventus
55:50
job, been linked with the PSG job in the past.
55:52
I think there is an acceptance at Bologna that he
55:54
is going to make the step up at some point.
55:56
But maybe they can convince him to stay for another
55:58
season with them being in the... the Champions
56:00
League. But another person I want
56:02
to highlight is Giovanni Sartore, who
56:04
is the sporting director at
56:07
Bologna. And this is just another feather in his
56:09
cap. He did something similar with Atalanta, so he
56:11
put Atalanta on the current trajectory that they've been
56:13
on for the last few years. Of course, it's
56:15
got your European final to look forward to. They've
56:18
been in the Champions League. He also took Kyavo
56:21
like 10 years ago to a Champions League qualifier with
56:23
his business in the background and now Bologna are in
56:25
the Champions League. So just a
56:27
sensational success story all round from the people
56:29
running that club to the manager to the
56:31
players in the pitch. And it is cool
56:33
that out of Serie A we get Bologna
56:35
in the Champions League next year, we'll get
56:37
Girona in Spain, Brest in France, most
56:40
likely. Aston Villa from the Premier League
56:42
and then Stuttgart from the Bundesliga. So you get some
56:45
less common Champions League teams in the Champions
56:47
League next season. It's going to be interesting,
56:49
I think. It's going to be great. Yeah,
56:52
atal, speak to the dilution of the competition at Alltail.
56:54
I'm excited very much. I mean, compared to where we
56:56
were when it's like, OK, which of the five teams
56:58
that are going to win it is going to win
57:00
it. It's nice that they still get the variety. No,
57:02
they're still gonna, Taylor. You don't know what's going to
57:04
happen with Leverkusen and Rama. Very
57:08
true. Milan with a 5-1 win over Caliari
57:10
this weekend as well. Christian Pulisic scoring a
57:13
brace in this one but didn't wear Pulisic
57:15
on his shirt. He had Harlow on his
57:17
shirt. Milan were one of several clubs this
57:19
weekend to wear their mother's maiden names, the
57:21
players wear their mother's maiden names instead of
57:24
their actual surnames. To bring attention
57:26
to, I'm going to try and get this right. I believe in 2022
57:29
while I was there, there was a law
57:31
change where children can choose to have either
57:33
their mother or their father's surname,
57:37
as their surname, I should say. Whereas previously it
57:39
was the only the patriarchal surname that was allowed
57:42
for children. So that's changed and that's recognizing
57:44
that. On the eve of Mother's Day in
57:46
Italy as well. Nice to see Kelly and
57:48
Mark's kid. Close
57:50
personal friend of the show Kelly. Close personal friend
57:53
of the show Mark. Yeah,
57:56
you're quite right. One more bit of Serie
57:58
A news. Kobo will be in Serie A. next
58:00
season they've returned after a 21 year
58:02
wait they were helped by Spezia who
58:04
beat Venezia to escape from relegation. Como
58:07
will relegate from Serie R in 2003 were Como. They
58:14
were playing in the non-professional fourth tier
58:16
as recently as 2019 following bankruptcy
58:19
and lots of trouble there. Ses Fabregas and
58:21
Thierry Henri are on board there as his
58:24
chief executive Dennis Wise who's credited with doing
58:26
a lot of good work there and Graham
58:28
Fabregas there's a video of him promising to
58:30
send away his players to Ibiza in celebration
58:32
with some very good Italian I'll say as
58:34
well I know Spanish and Italian relatively related
58:36
languages but he's a he's given it the
58:39
the attitude as well very good from him.
58:41
Yeah what a fairytale they're only backed
58:43
by a group of like millionaire former footballers
58:45
and two billionaire brothers yeah. It's the dream.
58:47
What a fairytale as for Como. They're backed
58:50
by the DR room group
58:52
they will have the wealthiest ownership group in
58:54
Serie R next year Graham. Incredible
58:56
incredible the new Girona or the new Monza
58:58
actually they were the original tiny team backed
59:01
by millionaire billionaires indeed beautiful stadium as well
59:03
obviously on the lake up there yeah we're
59:05
gonna see so many pictures of that stadium
59:07
next season my timeline was already flooded with
59:09
pictures of that stadium but it's gonna go
59:11
into overdrive next season when they're in Serie
59:13
R. Graham do you get the Monterey one
59:15
like every other day in your timeline just
59:18
going through yeah it's gonna be it's gonna
59:20
be Como I just want to see Como
59:22
like with Nico Joakini photoshopped in different ways
59:24
on every picture of that stadium and the
59:26
surrounding views shout out Nico Joakini for getting promoted
59:28
but yeah we're all we're all about to see that
59:30
stadium way too much. We are indeed
59:32
it's also Joe Fun fact for you the stadium
59:35
is so decrepit they were quite to shut down
59:37
the whole side of it for safety reasons this
59:39
season. It's not to say we are standard. All
59:41
that tells us is that Manchester United has more
59:43
room to go. That's all I'm saying. I don't
59:45
even have a roof to leak Joe. The
59:48
solution just get rid of the roof. The
59:50
Richmond Kickers also play in a stadium where
59:52
half of it is condemned and you cannot
59:55
access so it's really I'm just realizing how
59:57
it's just common that's what we're going with
59:59
right it's just comment to do that. That's totally
1:00:01
normal that two of the teams that
1:00:03
I love and adore have
1:00:05
that situation. Yay, football. It's great, but Como's
1:00:07
pretty. That's fun. Yeah.
1:00:09
Congratulations to Como for coming back
1:00:12
up. One final stop on our weekend
1:00:14
review. We go to Joe Lowry's MLS
1:00:16
corner. Joe, what's been happening in Major
1:00:18
League Soccer? We saw some fisticust, did
1:00:20
we not, in New York City's 3-2
1:00:22
win over Toronto? Yes, we did. NYCOC
1:00:24
getting the result on the road. They've
1:00:27
won four of their last five. That's
1:00:29
not the part that anybody cares about
1:00:32
here. There was a post-game brawl. Maybe
1:00:34
brawl's a bit strong, but definitely a
1:00:36
scuffle. A aggressive hug in. It
1:00:39
was a really, really aggressive hug. I think I've talked
1:00:41
about before how those things never really turn into
1:00:43
anything. This one kind of did turn into some
1:00:45
stuff. Toronto and NYCFC
1:00:47
going at it in this game, and apparently, according
1:00:50
to Jonathan Asorio, this stems
1:00:52
from the last time these two teams met
1:00:54
where there were some afters in that game
1:00:56
as well. John Herdman, Toronto
1:00:58
FC manager, alleged after the game, and I
1:01:00
want to emphasize alleged, that
1:01:03
NYCFC manager Nick Cushing had punched
1:01:05
a 19-year-old Toronto FC player after
1:01:07
the last time these two teams
1:01:09
met back in March. Nick Cushing
1:01:11
has vehemently denied those allegations from
1:01:14
what John Herdman said. There were no cameras
1:01:17
in and around that section of the stadium
1:01:19
where that alleged incident may or may not
1:01:21
have occurred. There's way more that we don't
1:01:23
know than what we do know. Why are we only
1:01:25
hearing about this two months after it supposedly
1:01:28
happened the first time? I have no inside info
1:01:30
into this situation. I imagine we're going
1:01:32
to hear quite a bit more about it as time
1:01:34
goes on, and certainly MLS will investigate, but
1:01:36
it is one of the most bizarre
1:01:39
stories we've had in the 2024 MLS season.
1:01:41
We just had Aaron Bupenza's jaw getting broken by
1:01:43
a professional boxer. So things are going on. I
1:01:45
think I said turned up to 11 for Real
1:01:47
Madrid earlier, and maybe what they could do next
1:01:49
season, things are turned up to 11 in the
1:01:51
Chaos Meter and Major League Soccer right now. I
1:01:53
do not know what to make of this story.
1:01:56
If this happened, it is very, very serious,
1:01:58
and there should be very real consequences. And
1:02:00
if it didn't happen then there
1:02:02
should also be very real consequences. So I
1:02:05
I don't know what's happening here guys. It's wild Excellent
1:02:08
stuff. What's happening with Miami Joe still top of
1:02:10
the east with a 3-2 win over Montreal this
1:02:12
weekend Yeah, they just they just won't die. I
1:02:14
think at this point. They're just happy to let
1:02:16
the first goal in It's like ah We need
1:02:18
a little bit more motivation and they
1:02:20
come back and win this one 3-2 They went down to
1:02:23
nil in this game after a really nice goal from Bryce
1:02:25
Duke and then a nice bit of possession play for Montreal
1:02:27
On the second goal and then Mathias Rojas
1:02:29
scores a bang over a goal It is so
1:02:31
good Messi's off to the side very very displeased
1:02:33
that he's not allowed to re-enter the field after
1:02:35
the new substitution role for Major League soccer Was
1:02:38
was caught on the Apple broadcast saying some
1:02:40
bad things about Major League soccer on this new rule
1:02:43
That's no good and then you have
1:02:45
Rojas scoring a messy ask free kick and then
1:02:47
on the third goal the winner for into Miami
1:02:49
from Benjamin Kramaski a Lovely assist
1:02:51
from Rojas over the top with a left-footed
1:02:54
ball He has been a dream addition
1:02:56
for this team It's sounding more and more like Anthony
1:02:58
Maria is about to join in the summer and he
1:03:00
up some of his minutes at this
1:03:02
point I'm not so sure that's the best
1:03:05
idea because Rojas is playing that left-wing role
1:03:07
quite well right now Miami
1:03:09
are very scary Montreal. So probably
1:03:11
not that good. Yeah, I
1:03:13
wrote about Rojas for for fault mob last week I've been so
1:03:15
impressed. He hasn't started a game yet. He's come off the bench
1:03:17
in All three games you
1:03:19
started he started the weekend, right? Yeah, so he
1:03:22
hadn't started until until the weekend But he looks
1:03:24
incredible scored two goals and his last game before
1:03:26
the Montreal game as well the free kick Joe
1:03:28
I think that's the best free kick I've seen
1:03:30
in a while. I think it's the best time
1:03:33
free kick of the MLS season It is so
1:03:35
far out like I understand, you know
1:03:37
calling it a messy free kick I think that undersells it
1:03:39
a little bit. I think that's a better free kick than
1:03:41
I've seen from Messia in a while It's the dip
1:03:43
that he gets on it and it just comes down
1:03:45
at such a speed. The goalkeeper has absolutely no chance
1:03:47
Yeah, it was incredible Incredible
1:03:50
stuff indeed messy as Joe referenced on
1:03:52
camera when he's taking
1:03:54
part in MLS's new rules of having
1:03:56
two minutes of timeout after a medical attention
1:03:58
set with rules like these were going
1:04:00
nowhere. It's just, it doesn't like the anti-poop house nature
1:04:03
of it. I'm excited. That rule will
1:04:05
be gone by Friday. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, yes, we'll
1:04:07
get rid of that at once. Yeah, they're midweek
1:04:09
games, it's actually gonna be Tuesday. We'll hear that
1:04:11
in a second. Joe, any
1:04:13
other MLS games to touch on? I assume
1:04:15
you're gonna be looking at Charlotte's 1-0 win
1:04:17
over Nashville. Where's your soccer Jesus now, Nashville?
1:04:20
Huh? Huh? High flying, amazing Charlotte FC. No,
1:04:22
we're not talking about that game. But we
1:04:24
will talk very briefly about LAFC's 3-0 win
1:04:27
over Vancouver. This was for me the best
1:04:29
performance of the weekend across either conference. LAFC
1:04:32
took Vancouver behind the woodshed. In
1:04:34
this game, they were absolutely fantastic.
1:04:36
3-0 win for LAFC.
1:04:39
Both wingers were electric in this one
1:04:41
for LAFC, completely exposing the space that
1:04:43
Vani Sartini and Vancouver leave open outside
1:04:45
their center backs and behind the wing
1:04:47
backs. Vancouver don't flatten out into a
1:04:49
back five in their defensive
1:04:51
shape. Instead, they keep that 3-4-3 look in
1:04:53
basically every phase. And Dennis Bewonga
1:04:56
said thank you very much. And Kiki Olivera said thank you
1:04:58
very much on the weak side. And sort
1:05:00
of in the blink of an eye, it was 2-0 in this game
1:05:02
and then Bogus finished it off with a goal in
1:05:04
transition in the second half. LAFC every once
1:05:06
in a while, and I wrote this for back yield,
1:05:08
like sort of wake up at this stage of the
1:05:10
season with only one DP and remind everyone how good
1:05:12
they're going to be and how good they can be
1:05:14
at times right now. And then just put their head
1:05:17
back down and go back into maintenance mode until Olivier
1:05:19
Giroud and whoever else is gonna arrive in the summer.
1:05:21
Yeah, LAFC, scary good when they're at
1:05:23
their best right now. There we go.
1:05:25
Plenty more major league soccer coming on the
1:05:27
feed on Tuesday's show. But for now, Taylor,
1:05:29
we have weekend reviewed. Thank you so much
1:05:31
for your part in that weekend review. Thank
1:05:34
you, my friend, same to you. Graham Ruffin,
1:05:36
pleasure is always my good man. Thank you,
1:05:38
Ryan Beoy. Joe Lowry, keep on rocking. And
1:05:40
to you, sir. Listen, thank you
1:05:43
very much for joining us on the feed.
1:05:45
We'll be back very shortly. But for now,
1:05:47
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