Michael Bailey

speaker

72 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 6 Jun

Michael Bailey’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

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The Athletic FC Podcast · The World Cup's most tactically interesting teams · 6 Jun 2026 podcast

Connor, how do you view this putting together a balanced World Cup squad?

Yeah, I guess in a way, Liam, international football is like picking a national fantasy team, isn't it?

It's like, do you just load it up with all the players that you'd love to see play together?

Or, you know, really what you need is something much more cohesive.

And as Connor said, obviously the XI and there's a core group that's important.

And is there sort of evidence of how that sort of what you can call on in terms of for the benches, for knockout stages, how important that is as well?

I can't wrap up this section without a prediction, I'm afraid.

So how far do we think England will go this time?

Liam, should we also talk about the USA's approach to squad building as well under Maurizio Pochettino?

What has piqued your interest with their World Cup group?

Because there's some interesting chatter around it.

Now, Conor, you've been analysing the squads of all 48 teams.

I dread to think exactly how long that meant you were locked away in a bunker for, but what were your key takeaways from all of that?

It's interesting because when Argentina won it in Qatar, there was obviously a bit of chat as to whether Lionel Messi would be actually still playing and involved at this point, I suppose.

Also, five Norwich players at the World Cup this summer.

Remarkable scenes.

Michael, you've done some excellent work going through all the winners of past World Cups.

I mean, A, that must have been very interesting and there must be some common threads maybe that connect the winning nations from a tactical point of view, maybe?

So we've talked England.

Let's check in with some of the other favourites to lift the 2026 World Cup.

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