Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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WELCOME INTO THE LATEST EDITION OF ESPN FC, I'M DAN THOMAS JOINED BY CRAIG BURLEY AND STEPHEN NICHOLS, A GREAT WEEKEND OF FOOTBALL ON ESPN PLUS INCLUDING OF COURSE ATHLETICO MADRID AGAINST BARCELONA, WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT A LITTLE LATER ON AND OF COURSE WE'VE GOT FOUR GAMES IN THE FA CUP, NOW YOU THINK WE WOULD START WITH MANCHESTER CITY AGAINST LIVERPOOL HOWEVER WE'LL START WITH A BIG ONE CHELSEA AGAINST PORT VEAL AND THE REASON
We're doing this is what happened in Resina's press conference today. Let's take you back, shall we, to what Enzo Fernandez said. This was after the defeat against PSG. I don't know. My focus is here for now. We have eight Premier League matches to play in the FA Cup, then the World Cup coming up. So we'll see after that. Now.
Just last week, he was asked which city, if it wasn't London, would he prefer to live in. He said, I'd like to live in Spain. I really like Madrid. It reminds me of Buenos Aires. Players live where they want. I'd live in Madrid. I'd get by in English, but I'd be more comfortable in Spanish. Liam Rossignol, then, has given him a two-match suspension because of this. Here's the Chelsea boss.
Yeah, I spoke with Enzo an hour ago. As a football club, with me as part of that process, we've made a decision. He won't be available for tomorrow's game and he won't be available for Manchester City on the next Sunday. I think for Enzo, it's disappointing to speak in that way.
What I will say about Enzo is in terms of him as a character, as a person, I've got no bad words to say about him, but I think a line was crossed in terms of our culture and what we want to build. So we had to make a sanction and that was a decision we've made. So it was a joint decision. And saying that the door is not closed on Enzo, that's very important. It's a sanction.
You have to protect, especially this football club. This is a winning football club with traditions of success.
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Chapter 2: Why was Enzo Fernández suspended by Chelsea?
You have to protect that culture. And I think in terms of that, the line was crossed in the international break. What there isn't, I'll make this very, very clear. There is not a rift in the dressing room. There's not a group of players who are not speaking to another group of players. We are together, and me included.
Right then, Frank Leboeuf is with us, Kieran Gibbs as well. In Spain, we welcome in Ian Dugg and Alois Garcia. We'll be hearing from them in a moment. But first, in the studio. I can't listen to that. Let's just keep this simple. Is this the right decision for Chelsea Football Club? No, not for Chelsea Football Club, no. What's all this? We're all aligned. We're all, oh, it's just gobbledygook.
I mean, unless we've missed something, he was asked... about which city he may want to live in at some point. What's he supposed to say in an interview? I can't give you the name of a city. Because I might be suspended. I mean, how stupid does that sound? So what's wrong with saying Madrid? He didn't say, I want to go to Madrid in the summer. I've had enough of this club.
Chapter 3: What were Enzo Fernández's comments about living in Madrid?
They're a bunch of muppets. They're useless. I want to leave. And Madrid is where I want to go. He didn't say that. I mean, they're just cutting their nose off to spite their face. And as for Liam Rossignol and his press conferences, they just get worse by the day. And Frank, you said that he just sort of said nothing, not mention Madrid at all.
Yeah, don't say anything. You know that's a trick. You know that you're going to fall for it and you don't say anything. You never mention anything. You say you're going to go back after you carry maybe in Argentina. You're going to live in Buenos Aires. You don't mention Madrid, especially after some days. We live in a world of freedom of speech. Come on. This is stupid.
Of course, but you live in a world of interpretation as well. People have the right to know what you mean when you say you want to live in Madrid. Because four days ago, you said you might go to Real Madrid, that you might go somewhere, and you will discuss about it. believe that's the only thing that he said to have two games suspended.
I think he clearly said something about Madrid, maybe Real Madrid. It's what he explained March 18th, that he maybe will talk about something after with his agent and after with Chelsea. But it clearly meant that he wanted to leave. I mean, or maybe thinking about it. Unless you have a problem with the club, you don't say anything. If you love the club... Shut up!
You work... So if he goes in, if Enzo Fernandes or any other player goes in to the manager or the chief executive or whatever one of the multiple sporting directors they've got and says, I don't want to be at this club anymore and here's a written transfer request, which you don't really see many times these days, but what if a player was to do that at Chelsea and make it known they want to leave?
Unless he doesn't go public.
Is that a suspension?
No, because it doesn't go public. Yes, it does. Liam Roussignor was talking about respecting the club, and when you go public, you don't respect the club anymore.
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Chapter 4: How did Chelsea's management respond to Fernández's comments?
And again, if you have no problem with the players, you are the vice-captain, you don't open your mouth. You don't say you want to leave.
Frank, don't you think, you just brought up it's the interpretation, right? Don't you think the problem is the people that are doing the interpreting? They're the ones that have decided that he's talking against the club, nobody else. Anybody who's been involved in football has seen this and heard this story a thousand times and know that it's a catch. He maybe said the wrong word.
But these people, all of a sudden, for some reason, because there's maybe some noise around this, think they're going to have to do something. And the reason that they're doing the wrong thing is because in general, they don't know what they're doing. Every time they make a decision, every time they make a move, it's usually the wrong one. And yet again, they've done it.
So, Frank, would you have suspended him for two games? Just the question. Would you have suspended him for two games?
No, I think they went too far. No, they went too far. But they should go public and say, next time you shut up and go ahead. Because they need Enzo Fernandez on the field. The best of Enzo Fernandez, for sure. But they went too far. I agree with that. But do you really think that the guy who asked the question to Enzo Fernandez, what do you want to leave soon, doesn't know the answer?
That he doesn't feel the guy's going to answer to it? The guy is so naive that he's going to...
What if he says Madrid?
He's got an agent. The point is there. They want to go there. The media, they want to go, Craig, I'm sorry. The guy doesn't do it randomly. He knows where it goes. He knows how Enzo is going to answer. And he's going to fall for it. And he's going to be, we are talking about it. He's breaking news. Well done. Well done, the journalist.
And well done, Enzo, for answering what the guy wanted you to say.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Fernández's suspension for Chelsea?
I SAID HE IS WELL WITHIN HIS
Yeah, well, that's OK, Craig, but you kind of said that... I mean, don't you agree that he's kind of saying, come and sign me, Real Madrid, I'm out there if you want me? Well, then, well... That's how I read it.
Well, yeah, and listen, he's well probably within his rights to throw that in if he wants, because, as we well know, if he wants Real Madrid to come and sign him, all he's got to do is throw that out there or talk to his agent. So I think we're blowing this way out of proportion. There's lots of players at lots of clubs that are unhappy and frustrated.
There's lots of players that give interviews and say things. If you're going to suspend people every time they say something that may be deemed that they're trying to leave a football club, then you'd be suspending people all the time. He was asked the question. I don't deny that there is something in wanting to go to Spain.
And I don't deny either that the fella might want to take his family and live in Madrid. But I think he's fully entitled to say so. Luis, you get the last word on it.
It's not the last word. I got my opinion, my way of seeing how this happened, and I think that we are missing something. There is something that we are missing inside there, because there is no point for a team that is challenging and fighting to get in the top four. Something that on these days is massive, huge, that you put one of your best players just at two games back.
There is something we are missing, probably because there's been a talk between Enzo and Real Madrid, and it's been clear that Sorry, Real Madrid or Atletico de Madrid. Something that we are missing there because just a player mentioning that he would like to live in Madrid. Ojetafe, yes.
That we would like to live in Madrid doesn't make any sense that a club takes the decision to ban him for two games. This has no sense at all. So there's something that we're missing. There's no player... You don't know?
Are you inside of the dressing room?
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Chapter 6: How does the suspension affect Chelsea's upcoming FA Cup match?
I cannot... I cannot find a pathway for this current Liverpool side, particularly if the Brighton game is the barometer, to win this match. I just can't. Who was the other person that said Liverpool? That was me. Go on. Kiss of death there, Kieran. Well, actually, there's more of a method to my score. I haven't been the most accurate this year when it's come to predictions.
And I think if Man City win, I actually prefer Man City to win because it will mean they have more games. Because if Arsenal win tomorrow, that means that their Premier League games will get rearranged. So that's a bit concerning for me because then if City go out... That means that they'll play their games ahead of Arsenal's and we'll have games in hand.
And I just worry that they'll start creeping closer to the top of the league. So I'm hoping that City win. But because of my predictions this season have been wrong, I went for a Liverpool win. Right. Because he wants Manchester City to win. It's the old double bluff. It's the double bluff. Ian, you're a professional. Still not held one reason why Liverpool have only won.
Let me give you a couple of stats. I know Craig will take them, Mickey, because I'm a commentator giving you stats. But Manchester City are 18 games. 18 games unbeaten at home in domestic games. Liverpool have been atrocious away. They've lost their last three away games. The last one at Brighton. I covered them at Nottingham Forest recently. I couldn't believe how bad they were in that game.
So they're going to have to be quite a big turnaround from Liverpool away from home to get anything at Manchester City.
Why didn't you tell Luis those stats before we came on here? No, that's it. Three games then in the FA Cup for you tomorrow, live on ESPN+. It starts early for Stevie, a man who only got out of bed at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Manchester City against Liverpool at 7.30. Chelsea-Port Vale then, obviously, without Enzo. And then Saints against Arsenal. We're on here at 7.15. Yes, kick off 7.45.
I'm being told 7.30. Okay. Okay, there you are. West Ham leads. Make your mind up. An extra 15 minutes in. Oh, lovely. There you go.
From 30 for 30 podcast.
Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gunned down.
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Chapter 7: What critiques did Marc Cucurella make about Chelsea's transfer policy?
But you brought it up.
You don't understand half the things that we talk about. Good job.
You're the one who brought it up, aren't you? Again, you don't understand what I was talking about when I brought, when I brought, sitting in front, the back four up. Okay. So you can't turn and do your usual Dan Thomas nonsense about, you said, you brought it up. Okay. Can I leave it at that? Right, okay. See, right wing, right wing's the easiest position. Probably is.
Because all you've got to do is stand on the touchline. Okay.
There you go, right wing. Right wing. All right, then, perfect. Mo Salah. Mo Salah's Robbie. Oh, you hit Mo Salah. That's the easiest position.
Yeah, that's the easiest position. Stand on the wing and wait for it to come to you. Okay. We know that Frank and Kieran have... We know that Frank and Kieran have, but have Craig and Stevie ever been mistaken for another player? Frank, obviously, we always talk about Fabian Barthez with Frank. Kieran, obviously, Oxlade-Chamberlain, commit the foul, but you've got a sense of.
Oh, you mean mistaken identity on the field? No, in life. No. Steve? I don't think so. What's interesting, me and Kieran were talking about the Oxlade-Chamberlain thing. Kieran, am I right in saying you never told the referee that you got the wrong person because you didn't want to snitch? No, I told him he got the wrong person, but he asked me who the player was.
And I said, I'm not going to tell you that. That's your job. That's not my job. So I told him that it wasn't me and it was another player. But you wouldn't tell him the player? But I didn't tell him who the player was, no.
Would you have done the same thing? I don't know if that had any influence.
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