Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Gab, he's Jules. Gray and miserable skies over West London. The sort that makes you want to stay in bed and crawl under the covers. Yes. That's how we felt this morning. Not that we sleep in the same bed or spend that much time together. Sorry to disappoint you there. But we still have a ton to talk about. We came out and we braved the elements for this show because, Jules, plenty going on.
Barcelona advancing 2-1 in the Copa del Rey against Albacete. Inter also advancing in the Copa Italia. And, of course, we had the League Cup.
Yes, we have our finalists.
As some people like to call it. Sponsors mainly. Manchester City and Arsenal are two finalists. Yeah. Kind of reflecting first and second in the league, I guess. Absolutely, yeah. Probably the two best teams. We'll get to City later, but we're going to start with Arsenal and Chelsea. This was what you might call the tactical battle. Yeah. All right.
Arsenal won with a goal from the best on earth in garbage time. Kai Havertz, of course, against his old club. Prior to that, it was nil-nil for, well, obviously it was nil-nil. So Liam Rossini got killed from some people for the approach that he took, which I'm going to sum this up.
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Chapter 2: How is Barcelona performing in the Copa del Rey?
He had some injury concerns, just devout, not ready to start. Cole Palmer, he came out and said, quite honestly, I'm managing his minutes. Obviously, the medical staff in the ascendancy these days at Stamford Bridge. Reached James failing a late fitness test. And he gave us a lineup we hadn't seen before. Three at the back, Jarrell Hato being one of the three.
Almost effectively at times a front three with Enzo, Joe Pedro, and De Lappe coming in from the right-hand side. It looked like they were happy to keep the game close, pick their spots, and then maybe go for it in the last 15 to 30 minutes. I don't have a problem with that approach, given they were 3-2 down from the first half. I'm going to guess you're going to say, I do because it didn't work.
Yeah, exactly. And I can see what he was doing. I've got no problem with him trying something different, for sure. And he was right at the end. He said, if we play a normal tactic, if you want a normal system, normal football, and then we were 2-0 down after 10 minutes, and then you would have said that I should have done something different. So in that sense, he's right.
The only thing I would say, and having been at the game, Chelsea at the start of the game are out of this league. They're not in the final. And in a way, his system and his tactics and the game plan played so much, too much in the hands of Arsenal, who just were like, okay, so you're not going to attack us. We're going to do what we do best, which is control the game, control the ball.
And that's exactly what they did.
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Chapter 3: Why didn't Chelsea take more risks against Arsenal?
And I think for him then to change, to go to the back four, to bring Estevao, Ko Palmer, Ko Palmer on the right side at the beginning, which makes no sense anyway, but it doesn't matter. It was too little, too late, I felt. And at times they moved the ball well.
And I just think if you had actually started on the front foot or it'd be more in a more attacking way than doing nothing in that first half apart from that Enzo shot, really, and then there was not much more in the second half anyway, you probably could have caused Arsenal more problems. But maybe you would have still lost. Maybe you would have lost 2-0.
Maybe you would have been 2-0 down after 15 minutes. I would rather my team being knocked out after trying than being knocked out without trying, because they didn't really try. Even at the last 10, 15 minutes, when they put us under pressure, it was just not enough from them. And that's the only reserve I have about his tactics. I disagree a little bit.
I think you've got a guy who's come in there. The squad is really badly constructed. It's an alibi for him. It's an alibi for Enzo Maresca. You can say, oh, look, we've put all these. You have a Panini sticker collection of young talent, some of which is injured, some of which is just. He came out before. He's like, well, we have to manage Cole Palmer's minutes.
I mean, OK, this is what the medical staff is. Yeah, I think it's not fair. You could tell. Fine.
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Chapter 4: What were the tactical decisions made by Chelsea's coach?
Okay, fine. At some point, somebody's got some god of some medicine and science to come out and say how this guy who's 23 years old, who has had time off, how this guy seems to need his minutes managed. Rhys James fails a late fitness test. And so you decide to go and try something different. I'm not going to fault somebody for trying something different.
I think if you go head-to-head and you attack Arsenal the way Arsenal are right now, with the players that Arsenal had out there and with the guys they could bring in off the bench, I think you were going to... You were losing anyway.
Yeah.
If this were the first leg, I could say, okay, yeah, I understand. But you were out. At the start of the game, you are out. You're not in the final. You are out. And through the game, the problem is that I like Liam. I can see what he's trying to do, obviously. But at the start of the game, you were out. And you did nothing really through the game to not be out.
And at the end of the game, you were out. And that's the only thing. If he'd been a first leg... He did do something.
He would say, like, okay, if he were here, he would say, well, Jules, I did bring on Palmer. I did bring on other players with half an hour to go. That was the plan, right? No, no, no. Keep it nil-nil, and then strike, take it to extra time, and then see what happens.
Yeah, but that's what I mean. The plan didn't work, and I really think that... Because when Parma came on and when that team that played the last 15, when they put them under pressure, although, as we said, not much happened with it, but still, I think you start with that team if you could. Again, maybe Parma was not fair enough to start the game and things like that.
Maybe Estevao was not ready to start the game either. Okay, I get it. But at least you start like that and you try and you go for it. That's the only thing I would say. I understand it. But then to play Ko Pama on the right-hand side, which is clearly the discussion he had with Noni Madwika at the end. Again, that's completely counterproductive. It makes no sense.
We're about two-thirds of the season done. 24 games played in the Premier League. Arsenal have a six-point lead over Manchester City. As you know, if you project it out, I think Arsenal are going to win around 83 points, which... they've had more points in past seasons and won the title.
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Chapter 5: How did Arsenal manage to control the game?
So... I think if all the planets align well for them on top of everything that we said, it could be a very productive season.
I think the key element is going to be down the stretch in those big games, in those big head-to-heads. They have the head-to-head coming up with Manchester City, which I think is at the head-to-head, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, yeah. Again, you can budget for a loss there and still have a three-point cushion.
City certainly don't look like a team that's going to win every other game the rest of the season. So as long as you manage the results, you keep that cushion, you can manage your way through. I don't even know that... In the past, I would have said, well, if Saliba goes out, you've got a problem. Obviously, you're a much worse team if you lose Saliba, for example. Yeah.
But with the guys they have, I mean, Gabriel has shown he can be just as much of a leader in a different way. I mean, he's not as good on the ball as Saliba is, but he brings other qualities to the table. Like I said, Rice is maybe the only one who does not have a natural replacement. Mika Merino is out. Not that he would be a replacement for Rice, but he would be a body in the mix.
When I think... to myself what can go wrong for Arsenal. I don't see too many things right now. Potentially,
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Chapter 6: What updates are there on Cristiano Ronaldo's situation in Saudi Arabia?
potentially longer term, I don't know if this is a way to approach, I don't know if this sort of large squad thing necessarily works longer term. Because then you, longer term, but then we're talking about next season and maybe you deal with that next season. Next season you might have an issue where Eze says, oh, this is great. I got a big pay rise, I won the title, but I want to play regularly.
Or, you know, Madueke might say that or whatever, right? But that's down the road. Kai Havertz might definitely say that. Yeah. The other bizarre thing about Arsenal is that their leading goal scorer in the league is Victor Gyokuris, who has six goals. And number two is Trossard, who's got five goals. And then they have a bunch of guys on four goals.
For years, it's been one of the cliches in football. Oh, you need a 20-goal season scorer up front, blah, blah, blah. I love the fact that they've taken this myth that people keep repeating over and over again. Now, you didn't buy into this myth because France, of course, won a World Cup with Stéphane Guivarch up front. No scoring, yeah. Oh, Olivier Giroud no scoring in a World Cup.
Yeah, but Olivier Giroud was more handsome than Guivarch, so he gets away with it.
But yeah, I mean, you spread it out. I still think that if one of them would score 20 goals in a season in the league, Arteta would be very happy too. And if it were Kai Havertz, he would. But it's also what they wanted, different profiles, different options, different variation, that way you can do tactically. As long as...
you keep scoring and they're the second best attack in the league and I think they're the top four expected goals this season in the league, then that's fine because it's not that Gukaris is only on six and Trossard on five and et cetera, et cetera, because they don't actually create enough. They do and they could, should create more, sure, outside of set pieces.
But I'm like you, I don't really see any negative in spreading out those goals through the season. And if they all finish with 15 each in all competitions, for example, like four and 15, that would be enough, I think, for them to win some of the trophies that we mentioned.
All right, let's go to Chelsea now. In terms of health check, where they are... I think the goal has to be finishing the Champions League spots and obviously go as far as you can in the Champions League and I guess FA Cup. How well placed do you think they are to do that? They've just added some depth at the back in Amadou Sarr. And if you could talk a little bit about what he brings.
And no, this is not Malang Sarr, who they signed a few years ago, whose name also starts with an M, has the same last name. It's a different dude.
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Chapter 7: What impact did injuries have on Chelsea's game plan?
Right now, he's not better than Chalobah and Fofana in this kind of environment. Obviously, it's not comparable. But I think at time, or with time, He can become a really, really good centre-back.
I think this is a necessary signing because Levi Colwell's injury meant that they were a person short. I think if you look at the way other people have developed, Fofana, I'm sorry, his injury record speaks for itself. It's not somebody that you can say, oh, look, I can count on him. I think Chalaba has had to carry a lot of weight this season.
I don't know that Tosin's fine in certain situations, not in others. Badiashio wasn't even supposed to be there. So you're short. And Ashton Pong, who I think is a phenomenal footballer, he's kind of almost that tweener in the sense that at centre-back position, People look at him and say, are you too small, not physical enough? And at fullback, are you not gifted enough on the ball?
Because obviously he likes his fullbacks to play, or as a club, that's how they are. My question still is, in the past I talked about Caicedo and Palmer dependency. Palmer's had so many ups and downs, and now this business with managing the minutes.
If you manage the minutes in the wrong game, because you want players to develop and at the same time succeed, it really puts your manager in a really, really difficult position. Because look, I have to give Jamie Giddens matches. I have to give Garnaccio minutes. I have to give Andre Santos minutes.
You know, it's a big ask to trying to develop Andre Santos as your first defensive option off the bench and at the same time getting him to grow as a player. Yeah, yeah. Not everybody can do that at that age.
No, and that's one of the challenges for Liam Rossignol, who I think has done really well since surviving. And I know some people don't like the glasses. Some people are mocking him for that touch he missed on Tuesday in the game. which I think is a bit harsh too.
But I think he's, one, very smart, two, very good as a coach, three, probably the right guy to coach and develop young players, there's no doubt. Is this enough for Chelsea Football Club right now? If you're a fan, not if you're the club, if you're the club, clearly he's enough.
If you're a fan, maybe not, and I can understand why you have... If you're a fan, what you notice is the results have been there because other than the two Arsenal games, he's won every other one, right?
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Chapter 8: Could Lionel Messi return to play for Newell's Old Boys?
All right. But you got Villa in there, which is nice. Yeah, we just about stayed up. All right, enough Arsenal. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, guys. Manchester City rolled to a 3-1 win over Newcastle in the League Cup semifinals. 3-0 in game over at halftime. Jules, Pep benched. Rodri, Schurke in Holland.
How did his replacements do? But they did well, obviously, because, as you said, they were 3-0 up, they were 1-0 up with Marmouch early on, and then two, and it was too easy for them, and we go back to game plans, as we mentioned, for Rossignol and Chelsea, because Ediha went with a back five as well, like he did in Paris, and once again... He worked better in Paris to some extent.
Then this time, even if Alanga should have scored before his goal, actually. And after his goal too, even more so, when the Harvey Barnes chance. Yeah, I still think that it was not enough. And I still think that Eddie Hasso, this game, has not the priority. The priority being the league and finishing in top five, to go back to the chat that we had before.
and they need Champions League money and football for next season, which they don't have right now, because otherwise, how can you play Volta Madre in a game like this when you know, and we all know, that the City defensive line will be very, very high, and yet you've got this number nine who cannot run in behind because that's not his game instead of Ouissa.
He's very tall, so he's got long legs. He can take large steps.
Well, that's probably in Eddie Howe's dream because in reality, that's not happening. So it was a crazy lineup from Eddie Howe that obviously didn't work out.
They were too nailed down from the first leg. They weren't going to overturn it anyway.
So that's what I mean. It was another priority. He didn't care. Mo Pep, Gabi gave a pretty extraordinary press conference prior to this game, so on Tuesday, where he veered away from football.
Yeah, I mean, I wasn't there, but I read the accounts of it. I saw the transcript. This comes on the back of him on Thursday speaking in Barcelona about where, again, he kind of went outside of football into what's going on in the world. Um...
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