OTB Football
FOOTBALL DAILY: Your guide to the final round of Champions League action, how can Ireland make the most of their winter football facilities and O'Sullivan's return to Liverpool
28 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
OffTheBall. Rugby.
It is a poison chalice that all black, you know, coach, you don't win. You need 90% success rate and you need to win the rugby championship every year and you need to win the World Cup when that comes and then that's okay.
You get a thumbs up from the public.
Join in the obsession. Subscribe now at OffTheBall.com forward slash join. OffTheBall's Football Daily. Hello and welcome along to Wednesday's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. Coming up today, we look ahead to a huge night in the Champions League with all 36 teams in action to decide who goes through to the knockout stages. Is summer football the only way to go in Ireland?
And Denise Sullivan explains why she left the US to join Liverpool. But first, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he feels good about their position in the Champions League despite preferring to have more points.
City are at home to Turkish side Galatasaray tonight in their final group game City have to win to be in with a chance of avoiding a playoff like last season when they went on to lose to Real Madrid Guardiola is well aware a win mightn't be enough for a top 8 finish We'll see the result in the last 5-10 minutes how is our result and after that we'll see so we have to focus on winning our game that is the key
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says his players have to enjoy the position they're in. They hold a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League and remain alive in all four competitions. A win at home to Cairo tonight would also guarantee they finish in first place with eight wins from eight.
The excitement, that conviction, that energy, that will is the way you have to live when you want to achieve a dream, when you want to achieve something that you play for 10 months. Because out of that, a lot of incredible things happen. are going to emerge. Some of the things that we cannot even imagine.
Christian Norgard insists he's happy at Arsenal despite struggling for minutes this season. The Denmark international is mostly featured from the bench and is still waiting for his first Premier League start since his move from Brentford.
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Chapter 2: What are the key highlights of the final round of Champions League action?
I can say if we improve in both boxes I think we're able to win something this season and if we only improve in one box it's going to be really difficult to win something this season. Liverpool winger Jeremy Frimpong admits the competition has taken on greater importance this season given their struggles in the Premier League.
Obviously everybody wants to play in the Champions League. Champions League is one of the biggest competitions out there so everybody wants to show what they've got in the Champions League so obviously we're going to give it our all and hopefully we can get to where we want to get.
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank hopes to have a busy end to the transfer window. A deal to bring in Scotland captain Andy Robertson from Liverpool has fallen through. With Liverpool deciding they want to hold on to him, Frank says they're working hard behind the scenes to add to the squad.
Of course, when things are not exactly where we want it and we have some injuries, you can be pushed and forced to take decisions you don't really want to take. So we need to be very, very smart and cool and calm and take good decisions to help us to optimise short-term success, but also secure long-term success.
Thomas Frank is also hoping the Champions League progression will bring a positive feeling to the club. He's faced calls to be sacked from fans in recent weeks with Spurs down at 14th place in the Premier League but they can seal a place in the top eight of the Champions League tonight with a win away to Eintracht Frankfurt.
That's what we are focusing everything we can on. The other thing is that I think the performances set for a while have been good in many ways. We just haven't got on the right side enough.
Chelsea boss Leymar Senior says there's no point in discussing reports that Cole Palmer wants to join Manchester United.
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Chapter 3: What does Pep Guardiola say about Manchester City's Champions League ambitions?
There's been speculation the midfielder is unsettled at Stamford Bridge and would be open to a move to the club he supported as a child.
It's so unrealistic. It's come from nowhere. There's nothing in it. There's no reason to have the conversation. That's where I'm at. Cole is very happy. I've had numerous conversations with him, thoughts on how we can make this team better, how he can improve and how I can help him.
Chelsea will look to guarantee themselves a place in the last 16 of the Champions League when they face Napoli away from home. Chelsea are in 8th place in goal difference. A win may not be enough though, depending on the teams behind them in terms of the goal difference. Chelsea are up against their old manager Antonio Conte. Napoli have ambitions of their own to win the game.
They're currently 25th, just one point outside the playoffs. The Serie A champions have former Premier League players Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hoyland in their squad, but Conte says Chelsea's spending power puts them on another level.
Every coach wants to sign young players, but if a young player pays 60, 70, 80, 120 million like Casedo or 130 million like Fernandes, it's not for all the club, especially in Italy.
Ahead of that game in Naples, Chelsea averaged fans to exercise extreme caution after two supporters needed hospital treatment in the Italian city. The club say the fans sustained non-life-threatening injuries, but it hasn't been confirmed exactly what happened. Newcastle boss Eddie Howes says going up against holders PSG will be the ultimate test.
A win in Paris would secure them a place in the last 16. We've got to try and enjoy every moment because they're so precious. I think all the competitions we're in, as you go through them, you're seeking that experience, but you're seeking the reward at the end of it. And we're all determined to try and do as well as we can. This will be a great game for us, but we want to win.
I think we're conditioned to think that way. Eddie Howe will be without midfielder Jolington due to injury, while captain Bruno Gimmerich faces a late fitness test. Meanwhile, Anthony Gordon says he feels like a victim of his own success as he tries to rediscover the blistering form that earned him an England call-up.
He scored six times in the Champions League this season, but he hasn't found the net from open play in the Premier League since January of last year.
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Chapter 4: How does Mikel Arteta emphasize the importance of enjoying the current position?
I think in the Champions League, teams are much more open. They all try and play. It's less transitional. I think in the Premier League, it's become more physical than I've ever known it to be. It's like a basketball game sometimes. It's so relentless physically. It's become a lot slower and a lot more set-piece based, I would say.
Holders PSG are sixth in the table and hoping to avoid the playoff round, although it did them no harm last season. Luis Enrique's team failed to beat Newcastle when the sides met on the group stage back in 2023, which adds an extra edge to tonight's clash.
It was two years ago and a lot of players came, a lot of players left. We are the same coaches and the last match against them it was at home. We drew that match and we are much better than that match. We are confident.
Some of the other games to look out for tonight in the Champions League. Jose Mourinho's Benfica need a win over his old side Real Madrid to have any chance of reaching the top 24. After last week's heroic win over Manchester City, Bodo Glimt still have a chance of qualifying but they'd have to beat Atletico Madrid away from home. Atleti still have their eyes on a top 8 finish themselves.
Barcelona are currently 9th, one place outside the last 16 automatic places and they host Copenhagen who themselves are just outside the top 24 and can still qualify automatically. All 18 games tonight kick off at 8 o'clock. Now there was another episode of Outside the Box this week where Matthew Brennan, Ben Symes and David Wilson discussed all things Irish football.
On the agenda was the best of the Irish in the EFL, Ireland's forgotten man Alan Brown, the World Cup in Trump's America and Owen Eldon's impending move from Sligo Rovers to Hibs. The lads delving into the fee Sligo will receive here. 12 goals last season, a place in the PFAI team of the year, young player of the year.
Sligo Starman is on the verge of a move to Scottish side Hibernians for a six-figure sum with a number of add-ons that could potentially see that figure rise significantly. Yeah, look, I know there was kind of hopes and rumours that he might go for a million or maybe a little bit more.
I know that he did sign a contract extension as well mid-year through last year, but it's hard for these clubs to try and get this money out of... out of clubs across the water, out of clubs in Europe. And quite clearly he was one of the best players in the league last year, never mind one of the best young players.
I'd be quite, after telling Johnny Kenny to get out of Celtic a few weeks ago, I'd be quite actually enthused about this move to Hibernian because it's a team that he could get into. Hibernian have improved over the last couple of months. I know I've been on about this before, but this kind of football data model of signing players from all over Europe,
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Chapter 5: What challenges is Christian Norgaard facing at Arsenal?
Europe and further afield and try and improve them. And there are obviously characteristics and attributes that Owen Elding has that Hibs are really enthused about and really kind of think that they can maybe take this player to the next level. And I think it's a good step up as well. The big thing for me would be the fee.
I thought they could probably command a little bit more and I know he is under contract for another year. Owen Elding has 12 goals last season. He was in the team of the year. I really thought they could command a bit of a bigger fee. He's going to Hibs where obviously Kieran Bowie is up top. He's got an international. He's run eight goals in the SPL so far this season.
It always just depends on what their plans are for him.
He's 19. He's not going in there as a child who's going to sit in the academy for a couple of years. I can imagine he's going in there to... to play and the level at which that will be is obviously a point of contention as to how good the Scottish league actually is.
It is a league where you could go and play, it's a team where you can go and play especially if someone like Kieran Bowie does leave. Going in January maybe that's another thing with him where it gives him a couple of months to settle and next season is where you see what he gets on.
If you're listening and I know myself sometimes at home you don't fully understand why clubs aren't getting the fees, a huge factor in that is facilities. So when specifically an English club come in and try and buy your player, everything is taken into account.
So when Victor Oswin-Vuna went to Arsenal, Sean McGovers can point to roadstone facilities and go, he's been training at top level facilities since he was eight. So they can command a higher fee. With Sligo, obviously you don't have those facilities yet. out in the West that they're training in. And it plays a huge factor into these clubs, the risk you're going into by them.
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Chapter 6: What insights does Eddie Howe provide on Newcastle's injury concerns?
That's available for you now in your OTB Football podcast feed for free to listen back to. The lads also discuss the football calendar in the country and whether summer football is the way to go for the entire country.
And broadcaster and journalist Tommy Martin joined Owen Sheehan on the football show last night and pleaded with the powers that be to have more imagination when coming up with ways to get young people playing football in the winter months. Yes, there are challenges with having soccer played in the better weather, but they're really, really easy to overcome.
And the whole thing is, OK, if you want to play football in winter, please come up with something better than football. looking out the window, hoping that that big black cloud or that, you know, Carlow weather is not going to give me bad news. Let's try and figure out better ways to get kids playing competitive football over these winter months that don't involve, you know, saturated pitches.
Yeah, like what, Tommy? it's a little bit of imagination, you know, and I do know that like in the pathways plan, there was a proposal that like those real dark depths of winter months would be the traditional sort of games would be replaced by sort of futsal for the younger ages and things like that. And I think the kickback there from people like the DDSL, for example, is fine.
Who's going to run that? Who's going to man that? Are you going to staff it? Are we going to staff it? We don't have employees to run full time. You know, it was, it was something like a, that that you know one of the things that really discovered the whole plan was that a lot of it was kind of like very very aspirational and you know can it really happen but you know realistically
what we need to do is, yeah, okay, we want kids to still play football. Let's look at what facilities we have. Okay, first thing we obviously want is a government that will really invest in, you know, indoor facilities, astroturf pitches, like a government that would make it a huge plank to say we are going to revolutionise the Irish municipal sports facility offering.
And to be fair, in recent governments, it has come a long way from a very, very low base. I think everybody might have seen various graphs that we are lowest of the whole EU at one point in recent times in terms of investment in facilities. There is a lot more going in, but can you make that, actually, this is a national cause now?
That's a hard ask when there's a housing crisis and lots of other issues as well. So apart from that, can we look at every community has school halls, school playgrounds, there are Astroturf facilities out there. Do we look at our facilities that we have over the winter months and say, What we're going to do is we're going to have small-sided,
football tournaments, we're going to get, you know, every club is going to try and, you know, get into the local school hall and run indoor nights. If there's an Astro available, why are we fixated on 11-a-side matches for 12-year-olds?
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Chapter 7: Why does Luis Enrique seek revenge for PSG against Newcastle?
And also that all the players seem a lot happier playing there. So this will have come as a big shock. Yeah, a big shock because the narrative around the two teams is when are Liverpool going to get their first win of the season? And are Spurs a legitimate part of the race to the Champions League? And both those things were answered. Liverpool got their first win of the season.
And no, I don't actually think Spurs are in the race right now. Liverpool, for the first time, looked like they had...
more energy than their opposition I thought Chilag up front I thought she was very very impressive for her debut obviously she came off and Enderby her replacement was key to the two goals Kerry Holland she's been outstanding for Liverpool and I think Gareth Taylor praised her after the game and rightly so because she's been one player who's been consistently good and consistently driving them forward
And then we have our own Denise got her first yellow card for Liverpool as well so she's putting herself about there. Her partnership with, you know, she knows Nagano so she'll be comfortable straight away. She looked to me to be playing in a more advanced role but we know
and Gary Taylor was talking about Liverpool being on the front foot and yes when they kind of got into this game and they saw that Spurs were kind of on the ropes it's okay to be on the front foot but I think at times Liverpool will have to bank in a little bit and we all know the work that Denise can do defensively so I think she will add a lot to the team as a whole we kind of spoke a little bit about it last week but it's a huge decision for her it's a brave decision for her going to a struggling team in the WSL going from where she was and
so you just have to give her a huge amount of respect for that and yeah Liverpool like they left it very very late 94th and 95th I was going to say the scoreline doesn't actually actually really show how close the game was for a long time like as you say 94th and 95th minute this wasn't you know Liverpool scored in the first half and then kind of
polished it off in a second but someone like Denise there she has she spent so long in one particular league she's been a captain there you know players, MVP like her list of achievements is so long and I think she's the sort of senior voice that Liverpool were kind of missing on the pitch a little bit
And if you want to listen back to both of those podcasts, you can do so now for free in your OTB football podcast feed. And just one bit of transfer news before we finish up. West Ham have completed the signing of winger Adama Traore from Fulham. The 30-year-old has moved across London for an undisclosed fee and will be reunited with Nuno Espirito Santo, who he played under at Wolves.
That's about all we have time for in today's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. I'll be back with more tomorrow. To unlock much more from the OTB Football Feed sign up at offtheball.com forward slash join now.
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