Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / UWCL Contenders Weekend Review | Barcelona Lyon Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Bayern Wolfsburg Real Madrid

Transcript

UWCL Contenders Weekend Review | Barcelona Lyon Chelsea Man Utd Arsenal Bayern Wolfsburg Real Madrid · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Oh hey, welcome to into channel podcast primer about women's
0:09
football. I'm my host Dino de Suspicious
0:11
and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:14
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:17
Those were some real hoops that were being played over the
0:21
weekend. A lot of bangers, especially for
0:23
the teams we care about. I mean, there's eight in
0:26
particular that we're getting busy in Europe and I think very
0:30
varying degrees of like stuff to to kind of key in on because,
0:34
you know, as we know, you know what we were locked into these
0:37
champions teams. Four of them, you know, weren't
0:40
in action recently. Another four were.
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And kind of interesting to see, you know, how that you know,
0:45
played into this past weekend's result.
0:47
I kind of want to like dig into each of these teams.
0:50
I surprised you a little bit. I got to give you a little
0:53
warning pre show that I had something for you.
0:55
It's nothing crazy. But what I want to do is I want
0:58
to look at the eight teams that are still alive in Champions
1:02
League. Look at what they, you know,
1:03
kind of their their recent form, but more specifically what they
1:07
did this past weekend and ascribe to them an error rating,
1:11
either that it's pointing up, it's pointing down, or it's
1:15
middling and it's just looking to its left and it's right.
1:20
OK, that's fair. I can handle that.
1:22
This is the kind of this is the kind of curveball that I am able
1:26
to hit, unlike my high school baseball.
1:28
Career. Let's go.
1:30
All right, let's make some decent contact here.
1:32
Mr. Grant Ingle, where you going to get started?
1:34
Let's get started with a beverage, man.
1:36
Let's go. Look, I think all of our pals,
1:40
they're out there working hard. We're working hard.
1:43
We got a lot of things going on. Let's just have a a a beverage
1:47
and enjoy the football. Cheers to that.
1:50
Cheers to working hard. Cheers to you, cheers to the
1:54
football I guess. Cheers to working hard.
1:56
Golly, does it have to be so? Does it have to be so hard all
2:00
the? Time goodness, let's work hard
2:04
on the show. Cheers to working hard on the
2:05
show there we go let's get to it.
2:09
I already asked this Mr. Granting this is this is a
2:11
little tricky because we've got we've got eight teams and I
2:13
threw Man City in there because I've got some Man City takes.
2:16
I want to talk about what they did in the FA Cup.
2:18
So technically we've got 7 matchups to talk about.
2:21
A real hodgepodge, you know, no, no real rhyme or reason to how
2:24
we're going to attack this. Mr. Granigo, how should we
2:26
attack these 7 matchups? We talked about doing them in
2:31
chronological order from when the teams played.
2:34
That's looking at the rundown. Is that how it actually shook
2:37
out? Might be well, I know Granada
2:43
Barcelona played first. We can start there.
2:46
Let's start there. Barcelona 2, Granada nil.
2:51
You know, depending on how you look at things, maybe you you
2:55
might want a bigger score line. But I think it, I think
2:57
Barcelona did the job. This one was interesting, I mean
3:02
you know 2 nil pretty thin score line.
3:05
The second you know the first goal is is the PK, the second
3:07
one is an Aisa Kamara just kind of like right place right time.
3:13
Was awesome to see her get the goal in really fun, kind of like
3:16
gleeful celebration from Kamara, but also not really like the
3:21
bars, the goals that were used to kind of seeing, you know, and
3:24
I've, I've talked about this before, you know, just the
3:27
natural limits of you lose, you know, maybe the best player in
3:30
the world, maybe the second best player in the world, maybe the
3:32
5th, 4th and 5th best player in the world.
3:33
And they just start to add up, you know, and I think like you
3:37
can see some talent there. And it wouldn't be, you know,
3:40
wouldn't surprise me if they won.
3:41
But you know, if this was another team that lost their top
3:44
2, 3-4, their five top, you know, like we would be like, oh,
3:48
this team's in major, major trouble.
3:49
But for whatever reason, since it's Barcelona, they still kind
3:52
of hold the mantle as favorites. I think that's fair.
3:57
But I'm starting to kind of look at things a little bit sideways
4:01
here. What what's been your take on on
4:03
kind of Barcelona and and maybe you know what what kind of shape
4:06
they're at this point in the year?
4:08
I think they have a great opportunity to build on their
4:12
already incredible depth. I think it gives, you know,
4:17
players kind of the opportunity to figure out who they are in
4:20
the context of Barcelona's style of play.
4:23
I mean, obviously we talked about like the the football and
4:26
culture at Barcelona. You bring players in, you
4:29
develop so many players from the Academy.
4:31
They live the Barcelona way of life, the Barcelona way of
4:34
playing football, and now they get to do it in actual league
4:38
action. They'll get to do it in in
4:40
Champions League action. Some of them have already been
4:42
doing it in Champions League action.
4:44
I thought it was good. Sarah Jordy plays the full 90
4:48
against Granada, puts up a good. But what I felt like was a
4:51
pretty good performance. And so, you know, you, you're
4:54
just going to get some experience for these players.
4:57
What? Sheridan Lyde played a little
5:02
more than an hour, I thought. Yeah, I thought she played about
5:04
an hour let's you know, if you're bar.
5:06
So just keep getting these players in into kind of into a
5:13
good rhythm. I think so.
5:16
And I think you look at some of the spots on the field like a
5:20
dig into the stats. It's one one was really, really
5:23
telling to me. You look at what bar SO is able
5:27
to do 602 touches in Granada's half, but only 67 touches in the
5:33
box. So it's like that's a lot of
5:36
time, you know, in that in that, you know, sort of like that 30
5:40
ish yard area, you know, between the 18 and and midfield where
5:45
you're just kind of like trying to trying to probe and figure
5:48
out what you can do. You know, no Alexia, no Itana,
5:51
you know, Patri comes in later. I think she logs like 26
5:54
minutes. What was really connecting
5:56
passes, you know, to high level, but you know, not that not the
5:59
same level of, you know, kind of like dominance, I would say in
6:03
the attacking midfield. And it definitely showed in that
6:05
number. Barsa still puts up a ton of
6:08
shots, 10 on target, but only one goal again from open play,
6:12
and that was Kamara on a little bit of a sloppy, you know, kind
6:15
of a sloppy action passing was there.
6:18
I think we kind of kind of sort of move on.
6:20
But let me hit me with an error rating.
6:22
Where are you with with Barcelona on your error rating?
6:24
I, I kind of, I kind of know where I'm at with Barsa.
6:27
Before I before I go to the arrow, I just want to point out
6:30
in the 64th minute, how's this for I mean, I know people have
6:34
been paying attention to hockey lately with the Olympics.
6:36
How's this for a line change? In the 64th minute, Barcelona
6:39
brought on Alexia Putea's Kika Nazareth, Patri Guejaro and
6:44
Selma Betiuello. Good Subs, coach, good Subs.
6:52
But you would. You want, You kind of would want
6:54
to see something then they knocks.
6:57
In some goals, right? Yeah, I think that's fair.
6:59
I think it's totally fair. You know, so it's like I don't
7:02
know we'll we'll see. I think you know Carlos Julia,
7:03
one of the newer players had a great game too.
7:05
I thought was was very effective yeah, kind of wide yes.
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I think that that's a real player for sure like kind of
7:11
ready to step right in and I think start making some waves
7:15
all right, but Barsa, we're not going to we're we're let's stay.
7:18
Oh, arrows. Sideways, let's go.
7:22
That's like, but it doesn't have to be going up like it's fine.
7:26
Like sideways is totally fine for them I think.
7:30
I think so too. I mean, it's still pretty early.
7:33
You know, if it's still sideways as we kind of are hitting the
7:35
stretch run, then then we can raise look some alarm bells.
7:38
But this is an experienced organization.
7:40
They kind of know what to do. Let's keep things chronological.
7:44
Marseille hosting Lyon. This was also some Saturday
7:48
action. Lyon 6, Marseille 2.
7:54
You know as the match starts, Lyon taking the pitch, jump by
7:58
Van Halen playing over the loudspeaker.
8:00
Got to get excited for that. I get up as well, gets me down,
8:08
might as well jump. All right, enough.
8:11
I thought the match was was weirdly a little open for the
8:14
1st 30 minutes, a little up and down.
8:17
Marseille didn't really they Marseille had some
8:20
opportunities. It felt like even though they I
8:23
think they recorded one shot in the first half, but it felt like
8:25
they had some opportunities, like in the center of Lyon's
8:28
defense, but they just kept getting out run by Tarsiani and
8:31
like multiple times were like, oh, little breakaway.
8:34
I don't know, like turns out Tarsiani is long stride and
8:36
she's faster than you. Yeah, this, this one was a fun
8:40
one. It was like some back and forth,
8:42
like, you know, the like, not quite preseason vibes, but
8:45
things were a little bit loose. You know, I think that the both
8:47
teams kind of want to play a little bit.
8:49
Marseille logs 6 shots to Lyon 17.
8:52
So both teams were were, you know, kind of like active from
8:56
that standpoint. Marseille I think did a great
8:58
job. So if you look at Lyon's
9:00
touches, 282 are in their own half, 198 in the opposition
9:03
half. So Lyon spent most of the day in
9:06
their defensive half with regard to touches.
9:09
When they did kind of advance the ball, they were able to kind
9:12
of get, you know, pretty good predation.
9:13
Obviously six goals on the day and I think the charge LED there
9:17
by Tabatha Chowinga, who obviously, you know, we rewind
9:21
back to, you know, her time with PSG, she's dominating, you know,
9:24
D1, our camera at that .2 years ago makes the move to Lyon.
9:28
Doesn't quite, you know, I don't want to say it doesn't quite
9:32
take, you know, gets minutes, gets opportunities.
9:35
But it seems like only now we're really starting to, you know,
9:41
get glimpses at what Chewinga at Lyon could look like.
9:45
And I think it it's borderline spectacular.
9:47
I thought she was awesome in this one.
9:50
Yeah, I mean the the speed, the skill, the smarts.
9:53
I loved her instincts and intelligence to stay on side
9:57
when she scored her second goal. She like her positioning was
10:00
perfect. It's it's one of those plays
10:02
where you see a lot of times where the the attacking player
10:04
just like it's in their brain to just try to cheat a little bit
10:08
and just try to get forward. And she was like, Nope, to take
10:10
one more half step back, stay on side and then she's wide open to
10:14
knock at home. Speaking of line changes, we're
10:18
we're talking hockey halftime, who comes on for Lyon, Damaris
10:26
du Monet, Bra and Becho. Yeah, let's go that.
10:31
That works. And just another two goals where
10:35
you know, roll rolling into the no dumenet right those three
10:37
goals yeah, just three goals just roll right into the game
10:41
chewing got the assist on the dumenet go if I'm if I'm
10:45
remembering correctly, I. Think so.
10:47
But really, I mean, a really nice game from from Leon's
10:52
attack, which we kind of wanted to see, you know, I think we're
10:57
going to see what what they they look like here.
10:59
The one thing that I'm worried about with Leon, I keep thinking
11:02
about last year, you know, and one of the things where I was
11:05
like, you know, I'm not really sure about them it I thought it
11:08
was going to bite them versus Barcelona and ends up biting
11:10
them around earlier versus Arsenal.
11:13
But I'm like, I don't like that they're not really getting
11:15
pushed domestically, you know, and they didn't really get
11:19
pushed in the Champions League group stage either last year.
11:21
They kind of cruised until they got to Arsenal and they just
11:25
didn't. They hadn't built up that metal
11:27
yet last year. I don't feel the same way about
11:30
them this year. I I feel like maybe it's the hit
11:33
out this effect, some new players, some new competition,
11:36
the lineups don't feel as as static.
11:38
It looks like it, you know, feels like you know, maybe it's
11:41
it's the turning of a page at Leo in a little bit, but I don't
11:45
know. What's your take last year
11:46
versus this year? Do you, do you feel like, you
11:49
know, like this is still one of the true blue contenders?
11:52
Or are they are they just a shade outside of that?
11:55
True blue contender for sure. You add Gerald as you add
12:01
Johannes, you add Brand. You know you.
12:05
I think they are, I think they could win it, man.
12:10
Like I guess it's probably not that bold to say for a team
12:13
that's won the trophy 8 times already, but I think they are,
12:19
they are kind of on a similar journey.
12:22
I think you're on the I understand like they're not
12:24
getting pushed domestically. I think that's totally fair.
12:27
Who knows if they're going to play Perry FC again though, who
12:29
will just magically give them a tough game?
12:32
I was going to push them, Yep. But I think everything that they
12:39
have, the speed, the skill, they're just kind of, they got
12:43
to figure out how to play Gerald as a system and they could be
12:46
peaking, they could end up peaking, they could end up
12:50
peaking at the right time. Easy for me to say.
12:54
I think I think so not the easy for you to say the part that
12:57
clearly was not true, but I think they could be beacon at
13:00
the right time. It could be they could also be
13:02
sleeping giant potential. You know, I think when it all
13:05
does, I think takes it to that level.
13:07
You know his his level of genius and you know his his track
13:10
record for sure. Corbin trader scores opening
13:14
goal a banger. I think another player that I
13:19
think, you know, if the leap is real, that's definitely
13:24
something. And and a player who logged 90
13:26
minutes in this one that you didn't mention another offseason
13:28
edition, Ashley Lawrence, you know, great to see Lawrence, you
13:32
know, just put up that many minutes and, you know, again,
13:35
work, work her way into the mix here.
13:38
I'm I'm starting to I'm not I'm not sure what I'm going to do
13:42
with my arrow. Yeah, I need another like 10 or
13:44
12 seconds to kind of decide here, but I do.
13:47
I am kind of like being like Leon, maybe some sleeping giant
13:50
potential because they haven't really been like an in style
13:56
pick for winning the title. I feel like there's a lot of
13:59
Arsenal, there's a lot of Chelsea, a lot of Barcelona.
14:01
I don't feel a lot. I don't hear a lot of people
14:03
picking Leona here to win the whole thing and I'm not sure
14:06
that that's the worst pick you could you could make at this
14:08
point. Definitely not.
14:10
I mean, I'm glad you say it. To quote the great David Lee
14:13
Roth, I ain't the worst that you see.
14:15
No. OK, you see what I mean?
14:17
What are you doing? What is this?
14:20
Well, I mean, they came out to jump, man.
14:21
I mean, I just like, I'm just going to quote jump lyrics.
14:24
So during this during this discussion, what can I do?
14:28
Might as well. But no, I I think they can win
14:32
the title. I think they're a totally fair
14:34
pick. I think they're super legitimate
14:35
and Geraldes kind of pushes them to a new level.
14:39
All the talent that they added, they can score deep.
14:42
I you know, I'll say I thought it was weird though, and those
14:45
couple chances, like half chances because they got snuffed
14:47
out pretty quickly. But like right through the
14:50
middle of their defense, I was like, huh, I wonder what hat
14:52
like if if that happens against a team that might employ like
14:56
Sam Kerr or Alessia Russo or, you know, Lenneth Berenstein or,
15:01
you know, you know, pernil harder, you know, that could go
15:05
poorly. But you know, I I think they
15:08
have some time to kind of build up to it.
15:11
So I'm going to say just by virtue, and I don't know if the
15:14
the match first Marseille is going to like really dictate
15:18
this, but I just think on GP I'm saying arrow pointing up.
15:23
I like it. I like it.
15:24
I'm going to I'm I'm, I'm of two minds for sure.
15:28
I'm going to stay arrow pointing sideways a little bit for Leon
15:34
only because but I think they're close.
15:36
I think they're close. I think, you know, I think
15:40
they're one really nice solid performance away from kind of
15:45
like flipping that. Not that it matters anyway.
15:47
Let's move. Not that they care.
15:49
Nobody actually cares about my my error rating, but except us.
15:54
Let's shift gears though. Real Madrid, Tenerife, this one.
15:59
Some fireworks, some fireworks and and not not necessarily the
16:02
good kind in this one. Yeah, we might as well jump.
16:07
Go ahead and jump to the next match, all right?
16:09
That's the last one. That's the last one.
16:13
No, at this point people are like, all right, dude, enough.
16:19
I hated that stomp that Linda Kaiseido took early in the
16:23
match. It was it was a bad challenge.
16:26
It was, I think cynical really. You weren't going to get the
16:30
ball there. You know, I, I don't, I, I
16:34
guess, you know, I don't know any of these people.
16:37
Obviously I don't think Moreno was trying to hurt her.
16:39
But like, you know, you weren't going to get the ball in that
16:42
spot. So to see Kaiseido go off in the
16:44
12th minute, pretty gross. Yeah, it did, you know it.
16:51
It looked very, you know, violent, you know, see that
16:56
foul, but it also didn't look like, you know, the the injury
16:59
to Kaiseto would would be anything permanent.
17:02
Haven't heard anything, any kind of follow up there.
17:05
And then when you look at what tenity fight does as a team, you
17:07
know, zero shots on the day, 22% possession Only Connect on 60%
17:12
of the passes. They didn't really have a chance
17:15
from jump. You know, so definitely doesn't
17:19
excuse it. But this wasn't a team that kind
17:21
of was was ready to compete from that standpoint.
17:24
And the good thing for Real Madrid, you know, if there is a
17:28
look at the silver lining, Albert Redondo comes in the
17:30
game, you know, just mad happy that she's coming in, but also
17:36
not happy. Exactly.
17:39
Ready to play football, Ready for the Redondo revenge game,
17:43
You know, just to have the back of Linda Caisedo.
17:47
Yeah, she was. She looked like a world beater
17:49
out there. That's the album Redondo that we
17:51
know. Professional goal scorer just
17:53
causing havoc for defenses. And it's a gear that, you know,
17:56
when we when Madrid acquired her, we're like, all right,
17:59
that's good. That should work.
18:01
And that's what that's what you want from her. 100% yeah, I love
18:05
you. Look, you look a little closer.
18:07
32 touches on the day, 15 in the opposition box.
18:11
She was just absolutely just just set up shop down there and
18:17
just wreck everything that's happening.
18:19
Seven shots in the day, 2 on target gets the goal in the 46.
18:22
Like you mentioned, a lot of key passes just creating problems
18:26
all day and and just came in with the right the right energy.
18:30
I still kind of feel like I don't have the answer for this,
18:36
but I wish that Real Madrid could figure out a way to get
18:40
Redondo more regular minutes. I'm not sure what you move
18:45
around, how you make that work, but she's so good that I feel
18:49
like the more minutes you give her, the just the, the more
18:53
productivity per 90 you're going to get.
18:55
You know, because she's doing all this not quite with scraps,
18:59
but with a lot of stuff, you know, minutes getting tugged
19:01
around and no real, you know, rhyme or reason to you know,
19:05
when when she's going to be expected to come in.
19:06
She comes in in this one in the 12th and like a true
19:10
professional just comes in and you know, get gets it done and
19:14
and essentially leads the team to the win here. 29 years old, I
19:18
think she should be eager to play as many minutes as she can
19:22
in this point of her career. Probably, you know, near the
19:25
apex of her prime still. You know, it's funny that that's
19:29
where your mind went to kind of talk about her minutes, because
19:31
I've been right there with you. I was thinking about her minutes
19:34
played, what she's able to do with Real Madrid.
19:36
And look, Alba, Seattle is a beautiful place.
19:41
I think you can find a nice home here.
19:43
I there's a lot of stuff to do. It's good vibes.
19:45
We could use the number 9 who's a professional goal scorer.
19:48
So, you know, just consider it. Yeah, I'll put the I'll put the
19:50
feelers out. I'm sure the the scouts at
19:53
Seattle Rain FC have not heard of Elbow Redondo and how good
19:56
she is at scoring goals, but I'll see if I can put in a good
19:59
word. I'm sure you can.
20:02
I'm sure you can. You can fire off an e-mail, sure
20:05
you know good writing skills on your part.
20:08
So I trust you. I.
20:09
Appreciate that. Let's move this thing along.
20:12
No, But then I I can't have Redondo leave me my Blancos,
20:15
especially down here for the stretch run.
20:17
All right, which way? Which way is your arrow pointing
20:19
for Real Madrid? I'm going.
20:22
To say if, if the casino injury is not serious, which I, you're
20:26
right, we I don't think there's been any public reporting.
20:31
I'm going to still say up. I, I like, I like the way they
20:34
look. The the we've talked about them
20:36
building the depth arrow pointing up for Las Blancas.
20:41
I like it. I'm going to I'm going to join
20:43
you on the air pointing up and and I think there's two things I
20:46
want to hit. As I mentioned, you know,
20:49
Caseedo injury probably doesn't look that serious fingers
20:52
crossed, but Redondo comes in looks great.
20:54
Even Navarro. I think the last few weeks and
20:56
this is obviously like a player that's like a you we already
20:59
know what what she's about, but I think it has secretly hit
21:02
another level. Maybe these last like 2 months.
21:05
I would say she fires a missile from distance late in this one
21:09
that ends up becoming the Angledahl goal to kind of really
21:13
seal it, you know, give him that second one.
21:15
And she just can affect the game in so many different ways.
21:20
And it's almost like when when Real Madrid falls into neutral
21:25
or they're just sort of spinning their wheels a little bit, it
21:28
kind of feels like Navarro's the the player that not necessarily
21:31
they go to, but kind of steps up and like, oh, no, I got it.
21:34
Like I got this, you know, let me let me get a couple, let me
21:36
get a couple couple spins here, a couple possessions here to see
21:40
what I can do. And it's usually a good move.
21:44
100% it's a great call by you. She is, you know, 25 years old.
21:48
She grabs the game by the scruff of the neck when you need her
21:52
to. And I feel like glad you shouted
21:54
out Angle Doll, her goal. You know, the kick, the, the,
21:58
the boot she put on that was just as angry as I think
22:01
Colombian supporters were about that Moreno foul on Kaiseto.
22:05
I think Navarro, Angle Doll and Dobritz are three players who
22:11
will be like, hey, I don't like the way this game is going right
22:14
now. We are going to fix that.
22:17
I'd love that you called out those two players specifically
22:19
angled on and the Brits, because those are two players that I
22:23
think have reached higher peaks in their career than they're at
22:28
now. But it's not that they're past
22:30
their pride. You know, it's not it's not
22:32
coming back from injury. It's just waiting to click into
22:35
place, right, Because I think you can see it.
22:38
You can. It was special with the Brits.
22:39
Like he's getting closer. You know, she hermits yanked
22:42
around a ton when she was at Leon.
22:43
So I think if, if, if, if Herman starts to kind of steady with,
22:49
with how she's been looking recently, that could be huge.
22:52
And I think I'll go. I think it's it's a great point
22:54
that there was a little bit of frustration there because I
22:56
think she's always in the right place.
22:57
I was in the mix. I was involved in in, in
23:00
positive stuff, but hasn't kind of like been the, you know, that
23:06
the key past or the key strike, you know, as often as I'm sure
23:10
she would she would want. Yeah, I think that's totally
23:13
fair. Yeah, Dobber, it's 96% complete
23:18
pass completion percentage in this match.
23:20
Is that good? I hard to hard to do better.
23:27
All right, so we've got a couple hours pointing out for Real
23:29
Madrid. Let's keep things chronological.
23:32
We're going to head to North London.
23:34
Arsenal 3, Bristol City nil. This one was an FA Cup battle
23:41
for a spot in the quarterfinals. Arsenal 3 Bristol City nil
23:47
professional win. Should have been a win.
23:50
It was a win. Shout out to the announcer who I
23:53
didn't grab his name. My apologies there pal.
23:56
Who mentioned that Kim Little has scored in three FA Cup
23:59
finals, which is a great stat. She obviously gets the goal in
24:03
the 25th minute here. She's an all time legendary
24:06
player. All time Seattle rain football
24:08
club legend as well. They're just doing what they got
24:12
to do, man. I could I couldn't be more in on
24:16
on them kind of trending upward. Spoiler alert, I think that's
24:20
the direction that my arrow is going to go.
24:22
I've been saying it for weeks now.
24:25
I just think that they are they're playing fast, they're
24:28
playing strong, they're playing confident.
24:30
And it's not just against Bristol City.
24:33
They're playing that way against the good teams too.
24:34
No, no, no disrespect to Bristol City.
24:38
No, no, I it's it's an important point, you know, because this is
24:43
what good teams do, you know, and this is not always what
24:46
Arsenal has done. You know, it's kind of like a
24:48
quote UN quote good team. Like, you know, you want to see
24:51
Arsenal kind of show up and handle a Bristol City side.
24:55
Do you know, in this kind of manner, especially with, you
24:57
know, some some lineup movement. I love that Kim Little gets the
25:02
goal and just basically out muscles, you know, like everyone
25:06
in a 5-6 yard vicinity for that goal is just like I'm, I'm just
25:10
a little, I'm a little hungrier than you, you know, at this
25:12
point in the match. And I and I want to kind of
25:14
score. Caitlin Ford a few minutes later
25:17
draws A foul because the penalty kick.
25:19
Russo gets that penalty kick saved.
25:22
But I think Caitlin Ford, you know, Leanne Sanderson said this
25:26
like last season or maybe at the very, very beginning of the
25:28
season that Katie McCabe and Caitlin Ford were the lifeblood
25:31
of Arsenal. I had never thought about that
25:34
and even when she said I kind of was like, I don't think I agree
25:37
with it, but every minute I watch since then, I'm like, I'm
25:41
dumb clearly, why would I ever? No, but I mean like, you know,
25:46
it was. I mean, I should probably should
25:48
have been a little bit more open minded with that thing.
25:51
But ever since she said it, I can't not see it.
25:54
You know, like McCabe, such an engine, Ford, such an engine.
25:58
And in this one specifically, you know, it's a lot like
26:01
Navarro when the lineup kind of changes and now we move things
26:05
around. Ford is so freaking dependable.
26:07
Her work rate is crazy. She's fast, she runs hard, she
26:11
plays hard and it's infectious. She Caitlin Ford, is a great
26:16
example that counting stats are not everything in the WSL and UA
26:22
for Women's Champions League this year, she has one goal and
26:25
two assists. She has been playing way better
26:29
than those numbers would indicate.
26:31
Like you, like you said, I think you're describing her as the
26:33
engine is, is totally correct. I mean, she puts pressure on the
26:37
defense. She wins the ball in important
26:39
areas. She knows when to recycle when
26:41
she has to. She's just like a good decision
26:45
making football machine. She knows how to be in the right
26:48
spots when she needs to be. And you know, you, you put that
26:51
in the context of the other great players at Arsenal who
26:55
will, who just continue to look like they're playing with more
26:57
and more confidence. He had real trouble for any
26:59
opponent out there. Yeah, absolutely.
27:02
And I think the confidence is such a big key because we talked
27:06
about this team obviously raises the trophy last year and then
27:09
gets off to like a little bit of a sputtering start this year.
27:12
And in this match to see Kim Little score to see also one of
27:16
my favorites coming back from injury almost there.
27:20
Victoria Bolova, you know, gets a gets a goal in this one.
27:22
And and it's like to to win one of the the big one of these huge
27:27
trophies, you kind of need contributions from everywhere.
27:31
Bolova great player to be like all right, well, if we can have
27:34
that player ready, you know, as a as a player to be able to go
27:37
to in a matchup that massive because she's so huge, so
27:41
creative and is productive. She's she kind of like is one of
27:45
those players that out produces you know like he's just involved
27:48
in goals and assists at at a really really high rate and then
27:52
6th 9th minute in this one freedom on them Another player
27:55
that if you're an arsenal fan you're really really happy.
27:58
The chief scores makes it happen often Emily Fox chance that gets
28:03
created. So Fox, you know, late in this
28:06
one splits the double team looks like flash air at Dwyane Wade.
28:11
Just that was so nasty enters the ball, enters the 18, you
28:16
know, basically setting up my favorite situation and well, so
28:19
the fox in the box situation and then finds freedom on them to
28:22
seal it to make it 3 nil. But I love that the
28:26
productivity, the offense, the counting stats, the goals, the
28:30
assists came from players that, you know, we're not we're not
28:34
necessarily used to seeing week in week out.
28:36
Put those up. For sure.
28:38
Yeah. I mean, I feel like Manem has
28:40
been pretty consistently good over the past like month or so
28:44
too. I'm obviously the Norwegian
28:47
star. You already know that she's able
28:49
to produce. Palova comes on at halftime.
28:54
You know, the, the Dutch kind of has that just play like, you
28:59
know, I, I know I try to avoid this sometimes, but then I, I, I
29:02
go into these just a very Dutch way of playing football of just
29:05
like, OK, like where, where do I fit in here?
29:08
What's the smartest thing for me to do in this situation?
29:10
That's what I'll do. And she can, you know, to to get
29:13
a goal in that scenario. You know you're just going to.
29:18
They just have a lot of ways to beat anybody right now.
29:24
Yep, yeah. And that's kind of what you want
29:27
to see because in these matchups, especially like the
29:30
two leggers like you, you got to go to different stuff.
29:34
That's a lot of minutes to be able to compete and and be able
29:36
to beat some of these top teams. Now there's only eight teams up,
29:38
so it's going to get definitely tricky, but I think you tipped
29:42
your hand a little bit. Which way is your arrow pointing
29:45
for my? Ass buddy for weeks, for weeks.
29:48
I've been all over this. Let's go our first double up
29:51
arrow. I think it.
29:52
Was a Madrid also? Both your teams.
29:54
See, I'm just cosigning all your all your favorite teams.
29:58
Yeah. Did I cheat on the Did I set
29:59
this up to you? No.
30:00
No, I did. Let's shift gears here.
30:03
You might be in for a surprise where these arrows are going.
30:05
Chelsea 2. Manchester United won another FA
30:08
Cup tie. Chelsea advances Manchester
30:11
United despite, you know, kind of like a tough scheduling, I'll
30:16
say, you know, puts up a puts up a tough fight.
30:19
And this one, you know, wasn't the wasn't the most beautiful
30:22
game of football, you know, I've I've ever seen.
30:25
I think that's fair. And maybe he just kind of speaks
30:28
to some of my sensibilities. I loved it.
30:31
I thought that was, I thought that was real hoops out there.
30:34
Let's you know what, we're going to crash into each other.
30:37
Midwestern through Midwestern day.
30:40
No, nobody's wearing sleeves in the cold.
30:43
We're not scared of anything out here.
30:46
I, I had, I had a blast watching this.
30:49
Aaron Cuthbert should have scored, but PTJ is 10 feet tall
30:54
when she needs to be. I mean like then PTJ makes
30:58
another save, PTJ makes the save against Cuthbert and then a
31:01
little later makes the save against Lauren James.
31:04
I was just like, she's just going to stop the shots from all
31:07
of the IT CS favorite players at this point.
31:10
Yeah, I mean, well, she's borderline ITC favorite player
31:14
like BT JS on an absolute heater right now.
31:19
Almost, you know, won that one single handedly and you know, to
31:24
to their credit, kept it really close.
31:28
I want to talk a little bit about Chelsea, though, because
31:31
we've gotten on them pretty hard, you know, for, you know,
31:35
kind of sputtering. They're for sure a top four team
31:40
in the WSLI feel comfortable saying that.
31:43
That's fair. But you know, in all
31:47
seriousness, I think it's I think we would be better served
31:51
kind of like as a, you know, also analysis, you know, you
31:56
know, what, what, what whatever, wherever standing is in, in the
31:59
in the field to kind of not really look at Chelsea just as
32:02
like this staggering disappointment.
32:04
Also big payroll, big expectations.
32:08
So I I kind of make that top four joke, sort of serious, but
32:11
sort of tongue, tongue in cheek because like these are really
32:15
good teams that are alongside them.
32:17
And I'm not sure how much better Chelsea is than United.
32:22
I'm not sure if this iteration of Chelsea is better than City
32:26
or Arsenal. And to me, it kind of feels
32:28
like, you know, economics aside, those four teams are kind of
32:33
swimming in the same pool and you know that that probably
32:38
makes them four of the best six or seven in Europe, 8 in Europe,
32:43
which is still a really, really great place to be.
32:45
Even if you're Chelsea and you feel disappointed, like it's
32:48
still incredible that they're here competing with, with a,
32:52
with a pathway to the final, even if, you know, it is a
32:58
little disappointed. But I'm not sure it should be
33:00
disappointing. There's really good teams out
33:02
there. There's really good teams in
33:03
their league and there's good, you know, good teams across
33:06
Europe. So I kind of want to like, I
33:09
don't know, cleanse my pal a little bit with Chelsea.
33:11
I like that they won this one, you know, despite like not
33:14
really being like in killer, killer form.
33:17
So I mean, I'm really curious to see these next few weeks from
33:20
them. 100% I think maybe again, just from where I was born and
33:26
some of my sensibilities, sometimes you just got to get
33:29
some ugly wins. Sometimes that can actually help
33:34
turn things around or just everybody kind of look at each
33:37
other and be like, all right, we're able to do that.
33:40
We know we're actually better than that.
33:43
So let's, you know, let's kind of build on it.
33:45
The Naomi Girma goal, obviously 99th minute, it's a clean up
33:49
goal, but she's where she's supposed to be on the back post.
33:52
You know, she has the, the, the intelligence and the instincts
33:55
and the, the physicality to be able to get in there and knock
33:58
that home. You know, we've talked about it.
34:01
She hasn't looked very good. She hasn't looked she hasn't
34:05
looked Naomi Germa like in a Chelsea uniform, if that if
34:08
maybe that's more fair to say. So for her to get that in that
34:13
spot to knock out a good team in the FA Cup, like is that
34:18
something that can kind of galvanized the defense?
34:21
Galvanized like what build some confidence for her?
34:24
I think that could be very promising for them.
34:27
And even, you know, Sam Kerr's like swinging side karate kick
34:30
goal to open the proceedings, open them in the 78th minute,
34:35
but open the scoring. You know, I think there are
34:38
things that they can take away and say, Yep, we won ugly, but
34:42
we had to win ugly and we're not.
34:44
And we and we that's not another trophy.
34:47
That's just poof, gone into the wind.
34:50
Yeah, I mean, I think everything is going to be hard.
34:54
I think what we were saying and and we might, we might kind of
34:56
be landing on the same conclusion is everything from
34:58
here on out is going to be hard fought, not just this season, I
35:00
think probably coming seasons, you know, for, for as long as
35:04
we're we're doing this. But you know, I think that's, I
35:08
still think that's OK. I think it's OK to win ugly.
35:11
I think you, you, you help yourself by winning ugly versus
35:15
just being a it wasn't our day or it goes to PKS or, you know,
35:18
whatever. Just kind of aside, we weren't
35:20
super united to into it to begin with, But I'm interested to see,
35:26
you know, you know, you mentioned Germa.
35:28
I don't think it's strictly. I think it's a little bit.
35:31
I think their defense has to get better.
35:32
I also think your offense has to get better.
35:34
I don't think it's a oh, Germa, what's going on with Germa and I
35:38
don't know what's going on with Germa issue.
35:39
It's like a it it really is the the entire Organism that hasn't
35:44
quite figured out what it is and what it should look like, what
35:47
it should be doing. That's OK.
35:49
There's still time in the season.
35:50
But I don't know, I think I think I might surprise you with
35:53
this one. My arrow for Chelsea pointing up
35:57
because I think it was a little bit of a treacherous time, this
36:02
Manchester United matchup, not quite a trap game, but sort of a
36:08
trap game. You know, you're you're looking
36:10
and you'll be like, all right, They they had champions of the
36:12
action. We should, we should roll this
36:13
team, you know, do we have how, how hard do we have to play?
36:17
You know, if we're at home, Do we, you know, But to their
36:20
credit, they they held it down and they advance.
36:23
Can we do I like where your head's at here is can we do not
36:29
quite a trap game kind of felt like a must win if we could do
36:33
another sports radio cliche. And like when you have a must
36:38
win, if you get an ugly win and a must win, everybody kind of
36:40
looks at each other and goes, OK, we had to win and we won.
36:46
I I like I like the must I like the must win and I like the
36:49
winning ugly must win. Now let me hit you with this.
36:53
The FA kept draw. When we get to the core, let's
36:56
Fast forward to the quarterfinals, April 5th.
36:59
Who does Chelsea draw? None other than our guy Martin
37:03
Hoe Tottenham and see he got upset and all the problems that
37:08
come with facing with facing that side.
37:12
I can't wait, it's going to be fantastic.
37:16
Fairly interesting game Tottenham just played.
37:19
I'm going to predict that that's going to be the hardest I ever,
37:21
ever done in my my entire life. Yeah, yeah, I would say that's
37:25
probably about right as a as an Arsenal supporter, I think,
37:30
yeah, I think that's probably the way that's going to go.
37:34
I mean, did you see Gapsets penalty in in that match?
37:41
All right. So, you know, obviously match
37:43
finish in in Tottenham's FA Cup match 22 versus London City line
37:48
asses. They win on penalties 9 to 8,
37:52
Galp said. Galp said took the 4th penalty
37:55
and just never a doubt sends the keeper the wrong way, tucks it
37:59
into the left corner. Absolutely fantastic.
38:02
Yeah, I think it's going to be, you know, another London Derby
38:05
for us. You know, we get to see how how
38:10
Tottenham stacks up against against a great team and we get
38:13
to see how Chelsea stacks up against a team that has to be
38:16
looking at this as the biggest match we've played in quite a
38:21
while. Yeah, No, I mean it's if, if
38:28
this one versus United was a was a must win.
38:29
I think that we we got to keep they they continue to stay must
38:33
wins. You know, as we play out the
38:34
entire string. I'm going to be I want to talk a
38:38
little bit. Well, we Manchester United
38:40
before we hop off this one. My error for them, I think also
38:44
pointing up they're they're at this place right now.
38:50
They kind of remind me of a team like in the, in the, in the
38:53
March, in March Madness where they're pulling up sets, but
38:59
they're also winning handily. So it's not, it's not a fluke.
39:03
Like, you know, and like the, the United's putting, putting up
39:06
really impressive results in not a fluky way, but they're putting
39:11
up results that are a little bit, you know, loftier than I
39:17
think is deserved. And it's like, it's like they
39:21
keep outperforming, you know, like what, what we expect by, I
39:25
don't know, 50% or whatever. Like, so it's like at some point
39:27
we had a big either this team is good or this team has a knack
39:32
for outperform, you know, like playing exceeding their
39:35
potential in these big matchups. Either way, I think it's a good
39:38
sign. Carol pointing up for me.
39:40
I'm with you. I'm still a united believer.
39:42
I mean, Jess Park, you know, almost rips the the post off the
39:46
hinges with a shot being helpful.
39:49
I thought the announcer did a great job of saying doesn't even
39:51
get credit for a shot on target for that great hit, which is
39:55
always a bummer. But yeah, you know, a Wujo gets
39:59
the goal on the set piece. Good sub Mark to to kind of, you
40:04
know, force it added extra time. But yeah, I'm with you.
40:08
I I didn't mention it for Chelsea.
40:10
I I'm we're in agreement. I think it's arrow pointing up
40:13
for Chelsea. You grind out that when you see
40:15
where you're going from there. And I'm definitely still arrow
40:19
pointing up for Manchester United.
40:21
Yeah, it's a it's a bummer of a loss.
40:22
You're out of you're out of the running for for that trophy.
40:26
But there's something, there's still something to build on
40:29
there. So you have more more arrows
40:31
pointing out more agreement between us.
40:34
I like it. Like I'm going to have a little
40:36
bit of a mind Bender here for you, but I want to talk about
40:39
another FA Cup tie just because it is your team and this is a
40:42
team that you know probably is certainly at the level of some
40:46
of the other chamber that you got competitors this season,
40:49
Manchester City, they get past Sheffield United.
40:56
You're God damn right we did. Never a doubt we're the the, you
41:02
know, league leader in WSLI. Think Sheffield United is 10th
41:07
in the Championship. No disrespect to them, that's
41:10
the way that was always going to go.
41:12
There was a moment later in the match where Benny played the
41:18
ball into the box and Bunny Shaw, Sidney Loman, Grace
41:23
Clinton and Lauren Hemp were all inside the 18.
41:26
The Loman's shot gets blocked and the ball eventually goes out
41:30
for a for a goal kick. But I was just like, we didn't
41:33
even have like, Fujino came off, you know, came off the field as
41:37
a sub at that point. And Medium was not standing out
41:39
there either at that moment. So a lot of firepower, a lot of
41:45
depth. We look over pretty overwhelming
41:48
right now. Yeah, no doubt I would I would
41:50
love to see Loman like just bury that one just because it would
41:54
have been a nice you know, it's even to to the Arsenal point
41:57
earlier. You know, you want to have your
41:59
players, you know, with notches in their belt.
42:02
That would have been a nice, nice one for for Loman in that
42:04
spot. Shout out to the announcer too,
42:07
who was pronounced. I'm not sure if this is correct,
42:08
but he was Iman Benny, who we've been talking pronouncing that
42:11
way was pronouncing it B and EI got such a I got such a gig
42:16
because I'm like, I kept thinking of like B&E like
42:19
breaking an end of. Course, what else would what
42:22
else would somebody think of? I was thinking the exact same
42:24
thing. Oh, like, I don't know that that
42:26
seems pretty offending 22 assists on the day that that
42:29
one's a loam and also almost a third.
42:31
But for me, the player of the match, Alba Fujino, you know,
42:35
it's like just the Fujino that was promised.
42:37
I mean, dazzling, absolutely dazzling.
42:41
Nothing that Sheffield could do. I like Fujino getting reps like
42:47
these like not quite sparring reps, but like real reps that go
42:51
out there. Do, you know, just cut up these
42:53
defenses, you know, so that when Fujina comes back against it,
42:57
that the tougher competition, WSL, Champions League next
43:00
season, you know, she's got all of these like like winning time
43:05
reps, you know, on her resume for City.
43:08
I think it's a huge thing. I think it's a really smart
43:10
thing by your should be doing and this was just a Fujita
43:14
master class. She just has the ability to be
43:17
spectacular at times. I mean, you know, the she can
43:21
cut in. There are times where you see
43:22
her, like, weave in between defenders and she doesn't need
43:25
much space at all to operate. And then she's able to pick her
43:28
head up and be like, OK, Yep, time to RIP a shot.
43:31
And she can, she can do it, like, with a snap of finger.
43:35
Yeah. I mean, you know, we've been
43:36
talking about her since the 2023 World Cup.
43:38
She's still 22 years old. You know, I think she's an
43:42
absolute. She's an absolute beast out
43:45
there. So yeah, I look forward to her
43:48
continued development. It's going to be hard with all
43:50
that depth that that city's able to put out there.
43:53
But she's going to get in and she's she's going to get
43:56
minutes. And I, and I think City
43:59
rightfully trusts her in some of these kind of moments.
44:04
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that trust is
44:06
only growing, which is great to see.
44:09
Fast forward to April 5th, the FA Cup quarterfinals, where
44:12
while Chelsea battling, see you got upset and Tottenham,
44:16
Manchester City's going to be locking horns with Birmingham
44:19
City, the battle of the cities. We'll we'll see you know who who
44:23
comes out on top in that one, but a nice draw for City.
44:27
Oh, I had one big city question. A bit of a mind Bender.
44:32
RIP to Libo. What would if City were in the
44:40
field of eight in the Champions League, where would you predict
44:49
that they'd finish? Because I mean, I think about
44:54
what they did to Barcelona last year.
44:57
I look at what they're doing in WSL, I look at what the WSL
45:01
teams are doing in the Champions League and then I look at the
45:05
health situation with city that was so big last year.
45:08
Lauren Hemp huge. You know, some of these players.
45:11
I was just like, oh man, they just you know, you know, like I,
45:14
I kind of feel like if city were in this field and it's tough to
45:18
say because they don't have the extra, you know, grind of of,
45:21
you know, these these Champions League group stage matches.
45:23
They get to kind of coast a little bit.
45:24
It's fair, But if this version of city was in the Champions
45:27
league, I'm not sure that they wouldn't be my pick to win the
45:30
whole thing. They.
45:33
Could absolutely win it, in my opinion, a healthy Bunny Shaw
45:37
too, like a healthy Bunny Shaw and Lauren HAMP make all the
45:40
difference, you know, meet him, his experience as well and just,
45:46
you know, her ability in, in the central part of the field.
45:50
Yeah, they could win and I think they, they would win if you get
45:56
Bunny Shaw in top form in, in the knockout stages.
45:59
So I, I think they would, they would be one of the absolute
46:03
favorites. I think it would be them.
46:06
I think they would leapfrog Chelsea and Arsenal and I think
46:10
it would I would be looking at them right on the same tier as
46:13
Barcelona and Lyon. Wow, that's I mean, that's
46:18
fascinating because like we might we might be in a point, we
46:21
might be in a place where City just, you know, runs, you know,
46:26
you know, like runs, right, you know, just rips through the
46:28
entire WSL season, walks to the title.
46:32
And maybe we're looking at the Champions League winner and
46:35
being like, you know, I'm not sure.
46:39
Yeah, it would be. It would be one of those what
46:41
would happen kind of things, you know, like the prime Pacquiao,
46:44
Mayweather, you know, at age-old question. 2024 Orlando Pride
46:49
versus 2024 Barcelona. Never know, never get to the
46:53
bottom of it. One more matchup that I want to
46:55
hit. This one we're going to scooter
46:58
to Fran Bundesliga, we did our arrows right City arrows
47:01
obviously point up, way up, way up.
47:04
There we go. Not one of the options, but
47:07
we'll let it go by. This is the another we'll go to
47:11
front Boudasiga. This matchup featured 2
47:14
Champions League teams, Bayern Munich hosting Wolfsburg.
47:19
Big score line in this one, but I think when you look closer,
47:22
some some stuff to kind of take away, you know, from this
47:24
matchup. Do you think it was a deceiving
47:28
score score? Line, you know, I I would I
47:34
didn't get a chance to watch this one live.
47:36
So I saw the score line. Then I looked at kind of like to
47:39
the, you know, the numbers try to get a read on the game.
47:41
And then I watched the I watched it back was not what I expected.
47:46
Yeah. I I think it was a little, you
47:48
know, and then you kind of look into it, you know, 41 score
47:52
line, obviously massive. Wolfsburg gets the opening goal,
47:55
you know, in the first within the 1st 1617 minutes of the
47:58
match. Kasey Boosie, no relation to
48:00
badass stick shots to one in the first half, three on target to
48:07
one in favor of Bayern, big chances 1 to 1.
48:11
So it's like this isn't, you know, and and Wolf Wolfberg goes
48:14
into the half up one nil at Bayern.
48:16
So this wasn't really a fluke. You know, Wolfberg was getting
48:21
outplayed, but this is how football goes.
48:23
You know, like sometimes you get out played and you got you got a
48:25
one no lead and you you see, you know, you see kind of where
48:27
where things go. Obviously Bayern not, you know,
48:32
didn't have to deal with Champions League mid week and I
48:34
and I think that that ended up, you know, being a bit of a
48:37
factor probably. Played a role with the way that
48:40
Bayern was able to kind of dominate the second-half.
48:44
I think it was, yeah, it was the the stats they they leaned
48:47
toward Bayern. I don't think they dominated
48:51
them really in the in the first half to that to that extent.
48:56
The Kesiabusi goal, like she's very clearly turning to try to
49:00
get the ball to Beerenstein like in the middle of like the six.
49:03
The hot potato. Yeah.
49:05
And then it just, it just ricochets back to her.
49:07
She's like, all right, I guess I have to shoot here and gets the
49:10
goal. So I think, you know, maybe ITC
49:12
Record Book could consider an assist for Beerenstein for just
49:16
creating the havoc there. I mean, but then you did kind of
49:22
see it a little bit toward the end of the first half.
49:24
There was a moment where Clara Bull just had be Alda on skates
49:29
like in the 38th minute, like as we're kind of getting to the end
49:32
and it was like, all right, Byron's starting to kind of
49:34
ratchet up the pressure here. And I think, you know, this is
49:41
just I have a theory about Wolfsburg this.
49:45
So they they go up one nil and then they just kind of they they
49:48
give they just get out played in in the second-half.
49:52
Is Wolfsburg a higher ceiling version of Perry FC in the sense
49:59
of sometimes they play great and you're looking at their players
50:03
and they're like they got a lot of high end great players and
50:06
their ceiling is high. And then they just have these
50:08
results where you're like, why are you getting your ass kicked
50:11
like that? And it's like they almost have
50:14
the same floor as Paris FC but some somehow they have like a
50:18
higher ceiling. Am I off base here?
50:21
It's a, it's a really interesting comp.
50:24
I, I would probably say that for me, Wolfsburg is more like PSG
50:31
because to me, Paris FC can stay in a match through sheer will.
50:36
That's true. They could just be like, Nope,
50:39
you know, you're going to elbow me, I'm going to elbow you and
50:41
then I'm going to step in your shoe, you know, like you like
50:45
they're, they're here for it. And I don't know that Wolfsburg
50:49
has that same streak, you know, and I think we'll we'll kind of
50:52
talk about what what what happened with the goals, but
50:54
they kind of feel like PSG to be high ceiling, you know, high,
50:57
super high variance from score 4 can score zero with one shot,
51:03
can look being a pretty good defensively, can look like Swiss
51:05
cheese defensively and again, everything in between.
51:07
And then also is capable of spectacular and can beat a
51:10
really good team on on a given day, right.
51:13
So I think they're probably more people, I would say more PSG in
51:16
my book. I love that.
51:18
That's great. The other the other pairs club.
51:20
I I think you're right. And you know what you nailed as
51:23
I was like trying to talk about like the ceiling and stuff,
51:25
super high variance. That's what I was thinking
51:27
about. And so like, yeah, I think
51:29
you're I think you're right on there.
51:32
Speaking of super high variance, just in this match, Stina
51:34
Johannes, great saves in in multiple spots and then just a
51:40
howler kicking the ball into Jovana Damyanovich.
51:44
Jovana Damyanovich, by the way, the greatest active athlete from
51:48
the country of Serbia in professional sports today, if
51:51
you ask me, let's go because she's not preoccupied, at least
51:59
I don't know, but I don't think she's preoccupied with horse
52:03
Kart racing back in Serbia like the big fella who plays Center
52:07
for the Denver Nuggets. I digress.
52:10
Do we know that she's not? What if she's?
52:12
Super locked in. What if she's like the rival
52:15
team owner? That would be incredible.
52:17
It's like a Angel investor, whatever Yokich is doing.
52:21
But yeah, I, I like Johannes had like multiple great saves and
52:26
then that moment happens with Damyanovich and then Damyanovich
52:29
scores like another a minute later.
52:31
Just totally turned the game on its head.
52:33
I got to talk about the 54th minute before because the secret
52:37
low key, you know, secret moment, and this is you know,
52:41
this was maybe in the back of my head when I was talking about,
52:43
you know, pre FC can and they can get they can, you know, get
52:46
get a little, you know, dirty with you if needed.
52:50
Yeah, before the Damianovich goal, right to about two minutes
52:56
before Pernil harder and Camila Coover clatter like a like a
53:03
nasty one. And again, this is it's it's
53:05
still a one nil match in the 54th minute.
53:08
Coover's got to come off who and and she's been great.
53:11
Obviously we talked about her, you know, last week against UVA
53:14
played a big part in that win. She comes off is standing on the
53:19
sideline when the ball comes back into back into play.
53:23
Now when she gets let on the pitch, Coover is sprinting
53:27
toward Johannes. Now Johannes doesn't.
53:30
All she had to do was kind of like just wait a second or just
53:33
blast it and like Coover's there in like 2 seconds, like maybe
53:37
less, maybe a second and a half. Coover's in position.
53:40
Johannes just hot potatoes. It's got to get it out of her
53:45
feet and just does the wrong thing.
53:47
And Dom Yanovitch, the flying leg.
53:50
Is crazy. How many times do you see that
53:53
in the in the attacking players? Not even close.
53:55
And then but you know, the ball's up field.
53:58
It just unbelievable. And then I think, you know, if 2
54:01
minutes later you mentioned it, yeah, I'm not.
54:04
Dominanovic scores again and it was just a perfect four punch
54:07
combination. Dalmon wins the ball back and
54:10
you know, in midfield, Clara Bull, Francisca Cat on the
54:13
overlap and then Jovanna Domanovic and then Wolfsburg
54:17
just kind of looking around like it's like they put the whole
54:19
team in spin cycle 4 passes and every nobody knows what's going
54:22
on. Everybody's just absolutely
54:23
clueless. And in two minutes, you went
54:27
from one nil, now you're down to 1.
54:29
And then they've got no shot. They have zero shot at that
54:31
point. Like, yeah, mentally absolutely
54:34
cooked. Yeah, you're not you're not
54:36
coming back from that. I I want to point out real quick
54:41
because obviously, you know, Georgia Stanway gets gets a
54:45
goal. She's set up by a nice pass by
54:48
Momoka Tanakawa. But in this in the build up to
54:52
that, I thought it was a really nice and and intelligent header
54:56
by Bernadette Amani, the 28 year old midfielder from Cote
55:01
d'Ivoire. Who?
55:03
Who was able to who like who just like plays it just
55:06
perfectly on the Tonicawa's foot.
55:09
And Byron just has has that in their in their locker, if you
55:13
will, with all the skill that they have on the field.
55:16
And you're right that Wolfsburg was finished after that second
55:20
time Yanovich goal, and I think it kind of built into that setup
55:24
for the Stanway goal. I I feel like Byron's been a
55:28
little bit more ruthless this year.
55:30
I think, you know it. It's not that like, oh, get go,
55:34
you know, chip, chip, chip, chip, chip until we get like the
55:36
perfect right, you know, like the the the tonic.
55:38
I would Stanway one was interesting because like they
55:40
really just walked that one in. You know, it was like that's a
55:42
you know, maybe like a more prototypical, prototypical Byron
55:46
goal. But I feel like they really are
55:49
hungry. They really want to hurt you
55:50
this year, which I don't really kind of remember seeing.
55:53
I I rattled off those first half stats.
55:56
Six shots to 1, three shots to one on target, 1 to one big
55:59
chances. You look at the second-half,
56:02
Bayern 13 shots to 1, Bayern 9 shots on target to 0 Bayern 7
56:09
big chances to zero. I mean, that's, that's an out
56:13
and out ass kicking the second-half.
56:15
And, you know, you got to look at, you know, obviously like our
56:18
guy Strauss moves on to take over the, the the job at Angel
56:21
City. And then Jose Barzala, who was
56:24
the head guy at Cervette in Switzerland from 23 to 25 to
56:28
kind of get them on the radar, kind of steps in and, and, and
56:31
really has figured some stuff out at Byron and has really
56:34
changed the feel and the tenor of this squad.
56:37
I love it. I think that I think you're spot
56:39
on with it. And I think, you know, we've
56:41
talked about Clara Bull, 2025 years old.
56:45
She stands, you know, 5 foot 8 and she's just a beast out
56:50
there. And so I, I think maybe the, you
56:53
know, our podcast, we, we try to, we try to innovate in the,
56:57
in the women's football podcasting space.
56:58
So I'm going to make a comparison that I'm going to go
57:01
out on a limb, I guess not a lot of people have made before, but
57:05
Kevin Garnett when we were younger, when he was playing for
57:09
the Celtics, there's a game on TNTI, can't remember who they're
57:13
playing, but he has like this monster dunk and the and the
57:17
audio picks up. And I, I avoided swearing
57:20
earlier in the program, but now we're like an hour in, so I
57:22
might as well do it. But the camera picks up after
57:25
Garnett dunks. You hear him, He's just
57:27
growling. He's like, I'm a fucking problem
57:29
out here. I'm a fucking problem.
57:32
And I just watched Clara Bull and I'm just like, she's a
57:35
fucking problem out there for everybody.
57:38
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, can be can be the best
57:44
player on any pitch in any match.
57:46
No doubt That is her ceiling. You know, it just that is what
57:50
it is. I love players that like it's a
57:54
weird quirk of mine. Tell me this like it like makes
57:58
sense here. It's a super weird quirk of
57:59
mine, but I love players that like run hard and like step hard
58:05
and stomp hard. Like yes, Emily Vangs guard,
58:09
Terrell Owens, Randy like Randy Moss.
58:12
And I just feel like Clara Bull has that like that aggressive
58:16
stomp where it's like, I'm going to, you know, like I I can, I
58:18
can cut you and I can kind of like go in and out.
58:20
I can, I can spin you. Because what she did was take
58:23
Caitlin Dykstra on that on that last goal where she kind of goes
58:26
in and out and around. Like Dykstra was like
58:28
completely, you know, just nothing to do.
58:31
And I think like at that point in the 80th minute, you've just
58:34
played Juventus, you know, like back-to-back ends.
58:37
You bet you like you have no shot against Clara Bull in a
58:40
three one match 80th minute at Byron after what you've just
58:43
gone through. But Bull absolutely just, you
58:48
know, ruthless, like just did, you know, no regard, like 0
58:52
regard. And I just love, love those
58:55
types of players that take it to that level.
58:58
And I think she has levels to go which should be very frightening
59:03
for for opponents in frown Bundesliga and the Champions
59:06
League. That's a great point.
59:08
And I kind of feel like, you know, Barcelona could be, I
59:11
don't know, we could we, we could be, we could be, we could
59:14
be, you know, circling like that, like the the Clara ball
59:18
pool moment. We had been a little bit high on
59:20
United. I don't want to say if I've kind
59:23
of like step back, you know, I've moved off that a little
59:26
bit. I kind of feel more like maybe
59:28
it might be 5545 towards Byron, even though maybe it is a little
59:32
bit of a toss up. But I'm going to hit my I'm
59:33
going to hit you with my arrows where we're at.
59:34
We're purging the the hour mark here.
59:37
I got a fee. I got to say Byron for me arrow
59:41
pointing up. I think they've kind of turned a
59:43
corner a little bit. This isn't the same Byron that
59:46
we've seen last couple years in James Eagan does not seem like
59:49
that. And then for me, I got to say
59:51
Wolfsburg. I got to say arrow pointing down
59:54
for Wolfsburg. I think, I think what they did
59:57
versus Juventus might have been the last throws of, you know
1:00:01
what, like what they wanted to get to, where they want to
1:00:06
squeeze out of the season. I just don't, I don't see a
1:00:10
pathway for them to, to even really even, I would say even be
1:00:15
competitive unless they're kind of like just saving everything
1:00:17
they've got. You know, for the Champions
1:00:19
League, I don't really see a pathway for them being being
1:00:21
able to compete with Leon. OK, I'll say we're in agreement,
1:00:27
Bayern arrow pointing up. I still I, I think United has
1:00:32
some time to build toward it. I think you, you, you're right.
1:00:35
You've nodded toward it a couple times during this during this
1:00:39
episode that like United has to get has to kind of get familiar
1:00:43
with playing all these extra matches, you know, as part of as
1:00:47
as part of the Champions League. So I'll say Bayern arrow
1:00:50
pointing up and I'm going to say with Wolfsburg, I think kind of
1:00:53
to my well, to what I thought was a Perry FC comp, but you
1:00:58
improved with the with the Perry St.
1:01:00
Germain comp is I'm just going to say Wolfsburg arrow pointing
1:01:03
sideways. I think this is kind of who they
1:01:05
are. I think they they can win an
1:01:08
impressive match versus Juventus and then end up kind of getting
1:01:11
blasted in the second-half versus Bayern.
1:01:14
And then, you know, they'll probably have a couple matches,
1:01:16
you know, before, before they get to Lyon, where it's, oh,
1:01:20
they look great. Why'd they look like that?
1:01:22
And then we get and then it's just like, OK, who are we going
1:01:24
to see versus Leon? Yeah, yeah, No, I mean, I feel
1:01:31
like that they're a team that needs a little bit of like AI
1:01:33
don't want to say a pivot, but I mean, I think they're we might
1:01:37
be reaching the end of this iteration of this team of this
1:01:41
Wolfsburg side. We'll, we'll, we'll definitely
1:01:43
keep keep an eye on how things go and maybe what, what kind of
1:01:47
shape they're able to work themselves into over these next
1:01:48
few weeks. These two teams, both will be in
1:01:52
action March 11th, DFB Pocol Wolfsburg will be hosting
1:01:56
Eintracht Frankfurt. That's a really juicy matchup.
1:01:59
Speaking of juicy, Speaking of juicy, tasty buyer takes on
1:02:03
hamburger Hamburger recipe. Hamburger.
1:02:08
Yeah, a rare matchup between two sides don't face each other.
1:02:15
You know who? Does you know what I I
1:02:19
appreciate it. You lived you lived through all
1:02:21
my Van Halen quotes. If you want to call a match
1:02:26
versus hamburger a juicy or a tasty match up, match up, even a
1:02:30
medium rare or a rare match up. Go on man, I I support you don't
1:02:36
all. Right man, anything else you
1:02:39
want to pour get out of here? I think that's it.
1:02:42
I was, I was going to save the, the senior Gallop said penalty
1:02:46
kick and just the incredible Tottenham London City Lionesses
1:02:50
match for this part of the show. I couldn't, I couldn't contain
1:02:52
myself. Once you once we start talking
1:02:54
about Tottenham, I couldn't save it.
1:02:56
So no, I, I, I, I think that's it.
1:02:58
I think we've hit all the good points.
1:03:00
Oh. It's all right.
1:03:02
I think we did it. There's been another percent of
1:03:05
this channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
1:03:06
for watching, listening, hanging out.
1:03:08
If you enjoyed the show, we do this every single week, YouTube,
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Shout out to everybody out here ordering merch.
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I mean, it's it's absolutely heartwarming.
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I mean, just a look behind the curtain.
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I'm a marketing brand person. It's part of my DNA, you know,
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who supported us in that way. Incredibly appreciative links
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all the above, much, much more in the description of this
1:03:51
episode. And a big thank you to my coast
1:03:53
as well, Mr. Grand and go for being, I guess being the Eddie
1:03:59
Van Halen to my my David Lee Roth.
1:04:01
I appreciate you bro. I'll take that comp.
1:04:03
Likewise, buddy, I appreciate you.
1:04:05
And you know, Eddie Van Halen, underrated.
1:04:07
People talk about him as a great guitar virtuoso because of his
1:04:10
solos. Eddie Van Halen, underrated,
1:04:12
amazing rhythm guitar player like the his, you know, from
1:04:17
verse to verse, I feel like people don't talk about enough
1:04:19
what an incredible guitarist he was.
1:04:21
I say this as a crappy amateur guitar player myself, but you
1:04:25
know what? You've got to roll with the
1:04:27
punches to get to what's real. One more quote from the song
1:04:32
jump. David Lee Roth, he was a poet in
1:04:34
1984. Thank you to everybody for
1:04:38
watching the show, putting up with this nonsense.
1:04:41
Let us know what did you see from these these matches over
1:04:44
the weekend from the Champions League team.
1:04:46
Drop some knowledge for us. We always appreciate it and we
1:04:49
will see you all next time.