Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / European Football Weekend Preview ⚽️ Barca, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Bayern, Lyon!

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European Football Weekend Preview ⚽️ Barca, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Bayern, Lyon! · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast, primarily about 1
0:08
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspicious
0:10
and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What is up man? Feeling all right, buddy, You
0:17
know, hanging in there. Try not to look at the news too
0:19
much unless it's football news. Some good, some bad, some happy,
0:24
some sad. But that's, I guess, how
0:26
football is a reflection of the world sometimes.
0:28
Yeah, You know, transfer in, transfer out, win some, lose
0:31
some. I mean, it's pretty much name of
0:33
the game. I'd say.
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We had some football this past week, some flux in the schedule,
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like we're coming off, she believes.
0:39
Like shaking off some of the haze there, a little bit of club
0:42
action. Well, I guess we got Champions
0:44
League right around the corner. NW celebrator, like, I don't
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know, heads kind of spinning a little bit.
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A lot to talk about. Where do you wanna get started?
0:50
Let's get started with a beer ski because sometimes the work
0:53
week dictates that you have a midweek beer ski while talking
0:58
to your pal about football. Or the Newsweek also.
1:04
Cheers. Cheers to you.
1:06
I think the obvious place to start though, after the beers,
1:09
is your Gooners. They're headed to the FA Cup to
1:12
play Liverpool, coming off a pretty interesting win against
1:16
West Ham. Definitely an interesting win
1:18
versus West Ham. Fell fell behind twice.
1:21
A little bit of scary hours, I think defensively very shaky, I
1:26
would say, especially in the first half, especially on set
1:29
pieces. Silver lining at the end of the
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first half, though, Chloe Kelly blasts the team back into the
1:34
match, cutting lead in half. We're going to halftime 2:00 to
1:36
1:00. And then we got into the Rene
1:39
Slager's hours where there we go.
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She's like, all right, what kind of artillery do I have?
1:44
What do I have in my arsenal, so to speak, on the bench that we
1:47
can bring in Blaxtenius on from on them right after halftime.
1:51
Then the roller coaster dips down a little bit.
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Shakira Martinez, who was unreal.
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I mean, I think you you saw her against City.
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I don't know if she was as effective, but I mean, she was
2:00
killing Arsenal on on this day. And then slagers brings in
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Cooney cross for Leavalti alike for like and then Caitlin Ford
2:07
for Kim Little. So at one time Arsenal has
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Alessia Russo's Tina Blackston is Chloe Kelly, Caitlin Ford,
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Mariana Caldente all in attack. I mean, that's, that's a lot of
2:18
offense to try to contend with. Pretty good, and I think you
2:21
nailed it by mentioning Chloe Kelly blasting you back into the
2:24
game. I will say the roller coaster
2:27
nature, I didn't expect that, but when Chloe Kelly gets that
2:30
goal right before the half, I was like, that's they're back in
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it. They're probably gonna win it
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because I'll tell you not, not trying to sound like a like a
2:39
hater, but we both know that I am.
2:41
When you guys were down to nil and I see you one spot ahead of
2:44
Man City and the table, it was Birdman hours and I'm just
2:47
rubbing my hands together waiting for you guys to lose to
2:50
West Ham. But Chloe Kelly and Renee
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Slager's won't go let that happen.
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No, definitely not. You could throw Katie McCabe in
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the mix there as well. Who?
2:59
Who opens the three goal barrage with an absolute slicer down the
3:03
end line to just kind of sneak it into the net.
3:06
And then Chloe Kennedy, just like maybe a minute later, I
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mean, it felt like seconds later, puts in a corner, Leah
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Williamson knocks it in to equalize.
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And then a ball into Caitlyn Ford.
3:17
Yeah, Draws a handball and Mariana steps up, takes the PK,
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puts them up 4-3. And that's how this 1 ended.
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Big three points, big comeback. I mean, big kind of, I don't
3:26
know, gut check win for Arsenal. Here are my notes on the match
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that I just that I put in our in our document here.
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Heart guts, guile. That's all that's what it is,
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man. You guys like you might fall
3:40
behind, but you you're just never out of it.
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Cal Dente scores the penalty. Cool as you like.
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You mentioned the attack that you have up top.
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You're never going to be out of any matches moving forward, at
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least the way it looks, the way Slagers has a team playing.
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That's a real key point for Arsenal's mindset because I
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think it's not really OK. Well, is it Russo?
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Is it Blackstenius? Like who's our go to goal
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scorer? Like I think on a day like today
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where the goals came in many different shapes and forms, and
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Sagres says, I'm going to play these five players.
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And then even later in the match brings on Beth Mead.
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I mean, all the attackers, you know, got a little bit of shine
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today. I think what that does is it
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gives the attack like a collective mindset was like,
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hey, we're dangerous everywhere. It's not like, OK, Yep, if our
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heavy hitter is not coming, you know, coming through today,
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we're going to slump our shoulders a little bit.
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Like, no, I think there's there's definite confidence in
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the in the group as a whole And for Sagres to put so much
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attacking talent on the field at one time, definitely pretty
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exciting. I think on the defensive side of
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the ball, though, I mean, a little worried that, you know,
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like I was excited to see Amanda listed get a couple minutes late
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in the match at center back. Who could, you know, step in and
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and provide, I think some really, really valuable minutes
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down the stretch. But you look at Arsenal
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defensively, West Ham manages 11 shots, 7 on target.
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So it's kind of like, I mean, I think with that much control the
5:00
game, you like to see a little bit more maybe control in the
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final defensive third and then obviously two big ones coming up
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here against Liverpool and Everton, and that's before
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heading into Champions League quarterfinals week after next.
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So I think defensively I'm going to, you know, my interests are
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definitely peaked in an offensively, you know, what's
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the attack going to look like? You know, I think there's still
5:18
some evolution to come here. The best defense is a good
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offense. So you know what if that's what
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Renee Slakers is working with, let's go.
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If if the other team scores 3, you just score 4.
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That's what the strategy has to be.
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Yep. I mean, math checks out.
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So I can go, yeah, let's go to Chelsea in action today, taking
5:37
on Lester coming up. A22 draw versus Brighton in a
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match. They were, I think, pretty
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thoroughly outplayed for most of it.
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Kind of lucky to escape that one with a draw.
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They made this one interesting, too.
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One nil at the half, 21 early in the second-half.
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What do you see from Chelsea to start in this one?
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Yeah, I mean, I think early it was Cat Macario time.
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What she scores, she scores within the 1st 10 minutes on
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that on that free kick, you know, calls bank banks it off
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the defenders head in the wall on the free kick to to rainbow
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drop down. That wasn't the first rainbow
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goal that we were going to see in this match.
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I mean, Macario and ABJ, Aggie, Beaver, Jones, great chemistry.
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We saw that later on. The second goal, I just, you
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know, Macario, Canner, Rude Ramirez, ABJ, that's a solid top
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four that can run at you, that can body you.
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They can beat you in multiple different ways and they're just
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going to be able to do it more often than not.
6:32
Yeah, and I think I want to rewind a little bit real quick
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to the Brighton match, Lauren James, who was awesome, you
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know, in that one, and who for their first goal find Standy
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Baltimore, who's like coming all the way up field from left back
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and smashed in a volley that was pretty wicked.
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So I think attacking wise, like they've just got, they've got so
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much up front and Lauren James, you know, I think when she's on,
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I don't know. For me, I think the best player
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in the WSLI think I feel comfortable saying that, yeah.
7:03
I, I can, I can hear that. I mean, obviously meet a mug
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post injury, you could ask questions.
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Bunny Shaw's the leading goal scorer.
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You know, with Sam Kerr injured, I think you could, I think you
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could make a real case. Yeah, no doubt.
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And I think great call of Macario obviously earns the free
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kick. You know that First off to to,
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you know, draw the foul in a dangerous spot.
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The back heel was nasty. ABJ basically walks it in to to
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to put them up two nil. But Lester wasn't necessarily
7:34
going to roll over. They still had a little bit of
7:36
magic left in the tank. I mean that Yukimo Miki goal.
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Come on man. Like the the audacity to hit the
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chip from that close to the goal line, like what are we talking
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about here? And then the touch to to even
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make the chip work. I think I just I just stared and
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just said shut up like three times.
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Well, after that was score. I just, I couldn't believe the
8:00
touch and even thinking like, yeah, yeah, chip is the right
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move here and it'll die just in time to cross over the line.
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It was just absolutely insane amount of skill from Momiki, who
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obviously US Women's national team fans will remember.
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Pretty awesome. 100% yeah. And I think so instinctive too.
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Like just yeah, like didn't even, I mean, didn't think
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twice, didn't barely thought once about it.
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I mean, it was just boom, boom and right, right where I was
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supposed to go. And her run, she basically
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splits Jean Francois and Millie Bright, neither of whom were
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anywhere particularly close. I mean, like she just cut
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through and was just absolutely by herself.
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And and like you said, the chip was nasty.
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Brings them back into the match 2 to one.
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But 86 minute ITC Hall of Famer Aaron Cuthbert slams the door
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shot on this one. Three to one in what was a
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pretty well contested match. But you know, I think stop me if
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you've seen this one before, Chelsea, you know, rides their
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depth and their pedigree to a wit, you know, to basically just
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kind of stretch things out down the stretch and and, and take
9:03
home the three points. Interesting runner for him to
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have a kind of close match against Leicester off the draw
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versus Brighton. I think it bears monitoring.
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But like you said, the depth is there, the skill is there, the
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coaching is there. I'm sure they'll be fine.
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But, you know, we got to see, you got to see how they look
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kind as we continue and build toward these these Champions
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League fixtures coming up. Yeah, and I think a couple
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interesting Nuggets speaking, the coaching.
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We saw bone past door slide Lucy Bronze to center back, which I
9:30
thought worked pretty nicely actually.
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You know, when you think about Bronze's IQ, her toughness, her
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positioning, you know, her her kind of take on ability, all
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real assets for for Chelsea, if she's able to log a few minutes
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here and there at center back. And it allowed Ashley Lawrence
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to come in the game without taking Bronze off.
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So gives him a nice new dimension.
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And I also kind of want to call out Mike Armando, who apparently
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is just always open, always available to receive the ball,
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just your friendly neighbor just a few yards away to kind of like
10:00
keep the attack going. Homano's just incredible from
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that standpoint of positioning is great and so tough to defend,
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so creative. And she was a real problem today
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for Lester. So I think those those couple
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players I'll be keeping an eye on.
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And then coming up here, Chelsea very busy March take on Crystal
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Palace in the FA Women's Cup quarterfinals before embarking
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on the rarely seen home and home and home and home against
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Manchester City. Yeah, yeah.
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They're going to be seeing a lot of of that Chelsea squad.
10:28
But after a couple, you know, not so high flying matches for
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Chelsea. Did you see anything you think
10:33
City can take advantage of? Yeah.
10:35
I mean, you talk about, you talk about Momiki able to kind of
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split the defense on that, on that great run on a good pass.
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I feel like those type of moves or something that Jess Park or
10:45
Mary Fowler could be playing players into those kind of those
10:49
kind of runs, whether it's Ketaline or Bunny Shaw.
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I think it's going to be a test of like whose back line is going
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to hold up better totally in like across those four and what
11:00
kind of value, like obviously they're going to play for the
11:03
League Cup final. Does does City go harder than
11:08
Chelsea in that case? Or would we even be able to tell
11:11
if City is going harder than Chelsea in that because Chelsea
11:14
is so deep? I'm also obviously very curious.
11:18
We got a little bit of Naomi Germa against Brighton and then
11:22
she leaves with that calf injury.
11:24
I think the last thing I saw was that bone Pastor said she didn't
11:27
think it looked too bad. But I mean, you know, what
11:31
weaknesses do I see that City can exploit in Chelsea Football
11:34
Club? Hard to say, just try to get in
11:37
behind the defense and try to score and and try to keep up
11:40
with them. I think calling out the the back
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4 for each each of the sides, I think is is really pressing it.
11:46
Like we've seen definitely some some holes in in each of their
11:48
defenses. Yeah.
11:50
But Speaking of city, they had a match today as well.
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We're recording this Wednesday against West Ham.
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What'd you see in that one? So they blow A1, no lead to West
11:58
Ham Pavi. It's a great shot to be
12:01
Yamashita near the death in stoppage time, second-half
12:04
stoppage time to secure the draw for the Hammers.
12:07
You know, when you leave a small margin for error like that and
12:11
those kind of matches, that kind of thing can happen, especially
12:14
with a player like Pavi on the field.
12:16
You like he had to hit a great pass to kind of set Pavi up.
12:20
I mean, the title race has been over for weeks.
12:23
Like we knew what time it was relatively early.
12:26
But Speaking of small margin for error, Champions League
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qualification for next year is I think in some pretty serious
12:34
peril at this moment. For Manchester City, their next
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match in that four week stretch of Chelsea matches includes a
12:41
league match versus Chelsea. Arsenal, who's one point ahead
12:45
of us with a match in hand, is going up against Everton in
12:50
their next league match. So, you know, I think it's fair
12:53
to assume that they're going to be looking up at Arsenal, who
12:56
will be 4 points ahead of them for that third and final
12:59
Champions League qualifier spot. That's not good.
13:04
I would say that's dangerous. Like you never know what could
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happen. Like obviously Arsenal at a
13:09
different day maybe could have lost to West Ham and and dropped
13:11
all three points. But if you're if you're four
13:14
behind at this point in the season, you know what, we're 16
13:18
matches in for most of the squads, yeah, you're in real
13:21
danger of not qualifying. And then, you know, Manchester
13:25
City doesn't pay managers to not qualify for the Champions
13:28
League. Yeah, I think that would put
13:29
Gary Taylor in a really tough spot.
13:31
And then you look at United, United, they're three points
13:34
ahead of Arsenal. So they also have that game in
13:36
hand. They're four points ahead of
13:37
City. So they might be tough to catch.
13:39
But yeah, the end of the season really creeps up on you.
13:42
Yeah, it's only 22 matches. We're 16 in.
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Not a ton of time to make up ground.
13:47
And then you add to that the extra grind that City's going to
13:50
face, you know, with that League Cup final, with those back to
13:52
backs against Chelsea. And I think it's going to really
13:55
kind of stretch, you know, that that team's depth and the
13:58
championship rounds nature of kind of where we're at in the
14:01
season. Yeah, it's why.
14:02
It's why I brought up the point about maybe even if City tries
14:06
to smash on the gas pedal in the League Cup final doesn't even
14:09
make a difference against Chelsea's deep line up.
14:12
You know, we saw the return of Laura Coombs for City.
14:16
I thought Austrian right back Laura Weinreiter, I thought she
14:19
looks pretty good in her first start for City.
14:23
They'll need her because the other signing they had, Rebecca
14:25
Knock, she suffered a hamstring injury over the international
14:28
break. I mean, can you get players back
14:32
in time and then get him in form enough to try to make a run at
14:36
qualifying? So obviously Lauren Hemp comes
14:39
to mind. She was dynamite earlier in the
14:41
year before she suffered that injury.
14:44
Here's what Gareth Taylor said about her possible return quote.
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Lauren is pushing on and looking really good from what we've been
14:50
seeing from her. She's starting to be
14:52
reintroduced to some moments of training, which has been great
14:55
to see and quote. I didn't think we would see Alex
14:59
Greenwood any time soon when she suffered her injury.
15:03
But when asked about Greenwood's status compared to Hemps, Gareth
15:07
Taylor said that Greenwood's timeline was like a little
15:09
behind Hemp. But then when he was asked if we
15:11
could possibly see both Hemp and Greenwood play in the month of
15:15
March, Gareth Taylor said, quote, yeah, you'd hope so.
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And quote, Yes, Gareth, I do hope so.
15:25
I'm sure Gareth would hope so too.
15:26
Yes. Yeah, so that'll be definitely
15:29
something to watch. Let's switch gears though.
15:32
Liga F Athletic Club versus Real Madrid.
15:35
This one was another entertaining matchup that that
15:39
gave us another, I don't know, pretty decent comeback to talk
15:42
about. Absolutely.
15:43
And I think we said it a few weeks ago when we talked about
15:47
Real Madrid. I know we were talking about
15:48
Arsenal able to come from behind a secure win.
15:51
We talked about it with Real Madrid, Speaking of heart, guts
15:54
and guile, the ability to kind of dig deep and come back.
15:57
You mentioned very presciently yourself saying the next step is
16:02
for them to stop falling behind. And they said, no, Dino, we will
16:07
not. We will continue to fall behind
16:09
and then we will exactly. We will continue to come back.
16:12
Thank you for doing the Spanish accent yourself.
16:14
I'm not going to attempt. Yeah, subtle.
16:16
But yeah, I'm glad you picked up on it.
16:19
This one started a little rough. Atenea, you know, a little rough
16:22
and rugged. In this one, she hits the truck
16:24
stick. Adletis Garcia, who earns the
16:27
penalty, steps up, smashes in the PK, put them up one nil.
16:32
Then a bit later, Caroline Weir knocks in the corner.
16:35
Senior Brune gets a head on it, kind of moves it along back to
16:37
Mel Lacroix, who punches it in to equalize 11.
16:41
I went back and looked at it because I'm like, all right, so
16:44
Madrid signs Lacroix, who I know is a good player.
16:46
Seen him play for France. Didn't strike me as a goal
16:49
scorer. So I went back and checked. 18
16:51
League F matches this season. Lacroix got four goals, one
16:55
assist in the previous in her previous 115 career D1 Arkeva
17:00
matches, four goals, 0 assists. So they've definitely unlocked a
17:05
new part of her game. It's been exciting.
17:06
And then if you missed this one, Olga's goal from 4045, I mean,
17:11
I'm not even sure it's incalculable how far away she
17:15
knocked it in from intercepts the ball right around the
17:17
halfway line, one touch, and then just a rocket that, I mean,
17:22
felt like it was in the air for an hour and a half.
17:24
And one of the most spectacularly audacious goals
17:27
I've ever seen. Really, really cool moment from
17:29
Madrid. And I don't know, like kind of
17:31
good. I mean, you know, you would love
17:32
to see them, like you mentioned, not fall behind.
17:35
But to be able to come back in such spectacular fashion, I
17:38
think, I don't know, it's pretty exciting.
17:40
Absolutely exciting. I mean, imagine being 22 year
17:43
old Adriana Nanclares, you're playing goalkeeper for Atleti
17:48
and you're just like wow, play in Real Madrid.
17:50
This is great. What a moment and then all the
17:52
uncorks one like that and you're standing way off your line and
17:57
you just have to be like, Oh no, this can't be and you have to
18:00
run back and that happens to you.
18:02
Unfortunate for for non Clara's, but it just speaks to like,
18:06
wait, what we always say with Real Madrid, and I know we
18:09
talked a little bit about with Arsenal, but Real Madrid has a
18:12
belief. It does not matter if they fall
18:15
down. They know they have the skill
18:17
and the guts to just claw back every single time.
18:20
And I think you're right. I, I would recommend not putting
18:23
yourself in those positions, especially we're recording this
18:26
before they they take on Barcelona and Coba de la Reyna.
18:29
I highly recommend they don't do that against Barcelona, but you
18:33
know, we'll see how it goes. Yep, we'll see how it goes.
18:36
Indeed, That one's going to be a good one.
18:38
That one going down tomorrow. Third Well.
18:41
You already saw it, You are all already watched it.
18:45
Yes, you did. Tell us what happened.
18:49
Sunday, Madrid takes on Sevilla, 8th place Sevilla back in Liga F
18:53
action. I mean, Speaking of Liga, five
18:55
points behind Barcelona for Real Madrid, So not completely shut.
19:00
A tighter race than we have in the WSL, which is which is
19:02
definitely saying something. We'll see what happens to Copa
19:04
della Hena. You know, obviously what the
19:06
first of two legs, but yeah, Liga F could get a little drama
19:09
down the stretch. And Speaking of Barcelona, they
19:12
took on Ibar Ibar, Ibar. What did you say on that one?
19:19
Domination from Barcelona, they scored three minutes in mediuelo
19:23
to payor over the top was a work of art.
19:26
I love payors. Like cool mentality where the
19:29
announcer pointed it out too. She could have hit it first time
19:32
to try to beat the keeper who was way off her line, but
19:35
instead she just collects it goes goes over to her left acute
19:39
angle, doesn't matter. Pyor is going to finish that.
19:41
Even though Pyor, she I think she scored once in this match.
19:44
She could have had a brace. I think it's.
19:45
Over a cute angle. Barcelona wins the race this
19:48
week, which I think we should start charting.
19:50
I don't know if it's ITC record book worthy, it might be, but
19:54
Barcelona wins the race by scoring in the third minute.
19:57
We'll talk about Lyon later. They took twice as long.
20:01
Who knows what they were even doing before they were able to
20:03
score. Bunch of bombs.
20:06
And so, you know, everything looks great for for Barcelona
20:10
once again, I do want to give credit to Ibar real quick, who
20:13
should have had the equalizer? Who had the equalizer in the
20:16
19th minute when Spanish forward Carmen Alvarez was erroneously
20:20
called offside? She was pretty clearly on side
20:22
on the replay, neither here nor there.
20:24
Something tells me that might not have been enough for them to
20:27
scratch out a result in this one.
20:29
Betiuello looked super sharp. Pottery looked great.
20:32
Vicki Lopez looks super dangerous.
20:34
Eight of their 10 starters in the field had a goal
20:38
contribution in this one. I think it's safe to say the
20:41
trophy machine is back up and running.
20:44
I was going to ask you about this.
20:45
So you know, in this one, Patiuello scores twice and not
20:48
only scores twice, but like really good skill, really soft
20:52
touches to kind of like make that happen by or who you
20:56
mentioned. That was awesome.
20:57
Claudia Pina icing on the cake 12 yards out.
21:00
She digs a ball that even though she's 12 yards out, travels 20
21:03
yards in the air. Wicked parabola to make it 8 to
21:06
one. They're just getting goals from
21:08
all over the place. You know, in in sort of my
21:10
meandering at, you know, in terms of analyzing the sport, am
21:14
I just kind of doing a lot of work to manufacture storylines
21:18
about how and why, you know, if everything broke perfectly,
21:22
Barcelona might not win the Champions League?
21:24
Are or are they just a shoe in? And that, you know, I'm just
21:27
kind of going through these mental gymnastics.
21:30
Just try to keep myself entertained.
21:31
I think that's part of the fun of watching sports.
21:34
I mean, people tried to do it to the Chicago Bulls in the 90s.
21:37
People tried to do it to the Lakers in the 2000s.
21:39
People tried to do it to the Warriors and the 20 tens.
21:42
Like this is kind of people tried to do it to your Miami
21:45
Heat in in the early 20 tens. Like this is kind of how it
21:50
goes. And I think there was some merit
21:52
to some of the disjointedness of the attack, especially at times
21:57
for Barcelona. But after a while, I mean, you
22:01
know, I, I obviously have, as the Barcelona guy on the show, I
22:04
have dutifully and faithfully not jumped off the bandwagon.
22:09
I think it's fair to ask some questions, but there's just too
22:13
much talent. Again, I mean, let me just make
22:16
sure I'm not making this up yeah Alexia Poutaeus doesn't play
22:21
again in in this match and they're absolutely dominating.
22:24
Aitana Bone Matique doesn't appear in this match that's 4
22:28
Balandores who don't even appear on the pitch in this match and
22:32
they win 8 to one. I realize ibar not exactly a
22:35
bunch of world beaters, but this is just who Barsa is.
22:39
We haven't even said the name Esme Brooks, who I who I think
22:43
we just got to go with the Dutch nuclear weapon back there at
22:46
left back. She just she just unlocks so
22:49
much for that squad and she was the one who had the assist on on
22:52
the CGH goal. They just can crush you from
22:55
anywhere on the field. Yeah.
22:57
And I think, well, let's talk about the team that you
22:59
mentioned. It took twice as long to score.
23:01
Maybe one of the only teams that might be able to push Barcelona.
23:04
We'll see in the Champions League.
23:06
Lyon, they had a pretty routine win versus Strasbourg, 4 nil
23:10
goals from Les Sommer, Wendy Renard, Melchi du Bernay,
23:13
Tabitha Chewinga. Seems like every every week
23:16
there's a handful of goals from mostly those players, and maybe
23:19
there's a heaps in there, maybe there's a DNE in there, maybe
23:21
there's a Vanda Duncan there. But you zoom out a little bit.
23:24
16 Premier League Arkema matches this season, 14 different goal
23:28
scorers. Amazing.
23:29
And in their 22 matches played in Premier League Arkema and the
23:33
Champions League, they've allowed five goals there.
23:35
You go where we're at. We're at a very kind of like
23:37
unique time. 2 weeks away from the quarterfinals, kicking back
23:40
off Champions League wise, Lyon seems to be kind of humming.
23:44
But with that said, I don't want to say that it feels like they
23:46
plateaued, but I feel like what the team that they're going to
23:50
be is a team that we've already seen this season.
23:52
Where to your early point about Barcelona working out some of
23:55
those kinks? Obviously Patri's back, No
23:57
Alexia, no Etano. We got to look at that.
23:59
You know, Bruce kind of coming into her own at that left backs.
24:02
But you know, so it feels like there's still some evolution
24:05
potential at Barcelona. Leon feels a little bit more
24:09
maybe solidified. Can I interest you in Vicki
24:13
Betcho coming back and playing her first league match since
24:16
January 8th? Good call.
24:19
Could I possibly interest you in Seattle Reign legend Sofia
24:23
Huerta looking like she's getting more comfortable back
24:26
there as well? Could I interest you in Tarsiane
24:30
not yet coming into her own for Leon as well?
24:33
But I, I do think you make a lot of points, especially in the
24:36
attacking half of the field. It does feel like they kind of
24:39
got their rotation. They're kind of set.
24:41
But I, I think the some of the Leon supporters might be a hold
24:45
on a second. We're in 3rd gear dominating
24:48
Premier League Arkema and we know when to to ramp it up.
24:52
And maybe, you know, they lose Bon Pasteur, but all that
24:55
institutional knowledge still rests within a lot of those
24:59
world class players. So I do wonder if if they think
25:02
OK against Strasbourg, against Montpellier, against ROMs gang
25:07
ALM. Sorry to all our French pals
25:10
too, had to listen to me recite those names.
25:13
I I think that they're probably of the mind.
25:16
We can beat them in 3rd gear. We know when we got to ramp it
25:20
up. Yeah, that's fair.
25:21
Yeah. And ROMs is Next up for Leo and
25:23
that's going down next Friday, 4:00 PM Eastern.
25:26
Quick stop over in Germany, Bayern and Wolfsburg are other
25:29
two Chimpsi quarterfinalist, not an action, but they will kick
25:33
back up this weekend. Saturday Wolfsburg takes on 5th
25:36
place Leipzig 8:00 AM Eastern and Sunday Bayern Munich takes
25:41
on 10th place Cologne 9:00 AM Eastern on Sunday as mentioned.
25:44
And that is before those two big squads go head to head Friday,
25:48
March 14th, Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich match week 17 and Fran
25:52
Bundesiga for most of the marbles, I'd say.
25:55
I think that was going to go a good a good ways in terms of
25:58
deciding who is going to take Fran Bundesiga.
26:00
So we'll be locked in for that, obviously.
26:03
You know, every sports coach yells at you, don't look ahead,
26:07
don't fall into the trap game mentality, etcetera, etcetera.
26:11
March 14th, you know, Bayern Munich at home versus Wolfsburg,
26:15
as you mentioned, for at least a good portion of the marbles
26:18
potentially and and, and frown Bundesliga.
26:21
You got to ask yourself the question.
26:23
So Bayern Munich is going up against Leon in the Champions
26:28
League quarterfinals. Wolfsburg is going up against
26:31
Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals.
26:34
I realized that fixture between those two squads, there's like
26:37
4-4 days, four or five days ahead of when they have to play
26:41
the their first Champions League fixture.
26:43
I think you got to go for it in this league match because as
26:47
much as you want to believe and both those teams who have
26:50
incredible pedigree, as much as they believe they could beat
26:53
Leona, Barcelona, you can't. And so you're not going to.
26:57
So you have to try to win. You should try to win, frown
27:01
Bundesliga and get that six point swing.
27:04
I think it's going to be an absolutely fascinating match in
27:06
two weeks or no, it's not even two weeks.
27:08
I'm lying to you. It's in 11 days.
27:10
It's in nine days. I can't even do math.
27:12
I'm so excited for the match. I can't even count.
27:15
Yeah, next Friday it it's just that level exciting.
27:17
I mean, you definitely got my wheels turning on.
27:19
I don't know what the line UPS look like and where the
27:21
investment goes to and and to wind back a little further, the
27:25
city Chelsea like chess match with regards to who do we play?
27:28
How exactly do we, how many chips are we pushing in for each
27:31
of these ties? Because you could make the case
27:35
that outside of death, if you just look at the units on the
27:37
field, I think it's pretty even, you know?
27:40
And I think like you look at a team like Byron and Leon, it
27:42
could be some of that too. But I think you're right,
27:45
coaches at this point of the season, organizations at this
27:47
point of the season have to make some, you know, kind of like
27:49
tough implicit choices about, all right, how much are we
27:52
really investing here? What what are the objectives and
27:55
and how do we start to prioritize those?
27:57
Which, which trophy do you think you have the best chance of
27:59
winning? And it's, you know, we, we've
28:01
talked about it in multiple shows, like if you're a team who
28:04
thinks you could win the League Cup and it would be an upset for
28:06
you to win the League Cup and you know, you're drawing dead
28:08
for the league, why wouldn't you put all that investment into a
28:12
trophy into, into potentially winning?
28:14
And I think it's a, it's a consistently fascinating
28:16
question that now we have a few different opportunities to see
28:20
it in different countries in different leagues to see how
28:23
these teams handle it. I think it's going to be
28:25
incredibly interesting to watch. Yeah, cannot wait and totally
28:28
agree with you. Every good manager says do not
28:31
get caught looking ahead. But with that said, quick look
28:33
ahead for the ITC episode 105. We'll talk some NWSL Challenge
28:38
Cup. Everything we saw on there in
28:39
that one, your boy will be in the building.
28:42
I'll be hanging up the day the day before trying to pick up
28:44
some little Nuggets off the floor and then obviously in the
28:47
press box for the big match up Friday night.
28:49
We'll be back next week crossing the streams.
28:51
Rumor has it your boys will be live with our friends at Shades
28:54
of blue. So make sure you're following
28:56
them. Make sure you're following us.
28:57
Details to come on our social and then next week as well and
29:00
there'll be a cell preview in full.
29:03
We're going to do it. We've got our seven and seven.
29:06
I mean, I don't know. The calendar never stops, man.
29:08
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, yeah, the NWSL just
29:11
thundering into the mix also. That is fantastic.
29:14
I can't, I can't wait to chat with our pals over at Shades of
29:17
Blue. I think.
29:18
Apologies if I've missed it, but I think I got this idea that,
29:23
you know, if if City fails to qualify for next year's
29:26
Champions League and let's say they don't win the League Cup,
29:28
what do you think about the idea of Gareth Taylor out and then
29:33
steal Seb Hinds away from Orlando?
29:35
Where? Where do you land on that idea?
29:37
No, I don't like it. Not support it.
29:42
No, I thought, I thought you said Garrett Taylor out maybe
29:44
Garrett Taylor, you know, joins the show and talks to us about
29:46
everything that went wrong and, you know, maybe, you know, kind
29:49
of help us from a Coach's Corner standpoint.
29:51
But yeah, no, that's, that's not a trade that I'm interested in
29:54
making denied. We'll expect the counter of Via
29:59
Facts early tomorrow morning. Fair enough, I understand.
30:02
All right, man, anything else you wanna hit before we get out
30:03
of here? I think that's, I mean what a
30:06
couple weeks of football we have coming up here, excited to talk
30:09
about it with all of you. Absolutely.
30:11
There's been there was sort of into the channel.
30:12
Thank you. Thank you for hanging out if you
30:13
enjoyed the show or love ones as much as your boys do, make sure
30:17
you're kicking in with us each and every single week.
30:19
Like if you liked, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple
30:21
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
30:23
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
30:26
We want to hear from you. We love hearing from you.
30:28
Links to all of our socials except one in the show notes of
30:30
this episode. And a big thank you to my coach
30:32
as well, Mr. Granengo, for traversing the leagues,
30:36
traversing the continents, doesn't matter where, when, time
30:39
zones, who gives a shit? You're always there for me
30:41
buddy, and I appreciate you. Likewise, my good man, even when
30:44
Ioffer you terrible trades, you're always very kind and
30:47
generous to me. So I appreciate that, just like
30:50
we appreciate all of you for checking us out, dropping
30:52
knowledge in the comments. Thank you for that and we will
30:54
see you all next time.