Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / UWCL League Phase Recap + KO Phase Previews 🏆 Barcelona Lyonnes Chelsea Arsenal Bayern Munich

Transcript

UWCL League Phase Recap + KO Phase Previews 🏆 Barcelona Lyonnes Chelsea Arsenal Bayern Munich · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:09
about 1 football. I'm your host Dean of the
0:11
suspicious and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant
0:15
Angle. What is up man?
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Dude. Oh, I'm so sorry I cannot hear
0:22
you. What the fuck is that on my end
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or your end? Definitely on my end.
0:28
Had it muted, sorry about that. That wasn't a bit just me as I
0:34
started to launch into my little soliloquy of feeling fantastic
0:39
buddy. Feels like a long time since
0:40
we've done this. There's your proof.
0:42
Yeah, case in point. Long time, long enough to forget
0:45
how these mics work. But we'll get it done, no
0:49
worries. I mean, you know, we're probably
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just a little parched, probably just a little thirsty.
0:53
With that said, Mr. Grand Eagle, good.
0:55
First of all, good to see you. I, I, I concur.
0:57
A long time, much too long since we bought it.
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But Mr. Grand Angle, where should we get started?
1:02
Let's get started with a beverage, see if we can rinse
1:04
off some of this rust, especially on this side over in
1:08
Seattle. Got a little bit special.
1:12
Go ahead at. Least you guys have electricity.
1:15
That's true. That must have been nice.
1:17
Shout out to all our pals in the Bay Area.
1:19
I saw the headlines. So one of the things was just
1:22
like a substation fire may be the the source of this.
1:26
I was like, yeah, it might. It might.
1:28
I think our I think our pal Cal Texican on threads had talked
1:33
about the same thing of like, yeah, you think he'll fire at
1:36
the substation, maybe the culprit here?
1:37
I don't know. It sounds seems reasonable.
1:40
Yeah, probably checks out. We went a cool 10:00-ish hours.
1:44
10 plus hours without electricity.
1:46
Thankfully, the little Mama, she powered through My little guy,
1:51
you know, he, he's in that three major stage, so he likes to turn
1:55
it up at, at the drop of a hat. Really, really make our lives
1:58
difficult. But he got through it just the
2:01
same. And yeah, here we are Sunday
2:03
night, we're podding, we're getting ready.
2:06
Champions League 6 match days, league face matches in the
2:11
books. We had our draw, the draw came
2:13
and went. So now we have our twelve teams.
2:16
We know how the whole draw shook out.
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We have, we've got our bracket, we we can start to imagine what
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those downstream matchups could look like.
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But I want to talk a little bit about match day 6.
2:27
I want to look ahead a little bit to those knockout stage
2:30
matchups. And yeah, just pretty much just
2:32
talk about the football. You know, I kind of feel like
2:34
this, this show might have a little 2026 look ahead feel to
2:38
it, just like it kind of feels like, like we're we're ramping
2:41
up to, to, to next football year, even though we still got a
2:44
couple days left in the calendar.
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Where should we get started? Lots and lots to cover.
2:49
Well, let's get started with the beverage that I have here.
2:54
It's a Duval. It's it's a Belgian strong
2:59
blonde ale. And I got to tell you, I had to
3:02
go with I had to go with the Belgian beer in celebration of
3:07
you, but largely in celebration of the team that you noted from
3:13
the beginning that you liked, you like the roster, you like
3:15
the make up of the team. Shortly after seeing him play
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our pals, OH, Louvin, the debutantes.
3:21
And as luck would have it, they took on your Arsenal, the
3:25
holders and then drew them. So I mean, look, this is fate.
3:29
Let's start with Arsenal Louvin. I love it.
3:33
Well, another quick pat on the back had had Louvin in the top
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12. They sneak in.
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Got it done in this matchup, though.
3:42
They didn't have a ton for Arsenal, I thought.
3:44
I thought Arsenal did a good job kind of squeezing the vice.
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Kind of seems like Olivia Smith continues to carve out a great
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spot on the on the pitch for herself, continues to develop
3:55
chemistry with some of those attacking players on Arsenal.
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And a slow, I don't even say that.
4:02
I'll say a slow start to the league phase kind of feels like
4:06
it's a little bit in the rearview mirror.
4:08
Doesn't seem doesn't feel like every every problem has been
4:11
solved for Arsenal. But I think a good win, a win
4:13
that will carry, will allow them to carry some confidence into
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the knockout stage. Yeah, well, I mean Louvin again,
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we've mentioned they're debutantes.
4:22
They're not exactly giants in this competition.
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But to go to Belgium to notch a three nil convincing victory, to
4:30
have Olivia Smith, Beth Mead, Mariana Caldente and Alessia
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Russo all kind of cooking together is a very, very good
4:39
sign. And now we get to see the
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rematch. They're they're going to go back
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to Louvin in February, back to Belgium.
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And I think Louvin, you know, they kind of should look at this
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and say, all right, we got some tape on on this team.
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Not like there was any shortage of tape to be found on Arsenal
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before that. But now they know how, you know,
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Arsenal's going to largely look against them.
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I'm going to guess Renee Slager's probably has a couple
5:04
things. Didn't exactly throw it all on
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the pitch in this last match. But I think if you're Louvin
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you, you take that and go, hey, look, it could always be worse
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against one of the one of the powers in the world.
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And let's see, let's see how it looks in February.
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Yeah, no doubt. And I think if, if you're Lou
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and you know, you're probably looking at one spot in the pitch
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where you feel pretty good. Goalkeeper Luvie Senava, like
5:29
absolute baller. Like I I dug into some of the
5:32
numbers. Louise's post shot XG minus
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actual goals. Her post shot XG is 6.9 in six
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matches so she's she's prevented 6.9 goals in six matches, 1.15
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per 90. I mean from a shot stopping
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standpoint absolutely off the charts passing wise.
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She's also cooking 100% completion percentage on short
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passes, 414196 percent medium passes, and a smidge below 50%
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on passes 30 plus yards. And defensively they're at 17.1
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shots per goal allowed, which means they do give up shots, but
6:18
it takes a lot of shots to get one pass Sen Hava and that Lubin
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defense. So they can hang their head on
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that. Now if your Arsenal defensively,
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the one stat that I thought was interesting, their shot distance
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against is 19.8 yards, good for second of the 12 teams
6:37
remaining, meaning Arsenal's making you RIP shots from way
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way way deep, a good distance outside the 18 on average.
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So you combine those two probably makes for a cagey
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situation. But if Arsenal offensively has
6:52
found a rhythm, I think it it kind of probably spells maybe
6:55
the end of the road for Lubin, but who knows.
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They've been so scrappy, so fun to watch, I wouldn't be
7:01
surprised if they have another trick or two up their sleeves.
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Yeah, I think that's totally fair.
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Yeah, Arsenal should feel great about this draw.
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We'll talk more about like the the machinations going forward.
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But now they're they're going to be looking at another match in
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Belgium and then a week later they're they're back in in
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England and they should be saying, OK, this is the exact
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the exact gear up the ramp up that we've been talking about
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them for this whole tournament. Yeah, we should mention knockout
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stage resumes February 11th, that first leg, 11th and 12th,
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February 18th and 19th for that second leg.
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So these matchups that we're talking about, they'll be going
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down on those two successive weeks.
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And in the Arsenal Louvin section of the bracket, the
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winner of this matchup draws Chelsea, who finishes third in
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the league phase. Four wins, 2 draws, 20 goals for
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three goals against the exact same numbers that Barcelona puts
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up, the exact same plus 17 that Barcelona puts up.
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Talked about that gold, that gold differential Piggy Bank
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that Chelsea was, was keeping busy when they needed to.
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But I don't know Chelsea. I think we've we've seen not
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quite the full gamut, but a gamut of of Chelsea performances
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and and a lot of different stops along the way between pretty
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tepid, pretty pedestrian to wow, this team looks incredible and
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could be tough to beat. Maybe this is the year and
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seemingly kind of like every every little stop in between.
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I think we've seen Chelsea perform at.
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Yeah, and you know, they capped it off with a win in Germany
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versus Wolfsburg. Big game Lucy Bronze.
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What else did anybody expect? She gets the equalizer at right
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before the half and that that winner in the 64th minute by Sam
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Kerr, the looping header, the the incredible skill for her to
9:02
to pop that over and just have the the right pace on it, the
9:06
right distance on it. I think opponents should kind of
9:09
be looking at that with one eyebrow up and saying, well, how
9:12
close is she going to get to early twenty 20s Sam Kerr?
9:17
How how close is she going to get to pre injury Sam Kerr?
9:21
Because if you're one of the opponents, you don't like that.
9:25
You don't like it at all and I think I'm glad you bring up Sam
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Kerr because you can see it bubbling.
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You can you can see things start to happen and and I went looked
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at some numbers too. Of all the players participated
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in the league phase, where do you think Sam Kerr ranked with
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regard to non penalty XG? Obviously working our way back.
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You know, you know, there's a lot of good offenses here and I
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tell you, Sam Kerr ranked where non penalty XG in terms of the
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six league phase matches. Just 'cause there was some, some
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big goal differential matches. And yeah, like you said, like
10:04
I'm trying to think if she was coming off in as as a or coming
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on as a sub, I would say somewhere like the 16th to 25th
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range, somewhere in there maybe. She ranked 1st.
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For sure, yeah. Five point O non penalty XG
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generated and you can see it, right?
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You can see where she is, where she's getting the ball.
10:29
Now the scary part to your .23 attempts over those matches, I
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think she played in five. I don't think she played in all
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six. I think she played in five, but
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23 attempts over those five and just three goals.
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And this is Sam Kerr and we know that that percentage is not
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going to hold. We know that her next 23 might
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might end up looking more like 6 or seven goals from the next 23.
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So that kind of sent a little shiver down my mind thinking
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about Chelsea might be waiting, waiting in the wings there and
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then. In terms of Chelsea's shot
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distance, offensively, they got the closest.
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So their average 15 1/2 yards away is the distance from from
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where they're ripping shots from, which is, you know, it,
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it's good for best of the 12 teams remaining.
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So they're getting deep, deep, deep penetration, probably on
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the heels of what Sam Curzer being able to do.
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And now, I mean, they already led the the, the league phase in
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terms of goals scored and that goal differential.
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So if they're able to cash in on a few more of those that that
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might even take them up a level. I think that's fair to say and I
11:41
and I think you're right that Sam Kerr helps that that shot
11:44
distance. But having Carpenter and
11:46
Baltimore on either side too, that's massive for that because
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they're getting up the field when they serve it, you know,
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into the middle. And so I think they're helping
11:55
create those chances as well. I I had to write in my notes
11:58
after watching that match. Alyssa Thompson pretty good in
12:04
the Champions League too, huh? I mean.
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I've been, I've been excited to see her have an impact, you
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know, and, and just kind of be almost like it's weird because
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it's tough to know, it's tough to be able to predict who's
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going to perform better or worse where.
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But for whatever reason, her offensive tools look more
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dangerous in the WSL than they did in the NWSL.
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And it's not an indictment on the lawyer.
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I don't know why I'm not really interested in the league, you
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know, one versus the other conversation, but for whatever
12:39
reason, her game is just deadly. You know, there, she's just in
12:43
space, she's running. She provides them an outlet that
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they just didn't really have. You know, like you think about
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who who was out that, you know, like the girl writings out there
12:52
before you, obviously incredibly skilled players.
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There's always skilled players out there, but her speed, her
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change of direction, her change of pace, her vision, her kind of
13:03
like go forwardness is something that's really just like striking
13:09
a perfect chord in terms of like fitting in there.
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And it's funny to see bone Buster just be like, oh, yeah,
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let's stop. So Yep, that's she's in the
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light up again. You know, like we're at that,
13:17
not quite Sharpie, but we're getting closer to Sharpie
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territory for Thompson and Chelsea.
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And she plays like it. I think you're totally right.
13:24
I think it speaks to her, her footballing intelligence that
13:27
she was kind of able to get in there, understand the system,
13:30
you know, get dropped in a few matches here and there.
13:32
We saw them or kind of get the ramp up and now there she is
13:36
playing in a Champions League match in Germany against
13:38
Wolfsburg and she looks like one of the better players on the
13:41
field. So you know, a new weapon for
13:44
Chelsea to add to their new old weapon and Sam Kerr.
13:49
It could be it could be real scary hours.
13:51
But if your Arsenal, I don't mean to count chickens, no
13:55
disrespect to our pals in Belgium.
13:57
If your Arsenal gets through to play Chelsea, now we're we're
14:01
talking about a Derby match here.
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So, you know, even even if Chelsea looks like they're world
14:06
beaters at that time, you can't put anything past the holders.
14:10
Yeah, and that's for a spot in the semifinal, obviously.
14:13
And once you get there, I mean like the the competition
14:16
obviously is that is at a level where all these teams are
14:18
really, really good. I want to shift gears though and
14:21
talk about another team that falls into that really, really
14:24
good category. I want to talk a little
14:26
Barcelona 2 nil win over Pre FC. They finish the league phase
14:31
five wins of 6. I mentioned same goal
14:34
differentials, Chelsea 24 three against plus 17 big Vicki Lopez
14:40
performance in this one. I think Vicki kind of announced
14:43
herself and I think we also saw more in the direction of
14:49
Carolina Graham Hansen. More touches, more
14:52
opportunities, more involvement in the offense and more ROI for
14:57
that Barcelona offense. Yeah, I think they need to, you
15:02
know, with the injuries with Bone Mati out of there, you
15:05
know, they're going to need to kind of figure out who they are.
15:09
And, and like they're in like another kind of stretch where
15:12
obviously, you know, year plus ago you had the Patias injury
15:16
and then the team kind of becomes Bone Matias team and
15:19
Putias comes back and everybody's like, how are they
15:21
going to play together? And you know, it's just that
15:23
there's been like this kind of rotation around all the success
15:26
that they've been having. I totally agree with you.
15:30
It was a Vicki Lopez game. Claudia Pina was an absolute
15:34
menace in this one. It it would be a very unique bet
15:39
to make. But I wonder what kind of odds a
15:42
sports book would have given us if we would have said, hey,
15:44
sports book. I want to place a bet that at
15:48
half time of this Barcelona Perry FC match that they will
15:51
have the same number of shots and the same number of shots on
15:55
target. Speaking of Barcelona and Perry
15:58
FC, I don't, I think we could have got pretty good odds on
16:01
that. And I think it was partially
16:03
because Barry FC was just finding a couple ways and you
16:08
know, they weren't like they didn't look like incredibly,
16:10
incredibly dangerous like Koroshak.
16:12
She could have scored, she could have scored the opener, but they
16:18
were able to find Barcelona a little stretched at times.
16:20
And I thought that was interesting.
16:22
Barcelona dealt with it well in, in in all cases, but I, I think
16:27
that kind of speaks to like Barcelona is, is figuring things
16:31
out right now and trying to get it together without Bowman, T
16:33
and Padre. I'm glad you bought a Padre.
16:37
You know, we're, we're, we're doing some research for our 2025
16:41
best 11. So Padre was very, very much top
16:44
of mind as I think about kind of like what the, what my
16:46
midfield's going to look like. What are midfield's going to
16:48
look like as a show? But I think about these like
16:50
definitely that absence has definitely hurt them because
16:55
she's so physical. She covers so much ground, she's
16:59
impossible to get past and get around.
17:01
And then offensively she's devastating.
17:04
You know, she can shoot, she can pass.
17:06
She's kind of like, right, almost at the level of like,
17:11
like a world class attacking player.
17:13
You know it from her position on the field.
17:14
And so when she joins the mix, it's like just as good almost as
17:17
anybody else that that you can put up there.
17:20
Barcelona's been trying some different solutions in that
17:24
spot. Alessandra's got some minutes
17:26
and they've just kind of been moving some stuff around it.
17:29
You just you just notice that gap.
17:32
And I don't want to say you notice it more than Itana, but
17:35
you know where Itana plays. Barcelona has a lot of players
17:39
that can move the ball around and and kind of like keep keep
17:42
the offensive threat going. Pina was dangerous in this one.
17:45
We've seen Graham Hansen, obviously Vicki Lopez, we've
17:47
talked about her a little bit. But that positive spot, I mean,
17:50
we're going to have to see if when they face some of the big
17:53
dogs, if that ends up being a spot in the pitch where they
17:57
look a little vulnerable, you know, and then at that point,
18:00
you might need some of the center backs to step up, occupy
18:04
some of that space, help, you know, whether it's a double or
18:07
just kind of like just be more of, you know, visible.
18:10
And then you can think about an oil Leone or Chelsea or you're
18:12
going to Bayern Munich, you know, being able to sneak, you
18:15
know, around the back door or, you know, kind of like post some
18:19
some problems that way. But what was your read on kind
18:22
of like this new look Barcelona, like I've seen some some some
18:26
interesting wrinkles, some things that we're like, OK, wow,
18:29
we're we're we're here now getting a chance to see this
18:32
this player, these combinational players.
18:35
But the flip side, there's there's some stuff that that's
18:37
still absolutely missing with time to kind of fill in some of
18:40
those gaps. You know, I think their manager,
18:43
Pere Romeo, I think he is going to have to take these next
18:48
couple, you know, these next several matches.
18:51
I'm trying to think I I don't have off the top of my head how
18:53
many fixtures they'll have. It takes to be several, I think.
18:59
Yeah, well. They're going to have several in
19:01
Liga F before they, you know, before they get to.
19:06
Oh, that's right, because they're not.
19:07
They don't come back until end of March.
19:09
Exactly. So, you know, he has a lot of
19:14
time to kind of figure it out for some players to get healthy,
19:17
kind of see where they see where they land.
19:20
So I have full I, I remain having full faith in them
19:25
because even though it was six shots to six in total shots in
19:28
the at the end of that first half, two shots to 2IN shots on
19:31
target. They put the defensive clamps
19:32
down in the second-half and they just started to do the thing
19:35
where they are terrorizing the other team when they're trying
19:38
to do anything in the attack. I think that what it was like
19:41
67% possession again in the second-half somewhere around
19:44
there. So, you know, I I have full
19:47
faith and I love the point you make about Carolina Graham
19:50
Hanson. Does this mean that she's going
19:53
to get more touches in the attack?
19:55
If that's what that means with Bone Mati out, cool.
19:59
I'm fine with that. Like obviously you want Bone
20:01
Mati in there. She's the best player in the
20:02
world in my opinion. But giving the ball more to CGH
20:07
and maybe having more interplay between Alexia and CGH where you
20:10
live with that. I would say so.
20:14
I'd be happy with it. Look at some of the Barcelona
20:17
numbers through the 1st 6, they're averaging 9.83 shots on
20:21
target per 90. So imagine you know you're going
20:23
to face 1010 Barcelona shots on target every time you you step
20:28
on the on the pitch with them and their shot distance against
20:32
20.8 yards away is where you have to like let it RIP from.
20:37
So that's a good, good bit outside the 18.
20:39
Probably a function of most teams being behind and just kind
20:44
of have having a Hail Mary their way back into the match versus
20:46
Barcelona. But defensively, I think you're
20:49
right on. They put the clamps on pre FC
20:54
and this could be maybe how they think they want to play, you
20:57
know, maybe a little closer to the vest.
20:59
Maybe like, OK, like let's pick our spots a little bit more
21:03
judiciously. We have some of let's go for it,
21:05
but maybe not all hands on deck, you know, the full 90 be a
21:09
little bit more. I don't know strategic about it.
21:15
Definitely and they might see Perry FC again now.
21:18
I'm not I wouldn't bet on that. Perry FC has to take on your
21:23
Blancas of Real Madrid. I think maybe we'll we can talk
21:28
about them whenever you're ready.
21:29
But I, you know, I think Perry FC, they really kind of turn
21:34
things around right. So they got they got beat by
21:37
Chelsea 4 nil and then they were able to scratch out a draw
21:41
versus Real Madrid on that match day three.
21:44
And then they rebound with A2 nil victory over Benfica and A1
21:47
nil victory over Valarenga. So like Perry FC was able to
21:51
like kind of pick themselves up, launch themselves into the
21:54
knockout phase. But here they are in that remit,
21:57
rematch against Real Madrid. Yeah.
22:01
And then and then that first one match day three versus Real
22:03
Madrid, obviously Madrid outshoots them quite a bit.
22:08
But the Caroline Weir dagger 90 + 8 to kind of like, you know,
22:14
break the the Parisian hearts a little bit because you know, pre
22:16
FC had gone to Real Madrid and I'm sorry, were they did they go
22:23
there or went down the road? I want to say they were, I'm
22:29
sorry they were home. Yeah, they were at home.
22:33
And obviously, you know, in line for a big home win, you know,
22:37
and obviously get their hearts broken lead by Weir.
22:41
Each team three big chances in that one.
22:43
But I, like I said, Madrid had a lot more shots, few more shots
22:45
on target. Not not the better team by a
22:49
lot. But I think to your point, pre
22:51
FC kind of played their their way into this tournament, You
22:56
know, had such a sputtering start and in Premier League
23:01
they're playing well too. You know, this weekend a nil nil
23:03
drivers PSG. So this is a team that's putting
23:06
forth solid performances. Even A2 no loss versus Barcelona
23:10
is not you know, that's that's that's pretty super respectful,
23:14
I would say so I think a month ago, six weeks ago, pre FC Real
23:20
Madrid kind of feels like a different matchup.
23:22
But I think Real Madrid has maybe taken half a step backward
23:25
as well as pre FC takes half a step forward.
23:29
I still think Real Madrid gets the nod, but I don't know, this
23:32
tie feels much closer than it did, I would say, six weeks ago.
23:36
I think it could I, I think that's a really interesting read
23:41
on it. If you, if you, if you're ready,
23:45
we can shift gears and kind of talk, let's talk about the Real
23:47
Madrid side of this. And the only reason I'm a little
23:51
tepid on that is I thought Real Madrid on match day six, they
23:57
just had their hands full with Twente because Twente just had
24:01
they, they ripped the governor off whatever engine they had
24:05
before. And they're just like, this is
24:08
going to look like a jogo bonito commercial from like the early
24:11
2000s. Like Twente came out there
24:14
against Real Madrid and was just styling just like, you know,
24:18
flick on passes and just skill moves all over the place.
24:22
We're able to keep possession there.
24:24
There were spurts where I wrote in my notes multiple times are
24:30
do both of these teams play in Spain?
24:32
Like Tuente was just out there prepared and just like passing
24:35
the ball around and ready to not afraid of the press and rail
24:39
made Real Madrid kind of respect their attack.
24:42
And I'm not 100% sure LeBlanc has expected that.
24:47
I don't think they, I mean, it's tough to know because the way
24:52
they came out, I don't know if they almost kind of conceded the
24:56
top four or didn't feel like they were going to get it.
24:59
I think when you look at Bayern Munich hosting Valeranga, you're
25:01
probably like, are you doing the math on that?
25:03
You're like, wait, this is probably not going to work out
25:05
for us. Even though mathematically the
25:07
door still open row, Madrid didn't didn't really treat that
25:11
match as an absolute must win. Even down the stretch.
25:15
I kind of felt like it was a little like playing out the
25:18
string a little bit. You would have wanted, you know,
25:21
like maybe a better performance and you know, more of like a,
25:25
hey, we're, we're the better team here.
25:27
Let's let's keep control of it. But I mean, 20 is a real team.
25:31
I think we've been waiting, not we've been waiting because
25:33
they've had good performances throughout.
25:35
But in this one it it was a true, you're not better than us
25:40
from like this is our house and you're not better than us.
25:43
And we're just going to play this match and we're going to
25:45
see what happened. Maybe had 20 employed some of
25:50
that energy earlier in the tournament that, you know, they
25:52
might, they might have kind of been able to sneak into that top
25:54
12. I think that was absolutely on
25:55
the table, but wasn't to be. But I, I mean, maybe maybe
25:59
you're right about Real Madrid being a little bit better than
26:03
I'm giving them credit for. Maybe I'm a little bit prisoner
26:06
of the moment at this point. But either way, it's going to
26:10
be, I mean, either team is, is looking at Barcelona in the next
26:15
round potentially. So even if it is Real Madrid, I
26:20
don't know, like what what's your what's your read on these?
26:23
Well, we talked Barcelona and now we're at from Real Madrid.
26:27
Do you think Real Madrid has kind of what it takes to kind of
26:32
catch Barcelona this year? Like has the the gap
26:35
sufficiently closed? Or is it, is there, is it still
26:38
wide enough that you know, the Real Madrid is really just
26:40
playing to kind of like get to this next round?
26:44
They won't catch Barcelona, but they could land a massive body
26:48
blow in in their journey toward catching them.
26:51
Like they I think they should look at this as obviously they
26:55
got to, they got to take care of business and handle Perry FC.
26:58
And we've seen Perry FC is scrappy so that's not a given.
27:02
I felt like Real Madrid is likely favored.
27:04
I haven't checked the books yet, but like I would favor them over
27:08
Barry FC. But if they get there, they
27:10
should look at that as hey, we got that one win.
27:13
Obviously there were some weird circumstances when they got that
27:16
win over Barcelona late in last year's league season.
27:19
But they, they, I really don't think they have any other way to
27:22
look at this other than if now is not the time to try to get
27:26
Barcelona in the Champions League and maybe kind of hurt
27:30
their confidence and say, hey, if if we knock you out of the
27:33
Champions League, now League of F is on the table for us.
27:37
Like it could it could like send them a huge message to obviously
27:40
their their biggest rival. Yeah, I really like that.
27:44
And I think if you're Real Madrid and I I apologize, but
27:49
this is the second time I, I mentioned this person shout out
27:51
to this person, but they they really ripped ripped apart my
27:54
tears. And I think I had Real Madrid in
27:57
my top tiers, my fourth team. And I think it's it seemed like
28:00
it was coming from a Barcelona fan perspective, but I think
28:03
there was some truth in in in that comment was essentially
28:07
Real Madrid's not in the neighborhood of Barcelona.
28:10
Now, if if we get to this, you know, quarterfinal matchup
28:16
between these two and there's still the gap, I think I think
28:19
we're potentially proven right. But you know, I think ultimately
28:23
I do agree with you. I think the the circumstances
28:26
could be such where this might be the year where they're
28:29
wounded enough. Doesn't mean you're better,
28:31
doesn't mean you're always going to be better.
28:32
Doesn't mean you've passed them. But it could just be the year
28:35
where this year you do knock them out, you know, and I think
28:38
it it could it could be trending that way.
28:40
But Real Madrid's going to need more offensively.
28:45
They're going to need more than, like I said, oh, running 60
28:49
yards up the pitch or or Caroline Weir banger, you know,
28:53
despite the odds against the run of play in the dying embers of
28:57
the match, they're going to need more consistent, sustained,
29:02
connected attack, more opportunities and a little bit
29:06
more high quality in the final third.
29:08
You know, just to put a few more, you know, better looks on
29:12
frame to really get get to that point where they're they're
29:16
competing with these top teams. I I think that's spot on.
29:21
I think, you know, they'll need a lot for it like it because if
29:24
they're going to beat Barcelona or really, really compete with
29:27
them, because I, I, I will say just for all our Barcelona pals
29:30
and just for my general, just to make sure I'm getting my opinion
29:33
across accurately here. I'm still very much favorite
29:38
Barcelona. Real Madrid gets through because
29:41
I think there's just too much talent.
29:42
I'm just saying I think Real Madrid should, pardon me, you
29:45
should view it as, you know, an opportunity to to land a huge
29:48
body blow. But they would need da Brits to
29:51
be huge. They would need like some
29:54
professional goalscorer Redondo moments to probably more than
29:58
one to to make it happen versus Barcelona.
30:00
I just think they should go in there thinking they have the
30:02
opportunity. And if you're Barcelona and
30:04
you're Alexia Putais, you look around at your teammates,
30:07
teammates and say, we have to let's step on them here.
30:12
Like let's, let's show them again that this is Liga F is
30:16
ours or the Champions League is ours.
30:18
Like this is how we, this is who we are.
30:21
And I I wouldn't imagine them coming into the matchup thinking
30:25
any other way. Yeah, you should have told me
30:28
that. That's what we're doing to these
30:29
other shows before we start recording.
30:31
I I have a little goosebumps for that.
30:33
That's hard enough with that. All right, this is super
30:35
curious. We're halfway through.
30:38
Let's talk about the De Leon, Juventus, Wolfsburg.
30:44
Little quartile of the bracket. Not really a quartile, but I
30:47
guess that's a quartile. Yeah.
30:49
Hey. I trust you.
30:50
You're the math guy. Leon finishes in second.
30:53
Five wins and a draw. 1845 against plus 13 Big Four.
30:57
No win over I'd like to go. And basically, Leon will be
31:03
waiting for the winner of Juventus versus Wolfsburg, which
31:08
will, you know, take place again.
31:09
Yeah, again, to kick out that league phase.
31:12
Where do we get started? Talk about these three teams?
31:14
This is this is a very interesting trifecta of squads.
31:19
I want to talk a little bit maybe you won't be surprised by
31:21
this about that Leon Atleti match now you know, I'm an
31:26
Atleti appreciator at this point Leon man, they got some Jekyll
31:32
and Hyde stuff a little bit like they they Lauren should have
31:38
scored that goal in the 4th minute of the athletic match.
31:41
I mean, it's a great ball in from Borisa on the free kick.
31:45
Lauren just nods at it and it's off the post and like it's, it's
31:49
a fine effort. But like if you score there in
31:53
the first four, you've now done a Lyon to Lyon where you score
31:58
in the 1st 5 minutes and and they have to kind of look around
32:01
be like, wait, what what is happening here?
32:03
And once that didn't go in, there were some like rough
32:07
opening moments for Heaps. I thought she made she had like
32:11
she had a bad giveaway. Renar had a weird giveaway and
32:14
that Lettie didn't capitalize on it.
32:16
But then like a couple plays later, Heaps plays Chiwinga
32:19
clear through for a big chance. Got it out to DNE just starts
32:23
doing all kinds of insane things as the match goes on.
32:28
She you know, she played a a great cross to Hegenberg that
32:30
got saved. But like, I was just a little
32:33
surprised, not not totally surprised because I like Atleti
32:36
and I think they forced some of it.
32:38
But Leon did a lot of weird, not that good stuff, but then did a
32:42
lot of the other Leon stuff that they do that's very, very good
32:45
and hard to beat. Yeah, I mean, they do enough
32:49
good stuff where it is just tough to beat them, even if they
32:52
are a little goofy. And some of those other moments
32:55
I pulled a couple stats and I'm I'm.
32:57
I was really pleased to hear you used to juggle an eyed analogy
33:01
because this is really funny. You look at shots per 90 of all
33:07
the teams in the pool, Leon's first.
33:10
So they're, they're definitely letting a RIP.
33:13
Offense is cooking. They're creating chances, 26 1/2
33:16
shots per 90 for Leon to just, I mean, devastating and couldn't
33:20
imagine I'm going to whiteboard against the 26 1/2 Leon shots.
33:25
But then you look at their goals per shot.
33:28
It's only 0.1, which means it's taking them ten shots to get a
33:32
single goal and that's good for 10th of 12 teams still remaining
33:38
in this tournament. When you look at these, the six,
33:40
you know, league, league phase matches, that's that's a big
33:44
surprise. So to your Jekyll and high
33:47
point, they're creating chances, they're ripping shots and
33:50
they're just not converting, which is not really what we're
33:55
used to. And what's interesting is you
33:58
look at the personnel, I think Otto Hegeberg has been really
34:01
good. You know, like kind of like
34:04
reintroducing her to the lineup. Still just 30 years old and just
34:07
a a living, a living playing legend out there.
34:11
You think the Champions are just active, still active, a lot like
34:17
Sam Kerr has been getting yourself into good positions,
34:20
good opportunities, not really cashing in just yet.
34:23
But it's not just Hegelberg. I think Leon could do, you know,
34:27
with with a lot more finishing from a lot more of those
34:30
attacking players. And then yeah, quick shout out
34:32
to Melchi Dumonay. 4 champions eagles and five starts.
34:36
And then also number 18.6 shot creating actions per 90 for
34:41
Melchi Dumonay, one of my absolute favorite players in the
34:44
world for sure. Same here buddy.
34:46
I mean, that's a great stat on, you know, they they take need 10
34:50
shots to get a goal by those averages.
34:54
It looks like it too, like, you know, whether it's off the
34:58
woodwork or just right at the keeper.
35:01
It seems like, you know, they're getting up a lot of shots
35:04
because I wonder if they almost feel like we kind of need to get
35:07
it. Let's get up a lot of shots
35:08
because some of them are are bound to go in.
35:11
And you know, I don't have anything against Leon like I I
35:14
root for them. We have, you know, pals who are
35:18
close to the club who we who, you know, we're friends with.
35:22
We root for them, but as somebody who's like really
35:26
taking a liking to athletic, I will tell you that when I was
35:30
rooting for them during that match, there is nothing worse.
35:34
Well, there are a few things worse in football than rooting
35:37
for a team. And then Melchi du Mornay is
35:41
opposing you and she has the ball just in the vicinity of the
35:45
eighteen. I hated it.
35:46
Every time she had the ball, I was like, oh, this is going to
35:49
end real badly for us at some point.
35:51
It didn't. It didn't in that match.
35:53
But like you said, like four goals and five starts where,
35:57
yeah, four goals and five starts.
35:59
She's bound to cash, you know, almost every time she's on the
36:02
field. She's so good and but you're
36:05
just reminded me because I was just quick to a quick go because
36:09
I'm like not take too many. Scored both goals against
36:11
Arsenal, right? That's the one.
36:12
Sure did. 18th minute, 23rd minute.
36:15
And that was after, unless you were so 7th minute opener when
36:18
you know, we were just flying. I roll his first 7 minutes.
36:22
So you know what they just gave it stopped us out.
36:26
What a player. One of my favorites.
36:28
Absolutely. The other two teams in this
36:31
little section of the bracket, Juventus, Wolfsburg.
36:35
These teams did not meet in the league phase.
36:37
Boo. But they're like right, nudged
36:40
up against each other in the standings.
36:41
You went to an eighth, Wellsburg in 9th.
36:44
Both these teams won three league phase matchups.
36:46
Juventus A + 5 Wellsburg A + 3 13 goals scored for each of
36:51
these sides. A little bit of like a spider
36:55
man meme situation where these both these guys kind of pointing
36:57
at each other. Not, you know, they're they're
37:01
they're absolutely outside the upper crust.
37:05
If we want to say Chelsea, Lyon, Barcelona, yeah, the these three
37:10
are maybe a cut above. I would say Juventus and wolves
37:14
were probably smack in the middle of that second tier,
37:18
probably for being generous, because you could probably make
37:20
a case that Byron arsenal maybe or or half a notch about these
37:23
these sides also, but both knocking on the door.
37:27
Both these sides could absolutely make the the you
37:32
know, the semi final. I'd say I think either of these
37:34
sides could upset a Leon, even though Liam Stompfelsburg, I
37:40
don't know. Both these days, both these
37:41
teams on their best day, I think have high ceilings.
37:46
It's probably OK. Before I get into the potential
37:50
upside upset of Lyon, I want to say I agree with you.
37:53
I think, I think these teams do have high ceilings.
37:57
I think they're right in the ballpark with Bayern.
38:00
I think Man United is kind of probably somewhere floating
38:03
around them. Real Madrid is like like there
38:05
is a chunky middle tier like in this tournament that it's like,
38:10
is it the is it a big second tier or is it like a slightly
38:14
less big third tier in Arsenals in the second tier because they
38:17
have a title holders like. I think Bayern in Arsenal, I
38:20
think that for me it's like half a tier above.
38:22
I think it's those top three, then those next two and then I
38:27
think that chunky tier. I think I'm 100% with you on
38:29
that. Yeah.
38:31
And so, I mean, you know, they, they just all these teams have a
38:35
ton of talent. Juventus, you know, surprised
38:39
me. Yeah, they they lose 1 nil to
38:41
Manchester United, probably could have lost by a little
38:45
more. I think United had a had a
38:47
couple good chances. It's a great goal by Jess Park
38:50
to eventually kind of to well, to seal the win essentially
38:53
early or to get on the board early and then United holds on.
38:58
But yeah, I think who like, sign me up, man.
39:00
Two matches like Juventus, Wolfsburg, yeah, I'll watch
39:03
that. Like hell yeah.
39:04
Whatever tier they're on, it's a those are two great clubs
39:08
playing. Oh my God, it's going to be
39:10
great and it's going to be tough to predict.
39:12
And this is I love those ties where you could see the road
39:16
team winning each of the matches and just would be shocked at
39:19
all. This is just kind of what we've
39:21
seen some fun stats when you look at each of these teams.
39:25
So Juventus, their first of the 12 of the 12 teams remaining
39:31
terms of shot on target percentage 42.7%.
39:34
Now they're not really cranking it at a high, high volume, but
39:37
you can kind of see that they're really crafty and specific when
39:42
they do get a chance. Like they're very like, let's
39:44
get this shit right. Like like we're not really sure
39:47
when we're going to be back. Let's let's do our best here.
39:50
And then when you look at their average shot distance allowed,
39:53
15.7, that's worst of the 12. So they're letting teams get
39:56
real, real deep from penetration standpoint.
40:00
You look at Wolfsburg, they're obviously.
40:05
They're getting a goal their their their goal per shot on
40:08
target, 2nd in the tournament 0.4.
40:11
So they're getting a goal every 2 1/2 shots on target.
40:14
So they're they're cashing in from that standpoint.
40:17
But then they're only ninth best out of 12 in terms of shots on
40:19
target per 94.17 per 90. So they're just not getting the
40:23
opportunities even though they are converting at a high rate
40:28
now against Juventus. You know that you know, Juventus
40:32
allows you know, some some penetration is Alex Pop, Lynette
40:36
Beerenstein, Zikai, some of those attacking players,
40:40
Pettemores are are they going to be able to take the
40:43
opportunities that are going to be afforded to them and then are
40:46
they going to be able to cash in?
40:47
I think you're I'm always looking to a player like Pop
40:51
that much experience, that much scoring on a resume to kind of
40:55
like make it happen, do a lot like she did against Chelsea,
40:59
you know, but like, can you can she do it and can Wolfsburg ride
41:02
that to a result and to an advancement?
41:08
Unless Juventus comes out and surprises surprises us, I think
41:13
that's probably what Wolfsburg will have to do.
41:15
I expect a defensive Italian style from Juventus and I expect
41:21
a possessive, at times barnstorming, attacking German
41:26
style from Wolfsburg. I know it's a groundbreaking
41:29
analysis, but yeah, I think if you're if you're Berenstein and
41:33
you see that, oh, what's the average shot distance allowed
41:37
stat from Juventus, her former club, by the way, She has to,
41:41
she has to be thinking, OK, it's it's money time.
41:44
Yeah, 2 revenge matches right there for you.
41:47
So, you know, I mean, obviously the one in Italy, in Turin is
41:52
going to be, you know, even, you know, even more of a revenge
41:55
match for it. So I mean, I just think this one
41:57
sneaky potential to just be two absolute heaters.
42:02
And that way, yeah, I I hope, I hope these teams let it RIP.
42:06
It's always fun when you vent to scores 1st and then they're kind
42:09
of playing that now. It's like, you know, it's like
42:11
when the the the grappler is on top and you're just like, you
42:14
know, like, is it the other guy going to find his way back?
42:17
We'll see. But I think we're in for a
42:19
couple of bangers. Absolutely probable.
42:22
You know, athletic Man United. That's a fun one too.
42:27
We don't need to rank. We were the ones that we're more
42:29
excited about. Well, I'm very excited about all
42:31
of these. Let's go to head, though.
42:32
I tease a little bit. I'd let it go.
42:34
Madrid, Manchester United. They'll face off in the next
42:39
phase of the knockout stages here, and waiting for them will
42:42
be the fourth team to earn A by Bayern Munich.
42:47
Either of these teams are live to beat Bayern, I think.
42:52
I know, I know Athletic lost to Bayern in the group in the group
42:56
stage. That match was close.
42:59
And so I I think they either of these teams could get it done.
43:03
So I think this should be a massive fight.
43:06
I I do think I yeah, yeah, I think you're right.
43:08
There's no point in really like ranking them, but to me, no
43:14
disrespect to the other four teams, but Wolfsburg, Juventus
43:17
and Atlanta Man United, I think are are the two kind of closest
43:21
in terms of talent and like each team having a, a level amount of
43:28
belief of yes, we can win this. And then we could actually go
43:32
another round if we put it together against, you know, the,
43:36
the seeded team or the, you know, the, the quarter finalists
43:40
that were qualified against that we would qualify against.
43:42
So, yeah, I think that Letty man, it got away.
43:47
It got away from them versus Leon.
43:49
The Luani hair pull. You know, we we've said it what
43:55
it it was the, the Hendrick, Katherine Hendrick did it in the
43:59
EUR. She pulled a French player's
44:01
hair. I think about like Christian
44:06
Romero a few years ago in the men's Premier League, he pulled
44:12
Cucarella's hair, Cucarella from Chelsea.
44:15
And you know, look, I'm not trying to be rude.
44:17
That's just a chicken shit move. You can't do that like men's
44:22
football, women's football, like any football, like you can't be
44:25
pulling somebody's hair. And I think the, the, the part
44:27
that I did have some, you know, and it, it's not like a
44:30
character indictment of Luani or whatever.
44:32
Athletes are hyper competitors and you know, things happen.
44:37
But I will say the part that did give me a chuckle is that she
44:40
was very clearly trying to explain.
44:42
Luani was like, no, no, I was running and then my hands were
44:45
going and then I got her hair and you could just see the look.
44:51
It was Abasha. She got some Abasha's hair.
44:54
And you could see the look on the coaches and the players
44:57
faces. And anybody who's played sports
44:59
has played with a player who does silly shit like that.
45:04
And you could tell on everybody's faces, they're like,
45:07
all right, all right, I, I got it.
45:09
Just get off the field. Like we got it.
45:12
We're going to figure like, I guess we're playing with 10
45:14
versus Lyon now, like just trying to figure it out.
45:17
So I hated that from Milani, who I like as a player.
45:21
Let's just, you know, lapse in judgement.
45:23
Let's just hope it was one of those.
45:26
I mean, this is a big step up, obviously, you know, to into the
45:29
Champions League and, you know, they're facing these tough clubs
45:32
of a Basha, one of the 30 best players in the world, maybe in a
45:36
match where. You.
45:38
You know, some opportunity was in front of you, and now it's
45:42
just kind of like dissolved into the horizon, you know?
45:47
And that's what inexperience, that's how inexperienced kind of
45:50
shows itself, unfortunately, in some of these spots.
45:52
I thought, you know, I think Lulani's been good.
45:54
But that was for sure an ugly moment.
45:56
Not something that you want to see recur on the Manchester
46:01
United side. I think more Doctor Jekyll, Mr.
46:06
Hyde. I mean, I think in the WSO it's
46:07
been weird. In the Champions League, it's
46:09
been weird. It's been up and down.
46:11
They were, they obviously four wins, 2 losses.
46:15
But with all that said, a -, 2 goal differential nonetheless,
46:18
just seven goals scored for United.
46:21
They do have that win over Athletico match day 2.
46:27
So they have that to hang their hat on.
46:29
But I know you look at some of the numbers that are a little
46:31
bit tricky shots shot grading actions per 90 for United, just
46:35
17.3. That's good for 11th of 12
46:40
teams, still remaining 17.3 for Manchester United, the leader in
46:44
that category is leading on with 46 shot grading actions per 90.
46:48
So a huge gulf in terms of offensive productivity in terms
46:53
of Manchester United having to get get to a, a, a specific
46:55
level here. But it still feels like they got
46:59
a ton of good players, but in this tournament haven't really
47:02
been able to put turn that into like one big signature
47:06
performance. It's been kind of scrap week in
47:09
week out for the side. And then maybe there there's
47:12
some benefit to that, some some some calloused skin being
47:16
developed. But you look at the flip side
47:19
and it's like, all right, what are they going to be able to go
47:20
to when things get a little rocky?
47:22
And I think this Athletico Madrid matchup could be tricky.
47:26
I think this is a situation where I think the tape will
47:32
really benefit at let the you know, unlike some of those other
47:35
situations, I think they'll be able to break it down, find some
47:38
stuff. Some stuff definitely worked for
47:39
them the first time around. They just kind of had some bad
47:42
luck weren't weren't able to fully cash in.
47:46
But I think they're going to learn some stuff.
47:47
And I wouldn't be surprised to see them even like kind of take
47:51
take the for the full 3 in that in that opening match up against
47:54
United. Yeah, well, I don't think I'd be
47:56
surprised either. I and they do have a little bit
47:59
of proving, you know, a little bit of revenge to exact, I would
48:05
say. I mean, Dominic Jansen from
48:07
Manchester United got the early red card in that match and Letty
48:12
was just not able to capitalize. Then later on they get a they
48:15
get a red card themselves to kind of the equalizer, the
48:19
equalizer, Alexia Fernandez with the with the red card there
48:21
later in the match. So yeah, I think I think it's a
48:24
great call by you. I think the tape will help, but
48:27
this is just one of those to where like we can make, you
48:30
know, we'll we'll do another show like another preview
48:32
obviously before February 11th when when we're a lot closer to
48:37
things. But you know, we like making
48:40
predictions and you know, we've been known to get some
48:42
predictions right here. But like, this one's going to be
48:44
a toss up I think. Yeah, Yeah, we, we get a lot of
48:48
predictions wrong too. Is there?
48:49
Let's not cut ourselves. So those are totally short.
48:53
I want to talk a little bit about Byron for you into
48:55
predictions because you mentioned it's easy to kind of
48:58
look at them and be like, Oh yeah, they're they're probably
49:00
the weakest of the top four. Definitely get a bowl.
49:03
Each of these sides are going to think that Byron's get a bowl
49:05
for sure. But some numbers.
49:06
I'm going to look at our new Golden Boot leader for Neil
49:10
Harder. Five goals, one assist.
49:14
Now you might be seeing yourself.
49:16
Those are some pretty good numbers.
49:18
There can't be another Byron media player.
49:20
It's got more impressive numbers than that.
49:22
I let me present. Let me present you.
49:24
Clara Bull Kabul 6 assists in the over these six matches, no
49:30
other player has more than three.
49:32
She's number one in progressive carries with 40.
49:35
Number one in progressive passes received was 77.
49:38
That's 12 better than the 1 he was in second Number one in goal
49:41
creating actions per 90 with 1 1/2 goal creating actions per
49:45
90. Tyler JRK, who's only played 2.7
49:50
nineties Clara Bulls played six and Bull was also third shot
49:55
creating actions per 97.83, just so the couple notches behind
49:59
Melchi. But Bull has been unbelievable.
50:03
Bayern offensively has been a different a different brand of
50:08
Bayern attack. I think this year, even though
50:10
it's like kind of like a lot of the same players.
50:11
So it's like, you know, they come up with a little bit of
50:13
baggage, but there's something about this attack.
50:15
I think, you know, they fully handed the keys to Bull and I
50:20
think they're reaping the benefits pretty much week in,
50:23
week out. Great stats by you, I mean, and
50:27
we've, we've talked about it how how great she's looked and how
50:30
she looks like one of the best wingers in the world.
50:33
She continues to to climb up those those rankings
50:37
expediently. Yeah, I mean, they're super
50:41
dangerous. I I think that it's a good call
50:42
by you that I'm like, yeah, I think they're gettable by by
50:45
Athletic or Manchester United, but it doesn't mean it's going
50:48
to be easy. I mean, they'll they'll have a a
50:50
big hill to climb. I think in that in that match
50:53
versus following a they came out, they came out in a way that
50:58
I kind of wanted to see Real Madrid come out like where it's
51:01
just like we're better, we're the better team.
51:04
We're going to take care of business, try to do it early and
51:07
then, you know, stack on top of that.
51:11
I will say it is, you know, and Byron did exactly that verse
51:15
following his scores in the 1st 2 minutes.
51:16
It's a good goal by KET. And then Gallup Infernal starts
51:20
playing the the comp. The music composition by Jacques
51:24
Offenbach starts blaring over the loudspeaker.
51:27
I think a lot of people would. I think it the the dance that
51:30
people do to it in the musical is the can can.
51:32
So a lot of people think of it as the can can song, but it's
51:34
just a hilarious song to start blaring over the loudspeaker.
51:38
But after Bayern getting a goal 2 minutes into the match and
51:42
then they, they play it after every goal, you know, I, I think
51:46
Bayern picked up, that was a good opportunity for them to
51:49
pick up some confidence. Obviously there's a lot of
51:52
league play and stuff in between.
51:53
But for them to just say, OK, stamped we, we're straight to
51:58
the quarterfinals. We get to kind of figure
52:01
ourselves out. We'll wait for who our opponent
52:03
is and you know, they'll be ready.
52:05
And I don't, I think it's worth pointing out.
52:08
I know we talked about it a lot, but Momoka Tanakawa had just
52:11
like a spinning turn and a good shot in that 89th minute where I
52:16
was like, OK, if you're going to add that level of like style and
52:20
audaciousness with players like Harder and Bull, like you
52:25
pointed out earlier, we're talking about a pretty fierce
52:27
attack. There's something that's a
52:30
little different about this Byron side.
52:32
I think wherever their tournament ends, it'll look
52:36
different in the last couple years for sure.
52:38
I think that that's just the way things look like they're
52:41
trending. I want to give a quick shout out
52:44
to our six teams that we say goodbye to Roma.
52:47
Appreciate you nice performance smacking STPSTP gets a goal,
52:53
gets a goal 61 in that one, but obviously finishes in the bottom
52:56
of the the the standings. Benfica, PSG play to A11 draw
53:01
couple disappoint, 22 disappointments, I'd say.
53:04
And then a couple teams that on the outside looking in had
53:09
moments are definitely going to be disappointed because I think
53:15
they they each showed flashes with regard to why they belong
53:20
in this tournament and why they had a but each had a real shot
53:23
at at regional knockout stage. And that's FC-20 and Valarenga
53:27
finishing in 15th place and 13th place, respectively.
53:31
I think, I think I got that right.
53:34
But yeah, anything you want to say about the RR 6?
53:37
You know, kind of like eliminated sides.
53:40
I want to see, I think you said that perfectly, man.
53:43
I want to see Twente in this tournament moving forward.
53:45
Obviously with Lily Johannes moving on from IX, if Twente
53:49
continues to be the Dutch representative, that's great.
53:52
You know, IX is a historic club. I wouldn't mind seeing them.
53:55
Maybe PSBI know what makes it, you know, all that stuff.
53:58
But as long as Twente employs Sophie Prushed, then they should
54:03
be in this tournament. And I don't think there's going
54:05
to be much of a problem of that happening because she's really,
54:09
really, really good and I think she's going to help lift them
54:12
into this tournament. So the more Sophie Crush time we
54:16
can get the better I think. Shannon it's a Sophie hopefully
54:21
trying to get hold on to that player for sure.
54:23
Quick episode calendar, not a ton down the bike, but we do
54:27
have our 2025 best 11 just right, right, right around the
54:31
corner. So if you're rocking with us
54:33
right now, make sure you hit the subscribe button, make sure
54:35
you're following us. That one's going to be a banger.
54:37
We are going to compile on 11 to absolutely decimate every other
54:42
11 on the Internet and not on the Internet.
54:45
If it's written on a piece of paper with pencil or pen or
54:49
Sharpie, we're going to decimate that 11 too.
54:51
Anyway, you're locked into that one episode 200 with special
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guest to be announced right around the corner as well,
54:58
right? We're at 192 here.
55:00
So we still got a ways. But either way, make sure you're
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subscribed following your boys and the socials.
55:04
All right, man, I think we did it.
55:05
Is there anything else you want to hit for?
55:07
Get out of here. I think that's it, man.
55:09
That's that. That was a great league phase,
55:11
maiden voyage of the league phase in the UEFA Women's
55:13
Champions League. I think it went pretty well.
55:15
I know some people were like, oh, OK, we're going to get some
55:18
repeat matches here in the knockout phase.
55:20
I think that's fine. I think that that adds to a
55:23
little to a little bit of the intrigue because, you know, you
55:26
never like things could go differently, I mean, and that
55:28
would be an interesting piece. So yeah, man, we've made it
55:32
through. We've advanced through the
55:34
league phase here we are in the knockout playoff stage and yeah,
55:39
I appreciate you rocking with me to do it.
55:41
Yeah, you already know what I mean.
55:43
Nobody I'd rather rock with. And you know, league phase, a
55:47
good maiden voyage. I totally agree with you there.
55:50
No group of life. But you know what, come join us
55:53
at the ITC community and and we'll together, you know, build
55:56
our own group of life, which each and everyone of you is
55:59
absolutely welcome to be a part of.
56:01
For sure. This has been another episode
56:03
into the channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
56:04
for listening, watching and hanging out.
56:06
If you enjoyed the show or loved ones football as much as your
56:09
boys do, make sure you're kicking with us each and every
56:10
single week, sometimes twice a week. patreon.com session does
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channel a great way to support the show into the channel merch
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even greater way. Support the show looks all the
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above much much more in the description of this episode and
56:20
a big thank you to my close as well.
56:22
Mr. Grant and go for yeah, I mean, not a debutante not I mean
56:27
we're not quite a well, like I said we're we're going to we
56:30
were putting these other shows on notice.
56:32
I think we're happy to give these other shows bulletin board
56:35
material and I wouldn't be as brazen as I often am is that if
56:40
I didn't have you as a partner. So I appreciate you bro.
56:43
Likewise buddy. I mean, I think it's pretty
56:45
clear we are two time defending Champions League winners.
56:49
I mean, after the two seasons that we've done, I would say we
56:53
are without question the internet's greatest UEFA Women's
56:57
Champions League podcast hosted by two dudes in the United
57:00
States of America. So I mean, nobody's taking that
57:02
title from us. And we have that title because
57:05
all of you for for hanging out with us, keeping us honest, fact
57:09
checking us, giving us gems in the comments.
57:12
We always appreciate that. Thank you all so much for that
57:14
and we will see you all next time.