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What's good boys and girls' two-footed podcasts? Today is Wednesday, it is 25th of March.
Hope you're well. It's almost April, folks. Like, how is it almost April? How is it that
were almost three full months into this year? I have experienced maybe 12 days without
rain. Yesterday was not one of them. Trying to do anything with dogs on a day that it's
absolutely lashing rain just becomes a zoo, especially when if your dogs are like my dogs.
They just decide they're going to do things and you can't really do anything to stop them unless
they're really small like Toby, you can just pick them up and put them in air jail.
Yes, there's a very stressful day for me, but I am back today and I was going to talk about
Salah, but then I did a whole daily read on Salah. So if you want to hear me talk about Mo,
go and listen to that. Obviously, the big news of the week is that Mo Salah is to leave
Liverpool at the end of the season. I knew he was leaving. That hasn't been a secret,
that he was, you know, not new. I had a strong inclination and I had been told the likely
it was he'd leave in the summer, but the assumption was he'd go to Saudi and it turned to that was wrong.
And speaking of things that were wrong, the words a few months ago, I sat down and went through
what I thought would be the breakdown for the title race, for the top five and for relegation.
Now, in terms of the teams I had involved, all of those teams are still involved in those races,
so I got that part right, but I got quite a bit wrong. So let's have a look about
the title race, the top five and relegation and where we stand. So when I did this, I had
arsonal pipping, sorry, I had Manchester City pipping arsonal to the title.
85 points for arsonal 87 for city. No city to get to 87 points. Well, they would have to
do what wins seven. That doesn't do it. They don't have the points left to get to 87. I don't think
what let's see. Oh, they could get to 85. 85 is their max as it stands. So that would require
arsonal taking 15 points or less from the remaining seven games, which is possible. They could
well lose to city. If they lose one other, then city can catch them and beat them on gold
difference, but that's where it would land. But that would involve city winning the last stage,
which they haven't really shown any capability to do. Very poor recent results. I have now come to
the conclusion that arsonal are going to win what's been a very, very weak Premier League season.
I think arsonal will be the only team to crack 80. I think they'll win it with about 83. I see
city finishing somewhere on around 78, 79. So I got that one wrong. Top five. I went Villa to
finish third Liverpool fourth Chelsea 50 United six. That's out the window now. United are going
to get a top five spot. No doubt. I think they'll get hurt because I think with Villa having
split focus with the Europa League, I just think over the last seven games United will
will take more points than Villa who've been very, very poor for quite a long time. No,
there were decent win over West Ham. So United to finish third, I think Villa will get four.
And then it comes down to Liverpooler Chelsea fifth and sixth. And I still think Liverpool will
finish above Chelsea. My feeling is that they'll finish above Chelsea. I just don't trust
this Chelsea team. Now to be clear, I don't trust this Liverpool team at all either. But I think
they've got a bit more of a proven track record of finishing season strong. I think they've got
the players in the know how now I know they have Champions League to focus on as well. But I think
they're going out against PSG. So then it'll just be focus on the league. So I would say right now,
I would go United third, Villa fourth, Liverpool fifth, Chelsea sixth. Then for relegation,
I had leads for West Ham and Spurs. And I had West Ham going down. Now as things currently stand,
that is still on track. I actually had Spurs finishing the highest of these four teams. That's
not going to happen. Well, you never know. There are only three points behind forests. Sorry,
two points behind forests and three behind leads. And they have a better goal difference than both.
So if games go their way for one weekend, it is possible that they end up finishing
in the lofty heights of 15. I still think it's West Ham who go down. But when I did this, I had
leads finishing just to both forests, forest 17 to West Ham eating. I mean,
trying to think forest might finish ahead of leads. So we might get forest 15 leads 16,
Spurs 17, West Ham 18. Now West Ham are only bottom of this group right now by one point.
There are only four points off lead. So it's still very much all to play for. It really is going
to be a tight battle. But I think my, I still have a chance of being right in my order here,
but it would take Spurs getting a hold of themselves. One little battle that's not being talked about,
and I didn't talk about it at the time either, is the battle for seven. Now it's not an exciting
thing battling for sevens, but it potentially is a European spot. You've got Brentford on 46,
Chelsea on 46, Fulham on 44, Brighton on 43, Sondland 43, Newcastle and Bournemouth 42,
Crystal Palace are on 39, but do have a game in hand. Now that game in hand is against City. So,
you know, it's hard, but that's basically everybody in the league who I haven't included in the
other groups. Barred the bottom two. I'll come to them in a second, but I really do think you
can look at this battle for a potential Europa League spot and say that everybody from seventh to
14 could be in the mix. And even if you want to knock off Palace, even if you want to say,
look, there's seven points even with the game in hand. We don't fancy it because the game in hand
is City, but they still have the conference league to play for. So, right now you've got two teams
going for the title. You've got four teams going for Champions League, two of whom are still in
European competitions, Liverpool and Villa. And obviously, Arsenal are still in European competition
as well. Then you've got this group of, let's say Brighton to Bournemouth, which is 17s,
all going for conference league. You've got Palace with the Europa conference league. Then
you've got Leeds, Forest, Tottenham and West Ham battling to stay in the division. And Forest
also still in Europe. And then Burnley and Wolves, where they don't actually have anything to play
for, and are the only two teams in the league really that have nothing to play for.
But they are playing for a bit of pride to not finish bottom of the league. And Wolves are only
three points behind. The goal difference now is, is a marginal thing. Minus 28 for Burnley minus
30 for Wolves. So there's a bit of pride for them to play for. You know, normally we get to this
portion of the season and you start looking for the teams that are on the beach. And those teams
will emerge in this season by match week 34 or 35. That's quite late. Because of Europe,
because of the open battle to stay in the division, because of five Champions League spots,
and thus knocking a conference league spot a little bit lower, the really is something for
everybody to play for over the next three to four games. And then we can reassess. And then we
can see where everybody stands. But if it stays like this, it is quite entertaining. Now we might not
get any kind of title race, because it's a nine point gap. And City only have one game in hand.
That's a six point gap. They do have to play, Joe. They're in a city when that then we can talk
about potentially a title race. But it would still be in Arsenal's hands.
That's the 19th of April. After that, there are five games left. I think City would have six games left.
But it is like it is overall something to look forward to with the league. Like the league has
been disappointing this year. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. Certainly the floor of
the league is quite high, but the ceiling on the league is very low this season. There's no great
team. There's not even a very good team in the league this season. If you want to make a case for
Arsenal, feel free. But in no way have they been a great team this season or a very good team.
They've already dropped points in 10 of 31 games. That's a third of your games dropping points.
You know, they're sitting there right now and their max is 91. That's if they win their last
seven games, they could get to 91. But at this stage of last year and Liverpool to be clear
were not a great team last season. They had a great run, but weren't a great team. The
was weakness is in that team. There was flaws in that team. But if you look at last season,
when we get to 31 games in, all right, where's 31 there? Liverpool had only lost once.
They had seven draws. They dropped points in eight games. They had actually they lost game 31 as
well. So they dropped points in nine. They'd lost two and drawn seven. They had 73 points and
their maximum was 94. But before that ending at match week 30, let's say, they had one defeat
with eight games to go and a maximum of 97 points. Like Liverpool were better than this
arsenal team. I don't think that's a doubt. And they'd already started to kind of decline at this
stage. They'd already had bad results, bad performances. But first 19 games, they go three draws,
one defeat and 15 wins. So that's maybe 14 wins, four draws. It is 14 wins, four draws.
14 wins, four draws, one defeat. What did Arsenal do this season? Through 19.
Two defeats, three draws. Liverpool were a better team last season. Game by game,
see week by week, point by point, Liverpool were ahead of Arsenal. Up on two, up until and
including this point of the season. Ting for Liverpool was they weren't being chased. We don't
know if City of Yakona chase Arsenal. But last season, both City and Arsenal struggled to get out
of their own way. This season, everybody has struggled to get out of their own way. But Arsenal,
their fans last season were still talking about hunting Liverpool down at the Christmas mark of
the season. If we go back to Christmas of last year, let's say 19 games, 19 games is there.
What have we got? We've got six draws, two defeats, six draws and two defeats. They drop points
in eighth of their first 19 games. If we compare that with what Liverpool are doing this season,
if we look at them, the team that started this season in pole position to go back to back,
this Liverpool team have been utterly horrific. I think City have been about the same as last
season. I know they had an awful run last season, but this season, I feel a bit of it the same.
Liverpool through 19 games, six defeats and three draws. Liverpool are much worse this season than
Arsenal were last season. I think City are about to say maybe a bit better, maybe a bit better than
they were last season. But it's just, it doesn't have, it's back to back seasons where we're not
really getting a title race or doesn't feel like we are. Now again, we'll see what City do. If they
win that game against the Arsenal, they win the game in hand, then it becomes a title race.
But in their minds, they'll still be going for the title. It's just not a race until it gets close
enough. But they have something to play for. They can still win the league.
And we know that Arsenal have a history of falling short. We know they've got a history of
battling it, so we'll see. Look, they've got an easy run. Arsenal should win the league because
they have an easy run. Like their next two games are set Hampton and the FA Cup and sporting
in the Champions League. They could rest players with both of them and still win them comfortably.
Bournemouth home will be tough. And that could be a big defining game. If Bournemouth went there and
got something it really could put the shakes into Arsenal, then it's sporting at home they'll win
that comfortably. Then they go to City. That's really tough. I think they might lose that one.
But after that, Newcastle home, Newcastle don't travel well.
Full of home, easy win. Should be an easy win. Should be an easy win. West Ham away should be
a straight forward. When in the last two are Burnley home and Palace away, you couldn't ask for
a more favourable run-in than what Arsenal have. Now, they will reach to semi-finals of the Champions
league. And that might see them stop for a little bit. So let's get the dates
for the Champions League semi-finals this season.
28th of April 5th of May. So either side of the Fallon game.
So maybe that Fallon game now becomes tricky. Maybe they have to rest players
for that one. If they were to go out of the Champions League, does that then have a knock-on
effect into the West Ham game? And remember, West Ham will be desperate for points
to try and stay in the division. It should be a straight forward easy win for Arsenal, but
we don't yet know what's going to go on around those.
Which might all make it interesting. Might all make it interesting.
Again, the last two are straight forward enough. Cities run as tougher without question.
But it's not completely unforgiving. So they go Liverpool in the in the cup. That's obviously a
lot harder than Southampton, but they should still win. Then there's Chelsea away on the 12th of
of April, which feels like it might define the season. Then Arsenal, then Burnley away, then
Everton away, which is tough. Then Brentford home, Brentford always do well against them.
Then Bournemouth away, and then Villa at home, and Villa might well have a Europa League
find in the focus on. So that might be an easy enough one. Villa might rest everybody.
But Bournemouth is going to be tough. Bournemouth could well be gone for Europa League.
And that's part of why I've talked about all these teams having to do something is that.
It might just make the season ending a bit more topsy-turvy than we used to,
and games that we would normally think straight forward might just become a little bit more difficult.
I'll be back after the break.
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Right, welcome back.
So you know what people love?
People love combined elevens.
So let's do some combined elevens.
Let's do combined elevens of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Let's start with Rail Madrid versus
Bayern Munich.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of either manager here,
but Vincent company is the better, more proven manager.
So we're going to go with him and he plays a 4-2-3-1.
So we're going to play a 4-2-3-1.
So let's start with goalkeeper.
It's table court one. It's not close.
Neuer's pass is best.
The other Bayern goalkeepers know it's table court one and it's table court one.
With a bullet point.
Left back is interesting.
Alfonso Davies pre ACL would have been an easy pick,
but post ACL he hasn't looked nearly the same,
but it takes time to get back to where you were.
And I really like El Varo Carrera.
So I'm going to go with him.
Center back.
I'm not a Jonathan Parfan.
And I don't really like Open Mechano.
But at the same time, I don't like Rudiger.
I do like Dean Häusen.
So I'm going to go Dean Häusen.
And I'm going to put him next to Tar because I think stylistically,
that's the best pairing.
And Tar is less, he upsets me less than Open Mechano.
Because Open Mechano should have been a great center back and just isn't.
And right back is Trent versus Kimmyk.
And it's Joshua Kimmyk.
At this stage, it's just Joshua Kimmyk.
Trent has just fallen off a bit this year.
Both of them playing at their best, it's definitely Trent.
But right now, I've got to go with Joshua Kimmyk.
Double pivot in midfield.
Fetty Valverde is an automatic pick for me.
Now, I obviously could have put Kimmyk at right back.
But I'm sorry, in midfield as well.
But I didn't want to do that.
I want him at right back for this team.
Partnering Valverde in midfield is going to be Alexander Pavlovich,
who I think is just absolutely phenomenal.
I'm putting him overcome a vinger.
I'm putting him over to him any.
It's Pavlovich next to Fetty Valverde.
Right wing is a leased say, it's not close.
Ten would be very close if Moussiala was at his best.
Now, Jude has not had a good season either.
But I'm going to go Jude over Moussiala.
And I'm going Vinny on the left over Diaz.
Now, I could have done some fuckery and put
Embape at wide.
We just don't play it wide.
He plays to the middle.
So Embape or Kane?
Well, in this team, Kane's the one that makes more sense.
And I think Kane has just had a significantly better season.
All be it.
Embape has been dealing with injuries.
But availability is massive.
So you've got to go with the guy who's available.
And Kane is always there.
So Kane is the nine.
So from Rail Madrid, I'm taking Courtois,
Carreras,
Hoisin,
Fetty Valverde,
Jude,
and
Vinny.
So six from Rail.
From Bayern, I'm taking Kimmyk Ta,
Pavlovich,
Olisa and Kane plus company.
So six a piece.
And quite honestly,
that makes sense in my head because I think this is the toughest of the four to pick.
I think this is the toughest of the four to pick.
Next up, we go sporting versus
Arsenal.
Now, the simple way to do this would just be to pick
all the Arsenal players.
But I'm not sure it's that straightforward.
I'm really not.
I do think there's cases for some of the sporting players.
Now, manager,
our tech versus reborges.
I prefer how reborges teams play personally.
I actually think I don't even think it's close
that his team play a better brand of football.
He's also won a league title in a cup last year,
which I mean, Arthetta hasn't won anything in six years.
I'm going to pick him.
I just don't like Arthetta to be honest.
I just don't like him.
I don't like the personality.
I don't like the way his teams play.
I don't think his in-game management is particularly good.
I think he sets his teams up not to lose,
whereas reborges sets his teams up to go in win games.
Like if Arsenal went into a second leg,
three and all down from the first leg,
there's no way they're coming back.
So I'm going to go reborges as manager.
And that will upset some people.
And I'm hopeful that it does.
Goldkeeper is going to be David Ryan.
That's just not a doubt to me.
Really Silver's a good goldkeeper.
There's no question there.
He is a good goldkeeper,
but David Silver is the choice comfortably.
Now, right back,
see, I really like Ivan Fresnader.
I really like the way he plays.
I like the attacking aspect of his game.
It's taken him some time to really establish himself.
This is season three at sporting for him.
And it's the first time he's been the nailed on starter.
He sort of established himself in the back half last year
when the managerial changes happened.
Because obviously, remember, Amarim left.
And then they went with the disastrous Joe Pereira,
who only last six weeks,
nearly, nearly blew the season for them.
And then Borges came in.
And when Borges came in, Fresnader got a lot more run.
But I think Jury and Timber defensively is obviously
significantly better.
He's elite defensively.
But I'm going to go because I want a team.
I want a team that has balance.
I'm going to go with Fresnader at right back.
I'm not saying he's a better player,
but he is a better fit for what we want here.
Centerbacks.
Actually, no, let's go to left back first.
It's either Calafuri or Hincapier.
I'm actually not sure who I prefer.
I really like both players.
I think they're both outstanding now.
With that said,
I really like Max Arrejo of sporting.
But I'm going to go with Fresnader.
Centerbacks.
I would love to go with Usmanthi Amandate,
but he hasn't really been nailed on first choice started this year.
Because of the range of options that sporting have had,
he's probably played the most of those that have partnered in Asio.
He's certainly started the most.
I'm just going to go sleeper in Gabrielle.
They're a partnership.
I do think the Amandate has a chance to be better than Saliba.
I do fully believe that.
I think he's got a physicality that Saliba struggles with.
I think he's better 1v1.
But I'm going to go sleeper in Gabrielle.
Midfields.
It's Zubimendi and Rice.
And then in attack.
In attack, Saka on the right, which is part of why I wanted Fresnader.
Because I think he needs that overlap.
And look, Giovanni Quenda is an outrageously talented footballer who joined Chelsea,
but he's not the Kyle Saka.
Number 10.
I mean, sporting of a couple of players that are really, really good,
including Pedro Cancalvas.
But I'm going to go with Mark and Oldegaard.
Left wing becomes interesting.
Because I'm really not impressed by what I've seen off the Arsenal left wing as this season.
But with that said,
I don't think there's a better option at sporting.
The option would be to play Pedro Cancalvas left wing.
Because he will bring goals to the team.
But I could also just shift Eze there.
And Eze is a better player.
So I'm going to just shift Eze there and go with Eze.
Number nine, I'm just going to go Louis Suarez because of the form that he's in.
Now, look, I know it's the Portuguese league.
And I know that literally he, the guy whose boots he's filled there,
is the guy at Arsenal who was better at sporting than Suarez has been so far.
But there's a paciness to his game that I really like.
I'm going to go with him.
I'm going to go with Louis Suarez.
So for my 12 here, I'm taking three from sporting nine from Arsenal
and Arsenal to win the tie, obviously.
Barcelona versus Atlético Madrid.
Goalkeeper, you've got to go Oblac.
Now, I'm working off everybody fits.
So I'm going Kunde at right back.
And Alejandro Balde left back.
Center back.
Who Barcy is going to be one of that, there can be no question.
The other center back is a little bit more complicated because I'm not overly keen on any.
The Barcelona ones are, he was falling off so much that it's really weird.
I'm not a hand go fan.
Lanormant has never looked right to me for the last couple of years.
So even though he's no longer the defender, he was.
I'm still going to go Jose Jimenez because I think he's exactly the type of defender you need
next to Paul Gubarzi.
Midfields, I mean, Pedri is in.
Let's be clear.
And so is Firmin Lopez.
Hansi Flick is the manager.
Oh, no, he's not.
He's not Diego Semyon is the manager.
So we're going 442.
Oh, okay.
Well, Pablo Barrios is going to be in.
Pedri is going to be in.
Firmin Lopez is going to be in.
For now, it's a question of.
I think I go.
Firmin Lopez narrow on the left.
Yeah.
Jamal, let me name all on the right.
And then.
Pedri and.
Pablo Barrios has a double pivot.
I like that actually.
I do quite like that.
And that could that could be Spain's midfield if they wanted to be.
And.
And then I'm going Alvarez and Rafini as a front to.
Imagine Rafini.
In like a, a Griesman type of role with that extra pace and.
Yeah.
Yeah, I actually really like this team.
So Kunde.
Him and his Cubarzi ball day, which makes sense because Kunde is a defensive presence
behind Jamal.
Take some of the burden off your malt track back.
Firmin narrow off the left, opens the channel for.
Alejandro Baldy to bomb Ford.
Two midfielder.
I think that midfield works and never giving the ball away.
And Alvarez with Rafini is something Barcelona quite want.
So I actually love that team.
And El Cholo is the manager.
So from from at Ledi, we've got El Cholo.
We've got Alvarez.
We've got Barrios.
We've got Himinez.
And we have Oblac.
So five.
To seven from Barça.
The two full backs in Cubarzi, Pedri, Firmin, Lameen and Rafini.
And I think that's about right.
Because I do think that is quite a tight one.
I think that one could go either way.
Finally, then Liverpool versus PSG.
The manager is Luis Enrique.
The goalkeeper is still Alison.
The right back is Sikini.
The left back is Nuno Mendes.
The center backs are Virgil and Pacho.
The midfield, because it's Luis Enrique, we're playing four, three, three.
So I'm going to go with Sabazlai,
Vitinia and Genévez.
So Sabazlai in instead of Zaire Emery.
And then in the tack,
Vitja obviously.
If Esac is fully fit, it's Esac.
And then Dembele probably is the third.
So Dembele on the right, Esac to the middle.
And Esac is expected to be available, at least available, not fully fit but available.
So I'm going to go with this.
He, Esac is the best player through the middle.
I know Dembele won a ball on Doritz and undeserved ball on Dorb, by the way.
But he won a ball on Doran on the last, but he's in the team.
I'm putting him in the team over duet or back holer, but Kovic is definitely in.
So for Liverpool, they get Alison, Virgil, Sabazlai and Esac.
Four, eight, four.
I feel like that's right.
And I feel like if you look at these fixtures,
the toughest one to predict is Rayal Byron.
The easiest one is Arsenal sporting.
And the two in the middle are Barisat, Letty and PSG, Liverpool.
But Barisat, Letty is a closer contest in PSG, Liverpool in my view.
So yeah, I'm happy with them.
That PSG, Liverpool team, would be unbelievable.
It would be unbelievable.
No flowery inverts.
Doesn't get it unfortunately.
Not this year, maybe next year.
That's a hell of a team.
The Barisat, Letty, combined 11 is also a hell of a team.
The Rayal Byron 11 is Wicked Centreback.
But everything else is great, but it's Wicked Centreback.
And sporting Arsenal, probably still boring.
New manager though, so that might make it more exciting.
Right, I'll be back after the break.
One sweet, melty bite of a Hershey's bar.
And suddenly, I'm right back sitting on the front porch with my grandmother
on a slow summer afternoon.
She doesn't say much.
She just breaks the bar in half and hands me a piece.
I open my mouth to say whatever a nine-year-old wants to say.
And she replies with a low...
Listen.
So we sat there listening.
That was the first time I learned that quiet can feel full.
Hershey's, it's your happy place.
Don't you on that max.
Cooper loves that chew too.
Oh, now he's in a Cooper's food.
Wow, he is loving it.
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Blue buffalo life protection formula.
He never leaves a crumb.
I love it because it's made with high quality protein,
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Right, welcome back.
So last night, I was chatting to a couple of my mates from Brighton,
who are Brighton fans.
And we were talking about the team and how they've been a bit frustrated
with the style of play under Herzelir,
the lack of a clear identity at times under Herzelir.
Very appreciative of the fact that right now they're doing well,
and they've definitely turned things around,
but also aware of the fact that
the viewpoint is that he'll leave in the summer.
That they'll decide to make a change.
Like I say, very, very appreciative of the fact that they've won
four out of five and should have gotten a result against Arizona,
but also pointing at the fact that
they went one win in 13 with six defeats and six draws.
So, you know,
they feel like they should have been
where Brentford are and actually better this season.
And like, if you look at the league, there's only
what is it? There's not much between the two at the moment.
There's three points.
Three points in Brentford, a gold difference advantage,
but they don't feel like losing 10 at this stage in the season is acceptable,
given the squad they have.
So, we were talking about
where would they go and what changes to make.
So, it got me thinking afterwards, what would I do?
If I was running
Bright, if I got the role this summer
as the sporting director and was, you know, making the key decision.
Where would I go? What would I do?
So, I would change the manager.
I've been on that for a while.
I would look to bring in a different manager who maybe just is a bit more
maybe a bit clearer on
on their identity and what they want their team to be.
Because I feel like that's where
Herzler is falling down a little bit.
Is he still not fully
certain on what he wants his team to be?
So, who can they get?
Now, the Premier League is obviously a big draw.
But, you're bright and you're not Liverpool,
Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea or City.
So, you're not going out and getting, you know, Sebastian Hoynes
or Alonzo or Cessk.
So, you're going to have to go to aim a little bit lower.
And someone I've been thinking about for Liverpool, but I think is
maybe a little bit short of where they would want in terms of experience and all the rest.
Is Francesco Farioli.
Now, I know he's at Porto who are a huge club
and he may well win the league this year.
It's looking good odds for him to win the league this year.
But I do wonder if maybe he would be someone who's open to move to the Premier League to
to really, you know, make his name and stand down that he's the next big thing.
So, I'm going to put him as option A.
Now, another manager I really like, but I'm not sure,
well, I do think he's available for certain, but I'm not sure he's not already on someone else's.
List is Inigo Perez of Rio Valle Cano.
He's definitely more, definitely more gettable than Farioli.
I think Farioli can be God, but I think Inigo Perez is definitely an easier one to go and get.
But he may well already be kind of locked in for the Bournemouth job
if Iraola's going to leave.
But still, I was thinking of him and I was thinking of that team
and that Valle Cano team are a lot of fun to watch.
They play an aggressive, high-paced style of uphol
that I do think would suit Brighton.
And I think he's going to be one of the best managers in the game.
I just think the way he goes about things is very impressive.
He plays a 4-2-3-1, but it's flexible.
It's got built-in changes to it.
That game against Sam, since born the first leg, was really impressive.
They actually played a 4-3-3 in that one, I think.
Wasn't it, it was 4-3-3-3 in that one, and they looked really good.
What did they play at the weekend?
Yeah, a 4-3-3-1.
Against Barrelson and Gave Barrelson, a tough game.
So I'm going to go with Perez.
I'm going to be realistic here and say that we go for Farioli and he says,
no, look, I'm going to stay at Porto.
I think a bigger job is going to come along, so I'm good where I am.
I'm going to go with Inigo Perez to bring in a real high-pressing style.
I think that was Super-Eighten's players, so let's do one-out one-in.
I'm not going to sell the whole squad, obviously, because that would be ridiculous,
but I think there's certain players who A, I would want to sell,
and B, will be looking to move on to what they might see as bigger and better things.
So, if we start with the goalkeeper, I think for Brugan stays another year, to be clear.
But for me, I'm looking to move on from Jason Steele, because I'm just not a fan.
Now, can I keep Carol Rushworth as my backup?
Probably not. He probably wants a move to go and establish that he's done really well
at Coventry this season, so it may well be a thing where he just decides I'm going to go,
I'm going to stick with Coventry, they're going to go up, and I'm going to go play there,
and that's something that's going to suit me.
So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring James Beedle back to the club.
He's currently on loan of Birmingham. He's done well there.
I think he's a big talent. He's literally a big talent at 6 foot 7,
only 21. He's going to be my backup, and I'm sure in their academy, there's a goalkeeper that we
can get to be the third keeper. You know, Steven Hall, Nils Ramming, the young suite is very
highly regarded. You know, Swedish International is very highly regarded. So, we're going to have
an open competition between the academy keepers as a whole bunch of them there, and whoever wins
out is third choice. Right back is definitely a position of need. So, we have to move out a right
back to move in a right back, and ultimately at the end of this, I want to be in profit because
that's the bright way. So, I'm going to say goodbye to Joel Veltman. Now, you're not going to get
much eventing for him. He may well be at a contract. I'm not sure. We're going to move him out.
I'm going to keep Vfer, but I'm going to keep him as a midfielder.
So, I need to really buy two right backs in truth.
Now, Gula Duet of Straussburg is the right back that I want. I think 20 million gets him.
So, we'll just mark that then as a 20 million spend, and we have to make that of somewhere.
So, there has to be a sale that brings us in over 20 million more than what his replacement
will cost. I also now so don't want to get a backup right back. Now, there's another part
to me that thinks, I wonder if Chelsea would do business on Josh at Champon, and maybe I just go
big at right back and get the best available player who I can potentially sell for big, big money
down the line, but I'm not sure that's something that's realistic, because I think if a Champon
becomes available, I think there'll just be a lot of clubs in. And I really like Gula Duet,
so I'm happy to go with him. As a backup, I'd like a different style of right back, maybe someone
who's a bit more of a pure attacking right back. Duet is good going forward, but he's also really
strong defensively. He's more of an all-rounder. So, if I want that attacking right back, and obviously
it's Brighton as well, remember, so age-wise, we're looking at 23 and under. We're not going to be
looking to bring in anybody over that kind of age point. So, I really like Omar El Halali,
the Moroccan right back at Espanol, but the name that I think would make sense, because he can
also play in other positions as Juan Lu Sanchez of Sevilla. So, we're going to go with him, and he's
about 15 million. So, now we're 35 million in the whole. One position solved. Now, left back,
I'm not going to touch, I think they're set at left back with two really good options in
Ferdik Hariaglu and Maxine DeCoyper. Now, it's possible one of them might look to move on, but for
now we're going to plan to have the pair of them. Centreback is where we're going to start seeing
some change. First big sale is going to be Jan Paul Van Hecker. It's been linked to a number of
top clubs and allegedly the asking prices in and around the range of 50 million pounds.
So, that helps. I've got Diego Coppola. He's going to be my starter on the right side of the
back of the centreback pairing, but you've got to find a partner for him and then we'll have to
have a look at decked as well. So, I'm just going to make a team out here, do a
such as... I think Hariaglu is probably the starter with DeCoyper as the back of the left back,
but again, I think that's open competition. I think they can both, they can both offer different
things. I know that my left side centreback backup is going to be Baskagli who they already have
and is a good player. Lewis Donk is going to be the fifth centreback. I don't think he's capable
of anything more than that. At this point, I really think he's overextended his career,
but I quite like the look of Charlie Tasker who can play right back centreback. So, he's also an
option in the squad. So, what I need is a starting left side centreback in the back of right side
centreback. I also have Igor. Remember Igor? They bought him, he wasn't great, he went on loan to
West Ham. It was going to go to Palace. It fell short, went on loan to West Ham, didn't do great,
got injured and now he's been out. We're going to look to sell him. They paid 17 million, we'll take 10
to get rid. I did also say about the goalkeeper, Rushworth, talk is 15 million will be the asking
price. I think they'll get it as well. So, we're going to add that into our part and the helps.
So, I need a starting left side centreback and a backup right side centreback.
So, let's move along here with centrebacks. Again, we're going to try and keep these prices
at a realistic level. Now, Kapola is your front footed, go and win everything in the air,
type a centreback. So, you'll probably want to pair him with someone that's maybe a bit more of a
ball player. Just for balance, but you don't want to have a shrinking violet in there either.
The player who I want is Maxime Esteve. Now, Burnley are going to go down. There's no way he's going
down with them. He's far too good to go to championship again. I'm going to go with him and I think
25 million gets that done and then I still need one more. Someone to play backup on the right hand
side.
Would Abdul Kutakone be an option for us?
Ash at Reems.
It's owned by Leipzig, but is it possible he'd be an option?
Can play right back as well. So, bit of versatility. I think he might be.
Do I want maybe to know, I might want to look to bring in a couple of English players
actually now that I think about it. Just for purposes of the actual squad and having
more of a balance in the squad, Burnley's good though. Charlie Crestwell would be too expensive.
There's nobody at Wolves. There's nobody at West Ham that they would want. A wonder.
A wonder is turning on. Who's the best centre back in the championships?
That's not going to come up. That's unlikely to get promoted.
Howard Bellis. How would Bellis maybe? I don't see Seth Hampton coming up.
Now, if he comes in, he might become the starter. He might just be the starter.
But what's it going to take for Seth Hampton to sell him? Here's the question.
Darryl Shea, I think, comes up. Jacob Greaves, I think, comes up.
I'm going to go, do you know what? I'm going to go, Howard Bellis. Even if it's
a thing that it's a bit pricey. Let's say 25. If he pushes Coppola to the bench, I'm okay
with that. I think he probably does to be fair. But I'm happy with that. If I have Howard Bellis
in S2V, I think that's good. I think that's good. And I can have the option of a back three
with Coppola as well. So I'm good with that. Who else needs to go? Defensively, that's probably everything
that we're going to do. So we've got Duane Sanchez right back, Karyagu and Ducoper left back.
Howard Bellis and Coppola right center back, S2V and Baskagli left center back. And we've
moved out. Oh, we've got for Brugan and Bidler as the goalkeeper. We've moved out Van Hecke, Egor,
Rushwitten, Valtan. Midfields, double Pivis midfields. I've got Yasaniyari, who's a starter.
Without question. And I'm going to keep Mats Vyfer as a backup.
Henshelwater as a backup.
Well, Belieber is obviously going. Now that's where we're going to make big money. Belieber is going
and I think he brings in let's say 85. I don't think they get the 100. Let's say 85 million.
So that's a huge help.
Now, Milner can leave. We'll keep hold of Pascal Gross. I really like Matt or Ily, but they don't
seem to. So I'm not really sure what's going on there that they don't like him, but I think he's a
very player. We're bringing back Malik Yalkoi as a squad player. I'm only going to look to bring
in one and we're going to guess is our big sign. We're going to go Lenin Kamara. He is the perfect
Brighton player. Even at 45 million, you're going to make a huge profit on him. So I'm going to go
with him. Wingers. I'm still a huge Matoma fan. I just think he's on his day one of the best in
the league. So he's going to be even though I prefer mint or left wing to right wing. I'm going to
start Matoma on the left. And I've got Tom Watson as a squad player.
He's on loan at Millwall now, but I'm bringing him back. So he's in, which means mint
starts on the right. Now, do we have a backup for him as the question? So Ibrahim Osman can play both
wings. Yun Diyong can play both wings. I think I'm just going to go with Osman as the backup on the
right. Ray and Groota is going to be the 10 as depth behind him. Do you know what? I don't
need to bring back Osman. I can let Osman go. Groota will be an option on the, you know what?
We're going to do this. Groota is going to play as the backup on the right on the right. But they're
going to spend that he's going to start a lot because Mint will start as the backup left
winger as well as the starting right winger. So Watson would be the fourth winger. If you get me
Mint probably splits games between both, Matoma and Groota then, you know, as the options of the
flanks, Diego Gomez is going to be starting 10 and Virginia Root is the backup there
and then Groota's the third choice. And then up front I'm not doing anything. I've got Evan Ferguson
who I think is still a big talent. I've got Simmons, the older of the Greek youngsters they brought in
and then I've got Kustalas as the younger of the Greek players. Actually Tom McGill is there as the
third choice keeper. So he'll remain the third choice keeper. So I'm not bringing in a single player
for the front four. I'm bringing in one from midfield, two at center back, two at right back,
and that's it. And everything else they already have. And to do this, that's a 35, 60, 130 million
pounds spend with 60, 75, 85, which is 160 million pounds of incomings. And there are others that
can be sold. Aaron Cashin could be sold, Samiento could be sold. I'd like to keep Ausman maybe keep
met on loan. O'Reilly is another one actually that we're going to sell. Let's say we get 15 for him.
So that'll give us 175 coming in. So it's 45 million pounds. Plus, plus whatever we get for
Samiento, Cashin, and whatever the squad filler we can move on. I'm also moving on Danny Wellbeck,
Jason Steele, some saving money on their wages too. And I've still got some experience in
the theme. I've still got dunk there. I've still got bros. I've still got metoma. I'm more than
happy. I've got Verbruegan, Bedlam, McGillas, McGull keepers, Dewey and Sanchez right back,
Tadiadlu and DeCoyper left back, Howard Bellas and Coppola right center back, Estevei and
Buscagi left center back. Dunk is the fifth center back. A Yari and Kamara as my start is in midfield,
Veefer and Henshelwood is back up and Yalkoi as well for depths. That's five in midfield. They can
all do the job. Minta and Matoma as the starting wingers, Beruda as the main back up Watson as the
depth. Gomez as the ten, Reuters the back up bros as again a squad player can play anywhere.
And then open competition up front. Ferguson, Simass and Kustalus, one of his going, take the job.
Forty five million profit. I'm happy. I'm happy with what I've done. I think that's quite good.
I don't expect everybody to agree, but if you don't agree, you're wrong. And then they go pair
as a manager. Right, that's me for today. I'll see you all tomorrow. Take care. Bye-bye.
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The EPL Index Podcast



