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Hosted by Kelly Cates, Ian Wright, Chris Sutton and I discuss what we can look forward to in the Premier League this season.
Will Antonio Conte leave out of frustration? Can Manchester United win the Premier League and where should Bale go if he comes back to England?
Hosted by Mark Pougatch, Andy Brassell and I discuss the game between Juventus and Barcelona, how we think the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern will fare, how far Leicester City can really go and much, much more. Download and listen!
Click here for the link.
Did Dotun Adebayo forget my name? Join Tim Vickery, Dotun and I as we discuss football in Europe and South America. We discuss which players would have been better appreciated elsewhere, is Alexis Sanchez really leaving and what teams perform terribly away from home.
Click here for the link. Hope you enjoy!
Everyone will have watched the Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur match. A thrilling game that ended in a 2-2 draw, City is right to feel aggrieved. Referee Andre Marriner did not spot the push on Raheem Sterling that should have led to a penalty.
Yaya Toure controversially remarked, “If you have a bit of experience like me, you’d maybe dive in that situation and that’s maybe what you have to do. He’s too honest, he wants to be proper in these sort of games. If the lad’s like that, you can’t tell him he’s wrong, if that’s what he tries to do. When you see it, he can’t miss from there, he was so close and after that Walker pushes him in the back.”
The question is, should Sterling have fallen to the ground?
To many fans of the English game, it’s so easy to be called a cheater. There is no greater notion than fair play, winning matches by playing at a superior level but if Sterling fell, would he have been criticised or praised for winning his side the match?
In Italy, the art of being cunning, otherwise known as ‘Furbizia’, means using all your experience and expertise to win the game - fairly and legally. That doesn’t mean cheating, paying referees or whatever many would love to believe but by doing what European footballing giants became famous for managing. Tactical fouls, winning a free-kick in advantageous positions, time wasting, crowding around the referee and annoyingly, demanding a yellow card for the opponent.
Barcelona are famous for harassing the referee, psychologically tilting the match to their favour. Jose Mourinho sides are capable of it and legends of the Italian game were praised for it. In Alessandro Del Piero’s last season at Juve, Antonio Conte would bring him on because he always won free-kicks, wasted time and then used his technique to convert opportunities - a useful presence when the match was nearing the end and the team needed to secure the slim result.
But is it in the spirit of the game? I know what I want the players on my team to do, what about you?
Another appearance, today we discuss why Spanish Football is so good and whether Jurgen Klopp can be considered a success at Liverpool.
What do you think?
Have you caught the latest round up on Beyond the Pitch? Samantha Johnson discusses the fairytale that is Leicester City while I analyse the action from the Bayern Munich vs Atletico Madrid game and look ahead to Manchester City's clash away at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu.
Yes yes, I said Porto!! Oops you know I meant Benfica
Catch it here!
So here it is, my list of the top 10 players in La Liga. I've omitted certain players and I'm sure some of you will disagree but let and Copa 90 know who you would pick!
Take a look at the video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XBUiuP9Ix0
Jose Mourinho is famous for it, Juventus players inscribed it on the back of their hand in the 1998 Champions League final (went on to lose by that amount) and Fabio Capello’s career was based around it - it is the scoreline for the pragmatic, the fighters and the winners - or is it?
Evolution has seen football take on a more attacking approach, producing more quality upfront and less so at the back. We still have the likes of Sergio Ramos and Thiago Silva but even the ‘greatest Premier League defender’ Vincent Kompany is capable of a mistake or two rather often.
There are no more Franz Beckenbauers’ no more Franco Baresis and as such, can a team realistically guarantee 1-0 wins in the manner they used to in the past?
Shutting up shop, how Mourinho opted to do against Manchester United resulted in Chelsea dropping two points. Perhaps he was unlucky, had Bratislava Ivanovic stayed on…. but he’s not the first to realise this scoreline no longer offers guarantees.
A one goal cushion in this day and age, with the quality of our modern defenders, is no longer enough.
Did you listen to BBC 4's Sunday morning magazine programme presented by Paddy O'Connell? If not, click on the link below and listen via catch-up. I help round up the stories from the newspapers in the morning show, focusing on Great Britain's obsession with pressuring their sportsmen and why Neymar's injury has dominated the headlines somewhat unfairly...
Click here to be taken to the link.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
