You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast.
Love football, learn English.
How did Sparta Prague do against the Red Bull Salzburg team
in their opening game of the Champions League?
What do I think about Arsenal and Manchester City's goalless draws?
What are some ways you can support the Footglitch Podcast?
And what does the phrase to send someone for hot dogs mean?
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Footglitch Podcast.
My name is Denek Lukas and you heard me right.
This is the Footglitch Podcast.
First, I would like to talk to you today about the future of this podcast.
To be honest, I still don't know whether the future is bright
and what's ahead, what lies ahead because it's early days for this podcast.
I started it about three months ago, you know, right before the Euros.
And yeah, I've been enjoying myself. I've had fantastic guests on it.
I think I'm quite happy with the production of the podcast.
Of course, there's still room for improvement, right?
You could call it teething problems, but that's absolutely normal.
It is not my first podcast to produce.
But I think it's time to think about how I could progress in the future.
Basically, whenever you start a podcast, you need to have a plan, right?
You need to have a plan.
Of course, at some point, I would like to find a way to monetize this podcast.
Right? I need to make that happen.
Otherwise, I cannot sustain it long term.
And you should know that.
And that's why you come in.
I am going to basically now ask you for support.
Yes, that's what we have to do, us the podcasters.
It's not my most enjoyable part of the podcasting experience.
I'm still learning how to do it, but I have to do it.
Basically, if you want the future of this podcast to be bright,
I can't do it without you.
It's as simple as this.
And there are several ways you can support this podcast.
Number one, the easiest is just don't shut up about it.
Tell your friends that it exists.
Tell your classmates, your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend,
your, I don't know, drinking buddies.
Share it on your social media.
It's necessary for me to spread the word.
And the best way to do it is the word of mouth.
So if you could help me with that, it would be absolutely fantastic.
And honestly, I couldn't stress that enough.
Now, other ways you could support this podcast is of course,
by leaving a review on the podcasting app, such as Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, wherever you can do it.
Just, you know, just give me a five-star rating and write a few things about it.
You don't have to spend more than 10 seconds on writing a review like that, honestly.
But it can make a huge difference as well.
From time to time, I speak to ChetGPT and ask whether there are some new reviews.
And occasionally, I get some sort of answer from ChetGPT.
And like I said, this helps others find this podcast, right?
So it helps me as well.
Now, the third way you can support this podcast,
and this is perhaps how I would like to envisage the future of this podcast,
is by becoming a subscriber on the platform that I have recently put my podcast on.
And this platform is called Hero Hero.
This is a platform for content creators where they can offer their audience more content for monthly subscription.
And I set the subscription very low.
Yeah, I'm not going to go too far ahead.
First of all, I need to start, you know, I need to set the bar low and slowly and surely build it up.
Hopefully, this is how you do it.
I think I think it's the fair way to do it if you're starting with something.
So you can become a subscriber on Hero Hero and support me.
There will be a link in the description of every single episode from now on.
But you should know that for now, the only benefit of being a subscriber on Hero Hero will be that
basically you will feel good about supporting me.
There's nothing I can offer for now, except maybe, do you know what I could do?
I've got a group for English learners, for high level English learners.
And there is a football event once a week.
Every Sunday, we talk about football weekend at 8.30 p.m. Central European Time.
You know what I could do?
If you become my Hero Hero subscriber, then I'll let you join us once a month.
OK, once a month you will have access to my Discord group and you will be able to talk to me
and the other members about the football weekend.
So we can discuss the Premier League, the games of your team from your league, whichever league it is.
If you are a football player yourself or a manager, we can talk about how you personally did,
but only once a month.
In the future, we can do it more often.
Or if you are interested in the full on experience of being a member of that group,
which is not only about football, then you can go to my website,
myteachersdenek.com where you can learn more about it.
OK, so sorry about all that.
It's necessary for me to talk about these things.
But what's on agenda today?
Well, I have been watching some Champions League games.
That's right.
I have to be honest with you.
I'm not always into watching the Champions League.
It has not been my go to competition in the past, mainly because I didn't have a team to support really
until Arsenal started getting into the league, I suppose.
But before that, no Czech teams got to Champions League for a long, long time.
And well, it's different this year because we've got Sparta Prague,
the Czech team that made it into the Champions League after 19 years of a drought.
They are there.
And I have to tell you about their first game because it was a huge, huge success, actually.
They played against an Austrian team, Red Bull Salzburg.
Yeah, that Red Bull that some of you drink, the energetic drink, that's their sponsor.
And it's, you know, it's like a big, big sort of project, right?
They have, I think, Leipzig as well.
Red Bull Leipzig.
Am I saying it right?
I hope so.
And then there is Salzburg, Red Bull Salzburg.
And in their team, they've had big, big names in the past, including Haaland at some point.
Yeah.
And I think it is the Slovenian player, Šeško and more.
So it's not an easy team to play against to start your Champions League campaign,
especially with this new strange format.
But what Sparta did in this home game was absolutely fantastic.
It surprised me.
It surpassed all my expectations.
I was left absolutely speechless.
Sparta Prague coach Lars Fries has been doing an amazing job since Brian Priske,
the ex-Sparta Prague coach left.
Lars Fries used to be his assistant, by the way.
And Brian Priske left for Feyenoord, Rotterdam, where he is now struggling.
But Lars Fries, it's tactical masterclass.
Basically, it's obvious that Salzburg have better individual players.
They have, you know, like really big, big talent.
You can see a lot of wonder kids in their team.
But Sparta played as a team.
I don't think they prayed.
They may have prayed as well, but they mainly played.
They played as a team.
It was a unit, coherent unit.
Everybody knew exactly what they were supposed to do and everybody fulfilled those instructions
that Lars Fries gave them.
It was a high pressing game from Sparta Prague.
And what helped in this game is the fact that they scored a very early goal.
It was, I think, in the second minute.
It made a huge difference, of course.
It always does, right?
But, you know, it looked like Sparta Prague were able to tap into Salzburg's weakness.
It seemed like they kind of surprised Salzburg with their own game
because this is how they play normally, this high press.
But Sparta Prague, they just took it to perfection.
It was perfection, honestly.
All three goals kind of were kind of scored because of pressing, right?
Or some counter pressing situations.
It was incredible.
So, like I said, in the second minute, Khan Kyrynen, the Finnish international,
scored the first goal and then the second goal was scored right before half time by Viktor Olatungi,
the Nigerian, and then in second half, Chazim Lachi, the Albanian player,
he sent the defence and the goalkeeper for hot dogs.
That's right.
Just check out this goal.
It's such a beautiful goal.
It reminds me of a goal that Mesut Özil scored in the Europa League a while back for Arsenal.
It was such a brilliant goal, honestly.
The composure, the technical ability and the vision of this player and the calmness.
And yeah, it's just such a wonderful goal.
I'm sure it was in the European highlights.
So that was the Salzburg-Sparta-Prague game. I could not envisage such a great result.
And obviously in Prague, you know, people were celebrating.
Even like I'm sure most decent Czech football fans, even if they support other teams,
they were happy that Sparta-Prague did so well.
I watched some other games as well.
For example, Atalanta-Arsenal, which I thought wasn't that interesting.
Well, it was a goalless draw in the end.
And an even game, the biggest moment of this game was really a penalty save from David Wraya.
It was a double save, in fact.
Brilliant, brilliant save from Mateo Retegui penalty.
And then there was a rebound.
The same player tried to head the ball into an empty net.
But somehow David Wraya appeared out of nowhere and managed to catch that or parry that.
It was a goal line save, a highlight of this round for sure.
Amazing save. But unfortunately, this was the best moment of the game.
Honestly, I can see that a lot of players are not at their best.
Martinelli, Declan Rice, Tomas Parte, not good at all.
Maybe Calafiore, the Italian, was the best shining light of the Arsenal lineup.
But honestly, there was not much to be excited about.
Even Gabriel Jesus, not at his best right now.
So it was a bit disappointing.
And I'm slightly worried because the next game for Arsenal is this Sunday against none other than Manchester City.
And if we repeat this kind of performance, it's definitely not going to be enough.
Perhaps it's a bit tough because there is a difficult run-in for Arsenal, right?
We were playing the North London derby. We won that 1-0.
I say we because I don't know if you know, but I support Arsenal, in fact.
So that happened, the North London derby, then this game.
And then there is the most difficult game you can possibly have in the Premier League, right?
You're playing away from home at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City.
So that's going to be tough. Speaking of Manchester City,
they drew their home game against Inter Milan, which in a similar fashion, it's actually quite boring, right?
Both English teams involved in a goalless draw.
It's nothing to be excited about, to be honest.
I heard Pep Guardiola speak in the press conference.
He seemed to be quite happy about the way they played.
Looking at the stats, it looked like they were a slightly better team.
From other interesting results, Celtic Glasgow beat Slovan Bratislava 5-1.
So that's a real thrashing. I am quite disappointed about that.
Slovan Bratislava, of course, for them, it's an achievement in itself to be in the Champions League.
But losing 5-1, your first game, that's nothing to write home about, really.
Then I also watched the game PSG Paris Saint-Germain against Girona, the Spanish sensation from last year.
That game was interesting for me, especially because an ex-Sparta Prague player and a talented leader,
Ladislav Krejci, the ex-Sparta Prague captain, played his first game of the season for Girona.
He was starting his first game of the season.
To my surprise, he was absolutely amazing.
Apparently, he had like 99% passing rate.
And then on top of that, he made an incredible defensive last-ditch tackle.
Basically, a player, Paris Saint-Germain player Dembele, a really fast player,
he was running from the halfway line and Krejci had to turn around and he had like four meters,
three or four meters to catch up.
But for some reason, he managed to keep up with Dembele's run.
And just as Dembele was trying to shoot right in front of the keeper, like 100% chance,
somehow from out of nowhere, Ladislav Krejci appeared with an amazing challenge.
And it was completely legal as well, because in this position, it's easy to commit a foul and penalty, red card, all that.
Didn't happen.
In the end, unfortunately for Girona, who defended really well, it was an organized performance from them.
And Ladislav Krejci was their best player.
Unfortunately, though, in the end, PSG scored in extra time.
It was a terrible goal.
And own goal, goalkeeper didn't cover himself in any glory there.
I would say it was a howler.
It was a real howler, a mistake by the goalkeeper.
But these things happen, this is football for you.
So PSG won that game.
And yeah, that's that.
Feyenoord Rotterdam lost 0-4 against Bayern Leverkusen.
That was also a bit too much, of course.
Brian Priskev already mentioned him.
The ex-Sparta Prague coach didn't start his campaign at this club very well at all.
He's under a huge amount of pressure.
The Feyenoord Rotterdam fans want him out of the club.
At Sparta Prague, he always used to do these, we call them circles.
That's basically the before and after the game, the players sort of gather and make a circle,
like the shape of a circle, and they sort of talk to each other and encourage each other
and try to motivate each other before and after the game, just sort of to show the team spirit.
It's kind of like team building.
Apparently, he started doing the same at Feyenoord, but the fans hate it.
They hate it because the team is losing.
So they blame the performances on that, on that drill or routine.
Let's call it a routine.
And I heard that Priskev stopped doing it.
He's under a lot of pressure.
So heavily criticized.
I don't think he will be able to stay much longer.
He has to get some results because otherwise he will be just forced out of the club by the fans.
It can happen, right?
Yeah, for Sparta Prague fans, this seems like, I don't know, they, of course,
they wish him all the best because he did so well.
We won two titles at Sparta, but on the other hand, apparently, when he was leaving Sparta,
he said to the sports director Tomáš Rosický that he didn't want to be there anymore.
Right? So that's what Tomáš Rosický said in a few interviews.
And if we believe Tomáš Rosický, then this is not nice.
Right? You should always respect the team that made you.
And he, Sparta Prague made him into the coach he is.
And it gave him this opportunity to be at Feyenoord.
He should have showed more respect and maybe karma is getting him now.
You know, perhaps you should say instead of saying, I don't want to be at Sparta anymore,
you should say something like, it's time to move on.
Yeah, I'm sorry. I have ambitions, blah, blah, blah.
You know, we will all understand. Right?
You understand. But don't say things like, I don't want to be there.
Right? It's like disrespectful to the club.
And karma, karma got him. I think. I don't know.
Anyway, interesting format of this Champions League.
I have to say, I don't know what to think about it yet, but it's like a huge league.
Right? We have got so many teams.
Is it 32 teams or something?
The first eight, we qualify straight into the quarterfinal.
Is it? I think so.
And then how many? I can't remember, guys.
I can't remember exactly what the rules are, but it's pretty confusing.
And you have eight matches and against eight different opponents for home, for away matches,
but always only one against each of your opponents, which is interesting.
And then obviously you have to collect enough points to progress,
either to be in the top eight, which is better because then you get straight into the quarterfinal,
I believe. But if not, at least you want to play the round before that.
That's easier. That should be more manageable to get there.
For Sparta Prague, three points. Amazing.
Amazing way to start the season.
Some of their players were really great in that game.
For example, Filip Panac, the defender.
Just read about Filip Panac, like what sort of story he has, because it's incredible.
He was basically afraid for his own life at some point,
and he was struggling with injuries for about three years.
Huge knee problems. He thought his career was over, yet he came back stronger.
Now he's the Sparta Prague captain and now wins a Champions League game.
It's an incredible story.
Anyway, guys, that's that for the Champions League.
I will not always talk about the Champions League, but I thought I might as well,
since I watched a few games and I found several results.
Quite surprising. I didn't even mention the way Bayern Munich demolished their opponent,
Dinamo Zagreb, 9-2. Yes, you heard me right, 9-2.
Harry Kane scored four goals. Three of these goals were from penalties.
Honestly, we will see what happens.
There is a problem as well in the world of football now, in European football.
Some players have started complaining about the fact that they are playing too many games.
I think Kevin de Bruyne said something.
Some managers too, Pep Guardiola, even Jurgen Klopp before he left Liverpool.
I think they are just burning out. I think it's too many games.
It's impossible for the players to put in consistent performances if they play so many games.
Right. So the only way to do this is, I guess, if you have a big squad,
a lot of squad depth and you rotate because playing in so many competitions is just tough.
And I understand that, you know, like, UEFA is trying to make a lot of money.
Of course, it's about the TV rights, the fans.
They just want to see the superstars play. Right.
But they're only human beings. So there are complications.
But I think there are no complications when it comes to this podcast.
And now it's time for the language corner.
All right, guys, welcome back to the language corner.
I actually haven't planned anything for this one.
So I wonder what I could talk about. Hmm. Let me see.
OK. Remember how I spoke about Chazim Lachi, Chazim Lachi,
the Albanian player who plays for Sparta Prague and the goal he scored,
the third goal he scored against Salzburg.
It was an incredible goal. And I use the phrase that I said that he sent
everyone on hot dogs. Remember that? I said that.
Yes, hot dogs. So if you send someone for hot dogs,
it basically is a funny phrase, which means
because of the skill you have, because of some situation in the game,
you perform something, you perform
a certain situation in a skillful way that it makes
that it makes someone look stupid.
Yeah, you make fool out of someone else.
And that's exactly what Chazim Lachi did because he just cut back.
Yeah, he cut back. And as he did that, two defenders
and the goalkeeper, they all slid to the other side.
So he cut back and suddenly he had an empty goal and it was an easy
tap in for Chazim Lachi. So if you send someone on hot dogs,
it means that you make fool, you make a fool out of someone.
Yeah, so that's the phrase for today. I guess that's it.
I think we can keep it short today. I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode.
Don't forget that you can support this podcast and I would like to encourage you to do so.
I support my favorite podcasts. That's right.
Yes, I'm a subscriber of currently two different podcasts
and you know, it's just three euros, right? Three euros monthly.
And if you really enjoy the content someone makes, why not do that?
I don't know. It's really about what you think.
I don't mind if you don't support me, of course. I'm still happy if you listen.
But I'm saying in the future, I will have to see that this podcast is heading somewhere
because if it isn't, you know, I'll just have to try something else, right?
But I think this is a good concept. I hope so. I hope so.
But there should be other people to judge this, not me.
Anyway, I've got some interesting guests lined up in the future.
So you definitely have some stuff to look forward to.
I'll be covering the mainly the Premier League, but, you know,
I'll be looking at some Czech players, of course, as well, in this kind of way.
Czech team, the Czech national team from time to time, the usual stuff.
By the way, if you are a listener and you have good English
and you think you would be a good guest on this podcast, you know what?
Why don't you send me an email? I have got a new email.
It's thefootglishpodcast at gmail.com.
Send me an email and maybe you could feature as one of the guests.
Why not? We could talk about your domestic league, about your team.
Why not? I am open to having new guests on this podcast, of course.
Guys, that's all that I can squeeze into this episode.
Have a great day. Enjoy your weekend and take care.
I'll speak to you soon. Cheers. Bye bye.