And welcome back to the PD Football Podcast.
My name is Presh. My name is Darren. And how
are you doing today? I'm okay. I'm okay. Just
regularly fatigued from work. How's everything
on your end? Well, I've been speaking about the
Dune audiobook. I finished that. Like I said,
it was a... Again, I'm going to repeat what I
said last week. There's a lot of fluff. And I'm
glad the director cut it out. Unnecessary stuff.
I'm glad the director cut it out for the movie.
Now I've moved on to perhaps the greatest novel
ever written. It's called Moby Dick or The Whale
by Herman Melville. You know, the prose is wonderful.
Again, I'm listening to audiobooks. I'm not actually
reading. But it's wonderful to listen to. I mean,
it is probably one of the most influential books
ever written. Yeah, it's just a pleasure to listen
to. That's all I'm going to say because I'm five
hours into a 24 -hour audiobook, so still quite
a lot to go. You have two -thirds of a day to
go. Can we get straight into it or do you have
other things you want to say? No, we can get
straight into it. I don't really have anything
on my mind. All right, so Atletico Madrid 4,
Club Brugge 1, Atletico through 7 -4 on aggregate.
I mean, they made it more difficult than they
had to in the end, but probably what everyone
expected. I mean, obviously, another good big
game performance from Soloth. So it's looking
like a good signing. I mean, I think their strike
partnership, Alvarez is a bit out of form recently,
but I think he's the type of player that will
come back into form in the big games. I will
say, okay, before we haven't even chatted about
lineups and whatever, but I did think Alvarez
had a poor game. He just didn't look... On it,
I would say that. Yeah, I mean, he's had these
moments, though. I think he is one of those players
that can fade away a bit. But the nice thing
about him is that he generally comes good in
the big moments. So if they're there in the latter
stages of the competition still, I probably expect
him to come back to life. All right, so into
the match. And the graphic before the match said,
let's go in a 4 -4 -2. But in the match, it was
more of a 4 -2 -3 -1 with Alvarez in the 10.
So I don't watch Atletico week to week, so I
don't know what their best 11 is. But their bench
was stacked with players I would assume are starters.
For example, Griezmann, Jimenez, Lukman, Lehmann
-Norman. So I was a bit confused. This is a must
-win game, or was a must -win game for Atletico.
I wondered why they went so weak. I think he's
been rotating a lot recently, so I think maybe
those players, based on that we know them as
the most established players in the squad, we'd
assume they should be starting. But I think Lenormand
has been injured a bit this season, has just
got back, been a bit out of form. I think Griezmann
hasn't been in the best form either. I do think
that, you know, it could have just been Simeone
tweaking organically. I don't think, I think
it could just be him working with what he has
based on the current form of the players, you
know. I see. Brugge played in a 4 -1 -4 -1 and
I haven't watched him this season, so I don't
know if this is the usual formation or if this
was a tactical tweak. to combat Atletico. But
in the first 10 minutes, Brugger pressed aggressively
and Atletico could not break out of it. They
were simply stuck in their own half. But Brugger
couldn't make their quick start count. Although
I was particularly impressed by Forbes on Brugger's
right hand side. He was getting in some good
deliveries. Yeah, I mean, I think Atletico made
a lot of sloppy mistakes in possession as well.
First half, I think, gave the ball away quite
a bit. So, I mean, I guess a better team, you
would assume, probably could have put the game
to bed if they had pressed them in the way Brugge
did. But, I mean, you can only beat what's in
front of you, as they say. So it's all about
getting to the later stages. Atletico did enough.
I think they needed an individual display. It's
hard to say. It's hard to gauge much from that
game in terms of, I don't think, I think given
the result from the first leg, there could have
been a bit of an expectation of Brugge that they
might be able to spring an upset. But I think
everyone knew that as long as the Lidico's defensive
dynamics are okay, which they eventually got
right, probably around the 30 -minute mark. And
I think from then on, they were able to control
the game, get their foot on the ball. Yeah, well,
to me, it was the first 15 minutes. That's when
Bruges were in the ascendancy. And Atletico soon
settled and they got some position. And even
in some portions, they played some classy one
-touch football. This is actually a thing my
friend told me like a while ago. He said that
our impression of Atletico Madrid is that they
sit deep and hit you on the counter because we
only watch them in the big matches. But in La
Liga, they... don't have that luxury. They have
to come out and play against the smaller teams.
So he told me that Atletico are actually underrated
because we don't get to see their creative back.
I mean, I agree. I mean, I've always liked Simeone.
I think, well, again, Simeone and Mateta are
very similar to me. I think they both focus on
controlling games, just in a different way to
what people expect. I think the idea is still
to use the players you have to control the dynamics
of the game so that your team benefits It's more
than the opposition. So, I mean, you know, it's
hard to criticize. Like, it depends where you
sit on Atletico. It seems like Simeone's worked
miracles on a shoestring budget at times. And
then he seems to have let himself down when he's
got a big budget. So, it's a hard one to gauge,
you know. But I think, like, I was impressed
with Koke yesterday. I think he wound back the
years a bit. It was like a bit of the Koke of
old. The one who refused to go anywhere and stay
at Atletico Madrid, you know. I was impressed
by him so I think in a way I think Simeone is
a good man manager probably one of the best in
the game I think he knows how to get the most
out of a player help them get close to their
ceiling maybe he doesn't always especially defensive
players I would say attackers as well like if
you look at someone like Griezmann I think he's
only really flourished in the Simeone system
I think maybe he struggles with other players
because he can't adapt the system to suit a specific
player but again I think he's a manager like
Oteto who brings the floor and the ceiling very
close together. Now, maybe if you're used to
watching Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola where
the ceiling is very high and there's kind of
a larger gap, I think it's a different idea of
control, you know. I think... I don't know. I
think Simeone and Klopp are in the same sort
of bracket. But that's just my opinion. I would
say they're in the same bracket as in terms of...
the style of their approach to to like man management
i'd say that the man management is i mean like
in terms of i guess respect like i i would put
guardiola in a chair above the both of them yeah
i mean guardiola obviously he's the he's the
He's the king, I guess. And I'm only talking
about, like, current managers. Like, leave Sialix
and Ancelotti, who are semi -retired, out of
it. Just talk about current managers. I guess
Klopp is semi -retired as well. Yeah, I mean,
well, for me, like, it depends how you're measuring
it. I would say Klopp and Pep are ahead of everyone
else. But, I mean, you know. Alright, whatever
the case is. So, I said that they were playing
some classy one -touch football, but their goal
came with one ball over the top. And Bruges were...
Just open up. I think generally because of how
well the teams in the Champions League have been
pressing this season, I've seen a lot of the
long ball come back into play. A bit of like
early 2000s Ancelotti ball. Just the holding
midfielder swings the diagonals or the fullback
swing the diagonals. Just try to take advantage
of the space the team leaves while pressing high.
I mean, I think that's the problem with like
pressing high or like making... pressing a high
pressing i guess the the main point in your defensive
approach or the the fundamental point in your
defensive approach is is probably that if you
have technical players in the center half or
center mid position they're really comfortable
dribbling out it's like i think a lot of teams
live and die by their high press and unless you
have the players to score three or four goals
every game i think you're taking a huge risk
doing that you know So for that goal, it was
Sawloth who collected it, held off the defender,
shot through the legs of the defender, and Mignolet
couldn't get down fast enough to prevent the
goal going in. 1 -0 to Atlético. Good finish.
Could have been better defending and better keeping,
arguably. I would argue that Mignolet, his positioning
was wrong. Not that I'm some goalkeeping guy
that knows all the things. From what I've seen
in training, it's that you want the keeper to
be as low as possible. Because you can kind of
spring upwards. The only thing I would give him
was that... The snapshot was so quick, it was
like... And I guess it went through the defender's
legs. Yeah, it was terrible defending, because
also, I think in Mignolet's mind, he could have
been assuming that the defender would do his
job, shift the play wider, and he'd have to block
the back post. So I think he lined up his body
in the way the defender did a poor job, and I
think the power on the shot was really good,
so he couldn't get down in time. So then Brugge...
Is it Brugge or Brugge? Brugge. The town is called
Bruges, but the club, I think it's called Brugge,
but whatever. It just depends. Bruges gained
possession and Atletico were happy for them to
have the ball. Bruges created chances and their
goal came from a corner. They won the first ball
and then flicked it onto the back post where
the player had it in. I don't know the name of
that player, but he went off for treatment. So
the commentator suggested that because he was
off the pitch and Atletico settled their defense,
they weren't... expecting him to get what I'm
saying because he wasn't there when they set
up the it was like a sucker punch yeah kind of
it's 1 -1 at halftime and Brugge are probably
the happier team they're in the ascendancy going
into the break I guess or they've wrestled back
the momentum you know so I guess the nerves the
nerves are there as well from the Atletico players
because I guess you could see at halftime they
were a bit like a bit shocked you know And then
almost immediately as the second half begins,
the Brugge defender heads out across and Johnny
Cardoza gathers and shoots a long -range shot
which goes into the corner. 2 -1 to Atletico.
Yeah, good goal. Great technique. Nothing else
you can... I mean... It didn't take a deflection.
It was just very sweetly hit. Sweetly hit, yeah.
I think similar to the goal Tonali scored in
the FA Cup two weeks ago. Yes, it was. No, I
think the Ternali goal was way better. But I
get what you're saying. The technique and the
positioning on the pitch. But I will say that
the club roof defending was also awful. They
kind of laid off. He had a lot of space and time,
especially, like you said, on a reactionary moment
where the defenders had the larger numbers. They
kind of just gave him the space to shoot as well.
So for the next 20 minutes or so, Atleti sat
deep. and waited for a counter while all the
attacking came from brugge but unfortunately
they had no goal to show for it eventually atleti's
plan comes together when we get some excellent
play from lookman and griezmann on the counter
which leads to a tap in for sawloth 3 -1 to atletico
and this kind of kills off the tie the brugge
players were tired and it looked like they gave
up after yeah i think the the physical difference
in the players the could also be seen more you
know i think catalytic codeless grew into their
own i guess kind of control the game yes and
i i was thinking oh wow they went so weak uh
simone showed me that uh actually uh this team
was good enough to to beat brooker right then
uh saw lot scores his hat trick from a corner
routine And then the tie really is dead at 4
-1. 4 -1 to Atletico on the night and 7 -4 in
aggregate. Yeah, congrats to Atletico. Yeah,
but we kind of assumed that this would happen.
Brugge put up a good fight, but, you know, it's
just what we expected it to be. Yeah, I mean,
congrats to Brugge for putting up a good fight.
And congrats to Atletico for getting through.
Okay, next we have... Oh, excuse me. Do you have
anything else you want to say about the match
or the tie? in general because i didn't watch
the first leg so if you wanna i mean i guess
in the end it looks comfortable but the only
thing i would say is that probably over the the
course of both games was probably an even game
i think from what i understand in the first leg
i just watched the highlights but from what i
understand club brujo also the better team so
i mean atletico they've had these seasons before
they've had like peaks and troughs so i'm sure
they'll be They'll be in the last eight. They're
there about somehow. So yeah, I think this is
the expected result. Nothing else to say. Okay.
Then we have Inter Milan 1, Bodo Glam 2. Bodo
threw 5 -2 on aggregate. It's quite a humbling
of a European giant from a minnow. It's good.
I mean, when is the last time I guess we had
this sort of Champions League elimination? You
know, it's been a while, I guess. And Bodo are
like a percentage of a percentage of their wage
bill. I mean, of like a super team's wage bill.
Yeah. That's... Yeah. So, Inter set up in their
usual 3 -5 -2. Obviously, they get defensive
solidity from the back three, and it's the wingbacks
who provide the creativity, or like, you know,
the attacking images. The extra numbers in attack,
yeah. Yes. So, people were talking about this
match like it was a tactical masterclass from
Bodo, but it was just a standard Jose Mourinho,
Diego Simeone parking the bus job. Bodo were
defending in a 4 -4 -2 deep block and staying
very compact. They were happy to sit back and
cede the wings to Inter, who put in a bunch of
crosses that were easily dealt with. Because,
you know, instead of having everyone out on the
wings to cover the wings, everyone was in the
middle. So they could easily deal with the balls
because they had the numerical advantage in the
middle. So due to this, all the play was coming
from Inter. But there was nothing decisive. Just
a bunch of block shots. Long range shots that
don't test the keeper. Crosses with no venom
and poor set pieces. I mean, Bodo were very well
drilled. I mean, they kept their distances extremely
well, I think. It was a proper Champions League
level tie. That's what I can give them. I think
Inter would probably have been expecting that
they could... push their weight around a bit
and you know use their name I'm sure like everyone
was expecting that at some point the bigger team
would make the different show but it's kind of
like I mean Bodo had a game plan they executed
it and I think they also scored one of the goals
of the tournament so excellent build up excellent
finish it's not easy I hope they go as deep as
they can as well but I do think that It was like
Inter kind of also didn't push, I didn't think,
didn't push enough. They could have maybe changed
the formation, committed more numbers to attack.
I don't think there's a need to keep the back
five. But I mean, you know, from what I understand,
Chivu is one of the managers who doesn't really
drift from his back three. That's why I guess
they got him as the Inzaghi replacement. But
I think it's a lot of the similar problems that
you had with Inzaghi. Like if I think back to
Inzaghi last season, they had a... They were
very good against big teams, but I think against
the smaller teams where they're just going to
sit and hold the shape, then the back three becomes
a little bit easier to play against if you beat
the initial press. Because then there's gaps
in, especially if you have pacey wingers or people
who are good at swinging diagonals. So I think
Inter will win the league in Serie A. I think
they look still... close enough to Nzaghi's Inter,
but I think they have the same problems with
Nzaghi's Inter, you know. All right. All in all,
it was a very boring first half. It was a test
of if Inter could break down Bodo, and they failed
spectacularly. It was 0 -0 at halftime. Around
the 60th minute, it was just a regular situation
where Akanji just had to clear the ball, and
Bodo just started pressing aggressively. There
were suddenly three men around him, and he made
a mistake, which led to a Bodo tap -in. he does
he i mean that has always been i guess a part
of his game right i think it's part of probably
why pep got rid of him because apparently uh
it was akanji who wanted to leave he saw that
there were so many center backs at city already
he wasn't getting uh i mean he wasn't going to
get in Well, this is what I read the other day
before the match. That being said, he did have
sort of a head injury. We were just watching
the highlights now. You saw his head was wrapped.
Yeah, he was bandaged. So a lot of people have
pointed to that and said perhaps he should have
been subbed for possible concussion or that kind
of thing. Yeah, I mean, that aside, I think he's
always really had the problem of... He's not
really the most press -resistant defender. I
think if there was a weakness in Manchester City
when they did win the treble, usually I think
teams would target Akanji. I think he would be
the one that you would press high, you would
double up on, because I feel he was probably
the weak point where you were most likely to
make a mistake. He's always had that in his game,
but I still think he gives you a lot as a defender.
It's like a give -and -take almost. Well, there's
no, like, perfect player. Yeah, exactly. He just
has that thing of making... The mistakes he does
make generally are very atrocious. Like, they
lead directly to a goal. He's always at the scene
of the crime, as it were. Yeah, exactly. But
Neuer was the same. He hardly made a mistake
when he made it. It was a Treadlick one, you
know. So just a couple of minutes later after
that goal, Bodo scored on the counter again.
Just a... A well -worked counter and the finish
was exquisite. Exquisite, yeah. You were saying
one of the best goals of the... The Champions
League so far. The Champions League so far. And,
yeah, that was the game for me. It's 2 -0 up.
Inter Milan scored like a consolation later on.
I'm not going to lie to you, I fell asleep. Because
this game was very boring. Just a lucky... I
mean, a chaotic goal. So, yeah. At 2 -0, I fell
asleep. So, I missed the... the inter goal but
uh the last talking point i want to bring up
about this game before we close it off i don't
know what you else else you want to say but this
is my last thing so bodo is in their off season
they haven't played a game since november they
have been keeping fit by playing friendlies and
training in mabea so to me you can spin it any
way you want either they're fresh because they
haven't been playing much or they're out of form
because they haven't been playing much right
so you can make an argument for or against but
do you think it's a positive or negative that
they haven't been in league competition um I
would say, has this happened before? They've
been in the Champions League quite a few times.
Is their league always down during this time
of the year because of the winter? Yes, their
league is from March to November. Oh, okay. I
don't know. They've gone further than they've
ever gone. I think more that maybe the coaching
is improving in Bodo. Maybe the football culture
is improving. I think irrespective of whether
it comes during the season or the off -season,
I think you just have to do your job, beat what's
in front of you. It's hard to say whether it
benefits you or doesn't, depending on the players
you have. Obviously, we could watch our teams
in the Premier League every week and say, damn,
you know the players need a rest. But the question
is, we've also seen where teams have large breaks
or players get injured, go to the World Cup,
go to AFCON, come back and they're completely
different players. So it's hard to gauge. I would
say this season it's benefited them because they've
gone further than they've ever gone. So overall,
I would think... From a coaching perspective,
from a football perspective, I would say it's
a negative. Because I would think the momentum
of playing at the top level every week. It's
like, for example, if they have to play, let's
just say, a team who's in full flow. Like Barcelona,
Arsenal, Manchester City, Bayern Munich. I feel
like then the difference will tell a lot more,
you know. Alright, so anything else to say about
Inter 1, Bodo Glam 2? No, not really. I mean,
sad for Inter. I like Inter Milan. This is actually
probably the most high -profile elimination of
the round. It's the only upset, really, right?
Well, we'll go through them. Maybe Galatasaray
-Ventus, but that's a little bit more equal rather
than... Yeah, I mean, it's an upset overall,
but after the first leg, it's kind of expected,
but yeah. Alright, so Atalanta 4, Dortmund 1.
Atalanta threw 4 -3 on aggregate. So, meaning
Dortmund won 2 -0 in the first leg. Yeah, I mean,
everyone thought this one was buried. I saw a
post about the downfall of Italian football.
because Juventus were on the verge of getting
knocked out, Inter on the verge of getting knocked
out, Atalanta on the verge of getting knocked
out. It was looking bad. We'll talk about Juventus
just now. Inter were the only ones who kind of
made a fool of themselves, in my opinion. Atalanta,
they kept their heads down. They just worked
really hard in this game. Yeah, I mean, they
were under the cough for a bit. I think Dortmund
were the better team in the first half. Well,
first of all, it was a bizarre match and both
teams played with a back three. Yeah, which is,
I mean, I guess it minimizes the margins because
there's less room for error on both sides, but
it makes the game less entertaining, usually.
They kind of went man for man. Yeah, all over
the park. All over the park, yeah. So, for the
first 25 minutes, it was all atalanta. They scored
very early on. I joined the... watch late they
scored within the first five minutes so i missed
that goal i can't speak to it and there was no
highlights package so uh i couldn't write it
but uh apparently scamaka scored uh former west
ham player who did not light up the premier league
when he was at west ham but italian fans love
him though yeah i'm glad that he's found uh a
place where he fits in and he's doing well. I
thought Dortmund were very lucky to be one down.
And I saw another tweet that said... So actually,
I started watching the game from like the 25th
minute or so. And when I started watching it,
it seemed like Dortmund were in the ascendancy,
which is why I made the comment earlier that
it seemed like they dominated the first half,
but I didn't watch before that. So I saw this
tweet that said Atalanta scored at all the quote
-unquote nice times to score. So very early on
within the first five minutes, that's a nice
time to score. Straight after halftime? Just
before halftime, you know, going into the break,
they scored by a long shot which took a wicked
deflection on the stroke of halftime from Zappacosta.
He scored a really, like I said, it was a wicked
deflection. He won the Champions League with
Chelsea, right? I think maybe the Europa League.
Maybe not the Champions League, but he could
have been there. I was going to say, is he on
track to win a second Champions League? No. I
believe Rhys James was the right wing -back for
that team. So maybe it was that Picasso was on
the bench or something, but I don't remember
him being a big part of that Chelsea team. I
was also, again, Scamacca had some excellent
hold -up play. Especially, like you said, Dortmund
took over in the second portion of the first
half. So it had to be Skamaka who, like, you
know... Took the pressure off. Took the pressure
off, yes. I mean, if there was anything that,
I guess, when he was at West Ham, when everyone
was calling him a flop or a waste of money or
whatever, I think during that time, the one thing
that always stood out was his hold -up play,
his link -up play. It seemed like he could link
the... like for the second and third phases of
play really well so i'm glad he's kept that uh
hopefully he lives up to the potential i mean
when he went to west ham he was like a very highly
spoken of player in the Serie A you know it was
I think everyone was surprised West Ham managed
to pull off his signature so hopefully he does
hit his potential the games I've seen him I really
like his link up and hold up play but I mean
I've seen players like that as well with like
Olivier Giroud for example the longer it goes
on the more frustrating it gets so maybe Atalanta
is a good team for him as opposed to stepping
up into a team where he's always in the spotlight
you know Another player I was really impressed
by is Maxi Baier. He's a right wing for Dortmund.
Actually, was he on the right wing? He's just
a wing for Dortmund. I don't know what side because
they had a very fluid front three that was, you
know, swapping around and this and that. So whatever
side he's on, he's a winger and I really liked
him. I think he started on the left because I
remember Adeyemi on the right for... No, Adeyemi
came on in the second half. Oh, okay. Okay, but
whatever the case is, I'm... if you notice i'm
highlighting wingers like forbes in the in the
brugger game uh maxi buyer in this game i'm just
i've just been on the lookout for wingers i mean
wingers have kind of like become the modern like
i guess the like people say the the old number
10 has faded out the game so like wingers have
kind of become halfway between like strikers
and number tens now because i guess they get
a lot of both yeah a lot of wingers have to take
on a large portion of the creativity and the
finishing The second half, so it's 2 -0 to Atalanta
at halftime. Again, another nice time to score
just after halftime when you get back on the
pitch. And Darun puts in an excellent cross with
Pasalic headering home. To me, the big story
here is what a fabulous cross it was. The glancing
header, it was good. I don't want to take that
away from him. But the cross kind of didn't leave
you much to do. Yes, I love when the cross...
to do is just tap it in just put your head on
that's why it even makes the header look better
like yes that's why kdb is one of my favorite
players my number two favorite player because
you know he was so good at that he would just
he'd put it right on your toe and you just had
a move your leg forward yeah so yeah the beginning
of the second half like i said atlanta took control
again And Niko Kovac made some subs. He brought
on Karim Adeyemi. He brought on Connie Chukwumeka.
He brought on... He just made a bunch of subs.
I didn't note them down at the time. I just noted
these two because it was those two who combined
to score the goal. It was a really excellent
curling goal from Adeyemi, yes. But yes, in general,
the subs made a difference for Dortmund. And
I thought, okay, it's 2 -1. What is it? 3 -3
on aggregate? No, not 3 -3 on aggregate. 2 -3
on aggregate. No, no, sorry. Pasalic just scored,
so it was 3 -1. 3 -1, yes. So it's 3 -3 on aggregate.
So I was like, alright, this is really... Heating
up. Heating up. And it became kind of like a
basketball game. It was up and down. Atalanta
had a shot. Dortmund had a shot. Atalanta had
a shot. I guess it was like the polar opposite
of the Inter Milan game. It was. This is the
type of game I like to watch. In the Champions
League tie, right? It's very like two teams that
want to attack. That want to, you know, get to
it. But clearly in this game, one team was much
better at scoring than the other. Because not
the last kick of the... So roughly like the 90th
minute, there's a, the goalkeeper gives the ball
away to an Atalanta attacker. And he goes forward
and puts a ball in. Ben Saibini. So I don't really
know how to say that chap's name. Ben Saibini.
Ben Sabani. However, say it however you want.
He just, he kicked the dog shit out of the Atalanta
defender. He just. I'm not a defender, the Atalanta
attacker, there was blood pouring out of his
face. And the referee, I don't know why the referee
needed VAR, but the referee needed VAR to award
the penalty, even though he just... Literally
just kicked him in the face. Like, I understand
he was going for the ball, but he missed. I mean,
again, last week we blamed the Premier League,
but I think the Premier League is still the worst
as far as the refereeing is concerned. Yeah,
because the thing is, the right decision was
eventually reached. Whereas in the Premier League,
they probably wouldn't have. Wouldn't have reached
the right decision either way. But I guess it's
more like... i want to get the right decisions
all the time as a football fan like it's in the
fairness of the sport but i also i really don't
like uh like when it's like the game dies for
five minutes then you add on seven minutes at
the end of the game and well they usually don't
even do that they'll add on two minutes for a
five minute stoppage so that's time wasters uh
you know get the best out of it because you can
waste time for like 10 minutes and only get two
minutes of extra time again my thing is just
follow the the lead of rugby i guess just listen
to what the var says that's the final decision
don't question it like well that's i i felt the
same the same way right i just thought you don't
need to go over to a tv yeah yes tell them the
VAR reviews it and tells them a decision and
then they just go with it. Now, the argument
against it that I've heard is that, quote unquote,
the referee feels as if though they're not really
reffing the game, that it's being taken out of
their hands. To which I reply, is it about the
referee's feelings or is it about getting the
right decisions? Yeah, the referee is essentially...
The referee shouldn't be thinking about putting
themselves on a pedestal within the context of
a game. They're like the officiator. they're
not the players they're not the coaches nobody
is watching to see mike dean the referee yeah
no one is tricking anthony taylor who cares what
anthony taylor is doing or about his technique
all right uh yes so this causes a big kerfuffle
though the warding of the penalty um there was
a red shown to the atalanta bench i'm not sure
who got that red card nico schlotterbeck also
got a red card uh on the bench he didn't play
the game uh i read because he's just coming back
from injury i actually really wanted to see schlotter
back play because i'm very apparently he's being
looked at as one of the van dyke replacements
so uh you know i mean generally obviously i've
read a lot about him i haven't watched him as
much as i'd like to but Well, that's the same
with me. I just heard a lot about him. I've never
seen him play, so that's why I went out of my
way because this was the earlier Champions League
game. This match was at 7 .45. I thought he was
really good in the final or the semi -final of
the Champions League a couple of years ago. He
was really good. That was like where I thought
that, oh, this guy's like, I think at the time
he must have been 21 or something. I was like,
oh, this guy has the fundamentals to be a top
defender, especially on the stage against Real
Madrid. They didn't manage to win. My only concern
about him is that he's injury prone. Every time
I hear about him, he's injured. That's why I'm...
I mean, the thing I would shy away from as fans
generally, I think, is... When you have a player
as good as Van Dijk, let's be honest, you can't
necessarily place that expectation on anyone.
You can still be one of the greatest centre -backs
of all time and still not be close to Van Dijk.
In terms of a complete defender, I think people
shouldn't really expect that maybe you're going
to find another Van Dijk. Maybe you will, maybe
you won't, but we've only seen a defender that
complete technically and in terms of their defending
tactically. Once, maybe some people would argue
for John Terry or Vidic. I wouldn't from a technical
perspective, but there's not many Van Dykes around,
so I don't think it would be fair on Schlatterbach
either to compare him to Van Dyke. I'm not saying
he would come in and take over the armband and
we forget about Van Dyke. I'm just saying he's
been looked at. Is he a good enough replacement?
Because, I mean, obviously people would say that...
Gabriel and Saliba are the best defensive partnership
in the world right now. Most people would agree
about that. I think, however, that neither of
them are close to Van Dijk in his prime to me.
So that's how good he was. I'm just saying that
the Van Dijk replacement maybe shouldn't be an
expectation as much as you'd have to reshape
your defending because there's probably not going
to be another Van Dijk. Sure. Okay, so... Schlotterbeck
gets a red and a second yellow is shown to Ben
Sabaini and a penalty to Atalanta. Lazar Samancic
scores the penalty and pandemonium in Bergamo
as you know They go through 4 -3 on aggregate.
I mean, Atalanta, everyone has to love this story.
It continues without Gasparini. I don't think
they're as good. The league form shows that.
But they're still probably one of the most unpredictable
teams in Europe who can beat anyone on their
day. It might be who Arsenal play in the next
round. I'd be a little bit scared of them. I
thought you mentioned it's Fashion Week in Milan.
They said that maybe six times during the inter
-game. Okay. I just wanted to, I know it's Fashion
Week in Milan. Just wanted to tell the listeners
that I know. Thank you. I mean, what do you want
to wear? Yeah, I'm not really that big into fashion,
you know. Like, I just think of clothes as like
a functional thing. Like, it's something to...
I like to dress nicely, but I don't like to specifically
care about the brand names or whatever. I'm not
going to spend my salary on a shirt. That's true.
Anything else to say about Atalanta for Dortmund
1? Aside from it's a massive disgrace. Yeah,
a massive disgrace. For Dortmund. Oh, for Dortmund,
yeah. I mean, yeah, it is surprising because
Dortmund have been doing really well in the league,
which is why I thought they'd kind of see it
through. But again, it's like Atalanta can be
very good on their day. I've seen that a couple
of seasons ago when they reached the Champions
League semifinals as well. They were... Did they
reach the semis? Yeah, I do remember them, I
think, reaching the semis. I think you think
of the Europa. They won the Europa League. Any
other things you want to say about this game
before we close up? Yeah, I mean, I like Atlanta.
I mean, I like the project, the story behind
Atlanta. So I wish them the best success. They're
probably going to play us next, so I don't wish
them much more success in the Champions League.
I like them as a club, you know. I think the
work Gasparini's done there, I think, in the
long run will be influential to a lot of clubs.
I think a lot of clubs, smaller clubs, will learn
to rebuild themselves around Atalanta's model,
you know. Moving on to Real Madrid 2, Benfica
1. madrid through 3 -1 on aggregate so yeah another
very this is my least uh how can i say this thought
through game yeah partly because midway through
i went to kfc to get food probably like on the
30th minute and then i came back and it was like
the 50th minute so i missed yeah i mean quite
a bit it was my mom's birthday so so it's like
i had it on in the background but i didn't necessarily
pay too much attention to it. Yeah, so I do apologise
if this is not a complete... A full breakdown.
Yeah, a deep dive. Or an in -depth analysis,
I guess. So for the first goal, Raul Asensio
fails to clear and Benfica score. This was...
I'm not a fan of Raul Asensio. I really think
he's a very poor defender. He just got in the
team at the right time where... A bunch of injuries
happened. Well, Alaba is injury prone. I mean,
it's almost like he's like Nacho, but he's not
playing in a world -class team. Yes. Well, I
rate Nacho way more than Asensio, but I get your
point. Too many instantly equalized from a Valverde
cutback. Totally against the run of play, because
the first 15 -20 minutes was all Benfica. Yeah,
I mean... I don't know if Madrid were sitting
deep, but it didn't look much like a Jose Mourinho
team, at least what we've come to know them as.
They were pressing high, playing through Madrid's
press, playing out from the back. So yeah, like
I said, I watched those first two goals, then
I went to KFC and I came back. And in the second
play, second half, excuse me, Benfica had all
the play. Like the first 10, 15 years. Whenever
I was looking up, Benfica had all the play. So
I didn't really see much of Madrid dominating
the game on my end. And this, it was kind of
anti -cowardly football from... Arbeloa. Arbeloa.
Not anti -cowardly. Anti -football and cowardly
football. That's all. I mean, he kind of... like
relied on the individuals to break him up i think
he looks a bit lost from what i've seen i've
watched a lot of madrid since he's been there
i think from what i've seen he seems to be trying
to just reinforce the tactics of alonso i don't
think he knows how to coach them particularly
but i think he's trying to reinforce those tactical
ideas because he's been with the team this season
and he's trying to give the players more i guess
freedom to figure the rest out by themselves
whereas alonso would have been more pragmatic
or dogmatic about it i guess but i think a A
lot of the dynamics, the distances, I think it
seems like, at least in my eyes, he's just going
with what they've been coached throughout the
season and just trying to motivate the players
a bit extra, rely on the man management side
of it. But I think it's more he's copying Ancelotti
in that... He's just putting players in their
best position and saying, you know, do what you
do best. Yeah, I think he's kind of trying that.
But, like, a lot of the times, the way they press,
like, I think they kept the diamond 4 -4 -2 in
the press, which is, like, very characteristic
of Alonso and not characteristic of Madrid. Fair
enough. Madrid was sitting deep in the second
half just trying to play for a counter and this
works because against the run of play Vinicius
scores Benfica were pushed up way too high and
he was just left all alone another really good
ball from Valverde finds him in acres and acres
of space he runs through scores and yeah that's
it I mean a good finish he's a probably one of
the best Pressure players in the world. So as
we hear talking shit about Abloh saying he can't
coach, well, he just beat Mourinho over two legs.
You know, so who are we to speak? Well, I mean,
I'm not saying he can't coach. I'm just saying
I think he looks a bit lost in terms of the experience.
Maybe he does. But when that's happened to Madrid,
they've won the Champions League in the past.
I will say I was kind of shocked that Benfica
only made subs in the 85th minute. I just assumed
that he had made subs early in the game and I
missed it. But it's the 85th minute and the commentator's
like, oh, Benfica making their first subs. I
was... I also picked that up, so I don't know.
I mean... Mourinho wasn't on the touchline because
he got a red card last week. So he couldn't...
But still, he should have like a walkie -talkie
or something. Something, something, yeah. So
I'm really not sure. He... Like, either he totally
mismanaged this or like... I don't know what
to say because I felt Benfica, not mismanaged,
because Benfica had chances. It's just they didn't
take those chances. So they weren't. clinical
enough they weren't i mean he did enough from
a coaching perspective to win the tie so it's
hard to critique him in in that regard well you
can't yeah so yeah i would say too many in my
man of the match he was just every time i looked
up he was there doing something uh yeah breaking
up the break here playing like uh i guess the
player they thought they signed when they first
got him for like when he was there for the first
six months he's getting back yeah i thought too
many just all over the place another player that
didn't impress me that uh i think looks awful
trent alexander arnold just uh now you're gonna
say oh it's bias it's this it's that but truly
a defensive disaster class. Every time the left
wing Benfica got the ball, he just ran at him
and took him on. Trent stopped him twice out
of maybe 12 times. I thought he was decent though,
like some of his passing. Like I think... Sure,
sure. I'm not talking about his passing. I'm
talking about defensive work only. As I said
before, that's what you get with him. I'll take
the three or four passes that put the attacker
right in front of goal for the defensive. Like
in our defense with Saliba and Gabriel behind,
him i think he'd be the perfect right back for
us so i just don't think right back is the right
place he should be playing like i don't know
as a deep line playmaker maybe so but i think
uh he attacks more of the pitch from right back
because i was i was like he has the whole pitch
to attack like with his diagonals especially
at right back and i was also someone who thought
he'd be better off as a deep lying playmaker
or in midfield but i think when club did try
him there i think he he The things that make
him, I guess, that are questionable about his
game defensively are more exposed in midfield,
in my opinion. He just doesn't have defensive
instincts. Yeah, but I would say, like for me,
it's a calculated risk to keep him in your team
because in a top team, I think he's going to
do a lot of special things just through his passing.
Okay, so Madrid threw 3 -1 on aggregate. Any
other points you want to make? Things you want
to say before we close up on this topic? No,
nothing. I mean, Madrid go on to survive another
day. So I guess let's hope someone takes them
out. All right. Now we're moving on to miscellaneous.
The other four games that I didn't watch or we
didn't watch. These are just going to be some
quick hits. No, like maybe a one sentence topic.
You know, you can speak how long you want, but
I'm just saying. I don't think there's a lot
to talk about. A lot to cover, yeah. So the first
one is Newcastle 3, Carabag 2. Newcastle threw
9 -3 on aggregate. Close. Yeah. I was sitting
there sweating. Just not sure what... Which way
it was going to go. Toss off a coin, you know.
I mean, it's like you want the smaller leagues
to grow, but at this point, Carabag are in the
Champions League almost every season, and it
just seems like... I mean, they made the knockouts.
It's hard to criticize them, but I don't think
that... Like, it would make sense if there were
more teams from the lower leagues. If you're
just going to throw in one team from... Where
are they from? Kazakhstan? Wherever they're from.
I don't know. If you're going to throw in one
team, it doesn't exactly make sense. You're not
developing the league or that region of football.
Maybe if you gave them three or four teams, then
I'd understand. But I think a better team could
occupy that space in the Champions League, you
know. Leverkusen 0, Olympiacos 0. Leverkusen
threw 2 -0 on aggregate I mean I haven't watched
much of Leverkusen this season honestly so I
can't give much comment on where they are in
relation to where they want to be how their project
is progressing so I mean we all know a couple
years ago they were the club everyone was raving
about outside of their own so I don't know. Congratulations
to them, I guess, for still being able to compete
in the Champions League. Because I'm sure a lot
of people would have expected them to fall away
by now. Especially with half their squad gone,
coach gone. I think most people think they didn't
reinvest the money as well. So, let's see. I
wish them luck, though. PSG 2, Monaco 2. PSG
threw 5 -4 on aggregate. They snuck through in
the end. Okay, the other two are much more obvious.
It's obvious that Leverkusen would go through.
It's obvious Newcastle would go through. PSG,
I thought it would be obvious that... It would
be a walkover. It would be a walkover. But they
generally struggle against Monaco from what I
understand. So it could be like a bogey team.
That's true. And it's a bit shocking that they
got a French team. I understand that the new
format doesn't care about that. But it's rare
to see... this yeah, but in the end the the popular
team went through or the Predicted team went
through. Yeah, I mean from from what I understood
from what I read it was the even game It's kind
of on a nice edge. So shout out to Monaco for
at least staying in the game giving PSG a tough
time I think you still have to respect them and
consider them the best team in the world. So
yeah, they're through Let's let's see how far
they go this season all right so like i said
those three games were kind of obvious as to
who would go through this game juventus versus
galatasaray was a lot more even and based on
the first leg galatasaray won five two you would
assume it was dead the game was dead right and
juventus go one nil up in this game and you know
things are fine things are chugging along uh
and then they get a red card So I didn't watch
this game, just from what I've heard. It was
a second yellow for Lloyd Kelly. But apparently
that tackle deserved a red on its own. Yes, I
did see the tackle. Okay, I didn't see it, so
I have no frame of reference. I mean, I think
it did deserve a red, honestly. I don't think
people would be wrong in saying that. So now,
despite being one man down, Juventus score two
more goals and they go 3 -0 up. Yeah, I mean,
it was... I mean, they did, like, they scored
the goals, but Galatasaray also missed a lot
of sitters. I think they could have put the game
to bed. So you think it was kind of an even game,
back and forth, and it's just so... I mean, I
think, like, Galatasaray did enough when the
game went down to 10 men to say that if they
had gone out, they would have been kicking themselves,
because... It would be hard to say Juventus were
the better team. I think a lot of it was, again,
Spalletti's in -game management was very good.
He read the moments very well. He was able to
shift the momentum for them. So I think that's
what saved them. But the scoreline, if they had
got through, it would have kind of flattered
them in relation to how many chances Galatasaray
missed. Yeah, so it's 3 -0. It goes into extra
time. And the Madrid game ends, so I switch over
to this game to see the great escape of Juventus.
I mean, I was hoping for it too. yeah i was thinking
they are black yo espaletti pulls us off darren
is going to go buck wild i was hoping with everything
in me that he pulled it off but but then galatasaray
scored two goals um and juventus get another
red card now i'm gonna be honest with you i fell
asleep again because this is like this is like
quarter past 12. you know i'm yeah i mean i'm
not a teenager anymore who's like stays up the
whole night this is like I work in the morning,
bro. So I fell asleep. I saw Galatasaray's first
goal and I was like, oh, you kind of gave it
away and then I fell asleep. Yeah, I mean, once
Osserman scored, you could already see that the
energy was out of Juventus. I think they were
kind of playing for the shootout at that point,
trying to hold their shape and then defensive
error, Osserman. easy enough finish, I think.
Very much like the Bodo game. I'm led to believe
that. It's not that Juventus were bad. They made
one mistake and then... Yeah, I mean, they were
terrible in the first leg and I think that they
just left themselves too much to do. And then
the red card didn't help. I feel like if they
had 11, they would have definitely been able
to control the whole game and get through. But
can't make excuses. You're the bigger club. You
have the bigger wage bill, the better players,
the better league. So Kalatasaray did what they
had to, you know. Any other points you want to
make about any of the games or any other things
you want to say? Oh, no, not really. I mean,
interesting. I think most of the better clubs,
I think the Dortmund -Atalanta game is arguable
as to who's the better team. Yeah, they're both
roughly the same in my... The same level, but
I think there haven't been many upsets, apart
from if you consider Juventus -Galatasaray an
upset, but Juventus are not really the Juventus
of old right now, so it's not like they're a
super club or a team that's at an elite level.
The only shock is Bodo. Yeah, the reason I'm
bringing it up is because I'd say that from a
Champions League perspective, if you're a neutral
footballing fan, it's good because you've practically
got all the elite teams in the next stage. With
maybe the exception of Inter Milan, but every
other elite team in world football is probably...
We're going to have a lot of good ties till the
end of the season, you know. The derby's not
there, so... Unfortunately. Throw it in the bin,
who cares? It's a fraudulent trophy anyway. And
Igor Tudor made it further than Juventus. Alright,
well, thank you for listening. Please remember
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