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FA Mayham

• Season 2 • Episode 17

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Jerrell:

I had a theory I needed to test though with El Classico.'cause every time I've watched it with you, Barcelona has won and I've, and when I haven't, real Madrid's won, which isn't very often, it's a pattern. So I was like, all right Christian, I'll watch it with you. Mind you, I put$5 on Barcelona to

Will:

Of course.

Jerrell:

I, I met up with him and I was like, all right, watch the game. The whole Bar Barcelona fans just Christian with the real Madrid jersey, just yelling when there was a good save And I had to leave early and it was like three, two, and then I left. I was on my way back and he called me. He was like, they lost'cause you left. I was like, I don't, there was only

Will:

That sounds about right.

Jerrell:

They were, they were always

Will:

That sounds about right. No, it's your fault.

Jerrell:

like, I'm, I'm good. I won. So he is oh, you are never, for me, I was like, just, real Madrid. I'm just like, they got big names, but I don't know. They just, the organization just seems scummy to me.

Will:

Any, any big time org, if you look into the cracks, will look a little bit scummy, but not

Jerrell:

they cheer for B Brentford, Carolina Panthers. Like

Will:

your owner. For the Panthers is actually quantifiably a dick. To be fair. The owner for the Panthers is actually at least quantifiably a dick. Yeah.

Jerrell:

But I, I hold onto the, the, the good old days when they were making super bowls and playoff runs and when Cam knew and hand footballs to, to kids in, in the front row seats. And it made me feel good to support this, this group. they don't do that anymore. We, we throw drinks at

Will:

Hell yeah.

Jerrell:

So yeah,

Will:

what they deserve apparently.

Jerrell:

a lot of times have changed, but how have you been?

Will:

It's been busy.

Jerrell:

time on

Will:

It's,

Jerrell:

in

Will:

yeah. Oh, wait, wait.

Jerrell:

I think

Will:

I was ready for the holiday episodes, to be fair, but I think it's been about four weeks actually at this point. Life's been life's been life and had a trip out to Montana last week. Hit the, hit the bunny slopes, French fry pizza. But I've been paying attention to all of the firings that have been happening over the last month.

Jerrell:

so

Will:

It's been so intense. Transfer Corner touch on next week. You can, I'll, I'll suffer next week, but ho woefully unprepared to, to go this week, but yeah. Am room got fired. Marca got fired since last time I was on. I didn't, I don't know how much of it you guys covered last week and then this week. Shelby Alonzo, not Premier League he got let go, which, yeah.

Jerrell:

MBAs a dictator. Apparently MBA has had a

Will:

Welcome to Rail and Bastan.

Jerrell:

It's been since psg apparently.

Will:

But it's also on the flip side, it's just like the people who be enabling those personalities. It seems to work for them. They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll mention just oh yeah, six, six Champions leagues over the last 12 years. So I'm just like, it works to an extent, but Jalon a great coach. And I was reading a piece they did on the Athletic about it. But obviously outside of Lever Cuson he player he, his father was a manager and a player, so he was able to be exposed to that throughout his year, playing for Liverpool, playing for he played for Liverpool played for Byron under Peb. He played under Marino with Royall Madrid. It really just seemed tailored and I was really nervous when he got there. But the personalities at play. Seem to have overwrote it. I'm sure we'll talk to Christian about it at some point. But the classico itself was good. Much better performance from Barcelona from the first one. It's obviously the super culpa, so it's not like end of the day much more than some bragging rights and some money, but,

Jerrell:

up the trouble. It tease up the

Will:

Yeah. It doesn't hold the same weight as a the. Tournament's obviously the cup of the a or like even the caribelle, since it's like kind, almost like a preseason tournament that's snuck into the mid midseason, but it does tee up a domestic trouble. We'll call it that. And UCL looks good, but we'll see. Ralph Madre always interesting to talk about, but this is not why we're here Jarrell.

Jerrell:

It could be

Will:

It could, I'm down Chris.

Jerrell:

just go into the rabbit hole.

Will:

Yeah. Without him.

Jerrell:

I can't.

Will:

Our time, modern tradition of not appearing on the pod. The three of us after a Classico, Darrell's always here, me and Christian always conveniently, it's not a good time for us. So next Classico in May we'll be, we'll be here for that more end of season talk. But how have you been Drill.

Jerrell:

I've been good. I've been pretty good. Had a good Christmas, had a good New Year's, had a good boxing day. We gotta recognize Boxing Day for, for our English fans out there. Why Boxing Day exists, the origin of

Will:

I used to, but I totally forgot.

Jerrell:

it was basically Christmas for the peasants.

Will:

Damn.

Jerrell:

Yeah. So basically the day after Christmas all the workers would get gifts from not the company owners or anything like that, but like from just people they work for. They'll get them presents the day after

Will:

Huh?

Jerrell:

and call Boxing Day. Yeah.

Will:

Huh.

Jerrell:

So very, very interesting. I was like, wow, why can't you just celebrate Christmas? But

Will:

No, no, no, no, no.

Jerrell:

but also,'cause they'll be working Christmas, so

Will:

Okay.

Jerrell:

they got the next day off. Yeah. But yeah, boxing Day, you'll hear it again next year. Are back not in full capacity. We, we run at 67% for the 2026, but we still have our socials, Twitter, blue Sky Instagram website, the football fellows on everything. Check us out. Give us a follow Pod fest. Pod fest is this week.

Will:

Does it start tomorrow or today?

Jerrell:

Today I have to go pick up the badges I don't, I don't wanna not pick them up and they'd be like, no, you can't go next year, because.

Will:

No, no, no, no, no. We're really ready this year, so Sweet.

Jerrell:

product. If you're listening, I will get them.

Will:

We're gonna be there. We're on our way.

Jerrell:

at the after

Will:

Yeah, that's, we're, the Saturday experience is what I'm really signing up for

Jerrell:

Yeah, there it

Will:

okay.

Jerrell:

No Premier league to cover. We did that last week with a kind of our mid-season review. We lumped everything together just to talk about where all the teams are at. We'll, I don't get too much into it, but whose form are you surprised of this year and who are you most disappointed with?

Will:

I can't say Westham, right?

Jerrell:

You can

Will:

I can't. Okay, cool. No, I'd say. Most surprising would probably be Chelsea. I'm gonna say just because they had top four aspirations. Liverpool for us, like honestly I'd say bad for most of the season. By Liverpool standards, they're sitting in the four spot. It really seemed that Chelsea would be teed up to build on. Obviously they're in champions league qualification now, but now you're seeing upheaval on their corporate level. MECA getting fired. They bought in roast, but you're already hearing issues with Enzo Fernandez saying he doesn't know if he wants to be there. He is a Meka guy. Especially when he bought like a sense of calm to that Chelsea team over like the last, what year, year and a half we've been covering. The, doing the work on the pod. You've see just kind of like, while the results aren't consistent, I think that team age is like on average, like 23, 24, and you can see at least an identity. Trimming some fat from the squad and just having an idea of how he wanted to play, and it's all kind of poof up in flames. So I'd say Chelsea not that they've been like completely bad, but they've just been a little bit more shaky. So I, off top of my head, wasn't expecting the question. I'm just go ahead and say Chelsea, just because I haven't seen that next step from them necessarily air.

Jerrell:

Do you think Chelsea fired Mariska because of his link to Man City and they just wanted to get that out of the way, or they just didn't see a future with him as their Manager?

Will:

that didn't help. But I think you also see, we, while we, I guess touching on real Madrid is like a good standpoint of just kinda like your ownership is really gonna decide on, what does this, what does this what does this pretty much like corporate entity look like? Jurgen K Clap was another coach who was like, rumored initially. And the Athletic did a great piece on talking about his like kinda upbringing, coaching main's, then coaching Dortmund, coaching Liverpool, and all those places had in common of just kinda like almost not necessarily top dog in their divisions. Obviously Maine's isn't Dottin always kind no offense any Dortmund fans just eclipsed by, the magnitude of Byron. But. Is ownership gonna allow you to realistically, impose your ideas as a coach? Could. Jurgen Klau wouldn't work at Madrid because at the end of the day, Madrid and the tactics that you would, you Madrid really leans into just like the individual brilliance of players and you're managing like personalities a lot, a little bit more. Shabi Alonzo, it didn't really work out'cause he was trying to impose, a little bit more discipline and set up. But at the same time you have your board that's historically bringing top players around the world, but also bringing marketable players onto the team. And that's as far as like Beckham and Figo 20 years ago. The Galactico IT iteration, which didn't really work by Madrid standards, 20 years ago. And then you saw after Marino into enc to Zan at the time how those, the lack of results bought in. Like these coaches with more ideas that. Obviously Enc ti, he's more of people manager, but it's just like there was more of a structure. You see a team like right now, like Madrid, and it's just like they have fantastic pieces all over the place, but we've always been like looking at it just do these all work together and what do you need from the individual given for these things to work? So circling into Modesta, same thing. Todd Bailey as the owner, right? They're putting all this money into the squad, and then you have a coach who's expressing. These were the two worst days of my, coaching career. After a result and kind of insecurities in regards to just like their lack of form, which Chelsea on their side said, Hey, we gave him every, a okay. And then he comes out into press and says one thing in another. You see it with Amar M with Manchester United. Manchester United. As committed as we've seen them be towards the coach for a while. And then what really cost him his job is just kind of like that extra personality complaining to press or whatnot. So now you see Michael Kerrick in charge, who's more of a Manchester United guy, obviously played their playing career. So I think it's a little bit mixed of just like how much personality do you want from your coach? How stringent is like the tactical process. And it's also just like how much, what's the difference between your coach from being, an individual and how much of it is just like, you're more of like a corporate mouthpiece or a team mouthpiece where it's like, Hey, we keep it in house. You don't have to really speak out outside of it. So I think it just varies from setup to setup. Is there a right way to do it, wrong way to do it? It depends what you're looking for. But yeah, I don't, I don't think it was necessarily man city. I think he just saw that as an opportunity to leverage his position game. Acclimate power, accumulate power in Chelsea versus like Arto. He did it over five, six years that he is been in an arsenal and you've seen that progression. It's just he's afforded more time to get those ideas across than you see in a top position in any league.

Jerrell:

But Chelsea, your surprise or disappointment

Will:

A little disappointing. Honestly. I'd say I, if I had to say like a actual surprise, surprise, it'd probably be Villa being as good as they've been over the last couple months. Crystal palaces two weeks ago

Jerrell:

No.

Will:

probably would've been it. Brentford at this point is another like, positive surprise for me. I know we talked about their inconsistency, but the results they've been able to do over the last couple weeks is the fact that, hey, we're in. Yeah, maybe we're looking at a mid table season, but with all the upheaval with that team coach, whatnot, they're playing as well as you can really expect. But Chelsea would probably be like my higher end disappointment. And then oh fuck, I totally missed under a lot of good surprises, actually. I'm thinking about biggest disappointment, probably wolves. I don't think they've been as bad as their numbers do, but just the fact that. It's mid-January and they're relegated unless something crazy happens and they can wheel off. But your seven points off of the third drop and your 14 points off of safety. They have seven points off the season. So I'd say wolves would probably be like my biggest disappointment.

Jerrell:

Gotcha. All right. Like I said, we have FA cup. It's not gonna be like a four review. I might talk about some of the games, but definitely not going into all of them. to kick it off, there was Reimers, snotting and forests that ended in a draw after everything, went to penalties for lost four three. After coming back three, one down, last they lost some penalties. Yeah, 4, 3, 2 of them were blocked. Impressive for Reim as a team that I don't really follow. I'm

Will:

sealed. Oh, sorry.

Jerrell:

MCLE Field's next. Yeah. Rex, I'm not like, they have their effect show. They have a lot of exposure, but I'm not particularly fond of the team. Mostly their ownership group, but, a lot of people thought they would take their foot off the pedal, probably slow down once they hit championship. Maybe not be as competitive, not just shoot up, but hey, they're beating a Premier League side and nodding up for us, even though, regardless of the fact that they're struggling.

Will:

Yeah, and I think even, I'm not too deep into the rec I'm outside of obviously what but even going up one division, you usually see team struggles. So the fact they were able to go up, so quickly with that investment, yeah, they're growing, running into okay, what's the ceiling look like? But anytime you see it, it is just more exposure for the team. And not even force. Disappointing,

Jerrell:

Yeah.

Will:

Going down, but not the biggest surprise of this round of fixtures,

Jerrell:

yeah, definitely. I think Reham is now, I, I don't have champions standings off top, but I think they are sitting in a playoff spot just late in the

Will:

Oh shit. I.

Jerrell:

the season. Two losses. So they might make a little bit of noise. Who knows? It might be in the Premier League sooner than we think. S Field versus Crystal Palace. What a shock. Macclesfield plays in the National League North. They the sixth tier of English football. I heard their goalkeepers, like a PE

Will:

Fuck. Yeah.

Jerrell:

yeah. And when they won, they were behind. They're at the pub and they're in their jerseys behind the bar pouring their own drinks. Macclesfield beats Crystal Palace two one. Huge result for them. I, I don't even know if there's a greater

Will:

I, I think I heard there's at the time of the game, there's 117 like league places domestically between where Crystal Palace was, top end of the Premier League table and I think M Field where they sitting like 17th or I forgot what I could be getting mixed up with the Madrid result over the weekend. But five divisions, obviously. And then like wherever they're at, 117 places, which is the biggest. Gap between two teams, for that upset. Shout M Field. Didn't know that the keeper was a PE teacher. Not surprised, but didn't know that.

Jerrell:

Yeah, it was just funny'cause I mean this is, this is what makes FA Cup special. This is what makes any like us Open Cup in, in the States and the Tor other tournaments in other countries when, when the amateurs can play even the professional teams. Like anything can happen. You just have, you just have the right game plan going into it and like it, the, you, the chances are not zero.

Will:

And at the end of the day it's just good exposure and it's like a good payday as well for these teams as well at, at worse on the base level. But getting a result like that, always gonna, that's gonna go down in Macclesfield history I'm sure. So

Jerrell:

Yeah, that

Will:

that's.

Jerrell:

they might as well have won that FA

Will:

Especially, I think we spent most of the season singing, praises of Crystal Palace, obviously anyone in the top 20, obviously, with the just investment disparity, but crystal palaces, it's not like they're having like an off year either or anything like that. It's just like they've been one of the better Premier League teams on average on a week to week. So crazy result. And congrats to them,

Jerrell:

for sure. Everton Sutherland, one of our few premier league matchups in the third round Everton. not able to score in

Will:

of course.

Jerrell:

I don't know if they were blocked. I don't know if they missed, but Sutherland Con converted all three to Advance

Will:

Twitter stays up. Yes.

Jerrell:

Yeah. And Sutherland will go on to play Oxford United in the next round. But Everton, Everton is out. Wolves, Andre and Shrewsbury six one. Will play Grimsby Town. Grimsey Town has, has gotten Premier League team before. Let's see what happens in this next one. Brentford take, took down Sheffield Wednesday, two zero. Brentford is the only Premier League to get a

Will:

Hmm.

Jerrell:

this round. It's impressive. They'll play Macclesfield in the next round. Newcastle Andour myth. tied at three. Went to Penalties, Newcastle Advanced seven six, and they'll play Villa in the fourth round. Fullham. Middlesboro. Fullham took care of business. Three. One Man City just beat the brakes off of Extra City. I don't, I don't know. Ten one. It

Will:

Yeah.

Jerrell:

not okay. But Anton EO made his debut for Man City and he scored in the 54th

Will:

Yeah, he had a goal disallowed too, I think in like Carrabelle Cup as well, where, we'll get there later, but I think it was like a six minute review that was crazy. But shout out, man City, honestly. Exeter City, obviously not the result you want, but I think, I think for me, I'd rather a team just go out and give me the work, then just kind of like, play with your food a little bit. Yeah. Ten one, maybe it's expected, but also, fuck it, you didn't get to take it easy on you. So good. Good, good result for Citi.

Jerrell:

City scored?

Will:

Huh?

Jerrell:

Are you surprised? No one from Man City scored a

Will:

And now it came from all over. You maybe you expect, I didn't really see what their lineup looked like necessarily. If I, assuming Holland didn't get the start, so if he didn't, I'd say I'm not too surprised. Not that Mar Moose isn't capable, but usually that pep system, you're gonna get goals from all over. Not crazy surprised that everyone got to have some fun. But shit, 10 goals.

Jerrell:

A lot, man City, still waiting on their opponent. Alford City or Swindon Town who have yet to

Will:

I once did a FIFA sulfur city run where I started them in like the fourth division and made it to the top division. That'll be on the year's end of end of po, end of season questionnaire. So be ready for that.

Jerrell:

Can't wait. Hit trivia. you want to take care of the back half and into

Will:

Of course, sir. No problem. Burnley Mill wall. Less impressive five. One result for Burnley. They're gonna play Mansfield Town in the fourth round. Spurs. Villa Spurs Just having a terrible season. Questions continue to arise over Thomas Frank. It looks like their season's gonna end with no trophies. One more.

Jerrell:

of pause on that one because it's like been seeing a lot of Thomas Frank spurs fans, they expect everything, right? They expect to compete. Why? Why wouldn't you? You have a new stadium, you have the money, like there's no reason why you shouldn't be in the top half consistently. I think they're sitting 14th now, but Thomas Frank. Because he's spent so long at small clubs, he doesn't have the PR answers for the media, and it looks like he just doesn't care.

Will:

I think it's just the stress of you see it like from. Across the board, anytime results even take a little bit of a wobble and how it's even covered, it's just it's, it's not an easy job. It's not an easy structure. Spurs has players, but you're also seeing like a mix of three sets of managers, players all coming together and whatnot. Ideally, yeah, you hit the ground running, but it then it turns into that game of just kind of like, okay, did you hire this coach because of their ideas and what you believe they can do? Or did you hire this coach because you wanted immediate results given whispers finished last year? Give them the season, but this just seems more of the same for sprayers over the last, what, seven years at least. You can obviously make the joke longer, but since they've been able to make that UCL run. And kind of like, flirt with always like kind of UCL positions most year to year. It's been just a struggle over the last few seasons with how these results have bottomed out. I don't know, I don't know if you believe in the guy. I'm always like, you take, a long term look at it, but there has been investment in areas in the club for your results to mirror what Postoc Colu dude, without being able to point to like your, your the Euro League or anything like that. We'll,

Jerrell:

mean, I believe, I do believe in Thomas Frank, he's done more with

Will:

yeah.

Jerrell:

I don't, I just don't know if Tottenham has that patience for him,

Will:

It.

Jerrell:

unfortunate. And, and that's the risk you take when you go to a larger club. The opportunity doesn't come by all, like all too often, and you have to pounce on it. I just, just hope Tottenham shows a little bit of patience, just how

Will:

though it probably, depending on how they actually look in UCL, will probably be, obviously how they look in the league, the rest of the season will matter. But right now, sitting 11th in UCL, they have three wins. Sitting on, what is that? 11 points, three wins, two draws, and a loss. Yeah. Right now. So they're doing well in UCL all things considered with two games to go. So if they can. I don't know if they'll finish top eight, but if they can get to that round of 16, get a result, get to quarters, at least you can point to just okay, this is what, this is. Like what we're gonna hang our hat on this season. He could stay, but results have to come from somewhere. It's not like they're yeah, yeah. We'll see. We'll see. But shout Villa. Villa continues to strong season despite a draw last week, match day. Oh yeah, sorry. I'm locked in. Sorry. Charlton loses to Chelsea. One five. Chelsea's gonna play whole city next round. Leads there through against Derby County. They're gonna play Birmingham next week. Shout out to the Peaky Blinders Portsmouth Arsenal and four one In advantage of the Arsenal they're gonna play. Wiggin Athletic next round Westham QPR Ends two. One in favor of Westham. Westham. Is this real? Manchester United loses to Brighton. They're out of all tournaments, I think. I saw this will be the least amount of games they play in a calendar in a season in a while. They're only gonna be able to play up to 40 games or something like that. I forgot the exact number.

Jerrell:

No scheduled congestion for

Will:

Sorry. 40 probably more. I'm sorry. I'm getting it mixed up, but I forgot where they lost. But less than 45 for sure. West End, KPR Man United. There we go. Liverpool Beats Barnsley four one. They're gonna see Bright in next round. And then that brings us to our Caribelle Cup matches that were played. Midweek. So we're recording January 15th, Thursday, six 30 Eastern. So we've gotta wrap up on all leagues domestic competition technically. But Chelsea Arsenal, arsenal dominated for long periods of the game, but they give up a late goal to Gar Nacho, Gar show scored two, if I remember correctly. So it'll be three, two in favor of Arsenal headed to the Emirates for the next leg. Newcastle United defending reigning champions of the Carrabelle Cup. They lose zero two to Manchester City, so they're gonna have to try to get their first one in the Etti Hud I believe in like over 20 years, if I remember correctly. To try to flip this tie to try to see if they can make another final. But those matches will be played Fab third and fourth. So we're about two and a half weeks away from those second legs.

Jerrell:

Very nice. We do have Europa League and Europa Conference League. Europa Conference is done. Chelsea is, or Crystal Palace is through. do believe we might still have more matches for. Europa League and we do so with that one. We'll have nodding for us on January 22nd, they'll play Bragga bra, bra bragga. I'm not entirely sure on that one. January 22nd at 3:00 PM and Villa, where are you? Villa Villa will play fender Block January 22nd as well. That will be match day seven and they will conclude the following week along with Champions League.

Will:

The childs months.

Jerrell:

Yeah. And you said leg two is February 3rd and fourth

Will:

Karabell? Yes, sir.

Jerrell:

Yeah. Perfect. All right. And then we have Champions League Match Day seven. It'll run January 20th and January 21st we'll have Boto Gli hosting Man City, the Toothbrush Army. We'll try and take on pep guard. The squad tan will play Doman enter verse arsenal, which should be a hell of a defensive effort on both sides. Is it Mar Marcel? Maral or

Will:

Mar Mar. Marcel Marcel. Yeah. Fuck it. Om.

Jerrell:

I'll be right. I'll be right next time. They'll play in the Liverpool Newcastle against PSV and Chelsea will play pathos right now. Alright. And now it's Champions league with two match days to go. I think Arsenal can, I think they more or less lock it, lock it up with a draw against inter

Will:

Yeah.

Jerrell:

I think they have no

Will:

Right now Liverpool's sitting in ninth with 11 points. So if Arsenal gets. A point, they're definitely locked in through the next round.

Jerrell:

Okay,

Will:

yeah. Yeah.

Jerrell:

but do we want them to just, Hey, let's go a and o. I don't know. I don't like that because the expert heavy is the crown. It's too much to just

Will:

In theory, in theory, the matchups had light up, but last year I think Liverpool finished in first and they got PSG as they're around a 16th tie. So I think it just really depends how everything falls. But hey, you lock up early, you get some more rotation, you can rest some legs. I'll take it, I'll take it personally, but we'll see how it goes.'cause tough game against inter, obviously last year's Champions League finalists and then following match day they have Kaira. So that should be a rotational game regardless of what, so this will be the last like big game for during their league phase.

Jerrell:

Premier League sides are to move on so far, the lowest being Chelsea at 10 points. Anything can still happen. Anyone can fall to that 25th spot. Do you see, if you had to pick one of these squads who wouldn't make it?

Will:

Who wouldn't make it based off what's been going on lately? Probably, you have Newcastle and Chelsea sitting at 10 points a piece. And then you have Spurs at 11. Liverpool has been looking better over the last couple months, and then City Arsenal is sitting up higher. If I had to pick right now, just ch Chelsea, did it look convincing in their first tie against arsenal? It looks like they were able to eek it out. Newcastle's been turning it on a little bit more in UCL, but I'd probably land on Chelsea or Sprayers honestly.

Jerrell:

Gotcha. I was, I was looking at it. I was like, I think Liverpool can still not make it. They just have to have a monumental collapse over their next two

Will:

You, you would need benfica to really just get, turn it on. So yeah, odds are all these teams will get through. What,

Jerrell:

PAOs can

Will:

whether we see,

Jerrell:

pAOs takes on Chelsea

Will:

in the round of 16 is probably a different thing, but they should all make it to the playoff at the very least.

Jerrell:

Yeah, I don't think anybody's not gonna make it. Barcelona sitting at 15th. Has any, have you looked at the standings for Champions League?

Will:

Oh yeah. Barcelona had some, like bad initial things. I think at at Lake Lu they had a deep in euro in the Europa League. Their season's just been really weird. Nico Williams obviously staying, they still have a lot of their same squad from last year and they're just not getting results domestically or in UCL. So they're in. Danger of dropping out, just depending on how results go over the next couple weeks. Villareal has been terrible as well. Usually around the fourth best team as well in, in Spain, depending on how you measure. They had a deep run to the semis. I wanna say three or four UCL three, three or four years ago in the UCL. Outside of that, probably Napoli would probably be outside of Spain or like the Big Six or out of u. England, that's a biggest surprise, obviously winning the league last year. And they're only a point clear of benfica as well. Those would be my main surprises, honestly, where I feel like those numbers just don't match their results.

Jerrell:

When do they award the Extra Champions League spot? Is that every

Will:

They do. Yeah. It depends on how far teams go in each competition as well.'cause they're doing the whole coefficient thing. So the deeper teams finish, the higher your coefficient will be. So if a team wins or whatnot. So that's usually decided or locked up. I think last year's round was either the quarter finals going into the semis, if I remember correctly, where I think I forgot I England had the extra spot.'cause of the Europe as well, right? Yeah, so I, our.

Jerrell:

they had five and then they got a six because Chelsea not Chelsea, it's because of.

Will:

Yeah, yeah. No, no. Liverpool won your, I'm sorry, t them won the Europa League to sneak in as well. But it's really just dependent on how teams do in each competition and how deep they go, the, how deeper you get more coefficient points. I don't, I'm not gonna pretend to know the complicated math, but winners over the last five years, how well your each league's doing. So typically you expect to see England or. England, Spain, Germany winning those extra spots.

Jerrell:

Gotcha. And then next week we'll have, we will return to the Premier League of Match Day 22. To kick it all off, we'll have the Manchester Derby, the United and Man City. I don't know. I don't think it was as exciting last time. I probably won't be. I'm not excited for it this time either. It's just

Will:

coming through. I've always said good things about the Red Devils, and I believe that they have the chance to do the funniest thing this week and get a result. It's a home game. They're gonna come through because six points is not enough. What Derland versus Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace has to go to the stadium of light after a disappointing midweek result. Chelsea.

Jerrell:

Has not lost at home.

Will:

Exactly. Chelsea versus Brentford. Do we believe drill?

Jerrell:

Yeah. Yeah. I

Will:

Oh,

Jerrell:

they, they came back to draw Chelsea earlier in the season. I do believe in Brentford

Will:

how quickly over. Yeah.

Jerrell:

but, but that's the thing. It was like, it literally went from they're not scoring. Where are the goals coming from? And it wasn't even oh, two weeks'cause you got shut up by telling them in Arsenal. It was like, it was for a while. It was like, oh, the goals are lacking. And then all of a sudden they're just like, after the man city, after they got bounced in the fa or care about by Man City, they're just like, Hey, score goals. Yago has five goals in two games and they're getting gold. And Sade had a hat trick as well. Like it's insane. Frankford. Yeah. I believe

Will:

It is. It's just once the confidence gets going, it runs well. Hey. No, I, I think definitely fair game with how therefore has been the upheaval in Chelsea and just kind of like, now we're back to the question. Marks phase is just definitely I think that they're capable of getting a result. We'll see what it looks like though. Liverpool versus Burnley, Liverpool at Home Spurs versus West Ham. I think that might be my game of the week. Th through some like weird way leads United versus Fullham nine, ham Forest versus Arsenal. Big road game for Arsenal as they try to maintain their title Charge Wolves versus Newcastle at Mullany, Aston Villa versus Everton. And then we have Brighton versus Burnman. To wrap up the week, what other games are you looking forward to, drew?

Jerrell:

Going back to the Liverpool Bern League game. I know Bern Lee's trying to, they're in a relegation spot right now, but am Fields's not the fortress. has been this season like. Friendly could get a draw. Who knows? Like I don't, Liverpool's just been so leaky out the back and like even playing at home, they just they don't instill fear unless they play Arsenal.

Will:

Yeah, the, yeah, didn't get to talk to you guys about that one, but yeah, that was like more of a throwback performance. It felt like how they grew into that game, honestly. But. Yeah, they, they haven't been the same. They don't seem to have as much control in the game. The games they're playing as well. I don't know how much of that is also, and their creativity is a little bit lacking as well. How much of that is like Trent Alexander Arnold moving on and them adjusting to new pieces on both lengths?

Jerrell:

Crosses just aren't the same.

Will:

it just doesn't hit the same, but we'll see how that goes. But they're still sitting in the top four spot, which when I was doing like, kinda like my, tracker over like the season. I was just kind of like, that's insane that, they're having such off, you're almost like Man City last year. It's very, it's feeling very transitional at this point, but they're probably still in a good enough place to, contend for, UCL spot all things considered. So it's crazy.

Jerrell:

Yeah. Which is where, yeah, which is exactly where Man City was last year, where they're just like, oh yeah, we know we can't compete for the, for the trophy at the end of the season, but like we, we can still make Champions League. And that's just kinda where Liverpool is. And looking at the points difference between. One to four. Honestly, at this point, it's it is a sizable gap. The team, arsenal definitely stepped up this year. We hoped for it last year, where like a top team slides and who's gonna fill that spot? Last year was Liverpool this year. It's looking like Arsenal so far at this point in the season.

Will:

Yeah, for me, I think it's, it's really, I mean it's really a two, two horse race. I think Liverpool's 14 points off, we'll see if Villa can maintain it, but I'd be really surprised if, if it's not Arsenal or City at this point, just based off how the season's going and. How much investment has gone to each of those clubs? Aston Villa, still a great story. I'm not discounting them at all. I think they're very much just week by week. Hey, we're getting results here, results here, but we'll see if they have the depth to contend over the next four months with other competitions going on.

Jerrell:

Did you know?

Will:

The muffin.

Jerrell:

the

Will:

Oh

Jerrell:

not, not drop a game at Villa Park in all of 2025.

Will:

no.

Jerrell:

They not, they didn't lose, they

Will:

Yeah. Yeah. Draw. They didn't,

Jerrell:

wins, but like they did not come out with nothing.

Will:

I did not know that. I, I, I cannot lie. I knew that they were blistering hot up until that arsenal game, but I didn't know that they went without a loss at home. That's impressive. Yeah.

Jerrell:

And that's not even, that's not even the 25 26 campaign. That's the 24 25

Will:

Okay.

Jerrell:

That's the calendar year. Just lights out Aston Villa, like insane.

Will:

Contending with, and they had a good showing in Champions League last year as well. Can't stress it enough. They ended up losing to PSG, but they showed fight at their home leg where they scored like those two games, two goals quick. And PSG literally had to sweat out like the last 35 minutes. And that's for a team with not a lot of UCL. Know how, or in their DNA, obviously I'm not forgetting that they won one. Just just not a team historically you really think of when it comes to UCL.

Jerrell:

Yeah. Last year PSG was just taking all of the Premier Lee's

Will:

Talking about just growing into it. Yeah. Oh, they really did collect a lot of,

Jerrell:

liverpool, Aspen Villa Arsenal. Yeah. They went the whole way I think. I think they beat Man City too. At one point or No, man, city

Will:

I,

Jerrell:

Madrid.

Will:

they, they

Jerrell:

They

Will:

they took out Madrid. No, they didn't. Madrid. Los Arsenal. That's a joke.

Jerrell:

out.

Will:

Yes. Never forget. Sorry.

Jerrell:

Declan Rice brace off of a off

Will:

I never forgot I was there. But. But we'll see. Yeah. PSGI think they got knocked out of their Ku de France matchup last week as well. Couple upset domestically. Barcelona had just sweated out this week and what was it last week or the week before against? Today they played Rossing San Thunder last week they played Guadalajara and they got late goals there. Christian is not me shading. Royal Madrid obviously got knocked out as well by Al Bete, which is like a third division team.

Jerrell:

Huge.

Will:

huge. The vibes there are fucking terrible. I, I can say that. That's not me talking shit. The vibe there are just, yeah.

Jerrell:

The

Will:

yeah. Lit, like literally in the fucking mud we'll, we'll see how it goes, but, yeah. And all the, upsets we talked about in FA Cup. So fun matchups, if you're, you're looking out for them. I'm not gonna lie, if I wasn't worried that Barcelona had a chance to blow the game they had, there was like three goals scored by, rossing Sun Thunder this afternoon that were all outside. Two of them were like very, very far outside that they gotta go on, but there was, there was definitely one and they had a one-on-one with Joan Garcia late as well in like the 94th minute to try to force extra time. All you need is like a little bit of situational management and you can steal something against these teams late, especially in care about an FA cup where a lot of them are going straight to penalties after the initial nineties.

Jerrell:

Sometimes that's just the game

Will:

eh, lock in, buckle up boys, and then mate, see what happens. Yeah, except Exeter City. They did not get to buckle in. They just got blasted. But yeah, they're just like the fuck, just, just, yeah, grenade. Hopefully not, I think, I think 90th minute hit, they should have just blown it. But yeah. But excited to be back, excited to be back, cover everything. We'll get to transfer corners soon,

Jerrell:

can't wait. Can't wait. All right. You wanna close this out for this perfect

Will:

This has been another perfect episode of the Football Fellows episode 61. Is that correct?

Jerrell:

Should

Will:

Sure.

Jerrell:

yeah.

Will:

Fuck it. Ex episode 61 ish. In case give or take an episode it has been a joy. Next week we're gonna be covering, like Darrell mentioned, we're gonna cover Premier League Match days. We're gonna cover Champions League and Europa League Comp. Matchups as well, depending what day we end up recording, whether it's Wednesday or Thursday. Outside of that, thank you again for listening. This has been William Darrell, Darrell. Anything else you want to add in?

Jerrell:

No. Or in Orlando City

Will:

They fall. Sorry.

Jerrell:

Orlando City News. They officially sold Louis Morrell back to his boyhood club. So there's a DP spot open for Orlando City. That's exciting. The Orlando Pride, gonna be a complete look like a different team next year, but I still hope they can compete and they're home openers on my birthday. How exciting.

Will:

I will not be in Orlando that day. I'm so sorry. I'm a piece of shit.

Jerrell:

But all right, that's

Will:

It's a wedding. It's Marie's fault.

Jerrell:

next

Will:

Always. Always in spirit, and

Jerrell:

fans will be with us next

Will:

yeah, so

Jerrell:

that matters.

Will:

for sure, for sure. But thank you again. This has been the football battle's feast.

Jerrell:

All peace.

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Christian

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Jerrell

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Contributor

Will

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