Max and the pod discuss yet more VAR silliness, Pep’s yellow ribbon, Neymar’s injury woes, Welsh greats and an epic journey across land and seaRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts,Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Elis James, who have all made their way through the snow to discuss Max and Barry’s ridiculous 18-hour voyage from Dublin to London, across land, sea and, well, more land to beat the Beast from the East, the day after a sold-out Football Weekly Live. Continue reading...
Manchester City manager’s yellow-ribbon display of political affiliation sits uncomfortably with a readiness to front for QatarAs they consider the case of Pep Guardiola, who won his first medal in English football at Wembley on Sunday while semi-surreptitiously sporting a yellow ribbon in support of the jailed members of the Catalan independence movement, the leaders of the Football Association might look back at the record of their own predecessors, and in particular at the events of 1938, when they ordered the England football team to perform the Nazi salute in Berlin’s Olympic stadium.History tells they did so under instruction from the British ambassador to Germany, Sir Nevile Henderson, who was having a difficult year. On the morning of the match,...
The pressing by Jürgen Klopp’s side was so disciplined that it forced a collective loss of control in the visitors’ backlineIt turns out, then, that the formula was simple. All anybody had to do to beat Manchester City was to match them shape for shape, press high up the pitch, harass them into a eight-minute meltdown, capitalise on mistakes with a series of stunning finishes and then cling on desperately.Jürgen Klopp is not the first manager to realise that the best way to unsettle a Pep Guardiola side is to squeeze them, and this is not the first time he has had his side do that effectively. No manager has a better record than Klopp against Guardiola: six wins in...
A 4-0 defeat at Everton a year ago, shortly after losing 1-0 at Anfield, ended City’s title hopes. As they visit Liverpool, the transformation has been remarkableAlmost exactly a year ago, Pep Guardiola was on Merseyside conceding defeat in the title race, a comprehensive 4-0 mauling at Everton having confirmed the widespread suspicion that Manchester City were not in any shape to catch Chelsea at the top of the table. A great deal can change in 12 months though. Just ask Everton, whose day could scarcely have gone any better, with Tom Davies grabbing his first goal for the club and Ademola Lookman completing the rout by scoring on his debut.Yet even that version of Everton, confident and compact, willing...
A win at Crystal Palace will give City 19 league wins on the trot, a feat the coach also achieved in Munich. How do Pep’s record breakers compare?Manchester City managers of the future have a problem. The football played at the end of 2017 will always be the standard to which they are held. This month, City fan Noel Gallagher, a man not known for his compliments and somebody that has seen 250,000 people at Knebworth sing his name, described what is going on at the Etihad as “the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life”.Hyperbole perhaps, but if you do not agree that Pep Guardiola’s side are playing the best football of the Premier League era, then...