0:02

The athletic. Hell

0:11

I thank you for joining us

0:14

this week on the athletic Football

0:16

Tactics of Cost where we have

0:18

a simple task today. we'd like

0:20

to give you the sharpest, most

0:22

tactically astute breakdown of the Champions

0:25

League round of Sixteen, which concluded

0:27

on Wednesday night ahead of the

0:29

draw for the quarter finals on

0:31

Friday. I'm Molly Maxwell to do

0:33

that with me. Michael Cox. I.

0:36

Ali hello Liam Thoms here

0:38

hello And the returning Mark

0:40

carry hello. Ah, the. Great.

0:42

To have you back or well, well

0:44

thank you thank you for having me

0:46

back but have been able to return

0:48

straight back into the starting eleven. Duncan

0:51

over exert himself last week, picked up

0:53

a small strain and so you're straight

0:55

back in. Let we previewed. The.

0:57

Round of Sixteen and it feels right

0:59

to recap it as well. Michael One

1:01

thing that sprang to mind when I

1:03

thought about our preview was it We went

1:05

into it hopeful that that could be

1:07

some outsiders not just getting through. The

1:09

round of sixteen began deep in the

1:11

competition is not come to pass at Yes,

1:13

Sadly no I hoped for one a

1:15

port so Will Pierce. They are real

1:17

sociedad to go through. Sadly not. Porto

1:20

of the came closest did well

1:22

against Arsenal. ticket to penalty shootout

1:24

or was think care and exit

1:26

time and penalties is. Is. A

1:29

bit of home advantage there now, more than

1:31

they used to be. Why? the away goal

1:33

kind of balanced out, But yeah, it's a

1:35

fairly predictable find a way we've got. And

1:37

indeed you know this was absurd. Group winners

1:39

against group runners up and seven of the

1:41

a great ones went through the only exception

1:43

for Psg and even then they would have

1:45

been favorites against Real Sociedad so I didn't

1:47

dig it was a terrible round, but it

1:49

was quite predictable. And camera and say that

1:51

you weren't thrilled about the removal of the

1:53

away go through. Yeah, I mean

1:56

I thought it was great that there's there's

1:58

some negatives to it. did? And Co

2:00

title by early. but in terms with the biggest

2:02

moment it was always when it happened. You know

2:05

you'd get that swing from one team winning to

2:07

another team when he would just one go in

2:09

can only get in the way. Go Situation Five

2:11

Yeah I mean I I do think it is

2:14

a shame and I dating the champ is the

2:16

cause is lost. Some of it's so some of

2:18

his moments since that role was scrapped. Nothing I

2:20

made people have their own opinions on whether it's

2:23

good or bad. I think the real from was

2:25

getting rid of it during the time of cove

2:27

it when they've been a lot of ties. pay

2:29

the neutral. Venue is he had a fairly

2:31

ridiculous situation where often to toys or two

2:33

legs of it'll be paid the same place

2:36

and away goes with for one team in

2:38

one game and the other team and now

2:40

the game. And I think we all agree

2:42

that with a little bit farcical and I

2:44

think maybe the decision to lower hasty on

2:46

the basis of that we've got. Manchester.

2:49

City, Arsenal find me neck Barcelona

2:51

round Madrid at let's go Madrid

2:53

Dortmund and parents as Uma in

2:55

the quarter finals the last day

2:58

and. With a

3:00

few debates to be had if we

3:02

have the time broadly and these are

3:04

eight of the biggest clubs and European

3:06

football, the heavy weights and lessons to

3:09

be. Fit. A discussion on line around.

3:11

Whether this is something to be celebrated,

3:13

we may be seeing the eight best

3:15

teams in the world's. Give

3:17

or take playing against each other

3:20

in Europe's premier. Competition.

3:22

There's also other concerns about what it means

3:24

about the competitive balance of European football. Do

3:26

you have. Julian. Either way, here,

3:29

it's hard to say because. It

3:31

can. It depends because you want the big match

3:33

ups are some point right It depends what he

3:35

saw, one them out, a run in the competition

3:37

or in on the group south ya get about

3:39

i ever on love soccer protests and then the

3:41

impact is she then lose at least one of

3:43

those teams and he thought in a three or

3:45

four already top sides of see broader causation I

3:47

think Ramifications now it's people that are more worried

3:49

about one I think scrambling every much that to

3:51

do the masters the he might be guessing so

3:53

what slot sites and I will come into his

3:55

ass over a tie from attached to this better

3:57

but I think of is Rochelle We got attacked

3:59

going. Inter at this stage because there are

4:01

two teams that Mark and I have been discussing

4:03

this could cause real problems for a lot of

4:06

those other sides that you kind of like for

4:08

them to meet maybe in the quarters or the

4:10

semi-finals. Of course, you have to play the draw.

4:12

That's how tournament football works. So yeah, you compare

4:14

that to last season where Inter had more favorable

4:17

draws throughout and then didn't come up against maybe

4:19

quite a heavy weight right until the final, whereas

4:21

they had it earlier on this time. So that's

4:23

the nature of it, I think. As Michael said

4:25

with the away goals thing, there's pros and cons

4:28

to both. People don't want the

4:30

top of European football to become a closed shot,

4:32

Michael. They don't want the draw bridge pulled up.

4:35

We want this idea of mobility

4:37

or the potential to succeed from

4:40

a lower position. And

4:42

at the same time, we love watching the best

4:44

teams play against each other. So that seems to

4:46

be the obvious sort of parameters for this discussion.

4:48

Where do you stand with the group

4:50

that we have heading into the last eight being a good thing

4:52

or maybe not so much? Yeah, I

4:54

don't think they're all great sides. I mean, I don't

4:57

think Barcelona are a great side. I know they're one

4:59

of the major names in European football. Maybe this is

5:01

the issue that big clubs cannot be great to still

5:03

get through. But I think that the quarter finals on

5:05

which should be pretty good. I think there'll be some

5:07

really interesting ties. And I think in years to come,

5:10

people don't really remember how good the second

5:12

round was. I remember the quarter final, semi

5:14

final, final. So I'm sure people enjoyed the

5:17

next few rounds. One of the quirks

5:19

of the round of 16 was that

5:21

two of our eight ties were decided

5:23

with a penalty shootout. These are the

5:25

first Champions League

5:27

knockout round penalty shootouts, Mark, since

5:29

the final in 2016. Yeah,

5:33

yeah. And it was it was really great to

5:35

watch as well. I know that Michael has some

5:37

some interesting thoughts on the timing

5:39

of the the whistle blowing and the

5:41

penalty actually subsequently being taken. And I

5:43

always like to have my kind of

5:46

prediction going into it more so with

5:48

the run up, I think you can

5:50

sort of tell when when often this

5:52

this won't always be 100% right.

5:55

But you can tell by the way that a

5:57

player approaches it, whether it's it's

5:59

a short. Run up with conviction whatever it

6:01

may be. But also to some from Michael,

6:03

expand upon the the time taken between the

6:05

the whistle blowing and the the actual penalty

6:08

thing taken. You got your own little. Pseudoscience.

6:11

If of Madison mathematics to go with it.

6:13

Michael: Yeah, I'm in a. There's.

6:15

A very good book by Ben Littleton could

6:18

kill a twelve yards which is all about

6:20

penalties and I mean this is he's been

6:22

working with a day by setting of tens

6:24

of thousands of penalties and of the various

6:27

theories amongst out by think maybe the most

6:29

interesting one in the one that when I

6:31

was penalty shootouts really seemed to play out

6:33

this way is. The.

6:36

Longer the distance between the whistle going in the start

6:38

of guys run up or. Between. The

6:40

whistle on that yet to kick. the more

6:43

likely is pro player to score and this

6:45

is something that has clearly been. relatively.

6:48

Widely known as last two Years. And

6:50

pay the taking longer than ever. It

6:52

probably is less productive than it used

6:55

to be. could almost every place setting

6:57

up Thought: if you look at the

6:59

into athletic penalties and the often porter

7:01

penalties. Yeah. Patents clear when

7:03

read more that could. It won't make

7:05

for good for casting but if you

7:07

want to see that the the timings

7:09

and this the success rates than their

7:12

on my twitter account. Per. Your

7:14

calculations because I suck at.

7:17

Ten point Six seconds to strike is

7:19

penalty after the whistle blower. Hindsight is

7:22

legit. Going to end starts with i

7:24

might talk about get podcasting that are

7:26

causing. I'm tempted to blow Whistler Might

7:28

for ten seconds so he can see

7:30

exactly how long that fails. Yes

7:33

you same boat kids labor snow I'm

7:35

a Mcallister to wait and again city

7:37

that was really long. I mean haven't

7:39

time that. Yeah I was off. This

7:41

put the Iraq and I was about

7:43

fifteen seconds with as I was gonna

7:46

say intended as a difference in our

7:48

lives. Spoke about this in the past

7:50

about the time taken between a penalty

7:52

being awarded in of normal play. This

7:54

is it. the party being taken and

7:56

the wait Between that of the pressure

7:59

building around the. They didn't find a

8:01

place watch the anti vet with that

8:03

feels almost like the that it out

8:05

of their control because often as a

8:07

scramble around the penalty or whatever this

8:09

is the that taking the controlled from

8:11

when the pet the the whistles blind

8:13

to than taking it and it feels

8:15

like that's very very conscious and I

8:17

think there's been a a higher incidences

8:19

praise i can any some if describe

8:21

as running on the spot before taking

8:23

as well this is really kind of

8:25

get the legs going as well rather

8:27

than almost having Shaheed i can assess

8:29

to snatch being. A little bit unbalanced shall

8:31

we say in it the second one included as

8:33

well of as far more yeah I array of

8:35

a place doing that as well so it feels

8:38

like it's so much more conscious and place will

8:40

continue to practice mad of one occurrence party with

8:42

much ahead with that. You don't know how pot

8:44

semi recently on penalties of people should catch up

8:47

with our expense or that the stuff around that

8:49

the wait times and had us kind of just

8:51

more indication as a thinks of the anxiety to

8:53

take your the in a lacking maybe that composure

8:56

and of is very wide with with that are

8:58

martinez as he ran up on the basis. That

9:00

shoveled em all up properly fast as well.

9:02

Go into each. Seem. Very so

9:04

clumsy and I quite quite nervous you do

9:07

either color confirmation bias you, the so thin

9:09

layers of. You. Think you know something

9:11

soon manifest itself if applicable. Treatment i subsequently

9:13

gets attacked was vet school is just as

9:15

good. fun. I think I was a bit

9:18

guilty of the. Penalty Guess

9:20

work confirmation bias is Claassens penalty for

9:22

into where I thought to myself he

9:24

doesn't look com twenty's going to quickly

9:27

and then of course it will save

9:29

see what's your reply. Anything ties object

9:31

to be. Quite. A good penalty

9:33

and sense in a power in the placement

9:35

and just an absurd grab by yeah, no

9:37

blacks who ends up the star in the

9:40

end? Liam A Tide. One.

9:42

With such a small margin as at

9:44

let's get into was to on on

9:46

aggregate Simeoni thus is Simone ne inzaghi

9:48

How did it play out over the

9:51

T like. It's. A really

9:53

great tire. Had kind of everything wrote into

9:55

one from the first segue into already ready

9:57

good. should have scored more It in terms

9:59

of. the quality of chances they made and how

10:02

long really they took to break

10:04

down. Atleti was a

10:06

real fluid build-up approach and I was

10:08

sent a mark earlier on

10:10

this morning that it was kind of

10:13

the perfect balance for a second leg going into that

10:15

because Inter had a lead but it was so fine

10:17

as only a single goal that you don't know really

10:19

whether to be conservative and how

10:21

long you try and defend that lead because Atleti

10:23

are a really, really good team at home. I

10:25

think they've won all by one of their league

10:27

games at home this season and their knockout home

10:29

record I believe in Europe is phenomenal as well.

10:32

So with that and the atmosphere and two

10:34

teams playing in a tactically similar way which on

10:37

paper you put them as a sort of 3-5-2

10:39

but with a kind of number 10 playing off

10:41

of number nine and very fluid sort of build-up

10:43

approaches. So Atleti were

10:45

playing Axel Witzel obviously normally someone

10:47

that people might see as a central midfielder but has been playing

10:49

centre back this season. Dealt really well

10:52

up against one of the best front twos I think

10:54

sort of really in Europe particularly in terms of bringing

10:56

those long balls down from the goalkeeper or the back

10:58

line. Inter struggled to really get

11:00

behind to release the wing backs. They dropped Nico

11:02

Barre quite deep a lot as well. Once

11:04

they got out of the initial press when Atleti were going man for

11:07

man they dropped into a 5-4-1. And

11:09

I think they sort of struggled ironically the goal comes

11:11

from Barre making one of those sort of trademarks beyond

11:13

the ball runs. They seem kind of in between two

11:16

phases of do we attack and try and get a

11:18

second or do we sort of sit off and try

11:20

and control the game a little bit more. It was

11:22

really quite intense as a game. The big downside for

11:24

Inter is how good they've been this season. They've had

11:27

a perfect 2024 as a calendar year

11:29

before this game. And the two

11:31

goals they conceded were really poor defensively. They were carved

11:33

apart one through an error and I think one just through

11:35

fatigue at the end of the game which for a team

11:37

that defends are well in the low block and a 5-3-2.

11:40

You don't concede chances where you'll carve the parts in

11:42

the middle like that. Yeah a

11:44

very even tie overall Atleti heading into

11:47

the last eight. I always am pleased

11:49

when Diego Simeone is present in the

11:51

latter stages of the Champions League as

11:53

he has been so often over the

11:56

last decade or so. And

11:58

then Arsenal Porto which was also decided. on

12:00

a penalty shootout, one all on aggregate,

12:04

a lot of praise for Porto's tactical

12:06

approach and the way that they saw

12:08

it through really over two legs

12:11

and falling short on penalties. Yeah I think that's something

12:13

which has kind of been key from this week that

12:15

a lot of people may be saying that Arsenal

12:17

struggled to break down Porto's block

12:20

and may be seeing that as a weakness of

12:22

Arsenal's but you do have to sometimes give credit

12:24

to the opponent and just say that Porto was

12:27

super strong and their whole games and

12:29

performances this season has been built on

12:31

a really strong defensive foundation so they

12:35

conceded 0.68 goals per 90

12:37

in the Premier League of this season that's come to

12:39

be the best of any side in Portugal

12:41

and I should have checked to see how much you

12:43

know how good that is across the

12:46

wider top seven European leagues because it must

12:48

be up there as one of the best

12:50

so it's no coincidence that Porto are so

12:52

strong defensively but I think

12:54

it's the fact that it's just contrasted with

12:57

one of Arsenal's main weaknesses this season is

12:59

to struggle is struggling to to break down

13:01

mid blocks and low blocks and I'd

13:04

say both mid block and low block it was

13:06

probably more a low block at times in the return

13:08

leg but definitely more of a mid block in

13:10

the first leg and I wrote a piece on it

13:12

of just how strong Porto worked

13:14

from the very first minute you could see

13:16

in the first leg just how strong they

13:19

were and being really compact and they forced

13:21

Arsenal to go around them at times they

13:23

suggested just could Arsenal go over them which they

13:26

didn't really take the bait on but rarely ever

13:28

threw them and they were so compact and there

13:30

was there was no space in in central areas

13:32

and the only time there was a bit of

13:34

space for Martin Odegard that was when he sort

13:37

of threaded that ball through for Trostard so you've

13:39

got to give credit to Porto first and foremost. Arsenal

13:42

were quite devastating at home in their three group

13:44

games I think they scored 12 and

13:47

hardly considered a shot left on the go

13:49

in in the groups and part of

13:51

that was because of how well they could press in teams

13:53

actually did come there and say well you know we will

13:55

try to play and try and build them so people saw

13:57

recently it's Newcastle as well another example of a Champions League

14:00

level teams that came there and tried to build

14:02

and just how relentless they are, how well structured

14:04

and well coordinated in time their presses and all

14:06

the right profiles of having Odegar with phenomenal stamina

14:08

to keep making those sprints, centre backs that can

14:10

defend high upfield. So Porto's build up really interested

14:13

me because it wasn't purely a case of okay

14:15

have all the bull, we're going to sit back,

14:17

we're just going to push the line up and

14:19

sort of kick the territory. It was two really

14:21

wide centre backs, really split. I think at times

14:23

when we're into the channels like outside the width

14:26

of the box playing Diogo Costa who's a

14:28

great distributor, quite high, still

14:31

played direct quite a lot but I think the premise

14:33

was give those front two for Arsenal so they have

14:35

it to Odegar. So a bigger space to press to

14:37

say okay you're going to have to make a 30-35

14:39

yard sprint not just a 15-20 yard one so

14:43

one you should get more tied into, it's harder to

14:45

do again and again. So you could either get that

14:47

down the sides and they'd quite aggressively position four backs

14:50

as a result of that so then Arsenal's wingers sort

14:52

of get pinned in quite deep and when they were

14:54

then going on they could sort of pick up second

14:56

bulls and okay they didn't stick a whole

14:58

lot but when the bull did drop and Arsenal did

15:00

play back ground then Porto could press themselves so you

15:02

didn't get these sort of waves that Arsenal have had

15:04

in a lot of their Premier League games where it's

15:06

been Arsenal attack, Arsenal attack, Arsenal attack and just pinning

15:08

a team in. They did get out

15:10

quite well and Arsenal looked shaky for a decent

15:12

portion of that. Yeah there was

15:15

a moment in the first half I think

15:17

and we've spoken about Arsenal's 4-4-2 out possession

15:19

being so so strong as you say Liam

15:21

with Odegar kind of leading it that Porto

15:23

spread the centre backs really wide and Rice

15:26

was kind of backing up the two of

15:28

them but didn't quite know how to or whether to

15:30

because there was so much space and I

15:32

think Costa just played it wasn't even a floated ball it was

15:34

a kind of a driven ball on the

15:36

floor straight into Conseil Sauer I think on the

15:39

halfway line with a single pass and they were

15:41

on almost an artificial

15:43

transition where they looked like they were

15:45

counter-attacking against Arsenal from one pass so

15:48

yeah Arsenal's press wasn't as

15:50

strong but they found a way in

15:52

the end. I haven't heard artificial transition

15:54

before and I like

15:56

it because talking as

15:58

I do about the EFL as

16:00

well and talking about the way

16:02

that tactics are changing. There are now

16:04

quite a lot of examples of goals where if

16:07

you just watch the last few actions, it

16:09

looks like it's been a counter-attack because the

16:11

defensive backpedaling and clearly there's space

16:14

to play into. But so often, and I think

16:17

of Ipswich Town, who are one of the standout

16:19

teams in the championship at the moment, so often

16:21

it's they themselves that have created those opportunities, not

16:23

actually the ball hasn't changed hands and then there's

16:25

been a quick counter-attack. They've worked it all the

16:28

way from the back and I think that's interesting

16:31

because it doesn't always feel

16:33

like a build-up attack but of course it

16:35

is in some ways as

16:37

well. So artificial transition, I'm adding that to

16:39

the lexicon. A couple

16:42

of Porto bits as well, we had

16:44

a really impressive individual display from their

16:46

full-back Wendell. Yeah, really, really good.

16:49

Not many people go one view. Again

16:51

lots of reasons why teams play the way

16:54

they do against Arsenal is so they can

16:56

double up in wide areas to mark 2v1

16:58

against Saffir, against Smutinelli or Trossard and obviously

17:00

in the Premier League game just gone it

17:02

was how they then used Ben White either

17:04

on the overlap or in deeper positions to

17:06

cross and solve that. But he was

17:08

great, I was really enjoying adding my quotes and commentary.

17:12

His adoration for that sort of performance was really

17:14

quite good fun so it

17:16

maybe shows the jump-up that

17:19

you do get of players athletically or on

17:21

individual levels of technical and tactical ability at

17:23

the top level, Champions League wise, Sean Saka

17:25

has played the World Cup, he's

17:27

by no means inexperienced but I think specifically

17:31

the knockout level that players on a player

17:34

by player basis, the floor

17:36

is so, so high. episodes

18:00

dropping on all four days of every

18:02

race event, you'll never miss out on

18:04

hearing what went down in practice, qualifying

18:06

or the Grand Prix itself, and we'll

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also bring you all the behind the

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18:12

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like the F1 podcast for you, search the

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Race F1 Briefing in your podcast app of

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choice. We'd love to have you join us.

18:27

And it was reported, Michael, on

18:29

social media in particular, that Porto's warm-up

18:32

was unusual, quite specific.

18:35

Yeah, just defending set pieces they were

18:37

practicing, apparently, which is remarkable, really.

18:39

And I think it's interesting because,

18:41

you know, usually the 10 years

18:43

ago, the big size, the technical size,

18:46

it'd be set pieces where they maybe

18:48

could be undone, because it's now a big strength of

18:50

theirs. So, yeah, I haven't seen that before.

18:53

I must say, so I was at the game and I

18:55

loved watching it. I

18:57

recorded it on my phone because I was just captivated by

18:59

it. But I must say the caveat to it was that

19:02

maybe some of the stuff going around on social

19:04

media was kind of a wide free kick or

19:06

a corner sort of cross going in. And

19:08

that was how they were sort of defending them. But

19:11

early on when I was watching the warm-up, it

19:13

was more that the coach was doing it from,

19:16

let's say, between the halfway line and the

19:18

penalty area, from slightly wide. But I think

19:20

the idea was kind of being that we're

19:22

going to contain us, you know, we're going

19:24

to keep in a contained block and we're

19:27

going to force Arsenal into maybe deep crosses

19:29

or wherever it is because they're not going

19:31

to go through our block. And

19:33

the reason I think it was interesting was because they kept

19:35

their line really well and it was all about the triggers

19:37

of dropping off and when to push forward and stuff. But

19:41

Pepe and Conseil Sal were part of that warm-up

19:43

or part of that routine as well because they

19:45

were placed, you know, 10,

19:47

15 yards further forward to get the second

19:49

balls and to then go and start to

19:51

counter-attack if they could. So it was very

19:54

conscious, obviously not just to be like we're

19:56

just going to defend and think about ways

19:58

to control set pieces. think about, okay,

20:00

well, when we get our head onto this and we

20:02

get first contact, we're going to be the first to

20:05

get the second ball and then transition and go forward

20:07

from there. So I thought it was actually

20:09

quite an offensive strategy as well. Part

20:11

of me thinks it all might be a massive smokescreen as well. And

20:14

I'd love to know how these perspectives on this and the EFL side

20:16

of things where I just,

20:18

I can't imagine Michael Arteta sat there on

20:20

the touch line, watching the, he's

20:22

probably not even out there, the assistants I imagine

20:24

will be doing it and being like,

20:26

oh, this is how they're warming up. So suddenly we're going

20:28

to rip up all of our game plan and opposition analysis.

20:32

My logic on it always is it's activation is

20:34

getting players prepared to play. And

20:37

it isn't, there's an interesting technical detail in it. Absolutely.

20:40

And it's really insightful. And I just, yeah,

20:42

I think maybe the average fan or someone

20:44

on social media sees that and goes,

20:46

oh, this is exactly their game plan that they're replicating now

20:48

that they're going to show off an hour before. And

20:51

the coach would be like, yeah, not quite like that. Interesting.

20:54

And last thing on Arsenal, Liam, in our

20:56

preview, we discussed the fact that Arsenal in

20:59

the bookmakers eyes, I think were third, joint

21:02

third favorites to win the Champions League. And

21:04

that was sort of put

21:06

up against the fact that they don't have

21:08

a lot of recent European

21:11

experience. So now we've seen

21:13

them struggle to an extent to

21:15

get past Porter only on the penalty shootout.

21:18

And maybe that would have been confirmation

21:21

of those who think things like

21:23

Champions League experience is actually a very big

21:25

factor that isn't always taken into account. I

21:28

mean, this is entirely arbitrary, but I had a quick

21:30

look at their sort of experience across the squad and

21:32

looked at the number of players I've got with 30

21:34

or more Champions League appearances. So, okay,

21:36

I've not factored in other European compositions, internationals, but

21:38

I want to see that as a benchmark. Arsenal

21:41

five players with at least 30 appearances in

21:43

the Champions League. Three of those didn't start

21:45

the game. So those three are Gabriel Jesus,

21:48

Orizana Zinchenko and Thomas Parthi. The two that

21:50

did were Guggenia and Kai Havots. That's

21:53

come to be the lowest of any of the last eight

21:55

teams remaining. You've got

21:57

second fewest after them is Barcelona with

21:59

nine. Dortmund with seven, then Barcelona with nine,

22:01

and you go all the way up to Bayern who've got

22:03

16, City have 11, PSG

22:05

11, Adlieti 13, so on an

22:08

individual basis, yeah there are fewer players and

22:10

also fewer possibly starters as well, you can

22:12

factor them within that, you've got Champions

22:14

League winners in Cai Havoc and Giorgina and obviously

22:17

the Champions League final match

22:19

winner in Cai Havoc, so it

22:21

sort of depends how you look at it. I'd also

22:23

make the argument that they feel quite cohesive as a

22:25

team and as a unit and as a squad and

22:28

have jelled in those signings from sort of last January

22:30

or the previous windows really really well, so.

22:32

Yeah, individually maybe not quite as experienced as

22:34

others, but they look at teams as a

22:36

group. Michael, do you think it

22:38

stands to reason that when we're weighing up all

22:40

the variables that go into success

22:43

in football, that when we talk about

22:45

the Champions League knockout specifically, experience

22:48

of Champions League knockouts

22:50

equals nous, equals

22:53

better performance and execution in the

22:55

very very biggest games? Yeah,

22:57

probably. I think two-legged ties are different to

22:59

just playing a one-off league game and it's

23:02

about manager as well, I've said I haven't

23:04

managed at this level before, so

23:06

yeah I think it probably is a small factor. Manchester

23:10

City the holders beating FC

23:12

Copenhagen 6-2 Michael, as comfy

23:14

as the scoreline suggests? Yeah,

23:17

this was the least interesting fixture on paper and

23:19

probably the least interesting tie even if there were

23:21

eight goals over the two legs. It

23:23

was the strongest side against the weakest side I think

23:25

and if you like that kind of thing that's probably

23:27

what we're going to get next year because with

23:30

this model and the new system of the Champions

23:32

League there will be a bracket rather than a

23:34

draw for the final stage of the Champions League

23:36

and teams will be ranked according to their group

23:39

stage, inverted commas

23:41

group stage performance because it won't be a group

23:43

stage. I think probably

23:45

the only two interesting things were again

23:48

to replicate what I said about

23:51

Arsenal City was such a threat

23:53

from set pieces particularly at the start of the second

23:55

leg. Traditionally you'd think Copenhagen going

23:57

away to Man City may be a couple of set

23:59

pieces. pieces could cause problems but absolutely not

24:01

it was the reverse and Copenhagen's

24:03

goalkeeper was very poor at dealing with high

24:06

balls and the other thing

24:08

was that I thought Julian Alvarez played very

24:10

well on the left against Copenhagen in the

24:12

second game and I wonder whether that convinced

24:14

Guardiola to use him there in the

24:17

next game against Liverpool where actually

24:19

I thought he was quite poor on the

24:21

left just kept on conceding possession wasn't very

24:23

good defensively against Conor Bradley as well so

24:26

that was maybe an interesting feature of it

24:28

but yeah a bit of a procession really.

24:31

I need some quick numbers to add to what Michael's saying

24:33

is that across the whole of

24:35

the Champions League this season Man City have generated

24:38

6.4 expected goals per hundred

24:40

set pieces so when given equal opportunity for

24:43

all teams across the competition they are

24:45

the best than better than any other

24:47

side in the competition this season so

24:50

yeah just to support Michael's point really that you

24:53

know for all that we think about Manchester City

24:55

being so strong in open play they've got unbelievable

24:57

players we know from the Premier League as well

24:59

just how strong they are from set pieces and

25:01

the numbers back it up. Real Madrid got through

25:03

2-1 on aggregate against

25:06

RB Leipzig and Mark one

25:08

of the Real Madrid Champions

25:11

League narratives over the last many

25:13

years now is don't always look great but

25:15

get the job done. It was exactly that

25:17

I really think it was I think it

25:19

was interesting to hear what Liam said before

25:22

about the Inter Athletic game where you

25:24

know Madrid were 1-0 up from the first leg

25:26

so they didn't need to really push too much

25:29

and it felt kind of like a big brother

25:32

maybe holding the little brother by the by the head

25:34

at arm's length if you like well you can start

25:36

swinging but we're just gonna keep things in control and

25:38

if you maybe do catch us

25:41

then we'll maybe step it up a little

25:43

bit. Didn't expect any childhood trauma during this

25:45

recording but thanks Mark. That's really hit me

25:47

hard. Genuinely off the top of my head

25:50

but which is ironic but it

25:53

did sort of feel like that I mean Leipzig as

25:55

well it must be said that they did

25:57

generate quite a lot of chances they had 14 shots

26:00

in the second leg and across both legs their

26:02

expected goals suggested they should have scored about two

26:04

to three goals rather than the one that they

26:07

they obviously did score and I think they were just a little bit

26:10

wasteful at times I mean Lois Appendo has been

26:12

a really good forward a really good signing in

26:14

the summer has scored well not

26:17

amazing but well in the Bundesliga and he had

26:19

so many opportunities and if not

26:22

a poor finish it was sometimes just making

26:24

the wrong decision at the wrong time and

26:28

Benjamin Sesko I think we spoke about him after the first leg

26:30

as well he was just a little bit wasteful in front of

26:32

goal so there was there's a lot of yeah

26:34

wastefulness was there a common thread of

26:36

how those chances were created if we're

26:39

looking forward and looking at potential weaknesses

26:42

to exploit for Real Madrid's next opposition

26:44

was there an obvious type

26:47

of chance they were creating I think they

26:49

got in behind quite a few times we know that

26:51

Leipzig are typically direct in the way that they like

26:53

to play and they did get in behind a few

26:55

times there wasn't many sort of one-on-one clear cuts of

26:58

chances but a couple

27:00

were caught offside as well but I don't think

27:03

there's anything that Madrid had

27:05

did specifically that is a real weakness but

27:07

I do similar to what we spoke about last

27:09

time I do think that Madrid if they want

27:11

to play a certain way you know if they want to play

27:13

direct they can if they want to play a bit more possession

27:15

based they can so they didn't

27:17

have a ton of shots themselves 11 shots so

27:19

they were outshot across the the

27:21

game but yeah it feels what

27:24

I think is interesting is that it feels like as

27:27

we said before it's typical of Madrid in

27:29

seasons gone by and that they ultimately just

27:31

have really good players who will make the

27:33

difference and I think it's interesting to think

27:35

about in the Champions League sense because they've

27:37

been so successful in the Champions League in

27:39

so many seasons gone by I think

27:42

that's perhaps why they've done so well in the

27:44

competition because they just have individual stars who can

27:46

make the difference which I know Michael spoke about

27:48

before and you compare that with the

27:50

La Liga titles that they've had they've only won four

27:52

La Liga titles in the past 15 seasons and yes

27:55

they're going to probably go on and win a

27:57

fifth this season but when

27:59

you think about how dominant they've been in Europe,

28:01

you'd think that they would also tally that

28:03

they'd also be so dominant in their domestic

28:06

league. But because of the nature of their,

28:08

maybe their style predicated on just individual quality

28:10

largely and an element of pragmatism, it's quite

28:12

interesting to contrast that from the league level

28:14

to the Champions League level where

28:17

they've been doing so well across many years. It

28:19

goes to show just how good City were last

28:21

season to balance stuff on multiple fronts into again,

28:24

to link back to them, another example of winning

28:26

City out an absolute counter this season and jumping

28:29

over all those bars before that

28:31

they couldn't quite maintain and sort of sustain performance

28:33

and now obviously they have gone out of the

28:35

Champions League which they were so good in before

28:37

and in cups where they've gone out of the

28:39

Italian Cup too. So yeah, it's just really, really

28:41

hard to sustain that without having all the depth

28:43

and getting everything right every single game. At

28:47

the point where we previewed the round of

28:49

16, Michael Bayern Munich had

28:51

been smashing panic buttons after being beaten

28:53

by Leverkus in the league. Then they

28:55

went and lost 1-0 at

28:57

the Stadio Limpico in the first leg against

28:59

Lazio but 3-1 in the end. How convincing

29:01

was their second leg turnaround? I

29:05

don't know if it was convincing actually, I still don't think

29:07

there are particularly good sides. I don't think they've

29:09

got the patterns of play you expect of a

29:11

Bayern Munich. I mean Lazio

29:13

had a very good chance to double their lead at

29:15

0-0 with Immobile who missed a chance

29:18

at the far post. Bayern were okay,

29:20

I thought their fallbacks were very prominent

29:22

getting forward, Kimiši on the right and

29:24

Guerrero in particular was drifting inside into

29:28

good positions. I almost always wanted to

29:30

call him Grimaldo these days because they're

29:32

kind of similar players and similar

29:35

names. But I thought the story here was

29:37

just the fact that Harry Kane scored twice

29:40

and Thomas Muller scored once. When you look at how the

29:42

goals came, the first Kane

29:44

goal was a shot that he diverted in,

29:47

the Muller goal was a shot that he diverted in and

29:49

the second Kane goal was

29:51

a rebound. We talked these days about

29:53

the shifting nature of centre forwards

29:55

but Bayern almost had two

29:58

poachers there. I mean two players who... Of

30:00

course they've got other qualities, I'd say probably came

30:02

more so despite playing as the number nine but

30:05

they're two players who they are slightly inexplicable

30:08

in how good they are finding space and

30:10

knowing where to be in the penalty area

30:12

and Quite often,

30:14

I mean, I think it's quite rare the best team wins

30:16

the Champions League I think often it comes

30:19

down to really fine margins and teams who get

30:21

the job done and we've said it so much

30:23

about Real Madrid You know

30:25

boosted by Cristiano Ronaldo and Karen Benzema

30:27

over the years And those

30:29

two can get goals from almost nowhere. So

30:31

I think that's the relevant thing going forward for this

30:34

Competition the other side of the coin is that

30:36

last year was so bad that Mauricio Sarri has

30:38

resigned after Nearly

30:41

three years in charge the Knights in the league

30:43

They've really struggled to kind of you know, it's

30:45

a classic thing when a club in the European

30:48

competition often the league form Dipped

30:50

significantly. The thing I like about this

30:52

is that I read a report where

30:54

these three candidates potentially lined up to

30:56

take over Christian

30:59

Brocke Miroslav Klose and Tommaso

31:02

Rocky all former Lazio players So

31:04

they're really going for the you know, know

31:06

the club angle After a

31:08

guy like Sarri who comes in and I

31:11

think regardless of what club is that he doesn't

31:13

really make any effort to get To know the club. It's

31:15

Sarri's way or you're off. So yeah, I

31:18

quite like that little detail And that's

31:20

the thing about the club is that they're really good at it. They're really

31:22

good at it And I think that's the thing

31:24

about the club is that they're really good at it Pressure

31:26

on Paris Saint-Germain as there always is

31:28

into the knockout rounds of this competition

31:31

Liam they got past Real Sotheadad 4-1

31:33

in the end, but it was tactically

31:36

Interesting Real Sotheadad in particular a fun

31:38

watch. Yeah, well, I got this completely

31:41

wrong So there's a tweet from myself

31:43

on the 18th of December after the tie was

31:45

announced I said PSG are 100% getting pressed into

31:48

a 3-0 way defeat in Real Sotheadad Which is

31:50

already wrong because obviously it's San Sebastian the place

31:53

Lewis and Rique will be stubborn and continue to play out and

31:55

they'll give up way too many turnovers I

31:57

know a PSG have him as a project coach, but can they take a

31:59

third-line? 16 exit in a row. In

32:02

my defence, he actually changed tactically quite a

32:04

bit. There wasn't sort of the same

32:06

stubborn 43 build up we've seen a lot

32:08

of. He took Agate out of the sort

32:10

of deepest midfield role who'd been a bit

32:13

of a problem for them, particularly in sort

32:15

of transitions actually, making a lot of fouls

32:17

and not quite being up to speed. It

32:19

was a really interesting kind of 4-3-1-2, the

32:21

important point being Luis Mandembele played in the

32:24

10 rather than being off the right hand side. And

32:26

Mbappe and Bradley Bicola were these split strikers which was

32:29

just really, really good fun. They were able to make

32:31

lots of runs in behind. The opening goal as

32:33

she comes from them pressing really high, really well.

32:35

They pressed out of this sort of a, they

32:38

had three at the back and pushed Aqraf Hakeemi

32:40

further forward to press the full back, basically

32:42

locked up all the options and when they made

32:44

the regaining Mbappe was in position just to basically

32:47

get a straight through ball into him. Again, Mbappe's

32:49

ended up being the match winner. But

32:51

I thought they were a lot better in build

32:53

up. Real-sauce had pressed them incredibly well at the

32:55

Pate Prance. An awful lot of high turnovers. They

32:58

really struggled and relied on Mbappe to sort of

33:00

break the game open. But this time he

33:02

was basically just dropping in really, really deep, almost edge

33:04

of his own box and they then would have a

33:06

number eight or a midfielder running in the other direction

33:08

to try and get out and pull someone in and

33:11

work off of sort of opposite movements. So the fact

33:13

that this was largely

33:15

quite boring from an open the scoring in terms

33:17

of all being quite controlled, there was a late

33:20

flurry from L'Areal but nothing sort of significant. It's

33:22

the first time since 2015-16 that PSG won both

33:24

legs of a Champions League knockout game. And given

33:26

how bad their record's been at this sort of

33:28

stage, I thought it was a

33:30

really, really big statement. And with their youngest team

33:32

in a Champions League game, it was pretty good

33:34

for Luis Enrique. That sounds like an

33:37

interesting tactical scheme from Luis Enrique.

33:39

It will be stress tested in

33:42

the quarter finals, that's for sure. Michael

33:44

Barcer and Napoli was framed as

33:46

two title winners from last season

33:48

that had dropped off pretty hard

33:51

this season, particularly domestically. How

33:53

did the match look on the European

33:55

stage? At the first game I

33:57

thought Barcer and Napoli were very poor. I mean, both teams

33:59

were poor. to be honest, but I thought Barcelona's problem

34:01

in the first game was that they just didn't offer

34:03

any proper wits, particularly down the left.

34:05

So they're playing L'Amin Yemal on

34:07

the right, coming inside onto his left foot.

34:10

Obviously very dangerous, slightly inexperienced, and not always

34:12

making the right decision as you expect for

34:14

a guy of his age. But on

34:16

the left, I had Pedro coming inside from

34:19

wide left, and it meant they just didn't stretch the

34:21

player at all. The only wits they

34:23

had from the left was Joachim Celo, who

34:25

was always trying to do his cross with the

34:28

outside of his right foot thing, which when it

34:30

comes off looks great, when it doesn't, just looks

34:32

completely pathetic. So obviously for the second

34:34

leg, Pedro was out, because Pedro's injured, and that

34:36

meant that they had to do something different, and

34:38

they used Raffinia down the left. I must admit,

34:40

I haven't seen him that much down the left.

34:42

I think of him playing the role coming inside

34:44

from the right, but with Yemal doing really well

34:47

there, he's had to find another role. And

34:49

he was actually really good. He stretched the play, they

34:51

had proper wits. He played a

34:53

role in both the first two goals,

34:56

one of which was scored by Cancella, so

34:59

he can be, of course, a threat from the left. An

35:02

open play goal. It was, yeah, rebound

35:04

that was turned on by Cancella. Okay. Outside the boot? Outside

35:07

the boot. Don't think it was,

35:09

no show-boating for that one. So with Raffinia holding

35:12

the wits on the left-hand side, does that give

35:14

Cancella able to take up maybe

35:16

more awkward positions for the opposition, even if it

35:18

reduces his options of outside of the right foot

35:20

crosses, but in that sort of half space? I

35:23

think that was a little bit of a case,

35:25

yeah, but I just think he needed to stretch

35:27

the play. He needed to stretch the defence. He

35:29

needed to create gaps to play through because

35:31

they can do that. The third goal scored

35:33

by Lewandowski was an absolutely fantastic move. I

35:36

thought the other interesting thing from the second

35:38

leg was it was an

35:40

interesting game for centre-backs. Barcelona used

35:43

a 17-year-old Cubasi, who

35:45

I really was not aware of at centre-back, but he looked

35:47

excellent. He's got a turn of speed. His

35:50

passing range is very good. Barcelona

35:52

correspondent Lai-Serveo Herrera did a

35:54

very good article on his rise and shall be

35:56

having frightened him to play him ahead of a

35:59

few more experiments. experienced players in

36:01

such a big game. And the other interesting

36:03

thing about the centre backs was the goal Napoli scored

36:05

in Barcelona, which was by Romani, because

36:07

it was bizarre. He just walks forward

36:09

from the back, played a pass out

36:12

to the right, no one was marking him, pushed

36:14

into the box and finished. You just don't expect that from

36:16

a centre back, but I absolutely loved it. Barcelona's

36:19

out of possession scheme there, obviously

36:21

falling apart somewhat after what is

36:23

now quite a basic approach of

36:25

centre backs stepping forward. Two

36:28

teams are able to handle that at this stage, but maybe

36:30

that's a bit of a flaw in barce heading into the

36:32

quarter finals. So many exciting

36:35

young players though to watch,

36:37

hopefully. And finally Dortmund against

36:39

PSV, Mark was

36:41

billed as the most even tie in

36:43

the knockouts. And we

36:46

hoped would be quite open and entertaining,

36:48

two teams probably going at

36:50

it. Is that what happened? Yeah,

36:52

statistically the most even. On

36:55

the pitch it was pretty even throughout. There

36:57

was a chance at the very end from

36:59

Luke De Jong that could have equalised in

37:01

the tie and sent it to extra time,

37:03

but he completely fluffed his lines. But I

37:06

must say across the two legs I

37:08

was fairly disappointed with the quality as

37:11

much as anything on show. There was a lot

37:13

of back and forth in both games. If you

37:15

look at the match momentum, which I know we've

37:17

spoken about before in this podcast, it's

37:19

quite clearly that Dortmund had the first half

37:21

and PSV had the second half. And they

37:24

had to because they needed to come back

37:26

into the game. But I

37:28

thought there was a lot of sloppiness

37:30

in possession at times from both sides,

37:32

giving it away too easy. And I

37:34

looked at the number of possessions, plural,

37:36

so how many times the ball changes

37:38

hands. And the game had 108 in

37:41

total, which was the most for either side in

37:43

the Champions League this season. And I

37:45

don't think it was necessarily because of really high

37:47

pressing and forcing errors. I think it was

37:49

more down to poor quality

37:52

at times. And I

37:54

was quite disappointed going

37:56

into it, obviously thinking that PSV were the

37:58

highest scorers. in the top seven European

38:00

leagues they're averaging 3.1 goals per 90 in the Eredivisie

38:04

this season and they were

38:06

still quite wasteful in

38:09

front of goal and that was a

38:11

little bit disappointing for me I thought I

38:14

really wanted to look at Johan Bakayoko

38:16

who's been spoken about so widely maybe

38:18

potentially having a move away from

38:20

PSV this summer and he's a good player

38:22

I don't think he's a great player maybe

38:24

he's got a very good highlights reel but

38:27

there was a few occasions where he got

38:29

into good opportunities or got into good

38:31

positions I should say and just his

38:34

final product was a little bit

38:36

weak I'd say but yeah

38:38

Dormann got through which is ultimately the

38:40

main narrative and they do have some really

38:42

strong attacking players of course with Union Brandt

38:45

and Daniel Marlin and Marco Royce came off

38:47

the bench and scored and obviously Jaden Sancho

38:49

being one of the key narratives he's now

38:51

getting up to speed scored the goal and

38:53

he's scored at the weekend as well against

38:55

Verde Bremen but I do

38:58

think ultimately whoever draws Dormann arguably has

39:00

the easiest opponents in the quarterfinals I

39:02

looked at it statistically as well in

39:04

terms of Optus power rankings and it's

39:07

actually athletic who are statistically the

39:09

weakest but I think as we've spoken about

39:11

they're more likely to cause problems for teams

39:14

but yeah I do think that

39:16

Dormann haven't had the strongest league

39:18

campaign anyway they've actually done done

39:20

well in Europe as sort of

39:22

contrary to their league form but

39:24

I do think that whoever draws

39:26

them will have potentially the easiest

39:28

opponents of all I'd like before

39:30

we go to put together the

39:33

athletic football tactics podcast Champions League

39:35

power rankings if you don't mind if

39:37

it's not too beneath you guys I think I'll

39:40

start by putting Manchester City at the top and

39:44

from what Mark said and I think a nod of agreement

39:47

from Michael Dortmund in

39:49

eighth in

39:51

between that is quite interesting which

39:53

contains Arsenal Bayern Barcelona Real Madrid

39:55

PSG and Atletico Madrid a lot

39:57

of those names we had questions

40:00

about heading into the round of 16 and

40:02

based on what you guys have said, some of

40:05

them have answered them more definitively than others.

40:07

Why don't we start at seventh

40:10

place in our power rankings? I'd like

40:12

to put forward Atlético Madrid and

40:14

possibly even Barca at this stage.

40:17

Michael? Yeah, Barcelona for me. I

40:19

just don't think they're a great

40:21

side. I always trusted Atlético War,

40:23

be tactically intelligent, flexible, get the

40:25

job done, good home atmosphere, which

40:27

I'm not sure is the case of Barcelona in

40:29

this unusual stadium they're playing this

40:31

season. So yeah, I think Barcelona and Dortmund will be

40:34

the two I'd want to get. Would

40:36

you have Atlético Madrid above anyone

40:38

other than Dortmund or Barcelona? Tempted

40:41

to say possibly Bayern. Okay. If we're

40:43

talking about right now looking

40:46

as a cohesive team, a cohesive unit, rather,

40:49

you know, there's broader off field problems for

40:51

Bayern and managerial bits and

40:53

pieces and as Michael was saying,

40:55

not necessarily a convincing win. I

40:58

think there's one thing that he did probably look

41:00

at. It was definitely convincing in the second leg.

41:03

But then I'd also be writing off Harry

41:05

Kane and Thomas Moden players that are capable

41:07

of scoring goals. The moments you want in

41:09

both boxes, as I can say, it's not

41:11

just about between the boxes, it's having as

41:13

much winners. So I'd probably put them on

41:15

an even kill right now. Michael,

41:19

should we have Bayern just

41:21

above Atlético Madrid? Probably

41:24

I think then starting to bring PSG

41:27

into the conversation, despite the points, the

41:29

valid points about individual quality. And we

41:31

know that Barfay can score out of

41:34

nothing. I then

41:36

start to say between Bayern

41:38

and PSG from there on in. Okay. I'm

41:41

going to put them level. I'm going to put Bayern

41:44

above Atlético, above Barcelona

41:46

above Dortmund. So Michael,

41:49

I need you really to pick between PSG

41:51

and Bayern for what will be fourth spot

41:54

in the power rankings. I actually

41:56

think Bayern are right. I think their problems

41:58

have been massively exaggerated in

42:00

the league they're up against a really really good team.

42:02

They didn't play well in the first league in the

42:04

flat field but yeah I think I get the job

42:06

done. I'd go by and I'm ahead of PSG. And

42:08

they've got these penalty box

42:11

executors in Kane and Muller as

42:13

you discussed. PSG are very young size

42:16

to pull at another thread of Champions

42:18

League experience that we've discussed. So

42:21

Arsenal and Real Madrid battling

42:24

for second spot in our power

42:26

rankings. We're gonna let that

42:28

drift into space and someone can pick it up.

42:34

Phenomenal defensively and that's why I'd say they deserve to

42:36

be so high up on that list against teams that

42:39

have got better goal scorers,

42:41

more experience, more history of going you know

42:43

deep in this competition. The same even managerially

42:45

our tester is still still learning and they're

42:47

of course juggling this with a title race

42:50

which other teams might not necessarily be doing.

42:53

But yeah I think you can't look past Real

42:55

Madrid in that. One thing on the

42:57

Arsenal game against Porto mainly in the first leg

42:59

was that there was so many fouls and the

43:01

game was broken up so much and I sort

43:03

of saw that as like potential. And it was

43:05

actually Arsenal who were committing the fouls. I saw

43:07

that as a bit of naivety from Arsenal maybe

43:09

getting a few lacking a few

43:11

street smarts shall we say and not

43:13

necessarily delving into the dark

43:16

arts. And if Arsenal were to come up

43:18

against Real Madrid in the next round or

43:20

potentially round after that I think

43:23

Real Madrid are just the masters at

43:25

that. So I think that the experience

43:27

and the dark arts that Real Madrid

43:30

could play is why I think

43:32

they'll continue to go far in every

43:34

competition. Okay so not total agreement through

43:36

here. Some interesting discussions and not a

43:38

lot between a lot of these sides.

43:40

But for posterity's sake heading into

43:42

the quarterfinals the Athletic Football Tactics

43:45

podcast Champions League Power Rankings is

43:47

as such Manchester City number one, Real

43:50

Madrid number two, Arsenal and Bayern third

43:52

and fourth. And then we've got PSG

43:54

followed by Atletico Madrid and

43:56

then Barcelona and Dortmund it will be

43:58

very interesting to see. what

44:00

the quarterfinal draw chucks up. And we'll

44:02

be with you all the way through

44:04

the knockout rounds of this Champions League.

44:06

It's gonna be absolutely

44:08

fascinating. And our

44:11

job, as it was today, will be

44:13

to try and cut through a lot

44:15

of the noise and try and give

44:17

you the best football analysis of this

44:19

year's Champions League knockout. So thank you

44:21

to Mark, Michael, and Liam for doing

44:23

that with me, Ali Maxwell, today. Make

44:25

sure you subscribe to this podcast feed

44:27

and to The Athletic as well. Join

44:29

The Athletic today. Head

44:31

to theathletic.com/tactics for

44:34

a discount on an annual subscription.

44:36

And do join us again next

44:38

week on The Athletic Football Tactics

44:40

Podcast.