In Episode #111, Mike and Laurent discuss why they think MLS is mired in mediocrity while the Premier League spreads like wildfire in the US. Champions League Group Stage continues, and we also preview matchweek 9 in the Premier League:
- Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo save Man United after they go behind 2-0 to Atalanta
- Chelsea cruise but lose Lukaku and Werner to injury
- Liverpool win a drama-fueled match in Madrid
- Looking ahead to Man United-Liverpool at Old Trafford
- Dispatch from the UEFA Conference League: Spurs lose and Roma get smoked!
- Newcastle and Steve Bruce finally part ways
Follow us on Twitter (@SqueakyBum_Pod), Instagram (@SqueakyBumTimePod) and Facebook (Squeaky Bum Time Podcast) to stay up to date!
Transcript
hello and welcome to the squeaky bum
time podcast with mike and laurent it is
friday october 22nd in this episode
united save all a again we all wanted
him to lose so he would go away you will
do our use our champions league roundup
liverpool were lucky chelsea and city
first class but first mike
you went to live
soccer in america
in person
tell us all about the orlando pride
uh yeah um so is my third mls game ever
that's the i don't know who doesn't
matter i think it's just orlando city fc
but uh sc down here i've been here four
years uh i've never gone i've actively
avoided it uh i think mls is terrible
i've been to a few games before
um
and i went with a few friends i had a
great time uh it's it's a fun
time out right but you know and you have
a good time you have a couple of beers
and it's fine um the quality of play is
never mistaking what it actually is
right uh they're missing ten foot passes
everything's three to four steps slower
than you would you know normally watch
in any other european league
um
the quality is just it's just it's
lacking right and you know that going in
so you you have that as an appreciation
and i found myself sitting there kind of
going like well
why right like why did they
effectively
push away the fifa calendar why are they
going against the green calendar the
calendar right like that's kind of the
main thing i kept thinking because i
feel like that's the the biggest pain
point for them in
having
european quality talent right i think
that there's a number of problems
obviously but
the
consistency or the inconsistency with
the calendar
um is a decision that they made what 30
years ago uh and why did they do that i
have a couple of theories one
is they looked at it and they said we're
going to try and capture
the latin market
latino market and in doing so they're
gonna be on song with the mexican league
they're going to be on song with the
south american mexican league is split
they're not even on well at the time the
mexican league was that way yeah right
right and that's what i mean so they
were like okay we're going to align with
effectively our neighbors
and continue to lean into that latin
market as opposed to
the european market now they couldn't
have foreseen that you know it would
have become huge it's ironic that
soccer football is in america has become
so big
despite what the mls does right like
it's not everything so i think i think
the thing that's interesting is mls has
lots of problems it is to be fair from a
business perspective doing really well
on some sort of ponzi scheme
thank you yeah
they do not make money on television
barely they don't dent ratings
locally some teams do okay lafc
um orlando is one of them orlando does
well locally but
they had a derby in new york and it was
empty right that's
bad right that should not happen um so
there's that there are local markets
that do seattle portland that's a really
working market uh you can see toronto
when it's good does well uh but dallas
is a catastrophe
that just doesn't work
there they are selling players all the
time um the galaxy are really dependent
on stars
i think
there are two big errors that i see
errors just issues that i see one is
it's run by nfl people who run it like
the nfl where they really do want stars
and they think that there is a
quarterback version of this game
where you can pit player against player
and aside from messi and ronaldo that's
not the history of the game it's really
there are maestros they are there are
players that transcend it but mostly
it's about your team being good
uh and we and our structure is not
designed to make teams right we don't
like to spread the wealth evenly we want
superstars that run the game like if it
was i'm sure if it was up to the mls
they changed the rules so that there's
one player on the team who cannot be
touched right like they would do
something
right
flag on the play right exactly and and i
and i i do think about the quality i do
think about pro rel i do think the
calendar thing is
it depends what we want to lean on like
what does the mls
want to be strategically right like in
the world soccer thing i think that's
the piece that's missing i think
business-wise they're doing well they
get the stadium experience they get that
there's local people but where do they
want to fit in in world football do they
want to be
part of latino do they want to be a con
me ball kind of that style or do they
want to be european and i think the fact
that it's both is the problem yeah it
has certainly has an identity crisis and
i think you know we were talking about
it before we started recording and um
i think the weather is way too much of a
factor for them and they're they're
avoiding intentionally and again these
are decisions that were made through 25
30 teams play in [ __ ] sweden shut the
[ __ ] up right in december and january
and and that's
that's where i'm like okay
they were going for
a lot of the summer months right where
you're not competing with the nfl nba
you're only competing but it makes for
bad soccer because you're playing when
it's 4 000 degrees exactly especially in
orlando down here right and and yeah so
you're already at a loss
for the quality and you are you're
you're putting more obstacles in the way
not removing them um but but again when
you're making these decisions in the mid
early 90s right whatever it was mid 90s
i think
there's a restart it's really garber
getting the league down to 10 and then
restarting so you really mls is sucky in
the 90s it's some other league and then
there's a rebirth like in 2002 or
something okay sure but so let's call it
o2
why don't you then
upset the apple card and go okay we're
going to go on the european schedule now
because
you're trying to keep it sustainable
right you're not worried about what it
can be what it might be and again
there's something
sustainable by virtue of a franchise
model the league isn't going anywhere i
understand
yeah no no what i'm saying is growing it
into
what would effectively be if you're if
you're weaponizing all the quality of
the
theoretically of the united states and
all that money that you're waiting to to
kind of rake in
you're not worried about the ceiling
you're worried about being legitimate
essentially and
um
where
where a lot of the other leagues come in
again in o2 there was no renaissance
there was no espn or nbc i mean espn was
very very brilliant
but there is a there is now
more place and more value in live sports
than ever
i think the other issue is
that i think was probably unforeseen
is
2013
nbc
rebecca lowe broadcasting yeah every
game into the us and basically going
this is what real football looks like
not two games a week not just arsenal
not just men united once a week with
mecca and ian dark where you kind of was
on but a full-on onslaught we are going
to take
the most established popular league i
don't know if it's the best quality
that's that's to be debated
it is
a built-in
english speaking historically known
league that just basically saturated the
entire us market and while the ratings
are not great just
be clear about that like an mls game on
a sunday night does okay and to this day
and it's
very
racist i don't have a better way to put
it or whatever that mexican league games
in the us are the most watched games in
the u.s period full stop don't tell me
that mls is bigger the fact is club
america on a saturday night on
television in the us spanish language or
otherwise is the biggest game on
television sure it's bigger than men
united liverpool it just is right so
that's an important piece and so right
now garber is now trying to like
be in both places you have everyone
being rebranded fc
and getting european money and trying to
sell to europe
culture while culturally trying to be
connected to south america and and the
other thing is how do you
the question is is does do off does all
football float all boats
right does the premier league float
football in this country
no that's a question i don't know and i
think i don't think so to your point
what it it could
it could
if the mls
really was a path to the premier league
exactly
right
then you would you would say if we could
have like the relationship as like the
championship like this team is coming up
you see nikola pepe goes from dallas
to
a championship club like bournemouth
into
aston villa
then you have a path of just like oh my
guy went from here to there right yeah
but that's not really happening our
players are going to germany that's not
is that lifting germany
i think it's they we talked about it a
while ago it's it's creating and
it's finding and monetizing an
inefficiency you know who it's lifting
is rb leipzig you know germany yeah
that's what i mean right in terms of
quality but then they have their other
problem like they can't really get
traction either the thing is with
germany it's not just american players
young english players are going to
germany too they just are the place to
grow because the germans like i'm not
paying for this because we have a cap we
don't have sheiks
we don't do it this way there's only one
rich team and it's bayern and they just
buy the the cream off the top right and
i will say yeah i got to see
um spurs rumored legend alexander pato
the man who was linked to oh that guy
every now oh that guy every window for
about a decade holy [ __ ] he still made a
glass and it was funny like he like he
would make a run and then he would just
stop and be like you guys stink like
[Laughter]
it was awesome he was actually coming up
he was famous because he had like one
incredible season
he had actually had three the three
seasons at ac milan and then just died
yes right he just went everywhere he had
one half of a loan at chelsea and now
he's like kind of hanging out at orlando
but he's been gone forever the funny
thing is about some of these guys is
he's still just 32 but his legend has
left him yeah
and uh i think we should probably
transition to another legend uh and that
is ollie gunner sochar who's a [ __ ]
legend at manchester united but in our
champions league roundup we can go
through all the games but there's really
only one story and it's
united getting saved again
ola getting saved again
i just don't know what to do with this
team this is what they do
uh they
go down two goals at home
it's fred and mctominay it's the same
crew they run it all back
uh lindelof gets done for a goal
doesn't close someone down maguire gets
done for a goal and a set piece again
uh he doesn't seem to move refrigerator
uh mcguire and united are down at the
half and as texted the i texted you and
chartered just like please [ __ ]
christ let this happen again
but to allah's credit and the one thing
that he does have
with this team
aside from tactics and patterns which we
know he doesn't is there is a connection
to the crowd to the passion to the to
the energy and passion of united right
that's the one thing that i give all a
credit for he
somehow as a legend is connected
at a visceral
people level right like yeah the crowd
at united once they got their goal from
rashford it was an amazing goal
rashford made a run that i don't know
how he saw it to make the run and that's
his best trait and fernandez made a pass
that
is one of these like these two guys are
[ __ ] incredible and i think rashford
does make it different for them he's
been out and he scores it takes takes it
really well
and then old trafford just turns to
[ __ ] an attack war zone
to levels of anfield it just did and
that's amazing about united they have
i'm jealous
city does not have that that's what
people when people say empty head that's
what they mean yeah city does not turn
into
a
pack of [ __ ] joyous attack wolves
that are ready for blood and want to see
their team just kill anything that moves
it just doesn't have that let's go back
to
let's go back to rashford for a second
because like you said he was he's great
and as you said he was he was out for a
while and united were sorely missing him
despite the fact that they have sancho
and they have bruno and they have
ronaldo and all these stars he's right
he's different from them though but he's
the well
and and from a tactical perspective and
i'll let you get into that in a second
but
he transfers that olay
that that old spirit of united is
he is one of their own is exactly what i
was about to say so yeah that matters
that [ __ ] matters and that's one of
the
dna through lines of ferguson is
we want our kids in the team class of 92
all that stuff it matters he's i think
united had and i'm not even exaggerating
had something like 30 seasons in a row
where a kid from the academy made their
debut like it's been part of something
that they do and that goes back to busby
that goes back to 50s that goes back to
the munich air disaster that goes all
the way back so that's part of
the whole thing right um and as much as
you love seeing ronaldo when it's when
it is one of your own and i know this as
well as anybody it hits different right
and it's
it creates this that's my [ __ ] guy
and you just instead of ronaldo doing
something good where you're like oh my
god he's so incredible it's like that
that could have been me out there i love
it even more it goes even more because
it become it goes into the local part
like not only is rashford a united kid
he's from manchester yes he's from the
ghetto it would be as though
it would be as though
derek jeter had been from the bronx
right but
when you're down to nothing boom
explosion right when you're down two
nothing at halftime bruno fernandez is
annoyed right jason is annoyed
but rashford is disgusted rashford is
saying this the things in the locker
room that they're saying in the terraces
right he's the same person yes and
that's the important thing is that he's
the guy who's getting there in players
faces and saying get your [ __ ] together
we're gonna go with this oh there was a
controversy after the game
ole
basically called him out to the mat of
just like now you can start focusing on
football as a as as though rashford was
like not
like feeding kids
was yeah was i'm like ollie you're an
idiot you picked the wrong dude like
yeah
i was like yeah you know what maybe
feeding kids is more important than
playing football i'm just so we'll talk
about united a lot more in the second
half of the show uh before their
upcoming game against liverpool let's
keep it moving to chelsea who
roll right through with i think there's
a four nothing win but that's really not
the headline right um they're going to
lose teemo werner which you could argue
is addition by subtraction but lukaku
went down as well
is there the latest on lukaku have you
heard anything i haven't heard anything
it was a knock the guy just went through
him and malmo were [ __ ] awful they
had two shots none on target you know
this was a complete master class like
these are where the champions league
you're just like no
they're oh and three
haven't scored a goal and given up 11.
like this is
also i want to say malmo also the club
that um
only gunner still shower was the coach
for before he came to united so that's
the level we're talking about so uh
through line there but yeah i think the
big thing for you for for chelsea is
they're both out a month at least
yeah pretty bad ones muscular ones a
real knock like somebody went through
lukaku uh lukaku is really good about
coming back the irony of it was was that
tukul was saying this week oh he's
mentally tired oh he's fatigued and then
he played him against malmo what the
[ __ ] are you doing like one out of one
mouth into the other
if there is a team that can handle it
it's it's it's chelsea like it might
mean
now that
um
havarts has to play the nine it might
mean that
you know mount will play all the time so
they have the players it might shift how
they play they may end up actually being
more creative
and have to play more like city do with
the rotating pieces everywhere versus
this number nine that kind of doesn't
press so they actually might be better
uh one of the things just one thing to
go back on you mentioned about united
the difference that rashford makes
is he's the only one of their frontline
guys that just runs
they all want to come to the ball sancho
wants to be on the ball ronaldo wants to
be on the ball he goes fernandez wants
to be on the ball he's the only one he
kind of plays for an analogy plays more
like vardy right he just goes and if you
see the balls the way that fernandez
does it makes a difference because
everything just starts to open up so
that's just the difference in terms of
play
but yeah i mean this was easy for them
they had no problem chelsea move on and
shouldn't have a problem with anything
they have the depth to handle it and
then they they have a really
like chelsea are lucky they have a get
healthy stretch like they're gonna
they're gonna prepare for the narrative
to be that chelsea are gonna win the
league here are their next four fixtures
norwich southampton
newcastle malmo again burnley yeah they
don't play anyone
then they play
leicester and united but that's gonna be
15 points for 15. easily for sure unless
something goes wrong
well sure which could happen but like
you walk into those going and we'll talk
about it in the best bet segment heavily
heavily 500 plus favorites right yeah
yeah so so so luca so so even
chelsea have a little wobble they lose
some of their guys
but
they have about as easy as schedule as
they can have they're also i wanna yeah
the the forgotten man the for the
actually forgotten man it's christian
pool is sick who is hurt again but the
forgotten man for me is uh hakum ziak
who i think is he's coming back from a
knock i don't know exactly but he seems
like he's also this is this is what i
brought up when they when when lampard
was there i was like
this team is tiny
oh yeah you know absolutely the front
line guys they have guys with steel but
that group of
mount ziac
havertz
last season i just always thought that
they were and werner i thought that they
were always too small and that's kind of
you could push them off the ball and
then giorgino sorry i forgot about him
and then kante is plays like a giant but
he's
five yeah he's 130 pounds soaking wet
and so you can muscle them
yeah no you absolutely can but i think
that they'll like we said
they're
getting hurt at the right time i suppose
right if there ever was a time to have
you're also going to have another
international break in there in a few
weeks now in three weeks i think um so
realistically when you hear when you
hear
like lukaku is gonna miss a month you're
like [ __ ]
that's gonna be five or six games um but
it's it's realistically it's gonna
effectively become
uh probably two to three and when like
we said when we look at the schedule
it's really not many at all so um let's
get into liverpool one of the games
getting a water
one of the uh games of the early part of
the games of the season um and it's
you know um liverpool back and forth
back and forth griezmann with uh the
the shout out
the gordy howard hat trick i was going
to say the lamella eric women was
special um two goals in a red card uh
to bring to bring atletico level yeah
the place goes bonkers because it's away
at madrid
uh
again this was van dyke's probably worst
defensive showing yeah since he's been
back
uh and this was the best game griezmann
has played he's kind of slowly getting
back into the good graces of the real of
the of the athletic fans being like i
want to leave i want to go to barcelona
go to barcelona like you're a [ __ ]
athletic player and we have messi i want
to leave barsa i want to go back to
atlanta well speaking of ponzi schemes
right we talked about a few weeks ago
how barsa basically got had
in that deal so
uh with the end of the 140 sold them for
40. yeah yeah that's what it was um
but yeah i mean you know in liverpool
once they went a man up even though it
was only griezmann it wasn't like they
lost any shape and it was so the funny
thing about it was
when you watch it in real time it just
looked like a little regular high boot
but once you saw it in replay i was like
oh he [ __ ] yeah he's gotta go
he's gotta go although we did not talk
about this because arsenal had played
the foul by mccarthy on saka is one of
the worst non-red cards i've ever seen
in my entire life he literally
[ __ ]
kicked him just straight up like the way
you would be if you were a soccer player
yes that's correct
you would not you would be the john joe
shelvey of uh of granite jacka i think
yeah oh you feel shocked yeah yeah i
would go a little bit jakka
i'm calling you lee cattermole without
the pants pulled up would you stick your
shirt i like that your pants
no no i would let it flow oh yeah yeah
when i played hockey i did the gretsky
talk but that's not okay um okay i don't
like i don't like players who's tucks
their shirts in
i get no i don't either in football i
don't i find it i find that appalling
like i said it's like your mother
dressed you yeah it's like i see kieran
tierney i'm like well you pull the
[ __ ] shirt out
yeah and
rodri
you're running late for physics class
like shut the [ __ ] up you [ __ ] nerd
get out um pull your shirt out so a
bonus a bonus uh europe conversation is
going to be
mourinho's uh roma i almost said
mourinho spurs oh god help me uh
to be fair let's let's give liverpool a
little bit more sure salah scored again
i believe he's on 10 in a row uh in
games where he scored he's is he the
best player in europe right now is there
anybody
yeah no i mean like we said i think week
or so ago he's having an all-time season
so far um
and it's
you know
this team
reminds a lot of the 2013-14 season
because like you said they can't defend
i know a friend of the show bj was
asking us uh when liverpool stopped
scoring what's gonna happen they're not
they're not gonna stop scoring they're
not going to uh unless they all get hurt
which is a possibility just like
if the entire front line gets hurt
instead and his point there is the
african cup of nations where salah and
money do go uh for they're supposed to
go who scored the goal keita scored a
[ __ ] worldly and then got done in the
game so you saw a little bit of both of
kedah he's just too small and doesn't
defend well enough uh but
i do i do i would be worried for
liverpool in terms of scoring it's going
to take it's going to be
a pairing
that we haven't seen it'll be
firmino origi
giotta
as the grouping
and maybe
maybe there's a a a
a midfielder who can go up front i don't
know if harvey not jelly
james miller can play anywhere and do
anything what are you talking james
milner starting striker god what a
[ __ ] legend uh and and maybe they'll
just go defensive maybe they they'll
finally accept that um that trent
alexander arnold is not a fullback and
he can play on the way
well for me and uh i mean i'm waiting to
see if thiago makes that step forward
because he's never gonna make the step
forward and now he gets hurt all the
time wow that's why he thinks
it's it's they're they're gonna they're
gonna need to call on some depth uh but
i i still have more of the way that look
the way that they have robbo and trent
playing
they're not going to be wanting for
offense even when money and salah aren't
there they'll have a hard time scoring
but they'll have a harder time scoring
but the thing is like i said it reminds
a lot of the 2013-14 season van dyke is
not your father's van dyke anymore and
he may get there
he you can tell he's still working back
from the injury though and this is not a
slight on the guy he had a very bad knee
injury and he's not a spring chicken so
that makes sense right um i think they
have to go i think the key thing for
them is i don't know how injured gomez
was but they need a
they need to spell him they need a more
athletic they need to do something
because i think this is the one issue
that i always have at liverpool and i've
been thinking about it for years is it's
still the same group like they might
show fight but it's still the same group
and uh it's still
the same mourinho
i'm so excited about this graphic for
those of you listening um
we've we've put some production value
into the show today and we've got the
marine the famous mourinho uh cupping
the ear uh with mourinho's roma loses
six to one
they went somewhere very far away that i
have to figure out where the hell i
don't even know where it is i'm looking
it up now the best part is that uh it
did not make spurs
bad loss
the worst loss of today oh they played
somewhere called
a two-named place like brighton and hull
of alvin yeah is this bodo gimlet
oh i don't even know but like b-o-d
hoiberg o
slash
it's like it's like somewhere from lord
of the rings yeah it's bilbo baggins
gimlet so okay when you look at let's
stop and move back first let's just put
it this way this team that they lost to
didn't have a logo in google search
no um they do on fat mob but
the point is that they're in the europa
conference league which we've talked
about very sparingly because it's
embarrassing uh there's two teams
realistically if you go through
there's like some that you recognize the
names of three ren
roma and tottenham that's it everybody
else is like maybe you've heard of them
from europa league that's it
uh
two of those three lost this this week
so it's uh it's anyone's game i suppose
but it's it's it's a heavily rotated um
heavily rotated
side for mourinho um and for spurs um
but they both go down in
pretty spectacular fashion specifically
roma um
we're starting what was the tweet you
saw it was year three gets earlier and
earlier every year
or every club he goes to i mean yeah it
took you year three came early yeah the
town is called
i just played it on wikipedia while you
were talking
and uh it is in
northern norway which is basically the
ass freezing [ __ ]
of coldville yeah basically this is
where santa is from
[Laughter]
right if they are just from the ass cold
[ __ ] of coldville is
the
average let's see let's see the
daily mean
in july is 56 degrees
wow
[Laughter]
in july it's so it's [ __ ] cold it's
[ __ ] [ __ ] cold no wonder you're
spouting off about his reserve team i
know he had to [ __ ] go there and
freeze his dick off and
that's amazing you know what the
municipality is located just north of
the arctic circle just so people wanted
to
you know what he [ __ ] deserves
nothing better [ __ ] that
his cold heart found a special place for
[ __ ] grit it's like great town of
grinch anyway spurs this is where roma
went to lose six
one this is fantastic did they go by
boat like what the [ __ ] were they doing
and that is far like from rome to there
is just like from like the center of
civilization in history to a town that
when rome was at its peak was basically
people [ __ ] bears so he went up there
to the bear [ __ ] town and got [ __ ]
by the bear [ __ ] yeah yeah so
jose mourinho yeah just just just
mourinho i think
sees that newcastle job
he sees that it's high profile he he did
get early chelsea if you remember he was
the first uh under abramovic but that
team had finished second the year before
so let's just be fair about uh that
chelsea team it was not the same it was
really good um and so he's gonna go to
newcastle this is my prediction because
he's famous uh hopefully and we'll see
what happens there uh i think he's
angling for it he literally said the
other day
i have a little bit of my soul with
newcastle because i was bobby robson's
translator oh my god
[ __ ]
um
there's already sort of a cup final
feeling with newcastle and spurs because
of a uh the fact that we were the first
game that after that b i [ __ ] hate
their fans we haven't explored graphics
next we do
there he is steve bruce is finally gone
i wish we had a gift that his head
rolled away oh man
the higher production value than we can
afford right now but uh steve bruce
finally gets the sack um i you didn't i
felt bad for him um because
i felt bad for him after i read his
quote which i have to hunt down yeah it
was he was called a cabbage head by the
fans um no he called himself a cabbage
head no no no he was like i've been
tired of getting called a cabbage head
essentially some something along those
lines but you know he you read that and
you're like
okay we do a lot of joking on the show
we're like that guy might kill himself
like that's a that's a that's a real
possibility here like somebody make sure
they keep an eye on him at all times so
i'm gonna read the quote it's really sad
and my quote on our board was this
sounds like a conversation i have with
my therapist about how my parents felt
about me when we get beat i get very low
and when you're managing in the premier
league you do get better at dealing with
it you have to let's see if i can't do
steve bruce i thought i could handle
everything thrown at me but it has been
very very very tough
to never really be wanted and to feel
that people wanted me to fail to read
people constantly saying i would fail
and that i was useless a fat waste of
space
a stupid tactic tactically inept cabbage
head or whatever and it was from day one
he's he's now he's now his watch has
ended now his watch
he's from the area that matters to
jordy's because it's
relative scale it's in the middle of
nowhere for england but it's really just
like it's the difference between
england's bear [ __ ] yeah yeah yeah
england's bear [ __ ] um
but the thing was was that he managed
sunderland and once he did that he's
immediately disqualified from anything
resembling newcastle this is like blood
feud beyond blood food what would be a
good example it's like a college
football rivalry that no one cares about
except them in the middle of nowhere
like boise vs idaho like something like
that right
what who cares you have a green field i
mean a blue field what's wrong with you
people but it's like that game and
you're just like why like the red river
rivalry something ridiculous but
sunderland new newcastle is blood feud
and sunderland disappeared they had
their own show which you know if you
want to watch sadness at a level of doom
it hits the sunderland until i die
documentary on netflix it's so sad that
it's as sad as steve bruce's comment
like it's like an embodiment of steve
bruce being said something's going on in
that area but anyway they hate him for
that and he was he should know that they
were never gonna love him
for that yeah right that's fair and and
and rafa was so good at pr
and would get in with the fans even
though the football was just as shitty
he spun it better yeah unlike steve
bruce he'd be like well
we were unlucky like no you can't
[ __ ] keep saying you're unlucky
like
change the lock yeah so uh but he's
loved by his players alan say maxum man
our favorite player of the year
um wrote a really lovely piece about how
great a guy he was of them hugging and
that that that gave me something like
the players love you i have respect for
you but steve bruce 20 years a thousand
games managed across all competitions
had some moments
but i think he's one of these things
where his generation of manager is dying
out
yeah a 442 english blood and thunder
drink
and don't take care of yourself
type of managers yeah look at him
like
style of play of sean dyke but i don't
even think but he didn't have like the
analytics side like those guys that play
the simeone style
they are now like yes we play simeone
style but we're completely aware of it i
think bruce was playing that way but
just wasn't even aware of
what it meant or how it worked
he was like this is how we play blah
blah blah because we're not good enough
whereas daish is like we're not good
enough this is how we play versus yeah
this is how we play because we're not
good enough versus we're not good enough
this is how we play i know that's like a
little difference but it's it's an
important one it's like he's not even
aware of how bad they are yeah they just
play that way
sean dyche doesn't have anybody the
caliber of alan st maximin not even
at all if he did
if he did he might let him be free but i
think he doesn't want him i think he
likes these guys that are all filled
with muscle and makes them all wear ties
because that's just
and that's the last time we're going to
talk about burley uh for the rest of the
year uh do we do we wanna until they
take points off one of our teams and we
curse and scream do they wanna do we
wanna talk about joe
yeah how's joe doing joe
joe of attitude of gratitude we don't
have our banners anymore we love joe
he's helped mike afford his wedding he's
helped me start saving money for
aveline's eventual therapy
so joe of attitude
gratitude consulting has been a wonder
he's more in the tactical sense he's
your he's a very
he's the pep guardiola of finding money
that you need very adept very intense
make sure that you take care of
everything you need make sure you're not
paying more make sure you're not double
dipping like hey your youtube
subscription and your sling tv
subscription has an overlap of 80
channels why don't you just get rid of
one of them
what a great idea so
he really asks you those questions to
help you find the money you need to save
money and move yourself forward so check
out joe
attitude of gratitude
consulting dot com and let him know that
the chop sports media group sent you to
him
in new jersey
where chops is
still
all right now back to the football um we
have a
we have a friday game we are excited we
do know we do we
this yeah we might dip in and out of the
best bet segment at this point because
yeah i think you're right i think
there's
it's weird uh
i'm almost telling you not to watch the
games on saturday because there's not a
whole heck of a lot of interest there um
but
friday sounds fun
and i disagree sunday watch all the
games they're [ __ ] awesome football's
awesome i'm an advocate
yeah that's fair all right but um yeah i
i think that um arsenal versus aston
villa
uh
tomorrow well friday 3 p.m get your
weekend started early now you know here
here's the thing right arsenal played on
monday
pulled it out of their ass late
now they don't have european games i
understand that that's fine
but to have to play on a monday and then
a friday is weird
that's two
out of the ordinary games that you would
not play at that time at a normal time
yeah so not so much that they can't do
it but that it's unusual
makes me feel
like arsenal
could be in trouble in this game
i think they could be in trouble because
ville is a better team than them um
yeah but they are at home and they're at
home you know arsenal at home is a
pretty good bet but they have not been
playing well and i think that frankly
you know crystal palace should have won
that game they were a goal they lost in
the final minute and my favorite player
outside of allen say maxima they are the
yin and yang one is a white blonde
haired guy and the other one is a black
french african who wears headbands
they're like mirrors of each other
they're the ying and yang of my favorite
players if they played together oh my
god gallagher at newcastle please i
can't even talk about it that just got
my [ __ ] arms hair standing up with
those two playing together it'd be crazy
anyway um but villa
are plus three favorite plus 300
underdogs that's ridiculous that's a
little silly
like nobody should be a plus 300
underdog against our arsenal just no
they're not good enough to get that much
respect
look villa's been waffling we were high
on villa i don't remember
they've had some top like they just
got their teeth kicked in against
wolves it was really bad yeah that was a
really bad loss and maybe that's where
the plus 300 is coming from i think the
biggest miss we had
about players and teams so far probably
was villa but as a relate
as it relates to it emmy bondia hasn't
been what we've expected to be
playing he has well he hasn't that's the
point is that he while he's done a lot
of that traveling that i complained
about all the spurs players doing but
yeah even early he wasn't taking games
by the scruff of the neck like you were
sort of waiting for him to do and we're
not saying against giant uh competition
here against
you know the wolves of the league right
that's a game and i'm not saying he
didn't play against again but like he
should be much more of a staple and if
he was early on he would have been
playing more
so yeah i think i think the big issue
for them was they were trying to
integrate bayley and he got hurt after
they won that game
when dia has been playing
more
uh but i don't think he's come
necessarily to affect them just yet
and the partnership between watkins and
um
between watkins
and ings is not really materialized but
the best player on villa is john mcginn
so please keep an eye on him he plays
sort of the box to box
midfielder uh with louise who's a holder
and i still really like villa it's just
i think they just need a little bit more
time it's hard to integrate
and change the way you play from
greelish who basically dominated the
ball non-stop yeah and slowed everything
down if you watch city you kind of can
go [ __ ] will you just move the ball
uh and buendia will get there but right
now mcginn's been keeping them afloat
uh they've been having defensive issues
it feels like tyrone ming's makes a
stupid mistake every game
uh and they they really shouldn't have
lost to
uh wolves bad goals a deflected goal off
the ass into on a free kick in the 95th
minute is what did them in
but uh you know
we shall see the prediction by who
scored is a two-two draw which uh that'd
be fun
um would be awesome yeah exactly one
thing that's important to note and i
don't know if that accounts for this but
according to dean smith bertrand troyer
and
um leon bailey will be in the squad will
they start that's a good question um but
will they will they
you know they will be in the squad so i
think that that's a boost that villa
desperately needs uh yeah just something
else something to break down and so um
i'm i mean i'm riding with you on villa
i know that's one of your best bets but
i'm doing it too and then
tierney and saka are both
unavailable and basically that's
arsenal's offense exactly
so i i'm i'm going in and again
you kind of have to play how the bounces
go right arsenal got a bounce last time
that they didn't deserve so that they
there's nothing
like they get their comeuppance like the
premier league
does not mess around except for
liverpool which i guess is undefeated
cosmically all the time but like if you
get one you're going to lose one
somewhere down the line pretty soon it
did 96 people's lives
jesus christ
so so that's going to be the good one i
think so it's just it's just kind of
payback right it's right they did
sacrifice a lot to the football they did
they did literally
horrible horrible
horrible even listen i'm a [ __ ] i'm a
scum come at me liverpool fans that's
true
um again i'm not really all that and
thrilled like thrilled with the saturday
slate uh aside from the late game which
is brighton man city which i'm gonna let
you have a moment that i mean that's but
the thing is so to most people that game
means nothing right that is a game that
that no one cares about except me right
that is a fun game last game of the
season after city had won the league
brighton did win this game 3-2 it was a
barn burner i am less
sorry
i am
[Music]
less enthralled with brighton without
basuma who is apparently out on bail and
training oh my god
uh because i'm really following this i'm
like reading the [ __ ] brighton argos
the local newspaper to try and find out
when like
so because i'm i feel bad like i really
had a lot invested in him and he
apparently
committed assault in a
you know i hope it didn't happen he was
arrested they're still investigating i
don't know how that works like don't you
just know
uh but i do i do i'm giving him the
benefit of the doubt and i am going on
the uh being black in england uh defense
like they just kinda arrested us just
because
just cause he's like i'm french this is
how we do things so i don't know what's
gonna happen with basuma but without
basuma
that team is not going to be able to do
what i thought it could do nah and so
but they're still playing well they're
still in the top four still
so it is a top four clash
it quite literally is that's fair
cannot take that away from you and i'm
afraid uh you know they have players
they get into position this is a perfect
example between united and brighton
brighton are not as talented as united
not even one player would get into the
united starting 11 not one
not even on their bench
but they have a coach they have a way to
play they know what they're gonna do
outside of the top four they are the
number one passing team in terms of
total passes they have a way to play and
if you [ __ ] up
they will beat you
trossard will put a weird goal on you
and you'll be like how the [ __ ] are we
losing to brighton then secretly they
actually have a good defense
it's not all offense uh they they sold
ben white who actually is a liability on
defense don't tell anybody and replaced
him who with a defender who they had had
on loan and we're just like oh we set
you on loan because we wanted to show
off ben white and now they bring um duff
and dunkey duffett dunk and duffy are
back together again and kick an ass the
way they always were so
we'll see what happens if lampd can come
back i think
then i'll be back in love with uh with
brighton but i am worried for my friend
basuma because he was
like
he was the guy that spurred me he either
united cry for he's the guy that if
fernandinho goes city should grab him
he's the guy who's like that next
big
strong
french defensive midfielder who's
cultured on the ball and just needs to
add goals and instead he added prison
and so that's
bad yeah i love him
uh i'm gonna go right into my bets
because um i just think it's time we're
just gonna blast through them
so
the first bet is a little bit of a
tricky one uh actually let's go with the
villa villa plus 300 is a slam dunk i
think that dean smith is a good coach he
will push this team forward they'll get
that win in arsenal i mean i could do
draw no bet maybe down the road but i i
like villa plus 300 to win outright away
from home especially without saka and
tierney then i took a love bet i took
brighton plus one
at plus 130 so that means that brighton
has a one goal lead going into the game
automatically city have to win by more
than one
scary then for the united game
i am giving a hat tip and a
acknowledgement that they do fight to
the end and they do have cristiano so i
have united to score last at plus 110
win or lose i love the prop i love that
yeah and then the other one is
liverpool to be drawn at halftime and
then win in the end at plus 500. so i'm
a big fan of that i like to do those
every so often it's and the important
thing about that is
draw at half time is arguably the most
likely outcome just because and and in a
in a
liverpool man united game maybe not
necessarily but well historically it has
been but the way these two teams are
playing now is a little different yeah
yeah i just um
i enjoy
like watching
a zero zero like that's it's almost so
predictable you're like all right these
teams are going to turn on the second
half they're going to come out they're
going to be sluggish they're going to be
you know kind of discombobulated and you
can get that value and it's effectively
like a mini parlay right um it's a mini
it is a mini parlay yes right so you've
got draw and then liverpool to win plus
500 throw some shackles on that i like
that a lot yeah now the only the only
thing i'm concerned about with this draw
liverpool win is how bad united are in
the first half of games right which is
why i took the united to score last bit
so it's almost a hedge within it
yeah
because you know they'll they'll they
may come out get the doors blown off
them in the first five minutes 10
minutes and then have to fight their way
back at the end of the game to get the
draw so
i'm not sure if how that will work but i
did like the it was juicy at draw
draw win plus 500 is just that's a big
number oh absolutely
and then what else did you have that is
that all the the brighton plus one plus
130 so right so right now getting a goal
to start the united last score and then
yes that's right that's right and so for
me i like i said i've been talking [ __ ]
about saturday uh and the slate but
sunday's great um you've got west ham
and spurs and bradford lester
simultaneously we almost had a brentford
free pod
almost almost um i'm
going to go
i'm going to parlay the over on both
games west ham spurs and brentford
lester both why would you why do you why
do you like west ham spurs as an over
because spurs are going to give up a
goal
and they're going to win 2-1
fair enough
and spurs
well yeah that and spurs can't defend
and west ham just played on thursday
yeah
i think
undefeated in europe the moyes boys well
they're gonna be defeated on sunday at
home um i think that spurs win that game
but more importantly i think the over
caches and i think that brentford
leicester city is going to be a bit of a
barn burner in fact i might watch that
instead of west ham todd i'm excited
about that at home at home brentford at
home really good i do have one thing
that just popped into my head and oh i
know what it was
if you do watch west ham spurs
just watched declan rice we are seeing
the emergence of a great
english midfielder he is
a guy when you watch west ham and it's
not your team you go [ __ ] that dude's
good
he's everywhere he has a weird kind of
he looks like he's gonna splatter into
people he's giant he kind of moves funny
i wouldn't say he's fast his gate is odd
so he has a he does catch the eye he
doesn't look
like a footballer he's kind of tall
no so he's the same size as pogba but
runs
he looks like a guy he looks like a
tight end
yeah he's kind of goofy
and uh he loves it he clearly plays for
the shirt he and mason mount were both
in the chelsea youth squad together and
and he had to move on i do have
i have a question for you i don't know
you try and find this out somebody out
there trying to find this out
because i couldn't do it
i keep thinking about chelsea and all
these teams
what
team
has the most
players in the league that debuted for
them
the most wait sorry the mo so let's say
in the league what team has produced the
most premier league players oh oh i see
uh no it's chelsea of course it is it
has to be right has to be
has to be because they they splinter
everybody out right like with the lone
army we talk about it all the time but i
i wonder if it's united with like the
one or two a year
because oh you mean because they never
make they
no no i i mean currently like what i
mean because
we know the academy produces players but
are they making debuts in the premier
league see that's the question i have
like we can go to the championship and
we can see this chelsea guys everywhere
but are there literally like if you were
to take the bios of every single team
player in the premier league who's made
an appearance how many of them started
at team y so you're saying from
premier league academies
well if it's probably really what you
have if it's premier league academies
it's got to be chelsea it has to be it
has to be yeah no it's chelsea
definitely uh wait let me get all my
bets who made their new debuts the most
what team has had the most debut oh for
their own club or
that yes they could have debuted with
their own club yes okay i'm sorry so
like conor gallagher wouldn't count for
chelsea he would count for
uh palace
but uh see that's the thing right he
never played he i don't think gallagher
ever played for chelsea but i would
count him as a debut i see that's where
it gets [ __ ] yeah like billy gilmore
does count for chelsea and he did play
for chelsea and another one more
question to your question is it premier
league or is it english football
like does the [ __ ] efl cup count
because then billy gilmore counts for
chelsea and not norwich right right and
then like there's a half a dozen
freaking city players who've showed up
yeah
then it gets kind of wacky and you're
like all right hold on this is enough
well by the way city have another uh
foden on their hands well no they don't
know that's incredible but uh uh cole
palmer really scored in his champions
league debut good for him man sort of a
a havats type tall
lanky finisher plays a little bit behind
a striker so city have another one that
it looks like they're trying to break in
but we'll see yeah city player is
breaking through if you think about
foden it basically took three years yeah
yeah
oh god yeah um all right let me give you
my so again spurs west ham and lester
branford both over two and a half that's
uh a partly at plus 2 30. um i've got
wolves money line uh they're going to
leads but i still like them to to take
the three points
wolves are good they have a better coach
i think like
nuno was kind of holding them back
they're still
they still haven't performed their xg
i like the bruno large thing
uh you know there's gotta be there's
gonna be a game where someone gets
triumphed
that i was gonna i was gonna do priority
to score in fact i haven't seen what he
is i'm gonna look at that actually
because you gotta you just it's gotta
happen right blind [ __ ] squirrel has
to find a nut at some point right like
i'm actually gonna look it up right now
what is adama triori to score
at leeds uh goals let's see
um he is
plus 300
come on guys maybe that's something we
sprinkle a little bit on as well uh but
you know what i would do try already to
score and wolves to win and that would
be like probably plus 500 um
and then
wolves expect if we do the expected
goals table
it's liverpool city both at liverpool's
at plus 12 plus 13 city at plus 12.
west ham plus four brentford plus three
and a half
everton plus three and a half wolves are
in the top five top six
in expected goal difference so i believe
that is the if you took their expected
goals and their expected goals against
you would get a team that is
uh underperforming by two goals and you
liverpool by the way is the best team in
the league right now no i know but so
i'm going to wait until the lineups come
out to decide i might do just moneyline
i might do triori to score and wolves to
win we'll see we'll see um but obviously
i'm gonna wait to see if he starts uh
and then the last one uh i have to have
some action on man united liverpool
right so i'm gonna go with both teams to
score
and liverpool to win uh plus 275. so i
like you said the the ronaldo factor
this seems kind of wacky another one
feels like the over might hit but there
was three and i just
it was two and a half i'd smash it but i
i mean three yeah two one two one is not
is that you gotta go over two one yeah
well two one like you said two one gets
you a draw right
the thing is there is a world where
liverpool
just [ __ ] annihilates oh that beats
the brakes off them absolutely
um
by the way i am going to the fan fest in
la
oh the premier league fan fest yes when
is that it will be on sunday
oh very cool oh maybe i'll be able to
give a shout out to rebecca lowe we'll
get her on the show yeah yeah wear your
shirt wear your shirt
which shirt the squeaky bum time shirt
you dope i don't know where it is uh for
christ's sake laurent you had one job um
i would i would be remiss uh if i didn't
mention that in the uh squeaky bum time
premier league fantasy league um i'm
eight no i'm undefeated uh i do not have
the most points though laurent and chary
have the most points by a khan's hair um
but we lost again we're we're the xg
darlings we're [ __ ] kicking you are
the xd
yeah we must have blown some teams out
really bad
oh yeah you have salah and money like of
course you do um in the second division
the b division because we do have
promotion relegation this year um
i don't even know how to say
meadslignika
is six and two and as poundtown strong
strong team names uh they're currently
tied for first but um
what's the relegation battle like in our
division
oh that's a good question um actually
it's funny to say
um hank and pete the uh the chelsea
romans army team they're currently in
dead last despite having the third most
points they're actually the xg darling
uh they're they're brightened
and they're in the relegation
yes joe connolly who called you out uh
had the upset last week he is still in a
relegation spot um but only by one game
so there's two teams that are three and
five and two teams that are two and six
uh on nine points and then six
respectively obviously so yeah there's a
there's a lot more to play for this year
so the top four might be playing i gotta
wrap it up or else we won't be able to
stream this thing
all right all right get us out of here
that was the squeaky bump time podcast
with mike salerno and laurent corteans
we are the football wing of the chop
sports network we record on tuesdays and
fridays so be sure to subscribe wherever
you get your podcast so you never miss
an episode please please find a way to
rate and review on apple i'm actually
calling you people out no one has
reviewed this show
since
march
so give us a goddamn review may whatever
march may it started with him so you
know what just keep listening we love
you
okay
