This episode of Guardian Football Weekly, hosted by Max Rushden with Sid Lowe, Nicky Bandini, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Philippe Auclair, covers a busy week in European football. The panel discusses Manchester United's possible sacking of head coach Michael Carrick and whether candidates such as Maurizio Pochettino or Antonio Conte could succeed him.
They also look at Real Madrid under José Mourinho, Barcelona's win over Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Roma's unbeaten starts in Serie A, and the controversy around Lazio defender Romano Mussolini. Further segments cover Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and the Felix Metscher row, Paris FC's rise in Ligue 1, and the FIFA presidency race.
Listeners will hear the contributors' views on club leadership, managerial authority and the pressures players face.
In this episode Max Rushden, Archie Rhind-Tutt, Nicky Bandini, Philippe Auclair, Sid Lowe
This Guardian Football Weekly episode on Europe's football week was made with HappyScribe's automatic meeting notes technology, the same tool behind the transcript.
Ads in this audio differ from the text. Tap the sentence you're hearing to follow along.
Synced: the text now follows the audio.
This is The Guardian.
Tief unter der Pariser Oper verbirgt sich eine Welt voller Geheimnisse: eine große Liebe, eine dramatische Dreiecksgeschichte und Musik, die seit Generationen in ihren Bann zieht. Erlebe Cameron McIntoshs spektakuläre Neu-Produktion von Andrew Lloyd Webbers, "Das Phantom der Oper", bei der Deutschlandpremiere in Köln. Dich erwartet ein aufwendig inszenierter Musicalabend voller Spannung, Leidenschaft und einem schillernden Bühnenbild. Jetzt Tickets sichern auf phantom-der-oper.de.
Sag mal, wie viel Datenvolumen hast du eigentlich?
Boah, keine Ahnung. Genug, dass ich's nie aufbrauche. Seit ich bei Frank bin, mache ich mir darüber ehrlich gesagt gar keine Gedanken mehr.
Hä? Wie jetzt?
Na ja, überall heißt es doch: mehr Gigabyte, noch mehr Gigabyte. Dabei geht's doch darum, was du wirklich brauchst. Und das gibt's bei Frank: verlässliches Netz, keine versteckten Kosten und einfach weniger Stress.
Genau darum geht's bei Frank. Nicht immer mehr, sondern weniger Gedanken an deinen Mobilfunk. Frank. 25 Gigabyte für 10 € monatlich. Jetzt App laden und sofort starten mit der eSIM.
Hello and welcome to The Guardian Football Week. Clear Euro-pod, so we'll obviously begin with Manchester United. Carrick, due to get the sack, perhaps Pochettino in. Don't worry, we won't spend too long on that, because Sid is barreling in for part one to tell us if Barca can shake off José this season. And we'll salute Valencia's Pablo Mafeio's deconstruction of a halftime interview during a halftime interview. Niki can talk about Lazio and Roma, both unbeaten in Serie A, Mussolini's great-grandson, and Inter making Como look not as good as Lons did. I feel like I've asked Archie this before: but can Dortmund keep up with Bayern this season? We'll discuss the uncomfortable relationship Felix Metzsche has with some of the Dortmund fans too.
Felipe will do Liga. And give us some FIFA, of course. Always play the hits. All that, which is quite a lot. Your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Archie Wynton. Welcome.
Hi.
Hello, Niki Bandini.
Morning.
Bonjour, ça va? Felipe au clair.
Salut, Max.
Salut. I like you waved like you're on Celebrity Squares. That's exciting. Good for the YouTube. Playing to the YouTube crowd. And in Bilbao, Sid Lowe. Hey, Sid.
Good morning, Max. How are you?
I'm very well, thanks for asking. Let's start then with the Manchester United news overnight. Jamie Jackson writing in The Paper they're moving towards sacking Michael Carrick. No final decision's been made by Jason Wilcox, who is leading the review after the head coach was given the Chelsea, Roma, and Villa games to turn results around. Wilcox has been consulting with Omar Barrada, the chief executive. You know all these characters by now. Before a recommendation regarding Carrick, his meds are Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy. Perhaps say Michael Carrick isn't an immigrant.
Might keep him there. Anyway, if he is removed, Maurizio Pochettino has emerged as a potential candidate. Understood the USA head coach is open to the position. Eddie Howe, still on the radar of Jason Wilcox. Final decision yet to be made. So obviously we'll have to start with this on the next pod when he is sacked. So we don't need to spend hours. Felipe, Pochettino, what do you think of that? I'm trying to think of how he did at PSG as a kind of the only club he's managed of equivalent size, even if that will perhaps upset the odd Chelsea and Tottenham fan.
I thought it would upset the PSG fans comparing their team as it is now to Manchester United, to be honest.
Fair.
But there you go. And the PSG side that Pochettino took over was certainly in a better state, if not quite what we have now with Lucien Eke, than the Manchester United whoever succeeds Michael Carrick will find. So to be honest, I think I've gone past that point where I was hoping onto new Conte myself. I mean, I was thinking Conte at Manchester United could be really great fun.
Yeah.
And Pochettino will be less fun because he might actually do well. So I don't know what to think about it, because as the fans said at the last game at Old Trafford, this big banner of the Republic of Mancunia where they said, "We don't want a new stadium, we want new owners." And they were not talking about new managers or anything like that. To think that a single manager will change what is happening at the club is nonsense, unless, of course, this manager is given far more support than Carrick was. And it's possible that Maurizio Pochettino, given his track record, given his reputation, his personality, will be given the support that Carrick quite clearly wasn't last summer.
To be honest, taken completely unemotionally, I could think of worse choices than Maurizio Pochettino, to be honest, for Manchester United. Far worse.
And I suppose that's the question, Niki, is if it's Pochettino or whoever it is, they're in a position of great strength, a bit like Dzerzavili was at Tottenham, whereby they can say, "I want all the power or I'm not interested."
Yeah, I mean, just I feel like I have to come back on Conte. I still feel like if Conte was appointed by United, what would happen is, inexplicably, in year two, they would win the league. Don't ask me how it would happen. Don't ask me for the details of how they would get there. But in year two, Conte would win the league, and then everything would go absolutely off the rails, because that's what he does. I don't know. I think Pochettino is a good manager, but I actually don't know that I believe he's got the strength of, I don't know, that managerial strength of personality to just stamp out everything, which is sort of what I think is required at that club now, because there's just so much, again, just so much everything going on at that club, that I feel like it has to be someone who can walk in with that degree of, "No, no, no, this story is actually all about me," to reset things a little bit, to shift things on its axis in some fundamental way.
I feel a bit like it is kind of poison, to use the right word, but a very difficult job, clearly, for anyone to come into. And you can't speak to what Pochettino himself wants, because that's a question only he can answer. It's going to be a lot less comfortable than the life he's living right now managing the US national team. I think that's very clear.
Sure. Archie, any strong thoughts?
The phrase "strength of personality" is one that I've been thinking about with Man United as well. But I've been wondering how do we define strength? Because right now, the manager in English football who has managed to turn around a big sinking ship is sinking Arsenal were, not quite, but they weren't going anywhere before Mikel Arteta took over. And I don't know if.
I'd be surprised if he took the gig, to be honest.
My point is, I don't know if it's strength. It seems like you have to have this psychotic streak where you can gaslight your players but make it fun for them. Like, you know, get them to all buy into it. The story I heard about Arteta hiding something and then spying on the players, which came out, I think, of Sam Dean's recent book about Arsenal, that the players, he goes, "I've hidden something," or, "I'm giving you something to hide in the dressing room.
I'm going to be able to tell, just by looking at you all, who has it." And the player's like, "Okay." Arteta's watching them on a feed elsewhere and then comes back in and goes, "It was you." And the players absolutely erupt and go, "Oh my God, he knows," blah, blah, blah. And that's the thing, is that.
So you need a shit to be a shit magician, is what you're saying. It's what they need.
I think that, look, it should be said that Arteta did tell them afterwards that he'd done that. But at the same time, what I'm saying is I don't think Michael Carrick is deranged enough for this job. I do feel a bit sorry for him in that just knowing about football is not enough. He does also have so many different players of so many different coaches before him that how do we talk about Pochettino, okay, but is he enough of a pragmatist to get this right soon enough?
Or we come back to, does he have that steel? And I think these days, that political know-how to get through different situations.
In terms of the required level of madness, who would be our prime candidates? If you need to be totally mad, power-hungry, deranged to take over Manchester United, I think Antonio Conte, to be honest, I mean, for me, he's.
Is the man.
Yeah, I actually do. I actually do think he's got the characters to it.
Yeah. Dzerzavili perhaps?
It's a great question. I can only think of sort of mad criminals or politicians, really. Anyway, Sid, let's talk about La Liga. Barcelona top 33 points, Real Madrid's, I mean, José, but he'd been there, done that, and not done it too well. 30 points. Atleti are third on 28. Barca 1-2-1 at Atleti. Real Betis are fourth. A little bit of gap to Real Sociedade. I mean, actually, that Barca-Athleti game was interesting. I thought Barca were pretty lucky to get three points at the Wanda there.
I think the main thing with Barcelona was that they were fortunate to get to halftime level. That was the really big part of that. Just very briefly, Mourinho, by the way, Madrid, things are falling into place now. And he used this phrase the other day. He said, "This team is starting to smell good." And I think he can feel that he's maybe not through the process that he expected to take, but he's finding the shape of a team that I think he thinks works for him now. He's realized, and he's admitted this publicly, this is not just me being a smartass from outside. He's realized that you don't have two midfielders who both do the same thing, who are both defensive, because there'll be no football in the middle of the pitch.
I think he's worked that out. And he's talked about not wanting two players of the same profile, which has meant that Fede Valverde is now the right back. Fede Valverde, who basically threw a wobbly when Xabi Alonso had him at right back, is now the right back, which means no Trent, no Denzel Dumfries, a midfielder playing a right back, and he's the best right back they've got. And he's playing really, really well.
And scored at the weekend, scored that brilliant goal in the Champions League. And so if we're on Real Madrid, which we might as well, because in many ways, they feel more interesting at the moment because it's José, and we've talked about this in the Champions League, that they feel like from the outside that they might, José might, Real Madrid, all of this. Like they could, in some weird kind of way, it could kind of work.
Well, I mean, on a very basic level, we've talked about Real Madrid's flaws quite a bit, haven't we? The lack of a central midfielder who makes them play. That was the big thing with Rodri in the summer when it looked like Rodri was basically making a choice between Madrid and Barcelona. And when he went to Barcelona, you thought, "Oof, that's Madrid's big hole just completely not filled, and they can't do it." But take away that one question. I know that's the central piece. They've got brilliant players. And they've got brilliant players in basically every position except that one. As I say, Mourinho found that his two kind of defensive or more or less defensive Athletic midfielders, if you like, Tchouameni and Valverde, there wasn't very much football being played there.
So you've got Bernardo Silva in there now as someone who can at least pass a ball. Arda Gula is playing nominally on the right, but that gives them someone who can move the ball around in that area. Bellingham's playing really well. So it should come good because he's got great players. But of course, it'd be a bit, is the word hypocritical here? I suppose it sort of would. It'd be a bit hypocritical of me to say, "Well, of course, it's going to come good. He's got good players." When for the last two years, we've been saying, "Well, of course, it's gone bad. Look at the shit show there is there." And so I think the thing was they were only ever really a few things away from being a good team again.
And part of that is cultural. And look, this speaks to what you're saying about Carrick. So here we are asking, who's the man who's mad enough to take over Man United and get it right? But in part, it's not about the player or the manager. It's about what support he's got and what authority he's given. And one of the big differences with Mourinho, I would argue possibly the biggest difference between Mourinho and all the other managers that have been at Real Madrid, including ones that have been successful, by the way, including Zidane, including Ancelotti, the biggest difference is that the president likes Mourinho. He didn't really like any of the others.
Those others didn't really find themselves invested with the authority and the force of personality as well. You're talking about someone to take over Man United. You think to yourself, "Well, Mourinho." And I think at Madrid, that's one of the biggest differences, that you've got someone who can have an impact on the culture, because in a way, he's allowed to have an impact on the culture.
Not to make it all about one thing, because I think it clearly isn't. But isn't there also this, seems to me from the outside, quite fundamental part of this story, which is, oh, they're suddenly playing much better without Vinícius in the team.
Yeah. And that speaks a little bit to this culture thing. And the absence of Vinícius, I'm the same as you, actually, Niki, with this, that I kind of sort of think, "I don't want to make it about this," because it is too simplistic. And because in a way, it's deeply unfair on Vinícius, who until about a year ago was a really, really good footballer. This is a guy that, you know, Real Madrid, when they threw their toys out the pram and didn't go to the Ballon d'Or because he didn't win it, you know, one of the contexts is to say that this is a guy who really could have won it, maybe should have won it. We were talking about someone who potentially is the best in the world or one of the best two or three in the world.
And he has completely fallen off. Completely fallen off. And it is true that maybe it's simplistic, but it is also true that it's four games from Vinícius being suspended, and all of a sudden, Madrid are playing well. Now, the reason why I say that thing that's about culture is I think one of the issues Madrid had was they didn't have that collective culture. They didn't have the work. And in part, it was because of Vinícius and Mbappé, neither of whom really do some of that work. And again, this is oversimplistic, but it's fundamentally true. And now you've only got one who's not doing it rather than two who are not doing it. And that's Mbappé, because Diamande is coming in.
Not only is he playing very well, but he's doing all the work that Vinícius didn't do. And I'm slightly defensive of Vinícius because I don't think, I think part of the problem is that when we talk about the work rate, it's really easy to say, "Oh, he's lazy." I don't actually think Vinícius was lazy. I don't think that was his problem. Because actually, if you look at the way he plays, he's relentless. He'll go at his fullback again and again and again and again, all the way through the game. I think it's almost a mental thing. He's not tuned in to those other parts of the game. He doesn't react quickly enough. And so then when he does react, it doesn't happen.
So then he doesn't go back. And then he realizes and he tries to do it and he doesn't get there. And I don't think it's that this is a guy going, "I'm not running." I just think it's a guy that's sort of not tuned into that. And so I feel a bit sorry for him because in a way, he's kind of had his status and everything taken away from him. And that's left him in this really weird place.
Sid, is there a chance that when he comes back from suspension, he's still left out of the team?
Yeah. I mean, at the moment, Felipe, the answer to it at the moment is you can't put him back in that team. Again, this is oversimplistic and it's short-term. And maybe in two months' time, he's playing really well and Mourinho's found a way of making these pieces fit. But at the moment, looking at the players available, looking at the form they're in, looking at what's happened without him, you can't put him back in that team. You can give him minutes and maybe there will be games against certain teams that you do and then you'll make the most of that and you'll move Diamande to the other wing and play him or you'll rest Diamande for a week or you'll rest Arda Gula and you'll find a place for him.
But at the moment, you look at that team, you can't play him.
So interesting, isn't it? Barca are above them. And they're one at Athleti, which we talked about for about four seconds before going into the draws.
Yeah.
No, that's absolutely fine. I'm happy to be led, Sid. But yeah, on that game, you're right. Athleti were really good in that first half.
Yeah. And it was a really big game, I think, kind of, how would I put this? I suppose emotionally, it was a big game. And Flick was asked afterwards how important it was to go into this international break top of the table. Now, this was the game where the winner was going top. If there were no winners, Real Madrid were sitting there thinking, "This is great. We're level with Barcelona. We're fractionally above Atletico and it's very definitely a free team race." And afterwards, Flick was asked, "How important was it to go top and to be top going into this international break out of 10?"
And he said, "Out of 10, 10." It was a 10 out of 10 in terms of importance. And I thought it was really interesting this emotionally because they'd come off the back of losing to PSG and losing the classico to Real Madrid, having previously won every game and scoring absurd amounts of goals. They were on target for over 150 league goals this season. They were battering everybody, this kind of mad, intense style all over the pitch. And suddenly, two good teams, and you're thinking, "Ooh, is there a chance they're not that good? Is there a chance that some of this was a bit false?" Because everybody they'd beaten except Betis, I think it was, were in the bottom half of the table.
Suddenly, you start to kind of back off a little bit and think, "Oof, this might not be that good." Lots of injuries in defense as well. Then you start talking about the thing we've been talking about for two years. "Oh my God, is that high line going to kill them? Are they in trouble? Can they not do this?" And you start thinking, "Are they actually falling into the trap of not realizing this flaw and being so kind of wedded to an idea that this is a problem?" And so when in that first half against Atletico, you see Atletico just run through them again and again and again, and they're one nil up Atletico, and it really could be two or three. Julian Alvarez is Mr.
Great Chance. There's a header against the bar. There's a couple of other really good chances as well. And you think, "Wow, all those doubts are there." Barcelona score just a little bit before halftime. Fermin, who's brilliant, by the way, scores. And in the second half, they completely take control. But it was interesting because they took control and didn't do the things they've done this season. This mad running at people, this going, being hyper-aggressive, hyper-intense, everyone at the top of it. They took the ball. And they took the ball off Atletico. And they only scored one. They didn't actually have a lot of chances, but the control of the game was really striking.
And I thought that emotionally for them was massively, massively important because, I mean, Fermin, I think it was half the game described it as a fist on the desk. It was a statement. It was saying, "Right, we are in this. We do want this, and we are good enough to beat the bigger teams as well."
Fermin speaking after the game, which is of when players should be interviewed. Meanwhile, Valencia's Pablo Mafeo speaking at halftime in the defeat to Real Madrid. And so he did the halftime interview, which I presume they're contractually obliged to do. He said, "I really don't feel like doing this interview. I think this interview is a load of shit. It's completely pointless. We're in the middle of a game." And I mean, I'm always conscious. I'm always conscious that we are of a certain generation. And so there are things we think shouldn't happen. And maybe I shouldn't be putting us all, you know, it's very generous of me to put Felipe in the same generation as Archie.
But it's bullshit, isn't it? A halftime interview is bullshit. Let them play the game and talk to them afterwards.
Yeah. And also, there is a little bit of you that thinks, "What are they going to say?" And I think obviously the fundamental thing is, especially when, and in Spain, there is the possibility of doing the halftime interview as they come back out for the second half, where they may have calmed down a bit, where they may have had a thought process, and where, and I think this probably is more important than we realize, and where they've been able to hear from their managers to what he thinks is wrong. Because there's been times when a player has gone off at halftime and he's caught going down the tunnel, "What do you think's wrong?" I'm inventing this now, but there's been moments like this where you go, "Well, the problem is we haven't got, we're not keeping the ball."
And you go in the dressing room and the manager says, "The problem is we need to give them the ball and play on the break more." And so you've got these players who are now thinking, "Shit, what if I go off the pitch saying the thing that is not what the manager says?" Their minds are all over the place. They're not really in a position maybe to analyze it. That said, if you're going to get a player like Mafeo, who what's a polite way of putting this?
You don't have to be polite, do you want?
Okay.
What's the rude way of putting it?
Well, someone used the phrase "ma cara" the other day in Spanish. I don't know what you'd call that. I suppose a bit of, I suppose it's "gobby." He's a bit of a, he's a bit of a gob shite.
He's a gob shite.
Yeah.
Fine.
And in this game, he was flying into tackles and trying to start fights everywhere and all this sort of stuff. And you actually think, "Well, you know, this is one of the few occasions where I think he's right." But if you get someone like him and have him do that halftime interview, this is going to happen. I'm going to defend not so much Mafeo, but defend the angry player here. Because what happens is inevitably in the sort of the discussion about this, and in Spain, everything becomes a debate all the time, is you get people who say, "Well, why are you behaving like this? This is what pays your wages."
Now, I mean, that's true in the supposed in the sense that the clubs earn a bit more if they, the way it works in Spain is there's a series of criteria that, media criteria where you earn a little bit more if you do X number of interviews, X number of pitch side, X number of super flash, all that kind of stuff, right? So I suppose indirectly, yes, this pays his wage. But are you seriously expecting a player to think, "If I stand here now, that's an extra 10,000 for the club, and my share of that extra 10,000 might be, do you know what? I'm going to call this shit because I can afford." The idea that players are directly invested in this, it's just sort of not true, really.
Yeah. I do like the idea of some players, you know, playing really badly for the last 10 minutes of the first half because they're so worried about what they're meant to say in the interview just in case they're caught in the interview and it's sort of having this impact. Anyway, Sid, that'll do from you. If you're happy, we can go.
I'm happy. You can go if I'm not happy as well, you know. You know, you can carry on without my happiness being a criteria for your continuance on this podcast.
If I go, you have to present the rest of the pod, Sid. So, you know, that's the.
Can I do that? I can do that, can't I? Hello and welcome to Football Weekly.
Listen, Sid.
Oh, no, I've got that wrong. Let me retake that one. Joel, can you do that again? Hello and welcome to Football Weekly. Hey. Sid, Sid. Hey, please don't peel back the curtain and make people realize how fucking easy this job is, right? You know, what do you think? Just say it 10 times, it'll be fine.
I think it's a load of shit. My head's not in it. I'm not doing this now.
Goodbye now. Cheerio.
Sid, hello there in Bilbao. And that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll begin with Serie A.
Sag mal, wie viel Datenvolumen hast du eigentlich?
Boah, keine Ahnung. Genug, dass ich's nie aufbrauche. Seit ich bei Frank bin, mache ich mir darüber ehrlich gesagt gar keine Gedanken mehr.
Hä? Wie jetzt?
Na ja, überall heißt es doch mehr Gigabyte, noch mehr Gigabyte. Dabei geht's doch darum, was du wirklich brauchst. Und das gibt's bei Frank. Verlässliches Netz, keine versteckten Kosten und einfach weniger Stress.
Genau darum geht's bei Frank. Nicht immer mehr, sondern weniger Gedanken an deinen Mobilfunk. Frank. 25 Gigabyte für 10 Euro monatlich. Jetzt App laden und sofort starten mit der eSIM.
Welcome to part two of The Guardian Football Weekly. We're nominated for Podcast of the Year at the FSA Awards. Look, it's a tough time for incumbents. So, you know, we mustn't be complacent. It's hard to retain these things. So vote for us, please. Go to our social media on Blue Sky on Instagram or just Google FSA Awards 2026. Click on the survey monkey thing and then go to question six, click Football Weekly. I'm smirking actually because I can't say the word monkey. Listen.
I quite liked monkey.
Monkey. So I talk at home. Anyway, loads of Guardian people are nominated as well, so vote for all of them. Please. Nikki, Serie A, you wanted to start in Rome. Lazio and Rome, a first and third Olympic games in, both unbeaten.
Yeah, Roma caput mundi is the Latin phrase everyone always brings up in Italy all the time when Roman teams are doing well. But like for once, it's not really true because obviously Roma lost to Manchester United midweek. So mundi being the world in that phrase, probably not true. But Rome definitely the center of Italian football for this moment in time. It's the first time ever, and I find this a mad stat. It's the first time ever you've had two teams from the same city undefeated after 11 rounds of a season. And I think it's mad because Milan and Inter have won 40 titles between them.
So you'd think that that would be the city that would produce the teams that had a start like this, but now it's Rome where they've won five titles between them, which is also slightly mad when you think about how good some of Lazio and Roma's teams have been down the years. But yeah, right now they're the two unbeaten teams. They're not the top two actually. Inter are between Lazio and Roma in the standing still. But both of the Roman teams in different ways have this extraordinary momentum behind them right now. Lazio are, we've touched on it a few times on the podcast.
I've written about it in a couple of columns, but they are this just completely impossibly unlikely story of a team that was just in the most toxic place you could imagine a team being at the start of the season, where you've got the fan base outright in revolt against the owner in a way that I really can't think of many parallels for across Europe. We can talk about Manchester United fans being angry at their ownership and sure, they're throwing tennis balls on the pitch or whatever, but for the most part, they're still showing up. And Lazio now, they're just not coming to games.
You've got the attendance that's gone in a couple of years from 40,000 plus attendances to 10,000 home attendances. And that 10,000, by the way, is heavily supported by the away section. Like that's significantly because the Olympico has a big away section. Meanwhile, you get 10,000 fans going to Lazio's away games when they're allowed to. This weekend against Napoli, there was a travel ban, so they couldn't. But at Sassuolo the other week, 10,000 Lazio fans in the away section because they'll go, they just won't go to their own stadium. Then you've got Gattuso being appointed, who we've talked about this already, but yes, someone whose brand couldn't be much worse after failing to qualify Italy to the World Cup.
And he wasn't exactly thought of as the next coming thing in football management before he was appointed by Italy. It was a total recipe for disaster. And they're on 29 points after 11 games with players who don't seem, they don't seem special as a squad. When you look at their squad, you don't think these are special players. You think there's some good players in there. Frattesio was a great signing this summer. Heiseksson's really stepped forward. Saccagni's always been a good player there who perhaps doesn't get acknowledged as much as he should because he's not been in the Italy setup as much as he could have done because of some decisions he's made.
But the team is outperforming its level. I think there will be a regression still because when you look at the underlying XG numbers, they're not bad, but they're not where they are. But for now, they're top of the table.
Can you remind us what the process is about? And like normally, fans start going if teams are winning. Like is there a sign that this will, you know, there will be a sort of rapprochement because whatever the Italian for that is, because the team are doing well?
At the moment, absolutely not. Honestly, like the organized fan base at Lazio, listen, there's a lot to not feel positive about with the Lazio organized fan base down here, not least clustering the Stadio Olimpico with Anne Frank stickers. That fan base has had plenty of very justified bad press, but if you can't question one thing about it, is their level of commitment to what they believe in. And in this particular case, what they believe in is Claudio Lotito has to go.
The owner is the position. Whether or not they will win that fight and actually manage to dislodge Lotito, I'm skeptical because I think if one person is as stubborn as those fans, it might well be Claudio Lotito who has shown absolutely no sense of being someone who wavers when he's digging in on any kind of point, whether it's in football or politics because he's also involved in politics. But whether or not he will make some sort of grand gesture to bring a rapprochement, whether he'll do something that is considered a worthy gesture to bring it back, it does feel like this is at a point where the fans can't back away from their position on it.
So I don't see an imminent break in it. Gattuso caught in the middle of it. He's been playing the political line quite well, really. He's been saying, "Listen, I can't get involved in this. The owner is my boss. I'm not going to question his decisions." But basically, it would be really nice to have the fans at the stadium again.
Yeah, I bet.
And it's a very odd, it's a very odd situation, but the team is fun to watch. They were lucky not to get beaten, I thought, this weekend at Napoli. They weren't one-up in the first half and were great. Then in the second half, Napoli seemed to figure them out and were just going for these long balls over the top of the defense that were working very, very well. And they got back level early in the start of the second half. And there were a few chances. Kevin De Bruyne had one cleared off the line.
Scott McTominay would have had, I think, very possibly a winning goal if it wasn't for being tackled by his own teammate Lorenzo Luca, who Nottingham Forest will hear that and think, "Okay, that sounds about right." But still, you know, you can't question the results after nine wins and two draws and 11 games. The results are fantastic.
I'm worried about Roma because if you only watch the Champions League, you've seen them throw away leads against Real Madrid and Manchester United and yet unbeaten in Serie A.
Yeah, so they've got eight wins and three draws. They had a really perfect bounce-back option this week because they obviously had that disappointing result against United and then they played against Sassuolo at the weekend who'd lost five of their last six and had the worst defense in the whole division. So it was kind of an ideal game to come back to when you've just had a flip around. But Roma, and I think you did see this against United, they are this scintillating attacking team at the moment. And what's most striking in that, actually, is that Paulo Dybala has been injured.
And Paulo Dybala for the last bit has been the standout talent at Roma. He is a standout talent. He's always been an exceptional footballer. But we always know with Dybala, he's going to be injured a lot. He just is. And with him being out, you've seen Rodrigo Mora, this teenager they signed in the summer, a 19-year-old Portuguese player, take these huge strides forward, as has Matias Soulé, who was already somewhat anointed as the heir to Dybala. And I think that it feels like, especially in the last week, including that United game, Gasperini might just have worked out his ideal attacking shape with Mora and Soulé either side of Marlon.
Marlon's been brilliant ever since he got there. And it's not gotten unnoticed in Italy, indeed, that Mora, who's got goals in all of his last three Serie A games, who's got the assist for the first goal against Manchester United, and also put the ball in for the chance that led to the penalty, it's not missed anyone's attention in Italy that Roma were tuning up when he was on the pitch and they came off at halftime. And perhaps in that Thomas Tuchel against Argentina way, Roma gave up too much attacking initiative and never got it back again against United.
Their Champions League form has been, I guess, a bit difficult, obviously throwing away those big leads against Real Madrid and Manchester United. And I think I thought, especially after the Real Madrid game, how will they deal with that? Because it's such an emotional thing to throw it away. But it almost feels like it hasn't touched them. And if anything, that what they've taken from those games is okay. We're not the finished article yet. But my God, we can scare big European teams, which I know Manchester United are a disaster right now and everyone in England will look at that and go, they're a disaster.
But there is a massive inferiority complex for Italian football with English clubs for a long time, understandably because of the growing financial situation. And so even though the story in England might look at it and go, "Oh, United are terrible. How'd they turn around a team that's doing well in Serie A?" I think that first half has still actually served to make Roma, I think, "No, we can mix it." And I think they'll be stronger going forward.
You say Inter are still the favorites? I mean, they beat Como. Jed Spence getting another assist. It looked like this was very comfortable against the Como side who are, you know, the new best team in Europe, of course.
Yeah, astonishingly so. For Como to go and win 9-1 against Lyon this week and then Inter really played them off the park. A reminder, I think that Inter are just the best team in Italy when it comes to their depth and their quality. Marcus Thuram was great in this game. But yeah, Jed Spence is living this very typical, I'm afraid, like hyperbolic Italian media sometimes moment where it was a couple of weeks ago he was hugely overrated and wasn't worth all that money and now he's had two assists in two games and suddenly he's the best fullback they've ever had.
And I think that the reality is going to fall somewhere in between. And I think Christian Kiefer at the end of the game trying to say, "Well, he's actually still got a lot he can get better on." But it's good that he's getting back to fitness and doing that. And of course, it would not be right for me, I suppose, given that everyone loves to remember them and Arsenal fan this podcast, not to mention that two assists in two games is two more than he got an entire season last season. So it's certainly going in the right direction.
Filipe, I was enjoying the Como story until I read a Josimar article about where the money comes from. There you go, ruining everyone's fun. Although it does say here in red capitals from Joel, go to Josimar for more on this. Do not detail it here. We'll need lawyers and rights of reply from everyone. So like, can you tippy-toe around it, but tell us a bit?
No, I cannot because if I tippy-toe, I'm not telling you what is going on. And I want to tell you what is going on. And also I want people to go to the website and subscribe to it and give us money. So therefore I'm not going to say anything about from the fact. It's really worth looking at. Basically, the story is the owners of the club, and I'm not talking about Ces Fabregas, who is one of the minority shareholders, are a billionaire family who have interests in businesses, which I have to say, when you look at them a little bit more closely, certainly temper your enthusiasm for what the club has achieved.
That's the way I would put it. Was that polite enough and legally safe?
That was.
Thank you.
Yes. The Hartono family held a stake in a smelting company within Indonesia's Herita Nickel Project. Residents have reported pollution, land disputes, pressure to relocate. You can read more at, just if you just Google Josimar, right? There you get all the details.
Yes. Josimar Football.
You're right. Josimar Football. And anyone who cares about the game should do that because they are doing excellent work and they're uncovering the stuff that we need to uncover. Yes, Archie?
Did the lawyers get notified when Filipe's on? Is it like a special day?
I think it's more, it's sort of like how hard do, you know, they work very hard, the small production team, and they think, wow, you know, could we have an easy day, could we have an easy day today? A couple of quick ones, Nikki, before we move on. Woltemar on the score sheet for Juve, up front with Kolo Moani in a sort of ineffective Premiership partnership from last season at least. I was sad it wasn't a really classic Woltemar sort of ridiculous goal.
It was just quite a normal one.
Mostly an effective Serie A attacking partnership, by the way. That puts them, that goal puts them on a combined two goals because Moani has one and now Woltemar has one. But it was certainly a relief for him and he hasn't had a great start at Juventus at all to get that first goal. Perhaps that will unlock things a little bit for him. The old striker shaking the ketchup bottle thing of maybe once the ketchup starts flowing, they'll get somewhere. It was one of their better performances together against Fiorentina. It was a fun game of football.
But Juventus are a mess. Juventus is, yeah, to keep it brief, Juventus are a mess. I think that's probably the best I can say.
The great grandson of Mussolini is at Lazio. And I can't remember if we've touched on this before, but is that like a big deal or, you know, once you get to great grandson, how much do people care?
People do care. It's a talking point. It's a talking point that's been picked up internationally as well. And I think it's going to be a talking point that's not going to go away, not least because when you are the starting right back on the team that is top of the table and you are a 23-year-old Italian footballer, people are going to start asking, well, should this guy be getting consideration for the national team? Which, of course, we're going into the international break. And people are starting to ask that question. He hasn't been called up. And so the question becomes, is that also to do with his surname? The surname is not what he wears on his shirt.
He wears Romano on his shirt, which is his first name. And the surname topic itself is itself an interesting topic because that's his, he's the great grandson of Benito Mussolini, the dictator. His mother is Alessandro Mussolini. So that is his mother's surname. In Italy, it is traditional that women do not take their husband's surname. And also traditional that for a long time, it would have been the tradition and the custom that kids only take their father's surname.
However, more recently, it has become much more common that kids would take both surnames, but not when he was born. And Alessandro Mussolini, who was herself a far-right politician, went to some lengths to make sure that that surname was on his birth certificate. So there is politics in his story. That's kind of unavoidable with his mom being who she is. He individually has always declined to talk about politics and has said he's not interested in it and said he just wants to talk about football.
And I think we do have to be really careful with not visiting the sins of the great grandfather on the great grandson. On the other hand, some people have pointed out that when he was at Juve, a former loan stop, he did wear the name Mussolini on his shirt. He doesn't wear it now. And given everything I've just said about surnames, that's the thing that people will draw conclusions from and take assumptions from. Worth saying that his father, who I think this is definitely in the category of let's not get into this story for reasons of lawyers and things, his father is also a public figure who I guess the easiest thing I could say is if people want to know more about his father, they can look up baby Squeal online.
He was implicated in a legal situation that our lawyers would probably not thank me for getting into about 11 years ago. So I will leave it there. But yes, he's got an interesting family background, none of which means that he is himself a political figure. He is a footballer trying to do his best. But yes, when you've got a player called Mussolini scoring goals in Serie A, he got his first Lazio goal at the end of last month, starting and playing well, and potentially in consideration for the Italian national team at some point in the future.
And purely on playing merit, you would have to say, given that Roberto Mancini is considering a pool of players at the moment, especially young players, it is increasingly hard to answer a question of why he wouldn't be at least under consideration for a call up beyond the incredibly obvious awkward fact of how are people going to react to seeing a Mussolini playing for Italy in a national game? I think that's a topic that is going to be more and more hard to avoid.
And again, I'm really not trying to, and I think it would be completely unfair to visit the sins of the great grandfather on the great grandson, but I'm just trying to give the context of everything so everyone can see where it is.
Sure. Fascinating. And I suspect in this short break, every single listener will Google what you told them to Google because if there is no easier as me, they will. Anyway, that will do for part two, part three. We'll do France and Germany.
Sag mal, wie viel Datenvolumen hast du eigentlich?
Boah, keine Ahnung. Genug, dass ich's nie aufbrauche. Seit ich bei Frank bin, mache ich mir darüber ehrlich gesagt gar keine Gedanken mehr.
Hä? Wie jetzt?
Na ja, überall heißt es doch mehr Gigabyte, noch mehr Gigabyte. Dabei geht's doch darum, was du wirklich brauchst. Und das gibt's bei Frank. Verlässliches Netz, keine versteckten Kosten und einfach weniger Stress.
Genau darum geht's bei Frank. Nicht immer mehr, sondern weniger Gedanken an deinen Mobilfunk. Frank, 25 Gigabyte für 10 Euro monatlich. Jetzt App laden und sofort starten mit der eSIM.
Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So in the Bundesliga are Archie, Bayern and Dortmund. You can't split them. Played 9-1, 6-3, lost none. Bayern do have a significantly better goal difference. Go on, tell us Dortmund can keep up with them for the rest of the season.
They kept up with each other for 90 minutes in an important game the other week against each other, which is very rare by Bundesliga standards. We're used to Bayern steamrollering Dortmund in that occasion. So that was refreshing to see. And Dortmund are playing above their level right now. The problem is for your dream, Max, is that Bayern are playing below their level of last season. They're without Vincent Kompany still on the touchline due to this meningeal irritation that he got after a viral illness.
Concerningly, saw him collapse at the training ground and he's been kept away from all matters first team. His assistants, who are being led by Aaron Danks right now.
Who isn't Aaron Banks from Brexit? I mean, it's important to say they're different names, different people.
Yes. Aaron Danks, yes.
Yeah, Aaron Danks.
Have been instructed not to text him on football matters even, but it's hoped that he'll be back after the international break. The same cannot be said in terms of them being back after the international break for the likes of Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry, Luis Diaz, Ismail Saibari, and now Manuel Neuer are all out. The thing is, is that Bayern have six times the resources of most of the league. So how much danger they'll be in, probably not. But worth highlighting as well that Harry Kane is being very good, just in a different way to last season.
He's not in the top 10 scorers in the league right now. He's only scored four goals this season. The thing is that he is the top assister. He has been missing some chances in an uncharacteristic fashion for him. Michael Elise remains really good. Special mention to Deoupe Mercano, who is the best I've seen him so far at center back.
No, no, no. I just wanted to ask, has Kompany, as far as I understand, you know, it's sort of overwork. Has that led to a sort of conversation in Germany about how hard football managers work or like the stresses and strains of football? Or is most of the chat, ah, you know, they get paid buckets, so that's what they have to do.
There isn't the same 24/7 sport news cycle here that there is, or particularly talk radio, kind of lighting the fire under everything that you have in, say, England or in Spain.
People have lives in Germany. That's what the people.
Look, it's been talked about. It's definitely been talked about and definitely been a topic.
Speaking of lighting fires on, you know, talk sport, Barry announced on Sunday that he's already had upwards over 40 mince pies this mince pie season beginning in October.
40!
And he said it in such a matter-of-fact way. And obviously, you know, the text board went absolutely wild. Like literally, we were trying to preview the Premier League fixtures and it was just, he was just like, yeah, well, I've had six boxes, I've eaten or seven boxes, I've eaten all of them, bar two. So there we are. And then I said.
Because I think they've had a good year.
No.
I'm at naught this year, I think.
In November, for Christ's sake.
I know. And then, and then somebody asked him about pork pies and he said he was in triple figures this year for pork pies. But he did stress the mini pork pies, which he said were very much just like individual grapes. Anyway, so I digress, but yeah, it was as engaged as I've seen the text board on talk sport for quite a while. Dortmund, please, Archie.
Charcuterie grapes.
He's not here to defend himself. So like, you know.
So let's make the most of it then.
Yeah, no, you're right. He will no doubt be asked many questions about this on his return.
How you've gone.
He's got many questions for Monday's pod about this. Yeah, sorry, Archie. Of your many segues that I've heard over the years, to go from Vincent Kompany's overworked to Barry's had 40 mince pies this year. Well, in many ways, that is overworked. It's overworking part of you, isn't it? Talk to me about Dortmund, please, Archie. Come on. Okay. So I think from an English point of view, we should highlight Joe Bellingham being in the England squad and how he's one of the few people that I can remember winning an important tackle against Deoupe Mercano in recent weeks.
He played really, he had his best game for Dortmund so far since joining last summer in the 2-2 draw away at Bayern. And I think that's a big reason why Thomas Tuchel is calling him up. He was everywhere. Important challenges. It felt like he was imposing himself more in the game. And also, he got a six-minute yellow card. And to be a combative midfielder in that role and still be able to toe the line, I think those are very important qualities that you're showing in terms of a maturity.
So yeah, he is not the same player that Jude Bellingham is. He doesn't get forward and score an assist in anywhere near the same quality, quantity. I don't think he has a goal yet for Dortmund, at least not in the Bundesliga anyway. But that's encouraging. On the other hand, with Dortmund, we have to mention what's happened with Felix Metscher.
Yeah, it's fascinating this.
Dortmund has an official elected supporters department. They published a statement on Sunday criticizing Ballers in God, an organization promoted by midfielder Felix Metscher and a campaign they've backed called The King's Return. And they emphasized that the criticism was of the campaign, not of his Christian faith. And it's about their intolerance towards that intolerance. Saturday, Metscher removed an imaginary crown and placed it on the ground after each goal he scored against Elversberg. Something that he'd done already before in the Bundesliga when he scored this season, but also as he did for Germany during the World Cup.
And the controversy stems from German public broadcaster ARD doing an investigation into an American Christian organization promoted through the King's Return campaign, whose representatives have condemned abortion as Satan's plan and whose guidance material describes homosexuality as sinful. Metscher has faced criticism before for sharing content from figures who have expressed homophobic and transphobic views. The club has said they're going to talk to him again. The German FA have said they're going to talk to him again.
It's the issue that won't go away.
Right. And is he the only footballer in this?
Oh, in.
In Ballers in God, there's a lot of footballers within this group, right?
As I understand it, it's a non-denominational group, which means it doesn't mean you subscribe to a particular creed. It's a Christian group. It started, I believe, as a prayer group. And therefore, you can have people coming from various strands of Christianity with or without brackets, by the way. And therefore, I don't think that you can quite equate the fact of being part of that group with automatically subscribing to those kinds of views. I might be a little bit overgenerous here, but it's not as if they were part of a cult or a sect, which actively promoted homophobia, transphobia, and so forth.
So we've got to be a bit careful about that. In the case of Metscher, I think that unfortunately, there is previous. And I think that's why the supporters are quite concerned with his attitude, his celebration, and more generally, his beliefs, his set of beliefs. But I think it would be incorrect and unfair to put all the players who are linked to Ballers in that particular bag, so to speak.
Philippe's right. It is unfair to Ike to include other players in that when they've not been as active.
On Sunday, Dortmund told BILD, it understood the fans' concern, would speak to the player. We expect all employees and players to ensure that their behavior and conduct align with the legal requirements and core values of Borussia Dortmund. These values include respect, diversity, equality, and a clear rejection of any form of discrimination. Elsewhere, Archie, Nicholas Fulcrug has been recalled by Jürgen Klopp to the national side. Is Klopp going to get it launched?
I don't think so, but they have been missing a striker. Who can finish. They've been missing players who can finish. And at halftime in Bayern-Arsenal a few weeks ago, Jürgen Klopp was quoted saying about Nicholas Fulcrug, yes, he's scoring goal after goal in the Bundesliga, but he's 33. That's not my fault. But because Jürgen Klopp has also said that if you're playing really well, you'll be in my Germany team, and Germany is missing players who are good at finishing, then he has had to call up Nicholas Fulcrug.
He scored eight games in a row for Werder Bremen and seven in a row in the Bundesliga, which equals a record that Rudi Fuller set in the '80s. And he's got this real authentic quality to him that connects with people that even to his nickname is Luker, which translates as gappy because he does have quite a prominent gap in his teeth. And that does just lend him this everyman quality, the way that he speaks as well.
He doesn't really hold back and he says what he's thinking, but not in a mean way either. Even if he was, at the weekend in Germany, he gave some short interviews because he didn't want to talk about being in the national team. He wanted to focus on the fact that Werder Bremen had just lost for the first time in a while. That Miroslav Klose was being asked for his opinion on Nicholas Fulcrug tells you that there's a feeling that they need a good striker again. Yeah, even though he's 33, he's the guy for the job right now.
In Liga, Philippe, PSG won their seventh straight game in the league, 11 straight wins in all competitions, stayed two points clear of Lille, who beat Rennes. Paris FC are third under Liam Rosinia, which I guess is that the story?
Yeah, I think so.
Tell us about them.
I think so because you're talking about a club that only exists since 1969. You're talking about a club that was playing in front of 2,000 spectators four years ago. You're talking about a club that nobody took really seriously and suddenly when it shows what money can do. And because they've been bought by the Arnault family. And the Arnault family are very, very, very rich people indeed. And also Red Bull has joined in the fun. So it's not quite the magical story of the ugly duckling turning into this magnificent swan.
It's more a question that they've been put, they've had an IV of money basically inserted in their arms, their legs, their body, to the extent that they were the French club which spent the most money during the last summer transfer season. 72 million euros net. That's a lot of money. And they're reaping the fruit of that. And I'm not saying that they're absolutely singing, dancing, playing absolutely wonderful football. In fact, their last game was won on a goal at Auxerre.
They just won 1-0, Pablo Pagis, a deflected shot. It was not a great performance. But in the landscape of Liga, they're really different from anybody else because they've got the financial means and knowledge to carry on. And they seem to have a long-term project as well. Their stadium is a little bit small. It's very close to the Parc des Princes in case you want to go to Jean-Bouin. But interestingly, the people are now flocking to the games.
And they have now just under 17,000 people going to every home game, which is quite remarkable considering where they were and their proximity with PSG. So I would say they're definitely the story of the season so far. If not, perhaps not the most inspiring story. It's not that they've bought super players. It's just that they've been able to build a squad that is really solid. And that Rosinia is doing a perfectly decent job there in a league that has got very, very few resources.
And also, if you look at what the games they're going to play, that's going to be interesting. The next three games they're playing, starting with Angers, I think, are all kind of winnable. And then their next game is the first derby of the season against Paris Saint-Germain. So that's going to be a really interesting one.
And is Liam Rosinia, because he didn't, you know, he got a lot of stick for how he dealt with the media in England and press conferences and stuff. And I guess if, you know, I don't know what his French is like, but I guess, you know, perhaps that doesn't translate, you know, that sort of high performance jargon. If you're saying that and it's translated into French, you lose the nonsense kind of thing, if that's the main thing.
Yeah, no, that's not at all the same perception. And I think the fact is that people know of him, what he did with Strasbourg and where he absolutely, he charmed absolutely everybody with what he did. And his behavior is a well-liked and respected manager. It's as if what happened in England didn't actually affect the way people are thinking of him. And when he took over, to be honest, he's also partly the guy who was responsible for the rise of PFC is also Liam Rosinia.
Because again, his squad is not the greatest of all squads, but it's playing okay, it's playing well, it's getting the results. And therefore, there is no, there is not the same reputation, which is perhaps a little bit unfairly earned by Rosinia when he was in England.
If it means everyone gets a pass from what happens when they get spat out by Chelsea, then it's probably a good thing, isn't it? A minute on Philippe versus FIFA. What's the latest?
Okay, well, the midterms said that's going to be very interesting because Congressman Raskin, a Democrat, did send a letter, which was basically look a bit like a subpoena. He wants Jenny Infantino to give some explanation as to what exactly, what the hell happened. And the problem is that when the Democrats were in the minority, it was very difficult to force this to happen. But now, hello, it's changed. And I think it would be very interesting to have Gianni grilled by Congress about his relationship with Donald Trump.
Yes.
I think we would all.
Especially if they said to Gianni, you know, who won the election in 2020? And Gianni's like, well, today I feel not answering this question, you know? I'm not for that.
And okay, so that's happening. We now have candidates for which rivals for the 2027 FIFA presidential election. So we know Gianni Infantino, who by the way, shouldn't be eligible, which is something which is actually gathering support. Gianni Infantino is going to go for a fourth mandate in March 2027. The statutes are absolutely clear. It should only be three. He's pretending that the first mandate, because it was truncated, was only three years, doesn't count.
But the way that it was made not to count is actually not statutory and should be thrown out. And to be honest, there's a legal case against Gianni Infantino standing. If you want to know more about this, I recommend you go to josemafootball.com and we've got plenty on the subject, but there you go. So, and we've got candidates. We've got Mr. Tashima, who is the honorary president of the Japanese FA, has declared his candidacy just a few days ago. Whether he has the support of other people remains to be seen, but he's a proper candidate.
Then we've got Ramon Vega, whom you will remember from his day at Spurs.
Of course.
Has also thrown his hat in the ring, but I'd be very surprised if Ramon, whatever his good intentions may be, gets the five FAs to support him. And there is more and more talk, and it's getting very interesting indeed, that Arsène Wenger could put also through his hat into the ring, which would actually, to mix my metaphors, would throw the cat among the pigeons in the hat in the ring. Something like that.
Got it.
But it would be very interesting. And so Arsène seems to be thinking about it, whether he would have UEFA full support, given that he's been very, very close to Gianni for all these years, up to the point that he's the one who actually first said we should have a World Cup every two years because the boss had said so. So it's hottening up. And we'll know very quickly, Max, if that's the case or not, because you have to declare your candidacy officially, you have to put in the paperwork by 18 November.
Hello, that's a week and a day from now.
Right, welcome to everybody. If you're interested, you're interested, fill in your application form.
I think Barry is.
Good luck to everyone applying.
Barry's weighing up his options at the moment. But glinting for FIFA president, I think, would be fantastic.
It would be a lot better. It would be a lot better. That is for sure.
How many more mince pies will he have had by the 18th of November?
The scandal, the scandal when it found out that he's eaten 17 million pounds worth of mince pies on the take. He's been on the take. It's not private jets. It's just private mince pies when he runs football and is finally corrupted. Anyway, thank you everybody. That'll do for today. I had a lovely time. Thank you, Archie.
Thanks, Max.
Cheers, Nikki.
Thanks, Max.
Merci, Phillip.
Merci, Max.
Next Monday, we're doing a mid-season mailbag. So thank you, International Break. Answering all of your questions, please send them in. Very serious or very silly or something in between. FootballWeekly@TheGuardian.com. There'll be callouts for questions on social media as well. Guardian Football Weekly is produced by Tyler Papoula and Rory Simon. I'm having my one day off of the year. And so Robin Cowan will be on on Friday. Please don't be too good at this, Robin. And I'll be back.
This is The Guardian.
Max Rushden is joined by Nicky Bandini, Archie Rhind-Tutt, Philippe Auclair and Sid Lowe as Michael Carrick is poised to be sacked by Manchester United and for a wrap of the big stories from around Europe. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/footballweeklypod. Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast