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2:11

to On the Continent, your definitive guide

2:13

to the week in European football. I'm

2:16

Dotton Adebaye. I'm Andy Brassel. And I'm

2:18

Lars Evertzen. On

2:22

this edition, the new look Europa League

2:24

has kicked off. What's different about it

2:26

this time around? And what should you

2:28

watch out for? Also, how long can

2:30

Barcelona keep their 100% record

2:33

in La Liga? And has the

2:35

new coach of Roma found the

2:37

winning way through the backlash to

2:40

the club's American ownership? Europa

2:48

League, it's back, not in the

2:50

way that we remember it. And

2:52

there are some biggies in

2:54

terms of teams in it this time

2:57

around, but they're not doing as well

2:59

as you would expect, Lars. No,

3:01

there have been a few wrinkles early on

3:04

in the season. I

3:06

was about to say, almost most predictably, Man

3:09

United have messed up. We are on

3:11

the continent. We're not going to go straight to

3:14

Premier League stuff. But Man United messing

3:16

up against FC Twente was kind of... It was

3:18

kind of funny because I didn't watch that game.

3:20

So I saw the angry messages

3:22

on social media before I saw the goal

3:24

they conceded. I just saw a

3:26

lot of Man United fans going, oh, for God's sake,

3:28

this again. And then I saw the goal. It's just

3:31

an opposing team just running through their entire team as

3:33

if there was no midfield there. I was like, oh,

3:35

that's Gans. That's what used to happen. But

3:37

no, we've seen early doors. There have

3:39

been a few surprising results. And I think, you know,

3:42

such is the joy of the Europa

3:44

League. The listeners to OTC, the sort

3:46

of savvy Euro-focused listeners, I think will

3:48

know that for quite a while, the

3:50

Europa League has kind of often been

3:52

a more fun tournament than the Champions League, I

3:54

would argue. It's almost as if because for some

3:56

teams, the stakes are a bit lower. People chill

3:58

out a little bit more. It's

4:01

an entertaining tournament, I think. And of

4:03

course, you do a bit of Portuguese

4:06

in your spare time, Andy. Porto, well,

4:08

I don't know what the back catch

4:10

was for them, considering their

4:12

defeat in this, but the teams that we're

4:15

talking about are teams that you're more used

4:17

to seeing in the Champions League rather than

4:19

the Europa League. What's going on? Yeah, that's

4:21

right. I think if you look at Manchester

4:24

United, Porto, Galatasaray, the three big

4:26

ones from the opening night,

4:28

really, you'd expect to be in

4:31

the competition above. But

4:34

the Porto night

4:36

was interesting. Of course, the

4:38

game that along with RZ kicked off the Europa League,

4:42

one of the two early kick-offs. And

4:46

I don't want to say Porto set themselves up for

4:48

failure, but the two main

4:51

topics of conversation before going away

4:53

to Bodo Glimpse, I cannot underline

4:55

that enough. Going away to Bodo

4:57

Glimpse, they could have

5:00

given Jose Mourinho a call first off if they'd

5:02

wanted to know exactly what it's like and exactly

5:04

what can happen. And we'll go over to Lars

5:06

for that in a second. But

5:09

Andrei Viles-Bosz gave a slightly

5:13

snooty speech on the eve of the game

5:15

about, oh, yeah, when we won the Europa League

5:17

in 2011, it

5:19

was absolutely glorious when I was the coach, etc. And

5:22

something's expected of this club in

5:24

this competition, perhaps overlooking the

5:26

fact that they are gradually

5:30

getting back to being a competitive team,

5:32

having quite a lot

5:34

of financial challenges at the moment, having

5:36

had a significant

5:39

squad makeover and not being up there

5:41

with, I don't think, even

5:43

potentially the greatest Porto teams of

5:46

recent times. And the

5:48

main subject in the press conference before

5:50

the game is Vito Bruno, the coach,

5:52

who was the assistant to Sergio Concisao,

5:55

last season. He's always in shorts

5:58

and the main question for him... was,

6:00

are you going to be wearing shorts? And

6:03

he said, well, in Norway,

6:05

that would be absolute madness. And then kind

6:08

of left the end of the sentence just

6:10

hanging there. He did wear trousers and a

6:12

jacket in the end. But I think that

6:14

was the only way in which they were

6:17

really prepared. Joe, there's not actually

6:19

the first time Andre Villas-Bautas has gone unstuck

6:21

in northern Norway to an extent, because I

6:23

mean, when he was in charge of Taunton,

6:26

they played away to Taunton, which

6:28

is even further to the north. Yes. And

6:30

it was one of those late autumn European

6:32

games when it was all snowy in Taunton

6:34

and they had to bring the tractor out

6:36

just before the kickoff to get to get

6:38

rid of snow from the pitch. Now, they

6:40

did win Taunton on that day, but I

6:43

think it was still a big fat L

6:45

for Villas-Bautas, I think, on a personal level,

6:48

because he was rumbled. There was a man

6:50

in the crowd at Taunton, like a local

6:52

hairdresser, who started chanting that he was getting

6:54

sacked in the morning. And

6:57

Villas-Bautas lost his rag and had him ejected.

7:00

Well, so he had him. He

7:03

had this random Norwegian guy ejected from the

7:05

stadium for chanting that he was getting sacked

7:07

in the morning, presumably in a heavy Norwegian

7:09

accent. I can see how that would be

7:11

aggravating. I can hear you chomping at the

7:14

bit to bring in the burden. Already hijacked

7:16

this into the Norwegian football hour. Go

7:19

on, then, Glyn. The

7:22

Norwegian football hour. Now, listen, I

7:24

would say, OK, I always

7:27

come on here to talk about Baudelgne because

7:29

they're great, but I do

7:31

think this is arguably their greatest sort

7:34

of result in Europe, I would say,

7:37

even allowing for the fact that they actually

7:39

thumped Jose Mourinho's Roma. But that was a

7:41

heavily rotated Roma. And what

7:44

they did here against Porto, who haven't made

7:46

that many changes from the weekend, it was

7:48

a pretty strong side. They

7:50

went down to 10 men in the second half. And

7:54

against one of the real tournament favorites, one of

7:56

the real powerhouses, the team you don't really expect

7:58

to see in the Europa League. and

8:00

they managed to hang on

8:02

and actually extend their lead and then get the 3-2 win

8:04

in the end. So doing

8:06

almost the entire second half with the man

8:09

down against a team like Porto, I think

8:11

is absolutely extraordinary. And there are no caveats

8:13

about rotation or anything. This was just an

8:15

incredible result. It's a little bit

8:17

bittersweet to see them do this now,

8:21

given that they kind of crumbled a little

8:23

bit in the Champions League qualifier, away to

8:25

Red Star. That was not their

8:27

best game. But it is an interesting quirk

8:30

that going

8:32

away to Bode Glim, going to the Arctic

8:34

Circle and playing on an artificial pitch, I

8:36

think is going to be a shock to

8:38

quite a few games. It's an environment and

8:41

an atmosphere in a setting they're not used

8:43

to. And that probably does give Bode Glim

8:45

a little bit of an edge.

8:48

But then Bode Glim themselves, on the other hand, have

8:50

to learn what it's like to go away to these

8:52

European venues, to go away to build grade and play

8:55

Red Star and handle occasions like that. That's part of

8:57

a learning process for them. I would argue that Bode

8:59

Glim, we talk about some of the

9:02

big teams who shouldn't maybe be in this tournament. I'm

9:04

not sure Bode Glim should be in this tournament. I

9:06

think they should be in the Champions League. But in

9:08

the qualifier, I just couldn't get it done. But they're

9:10

showing by beating Porto that there's a lot here. And

9:13

I could clearly go on about this for like an hour,

9:15

and I won't. But one thing I'd like to note, if

9:18

you're looking at what is

9:20

the secret to Bode Glim's success, I think

9:22

it's interesting to note that one,

9:25

two, three, four, five players in the

9:27

starting 11s, or half the starting 11,

9:30

where players who have been successful at Bode Glim

9:33

moved on, tried to play in a bigger

9:35

country, and found out that this is no

9:37

fun, and gone back again. And I think

9:39

that's kind of interesting. And I think it

9:41

tells you something about how, you

9:43

know, they've created quite a unique atmosphere up

9:46

there. They've created quite a unique club, quite

9:48

a unique organization, where everyone's kind of

9:50

on the same wavelength and everyone's pulling in the same

9:52

direction. And I think it's almost

9:54

like a safer environment for a lot of

9:56

these players to thrive in. And it's interesting

9:59

that you... you know, the man

10:01

of the match in this game, Jens Bethel, how

10:03

he gave two goals, one assist, looked brilliant, has

10:05

had not a great time when he's played abroad

10:07

at Milan and at Frankfurt, but at Bordeaux it's

10:09

different. Talking of safe

10:13

environments where people feel nurtured,

10:17

I suppose Galatasaray are the other favourites

10:19

really for this competition. That's

10:21

a weird segue, Andy? I think

10:26

that they had to

10:29

an extent similar teething problems on the

10:32

first night as United

10:34

and Bordeaux, but managed to overcome

10:37

them. You know, they were playing really well

10:39

against Palko at the top of the Greek

10:41

Super League at the moment and they've got

10:43

a decent team. And despite

10:46

conceding an equaliser against the runner play,

10:48

managed to pull it around. Now, I

10:51

guess a couple of things that would

10:54

recommend them as one of the teams to

10:56

watch in this tournament is, firstly,

10:58

they were really good in the Champions League last

11:01

season. Secondly,

11:04

Victor Ozimene is, I

11:06

think it was his best performance so far. He's

11:08

clearly working off the ring rust and he

11:11

could have had a couple of goals. I mean, the opening

11:14

Galatasaray goal, which was a

11:17

Babaraman own goal in the end, it was probably

11:20

going in anyway from

11:22

Ozimene's header in the first place.

11:25

And then they're able to bring on Mauro

11:27

Cardi near the end. He scores a brilliant

11:30

goal, the sort of finisher only really he

11:32

can score to wrap

11:34

it up. And I think for

11:37

these teams, these big teams who

11:40

should really have this competition as a realistic

11:43

target, I think the

11:45

format really helps them

11:47

out this season. And I don't just

11:49

mean in terms of the extended group

11:51

stage. Indeed,

11:54

explain that perhaps Lars,

11:56

ultimately, as much as you want to

11:58

big up Bodo. glimpse the big

12:01

teams who are in this tournament

12:03

against them are going to come good in the end

12:05

aren't they? Possibly, but

12:07

I think a big change to the

12:09

format, like obviously we don't need to spend a lot of

12:11

time on the format itself because it is basically the same

12:13

sort of thing as the Champions League, but the big change

12:15

is that you're not going to have teams from the Championship

12:17

dropping in, not going to

12:20

have teams from the Championship, would be interesting if we

12:22

did have teams from the Championship dropping into the Europa

12:24

League. You qualify from the group stage,

12:26

boom there's loot in the way, no we're not

12:28

going to have teams from the Champions League. We're

12:32

not going to have teams from the Champions

12:34

League dropping into the tournament. I

12:38

don't like it when I end up being in a

12:40

position where I agree with Jose Mourinho on anything, I

12:42

feel like in general that's not a great sign in

12:44

life, but Mourinho complained about this a fair few times

12:46

over the years, that it feels like not great for

12:49

the tournament, that you get into it, you play the

12:51

group stage and then you sort of come up against,

12:53

I think he called them the Sharks from

12:55

the Champions League who kind of come in and

12:57

pick you off in the first knockout round, that

12:59

never quite sat right with me. We're

13:02

not going to have that now and I think that's a big

13:04

positive for the tournament. Significantly, the

13:06

teams in the tournament will

13:08

know who they're up against,

13:11

whereas before, that's the

13:13

real difference isn't it, in terms of

13:15

game forward, the

13:17

previous iteration of the Europa

13:19

League, you literally didn't know what was going

13:21

to come down from the Champions League and

13:23

who you're going to face. So

13:25

if you do well enough in the group

13:27

stage to go through, your reward is to

13:29

suddenly get paired with a giant, really financially

13:33

powerful team from the Champions League who kind of messed up a

13:35

bit in the group and there they are. That

13:37

doesn't seem right, so I

13:39

like this, I think there's an improvement in terms of

13:41

the format. And

13:44

really, I think one

13:46

of the challenges of European club football,

13:48

globally speaking, is that in the Champions

13:50

League, you have a small group of

13:52

like, they're often referred to

13:54

as super clubs, but there's a small cluster

13:56

of groups around Europe who have so much

13:58

more money than everyone. else you can't really

14:01

compare them to it becomes

14:03

almost silly when you compare the wage bills of

14:05

like the numbers that grab when they play Bayern

14:07

Munich like the entire Denamo squad I think makes

14:09

like half of what hurricane makes here like this

14:11

is this is not this is that makes no

14:13

sense for this is just the way this the

14:15

club football has gone you don't really

14:17

have those Giants in this tournament right it

14:19

is a little bit you have a few

14:21

teams like like Spurs like many United like

14:23

like Roma whoever we're getting onto there's some

14:25

strong teams in there but there

14:27

are not that many matchups in this tournament

14:30

where you see that team on

14:32

their best they still probably can't beat that

14:34

other team you know you'll get less of

14:36

that I might be going to

14:39

one of those like I'm heading to Tottenham later

14:41

today to watch them take on Carabag which

14:43

is I believe with the bookies I

14:46

suspect Tottenham are the odd favorite to

14:48

win the tournament and I suspect Carabag will be

14:50

one of the biggest outsiders so that's probably the

14:52

biggest mismatch on the air I'm

14:54

always going to watch that because you know

14:56

but generally speaking I

14:59

think it's an interesting

15:01

field yeah I think the thing

15:03

is if you are one of those bigger clubs I

15:05

mean I know you and I have talked about this

15:07

last before like how seriously do

15:09

the Premier League's biggest teams take

15:12

it for example but I

15:14

think it's easier to work out

15:16

what you want to do now

15:18

it's easy to work out whether

15:20

it should be a genuine objective I

15:22

suppose yeah because you don't have those

15:24

teams as you say it's pointless planning

15:26

a competition is a massive

15:29

target and then you know you might come

15:31

up against an inter or whoever drop out

15:33

in the last 16 so

15:36

that's something no longer to deal with

15:38

I guess the thing is we always

15:40

come back to this the

15:42

difference and why it was worth identifying

15:44

those biggest clubs and their start in

15:46

this Europa League rather

15:48

than Champions League which as Lars said maybe they should

15:51

have been in is

15:53

that I think

15:57

it feels as if it will be easier to measure

16:00

manage this reshuffled format in the Europa

16:02

League than the Champions League because we

16:04

always say about the Europa League every

16:06

year there's a much bigger gap and

16:08

Lars sort of touched on it before between

16:11

the biggest teams and the weakest teams that

16:13

there's maybe not normally in the Champions

16:15

League. Now I suppose you could

16:17

look at the Champions League this year and say you

16:20

know you have a slow Vampratis Lava or whatever but

16:22

that is not something that necessarily

16:24

happens every

16:26

single year whereas I think if you're

16:28

a Tottenham you

16:30

should be able to cruise through this

16:33

group stage pretty easily you know I

16:35

reckon I would be

16:37

staggered if Tottenham didn't make top eight

16:39

for example but then again

16:41

you know that there are

16:44

quite a few of these big clubs

16:46

as we've identified because I think particularly in

16:48

the in the biggest leagues I mean you

16:51

think of the Premier League

16:53

in particular but also

16:55

to an extent La Liga you

16:58

have teams in clubs who would

17:01

normally be in the Champions League but there's so

17:03

much of a swell of contenders at

17:05

the top that they find themselves

17:07

in the Europa League consistently and I think

17:09

Roma are a good example of that. Athletic

17:11

who are playing them later actually at the

17:13

Olympic Co are an example of that. Teams

17:16

that in other leagues would

17:18

cruise into the Champions League and do have

17:20

the players and the squads for it but

17:22

because there's such a bun fight for those

17:24

top four places at the top of their

17:26

domestic leagues can't quite get in there and

17:28

that really is something that contributes

17:31

to creating this competitive imbalance certainly in

17:33

the group stages. But I think

17:36

that like I know we need to move on from this

17:38

but I'd like to touch on a little bit the

17:42

curious underperformance of the English clubs in this

17:44

tournament because one of the things you notice

17:47

like I'm a big believer that like finances

17:50

affect football a lot you know you look

17:52

across the leagues in Europe the

17:55

thing that the best predictor of the league finish is

17:58

usually the team's wage bill I mean that tracks pretty

18:00

closely to where you tend to be. And

18:02

that should, and in most cases it does, also

18:05

reflect, you know, this is how it turns out

18:07

in Europe. And really with all the riches of

18:09

the Premier League, the guys

18:11

who don't quite make the Champions League in England are

18:13

still very, very wealthy teams compared to everyone else they

18:16

come up against in these tournaments, and they really should

18:18

be doing very well. But they haven't

18:20

always. We don't necessarily see English

18:23

teams go that far in the Europa League. And I

18:25

do wonder if part of it is the thing

18:27

that Andy just touched on, like Tottenham and United,

18:31

who are in it this year,

18:33

will look at this group and think we should sail through

18:35

this. But the thing is, if you think that, suddenly you

18:38

don't. And I think we had an example

18:40

of this with United against Fente, who, again, I didn't

18:42

see the full 90 minutes of the game, but Tanhag

18:44

is admitting after the game that we didn't. We weren't

18:46

giving 100% here. And I

18:48

do wonder if this is one of the reasons why

18:50

some of the Premier League teams get unstuck in this

18:53

tournament, is that they look at the identity of their

18:55

opponents, and they've never heard of any of

18:57

these players before, and they sort of play in leagues

18:59

they don't follow. And then you turn up and you give

19:01

a little bit less than 100%, and maybe

19:03

you rotate a little bit more than you

19:05

otherwise would. And then here's the thing. You're

19:07

not playing a League 2 team in the

19:09

Carabao Cup. Like some of these teams are

19:11

still pretty capable, and that's how you can

19:13

end up screwing up. I mean, Tottenham, Tottenham

19:16

went out a few years ago. They managed

19:18

to go out against the team whose head

19:20

coach was in prison. Like there's an incredible,

19:22

proud history of English clubs kind of somehow

19:24

messing up in this tournament. And I

19:26

think the key to not doing that is to take

19:28

it a little bit more seriously sometimes. Well, as

19:31

we said last week, we're only in

19:33

the middle of the Europa League week.

19:36

This is part of the development of

19:39

this tournament, so who

19:41

knows what will happen. Could

19:43

be more Scandinavian joy tonight. It could

19:45

be. Malmo playing Rangers. Could be. Come

19:47

on, Malmo. Apologies

19:50

to our Scottish listeners. You

19:52

apologise. Me and Andy don't have to.

19:57

Let's move on to the next topic, which is... How

20:00

long can you keep a hundred

20:02

percent record for if your

20:04

Barcelona there on a hundred percent at the

20:07

moment Andy? Will

20:09

it last? It

20:11

almost didn't last last night against Khetafe

20:14

so they're now seven out of seven

20:16

Robert Lewandowski scoring the winner in there in

20:19

the first half But

20:22

if Borja Mayaral hadn't missed his kick in

20:25

stoppage time that they would have dropped a

20:27

couple of points And of course

20:29

that would have been the twist because Borja

20:31

Mayaral came through the La Fabrica Real

20:34

Madrid their academy there and

20:36

it's been kind of round the houses to various

20:38

different La Liga

20:40

and continental clubs since So

20:43

they just about got it done I suppose

20:45

the other side of that is if you're

20:48

gonna say Barcelona are genuine title contender squeezing

20:51

out this sort of win against Inferior

20:53

opposition when you're not really firing on

20:56

all cylinders is a huge part of

20:58

that And I think given

21:00

that the week that Barcelona have had

21:02

any any sort of win is a

21:05

good one Because of course

21:07

they won five won at the year out of

21:10

the weekends slightly flattering, but they did play very

21:12

stylishly having said that Jaffaña

21:15

was excellent again. He got the Player

21:18

of the month award before

21:21

the start of this game as well

21:24

against Jaffa and he's been excellent But

21:27

of course the real headline is

21:29

the injury to Marc-André Tustegen, which

21:32

is Incredibly cruel not

21:34

just for Barcelona, but for him personally,

21:37

of course, you could argue that he's been

21:39

Germany's best goalkeeper for a long time Manuel

21:42

Noya retires from Germany and so Tustegen

21:45

Gets the place that he's been waiting for

21:47

and perhaps deserving for quite a while and

21:49

then he gets a serious knee injury and It's

21:52

back to square one again really and

21:54

he's gonna be out for probably

21:57

this season but last this means

22:00

an incredible twist and Barcelona

22:02

love an incredible twist of

22:04

course because Wojciech Szczeczny is

22:06

coming out of retirement to

22:09

keep goal for them. Yeah I mean I guess

22:12

with Barcelona as we know they

22:14

have certain financial challenges they can't

22:16

like just you know they can't

22:18

just go out and buy whoever they want and in

22:21

a time of crisis sometimes you

22:23

just go to the beach and see is there

22:25

anyone on the beach wearing like our handy at

22:27

the football and in this case

22:30

turns out Szczeczny

22:32

is there having surprisingly perhaps retired

22:35

very early at the age of

22:37

34 which is an interesting

22:39

thing that we see more and more players I think

22:41

kind of retiring a little bit early but yeah no

22:44

he'd quit he was done he was I believe he

22:46

has a house in Spain actually so he might have

22:48

been like not that far away he was on the

22:50

beach not that far away and he in

22:53

my mind I like to think

22:55

he was actually on the beach when the call came

22:57

in I think he was I think he was sitting

22:59

on the beach chilling out when the

23:01

phone rang I wonder what that is have

23:03

we got any deliveries scheduled

23:05

for today no it's

23:08

Barcelona that almost never happened

23:10

he's gonna wipe that smile off your

23:12

face you wait and see Andy how

23:14

how what's changed about

23:17

Barcelona this season why

23:19

are they unbeatable at the moment

23:21

at least well I think Hansi

23:23

Flick has been a huge

23:25

part of it and it's

23:27

interesting to hear key figures from inside

23:30

the dressing room notably Pedri who can't

23:32

get enough of him and is talking

23:34

about it publicly a lot say

23:37

how good he is individually

23:39

with with the players now of course when

23:41

we look at Barcelona's summer and when they

23:44

were looking for a coach when

23:46

they been jabby and obviously that was

23:48

a terrible bit of mismanagement how they

23:50

persuaded Interstay and then fired him and

23:53

you know David Cartlidge has had his

23:55

words for Joanne Laporta no one says it better

23:57

than him so I'm not gonna go back over

24:00

that stuff, but I think

24:03

sometimes you can get the right guy sort

24:06

of by accident and they seem to

24:08

have done that with Hansi Flick.

24:10

Now, I think Flick is a really

24:12

good example of not just someone who's

24:15

a good coach, who's a good modern coach,

24:17

who relates to players very well, but

24:20

almost like another guy who's

24:23

been through Bayern, Pep Guardiola, we

24:25

have this image of coaches of,

24:28

they have a particular style of play, they impose

24:30

it wherever, and the successful ones

24:32

make it work for them. But

24:34

I don't think you have to be that. And

24:37

Carlo Ancelotti, who we sometimes think of as

24:39

the exception to the rule, someone who, despite

24:42

the fact he's been enormously successful over

24:45

a couple of decades now, that he's

24:47

still developing, that he's still self-analytical, that

24:50

he still changes, depending

24:53

on the situation and depending on the job itself.

24:56

I think we have to give Hansi Flick a bit of

24:58

credit here because he came in

25:00

and did a phenomenal job at

25:03

Bayern, having not had an enormous, at

25:06

least successful coaching history behind

25:08

him, or certainly not a lead coaching history

25:11

behind him. Germany was a

25:13

bit more difficult for reasons, many

25:15

of which were beyond his control, I would

25:18

argue. And then

25:20

he comes into this Barcelona situation where

25:23

I think what has worked

25:25

well for him actually is the financial situation of

25:27

the club in a sense. Because

25:30

to play the sort of football that

25:33

Flick wants to play, and I think he has changed, Barcelona

25:36

aren't playing like Bayern played, if

25:38

we go back four years at all. But

25:41

he wants to edge towards a

25:43

more aggressive sort of football,

25:45

and we saw hints of that in the game at Rio

25:47

de Al at the weekend. Because

25:49

they're a bit stretched, because they don't have

25:51

that much money, they're doing

25:54

almost what they all, what

25:56

they should have been doing, and leaning on some

25:58

really good academy products. younger players

26:00

and of course younger players

26:02

last really suit the sort of football that

26:05

Flick wants to play because he likes athletic

26:07

players. Yeah it's a good point obviously with

26:09

Barcelona and the fact that they can't spend

26:11

the money, the factors you all mentioned

26:13

and the fact that you've had injuries on top of that

26:15

meant that they've had to lean pretty heavily on the

26:18

academy, on guys from the second team and

26:21

so far that's worked really well. I

26:23

think one thing that doesn't get mentioned enough

26:25

when we talk about Flick in Barcelona and

26:27

it was a slightly surprising appointment in the

26:29

summer when it happened, is

26:32

the Robert Lewandowski factor here because

26:35

obviously Barcelona is so much bigger than just

26:37

one player but like all the moves they

26:39

made when they when La Porta

26:41

came in and went slightly slightly off

26:44

his you know rocker and started pulling levers

26:46

left right and center and bringing in players

26:48

and making what I think we all believe

26:50

are pretty irresponsible decisions in the medium to

26:53

long term for the club. One of the

26:55

biggest moves was bringing in Robert

26:57

Lewandowski and paying a big transfer fee

26:59

and a massive contract for a guy

27:01

who's well into his 30s is one

27:03

of those things that's like really you're

27:05

sure about this and

27:07

he's obviously not been bad, he has

27:09

been scoring goals but I think there's been a sense

27:11

after the first two years that was

27:14

it really worth it? Like you say his

27:16

scoring record hasn't been terrible but I don't

27:18

think he's necessarily been the sort

27:20

of leading light that you'd expect for the

27:22

financial commitment they've made in

27:25

that position. Now some

27:28

of Robert Lewandowski's best season of

27:30

his career came under Hansi Flick at Bayern between 2019

27:33

and 2021 and I

27:35

don't want to just sit here and rattle off numbers but in

27:37

the first season under Flick he scored 34

27:39

and 31 games, second season is when he

27:42

scored 41 goals in 29 games in the

27:44

Bundesliga which is pretty wild so as a

27:46

like his big record breaking season was under

27:48

Hansi Flick and you say he's changed a

27:50

little bit the methodology sure but it must

27:52

help for Lewandowski when he's made this move

27:55

and he must be aware that as much as he's

27:58

scored goals he hasn't been the sort of world beater

28:00

that they kind of need him to be

28:02

for the finances they put into the deal,

28:04

that the guy they appoint is someone who

28:06

knows him really well and speaks a language

28:08

and can kind of put a nose exactly

28:11

which buttons to push and someone he's been

28:13

really successful under before. That

28:15

has to be super helpful for Lewandowski

28:17

and Lewandowski has responded by seven goals

28:19

and seven. And he also

28:21

mentioned now very specifically Lewandowski in

28:23

an interview recently that he

28:26

feels they're trying to get the ball to him a little

28:28

bit quicker now than before. Because that might

28:30

have been a bit of a culture change for him

28:32

moving to Spain, some of the football, especially at Barcelona,

28:34

a little bit more patient in

28:36

terms of the possession game, whereas

28:38

he feels now that getting the ball to him earlier

28:40

a little bit more direct and that suits his game

28:43

more. I think there are

28:45

two halves to it as well in

28:47

the, I think you're right that there

28:49

is that connection between Flick and Lewandowski.

28:51

I think the first half of that

28:53

is Lewandowski looks fitter than he's looked

28:55

in a really long time. He

28:58

looks lean and muscly and tough

29:00

and everything you want Lewandowski to

29:02

be and that little bit of

29:04

extra sharpness as well as as

29:07

you say that maybe slight change in

29:09

how they're supplying him is

29:11

really important. And I think the other thing to note

29:14

is they would have gladly dumped Lewandowski in the

29:16

summer if they could have because as you said

29:18

that enormous contract that buyer's remorse while the ink

29:20

was probably still wet on the paper. So

29:23

I think you look at

29:25

that, you look at Raffinia, another player who they've been

29:27

trying to dump since about four months after they've signed

29:29

him, two of the outstanding

29:31

players, if not the two outstanding players

29:33

for Barcelona so far this season. And

29:36

I think with Flick you do get

29:38

that bit of pragmatism as well. So

29:41

whatever else is going on upstairs

29:43

at the club, he can cut the first team off

29:45

from that. He can sort of shield

29:47

them against that and it's like, well, okay,

29:49

maybe they didn't want to sell you. But

29:52

let's think about the here and now. Look,

29:54

we're here now and let's make them the most of

29:56

this moment. And that's exactly

29:59

what we're doing. exactly what Bayern was about,

30:01

wasn't it? When they won the treble there.

30:03

It was about seizing the moment. It wasn't

30:06

a triumph of long-term planning or anything like

30:08

that. Yeah, I've actually never thought about

30:10

this before. It was a good point, Andy. Just

30:13

dealing with the squad and being a barrier between

30:15

them and the madness upstairs and all the chaos

30:17

is something Fleeck has done before. That is very

30:19

much the job description of a Bayern Munich coach

30:22

as well. So this is something that didn't occur

30:24

to me at the time, that that's something he's

30:26

got experience with. I always think if we're talking

30:28

about the reasons why Barcelona have started the season

30:30

so well, we absolutely have to

30:32

mention Lamine Yemel, I think, who is just

30:35

absurd at the age of 17. I

30:40

try, regular listeners will know, I'm

30:42

keen to avoid hyperbole on this

30:44

show, but like you do. Are

30:46

you? Well, except when

30:48

we're talking about Norwegian people and

30:51

people I don't like. But I

30:53

really don't think there are many

30:55

players in the world who are better than him right now.

30:59

And not just for a teenager or for a

31:01

young player. I just, there aren't many players who

31:03

are better than him full stop, which is a

31:05

weird thing to be able to say about a

31:07

17 year old. But here we are. He's absolutely

31:09

incredible. Although when I

31:11

ask whether Barcelona can sustain this 100%

31:14

record, Andy, do we not have

31:17

to consider the opposition

31:20

primarily Real Madrid who

31:22

have gone a year without being

31:25

beaten in La Liga? That's

31:27

absurd. It's an

31:29

amazing, amazing stat. So they completed

31:31

that the

31:33

day before they played LMS

31:36

on Tuesday. And 24th

31:39

of September last year was the last

31:41

time they lost in the

31:43

Madrid Derby, which is

31:45

what they're facing this weekend.

31:48

And if there's a

31:50

moment for Barcelona to cash in on what's happening

31:52

for them at the moment, I mean, they're going

31:54

away to Osasuna, which is not easy. But

31:57

the fact that the Madrid Derby is

32:00

happening this weekend, you're thinking please

32:02

take some points off each other, you know, you

32:04

can do us a massive favor here, you know,

32:06

they're four points clear already and

32:08

they've got a

32:11

situation especially with Real

32:13

Madrid being in the place that they are.

32:15

Now the game against Alaves

32:17

was a bit of a funny one because they were 3-0

32:20

up in that game and at that point we've

32:22

like going into the last 10 minutes you're like

32:25

this is a standard like home 4-0er of the

32:28

Bernabeu against opposition that they're much better

32:30

than. The connection between Bellingham and Mbappe

32:32

was absolutely brilliant as you could see

32:35

on the second goal and

32:37

you know you thought that okay they're winding down

32:39

and then they can see two goals in under

32:41

two minutes and all of a sudden they've got

32:44

a tough out that the last couple

32:46

of moments of that game.

32:49

The other thing is Killian Mbappe gets

32:51

a thigh injury and won't

32:53

be able to play in the Derby at

32:55

the weekend which adds another

32:57

little something to it as

33:00

well. Now this is a question for Ancelotti,

33:02

do you directly replace him in

33:04

inverted commas as much as you can do with

33:07

Endric who was really lucky not to get himself

33:09

sent off quite literally kicking

33:11

a defender in the nuts in

33:13

the closing stages of that game or

33:16

does he go for the slightly

33:18

more circumspect approach that

33:21

he's gone for in previous Derbys where he

33:23

tries to out Adletico.

33:26

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33:29

enjoyable for Barcelona you know

33:31

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33:33

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35:22

Well, you all know the

35:26

phrase, when in Roma, do

35:33

as the Romans do. Well,

35:36

well, well. It

35:39

feels as if there's another cliche that we

35:41

should add to this, which is that eventually,

35:44

as footballers always tell us, yeah,

35:46

the fans will hate you till

35:49

you win. And interestingly

35:52

enough, Roma's owners have

35:54

now, we

35:56

believe anyway, have become the new

35:59

owners of. of

38:00

money into Roma and it's their

38:02

money. It's money that exists. And

38:05

like, if you look at potential owners

38:07

these days, getting people who

38:09

are like, definitely have money, it's definitely their own

38:11

money. The money exists and they're not like awful

38:13

human rights abusers in some kind of way, as

38:15

far as we know. That's

38:17

kind of the best you can hope for sometimes. Now, are

38:20

they good at owning a football club? I guess this is

38:22

a slightly different question. And it feels like a bit of

38:24

a black mark against

38:26

that freakin that he did hire Mourinho and

38:28

let him spend quite a lot of money

38:30

on old dudes. That feels like one of

38:33

those things you should avoid. But

38:35

I just think with the situation Everton are

38:38

in, they're in such trouble in terms

38:42

of everything going on

38:44

at that club. And we're going to stay on the continent.

38:46

I'm just saying, at least with the

38:48

freakin group, the money is there and they've been

38:51

willing to spend it at Roma and I'm assuming

38:53

they will be willing to spend it at Everton.

38:55

Ultimately though, Andy, it's about results,

38:57

isn't it? Like I started off

38:59

saying, if you can turn things

39:02

around, Ivan Durec has turned around

39:04

this Roma's defeat to

39:06

the beginning of the season with a

39:08

three nil win. And I

39:11

wonder whether the owners, the freakin group,

39:13

whatever you

39:15

think of them, aren't minded

39:17

to sort of think, when we

39:19

get results at Everton or at

39:21

Roma, the fans will support us

39:24

and ultimately that's where their

39:26

strength will come from. I

39:29

see where you're coming from and

39:31

Eurych's first game was very convincing,

39:33

especially considering the

39:35

absolute firestorm that he was preparing

39:37

it under because there was

39:40

the sacking of De Rossi

39:42

which led to fans

39:44

protesting. So for the first, there

39:46

were all sorts of banners and chants and for the

39:49

first half hour of

39:52

the Uden often

44:00

terrible. So

44:02

they often tend to almost gravitate towards

44:04

these big characters. Whereas Yurich is a

44:07

little bit more of a work, like

44:09

he's done good jobs at like slightly

44:11

more and

44:17

it's hard to find the right phrase for it,

44:19

but like provincial, I guess, almost teams. But

44:22

his Verona team was really unpleasant to play

44:24

against and he's done a good job at

44:26

Roma as well. So he's someone who's coaching

44:28

credentials are solid, but he's not a huge

44:31

name and like a mega charismatic, entertaining showman

44:33

and his teams haven't been always amazing to

44:35

watch. But you know, maybe there's a thing

44:37

to be said for just having a pretty

44:39

competent guy in charge, but it's kind of

44:41

hard to know where you are with Roma

44:44

again, because they made quite a few changes

44:46

over the summer and immediately fired the manager,

44:49

which makes me think like, again, I did

44:51

ask, I asked the Roma supporting mate

44:53

of mine for a quick comment on

44:55

the freaking as as owners

44:58

ahead of this pod. I just got a

45:00

feeling that it's kind of seems like sometimes

45:02

it feels that they kind of fumbling around

45:04

in blindfolded, just trying to do

45:06

stuff and see if it doesn't seem to be

45:08

a brilliant sort of master plan at work here.

45:11

But again, if you're an Everton fan, and

45:13

that alarms you, at least they have money

45:15

and are willing to spend it, which I

45:17

think from Everton's perspective is all that really

45:19

matters right now. I think the one thing

45:22

to note though, in terms of how

45:25

deeply they've upset the

45:27

supporters, this is not

45:29

going to go away in a hurry. And

45:31

so almost independently of how

45:33

well Yurich does in

45:35

the short term, for

45:37

him to it's not about him

45:40

winning the fans over. They've not got

45:42

beef with him. It's the owners and

45:44

some of the players as well who

45:47

are perceived to have undermined De Rossi.

45:49

Now you're thinking that Udenese game, Cristante

45:52

got booed when he came off, Lorenzo

45:55

Pellegrini, who that must have really hurt him because

45:57

it's his hometown club and the club that he's

45:59

always loved. Last

48:00

is going first. Are we tossing a coin now?

48:03

Are we tossing a coin now? I missed

48:05

something. Let me remind you that last week

48:08

Andy, you went for Leon versus Marseille. I

48:11

think to paraphrase that old

48:13

man in the B-movie

48:15

clip that's very famous on the internet, it

48:18

was a great match but not for me.

48:22

Indeed. David,

48:26

the cast of Inter versus AC

48:28

Milan, which was a great match

48:30

especially for AC Milan fans. So,

48:32

you go first. We could maybe go Leon

48:34

again with his strum, Andy's pain with our

48:37

fingers. I like the way they're thinking. After

48:39

all, they're playing to lose this weekend,

48:42

which I'm sure will turn out to be

48:44

no determinism for them. But no, as I

48:46

was intoning earlier, there is

48:48

really one game this weekend. Come

48:51

on. None of this hipster

48:53

nonsense here. We're playing Munich

48:55

versus Bialevicusen. Come on. Where

48:57

else can we go but to the

48:59

Alianz Arena for

49:01

this showdown? I

49:04

feel like I almost don't need to say why

49:06

this is exciting. We know. We

49:08

know. We've talked a lot about Bialevicusen

49:11

over the last year. They've been amazing

49:13

there. And above all, if you just...

49:16

You're a strange person if you're listening

49:18

to this and you haven't watched any

49:20

Bialevicusen game. But on the off chance

49:22

that you're interested enough in continental football

49:24

to listen to this but not actually

49:27

invest the 90 minutes. Do

49:29

watch them. They're so... The way

49:31

they move the ball is brilliant. You

49:33

will see what all the hype is about. And

49:36

what better time than to do that than when

49:38

they're playing Harry Kane and Bayern Munich? I

49:40

think this should be tremendous. It's salivating, Andy.

49:43

You're going to have to work hard to beat that one.

49:45

But what are we going to eat with it? A

49:48

sausage. And where we are at? Let's

49:52

get the bratwurst involved and

49:54

some vice-pairs. Andy? Well, I'm

49:56

going to go... See, I love it

49:58

when the two games... sync up

50:00

so you can watch them

50:02

both without double screening. So that's

50:04

your Saturday early evening. Sunday

50:07

night, I think it's gotta be the Madrid

50:09

Derby. It's gotta be Atletico, Real Madrid. So

50:12

much in it. I think

50:14

as Real Madrid have become

50:17

more stylistically like Atletico over

50:19

the years, and sometimes you can sense

50:22

that by the fact that Diego Simeone's

50:24

got this wistful glint into the distance

50:27

in his eyes. I think it's

50:30

made it more competitive and it's made

50:33

it more Derby-esque really, as well as

50:35

the fact that Atletico have obviously improved

50:37

beyond all recognition and changed dimension completely

50:40

in the last decade plus. You've

50:43

got some of those more Atletico-esque

50:45

players settling in. So Julian Alvarez

50:48

is finding some form. Cono

50:50

Galaga got another goal at

50:52

AIO last weekend. You're

50:55

looking at a team and

50:57

an occasion that is gonna be

51:00

competitive and exciting. So I

51:03

can't wait for that. I think honestly, like Lars,

51:05

I think there's so much football in this. You

51:07

can only go for a bocadillo, a sandwich for

51:10

this. Kept fresh in. Obviously,

51:15

but- I was gonna say, that's the

51:17

great thing about the synchronicity. That

51:19

is true. Not sort of

51:22

staying away from the pork element

51:24

though. It will have Hamon

51:26

and Manchego in it. If

51:28

Manchego is your thing, I won't be having the

51:31

Manchego, but others will be. So

51:34

I think you'll be stuffing your face while

51:36

you're enjoying the game. And remember, because

51:38

it's Spain, even though it'll

51:40

be nearly 11 p.m. by

51:43

the time it's finished, you

51:45

can probably actually go for dinner

51:47

afterwards, can't you? It's never

51:50

too late. And- Do

51:53

you know why that is? Do you know why that is?

51:55

Out of interest. A Spanish woman

51:57

explained to me the reason why they- latest

52:00

because they're in the wrong time zone.

52:02

Spain is in the wrong time zone.

52:04

They should be in our time zone.

52:07

Ah, I see. That

52:09

took a while but my brain finally caught up. I'm glad

52:12

to hear that. Yeah, look, basically this

52:14

Madrid Derby is such a succulent morsel that

52:16

when you want to hear more about it,

52:19

join us on Monday because me and David

52:21

will be doing an OTC reacts for

52:24

it as well to mop

52:26

it all up. So thank you both

52:29

and thank you for listening to On

52:31

the Continent. Make sure you join us

52:33

again tomorrow for Ask OTC where we'll

52:35

be answering all of your questions about

52:38

the latest news from the world of

52:40

European football. On

52:50

the Continent is a stack production and

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