LUKE'S HERE: Transfers, Drama, and Disappointments - The Mess at Chelsea Unpacked!

In this passionate episode of Football Yanks, hosts Luke and Ryan immerse themselves in the highs and lows of Chelsea's season opener against Man City. Fueled by his love for the game, Luke shares his firsthand account of the 2-0 defeat to the defending champions. The duo dissects key player performances, offering sharp critiques and identifying those who fell short and those who showed promise.

Join us as we unravel the drama surrounding Enzo Fernandez's controversial off-field behavior and the optics of his selection as captain. Additionally, the team debates the impact of Chelsea's latest transfer decisions. No stone is left unturned from the goalkeeper's strengths and the midfield's cohesion to the bench's effectiveness. Hear about the big-money moves and shocking sales, including the much-debated looming departure of Vice Captain Chilwell, and what this means for the club's relationship with its devoted fans.

Our hosts also explore Chelsea's financial turbulence, discussing player contracts, last-minute negotiation hiccups with potential transfers, and the looming question of Joao Felix's fit within the squad. The conversation takes an unexpected turn with the potential exits of Raheem Sterling and incoming talent like Pedro Neto, Kendry Paez, and Estevao Willian.

Ryan and Luke share their thoughts on newly minted USMNT coach Poch's tactical prowess and leadership, sparking a debate on whether his appointment could lead to success in the forthcoming World Cup. They preview Chelsea's upcoming fixtures and sprinkle a bit of humor about tournament struggles and the unfortunate goalkeeper situation.

With the added spice of Luke's recent travels, job-related adventures, and encounters with liquor store owners, you have a thoroughly entertaining episode that mixes football analysis with personal anecdotes and light-hearted banter. Tune in to catch all this and more, and remember to join the ongoing discussions on Discord!

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Transcript

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Hey, it's the Football Yanks podcast on a Derek list weekend. It's just Ryan and Luke. We discussed the fact that Luke brings the viewership to start. We catch up on what he's got going on in his. His life. I suspect we will set a new record with this episode. I'm going to put that Luke is on this episode in the title. We'll see what happens. Then we discuss at great length and with great disagreement the way the Chelsea and city match, like, played out. I have my Chelsea tinted glasses on, and Luke has his dog shit colored Tottenham glasses on for that analysis. And then we pivot into a 20 minutes, like, cataloging of all the problems at Chelsea as a club. The players, they need to move on. The players, they need to loan. The players that have been exiled from the first team. And. You called my sunglasses dogs. It is a fiasco. And we go over all of it, and then we wrap things up by talking about the Pochettino appointment at the us men's national team and what that might mean and Pacha's lack of tactical acumen, which Luke definitely agrees with. Is there anything I'm missing? So much, but I can't even hope you guys enjoy. Yeah, we're american, but we're talking about soccer here. Hosts Derek Ryan and Luke are all football fanatics. Our fellow yanks in the EPL and abroad enjoy today's episode. Hey, everyone. We've got Luke here this week, and no Garrett. How you doing? I'm great. How are you doing? Probably not so great after this morning. Or whatever time that came out this afternoon. We can talk about that. I feel a lot better after that match than I did at the beginning of last season, but we. Yeah, we can talk through that. How have you been, man? I just don't see you. I see you on this podcast, like, once every. I don't know, two months and. And sometimes for a dog exchange. So, yeah. What have you been up to? The world wants to know. This is completely true. When. When you are on the podcast, those episodes do, like, about 25% better. I'll take it on average. Yeah. In terms of listeners making poor decisions. Yeah. Which I don't like. The weird thing about that is the, like, the titles don't usually indicate that you're in the episode, so just title. It with my name. Luke's back. Yeah. Luke's special. Every time you're here. Yeah. So what. What's up? What have you been up to? You were, like. You were, like, in Minnesota again. Yeah, I've just been traveling a lot, both for work and personally. Tess and I were in the Wisconsin, Minnesota, Chicago world to see our godson and then go spend some time on the Mississippi river on a pond tune, which was fun for about a week. Really great seeing our godson as well, of course. But yeah, a lot of travel for work, man. Like, I've been in Nashville and Greensboro, in Louisville, like just a little bit of everywhere. Yeah, just non stop. Is that just a new norm for you with this job or is this. Is it a feature of the fact that you're new there or. Yeah, um, I think it's a little bit of both. I definitely will travel a little bit more. Thank God. I'm gonna hire someone in North Carolina who will help me down there. But, you know, I'll be traveling a little bit more for the role, for sure, but we're going in. Excuse me, Burpee. Burpee. Oh, that socket eleven's gets me fucked up playing. Eleven's just destroyed. Yeah, Luke just played. It's. It's like a hundred degrees outside and Luke just, just played. So terrible, terrible decision. So, yeah, I think it's gonna be a feature of the job, but also because I'm new, I'm kind of running a little bit with my head cut off. Yeah. Just kind of the nature of growing with such a. Such a cool company into a larger, larger role. But once I have my feet under me, once October, November, December is over, which is the busiest part of the year in the spirits industry, I should. Yeah, I should get it under control a little bit more, hopefully be around a little bit more consistently. I still have not had any Bardstown stuff ever. Yeah, sounds like you're making a mistake. I can bring some samples over, you. Know, you'll have to try some sometime, but, um, we don't. We shouldn't make it a infomercial about Bardstown, but got some fun stuff. It's all tasty, so it's. And it's a great company to work for. Really. Yeah. Couldn't be happier. Just busier than I've ever been. Cool. Would you say if you were unhappy about your job, would you say it on this podcast? Well, the long term listeners will hear me be around much more and be a little bit more pessimistic about the world. Probably back in like, I don't know, this time last year when I was starting up with the podcast, so you never know. Yeah, I probably wouldn't, you know, wouldn't be as gracious about how busy I've been. It's been, you know, usually I'd be like, fuck this bullshit. Yeah, what the fuck am I even doing? But, yeah, you don't. You don't, like, seem to remember any conversations we have. But you did back then. You were like, do not ask me about work on the podcast. You were like, it's. It's off limits. Like, do not ask me. I will say something that, yeah, it's still probably the best way to go just because I'll just say something random that, you know. Yeah, I have. I have no. No filter most of the time, but, no, I'm liking it. It's just really busy. Just enough. Another level up, you know? Yeah. I had this thought the other day, like, when you are on a first name basis with the liquor store owner or whatever cashier, I'm like, that's Luke doing his job. When Derek is, it's. It's like, cause for concern. Like, he was in the, like, group chat. You. You guys were, like, talking about some, like, I get, I guess, the owner of one of the local liquor stores, and Derek was referring to him by first name. And you knew who he was. It was like, well, that's Luke's job. Derek might have an issue, to be fair. Okay, a couple things about that moment. Right? To be fair, I introduced Derek to Justin. Everybody go to all of you liquors in Ellicott City. It's awesome. Justin Jarvis, love you so much. I did introduce Derek to Justin, but I didn't really introduce Derek, I think, the way he wanted me to. He's been very upset that I. That I excitedly had a load of him by saying, fuck you. Oh, to Derek. Yeah. Just immediately. Oh, fuck you, Derek. God. But that's really me just saying I love him and. Well, maybe not love his. Love is a strong word. But, you know, I was excited to see him. I just was rude and loud. Right? Yeah. Yeah. If you started being, like, consistently nice to me, I should be really worried. I would think there's an issue there. Yeah. Like, once I start directly addressing you and saying, fine, what the fuck do you want me there for? Then? You know? Yeah, yeah. Only good things. I've been. I've been missing the podcast. I've been listening a little bit more than I did when I was on it, more. So, yeah, I think last week sucked and it was my fault. No, it was okay, you guys. You know, y'all. Y'all are also in a consistent. I think I love the part of the show where you try to convince everyone. Everyone I'm a total degenerate, too. Kind of my favorite thing, which is, like, half true. Yeah, I don't think it's a hard sell. And, yeah, like, we kind of. It's not a hard sell. We can kind of just, like. You're not a degenerate. But, like, the lore, like, if told a specific way, it does make you sound like, I just lost your video. But I turned it off for a second. Okay. It does make you sound sort of like a degenerate, even though it is, like, completely true. Like, we make it sound. We leave it up to people's imagination, and it makes it sound like if. I was just a casual listener of our wonderful podcast, I'd probably think that I was just, like, you know, in a den somewhere shooting up heroin. Like, yeah, right. Derek will never find me here. Yeah, yeah. It's not quite like that. Not quite, but yeah, yeah, I think I told you. Shannon's brother who just popped into the discord, actually, discord's been, like, popping off, which is. Has been fun. Yeah. You guys have been yelling me to look at it more. Yeah, yeah, it's been fun. If you. If you're not in our discord, you should join, especially with the new season kicking off. It should be fun. And I'm gonna pull some things to talk about from there that I maybe would not have caught if it weren't for people shouting it out in the discord. So there should be, like, a. Where in the world? Like, where in the world is Luke Farley? Right. Hashtag on there. Like, a Lukewatch channel on here. But, yeah, Shannon, if found, called his number. Yeah, Shannon's brother said that. I said this the last time you were on the. You maybe don't remember this, but the last time you were on the podcast, we talked about how Shannon's brother likes the, like, degenerate guy, Luke, who, like, nobody knows where he is. I'm sending you. I don't know if that'll. Are you sending to me on discord? Oh, there you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, Luke doesn't really do discord, but check out that video on Twitter x.com, the sports galazo. CB's sports. Yeah, yeah, check. Check that out. Did you see this? This Lewton's goalkeeper. Yeah. Took out, like, two people in the same. In the same move. Yeah, I did see this fucking twat. Like. Like, of course you're gonna get a yellow card. The first one. Yellow card in the face. And he just, like, totally has lost his mind. Like, and then he's surprised it's like that. They're both yellow card challenges. So he didn't. He got a yellow card for accumulation because he also had a delay of game yellow earlier. Okay. I do not watch the championship that much. So this should have been a straight red. Like in. In the absence of a yellow, you don't think the second one's. Look how far out of the box he is. I definitely need to, like, look at it a couple times to really make a determination, but he's being totally out of his mind. If you're listening to this and you have not seen Thomas Kaminsky absolutely lose. A guy on the discord said that it looks like the type of thing he does when he's down a few goals in FIFA and he's just out for blood. Yeah, just xxx. It'S one of the most unhinged things I've ever seen. I don't know. I don't know if the second one's a red card. I think it's. It's definitely yellow. It doesn't really matter, but definitely two yellow card challenges. I just don't think it's foots quite high enough, but I can see it as a red. Like, I don't really have a problem with that. Like. Yeah, spend time arguing. So do you think, like, all right, let's say there's been. There's been no delay of game. I guess I don't totally understand how reffing should work in this situation, but the fact that they're back to back. Yeah. What I would say is combine that into one. So you would give him two yellow cards. Dude, I. If I witnessed that as a. As a ref, I go just straight red. Like, there's no way. I think it's. It's hard. Is he denying an obviously obvious goal scoring opportunity? No. Right. Is his foot high and in a pretty dangerous situation in the second foul. Absolutely. But I think he's the first. The first foul he makes after time wasting is a yellow. And also, why the fuck was he time wasting in the 31st minute? Yeah. Like, how did he get there even, dude, get him out of the team. Yeah, that. That was just absolutely shocking to watch. I love the, that as like, the first thing you do of the season. Like, we're just gonna fuck somebody up. Yeah. Like, no, chill. Which I respect, you know, he just. Wanted to hurt somebody, I guess. Yeah. Trying to think of what else. Like, he's making like 10,000 pounds a week to fucking make a decision like that. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, like fuck off. All right, what do we want to talk about first? I want to hear the reaction to the Chelsea game. Man, I watched it today. You did? How did you watch that and play soccer just now? The game started at like 130. Yeah, started a little late. Jesus. Burping all the time. Yeah, it started around 130. Started a little bit late. And then I like the reason we started late. I was like, well, I could get on this podcast and be sweating my face off or, yeah, I could just be slightly red. So I went with the letter. Yeah, we nearly started on time. The time that you, you picked, which you, you deny you. You ever. Never picked. Yeah, yeah. Never happened. So this went. Chelsea lost 20 at home to the defending champions. Really tough draw for the first game of the season. I thought that Chelsea looked okay in this match. Far better than I felt about our opening fixtures last season. Now that said, I think in the PL we didn't lose to Man City. I think we got two draws against Man City last season and they were far more, I guess, entertaining matches than this. Things I'll call out. I thought, I think Wesley Fafana is still. It's a little bizarre that he is starting for me. He doesn't look totally up to game speed. There's a number of managing decisions I think you could ask questions about. Yeah. Uh, there's all kinds of stuff to talk about with, with Chelsea. I feel like this last week, it's like it's been this last week and like, if, if everything that happened to Chelsea this last week happened in a month, it would, it would feel like a lot. Yeah. So, yeah. The obvious weaknesses in this match for me were Malagusto, who did not look as sharp as he normally does. He's no longer playing like a traditional wingback and I think there's going to be an adjustment there. I think that Reese James is going to look a lot better in this system. He's evidently injured and he's also suspended the first three fixtures of this game. This season, two yellow cards. Is that right? He played like three matches last season or something. It took two straight. It was tied for the most straight reds in the league with like very, very minimal minutes. Fauna just doesn't look totally up to speed and I thought Colwell looked poor, too, and sort of a theme for. But Fafana, definitely the worst of the two. And a theme in the preseason was that our, our center backs look very disjointed and a lot of the trickery in this system happens in that back line. And it may just be that there's a big learning curve to where. When people need to be where who's covering what, these partnerships, like really forming back there. It's arguably the most change has occurred there for this team. Yeah. Desassi, I think was injured. I don't know that I want to see him anyway. And Benoit Shield. Yeah. Desassi, it doesn't look like even made the squad. How can you even remember how many players there are on the team and who made the squad at this point? Well, so we should talk. We should talk about that. That's a totally different. It is, but funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's. Let's talk about that. But let's finish talking about this match. So Chelsea started. I thought Nico Jackson had a poor match as well. He was offside a couple times, I think, where he. Yeah, yeah. Where if he had just been a little more. A little more up, I guess, maybe up to match speed, he maybe could have produced for Chelsea in this one. He was injured most of the preseason. It's a new system. There may be some growing pains. They're growing back into the speed of the PL again. You saw this with Niko at the beginning of last season. He was an offside merchant. He was also taking a lot of. At the beginning of last season, sort of reckless. Yellow cards. He got a ban for an accumulation of yellow cards. Like five. I forget what it is. If you take five in whatever period of time, then you get a match ban. He ironed all of that out of his game by the end of the season. So that makes me hopeful. And then probably one of the biggest storylines here. Well, there are two for me in terms of selection. One is in Cuckoo, starting on the left, which I don't think I could be wrong, but I don't recall him playing out there in preseason. He was usually central. Instead you had Enzo Fernandez in that attacking mid role and also captaining the team, which. Bizarre. I remember people joking about that and I talked through. Shannon doesn't follow soccer. She doesn't. I think she knows who most Chelsea players are and who most Burnley players are and that's it. Which is weird. She just decided she's a Burnley fan one year and follows them. But I talked to her about Enzo Fernandez leading a racist, homophobic chant and. Videotape himself doing it. Video, yeah, live streaming, I think himself doing it. Let's call it one and a half times because he also. I don't know if you were on the episode. We talked about this. I think you were. But like, as part of his, um. Dude, my eyebrow is in a weird state. Anyway, uh, so now we all know. What you think about. Yeah, anyway, so, uh, for Nandez, uh, he went back to River Plate and uh, as part of his like at like post Copa America tour they like retired his jersey or something. And the fans started singing that chant while he was. Yeah, pretty weird for him to come back and then be given the captaincy while they're doing what they're doing to Connor Gallagher and to Ben Chilwell, which we can talk about in a minute. Robert Sanchez had some like very sketchy moments. I still don't know if he's the one. There was like one pass and made. A couple good saves. Made a couple good saves. Yeah. So he's a good shot stopper. But the problem is with this system, the expectation is that you have a very good ball playing goalie. Go buy one of those instead of whatever the fuck else has been over the past five days. Yeah, so he's, his decision making on the ball is scary, as is my assessment of that. Made great saves though. Very good saves. So I don't want to take that away from him. I think the midfield group looked really good. Lavia, Caesado, Fernandez. That's the setup we were crying out for all last season. They're all healthy, they're all playing together. Cole Palmer. Did Cole Palmer things. I thought he looked pretty good. And then, yeah, off the bench we got to see Pedro Netto, Kieran Dewsberry Hall, Mark Gui. Yeah. Product, I just like don't know how to say his name yet. I need to press with a lot of energy without. He's great. I really like him. Pressed well, but didn't really contribute. Yeah. And then Renato Vega, who I also, I like quite a bit. Cucurea I thought looked really good at times in this game. So that said, in terms of like performance, the commentators for the american broadcast were really, really down on Chelsea after this one. I didn't think they played that bad. So Chelsea actually beat City on expected goals, which I know isn't everything, but it does like sort of tell you how a match went. So it was 1.23 expected goals for Chelsea, 0.82 xg for Man City did not have like the best chances. The one, the one. The goals that were scored were both great individual efforts and great finishing. Both teams created one big chance. Total shots was about even. Ten for Chelsea, eleven for Man City goalkeepers. Both had to make three saves or both made three saves, I should say. Chelsea with more corners. Chelsea committed more fouls. Passing was about even. Chelsea more tackles. Ball possession was about even 48. Chelsea 52, Man City. And like, if you keep it that close with city on possession, you know, that's kind of big. So for a team that is picking up a whole new system, didn't have much of a preseason to do that with. With all the international competitions going on. The Olympics. Euros, I'll take it. This is a tough draw. This is a nightmare draw for a team to have with a whole new system and like a truncated start to their truncated preseason, I guess, let's say. Yeah. So now that we're done listening to the Chelsea apologist over here. Just kidding. I am. I would take it a little more dire. So I think that the start of the season probably about the same. You're right on the man city is a tough draw, but Man City wasn't that good. What I would say about all those kinds of stats that you shut off, particularly the possession, would be. My question is where did they have possession? Most of Chelsea's possession was relatively controlled by Man City's shape, which is a pretty well known early season trade of Man City. I felt watching it that Man City were pretty much in control of about 80% of the game. Now are they going to do that against most teams? Sure. I didn't think Chelsea looked particularly dynamic through the midfield. While I think in terms of stability the three Lavia, Caseito and Enzo makes sense. There's not really enough creativity in there. I. Enzo doesn't like to play with his back to goal. He turns okay, but he, his real skill is playing like a quarterback with a little bit more of a deep lying position where he can spray diagonals. So it was kind of hard to see the real benefit in that. I thought it was just kind of boring and they were looking for control, which is, you know, the new manager's kind of mo is that it's kind of about slow control. But they never had control of the match. They basically tried to do it Man City was doing but without better play with, with less, with less quality in the team and less time to understand the system. So I thought it was just, it was pretty, it was a pretty boring game, to be honest with you. Like, right. It was. There wasn't a lot of snap in the game. Yeah, I agree with that. I think it's a fucking disgrace that Enzo's the captain of a football team. The size and stature of Chelsea is. I think there's really no excuse for it. I don't think he needs like, they don't have to, you know, it's like he does that, right? And again, it's always becomes a little bit too much. Chelsea Tottenham on the. When I'm here, but you look at Basuma, right? Bissuma, just like an idiot, fucking sent out a Snapchat to a friend of him doing the laughing gas shit. He's taken out of the team for a game. Enzo sends a. A video of him chanting a racist song, right? A video been recorded and he starts the first game as a captain without any public discernment or process to bring, you know, like that. Like they all took you, they all take the knee at the beginning of the game. What process is he gone to give him education about what he said, essentially. I don't see any of that. So kind of right away in the game, he's a captain. I have a little bit of a down feeling on it, but I generally don't really understand his position in that ten role, in that further four role. I think you've got to have him cuckoo or Palmer in that space because they can turn, they can play the balls in behind for the runs Jackson made. I thought some of the runs Jackson made were pretty good but kind of traditional. Niko Jackson issues, just like offsides, little lack of final product. But honestly, I didn't think Jackson played all that well. He stretched, he pressed, he did what he could. I thought Cucurella looks, looks pretty good. Like he's down for the fight. That was really positive. He really. Shut up. What's his name? Doku. For a while, I think it was an opportunity for Chelsea to come out and really be aggressive, but I didn't see it. Yeah, he did a really good job against Doku and Doku is playing on his side. Really. He really shut them down. Really impressive stuff. But yeah, the team just doesn't feel balanced, honestly. Like, I think the fact that they have not had training sessions with a focused team was a little bit evident and that's what's evident about that. That midfield, for me, it's all about structure, it's all about kind of defensive shape. And that tells me they haven't had time to gel the. The attacking, attacking profile of the team because, you know, Cole Palmer has been gone, Enzo has been gone. So Chelsea has a long way to go in terms of gelling that team made harder by the amount of players. Pretty. I would, I would also say it was pretty. You could see that result coming. Do you agree with that? Like, that felt like pretty much exactly what I expected from the game, like. The way the game went or like the final score? Both. The way the guy. I thought Man City were pretty much in control of large parts. You know, there were some forays forward, but it was mostly a boring, controlled game. Right. There wasn't a huge amount of attacking intent from either team. I don't know. I don't know if I agree with you. I just didn't find the most compelling spectacle and I think that's what Man City wants. Yeah, I'm trying to. The problem I was gonna save this for later because, like, the data for this game is still coming in. I think that all of your takes are bad, but I don't have the stats to back up what I saw with my eyes. So, yeah, I was trying to find the field tilt stats or the touches and opponents box, and that hasn't come out yet. I have it for Chelsea, but the, like, city side of that game is not populated in any source that I can find. Well, and, you know, I think the stats might not back it up, but with Man City, you often find, like, things like XG can be a little swayed because of where they're having control possession and what parts of the field they're allowing possession in. Right. Yeah. Cole Palmer didn't really have the ball more than a couple times in really dangerous positions, and Cole Palmer did well. But, you know, they were able to. I felt like Man City were able to control the tempo and the pace of the game pretty effectively. Yeah, Palmer. I don't know, like, Enzo made some pretty great progressive passes, but that's when. He came deep to get the ball. He did. He very often turn and play the ball in behind, which is what a number ten needs to do. And when a number ten can't get on that half turn, play little balls, intricate balls through. It becomes all about deep lying diagonal play. Yeah, I don't think that that is meant to be a ten in Maresca's system. Like, it's not. It's not a 4231. Then he shouldn't be the furthest. It's a four, three three. Yeah. Yeah, I think I agree that Fernandez is out of position in that role. Yeah. Was actually pretty good. I think he might be better than Kiseto. Like, he. I see a higher ceiling for him than cansero for some reason. Yeah, that's what, like, a lot of people think that I don't. I don't know enough about him. He. He played like ten minutes last season. They're also. They feel like such similar players, though. Like, there's not like there's a good dynamic in terms of descent, defensive shape, but there's not like, there aren't complimentary traits necessarily in those players. They're very similar, I think. Yeah, I think. I think that. Well, let's pull this up, which I. You know, and I've only seen what Lavia played Southampton, so I haven't really seen them play together that much. But just watching that game, I felt like they were very similar, semi kind of holding players. Yeah. I think that I could be wrong again. I don't know a ton about. Sorry, I'm pulling this. The stats on both of them up. Romeo Lavia. So I don't. I've not watched a lot of Lavia. I didn't watch him a ton at Southampton. You're. You're right. They are like very, very similar players, but they're not. They're not. What did you call them? Like, they're both classified as build up dictator directors. So both of them are very good at passing. For some reason. I thought Lavia was more of a line breaker, like. Like a yaya Torre kind of type or. Oh, God, he scored on us today. Kovacic. Yeah. I will say the irony of Kovacic, who's got sold for 30 million or something like that by Enzo and Casey dough with like, a knife through butter. That is, like, fucking ironic. And it's amazing. He kind of. He wasn't, like, flogged out of the club, like. Like a lot of the play. Like, he wanted to go and we sent him to the best club in the world. Just ironic enough, though, you know? Like, love it, like a little bit. Yeah. That's why he didn't celebrate. Right. Like, when you see, like, if Kai Havert scores against Chelsea, he's gonna go off because he fucking hates Chelsea. Kovacic respected it. Yeah. Yeah, he. He. I think the club. That was a situation where the club did right by him anyway. I don't know. I don't think I saw exactly what you did in this match. I'm. I'm hopeful. I want to see the next game. Well, you're much more optimistic on Chelsea than I am. Like, I'm pessimistic. I do. Like, I just think that they set up to play very similarly to how Man City dictate. So they basically went player for player in a way. Not like. Yeah, not. Not the whole game. And city is gonna beat you when you do that. You either have to come out with them at a huge amount of energy or you have to hold back and let them dictate and encounter. You really can't go man to man and play the way City play and win. And Pach was, like, really effective against City and in a way that he was, like, not effective against many teams last season. At the end of last season, there were chances, there was upside. Yeah. But it was. I think it. It was sort of. So we have Pep's protege as our coach now, and Pep likes controlled games where he can analyze and anticipate. And Poch is like, we're flipping the chessboard over. It's sewing mayhem. Yeah. And that seemed to give city problems. Yeah. I wish I had more data. I wish more data had been thrown online for this one. What I saw was that Chelsea played better than City and just couldn't finish, which is a tale as old as time for Chelsea. Team that plays Man City. Yeah. And then City. Just so. I don't think that's true. I think if you looked at it like, City's XG has got to be way higher than almost every team they ever play, but they also have players who can outperform there. Like. Like the baby eater. Why can't I remember anyone's name today? Yeah. The. Not russian. The norwegian baby eater on that scored. Holland. Holland. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't remember Holland's fucking name. Holland consistently outperforms his xG. So, I mean, you just have players. You have more seasoned players, more familiar with the system, and then, like, you get these moments of magic. I would put it up to that system a lot like putting those. Those high level chip, they're all about creating high level chances or high percentage chances. Right. But when, like, that Holland goal. Yeah. It's not super high percentage, but you've got the ball to the best goal scorer in the world, 15 yards from goal, or whatever it is he's going to score. Yeah. He doesn't need to do anything else the whole game. So XG again, that's just why I'm pointing to a little bit imbalanced between the kind of pointed control of the game and the way it played out. Yeah. Really poor by the Chelsea defense on that goal. It was, like, crazy to see Holland get the ball with that much space. Yeah, I just couldn't. I. Like, that's got to be like, if you're playing against City, do not let that happen. Like, that's. Make that guy earn it. I don't know. The second goal was pretty poor defending, too. Yep. After he cut through the midfield, no center back stepped up. They just stepped off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this is not going to be indicative of how Chelsea are. I think if they come with some of the quality that they showed today in terms of control, possession, because I do think they did that well. They'll beat a lot of teams, I think. Think. Yep. It won't be as up, as down as it was last year. All right, so I'm going to rapid fire some things that happened. We're 40 minutes in already. I'm going to rapid fire. We've talked about one match. We should talk about a few other things, but here are some things that happened with Chelsea off the top of my head this week, they sent Conor Gallagher to Madrid. That deal did not go through because the deal that I was praising last week. Samui to that. Chuckling a little bit. Samu, like, I think 1 hour after we recorded the podcast last week, that deal fell apart. Yeah. So. And this is a PSR thing where, like, you can't do a player swap. You need money to exchange. Like, you need both players to be sold so that then you can amortize the. The deal again over five years. So it's another, like, stupid bookkeeping thing that that teams are doing now. So it's a situation where, like, Madrid need one of their players to go to Chelsea for Chelsea to sell Gallagher to them. Insane, like, insane setup. Something has to be done about this. So, like, Madrid has announced Gallagher as a Madrid player formally. Him and him in a Madrid shirt, Atletico Madrid shirt, on their social media, like, announced him. And now he is back in London training with the kids at Chelsea because that deal has not gone through. Omarodian is off because at the last minute, Chelsea wanted 50% of his image rights. I have no idea what's normal there, but he was, like, deeply offended by that and was like, I'm not negotiating with these guys anymore. So now it looks like Joe Felix is going to Chelsea. Where he fits in here, I have no idea. And he was not good the last time. He just is not very good in my opinion, period. Good, good play. A good, like, individual player. Terrible. Yeah. Team player. Yeah. Just cannot operate in a team. And Chelsea fans, like, I listen to Chelsea specific podcasts and stuff. Like, I follow Chelsea Twitter. Like, I. Like, they're overjoyed. Like, if I were to say the, like, general consensus is that they are so stoked that jowl Felix is potentially coming back. And I was like, and I think Derek would agree with this. I was like, what the fuck are we doing with this? So that's one of our captains from last season, Gallagher. Enzo is the fucking captain through that. Oh, yeah. While Enzo Fernandez. I didn't wrap that thought up. I told. I I told Shannon when the Enzo chant happened that I was certain he would not start the first game of this season. And not only did he start, he was captain of the team. What the fuck is happening? So there was that. It does look like a good deal for Joe Felix for a player, like, it looks like the deal. According to Fabrizio Romano this morning, it's a 34 million pound deal for Joe Felix, which I looked it up, and Atletico, all in, paid €120 million for him. So from a business decision standpoint, which is all this, like, this club is just building a portfolio of, like, they're basically like, dollar cost averaging across players. It. It's great, but yeah, I mean, so that. That. That's where all that's at. It. Raheem Sterling put out a fucking statement today. Did you see that too? Yeah. Yep. So that's all part of this too. We should mention that. So Raheem Sterling, not in today's squad after I think starting in almost all of the preseason matches and looking good and being the highest paid player at Chelsea right now, he was not in today's squad. I assume they're trying to force him to take a move and they put out a statement basically saying they want clarity on his future after he was not included in the squad today. They bought Pedro Neto, presumably because Tottenham wanted him. Tottenham and City. Pedro Neto, who played 50% of matches last season, I think less than that. I thought it was 50. I thought I was third. Yeah, but it might have been 50 is terrible, too. Yeah, yeah, both are bad. Yeah, whatever it is. $60 million for half the games. Yeah. Not great. So now I don't even know where in Cuckoo started out on the left, right, so that's earlier I said, we'll talk about in Cuckoo starting on the left. In Cuckoo should be where Enzo was. Enzo, I don't think in this system, has a logical place on the pitch to be. And then on the left, you've got Sterling Mudrick, Pedro Neto, and I guess potentially Joe Felix. I think he can play all across the front, like, midfield three. Midfield three. Yep. Uh, and then on the right, you've got Noni. I guess maybe Pedro, like, is played out there sometimes. Pedro netto. Uh, you have, uh, Cole Palmer, who they've said over and over again, they want to get in more centrally. And Joe Felix maybe again. And they just gave Cole Palmer what, like a ten is extended his contract? Yeah, I think till he's 31 years old or something like that. Dude, it's fucked up. What else has happened? They are apparently in for Osaman. They apparently lead the race for Asimon right now. Yeah. So PSG is right behind, I think. Yeah. But there. So then you're in a scenario where you've got Mark Gui, you've got Nico Jackson, you have Armando Broia, you have Lukaku, who I think would go to Napoli in that exchange, but for now, he's still there. And then you'd have Asimin, who would almost certainly he'd have to be the starter at that point. So then you could say, like, niko Jackson is also, like, he. He played on the left for a period of time for Chelsea last year. And then. And then, like, if you. If you just look out one more year, you have two of the biggest talents in the world. Young talents, like under 18 or whatever. Coming from. Coming. Yeah. Yeah. Brazil and Ecuador. So Kendry Paez and Esteva William, which. Are not certain things. Yeah. Talented. You never know. No, no, no. Yeah, not. Sorry. They could have their legs broken and, like, paez, to me, looks more built for the. Like, he's, like, filled out and is. Is looking like he could take. The physicality of the Pl? Est is really slight and he. He gets hurt a lot in that brazilian league and. Yeah, I don't. I don't know, man. So, yeah, and then you've got. Right, so you've got Connor training with the kids. Lukaku, like, Maresca came out. Oh, right. Chili, did you hear about Chilwell? I know he's not in the team, but. No, I don't know what it's going. Yeah, Mareska, he. Dude, we. This. This is just a Chelsea pot. Like, until the drama stops. Like, all we can do in a week is get through whatever the fuck these guys have done and. And then call it an episode. Like, you're kind of, like, digging the ditch for yourself. I'm kind of enjoying it, to be honest. I don't need to say anything. It's like, oh, Chelsea fucked up. Oh, yeah, Chelsea. Well, I kept, like, as I was talking about this game, you were like, well, let's talk about that. And I was like, well, wait, let's. Let's get through the game and then we'll talk about the insanity that's happening at the club. So Enzo Moreska, in his first press conference, he said two things that I think just pour gasoline on this whole situation. One is that he is only. I think he said he's got a 25 player squad or maybe he said 28 that he is training with as the first team. So like when people say there are 45 people on Chelsea's first team, like think about the delta there, right? So let's call it 21st team players are training with the, like separately. Like, they are. They're not training with the first team squad. Well and they only squeezed through the PSR regulations this year because they did deals with Aston Villa. And what's the other club they did a deal with? They also. They sold some hotels. They sold the Chelsea women's team. Did they sell the Chelsea women's team to themselves? Yeah, yeah, they sold the hotels to themselves. There just must be. There must be a point of critical mass with all of this. Yeah, well, so the problem with that statement. So I am inclined to agree with what you just said but for some reason they're like really effective at selling players like they have. They've had a decent number of outgoings already and I bet you see a lot of these players shipped off for profit this week. And so the, the issue, my fear actually is that this process is going to be proven to be viable, to be profitable and what that'll mean for the way large clubs approach things. Like if Chelsea prove this theory and I think they're going to like, I can't believe the players they've been able to move on. Like Bashir Humphrey just, just sign for. I forget who. Like these sort of like unknown player. Oh, Amari Hutchinson. He's at. He's at Ipswich. They signed him for free from Arsenal's academy and like found him alone with Ipswich and then sold him there a year later. Whoever the loan manager and like whoever's working these deals, like they've got to be the hardest working people. Yeah. They're getting fucked up. Yeah. So, and then Chillwell. Right. So Mareska said, I've, I've cleaved the team down to 25 people, let's say. And then he was specifically asked about Chillwell and he was like, if Chillwell wants to play soccer he should probably find somewhere else to go. This is the transfer window still open. So just, just like threw that out there. That's your, that's your. One of your other captains from last. Season and a really good player. Like who really at left back is better than Ben Chilwell? Well, in this system, Kukure, but still. Like Ben Chilwell is a fucking good player. Yeah. He, he's a wing back he's not a left back, I guess. Much more of an attacking player. Right. Yeah. They had him training with the wingers in preseason because they just didn't. Mareska didn't feel like he was suited for what he was looking for at left back. Yeah. So. And he's also like, chili's a. He's like a good dude and really loves the club. And I was, out of all the captains, we had Reese, James, Chile and, and Gallagher as captains last season. Kind of rotated between them, depending on who was healthy at the time. Captain, vice captain. And Chile was the one I was most excited about in terms of the way he, like, carried himself. Uh, yeah, I'll say. Like, and we can, like, kind of fuck off with Chelsea because it just is a little more depressing by the moment. But I think the real issue that I've had is not so much like their transfer policy. It seems interesting. It makes good to, like, conversation and all. I think it's kind of, like, ridiculous. But whatever. It's not my club to run. I don't have 100. Yeah, not your circus, man. But I do not like. And, you know, again, the fans will speak to this over time. I don't love how they've treated people like they're people, players who care about the club. Connor Gallagher, Ben Chilwell. The choice to make, dude, the one. That fucks me up is Chaliba. Yeah. Trevor chal. It just like, it doesn't like they're, they're using people as pawns and like, they. These, these players are just not people to Chelsea. They don't treat. They're not treating them like people. They're treating them solely as, like, pnel. Right? And I think that's disappointing. And it pulls the relationship the team has with the fans. It feels like that could happen over time. Again. You'll be the one to say that over time. But the Enzo as the captain thing just tells me there's no, like, empathy or understanding of the connection a club has to its fans. That's what it feels like to me. Every time we sign a new player, especially a young player, I'm like, how? Why? What are we telling them? Like, why would anyone sign up for this? And they don't just sign up for it. They sign a decade long deal. Because with this, players are, it's a, they're leveraging long term stability with signing young players. They're saying you can, you know, no matter what, you get a broken leg, you tear your ACL, you know, you suck. You're signed here for ten years. That gives players long term stability. That's why some of the young ones are coming. Like, it makes sense to me. Does it? If you're 18, let me go to. The biggest club in the world and secure my professional career for the next ten years. Estevel William could have signed for any. Club, but how many were giving ten year contracts out or eight year contracts out? Yeah, but at 18, you're like. You're like, I think my leg's gonna fall off. Like, let's sign a ten year deal instead of when you only have a. Twelve to 15 year career. Yeah, why the fuck not? Like, I'm not saying that's the reason for all of them, but, like, it just opens it up. Like, how am I not supposed to interpret that? Like, a little bit that way? How am I not supposed to interpret people, right, who play football for a professional career, when they get a ten year contract that they're not gonna, like, pull off the chain a little bit because they're on a ten year contract? There's a cure. I watch in, like, other sport, like, in basketball and football. Like, players will deliberately take shorter contracts because, I mean, it's not entirely the same, but they're, like, banking on the fact that the market will move up. Like, the amount that teams are having to play pay players is going up year over year. Like, inflation is happening at a minimum. So you're. You're locking yourself into it. A pay package for ten years. Like, I. I don't. I'm not saying this is the only reason. I'm not making, like, a one size fits all justification, but I'm just giving, like, I'm giving some of the rationality to it. Yeah. From a player person perspective. Right. These guys are people. They're not just p l sheets. And it feels really, like right now to me that Chelsea has lost all ability to recruit and empathize with the people in their organization, playing staff. Right? Yes. It just feels disconnected. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. It. I mean, it's fucked up. The whole thing is fucked. Like, I. Fucking Bowley, man. Yeah. Good for him, I guess. Super yacht somewhere. Oh, right, yeah, sorry, last thing I'll. I saw this graphic. I threw it in the discord. Chelsea. Since in the history of english football, this is the total money spent on transfer fees. Chelsea is number one overall at 3.87 billion spent on transfer fees. 1.32 of that has come under Todd Bolly. So, like, yeah, about a third of it. And in five years. Is it five years, dude, it's been three years. Yeah, yeah, three years, yeah. And it puts them. If you just took that amount of spending, it would put them that alone the top. The three years of Todd Bolly would put them as the 10th most spent. I was surprised to see Tottenham was it. It was in 5th. 2.13 billion. Yeah. It's not nothing to show for it. It's about like a third of. Yeah, it's not that much comparatively, but it's a lot. What do you mean it's not that much comparatively? Two thirds of what Chelsea have spent. Feel like a billion more is a sign. What's, who's in second and third. 2Nd is City. City would have outspent Chelsea if it weren't for Todd Bowley's tenure. So City's at 2.87, United's at 2.71, Liverpool 2.15, Tottenham 2.13. So you're like in the mix with clubs that are good. Okay. Yeah. And, and have won nothing. So the whole crowd, great work. You guys have Lester on Monday. What do you, how do you feel about that? You know, I'm not quite as hot as everybody going to the season about spurs. For some reason. People are hot on spurs this season. I think the fans are. I think like there's a lot of really young talent in the team. I think it's going to take another year. I think we're looking at. Yeah, I think we could get a result against Leicester. We should beat them. It'll be fun to see Scottie Parker on the other sideline or the. For the other team. I really like Scottie Parker. He's Lester's manager. I think Lester will finish last in the PL. You really do? I really do. I think they're a mess. Yeah, we'll see. I think we should win the game. It's a good way to start the season for us, but it is always a little awkward. You saw that a little bit with Ipswich versus Liverpool, which was actually a pretty good game, especially in the first half. You know, these like newly promoted teams really come with a huge amount of energy. The good thing about Spurs, I think we play with a lot of energy so we can match that that. Really excited about Lucas Bergval. I think that dude's gonna be a fucking player. Yeah, you're. I talked about this a bit last week. You're, you are higher on him than on Archie Gray. I just think. I think Archie Gray might be a better player over time, but I think Lucas Bergval is just gonna. Is the profile and the position he plays. I think he'll reach a level higher sooner, but I think Archie Gray's overall are. Could be much higher. Yeah, I'm pretty hot on Archie Gray. The big thing about Tottenham this year is that we've totally changed the age complexion of the team. It's like we must have one of the youngest teams in the league this year. You know, even. Even first teamers last year. So really like Dominic Solanke as a signing too, you know, he's not in the age profile. He's at 26. But I think he'll be a good signing. No reason he doesn't get 20 plus goals this year. Yeah. Because we do create a lot of chances even if, you know, teams can score a lot on us. But I think, yeah, it'll be a good season. I'm excited. I, you know, I'm still hot on ange. I think he's the right manager for the club. Europa League should definitely be a target for us. We'll see what happens. Check this out. So that you brought up the Liverpool match. Look at you. Texted some to me. I send it to you on discord. Look at the fur. Like, did you watch that Liverpool match? I did parts of it, yeah. I probably watched like 20 minutes in the first half, about 20 minutes in the second. Yeah. So they subbed. What was the subdivide? It was a defender. I don't remember all. I just. I was really impressed by Ipswich. It's just hard for a team like that to really maintain that level, that level of energy over 90 minutes. Yeah. You know, for a promoted team to go there and. Well, it was at Ipswich. Excuse me. To play and really hurt Liverpool. It was pretty impressive. But obviously Liverpool has the players. Yeah. It's very hard to maintain that. Yeah. I think Ipswich stays up this year. I. I think so too. They're trying to sign. Armando Broia is like the big rumor. They're trying to convince Brea of their project which it's like, dude, just fucking get, like, it's better than get the fuck out. It's not his fault either. No, no, no. Yeah, I get the chance. Yeah. Yeah. I'm wearing a Chelsea kit right now and I am saying you should go anywhere else if you want a career at this. Like. Yeah. Anyway, I thought, like, I couldn't identify a specific. So what I sent you was the expected threat timeline for that match. And something happened at this. At the end of the second, at the end of the first half. I mean, Liverpool just came out ready to fucking rip. So what good teams do? Yeah. And they just. It looked totally different in the second half. They were definitely more. They were more on the front foot. They were doing a lot of like, passing around their defensive line in the first 45. Yeah, but it. Yeah, well, it's players and they're a new manager, you know, Graven Beck, I thought was really good. Was pretty good. Salah was really good. I think it's. Yeah, it's just like new players that are a new manager not really knowing how the intensity of the game is going to fit what they've done in training. And I just think it took him a half, you know, that. That Liverpool team, it looks good. It does, it does. They. They're missing a six for sure, but there's a lot of. There are a lot of goals in there. Yeah, that team. How do you like the new haircut from Mohamed Salah? I do. I don't know how it took him so long. Like, that's. Yeah, I don't either. That's a lot of fucking hair. Yeah, I think he's balding like a little bit, probably. So. Probably starting to like, get kind of thin in front, but I respect him for having it so long. But I think he looks good. He's. Yeah, he appears like more built without the hair. Like, his shoulders look bigger, kind of. You know, like, that dude's yoked. Yeah. Period. You can notice it a little bit more without the head flowing. Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah. That guy doesn't eat a single unnecessary calorie. There is not a car that is fucking. Fuck. No, there's probably. There's got to be carbs. That dude runs like crazy. But. Yeah, you're right. Every calorie is accounted for. All right. I'm trying to think of the garnacho miss at the end of the Man United game was hilarious. Yeah, Man United looked okay. Not like Fulham. Just were not up for that one. Trying to think of what else. Brighton beat the shit out of Everton. Yeah, Everton doesn't look good at all, man. Like, that team just looks like it's going to get relegated. They might get another point deduction, too. Wouldn't be surprising. They need to get into that new stadium and generate some bigger revenues to get players in. That team is in free fall. I kind of thought Man United were actually pretty good in that game. I was a little surprised. Yeah. How effective I thought they were. Zerkt. You know, don't. Don't know how good he is yet, but scoring on your debut is fucking amazing. So they're going to have a lot. I think United is going to be a more of a dangerous team this year than they were last year. Yeah. Like, I think they're going to be kind of like hitmen where they can go to a big team because they are a big team. But Casimiro, I had written him off by the end of last season. He looks like he's lost, like, some weight. Yeah, he's a little bit fitter, and, you know, you never know what goes on with a player in terms of losing weight. It's not like he was ever fat. It's just like, he looks. He looks more in shape to run, really? Yeah. So I think that'll be a good team, actually. Yep. All right, I guess let's talk about. To wrap things up. Final topic. Pochettino. Yeah, I just had brought that up. Coming to the us men's national team, or. It looks like it. How do you, how do you. I'm guessing you're stoked about this. Like, of course I love Pochettino because of what he did at Tottenham, and I think you should not hate him for what he did at Chelsea. But I don't know, it could be interesting. I don't think he's really a national team manager. Like, he doesn't really fit the profile. And I think it'll depend a little bit how much Pochettino becomes integrated with us soccer as a whole. My feeling is probably not really that much. I think he's gonna live in Europe still, so we'll see how that goes. I think it'll be a better manager than fucking Greg Borhalter. So it's a step up, I guess. I don't know. It'll be interesting. I think it's gonna benefit specific players like Anthony Robinson. I think he's gonna. He's gonna do well in that team with Pochettino there. I think the team is going to press a lot more effectively. So I think. Oh, my God, what's his name? Balagan? I think it'll be good for. I think Baligan is going to be. Balogun is very. As similar in profile to Harry Kane. As they're at the beginning of his career. Yeah, he does have some of that. Yeah, I think it's like a. I think us men, this US soccer federation knew that they had to make a bigger and more, like, high profile appointment, and I think they did it. And, you know, Greg, I was just watched a fucking men's men in Blazers episode. They interviewed Fabiano, whatever his name was. Romano, whatever the fuck. Fabrizio. Fabrizio. Yeah. And Romano is like, yeah, there have been no rumors about perhalter anywhere. Not. Oh, and I'm like, not surprising. Why? I wonder why. You know, I think it could kill Pochettino's career, too. Like, it could happen. Why? Why would it kill his career? I don't know. If the US comes into a home World cup and they get knocked out in the group stage. Yeah. Like, that would not be good for. I mean, so we've talked a lot about how different tactically you need to be for an international tournament versus a club. Not just tactically, it's how you coach the team. Right. It's in little spurts instead of long progressive. Right. And so that, that informs the tactics that you can roll. You can't, like. Yeah. You can't like, coach up a pep guardiola system when you have the team for. For limited amounts of time throughout the year. Right. Do you think Pacha's system. I have my answer, but, like, do you think Pacha's tactics are well suited for a national team setup? I'd say probably not. Okay. Honestly, because I think that what he does really well is work with young players and build the quality of a team over time. Right. Every. Every team he's coached except PSG. Right. It's taken a year, essentially, for the team to get up and running. Southampton, Tottenham, and I would argue Chelsea, if you look towards the end of the season and he's just not going to have that much time. What I like about Pochettino is that he'll. My hope is that he integrates the kind of high press, high athleticism tactics that he uses, particularly with young players, into the broader us system. Them, I think that would be positive. A little bit more tactical, a little bit more technical, but I don't think that he's. I don't think he's going to be the best international manager. I just. I think that he needs time with players. So I would have said, or I will say that I think it's a good appointment because his. So theoretically, what we have to offer are like a. Is a pretty high level of intensity with the players that we have. And Berlhalter, I think, was like reluctant to let them use that physicality. He was trying to like athleticism, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Athleticism. Physicality, like technical ability, higher athletic, athletic peak. Right. Yeah. Poch, I think, is tactically really stupid. Yeah. Which you are really wrong about that. I think that was on like, like absolutely showcased at Chelsea all last season where he regressed at halftime game in and game, game out was out coached almost every game. Like, in terms of tactical tweaks throughout the matches. Basically changed nothing all season until he inverted KU carea, which the rumor is that that was like the club told him he needed to do that and that was part of the dispute at the end of the season. I think he is not good tactically, but I. I think that's fine for the. For an Internet. Like, if he's going to teach these players to press and create turnovers and capitalize on those chances and he's great in a press conference, which is a weird thing to think about, but I think, like, going into a home World cup, having a guy with that level of like swagger. Yeah. I think is good. Gives the team. It's more of like a vibes, like hire. Yeah. As you're saying. Yeah, I think that you're totally off base with the tactical elements of what he was trying to do at Chelsea. But. But that's like neither here nor there. We don't have to agree. You can just be wrong. It's okay. Always potch apologists. Yeah, I'll take that mantle for today. So I don't know, I think that I can see in. I can see it working out and I think it is actually a good appointment. I just don't think he's going to be the best international management. I don't think is really going to be his best position. I think it's a good appointment because it raises the profile of the game. He will definitely get better results than Greg Berhalter in my. I, like, I would hope so. It'd be hard to do worse and I think the team will play with more aggression, which is what I would like to see. That was like the Clint Dempsey days, you know, like they, they just had swagger and they kind of wanted to beat the shit out of everybody, you know, like they wanted to get really into teams of and that Greg really took that away. So I think you make a really good point. Like, Pach will bring the aggression back to that team. Yeah. Like unleash Musa. Right. Huge athletic potential. Just fucking let them destroy the game and we can feed off the scraps. And hopefully he takes Matt Turner out back and shoots him. Hopefully. His relationship with Slanina at Chelsea, it's like Matt. The second Matt Turner got like a couple starts at Nottingham Forest, right. Last year, everybody was like, oh, Matt Turner. He hasn't even been playing soccer that long. And right after everybody figured that out. Yeah. Play soccer long enough to be at this level, dude. Yeah, yeah. He didn't kick a ball until he was like 22 and he looks like it. Yeah, yeah. Everybody figured it out. He's like fucking terrible. You know, in like Volo, when you have a goalie, you know, you're warming up, you watch and you're just like, hey, guys, just shoot as much as possible. That's what every single team like at the halftime, guys, you're not shooting enough. This goalie not good enough to shoot at. Run at him and shoot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's exactly that. Like, just put it on goal and something will happen. Not that the US really has that many great options to be end goal, but again, I think that one of the big upsides of Pach is that he does have a history of developing young players and improving them, coaching them to be. To improve. I think that we can talk about his technical nuances or lack thereof, but I think that he does have a really good history of making players better. I wonder what Slamina is even doing this. Like, Chelsea have to find a loan for him or something. Chelsea have to find a loan for like 30 people. They have. They have an HR issue. They don't even have like a transfer issue. You can have six international loans. Is that right? I don't. All the other ones, I think, have to be domestic. It all doesn't matter. It's all just crazy. Oh, he's at Barnsley. Okay, Slanina, did it do? Yeah, he's at Barnsley. The league one side. Yeah. So, I mean, I guess we'll see. That's a good loan for him, actually. I hope that he comes good. There's Zack Stefan. There's what's his name? Ethan. Even Horvath. Yeah. He just had a terrible owner this weekend. A fucking nightmare of a game. Dumbass. How did we go from, like, we. Like, the. Us basically only produced goalies for a while and now Brad Goose on to. Yeah, and now, like, we're so bad at keeper. We're so fucking bad. It's okay. Derek's. Derek's yapping in the. I refuse to respond to Derek. Yeah, he's not here, so he doesn't get a platform. He doesn't exist. I exist when I'm not here. He says, then Chillwell is the least of our problems. The UAE treats people much better than Chelsea does, for sure. Oh, my God. For fuck's sake. Poor cut. I guess that's it. Did you have anything else you wanted to roll through? Well, I think that was a good little conversation there. Yeah. Hopefully hopefully we, we learn some more next week about your good old Chelsea bags. And on Monday. Yeah, I think they have to learn, dude. Chelsea has to loan 20 players out or so. Conference league on Wednesday too, so that, that'll be a real. Oh yeah, super exciting. We'll see. All right, that's a podcast we are on, Discord. We talked about that a little bit. Come, come join us. There's like more people joining every week. Conversation is like, there's conversations pretty consistently happening in there. So Link is in the description of this episode and like and subscribe, leave reviews, whatever. Dislike, I don't care, whatever you want to do. And we'll catch you next week. You could watch us on Twitch, but there's no consistency due to Luke, so I can't tell you when to check us out on Twitch. But sorry. We'll catch you guys next week. See you later. Thanks for tuning in to the Football Yanks podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you heard this podcast so you never miss a future episode. We'll see you next time.