Libero

Saturday brought Liverpool’s third defeat in a week, following reverses at Crystal Palace and the cauldron of RAMS Park, home to Galatasaray. If you were a football doctor and were looking to diagnose reasons for Arne Slot's team looking more like pretenders than champions, what would say? To answer that question Rory Smith is joined Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja.P1: (01:35)P2: (40:33)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dressing rooms sharing posts about refereeing decisions, managers complaining about their nicknames on X and social media troll campaigns, football is very online these days. Is this just another case of football predicting society? Is it completely a bad thing? Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja discuss.P1: (12:56)P2: (36:40)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No progressive football club’s project is complete without an authorised streaming documentary series. They’ve become a significant contribution to football’s reinvention as a content provider. Does authenticity matter? Is Wrexham’s celebrity-assisted rise to be welcomed? John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Rory Smith enter the scripted realities of Phil Parkinson, Tom Brady, Brendan Rodgers et al to discuss whether the real story is always left on the cutting-room floor.P1: (11:30)P2: (42:07)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does Aston Villa’s sudden fall from grace say about the wisdom of basing a football club around one man in Unai Emery? Rory Smith, James Horncastle and John Brewin consider a club dogged by PSR and VAR and the implications of transfer guru Monchi stepping away. Villa aren’t alone in their start to the season being poor. West Ham and Wolves are also in the crisis club category, with open rebellion against their ownerships. Where did it all go wrong?P1: (00:33)P2: (40:50) Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two of the biggest Premier League stories in September came away from the pitch, and specifically in the boardrooms of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. First was the sacking of Daniel Levy, Tottenham’s seemingly all-powerful chairman, after 24 years running Spurs in his own unique way. Then, one week later, came the removal of Tim Lewis, Arsenal’s executive vice-chair, who had run Arsenal for the last few years.On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja look at these moves and explain why exactly Levy and Tim Lewis were fired. Was it because of performance? Or was it because a new generation of owners want to operate their clubs differently?These two stories have been compared to ‘Succession’, and both point to the tension between the ultra-wealthy owners of these generational assets and the executive class who run them. So is this the central tension that defines modern clubs? And are we - as Miguel suggests - now in ‘the age of the owner’?P1: (09:48)P2: (36:34)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodThe Sam Wallace column mentioned in the podcast can be found here, you will need to get past The Telegraph paywall. Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruud Gullit has been booked. iShowSpeed is getting his tuxedo ready. Kaka will be around, probably. That’s right: it’s Ballon d’Or time, and on today’s Libero, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith — Libero’s balls of gold — discuss the shifting meaning of the trophy, whether the obsession with it is an exclusively modern phenomenon, and the tension of individual awards in a team sport.P1: (10:41)P2: (38:18)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Champions League is back. Or more specifically, the league phase, which starts with matchday one spread over the course of this week.On today’s episode, Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson all look forward to this season’s competition and ask whether anyone will be able to challenge Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain for the crown. James explains why this might be the year that Antonio Conte makes an impression with his new-look Napoli side.This will be the second year of the Champions League’s new format, where 144 games are played between September and January to trim 36 teams down to 24. What are the lessons of the new system? Does it mean there is less riding on each game? And does the tournament as a whole have the same weight and prestige in the era of the Club World Cup?P1: (01:58)P2: (34:08)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sunday sees the first Meeting of Manchester United and Manchester City of the season at the Etihad. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Miguel Delaney and John Brewin look at the fixture and ask whether it is still one of the biggest in the Premier League calendar.The dynamic between the two clubs has been flipped in the last 15 years, with City now the dominant team of this era and United lurching from crisis. The fixture has lost its edge since its golden period between 2009 and 2013, when City were the rising force trying to topple Sir Alex Ferguson’s United.And while the local rivalry is a huge part of Premier League marketing, the question is whether a game like this can become a global product while still retaining its local appeal. Does it still matter in the same way?P1: (02:43)P2: (33:57)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Wilson, an esteemed football journalist and author known for his expertise in tactics and history, teams up with James Horncastle, a specialist in Italian football. They dive into the resurgence of tactical nuances, discussing man-marking versus zonal systems and how set-pieces are shaping modern coaching. The duo explores the evolution of football styles, debating if Pep Guardiola's influence marks the end of innovation or if the sport is rediscovering older strategies, balanced with modern techniques amid the evolving landscape.

He’s the greatest manager in Arsenal’s modern history and the Emirates a monument to his reinvention of the club. Arsene Wenger is one of the most influential figures of the Premier League era but also in French football from his time at Monaco, and is still involved in the game he loves as an employee of Fifa. But could he have won more in France and England? He never got to write his own epitaph with one more major triumph. Meanwhile, his Fifa role and closeness to certain forces within the game have gone against previously strong-held principles.Miguel Delany and Tariq Panja join John Brewin consider the enigma and legacy of Le Professeur.P1: (00:55)P2: (29:44)Produced by: Tom BassamEmail in via liberopodcast0@gmail.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopodFollow us on X @podcast_liberoFollow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.socialFollow us on Instagram @liberopodFollow us on TikTok @liberopodFollow us on Facebook @liberopodMusic: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.