Champions League Takeaway: Chelsea's Young Guns Fire, Liverpool Bite Back, Spurs Struggle & Real Madrid Eke It

Hello Rank Squad!The Under 21 European Championships concluded this weekend with Lee Carsley's England triumphing over Spain in the showpiece event to end a 39-year wait for the trophy and see the Young Lions become the first side to win the tournament without conceding a goal. Jack is joined by the brilliant Seb Stafford-Bloor of The Athletic and Tifo Football to talk through a feisty final between the two nations, as well as some of the bigger names and how they fared at the tournament, and some more obscure players who shone that you should keep an eye out for this season.Finally we talk about some of the nations for whom a successful generation here could be the spark for their senior side to ignite into life, to close things off. It's Ranks!--Ready to shop better hydration, use my special link https://zen.ai/ranksfcafootballpod1 to save 20% off anything you order. And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

11 Heinä 20231h

Hello Rank Squad!We're just over a month out from the return of the Premier League, and there's a lot of questions still to answer for various clubs. The Head Coach, Harry Brooks, returns to walk us through a selection of things he's got on his radar. We start with Manchester United and how they might operate without a World Class Number 9, discuss Bournemouth's new manager Andoni Iraola and how he adapts, dig into the plethora of problems haunting Pochettino's Chelsea, take a look at how Brighton might need to adapt this season to thrive, and ruminate on how City continue to get the best out of Erling Haaland. Things We Love contains a bit on the Harry Kane to Bayern Munich saga continuing to develop, and Carlo Ancelotti's appointment as the new manager of Brazil from next summer onwards. And this week's Hot Takes includes thoughts on Ange Postecoglou and the pressure of the Premier League (straight from one of our Patreons, and you can try it for free!), N'golo Kante's place in the Premier League Pantheon, and the handball rule needing to change. It's Ranks!--Ready to shop better hydration, use my special link https://zen.ai/ranksfcafootballpod1 to save 20% off anything you order. And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

5 Heinä 20231h 14min

Hello Rank Squad!It's time to talk Serie A - where after a few seasons of things looking like they were firmly on a positive trajectory, everything now looks like it's on fire. Jack & Dean are joined by the brilliant Christine Cupo to talk five Serie A clubs with big issues to fix this summer - Roma, Napoli, Inter, Milan & Juventus - and how they might go about starting to sort them out. Things We Love contains the madness of this transfer window (more on our Patreon, and you can try it for free!) and Sean Dyche fulfilling a lifelong dream by going to Glastonbury Festival. And this week's Hot Takes includes thoughts on Managers To Support, Harry Kane's pricetag, and why penalties are unfair. It's Ranks! --Ready to shop better hydration, use my special link https://zen.ai/ranksfcafootballpod1 to save 20% off anything you order. And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

28 Kesä 20231h 33min

Hello Rank Squad!We're back with some brand new fun - and this week Dean and Jack are looking through some of the storylines that are throwing the standard order of things out of the window ahead of this transfer window. We take a look at the pull of the Saudi Pro League, the impact of Leo Messi to MLS, PSG's superstar exodus and Manchester United's ownership takeover to see what kind of knock-on effect they might have on the summer. There's also a segment on Bournemouth's decision to replace Gary O'Neil with Andoni Iraola, and why taking a risk on the former Rayo Vallecano manager might well be a really smart move from Cherries' owner Bill Foley. Finally, we introduce a new section, where we're asking the Rank Squad for their hot takes and assessing them one by one in terms of how good a shout they are, and how off-the-wall they might be. It's Ranks! If you'd like more from the Rank Squad, including quickfire transfer episodes all summer and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

21 Kesä 20231h 3min

Hello Rank Squad! Welcome to something slightly different here on the channel. On Wednesday evening we teamed up with the excellent folks at Preediction to do a live, interactive transfer show with a load of guests who came on to talk to us about everything and anything transfer related. We talked a whole host of things - Kylian Mbappé's potential exit from Real Madrid, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, as well as answering questions on Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester City and much more. It's Ranks! And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

16 Kesä 20231h 20min

Hello Rank Squad! The domestic season is (mostly) over for 2022/23 and so it's time for us to look back and hand out some awards, especially for those who might have been missed out!We hand out some alternative awards - Coolest player, most watchable team, most pointless transfer, worst decision maker, and many more - to try and get a full lid on the best and worst things that happened this season and how you might remember them. Before that, we start with a discussion of the latest news on Kylian Mbappé and if he actually wants out of PSG, talking about how he'd fit (or not) at Madrid, and how the future actually looks at the Parc des Princes these days. And there's finally room for a Melon of the Season, a Gibberish Rankings about why British people cannot cope in a long, hot summer; and a goodbye for a little while to Sam, who is taking a well-earned rest. It's Ranks!If you'd like to join us for more transfer blitz shows this summer, why not have a look at our Patreon, where you can still get a one month free trial at the moment! And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

14 Kesä 20231h 9min

Hello Rank Squad!It's the final (and perhaps the biggest) game of the European Season this Saturday as Manchester City take on Inter in the Champions League Final, held this year in Istanbul at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium - 18 years after maybe the most dramatic of all UCL Finals when Liverpool came back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties in the Miracle of Istanbul. We take a look at how both teams got to the showpiece event, analysing their runs to the final; before turning our attention to why both will feel confident going into this game. Dean gives us three reasons City can finally get their hands on the coveted European Cup, whilst Sam sets out three reasons Inter will feel that they have the tools to stop that happening. Finally, Jack takes a look at his key battle in this one, between City’s Rodri and Inter’s Nicolo Barella, before we give some predictions to round things off.It's Ranks!Tickets for our Live Transfer Interactive Show are now available but there’s only a limited amount left. We’d love you to get involved, so if you’d be interested in chatting to us about the big transfer stories this summer, why not have a look here? And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

8 Kesä 20231h

Hello Rank Squad! News broke on Tuesday that Tottenham Hotspur had appointed Ange Postecoglou as their new Head Coach, after two very successful years at Celtic where the Australian won five trophies, including a treble this year. Reaction to the news has been mixed in the Spurs camp, so we decided to get some friends along to help us look through various different facets of the appointment. First off, Jack and Dean discuss how this came to pass, before we're joined by Coach and Spurs fan Harry Brooks to look at some of the challenges Ange will have to overcome. There's a segment from our Patreon episode where Sam & Dean dissect the nuances of having a manager from a slightly more obscure background take the reins at a big club and the challenges that presents, before Jack is joined by Alex (@EuroExpert) to look at some of the tactical quirks Ange likes and some of the players who could thrive under him. It's Ranks!If you'd like to take advantage of the Free Trial on Ranks FC's Patreon, we'd love to have you join us over the summer as we freewheel through the biggest transfer stories and more from what promises to be a wild off-season. And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 Kesä 202359min