Our Big Football Predictions for 2025 (Happy New Year!)

Hello Rank Squad!We're going Stateside for today's podcast, with the MLS postseason kicking off this week. Our MLS correspondent and writer Owen Murray is back on the pod to talk through his favourites to lift the trophy, some wild card picks to watch, and the games you can't be missing as we head into crunch time over the next month or so. Before that, Dean and Jack have Things We Love, where Dean discusses Ange Postecoglou's revolution at Tottenham Hotspur, and Jack raves about Sergio Ramos' performance for Sevilla against former club Real Madrid at the weekend. And it's something slightly different to round it off - with Jack & Dean keeping the MLS flavour by picking three players each we'd like to see Stateside for next year's league. 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.

25 Okt 20231h 10min

Hello Rank Squad!It's that time of year again, where the crème de la crème of world football dust out the old tuxedos and head for Paris for the glittering Ballon d'Or ceremony - the home of the famous incident where Virgil van Dijk was once asked if he wears aftershave on the pitch by some eejits. We look through the 30 man shortlist for football's most prestigious individual prize and whittle it down to 10, before giving our thoughts on the ranking of the top 10 footballers in the world last year. Will Lionel Messi claim his 8th trophy? Will Erling Haaland's ridiculous goal record put him on top of the pile? Or could World Cup Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappé finally get his hands on the trophy after his sixth nomination - a reminder that he's only 24. We look through it all, and the best of the rest. 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.

18 Okt 20231h 1min

Hello Rank Squad!With the wheels on Europe's top five leagues squealing to a halt as we hit the second international break of the season, we thought it would be an interesting time to sit back and reflect on what's gone on so far this year, and which players have stood out. So, we've taken a look through the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, to pick out the best player so far in each competition, and then stack them against each other to decide Europe's best so far - with a little help from our brilliant Ranks Community. There's a Things We Love, where Dean discusses the competitiveness of the Premier League this season, and Jack talks about two young Andalusian starlets in Bryan Zaragoza of Granada, and Assane Diao of Real Betis; before Hot Takes brings us some thoughts on Federico Valverde, and the future of Lamine Yamal. It's Ranks!Our Patreon community get two extra episodes a week, access to our brilliant Discord server, and loads more from us here at Ranks FC. Free trials are open, so why not give it a whirl? 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 Okt 20231h 8min

Hello Rank Squad!It's time for another Champions League Takeaway - a midweek bonus meal on all the week's UCL action. The biggest competition in European football returned to it's chaotic best, and we’re amongst it to take a look at the action from both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.We start with Tuesday's action, with three big takeaways on Manchester United's lack of streetwise nous, Arteta's decision to play an injured Bukayo Saka, and perhaps the best game of the season between Union Berlin and SC Braga, before rounding up the rest of the action.Then in Part Two, we take a look at Wednesday - talking Newcastle's demolition job on PSG at St. James' Park, Atleti continuing to get the job done whatever the weather, and Dortmund & Milan playing out one of the maddest 0-0 draws you will ever see, and then run through everything else that happened too.It’s Ranks!If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc? 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.

4 Okt 202358min

Hello Rank Squad!It's tough out there as a manager. You can be winning trophies and be the designated Chosen One one minute, and then on the verge of losing your job the next. It's tough, it's brutal, but it's the way football works, so we wanted to revisit an old staple and take a look at some of the managers under the cosh this season, and what the future holds for them. We visit Jose Mourinho at Roma, Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, Maurizio Sarri at Lazio, Sean Dyche at Everton, Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, and Maurice Steijn at Ajax, to take a look at what their situations are right now and assess whether they have the potential to turn things round at their respective clubs. Before that though, we take a look back at last week's episode and how the teams we discussed have fared since, and in our Hot Takes section this week, Saber from Sydney throws around an idea as to how to stop time-wasting and make football more efficient. 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.

4 Okt 20231h 13min

Hello Rank Squad!We've got a very special second episode for you this week, looking at five players who have joined (or are joining) European clubs from South America this year, and picking our way through the best of the bunch.Joining Jack is Nathan Joyes, founder of The Copa Club website, magazine and podcast, and aficionado on all things South American football, to provide the insight and knowledge you need on some of the brightest stars on the horizon from football's most famous continent.We take a look at Chelsea's Andrey Santos, Nottingham Forest's Murillo, Olympiacos' Santiago Hezze, Porto's Alan Varela, and Barcelona's soon-to-be new boy Vitor Roque, as well as briefly discussing Matheus Franca of Crystal Palace and Alan Minda of Cercle Brugge.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.

29 Sep 202346min

Hello Rank Squad!It's something a little bit different this week, as we take each of the clubs leading various leagues around the world and pit them against each other to see who we think would come out on top. It's a journey that takes us from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, Munich to Manchester, Cincinnati to Catalonia, Brest to Bavaria, via Milan and Jeddah for good measure. Then there's time for a few hot takes - one on the future of Borussia Dortmund's young star Youssoufa Moukoko, and the other on whether international managers should have to be from their home nations. 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.

27 Sep 20231h 16min

Hello Rank Squad!It's time for the first main course Champions League Takeaway of this season - a midweek bonus meal on all the week's UCL action. The biggest competition in European football is back, and we’re amongst it to take a look at the action from both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.We start with what went down tonight, with three big takeaways on Manchester United’s defensive woes, Arsenal’s young guns being so ready for this stage, and Simone Inzaghi making too many changes to his Inter side, before rounding up the rest of the action.Then in Part Two, we take a look at Tuesday - talking Rafael Leão’s off day for Milan, joyful João Félix shining already at Barcelona, and Julian Alvarez being the world’s best supporting actor, and then run through everything else that happened too.It’s Ranks!If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc? 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.

20 Sep 202355min