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

Hello Rank Squad!With the Champions League in full swing this week we wanted to change up the pace a little bit, and go a tad more evergreen - revisiting an old favourite that we'd had more than a few requests to look at again. Back in one of our first ever episodes, we ranked every Premier League captain on their current playing ability, but that was two and a half years ago, so it was worth a new go round the merry-go-round.Things We Love starts us off where we talk Barcelona's current excellent form, whether Ronald Araujo should be getting close to the 'Best CBs in the World' debate, and Nantes' resurgence ahead of their UEL tie with Juventus this week.There's a Melon of the Week from mad scenes at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup, and Gibberish returns as Sam talks through his life this past week dealing with some surgery in the household.It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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.

15 Feb 20231h 4min

Hello Rank Squad!The Champions League is back next week and we're here to make sense of it all - going through each of the eight matchups to determine who is in the better position to advance, discussing their strengths and weaknesses, and taking a peek at the teams we think are favourites to lift that famous trophy by the time we get to May. There's a lot of ground to cover!Part One sees us look at PSG vs. Bayern Munich, AC Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Club Brugge vs. Benfica and Dortmund vs. Chelsea; Part Two discusses Liverpool vs. Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Napoli, Inter vs. Porto and RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City; whilst in Part Three we talk about our favourites to win the whole competition and why we're backing them, as well as covering Melon of the Week and a brilliant shoutout.It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Feb 20231h 24min

Hello Rank Squad!Yesterday brought the January Transfer Window crashing to a halt, with Chelsea going big once again, some smart signings across the board and some moments of madness as well. We take a look back at the big questions - who "won" the window, which permanent transfers will have the most impact in this second half of the season, and which loans topped a very impressive list.We talk Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea, Marcel Sabitzer to Manchester United, João Cancelo to Bayern Munich, Harry Souttar to Leicester City, Jorginho to Arsenal, Pedro Porro to Tottenham Hotspur, Keylor Navas to Nottingham Forest and much more, including some brief discussions on Marseille, Bayern, Real Valladolid, Southampton, Bournemouth, Verona, Spezia and many others.It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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.

1 Feb 20231h

Hello Rank Squad!It's a special episode today - with our beloved Transfer Guru absent we are joined by long-term friend of the pod and Tifo Football star Jon Mackenzie, to talk through five deals which have maybe flown under the radar of most football fans. They're all under the age of 21, they all cost a fair bit of money, and they all add something new to their respective clubs. With the Premier League doing most of the big business in this window, it remains heavily stacked in favour of the PL, but perhaps off-piste from the names you've heard thrown around a lot this window. We talk Jhon Duran to Aston Villa, Victor Kristiansen to Leicester City, Danilo to Nottingham Forest, Dango Ouattara to Bournemouth and Georginio Rutter to Leeds United and discuss how they can affect the seasons of their respective clubs. There's a quick Things We Love, where there's a thank you to everyone who watched our documentary (if you haven't, we'd love if you smashed this link to take a look), a discussion of Xabi Alonso's slick Bayer Leverkusen, and some chat on high-flying, free-scoring Atalanta as well. Dean has a brief cameo to bring you Melon and Shoutout of the Week, and Sam's Gibberish revolves around 90's football memorabilia that gave him a big nostalgia trip this weekend. It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Jan 20231h 16min

What's good, Rank Squad!We're back for another tryst into the chaos of the January transfer window, trying to make sense of everything that's going on around us. Today, we take a look at five players who are potentially on the market and could make a huge difference to a new club in the second half of this season.We start with Ferran Torres, who is linked to Arsenal (again), as a potential alternative to Mykhailo Mudryk; before moving on to Arnaut Danjuma (linked with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Leicester City); Duvan Zapata (linked to Everton and West Ham); Michail Antonio (linked with Wolves, but we'd like to see him in Italy, at AC Milan, Atalanta or Fiorentina); and finally, Moises Caicedo (linked with Chelsea and Liverpool).There's a return for Things We Love, where Sam discusses our upcoming documentary on Athletic Club which is dropping this Friday on our YouTube Channel; and Jack waxes lyrical about Napoli's 5-1 victory over Juventus on Friday night (what else is new.)Melon of the Week comes from a very slippy St. James' Park, to Jack and Dean's chagrin, there's shoutout of the week, and Sam talks his problems with Wordle in the Gibberish Rankings.It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Jan 20231h 10min

Hello Rank Squad!It's time for our rehousing episode - where we take a look at five players who are unwanted, underused or unloved at their current clubs, and find new homes for them to thrive in. This January, we're talking about Tottenham's Japhet Tanganga, PSG's Keylor Navas, Barcelona's Memphis Depay, Lyon's Houssem Aouar and Roma's Rick Karsdorp, alongside a whole host of honourable mentions, and looking for clubs where their respective skillsets would be put to good use.There's also time for an opening discussion on Chelsea's attempt to loan João Félix, which looks set to go through, and some thoughts on why their move for Enzo Fernandez broke down; there's a Melon of the Week all the way from Australia, and Sam's Gibberish revolves around some of the weirdest emails that he's been receiving on a regular basis.It's Ranks!If you'd like more from us, why not have a look at joining our Patreon, where there's at least two more episodes of Ranks FC every single week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Jan 20231h 12min

Hello Rank Squad, and Happy New Year!The transfer window is only a few days old, and yet plenty of clubs have already got themselves involved in the mire - with some big names already having shifted on to horizons new. We take a look at five deals already complete and dig into the analysis of whether they're good, bad, indifferent or important. We talk Max Wöber to Leeds United, David Datro Fofana to Chelsea, Cody Gakpo to Liverpool, Matheus Cunha to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, giving them the Ranks treatment.No Things We Love this week, because there's an incomplete transfer impending that's hogging the headlines, with reports stating that Argentine World Cup winner, young player of the tournament and Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez is set to join Chelsea in a deal that would make him the most expensive player in Premier League history. We dive deeper into why they want him, why he's going to cost so much, and our thought on the deal as a whole.Plus, there's a (slightly obvious) Melon of the Week, and given the time of year, a Gibberish Ranking where Sam shares his New Year's resolutions with you all.It's Ranks!If you'd like to get involved with our Patreon, where we're dropping transfer specials across the month as well as our usual Postbox and Spotlight content, you can get involved here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Jan 20231h 9min

Hello Rank Squad!It's nearly the New Year, so it's time to get back talking transfers ahead of the window opening - and who better to guide you through it than our very own Transfer Guru Dean Jones, who has the lowdown on five of the biggest storylines you need to be watching closely as transfer business swings back into life.There's also a quick chat about Cody Gakpo's move to Liverpool, Matheus Cunha's move to Wolverhampton Wanderers; and Melon of the Year is handed out, alongside a return of the Gibberish Rankings.It's Ranks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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 Dec 20221h 13min