Classroom Football

This week on Classroom Football we take an analytical look on the modern Ajax side of 2018/19 and last season. We take a look at some of their best performances in Europe and discuss what made them such a threat.

Jack Manship, who is an analytical expert on Ajax and Eredivisie joins us for the conversation. The idea is what a team with less extravagant strategy in transfer market and more emphasis on nurturing talent can do to prosper well in longer term.

A little celebration of crossing the double figure episode mark! This week on Classroom Football, we did something special. Our host alongwith four arduous football fans, Sankalp, Ujjawal, Aayush and Ritaban talked about the game's relevance in a co-COVID world. It was then time to discuss where our teams stood this season, crib on why Robert Lewandowski was robbed off Ballon D'or, predict some big results in the upcoming Champions League and Europa League finales and some light banter. Also if you haven't heard the pod yet, this might be a good way to get hooked on something big that you have missed so far.

In our 10th episode of the Classroom Football pod, we talk about Manchester United. Once the best in England. Now in the shadow of their biggest rivals. How are the Red Devils finding their way to the top. We are joined by Kris Voakes, who is a features editor for The Sportsman. Kris has been closely following the club for quite some time. So we talk about how United the brand is competing with Manchester City and Liverpool on a global scale, the changes that have come in since Sir Alex Ferguson left, how is Ole Gunnar Solskjær changing things as a manager, the transformation since Bruno Fernandes signing and what lies ahead for United with a Champions League qualification secured.

This week on the Classroom Football podcast we talk about the return of Leeds United to England's top tier football after 16 years. We were joined by Peter Farries who is a football tv & radio broadcaster, presenter and podcaster based in Leeds, UK. 

So the talk is all about Leeds, the club, the city, what was the wait like for the fans, how things changed with Marcelo Bielsa coming in as manager in the 2018/19 season, the spygate Saga and how will Premier League look like with Leeds United and El Loco.

This week on the Classroom Football podcast, we talk about the team that needs to be talked about. FC Barcelona. We are joined by Omar Hawwash, CEO and Chief Editor, Blaugranagram (a news portal for everything FC Barcelona). Omar is someone who knows the club inside-out. The talk starts from Neymar's departure in summer 2017, covering the Ernesto Valverde era and then onto the current set of problems or no problems under Quique Setien.

Note: This episode was recorded before Real Madrid confirmed their title win.

Special Guest - Mr David Whitworth (La Liga Reporter & Real Betis Radio Broadcaster)

This week on Classroom Football we move to Spain. The 2019/20 season has been glorious in terms of bringing fresh young talent to the spotlight in La Liga. We are joined by David Whitworth, La Liga reporter and Real Betis Radio Broadcaster to talk about the top young players who have made huge strides in La Liga this season. We talk about their gameplay, statistics, what they mean to their teams and transfer market talk around them.

Also later in the show, we talk about a few big name youngsters who in the buildup to the season were pinned with huge expectations, but couldn't deliver.

For this episode of Classroom Football, we were joined by Neil Jones, who is the Liverpool FC Correspondent at DAZN media (Goal.com). 

We had a detailed conversation about what does the Premier League title mean to the club and the city. Digging deeper we looked at how things changed since the arrival of Jürgen Klopp in 2015 and the role of all the players in the team's success.

This week on our weekly football podcast, Classroom Football, we talked about the Bayern Munich team of 2019/20. We were joined by Kevin Hatcard who is a football commentator, presenter and pundit working alongside multiple top-tier broadcasting platforms and has an expertise in German football reportage.

The episode is all about Bayern, right from the time Niko Kovac was appointed as manager back in April 2018 to the transformation process under Hansi Flick.

Looking at the resemblance in Flick's personality to Jupp Heynckes, we also drew parallels between this Bayern team to the 2013 treble winning side.

Arsenal Football Club's Loan Manager, Ben Knapper joins us for a talk on player loans and how do they get affected in the current times. We talk about his job, how different it is now, his experience at Arsenal under three different managers and there's a bit of inside talk on Arsenal as well.

In this episode of Clasroom Football, we are joined by Sean Callanan, who is a Melbourne based entrepreneur, owner of an esports team and a podcaster on esports and gaming. The talk is about how esports and gaming is correlated with football, how the pandemic has accelerated the rise of esports and efootball and what is the future for video games associated with on field sports?