Libero

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Liverpool’s exit from the Champions League means they will finish the season trophyless, and the only thing they have left to play for is a fifth-placed finish. Over the course of this season Arne Slot has lost all the credit with the fans he built up by winning last year’s Premier League title. So what should Liverpool do next?

On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and John Brewin discuss whether it is fair or not that Slot is facing calls for his dismissal. Especially given all the issues with Liverpool’s recruitment this season. They ask what exactly Liverpool might want in a manager if Slot no longer fits the bill. Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso are the two highest-profile names linked with the job, but would they necessarily be an improvement? And might there be another out-of-work manager who could be perfect for Liverpool?

P1: (07:11)

P2: (25:53)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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So it all comes down to this. Maybe. After Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth and Manchester City swatted aside Chelsea, the Premier League has a genuine title decider: Mikel Arteta’s stumbling set-piece merchants against Pep Guardiola’s passing drones at the Etihad on Sunday. On today’s Libero, James Horncastle asks Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith whether the momentum has definitively shifted, if Arsenal are cracking under the pressure, and why it seems like everyone wants the team that always wins the title to win it again.

Sign up for SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs via liberopodcast.com.

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P1: (03:48)

P2: (33:20)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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This time of year isn’t just about trophies and titles, it’s about trying to stay in the Premier League and this year will be the toughest route to survival in a generation.

On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson look at the survival battle, and the question of finding the optimal strategy to stay up.

Has the traditional fire-fighter - Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis - been left behind by the modern game? Or do struggling clubs still want the same things, just delivered by a younger man? And when Tottenham have appointed one of the world’s most interesting coaches in Roberto de Zerbi as their fire-fighter, what does that tell us about their own chances of staying up?

Also, our friends at the TheS**thouses have figured out how we attribute the quote at the start of every pod, check it out and have a go yourself here.

P1: (07:14)

P2: (33:41)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Sign up at liberopodcast.com.

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What’s happened with the tickets for this summer is an absolute scandal but soaring prices is a trend that has an impact way beyond the World Cup. The exploitation of the match-going fan have seen tickets become tradable assets for the market to set the price for, all the while diminishing the value of the experience that is being put in the shop window. Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Jonathan Wilson try to figure out how this been allowed to happen, as well as the long-term implications for football.

P1: (05:42)

P2: (35:54)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com.

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From peace prizes to golden baubles, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made it his mission to shower the US president in praise and treasure, while in the process inserting himself into Donald Trump’s inner circle. As Trump directs a bombing campaign on Iran, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja ask whether Infantino’s personal ambitions risk irreparable harm to the beauty of the World Cup and football itself?

P1: (00:28)

P2: (33:15)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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We are still in the soft launch phase of ⁠SC Libero⁠, but getting on the bandwagon early will give you the chance to lock-in a pay-what-you-want price for an annual subscription until we figure out exactly what perks we give to members. Take advantage of us now at ⁠liberopodcast.com⁠.

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Thomas Tuchel was appointed to the England job with one clear aim: to win the 2026 World Cup.

The question on today’s episode, with Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin, is whether he is on the right track.

Tuchel’s England were immaculate in qualifying but they lack depth, as they showed against Uruguay on Friday, and are as dependent on Harry Kane as ever. So can he do what Gareth Southgate could not? And what are the differences between the approach of the two men?

P1: (09:37)

P2: (27:51)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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Join SC Libero! Our members’ only offering is now live, in a soft way. We're starting you off with ad-free episodes, but a host of other benefits are in what we call 'the pipeline'. Sign up now at liberopodcast.com and you get to pay what you want, because we’re suckers.

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All of football’s great nations used to have their own distinctive styles. Brazil meant Jogo Bonito. Italy meant defensive grit. Germany were ruthlessly efficient, the Netherlands inspirationally artistic, and England stuck it where it belonged: in the mixer.

But as football has globalised, have those individual styles started to disappear? In today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss where national football identity came from, what it represented, and whether it has disappeared.

P1: (07:23)

P2: (35:11)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com.

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Chelsea’s fine for secret payments from the Premier League between 2011 and 2018 might have been a record £10 million but within the game that punishment and suspended transfer ban have brought complaints of leniency.

Do off-book payments that secured the likes of Eden Hazard sully the club’s successes during that period under Roman Abramovich’s ownership? Is that leniency protecting the Premier League product? And now, post-Abramovich, how is the club faring under the ownership of asset managers and venture capitalists. Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja discuss the then and now with John Brewin.

P1: (06:01)

P2: (38:11)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com.

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Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could be a historic day for Arsenal. It is their first final since they won the 2020 FA Cup and could mark the start of a glorious climax to the 2025/26 season. On today’s episode Rory Smith, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson ask what it would mean for Mikel Arteta to win his second major trophy as Arsenal manager and reflect on the club's wilderness years reaching back to thir last Premier League title under Arsene Wenger in 2003/04.

Was it to do with the lack of investment? Or an out-dated decision making structure? So have Arsenal stepped into the future, or have they just found a modern manager?

P1: (07:13)

P2: (29:06)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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For all of the Premier League's clubs financial advantages over their European rivals, they are facing a wipeout in the Champions League. Is it fatigue? Is it tactics? Is it a massive waste of resources? Or are Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja going to looking a bit silly on Thursday?

P1: (01:36)

P2: (28:26)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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