Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! 

We're returning to one of our staples this week, an old-school ranking that takes on one of our favourite topics—the players who have stepped up their game this season and taken things to a whole new level. We cross Europe to take in a number of ballers who have reached new heights since we kicked off again in August, and hand out due flowers to those most deserving of them. 

Our journey takes us to Bergamo to take in a striking sensation; Frankfurt for a man who might be Europe's most explosive this year; Florence for a career resurrected in superb style; Catalonia for a written-off Brazilian making waves in Blaugrana; and Merseyside for the midfield maestro maybe nobody saw coming - as well as giving out some honourable mentions for good measure. 

Before that, Dean's Things We Love discusses the current situation at Manchester City and how this sets up Pep Guardiola to perform one of his most impressive feats in the game of football, whilst Jack has some love for the response crews in Fiorentina-Inter who were to rapid to react to shocking scenes with Edoardo Bove's collapse, as well as some uplifting news on his recovery. 

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?

It's time for The Truth!

Liverpool have played 19 games this season, winning 17 of them, drawing one and losing just a singular game. They've got the best defence in the Premier League, whilst only Tottenham Hotspur have outscored them going the other way. Top of the Premier League and top of the new Champions League table, it has been an incredible start from Arne Slot's side by anybody's standards. 

We take a look at what has changed to give Liverpool that element of increased control, as well as how certain players have visibly improved under his stewardship. The emergence of Ryan Gravenberch as the team's heartbeat, the new-found clinicality of Luis Diaz, and the excellent of Ibrahima Konate have not gone unnoticed. 

There's also some discussion on the circumstances around Liverpool, the platform left by Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool's old propensity for one legendary manager setting up another, and  how this looks in the second half of the season - as well as our thoughts on the contract situations surrounding Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold. 

Are Liverpool surfing a wave brought on by surprising circumstances surrounding Arsenal and Manchester City, or are they the real deal?

The Truth is usually somewhere in the middle... but not always! 

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?

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your midnight feast of Champions League content - after an incredible week in the Champions League that saw Champions crumble, new powers rising, goals galore & some shock results. 

We start with Wednesday's action, opening with the breathless end to things in Eindhoven - where the USMNT's Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi fired up an incredible late comeback that saw their side overcome Shakhtar Donetsk at the death. 

Then it's on to Anfield, where Liverpool made light work of an out-of-sorts Madrid, lacking Vinicius and a few others. We discuss Mbappe's struggles, how Liverpool maintained perfect control, the midfield 'battle' and Conor Bradley's breakout performance. 

We also discuss a calamitous own goal from Cameron Carter-Vickers at Celtic Park, rescued by a brilliant Daezen Maeda strike at the other end; the drama at the finale of Aston Villa's 0-0 draw with Juventus; a brilliant game between two excellent sides in Benfica and Monaco; Jamie Gittens' star turn in Dortmund's impressive win over Dinamo Zagreb; a stunning Champions League performance from Lille's Ngal'ayel Mukau; and shock results in the early kickoffs as Sturm Graz beat Girona and Crvena Zvezda hammered Stuttgart in Belgrade. 

Then in Part Two, we're onto Tuesday's action, which begins witha deep dive into City's unthinkable collapse against Feyenoord which put all the worst fears of City fans into a stark perspective - this is real and it's happening. What next for Pep's men, and could they possibly turn it round in the most unlikely of locations - Anfield? 

We talk a bit of a strange blockbuster game between Bayern Munich and PSG and where both teams are right now, before heading over to Lisbon to discuss Arsenal's demolition of Sporting, which was one of the best performances we've seen under Mikel Arteta as all the parts finally click into place for the Gunners. 

Jack installs Inter as his favourites to win the competition following their incredibly mature win over struggling RB Leipzig; we look at a big night for Robert Lewandowski as Barcelona beat Brest 3-0; discuss Atalanta's 6-1 mauling of Young Boys and insist you don't write them off; ponder why Milan keep making things so hard for themselves, even in a 3-2 win in Bratislava; and end with quick discussions on hammerings handed out by both Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid. 

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?

Hello Rank Squad! 

It's that time of year where certain teams start looking towards the January Transfer Window to either bolster their side for a silverware push, or to try and fix gaping holes to resurrect a flailing season. We take a look at both in today's episode, where Dean walks us through some of the things he thinks might take place in the upcoming winter window. 

We talk about a number of things - a potential Manchester City move for more goalscoring potential on the pitch, whether Malik Tillman might be in demand from Premier League clubs, possible landing spots for Lyon's Rayan Cherki if his club are forced to sell by financial constraints, who Real Madrid might target to deal with their defensive deficiencies, how Barcelona might try to find some backup for prodigious talent Lamine Yamal, and where Liverpool might go in their search to either try and long-term replace or assist Mohamed Salah as that contract situation rolls onwards. 

Before that, however, there's time for Things We Love, where we discuss some of Jude Bellingham's comments regarding feeling low after England duty this summer due to some of the criticism received, and the reports coming out of Spain that Peter Lim is apparently finally about to sell Valencia, ending nearly a decade of fan-led protests against his running the club into the ground. 

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?

It's time for The Truth!

With Ruben Amorim set to take the reins at Manchester United this weekend, Sam and Dougie dig into the future of Marcus Rashford - whether he fits into the new system that Amorim is likely to play at Old Trafford and if he can utilise a fresh start to revitalise a career that feels like it's in limbo right now. 

Whilst Rashford's last year or so has been somewhat underwhelming, there is also a feeling that he has been playing in a team that has been far less than its component parts, and that without a functioning system around him, Rashford is one of the players who struggles to make an impact the most. 

That should change under Amorim - given what he has achieved at Sporting - but without an out-and-out winger in his preferred 3-4-2-1 system, where does Rashford fit best? As one of the floating 10s behind the striker? Or as an out-and-out No 9 tasked with running the channels and getting in behind opposition defences? 

Can United's homegrown superstar rekindle his spark under his new manager? Or could he get stuck in football purgatory - trapped by high wages and a sky-high-fee, but without any of the interest to genuinely find a new home?

The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 

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?

Hello Rank Squad! 

We're delighted to have a new voice on the show today, Mr Eli Quivey, a self-professed 'English bloke in an American body' and a TikTok star, who has recently spent 10 days completing a football trip of a lifetime around England - visiting his beloved Old Trafford, Anfield on a Champions League night, and of course, the home of football, Craven Cottage. 

Eli walks us through his journey and what took him to this point, before he takes the reins for the main ranking - talking through the five things he loved most about English Football Culture whilst on this side of the Atlantic, and allowing for some interesting cross-comparison with the experiences he had growing up in the US. 

Then Dean flips the script, finishing the show with a ranking of the things he has missed most about the UK (from a footballing perspective) since making the hop across to San Diego. 

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?

It's time for The Truth!

With Manchester City coming into the international break having lost four games in a row for the first time under Pep Guardiola, Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley take a deep dive into what exactly is going on in the blue side of Manchester, and if they can recover their sparkling form to win a fifth title in a row.

Whilst the injuries to key players - namely Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne - have obviously played a huge role in this poor streak, is there something deeper going on? Pep has always liked to work with a smaller squad than usual, but have they pushed the boundaries too far in not finding adequate replacements for key men in a time of strife?

There's also further questions - have City gone too hard on bringing in players who can create within the system and left them short in terms of goalscoring options outside of Erling Haaland? And why has John Stones not really been utilised in defensive midfield given the obvious deficiencies there in Rodri's absence?

So, is this a question of poor squad planning finally getting the better of Manchester City's tight-knit unit? Is Pep being too stubborn with his choices in playing an aging midfield who look physically deficient? Or are City maybe not quite as good as they were last year?

The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 

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?

Hello Rank Squad! 

With the final international break of the calendar year now in motion, we thought it would be a good time to take stock of what's happened so far in European club football and rank the clubs who have impressed most over the start to this season. Jack's taken out any clubs he feels are underperforming expectations to narrow the field, and then ordered the seven he feels have started the strongest to give us a ranking based on what we've seen on the pitch. 

There's entries from all across Europe's Big Seven leagues, with some league leaders matched up with some drastic overperformers as well - so this really is one that should stir up some debate. Let us know who your picks would have been across our socials! 

Before that, there's some time for Things We Love, which this week digs into the MLS postseason and the rise of the underdog in the Eastern Conference, as well as Fiorentina's flying form and the resurgence of Moise Kean as a bona fide star. 

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?

It's time for The Truth!

With Mikel Arteta starting to get some real heat on social media for Arsenal's recent performances and their lack of goal threat, Sam Tighe and Dougie Critchley take a deep dive into what's making Gunners fans so upset about the way that their team have played recently under their former player. 

The biggest question that's being asked is whether Arteta is being too defensive in the absence of Martin Ødegaard, and whether that has cost his team from creating chances to score - even given the fact that the club captain and chief creator is not on the pitch at the moment. 

This was meant to be a season of further growth for Arsenal, but given that City do not look as strong as last season in the absence of Rodri and De Bruyne in particular, it has been Liverpool instead who have seized the initiative to take an early lead at the top of the Premier League table. 

So, are Arteta's tactical choices holding Arsenal back? Are they suffering from an over-reliance on adding defensive solidity in the transfer market? Is he being too cautious with the youngsters such as Ethan Nwaneri? Or are Arsenal just currently underperforming across the board - held back by their numerous absentees?

The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 

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?

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for Champions League Takeaway, your midnight feast of Champions League content - after one of the wildest weeks we have seen in the competition in recent times. 

We start for a change, with Tuesday's games, opening with Sporting's huge 4-1 win over Manchester City - a parting gift from Ruben Amorim to the Jose Alvalade as City were cut open in transition again. Was it as bad as it looked? Maybe not, but the blue half of Manchester have some valid concerns, whilst the red half are ready to welcome their new manager with open arms. 

Then it's on to Anfield, where Liverpool maintained their perfect record in the competition with a 4-0 win over Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a Luis Diaz hat trick, and some more excellent half-time tweaks from Arne Slot, who got it right yet again. 

Real Madrid were stunned at home by Milan, where Paulo Fonseca's use of Rafael Leão was next to perfect, and the questions about how Kylian Mbappé has unbalanced this team remain burning bright. Can Carlo Ancelotti turn this around or are the obvious holes in the defensive line too big to fill with superstars alone? 

We round up the rest too: Celtic re-announced themselves in the competition with a big win at home to Leipzig, BVB dug out another win in their mini-resurgence, Malik Tillman starred as PSV beat Girona 4-0, Lille and Juventus shared the spoils in France, Monaco stayed hot with a late win in Bologna, and Dinamo Zagreb smashed four past competition whipping boys Slovan Bratislava.

Then in Part Two, we're onto Wednesday's action, which begins with Inter's narrow win over Arsenal that cemented them as genuine favourites and continued to pile the questions on Mikel Arteta about how to get the best out of this (admittedly depleted) Gunners side. 

Also up for discussion is PSG's devastating late loss to Atletico Madrid and how the Parisiens just seem to lack confidence the moment anything goes against them, despite a bright start here; and Aston Villa's fatigued 1-0 loss to Club Brugge that will be headlined by a weird penalty call, but in reality was a pretty reasonable result - Villa were outplayed in Belgium. 

We finish with a roundup of the rest of the Tuesday games - Barcelona hitting five in Belgrade against Crvena Zvezda as their front three continues to shine; Bayern's hard-fought but well-deserved win over Benfica; another clean sheet for Atalanta as they won 2-0 in Stuttgart; a first win for RB Salzburg as they shocked Feyenoord at De Kuip; Brest's third win from four as the Pirates set sail for Prague and plundered more points against Sparta; and Shakhtar Donetsk's Sudakov-inspired victory over Young Boys.

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?