Hello Rank Squad! 

It's time for us to take our previewing over to Spain, where La Liga kicked off again this weekend just gone, with some fascinating results and performances. We start by analysing the Big Three, examining where Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid are ahead of what is shaping up to be a three way title race. 

In Part Two, we examine the European contenders, and the teams who'll almost certainly be fighting it out for that final Champions League spot (and the Europa and Conference League places behind) - last season's surprise package Girona, newly-minted Villarreal, our friends at Athletic Club, Imanol Alguacil's excellent Real Sociedad, youthful Valencia, and the eternal wildcard Real Betis. 

Then it's onwards to the newly-promoted sides and the teams we think might struggle, and Jack has some thoughts on Sevilla, Leganes, Real Valladolid, Deportivo Alaves, Las Palmas, and Rayo Vallecano - as well as a team to watch in RCD Mallorca. 

Finally, we make a few early predictions for Player of the Season, Signing of the Season, and Golden Boot (Pichichi) winner to round things off. 

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 Showtime once again in the Premier League, and so we're back to preview the season ahead of time in an episode that's become something of an annual tradition on Ranks FC.

Jack and Dean get stuck into a preview of where we are ahead of the curtain raiser on Friday night, first examining those teams in contention for the title and discussing whether this could finally be the time that Arsenal get the better of Manchester City in that race for the trophy. 

Then it's on to the European contenders, opening with Arne Slot's new-look, same-players Liverpool, and working our way through Aston Villa, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United - the teams who made up last season's top eight. 

After that we flip to the bottom to look at if we'll be having a repeat of the promoted teams being the ones to slip back into the Championship at the end of the campaign - can any of Leicester City, Ipswich Town or Southampton avoid succumbing to the yo-yo fate we saw last year?

We discuss the middle order too, before launching into a series of predictions for Golden Boot winner, most assists, Player of the Season, best new signings, surprise packages - for good and bad - and first managers to face the dreaded axe. 

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!

After looking at Premier League pre-seasons last week, we wanted to take things Continental this week, and take a dive into how things are looking ahead of the season for some of Europe's biggest clubs. 

We start in Spain, where we examine a busy week for Atletico Madrid, talk through Real Madrid's big name summer and try to decipher just what's going on at Barcelona, before heading for Italy - to discuss a big summer for Juventus, and slightly more manageable ones for Inter and Milan. 

Then it's off for a quick pitstop in France, to check in on the latest goings on in PSG's post-Mbappé era, before finishing in Germany with a look at Bayern Munich's big spending, and Borussia Dortmund's future. 

As ever, we round things off with the latest episode of Dean's American Life, where DJ shares his experiences of his first live soccer game since moving 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?

Hello Rank Squad! 

Pre-season is firmly underway and we've seen a mixed bag from some of the clubs on everybody's lips right now. We've taken five Premier League teams and ranked them on how we think they're getting on - stacking up their expectations ahead of the season against the performances that we've seen so far. 

We share our thoughts on Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton & Hove Albion, Erik ten Hag's Manchester United, Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur and Mikel Arteta's Arsenal - examining the squads, the games, and what we can ascertain from their on-pitch product in the warm-up act for the new season. 

Before that, there's Things We Love, where Dean discusses the strange nature of West Ham United's transfer approach this summer, and Jack waxes lyrical about the brilliance of Emma Hayes' USWNT at the Olympics so far. And of course, the latest update of Dean's American Life finishes things off, where we learn about the 'incredible' season ticket he has purchased for...a car wash. 

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 time for a return to one of our favourite staples on Ranks - those Players Who Need a Summer Move, and the clubs that we think should be absolutely desperate to get them in, because they'd fit so well. It's a bit of a bumper cast today - we have 12 different players to discuss, so we get straight into things! 

Our discussion starts with Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips, before we talk Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher, Aaron Ramsdale and Eddie Nketiah of Arsenal, still-officially-at-Chelsea Romelu Lukaku, Atletico Madrid's João Félix, Brentford's Ivan Toney, Barcelona's Raphinha, Juventus' Weston McKennie, also-still-officially-at-Chelsea Kepa Arrizabalaga, finishing with the Leverkusen duo of Sardar Azmoun and Adam Hlozek. 

Then, to wrap things up, Dean gives us the latest instalment from his New American Life segment, where he tells us about a successful attempt to finally get himself a cell phone. 

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! 

With the international tournaments done and dusted (for now, we see you Olympics), it's time to take a look at some of the transfer stories that you might have missed over the last couple of weeks - in the shape of a ranking. We've put together a list of the teams who have come storming out of the blocks in this window - either to rectify the issues of the last campaign or consolidate ahead of the new one. 

There's different ways of doing it - we discuss the youthful brilliance of Brighton's recruitment, Aston Villa's drive for depth, the brand-new midfield Juventus are hoping can inspire them back to glory, Bayern's Munich's big money overhaul, and of course the Galactico pull of Real Madrid - as well as looking at Benfica's business and Lyon's list. 

Things We Love sees a discussion of Gareth Southgate stepping down and who Dean thinks are reasonable candidates to replace the man who's been in charge of England for the last eight years; and Jack's major problems with the UEFA Team of the Tournament from Euro 2024. 

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!

We're back with a second episode this week to take a look at the finals of both the Euros and the Copa America, which both take place on Sunday! 

We start with the Euros, where England will take on Spain after both emerged as 2-1 victors from their semi-finals, after both going behind to early strikes. We discuss the semi-final performances, the key battle between Marc Cucurella and Bukayo Saka, the possibility of penalties, and why this one feels more on a knife-edge than a lot of people are suggesting. 

Then it's across the Atlantic to preview the Copa final in Miami between Colombia and Argentina. The Albiceleste are reigning Copa and World Champions, but it's the challengers who have a sense of invulnerability going into this final - Colombia are 28 games unbeaten under Nestor Lorenzo and have been the standout team at the tournament. Could they upset the applecart for Messi in his new hometown, or will Argentina make it an unprecedented 3 trophies in a row for a CONMEBOL side?

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! 

With this episode releasing bang between the two semi-finals of both the European Championships and the Copa America, we've had to switch things up a bit this week, so we wanted to talk about some of the transfers that might come off the back of these Euros. 

Dean selects five players to discuss - Riccardo Calafiori, Dani Olmo, Nico Williams, Ivan Toney & Matthijs de Ligt - and we talk about their potential destinations, where they might fit best, and any concerns we have with the profiles of players going into the right clubs. 

Before that, there's Things We Love, where Dean discusses the current US obsession with getting Jurgen Klopp in as the next USMNT manager, and Jack pays homage to Thiago Alcantara - the midfield maestro who announced his retirement from the game this week. 

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 been a funny Euros so far - some big guns with underwhelming performances, some strange results and group standings, but also a Final 8 that looks weirdly familiar - and that Jack thinks all have a chance of lifting that trophy (although admittedly some more than others). 

We take a look at each of the eight quarter finalists - France, Portugal, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany and Spain - and assess their chances of winning the competition, as well as the strengths and flaws that we've seen in each of them so far. 

And finally, there's a nonsense ranking for you all of the best acts that Jack saw at Glastonbury, whilst Dean tells us what he would have seen if he was in Somerset, rather than 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?

Hello Rank Squad!

We're now comfortably into the period of double international competitions, so it felt only right to do an episode that spent some time looking at what's happening on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean - picking out three big questions so far on both the Euros in Germany and the Copa America in the USA. 

We start with the Euros, where we're discussing whether we think Spain are the real deal after their perfect group stage, if Portugal have solved the Cristiano Ronaldo conundrum up front and where that puts them in the contenders ranking, and if the Golden Generations of Belgium and Croatia have finally run their course!

Then it's over the pond for the Copa, and we start by questioning whether Brazil really have the firepower to go deep into this competition, discuss just how good we think Uruguay and Colombia really are after their hot starts, and think about whether the USMNT should be adjusting their expectations of this competition based on the quality (or lack of) that we've seen elsewhere.

Finally, Dean has some Guru Wisdom on the ticket pricing and stadium filling in the US for the Copa, and a plea to people to hold out for more reasonable prices ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

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?