The Daily Football Briefing

It’s been a quiet day, so we’ve gone back to an old friend, the rock and roll football…statistics section. Can you guess which team across Europe’s five leagues is most OVERperforming when it comes to goals above xG? I bet you can’t.

We’ve got Seb Stafford Bloor in to tell us about this Jamie Gittens lad, we’ve got a preview of the night’s football and we even found room for a look at the FA Cup third round draw. By slashing and burning the community section. Sorry about that. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Seb Stafford Bloor

Producer: Si Watts

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Pep Guardiola, contrary to the opinion of many Liverpool fans, is unlikely to be sacked this morning, but he is looking down the barrel of a seven game run without a win. His Manchester City side were dominated at Anfield and the only good news for him is that the margin of defeat was kept at two goals. Sam Lee and James Pearce were there.

Carl Anka was at Old Trafford to see a thunderous 4-0 victory for Manchester United over Everton. Hear what he thinks of Amad Diallo here. Spoiler alert: He thinks he’s really good at football.

Liam Twomey is in as well as Chelsea go third. They would have been second if they were called AFC Chelsea.

We’ve got all of that and all of the scores and stories from across the world. Listen now.

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee, James Pearce, Carl Anka, Liam Twomey, James Horncastle.

Producer: Si Watts

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Before you unsubscribe, just look me in the eyes and tell me how you felt when Bodo/Glimt went 2-1 up. Come on, be honest. You thought it was all going wrong again, didn’t you? So did I. And I suspect that Carl Anka felt that way too. Instead, something very odd happened. United gathered themselves and came back stronger, and they should have secured a bigger margin of victory.

As should Spurs, but I don’t think anyone was surprised to see them relinquish a 2-1 lead to Roma. It’s just what they do. They defy understanding. But Jay Harris will do his best for us. 

And we’ve got all the Conference League updates too, Simon Johnson went to small town Germany for Chelsea’s visit to Heidenheim. It may have given Enzo Maresca a selection headache…

Everything you need is here, giftwrapped and presented to you in the form of a ten minute audio file. It would be considered rude for you not to click and listen. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Carl Anka, Jay Harris and Simon Johnson

Producer: Steve Hankey

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There have been a lot of caveats since the summer. “Let’s see Liverpool play someone good,” we said. They did. They won. “Let’s see how they react to defeat,” we said. They lost to Nottingham Forest. Then they won again. “All right,” we said, “Let’s see how they balance the Premier League and the Champions League, playing the best teams in the world without skipping a beat.” They just beat Real Madrid. Comfortably. If they beat Manchester City on Sunday, we’ll be all out of caveats. James Pearce was at Anfield for us. He’ll tell you how good they are. 

Jacob Tanswell was at Villa Park where he saw Villa’s seventh game without a win. But he says, quite rightly I feel, that their 0-0 draw with Juventus was a positive result. 

And I asked Producer Si to pick a game to watch. He chose…wisely. He got to watch Monaco and Benfica. We’ve got that and all the rest of the football all here in a tightly compressed audio file for your delectation. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: James Pearce, Jacob Tanswell and Si Watts 

Producer: Si Watts

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The only logical explanation for this lies at the feet of those reckless boffins at CERN. City didn’t lose a sixth game in a row, which is something, but they did lose a three goal lead in fifteen minutes at home to Feyenoord. Somehow that seems even worse. Sam Lee was there and he has a theory that doesn’t involve alternative realities leaking into our own, which is plausible I guess, but I prefer my version. 

Elsewhere PSG are 26th and could be 29th tomorrow. Seb Stafford Bloor saw them lose again. Jordan Campbell watched Arsenal run riot and I channel-hopped and I’ll do my best to give you the rest of the round-up. 

Listen now. This was very stressful to make. Don’t let the sweaty armpits and all those bellowed swear words count for nothing. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee, Seb Stafford-Bloor and Jordan Campbell

Producer: Steve Hankey

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Newcastle are having a funny old season. They started well enough against West Ham, but they managed to lose 2-0 at home. Chris Waugh was there. 

And what’s going with Mo Salah? James Pearce spoke to him on Sunday. We spoke to James Pearce on Monday. Join us for the inside track here. 

Plus, close your eyes and tell me the current top three of the Champions League…you can’t do it, can you? Don’t worry, after you’ve listened to the great big Champions League round-up, you’ll be just fine. 

Listen now, follow now, review now, tell your friends now, it’s everything you need to know about the football in under ten minutes. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Chris Waugh, James Pearce

Producer: Si Watts

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Erm…sorry about the whole Dr Tottingham stuff from Friday. I won’t do that again. But who saw that coming, eh? City are spiralling and Liverpool are stretching clear at the top. James Pearce saw them win again.

New Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim made a fantastic start, it’s just a shame for him that his players peaked after 81 seconds. Laurie Whitwell was there for us. 

In Europe, Barcelona dropped points and Real Madrid closed the gap. Seb Stafford Bloor watched Bayer Leverkusen hit five past Heidenheim, but unfortunately for them, Harry Kane had already put three past Augsburg.

We’ve got all the big scores from all the big leagues. Give us fifteen minutes of your time and we’ll tell you everything you need to know. About the big leagues, that is. We’re not so good with ‘general life advice’. But hey, drop me an email ([email protected]) or find me on Blue Sky and I’ll do my best. 

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: James Pearce, Laurie Whitwell, Seb-Stafford Bloor

Producer: Si Watts

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It feels like a lifetime since we last enjoyed club football. Forgotten what was going on? Don’t worry. Give us ten minutes and we’ll bring you right up to speed. 

We look at how Manchester City and Arsenal joined Chelsea in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.

James Twomey joins us to discuss another injury setback for England and Chelsea defencer Reece James.

And there’s just about enough time for another Impromptu International Week Book Club. Today it’s ‘Go To War’ Jon Spurling’s brilliant tale of football in the 1980s which you can find here

https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/go-to-war 

Did you know that The Athletic was giving Bluesky a go? Some of our best writers have moved there and I’ve cracked and followed them over. You can find me on the link below and hopefully the place will stay nice for at least a week or so. 

https://bsky.app/profile/iainmacintosh.bsky.social 

We are delighted to say that this show is now sponsored by PELOTON. Find out more about them by visiting onepeloton.co.uk

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Liam Twomey and Si Watts

Producer: Si Watts

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That’s what we’re asking our Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee. Does this mean that…the other stuff is all resolved? 

And what’s going on down in Croydon were Stormzy and Wilfried Zaha have bought a non league football club and they’ve just hired former Crystal Palace coach and caretaker manager Keith Millen? Matt Woosnam has been investigating. 

Plus, all the scores from the Women’s Champions League. 

Did you know that The Athletic was giving Bluesky a go? Some of our best writers have moved there and I’ve cracked and followed them over. You can find me on the link below and hopefully the place will stay nice for at least a week or so. 

https://bsky.app/profile/iainmacintosh.bsky.social 

We are delighted to say that this show is now sponsored by PELOTON. Find out more about them by visiting onepeloton.co.uk

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Sam Lee and Matt Woosnam

Producer: Si Watts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, that was a busy night. Wales gave one of their finest performances since 2016, beating Iceland 4-1 and gaining promotion to the top tier of the Nations League, but they’re down to Item 3 tonight because Pep Guardiola has signed a new contract with Manchester City and Tata Martino has left Inter Miami, 

We’ve got all the scores from around the world, particularly in the Asian World Cup Qualifiers where Group C is now hilariously tight. Japan are running away with it. Five other nations are scrapping for one promotion spot, a single point separates them all and there are just four games left to play.  

Did you know that The Athletic was giving Bluesky a go? Some of our best writers have moved there and I’ve cracked and followed them over. You can find me on the link below and hopefully the place will stay nice for at least a week or so. 

https://bsky.app/profile/iainmacintosh.bsky.social 

We are delighted to say that this show is now sponsored by PELOTON. Find out more about them by visiting onepeloton.co.uk

Presenter: Iain Macintosh

With: Jeff Rueter, Dermot Corrigan, Thomas Lopez Hill Marcheno 

Producer: Steve Hankey

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices