Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad!
There's a lot of negativity being thrown around at the moment in the football space (and much of it justifiably so), but today we thought we'd try and flip that narrative a little bit by picking out our star performers from across the season so far, and bring a little positive energy to the sphere whilst we're doing so.
We pick out five of the best from the Premier League and the European continent in Parts One and Two (with some honourable mentions for good measure), and whilst we're very much aware that everybody's subjective lists will be different - as the two of ours would be - we hope that we've made good cases for the players we've picked out as lighting up the beautiful game in what we've seen so far.
Then, in Part Three, Jack walks us through a couple of other names who maybe haven't quite made it as far onto the mainstream radar as the bigger names selected in the first two segments, and who might not keep this up for an entire season, but are worth keeping an eye on nonetheless - because they've had their own phenomenal starts to the new campaign, and might be ones we're talking about when it comes to next summer or beyond.
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?

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Hello Rank Squad!
Three days of Champions League action are now all wrapped up, and what an night we had on Thursday to pull it to a close for around a month - consider the appetite firmly whetted! We start at Old Trafford, where Manchester United were expected to beat newcomers Sabah pretty comfortably, and they did - scoring four without reply to give themselves a much needed confidence booster and get some minutes into the legs of some squad players too.
Over in Italy, on the shores of the lake, Como were making their European debut and they did so in style, beating Leipzig 4-1 in front of a manic crowd, and playing some glorious football whilst they did so - Cesc Fabregas' young team were absolutely exceptional, and once Martin Baturina set them on their way, they looked very comfortable under the brightest of lights.
In Part Two, we take a look at the rest of the action - Bayern sticking five past last year's fairytale club, Bodø/Glimt, but only once goalkeeper Nikita Haikin picked up an unfortunate injury just before half time; Slavia Prague and Lens playing out one of the most madcap games you'll see all year, with the French visitors stealing all three points at the death in a crazy 3-2; Fenerbahce and Roma sharing the spoils in Istanbul, and then the Fener manager quitting in his post-match press conference; and Sergiño Dest at the heart of all the drama as PSV and Shakhtar drew 1-1 in Eindhoven. And breathe...
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?

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Hello Rank Squad!
It's time for your second helping of Champions League Takeaway this week, in what will be a three course meal. Wednesday's action brought a heap of storylines for us to dig into, starting in Part One with Andoni Iraola's first ever Champions League game as a manager, which his Liverpool side turned around to win 2-1 at Anfield over Atletico Madrid. We also take a look at a red-hot Barcelona, who scored five goals for the fourth time this season already (they've played five games), and where Raphinha continued to state his case as the No 9 that they needed all along - the Brazilian is absolutely on fire right now.
Then in Part Two we look at the other four games, starting with Arsenal's impressive win at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, where Martin Ødegaard scored his FOURTH goal of the season already to down Max Allegri's Napoli, in a game where Arsenal should and perhaps should have been out of sight long before. We touch on reigning Champions PSG, who torched Yaya Toure's Slovan Bratislava 6-1 and discuss how final form Ferran might be a problem under Luis Enrique, as well as examining Sporting's 3-1 win over Galatasaray which left both sides with some questions to answer, and Ermedin Demirovic's hat-trick which saw Stuttgart over the line against newcomers Viking and gave Sebi Hoeneß some selection dilemmas to think about.
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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!
It's the return of Champions League Takeaway for a new season - your midnight feast of all the action from the Champions League. As the competition returned, we were treated to a classic at the Bernabeu, with Jose Mourinho playing host to the side with which he won the tournament in this very stadium, and then beat them 2-1 in a classic encounter between Real Madrid and Inter.
Manchester City's impressive form continued with a 2-0 win away at Porto, who looked like tricky opposition on paper and proved it on pitch, whilst Aston Villa got their first goal and win of the season in any competition as they beat Club Brugge 3-2, in a topsy turvy encounter that was a heap of fun to watch.
For the second time in the space of five days, Troy Parrott was Real Betis' hero, scoring the winner as Los Verdiblancos announced their return to this competition with a victory over Lille, in another great game that was somewhat spoiled by the sending off of Ethan Mbappé for the hosts; Borussia Dortmund just about shaded an all-yellow encounter with Villarreal which saw Serhou Guirassy notch a brace and join some pretty illustrious company; and AEK Athens beat LASK 1-0 thanks to an absolutely gorgeous free-kick from Răzvan Marin.
Two more of these to come this week gang as we analyse all the action from the return of the big one, so we'll see you again tomorrow! 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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello Rank Squad!

After a very chaotic Deadline Day, we thought it was for the best that we discussed all of the biggest stories to come out of the window before it slammed shut. We start with Manchester City's deal for Enzo Fernandez, which equals the British Transfer Record set by Alexander Isak, and also makes Enzo the first player ever to have two separate £100m+ transfers in their career. We discuss too the deal that City struck to bring Iliman Ndiaye to the Etihad, as well as how Chelsea tried to replace Enzo - before the Lamine Camara deal fell through, something we get to later in the episode.

Following that, we talk through Spurs' deadline deals for Mykhailo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo from Chelsea and whether they are risks that are worth taking, as well as Matias Fernandez-Pardo's transfer from Lille to Newcastle United which seems like it fits exactly what Matthias Jaissle is trying to do at St. James' Park.

In Part Two, we discuss why Liverpool fans should be excited about the addition of Bradley Barcola from PSG, even at a big fee; as well as Villa's own young addition from Paris in the shape of Ibrahim Mbaye; before chatting through Gabriel Jesus' switch from Arsenal to Barcelona, the saga involving Flo Balogun and the move to Everton, Chelsea 'signing' Honest Ahanor before he went off to Crystal Palace on loan, and the tug-of-war between Sunderland and Crystal Palace for the services of Malik Fofana.

And finally, Jack walks us through a few of the more interesting moves across the rest of Europe in Part Three, looking at Ethan Nwaneri's move to Borussia Dortmund, Fiorentina signing Pedro Gonçalves from Sporting on loan, Harvey Elliott joining Valencia (and it's knock on effects), Guela Doue signing for Bayer Leverkusen for a big fee, and Lille's Bouaddi replacement in Maurits Kjaergaard.

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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.