Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

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?

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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?

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Hello Rank Squad!

We have under seven days until the summer transfer window SLAMS SHUT and there is plenty left to do for a whole host of the world's biggest clubs. We walk through all of the big storylines that will help define how this window is considered by fans all over the planet. 

We start with Manchester United, who announced the signing of Carlos Baleba on Tuesday, but who still are in desperate need of a left back to compete with or supplant Luke Shaw in the starting lineup. They want Newcastle's Lewis Hall, but that looks unlikely, so where will they turn? Liverpool fans are desperate for midfielders, but it looks like the additions the club are after are all in the forward line. Will Barcola get done after the saga we've had? And will Cody Gakpo end up departing? Then there's Enzo Fernandez, whose proposed move to Manchester City to play once more under Enzo Maresca looks like it could be on again. We discuss why, and how Chelsea might go about replacing him should he depart for the Etihad.

In Part Two, we discuss the Aston Villa rebuild that Unai Emery is currently having to work out in double fast time. Joel Ordoñez as a Konsa replacement seems to be progressing, and Nicolas Jackson is a long-term target who Chelsea seem willing to sell, but the Jean-Philippe Mateta situation is also being monitored at Crystal Palace. Jonathan David is being considered by both Villa and Palace, but looks like he might head to Atleti instead, whilst Flo Balogun is currently seemingly frozen out at Monaco and could yet seal a move elsewhere as well. And finally, Newcastle seem to be progressing on a deal for City's Nico Gonzalez, but could they also sign a dynamic attacker to boost Matthias Jaissle's options up top?

And then in Part Three, we talk through Ipswich's pursuit of Exequiel Palacios, Liam Delap's impending £50m move to Nottingham Forest, why so many clubs are looking at Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado, Al-Hilal's moves for both Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli, the Julian Alvarez saga and how that ends, as well as Barcelona's No 9 alternatives - including one Victor Osimhen, whose tale has been suspiciously quiet up to this point. 

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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