Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ranking the Biggest Problems Mauricio Pochettino Needs To Solve at Chelsea May 17, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

Finally, it feels like the Mauricio Pochettino deal to Chelsea that's been floating around the ether for weeks now is a done deal, so we've decided to take a look at the first orders of business for him when he takes the reins at Stamford Bridge. There's a lot to get through, so expert help was needed in the form of The Athletic's Chelsea correspondent Liam Twomey, an old friend of this parish.

We discussed the issues facing Poch in deciding what his No. 9 needs to look like, working out who fits the roles he needs in his attacking midfield core, finding an understudy/replacement for N'Golo Kanté, the fitness of the squad, and the outgoing players he needs to find a new home for.

There's room for Things We Love too - where we discuss Xavi ending Barcelona's four year wait for a La Liga title at Camp Nou and the news that Marcelo Bielsa has been appointed as the new manager of the Uruguay National Team. Melon of the Week comes from a humdinger at Elland Road, and there's a Gibberish about Jack's learnings from the three stag do (bachelor party) weekends he's been on in a row.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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?

Champions League Takeaway: Bernabeu Brilliance as City Hold Real & Inter Take Control of Milan at San Siro May 10, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for another Champions League Takeaway - a feast on all the week's UCL action. With the first legs of both semi-finals in the books, we sat down to dissect Milan's 2-0 defeat at home to Inter and Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Bernabeu.

We start in Milan, where we discuss the absence of Rafael Leão and the knockon effects that had on Milan's team selection and ability to release the pressure valve; the re-emergence and brilliance of Henrikh Mkhitaryan this evening; and the duel between Denzel Dumfries and Theo Hernandez that the Dutchman came out the better of.

Then we head to Madrid to talk Haaland's quiet evening and the big-game-strides of Kevin de Bruyne; why we could watch Kyle Walker and Vinicius Jr. duke it out all night; and Pep not overcomplicating things, much to the delight of City fans.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ranking Big Transfer Stories Already Bubbling May 10, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

It's a Champions League Week again, so it's a double drop and a little look forward on our first episode - this time taking it into the summer to discuss some of the biggest deals that are already being put on the table. Dean brings his expertise to discuss the situations of Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Alexis Mac Allister and what the summer transfer window is going to look like for all these players. Jack and Sam do their best to work out sensible destinations for all five, and how things might play out.

Before that, Things We Love is about this week's trophy winners - we discuss Napoli's first Scudetto win for 33 years and Real Madrid finishing an incredible 475 days with a Copa del Rey win over Osasuna, as well as giving some praise to Ange Postecoglou's back-to-back Champions at Celtic and a shoutout for Urawa Red Diamonds, who won the Asian Champions League at the weekend too.

There's a Melon of the Week from a mad Bank Holiday Monday of Premier League football, and Sam's Gibberish throws up some options of how to make this Formula 1 season more competitive.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ranking the Champions League Final Four May 03, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

May has arrived and the football train is pulling into the final few stations for this season, which means we're in the closing stages of the Champions League. Four teams remain - Inter play Milan in a Derby della Madonnina in one semi-final, whilst we have a re-run of last year with Real Madrid playing Manchester City in the other. Which of the four teams is most likely to lift that coveted trophy into the night sky in Istanbul in June? We break it down.

Things We Love this week contains a discussion of the relegation battle in the Premier League, summarised by that crackerjack of a Monday night game between Leicester City and Everton; a look at the state of play as we head into the final day of the Championship season; and a discussion of Dean's beloved Walton & Hersham, who have been promoted, and whose story is absolutely wild.

There's a Melon of the Week from Anfield at the weekend, and Gibberish from Sam describing an event that he and Jack went to last week in town, which threw up some interesting stories.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Draft - Building the Best U24 Sides in World Football Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

With the NFL Draft coming up fast, there's always an excuse for us to dig out an old favourite out of the Ranks playbook and give ourselves a Draft challenge as well. This time round, we've added some more parameters - we each get an ordered pick to try and build the best team of players who are aged 23 or under, and no player can be picked twice.

Joining Sam, Dean & Jack is Ranks Chief Writer and MLS Correspondent Owen Murray, all the way from the West Coast, and a man with more experience of these kind of things than us - Owen's representing the Rank Squad in this game, and he's hoping to do you all proud.

Join us as we make our way through some of the best young talent in the world of football, and build XIs that we think could challenge for the ultimate crown.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mauricio Pochettino to Chelsea: The Breakdown Apr 25, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

Some extra love coming at you this week as we take a dive into the breaking news of the day - where it looks like Mauricio Pochettino is close to becoming the new Chelsea manager. We take a look into why he's accepted the job at this point, what Chelsea have promised him as a project, who he might look to sign in the summer, how his team could set up, his relationships with Directors of Football in the past, Poch's reputation in both France and England, and what this means for Daniel Levy and Spurs.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Champions League Takeaway: Manchester Mentality Monsters, Inter's Italian Job, Rodrygo Rises for Real & Milan's Nucleão Option Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had the second legs of the quarter finals and locked in our final four. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with City's 1-1 draw in Munich which saw them progress comfortably after last week's massacre in Manchester. We discuss the mentality change for City ahead of another semi-final, the impressive performance of Kingsley Coman, and Bayern's gamble not paying off. Then, we're off to Milan to discuss what looked like a 3-3 classic between Inter and Benfica, but was actually less so. That said, Inter will be over the moon - we talk the experience of Inter's lineup, the positives that Benfica can take out of this and the fanbase's joy at Inter's homegrown Italian core.

Then in Part 2, we head back to London to discuss Real Madrid's thoroughly professional job dispatching an out-of-sorts Chelsea. There's some hope for Blues fans, in Lampard's tactics actually suiting this game quite well, but it's a Rodrygo love-in by the end as one of Real's Brazilian starboys takes another opportunity to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, in a competition he loves so much. We finish with the all-Italian affair between Milan and Napoli, which the Rossoneri edged; talking through Milan's Rafael Leão's one-man counter-attack, Napoli not needing to be too downhearted, and a defensive display which was worthy of some of Milan's legendary back lines.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ranking The Season's Most Exciting Endings Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

There are just a couple of matches left in most domestic leagues in Europe, meaning that it's now or never for a lot of things. Title races, relegation scraps, promotion tussles - there's absolutely loads left to play for across the continent.

On today's episode we look at the most exciting things left to play for this season - from Arsenal vs. Manchester City and Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund in the title races in the Premier League and Bundesliga respectively, to the battles for differing European spots across England, in La Liga in Spain, and in Italy's Serie A, where the Champions League battle is an absolute bear pit.

Things We Love discusses yet another weekend of absolute madness, and one that was really tough on teams at the top of their respective leagues; Roma's wonderful tribute to captain Lorenzo Pellegrini; and the atmosphere in El Trafico, where LAFC finally triumphed away at LA Galaxy.

There's also a Melon of the Week that we absolutely hated handing out, and Jack takes over the Gibberish Rankings to discuss his favourite golf clubs and how they compare to different football players. It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Champions League Takeaway: Real Too Real for Lampard, Milan Spoil Napoli's Party, Benfica Limp in Lisbon & Celestial City Batter Bayern Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

It's time for the Champions League Takeaway - an immediate review of everything that went down in the Champions League this week as we had our first round of quarter final matches. Every matchweek, we're going to be ranking the three key takeaways from each of the games played that week, and looking at the games through that Ranks FC lens, to give you a sense of everything that we learned from each game.

We start with Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Chelsea at the Bernabeu, where Frank Lampard's Blues lacked real dynamism, and the spark and trickery of Vini and Valverde made them pay. We try to find some positives for Chelsea too, but ultimately this one felt like a bridge too far for a team lost with where they are right now.

Then in Part 2, we head for Milan, where Napoli were once again quashed as the Rossoneri came out on top in an all-Italian affair. We talk about the power of San Siro, Napoli's nightmare evening in the North, and Milan's refusal to kill the game off - will that cost them in Naples? Three B's headline Benfica 0-2 Inter, where Bastoni's long passing is given its due credit, Benfica's wilting under the lights is discussed in terms of fatigue and experience, and Barella's return to Europe's top tier of midfielders is heralded - he remains Inter's big-game Mr. Reliable. Finally we turn our attention to Manchester, to the most impressive performance of all 8, where City's intensity made Bayern melt in the Manchester malaise, the Barnsley Beckenbauer John Stones ascended to the throne of his namesake against his old club, and Dayot Upamecano had an evening we're sure he'd love to forget.

It's Ranks!

If you want to take advantage of our free trial going on on Patreon right now, why not join us at patreon.com/ranksfc?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ranking the Best Front Three in Europe Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Hello Rank Squad!

It's always good to take stock of players at this point in the season, so we thought we'd do something fun - and try to work out the best front three we could build from each of the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1, before pitting those against each other to determine an ultimate winner. As you can imagine, consensus was tricky to come by in a world that contains so much brilliance, but we've done our best!

Things We Love discussed the job that Unai Emery is doing at Aston Villa, Ben Foster's big moment in the 'biggest non-league game ever' and the brilliance of Easter Weekend in the Championship. There was an incredibly controversial Melon of the Week from Dean, and Sam's Gibberish included some questions out of left field.

It's Ranks!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Ranks FC – A Football Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected