Tactical Masterminds: Rating the Managers! 🧠📋 | World Cup Daily #46

[00:00:00] Welcome to FUT IN REVIEW, World Cup Daily, episode number 46. The semi-finals are done, the excuses are already flying and the couple of managers have just seen their reputations take a serious hit. Today we're asking who bottled it, who got their tactics horribly wrong and whether football is becoming too cautious when the stakes are highest. We'll call out the heroes, the passengers, the decisions that may have brought the nation a place in the World Cup final. No fence sitting here, no PR answers.

[00:00:29] Just Honest Football Debate. And who better to have on the show than Master Technician himself? We're gonna get some straight talking because he's extremely Dutch. Here's my good friend John. How are you my friend? Ah, alright mate. I've become pretty good at being very political in my answers lately, after all the social media abuse so who knows, I don't know if I'm gonna be so direct today.

[00:00:57] People were disappointed, mate. We need you to cut loose. Just very quickly, I know Shaq and James did an amazing show this morning reviewing last night's game. Just very from you, did you enjoy the game? It was a mixture, honestly. I think first half was a battlefield. Quite frustrating by the way they both played. I think England started already too defensive. Take a little bit too much caution with Messi alone.

[00:01:24] I think it was a technical mishap. And you could see the goal coming from miles and miles and miles away. And I'm sometimes very infuriating when you're like, I mean, I'm not paid to be a manager of national teams, so don't get me wrong there. But sometimes it's infuriating to see these obvious mistakes. You know, when you see a train wreck happen, you're like, I can't watch this, but I am watching this. It felt a little bit like that. Yeah.

[00:01:53] You know this was going wrong. And then afterwards, the political flags on the field and stuff. It's like, I remember Haiti not being able to wear the special shirt, which showed their independence. But meanwhile, the political statements on the pitch are getting out of hand, eh?

[00:02:09] Yeah. So we'll see what happens with that one. But let's quickly then talk about the managers because, you know, this is what this show is focused on. So first of all, we've got Luis de la Puente, Spanish manager, 65, you know, spent most of his coaching career within the Spanish FA, managed Spain's under-19s, under-21s, the Olympic team, winning multiple youth European championships. He's getting Spain to UEFA Nations League success and the UEFA Cup, sorry, Europe's in 2024 before this 2026 World Cup final.

[00:02:39] He's known for possession football, developing young talent and trusting academy graduates. Then the other Lionel for Argentina, Lionel Scaloni, only 48. You know, he's been the manager since 2018. A former Argentina internationalist as well. You know, appointed in 2018. He's led Argentina to the 2021 Cup of America, the 2022 Fino, 2022 World Cup, the 2024 Cup of America and now another World Cup final.

[00:03:05] He's been praised for rebuilding Argentina after 2018 and creating a United adaptable squad around the other Lionel, Mr. Messi himself. And then we go to Thomas Tuchel or Thomas Tuchel as we now call him in Scotland. He's more than welcome any time to come for a pint here after last night's result.

[00:03:22] He's 52, the current England manager since January 25. But he has managed Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, won league titles in France and Germany and led Chelsea to the 2021 UEFA Champions League. Renowned as being one of football's top technicians, though often criticised for pragmatic football and demanding management still.

[00:03:45] And then finally, the last of the four, Didier Deschamps, 57, France manager since 2012. He was a player captain France to the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He's also managed club football, Monaco, Juventus, Marseille before taking over France. Led France to the 2018 World Cup, the 2022 World Cup final and multiple major tournament semifinals.

[00:04:08] Only a handful of people to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager and famous for his disciplined, tournament focused approach. So, John, from your point of view, do you think that being a club football manager means a lot in international football or being a manager, say, of the under-18s, under-20s is the way to go? Well, I think there's definitely more experience to be gained from being club manager, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:04:36] But there are advantages of it. So, if you look at De La Fuente, he has got, I don't even know if he has any club experience. I don't think he does. No major, no. No, I don't know. But he's been at Football Association in Spain for the last 20 plus years. So, he knows all the players. He knows all the families. He knows from, like, he knows all the players from where there were youngsters coming up, going through the ranks.

[00:05:00] I think that's a big advance. So, put it like this, Chris, I think if you're a club manager, you have daily things to take care of. There's the next match to focus. It's never do or die straight on, right? You can ease yourself in and you can build on strategies, plan Bs, Cs, et cetera, because you have time to do that, right? Hard work, don't get me wrong, but there's time to mold a team into shape, right?

[00:05:24] Or bring talent in. On a World Cup stage, as an international manager, and on the Euros, it's even worse because there's fewer matches. You don't get that much time with your players. You are, well, you are dealt cards that you don't know. You have to do with the players you dealt with. You have the cards you dealt with, but you have to use them. So, for example, if your star striker gets injured before the World Cup, yeah. Well, there goes your battle plan, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:05:52] So, I think that you have to be a little bit more depth. Plus, here's something you don't do with your club team. And I think that's often underrated. When you have players come into your club, they go training, they go back home to their families, and then you see each other next day. When you're in a World Championship, and in the Euros, of course, but in the World Championship, this is worse.

[00:06:12] You are stuck in a hotel from one week prior to when it starts, or two weeks sometimes even, until maybe this week six then for the English players, for example, right? Atmosphere, relationships, how you deal with tragic losses like Nellen said with Gapko, or how you deal with stuff like a baby getting born like they did in Belgium, suddenly becomes maybe even more important than dealing with tactics or analyzing your other opponent.

[00:06:41] And I think that's something you have to deal with as a club, but it's far more easy to manage as a club. Because you don't, you're not stuck with each other 24-7. Like, if Tuchel has an argument with Bellingham, which I read today, right? Mm-hmm. Then in the normal circumstances, you could say to Bellingham, you know what, take three days off. To cool down or, hey, take three, or take a week off, go take a little holiday.

[00:07:09] They send them up last year away from Madrid as well. Mm-hmm. But in this tournament, there's no way they're sleeping next, in the door, in the room next door, right? Yeah. You're eating breakfast together again as well. So, I think that's, I think if you are a club manager, that's something you might not have much experience with. And I think this is where Leif went to, for example. And De Chambre, for sure, have way more experience dealing with the atmosphere. And the way, for example, De Chambre kept this French team together, consisting out of superstars,

[00:07:39] is not to be underestimated for each other, I think. Mm-hmm. So, coming back to your questions, both have their advantages, but I think not having club experiences, but having experiences with international teams might be actually more of an advantage in tournament play like this. And do you think it's, John? Because let's be honest, other than the World Cup and the Euros, club football dominates the headlines.

[00:08:03] You know, even the Nations League that we have here in Europe, it's not taken super serious, is it? So, you know, other than qualifying for the Euros and qualifying for the World Cup, and if you've got, you know, like yourself, whose nation's a big team, they're generally always going to qualify. You know, Scotland's less so. Not from Woodo. Yeah. You never know, you know, Scotland qualifies in instincts the place out. But is it because the club football just dominates and so we maybe undervalue international managers?

[00:08:34] Oh, I don't necessarily think they're undervalued. I think they're like the champ. Even though he doesn't make the final now, he made two finals in a row, right? Mm-hmm. I think, no, I think they get the praise they deserve and there's a lot of pressure on their shoulders, I think. It's a hard job. It's, I think it's harder to manage a team of players which you see once every six weeks and that rotates around. And then to manage a player, a team with players that you see every single day to be fair.

[00:09:03] And I think most people give them that recognition obviously, but it's probably a little bit stress, less stressful. Because you're not having to deal with everything or you're not having to be in the spotlight every single day like you have to do with the big clubs. Mm-hmm. So one of the, one of the things the international manager has an issue with is he doesn't get to pick his players, does he? He, you know, you have a nation, you can only pick from that pool.

[00:09:30] So the question I wanted to ask you, John, is should managers stick with out-of-form stars? You know, several coaches are persisted with big name players this tournament despite average performances. Is loyalty rewarded in tournaments or should reputation count for nothing once the competition starts? Ah, this is always a high risk, high reward sort of thing. Let's look at Netherlands, for example. Koeman is very much loyal to his normal best-performing players. Mm-hmm.

[00:09:58] Like the pie, like a Weghorst, like Frank and Jung, like Virgil van Dijk. All very fiercely all had deserved their credits in world football. But sometimes it just doesn't click, doesn't fit or doesn't fit that atmosphere. And I don't think you can underestimate that. But then again, if you leave them at home and you don't perform, it's because you didn't bring that player, right? So there's a little bit to settle.

[00:10:21] But I don't think, what I don't think, what I feel managers should be more clear in, if for example, let's say the Netherlands, the pie is not going to play or isn't in form, then say we're not going to bring you at all. Just don't make it a topping anymore. And I think, for example, Tuchel did that really well this year. Like they're not coming down and coming down and coming period. Not going to go on all the names, but this is what I chose for this, where I stand for this, what we do.

[00:10:48] And then he brings Henderson with it, with him to make sure that he can bring that role, but he knows he's not going to play or marginal, right? Maybe if he didn't break his wist, he might. And he played actually a little bit as well. So, it's hard to say, like if you see Argentina, they built the whole team around that one star, which is getting old as well. And that works.

[00:11:11] But if you look at Belgium, the matches they start with the Bruyne, they didn't do so well that the match they, against USA where the Bruyne couldn't start because he was ill. Yeah. I think it's, if you later you see the Ronaldo as well, if you think it doesn't add value, I think leave him home. I think that's the best thing to do. Make that call before the tournament, make it clear, get that storm over before the tournament starts and then start with the young squad. Usually Germany is really good at doing that, by the way. No, definitely.

[00:11:42] But it's hard. There's no definite answer there. I think it's, it is depending on the player and the country, but I do think there's a difference in how you can manage it. And I think he should manage it way before the tournament starts. Like, the Netherlands announced their team like 10 days before the tournament started and people were still discussing is the pie coming or not. That shouldn't be a discussion anymore. Because then it's, then it's, then it's a talking topic when it started the tournament. Yeah. No, I understand.

[00:12:10] Because he can wreck the atmosphere like you see with Portugal, for example. Yeah, I mean, we do, I think we've done the Ronaldo thing and you've seen the new Portuguese manager to him basically say that he's going to play no matter what's going to happen as long as he's fit. So you just think yourself, well, you know, and I was watching the, I was watching a podcast today and Roy Keane had to talk about which player would be the most disappointed in.

[00:12:32] They actually said Bruno Fernandes because he's had an amazing season with Man United and he's been absolutely tremendous and probably been a bit stifled by the fact that Ronaldo's in that team. And he's had to sort of play to Ronaldo's strengths where actually there's a more mobile striker, you know, seen the best out of Bruno Fernandes. I just wanted to ask you, John, as we move on and talk, still talk about managers, you know, which semi-final, let's move on to the semi-finals. Which semi-final told us the most about modern football?

[00:12:58] Two very different games, you know, you've got the sort of French jazz, throw everything, do what you want. It's all sort of thing against the very structured possession football of Spain. And then last night, you know, I don't know if England got sucked into a 35-minute battle for some reason, but you've got, you know, a team like England very much in the ascendancy.

[00:13:23] You then have sort of a change of substitutions and also I think Scolini has to take some credit, some of the substitutions he made as well. So, for those games, John, did the games show that structure beats flair, pressing beats possession or that adaptability is now the key to winning international tournaments in your opinion? Yeah. Well, I do think adaptability is key, but there's something in all these World Cup matches so far, one trend which has never worked out in any World Cup match this year.

[00:13:53] If you have to defend the lead and you bring in extra defenders or start playing not to your own strengths, but change it around to defend the lead, for example, it has not gone well a single time this whole tournament. Okay. So, Netherlands versus Japan. Netherlands was in the clear lead, nothing really going on there. They stop in two defenders, make every, go to 5-3-2. They just soak up damage and score a late equalizer, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:14:22] We've seen England yesterday doing exactly the same. We've seen Morocco versus, was it France? Yes, versus France doing exactly the same. We saw Sweden trying to adapt to a low block. Graham Potter just knocked out, knocked out, right? Because of it, I think. We saw Croatia doing the same. We saw Austria trying to adapt and switch back to a five at the back currently.

[00:14:46] Germany went horribly wrong as well. We saw Germany adapting to Paraguay, went horribly wrong as well. I think in the end all, if you, if you play through your own style and I don't think there's one style that's definitely better than the other. I think that's a beauty of football. There's always ways to attack that. Should you never adapt to your opponent? Oh, definitely you should adapt. If you are the weaker team from start on, it can be your playing style, right?

[00:15:14] Mm-hmm. So, Kumon decided to play five at the back against Morocco, thinking Morocco was the better team. That also means that if they score, you're done for basically. But I don't think it gives a good signal in a tournament play. If you're Congo, you play England, yeah, of course, you're going to go five at the back. You know, it makes sense to try it that way. Same with Curacao, same with Haiti. It makes total sense. But the big teams adapting to their opponent. We saw France doing exactly the same. Lean back, see if he can hold off.

[00:15:43] Again, silly penalty against. Totally deserved. Dini making an error there. And then suddenly your game plan's in a bin. Your confidence is in a bin. You only have a couple of, well, maybe an hour or something to fix this. And then you have to change back to the style you were playing two matches ago. And you haven't trained on that every single day because there's no time for it. It just doesn't work.

[00:16:04] So, I think adaptability is key, but you either have a team which you work with all year that can change plans or you stick to your plan and change tiny things in that battle plan. For example, England, if they didn't go five to back or six at the back at one time, actually, but they just put in two wingers and they dare to, for example, to sub Kane out because he has no speed, right? Bring in an extra midfielder. They would have plenty of outs to score from a counter for Argentina's pressure.

[00:16:34] Now they have no wingers. They got only Keane, who's running back, who's working really hard as a sort of defender. We saw memes coming that he's the best defender England had on the pitch. And suddenly you have no outs and you're done. So, you're basically throwing a Hail Mary in there instead of being very tactical about it. I think international football doesn't allow for too much adaptability throughout the match only by minor changes.

[00:17:01] And the teams that did try major changes, they've all failed so far. So, that's what I was going to ask you, John. I mean, I think I was going to ask you, what would you change if you were the losing manager? Now, I think it's fairly obvious where Tuchel has went wrong. Do you know what I mean? So, it would be wrong... It would be wrong at the start, by the way, right? I just wanted to point out that I said from the minute one... Okay. ...that he has basically put three men on Messi.

[00:17:26] But Messi will never, never, ever in his life defend or run back. So, that means if you have the ball in your team, you have three men holding back on Messi, meaning you are outnumbered in your attack because Messi's not coming with him anyways. That's useless. If they started with one more midfielder, you would have him over one player extra in midfield when you have the ball. Then you can start pressing because Messi is not coming back anyways.

[00:17:55] And he's got the player to score on the count either. So, I didn't get that at all. So, that's interesting, John, because everybody's pinpointed the fact of that he made the changes, the substitutions with 30 minutes to go and he put on defenders and he basically tried to... They're saying that's where he went wrong. But you're saying the fact is that he played three people against Messi. So, who would you have dropped out of that team?

[00:18:20] You may not have the team in front of you, but, you know, Rogers came in and he created the goal for Gordon. Would you have played a centre three, potentially? Yeah, yeah. Or like one six. But basically now there were always three men on Messi. And you have no speed. You have no speed a little bit too. I mean, Gordon is fast enough, eh? But this could work if Norway... And from Norway it works because Haaland ain't coming back either. Yeah.

[00:18:49] So, Argentina can't push out that man either with them because then Haaland's lost. But this time around, Argentina could. So, they're basically already a man ahead, always on midfield here. And that's what kept happening. So, if... Like Argentina is a team that can play really good football, we've seen yesterday. They don't start that way. But if they need to, they can.

[00:19:11] But basically, how often, Chris, have you seen also in club football that a team is having a lead with 20 minutes plus to go changes for defensive and still holds? It hardly happens these days. No. I mean, the thing is, you know, we both support teams that are probably some of the biggest in the league. So, when teams play as they get a goal, the tendency is that the smaller teams, and I use that way not to be ignorant, they push back. But England are a big team.

[00:19:41] You know, they're a skilful, hard-working team. And I think that's where people... And they had options in Saka, Rashford's quick, you know. And if they had that out-ball, potentially that would have seen them through to the end. So, basically, what you're saying is you'd have started a totally different formation to what Tuchel did then. Well, I wouldn't say totally different. That's why I said with margins, right? I'd probably play one less forward and have an overtime midfield and then press.

[00:20:09] Because if you're pressing, they have nowhere to go. Messi isn't an out. And you're covering Messi still with two men. It's fine, right? Normally. Sure, he has the talent and the skills to get that one moment somewhere. But this time what happened is that England didn't get any moments themselves. So, what's the point? Basically, you start off the match saying, as long as Messi doesn't score and we not score, maybe we go into penalties. And that's not a great mindset to be in. And then you score, even. Right? Then you score.

[00:20:38] And then you're like, we're so lucky we scored. Let's bring in six defenders to make sure the high balls doesn't go. But the problem is, if you're not working with six defenders before or five defenders, you see, even if you give a cross, it doesn't matter how many bodies you've got in the goal, it will still fall. You've seen with the Netherlands as well against Morocco. It will still happen. Yeah. You can put in bodies, but those bodies don't know where to be because they're not used to it.

[00:21:04] And I think it's simply, I've not seen it work once all year. We've seen it work in high tide moments where we have a big club playing a small club. Small club starts out very defensively and it ends up in 0-0 or something. That can happen. But this is the semifinals of the World Cup. We're not playing Goliath versus David here or David versus Goliath. We're playing two equally properly. England could have won this.

[00:21:32] Yes, Argentina is definitely a very good country to play football. They're not only the aggressive, it's not only Messi and his merry men, it's also Messi and his very skillfully merry men if they're woken up. But I find it very naive and I think it's sometimes important. You see Koeman adapting to Morocco so much and didn't get a single shot on goal. We saw France doing the same against Spain. We saw, well, I mean, Turkey is a big example of it.

[00:21:59] We see, you saw Sweden against Netherlands just dropping back. It's like, okay, you know what? We're going to make sure we don't, like we go on counters 5-1. Then get like, what are you doing here? Well, it doesn't make any sense. There are better ways to play football. And I think, I mean, all things that tried got very much punished. I think it's just unfortunately England got punished so late for it. So, John, as we now move to the end of the show, I just wanted you to ask this question.

[00:22:28] If you're Scolone de la Fuentes now, what are you focusing on? First of all, if you're the Argentina manager, what are you sort of focusing on? And what are you going to be working the players towards? Nothing. I don't think, honestly, this team is so motivated. This is like Norway has. Like they have a really good team, right? They all fight for each other. And as long as a referee won't tell you you've crossed the border early on,

[00:22:59] your first gameplay tactic is just frustrate your opponent. That's where you start. With a bit of luck, they get sent off. They get tilted and then it's game over. The only thing to, like for Spain, is probably the worst opponent to play for Argentina. Because if they have the ball, then this Argentina will just drop back and they don't have much counter opportunities, I think. Plus, Messi is pretty useless without a ball. So, I think that's where it is.

[00:23:28] But I wouldn't change too much if it was Argentina. To start the same guys, I'd probably start the ball for Messi this time. Like not for Messi, but to be backup for Messi instead of McAllister, for example. Of Paredes. I think Paredes went a little bit too much over the line a couple of times. But honestly, I just started. And I think Spain will be the same. And the only thing I can see happen is that Spain starts Nico Williams if he's fit enough. Just to get those outs, what I say, if they start footballing, then you don't have to change too much.

[00:23:58] But you still have those wide outs for you. So, if you then change it, you're De La Fuentes now. So, you're now sitting with the Spanish camp. You're sitting with your coaches. How are you going to game plan for, let's be honest, Argentina are going to be aggressive at the very start. And I do think that they're a team that's quite happy for you to have the ball. You know, they know that they're going to probably outlast you. The fitness last night was incredible. So, if you're the Spanish team, what are you going to do differently then?

[00:24:26] Or are you going to do anything differently from when you face France? It's a totally different opposition. Yes. Well, the main difference is the aggressiveness on this team, right? The difference. If I were a De La Fuentes, but I don't have to tell him what to do, honestly. Of course, I sound like I suddenly know everything. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to show some perspective here. But you know Argentina is going to go out aggressive. And you know you are going to be having the ball a lot. Which means you're going to get a lot of kicks at the start of the game.

[00:24:55] All I can recommend is scream your lungs out whenever you get hit. Try the wall over a couple of times. Sounds really poor for me saying this. And never, never instigate with them. Just ignore them. Because that's the way you should play. Like we saw Haiti doing that as well, right? And that's the way if you just... And you saw Norway doing it as well. If you... Was it Norway, by the way? I don't know. But I think that's the way you should play against them. Maybe get a yellow card early on. Put them on par.

[00:25:24] But Spain has the play style to tear this team apart. Honestly. And I think... I underestimated the defence a little bit for Spain. I forgot the youngster's name. Casernes? Cubasi. Of Barcelona. I think he's 19, isn't he? Cubasi. Yeah. What a talent that is. Unbelievable. Made one mistake against Belgium. That's where the goal came from. And Laporte is very much underestimated. By me at least. Because he's been terrific.

[00:25:54] No. So I think that we'll see two teams which play their own style. And I think this can go wrong for Spain when they are going to make it a fight. Which England tried as well, right? So they started to play their game. They started to get frustrated. If they don't do that, I pretty much just hold the ball. Be patient. I think he should be fine. And I doubt La Fuente have been superb by substitution.

[00:26:21] And most substitutions are either change players for fitter players in the same position. It does help when you have six of the best midfielders in your squad, right? Makes it that a little bit easier. If he can stop in Patriot for a tired roadie, doesn't matter too much. Or he switches around with one attack more. Like 110 coming back in. Let me see him with Mourinho, for example. But his substitutions are pretty logical. He doesn't switch everything around either.

[00:26:48] And by the way, I saw a lot of compliments about the Argentine coach, right? Yes. That he was very aggressive in his substitution for Scaldoni. Yes, he was. But it is also if your opponent takes out all their speed of their team. And their best striker is standing in their own box. It's quite all right to put into more attackers because it won't hurt you. So, yes, he substituted aggressively.

[00:27:16] But there was also little risk, to be fair, on that one. Yeah. And I think that's where it also went wrong. Like I said yesterday, if they don't stay defensive, he can't make the substitution without taking that risk. Now they go on full defense. So, they can make an aggressive substitution without taking any risk on that. Like if you take three steps back, I could take two forward. No issue, right? No, definitely. John, let's end on a hike. I think it's been, let's be honest, it's been a wonderful, wonderful... Are we rating coaches?

[00:27:45] Because I've got a list of coaches who were... Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Let's just end it this way. So, you cannot pick the final four managers. Okay? But which manager would you choose in this World Cup if you had one game to win? I had one game to win and I could pick any of these coaches, right? But just not the final four. I get that. That's a hard question, though. You know what? I would go for Abbey from Morocco, I think. Mm-hmm.

[00:28:15] I think it cannot be underestimated. Morocco, not only that long ago, was a team which always had good individual players. All across Europe, right? All across the world. But never really performed on a world stage. And they've been forming for the last decade. They have a really good team. Keeps getting stronger. Top six country now. I think tactical, very strong. Mentally, very strong. One of the coaches, which I think...

[00:28:44] I don't even know if he's underestimated, but definitely not mentioned often enough. So I would go for Mohamed O'Bab. Interesting. Very, very interesting. You know, I just... That's all I would say, Pochettino, no? Well, I don't know if that's been, you know... I know, it's a great show, actually, John. Really, it's a great show because it's too easy to go, you know, for European. And I think this World Cup has shown us that football is now worldwide.

[00:29:14] You know, and us guys who live in Europe have maybe been a little bit... No, you, John. But some of us have been a little bit disrespectful to the smaller nations. We've seen it. You know, I think that has been the real sort of boost this World Cup has given us. You know, Cape Verde, the joy for those guys, you know, getting through. Australia were brilliant. You know, New Zealand, you know, even though they went out, you know... Elliot Just, who plays for Motherwell, has scored more goals than Scotland scored in the whole tournament. So these are the great stories. And it's nice to end on a high.

[00:29:44] Because I think, let's be honest, I think this may be my last show of this series because we've got some interesting, real interesting stuff coming up. You know, we've got the third and fourth place final, which you and I both think will be a great game. We've got the final itself, the preview of that. There's loads to stick with us, guys. So thank you, everybody, who's been on this absolute journey with us. It's been amazing. What are we on? Episode 46. John and I were counting it. We are going to go past the 48 teams in this World Cup, aren't we?

[00:30:10] Yes, we're going to aim for 15 episodes before taking a little break. Because I need a break. I need a lot of coffee. I need a lot of sleep and I need a little break. Can I shout out a couple of managers, though? Yes, let's do that. I want to do a little shout out to Murad Jakin from Switzerland for his amazing glasses. Yeah, cool guy. He looks like a proper Bond villain. I want to give a shout out to Stále Solbaker, the Norwegian trainer of manager,

[00:30:39] who looks like a schoolteacher. But damn, is he passionate. Oh, yeah. Yeah, one of his coaches could have a bottle on the foot, doesn't he? I absolutely love the guy. I do want to give out the Colombian men's Nestor Lorenzo. I think they had an excellent performance. I don't want to mention Ancelotti because I think he underperformed. I want to be Marcelo Bielsa for his lovely press conferences.

[00:31:06] Not for the performances, but the press conference were absolutely comedy gold. And they got for God for being super emotional and crying every time the Curaçao ends. Which was also lovely to see. And there was one more, which I can't forget. Oh, yes, of course. I want to shout out the Tunisian manager, Trabelsi, for getting fired after one match. Still a record which I don't think can ever be broken again. Felt really poor for him.

[00:31:33] But those performances were absolutely atrocious. But yeah, I think that was. And also Marsan, of course, from Egypt because of his lovely press conference after they got knocked out from Argentina. Saying everyone's corrupt, the whole world's against them. And FIFA wants Argentina to win. And then saying that very aggressively, very passionately. It's like, okay, he's at least not holding back. But I can see him getting a suspension there left or right somewhere down the line.

[00:32:00] But yeah, many of these coaches have been terrific entertainment, I think. The only one I didn't quite like was Pochettino. Because, well, let's not go there. John, thank you. It's been amazing to get your insight onto the managers. They are people who will carry the can. And I think it's good that we actually gave them a lot about the spotlight and talk about them on the show tonight. So thank you for joining me, my friend. Always welcome to.

[00:32:30] No problem. Thank you to everybody who's there. Give us a five-star review. We absolutely love it. If you've enjoyed John's insight, why would you not? If it's been really educational as well, please, please, please give us a five-star review. We've loved having your company. And we have still got four episodes to go. So stick with us. It's going to get even better, guys. Thanks very much. And good night all. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.