Ranks FC - A Football Podcast

Hello Rank Squad! As we head into the last international break of the season, we're about to hit crunch time for 2025/26 in all of Europe's biggest leagues. With the end of the season imminent, the pressure is ratcheted up on teams up and down the table to get their respective jobs done wherever they find themselves within their competition, but certain players will be feeling the heat more than others, for a variety of different reasons. Dean and Jack both pick out five names - Dean from the Premier League, Jack from across the rest of the continental leagues - who have something to prove in the final stretch. Whether that be for their own futures at their clubs, for their personal legacies, for their next move to be the one they want, to push a club towards trophies, or to be the talisman in a fight for something else, it doesn't matter - we're discussing them all, on a journey that takes us from the top to the bottom of tables, and from youngsters starting out to legends coming to their close. It's Ranks! (If you're on the hunt some World Cup Qualifier bits and pieces ahead of the international action in this break, Jack was on the brilliant World Cup After Dark Podcast to talk the UEFA Thunderdome of contenders for those final spots) 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.

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to take a look at the big debate that's beginning to rage on social media, that of who is going to be awarded Player of the Season this year in the Premier League? The boys walk through each of the candidates, ranking them on where they would have placed them in the rankings if they were given the keys to the castle - and helping Sam to select who he is going to write down on that little piece of paper when the voting opens this season. We discuss Arsenal's duo of Gabriel Magalhães and Declan Rice, Brentford's Igor Thiago, Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo, Manchester United talisman Bruno Fernandes and Liverpool's Dominik Szoboslai and try to find some order in the chaos. After the Premier League, we take a spin round the rest of Europe's Top Five, picking out our Player of the Season and a few honourable mentions for each of La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. So, is there one correct answer? Do you judge this on individual brilliance or the most important component of a team winning silverware? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the Second Legs of the Round of 16 - where the final four teams booked their spots in the Quarter Finals - Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich & Atletico Madrid. We start at the refurbished Camp Nou, where Barcelona survived a first half basketball game with Newcastle United, and then absolutely flattened the Magpies in the second, playing some scintillating football that showcased just how breathtaking their attack can be in full flight. It was also an interesting night in North London, where Spurs actually won their first game under Igor Tudor, only for it not to be enough to qualify for the next round, given the collapse in the first half of the first leg. We take a look at whether this actually might be the best-case scenario for Tottenham Hotspur, with morale and momentum maintained, whilst taking Europe out of the equation in order to focus minds on the absolute necessity of survival in the Premier League. It was a strange performance from the visitors too - caught a little bit between killing the tie and defending their lead, but whilst they looked disjointed after 9 changes from the weekend, they did more than enough. In Part Two we discuss two individual record breaking legends. First off, we head to Anfield, where Mo Salah hit a pearler for his 50th Champions League goal; as Liverpool stepped on Galatasaray's neck, smashing the Istanbul side 4-0 in front of a completely partizan crowd to both revive the mood of the season, and give manager Arne Slot a stay of execution after serious pressure in recent weeks. Then, it's over to Munich, where Harry Kane matched Salah's achievement with a brace; as Bayern finished the job against Atalanta in what felt like a formality. Both missed penalties tonight. Both are amongst the best of a generation. Two icons of the modern era, reaching their milestones on a special night. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the Second Legs of the Round of 16 - where our first four quarter finalists booked their spots in the last eight. We start at the Etihad, where despite a brave performance from 10-man Manchester City following Bernardo Silva's red card, Real Madrid proved too much to handle to see them off 5-1 on aggregate. Some positives for City to take ahead of the Carabao Cup final at the weekend, but perhaps more intriguing is the way Real Madrid look genuinely like they've worked out a system that minimises their weaknesses and gives them a sturdier platform on which the stars can shine. Reigning Champions PSG also had an excellent night at the Bridge, finishing Chelsea off with a 3-0 win on the night in West London, which equalled the Blues' worst aggregate defeat ever in the Champions League - 8-2. This was a chastening night for Chelsea and Liam Rosenior, who never really looked like even beginning a comeback, and the meek nature of the defeat might well have just turned an already angry fanbase into an apathetic one. That's a very, very bad sign. In Part Two we head first to the Emirates, where Arsenal put in a very impressive performance to overcome Leverkusen 2-0, with Ebere Eze and Declan Rice providing two wonderful goals, and we examine their chances of genuinely putting up a fight for a quadruple where they're now favourites in every competition; and finally to Lisbon for the game of the night, where Sporting put together the perfect Champions League comeback to end the Bodø/Glimt fairytale in an absolute avalanche of emotion and attacking football at the Jose Alvalade. 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.

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio for more of a positive episode - looking at some of the players who have made a major step forward in their individual careers over the course of the season. We walk through six players - three each for the two boys - who have really moved onwards from 2024/25 to 2025/26, stepping upwards to either make huge individual contributions for their own teams, or taking a huge step up last summer and dealing with it incredibly well. So, who are the gold dust XP winners. Who has evolved over the course of this season? And how do you even measure these things? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the First Legs of the Round of 16 - where chaos reigned again and goals flowed freely. We start at the Bernabeu, where Fede Valverde's hat-trick carried Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Manchester City in by far their best performance under Alvaro Arbeloa, and where Los Blancos went back to looking like a side who could win this competition once again. Reigning Champions PSG also had an excellent night at home, although their 5-2 win over Chelsea was probably a bit of a flattering scoreline for Luis Enrique and co. A back-and-forth encounter gave way to a PSG onslaught in the final stages, with a little help from Chelsea keeper Filip Jörgensen, and some real quality from Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, who came off the bench to bag a brace and give them a significant advantage for the second leg at the Bridge. In Part Two we head first to Germany - where a very impressive Leverkusen were a little bit unlucky in some ways to eventually be pegged back for a 1-1 draw against Arsenal - with former Werkself hero Kai Havertz scoring the late equaliser from the spot on what would have been an emotional evening for him; and also to the Arctic Circle, where Bodø/Glimt's incredible campaign stayed right on course with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Sporting, in a performance which showcased the very best of what Kjetil Knutsen's side are capable off - some breathtaking football again. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the First Legs of the Round of 16 - where there were a glut of goals, some games put to bed already, a couple of shocks, and another nadir from perhaps the saddest club in world football right now in Tottenham Hotspur. We start with Spurs' visit to the Metropolitano to play Atletico Madrid, where in the first 15 minutes a catastrophic collapse plumbed new depths in what has already been a disastrous season for the Lilywhites. This time Antonin Kinsky was the man in the firing line, with the young keeper substituted just 15 minutes into his Champions League debut. Atleti hit five, and whilst Spurs managed two in reply to nominally keep them in the tie, this was another brutal night for interim manager Igor Tudor, who has now conceded 14 goals in the four games he has been in charge of - all four of them losses. Surely, this can't go on. We then head to Tyneside, where Newcastle United put in a very impressive performance against a lacklustre Barcelona, and were rewarded with Harvey Barnes' late opener to give them the lead...only to see that wiped out by a Lamine Yamal penalty in injury time after Dani Olmo was felled in the box. Scant reward for a good showing for the Toon, but Barça escaping with a draw despite being nowhere near their best at St. James' Park. In Part Two we look to Istanbul - where Galatasaray repeated their league stage scoreline against Liverpool with a 1-0 win over the Reds at Rams Park, in a game that ended up being a microcosm of Liverpool's season - fragile defensively and wasteful up top; before rounding things off with a chat about Bayern's mesmerising 6-1 win over Atalanta in Bergamo, where Michael Olise dazzled on a night where Bayern ran absolute rings around their opposition, and confirmed their status as one of the outright favourites to win this competition this season. 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.

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at three sides who had relatively lofty expectations for the season back in August, and who find themselves in far more difficult situations than they had first feared. We look at what this season has meant for Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Newcastle United; what the fallout might be if they miss their ambitions from the opening of the campaign; and how they can actually still pull something out of the fire to make this season somewhat of a success. But has it really been as bad as is being made out in certain elements of both the fanbases and the media across the world? Or is the doom and gloom that permeates some parts of each club actually closer to being true than they would like? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! We thought that with less than 100 days to go now until the World Cup begins this summer, it was time to start to take a look at the tournament in earnest - and the storylines on the pitch that are set to dictate just how this tournament is remembered from a footballing perspective. We split that into three parts. Firstly, we take a look at three of the favourites to win the tournament - holders Argentina, as well as France and Spain - and the narrative threads behind each of their campaigns to come. We look at Argentina's attempt to be the first nation to go back-to-back since Brazil in the 1960's, France hoping to give Didier Deschamps the send-off his illustrious managerial tenure deserves, and Spain looking to begin a new dynasty by backing up their 2024 Euros with a World Cup two years later, just as their Golden Generation did in 2012 and 2014. Then in Part Two, we look at the managers who have traded their club loyalties for a shot at winning the most illustrious tournament of them all at international level - looking at England under Thomas Tuchel, Brazil under Carlo Ancelotti, the USMNT under Mauricio Pochettino, and Germany under Julian Nagelsmann. And finally, in Part Three, we dive into the four teams who have qualified for the first time ever - Cape Verde, Curaçao, Uzbekistan and Jordan - examining their stories, the background, and the manner in which we're expecting them to show up to the party. 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.

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at what is going down at the bottom of the Premier League table, where one of the great names of English Football has been dragged into the scrap for survival - Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are still in the best possible position they could be, but things feel like they're tailspinning in a way we haven't seen in a while. They couldn't, could they? We discuss the relegation battle, chatting through each of the other relegation candidates in the form of West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, and work out where the points are going to come from if each of them are going to survive. So, could one of the great giants actually fall? All three of these teams would claim that title, as would Leeds. Someone is falling through the trap door to the Championship. And, as ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where the final four teams booked their spots in the Round of 16. It was an emotional night at the Bernabeu, where despite a somewhat lethargic performance from Real Madrid, it felt fitting that it was Vinicius Jr who dropped the dagger on Benfica before celebrating heartily as he guided Los Blancos to the Last 16. It wasn't great from reigning champions PSG either, who saw off fellow Ligue 1 side Monaco with a 2-2 draw to extend their first leg advantage, although again it was Monaco who took the advantage and the initiative, before losing it after a red card early in the second half - a familiar tale from last week. PSG allowed nervy moments at the end where they didn't need to, and they will need to significantly improve to stand any chance of retaining their crown. In Part Two we head to Italy - first to Turin, where Juventus did recover a three goal disadvantage against Galatasaray despite being reduced to 10 men when Lloyd Kelly received a very harsh red card, but where fatigue finally set in and allowed Gala to kill the tie in extra time; and also to Bergamo, where Atalanta booked their space as the only Serie A team in the Last 16 with a very impressive comeback win over a weirdly lacklustre Borussia Dortmund. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the Second Legs of the Playoff Round of the competitions - where our next four teams booked their spots in the Round of 16. It was a very special night for Bodø/Glimt at San Siro, with their incredible fairytale continuing on with a 2-1 win over Inter that made them the first Norwegian side to ever make the next stage of the competition. We discuss their rise from plucky upstarts in the lower reaches of European competition to relatively household name in the football sphere, and how they've continued their incredible trajectory. Then it's over to Madrid, where Atletico won 4-1 against a young Club Brugge side who have impressed in the Champions League this year; thanks to a hat-trick from Alexander Sørloth, who remains their star man in 2026. The scoreline is perhaps a touch flattering, but Atleti are in a scoring mood these days, and that's a good sign as they look to finally win the competition that has eluded them for so long. In Part Two we head to St James' Park, where Newcastle had an unassailable lead over Qarabag that never really looked in danger, although it was far from a perfect night for the Geordie Boys as they won just 3-2 against their Azeri opponents despite being 2-0 up after five minutes; and also to North Rhine-Westphalia, where Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 against Olympiacos to hold their first leg advantage and progress through without too much trouble. 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.

It's time for The Truth! Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at which clubs are best at scouting in certain positions - not just good at picking off the best in the world for huge fees, but opening up that pathway for the biggest guns in the football world. We work through each position, leaning heavily on Sam's article for ESPN as he works us through his thought process for each selection, whilst suggesting alternative options and the evidence for each. So, can you be just a general scouting colossus or is it worth focusing in on one position to make your own? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 was nice to get back to thinking about the football itself on Wednesday, as the action on the pitch returned to centre stage. Dean and Jack are back together to discuss the four games that rounded off the first legs of the Playoff Round, before looking back at Tuesday's action. We start with Newcastle's 6-1 evisceration of Qarabag after their 2000 mile trip to Azerbaijan, and Anthony Gordon going second in the Champions League scoring charts with his four-goal poker; before examining a brilliant game in Belgium between Club Brugge and Atletico Madrid that ended 3-3. In Part Two we look at Bodø/Glimt continuing their incredible fairytale run in the competition with a 3-1 win over last season's finalists Inter in the Arctic Circle, as well as taking a peek at Leverkusen's impressive 2-0 win in Piraeus as they beat Olympiacos in their own back yard. Finally, in Part Three, we take a quick look at Tuesday's action - Real Madrid's overshadowed 1-0 win over Benfica, holders PSG coming from behind to beat fellow Ligue 1 side Monaco 3-2, Galatasaray's huge 5-2 win over a Juventus side who might just be spiralling into a bit of a crisis, and Dortmund seeing off Atalanta 2-0 with perhaps their best Champions League performance this year. 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 gang,Sometimes the events in games are overshadowed by more insidious ones that dominate the headlines. This is one such occasion, and so it didn't feel particularly right to talk about the football after the scenes in the Benfica game, where Vinicius Jr walked off the pitch following comments made to him by Gianluca Prestianni. What was said, we don't fully know, because Prestianni pulled his shirt up to cover his face whilst saying it, which is pretty suspect in itself. But it was enough to spark some very heated confrontations, and for the referee to instigate the racial abuse protocol. After the game, a variety of Real Madrid players spoke out; as did Jose Mourinho - perhaps unwisely so - on an evening where the football became secondary. This is, therefore, a pretty short episode - we'll talk about the other games on Wednesday's Champions League Takeaway, but the situation has overshadowed what should have been a glorious return to Champions League action and the knockout stages, and in full truth, just left me feeling pretty sad.We'll be back tomorrow, but for now, stay safe, stay kind, and look after one another. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to look at the proliferation of set pieces across the entirety of the Premier League's clubs this season, and the impact that it is having on games and entertainment value. We discuss the direct nature of games this season, the rise of better organised defensive units and the fact that set pieces offer a tangible way to crack tight games open, as well as the fact that football tends to turn in cycles - with a famous quote from a game in 2005 that could just as easily be applied to certain games this season. So, is this just the cyclical nature of the footballing wheel taking another turn, or the harbinger of something more worrying within the game? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! The Rank God is back in the building (literally in this case) and today Sam joins Jack to take a look at some of the most underrated players in the Premier League. That's a difficult concept to define, so the main ranking takes a deep dive of three players who are often derided for something they regularly showcase or a mistake they made at one point, and examines why they should be given more respect; before we do a quickfire run through 11 more players in Part Three. Before we get into that though, there's time for Things We Love; where Sam talks about the resurrection of Kobbie Mainoo's Manchester United career under Michael Carrick, and Jack looks at the incredible relegation battle currently taking place in La Liga. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Sam and Dougie are back in town for 2026 and after an extended winter break that has included no little change in the footballing world, the boys are starting up again with an examination of the big questions that will define the rest of this season. There's discussion of the Premier League title race, the resurgence of Manchester United under Michael Carrick, Chelsea under new boss Liam Rosenior, the Thomas Frank question that's not going away at Tottenham Hotspur, whether Aston Villa can continue their lofty position in the table, and who stands in good stead to win the Champions League this time around.There's plenty of split opinions on all of these, but as usual, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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!The January Transfer Window has finally come to a close and whilst it wasn't the most explosive window in recent years, it still threw up its fair share of interesting and intriguing deals - for better and for worse. Today we break down some of our favourites, some of those we can't quite get our head round, and some of those that have slid under the radar, to try and work out the good, bad and ugly of the nigh-on 600 deals that happened across the Top 5 Leagues (and a little beyond). We also take a look at some of the big stories of Deadline Day - Jorgen Strand Larsen to Crystal Palace, Jean-Philippe Mateta's AC Milan deal falling through, and the curious (and genuinely sad) case of Dwight McNeil. 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 time for your final Champions League Takeaway of the League Stage for 2025/26, with the 36 team battle culminating in a blitz of chaos and craziness, eliminations and ecstasy, in an 18-game bonanza that delivered more drama than we thought possible. In Lisbon, Jose Mourinho downed his protege Alvaro Arbeloa and former club Real Madrid, with a last minute headed goal from the Benfica goalkeeper sending them through to the Playoff stages, whilst Real Madrid slipped out of the top eight; meaning they could meet again in just a couple of weeks time. In Paris, Newcastle came from behind to hold PSG, nearly break Parisian hearts, and end up dooming both sides to a stint back in the chaos of the Playoffs, in a game where the momentum swung wildly between both sides with the sound of the half time whistle. In Naples, Chelsea came from behind to ruin the dreams of former manager Antonio Conte and Napoli thanks to a João Pedro brace, despite the magical storyline of local lad Antonio Vergara scoring his first goal for his boyhood club...after doing a Maradona spin at the Maradona. Poetry and pain. In Bilbao, Sporting ruined Athletic's fun with a last minute dagger from Alisson Santos - the Brazilian boy beating the Basques in their backyard - and in the process sent themselves into the Last 16, finishing ahead of Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG, Inter and a whole host more. Not bad for a side who lost their star striker and superstar manager in the last year and half or so. And that's just four games from a cast of 18, plenty of which threw up huge storylines of their own. Liverpool hit six, Arsenal made it eight from eight, Spurs continued their Jekyll and Hyde form from domestic to European matters, Barcelona did some chaos, Atleti lost at home to Glimt, Brugge battered Marseille, Pafos scored the goal of the night, Villarreal were a joke, and there was plenty more besides. We break it all down. 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 belated second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at the games from Wednesday night, as well as taking a step back to see what the League Table means after seven matchdays - examining the dominance of the Premier League teams across the competition's higher ranks and also how that might play out in the knockout stages. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the seventh Matchday of the League stage. We start at San Siro, where Arsenal made it seven wins from seven and guarantee themselves a top two spot in the competition with a very impressive 3-1 win over Inter; before heading to the Arctic Circle, where Manchester City fell to a shock 3-1 defeat to Bodø/Glimt, who put in a performance for the ages to down Pep's reeling charges. In Part Two we head to the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid hammered Monaco 6-1 with a special show from Vini Jr to abate the crowd who had been baying for blood at the weekend; and also to North London, where Spurs gave Thomas Frank a stay of execution with perhaps their best performance under him as they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Sporting CP picked up a famous victory over reigning European Champions PSG with a smash and grab in Lisbon; Villarreal's dreadful run in the competition carried on with a 2-1 loss to equally struggling Ajax; Club Brugge and Olympiacos kept their playoff hopes alive with wins over Kairat Almaty and Bayer Leverkusen respectively; and Napoli drew 1-1 with 10-man Copenhagen as their campaign teeters on the edge of failure. 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 another DJ special for the final time before Jack returns from his extended wander around the footballing heartlands of South America, and today we're looking at some clubs who have it all to do in the second half of the season if they're to fulfil their pre-season expectations. Dean opens up the pod with a debate about managerial decisions, and whether some of the big guns have all downgraded for no logical reason.In the main segment, we look at five clubs on the verge of crisis… or perhaps already in it. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham’s seasons are all analysed.In the final segment, it’s the return of the nonsense rankings as Dean chats about life in San Diego.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!With Jack away, it's time for a vintage Ranks combination back in full force as the Rank God Sam Tighe returns to the main episode to talk all things football with Dean Jones. In Part One, the boys discuss the fallout from the departures of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim - and debate which side finishes higher in the table from here. In the main segment, Sam rolls back the years as he gives us his 1-5 on the best signing of this transfer window so far. West Ham feature heavily - though not really for the right reasons. And if you’re a fan of Endrick it’s worth a listen after his move to Lyon. In the final part, we check in on a few of the stranger storylines for January with a focus on Newcastle United and also one of the more bizarre Real Madrid rumours you'll hear.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 another year in the books here at Ranks FC and we round things off with a special episode involving the Rank Squad.We got our patrons to send in their hot takes for a New Year episode that will have you laughing … while also ruffling a few feathers along the way!One guy thinks Bukayo Saka sucks, there’s a debate about the level of Morgan Rogers, someone else thinks Villa have the best support in the league… and one member is slating his own fanbase!Thank you for all your support in 2025 - Happy New Year, and we'd love to have you with us on Patreon in 2026...the link is below! 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today, in the final episode of 2025, the boys have picked out three players each who are either in demand or in need of a move ahead of the January Transfer Window - examining the reasons for them being where they are, and where some good landing spots might be for them to either kick on or rediscover their potential. This will be the last episode of the Truth for a couple of weeks whilst Jack takes a little time off for his honeymoon, but we'll be back in mid-January with more attempts to cut through the noise and find the elusive middle ground in the ever-polarised football conversation. Happy New Year, gang - and in 2026, remember that as ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! With the festive period in full swing, we've decided to let our hair down a little bit this week and have a bit of fun, riffing on the idea of what managers from some of the biggest clubs in the world would want beneath their Christmas Tree this year - whether that be new players, new contracts, or something a little bit more outlandish. We work through 16 clubs - a few from the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga, as well as a couple from across the rest of the continent as well, to drop off the gifts that we think they'd be after in an ideal world, for a bit of festive fun. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today, the boys are discussing Real Madrid, given the events of the last couple of weeks. Xabi Alonso, who was brought in to replace Carlo Ancelotti in the summer - is reportedly still on the brink, despite a couple of positive results in the last few games. We walk exactly what the situation looks like - why there's pressure, what can be changed, who could do a better job - and perhaps most pertinently, what Los Blancos actually want to be in this modern era of football, and whether going back to the old normality would be a step forwards or a step backwards given so many sides are now in a situation where they want to play system-based football. So, do Real Madrid still hold a position where they can just get by with the best players in the world and a whole lot of vibes? Or do they need a manager like Alonso to help try to manoeuvre them into a world which feels particularly based on systems and structures? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! We're back with another transfer ranking, as the window draws ever closer - and today Dean wanted to get stuck into the stories that could be seismic in the January window - not just in terms of picking up the headlines, but in terms of defining the careers of certain players and managers. We look through five Premier League stories in the main ranking - ranging from the major outgoing sagas of Mo Salah and Kobbie Mainoo, to the threat of Thomas Frank's dismissal hanging over Tottenham Hotspur's plans in January, and the next steps for forgotten men at their clubs - Raheem Sterling and Harvey Elliott. Before that we talk about Things We Loved over the course of the weekend - where DJ goes all in on the chaotic Liga MX Final where Toluca outlasted Tigres in a madcap penalty shootout, and Jack waxes lyrical about the form of the Prince of Corwen - Harry Wilson - who FPL players are discussing bringing into their teams after this incredible hot streak. Finally, we take a look at a few burgeoning stories in Europe for you to keep an eye on over the course of January and beyond, to wrap things up. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today, the boys are discussing the teams outside of the traditional 'Big Six' who are in the conversation right now for finishing in the top five in the Premier League - and, we assume, picking up a Champions League spot whilst they do so? We walk through the fortunes of Aston Villa, Everton, Brighton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United and see where their strengths and weaknesses are - assessing their major plusses and also looking at where there are potential issues might lie in the second half of the season, in order to come to a conclusion about how serious these claims are on qualifying for the biggest stage of them all!So, are any of these contenders going to press their claim as genuine Champions League contenders, or are the powers that be going to come screaming back into the conversation over the As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the sixth Matchday of the League stage. We start at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso's woes deepened with a 2-1 defeat by Manchester City - could that be the end of the line for the beleaguered boss? We also check in on his former side, Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 2-2 with Newcastle United in an incredibly topsy-turvy encounter. In Part Two we head to Belgium to look at Arsenal's 3-0 win over Club Brugge which featured a sensational solo strike from Noni Madueke - just the tonic that Mikel Arteta's men needed after suffering their first defeat in ages to Aston Villa at the weekend; as well as looking at Juventus' 2-0 win over Pafos which looks routine on paper, but saw the shift in the system that we've been hoping for from Luciano Spalletti since he took over in Turin. And in the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Ajax finally getting their first win on the board in the competition with a spirited 4-2 fightback win over Qarabag in Azerbaijan; Villarreal falling 2-3 to Copenhagen at El Madrigal as the bizarre difference between their domestic and continental form continued; a 2-2 draw in the all-yellow affair between Borussia Dortmund and Bodø/Glimt - with a celebratory milestone for Julian Brandt; Benfica's very impressive 2-0 win over Napoli in Lisbon; and a 0-0 draw between Athletic Club and reigning champions PSG that left much to be desired from both sides. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the sixth Matchday of the League stage. We start at San Siro, where Liverpool, came out victorious over Inter Milan thanks to a controversial late Dominik Szoboszlai penalty to quieten the noise in what has been a hectic week for the Reds; before heading to Camp Nou, where Barcelona had to rely on unlikely hero Jules Koundé to bail them out with a brace against Eintracht Frankfurt on their return to European action in their spiritual home. In Part Two we head to Bergamo, where Atalanta came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 and add to Enzo Maresca's recent rotational woes; and also to North London, where Spurs made it back-to-back home wins with a positive 3-0 win over Slavia Prague to show their own learning curve. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Atletico Madrid beating PSV 3-2 in a corker in Eindhoven; wünderkind Lennart Karl burning brightly for Bayern again as they dispatched Sporting in Munich; a chaotic encounter between Union Saint-Gilloise and Olympique Marseille in Belgium that OM came out on top of 3-2; hard-to-pin-down AS Monaco beating Galatasaray 1-0 in the Principality; and Olympiacos ending an awful away run in the competition by beating Kairat 1-0 in the early kick off in Kazakhstan . 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today the boys are discussing the Premier League title race - and if there's one about to explode into live. We're all in agreement that from the evidence in front of us this season, Arsenal are the favourites - some bookmakers even have them as short as evens to win the title for the first time since 2003/04. But is this a procession for Mikel Arteta's men or are there some strong contenders for them coming up on the outside rail?We take a dive into Manchester City and Chelsea in particular - who have emerged either in contest or in league position as the two teams that seem the most likely to make a back-straight dive for the crown. We look at the strengths and flaws in both of their teams, and whether they're strong enough to derail what feels like a pretty well-rounded bid for Arsenal to claim the big one in England once again. There's a quick look at reigning champions Liverpool, as well as in-form Aston Villa as well, although we're pretty comfortable suggesting that neither of those two are probably going to trouble the three ahead of them in the long run. So, are Arsenal a shoo-in for their first league title in over 20 years? Or are there some gigantic twists and turns to come as the season revs into the back straight? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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!In the latest episode of Ranks FC we're digging your Transfer Guru back out of his hiatus to talk all things January Transfer Window, so Dean is on hand to walk you through the latest that he has heard on what might be possible in the winter spending window and which clubs could be tempted into splashing some cash. DJ splits his ranking into two parts - starting with what clubs in the Premier League might be the most interested in doing business in January and why - looking at Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in particular; before moving on to five players who are already attracting interest and could well end up being the big storylines of the window if someone decides to make a move for them. Before that, Jack talks about El Gran Derbi in Things We Love, waxing about a really impressive win for Betis in the Frying Pan of Spain, whilst Dean eulogises a little bit about the end of San Diego's incredible expansion season, where the Chrome and Azul put together one of the most immaculate freshman years that we've ever seen in MLS, but came up just short when it came to the crunch in the Western Conference Final against the Vancouver Whitecaps, who move on to play Inter Miami in MLS Cup. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today the boys are discussing the emerging generation of superstar midfielders. We've had the £100m transfers in recent seasons of Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, as well as a number of other big money moves - so which players are in the conversation to become the next stars in the middle of the park?We discuss some of the main contenders, starting with Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton from the Premier League; moving to the Bundesliga to discuss RB Leipzig's Assan Ouédraogo and Eintracht Frankfurt's Can Uzun; chat through Como's Nico Paz and Juventus' Kenan Yıldız from Serie A; as well as a couple of others - including Porto's Victor Froholdt and Wolves' João Gomes, who is linked with a January move to Manchester United. So, are these players destined for nine-figure transfers or should we not be getting excited too early? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the fifth Matchday of the League stage. We start at the Emirates, where Arsenal downed Bayern Munich 3-1 in the battle of teams previously perfect; before heading to Anfield, where Liverpool's woes continued with a harrowing 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven that continues to leave Arne Slot with more questions than answers. In Part Two we head to Paris and discuss the holders PSG beating Tottenham Hotspur 5-3, in a game that saw an improvement from Spurs, but not quite enough of one; and also to Piraeus, where Kylian Mbappé scored four goals as Real Madrid held off Olympiacos' comeback to triumph 4-3 in a much-needed win for Xabi Alonso. And in the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - a late 2-1 win for Atletico Madrid over Inter at the Metropolitano, extending their exceptional home record; Atalanta getting the Palladino era underway with a good win over Eintracht Frankfurt away from home; Sporting's dominant 3-0 win over Club Brugge that saw some wonderful goals; Pafos' late goal to earn a point in a 2-2 draw at home against AS Monaco; and Copenhagen hanging on for a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty at Parken. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the fifth Matchday of the League stage. We start at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea put the hammer down on brittle Barcelona, inspired by their own wonderkid in the form of Estevão, who continues to drop awe-inspiring performances on the big stage; before heading to Manchester, where Pep made 10 changes and suffered the consequences, as Manchester City were well beaten by a punchy, plucky Leverkusen at the Etihad. In Part Two we head to Marseille, where Newcastle United's woes on the road continued as OM came from behind to beat them 2-1 with an Aubameyang brace; and also to the Arctic Circle, where the half-time introduction of Kenan Yıldız flipped the game on its head as Juventus fought back to beat Bodø/Glimt 3-2 late on. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Napoli winning 2-0 over Qarabag thanks to the bottle opener Scott McTominay; Borussia Dortmund taking advantage of an extra man to beat Villarreal 4-0 in the all-yellow derby; Benfica adding to Ajax's woes with a 2-0 win in Amsterdam; Union Saint-Gilloise ending Galatasaray's outrageous unbeaten home run by winning 1-0 in Istanbul; and a drab 0-0 draw between Slavia Prague and Athletic Club. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today the boys are looking at luck and the effect it has on any given Premier League season, off the back of an article that Sam has written about how you can quantify it over the course of a number of games. We examine the structure of how you try to manifest this in a discussion, and if this is something that you can have a sensible chat about in the grander scheme of football fandom. We discuss the variants - injuries across entire position groups, playing teams with serious injuries themselves, the context of a new manager bounce, VAR decisions that have been proved wrong by an admission or an apology, and a few more things besides, and come up with a solution to the question: does this all even itself out over the course of a season? Is it just a case of you play everyone twice or is there far more nuance to the idea of playing teams at the right time?As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! With the majority of the field now locked in for next summer's World Cup, we thought it was a good time to take stock of where the favourites are in terms of potentially winning this tournament. We work through the bookmakers' favourites and give our own ranking on where they currently stand, and why. We also take a quick look at some of the lesser known names that you need to be keeping an eye on as Dark Horses, including a defensively rock-solid CONMEBOL unit; one of North Africa's finest having a bit of a resurgence; and a Scandinavian power returning to the table for the first time in a number of years. Before we get to that though, there's a little bit of time for Jack to wax lyrical about his current hero, Troy the Boy, Troy Parrott; who inspired Ireland to make the playoffs against all of the odds. It's not by any means a guarantee that the Boys in Green will be in the US next summer, but from a seemingly impossible position, the Republic of Ireland have themselves a chance thanks to his exploits. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Today the boys are looking at the battle for survival in the Premier League, and trying their best to sort through the noise in the relegation battle. We work through all the teams at the bottom of the table - Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Burnley and Fulham, to try and work out who is in the most immediate danger of slipping down into the second tier. We examine the whole situation for each of these clubs, the reasons for optimism and the gloomiest of outlooks, trying to work out if there are lost causes, and if the somewhat overwhelming fan-based optimism or pessimism has justification. As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 November International Break, so we're taking a look back at the season so far and picking out some of the players who have broken out for their teams so far across the course of the campaign. We start by selecting three from the Premier League who have made this season their own thus far, before heading over to Europe. There's five players from across the continent, taking in the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Primeira as we go, who vary from the household names at youth level to the surprise packages who have seemingly come from nowhere, as we scour the continent for some of the superstars of tomorrow who are making their name today. Before all of that, Dean has three stories for Things We Love, which he offers up to see if we love or hate, in a slight twist on the classic.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.

It's time for The Truth!Sam is back from his holidays and he's back in the studio with Dougie to discuss Real Madrid and a campaign so far under Xabi Alonso that has looked pretty seamless on paper - they're top of La Liga, going strong in the Champions League and boast a Kylian Mbappé in more lethal form than ever. But under the surface, there's a lingering feeling, exacerbated by their loss to Liverpool in midweek, that it's not all sunshine and roses at the Bernabeu just yet. We take a deep dive into the summer additions, the changes that Alonso is trying to make within his team from both a tactical and a personnel perspective, the performances that have ranged from the sublime to the soporific, and everything else in between as we try to work out just where this new chapter in Los Blancos' history is at the current time of asking, and where it might go in the near future. So, is this the silver bullet that Real Madrid have been waiting for in the dugout, or is it a case of things looking far more rosy on the surface than it is underneath? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the fourth Matchday of the League stage. We start in Bruges with a truly nutty game of football between Club Brugge and Barcelona which ended in a 3-3 that barely does justice to the amount of chances; before heading to Azerbaijan where a heavily Chelsea were punished for their wholesale changes by a Qarabag side who are punching above their weight this season. In Part Two we address two big wins for Premier League sides - Manchester City dispatching Borussia Dortmund 4-1 at the Etihad, in large part thanks to two glorious goals on the half turn from a seemingly rejuvenated Phil Foden; and Newcastle United rallying behind local hero Dan Burn to see off Athletic Club 2-0 and bounce back from their weirdly lethargic loss to West Ham at the weekend. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Inter making it four wins from four with a slightly underwhelming 2-1 win over Kairat Almaty, conceding their first Champions League goal this season in the process; Pafos beating Villarreal 1-0 to record the first win for a Cypriot side in the competition for over fourteen years; Atalanta's chaotic 1-0 win at Marseille where chaos doesn't do justice to the amount of bonkers bits that went down; Victor Osimhen grabbing a hat-track in Amsterdam as Galatasaray downed a sorry Ajax 3-0; and Bayer Leverkusen's smash-and-grab job to win 1-0 in Lisbon against Jose Mourinho's Benfica - where a strange disillusion is starting to set in. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the fourth Matchday of the League stage. We start at Anfield, where Liverpool put together their most complete performance of the season so far, fending off Real Madrid 1-0 in front of an electric atmosphere on Merseyside; before heading to Paris, where Bayern laid out their credentials as serious contenders by beating PSG 2-1, despite being down to 10 men for the entirety of the second half. In Part Two we address the North London sides - Rank God Sam Tighe checks in from Tottenham Hotspur, where he witnessed Spurs' best attacking performance under Thomas Frank as they won 4-0 against a hapless Copenhagen, in a game that included an absolutely breathtaking goal from Mickey Van de Ven; whilst Arsenal's outrageous run of both wins and clean sheets continued in a relatively routine 3-0 thumping of Slavia Prague on the road. Arteta's men keep marching onwards. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Sporting spoiling Spalletti's Juventus Champions League bow by earning a 1-1 draw in Turin; Atletico finally finishing off USG 3-1 thanks to some late drama at the Metropolitano; Monaco winning 1-0 in the Arctic Circle against Bodø/Glimt; PSV's smash and grab job to nick a late point at Olympiacos; and Napoli being held to a goalless stalemate at the Maradona by Eintracht Frankfurt. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Sam's away this week, so Jack steps up from the producer's chair to join Dougie in the studio and they're discussing Sunderland's unbelievable opening to this Premier League campaign. After winning the Playoffs back in May, the Black Cats made their fairytale return to the top table, but even the most optimistic of fans wouldn't have predicted them sitting in a Champions League spot at the end of October. It's still relatively early days, but the optimism is in full swing at the Stadium of Light, so we wanted to take a step back and look at both sides of the argument to see if Sunderland are in a halcyon honeymoon period with their new boys, or whether this is an unsustainable overperformance that will soon be dragged back down to earth. We look at the new signings, the managerial element of the whole, and the expectations from the fans, as we try to understand exactly what has made Sunderland so good so far this season, and whether they can keep on dreaming long into these winter nights. Is a European challenge genuinely beyond the realms of possibility? Will a tougher fixture list and the spectre of players leaving for AFCON bring a soaring SAFC down to earth with a bump? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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!We're now getting to the point of the season where we can start to take league tables a bit more seriously, and in doing so, we can see that there are a few teams who are a little (or a lot) higher in the table than they might have expected before a ball was kicked. So, today, we're exploring six of those teams across Europe's top five leagues - why expectations might have been lowered, how they've got to where they are, and whether their current situation is sustainable.We take a look at Bournemouth and Sunderland in the Premier League, AS Roma in Serie A, RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, RCD Espanyol in La Liga and RC Lens in Ligue 1, to see what's going down. Before all that, we have a quick look back at El Clasico this weekend, where Real Madrid saw off Barcelona 2-1 at the Bernabeu; as well as the fallout from Lamine Yamal's comments, and Vinicius Jr's flare up with Xabi Alonso that has dominated the post-game discourse. 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 second Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Wednesday's action from the third Matchday of the League stage. We start at a very rainy Stamford Bridge where a very young Chelsea side made light work of 10-man Ajax, continuing their recent run of very impressive results; and then on to Frankfurt, where Liverpool bounced back from their recent troubles with a thumping win over Eintracht, with Hugo Ekitike returning to haunt his former club. In Part Two we address Spurs' flat display at Monaco, where their unbeaten record remained but without any real positivity for the Tottenham Hotspur fanbase to cling to; and also Real Madrid eking out a 1-0 win over Juventus in a game described as a European Clasico, but which didn't quite catch fire as we might have hoped. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - Bayern continuing their perfect start with a 4-0 thumping of Club Brugge where 17-year-old Lennart Karl stole the show; Sporting coming from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 after some ludicrous thinking from Emerson Palmieri; Victor Osimhen's star turn as Galatasaray swept aside Bodo/Glimt; Athletic Club finding some shooting boots to beat Qarabag 3-1 at the Cathedral; and Atalanta being held to a 0-0 draw by Slavia Prague in Bergamo. 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 first Champions League Takeaway of the week, looking back at Tuesday's action from the third Matchday of the League stage. We start at the Emirates where Arsenal found a magical 13-minute spell to put Atletico Madrid to the sword, beating them 4-0 with a couple of goals for Viktor Gyökeres and a couple of goals from set pieces for good measure; before heading to Leverkusen to talk about a 7-2 (!) win for reigning Champions PSG over Bayer 04, in a game that had absolutely everything. In Part Two we address some more big wins - Barcelona putting six past Olympiacos in Catalunya as they overcame a mid-second half wobble to finish their Greek visitors off with some lethal finishing in a 6-1 win, and Newcastle United winning 3-0 against Jose Mourinho's Benfica at St. James' Park to continue their good form in the competition. In the final part, we round up all the rest of the action - PSV hammering Napoli 6-2 in Eindhoven; Inter travelling to Belgium and winning 4-0 over Jupiler Pro League Champions Union Saint-Gilloise; Borussia Dortmund scoring four goals for a third consecutive Champions League game as they won 4-2 against Copenhagen in Parken; Manchester City's comfortable 2-0 victory over Villarreal at El Madrigal; and the only scoreless game of the night - Kairat Almaty and Pafos drawing 0-0 in Kazakhstan. 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.

It's time for The Truth!Sam and Dougie are back in the studio to discuss Tottenham Hotspur, and the discourse around the idea that in just a small spell of games, Thomas Frank has fixed all the problems that saw last season become one of the most disappointing domestic campaigns in the club's modern history. Spurs have won four, drawn two and lost just a single Premier League game so far, seeing them sitting third in the table; but whilst everything looks pretty rosy on the surface, there are questions that remain after a couple of iffy performances - and safe to say that Sam isn't completely convinced that the underlying issues have been resolved, even if the results look impressive. But what is success for Tottenham Hotspur this season? Is Thomas Frank already achieving it, or have some impressive results put a little bit of paper over the cracks of what lies beneath? As ever, The Truth is somewhere in the middle... 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! Ranks is 5 years old this week, so we wanted to start by saying Thank You to all of you who listen regularly and who have stuck with us on this incredible journey since we went independent in 2020. As a little celebration, we wanted to bring back one of our most-loved episodes from the staples and revisit Sacking or Saving Under-Fire Managers for a FIFTH time. It's tough out there as a manager. You can be winning trophies and be the designated Chosen One one minute, and then on the verge of losing your job the next. It's brutal, but it's the way football works, so we wanted to take a look at some of the managers under the cosh this season, and what the future holds for them. We start with a big one from the Premier League - the future of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, especially in the light of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's comments that he needed three years to prove his worth as a manager. Dean takes us on to three more in the Premier League - Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest, Vitor Pereira at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Scott Parker at Burnley - as we assess their situations and give our verdicts. Then we head Continental, as Jack takes a look at who's under it in Europe - visiting Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid, Sergio Francisco at Real Sociedad, Michel at Girona, Stefano Pioli at Fiorentina, Maurizio Sarri at Lazio and Igor Tudor at Juventus - to see what their situations look like in this international break. 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.