Beyond The Pitch

After an unprecedented eight year run in the Premier League, a small football club with even bigger dreams went out in a blaze of glory by winning its very first major silverware with the FA Cup and earning the club its first automatic place in the Group Stage of the 2013-14 UEFA Europa League. These have been remarkable times for Wigan, its chairmen and the players who take up the mantle in the Championship this season, but for first year manager Owen Coyle this is the chance to rekindle the magic he created at Burnley while setting some new history at DW Stadium as the Latics are set to make some new history this week when the club hosts its first European fixture at the stadium which bears the name of its chairman. Owen helps us understand the first year challenges for Wigan in The Championship, what it took to reshape the squad after a bittersweet FA Cup triumph and painful relegation in a matter of days, and how he has prepared to take on NK Maribor in the Europa League. Lots here on Wigan, new arrivals, setting the objective of promotion back into the Premier League and serving a chairman with instant football credibility in Dave Whelan.

Once again another key checkpoint for the Premier League as Mezut Ozil leads Arsenal into top slot and two unexpected challengers round out the top three in Liverpool and Tottenham who have barely found the balance and Luis Suarez makes his expected return with immediate results, prolonging judgment on the contenders and the pretenders at this early stage. Helping us evaluate this trend along with some early missteps for Manchester United and Chelsea is Times correspondent and BTP regular Oliver Kay after a weekend of rather interesting results which may be a leading indicator to a Premier League race that could develop into which of the top five clubs can put together a successful run earliest. We examine the surprising emergence of Liverpool and Arsenal since the turn of the calendar year, whether Tottenham has leveled its chances in contrast to Chelsea and whether darker days are ahead for a Manchester United team that has begun to show a drain in quality since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. We also examine the failures at Sunderland and whether the club is looking more broadly for its Paolo Di Canio replacement and if Alan Pardew is inevitably next to join the Italian in the sack race given further trouble against Everton and Roberto Martinez as we head toward another weekend of action before the international break.

Mickey Thomas from Manchester United TV joins Phil and Anto to examine the early problems this season for the club in the Premier League, featuring a less than characteristic two-match losing streak that involves a derby loss to Manchester City followed by a 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford on Saturday, with European action set to resume midweek. Much of the concern revolves around choices in personnel and the inevitable transition concerns moving between Sir Alex Ferguson to David Moyes in his first season, but what does appear to be emerging are questions about a roster that went overlooked for too long and whether expectations are more at work here than actual potential given that the same midfield questions have been ignored, and now compounded by a lack of productivity in wide areas of the pitch over the last season or two. Mickey helps us examine these expectations, where the club may need to strengthen come January, if the club feels the pressure to push its strategy forward from next summer, and if concerns about Shinji Kagawa longer term are being compounded by the emergence of Adnan Januzaj who will certainly touch off an unwillingness to repeat the scenario cast by Paul Pogba prior to leaving the club for Juventus Football Club. We also examine how some of the recent statements by David Moyes reflects the step he has had to make under the media glare while adapting to Manchester United from Everton and how then media filter seems to reset those expectations and whether the adjustment is moving on as planned, and how three defeats at Old Trafford place him under the kind of scrutiny only complicated by a lack of an attractive playing style to date. David Moyes is concerned that his current squad may lack the quality to challenge for a Champions League title, but even more seems to be underway as early stages of the Premier League have not been positive both on and off the pitch.

Joining Anto for another late night discussion from Madrid is Spanish football correspondent and commentator Sid Lowe who not only helps us probe and point out some interesting early trends in the domestic season, but also we take a look at his exciting new book in which he explores in great detail the often intertwined and often controversial history between Real Madrid and Barcelona. As always these episodes are often reserved for exploring the history, politics, and culture, while never forgetting the drama on the pitch, which sets the stage for an historical context once we dig into the post-war period. We begin this episode on the heels a largely controversial win away a Elche where the always explosive Pepe earned the visitors a dubious penalty deep into stoppage time denying their hosts even one point, which in turn begins our first look at Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti and what we discover is a team sheet that is designed to be different that the one last submitted by Jose Mourinho yet still has the same symbolic problem of leaving it to late for its danger men and thus far has been able to find an escape. We also look at the truly key arrival in Isco this summer from Malaga who clearly is benefitting from the rich shade provided by Gareth Bale and appears to by on a course with history as a fundamental player for Real Madrid in the years ahead. We also examine the many facets of the Tata Martino era at Barcelona which includes the perception of a more direct style that may just be overdue, but ultimately facing the same questions as capable defensive players have yet to be acquired and look to further derail Barcelona in the biggest stages of the Champions League. We also explore Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone ahead of El Derbi Madrileño, what are some reasonable expectations for this team, and whether the David Villa sale holds the key to some of its best young players in the years ahead. Then we turn our attention to the matter of Real Sociedad as the added influence of Champions League football seems to have delivered the kind of weight that doomed Villarreal a couple of seasons ago when the club was relegated and we consider the real possibility that a key player sale in concert with offensive injuries and a new manager could spell trouble. In the last section we examine the new book and of particular note is the role of history and the margins through which the vast cross-section of football history is often written, which in the case of La Liga traces back to the majestic player and often told tale of Alfredo Di Stéfano, whose one signature changed the course of not only Spanish football history, but that of European football history as well.

Joining once again to discuss the inside politics and bidding process for the controversial 2022 World Cup bid is General Counsel and Co-Director for Change FIFA, David Larkin, who helps us craft the very important case why the entire set of rules and processes must be reset, why the bidding contract process itself is broken and why several key administrators including Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini themselves have violated the very by-laws and statutes of the organization. At the core of these talking points is the direct quotes of FIFA President Sepp Blatter himself who has indicated clearly to German press that direct political influence was brought to bear into the bidding process and we in turn examine what the knockdown effects are from that admission, what could happen next should FIFA persist in moving Qatar 2022 to a winter period and if recent threats of legal action by the FFA have merit and under which jurisdiction. We also explore the volatile nature of the contract process and how broadcast companies would have a clear decision to make in terms of renegotiation or claiming a breach of contract entirely and how Sepp Blatter continues to almost mock the entire process with his reliance on rather weak claims from a Bid Registration Agreement that has many material flaws. We also take a deep dive look into the politics, the advertisers and sponsors, an emerging European Club Association which should have major concerns with the World Cup moving to a winter period and ultimately the biggest victim of all which is the real business of football where massive issues go on without serious and adult answers to the problems affecting world football the most.

Joining in for a Champions League supershow to help us kick-off our official start of the 2013-14 European season is none other than ESPN and One World Sports commentator Janusz Michallik to take a look at many of the key matchups and results, what they may indicate longer term while establishing a number of important trends which have already begun to reveal themselves. We begin nowhere else but the finalists from last season Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund who experienced a very different opening day as the defending champions were rampant and Napoli was smart to seize the initiative after a bit of an explosion by Jurgen Klopp in the San Paolo cauldron as Rafa Benitez and his upstart, next-generation Napoli have seized the upper hand. We examine the clubs working above the clouds in Real Madrid and PSG, the early slip by Jose Mourinho and Chelsea which opens a Pandoras Box of implications and questions, the surprising double barrel statements by first season Manchester managers in advance of their Sunday derby and we also take a deeper examination of two more Serie A clubs in Juventus and AC Milan who both found very unexpected results given their form, injury status and expectations heading into midweek action. We also spend particular time looking at the tremendous opening round for Arsenal and then round out this first of many supershows with a first look at Barcelona under Tata Martino to examine whether a new trend is developing beneath the surface for the defending Spanish champion.

Now that the dust has settled on another international break for Jurgen Klinsmann and a United States national team that has officially qualified for Brazil 2014, we have a look in the afterglow at whether the Germany legend has exceeded his predecessor, whether he has changed both the style and tactics or whether the US success can be largely explained by the failure of a Mexican national team that tossed Fourth Round Qualification in CONCACAF into chaos. The answers, clearly, are not so easily ascertained and one look inside the numbers - once the 2014 campaign is compared against the 2010 campaign under Bob Bradley - it reveals a little discussed trend in that the offensive production has really dried up three years removed from South Africa and that the US appears to have been a better statistical bet to provide more offensive production. That does not mean to suggest that the United States has less talent or has played less attractive football - what it does illustrate is that the Jurgen Klinsmann has once again affirmed his ability to shape his message better than any other US national team manager in history, even though overwhelming evidence suggests that Brazil 2014 is even more dependent on a less pressure draw than it was in Africa. We examine a couple of test scenarios, question whether the US should expect to find itself seeded for that draw and what this campaign tells us about the United States, a Mexican disaster on the verge of unfolding and whether the US Soccer can take some lessons from this experience. In part two, we open another US Soccer Hall of Fame discussion into a favorite broadcaster of ours on the show and that would be JP Dellacamera who should be considered every bit the institution in US soccer as Vin Scully, Mel Allen, Jack Brickhouse, Jack Buck and Doc Emrick are to their respective sports.

Once again we are joined by German football correspondent, commentator and historian Uli Hesse to give us a view of the Bundesliga still early in its new campaign, the national team now setting its course for Brazil 2014 during the next international break and then always taking a deeper look into the early matters involving the key players, clubs and recent decisions affecting the German game. At the very top of this priority list are the two German giants in Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund who have assimilated very different off season strategies designed to keep both clubs in clear confidence of competing for every trophy available and this is where we begin to examine new arrivals, early reflections of new Bayern manager Pep Guardiola and whether the Dortmund thought process was right when taking the less is more route with quality and versatility over quantity in the transfer market. We also take a deeper look at the late move of Mezut Ozil to Arsenal and how he fits within the greater pecking order inside a German national team flush with emerging young midfielders and if by summer he could find himself further marginalized by the likes of Marco Reus and Julian Draxler with regular Champions League minutes. Then we move over to Stuttgart where the club has appointed Thomas Schneider as its new head coach following the departure of Bruno Labbadia and we encounter yet more one interesting trend in young German coaches who are not familiar outside of the Bundesliga but continue to leave a mark on German football once earning their bones in the club game. And then finally we examine the German national team itself to look at Miroslav Klose as he reaches for a once considered unassailable goalscoring record to measure what it means in the bigger picture and what it really says about Gerd Muller so many years later. As always, Uli Hesse delivers his trademark sense of history and deep consideration to all things Germany and its football and is always worth a listen.

With players returning from international duty and set to resume the 2013-14 club season, Phil and Doron also have been keen to rejoin as well, starting again with your questions about the pressing matters involving Manchester United, its very complex and dissected first off season under David Moyes and, of course, all the questions about a transfer market with few answers until they arrive late in the shape of Marouane Fellaini. Your questions on Shinji Kagawa and Adnan Januzaj are also front and center too, and each player is examined given the high profile nature of the transition itself and how fans and supporters view the early returns for a new manager and a new chief executive both being bled into the organization at the same time. We look at the points raised both in the media and in the public domain about David Moyes, what he may have learned already and what he may ultimately regret in being so open with that English press and where the most intriguing elements can be found in his season one at Old Trafford. This is a Manchester United show driven entirely by your questions and we ask some questions of our own including the age-old talking point as to whether a Director of Sport is needed in modern football and what the prospects are for young players such as Januzaj, knowing that Manchester United has a deep and talented squad and that other veteran players would have to be pushed aside in a World Cup year to open up those valuable minutes.

Prior to being traded to Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this summer, defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni spent 12 productive seasons in Colorado where he collected team records in both appearances and starts while leading the Rapids to its first MLS Cup title in 2010, yet that only begins to tell half the story of his accomplishments as a player as we look back at the USA-Mexico rivalry. The owner of 65 appearances with the US National Team, Pablo is part of an American team that has progressed the furthest in a World Cup final in the modern era, as he was a starter for each of the most important matches in 2002 as improbable results just seemed to arrive with each big test - first with Portugal, and then with rivals Mexico in the knockout rounds. We examine that team a bit more in detail, the characters, the emergence of that Mexico rivalry at a critical point on the biggest stage and how that edition of the national team began to shape the type of sporting personalities in the sport for the United States. We also examine the key piece of the Los Angeles juggernaut seeking its third straight MLS Cup title, a bit of bittersweet history with a Miami Fusion team that is gone but not forgotten amongst fans from the early years of Major League Soccer and how that intertwined with tragic events of 9-11 both locally and nationally as this was also a period of contraction for the league. Then, we turn one last corner into the most infamous photoshoot in US Soccer history and some surprising answers soon edge toward the surface.

With summer transfer market now closed and international football front and center stage as World Cup Qualification from Brazil next summer continues to shape much of the talking points, we are joined by Italian football correspondent and commentator Gabriele Marcotti who gives us his view of what happened in the Premier League, Serie A and what awaits the Azzurri as they head for yet one more attempt to place a fifth star on the shirt. We begin in the Premier League where the big splash signing eluded the top clubs in England and at Manchester United in particular and we look to assess that situation for trends and synergies with other moves that failed to materialize all summer. Then we turn our attention almost exclusively to Serie A and Italy where several clubs made a number of extraordinary deals to narrow the gap with two-time defending champion Juventus FC who are now in a massive chase to reach the promised land in European competition. That leaves some emerging faces to consider, of course, and chief among them will be a number of emerging clubs in Fioretina, Napoli and Roma who all have done remarkable business and have transformed their team sheets with great new signings who have already left early impact just two weeks into the 2013-14 season. We also spend particular emphasis on perhaps the most perplexing team during this mercato in AC Milan where the sum of extinguished plans, confusing agendas and plain last minute desperation have left the Rossoneri on the near outside looking in with a number of strange moves that were in some way designed to be tangled up with a nostalgic reach for club icon Kaka on deadline day from Real Madrid. We explore the situation in detail with Milan, why this mercato was such a grand failure and whether the club has made an even bigger mistake in isolating both Keisuke Honda and Stephan El Shaarawy who both tonight seem further away from long term association with AC Milan than they did before the window closed. We also pay our extreme attention to the matter of Juventus and Italy legend Gigi Buffon who hits an important milestone against the Czech Republic and continues to rewrite history and a concept of excellence not just at his position but also what is excellence in football overall.

Within hours after dropping yet more points at Estadio Azteca on Saturday against Honduras, the Mexican federation wasted little time in finally removing Jose Manuel De la Torre as its first team manager with seven rounds completed in 2014 World Cup qualification, and replacing him with Luis Fernando Tena who took the U23s to a gold medal in London just over a year ago. That speaks to the cause and effect of an embarrassing home loss, but helping us breakdown some of the timing, root causes and factors is Mexican and World Sport commentator Martha Guerra who offers us her perspective on an underperforming team that now finds itself fourth in a six-team CONCACAF final qualifying group and dangerously close to a playoff slot with Oceania champion New Zealand for what should have been a secured passage to Brazil. We also look at the two players who have dogged Chepo throughout this process in Real Sociedad forward Carlos Vela and goalkeeper Memo Ochoa, whether the bigger narrative being missed is how the smaller regional teams have finally begun to narrow the gap with the Mexicans and Americans or if these two super powers have taken them too lightly, and then ask the big question as to whether three matches and 72 hours before a gripping match with the United States is enough time for Luis Fernando Tena. We also take a deeper look at the de-evolution of Javier Hernandez since 2010 to observe whether Chepo was denied not just some important goals from what should be his superstar goalscorer, but also a leader who was lost given his lack of productivity and playing time. Martha Guerra has been a contributor to ESPNdeportes.com and a sports commentator for over two decades. She has experience in television and radio and on ESPN Radio Formula since 1993 as an analyst for tennis and golf, as well as special coverage of France 98, and as a magazine and newspaper columnist specializing in Mexican and world sport.

Another emotional and tortuous summer transfer window has closed in the Premier League, but only now has the process of assessing the collateral damage and examining the rubble begun and helping us do just that is Times football journalist Oliver Kay, who helps us gauge the biggest shorelines to emerge and some of the highlights and lowlights that bear further study. We begin this process no other place but Manchester United where the summer has been a back and forth series of interlocking questions that always had an answer in Marouane Fellaini but went on a long and circuitous detour to finally reach that destination at a higher cost. We break down that situation in terms of the deals that went south, whether Mezut Ozil was made available one more time late and who exactly should be held accountable for clear failures to acquire the top names that David Moyes would have preferred to find in his midfield come September. We also look at the splash that was the aforementioned Mezut Ozil who was the source of the biggest splash on deadline day, but the clear winner was Everton Football Club who made money in this market and appear to look even stronger on paper now with arrivals such as Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy. We also examine the moves by Liverpool and Tottenham to evaluate whether their moves have bearing on the chase for top four and whether Chelsea has enough in the first year of Jose Mourinho Redux to make an assault on either Manchester club - most notably - Manchester City where the roster looks the strongest and the club appears to be drama-free of all the off-the-pitch distractions with Manuel Pellegrini pulling the strings. We close on the matter of two summer disasters built largely upon mistakes of the past season at Sunderland and Newcastle where there was too little thought and almost no logic in their campaigns and we have one last bonus look at the departure of Gareth Bale for Real Madrid to assess what his big challenges will be in finding success at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Fresh off a weekend in which the goals and highlight reel strikes were finding their way into nets all across the peninsula, Italian football commentator Owen Neilson makes his first appearance on the show for the 2013-14 Serie A season and helps us not only dissect the explosion at the top of the table, but also interpret the mercato madness that has descended upon AC Milan in particular as club icon Kaka has returned to the Rossoneri from Real Madrid. We begin with an early winner this offseason in Fiorentina where new arrivals and old arrivals finally unleashed are scoring goals and look ready to pounce on top three and then over to the big mystery at Milan where clear rumours of big arrivals once Champions League football was secured never materialized, choosing instead to reach for nostalgia over any recognized plan after stating that a rebuilding effort based on youth was under way. We examine the deals that got finalized, some of the big deals that were missed and where a very uneven market leaves AC Milan with a manager on the last year of a contract, a young star in Stephan El Shaarawy who clearly has a murky future with the club at best and a teamsheet that reflects both the shortcomings of its odd manager and the deep narcissism of its owner, leaving fans with a broken squad serving two factions who can never see eye to eye on the football that is being played. We also examine our takes on top three, fortune for Juventus, questions about eroding defences in Serie A and a couple of early surprises worth exploring in Inter and Roma just two short and crazy weeks into a season in which Serie A has been projected as one of the most competitive leagues in Europe.

Making his second appearance on the show, Everton and Wales legend Neville Southall gives his view of the issues facing Roberto Martinez and Bill Kenwright as the transfer window comes to a dramatic end with two key players being linked to Manchester United while also helping us dissect where expectations should be for a first year manager working within tight financial limits and a teamsheet that needs a bit of freshening up itself. At the core of the discussion is how David Moyes continues to raid two former players who are massive figures at Goodison Park and whether these overtures can be resisted, particularly Leighton Baines who has become something of an icon at Everton Football Club, according to Neville, and then we examine how things in early days have begun to evolve since the change in first team manager was made. We also look at the transfer window, in general, how it seems to have become more destructive in this window and whether past managers should be allowed to return for their former players from the start. Clearly, Neville feels the club needed a breath of fresh air after years of David Moyes at the helm and his ideas on the club going forward are always candid and he does not back down in terms of the football that he believes Everton should be playing week in and week out. We close on the matter of expectations and where Everton should be at the Christmas break given the personnel at the club and where Martinez appears to be directing his team in year one.