Summary: Once again in the midst of another key week in football when European action defines the competitive landscape, Jose Mourinho emerges as the lightning rod as he takes to Goals on Sunday to further his agenda and theories about match officials and more concerns continue to evolve around the matter of Louis van Gaal at Manchester United and whether Liverpool as turned the corner. Joining the show for the first segment is football correspondent Simon Evans who helps us analyze the method and madness from The Special One to determine whether his ongoing campaign against referees has made a bad situation toxic and if some parallels with the conditioning of officials in calcio is repeating itself once again, a serious detriment to the competitive landscape. We also explore the problems for Eastern European teams in UEFA competitions, how regionalization could help develop the overall product and even take on the matter of MLS as potentially the next truly globalized league with some thought and execution over another decade of growth. In part two, show regular and football writer Graham Ruthven takes on the matter of Louis van Gaal and questionable progress at Manchester United, the emergence of Liverpool in recent weeks as certifiable top-four threat and whether Manchester City can turn this Premier League battle into a legitimate title race again. Also discussed are the evolving fortunes for Southampton, Tottenham and Everton who all must make key decisions as the season unfolds and whether Tim Sherwood can get Aston Villa out of a relegation scrap with essentially the same players handed to Paul Lambert.
