Libero

So it all comes down to this. Maybe. After Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth and Manchester City swatted aside Chelsea, the Premier League has a genuine title decider: Mikel Arteta’s stumbling set-piece merchants against Pep Guardiola’s passing drones at the Etihad on Sunday. On today’s Libero, James Horncastle asks Miguel Delaney and Rory Smith whether the momentum has definitively shifted, if Arsenal are cracking under the pressure, and why it seems like everyone wants the team that always wins the title to win it again. Sign up for SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs via liberopodcast.com. — P1: (03:48) P2: (33:20) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Join our Discord @Libero Podcast Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Join via liberopodcast.com. --- This time of year isn’t just about trophies and titles, it’s about trying to stay in the Premier League and this year will be the toughest route to survival in a generation. On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson look at the survival battle, and the question of finding the optimal strategy to stay up. Has the traditional fire-fighter - Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis - been left behind by the modern game? Or do struggling clubs still want the same things, just delivered by a younger man? And when Tottenham have appointed one of the world’s most interesting coaches in Roberto de Zerbi as their fire-fighter, what does that tell us about their own chances of staying up? Also, our friends at the TheS**thouses have figured out how we attribute the quote at the start of every pod, check it out and have a go yourself here. P1: (07:14) P2: (33:41) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Join our Discord @Libero Podcast Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Sign up at liberopodcast.com. --- What’s happened with the tickets for this summer is an absolute scandal but soaring prices is a trend that has an impact way beyond the World Cup. The exploitation of the match-going fan have seen tickets become tradable assets for the market to set the price for, all the while diminishing the value of the experience that is being put in the shop window. Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Jonathan Wilson try to figure out how this been allowed to happen, as well as the long-term implications for football. P1: (05:42) P2: (35:54) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- From peace prizes to golden baubles, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made it his mission to shower the US president in praise and treasure, while in the process inserting himself into Donald Trump’s inner circle. As Trump directs a bombing campaign on Iran, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja ask whether Infantino’s personal ambitions risk irreparable harm to the beauty of the World Cup and football itself? P1: (00:28) P2: (33:15) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are still in the soft launch phase of ⁠SC Libero⁠, but getting on the bandwagon early will give you the chance to lock-in a pay-what-you-want price for an annual subscription until we figure out exactly what perks we give to members. Take advantage of us now at ⁠liberopodcast.com⁠. --- Thomas Tuchel was appointed to the England job with one clear aim: to win the 2026 World Cup. The question on today’s episode, with Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin, is whether he is on the right track. Tuchel’s England were immaculate in qualifying but they lack depth, as they showed against Uruguay on Friday, and are as dependent on Harry Kane as ever. So can he do what Gareth Southgate could not? And what are the differences between the approach of the two men? P1: (09:37) P2: (27:51) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join SC Libero! Our members’ only offering is now live, in a soft way. We're starting you off with ad-free episodes, but a host of other benefits are in what we call 'the pipeline'. Sign up now at liberopodcast.com and you get to pay what you want, because we’re suckers. --- All of football’s great nations used to have their own distinctive styles. Brazil meant Jogo Bonito. Italy meant defensive grit. Germany were ruthlessly efficient, the Netherlands inspirationally artistic, and England stuck it where it belonged: in the mixer. But as football has globalised, have those individual styles started to disappear? In today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss where national football identity came from, what it represented, and whether it has disappeared. P1: (07:23) P2: (35:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- Chelsea’s fine for secret payments from the Premier League between 2011 and 2018 might have been a record £10 million but within the game that punishment and suspended transfer ban have brought complaints of leniency. Do off-book payments that secured the likes of Eden Hazard sully the club’s successes during that period under Roman Abramovich’s ownership? Is that leniency protecting the Premier League product? And now, post-Abramovich, how is the club faring under the ownership of asset managers and venture capitalists. Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja discuss the then and now with John Brewin. P1: (06:01) P2: (38:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com. --- Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could be a historic day for Arsenal. It is their first final since they won the 2020 FA Cup and could mark the start of a glorious climax to the 2025/26 season. On today’s episode Rory Smith, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Jonathan Wilson ask what it would mean for Mikel Arteta to win his second major trophy as Arsenal manager and reflect on the club's wilderness years reaching back to thir last Premier League title under Arsene Wenger in 2003/04. Was it to do with the lack of investment? Or an out-dated decision making structure? So have Arsenal stepped into the future, or have they just found a modern manager? P1: (07:13) P2: (29:06) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all of the Premier League's clubs financial advantages over their European rivals, they are facing a wipeout in the Champions League. Is it fatigue? Is it tactics? Is it a massive waste of resources? Or are Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Tariq Panja going to looking a bit silly on Thursday? P1: (01:36) P2: (28:26) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Atmosphere is one of the Premier League’s biggest selling points to broadcasters, but ask anyone who regularly goes to games and they will tell you that atmospheres in English grounds are in stark decline. If we do accept that atmospheres are getting worse, why is that? On today’s episode John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and James Horncastle try to unpack what exactly we mean when we talk about a ‘good atmosphere’, and whether we are taking a selective view of English football's vibrant year gone by. P1: (02:41) P2: (31:19) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Libero might like knocking the Champions League, but even we know there's nothing like European knock-out football for compelling drama. But with six English clubs in the last 16 and Manchester City playing Real Madrid, again, is this really as exciting as it should be? Is this as good as it once was? This week on Libero, Miguel Delaney, Tariq Panja and Rory Smith ask when the Champions League was at its best, what it was that made it so special, and whether that can be recaptured. P1: (10:45) P2: (37:11) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year football's rich and powerful gather at a West London hotel to do deals, shake hands and talk about the game in a way would be quite unfamiliar to anyone not in the posh seats at 3pm on a Saturday. Several Liberi were in attendance at the recent FT Business of Football Summit, so they found a quiet corridor to discuss what they'd overheard at the conference, as well as the detachment between those who seek to profit from football and the game itself. You'll hear from Tariq Panja, Rory Smith, Miguel Delaney and James Horncastle. There's also a fabulous cameo from The Mirror's John Cross. P1: (00:27) P2: (25:03) Produced by: Tom Bassam, who apologises for the lack of proper video on this episode. Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In recent years it has felt as if the Premier League was permanently stratified, with the poor teams unable to win and the rich teams unable to lose. But Tottenham Hotspur have the ninth biggest revenue in Europe and they are at increasing risk of going down. On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, John Brewin and Jonathan Wilson discuss the possibility of Spurs’ relegation from the top flight. Jonathan tells the story of their relegation in the 1970s, and the team ask whether that is comparable to a big team going down in 2026. Because if Spurs do go - and they still have a four point gap - what would it mean for English football? Would it tell us that the Premier League is in fact starting to de-stratify? P1: (05:39) P2: (27:34) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is – it turns out – quite difficult to pin down an accurate definition of what 'bottling it' means and, therefore, which teams can be fairly described as having committed this failure of will in the past. Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson give it their best shot at outlining the true meaning of the phrase and discuss the most famous 'bottle jobs' in football history. With the nerve of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal being severely tested as they seek to end a 26-year wait for a Premier League title, are we about to see another egregious example of 'bottling it' or would it be unfair to apply that description to this Gunners side? All covered in a landmark episode of Libero. P1: (02:43) P2: (27:46) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jose Mourinho will take his Benfica team back to Real Madrid on Wednesday night, trying to get through to the last-16 of the Champions League. It is now almost 13 years since Mourinho left Real Madrid but his three year spell there remains one of the most interesting periods in modern football. Never before or since has Florentino Perez handed over the keys to a coach so determined to work against his players rather than with them. On today’s episode John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Jack Pitt-Brooke look back at Mourinho’s time at Real, the triumph of the 2011-12 La Liga win and the toxic descent in his final year. Was this the peak of his career? Or was it the turning point before it all started to go wrong? P1: (06:26) P2: (36:48) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s Champions League punishment round week, which means clubs who were among the biggest and best in Europe 10 years ago are slogging it out to make it through to the last-16. The question on today’s show is what these sides - especially Juventus, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund - can realistically achieve in a European game that is now stacked against them. Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tariq Panja and James Horncastle discuss whether they ever build a competitive team to last, or whether they will just get picked off by the vultures at the first sign of success. And if they can’t hope to win any more, are they left with a sense of identity that they can fall back on? P1: (10:28) P2: (31:50) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world where Jack Grealish becomes 'The Rest Station' and Jürgen Klopp insists that no playmaker can be as effective as counter-pressing, it is fair to say that the game's creative geniuses are being marginalised like never before. Has systems football stunted players' ability to think for themselves? Do free spirits have no place in modern tactics? A trio of Libero mavericks, Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson, attempt some free-thinking to discover the root cause of this troubling trend. P1: (01:53) P2: (27:44) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another week, another manager departed from the big chair at a traditional English heavyweight. It turns out Dr Tottenham does not have a cure for the club's own malaise and so Thomas Frank must go. Are Spurs trapped in a gilded cage of being the Premier League's sixth biggest club? Are the demands in north London unreasonable? Where will the Lewis family turn for their first appointment of the post-Daniel Levy era? John Brewin, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson pick through the issues. P1: (02:00) P2: (31:15) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Resisting the temptation to get distracted by VAR, John Brewin, Jack Pitt-Brooke and Rory Smith discuss the more immediate consequences of Manchester City’s win at Anfield. It was a result that leaves Arne Slot with no margin for error as he tries to keep his job, but does it also tell us something about Pep Guardiola’s future? Is his new-found activist streak evidence that he’s in his final few months in the Premier League? And if he is, what will we talk about once a fortnight on Libero once he goes? P1: (06:28) P2: (36:32) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There has been no bigger change to football in the 21st century than VAR. On today’s Libero, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and Tariq Panja want to do more than just complain about it, and the harm that it has done to the modern game. They also want to explore how we got into this position, from Gianni Infantino replacing Sepp Blatter through to its introduction at the 2017 Confederations Cup. We are now about to head into our third men’s World Cup with VAR, and it does feel like a permanent part of the game. So is there any reason for optimism? The team discuss potential tweaks to VAR to improve it. And then whether we can ever be optimistic about bottom-up change, fans standing up together against VAR, and changing football for good. P1: (5:28) P2: (31:31) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via getintouch@liberopodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Follow us on TikTok @liberopod Follow us on Facebook @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices