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And that's why, you know, even for like a casual fan who remembers like their starts that it did with uh Messi and Neymar, it's like those were a few years ago now and then they've rebuilt this completely other team that has accomplished more than those two those teams did and then some. Welcome to 48 to1 presented by Heineken. From fans to friends and I'll tell you who's not making any friends in Europe right now and that's PSG. Today is going to be a UEFA Champions League final themed show and I'll bring in our analysts here, my co-host Chanuka Neshi and Michael Chandler and we can get right into it and I will simply ask you best team ever like are we is PSG entering those conversations first repeat Champions League winners in eight
years since Madrid won three in a row. Believe they've won five straight league and titles although you guys might tell me why that's actually not much of an accomplishment. 12 of the last 14. So yeah, are they in the conversation for best team ever? I think they're in the conversation for the modern champions era starting in 1992. Like you said, Real Madrid prior to PSG were the only team to go back to back and they did it three times. One of those against UV. That's UV superpowers, losing Champions League finals. My condolences. Thanks. You have a famous one too for me. So all right, we're going there.
We can commiserate over here together on this side. Chandler will join us. You only have one now. So uh two, sorry. Yeah, you're right. I forgot about it's been a while. Yeah, look at this. We got We're all friends here. Brothers in misery. European misery. That's right. Um PSG, they're so well set up to continue winning these Champions leagues. Um you know, a lot of randomness, a lot of luck that plays its role and you never know what happens. One bounce of the ball one way or the other, uh as Arsenal know, um from the weekend. So, we'll see what happens, but they are absolutely set up to be a dynasty for sure. Before I throw it to you, Jay, I ask you, so if they're not there yet, and I, you know, I asked
the question at the top, and do I actually think they're the best team ever? No. But John Luca mentioned how they're set up to just keep doing this, like potentially win more. You know, they're the favorites to win a third straight next year. What do you think they'd have to do if you don't agree that they're there yet? Like, at what point do you think they would enter that conversation? Is it as simple as just win again next year, or do you think like a French team can never be in the conversation because Liga is that bad? I don't want to criticize Lagger. Um, it's also so hard to compare different generations.
Fair. Like on the surface to me that uh the Zidane managed Real Madrid team that won three in a row, that seems like a better team to me, but if PSG wins three in a row, that qualifies as like a dynastic run. Um, easier said than done and there's a lot of things that can happen in knockout football. Uh, but I, you know, they've entered the argument, I think, and look, why not? They have the support of an entire petrol state and their chairman Nasarel Khy is the only chairman on UEFA's executive board. Uh so they have everything in their favor. You know, not to belittle um what they've accomplished because on the pitch they've proven to be an incredible football team and the proof is in the pudding. So, you know,
they have everything in their favor to win a third, fourth, whatever going forward. And you know, the big teams in Europe are going to come for the likes of Usman Dembele and the Cavarz and the Desiree Du and it's about keeping them there and why would you leave that situation? Yeah, exactly. Why would you want to leave? And they're also well set up with Luis Enrique who is you know again similar to how PSG have entered this conversation. he now has entered this conversation from a managerial perspective like only your boy Angelotti has more champions titles. He's got five. Um Luis Enrique has three now and he's tied with you know some icons of the game Pep and Paisley. Um he's right up there and I think he is the type of personality who is um so
hellbent and so driven on continuing to push forward with this team. It doesn't seem like a pep situation. and he's not been there that long where it's going to he wants to, you know, start his exit strategy or he's kind of worn down by it all. Why would you be worn down by it all? You're the king of the world right now. You're winning everything. Yeah. And you're set up, like we said, with these young players um and all these French players who in theory should want to stay in Paris for the majority of their careers. Why would you want to leave? They are set up to really, you know, rack up multiple more Champions League wins. And they have a very good academy that's been a talent incubator. and some of the
biggest players on the continent have come through PSG system. So they have everything in place to do it. Again, look, knockout football is uh sometimes it's a fool's errand to predict these things, but on the basis of what they've done over the past two years and both Champions League victories have come via a different path and they've had to win matches using different tools at their disposal. So, in terms of versatility and their ability to adapt to play styles, whether it's, you know, battering Inter Milan 5-nil or winning a match against Arsenal that's on a knife's edge, they've proven that they can win many ways.
Yeah. And I mean, you mentioned even just like the youth academy. When you combine the money they spend and the backing they have with that youth academy, it's like very similar like the Dodgers in baseball, right? Like it's not just one thing of they're outspending everyone. They're doing things right behind the scenes, too. And that's why, you know, even for like a casual fan who remembers like their stars that it did with Messi and Neymar, it's like those are a few years ago now and then they've rebuilt this completely other team that has accomplished more than those two those teams did and then some, right? So a little like shift in philosophy, right? And when you think about that and how impressive it is and what
they've done the last couple years and projecting forward, you know, about how they're built to win even more, the next question whether for Arsenal or other teams around Europe is, so how do you beat them? What is the blueprint? How and who can take them down? I mean, we talked about this in our other video, like Arsenal almost showed you the blueprint, and I think with a little more um guile, let's say, in the final third in key moments and taking advantage of fine margins, which is Arsenal's whole thing, right? Set pieces and all that. And they wasted some opportunities there. They had some really good counterattacking opportunities where the final ball was just off. You have to take those chances. Um, that's how you beat PSG.
Again, we've talked about this before, like you're not gonna run and gun and beat PSG unless like, you know, PSG could have an off day. Yeah, they were pretty horrible for the first 45 minutes of that Champions League final. Like maybe about as bad as you're ever going to see them play. Some of that is credit to Arsenal for sure. A lot of it the way they defended. Fair enough. Um, but like it's unlikely that group of PSG players is going to play that poorly for 90 or 120 minutes, right? Um, and so I think the blueprint is what Arsenal showed you with a little more uh just a little more kind of Nelson in the final third in the key moments.
Yeah. And some more, you know, we'll see what Arsenal does in the summer, but um some technical upgrades in the final third. And we mentioned the other episode, this squad was built to um withstand the physical elements of the Premier League. Now that they've accomplished that and summited that hill, uh I think Art Teta and uh Andrea Albert Berta, the technical director, will look at uh fine-tuning things. Um there's going to be a lot of sales in the summer and I think they're going to look at bringing in some more uh technically gifted players because we saw uh what John Luca referenced a few incidents where Arsenal uh did not make the most of those margins and a lot of it was because they lacked that sort of
technical skill in the final third. I think You mentioned like them needing that a little more technical skill in the final third. Is there anyone that comes to mind that you want them to target as an Arsenal supporter or is there like a specific uh position of need or area of the field? I know like general technical ability in the final third, but is it I don't know on the left side. Is there anything specific where you're like this is the specific thing Arsenal needs and this is who I want them to get over the hump? I mean, look, Arsenal nearly won a celebrated double this year with an attack that misfired. Um, and that left side of the attack, the left wing, which was a platoon between Leandro Trussard and Gabrielle
Martinelli, I expect they're going to sell one of them in the summer. Um, a player that I'm looking at in the athletics, uh, David Ornstein, the Oracle, says that Arsenal's targeting is Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers. He can play on the left side. he can play in a more central role. Um, and he's a workhorse. He works off the ball. Only seven players in Europe's top five leagues uh played more minutes than him and only four players in Europe's top five leagues ran more than the 391 km he ran. I didn't even look at my notes. That's up here. That's how much I want that guy. So, I'm targeting Morgan Rogers. And up top, uh, I'm looking at Bournemnos Junior Krooppy, who, uh, is a very technically gifted striker in sort
of that Gabrielle Jesus role. Um, there's going to be a lot of sales, a lot of departures this summer for Arsenal. Um, and that left side of attack and that striker role is two areas they're going to look at. And I mean, look, there's guys like Martin Odigard and Kai Hertz who are thought to be best friends on the team. They both have two years left on their deals and there's been no negotiations. And that's usually something if you see a player being a mainstay or a part of your future plans, those negotiations would have already taken place. They happened with Saka, they've extended Gabrielle, they extended William Celiba, David Rya, all these players. So there's going to be a lot of change. And that's what
happens when you're on the top. You make upgrades. You look at what Liverpool did last summer. They spent what $400 million. They broke the English transfer record twice after winning the league. Worked out great for them. Well, it didn't. And there's a lot of factors involved in that and some of which you know you can't really say how much it you know of a factor it was and some pretty sad things around that club. But uh you have to make upgrades. You have to have uh the ambitions of a championship winning team and carry that forward. Yeah. Two things I'm very intrigued by is how much of a departure from the existing style and tactics that Arteta
likes to play. like do you go way in the other direction and try to mimic PSG more having just seen them and having just come up against them and Artetta himself called he's like this is the best team in the world it's the best team I've seen or do you double down I don't think he's going to double down on like the defensive side of uh play that he has and like you know he already started four center backs plus a left back in the Champions League final again it almost worked I'm not criticizing but like he's not you know you're not going to throw Ricardo Califury up at number nine and start seven or eight center backs at one time.
Good. But look, the thing is after finishing second in the league three years on the spin, Arsenal's gotten the monkey off their back for a lack of a better term. They've won the league. The next goal is to win the Champions League. And I think that's going to kind of, you know, the handbreak off is a popular term. They're not going to double down and become a completely different team because why would you not play to your strengths or your footballing ethos? But now I feel like the pressure to wrestle control in a match and to be risk adverse is a lot less. So we'll see what happens in the summer. The other thing that I'm interested in is like PSG for all the skill they have and there's loads of it. Um like they just have dogs, you know what I mean?
Like we talked about Xiao Nez in the other in the other episode like dog. Nuno Mendes machine, right? Like Dembele is maybe the most aggressive presser of any forward in the world. like and there's that famous video of Luis Enrique talking to him about it. Um, Cavara is an animal, right? Like up and down like he does not sherk any defensive duties and he just also happens to be one of the most skilled wingers alive. Like you need to find it's impossible to measure some of these intangibles, but PSG have it. Maybe they got it. You know, there's some element of fortune for sure to finding it, but you need that too. So when you're looking around
and recruiting in the summer, like that is something you have to figure out a way to account for in some way. Otherwise, if you're just, you know, cherrypicking the most talented guys, it might not necessarily work. And they've definitely found the right mix of like talent and dog factor, as you mentioned, and Enrique's obviously kind of blended it all together perfectly. Okay, real quick before we get out of here, we've talked PSG, we've talked Arsenal. Who wins it next year? Are you asking? No pressure. Just 12 months in advance. Who's going to win a tournament that we don't even know what the squads will look like yet?
Uh, no bias, but Arsenal. Max Stalman with the winner. Wow, we're getting real specific. Over PSG as well. Wow. Um, give me Byron. I'll take Byron. I was going to go Bayern, too. So, you know what? I'll I'll go a little more well off the board and go with City because that's that's really going out there. But, all right. I think they're fourth in odds. They're still right up there for sure. I mean, they might be the f Well, they will be the first team to win the European Cup while playing in the second tier after they're relegated and their sanctions for theundu charges.
Not something to look forward to for City fans and know the UEFA Champions League is something we always look forward to. We are about to turn our attention to the granddaddy of them all, not Wrestlemania. The World Cup. Sure. Uh Wrestlemania. the World Cup. Uh, and you know, here at 48 to1 presented by Hinekin, we are going to be covering the World Cup from beginning to end. We'll be here for six weeks covering all that. So, I encourage all of our viewers right now to make sure they're liking, make sure they're subscribed to our YouTube channel. Make sure they've downloaded the score app and uh and they're following all of the World Cup content we'll have there. For Michael Chandler,
for General Luca Neshi, my name is Jose Kasharo. This has been 48 to1 presented by Heineken from fans to friends and I hope you'll be our friend over the next 6 weeks while we take you from the beginning to the end of the World Cup.
