The Daily Football Briefing

We’ve all had a whinge about the international break, and with no small amount of justification given the strain on footballers these days, but Scotland and Poland served up an outstanding game of football in Warsaw and Scotland, after all their bad luck and all their poor form, secured a fantastic victory. Best game I’ve seen in ages. Elsewhere, Spain won their group, Denmark qualified in second,...

England have returned to the top tier of the Nations League after beating Ireland 5-0 at Wembley. Jack Pitt-Brooke was at Wembley for that one. France had a good night as well, they beat Italy 3-1 at the San Siro.  Plus, did you ignore all the international football to leave the house and have fun with real people doing real things? Then you need our giant international round-up. In just ten minut...

Lee Carsley isn’t going quietly into the night. He made some very bold selections and he was rewarded with a resounding 3-0 victory over Greece. Jack Pitt Brooke was in Athens to watch that one. I, on the other hand, was in my office watching Italy mostly dominate Belgium, though they should have won by more than their single goal.  We’ve got some interesting scores from around the world, we’ve go...

You thought we had no football to talk about during International week didn’t you? WRONG! We look ahead to Thursday’s games, the Women’s Champions League and by the way: What is going wrong at Roma? Plus what Cole Palmer really thought of his move to Chelsea and is there ANYTHING more frightening than the prospect of asking Roy Keane for his daughters hand in marriage? And you know who we haven’t...

Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ve got the return of the Impromptu International Week Book Club, that’ll be good, right? We’ve got news on a 57 year old professional footballer in Japan, you can’t miss that.  Hey, and what about Lionel Messi? You know what they’re reporting in the USA right now? Messi-fatigue. You can find out more about that if you listen. And that’s not all. I’ll also reveal the locat...

Yes, Manchester City have lost four on the spin, but one was the League Cup, one was Europe, there are 26 matches left to play in the league and…it’s City, isn’t it? Sam Lee is here to bring perspective.  But it really is bad at Roma, there’s no hiding that. They are looking for their third manager of the season already. What went wrong? James Horncastle is here to answer that.  Wild horses couldn...

It’s been another good weekend for Liverpool, not only did they win, but Manchester City lost, Arsenal and Chelsea drew and Nottingham Forest squandered a single goal lead to lose 3-1 to Newcastle. It’s looking good for Arne Slot.   Inter missed a penalty against Napoli and blew a chance to go top of Serie A, James Horncastle was watching that one. In Spain, Barcelona went to Real Socieded and los...

Tottenham lost 3-2 in Istanbul, but that scoreline really doesn’t tell the whole story. Jay Harris does though because he was there. Man Utd beat PAOK Salonika 2-0, but Carl Anka still isn’t happy. Meanwhile, I watched Ajax who, seven months on from getting spanked 6-0 by Feyenoord, appear to be back in business.  Abi Paterson has got the Conference League covered, she spoke to Simon Johnson who w...

Is it time for Arsenal fans to panic? They lost to Newcastle at the weekend, they lost to Inter on Wednesday night. They’ve actually only won two of their last six and one of them was against Preston. James McNicholas has some soothing words.  Nothing will soothe Tyrone Mings pride after an extraordinary misjudgement saw him give away a crucial penalty in Bruges to condemn Aston Villa to their fir...

Wow. Manchester City were torn apart by Sporting in Lisbon and there will be a rush to say that this really sets the tone for the future of the Manchester rivalry. Does it though? Sam Lee was there, we’ll find out what he thinks. Seb Stafford Bloor usually covers German football so he’s a useful, fresh set of eyes on Real Madrid. Because they are absolutely awful right now.  James Pearce was at An...

Arsenal are losing their sporting director Edu…to Nottingham Forest. Sort of. James McNicholas joins us to explain more.  The Champions League is back! Do you remember what was going on? Could you tell me right now who’s top and who’s second? Probably not, so we’ve previewed the whole thing for you. Plus, we’ve got all the news from Monday’s games including Fulham’s stunning late win against Brent...

Not so much for supporters of other title contenders, however. Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa all lost, Liverpool won and Nottingham Forest have sneaked into third place. Who saw that coming? We’ve got all the scores from around the world including Napoli’s shock defeat to Atalanta, as described by James Horncastle. We’ve got Bayer Leverkusen dropping more points, but it’s nothing to wor...

Manchester United aren’t wasting any time. They sacked Erik Ten Hag on Monday and they reached agreement with Sporting over Ruben Amorim on Thursday. Laurie Whitwell joins us to explain what’s been happening.  And how good are Bayern Munich really? They’re unbeaten in the Bundesliga, but that Barcelona result was pretty rough. Seb Stafford Bloor has been watching them and he’s written an assessmen...

Manchester United had a rare fun night at work on Wednesday, levelling Leicester City in an enjoyable 5-2 victory. Casemiro scored twice. Twice! Laurie Whitwell was there.  Manchester City are out at the hand of Spurs, which means this competition is now wide open. Jack Pitt Brooke was watching.  We had people at Aston Villa for their defeat to Crystal Palace, Brighton for Liverpool’s win, Preston...

What’s the latest on Manchester United’s hunt for a new manager? Laurie Whitwell joins us with an update. Ruben Amorim is the man they want and they are in a hurry to get this done.  Southampton survived a bit of a scare against Stoke City, they’re through to the last eight. Brentford needed penalties to beat Sheffield Wednesday. But they were brilliant penalties.  Napoli are top of Serie A, Dortm...

It’s felt like it’s been coming for some time, so how quickly will Manchester United look to replace Erik ten Hag following news of his departure on Monday? Carl Anka looks back on a frantic day at Old Trafford and what t expect under current interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, although could Sporting’s Ruben Amorim be on his way in imminently? Sam Lee has been watching events at the Ballon d’Or, wh...

It’s happened, Manchester United have sacked their manager Erik Ten Hag following Sunday’s defeat to West Ham. David Ornstein and Adam Crafton broke the story and David joins us to explain what happened.  Presenter: Iain Macintosh With: David Ornstein Producer: Abi Paterson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been quite a weekend, hasn’t it? Who would have thought that Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool would be struggling to make the top three stories?  Two giants of European football experienced desperately disappointing weekends. Manchester United, of course, are used to that sort of thing. But Real Madrid? Did anyone expect the European champions to be torn apart in their own home by Barcelona?  B...

It’s two steps forward and three steps back for Manchester United at the moment. The confidence boosting victory over Brentford seems a long time ago already after this disappointing draw away at former manager Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. Laurie Whitwell was there.  No such issues for Tottenham, they’ve won three from three after a good win over AZ Alkmaar in London. Teenage sensation Mikey Moore...

Well, I don’t think anyone expected that. Barcelona stuck four past a worryingly open Bayern Munich to put their Champions League campaign back on track. Pol Ballus was there, he thinks it’s was a performance for the ages and it’s rather hard to disagree. Atletico Madrid’s performance will live long in the memory too, but possibly not for the same reasons. They were beaten 1-3 at home by Lille and...

Aston Villa have played three and won three, and they top the Champions League. More than that, they’ve successfully reversed their Ollie Watkins/Jhon Duran dynamic up front. Jacob Tanswell was there. Real Madrid had a bit of a fright, they were 0-2 down to Borussia Dortmund after an hour. It ended 5-2 and Seb Stafford Bloor says it didn’t flatter them.  Arsenal picked up an important win in front...

Crystal Palace, so impressive at the end of last season, are still without a victory after they were beaten 1-0 at Nottingham Forest. What’s gone wrong? Matt Woosnam was there, maybe he knows? It’s all about perspective though. Crystal Palace are in a far better position than Valencia. The former La Liga champions hit rock bottom of La Liga after they were beaten 1-3 at home by Las Palmas, who hav...

That’s ten wins from eleven games for new Liverpool boss Arne Slot and very little pleases those supporters more than a victory over Chelsea. James Pearce was there and he tells us what this performance might mean for Curtis Jones. We’ve got the scores and the stories from the WSL with Abi Paterson, from Spain with Dermot Corrigan, from Germany with Seb Stafford Bloor and from picturesque Lake Com...

International week is over, club football has returned and I think we’re all very thankful. We’re looking ahead to the Liverpool - Chelsea game with Liam Twomey, we’re chatting to Dermot Corrigan about Real Madrid and Barcelona and we’ve hauled JJ Bull out of a cocktail party to give us the lowdown on unbeaten Aberdeen. Plus, all the scores from the Women’s Champions League and the surprise appear...

With Thomas Tuchel signed, sealed and delivered we speak to David Ornstein following the new England manager’s first press conference while we look at the pro’s and con’s of his time at Chelsea with Simon Johnson. As Arsenal begin life without women’s manager Jonas Eidvall, Megan Feringa was at the Emirates Stadium to keep an eye on any early signs of change as they took on Valerenga in the Champi...