A Beautiful Game: Recent Episodes
University Radio York
University Radio York's middle of the week football discussion show, with our favourite moments, news stories and random footballers from 10+ years ago.
Alex goes through the weekend football as St. Pauli paint Hamburg brown and white, Gladbach are unfortunate to only draw with Bayern and Atletico get through a feisty game with Celta Vigo in a feisty opening weekend of La Liga. Plus, Brentford are the most entertaining package in the opening weekend of the Premier League, Val-ball takes West Brom to top of the Championship, and Peterborough make the most of 12 minutes of added time in victory against Derby.
The thoughts of the A Beautiful Game Podcast are with the family and friends of Gerd Müller after the former Bayern striker passed away at age 75. Rest in Peace.
Alex Woodward and Towells look back at the opening weekend of the Championship as Bournemouth and West Brom draw in the curtain raiser, Swansea make error after error against a Armstrong-less Blackburn, and Hull ease back into Championship life with a 4-1 win away at Preston. They then discuss the DFB Pokal as Werder lose to Osnabrück, Alex nearly gets a heart attack from Magdeburg vs St. Pauli whilst Mannheim and Bablesburg knock out Bundesliga opponents. Also, Wolfsburg use six subs, water bottles are thrown in France and some guy signs for PSG.
Alex Woodward is back to talk about the 2. Bundesliga, including expressing his annoyance at a Paderborn goal, worrying about Kiel and crediting Sandhausen's keeper despite losing 3-0. Alex Towells joins the pod to talk about Werder's win against Dusseldorf, as well as what he hopes and expects from the season ahead. Plus, Messi leaves Barca, Kane wants to leave Tottenham and why a Preston friendly this week was incredibly strange.
All at A Beautiful Game would like to send their thoughts to the family and friends of Terry Cooper, who past away this week aged 77, Rest in Peace Top Cat.
Alex looks through the first weekend of the 2. Bundesliga as St. Pauli get off to a great start, thanks to a wonder hit from Leart Paqarada, and without the need of the best ever disallowed goal from Daniel-Kofi Kyereh. Hamburg bring Schalke down to Earth with a 3-1 win whilst Werder struggle to get their new system going in a 1-1 draw against Hanover, the most depressed club in the world. Meanwhile, Alex is joined by Josh to go over some transfers, frustrations about the Bundesliga in the UK and Neil Warnock being Neil Warnock in pre-season, featuring his bum bag.
The DW article mentioned can be found using the following link: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-floods-football-ultras-support-aid-efforts/a-58573841
Alex talks about Euro 2020 as Italy beat England in a final marred by what happened before and after the final whistle and Argentina beating Brazil in the Copa America final as Messi finally gets his hand on an international trophy. Meanwhile, away from international football, Florentino Perez is recorded saying stupid things and responds by saying something stupid, Messi looks like he's getting a new contract at Barcelona, and the least qualified man is appointed to the EFL board.
This week, the ABG crew look back at the quarter and semi-finals of Euro 2020, count down to the start of the 2. Bundesliga season, react to eight EFL teams having transfer embargos, and wonder if Crystal Palace will be interesting for the first time in eight years.
Alexs Woodward and Tant-Brown look back at the round of 16 in Euro 2020 as Monday provides one of the best days of football an international tournament has ever produced, Joachim Löw's time as German head coach ends with a whimper and the Netherlands react less than positively to their defeat against the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Rafa is back in Liverpool, but at the other side of Stanley Park, Scott Parker leaves Fulham for Bournemouth and Alex Woodward shoehorns Tour de France conversation into the show wherever possible.
RAYO ARE PROMOTED BACK TO LA LIGA!!! Also this thing called the Euros is going on. Alex Woodward discusses his joy at seeing Rayo back in the Spanish top flight before the panel discuss the end of the Euro group stages, look ahead to the knockout stages and go back to see which league was the best in the world in the 2020/21 season.
Sorry for the random noises in the background at times.
Alex Woodward, Tant-Brown and Josh look at the first round of fixtures from Euro 2020, Finland get their first win at a major international tournament in emotional circumstances that take everyone's eyes off the game, Spain manage to be as uninspiring as possible in a 0-0 draw with Sweden and France get going as the tournament favourites with a 1-0 win against Germany that is completely impossible to analyse. Also on the pod, the Premier League fixtures have Woodward unhappy (again), Sergio Ramos plays out the latest part of his soap opera with Real Madrid and discussions on how much the panel would miss Hoffenheim if they were relegated (spoiler: they wouldn't).
Note: The podcast was recorded before the official announcement that Ramos was leaving Real Madrid.
Alex Woodward, Tant-Brown and Will look back on the season that has just finished as well as previewing Euro 2020 ... starting one year later. Woodward professes love for Finland, Tant-Brown picks Scotland as his dark horses and Will tries and fails to get the others to talk about England.
The ABG panel look back at the closing of Europe's top leagues, Atlético win the league for the first time in seven years, Huesca and Valladolid join Eibar in the Segunda, much to the joy of Elche. Lille become the fairytale of 2021 by winning Ligue 1 over PSG whilst Nantes are the big losers of the big relegation battle. Robert Lewandowski breaks Gerd Müller's record with seconds to spare whilst Werder go down, Köln face the play-off and Bielefeld stay up. Max Kruse requires stoppage time to get Union Berlin into Europe and make Alex happy. Bochum and Fürth get promoted to the Bundesliga whilst Kiel and Leicester choke in their respective leagues.
Borussia Dortmund win the DFB Pokal, beating Leipzig in the final, whilst Leicester win the FA Cup after beating Chelsea. What do both finals mean for the winners and losers going forward? The title race heats up in Spain and France, will we all get what we want? Also on the pod, Lewandowski ties Muller's record before missing a sitter, how Edin Terzić has not aged and how Jude Bellingham will celebrate Borussia Dortmund getting into the Champions League.
This week, the Championship last day saw Wycombe, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday relegated to League One, though legal battles could see Derby in some trouble. Manchester City win the Premier League after a Man Utd loss and Bayern Munich confirm their 9th straight Bundesliga title, before pummelling Monchengladbach. Also, there's an 11 goal game between Aue and Paderborn, James Coppinger retires after 74 years as a Doncaster Rovers player, and which Bundesliga player scored whilst sitting down.
Correction - The Watford Leicester game was weeks after the Brentford Doncaster game, not years. Both happened in the 2012/13 season.
This week, Ligue 1 takes centre stage as the title race continues to heat up, was Lille's win over Lyon the best game of the season? Watford join Norwich in bouncing straight back up to the Premier League and Bayern's title win is delayed after losing to Mainz. Also on the show, stories of Cheltenham in 2007, getting the amount of added time wrong, putting on the wrong shorts and which Union Berlin player is buying a round of pizzas for the team.
Nothing much happened in football this week, except for Leipzig's horror week to all but hand Bayern the title, Koln's new manager being involved in a racist controversy, Rotherham sinking to two fellow relegation contenders, Athletic Bilbao losing their sixth straight Copa Del Rey final. Oh, and the declaration of war on the fundamentals of football with the so called super league trying to destroy the beautiful game. Alex Woodward, Tant-Brown and Harry are here to discuss all.
Correction: CNBC is a channel and not a show.
On the pod this week, El Clásico sees Real Madrid tactically outclass Barcelona, casuing Koeman to complain about penalties and engage in umbrella theft. Meanwhile, Atlético Madrid's draw against Betis sets up the most exciting title race in Europe. Meanwhile, ten-man Leeds beat Man City, Alex Woodward still finds reason to reminisce about 2010, the worst dive ever is not penalised by the officials despite replay in the Premier League and Bo Svensson continues to make his case for Bundesliga manager of the season.
On the pod this week, controversy in the Copa Del Rey as Real Sociedad win and celebrate with a trumpet, Brighton do what Brighton do and Swansea continue to collapse. Also on the pod, the title race heats up in Spain and France whilst the title race in Germany all but comes to an end with Bayern surprisingly on top.
Despite it being the international break, Alex Woodward, Tant-Brown and Josh all find things to talk about, including the increasing pressure to boycott the Qatar World Cup, the new format of the Champions League, a quiz about the 2006/07 season, Peterborough's 7-0 win over Accrington and Lee Johnson's incredible poetry.
The final pod before the international break sees a goalkeeper scoring for Sevilla, Bayern continuing to break the Bundesliga, Brighton actually scoring goals and Juventus losing to a Benevento that were winless in their previous 11. Also on the pod, Bryan Gil in the Spanish squad, how bad the new RFEF logo is and Romelu Lukaku's culinary sin.
On the pod today, we look at Erik Lamela's mixed day as Arsenal win the North London Derby, Barnsley winning the game of the week against Bournemouth to push further up the table, and Arminia Bielefeld beating Bayer Leverkusen in a nervy game in the Bundesliga. Plus, how Alexs Woodward and Tant-Brown ruined Elche's weekend, Huesca's armband and more love for Alfonso Pedraza
On today's pod, Liverpool lose for the sixth straight time at Anfield which is only a fortress for the opposition, Pep Guardiola once again loses to his kryptonite in Ole Gunnar Solskjær whilst Norwich look near certainties for promotion back to the Premier League. Meanwhile, Schalke and Mainz play out one of the worst games ever, xG does not favour Huesca in a seven goal thriller and Kieran Trippier becomes a holy figure in Madrid.
On the pod today, Aaron Ramsdale is not quite god and that showed when Liverpool beat Sheffield United despite his best efforts, there's a massive fight in the Championship whilst Mick McCarthy's Cardiff win in the most Mick McCarthy way, and Joao Felix is very mad after scoring against Villarreal. Meanwhile Schalke decide 5th time's the charm, Robin Zenter is the latest to blunder against Augsburg and St. Pauli win the only game of the week that truly mattered by beating Hamburg.
This week the ABG crew look at Everton's first win at Anfield since 1999, West Ham being serious Champions League contenders, Arsenal managing only a 1-0 loss to Man City and Preston's bad fortunes with penalties. Meanwhile Leverkusen's form isn't helped by their goalie, the title race heats up in Spain and Inter demolish AC in the Milan derby.
The first episode of the A Beautiful Game podcast sees Leicester beat Liverpool to keep up their Champions League hopes, West Brom get a draw against Manchester United, Fulham actually play well in a win against Everton and Arminia Bielefeld getting a draw in the snow against Bayern. Meanwhile, Wycombe come back to beat Huddersfield, Eibar give away another penalty and a referee face up to a player in League One.