Arsenal Playing Liverpool 10 on 11?; Two 19-Year-Olds Score for USWNT 🇺🇸

Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers so ready for the football. We have a blockbuster slate of games this weekend – Arsenal go eye to eye with Liverpool, El Clasico, the US Women take the field. The real world is so full of chaos and challenge, football has rarely felt more of a respite and grounding reality.  I read something beautiful this week in a book by a Russian writer Maria Stepanova, called In Memory of Memory. She wrote, “An artist’s duty is to show what can’t be seen. What lies beneath the visible.”  When I read that, it made me think of the role football plays in my own life. Enabling me to revel in so many emotions and connect to a deeper sense of humanity, that I cannot always do in real life. I type that, even as an Everton fan.  

• This week we spent time with Jack Grealish and Jamie Vardy – both of whom were really true to themselves. Jack answered questions submitted by you GFOPs which included insights into his calf muscle regimen, tiny shin pads, and hair care secrets. YOU CAN WATCH JACK’S INTERVIEW, WHICH DROPPED JUST MOMENTS AGO ON OUR YOUTUBE RIGHT HERE. Jamie Vardy broke down the inspiration for many of his greatest shithousing celebrations.  

• We also launched a new series, Running the Game, a show dedicated to interviewing some of the smartest minds in the game — going deep on the business of football, leadership, and cultural transformation. We kicked off by speaking with Ipswich Town CEO Mark Ashton about how he fueled the club’s three-year meteoric rise from League One mediocrity to the Premier League. Mark is a really refreshing thinker, and I will be honest: I have used a number of his strategies in my own life.  

• Newsletter feedback question for this week: What will make you more likely to forward this newsletter to your football-curious friends? I love writing this newsletter, and its growth thrills me. It is something I do not take for granted, and would love suggestions from your POV on this magical topic. PS Thanks for all the incredible responses to last week’s question on what we should change about the format. My favorite was from GFOP Robert D. McIntosh who asked “Can you make being a Cincinnati Bengals fan and Newcastle fan less painful?” Robbo, you are asking that of a White Sox/Everton fan. Please!

• Follow us on LinkedIn as we step up our presence there. If you like the business of football, the behind-the-scenes of MIB, or just want to see job postings, this is the place. Men in Blazers Media Network is here. Rog Bennett’s is here.

• We have a new episode of the Men In Blazers TV Show launching this Sunday. We have a LIVERPOOL SPECIAL featuring Virgil Van Dijk, Mo Salah, and Dominik Szoboszlai. You can watch that, along with the past three episodes of the Men in Blazers Show RIGHT HERE. 🔴

🚨 We will go Live at FINAL WHISTLE of Arsenal’s brave 10 Men battle against Liverpool this weekend. Come and JOIN US on YouTube and tell us your big reactions to the entire weekend’s football.

PS. Hey South Dakotans. Where do you watch your Football?  ⛰️🇺🇸

South Dakota! We have had recommendations of the best soccer bars from every state in the lower 48 apart from you! GFOPs in South Dakota or those who know it well. We would love your recommendations for the best place to watch football in The Mount Rushmore State. Submit your entry here. Best rec gets a patch.

2. To the Football 🍻

Arsenal v. Liverpool (Sunday, 12.30 p.m. ET, Peacock)

Can Saliba-less Arsenal finish a big game with 11 men on the field? The self-inflicted defeat at Bournemouth last week was just their second Premier League loss in this calendar year. The bad news: Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are not in training today. Enter Liverpool, against whom they are unbeaten in four. Arne Slot’s Reds have made club history winning 11 of their opening 12 games in all competitions. They are top of the table but have just entered a brutal gauntlet of merciless games until December. I just realized. Liverpool are going to win the title with Arne Slot asking to “not to be judged” every week after racking up another win, aren’t they? 

More: Two American-owned teams face each other as Allies often off the field

Remember: We go live at FINAL WHISTLE of this one on YouTube. Come and raise a glass with us.

West Ham v. Manchester United (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

El Sackico. Managers are never more in danger of being sacked than when their clubs are briefing the press they are in no imminent danger of the sack. That applies to both Julen Lopetegui and Erik ten Hag, whose teams share the quality of playing unbalanced football bereft of identity.  United stagger in after failing to win against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe, a game which ended with another chestnut of a Mourinho post-match quote. West Ham will be Kudus-Less after his petulant violence at the end of last week’s 4-1 implosion at Spurs. Loser has to bring back David Moyes. 

Manchester City v. Southampton (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

A game that feels like a human rights abuse in the making. Quintuple seeking City, unbeaten in their last 31 Premier League matches, face up to winless Southampton. When people say anyone could score the goals Haaland does in this City side, show them this midweek Champions League goal and ask yourself, how many players could conjure this athletic piece of kung fu improvisation that defies physics?

Aston Villa v. Bournemouth (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, USA)

Fourth in the league table. Top, and perfect, in the Champions League.  You could power a small city from the energy emitted from the emails we receive from deliriously happy, long-suffering Villa supporters. They give me life. Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran are the greatest 1-2 punch in the game. Judging from the latter’s anger when substituted minutes after scoring in the Champions League midweek, Unai Emery’s greatest trick yet, will be keeping them both happy.

Chelsea v. Newcastle (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, USA)

How will Maresca rebound, and what positives will he take, from a loss at Liverpool last weekend? Newcastle have been oddly limp, impotent and winless in four. Are they the project the Saudis forgot as their attention has drifted to other shinier sports and the 2034 World Cup? 

Crystal Palace v. Tottenham (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

South welcomes North. Listless faces Surging. Spurs fans crave consistent forward momentum after three wins in their last four free-scoring games.  Palace have failed to win any of their first eight games of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1992-93 leaving them scurrying for the defibrillators. 

Everton v. Fulham (Saturday, 12.30 p.m. ET, NBC)

“What is this World Twisted?” Are we really unbeaten in our last four league games after soiling ourselves through the first four? Have we really not had any points deductions whatsoever? Do I really get to witness the improvisational transcendence of Iliman Ndiaye and listen to his incredible chant?

By the way, if you have loved watching LeBron James and Bronny James take the court together this week, close your eyes and imagine what it will be like when Dwight McNeil and his son Dwighty play for mighty Everton together.  

More: Entire Premier League broadcast schedule here. 📺

Plus: The GFOPs at WorldSoccerShop have all your PL gear needs right here in the US.

3. El Clásico Time: Real Madrid v. Barcelona 🇪🇸

Hansi Flick’s re-energized Barca edge Real Madrid at the top of La Liga heading into this weekend’s clasico (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN +). Barcelona’s 4-1 thrashing of Vincent Kompany and Harry Kane’s Bayern on Wednesday gave them four wins on the bounce, while Madrid have won three straight since their shock defeat to Lille earlier this month. The last time these two sides met was in NEW JERSEY back in August, when Barca won 2-1 against a then-Mbappe-less Madrid side. 

More: Understanding how Real Madrid are undefeated in 13 months of La Liga play.

PS: AC Milan’s game v. Bologna was canceled because of terrible flooding. Enjoy Pulisic’s midweek Olimpico one more time.

4. Emma Hayes: Best Emma in Austin since Emma by Jane Austen? 🇺🇸

In a game which was part Olympics celebration, part talent audition, two 19-year olds delivered star turns in Austin, TX to down a spritely Iceland 2-0. Alyssa Thompson opened the scoring with an ecstatic blast, Jaedyn Shaw delivered victory with a skipping mischievous finish. Sophia Smith tied the night in a bow with a late lash. The United States remain unbeaten under Emma Hayes and our future shines ever brighter.  The US faces Iceland again on Sunday at 5.30 p.m. ET on TNT.

More: Becky Sauerbrunn and Sam Mewis broke down the match. I loved the stories they told in this one.

5. Wrexham. Don’t Wrexham it Up 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Wrexham play their third game in seven days after a win last Saturday against Rotherham and a midweek draw against Huddersfield. Victory at the weekend away to Charlton (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Paramount +) would keep Phil Parkinson’s men hot on the heels of Tom Brady’s “Birmingham Raiders”, who are four points clear with a game in hand. 

PrizePicks: Best PP since Parker Posey

Charlie Kipp Writes: If you’ve been following our PrizePicks adventures closely, you’ll know things are going quite well - last week we took a look at Joshua Zirkee less than three shots, and he ended up with zero. (This was as close as he came to shooting.) As always, PrizePicks is one of the best ways to up your excitement factor and put your Premier League ‘hunches’ to the test. This week, there’s no need to even worry about the weekend as we’re gonna get our winning done early with Jamie Vardy MORE than 3.5 shots.

Despite winning the title nearly a decade ago, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is arguably still the most recognizable name in the Premier League outside the Big Six clubs. We all know the story at this point, the now 37 year old striker cut his teeth in the non-leagues before Red Bull-ing his way to a title in 2016. But the crazy part remains: the guy is STILL doing it. Vardy will join Rog in a special interview next week, but in the short term: he will be active on the pitch. The Foxes host Nottingham Forest at 3pm ET on USA Network later today, Vardy recorded 4 shots in his last match and dammit, he’s gonna do it again! Jamie Vardy MORE than 3.5 shots.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and play $5 and get $50 instantly when you use code MiB.

6. More Football, Did Ya Say?

• Beautiful piece about 21-year-old former Arsenal prodigy Charlie Patiño and his career choices that make a mockery of the claim there is no romance in football. 

• Tough to read, because it is not why we watch. But important: As government moves closer to appointing a “football regulator” is the game governable anyway?  For more on what the regulator could do – this explainer will set you up to get your head around it.

• The joy that is England goalkeeper Mary Earps on the challenge and wonder of moving to France to play for PSG.

• This review of Juventus' new kids television show includes the line: “It might be a golden age for children’s television, but no one told the Italian football team. Their horrific show about a cartoon zebra and pals feels like it was designed to punish youngsters”

7. Not Football, and All the Better for It

• If you only read one thing in this newsletter, make it this commencement speech from Calvin and Hobbes creator, Bill Watterson. I needed this. 

• Kylie Minogue Brings the 'Tension II'. Only Kylie this newsletter recognizes.

• A Controversial Rare-Book Dealer Tries to Rewrite His Own Ending. Worth using your monthly free article. 

• Inside Hanif Abdurraqib’s Sneaker Collection. If Hanif writes it, we WILL deliver it to you. That's the MiB guarantee. 

• Costco's in-house magazine is now the nation's third-largest. Slightly humbling to get that call I imagine, "Do you want to be on the cover of Costo?" "Cosmo?" "No, COSTCO.

• An oral history of Pulp Fiction, which just turned 30 (!!!). Don't even want to know where Christopher Walken has been storing his answers. 

• The percentage of bald men by country.  Arne Slot driving the numbers up across the board. 

• Before Google was Google: The Department of Everything Dispatches from the telephone reference desk. (Side note: Hedgehog review???? points for adorableness).

• U.S. ultrarunner Camille Herron involved in Wikipedia controversy. Look, if you run an ultramarathon, rules no longer apply to you. In other news: My wikipedia now also lists the many ultramarathons I have completed.

• This is so magical! And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut's GHQ.

• A Book! My friend John Green has a new book available for pre-order.  He is a true bright light – I find him to be incredibly inspirational to be honest. The book is called:  Everything Is Tuberculosis. Count your days.

• This Song made my Week: The Ocean by Richard Hawley. It has been a truly grueling week for me personally. I have found this song so unbelievably calming and uplifting in a life affirming fashion.

That’s it for today. I want to finish by quoting the great Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla who is apparently an enormous football fan and friend of Pep Guardiola. I was really moved by his response this week when asked if he feels pressure to defend his title. “We're all gonna be dead soon, and it really doesn't matter anymore, so there's zero pressure.”

Perspective is everything people. That is what I am telling myself right now anyway. Finally, big love to GFOP LeeDar Sneor who just wrote to us on a train to Liverpool, to watch Everton for the first time ever after becoming a Toffee aged 14. LeeDar wrote a beautiful letter that I found really moving about how Everton and following along with our shows has filled his life. He signed off by saying: “Although you do not know me and we very well may never meet, I love and appreciate you dearly Rog, you’re like the British Uncle I never had with whom I get to share our many miseries and our occasional triumphs (i.e. not going down, hooray for 17th place!)” Make great memories LeeDar. They are all we have.  

To Better Days Ahead for All.

Let’s not take a moment watching football together for granted and make great memories.

Big Love,
Courage.
ROG

PS. I will be on Morning Joe on Monday breaking down the Premier League at 6.45 AM ET. Come and raise a coffee with me then ☕️