Welcome to Liverpool ArMoGeddon 😅

Hail GFOP! 

I type with fingers running on joyful fumes after an epic post-World Cup draw week. Man, I am still buzzing after being up in Boston with so many of you to revel in the company of Noah Kahan at a sold-out Roadrunner. What a beautiful soul that gent is. His hardcore Chelsea fandom is so incongruous. Listen to Noah talk about what football has taught him about life, and hear some honest truth. Watch the entire show here. 🙌

ii. The Premier League overfloweth with blessings this week. It couldn’t be Mo Salah’s forced farewell, could it? Sunderland go drunk-fan-belly-to-drunk-fan-belly against Newcastle. Crystal Palace hope to make Manchester City quake. And Everton raise hopes then shatter them at Chelsea. Bring. It. On. 🎢

More: ICYMI midweek, feast your eyes on this perfect angle of Arsenal’s Noni Madueke’s absolute rocket in the Champions League. 🤯

iii. I was in Atlanta this week planning our World Cup wonder. I love any city that has a massive World Cup countdown clock as the first thing you see when you arrive at the airport. Proper Football. I want to say hello to all the football fans who work at The Optimist, which was a giddy joy to experience. The true personal highlight of my week was having the legendary Jeff Tweedy give me permission to use some of his lyrics in my World Cup memoir. When I lived in Chicago in the 90s, that gent’s music—that gent’s ideas—were faintly audible everywhere. To be able to pay tribute to that moment in time is to be of service to true wonder. 🎵

Also: Thanks for your response to the release of our “Soccer’s Coming Home” collection with our specialty kits provided by New Balance. It thrills me so many of you are getting these as holiday gifts. I wish the U.S. could play in the jersey… 🎁

iv. Speaking of wonder: To talk football and life with Tommy Fleetwood is why we do what we do. Everton fans in particular — run, don’t walk, to watch this. Respect to Jordan Pickford for the cameo appearance. 💙

v. Loads of World Cup reaction. Tyler Adams joined us midweek to give an honest appraisal of the group-stage journey to come. His take on the difference between friendlies and live games was particularly illuminating. Jurgen Klinsmann hopped aboard to talk through his personal experience of the draw, the Village People, and his sense of where this U.S. team are in Poch’s journey. 🇺🇸

BREAKING: Tyler’s just become the first-ever American to win the Premier League Goal of the Month. Watch the man himself breakdown his halfway-line worldie. 💫

vi. I am headed to London next week to play chess against a Premier League star. Don’t worry, I will let him win. We’re also filming a year-end piece with Tyler Adams in Bournemouth. Let me know what questions you have for him from the past year, and the World Cup to come… I will ask him your best ones… 🍒

PS - This is INCREDIBLE: Balding men, do it. Have no fear. ❤️

Courage,
ROG

To the Football 🍻

Liverpool vs. Brighton (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Welcome back to ArMoGeddon. Could this really be Salah’s last-ever game for Liverpool? What a way to go after 250 goals in 420 appearances — and lifting Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup trophies — with your worst form at the club coinciding with the team’s worst tailspin in 80 years. When Neil Young sang, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” even he knew both were preferable to having a strop at your manager and being ditched to the Saudi Pro League pronto.

Arne Slot was tight-lipped about the situation this morning. All we know is that he and the Gym Selfie King are due to speak today. He insisted he has no reason for wanting the 33-year-old to leave. All we know for sure is Mo is off to AFCON on Monday. Whether he returns to face Brighton is subject to their conversation. Form is temporary. Class is permanent. Beefs are even more permanent. It can’t end like this, can it? Think of the joy Mo has given football fans. The transcendent moments. The memories. Do not go gentle into that good night. But don’t go out like this either, Mo — caught in the wormhole of modern football’s social media reputation-thresher is not the way for this to end.

Rogstradamus 🔮: The Salah meltdown masks the fact that 10th-placed Liverpool have many, many problems. Brighton are designed to take advantage of all of them and will come from behind to win 2-1. I am just the messenger, don’t hate me. 

Let me know your views on Slot, Salah and Liverpool. I would love to hear them.

Chelsea vs. Everton (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, USA)

Will the real Chelsea please stand up? Enzo Maresca’s side, winless in their last four games, have beaten Barcelona and Liverpool and held Arsenal at arm’s length with 10 men. Fresh off Champions League disaster at Atalanta, they have also crapped the bed against Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Leeds and Qarabağ. Detect a pattern? Small sides who sit deep do their head in. Hello David Moyes’ seventh-placed Everton on a run of four wins in five. A clean-sheet machine. Could this be Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s revenge game? The 27-year-old could barely get on the field for Chelsea last season. One $38.5-million move to Everton and he has three goals in his last four games. Bangers only. 

More: Why Dewsbury-Hall is thriving at Everton after failing at Chelsea. Love this man.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Everton last beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 1994. We essentially only win there when the United States hosts the World Cup. Next year will be our year. Chelsea 1-0 Everton.

Arsenal vs. Wolves (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET, USA)

Let’s not look at who is out at Arsenal (feels like everyone). Let’s celebrate who is back for this battle between first and last: Gabriel Jesus. The forward has been out so long with an anterior cruciate ligament injury that it feels like he is a player from another era. The 28-year-old came on as a substitute in the Champions League romp at Brugge this week and will be roaring to return and help Arsenal recover from last weekend’s Aston Villa darkness by slapping hapless Wolves, losers of 13 of 15. I am struck by Thierry Henry’s words midweek about his former team: “When you have not won anything, you have not crossed that line, the fear of winning is bigger than the fear of losing.” 

More: Arsenal’s new Zubimendi chant will please George Michael fans.

Rogstradamus 🔮: All good. Arsenal romp 3-0. Gabi gets the third. Scenes.

Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Fresh off a clinical win at Real Madrid which left poor Xabi Alonso thinking about urology and his tenure on the brink, Pep heads south with five wins in his last six league games, and knowing he has never lost at Selhurst Park. However, Palace were his bête noire in last season’s FA Cup final…

Rogstradamus 🔮: Shootout 2-2. Palace score early and late.

West Ham vs. Aston Villa (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Yesterday’s 2-1 win at Basel made it EIGHT STRAIGHT WINS FOR ASTON VILLA. Unai Emery has schemed his squad to third place in both the Premier League and the Europa League. West Ham have struggled, but one loss in their last six has Nuno hoping his team have plateaued. Can Villa prove their title charge is real? 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Villa are the one true claret-and-blue force. They romp 3-1 and continue their greatest winning run since 1914.

Sunderland vs. Newcastle (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, USA)

The 157th Tyne-Wear derby returns to our loving arms for the first time in the league for nearly a decade. We are not worthy. One of football’s most deliciously petty local rivalries will roar back into our lives. Newcastle talk of being one of the biggest teams in the world, but Régis Le Bris’ tenacious Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Fée-inflected collective are still above them in the table. 

More: Ten favorite Tyne-Wear Derby memories.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Newcastle have been vulnerable at set pieces. The Black Cats are designed to exploit that via Le Fée’s clinical delivery. 2-1 The Lads.

🗓️ Full weekend Premier League schedule here.

America’s Best Soccer Bar: Top 10 Voting 🍻 

AMERICA, let’s do this. After collecting all of your nominations, it’s now time to crown the rightful champion of America’s Best Soccer Bar 2025/26, powered by our partners at Michelob ULTRA! Below are the 10 most-nominated bars, listed in alphabetical order. The voting window closes Dec. 29, so make your voice heard by hitting the button below and by spreading the word! Once voting wraps, we’ll reveal the winner… and yes, we’ll celebrate accordingly.

Top 10 Nominees:

The Black Sheep Pub - Philadelphia, Pa.
Carragher's - New York, N.Y.
Chatham Tap - Indianapolis, Ind.
Empire Bar - Tulsa, Okla.
Globe Pub - Chicago, Ill.
Ireland's Four Courts - Arlington, Va.
Mad Dog in the Fog - San Francisco, Calif.
The British Bulldog - Denver, Colo.
The Kettle Black Kitchen & Pub - Phoenix, Ariz.
The Dubliner Irish Pub - Boston, Mass.

Even More Football ⚽️

• A different type of game: USMNT veterans on how World Cup football hits differently to friendlies.

• Poch has fallen in love with the movie “Miracle,” and is convinced the U.S. can live it out next summer.

• This Lennart Karl edit will make your day. Gent is just 17…

Beautiful Football Around the World 🌎

Alavés vs. Real Madrid (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+) 🇪🇸

Xabi Alonso hasn’t been handed his pink slip yet, but even before Real Madrid’s midweek 2-1 home loss to Manchester City, the thirsty local press pack were baying after one win in their previous five La Liga matches. Jude Bellingham has given his manager the vote of confidence, but if a refocused Barcelona beat a struggling Osasuna on Saturday, without a win at Alavés, it really could be “adios” to Alonso.

Bayern Munich vs. Mainz 05 (Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 🇩🇪

While this top-on-bottom squash match is about as unbalanced as it gets in the Bundesliga, it does offer Vincent Kompany the opportunity to ease Alphonso Davies into more minutes and rest some of his big guns. Bayern Munich are still undefeated in league play whereas Mainz haven’t won domestically since September, leading to karaoke-Carlo Ancelotti and former Union Berlin boss, Urs Fischer, replacing Bo Henriksen on Sunday. In top-tier European football, probably only Wolves’ Rob Edwards has a tougher job this season.

AC Milan vs. Sassuolo (Sunday, 6:30 a.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇮🇹

Off the back of two imperious seasons where he amassed 54 goal contributions, Christian Pulisic has somehow evolved further, casually returning to AC Milan’s side with a match-winning brace on Monday. He’s Serie A’s joint top-scorer, averaging a goal every 64 minutes, and between injury and illness, he’s missed a lot of the season. Max Allegri’s side welcome eighth-placed Sassuolo on Sunday, hoping to stay ahead of Napoli, who take on Udinese later that day.

More: Inter Milan are third, just a point behind the top two, and they’ll visit Genoa while AC Milan watch over the San Siro (Sunday, 12 p.m. ET, Paramount+). 

Wrexham vs. Watford (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Paramount+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Wrexham’s nine-match undefeated run came to an end Wednesday with a 2-0 loss at Hull. Despite falling to 14th in the table, they sit just four points off the Championship’s playoff positions. Amid reports in Welsh media that suggest Phil Parkinson’s job may be at risk, all eyes will be on the Racecourse Saturday to see if the team can bounce back against 12th-placed Watford. A win would take them above the Hornets and alleviate pressure on the manager who took the team through three promotions in three years.

2026 City Guides: For Fans, By Fans 🍻 

The most important tournament in world football is nearly upon us! To celebrate, we are creating Men in Blazers City Guides for all 11 U.S. host cities to help the footballing faithful experience next summer like a local fan.

Do you know one of these host cities like Rory Smith knows Harrogate? Now is your chance to tell us what’s great about the place in which you live, what the world should go see, what to eat and drink, where to watch, and how to experience your city.

To tell us (and the footballing world) about your favorite locations, simply click the link below.

MiB Mad Libs 📝

This week’s phrase is: “Liverpool without Mo Salah is like ______ without _____.”

Email us your submissions to be in contention to win a coveted MiB patch.

There were tons of incredible entries this week, but there can only be one winner: From Nathan Griffith, “Mikel Merino is to Arsenal what the Swiss Army is to knives.”

Big Nath, you cracked me up. Send us your postal and we senda you that patch.

Not Football and All the Better for It 📖

• Martin Parr was one of my favorite photographers. His eye understood the humor of the English class system. I will miss his joy.

• Why Leftover Pizza Might Actually Be Healthier. Usually there's less of it.

• Victory for Steely Dan fans everywhere: A’ja Wilson Is TIME’s 2025 Athlete of the Year.

• The 67 Most Stylish People of the Year. Ohtani over Kiké Hernandez??? Lest we forget his RAINBOW SAPPHIRE TENNIS NECKLACE!

• On Being Interested in Stuff Almost No One is Interested In. Someday, I will meet another human being who wants to talk about Italian prog bands.

• This song helped me through the week: “Hello Sunshine” by Flyte. A song which sounds as if Sufjan Stevens duetted with Elliott Smith.

A GFOP Writes… ✍️

Marcus G. writes: After years of listening to Rog and Rory rhapsodize about the marvelously magical confection; I am stunned to find the Terry’s Chocolate Orange has arrived at my neighborhood grocery store here in Anchorage, Alaska. Let the person who made this miracle happen be awarded the next FIFA Peace Prize. Considering the golden wrapper, perhaps they could sponsor the trophy and sculpt it in the orange shape.

Cheers, may your holiday season be cheerful and chocolate filled.

Rog writes: Marcus, your letters both fill me with pleasure and make me want to come and do a live show out in Anchorage. The rise of Terry’s Chocolate Orange across our nation thrills me. It is the oddest and most surreal outgrowth of our podcast. May the chocolate grove they grow in forever be fertile.

Keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected].

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

Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.

Every day, 3.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a brief 5-minute email. Enjoy an impartial news experience.

Join for free today!