Three Teams, One Point: Title Race Mind Games 🏆

Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers quivering with anticipation as we enter the Mind Games territory of an unprecedented title race. Three teams separated by a single point. As Miguel Delaney breathlessly explains in this good read: The Premier League has not experienced this in its history.  Every goal, every misplaced Quansah pass, every Peter Drury final whistle epic monologue matters. 

b. The race for 4th place becomes ever more crucial after a week of shocking European performances which took a baseball bat to the Premier League’s chances of receiving an extra qualifying slot for next season’s Champions League. The Bundesliga and Premier League are now neck and neck. Read the coefficient details here, especially you, Spurs and Villa fans.

c. It has been a physically shattering, yet stunning week in which we attempted to work as hard as Lenny Kravitz in the gym. We began in the magnificent city of Cincinnati eating all the Skyline Chili and surviving to tell the tale. We spent time with Alejandro Garnacho and the unflappable Kobbie Mainoo talking about their experiences in the glare of the Manchester United spotlight. My favorite conversation of the week was on Wednesday, when Brighton and Hove Albion CEO Paul Barber spent an hour revealing the secrets behind his team’s concerted effort to think differently in every facet of their operation, from leadership to scouting and recruitment. This show will come out next Tuesday, April 23 – it is one of those that will change the way you think about both football, and your own life.  

ii. Finally, I loved breaking down the USWNT’s SheBelieves Cup win with Lynn Williams. Lynn is a triple-threat: Warm and joyous, insightful and intelligent, and just plain old funny as hell. To analyze a game in rich detail and talk about a future in which football shirts are made for pet hedgehogs is to cover all the bases. 🇺🇸

One big note: We are on NETWORK TV ON SATURDAY 🚨 The Men in Blazers TV Show with Matthew McConaughey airs on NETWORK NBC Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. ET. Alright, Alright, Alright.

2. To The Football

i. Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, USA)

Last night, Atalanta unfurled the best performance since Conan O’Brien on Hot Ones to stun the Reds 3-0, leaving Liverpool needing a miracle to secure Jurgen Klopp’s Last Dance ends with a European Final. Four days after ceding first place in the Premier League, Liverpool lost their first home game in 26 matches this campaign. Klopp admitted his team “lost the plot” tactically and the night was a season low at the most disconcerting time. Brightside: Thank God Dublin hotels have refundable bookings. Even better news: The Reds have not lost to Palace in over seven years. Tune in to discover if they can resummon their groove, and remember: Just as there is said to be a thin line between love and hate, Klopp’s Liverpool live to prove there is a point drop-off between Controlled Chaos and impetuous finishing.  

More: Listen to our friend James Horncastle brilliantly explain how Atalanta won last night.

ii. Newcastle United vs. Tottenham (Saturday, 7.30 a.m. ET, USA)

Forth place Spurs control their Champions League destiny with a crucial game in hand. Tottenham still have to face each of the Top Three in their last seven games. What could possibly go wrong now? An early morning visit up to the wilds of Newcastle where injury-ridden United are just two points behind Manchester United in their own run for Europe. Whisper this Rubberneckers, Newcastle won this one 6-1 last season. Some early morning Ange Ball to wake you up.

iii. Arsenal vs. Aston Villa (Sunday, 11.30 a.m. ET, USA)

Top of the Table Arsenal host a low-on-steam Villa. Unai Emery’s mob won 1-0 in the reverse fixture thanks to a McGinn reverse spin and dunk but have tasted victory just once in their last five league games. Will they be a trap game as the filling in that Bayern Munich-Champions League Quarter-Final Sandwich?

iv. Manchester City vs. Luton Town (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Win and go top of the table temporarily. A place City has not been since November 24, nearly five months ago. Their Treble-Peat chase is taking a toll on them though. That invincible-machine Rodri admitted he “needs a rest.” An indicator of the physical and mental strain the squad is experiencing in their relentless quest for silverware. Luton were feisty in their reverse fixture forcing City to come from behind. Remember: League Two’s Erling Haaland scored five goals in 55 minutes against them in February’s FA Cup meeting.

v. Chelsea vs. Everton (Monday, 3 p.m. ET, USA)

I am sure the Germans have a word for the quiet joy you experience knowing your football team cannot possibly ruin your weekend. Both teams will experience it after a season of self-sabotage and folly.  One club who has killed itself by gorging on money. The other, with not a pot to piss in. After their second points deduction of the season, Everton will be praying for that “Points Deduction Bounce.” Mug and all. Darkness lingers however – Surprise Surprise: Everton’s takeover thrown into fresh doubt as 777 asks for more time as it attempts to raise hundreds of millions of pounds to fund it. This. Is. Not. Going. To. End. Well. 

MORE: Full Premier League broadcast slate HERE.

3. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. Premier League to use semi-automated offside in hope of speeding up VAR calls.  Let’s get pissed off faster.

ii. USL’s quest to become the biggest league in America via Promotion and Relegation.

iii. Premier League teams target a new area of global domination: India.

iv. New footballer loved-up reality show: Love Undercover in which five international footballers – including Ryan Babel! And Jamie O’Hara! – search for love in Los Angeles, stripped of the help of their fame and fortune. Trailer Here.

4. USWNT win another small trinket on the road to the Olympics 🇺🇸

We won SheBelieves. Yes, it is no Florida Cup, but what really matters is that we came back twice after conceding first, summoning the tenacity of classic US sides of old. Sophia Smith rekindled her clinicality and confidence in a US jersey once again, Mallory Swanson looked hungry, fearless and dangerous, 19-year old Jaedyn Shaw has Phil Foden-levels of “I will hurt you” mentality, and Abby Dahlkemper had the stealth performance of the tournament, stepping in at Center Back when Naomi Girma went down, then barely putting a foot wrong (really interesting listening to Becky Sauerbrunn describe how hard it is to do what she did in Good Vibes FC). 

At the end, Alyssa Naeher burnished her penalty legend once again, scoring and swatting all-comers aside. The fast-approaching Olympics and the 18 we select to represent us will be the true test of progress and weight-class. A massive tactical test played away from home. This though: Next time we play. Emma Hayes coaches us. 

Important, hard read: Korbin Albert still has questions to answer — beyond her ‘internal conversations’ with the USWNT.

Pick More, Pick Less: Pick Erling Haaland

Charlie Kipp Writes: I want to open this column with a quick thanks to all of you who take the time to read about our PrizePicks selections AND those who ride along with our Community Play each weekend in the PrizePicks app (hit a Big 5x winner last week, by the way). The additional intrigue and excitement that a PrizePicks entry brings to your Premier League watching experience is like nothing else - a new prism within which to view football. To that end, let’s get whacky, folks. What do you get when you blend an affinity for selecting Passes Attempted picks with a striker looking to get in-form vs. bottom-of-the-table opposition? You get Erling Haaland MORE than 15.5 Passes Attempted.

We have had a profound amount of success this season taking the less on the once-unstoppable 23 year-old from Norway in the goal-scoring department. While 19 goals by mid-April would be a career-defining tally for most strikers, it somehow feels pedestrian for Haaland. One goal, all comps, in the last MONTH for the human-robot cyborg: do we need to put him in a bowl of rice? Having said all that - Manchester City host Luton Town this Saturday, 10am ET on Peacock, and while picking Haaland to get on the scoresheet hasn’t been wise of late, I simply don’t have the spine to pick against Haaland scoring. So, like Peyton Manning at the line of scrimmage - we’re yelling “OMAHA” - and calling an audible. The ball will be in City’s possession for the vast majority of this game, I see this being a death by suffocation for Luton Town. Passing, passing, passing - around the box, inside the box, in the middle of the pitch - we’re talking Green Eggs & Ham levels of options here. A total of 15.5 passes is so low that it is meant to scare us off, but like Kevin McAllister facing the prospect of a home invasion - we ain’t scared. Haaland will be involved, let’s get it done: Erling Haaland MORE than 15.5 Passes Attempted.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and use code MiB for a first deposit match up to $100.

This Week at Men in Blazers World Headquarters

Where LFG stands for Louis Fan Gaal. 

🚨 The Men in Blazers TV Show with Matthew McConaughey airs on NETWORK NBC Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. ET. 

💪 A massive week for the USWNT, who won their second big tournament of this young Olympics year. And we provided wall-to-wall coverage from Rog and Lynn Williams’ going live at the Final Whistle of Tuesday Night’s Final (WATCH HERE | LISTEN HERE) to Sam Mewis and Becky Sauerbrunn chopping it up on a Thursday episode of Good Vibes FC (WATCH HERE | LISTEN HERE). So much incredible content coming from Sam Mewis’ TWG team. Subscribe to the Pod Feed and YouTube. And don’t miss our The Women’s Game Newsletter, which flies every Monday. 

🇺🇸 What a 2024 Haji Wright is having. Scoring massive goals for club and country. And, now, joining Rog for a sit down interview in which he discusses those sunkissed Youth National Teams with Christian, Tyler and the crew; scoring at the World Cup (he didn’t even know he had scored until the game was over); and how he’s approaching Coventry City’s upcoming FA Cup Semi Final against Manchester United. WATCH HERE | LISTEN HERE. 

🧑‍⚖️ What exactly is the proposed Premier League Independent Regulator? And will it help or hinder English Football? Rog did a deep dive, explainer-style video on our YOUTUBE PAGE. What other football hot topics, controversies, stories would you like us to tell? Email [email protected] and let us know.   

5. Massive Wrexham Weekend lies ahead 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

After two decades away from League One football, Wrexham sit on the precipice of going up with four games left in the season. A combination of three wins (or two wins and two draws) will see Phil Parkinson’s side guarantee a second successive promotion for the first time in Wrexham's 159-year history. HOWEVER, keep up here, a Wrexham win at bottom-dwellers Forest Green Rovers (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, iFollow), a MK Dons loss at home to Mansfield, and a Gillingham victory over Barrow at Priestfield would make the magic happen now. This kind of positive math is very hard for the Evertonian mind to comprehend.

MORE: Watch our Wrexham Correspondent Tomi “Cheese” Lewis travel across Britain to live out all the human emotions as they try not to “Wrexham it up” during the crucible of the promotion battle. WATCH HERE. Coming up next week… Rog’s sit down with Super Rosie Hughes. Watch The Women’s Game feed Monday for that.  

6. In Europa, Europa 🇮🇹🇳🇱🇩🇪 

i. Three days after their (somewhat dismal) all-Italian Europa League quarter final loss to Roma, Milan travel to struggling relegation-battlers Sassuolo (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, Paramount +) looking to follow up last weekend’s 3-1 win over Lecce (PULISIC GOAL MAGIC HERE). A win would further secure Milan's comfortable position in one of Serie A's Champions League slots, while three points for Sassuolo could take them out of the league's relegation zone with six weeks left in the season.

👀 Christian Pulisic and AC Milan's band of ex-Chelsea stars are putting the Blues to shame

ii. PSV Eindhoven host Vitesse Saturday at the Philips Stadium (10.30 a.m. ET, ESPN +) Despite their blip against NEC, PSV remain nine points clear at the top while Vitesse sit bottom of the Eredivisie winless in six. Sergino Dest and Malik Tillman played all 90 in last weekend’s 5-1 dismantling of Alkmaar, while Ricardo Pepi made his concerns about playing time clear this week in an interview with Voetbal International. Also: GFOP Darrne Katz who lives in the Netherlands replied last week that the Dutch would talk about the new PSV winning streak by saying “Nieuwe ongeslagen reeks begint nu.”  New winning streak begins now.

Iii.  Bayer Leverkusen face Werder Bremen on Sunday (11.30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) knowing a win (or a Bayern loss at home to Cologne and Stuttgart suffering defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt) could hand them their first ever title. Permutations here. Viel Glück.

PS. Atleti’s boat parade might be the best thing to happen this week.

7. The Women’s Game

Both the NWSL and WSL return this weekend after an international break that saw Emily Sonnett and Alyssa Naeher (and the rest of the USWNT) lift their seventh SheBelieves Cup. Stateside, the games to watch include Patrick Mahomes’ KC Current against Eli Manning’s Gotham for a battle of the NFL players turned NWSL owners (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, NWSL +), and NC Courage versus Becky Sauerbrunn’s Portland Thorns (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, NWSL +). Across the pond, options are more limited, with Arsenal v. Bristol City (Sunday, 1.45 p.m. ET, Paramount +) the only WSL game this weekend before a midweek meeting between Chelsea and Villa. A win for Emma Hayes’ Chelsea would see her side dead even on points with leaders Man City, a goal differential more than +1 would leapfrog the Blues into first with just 3 games left in the WSL season. 

8. Not Football, and All the Better For It

i. Eavesdropping at The Winchester: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost break down the making of Shaun of the Dead, 20 years later.

ii. CRYING MYSELF TO SLEEP ON THE BIGGEST CRUISE SHIP EVER. Every magazine should be budgeting money each year for writers to go on cruises and report back. I hate cruise ships btw. 

iii. A Fake Conspiracy Theorist’s Second Act. Real missed opportunity to rebrand as Politics Aren't Real.

iv. How to catch a sandbagger. As interesting as golf itself. 

v. What did the Vikings eat? Far cry from Erling Haaland's cow heart routine. 

vi. The Rise and Fall of The Village Voice “I’m sure that every major person at the Voice had an FBI file.” I own this book and loved this oral history so much.

vii. The Family Who Vanished Into the Bush. Jaw drop count: 4. Child Mullet count: 1.  

ix. Will this fit on a Bumper Sticker? Mount Everest was the riskiest place I had practiced medicine until I became an OB/GYN in the South.

x. In the Belly of MrBeast. One day soon, we will all work for and report to Mr. Beast.

xi.On the cultural power of Ed Sheeran AKA Josh Sargent with musical ability. 

xii. The Regime. Not as good as it thought it was but good enough?

xiii.  This Song Helped Me Through the Week: All in Good Time by Iron and Wine and Fiona Apple. 

xiv. I Love This Book: Interwar: British Architecture 1919-39 by Gavin Stamp.  A masterpiece of an enormous but riveting volume. Stories told by a late master of a time when the agony of the war compelled British designers to fuse modernism with a sense of the good old days of yore.  

Finally, as you know, my family has been grappling with my parents' health for the past 12 months which has been an emotionally shattering journey. I was quite tickled then to see this article about the  111-year-old Liverpudlian born the same year the Titanic sank who is now the world's oldest man. On the surface, this is definitive proof that supporting a successful team will extend your life. I actually filmed with this man when I made a show about Liverpool a few years back. He is a lovely, sweet man who was remarkably lucid – and happiest when singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to me. My real take away as I left his home was that this man had forgotten more happy memories about Liverpool than I have ever had as an Everton fan in total. To life, and the memories we make together.  

Let’s not take a second watching football together for granted,

Big Love

Courage,

ROG