Schrodinger’s Ball

# 39: GW 26 Review; FA Cup weekend; Liverpool thrash Brighton; Neto 3trick;

We meet on the evening when Chelsea and Liverpool are both through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.
We also discuss the PL results from midweek where Chelsea and Manchester United broke their winning streaks against Leeds and West Ham United. We admonish Chelsea's poor defence when they let a 2-0 lead at 70' wither away and praise Sesko for the point earned by an improvised finish. We also discuss Liverpool beating Sunderland at the Stadium of Light emphatically, as a result of very good finish by Virgil Van Djik.
We also discuss Chelsea comfortably beating Hull City and Liverpool beating Brighton in FA Cup, with Pedro Neto getting his 1st senior hattrick and Szoboszalai stepping up big time as his suspension got cut down to 1 game following his red card against Manchester City
Some other topics discussed include Arsenal dropping points to Brentford; Spurs sacking Frank; Forest sacking Sean Dyche.
Guests: Raj and Chinmay

#38: GW 25 Review: Manchester City beat Liverpool at Anfield; Palmer Hattrick

We record a weekly episode discussing the Liverpool and Chelsea games at Anfield and Molineux where Liverpool lost the game with a few controversial ref calls despite a peach of a knuckleball penalty yet again at Anfield by Szoboszalai. We discuss why the red card is so detrimental to Liverpool's Top 4 and FA Cup ambitions.
For the Chelsea game, we finally saw the yearly Palmer 1st half hattrick as he becomes the first player in Premier League to have 3 of them. We also discuss the poor 2nd half and Chinmay shares his worries about Delap and Garnacho and why Santos and Caicedo are so important in games Chelsea seems bad
Guests: Chinmay, Sanket and Raj

# 37: United Special #2: Carrick goes 4 games unbeaten (@feat. akshat18arora)

This was a long due episode after the insane turnaround in Manchester United's form! We invite Akshat Arora, a known guest for our United listeners. Akshat is Mancunian who lives and breathes everything Manchester United having met Amorim, Wilcox and other key figures in United's staff. We discuss a tranche of topics from how well has Amorim's sacking transpired, Bruno showing his 2019-20 levels, Casemiro turning haters to fans, Mbuemo and Cunha showing why they were bought and Kobbie rightly earning his place in the starting 11. Akshat and Sanket share their views on why Carrick can't be a long term appointment especially if the options post 2026 summer include Tuchel, Nagelsmann and Enrique. Finally we also discuss some trivia questions to get some zinger takes from Akshat.
Guests: Akshat Arora (ig: akshat18arora)
Hosts: Raj and Sanket
 

#36: PL GW 24 Review; Chelsea fail to turn the EFL Semis around; United vs Spurs preview

We discuss the crazy scenes at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge as Chelsea and Manchester United both manage to turn the game in the last minutes. We discuss how brilliantly Bruno created the chance at the end.
We also discuss how Rosenior seems to always get his subs right as Chelsea completed a full comeback from being 0-2 down at HT. We discuss how Fofana, Cucurella and JP all got their goal contribution from the bench.
Finally we discuss how Liverpool get a rarely emphatic win at Anfield as they thrashed Newcastle with a Ekitike brace and an amazing performance by the likes of Macallister, Szoboszalai and Wirtz. They also capped it up with a Ibu Konate goal which was celebrated emotionally. 
We also remunarate on why Chelsea and Arsenal have a big gap between the teams in terms of squad quality and game model. 
Guests: Chinmay, Raj and Sanket

#35: GW 23: Chelsea win and Liverpool lose in PL; Arsenal lose at Emirates; Final day of the Champions League

We discuss this episode at the precipice of the end of a hard-fought UCL group stage from a Liverpool and Chelsea perspective.
We had a crazy PL GW 23 weekend seeing Liverpool losing to B'mouth and Chelsea thrashing a depleted Crystal Palace squad. The highlight was of course Carrick's 3rd game in charge seeing United beat Arsenal at the Emirates. We also discuss the Champions League campaigns for Liverpool and Chelsea where we had Liverpool showing a completely different version in Europe when compared to their domestic form. Chelsea too have managed to clinch some key victories in their campaign beating Barcelona and Napoli on their way. 
There were a lot of stats and records being broken this weekend. Chelsea being the youngest team to qualify for UCL QF in last 10 years. VVD being the first defender to assist 3 goals, Napoli losing their first game in 20 at home in Europe and of course the highlight which saw the Special one's Benfica clinch the last playoffs spot with a goal by Trubin.
Hosts: Raj and Chinmay

#34: GW 22-23: Manchester turns red; Chelsea get a lucky win; Liverpool draws against Burnley

We are getting back to regular weekly episodes;GW 22 kicked off to a surprising thrashing of Man City on their visit to Old Trafford. We discuss the ruthless counter-attacks; dropping Matheus Cunha and the controversial referring calls to disallow Mount's goal and not handing a red card to Dalot. Liverpool unfortunately did concede a single goal after a consistent barrage of attacks against Burnley which only resulted in a goal by Wirtz and an unfortunate penalty miss by Szoboszalai. The draw raises concerns over Liverpool's playing style, OOP intensity and defense. 
Chelsea won a bogeyman fixture which has resulted in the underdog Brentford often thrashing them at home. Brentford came with the same energy and created 3-4 clear chances but unfortunately the Chelsea net remained untouched due to the heroics of Sanchez and important OOP contributions by Caicedo, Palmer, Enzo and JP. We also discuss the Garnacho brace and Rosenior trying to coach Robert Sanchez into playing a sweeper keeper and if it will lead to some horror moments like the chances conceded against Arsenal.
We provide some thoughts on FPL; Bruno is becoming too much of a pick-me at this point and maybe Harry Wilson has had his Christmas spurt of goal contributions finally coming to an end. We also discuss if JP is a good inclusion in an FPL squad. And why Dorgu is a great asset. 
 
Hosts: Raj, Sanket and Chinmay

#33: Midseason Review 2: (feat. Defective FC, Ritin Gandhi)

In the second part of the Midseason Review, we discuss the state of affairs at Manchester United.
We discuss the Amorim sacking (whether justified or not?), lack of midfielder option, lack of creative WBs, Bruno being played in the 6/8 role. We also discuss if Manchester United should hire a coach or a manager.We discuss transfer opportunities:Baleba vs Anderson vs WhartonSesko vs Watkins vs GyokeresGallagher and Neves short term options
Guests: Ritin and Yash
Hosts: Chinmay and Sanket

#32: Midseason Review Part 1: (@feat. Ritin Gandhi, Divi R, Defective FC)

In this episode we evaluate the positions of Chelsea and Liverpool at GW 21.
In the short Chelsea section at the start, we discuss the appointment of Rosenior and what Chinmay expects from their new coach, including some eyebrow raising factors like him citing Rooney as his managerial inspiration and how he was a MUFC fan as a kid and how the squad is prepared to take up his football
For the LFC section with Ritin and Divya bhai, where we look at Slot's tenure as the Liverpool manager following a historic title win in 2025. We discuss the interesting scenario in which the club lies after a heavy spend in the transfer window and why the football has become so dross. We also discuss some positives about very difficult to beat tactics by Slot in important games and how he has a very solid idea for his football. We also touch on the controversial yellow card to Martinelli for a rough shove to Bradley while he lied clutching his knees.
Hosts: Sanket and Chinmay
Guests: Divya, Ritin and Yash

#31: United Special #1: Man United knocked out of FA Cup (@feat. akshat18arora)

We are recording this episode on the eve of a historically bad evening for Manchester United as for the first time since 1995-96 Manchester United will only play 40 games, the minimum possible number of games a PL club can play. We are joined by Akshat, a Mancunian and an RCB fan who has attended matches, met Berrarda & Wilcox and is there to share his frustration with the way the club has been ran. He shares his views on Amorim, why was this a bad time for a sack and why the interim choice a forced error due to poor leadership at the board level. We also discuss the fated choice between Carrick and Ole and who out of Enrique, RdZ, Tuchel, Nagelsmann, Ancelotti, Maresca or Pochettino can lead this project after June.

#30: The PuneFreeStyler Special: Journey, Inspiration and Idols

We are happy to release our most exotic episode as we take a break from sackings, depressing results and look at an inspirational journey of a content creator from our hometown "Pune". Chaitanya (fondly known as Saadhamanus or his freestyling moniker ThePuneFreestyler) is a man with many hats. Relatable content, spreading social awareness and inspiring Indian footballers to pursue a career in freestyling. We also address how the content creation landscape has changed with newer mediums. 
We discuss how he started learning tricks, meeting ex-pros like Kaka, Drogba, Casillas, Messi, Suarez, Pirlo and Bekham and how surreal he feels meeting them. We also discuss why he connects with Cristiano Ronaldo's career. He addresses the negative side of content creation with online hate, controversies and how CR7 motivates him to keep at it. We ask his opinions about the Piers Morgan interview. We discuss CR7 and Portugal's WC ambitions.
Hosts: Chinmay, Raj and Sanket
Guest: Chaitanya