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PSG dominate Champions League Final, PL Season Recap + NBA Finals Preview
12 Plays1 month ago
- Champions League Final Recap
- Premier League Season Review & Wrap-Up: The Love Of The Game Season Awards
- NBA Finals Preview & Predictions
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:10
Emeka
Hey, what up the function? Welcome to episode 27 of the love of the game podcast. I so session. I'm here with my main man, Chinna.
00:00:21
Emeka
Chinna, how are you living on this Tuesday or Monday? Actually, I don't know what date is anymore.
00:00:26
Chino Onwuka
I am good, and probably the reason you don't know what day it is is because, man, before we even get into this pod, I just got to give you a shout out. Happy birthday. The big, on my man's on the third level now. How are you feeling? I know you took a little trip down to out da Vegas. Man, how was the trip? are you doing?
00:00:44
Emeka
Hey, let's just say you only turned 30 once. And glad to glad to be a washed up adult.
00:00:47
Chino Onwuka
but yeah
00:00:51
Emeka
You know, it's sad, but more years ahead. You know, i'm I've seen a lot of my peers, including my co-hosts, all turn 30, have all continued to thrive. So why can't I thrive too?
00:01:00
Chino Onwuka
Wow, you just have to out me like that, hey,
00:01:03
Emeka
Why can't I thrive too? Oh, man. But, you know, the we some old men. and know who's not old is the, what?
00:01:12
Chino Onwuka
Mature.
00:01:13
Emeka
Mature, mature individuals.
00:01:14
Chino Onwuka
Mature, yes, that's the word, yes.
00:01:17
Emeka
Yeah, I like that, mature individuals. And, you know, you go we're here to talk about the wild world of sports as always. Going to start off with, I think, the biggest match of the of the last week. Biggest match of the season, people would say.
Champions League Final: PSG vs Inter Milan
00:01:30
Emeka
The Champions League final was held on Saturday between PSG and if someone would like to please tell Inter Milan that there was a game supposed to be played, I'm sure they'd appreciate it because ah ah only one team showed up.
00:01:44
Chino Onwuka
Man, I don't know about you, but like i was thinking back.
00:01:44
Emeka
And.
00:01:49
Chino Onwuka
I don't think in our lifetimes we've seen Champions League final that one-sided ever. like The closest I could think of was Manchester United-Barcelona, where Barcelona was dog-walking United, but even that was only It wasn't even competition.
00:02:08
Chino Onwuka
there wasn't even a competition
00:02:11
Emeka
Yeah, no, I was about to say, like it's it's funny. We've had a real stretch of close, tight, low-scoring finals. One nils and two nils and everything, but penalties even, this wasn't one of them.
00:02:25
Emeka
PSG dog-walked Inter Milan, 5-0. It was 3-0 after 25 minutes. I think everyone knew the game was over at that point. Inter Milan never got going. Complete domination.
00:02:40
Emeka
And as the only person on this podcast who picked PSG to win 3-1, I might say. A confident prediction. What were your thoughts on the match?
00:02:47
Chino Onwuka
Wait, hold on. I picked PSG to win.
00:02:53
Emeka
Yeah, I said you're only one who picked PSG to win.
00:02:54
Chino Onwuka
totally... Okay, I'm the only one to pick. Yeah, okay, sorry. I thought I was tripping for a second. Yeah, no, like, my thoughts going into the game, right, like, I felt PSG were by far the better team.
00:03:12
Chino Onwuka
And then people would say, okay, look what Inter did to Barcelona, and I and i picked Inter to beat Barcelona, but that was because of the way Barcelona play.
00:03:24
Chino Onwuka
PSG is like Barcelona, except they don't they don't give you... one-on-ones on the back end at will because you play a suicidal highlight.
00:03:34
Chino Onwuka
Like, I don't know how to describe it to people. Like, there's being front-footed, aggressive in the press, you know, trying to squeeze your opponent, and then there's whatever it is Hansi Flick in Barcelona were doing, which just didn't make sense.
00:03:46
Emeka
It's a bizarre ball.
00:03:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, so, when you had the combination of the technical quality that PSG has, the youth that they have, combined with a more, a more realistic defense for the game states.
00:04:02
Chino Onwuka
I just, thought I didn't see what Inter Milan could do. Their only hope was, you know, scoring a goal first and trying to park the bus. And once, once that beautiful, beautiful first goal by Kimi went through, it was, it was over. Like, yeah and and you know, in these type of game, Champions League final, you would hope, okay, after going one nil down, you would maybe try and see some sort of response.
00:04:24
Chino Onwuka
They couldn't get out out of their own half the first time.
00:04:26
Emeka
At all.
00:04:27
Chino Onwuka
47 minutes of the game. And so it was it was tough. They kept trying to bring the ball out of the back. That didn't work. So I thought at that point they should switch to trying to lump it deep, you know maybe get some knockoffs off you know to Ram and and do something like that. But they just didn't adjust their tactics. and And by the time you blinked, it was 3-0 and it was over. So really, like, Inter Milan played so badly that all you can really do you know, to talk about them in the finals, just to say that they were horrible.
00:04:59
Chino Onwuka
And really this all has to be a coronation, a waxing lyrical about PSG and their team and their coach and their tactics. what What did you think?
00:05:10
Chino Onwuka
What were what were your your thoughts on the game?
00:05:12
Emeka
and I think you nailed it because i picked Inter Milan to win, and it was because I thought they would snake an early goal, a jammy goal. Hold on, make his nil-nil until the 60th minute. Things get a little nervy.
00:05:26
Emeka
Then they can score one on the break and then bunker down and hold it. And then when PSG scored, they were all over them to start. But like you said, that Hakimi goal was brilliant. And when that came in,
00:05:37
Emeka
I feel like their heads just dropped and they just gave up. And then Due scored score ah ah magnificent second when Vitinha picking the ball up from pretty much the edge of his own area and just beautiful passing combinations to get the ball to the and edge of the box and then feed in Due.
00:05:53
Emeka
it just was beautiful football to watch. Shout out Luis Enrique. Shout out all these young ballers. It really was just a PSG coronation, for lack of better word.
00:06:04
Chino Onwuka
No, and, you know, it's, I think a lot of people, you know, what what's what stands out to to people is just the way PSG plays. I think we've sort of had, you know, last couple of seasons, you know, maybe some of the the dominant teams in Europe weren't really the teams playing ah ah the sexiest football. And I think that changed that A little bit this year, i mean, you still had your, you know, your, your arsenals, you know, being really solid teams across the board. But, you know, this year
PSG's Financial Power and Strategy
00:06:39
Chino Onwuka
you had, you know, gung-ho attacking teams like Barcelona standing on there. You had PSG who, you know, i don't know what
00:06:49
Chino Onwuka
You know, i know people joke about Arsenal and the Dubai trip that we do that seems to rejuvenate us. I don't know what they did, you know, after December, but the way and we've said it on the pod, you know, multiple times, they've been the best team in Europe since about December. And so, you know, from their forward group, you know, Ousmane Dembele playing that false nine position, you know, Douay and KK on the wings, you know, Barcoa can't even, can't even get in the team, know, that, that,
00:07:18
Chino Onwuka
and then the Keith we everyone knows about their force but that midfield trio of the Tia John Neves and Fabio Ruiz is so balanced, so technical. They can just keep the ball. They can get out of tight spaces. They can progress the ball. They can pass in between the lines and then quickly get the ball to their dangerous wingers.
00:07:38
Chino Onwuka
So it's just really good to see. Now, I guess one, and and a and again, you know, shout out Luis Enrique, you know, he had the he won the treble at Barcelona with Messi, Neymar and Suarez, you know,
00:07:52
Chino Onwuka
things went downhill from there. He sort of bounced around and ah ah considering his journey, you know if you if you don't know, or read about the story about him and and and his and his daughter that he lost.
00:08:03
Chino Onwuka
you know it's I think it's a beautiful moment for him and a lot of people are happy to see him win. and and And so it's just great. But the the one thing though I do want to convey and I want to get your thoughts is I think in a way the praise has gone too much overhand because obviously you know how football is in 2025.
00:08:23
Chino Onwuka
five People are now using PSG's victory as a as a beating stick for other teams. And, you know, oh this team full of young, young players, exciting teenagers, you know, what phase are they in?
00:08:39
Chino Onwuka
PSG, this is about 2 billion pounds in the making, they have spent and spent and spent to get to this level because, you know, Qatar didn't buy this team to win the French league.
00:08:53
Chino Onwuka
You know, that that's been a wrap. They bought this team to to win the Champions and it's taken them, what, 15 years. You know, they've had their Ibrahimovic's, their Cavani's, you know, spent a lot of money on these big spars. Then it got into the Mbappe, Neymar, Messi era.
00:09:11
Chino Onwuka
That didn't work. And even this young, exciting team, they spent a lot of money to put this team together. And, you know, it's worked out for them, you know, on the football pitch, you know, praise them for that. But, you know, if you, if you zoom out a little bit, you know, this is a state funded club being able to spend whatever they want, they want, you know, they can have mistakes, paper over the cracks with new signings and, you know,
00:09:38
Chino Onwuka
I just think it's only fair to what to to to praise the football on the field, but also to zoom out and just understand that the the the macro of it all and just say that this this is this is sports washing working.
00:09:52
Emeka
school I mean, 100%. It's like not in a forest where you want to praise the accomplishment. And it's a good accomplishment. But, you know, let's not forget how they got there. Like, this young, you nailed it.
00:10:04
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:10:04
Emeka
Young, exciting front three costs $50 million, $50 million, $80 million. And they all make $250,000 to $300,000 a week. Like, This is a very expensive team full of very expensive players.
00:10:15
Emeka
They spent $80 million on Gonzalo Ramos. He's on the bench. They spent $100 million on Koala Mani. Need to know them out because they have that kind of funds. So, yeah, I mean, look, any team that can lose Mbappe for free and not even hit their financials at all, that just shows the level they're operating on.
00:10:32
Emeka
A team that really is struggling is Inter Milan.
00:10:33
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:10:34
Emeka
Like, that's a team making, you know, chicken soup out of chicken bleep the owners are taking money off the club. They're bringing money in. They're barely surviving FFP, losing their manager to Saudi Arabia. That's a team that if they won the Champions League, I have time to hear about, you know, what an underdog story. PSG, this was coming and been coming, like you said, for 15 plus years. Like they got Neymar and Messi and Mbappe to try. It didn't work. Before that, it was Cavani and Ibrahimovic didn't work.
00:11:04
Emeka
finally nailed it with Luis Enrique and the young French talent. It took them a solid decade to realize we are based in the area that produces the most footballers in the world. It's outside of Brazil.
00:11:15
Emeka
Why aren't we tapping into the local talent? Worked out now because led by... The only thing I'll give them is they are led by French talent. And that gives them an identity of young French ballers.
00:11:29
Emeka
that means something. Like, it's it means something when your players are playing with a local team. You know, they track back now. Gone the days when they had Messi and Mbappe where they were just two, three passengers.
00:11:39
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:41
Emeka
Everyone, Kravitz Vigela was tracking back in 78th, 80th minute, running back. And Dembele presses.
00:11:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, that was really good to see.
00:11:49
Emeka
So that's the thing. and And to me, that's the takeaway I find from this is I think – and I've been saying it all season – I think football has really shifted from passengers
Modern Football Dynamics
00:11:59
Emeka
now. It's just the game is too intense.
00:12:01
Emeka
The pace is too fast. If you have one or, God forbid, two players who aren't pulling their weight defensively, you're going to get run over. It's just how it is now. Everyone's dropping into midfield and flooding the box and overloading zones.
00:12:15
Emeka
You need your players to track back. And it just – you know I don't want to disrespect the legends of the past because you know they play for your time or whatever. But that's why I always feel bad when we compare current footballers to people from the past because you go watch some of these games in 2005.
00:12:31
Emeka
It wasn't double teams. It was one-on-ones. It was just, you know, move the ball.
00:12:33
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. I'm at a different pace.
00:12:35
Emeka
You just throw it. You know, you lose the ball, you just shrug and say, hey, man, that's life. And then your defenders handle it. Nowadays, you lose the ball, you ask better, start sprinting back. So it's a different it's a different game now. I think that's what PAG is showing. that You need footballers who can pull their weight, track back, and athletic, and also have skill.
00:12:56
Emeka
Because, that's you know, Hakimi has a right back doing these kind of finishes.
00:12:57
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:13:01
Emeka
Look at the talent they have right now. it's It's impressive, to say the least.
00:13:05
Chino Onwuka
and And that's what I loved about this PSG team. I think they just had a good balance of everything. You know, they had good balance of youth, but they had some experience at the back.
00:13:17
Chino Onwuka
You know, they had the the technical quality, but they also had the pace. And they also had the... yeah They just didt this had a a good balance of everything. Big Donnarumma at the back. So, and a coach that you have to utilize them properly. And, you know, they had a team that, you know, have players tracking back, but then also playing beautiful football going forward. I think they just struck the right balance of of everything. and So that's a type of football, you know, that I love to watch that I'm sure a lot of people love to watch. And, you know, we'll see if maybe more teams try, tries the keyword to to to to emulate and replicate what they've done, because we all know,
00:13:58
Chino Onwuka
Soccer, like most other other sports, is a copycat league. And so, you know, when Pep was on top, a lot of teams were trying to copy his tactics. So i wonder if we'll see maybe a little bit more swing towards, you know, Luis Enrique and and how PSG plays, if you can try anyway.
00:14:13
Emeka
I hope they got some financially secure owners but to assist them with all of that.
00:14:17
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:20
Emeka
We've waxed about PSG, but real quickly, any any final words for Inter? As I mentioned, the news broke recently. Inzaghi off to Saudi Arabia. day after, yeah news comes out that PSG are investigated for a possible financial fair pre play breach.
00:14:37
Emeka
It's not one of those Premier League ones. The UEFA one. So... You might be looking at points deductions are getting kicked out of Europe. So not a good time being a Milan fan. Any hope for the future for them?
00:14:48
Chino Onwuka
Nah, it's just just just been a rough week because I think on top of that, like maybe people don't realize they they they blew Serie A as well and lost it on the last day.
00:15:01
Chino Onwuka
you know, just before a couple of days before the Champions League final. And I don't know if that, that played a factor into how lethargic and dead they were on the game, but yeah.
00:15:11
Emeka
Thanks, thanks.
00:15:12
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. So they, they, they had the lead blue Syria, you know, I think they were on course for a travel at some, but I don't think, I think they didn't win the cup either because Bologna or someone that, so,
00:15:24
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, ro you know, lose, lose Syria, lose the Champions League final embarrassingly. then at least the one thing you could maybe hold on to is, though you know what?
00:15:35
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, we've been the underdogs, but, you know, we made it to the Champions League final two years ago. We're back here. We've got a great coach. You know, let's see if we can keep building on that. Maybe we just need to refresh the squad a little bit.
00:15:46
Chino Onwuka
But no, you lose Inzaghi, the coach that has led you to these heights in spite of your financial issues. So, you know, it's it's it's it's peak for them. Now, I have seen some of the coaches they're looking
00:15:59
Chino Onwuka
think one name is De Zerbi and, you know, who knows how that will go. But, you know, another name, you know, as Arsenal fans, I think we'll perk our ears up a bit is Cesc.
00:16:08
Emeka
Yeah.
00:16:09
Chino Onwuka
Cesc, I think, is in line for that job. And so, you know, I think – and, know, you know, this might be a little bit Arsenal biased. i'm I'm really interested to see how he does in that job. If he gets it, he did a great job with Como.
00:16:25
Chino Onwuka
So it'll be interesting to see how he could do. co Como to Inter Milan is a big job in terms of the the expectations, the pressure, the requirements. But the reason why that'd be interesting to me is, you know, you never know what can happen in the future, but, you know,
00:16:43
Chino Onwuka
You know, we we're all with Don Mikel and, you know, he needs to, there's certain things he needs to achieve.
00:16:48
Emeka
Wow.
00:16:49
Chino Onwuka
If there's person who, you know, know, we've always talked about, okay, if you let Arteta go, who would you replace him with? And to me, I'm sure to you, there's a very small list of names where you'd be like, okay, I can see that.
00:17:03
Chino Onwuka
Well, the only other one that maybe doesn't fall into your your peps or your clubs is... with the romanticism of it all. And, you know, he seems like someone that has ah ah a great footballing mind at a certain level.
00:17:16
Chino Onwuka
It's Cesc. So I didn't think that was good in Cobra, but it's just like, if there's anyone, it it'd be him.
00:17:18
Emeka
Hey,
00:17:23
Emeka
man. Let's see how he pans out. But listen, I'm a nostalgic man.
00:17:26
Chino Onwuka
Let's see.
00:17:28
Emeka
I'm with you, man. I love me. I love some Fabry guys. Fabry Pass. Favorite player when I was growing up for a while. So I want to be mad at it, but lot to come beforehand. I will say I am rooting for them to hire Seth.
00:17:38
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:40
Emeka
I just want to see how it plays out. I'm romantic. I like seeing people that watch grow up.
00:17:42
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:17:45
Emeka
Succeed. As wrap it up, you know, it's the first season under the new Champions League format.
00:17:46
Chino Onwuka
yeah
00:17:51
Emeka
We're now at the end of it. PSG crowned champions. What are your thoughts about how the new format played out? And, you know, you four for keep keeping it or would you rather go back to the old format?
00:18:04
Chino Onwuka
I like the new format. I think it gives you a diverse set of games. It gives teams... like there There's pros and cons for sure because you had PSG, a team that sort of was in the playoffs, you know find their way to winning the Champions League. Yeah.
00:18:25
Chino Onwuka
I think overall it was. i can't I can't say a bad word about it. I mean, this is only one year, so let's see how it continues to shake up. But, you know, it gave us more games. You know, it gave us good games in terms of quantity, more good games in the group stage. You know, it it gives slower teams a better chance of...
00:18:46
Chino Onwuka
of doing something we and we saw that with how that the table shook out with, you know, some teams that you would never expect, you know, making it past the initial stage into the round of 16 or at least getting a playoff game. So, so that is a win.
00:19:01
Chino Onwuka
know, Then you still got exciting knockout football like you always do. So I guess that the key thing for this is at least making the group stage a little bit better. So I think that qualified. so The only convince I'll have is one, I think they've they've made the changes.
00:19:16
Chino Onwuka
you know The better-seated team should have the the second leg at home, which I think they're changing. We saw that in the semis and the quarters where you know even though Arsenal and Liverpool – were so first and second or second and third. you know For some reason, the lower-seeded teams were... play Yeah, I think Arsenal had that for both Real Madrid and PSG, which is strange.
00:19:42
Chino Onwuka
then the only thing that with this new Champions League format is it just makes Europa League so much weaker.
00:19:55
Chino Onwuka
And that's
00:19:55
Emeka
Fair enough.
00:19:57
Chino Onwuka
That is not an issue with the Champions League itself, but I think you might start to see a future in which maybe a Premier League team just wins it every year. Premier League teams were always the favorites in the past, but now without teams dropping down, I wonder if that weakens Europa League, and I don't know what the cascading effects of that will be.
00:20:23
Emeka
I think last season was an unusually strong Premier League showing in the Europa League. It was Man U and Tottenham. Like this year, it's Villa and Crystal Palace.
00:20:34
Emeka
They aren't favorites of Europa League, in my opinion. i do I do agree that and without teams dropping down, the Europa League, theoretically, is and easier to win. But when you really look at it, teams that dropped down didn't win all the time. I think the last time was Sevilla.
00:20:47
Emeka
So you never know. It might just be hard.
00:20:48
Chino Onwuka
For sure, but at least it made things more interesting, right, at a certain level.
00:20:54
Emeka
Yeah, it'll make it more interesting. But you got to win something lose something. I'm a big fan of the new Champions League format.
Champions League and Premier League Reflections
00:21:01
Emeka
I love that it's more games. Especially, I love that teams play other teams in their groups more often.
00:21:07
Emeka
PSG won, and people forget that halfway through the group stage, it was looking look peak for PSG. They weren't guaranteed. They had to fight and scrap from the very end. They had to do the extra qualifying round as well.
00:21:19
Emeka
So I do like that a team that didn't finish in the top eight won the Champions
00:21:22
Chino Onwuka
Honestly, that is probably what led to them eventually winning the Champions League because they have to they have to figure something out to change.
00:21:30
Emeka
Exactly. i like that. I like that teams are scrapping even in the group stage. And then you can build momentum and and take it from there. So, you know, overall, I don't like a lot of changes in football. I'm gonna give you away for some credit. That was a good – they nailed that one.
00:21:43
Emeka
I look forward to more seasons moving forward. And, hey, next year, six Premier League teams in the Champions League. That's insane. That's literally insane.
00:21:51
Chino Onwuka
Crazy.
00:21:53
Emeka
So, yeah.
00:21:53
Chino Onwuka
I know we we talked about this off air, but I think some other European countries are going to upset at that because now, you know, I think they've they've posted out that the different pots, but you might have to face an unusually strong team because they're from the Prem as a pot four or pot three opponent.
00:22:14
Chino Onwuka
Even Arsenal is a pot two opponent. So, yeah.
00:22:17
Emeka
it said
00:22:18
Chino Onwuka
and for we we don't know In the group stages, teams from the same country can't play each other.
00:22:23
Emeka
So double whammy. All the Prem teams can't play each other. That means if you're not in the Prem, you might have to guarantee to play a Prem team if you're in part one at this point. So yeah, it's tough.
00:22:35
Emeka
It's tough, but more enjoyable games to watch. So I'm looking forward to it. Moving on from the Champions League, the Premier League also wrapped up since we last spoke.
00:22:46
Emeka
As we mentioned, there was a pretty boring title race and relegation race. Only thing really up there was the Champions League race. But that doesn't stop us from our, you know, season's over now.
00:22:58
Emeka
Congrats to Liverpool. Take some time to reflect. And the way we want to do it this way is we got some awards we're going to hand out. We got the biggest surprise team, our most disappointing team, the signing of the season, the bust of the season, the most improved player, the manager of the year, the young player of the year, and the player of the year with a twist at the end.
00:23:22
Emeka
We thought of at the beginning on a positive note. We're a positive podcast out here. what was the biggest surprise team of the year for you? And I'll start by saying, i think the answer pretty obviously is not an enforced because if you had told me prior to the season that they would finish seventh, I would have never believed you.
00:23:44
Emeka
And, it ends on a somewhat of a sad note because they were just in the top four for almost like half the year or three quarters of the year. If they just held on one draw more instead of a loss or one jammy win, they'd be playing Champions League. But,
00:23:59
Emeka
When the dust has settled, I think they can look back at this year and think, who would have ever thought we'd be playing in Europe again? So big ups to Nuno and the boys. I think nothing for us shocked a lot of people. It wasn't quite 2016 Leicester, but it was it was pretty up there for them showing how good they were all season and finishing seventh.
00:24:19
Emeka
What about you?
00:24:22
Chino Onwuka
I'm sure this wasn't the way you intended this question, but since you've gone with Nottingham Forest, my most surprising team of the season is Manchester United. Like, I'm i'm sorry.
00:24:36
Chino Onwuka
i know we joke about them saying they're Manchester United, but they are Manchester United. For a team with the resources that they have... to like finishing sixth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth is considered the ultimate embarrassment for a team at that level.
00:24:55
Chino Onwuka
Now to finish 15th and you win 16th, 17th throughout most of the season, you know, you made the decision to Ten Hag after winning the FA Cup. So maybe you're building some momentum there.
00:25:11
Chino Onwuka
Then you sack him, win your four points off Champions League, and then you finish fifteenth No, they are the most surprising. like i know i i think we maybe surprising was good surprising and maybe we'll go the opposite later on and I have a team for that. But like I have to like stop and think and actually absorb the fact that Manchester United finished 15th in the Premier League. like I don't know if you
00:25:40
Emeka
yeah
00:25:42
Chino Onwuka
even Even with the last 15, since 2013, they've been bad.
00:25:42
Emeka
100%. No, I agree.
00:25:46
Chino Onwuka
like I don't think this is something anyone could have could ever predict it on their right mind. You could say Man United are to have a horrible season and you'd say like sixth. Well, this is 15.
00:25:57
Emeka
hundred percent
00:25:59
Chino Onwuka
So that is my opinion.
00:25:59
Emeka
no i agree I agree. Don't get me wrong. i sure Clearly, if you if you showed me the table, this exact table in September, the biggest surprise maybe would have been United.
00:26:15
Emeka
However, I'm going, i really wanted to pick them for most of the pointing team. But i have to reflect and think that beginning of the season, I thought they were going to be terrible this year. I thought they were going to finish like 7th or 8th.
00:26:26
Emeka
Obviously, they finished 15th, which is
00:26:27
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, we thought we was going to terrible. and we And we thought we were sort of, you know, yeah, like seventh and eighth.
00:26:32
Emeka
harsh on them. one heart
00:26:35
Chino Onwuka
And that clearly wasn't enough.
00:26:37
Emeka
But I'm going to go Tottenham, even though they won the Europa League. Take your Europa League trophy, clap for yourselves. I thought this team would finish top four. This is not me being a hater. I truly thought they finished top four.
00:26:51
Emeka
Everything you said about United finishing third, these guys finished 17th. seven You can't finish lower and stay in the league. you like They are so lucky the three promoted teams were garbage because they really could have sweat relegation at the end of it. They got smacked 5-1 at the end of the season.
00:27:08
Emeka
Yeah, said they were hungover, but ugh.
00:27:10
Chino Onwuka
Like, one one reason why again, 17 to 17, that's just like saying out loud is I will convict the fact that Tottenham had a horrible injury situation this season.
00:27:29
Chino Onwuka
Like, now you shouldn't, as Tottenham, you shouldn't finish 17th with that situation because... you know, I'll go to my most disappointing team of the season is that there's a lot of candidates for this. You could go Man U, you could go Tottenham, you could go West Ham with all the hype, you could go Man City, but I'm going to go with Arsenal as my most disappointing team for the season because even though I predicted them to come second, you can't, and you have all the cavities of talking about Tottenham's injury situation.
00:27:49
Emeka
Wow.
00:27:59
Chino Onwuka
You know, we dealt with a horrible injury situation too and we still managed to come second. So, I'm sort of sort of arguing against myself there, but I still kind of skip the fact with with how close we've been the last two years.
00:28:14
Chino Onwuka
I feel like i'm good I'm contradicting myself with what I've said over the other pods.
00:28:20
Chino Onwuka
With Man City having a disappointing season, like like so it's just disappointing unlucky in that this is the year Arsenal should have been able to take advantage and everything just went against us and it's just...
00:28:34
Chino Onwuka
Javier Bautista, M.D.A.: : man city at least you can play big one it the two years before so whatever they've done it now they spent 500 million in the last three seconds. Javier Bautista, : But soul like you know you don't know, and I think you said it like you football is so unpredictable you don't know when going to get that chance again and we came so close you took it to the last day And then that happens. actually you have a question for you on this with me talking about Arsenal being the most disappointing team.
00:29:01
Chino Onwuka
I don't know if you heard Thierry Henry's comments on the overlap. What do you think about those? Because I have my thoughts on them.
00:29:11
Emeka
I would say he's right, but you got to give me a name to replace him with. I don't like when people say, you know, oh, the manager doesn't work out. have to think about getting him replaced. All right, fair enough.
00:29:26
Emeka
Give me a name. Who's going to replace him? I don't deal with hypotheticals like that. If you want if you if want to put your name, take your chest out and tell me, all right, if Tato doesn't win anything the next two years,
00:29:37
Emeka
give me a name to replace him with. Because if you don't give a name to replace him, then what's the point then? what why Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
00:29:46
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:29:46
Emeka
and And that's what we're dealing with.
00:29:48
Chino Onwuka
i I have two issues with what he said because
00:29:54
Chino Onwuka
Full stop, I don't think too many people disagree with him. Arsenal have to win something. We said that at the very beginning of the year. But where he sort of lost me, and hey, this is Thierry Henry, this is Igwe, this the king, so he's my hero.
00:30:11
Chino Onwuka
on Two things he said. He said, one, like, oh, We're making fun of Man U and they've been in five finals.
00:30:22
Chino Onwuka
Arsenal haven't competed for a trophy. Bro, I don't know what going to the final day of the Premier League season against City, where they bring they bring the thing, the placards to the stadium isn't competing for a trophy.
00:30:32
Emeka
As
00:30:39
Chino Onwuka
Like, like what what are we doing here? And then two, he talked about Manchester United making... five finals, and we might but okay.
00:30:50
Chino Onwuka
When Arsenal was making finals, because there was a period where we went to five finals in five seasons, there were you know f FA Cups and Europa Leagues. I didn't hear anybody praising them for that.
00:31:03
Chino Onwuka
It was, you need to win a prem where you need to, so I feel like there's a lot of revision, a lot of shifting goalposts going on. So yeah, we need to win something, but I think some of the, and and I think that is true, but I think some of the other stuff that went around it didn't really make sense to me.
00:31:22
Chino Onwuka
So I just wanted to talk to another Arsenal fan about it because I thought some of it was, I agreed with it, but then there were some things he said that didn't make sense.
00:31:22
Emeka
look.
00:31:30
Emeka
Wenger won three FA Cups in five seasons, and he had planes flying banners to chase them out of there. So, you know, you win trophies.
00:31:37
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:31:38
Emeka
Some trophies matter, but I'm with you on the the finishing second. Yeah, it isn't a trophy, but to me it means more than anything. I don't care what people tell me. I'd rather have our season than Tottenham season.
00:31:51
Emeka
I don't. Tottenham's other team gets slapped every week. Like, don't know what's happened to me.
00:31:54
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:31:56
Emeka
It's terrible. Let me tell you, it's terrible to watch a team win week.
00:31:58
Chino Onwuka
I remember both. I'm not gonna think about it. Remember those seasons, what they were like. I think we probably tried to erase from our memory. when we finished eighth and how like we would go like weeks without seeing victory or seeing goals.
00:32:15
Chino Onwuka
And that was just eighth. Imagine what an actual season would feel like to finish 15th and 17th. Like think about it. Nah, no, I don't, I don't,
00:32:23
Emeka
oh jo That's why I'm on Teta in. I like winning games. It turns out it's fun when your team wins every game, most the games. It's fun. i like winning teams. I like my team winning.
00:32:33
Emeka
So, yes, it's not, you know, a trophy. Trophies are important. I get all that. I like my team winning games. It is what it is. It's fun to tune in every week and see my team win, which is why I think it's incredibly crazy to me that you're picking Arsenal to be the most disappointing team of the season.
00:32:49
Emeka
Right.
00:32:49
Chino Onwuka
considering the expectations where you thought you thought we would finish first the way the season went some of it in our controls on the a ofvanorded control our control Arsenal to me the the most maybe not the most disappointing team the but they had the most disappointing season my in my opinion in my opinion yeah
00:32:50
Emeka
No offense.
00:33:09
Emeka
Fair enough. we it's not under the grade It's all our opinions. I know i wish Juku was here in spirit. i know he'd be agreeing to say the least. but Oh, man.
00:33:20
Emeka
Moving on. Our next award we'll hand out is the signing of the season. and I'll keep a theme here with my biggest surprise team, Nottingham Forest. They got to the heights they were with their solid defense and My signing of the season is one half of that center back partnership.
00:33:39
Emeka
Nikola Milenkovic, 11 million euros from Fiorentina. FM, don't want to say a legend, but ah a a star boy from football manager. was nice to see him finally make it out to the prim.
00:33:51
Emeka
Boy, did he look good this year, especially for the price that they got him from. He had an elite center back season. And also, I was kind of surprised looking back at it. There weren't that many big signings. Fair enough, it was a Euro and Copa America summer.
00:34:04
Emeka
So there wasn't really much to choose from. So I think it's fair to double down it and appoint Milankovic for signing of the season because you can make your legitimate shouts to put him on team of the season.
00:34:15
Emeka
And for 11 million euros they get to get a center back young like that, you know, 4A's just some really good business on that one. Who's your signing of the season?
00:34:24
Chino Onwuka
No, that's a good shout. he would He's probably second for me, but and I'll give the signing of the season to to Dean Hugson. Just because he came out of nowhere, signed from Juventus for, like, what, 20 million euros.
00:34:40
Emeka
Like, yeah.
00:34:42
Chino Onwuka
And comes in as a teenager, plays amazing for them, you know, and then gets sold for 50 million euros to Real Madrid. So I think, yeah, think I think that has to be has to be the signing of the season.
00:34:53
Emeka
Not a bad year.
00:34:59
Chino Onwuka
Because i even Milankovic, maybe he got him at a cheap price, but everyone knew his quality. But he would said no one... As someone you know who follows these these type of transfers, i i didn't even know who he was.
00:35:06
Emeka
Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:11
Chino Onwuka
So, yeah, I think to me, you know that's what first came to mind the signing of the season.
00:35:17
Emeka
Hey, fair enough. I mean, you nailed it. Suffering from success. He was so good. Madrid. Papa Flo spent money on the center back.
Season Highlights and Critiques
00:35:23
Emeka
That's how you know he's good.
00:35:25
Chino Onwuka
Yep.
00:35:25
Emeka
Going from the positives to the negatives, who is the worst signing of the season for you?
00:35:30
Chino Onwuka
don Joe Felix.
00:35:32
Emeka
My answer, too. The most predictable must, I feel like.
00:35:34
Chino Onwuka
Joe Felix. and Just because if you remember when that happened, I don't know the order of the signings. like They had just signed Sancho. They had just gotten Petronetto. So what was the point of signing Joe Felix? And we saw how that turned out. It was just a ah ah needless signing that sort of made you question the strategy of what they're doing, especially at the time. There was a period where it looked like it was gold, and maybe that was just because Conference League made it look good. But, you know, at that time, we were really questioning what Chelsea was doing, and that's why we predicted them to finish.
00:36:14
Chino Onwuka
i think we we didn't have the the highest confidence in them coming into the season. But, yeah, 52 million euros, and he barely played.
00:36:22
Emeka
Yeah.
00:36:25
Chino Onwuka
They loaned him out. The team that they loaned him out doesn't want him. So now he's going to come back and they're going to have try and flog him on Zola.
00:36:35
Emeka
Everything you said, I fully agree. And to me, it was the most predictable bust as well. So made it even funnier. like At the time the signing was made, everyone realized this is not going to work out. They have Cole Palmer.
00:36:47
Emeka
They play in the same position. You can't play him on the wings. You can't play him as a nine. Why are you spending it? And the worst part is they forced Gallagher out to make the signing work.
00:36:58
Emeka
So, hey.
00:36:58
Chino Onwuka
That's true.
00:37:00
Emeka
Chelsea, man, I look forward to seeing how. But the thing about Chelsea is I hate them. They always find a way to plug their players off. I'm going to be short.
00:37:06
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, they do.
00:37:08
Emeka
Signs in for $30 million.
00:37:09
Chino Onwuka
that's That's, you know, you know the Cesco thing.
00:37:09
Emeka
Nonsense.
00:37:13
Chino Onwuka
That's the thing about signing young players is that as long as their wages aren't too crazy, you will be able to to get something for them.
00:37:21
Emeka
Hey, fair enough. Speaking of young ah war that i wish the Premier League started giving out, but we're going to steal from the NBA.
00:37:22
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:37:28
Emeka
Who is your most improved player of the season?
00:37:35
Chino Onwuka
Most improved player of the season. Don't know if I was ready for this one My most oh oh yeah.
00:37:42
Emeka
I could jump in.
00:37:44
Chino Onwuka
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know graven brick Yeah
00:37:47
Emeka
that For me, it was one of two options. It was Gravenberg or my guy. I'm perfectly fine Gravenberg because who saw this season coming from him?
00:37:55
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, you gotta go ahead go ahead
00:37:57
Emeka
don't know.
00:38:00
Emeka
oh No, no. Personally, he was a wonder kid in Bayern Munich. you know He was just never really fit in. Liverpool signed him. I wasn't even i wasn moved by the signing at all. And then Slott comes in and just has the vision to turn him into a world-class six. I never saw it coming. I put it that way. I absolutely never saw it coming. So absolutely agree.
00:38:23
Emeka
He could be up there.
00:38:25
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, no, he's someone I always still believed in. like He was you know like ah ah a little bit of a Pogba regen coming up, you know more of an eight with flair, technique, long legs.
00:38:38
Chino Onwuka
And yeah, it's one of those things where you know you all you have to do is Liverpool didn't make any signings. They were going after our favorite person, Zubomendi, that didn't work. So they had to make do with what they had and you know they unlocked something out of him, which is what great coaches do. So I'm happy for him. as He's so wonderful for a long time. I like the way he plays. So yeah, he's definitely my, my most improved player.
00:39:02
Emeka
And real quick, I'll give a shout out to my guy, Jacob Murphy. Beginning of the season, I remember I specifically was down on Newcastle because, and I quote, they still start players like Jacob Murphy on the wing.
00:39:13
Chino Onwuka
He did.
00:39:14
Emeka
And yeah I get my face because my guy took a step this year. And...
00:39:19
Chino Onwuka
He did. did
00:39:20
Emeka
Jacob Murphy as a guy with 20 goals and assists in the season. Like, that's an impressive winger production. So, you know, i' big ups to Jacob Murphy proving the man's like me wrong. Shut me up.
00:39:32
Emeka
And now Newcastle doesn't have to sign as a winger anymore. And he's going to be starting for a Champions League team. So, shout out Jacob Murphy. Next up, we...
00:39:39
Chino Onwuka
Shut up.
00:39:41
Emeka
We have a manager of the year, and quickly I'll just go with, I think, the obvious answer, and you chi know just gave the reasons why I think he deserves it. Arne Slott comes in, inherits this team, doesn't make any real signings. Yeah, they signed Chiesa and Gorgie, but none of them play minutes.
00:40:01
Emeka
Takes the squad, and I always find the mark of a great coach, like my man Chino said, is. Someone who comes in and improves what he has, not someone who has to come in and demand certain people come in.
00:40:14
Emeka
I love that he came in, took a summer to assess, made changes, told Salah, even though we just hyped up PSG for everyone tracking back. He said, you know what? I'm going to go the other way. Salah, stay up front.
00:40:26
Emeka
Give me goals. Gravenberg, come in. Hold the six. made these minor changes, and Liverpool just ran away with the league. Now, admittedly, they ran away with a league where everyone else was struggling, but that's neither here nor there.
00:40:39
Emeka
They walked the league, walked to a point where they could celebrate five, six games ahead of time. That's hard to do. People who sleep on how hard it is to win and wrap up a league with five games to spare. That's just domination there.
00:40:51
Emeka
So give it up to the you know the newest ball of fraud in the in the league, R.A. Slott, my manager of the year.
00:40:57
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, nothing else to add there. it's's It's got to be slow. Now, I am interested to see what he does in the second season, how he starts to continue to stamp his style and more of the players he likes into the team.
00:41:10
Chino Onwuka
You know, I think you can see a little bit of difference from maybe Klopp's heavy metal, and he wants a little bit more guile and technique in the team. So, yeah, let's see how he does second season.
00:41:22
Chino Onwuka
Let's see if the Prem is more ready for him second season.
00:41:26
Emeka
Well, sadly for us, Liverpool, looking like they're backing the manager in the summer, but we'll see.
00:41:27
Chino Onwuka
What's next?
00:41:33
Emeka
We'll see. Last, but we got the Young Player of the Season award, and unlike how the Prem does it, we're going some ground rules here. Under-21s, all right?
00:41:44
Emeka
None of this 23-year-olds, you know, Saka getting nominated...
00:41:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, we got like 24 year olds up for nomination. Like what are we doing?
00:41:52
Emeka
utter this nonsense. I've never understood that about the award. You should not be able to win multiple times, first of all.
00:41:56
Chino Onwuka
No.
00:41:58
Emeka
And secondly, you shouldn't be 24 and being young player. Come on now. You what mean? Come on now. So who is your actual under 21 young player of the season?
00:42:13
Chino Onwuka
Miles Lewis Skelly, MLS, number 49. It's only another person i would have considered for that is is Dean Hurston, who I spoke about earlier, but it's got to be him.
00:42:17
Emeka
Hey.
00:42:25
Chino Onwuka
You know, to come in, you know, 18 years old be slotted into a different position. i know he played a little bit in the youth team, but he's mainly an eight or six. Come in, play left back for a team that's competing for the Premier League, competing for the Champions League, and not just hold your own, but just boss it, make that role your own is just so impressive. i love the lad.
00:42:53
Chino Onwuka
I love his attitude, you know, from his, his, his, his fearlessness on the pitch to the joy with which he plays, you know, to him not being afraid of anyone or the, or the moment, he's not the perfect player, but just the way he, he, he came out of nowhere to contribute this season. Especially someone that I've been following since he was 14 years old is just amazing to see. So easily my my young player of the season, under 21 player of the season.
00:43:22
Emeka
Nothing to add except just got to stay humble. My young player of the season was definitely MLS. what i For a young guy to come in and not look out of place at all on a team that went to the semifinals of the Champions League and finished second is impressive. Obviously, Yamil is the overall young player of the season, but...
00:43:45
Emeka
it
00:43:45
Chino Onwuka
That's a different planet.
00:43:46
Emeka
That's a different planet I'm talking about. But that's the type of level. He's not as good as Jamal. But what I'm trying to say is a guy for you to be so young but not look at all out of place. If you took someone doesn't know anybody's name or face or age, you would think these guys were 27, how they played.
00:44:04
Emeka
It's so impressive to see MLS do it. And like you said, out of position. He's not a fullback. And a fullback under Arteta, I feel like he's the hardest position, one of hardest positions to play in. And he's come in and just mastered it off the jump.
00:44:17
Emeka
like I look so forward to seeing his career pan out. But this season it was lot disappointments, but it has some bright spots. And one of the biggest bright spots.
00:44:25
Chino Onwuka
that was That was the one. Him and Ethan were there were the were the the two bright spots.
00:44:28
Emeka
Seeing those two.
00:44:32
Emeka
Magical. So definitely agree with you. 121 Young Player of the Year, Myles Lewis-Skelly. I got to show some Arsenal bias a little bit. and Last but not least, agree.
00:44:41
Chino Onwuka
That's not even biased, though. Again, when you look at some of the oh the players that were actually nominated for the the fraudulent PL award, those are all your Cole Palmers and your Saliba is still up for that nomination with the amount of minutes he's playing Prem.
00:44:59
Chino Onwuka
So if you're looking at this under 21, especially knowing how tough it's hard for to not just play, but be good at that level in the Prem because it's such a tough league.
00:45:00
Emeka
Yeah, ridiculous.
00:45:13
Chino Onwuka
And, you know, with the the age limit that we had, it was just Louis Skelly. It was, you know, Dean Hugison, it was maybe Tyler Dibling for a little bit. you know those are Those are really the young players I can speak of because yeah, it's probably at that 21, 23 year range where you know you start to feel like it's your time to shine in the pram.
00:45:37
Emeka
Yeah, no, I agree. it's It's hard to be a young 20-year-old and start on these teams. The poor I'm trying to make, it's hard. it's
00:45:46
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:45:46
Emeka
That's why it's so impressive what a 19-year-old is doing, it let alone, it yeah and love under 21. The guy's barely 19. So big ups to Miles Lewis-Skelly, and I agree.
00:45:54
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:45:56
Emeka
To me, it's almost even close. He was by far my younger player of the season.
00:45:58
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:00
Emeka
And last but not least, we have the player of the year, and Now this would be a boring segment if we did this award because it's Mo Salah. You know, let's be real here.
00:46:09
Chino Onwuka
snow yeah
00:46:09
Emeka
So I thought, let's switch it up a little bit. Besides Salah, who would be your player of the year? And for me, I'm going to give it to Alexander because...
00:46:23
Emeka
people don't People really sleep on i think the Messis and Ronaldos, even the Salahs and Hollands of the world, have shaped what it means to be a 20-goal score and the pre in a major league, especially the Premier League.
00:46:35
Emeka
It is bloody hard to score 20 goals in the Premier League. And for Isak, I saw a guy who took that step from a you know a young prospect to a bona fide superstar.
00:46:46
Emeka
The type of goals he was scoring, the pressure he put on defenders, the magic, the moments he take. He's one of those clinical finishers where you give him half a chance and he puts it away. It's so impressive to me what he was doing this year.
00:47:01
Emeka
and And especially in the season when you know Newcastle needed his goals because... not really we've looked at the team besides him and uh murphy no one else was really contributing he had to step up and carry them and know i gotta to give it up to ah to move my guy he had injury concerns he had people disrespect him a little bit saying is he worth the price tag when he moved i know my fellow arsenal fans were putting their nose up at all you know this guy's scoring 12 goals for associate dad this just shows what happens when you buy potential because
00:47:34
Chino Onwuka
six
00:47:35
Emeka
Six goals associated with that. This just happens when you look at profile, not stats, because sometimes you hit on a transfer, and my goodness, the Newcastle hit on this transfer, and it paid off big because he shot them up the Champions League this year.
00:47:47
Emeka
So, yeah obviously, again, it's most sell-off player of the year, but without him, I'd give second place to Alexander Isak.
00:47:54
Chino Onwuka
No, that that's that's it that's a good pick. I guess the other name I'd throw in there, and again, just to give them a pull, your props is Van Dyke. You know, he's he's the he's the captain of the team, leader of the team, still one of the best defenders in the world. So, you know, the other name I'd throw up there for, if if it's not Salah, you know, Isaac is a good shout. The other name I'd mention is Van Dijk.
00:48:14
Emeka
Hey, no beef with that. Well, there you have it. The 24-25 Premier League season. Love of the game awards. Hand it out. it's been It was a good season.
00:48:24
Emeka
I mean, you know.
00:48:25
Chino Onwuka
Those are some prestigious awards, man.
00:48:28
Emeka
Yeah, prestigious.
00:48:28
Chino Onwuka
Like, if...
00:48:29
Emeka
Come on now. Only the best of the best.
00:48:33
Chino Onwuka
If you didn't hear, for all the Prem players that are listening, if you didn't hear your name, like, we're just doing our best. Don't boycott us. Don't do it with Madrid. Don't do it with Benicius. You know, just step up your game next year, you might be the next one to win one of these awards, you know?
00:48:50
Emeka
Absolutely. Hey, listen, we we're non-biased people. We're non-biased. You ball, you get the call. As simple as that.
00:48:56
Chino Onwuka
I like that.
00:48:58
Emeka
But speaking of bias, though, we can't let this podcast wrap up without briefly talking about everyone's favorite team by everyone, everyone that matters, Arsenal. You know, it wasn't the greatest year, but I still think it was a great year a good year.
00:49:14
Emeka
And Chin already mentioned that he felt this season was a disappointment. So I want to ask you then, out of 10, considering the league, injuries, Champions League, cup performance, everything, what would you rate this Arsenal season out of 10?
00:49:32
Emeka
Interesting. And that's most important thing.
00:49:35
Chino Onwuka
where the standards are because we finished second, but we finished second with, you know, 74 points, 14 draws.
00:49:49
Chino Onwuka
We finished the season 10 points behind the league leaders when we had 84 points.
00:49:50
Emeka
Yeah, 40
00:49:57
Chino Onwuka
The season was ruined by...
00:50:01
Chino Onwuka
abysmal red cards which sucked a lot of joy out of it. I just think some so the reason i'd read out is not only because of what how the team played, but there are so many things that just sucked the joy out of the season. And it seemed like every time you overcame something, there'd be another body blow.
00:50:23
Chino Onwuka
So, okay, the red cards, stop you see red cards that didn't happen again for the rest of the season. Okay, we we find a way to battle through that. Then everyone's hamstrings gets starts getting snapped.
00:50:34
Emeka
Oh my goodness.
00:50:35
Chino Onwuka
position Then Jesus finally finds his form. You know, scores a hat-trick, scores two goals, and he blows his ACL in the other box. Then Gabriel, who's been our warrior best player this season, tears his ACL.
00:50:52
Chino Onwuka
You know, end of the season, Saliba... but sorry, not ACL. Gabriel hurts his hamstring. Saliba, he does his hammy at the end. Timber, who's been a warrior for us, you know, soldiering on.
00:51:06
Chino Onwuka
He has have surgery. So it's just something. I've even talked about our star boy, Saka. Like, it was just one thing after the other.
00:51:15
Emeka
Thank you.
00:51:15
Chino Onwuka
But we've talked about it before with some great moments inter-sped. you know if Miles and Ethan, Haley and Boyce coming up and and and showing what they can do.
00:51:30
Chino Onwuka
The 5-1 over Man City. Stay humble. The goals. Ethan's curler at the end. I'll never forget that. The two magnificent victories over Madrid. Those two, Declan Rice, free kicks.
00:51:44
Chino Onwuka
I think... Those were big, big highlights for the season and just highlights in terms of of of Arsenal fans and their memories over multiple seasons, over the last decade or so.
00:51:45
Emeka
Thank you.
00:51:58
Chino Onwuka
But I think we were disappointed in the league, fell short you know probably reach due to a lot of circumstances you know and the Champions League, got to the semifinals, lost to the best team.
00:52:13
Chino Onwuka
So what can you do? And then the added fact is, were there things we could have done to avoid some of it? Like we we
00:52:22
Chino Onwuka
didn't do as much as we should have in the summer window, didn't do anything in in January. So just all those things mixed together is is why I'm giving you 6.5.
00:52:31
Emeka
at least 25.
00:52:31
Chino Onwuka
The standards have changed.
00:52:33
Emeka
Diamonds have changed. listen, I agree. just shows how happiness is a function of expectations because i would rate this season as a second out of 10.
00:52:40
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. while while the yeah
00:52:43
Emeka
I heard it 7 out of 10, and I'm disappointed, but not that I'm happy i'm overall all happy with it. and Just a.5 difference between the ratings. For all those points you said at the end, the emergence of the young Hillen kids, the magical night in Madrid, beating up Man City 5-1, another season where we don't lose to any of the other top six teams in the Prem.
00:53:03
Emeka
Yeah, we lost to Miami in the FA Cup and all the injuries. That knocks it down. But, you know, we still, at the end of the day, we still finished second, and we still made the semifinals of the Champions League. And, like, I look at things on ah on a big-picture level, but also on a week-to-week level. And week-to-week, I enjoyed, there were some rough stretches there, but overall, I did enjoy watching my team play, and I understood the reasons why we weren't doing well with the injuries and stupid red cards and all the other stuff. But you can't get control everything.
00:53:34
Emeka
I'll stick at 7 of 10. I think that's a fair. The previous two seasons I would have as a 9, a 9.5, but this year going to keep it a buck.
00:53:41
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:53:41
Emeka
7 out of 10, low disappointing. you know You never want to finish 10 points behind the first place and reach 4 points.
00:53:46
Chino Onwuka
been B minus. b B minus.
00:53:49
Emeka
EB-minus, yeah. And that's better than a lot of other teams, is what I'm going to I'm not at it.
00:53:51
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:53:55
Emeka
I'm mad. 6.57, same thing. I think we're on the same page. Hopefully, next year is a little bit higher. You slipped it in there, but just wanted to ask you, what so you're player of the season for Arsenal.
00:54:08
Emeka
Are you were on Big Gabby?
00:54:10
Chino Onwuka
It would have been until I think i think by the end of the season, you have to give it to Declan. I think he struggled, you know, little bit coming into the season. He played a lot of football.
00:54:21
Chino Onwuka
was clearly not fully fit, but I think he was, you know, maybe maybe maybe you give, you know, there's a little bit of what have you done for me lately? So I don't want to discount what Big Gabby was doing us for the whole season, but I think end the end of the day,
00:54:38
Chino Onwuka
you know, Stecklin Rice, but maybe i I'd want to give a, a, a, a co, just like they co MVPs back in the day, you know, a co awards, you know, for first half of the season, Gabrielle, second half of the season, Declan.
00:54:54
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. i feel good about that.
00:54:54
Emeka
Fair. i just feel in general for Wards, people tend to view hold the second half of the season higher than the first half.
00:55:03
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:03
Emeka
Yeah, it's more often. Most recently. That's why for me, got to go Gabrielle because you can mentioned it at the beginning. We were out here wondering whether Rice was carrying a ah secret injury. And that was when we were peak corner FC and Big Gabby was showing out. I mean, scoring goals in the North London Derby and just being moronting force back there.
00:55:23
Emeka
ah ah For the first season, I think I can confidently say he was better than Saliba all year. So, you know, I like to give my flow is there flowers, especially the lesser appreciated halves.
00:55:28
Chino Onwuka
yeah
00:55:34
Emeka
And I'm give Big D.
00:55:34
Chino Onwuka
and you And you see how we started struggling with set piece goals at the end of the season as well, I'm sure. Part of that was Gabrielle being out, Kai Havertz being out. So, yeah.
00:55:46
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:55:46
Emeka
100%. But I'm not mad at Rice at all. And, you know, he has the moment of the season by far with those free kicks and and against Madrid.
00:55:50
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:55:52
Emeka
I mean, now magical.
00:55:55
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:55:55
Emeka
Well, you know.
00:55:56
Chino Onwuka
And I think of up until a certain point, you know, Saka was probably going to run away with that award too. Because I think up until hes he was scorching.
00:56:02
Emeka
Yeah, beginning of the year? Huh. be i i just this the My one saddest part about the year is literally that point, that people have forgotten the level Saka was looking like he was ascending to to start the season.
00:56:12
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:56:16
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:56:16
Emeka
got hurt, and then he he came back a little bit, but yeah, he never really reached those heights again.
00:56:17
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:56:21
Emeka
and
00:56:21
Chino Onwuka
No, no.
00:56:23
Emeka
Bring it in next year, man. Don't worry. People will be slandering my guys, saying people like Rodrigo are better than him. That being said, Rodrigo, come to the Emirates.
00:56:30
Emeka
Prove me wrong. oh Before we sign off on European football, any final thoughts or comments on the European football season we just
00:56:30
Chino Onwuka
through
European Football Season Wrap-Up
00:56:37
Emeka
watched? Oh, my
00:56:39
Chino Onwuka
coming into this, before you just mentioned that, was going to say, you know, we have 11 weeks of
00:56:45
Chino Onwuka
that we have to somehow survive through before, before Prem football is back.
00:56:47
Emeka
goodness.
00:56:50
Chino Onwuka
So I don't know how we're going to do. Obviously we have, we're going to talk NBA soon. So that's going to get us through for another couple of weeks, but, it and I'm sure maybe we'll talk about this more in the future.
00:57:02
Chino Onwuka
I mean, it is transfer season. So um for some people, that's their favorite part of the season, but I guess maybe we have a little bit of a lifeline, forget nations league, but club world cup.
00:57:12
Chino Onwuka
Let's see.
00:57:12
Emeka
Yeah, hey, man.
00:57:14
Chino Onwuka
Let's see how we feel about it.
00:57:14
Emeka
Come and drink.
00:57:15
Chino Onwuka
So, yeah. So that's the thing.
00:57:19
Emeka
That's my... yeah
00:57:20
Chino Onwuka
Technically, the season isn't done.
00:57:22
Emeka
Not to say it's not over yet, but it's over.
00:57:22
Chino Onwuka
That's the way it's done. It's not done.
00:57:25
Emeka
It's over. That being said, I do agree with you. is ah ah and We were spoiled last summer. We were spoiled last summer with the Euros and the Copa America and the Olympics. This summer, um I'm very curious what I'm going to do with my time.
00:57:38
Emeka
And the Club World Cup might help out. Who knows? i'll give it ah I'll give it an open chance. It's in America, so time zone isn't so bad. you know watch it at work and see what happens. But yeah, this...
00:57:49
Emeka
always miss it when it's gone. i always really miss...
00:57:51
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
00:57:53
Emeka
It's such a constant in my life. It starts in August and ends...
00:57:55
Chino Onwuka
Today was a struggle, man. actually like baseball. I follow it, but yeah, I had nothing to watch about baseball.
00:58:05
Emeka
Yeah, at that time of year.
00:58:05
Chino Onwuka
lets Another thing I want to do, I want to give us a shout out. We we made it through a whole season. our first time doing this.
00:58:12
Emeka
Hell yeah.
00:58:12
Chino Onwuka
Shout out.
00:58:13
Emeka
Hell yeah.
00:58:14
Chino Onwuka
Shout out.
00:58:14
Emeka
We're not done yet. and be NBA is still going on. We've had ourselves in the back when we finish NBA. Yeah, I hope I'm in the week's season.
00:58:19
Chino Onwuka
We'll get through a whole Premier League season.
00:58:23
Emeka
Hey, look at us. Look at us.
00:58:26
Chino Onwuka
Respectful. Yeah.
00:58:28
Emeka
Oh, man. Hey, man. Well, like I said, the season's not over yet, guys. Don't worry. we're not We're still recording through the NBA Finals and maybe you know a couple episodes after that. So we're still was still so hanging in there.
00:58:40
Emeka
And...
00:58:40
Chino Onwuka
can't get rid of it that easily.
00:58:42
Emeka
Yeah, I can't give them us down. We're still – Premier League might be over. Football's over. Love of the game ain't over. And
NBA Finals Preview: Thunder vs Pacers
00:58:47
Chino Onwuka
Ever.
00:58:47
Emeka
as mentioned, the NBA Finals is starting off on Thursday.
00:58:52
Emeka
the You got the Indiana Pacers versus the Oklahoma City Thunder. But before we talk about that, just real quickly, yeah we had Shams Bomb about ah seven seven hours ago.
00:59:03
Emeka
And the New York Knickerbockers, after losing to the Pacers, fired Tom Thibodeau. Just quickly, what are your what are your thoughts on that on that signing? Would you have done the move? Would you agree with it? or do you think it's hasty?
00:59:18
Chino Onwuka
It's a weird one because it was a surprise, but I get it. Right. And I, and you, yeah, don't know you feel because like, yeah, he just took you to Western conference, Eastern conference final.
00:59:26
Emeka
Yeah.
00:59:34
Chino Onwuka
Sorry. beat, you legitimately beat the Celtics. I know people are going blame Tatum injury, but they were done before that. But,
00:59:41
Emeka
certain
00:59:42
Chino Onwuka
I feel like, you know, in 2025, like, is Thibs really it? You know, looking at the players that they have, right, I don't think Thibs really maximizes the pieces that they have. Like, with Jalen Brunson, with Cat, with Bridges, I think you've got to be a more offensive team than trying to be grit and grind. And so you have a situation where their offense – wasn't optimized, I would say. It was really just Brunson heliocentric, but not really heliocentric like, you know, ah James Harden or Doncic where they're creating for others as well.
01:00:25
Chino Onwuka
And are you using Cat in the best way you could? i don't think so. Like, okay, if he's going to be a liability on defense, you better maximize him on ah offense because that's what he brings.
01:00:37
Chino Onwuka
And are you for with everything that you did to to give up to get bridges? Are you maximizing him on offense as well? Like, yeah, he did amazing defensively, but he he's someone that can do a lot more for you offensively. So I just think with that, his his you know his minutes, distributions, like we know what Thibs is in this day and age. And I just think, you know, probably are he's taking them as far as he can.
01:01:06
Emeka
I think that's... at First, I was shocked because i I thought if he didn't make the a conference finals, he'd get fired. But he made the conference for his finals, and he beat the Celtics. And like you mentioned, I'm double down on this point.
01:01:19
Emeka
I don't want to hear it Tatum got hurt. Tatum got hurt when they were down The Knicks were going to win that series regardless. No one can tell me otherwise. So he legitimately beat the Celtics. And I thought beating the Celtics would buy him another year.
01:01:32
Emeka
I truly thought that.
01:01:32
Chino Onwuka
Mm-hmm.
01:01:33
Emeka
But I think... And it's funny because people just don't respect Indiana, but I think because they don't respect Indiana, seeing the Pacers smack them like that, come back from 20 twice in the first two games, and blow them out in game six, I think it just left a bad taste in the mouth of James Dolan, and He just thought we could get better. And it's funny. It took Thib's two and a half series to realize, I have a bench.
01:01:58
Emeka
Like, say what you want about the talent on the bench.
01:01:58
Chino Onwuka
hu
01:02:01
Emeka
He has a bench. And Landry Schaumann and DeLauw Wright were playing big minutes all of a sudden. Guys were getting DMPs the first two rounds. So clearly management are thinking, well, where was this all season then?
01:02:12
Chino Onwuka
yeah
01:02:12
Emeka
you You know what's bad? When the story came out, Mikael Bridges, a famous Ironman, has never missed a game with his in his NBA career. It came out, Mikael Bridges pulled Tibbs aside and said, we have to use our bench more.
01:02:24
Emeka
When stuff like that's leaking, it's usually writings on the wall. And so, i again, I thought he would get fired if they lost to Boston. After they beat Boston, I thought, all right, he bought himself another year.
01:02:36
Emeka
Turns out, I guess, how losing to the Pacers like that, Nolan just thought he could take another step. And I do agree. I think Phibs is a guy who takes you from a bad team to a good team.
01:02:47
Emeka
I just don't know if he takes you from a good team to a great team.
01:02:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:02:50
Emeka
And that's where the news coming now.
01:02:50
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Like, and and just even to your point about Bridges, like, think about it. I think they had enough pieces where they could have staggered minutes so much more and, you know, rested their players but still had decent lineups on the floor. Like, you have three, I don't want to, not superstars, but three stars in in Bronson, Cat, and and Bridges. You could have, and great role players in OG and Josh Hart. You can have find found a way to to optimize those minutes better. So Thibs is who Thibs has been.
01:03:27
Chino Onwuka
You know what he is. You know what he'll do.
01:03:28
Emeka
Exactly.
01:03:29
Chino Onwuka
going give the starters 40 minutes and they'll they'll break down. Yeah, it is what it is.
01:03:37
Emeka
It is what it is. hey man. god Best of luck to
01:03:39
Chino Onwuka
And maybe it's a situation where they see certain coaches out on the market, you know Mike Malone, Taylor Jenkins, and thought, yeah, you know there's actually... Because one of those things where like we talk about in football, okay, if you fire this guy, then who? Well, there's there's some really decent options in in the coaching market this year with with all the firings that have gone on.
01:04:02
Emeka
I agree. and i look really I'm really curious to see who the Knicks hire because this is the best Knicks team of our lifetime. so you know They finally hire lot of actually have to pick the litter and attract someone decently big name, I feel like, even if it's a college guy.
01:04:17
Chino Onwuka
mm-hmm
01:04:19
Emeka
I'm really curious who steps up and and takes the Knicks job. But That's for the offseason. Right now, we got a game going on. And like I mentioned, the NBA Finals starts on Thursday between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the any ah Pacers.
01:04:33
Emeka
Before we get into predictions, something i I noted and surprising me is Oklahoma City are the heavy favorites. They are the third biggest favorite in the last decade, only behind the 17 18 Warriors, the KD Warriors.
01:04:51
Emeka
Literally every non-KD Warrior team, they are the most du at the highest favorite. This is over the Celtics last year, the Nuggets against the Heat, the Lakers against the Heat. I don't know. that' Is that to you or surprising? Because to me, I think that's kind of surprising.
01:05:07
Chino Onwuka
i I get it because this is a team that finished sixty eight and fourteen with the highest point differential in NBA history in a bloody Western Conference without Chet Holmgren for, what, three-fifths of the season?
01:05:27
Chino Onwuka
So they are are that good. We haven't seen a team be this dominant in the league. As good as the Celtics were, i think they were a team that could sort of blow hot and cold and play with their food a little bit.
01:05:41
Chino Onwuka
These, these thunder aren't that the only thing you can say to them is that they're, they're inexperienced. And even with the inexperience, look at what they've done to to the rest of the NBA. And so I think it's a combination of that.
01:05:53
Chino Onwuka
And, you know, in spite of how well the Pacers have done, the Pacers aren't your,
01:05:58
Emeka
Thank you.
01:06:02
Chino Onwuka
23, 24 Celtics. They're not your LeBron James heat. And so I think that that is playing a factor. into You could be a better team than the Pacers and the Thunder would still be the favorites.
01:06:18
Emeka
Yeah, I agree that Sunni should be the favorites. it To me, just the extent of it. Minus 700 is crazy in the finals. Again, third highest is outside the KD Warriors, which were just an unfair team.
01:06:25
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:06:29
Emeka
But higher, are you telling me?
01:06:30
Chino Onwuka
but i When we're looking at about the the third highest, right I think you also have to consider who those other great teams were playing.
01:06:30
Emeka
100%.
01:06:41
Chino Onwuka
And that plays a factor into the odds too, because the Stringer Warriors were playing, regardless of what he had, it was playing you know the Cavs with LeBron on it and Kyrie.
01:06:43
Emeka
hundred
01:06:54
Emeka
Yeah, I agree. But like to me, I compare this to Nuggets and Heat where I thought there was no chance at all that he were going to win that series. That's where i i should I have this series ah around there.
01:07:06
Chino Onwuka
and yeah yeah yeah
01:07:07
Emeka
Not even Oklahoma are twice as high a favorite than Denver were in that series.
01:07:12
Chino Onwuka
yeah
01:07:12
Emeka
That means that was a match. That's why I'm just shocked at how overwhelming it is for OKC to be the favorites.
01:07:14
Chino Onwuka
but
01:07:19
Emeka
It just shows the respect that people have for them. And and i think you said, why not? Best point differential besides the the Denver Nuggets smacked up the West, lost one game combined between the Grizzlies and the Timberwolves.
01:07:31
Emeka
So, I mean, I get it. They are the should be the favorites. I'm no problem with that at all. I just think minus 700.
01:07:37
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, the magnitude, yeah. No, fair enough.
01:07:41
Emeka
is insane, but, you know, it's fair enough because, i mean, I'd be very shocked if the Pacers won this series, I'll put it that way, and I've been picking the Pacers all throughout.
01:07:52
Emeka
But before we go to our final predictions, just real quick, anything you're looking forward to to watching in this series? Any matchups or storylines or...
01:08:00
Chino Onwuka
First of all, real quick, what what in terms of the tally of our scoring, where are we at going into the finals?
01:08:06
Emeka
oh we'll get there. No worries. For predictions, we'll get there.
01:08:09
Chino Onwuka
Okay, okay. What am I looking forward to?
01:08:13
Chino Onwuka
I'm looking forward to
01:08:16
Chino Onwuka
watching good basketball with what I think should be a ah good clash of styles, even though I think one style is going to maybe smother the other one. And I'm looking forward to the first Canadian Finals MVP, to be honest.
01:08:33
Emeka
Hey, you Nimhart fan. think he's going to have a good series? here
01:08:40
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, no, I just... What am i i just looking forward to the files I'm just looking forward to just basketball. I just think... I don't know. I feel weird because I feel like I've been... Again, to people out there, I like the Pacers.
01:08:56
Chino Onwuka
I've just... They've been exceeding my expectations so far this season. When we get to the predictions, it's probably going to sound like I'm hating on them again. I just feel like... I feel like the OKC are the overwhelming favorites, so...
01:09:10
Chino Onwuka
In terms of narratives, I can't, the narrative is I'm what i'm expecting to see, you know, beat down.
01:09:10
Emeka
and
01:09:19
Emeka
I can't challenge. him we'll get a bit
01:09:20
Chino Onwuka
How about you? How about you?
01:09:21
Emeka
We'll get there, but I can't challenge that.
01:09:23
Chino Onwuka
what what What are you expecting to see? What are you looking forward to?
01:09:26
Emeka
yeah well What I'm looking for is, like you mentioned, the class of styles. They're both two teams that love to play fast. But in particular, Tyrese Halliburton has had an amazing playoff run.
01:09:37
Emeka
And his assist to turnover ratio is unheard of. He just does not turn the ball over. Ten turnovers total in the Knicks series. And now he's going up against a team that forces the most turnovers.
01:09:50
Emeka
And they're going to be guarded by aggressive guys like Caruso and Dort. And something I've been noticing is if your best player is a guard and you're playing the Thunder, you're going to have a bad time.
01:10:01
Emeka
So I'm just podcasting, hyping up Halliburton, calling him, you know, top 10. top top ten Well, he's got to show me something in series because I think it's going to be a long series for him.
01:10:14
Emeka
I think it's going to be a long series for him.
01:10:17
Chino Onwuka
and Actually, more my my hope is is just health. i don't I don't want a situation where you know both teams, either team is sort of you know you know less than because of injury. I want both teams to be healthy. That's the other thing.
01:10:33
Emeka
Hey, I hope so. hope so. And, uh, wrapping this podcast up, we have the predictions. And, uh, as my man, you know, said throughout the, throughout the playoffs, you predicting series and we'll be keeping tally.
01:10:45
Emeka
And, uh, I'm sure you guys have noticed the only two of us today. That's because Chukwu has been eliminated because he's a third place in our rankings of nine total points. Second place. We have a channel with 13 total points. And, uh,
01:11:01
Emeka
Comfortable, comfortable first. You have your boy with 15 because I'm the only one who keeps picking the Pacers. that's That's what's carrying me this playoff. I keep picking the Pacers.
01:11:12
Emeka
Sadly, I think that prediction run ends this series because I just, I love the Pacers and I really want to act like they can do something.
01:11:24
Emeka
But in my heart of hearts, I do agree with you, you know. I think this is going to be a beat down. I have it okay seeing five.
01:11:33
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, I'm with you. I was like, yeah as you can tell, i've been keeping it safe. Even when I thought teams were over-wing favorites, I've been saying six. But, yeah, I'm going to go five as well, man. I don't know.
01:11:48
Chino Onwuka
I think think ah think if anything, if there's like a 20-point lead, what what has helped Pacers is they've been able to overwhelm some big leads.
01:12:00
Chino Onwuka
I feel like Thunder should know enough to try and avoid that. I feel like there's a game where either Pacers will legitimately play well or OKC will just give it up. I think outside of that, unless there's injuries, yeah, I think, yeah, five games.
01:12:16
Emeka
Hey, honestly, that's a fair point. I even think about that. Like, I feel like Thunder have known to be giving up leads a little bit, and the Pacers are the best team at coming back. So I can see stealing a game like that. I can see it. But like I mentioned, I just feel your best player is a perimeter player, OKC is by far the worst matchup for that. They just have too many guys to throw at you between Dort, Caruso, Kaysen Wallace, even SGA and J-Dubb.
01:12:41
Emeka
Halliburton is going to have great defender on him the entire series. No mismatches to exploit.
01:12:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:12:48
Emeka
So, yeah, it's kind of...
01:12:48
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:12:52
Emeka
I mean, Baseman could surprise us. Who knows? But I think...
01:12:55
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. It happened the whole thing up.
01:12:55
Emeka
Yeah.
01:12:57
Chino Onwuka
So yeah.
01:12:58
Emeka
Yeah. But I do think it's going to be you know a bad ending if after this exciting playoffs, it just ends up being an OKC beatdown. So I'm rooting for the Pacers to steal one of the first two games.
01:13:09
Emeka
Let's make people
NBA Broadcasting Changes and Legacy
01:13:09
Emeka
sweat a little bit. Let's get excited.
01:13:10
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, that that's, yeah, because if if the Thunder win first two games, then yeah, it's, it's a wrap.
01:13:17
Emeka
You know, yeah. who
01:13:19
Chino Onwuka
Pacers have been better on the road.
01:13:21
Emeka
Exactly. So, well, I look forward to this.
01:13:25
Chino Onwuka
ni
01:13:26
Emeka
mean, we're
01:13:26
Chino Onwuka
Maybe you wrap up. I guess, you know, one other thing we should do is you know, give our our salutations to the NBA on TNT.
01:13:38
Chino Onwuka
They just had their their last game. Any thoughts?
01:13:42
Emeka
I think this whole thing is hilarious because they're literally keeping going next year. Like, we're going to be inside the NBA the next year going to be on different network.
01:13:51
Chino Onwuka
but we we would be i didn So I didn't say inside the NBA, I said NBA on TNT. But do you think think it'll be the same or is ESPN going to find a way to screw it up?
01:13:57
Emeka
Uh...
01:14:01
Emeka
Oh, he's really going to screw it up. and And fair enough.
01:14:03
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:14:04
Emeka
i do it It'll be worse, but I do find this whole everyone crying and giving their thing. They're keeping the same production team. everyone Everyone's keeping their jobs. They're keeping the same studio. It's going be the exact same show, just a different network.
01:14:16
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:14:17
Emeka
So we're in
01:14:17
Chino Onwuka
It's not even just a network. I was like, what's the difference between the ESPN show pregame, halftime, postgame? I think it's just the length because when you watch the ESPN stuff, they talk for like 30 seconds and then it's commercials.
01:14:33
Emeka
That's why they're going to ruin the show.
01:14:33
Chino Onwuka
If ESPN does the same thing with commercials, then it doesn't matter what they try to do. It's going to make it suck because you have to give these guys time to breathe and talk.
01:14:40
Emeka
Exactly.
01:14:42
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:14:43
Emeka
That's why they're going to ruin the show for that exact reason. ESPN halftime is just ads.
01:14:47
Chino Onwuka
yeah
01:14:48
Emeka
They just exist to sell ads. Whereas TNT gives these guys room to have shenanigans.
01:14:50
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:14:53
Emeka
Hey, one positive though.
01:14:54
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:14:55
Emeka
ah get to the finals. For the first time, we're going to see inside the NBA in the finals. So, you know, it works out a little bit. I'm looking i'm looking forward to that. I always feel weird when they you know they go to the conference finals and they dip out.
01:15:08
Emeka
So let's i get see them do the finals now.
01:15:08
Chino Onwuka
Really good. Yeah.
01:15:10
Emeka
But, you know, I will say all my life I've watched the NBA on TNT. It's just I associate the NBA with TNT, TNT Thursdays, all that stuff. So will be the end of an era next year when it goes to NBC and Amazon.
01:15:25
Emeka
I just want to say real quick, ah shout out to Canada. I complain about the duopoly and monopoly on TV and and telecommunications. Times like this, I appreciate it because yeah my American brothers are paying for five different platforms to watch NFL and NBA these days.
01:15:41
Emeka
I just got to pay for TSN and Sportsnet.
01:15:41
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:15:43
Emeka
and Everything's on one of those two. Sometimes a case to have monopolies.
01:15:45
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:15:47
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. you For sure. For sure. Yeah. And I don't know if you, but it's always, i think this crops up at least once a year, but you know, when people start posting like some of their favorite or funniest clips from inside the NBA and what what these guys have been able to get away with is just hilarious. Like,
01:16:06
Emeka
Hey, like Shaq said, they're not here to around. you know His last episodes, I'm the swear to swear too.
01:16:12
Chino Onwuka
for
01:16:13
Emeka
It's incredible. the The leeway, the rope they get. They can say whatever the F they want. And remember the stories and the clips.
01:16:19
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:16:22
Emeka
It's just Charles Barkley, man. Charles Barkley is a national treasure.
01:16:24
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, Charles.
01:16:25
Emeka
A national treasure.
01:16:26
Chino Onwuka
Oh, man. Yeah.
01:16:29
Emeka
But again, they're going anywhere. is why i feel like I don't feel sad because I'm still going watch them next year. I'm going watch the exact same team next year.
01:16:34
Chino Onwuka
They can rob Pat McAfee to do the stuff he does. Give these guys give these guys the leeway, too
01:16:41
Emeka
I hope so. I hope they they change it and realize that like it's you can sell less ad space but more valuable ad space because people are gonna watch the halftime show now. People watch the postgame show now because it has inside the NBA.
01:16:51
Chino Onwuka
Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:54
Emeka
So you don't have to have them for 20 seconds.
01:16:55
Chino Onwuka
yeah
01:16:58
Chino Onwuka
Yeah.
01:16:59
Emeka
The second they bring Stephen A on the show, though, I'm going to tap out. That's going to be the signal that the show has kicked the bucket.
01:17:02
Chino Onwuka
Oh my God.
01:17:07
Emeka
the I know Stephen A is be recurring guest on the show, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I am happy they're sticking around. They're on ESPN, get to do the finals. I got to see Charles do all this stuff with you know and move forward. and For all we know, NBC and Amazon could kill it.
01:17:23
Emeka
I like some of the guys they've hired. Dirk, Blake Griffin, I think, are doing it.
01:17:27
Chino Onwuka
those guys Those guys are going hard. Those guys are going hard.
01:17:29
Emeka
Yeah, they're bringing in guys. Who knows? go be Maybe they fill in the blank. But the issue is, yeah, MJ.
01:17:33
Chino Onwuka
Oh, yeah, MJ. MJ.
01:17:37
Emeka
MJ is coming out. Hey, that's a depression indicator. Even MJ is coming out of work, retirement to work. So who knows? Maybe these people kill it, but there's just something magical about inside the NBA. That's the thing I'll say. There's just something special about them.
01:17:50
Emeka
You can have all the, you know, the only show I think is coming
01:17:53
Chino Onwuka
Yeah, it's going to be...
01:17:56
Emeka
to matching them is CBS Champions league coverage. It's just something about the vibes of that squad.
01:18:01
Chino Onwuka
for
Podcast Conclusion and Future Topics
01:18:02
Chino Onwuka
For sure, for sure.
01:18:03
Emeka
And, you know, I'm glad they're sticking around. Just on a different network. So, they ain't going anywhere.
01:18:09
Chino Onwuka
Nope, I agree.
01:18:09
Emeka
Well, I hope, you know, hey, we keep doing this podcast. Maybe one day people talk about us. They talk about inside the NBA. That's the...
01:18:17
Chino Onwuka
That's impossible.
01:18:19
Emeka
That's the hope. We got some ways to go, though. As always, we appreciate you guys rocking with us. A little two-man action, pick and roll with me and Chinna, episode 27, The Love of the Game. Stick around next week as we talk about the finals, the Club World Cup, and any juicy transfer for news we might think is worth covering.
01:18:37
Emeka
Hope you join us next week on The Love of the Game.