Libero

It is – it turns out – quite difficult to pin down an accurate definition of what 'bottling it' means and, therefore, which teams can be fairly described as having committed this failure of will in the past. Miguel Delaney, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson give it their best shot at outlining the true meaning of the phrase and discuss the most famous 'bottle jobs' in football history. With the nerve of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal being severely tested as they seek to end a 26-year wait for a Premier League title, are we about to see another egregious example of 'bottling it' or would it be unfair to apply that description to this Gunners side? All covered in a landmark episode of Libero.

P1: (02:43)

P2: (27:46)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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Jose Mourinho will take his Benfica team back to Real Madrid on Wednesday night, trying to get through to the last-16 of the Champions League.

It is now almost 13 years since Mourinho left Real Madrid but his three year spell there remains one of the most interesting periods in modern football. Never before or since has Florentino Perez handed over the keys to a coach so determined to work against his players rather than with them.

On today’s episode John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Jack Pitt-Brooke look back at Mourinho’s time at Real, the triumph of the 2011-12 La Liga win and the toxic descent in his final year. Was this the peak of his career? Or was it the turning point before it all started to go wrong?

P1: (06:26)

P2: (36:48)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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It’s Champions League punishment round week, which means clubs who were among the biggest and best in Europe 10 years ago are slogging it out to make it through to the last-16.

The question on today’s show is what these sides - especially Juventus, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund - can realistically achieve in a European game that is now stacked against them.

Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tariq Panja and James Horncastle discuss whether they ever build a competitive team to last, or whether they will just get picked off by the vultures at the first sign of success. And if they can’t hope to win any more, are they left with a sense of identity that they can fall back on?

P1: (10:28)

P2: (31:50)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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In a world where Jack Grealish becomes 'The Rest Station' and Jürgen Klopp insists that no playmaker can be as effective as counter-pressing, it is fair to say that the game's creative geniuses are being marginalised like never before. Has systems football stunted players' ability to think for themselves? Do free spirits have no place in modern tactics? A trio of Libero mavericks, Miguel Delaney, James Horncastle and Jonathan Wilson, attempt some free-thinking to discover the root cause of this troubling trend.

P1: (01:53)

P2: (27:44)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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Another week, another manager departed from the big chair at a traditional English heavyweight. It turns out Dr Tottenham does not have a cure for the club's own malaise and so Thomas Frank must go. Are Spurs trapped in a gilded cage of being the Premier League's sixth biggest club? Are the demands in north London unreasonable? Where will the Lewis family turn for their first appointment of the post-Daniel Levy era? John Brewin, Rory Smith and Jonathan Wilson pick through the issues.

P1: (02:00)

P2: (31:15)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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