Gabriele MarcottiJan 19, 2026, 07:53 AM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Follow on X
play1:27Laurens ‘appalled’ by Man City in loss vs. Man UnitedJulien Laurens discusses what he thinks the issues are at Manchester City after their loss to Manchester United.
play1:36’How many players!?’ Burley slams Man City’s signing spreeCraig Burley questions why Pep Guardiola would need to add more players to his Manchester City squad.
play2:53Should Senegal be punished for AFCON final walk-off vs. Morocco?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Senegal’s walk-off after a late penalty decision for Morocco.
play1:29’Worst penalty I’ve seen in my life!’ – Udoh on Brahim Diaz’s PanenkaColin Udoh explains the chaos in the AFCON final between Morocco and Senegal before Brahim Diaz’s missed penalty.
play2:52Michallik: I can’t see Thomas Frank staying at TottenhamESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts to Tottenham’s shocking 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League.
play1:11Ogden: Arsenal could become ‘weakest champions in a long time’Mark Ogden argues that Arsenal are top of the Premier League because of the deficiencies of their title rivals, rather than their own quality.
play1:51Are Chelsea taking positive steps under Liam Rosenior?ESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts Liam Rosenior claiming his first Premier League victory as Chelsea head coach.
Could Carrick be offered the permanent Man United managerial role? (2:20)Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate whether Michael Carrick could be offered the Manchester United job after his impressive start. (2:20)
Laurens ‘appalled’ by Man City in loss vs. Man UnitedJulien Laurens discusses what he thinks the issues are at Manchester City after their loss to Manchester United.
Julien Laurens discusses what he thinks the issues are at Manchester City after their loss to Manchester United.
‘How many players!?’ Burley slams Man City’s signing spreeCraig Burley questions why Pep Guardiola would need to add more players to his Manchester City squad.
Craig Burley questions why Pep Guardiola would need to add more players to his Manchester City squad.
Should Senegal be punished for AFCON final walk-off vs. Morocco?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Senegal’s walk-off after a late penalty decision for Morocco.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Senegal’s walk-off after a late penalty decision for Morocco.
‘Worst penalty I’ve seen in my life!’ – Udoh on Brahim Diaz’s PanenkaColin Udoh explains the chaos in the AFCON final between Morocco and Senegal before Brahim Diaz’s missed penalty.
Colin Udoh explains the chaos in the AFCON final between Morocco and Senegal before Brahim Diaz’s missed penalty.
Michallik: I can’t see Thomas Frank staying at TottenhamESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts to Tottenham’s shocking 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League.
ESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts to Tottenham’s shocking 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League.
Ogden: Arsenal could become ‘weakest champions in a long time’Mark Ogden argues that Arsenal are top of the Premier League because of the deficiencies of their title rivals, rather than their own quality.
Mark Ogden argues that Arsenal are top of the Premier League because of the deficiencies of their title rivals, rather than their own quality.
Are Chelsea taking positive steps under Liam Rosenior?ESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts Liam Rosenior claiming his first Premier League victory as Chelsea head coach.
ESPN FC’s Janusz Michallik reacts Liam Rosenior claiming his first Premier League victory as Chelsea head coach.
New Man United (sort of), same old Man City (sort of)
AFCON final will be remembered for the wrong reasons
Rino Matarazzo, Real Sociedad stop Barcelona on cursed night at Anoeta
This weekend in soccer gave us plenty to break down across Europe’s top leagues and in some cup competitions, like the Africa Cup of Nations. Where should we begin?
Elsewhere, we have plenty to unpack in Serie A (with talking points galore around AC Milan and Inter Milan’s matches in particular), and with Liverpool (who were reunited with variance vs. Burnley), Bayern Munich (who appear set to smash every Bundesliga record), Crystal Palace (whose turmoil continues), Real Madrid (who won, but appear to be drifting) and much more.
Laurens ‘appalled’ by Man City in loss vs. Man United
‘How many players!?’ Burley slams Man City’s signing spree
As for City, Guardiola might have put it best when he said that United “had something we did not have.” He’s right, but the question is whether it was due the “new manager bounce” or his own team’s deficiencies.
Even as they try to grind out results and chase Arsenal, City haven’t looked like the side of several years ago. There’s a cohesion that needs to be built, and it’s still a work in progress. Guardiola will need to sort it out on the training pitch amid major fixture congestion.
There’s enough talent to walk to second place in the league, and of course, anything can happen in the Champions League. But this group is far from its potential right now.
Should Senegal be punished for AFCON final walk-off vs. Morocco?
Ideally, we’d recall the good, with Pape Gueye scoring a stunning goal in injury time to give Senegal the 1-0 win and an Africa Cup of Nations crown over hosts (and heavy favorites) Morocco. Except there’s a lot more to it than that.
Because it’s football, inevitably, the conspiracy theorists were out in force suggesting that Morocco were being favored. That came to a head late in the game, when Ismaïla Sarr’s goal was disallowed after referee Jean-Jacques Ngambo Ndala called Abdoulaye Seck for a foul on Achraf Hakimi in the immediate buildup.
Deep in injury time, a penalty was awarded when El Hadji Malick Diouf bundled Brahim Díaz to the ground and all hell broke loose. Was it soft? To me, such incidents should be punished as fouls every single time. But if you haven’t been calling them all game, you can’t start doing so in the eighth minute of injury time. Senegal protested: their coach Pape Thiaw took all his players (except for Sadio Mané) off the pitch and into the dressing room for what felt like an eternity.
‘Worst penalty I’ve seen in my life!’ – Udoh on Brahim Diaz’s Panenka
When you have your own fans singing “sacked in the morning,” and when stories leak to the media that the club are looking for alternatives, the writing is usually on the wall for a manager. The “good” — or “least bad” — news for the embattled Thomas Frank is that they face Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in the Champions League. A win keeps their top 8 hopes alive, while a draw should be enough to secure a place in the playoff round. (A defeat and more bile from the crowd? Well …)
Michallik: I can’t see Thomas Frank staying at Tottenham
Frank said on Saturday that he felt like he had the confidence and backing of the club’s higher-ups. It’s hard to tell if his nose got any longer when he said that, but again, would you invest €40 million on Conor Gallagher — who, let’s face it, has a pretty specific skill set — if you were ready to axe your manager?
At some point, coaches who don’t get results and who get hammered by the fans enter a toxic death spiral. For all of Frank’s mistakes and misjudgments, I don’t think we’re there yet. Then again, I didn’t think that was for Enzo Marecsa at Chelsea or Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid, and we know how those situations ended …
Man, this is a weird sport. Even as Real Madrid endure one of the worst weeks in their history (see below), they somehow make up three points on Barcelona, who contrive to lose away to Real Sociedad, 2-1, in a game they utterly dominated, hitting the woodwork five times, seeing a number of goals disallowed and recording an xG of 3.68.
Burley praises ‘quality’ Real Sociedad win over Barcelona
Bayern are on track to score 134 league goals this season (the record is 101, set by — who else? — Bayern in 1971-72) and notch 94 points (the high-water mark is 91, set by Pep Guardiola’s Bayern). We’ve seen them dominate before, but this season feels different. The fact that they can half-ass the first 45 minutes and then switch on, road-grading the opposition, feels different too.
Ogden: Arsenal could become ‘weakest champions in a long time’
Ogden questions how Slot will deal with Mo Salah’s Liverpool return
That may have been the biggest talking point, but it’s certainly not the only teachable moment for Niko Kovac’s crew. With Fábio Silva preferred to Serhou Guirassy (again) up front, they were 2-0 up and cruising. With 30 minutes to go they had limited the opposition to 0.24 xG and it all looked easy peasy. But leads need to be defended, ideally by not conceding silly set pieces and keeping the ball in the opposition half, which is exactly what they didn’t do.
Are Chelsea taking positive steps under Liam Rosenior?
Frankly, it’s rather absurd because Juve played well and did more than enough to win a game they ended up losing 1-0. I’m not a Luciano Spalletti guy, but he’s getting a tune out of them, and the logical thing to do now is to persevere and tweak, especially with regard to Jonathan David up front.
On a practical level, they’re both wrong and both are hurting themselves. Very few coaches can get away with calling out their owners in public the way Glasner did. We’ve seen Jose Mourinho do it and we’ve seen Antonio Conte do it, but with the greatest of respect to Glasner, he’s not on their level (not yet, anyway). Stuff like this makes him less employable.
Moreno: ‘Major disconnect’ between Vini Jr. and whistling Real Madrid fans
1. Alvaro Arbeloa gets his first win, but the Bernabeu is burning: With anger, that is. There were boos, there were white handkerchiefs being waved (the infamous “panolada”), and there were calls for Florentino Perez to resign.
It began pre-game and it continued after a first half that saw Real Madrid muster just one shot on target for a total of xG of 0.39 against Levante, a side second-bottom with just one win in their last 10 league games. Goals from Kylian Mbappé (from the spot) and Raúl Asencio ultimately gave them a 2-0 win, but old-timers say such venom, especially towards Florentino, hadn’t been seen at the Bernabeu in 20 years — when he ended up resigning his post, in fact.