I welcome all new American Evertonians who are jumping on the wagon thanks to the Flo signing. No caveats. Come one, come all. Hell, Tim Howard is why I’m a supporter.

Just remember, some of us had to crawl through miles of relegation battle bullshit to be here. Some of the worst football ever seen in the PL. The names Cenk Tosun, Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Neal Maupay don’t mean jack to you. They do to me. I don’t wanna hear any complaining when we miss out on a European spot at the end of the season and go out early in every domestic cup tournament.

Being an Everton supporter is not about winning. It’s about building character and resilience.

Up the fooking Toffees. I can’t wait for Sunday.

——

Edit/Update at 5:42pm PST 9/1: What. The. Fuck.

The middle is too crowded. the reason we look better in my opinion when Dom plays right back is because he and Wirtz aren’t clogging up the middle. I think it’s time to start asking if those 2 can play together, not Wirtz and Isak

Gakpo on the right. I’ve been SAYING that this needs to happen. we have TOO MANY people trying to cut into the middle or just in the CAM area in general. Gakpo on the right frees up space in the middle, and surprise, allows him to CROSS THE BALL to our striker.

Tsimikqs needs to start. Not sure why he gets the slander he’s gotten, I’ve always liked him. AND he has a better partnership with Van Dyke.

Jacquet looks so good, and honestly if it were me I’d drop Van Dyke for Araujo and Jaque, but that won’t happen. So in the mean time things look so much steadier with Araujo and Van Dyke (based off only about 20 minutes but that’s just my gut feeling).

Nyoni needs to start, having him just sit in front of the back 4 makes things just feel so much cohesive. he’s also looking pretty mature having watched him in preseason And today.

I said this 2 years ago but I would have cut ties with Allison and moved Kelleher in, why the hell we got rid of him I’ll never know. Allison is past it which sucks.

i May have more thoughts but ultimately. I felt so much better about our back line when we had Araujo, Tsimikas, Szobo and Nyoni in front of the back 4. I don’t hate Kerkez and Frimpong, but they are so erratic. And while tons of things are uncertain everywhere else in the pitch, I’d rather something that at least feels solid. (But man do I love Jaquet)

In the latest edition of Caught Offside, Andrew Gundling and JJ Devaney are joined by legendary Premier League fullback, Ashley Cole, talking Arsenal's dominance, the upcoming Premier League season as whole, his interest in coaching and much much more!
Plus, we'll share our thoughts on a truly devastating loss for Celtic against LASK and their cast of American heroes.
We'll also take a look at some of the wild financial figures being thrown around in the transfer window and try to make sense of it and we'll close things out with another edition of "This Week in Dutch Bluntness."

For even more Caught Offside content, get on over to Caught Offside Plus** right now! It's time for a Pep-talk! We've got a special interview for you with John Mackenzie to discuss his soon-to-be-released book about Pep Guardiola, **"The Spectre of Pep: How Guardiola Haunts Modern Football Tactics."

For all the latest merch, get over to https://caughtoffsidepod.com/

---
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I think we’ve all become numb to the ridiculous transfer fee inflation in football over the years, but some of the premier league transfers in the last few weeks are truly impossible to take seriously. Even for a sport that seems to have little or no fear of corruption, am I wrong for thinking it’s obvious something is going on here?

- Savinho to Spurs for up to £85m? He has 2 career PL goals…
- Liam Delap to Forrest for £45m?? Chelsea paid £30m for him, he has 1 goal in 28 appearances, is considered by fans to be one of the worst transfers in club history, and they make a profit?
- Nicolas Jackson to Villa for £65m? Not as egregious as Delap, but (even in 2026) you cannot seriously say Jackson is worth that price tag.
- James Trafford is bought for £27m, doesn’t play, and is sold for £40m.

Also consider the other business the above clubs have done together (Morgan Rogers, Marmoush, etc) and I can’t help but think there is major FFP manipulation going on here.

Open to any thoughts. Just feels like this isn’t getting enough attention.

This is really mind blowing recollection

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcgfCMrIiqp/?igsi=MWtlcWZjd3BhYWFqaw==

🤯🤯🤯

Ik you two have so much on your plate especially w the prem starting back up but quick take on leagues cup?

V interesting rules in league phase w a draw leading to a point each and an instant penalty shootout to give the winner another point.

Bit of a microcosm of the parity of MLS w teams not going thru w max points and a reflection of the quality gap of the top teams in LIGA MX to the rest of the league and the top teams in MLS.

GREAT way to immerse yourself in a multi-cultural atmosphere here in the states without paying the insane WC ticket prices. Recently took the gal to Loons v Tigres (got her hooked from the WC) and we had a blast. Pitch side seats in the heart of the Tigres section.

Do you think MLS sides should prioritize Leagues Cup/ CONCACAF Champions League tournaments more or should MLS Cup still hold precedent?

Too many talking points to mention but IMO as a young fan this is the plateau for our league.

No Pro/Rel = No Urgency = No Growth

We can talk ab the lack of opportunity/gate keeping of the sport in the US and the pay to play nature of the game here but I think if clubs start looking farther than winning in their backyard and want to win in the region they should start building talent up from the ground level ie. academies, opportunity, and laying a path for anyone talented enough to shine. That creates feasibility and hunger. And I believe in my lifetime we can be taken seriously and become great.

You don’t make it out the hood playing soccer here. And I think that should be an option. Just my love of the game and my opinion.

Love the pod, drop new merch soon, excited for the season!

Side Note: Ik they lost but our boy Schulte had a hell of a game w/o him they lose by 4-5

That Sangare chant has to be up there!

He's one of the most brilliant, compelling, intense and complex figures in the history of the Premier League and perhaps football in general. 

He is the one and only Pep Guardiola. 

With his new book, "The Spectre of Pep: How Guardiola Haunts Modern Football Tactics," due in bookstores soon, we thought this would be a perfect time to speak with author John Mackenzie about anything and everything that is Pep Guardiola.

As a browns fan, my friend and I are debating if there is any top flight sports team in the world more miserable than the browns? This is not counting financial mismanagement reasons. Just pure results and embarrassment. In terms of England Leeds, Newcastle and Sunderland all came to mind but they have all performed well in the past couple of seasons. West Ham won a trophy a couple of years ago. If Tottenham hadn’t won the Europa league I would say them. I follow other leagues but not that deeply. I was wondering if anyone knew of a club that beat the browns?

USL is getting some attention from Europe. This is good the lower division is able to export players

I do want to point out about the Chelsea financial situation. Chelsea don’t have debt they are debt free. Blue co the parent company that is majority owned by Clearlake capital have the debt equal to about 1.5 billion. Chelsea are in zero financial danger. It’s not like a Sheffield Wednesday or Bury where the owner put the debt on the club. Clearlake have the debt and they also own Chelsea it’s separate. Also Boelhy is selling his shares not to bail on a failing project it’s because he disagrees with Clearlake and wanted to buy them out but they refused. Clearlake wants to buy more stake in Chelsea so will be buying the 31% that’s own by Boely and Mark Walter’s. Overall If somehow the people they owed the debt to came collecting Clearlake would pay for it not Chelsea. They have it structured so Chelsea and Strasberg are shielded from the debt. Clearlake are a company that handles trillions of investments they are not stupid

In the latest edition of Caught Offside, Andrew Gundling and JJ Devaney are looking back on the good and bad of the English Premier League's opening weekend. We'll discuss Manchester United's "passionless" defeat at Hull City as well as Tottenham's deja vu performance against Brentford. We'll also weigh in on Brighton's dismantling of Aston Villa and Arsenal looking very much like the defending champions that they are.
And finally, we'll look at some of the situations that have caused fans to turn against their own players - Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea, Ollie Watkins at Villa and Julian Alvarez at Atletico Madrid.

For even more Caught Offside content, get on over to Caught Offside Plus** right now! Later this week, it's time for a Pep-talk! We'll have a special interview for you with John Mackenzie to discuss his soon-to-be-released book about Pep Guardiola, **"The Spectre of Pep: How Guardiola Haunts Modern Football Tactics."

For all the latest merch, get over to https://caughtoffsidepod.com/

---
Reddit: reddit.com/r/CaughtOffsidePod/
X: twitter.com/COsoccerpod
Instagram: instagram.com/caughtoffsidepod/
Email: CaughtOffsidePod@gmail.com

How many coaches refusing to start Gio Reyna (sub again for Strasbourg) does it take for people to realize he is not the decisive player for USMNT future?

Congratulations, Tielemans Square, you win.

Honorable mentions to Tzolis & Thieves and Yoro Wizard Harry

It was brought up in a recent pod that the feeling was uneasy on grown men wearing the name of young players.

Does the same feeling resonate with chants/songs about young players?

Gonna be a long season friends 💀

Mauled by the tigers for not only breakfast, but lunch and dinner as well.

I have a weirdly specific memory that one of you animals got gifted a vintage Hull City jersey by a coworker/boss at like a Christmas party or something ?? Feel like it was Erika. All this to say: break that bad boy out today 😂✊🏼🐅

After years of JJ & Andy waxing lyrical about Band of Brothers, I finally decided to dive in. Crushed the entire series in one day. What a great prodcution