The Red and Blue Soccer Chat – 3/8/23

Greetings, Red and Blue soccer fans! We’ve kept you waiting for too long. Work, vacation, life. They all happen. But so did some footy in the past month. And the results have been… interesting? Chelsea’s February went from bad to worse, with a string of successive losses culminating with a 2-0 defeat in their London Derby away to Spurs. But March has seen a slight uptick in results and performances. An important win against a struggling Leeds was enough to lift the mood around the Bridge, but it was their far more impressive performance against Borussia Dortmund to recover their second leg in the Champions League and go through to the next round. Graham Potter will hope to carry that momentum into a tricky tie with a wobbling Leicester before their last game of the March calendar against an Everton side sliding toward relegation. Manchester United. Until Sunday they had been one of the most in-form teams in Europe. Their only blot a hard-fought loss against a truly impressive Arsenal side; they followed that with 7 games unbeaten and 2 great wins along the way: a come-from-behind victory against Barcelona that saw them advance to the next round of the Europa and an easy win over Newcastle in the Carabao Cup Final. Manchester United carried themselves into Anfield on a high after winning their first trophy in several years. And for 43 minutes they continued to be the side we’ve seen for months now. And then against the run of play, it all went pear-shaped. Cody Gakpo turned Diogo Dalot way too easily before finishing coolly past de Gea. And then the route was on. United ultimately shipped 7 against their biggest rivals, and the inquests about nearly every player have come thick and fast. Perhaps a bit over the top in most cases, but how they respond against Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa league tie will go a long way toward showing us whether this was another false dawn or if they have the mental fortitude to put a bad result behind them and continue to pursue 3 more trophies. The USMNT heads into the brief international window at the end of March with questions that still need answered. And they will need to show more than they did against Serbia and Colombia to convince the fans that they are any closer to answering them. No news as yet to the squad being called in, but another heavily domestic-based squad is expected. We’ll be discussing all that as well as some “Hey, Aaron!”. So, join us at 7:00 p.m. at Chatham Tap Fishers, on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, or catch us at your leisure on our other platforms listed below. Please like, subscribe, and comment wherever you choose to find us. CHEERS! ⚽🍺⚽🍺⚽🍺⚽🍺 #TheRedandBlueSoccerChat #ChelseaFC #manchesterunited #USMNT #theevanandaaronshow https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIH_XXtwLOX74un6Jr367HA https://www.facebook.com/TheEvanAndAaronShow https://open.spotify.com/show/7gC93OQZpUrk1ZKkHG7bya instagram.com/theredandbluesoccerchat https://anchor.fm/redbluesoccerchat --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/redbluesoccerchat/support