The 3rd Circle

The Champions League Final between PSG and Arsenal is billed as a clash of styles.
But are these teams really as different as we think?
Both Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique have spoken about their dream of a system where all players are capable of playing everywhere.
Despite significant divergence in their interpretations, the two Spanish coaches are united in their reverence for the most powerful tactical philosophy of them all: TOTAL FOOTBALL
In this special Champions League Final Preview episode of The 3rd Circle, Jamie speaks to acclaimed author David Winner about his book "Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football".
The far-reaching discussion delves deep into the origins and characteristics of the Cruyffian paradigm.
Gorka provides a close reading of the conversation as our hosts contemplate the nature of football from Outside the Total architecture of spatialised football.

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What have we just witnessed?
PSG vs Bayern has caused a rupture in football's space-time continuum.
It is as though a portal has been opened to another dimension, and a barrage of possible futures has come flooding in.
But how much of this is real?
Does this game really herald the coming of a new age?
Or, is it a curious artefact that reflects our own biases back at us?
Is Mikel Arteta the heir to Diego Simeone's Haramball crown?
Or, was Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid another example of the game's most sophisticated tactical system at work?
All this, and more, as Muffi joins Jamie in The 3rd Circle.

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Muffi Burhani makes his inaugural journey into The 3rd Circle to help Jamie and Gorka pick apart the remains of the EPL's showpiece face-off.
No stone is left unturned as our crew sets controls for the heart of Manchester City vs Arsenal.
Jamie voices his concerns about straight-line wingers, Muffi delves into the intentions behind Arteta's squad-building ethos, and Gorka makes numerous self-proclaimed hot-tactical-takes - some of which even survived the Edit.

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Jamie and Gorka shield their eyes from the alluring glare of objective football theory as they place aesthetics front and centre of our experience.
Our hosts draw on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant to help explain why we can never establish contact with 'the-game-in-itself'.
Can we ever analyse a game objectively?
Does best practice exist?
Why does any of this even matter?
It's a philosophical deep-dive into The 3rd Circle.

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It's a Friday the 13th round-up show as Gorka joins Jamie in The 3rd Circle to slash through the narrative machine.
Why does Eberechi Eze look so out of sorts in Mikel Arteta's maximum efficiency super-system?
Is Guillem Balague the true voice of European Football?
Gorka picks through the shredded remains of Hansi Flick's Barcelona.
And we marvel at the chaotic energy of Kim Hellberg's high-flying Middlesbrough.

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