I am elated that today we are unveiling our brand spanking new Men in Blazers logo that has been poetically described by the design team at MiB as a “warm, transatlantic handshake.” I really love it. We wanted a logo that blended the modern and the old, one that makes you feel joy and the best of vibes when you see it. I hope you love it too.

The newsletter itself has also long needed a refresh. I started the Raven at the beginning of MiB before newsletters were even a thing. The first ones were just me responding to questions we received from GFOPs listening to the pod with the original one being, “What part of London is Newcastle in?” That was 10+ years ago, when “Game of Thrones” was the most popular show on Earth (hence “the Raven”). But much like GoT fandom, this newsletter has evolved – in our case, to meet the needs of the most important element of what we do here at MiB every day: you, the reader.

And so, this will be the final edition flown under the Raven banner as we rename our flagship newsletter to simply the Men in Blazers newsletter—or MiB for those short on time—starting on Monday. You can expect the same succinct yet slightly hyperbolic coverage of the Premier League, Champions League, and the likes of La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga, just with a slightly new look as we race towards this summer’s World Cup. 

We are thrilled to enter a new era for this newsletter and MiB as a whole, none of which would be possible without your passion, support and never-ending questions, ideas and theories. Please keep sending all of them to us at [email protected]. We read every single one, and while the era of “sending a raven” may be over, this newsletter and its incredible community are in many ways just getting started. 

Here is what I ask: If you like this newsletter and this community, please share it with your football-curious friends, and encourage them to read and subscribe. We would love, love, love to have them join the conversation. 🙌

ii. A massive weekend of football begins tonight with the NWSL opener, and if you're not already following this league, let 2026 be your year. Our recent survey shows the NWSL is on a historic ascent with a massive, growing audience – a domestic treasure you simply cannot ignore. The Women’s Game, where USWNT legend Sam Mewis provides the elite coverage this magnificent sport deserves, is your definitive home for the journey. 🎉

iii. This has been some humbling week for Premier League fans where we have all had to ask ourselves a primal question: What are we watching? A level of football where the rest of Europe wallops us by three goals. English teams played nine games and eked out one win, three draws and five bruising defeats. 

There are so many post-mortems and think-pieces being written about this week of shame. The truth is football is a game of balancing risk and reward, and we are watching a league where the big sides are currently set up to mitigate losing rather than prioritize winning. It works in the grind of the Premier League, which has become a mire of duels, gripple-grapple, marginal edges, and the urge to destroy, dominate and nullify. But in Europe this week, we glimpsed the potency of those able to think, create, and transcend. We were utterly outmatched. Look at the Kvaratskhelia goal, and savor Valverde’s hat-trick wizard filth. Football that makes the heart soar transcendently. 🏆

I can’t wait to talk to Rory Smith about it in our Big Weekend Preview, which drops this afternoon. 📺

iv. If you watch one more goal today, let it be this incredible self-volleyed bicycle kick by 19-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk attacker Isaque. A wondergoal from a wonderkid, remember the name. 🤩

v. I had the honor of chatting with David Moyes yesterday. A really lovely conversation with my footballing dad who was on pugnacious form. We talked about the challenges behind our home performances, whether Illy Ndiaye is the most talented player he has coached at Everton, and what the young members of the squad need to do to earn more playing time. That comes out next Thursday. UTFT. 💙

vi. My conversation with pathfinding, data-mining Brentford owner, Matthew Benham, from the MIT Sloan Analytics Conference is live here. We talk about the secrets behind Brentford’s elite No 9 recruitment, why he passed on Eze and Marmoush, and how he thinks about set pieces and the future of the manager’s role. Benham rarely speaks, so it was a delight to share the stage with him. Here is a taste of his philosophy: What he looks for in striker data, and why Beto may be better than we think… 🐝

vii. Finally, ATLANTA. We are delighted to reveal that we’ll be joined at our World Cup countdown show on March 27 by a true hip-hop legend… Big Boi is returning to our show LIVE ON STAGE. Grab your tickets now. 🍑

Courage,
ROG

PS – This made me laugh so hard. 🍻

West Ham vs. Manchester City (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, USA)

What did Federico Valverde’s first-half, 22-minute hat-trick do to Manchester City’s season? What did being “out-tacticed” by Álvaro Arbeloa do to Pep Guardiola's ego? Much scrutiny will fall on Erling Haaland, who has recently been more productive on YouTube than on the football field. After blasting his way through the back half of 2025, Footballing Shaq has netted just four times in his last 17 games. West Ham is his happiest hunting ground. Two goals on his league debut. A hat-trick last season. 

Rog-Stradamus 🔮: Here is a crazy stat from Opta: In Haaland’s 125 Premier League appearances, City’s win rate is 65%. In 18 games without him, it is 78%. The hunger to find a shape to serve their big man will be picked apart by a shrewd Nuno. Even without the injured Crysencio Summerville, I see the Hammers’ first win against City in a decade. Shock Bubbles 2-1.

Manchester United vs. Aston Villa (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, USA)

Third welcome fourth in a test of truth. Unai Emery’s squad were the Premier League’s sole European winners midweek. The win was his 100th as Aston Villa manager, achieved in a club record 181 games. Michael Carrick has had 11 days to fret over his first loss as United manager – that late 2-1 wilt at Newcastle. 

Rog-Stradamus 🔮: Villa have won only one of their past six league games. United 3-1.

Arsenal vs. Everton (Saturday, 1:30 p.m. ET, USA)

Can Road Warrior Everton create a twist in the title race? They are unbeaten in nine of their past 10 away games and have lost once on the road since October. Arsenal have gutted through four close, nervy games. Yet, the truth is we never win at Arsenal – our 1-0 win in 2021 was our only league victory in an astonishing 29 tries. Arsenal looked heavy-legged and cumbersome, sneaking a 1-1 draw in Leverkusen midweek. A dead-batteried Bukayo Saka was pulled in the 60th minute, and whether he or the comparatively effervescent Noni Madueke starts is a subject of intrigue. 

Rog-Stradamus 🔮: Incredible stat: 21 of Arsenal's 59 Premier League goals have come from their Sean McVay-esque corner or free-kick playbook. But know this: Everton are the only Premier League side yet to concede from a set-piece away from home in the current campaign… I think this will be a tough game played with heavy armor, but Arsenal will score late in both halves to win 2-0. 

I loved this piece from Barney Ronay: Debate over Arsenal’s style masks an undeniable march towards greatness.

Liverpool vs. Spurs (Sunday, 12:30 p.m. ET, Peacock)

How much of a hot mess must your club be for reports to surface that Sean Dyche turned down a relegation battle with you? That’s like Vin Diesel saying no to a “Fast and Furious” sequel paycheck. Tottenham Hotspur arrive at Liverpool to prove to Reds fans there can be big teams even more disappointing than their own. Spurs are staring into the abyss: losers of six games in a row for the first time in their 144-year history. A single point over the relegation zone. The players appear to have bled out belief. Flailing ferryman Igor Tudor looks sunk, lost and lonely, the first manager in club history to lose his first four games in charge. The club are the ninth richest in world football. They seemed too big to fail. Now they appear to be footballing Enron. Gonna be great when Spurs bring Big Ange back… like Steve Carell returning for a guest appearance in “The Office” series finale.

Jonathan Liew wrote: The prediction models estimate about a 20% chance of relegation, the bookmakers about twice that and the Spurs fans who watch them about twice that again.

Rog-Stradamus 🔮: Liverpool won the league when they played Spurs last season – that absolutely joyous 5-1 at Anfield at the end of April. Not sure there are two teams in the league whose fortunes have changed more in the past 11 months than those two. Reds have enough to scrape by unconvincingly 2-1.

Chelsea vs. Newcastle (Saturday, 1:30 p.m. ET, Peacock)

How disastrous was that last 20 minutes in Paris for the Liam Rosenior tenure? After a tenacious first 74, Chelsea mentally switched off and were tactically exposed. The one massive manager selection decision was elevating unconvincing goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen over the vulnerable Robert Sanchez, being exposed in the crucible of PSG’s onslaught, the footballing equivalent of a sticking a “Kick Me” post-it on your own back. Knowing that goalkeeper is the ultimate confidence position, does he stick or twist now? 

Rog-Stradamus 🔮: The prospect of Wednesday’s descent into Barcelona will preoccupy Newcastle. Aura back for Liam who has lost just once in the league. Chelsea cruise 3-1.

🗓️ Full weekend Premier League schedule here.

Thirteen midweek games did little to shake up the title race – Frank Lampard’s Coventry City retain their eight-point cushion at the top over rivals Middlesbrough. In the promotion race Patrick Agyemang’s Derby County side could start next week in the league’s last (for now) playoff position if Wrexham lose and they win by at least two goals away to 19th-placed Portsmouth (Monday, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+.)

Wrexham vs. Swansea (TODAY, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN+) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

No rest for those seeking promotion! Three days after their four-match unbeaten run came to an end against fellow promotion-hunters Hull, Wrexham must regroup for part two of the league’s only all-Wales tussle. Wrexham sit five points above the Swans, but will remember the reverse fixture where Snoop’s South Wales Boys came from behind to take all three points.

This week’s phrase is: “Igor Tudor is the managerial equivalent of _____”

Email us your submissions to be in contention to win a coveted MiB patch.

There were many brilliant entries last week, but there can only be one winner:

Justin Giovagnoli: “If Wolves escape relegation, it will be like watching a single, lone ant survive my thumb on my kitchen counter.”

Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich (Saturday, 10:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 🇩🇪

Bayern Munich hammered Atalanta 6-1 as Harry Kane loomed from the bench like Emperor Palpatine spurring on Darth Vader, but Bayer Leverkusen boast the joint-best defensive home record in the Bundesliga (you’ll never sing that) and as Arsenal can attest, it’s a tough trip. 

Inter Milan vs. Atalanta (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Paramount+) 🇮🇹

Devastating losses to Bodø/Glimt and AC Milan have humanized Cristian Chivu’s Inter Milan, who are boosted by the return of Marcus Thuram for some trauma-bonding with a Bayern-broken Atalanta side.

Barcelona vs. Sevilla (Sunday, 11:15 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 🇪🇸

Ahead of round two with the Toon next week, Hansi Flick may rest key players for the Spotify Camp Nou homecoming of 37-year-old Alexis Sánchez and his uninspired Sevilla side, who have drawn four of their last five.

Fred Van Dyk emailed: “Rog – I talked to some of my fellow Spurs fans and apparently there’s been a misunderstanding. None of us wanted big Ange or Thomas Frank sacked. We all loved those guys and never complained about them—not even once. Courage (we’ll need it), Fred.” 

Fred – Thanks for clarifying. First of all, your name sounds like a brawny center-back Spurs need to steady the ship. Second, one of the things I have most marveled at in this terrible time is the gallows humor Spurs fans have employed to make it through. Like the human impulse to laugh during funerals, this kind of wit we collected here is so humanly admirable and I relate to it. This one from @futtywap kills me: “Best part about being a Tottenham fan is that one day I will die.” This is where we are now, baby. All I can do is let you know that as an Everton fan, I have been there. Right down to the very Dyche of it all. And we survived to tell the tale. I wish the same on you. 

Keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected]. WE LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

To better days ahead for all.

Let’s not take a moment watching football together for granted and make great memories.

Big love.

Courage,
ROG

🙌 If you’re enjoying The Raven, we’d love an assist. Forward this email or share this URL with a friend.

📧 First time with us? Sign up here to get the next edition sent straight to your inbox, and be sure to check out our other newsletters too.