Ste Howson and Joel Beya join Rio in the aftermath of a torrid Manchester United performance against Brighton and an amazing El Clasico in Saudi Arabia. There’s analysis of what Rio’s former team mate, Michael Carrick needs to bring to the role after he’s expected to be named interim manager until the end of the season and Rio analyses what Shea Lacey has shown in his limited first team appearances that separates him from his team mates. There’s a call for senior people like Jason Wilcox and Oma...
Jan 12, 2026•53 min
As the dust is slowly settling following the departure of manager Ruben Amorim, Rio and Joel get together to look at the immediate future for everyone involved at Manchester United Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 05, 2026•25 min
Ruben Amorim has been SACKED by Manchester United! Join Rio Ferdinand, Joel Beya and Ste Howson as they react live to this huge breaking Man Utd news Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 05, 2026•1 hr 11 min
The boys get back together to analyse Arsenal’s season so far as well as looking ahead to what they could achieve come the end of the campaign. They analyse the biggest strengths of Mikel Arteta's side and pose the question about what the manager’s future looks like should he fail to win the league. Rio and Joel discuss the importance of Declan Rice for both club and country and Rio names him as the second most influential player in both the Premier League and in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad....
Dec 30, 2025•32 min
Whilst everyone else is tucking into the final chocolates and leftover turkey, Rio, Ste and Joel review Manchester United’s season so far. They analyse the biggest weakness of Amorim’s side and specifically praise the duo of Senne Lammens and Matthijs De Ligt. When discussing the priorities for the January transfer window, Rio compares Kobbie Mainoo to Gerard Pique as the England midfielder searches for more game time and how Benjamin Sesko plays an integral role for the team which often goes un...
Dec 29, 2025•29 min
After a busy week for Ruben Amorim following Kobbie Mainoo’s brother protesting about the lack of playing time and/or opportunities to move away from the club and a defeat at Aston Villa, Rio is joined by Ste and Joel to dissect those points and the title race. Rio admits Kobbie is doing himself “a disservice” if he isn’t getting onto the manager asking how he can get into the team and discusses with Ste whether there is a way back for the England midfielder at Old Trafford. Morgan Rogers had tw...
Dec 22, 2025•42 min
Rio heads to Carrington for an unmissable sit-down with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes — his most honest interview yet. For the first time, Bruno lifts the lid on the truth behind his Manchester United loyalty, revealing two genuine chances he had to leave, why he stayed, and how modern players’ loyalty is judged differently compared to legends like Francesco Totti, Ryan Giggs and Paolo Maldini. Bruno also breaks down the big tactical shift in his game this season — how playing deeper...
Dec 18, 2025•50 min
Rio is joined by Joel and Ste after a visit to the Manchester United training ground where he teases the potential release of a Rio Meets episode with one of the players. After spending time with the squad, the manager and the coaching staff, Rio reports on what he saw and how positive the environment was. Ste challenges Rio after he disagreed with Amorim’s comments about younger players struggling and Rio reveals how players respond to pundits who return to their former club after they’ve criti...
Dec 15, 2025•44 min
Rio is back in the studio and joined by Joel Beya and Ste Howson where the trio reflect on Manchester United’s 4-1 victory at Wolves and the latest developments following Mohamed Salah’s outburst about his lack of playing time at Liverpool this season. After it was reported that manager Ruben Amorim left his players alone at half-time, Rio discusses the different tactics that managers use in order to effectively communicate their message and praises Mason Mount as United’s yard-stick for players...
Dec 09, 2025•40 min
After Manchester United became the first team in 8 months to beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, Rio is joined by Ste Howson and Joel Beya to analyse that victory along with Arsenal’s draw at 10-man Chelsea. There’s detailed analysis on the personnel utilised in the wing-back roles after Ruben Amorim admitted that two of those players are currently playing “far from their best”. After Bruno Fernandes overtook Paul Scholes on the list of record Premier League assists, Rio admits that nobody cou...
Dec 01, 2025•41 min
After analysing Liverpool’s lat 30 matches, Rio is joined by Ste and Joel to discuss the level of pressure that manager Arne Slot is under. From when they lost to PSG in March, Liverpool have played 30, won 14, lost 13 and drawn 3. Rio (and Ste) believes that the scrutiny the Dutchman is under is significantly less than the pressure placed on Ruben Amorim when he was enduring a similar run of results. They also look at 3 key reasons behind Liverpool’s poor performances including Ibrahim Konate’s...
Nov 24, 2025•33 min
Rio travels to Saudi Arabia for an unmissable Rio Meets with Sadio Mané — a rare, honest and emotional conversation showing a side of the Liverpool legend that fans have never seen before. Mané opens up about his relationship with Mo Salah, how their competitive edge sometimes boiled over, and the truth behind why he almost joined Manchester United before a call from Jürgen Klopp changed everything. From his early life in Senegal to sharing a dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr, Man...
Nov 20, 2025•53 min
After England blitzed their qualification to the World Cup, Rio analyses how Thomas Tuchel is building his squad and momentum ahead of the tournament. The conundrum around the embarrassment of riches in the number 10 position has been a problem that previous manager Gareth Southgate struggled to solve - so Rio lays out how he would set up the team and reserves special praise for captain Harry Kane. Referencing his time with England as a player, Rio praises Tuchel’s tactical clarity and admits th...
Nov 17, 2025•33 min
Joel Beya and Stephen Howson join Rio to discuss draws for Manchester United and Arsenal and the big match between Manchester City and Liverpool. Before they discuss the game at the Etihad, Rio receives a voice-note from Usain Bolt who raises a few issues about Manchester United’s defending under Ruben Amorim - particularly during the draw at Tottenham. After dissecting those comments from Bolt, Rio reveals who he thinks the most important Man Utd players are right now and analyses the way that ...
Nov 10, 2025•41 min
After Manchester United’s winning run comes to an end, Rio, Joel and Ste discuss all of the positives from the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest including Amad Diallo’s attitude whilst playing in defence, Casemiro’s ability on the ball and how the front three are giving the defence a solid platform to build on. Rio acknowledges how important Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s interview about Amorim being judged only after “three years” could be in terms of facilitating the improved form and performances and why ...
Nov 03, 2025•39 min
Welcome to another episode of Rio Meets where Rio sits down with a former team mate and ends up learning so much more about them, despite sharing a dressing room for years at Manchester United. You’ll see a completely different side to Dimitar Berbatov who discuses the impact his father refusing to say, “I love you” had on him, along with a gang kindapping him when he was aged 18 in Bulgaria. He is refreshingly honest about the toughest moments in his career and details the resilience and streng...
Oct 28, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Rio sits down with Joel after a third straight victory for Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United and pays special attention to the redemption of midfielder Casemiro. He addresses the “highly disrespectful” comments made about the Brazilian by Jamie Carragher and says that Kobbie Mainoo could learn a lot from the way Casemiro has forced his way back into the team - even with his stellar career and trophy cabinet. Scott McTominay is another example of a player who is playing with renewed confidence so ...
Oct 27, 2025•43 min
Ste and Rio get together to bask in the glory of beating rivals Liverpool at Anfield. There’s analysis of specific tactics that Amorim employed to unsettle the Champions’ defence and Rio discusses why Mbuemo and Cunha cause Virgil Van Dijk so many problems. After scoring the winner, there’s special praise for Harry Maguire and also Casemiro for showing resilience and the mentality to regain their place in the team when it could have been easier to leave the club. Rio details the importance of ne...
Oct 20, 2025•48 min
The HMRC of football podcasts, Karel Prince, joins Ste and Joel to come face to face with Rio after several messages back and forth on social media. After creating several viral videos scrutinising anecdotes and stories from players about their careers on various podcasts - Karel wants to bring some more evidence to put to Mr. Ferdinand. It’s the first time that Karel is in the presence of a player he’s made a video about so you’ll learn about the forensic process, the reasons for calling people...
Oct 13, 2025•40 min
Steven Gerrard is the latest guest who sits down with Rio to show a different side of them that’s not been seen before on camera. He picks out two English midfielders that he’d love to go toe-to-toe with and details all of the reasons why the national side weren’t successful during his time as an international footballer. The Liverpool and England legend is honest about what went wrong whilst managing Aston Villa and also analyses some of the recruitment decisions taken by the Liverpool hierarch...
Oct 07, 2025•59 min
After a positive weekend for both Arsenal and Manchester United, Ste Howson and Joel Beya are with Rio to analyse the performances and focus on why Manchester United’s attitude was different when competing against Sunderland. Mason Mount spoke about how they focused on bringing energy so Ste dissects how professional footballers approach games to ensure their mentality and application is sufficient in order to perform. After receiving praise for his recent performances, a listener gets in touch ...
Oct 06, 2025•50 min
Joel is fresh from Arsenal’s last minute victory and sits down with Rio and Ste to hear how they want to see their team play after Manchester United lost to Brentford at the weekend. Both Rio and Ste are asking for changes but the tweaks they ask for are quite different so let us know below what you believe would be the best option for Amorim to try and get more positive results. Rio has a warning for Liverpool’s Ibrahim Konate and analyses the “old-fashioned” battle between Newcastle’s Woltemad...
Sep 29, 2025•43 min
Wayne Rooney is the latest guest on Rio Meets and sits down with Rio in a way you’ve never seen him before. Wayne candidly reveals how his anger got him into trouble away from football, the importance of his wife Coleen in protecting himself and his favourite player that he’s ever played with - spoiler, it’s not Cristiano. If you thought you knew Wayne Rooney, this is another episode of Rio Meets where you’ll see a completely different side to one of the game’s greatest players. You’ll hear an i...
Sep 24, 2025•1 hr 4 min
After a much-needed win for Manchester United over Chelsea at the weekend which saw Bruno Fernandes reach the 100 goal milestone, Rio and Ste are asked whether they’d accept £100m for their best player and how they’d invest that cash. Rio has special praise for Mathijs De-Ligt (after some gentle persuasion from Ste) and Joel brings up Raheem Sterling’s situation at Chelsea to see what they think about it. The Chelsea game saw Ruben Amorim substitute some of his defenders towards the end of the g...
Sep 22, 2025•1 hr 2 min
After a poor showing in the Manchester derby, Rio is with Ste Howson and Joel Beya to work out how manager Ruben Amorim can balance the need for victories with the desire to stick to his principles. Rio discusses how Pep Guardiola adapted during his time at Man City and points out the tactical tweaks he feels Amorim can make without compromising his values. There’s significant praise for Erling Haaland who will “blitz” numerous sides in the Premier League this year according to Rio who also deba...
Sep 15, 2025•34 min
Rio is joined by Joel and Ste who get stuck into Onana’s transfer to Turkey along with the talking points from England’s latest match under Thomas Tuchel. One of those is the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold so Rio analyses why international managers prefer Chelsea’s Reece James. There’s a discussion around the value of games against the likes of Andorra as Rio says there’s no concerns about England’s performances at this stage of the buildup to the World Cup. Rio reveals who he thinks will tak...
Sep 08, 2025•40 min
Michael Owen brings his Ballon d’Or trophy for this episode and he leaves Rio Ferdinand in no doubt about how good he felt he was as a young player. Rio has wanted to do this interview for years because he wanted to show everyone watching and listening a different side to one of just four Englishman to win the most coveted individual award in world football. After admitting he was on the decline when he got the Ballon d’Or, Owen discusses his career and the unshakeable self-belief he had in his ...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Join Rio Ferdinand, Joel Beya and Stephen Howson for a LIVE Rio Presents episode talking through all the latest breaking transfer news for Man United and the Premier League as the deadline approaches! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 01, 2025•56 min
Welcome back to Rio Reacts! The summer transfer window is heating up as it comes to a close and there's a lot to discuss. In this episode, we're diving into everything going on at Manchester United. First up, we'll break down the latest from Ruben Amorim's passionate press conference ahead of Man Utd vs Burnley We'll then get into all the latest transfer gossip, including: Antony's potential move back to Spain Garnacho's £40m move to Chelsea The future of young star Kobbie Mainoo And updates on ...
Aug 30, 2025•23 min
Welcome to Rio Reacts! I'm here in my new studio, and with the transfer window in its final week, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Today, we're diving into the absolute madness at Manchester United! TRANSFER CHAOS: Rasmus Hojlund: We break down the loan deal that has him on his way to Napoli. Is this the fresh start he needs, or a tough call for the club? Jadon Sancho: He's reportedly turned down a move to Roma, and I explain why I think it's all about the numbers and a major sticking point i...
Aug 26, 2025•19 min
