Lamine Yamal Out For Rest of Season

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0:33Hello and welcome into the latest edition of the SPN FC. Kane Murray, Alejandro Moreno and Shaka Hislop here in the studio with lots to talk about on today's show. But we will kick things off in Spain where there's been bad news about Lamin Yamal. The alarm bells ringing in Marca because what we do know, he's been ruled out for the rest of the season with Barcelona due to a torn hamstring. but the word is he should be okay for the World Cup according to his club. Spain kick off their campaign in 53 days on June 15th and joining us now is La Liga correspondent Alex Kirkland. How bad is it, Alex?

1:15Yeah, it felt like the whole country kind of collectively held its breath when Lamin Wendel down with his injury, K, because he's the guy, he's the main man, he's the player that everyone's putting their hopes on at the World Cup this summer. He's the player that takes Spain from being, you know, one of the contenders for the World Cup to being among the favorites to lift the trophy. That's how good he is. And it's far from ideal having him in this in this state of fitness, because as you say, yes, you know, it's it's a partial tear of the hamstring. We think he'll be out for four or five weeks, something like that.

1:43Of course, it's a month until the end of the season. So he should be fine for the World Cup. But it's not just about that, is it? How many times have we seen a star player, you know, racing against the clock to be fit for a major tournament? even when they come back you're worried about them what kind of state are they coming back in will they be at their best or anything close to it it's far from ideal for for Spain and yeah like I say yes Lamin should be with Spain at the tournament should be involved when they kick off their world cup campaign but exactly where will he be in terms of his match fitness where will he be psychologically as well because this is the kind of thing that plays on your mind there is the chance of a relapse with this kind of injury will it be holding him back you know preventing him from being the kind of player that we know that he can be at the World Cup.

2:26So there's so many questions right now. But yeah, what we do know, like you say, for sure, is that his season with Barca is over. For them, it's not the end of the world because barring an incredible collapse, they're going to win the league anyway. Yeah, the player is the biggest concern here and the priority of the player and his wellness and his fitness. And to Alex's point, you are looking then, is it rushing him back even to come into this? Are you going to have to rest him through the group stages? How's his match fitness? The concerns have to be over the player's wellness. Well, the first concern is what is indeed the gravity of the injury?

3:00Hamstring tears, there is a full spectrum of those. There are some that's just a couple of weeks, then there are some that it's about a month, and then there are some that you're out for three, four months because of how bad it is. It seems to be that we're sort of in the middle ground there, which is about a month. And so it helps to be 18 years old. It helps to be a young player that, and I know Shaq and I cannot relate to this right now at this point of our lives. Haven't been for a while, but I got your point. On a time. A long time ago. Let me just say, had it been one of us that tore our hamstrings while we're taking a penalty, we'd be out commission for the next six months or so.

3:43But as for La Minha Mal, you're thinking, you know, a month, 18 years old. I would look at it actually from the perspective, glass half full, you know that I'm a beacon of positivity. I've realized that as of late, Ali. Yes, as of late. Glass half full, I would say he'll be rested, which he hasn't gotten this season. Part of the reason as to why he's doing his hamstrings, because Rafinha has been injured. That guy has been injured. The other guy has been injured, and he is the one that has been carrying this team offensively. And so he hasn't had the opportunity to rest. He will get the opportunity to rest in this upcoming month as he does his recovery.

4:21And so maybe this ends up working out for La Minha Mal. I'm sure that Spanish fans and La Minha Mal are probably not looking at it from this perspective, but I would just say take advantage of this rest, take advantage of this recovery, and be ready to go for the World Cup, and you're not going to get a tired La Minha Mal. you're going to get a rested Laminya Mal that hopefully is able to recover in time and they do everything that they need to do in order to take care of him and he'll be at his best for Spain in the World Cup. I think that's the thing. Given the amount of games and there's always complaints that modern day players play in today's format, coming into the World Cup, Laminya Mal and his importance to Spain cannot be underscored.

5:02But to Ali's point, he's 18 years old, he'd be rested coming into the tournament and yes, there's this question about about match fitness kind of give them give them the break but let's remember we are talking about an expanded format in this workup spain start their campaign against cape verity let's be honest that is as good an introduction or reintroduction to footballers as anybody could hope for you still expect spain to kind of cruise through the group stage that isn't an issue yes it does come into question kind of given the the seeding format you don't want to be dropping too many points as they did in the group stage as they did in 2010.

5:37I just see Spain kind of making this easy and allowing Laminia Mal to play as many minutes as he needs in getting back to full fitness and knowing that the serious tests won't come until at least the second round. As you were saying, Alex, you know, Barcelona, Alba are a big drop off right now with that nine point lead in La Liga. They should be OK for the end of the season without him. When it comes to Spain, though, How is Spain going to fare if he's not to make it back in time? Right now, they are co-favourites along with France in the World Cup. How much of a drop-off are they without Laminya Mal in the squad?

6:13I think he's enormous because he's a world-class player. And we saw when they won the Euros a couple of years ago that many things went right about that campaign for Spain. One of the big things was the two wide players they had in Laminya Mal and Nico Williams. Now, we've already got doubts about Nico Williams. He's had a really injury-hit season. hasn't hit anything like his best form. We don't know if he's going to go with Spain, if he's going to be anything like the player that he was two years ago. So that's on one wing, but you had Laminya on the other wing, and hopefully we will have Laminya on the other wing.

6:43If not, like I say, the alternatives, I think, are really quite a drop-off. We don't yet know exactly what Luis de la Fuente's plan B will be. There's a lot of excitement about young Victor Munoz, a young winger who's being linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona. Explosive pace and would be sort of a surprise wild card for Spain at the World Cup. Otherwise, it probably looks like a different kind of player playing out wide for Spain. The kind of player we've seen more often for Spain in the past. Kind of a creative midfielder playing wide who likes to drift inside. You know, like an Alex Baena or that kind of player.

7:14Because in terms of a natural winger like Luminium, like I say, I just don't think there is a direct replacement. I mean, best player in the world? If he's not available, does it make a difference for Spain? Yes, yes, hace so. It makes a difference. And a lesser version of La Minha Mal also makes a difference and also would concern Luis de la Fuente and Spanish fans. I really do think that right now the priority, as it's going to be for the foreseeable future for La Minha Mal, is this recovery and the quality of this recovery. And because you don't have to speed up the recovery, because you're not thinking about, well, he's got to be ready for El Clasico.

7:55No, no, you're thinking long term. And so let's do all the things that need to be done in order for this hamstring to be as fully fit as it can possibly be come the World Cup. I really don't think that this is time to panic for both Laminya Mal and Spain and the Spain fans, because I think there's enough time for him to recover. We're in that sort of gray area now where if you get an injury, you're thinking, well, you're done with the World Cup. We saw what happened with Serge Gnavri. I don't think Laminya Mal is quite there just yet because of the injury itself. I believe he'll be fine. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

8:32Yeah, I know. I'm sorry to be putting some of these questions to you tonight as well, Alex, because we know you're not a doctor. We'll put that out there. Nor is Ali. Just to be clear. Oh, I'm sorry. But over in the Real Madrid camp, Eddie Militao and Ade Goulet also out for the rest of the season. What more can you tell us? yeah if you wanted a doctor k you should have got sid on because sid is literally a doctor i should say not that kind of doctor but um yeah eddie militao and arde gula we think are both are both gonna be fine for the world cup as well but they might well be out for the rest of the season similar injuries for them in hamstrings but in in different legs we saw eddie militao and go off for ramavid uh midway through the alavest game the other night whenever militao goes down again you you worry because he has been hit you know harder than any player really by injuries in the last few years he had sort of back-to-back cruciate ligament injuries in consecutive seasons that have really you know held him back so whenever Minitao um gets a knock you worry we don't think it's serious and certainly sort of sources close to him were telling my colleagues today that they thought that they'd be fine you know worries at all about the World Cup although he will undergo further tests and the same for Arda Gula as well uh Ramadri will miss both of them of course Adam Militao a really important player since he's come back from injury and back into the team yes they've got other options the likes of Rudiger and Dean Housen in defence Arda Goula has had a really good season for Real Madrid one of the big sort of good news stories for Real Madrid this season he would have played a lot for the rest of the campaign even if Madrid are as you say nine points behind Barca in the title race you've got a Clasico you know the coach Arbeloa has said we are playing to win every single one of these games and then we'll see what happens and Goula certainly as well as Militao would have been a big part of that in Goula's absence in midfield.

10:13It's another chance for Abelhoa, I guess, to play some of the kids, which we've seen he hasn't liked to do in the last few weeks, the likes of Chaga Pitac. You've got Bellingham back in the side now who can play there as well. Grahim Diaz will get games as well. So yeah, Madrid, let's be honest, don't really have anything to play for for the rest of the season. But still, it's not ideal for them to have those two players missing. But what about the veterans at Real Madrid, Alex? Because right now, Alvaro Abelhoa has had to deny a rift with Dani Carvajal in the squad. this is him on not starting him against Alaves in their last game he says I have 20 players I think any Real Madrid player has a chance of going to the World Cup and I will always look for what is best for the team and then speaking ahead of the game against Betis tomorrow it's been put to him again he said my response the other day was curt and serious to a question I found out of place it wasn't about Danny Carvajal you can see my responses whenever I talk about him Ask my players how I speak about him in front of the group.

11:13You're trying to put me in a difficult position in this unfair situation. Now, Alex, you've been writing about this over on the website. How big a deal is it or isn't it? Yeah, I think Arbeloa made it a big deal with the answer to the question that you quoted at the start there. Because like I say, the other night after the Alaves game, normally almost every time that Arbeloa speaks about his players, he sings their praises. He waxes lyrical about everybody. He goes out of his way to praise them. And so it was really noticeable. I was sat there in that press conference for that answer about Danny Carvajal.

11:45He didn't. He very simply said, I've got 23 players. It's about what's best for the team. So naturally, well, hang on a second. This isn't the tone that Arbeloa normally adopts when talking about his players. What's going on with Carvajal? There has been speculation, I'd say, which I can't sort of speak to the truth of about their relationship in the past. Of course, they knew each other as players. They were both fullbacks, you know, for Real Madrid and their paths did cross over briefly. but otherwise and again today every time that Abloh has spoken about Carvajal he has spoken him up as being really important on and off the pitch I think the bottom line is really you know beyond exactly what Abloh thinks of Carvajal I think what's been pretty clear is that he thinks that Trent is the number one you know when Trent has been available in most of the games recently not in every game you know Carvajal started the Madrid derby against Atletico but otherwise in the big games in the Champions League and in La Liga he's been picking Trent Alexander-Arnold because I think it's pretty clear that for the club, for Real Madrid, Trent, at least for now, unless it changes in the summer, Trent is kind of the future at right back and he's Abloh's number one pick.

12:45What's your take on it, Ale? I'm going to look at it from the perspective of Dani Carrojal. And what I would say about Carrojal is even when he has had his opportunities, the few opportunities he's had, he's looked a little slow. he's looked like he hasn't quite recovered from what was a terrible knee injury. Let's not forget that. And that takes a while. And I think in Danny Carvajal, you have a player that has all this experience and all this know-how. But if the body is not quite reacting to what you're telling it to do the way that he used to do, then all that experience, yeah, maybe you can read the game.

13:29Maybe you can get yourself in position where you can defend. But to me, he's looked a step slow every time he has had an opportunity, or most times that he has had an opportunity. He's also been exposed by the fact that this team defensively is disorganized through the midfield, and so it exposes what frailties you may have in wide areas as well. So 1v1 situation, something that used to be a strength for Dani Carvajal, if you're a step slow, and my theory is correct, then he gets exposed. And I think it has happened so many times that if you're out of Eloa, you pick a guy like Trent Alexander-Arnold because you know he's not going to defend either, but at the very least he's going to give me something offensively.

14:08That's why I think Arbeloa picks Trent over Dani Carvajal, and Dani Carvajal physically is just not where he needs to be. Yeah. Alex, get those questions ready for the press conference tomorrow. We're going to let you go now, and we'll see you really soon. Thanks so much for joining us. Make sure to be with us for La Liga this weekend, And as we mentioned, that game between Real Betis and Real Madrid is coming up tomorrow. And then across the weekend, as always, you can see every single game in La Liga on ESPN Plus in English and in Spanish. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy.

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16:01It was 106 days that he was in the role. A six-year deal had been given to him that is obviously not needed right now. This is a nice buyout. Julian Leront is joining us, Didi German is with us as well. But Shaka, let me start with you because it's the first time I've spoken to you since this news. What's your reaction to it? Unsurprising and on the one hand in that we're talking about a team that's now lost five on the bounce without scoring a single goal and kind of given Chelsea's position and now when we've had Gabon on the show he's told us that Chelsea absolutely have to finish in the Champions League spots to have any hope of balancing their books that now seems a long stretch so a change was needed at least in the short term and in moments like this that change always comes in the form of a new manager whoever whoever that may be um i'll also say it's unsurprising kind of given how this club has been run given how blue co have managed this club on a number of different levels um including hiring and firing of managers it is absolutely unsurprising to see the club in in this position uh and unfortunately rightly or wrongly liam rissini is going to have It's going to take the majority of the blame for that.

17:15But I'm not sure who you bring in, certainly not now, that somehow right this ship and gets Chelsea into the Champions League places where they absolutely have to be. I just think there are too many issues on and off the park and not a manager with the kind of pedigree or standing to put it all right in such a short space of time. We will get into who comes next in just a moment. but Didi, were you surprised with the news? No, I've got to agree with Xhaka. I wasn't surprised because, you know, it obviously started with a circle around the ball, that nonsense a few weeks ago, where nobody, I think, in the whole of Europe or the world understood what they tried to do.

17:59The manager tried to tell us the players had to respect the ball and I don't think anybody got what he meant and football is a simple game and you know don't overcomplicate it and you've got to speak a language the players understand and I think at times when you listen to Rosina before the games or even after the games with the lost games I think he was too smart for his own good and obviously he culminated with a defeat as Xhaka just said I think five games there in the Premier League without having scored five losses we need a go at his players and yeah I can only agree I wasn't surprised at all that he had to leave the club because they need somebody who brings everybody together.

18:43Because in the last few months or years, actually, I think everybody who joined Chelsea got worse. And obviously that's not why they bought them. To that point, Didi, what's it going to take? What type of manager is going to succeed under this ownership group and with all of these players? Well, I think you need somebody who's able to communicate with the players and tries to get the best out of the players because at the moment, I think it's just, we don't see a team, there's no cohesion. I think it's just individual players playing with each other. They don't help each other. They don't communicate with each other.

19:20And obviously, that's down to the manager to create an atmosphere of togetherness. the way the manager spoke the last manager a lot of the times I felt it was about himself, it's not the managers don't win games, the players win games and they spend an awful lot of money, they spend fortunes on players in the last two or three years and all the players or most of the players, if not all of them came to the club and underperformed so I think they need to communicate, they need somebody who speaks the language of the players and tries to get them back together So let's take a look then at the odds for the next manager to take over now from Liam Rossini at Chelsea.

20:00Andoni Iriola is the top of that list, followed by Cesc Fabregas, Marco Silva's names on the list, Felipe Luis, Oliver Glasner, Diego Simeone and Frank Lampard as well. What's the word on the ground, Jules? Well, it's interesting, isn't it? This list. I mean, you can probably add a couple more names as well. like Edin Terzic, for example, who a few people really like. At the club, for example, Xabi Alonso as well, I think I was told today was also on their list. The thing is they want a young coach, for sure. They're adamant, they need a young coach for this young team. Whereas you would think that after what happened, really in the last four years or so, that maybe a bit of experience on that bench would be interesting.

20:44And in that list, some have a bit more experienced than others, but really they're all quite young compared to, you know, I don't know, let's say like a Jurgen Klopp, for example, or those kind of managers. Some of them are also maybe not free right now, but like Iraola or Marco Silva, they will be free agents in the summer because they're not going to renew their contract with their current clubs. Others like Cesc Fabregas, good luck if you want to attract Cesc Fabregas to your club. But the most important thing here really is why would they come to Chelsea? Amongst that list, if we can show the list again even, Cesc Fabregas right now at Como is on to something far more interesting probably than not playing in the Champions League next season with Chelsea if they don't qualify for it.

21:24If you're Iraola, you may think that you will have clubs with a more interesting project than this failing project that Chelsea right now have put together. We have the list here again. If you're Marco Silva, it's a little bit different. Felipe Luiz played for Chelsea, obviously, as a player, was really good there, was very good with Flamengo in Brazil. But would he fancy that as a first job in Europe? I'm not so sure. Diego Simeone, let's not go there Frank Lampard I think has been there before and got burned and right now Coventry, things are going great for him and Oliver Glasner, again at his age I'm not sure he's ready for this kind of job because let's not forget this is a very difficult job because the squad is young but also the people above you are clearly very much interfering with what you do as a manager Is there anyone you like, Xhaka?

22:09I'll be honest it's never going to happen for any number of reasons but the name that jumps out at me is Diego Simeone. And in truth, it is laughable. But let me say, given the issues at the top of this club and given the issues on the park, the only person I think that has the personality that somehow bridges those two and makes any sense of it is Diego Simeone. But that's never going to happen. And this is the issue that Chelsea have now found themselves in. You're without a manager, looking for a new manager. and okay that list is there and to Jules's point there's more names that are added or could be added to that list but that list, there's nobody that bridges that gap there's nobody but Diego Simone that bridges that gap for me but I wouldn't put a dollar of your money on Diego Simone becoming the next Chelsea manager.

23:03I appreciate that. It wasn't there to play with but why are you taking her money to begin with? I'm not putting my money. Top of the list is Andoni Iraola. They like his vertical play, apparently, according to reports. He's going to be available. He knows the Premier League. Okay. The vertical play. All right. Look, I think in terms of the profile of managers that we have seen from Chelsea as of late, Iraola would seem to fit that profile. The question is, and it's something that Jules brought up, is that there may be other opportunities that are far more suitable for Idaola. See, we're looking at it from the perspective of Chelsea, but what about Idaola saying, wait, wait, wait, this is not the project that I'm looking for.

23:49It's not what's best for me. And I think a lot of managers are going to be in that same thought process. This is not what's best for me because I have to learn from the experiences of other managers that have gone through here and have said, we can't work under this sort of circumstance. and this sort of conditions. And in the case of Lee and Rosinho, I could not agree more with Didi in that this guy was saying things, well, Didi has been around the game for a while, a lot longer than me. Xhaka, longer than me. I've been around this game for at least 40 years in one way or another. And there are things that were being said by Lee and Rosinho that I was like, what?

24:26What is that? And how anybody sitting in the locker room would have listened to that. So now you put yourself, if you're Chelsea, in a corner where your job is not nearly as interesting as you think it is. It's not nearly as good as you think it is. In fact, you've created this sort of aura about your job and around your job. It's like this protection field that nobody wants to get close to that because it has become radioactive. That's a problem if you're a Chelsea football club looking into the future. I will also say, and Didi said something that made me think of it, this is a simple game. because I have a lot of experience, Didi.

25:03That's a nicer way to say it, rather than look at these old guys around me. That's how I felt. As Didi was saying, this is a simple game, especially from a player perspective. Now, we're at a point where we're talking about XG and all kinds of money ball and all kinds of... Times three, according to Craig. And whenever, when you listen to the more experienced and successful managers, those aren't things they talk about. Now, you want somebody who can look at the data, analyze it, break it up, and then just put it in, you need to run over there to the players. Who can take that from the data scientists and then go on to the training ground and say, you need to be there, you need to go there.

25:41And keep that as simple. But too often, I get the feeling that younger, more modern-day managers bring all this data and drop it in the laps of the players as though they want it. And they don't know what to do with it. They don't want to do anything with it. And that's where the disconnect continues to happen. Let me lean on Diddy's wealth of experience. A lot of experience. A long time in the game so far. Is there anyone on that list, Diddy, that stands out to you? Or do you think it will be a case of who actually wants to take this job right now? Yeah, well, I think that's one thing. Does the new manager, whoever's approached, do they think they can turn things around?

26:22Because there's a lot of things happening in the boardroom where you wonder whether the people in charge have a clue, knowing how to run a football club. And, you know, these guys obviously very much in demand. If you look at Lampard, even though, you know, he just got promoted with Coventry, Simeone done wonderful things at Atletico. But I think he probably wants a break after 13 or 14 years at the club in the summer. Another manager is probably Favre Hürzler from Brighton, who's not on the list. You know, there's talk about him going back to Germany, maybe Chelsea might be interested as well.

26:54But it'll all depend whether these guys think they've got the responsibility and they can do what they want to do because it's not all about just what's going on on the pitch it's also a lot of politics in the football club maybe even more so at Chelsea so does anyone jump out no not really I won't be at all surprised if somebody gets a job who's not on the list okay well we'll take a look at that meanwhile we want to cast our eyes back at the top of the Premier League table with the title odds as it stands right now. Arsenal and Man City up there at the top. City, obviously your former team, Diddy, are they going to win the title this year?

27:35Well, at least they've got a chance. It didn't look too bright about three weeks ago. It looks a lot better now and obviously the momentum with City, you know, psychology plays a big role in football and in sports at the highest level. I think part of Arsenal's downfall in the last few weeks or months has been that they felt they've got something to lose. Now we say that ball is in City's court now because everybody's thinking well they've got a momentum now, they've got something to lose now. But City are winners. City won titles in the past, they won the Champions League a few years back, they won multiple league titles, a lot of these players have won the league before.