Atleti win the Madrid derby, Roma v Inter, the Premier League and more!

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1:29Hello and welcome back to the Stadio Podcast. I'm Musa Kwonga. I'm Ryan Hunt. Ryan, how are you doing? I am doing all right, thanks man. How are you? In need of an international break. Oh my goodness. Everyone's playing hot potato with the crisis crown. They are, they are. We're running out of crisis crowns. You get a crisis crown. You get a crisis crown.

1:52for those who missed that last week Moosa essentially came up with the crisis crown they can pass it around sharing amongst yourselves it's the one consecutive streak no one wants anyway we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are next week's Monday show so if you listen to this on the free feed the one that you get that might go up on Tuesday next week so if you don't see an episode on the Monday don't panic it'll go up on Tuesday if you want to go ahead and sign up for Stadio on Patreon, patreon.com forward slash Stadio you get every episode ad free in full if you're a podcast member and you also get access to the Stadio Social Club Discord if you are a Stadio Social Club member so there you go, some admin.

2:33Today we will be talking about kind of the Crisis Crown vibe. We're going to be leading with the Madrid Derby this weekend we're going to touch on a little bit of some Serie A because Roma Inter was on the weekend and I was like, what a game. What a game. And we will talk about some Premier League. We will also talk a little bit about Liga and some other shout outs. For example, I think Dortmund have ended a weekend top of the table in the Bundesliga for the first time in something like 1 ,200 days. You know they've got the winter champions. Could they be at the autumn champions? Just to give them a taste.

3:13Hey, they're just the August and September champions. I mean it's too early to say any of this and I'm sorry Dortmund fans for jinxing you but you can imagine if Joe Bellingham getting a Bundesliga title Oh stop it Hey Jude this isn't that hard

3:30Bayern look frightening Bayern look frightening Yes we will talk about Bayern So I think that is all the admin apart from we have another live show at the Southbank Centre our next South Bank Centre live show will take place on Saturday we've got a Saturday night Moussa Saturday the 23rd of January so hyped we're super excited to go back to the South Bank Centre in London and we'll be in the Purcell room again the link to tickets is in the description so get them early Saturday night in January in London very excited tell a friend tell an enemy tell an enemy hey I'm going to the Stadio live show how about you?

4:18Why not? Okay yes that also can I just shout out another event that's happening this week and it's the you know Myles Lo Skelly's mum Marcia does the number one fan club so they've got the National Parent Football Conference in Manchester this weekend I sort of shout it out on Stadio because it's Sunday the 27th of September and it's happening at Hotel Football, which is right next door Trafford. Just reading from the website, it says this is the UK's only conference built entirely for football parents. Whatever level your child plays at, grassroots all the way to professional, this day is for you.

4:53Parents of girls and boys, grassroots and academy families, if your child plays football, this is for you. It says this is a parent-only event. There are some supported free tickets as well. So if the ticket price is too high or if you are a parent of a girl in football, there's a limited number of free tickets. You can contact them on the website. no1fan.club So anyone around that area in the northwest, Manchester, if you've got a child who plays football, go along. It'll be a great day. I think that's all the admin. Anything you need to shout? No, I'm good. You need to do another book. Look, I'm always writing stuff, but some stuff isn't good in the publication, so I'm working on it.

5:36I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm just, I'm just, I am writing a book, it's just not very good. I'm just asking for the people. That's my honest answer. Stop that. Always honest. All right then, man. So today, as we mentioned, we're going to focus on the Madrid derby, so let's get into it. Let's do it. This message is brought to you by today's sponsor, Walden University. Set a course for change. Now is the time to make a real change in your life, career and community. At Walden University, we give you the support and flexibility to get the W. Walden's online programs are designed for working professionals like you.

6:13You'll gain hands-on skills to take on real-world challenges and succeed. Your future is waiting, and Walden is here to help you achieve it. Take the first step to make your impact. Visit waldenu.edu. Walden University. Set a course for change. Certified to operate by Shev. Do you keep hearing podcast ads, like this one, for example, but always wonder how you actually get involved with them for your own brand or organization? Well, it's easier than you think. We're Acast, and we give you the platform to do it all yourself. Browse thousands of popular podcasts, choose the shows that match your perfect audience, set your budget, and launch.

6:52And if you want a hand, our podcast specialists are there to help you launch with confidence. This is podcast advertising without barriers. Get started at acast.com slash advertise.

7:07At the Metropolitano we had the first even though they lost to Betis this was down as the first big potential top of the table clash for Real Madrid this season once again being defeated by Atletico at the Metropolitano in the derby 2-1 this time a late Real Madrid goal gave them a slither of hope the Deanhausen red card changed the game obviously and we will talk about that but it's quite a lot it feels like it's quite a lot to get through to this with this derby because it felt very symbolic and I mean just a bit of a brief summary it now leaves Real Madrid already six points behind Barcelona at the top of the table who beats Sevilla 3-1 away on Saturday a hat-trick for Rafinha who is just looking unbelievable as a number nine incredible hat-trick too gorgeous hat-trick yeah unbelievable and you can tell it's kind of bad because Jose Mourinho went into the press conference with a printout remember when Sonia Bonpastor went into the post-match last year was it in the Champions League and she held up the phone about the was it last season or the season before I can't remember it was last season was it a couple of years ago and she held up the phone with the kind of decision that went against him Jose basically did that but with a printout of the both two images in the same printout so he's asked someone to go and do that print it out and take it in the press conference which I think is I actually think that's kind of cool I think that it shows how early in the game he realised he was going to have to make excuses after the match interesting I mean if you devise a plan like that you are thinking to yourself I'm going to have to make excuses for this because if you how many times have you needed to print something out you can't find a printer that quickly that's what i'm saying yeah it was going bad early and i think it's because he picked the wrong team i agree he picked the wrong team so and i think he made the wrong subs i think yes i think he got he got he got it wrong from the beginning and i think it was very clear that it was wrong very early on can you elaborate on that because i think you're going to pull on a thread that I'm going to talk about.

9:30I think that Chiumeni should not have started. I think that Silva, Bernardo Silva should have started because if ever a game had Bernardo Silva written all over it, it was this game. I don't see why else you buy a player like that. Someone that can organise a game, that can slow it down when needed, that can defend. And I think that Arda Gula, as good a player as he is, I think that they should have had Diomandi starting instead of Arda Goulet because Goulet was not progressing the ball as he was expected to maybe okay I get why he started I'm not knocking him there but I'm saying that that sub actually no I'm going to be I'm going to be honest this team was set up like the 2012 Real Madrid team that had the incredible counter-attack with Ozil leading it but didn't empower Goulet like that team empowered Ozil right if you look at that 2012 team and you look at that famous counter-attack they did against was it against Ajax when the ball like goes like coast to coast in 15 seconds, 14 seconds, whatever it is.

10:28And you look at this team now, there was a moment in the first half that summed it up for me when you have this Real Madrid attack and they were all streaming forward and Goulet plays a bad diagonal pass and it's just slow, it's flat. And it's not even Goulet's fault necessarily, it's the spacing. And I'm like, this team is not being coached to counter correctly. And whether it's the team being coached or whether it's the on-field generals not coaching it. And I've said this before at Chiromania, it's not me trying to be judgmental. it's like he is a very good solid player in defense but for a Madrid team that seems to want to progress the ball in transition he's not the guy he is not someone that's going to find you that right decision in transition that's Bernardo Silva and I just didn't understand do you know what I found super interesting so Real Madrid completely struggled to control the game yeah could not could not control the game at all what happened in the previous derby at the Metropolitano.

11:23Real Madrid couldn't control the game at all. Who was the starting front six in that game last year? The exact same starting front six that started in this game. So to me, I don't know, I'm not entirely sure that, look, a year is a big, this is a different Atletico lineup as well, there's some new players in there, some signings, etc. But still, I think that it was, if you have the, I mean, that's wild if you think about it the exact same front six in the same position started the away derby last season as well when they lost 5-2 you already have that there you have to come with a different approach and I think what the thing about Yandy and Mandy starting as well which I think would have been really interesting is that I think one thing that people are I think starting to notice now is that Vinicius Jr.

12:12is actually doing a little more defensive work than we've seen him do before Yes, yes, he is. And I think that if Jan Diamande had started as well, what it would have given Real Madrid is just a... See, I think Diamande is way more mobile than Goulet, right? Yes. And I think what that would have done was allowed Real Madrid, I think, to push a little higher up the pitch, especially on that Atleti back four. Because what happened quite a lot in the first half was Grimaldo just had so much space to come into midfield. Hensko had time to just like I mean that's where the red car came from right the second half like just so much time on the ball there was no pressure on that specifically that back three as opposed to the the back five in quotation marks which was kind of like a Grimaldo on one side and a Simeone on the other side Actually we'll get to Grimaldo in a bit because Grimaldo is a very fascinating he's a fascinating example of Simeone's evolution Yeah for sure If you consider that like these have Filippe Luis playing left back for Atleti and that was fantastic and now you've got a full-on playmaker.

13:16That's more like a Nagelsmann type individual. Like Simeone doesn't get enough credit, I think, for some of these tactical evolutions. But that team, all of a sudden, they beat them without a starting Julian Alvarez. Yeah, and Adam Ola Lukman as well. Remarkable, remarkable. To control midfield with two players that don't necessarily enjoy being ball dominant, Johnny Cardoso and Llorente. To go up against that midfield and absolutely cook them, I'm so impressed by Atleti. And also just a change in system and a change in personnel, right? And also, I respect him. They got the early yellow Atleti and then Simeone got one too.

13:55But Simeone got the first, didn't he? It felt like it was boiling over. He was yellowed after six minutes and then Mark Pubil was yellowed after about just after half an hour or so. It felt like it was going to get to a level and then he just reined it all back in. Well, there were a couple of really contentious moments in the first half and they were the two that Mourinho put on his printout, right? Yeah. so let's do the one that actually went to VAR which I think personally this was actually quite well refereed the Bellingham one yeah because I think so yeah Christian Romero obviously if you freeze it like and it like that that is a horrible kind of impact right but it's because there's just it's his foot has ricocheted off the ball right and the speed that Bellingham slides in yeah it's hard to do much else with your foot yeah I think that that's one of those I think that is if you freeze frame it you're like whoa he's got to go but actually I think I think that was quite well refereed took the yellow off Bellingham and then booked Christian Romero and I think that was enough people didn't really seem to you know think it was more than that and Bellingham was up and walking it was fine so you think that was fine that one because that was one of them completely fine yeah yeah what about the the Kang In Lee one because this one I think is a little more naughty I agree I agree I agree I see why he was angry about that too.

15:13I think he could have gone here. And I think specifically because I think if a foul had been given and Lee gets a yellow, maybe the chances of it going to the AR are higher. But I can understand him being angry about that. Yeah, I see that. I see that. But yeah, like the Romero one, I think actually, because at first I was like, oh, he's just going to send him off here, even though I think he's a little bit unlucky. Yeah. Because he's not going. Romero's rep and all of it, like it had all the hallmarks of, it would have been so easy to send him off then. but I liked how it was reffed and I thought the game actually I thought he officiated it despite Mourinho disparaging comments afterwards I thought he officiated it really quite well Yeah because in the first half it went from being quite passive to then all of a sudden just being I think it started quite well and then it kind of fell into a little bit of a lull and then it started to get really just gritty and kind of like and I think that there's definitely a moment where it could have gotten out of control and I don't think it ever really did that.

16:10No, I agree. I agree. So then the sub at halftime for Simeone, Koke comes on for Matt Pouville who was on a yellow. Obviously then you have Koke going into midfield and it felt like all Atleti in that early second half. I agree completely. Yeah, yeah. Which is where it really turned and Housen looked out of sorts I think throughout the game and his red I think was, it was what it was. It was deserved it deserved red um grimaldo with a great penalty to put it away and then the house knew as well i think house and a didn't protest when the penalty was given whatsoever and he definitely didn't protest when the red was happening no one really protested no totally this is all afterwards and to be honest i was slightly surprised i wasn't surprised by the marino press conference in that that's classic marino but i was surprised by how animated he was because i guess part of me was like well where was this energy where was this proactive nature during the game because he wasn't proactive in the game.

17:08And it felt like, and this is the most damning thing, he couldn't fully manage what was happening. I saw a commentary from managing Madrid. Kian Zabani over there was a bit frustrated with the fact that Cucurea had a lot of defensive work to do and Vinicius was maybe even exposed, but I don't know. I feel like they got the midfield wrong. I think Vinicius actually wouldn't really put too much blame at his door. I think that the composition of that attack was just too predictable. I saw a lot of people going after Mbappe and I'm like, okay, no, that's not happening because I saw Mbappe at one point looking up in the game.

17:41And this was shortly after the pundit in question had criticised Mbappe for not like contributing. Mbappe gets the ball in the inside left pocket and looks up. There was not a single passing lane available. Like every Madrid player was shrouded by at least one Atleti player. Like when he did a freeze frame and I was like, no, this is ridiculous. There is no option for with this guy other than backwards so either he dribbles forward and of course the pressure in that game is to go forward or it's to lay it back to the centre midfielder who is also not having the best game so I just thought it was bizarre actually um if there was a criticism of this game the weakest performer for Real Madrid I think was Jose Mourinho actually yeah I agree I think I think like you mentioned I think he got his starting 11 wrong I think he got his subs wrong and I also found it quite interesting the difference in reaction to I know there was a red card and there's a thing there but you take off Arda Goulet and Vinicius Junior with 35 minutes left of a derby and if you compare Vinicius Junior's substitution reaction to He took that quite well actually That's what I'm saying It really weirded me out compared to what happened in the Clasico last year At that point what Real Madrid could have done quite well I think has just gone a bit narrower Yeah, yeah, yeah And actually pushed Vinicius up a little bit, dropped Jude Bellingham into a midfield three and had four at the back.

19:02Bellingham, I think, was probably Real Madrid's best player on the weekend. It wasn't really a particularly standout performance for Bellingham. No. But I think this is a bit of a sign of just how... This is his firefighting mode, isn't it? Exactly. And how one-dimensional a lot of that Real Madrid side looked because Bellingham looks like the only real multi-dimensional player in that starting XI yesterday. I just look again I know I keep saying it but I just cannot believe that Bernardo Silva was not there like just to find solutions all over the pitch to slow the game down to speed it up to find pockets to find passes to release pace from deep I I just don't I don't get it I don't get it and I know that Arde Goulez is a superb player it's not even a knock on him it's just that Atleti team was set up with width it was set up with width and was set up to dominate and Madrid started without real width they were hoping maybe it would come from Dumfries but I think with Atleti, you have to basically throw, you've got to go a bit belt and braces.

20:01You need to have both flanks being ferocious and then crowd the middle because Atleti are not going to do ticky tack in the middle of the park. So what you do is you flood the flanks with speed and power and technique. And then the middle of the pitch becomes bare knuckle fighting. And that's, that's actually just how it's always been against the team like that. It's the only way you dictate a game like that. And then just the passivity of the approach. I think it was an invitation to Atleti. I mean, you look how much of the ball Grimaldo had and how much of it he completed and just had his way with it.

20:34Yes, he scored the penalty, but that wasn't even his most impressive part of his performance. I mean, I still think he was a steal of a signing for whoever got him. And I can't believe there wasn't more of a competition for his acquisition when he was available by Leverkusen. Just an incredible footballer. I think also as well, I think what, I think the job description that Simeone gave him, the brief, the sales pitch must have been an all-timer. Also, if you're a former Barcelona youth prospect and then you go, you're not going to go and play for Barcelona. I think a lot of people quite fancy playing for Atleti because it's, you know, you've still essentially got the same enemy, right?

21:14Atleti looked really good. They did. And the thing about Grimaldo, which you touched on, I think is interesting because I've been quite, I feel like every time I've seen that Leti this season they've looked very different in each game like obviously they haven't been you know 11 changes etc etc but they have looked like for example this is a prime example of this game right you take out Adam Ola Lutman for this game that feels like a big call but it actually really worked and then you bring him on for the final what was it 25 minutes something coming from Alex Baena Jonathan David starting up front because Julien Alvarez is not yet, I'm not sure if it's a fitness thing or if it's a kind of reintegration thing.

21:57But when he came on Alvarez, do you know what, I think he's almost there because he shaved the beard off. That was some kind of really going through it facial hair that he came back with after the failed Barcelona move. And then Simeone was quieting down, trying to tell the fans to stop booing him when he came on as a sub. So I think it's, I think we're not a million miles away from it being okay there, but it'll take a goal and it'll take a big goal. He actually had a chance. I think if he'd put that chance away to seal it, that would have gone some way to doing it. Because he would have got the big kind of apology and blah blah blah celebration.

22:33But Jonathan David starting up front, my point was, who had a tricky time at Juve. Yes. I think it's safe to say. Who didn't? Who didn't? He's scoring a derby goal in your first derby. Incredible. And actually looking like he can really do something for this Atleti side. Alvarez wasn't missed. Alvarez, when I say wasn't missed, he's not a great player. It's not that. It's that in this lineup, in this configuration, you talked about the changes that Simeone have made. So this guy, he's reminding him a little bit of, this is a cheap reference, but I'll start this off, I'll finish. Reminding me a bit of Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen in terms of shuffling the pack.

23:15Making it just interesting enough, your end table play sometimes at right back, he'll come in field. I think in this game, he's played 4-4-2s quite a bit this season, but to play with a back three, he was expecting more in midfield. I think he was probably expecting more down the flanks, actually, from... Yeah. I think he was, to be honest. But Pubil was running up and down that flank for most of the game, and Ansco had so much time on the ball. It was just a bit like... I think he was a bit disappointed, Simeone, by what Madrid offered. Like, if you look how he was tooling up in midfield, Grimaldo joining in the three there quite solid and they just managed the game this was but I mean saying that there were moments in that first half where it looked like he wanted a better class of criminal that's what he wanted yeah he did yeah he did but they were totally deserved winners I mean I know it got a little bit close at the end but there was a period in the second half actually this is what I meant to talk about where there was like 15 minutes before Real Madrid realised that they could still actually potentially get something out of the game.

24:16Yeah. Where they were so passive. Yeah. It was like, do you remember that Hoffenheim-Bayern game from, I think it was 20, I think it was just before the pandemic. I didn't see this one, but you referred to it. No, so do you remember, no, we did an episode on it. Do you remember when the game was stopped because of the Dietmar-Hop protest from the Bayern fans? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Okay. And then they came out and played that final 15, 20 minutes or so in solidarity and just passed the ball around. it was super weird yeah right and this was at a time where there was some big protests going on against Dietmar Hop who was the the kind of I suppose the technically the owner of Hoffman and and there was a moment there was like a bit of the second half where I was like this feels like the same energy and this is a derby and then all of a sudden they just turned it they decided to kind of go for it for a little bit got the goal and it just felt way too late at that point yeah definitely and I'm not really sure whether that was a conserving energy thing or what but they just did not look yeah conserving energy in a derby I know I know even with 10 players yeah they just didn't look anywhere close to getting anything out of that game I don't think not at all and if you look it's very early days but Barcelona and Atleti are the two teams that actually look like they have a structure that people are happy with they understand what's expected of them I don't know what happens with Madrid in terms of the next game, who they pick in the midfield, but I don't think Valverde, Chiumeni advances the ball, doesn't progress the ball like you need it to.

25:52It's not the right combination of player in my opinion. Yeah, something happened with Freddy Valverde last season. I think that his brand was selfless captain, everything for the team, adapts wherever, plays with whoever, but I don't think that's who he is actually. And I think that happened last season, we saw that with the kind of fallouts with Xabi Alonso and then the, was it him and Chumeni had that fight. Him and Chumeni. And you put them in midfield together. Odd. I assume they're fine now. Yeah, but there's a lot of odd things in that dressing room, to be honest. There's a lot I don't get about that dressing room, to be honest.

26:26So, this result means that Real Madrid are, after seven games, they're six points behind Barcelona. They're in fourth. They're a point behind Betis, a point behind Atleti. Atleti's only defeat this season came away at Athletic Club and Betis' only defeat this season was that kind of game away at Levante, which was odd. But yeah, Real Madrid fourth, going into the international break, a long international break now. Yeah. There was something about the Mourinho press conference which made me think of his first time at Real Madrid when stuff didn't go particularly right. and I wonder if he is trying to forge this mentality amongst this squad already where it's like, because for example, there was a whole thing about the history of the referee, the history of the VAR and the official Real Madrid Twitter account I think posted a match report afterwards with the thing about, I'm paraphrasing, but it's essentially like a terrible refereeing performance to size the derby.

27:35And now if this is starting already, What I cannot be arsed with, genuinely, is Mourinho trying to kick up dust again in the face of everyone else like he did the first time round at Real Madrid. Because that stuff got so dark and so grubby. You can see why he's doing it though. Yeah, because it's the only way. The speed that Barcelona have started. Yeah, and I'm like we've got Classico next month, right? He is trying to spoil this. He's trying to throw them off their game. He's hoping that these distractions work because the only way to stop Barcelona is to stop them playing their football. It's the only way.

28:14As it was, and I hate to draw comparisons the last time he was there because it feels a bit hackneyed, but he is kind of speed running that again, right? He's creating these narratives, but actually anyone that watches this game is like, they've got serious problems. If you can't select the right team, you can do all the best conferences you like. Do you know what it's like? It's like those AstroTurf accounts that basically try and make politicians really popular, but actually no one really likes them or votes for them or has seen them. You're not even the most organised team in Madrid. Focus on that first.

28:42Focus on that first, because if you turn up like that against Barcelona, you will get absolutely cooked. So really, the most important thing is focus on where you're going to show Barcelona problems, because this Madrid squad, this is the damning indictment, this Madrid squad has the minerals, has the tools. to defeat Barcelona in a one-off game, without question. Oh yeah, of course it does, yeah. But if they line up like that, it's not happening. It also has the personnel to take more of a control of the derby. Totally, totally. And the fact that they didn't, especially, I think the thing that's really kind of just confusing me about this is especially knowing what happened last season there.

29:20Yeah, totally, totally. And I think they kind of, I think Marina just kind of picked a line-up that played completely into Atleti's strengths. admittedly I would say probably expecting a slightly different Atleti line-up but still I think that even with that even with that because what you're doing you're picking Vinicius and Goulet so what you're saying is we're going to expose our full-backs and ask a lot of them we're going to have a very narrow everyone's going to be playing in a close space in front of us but the problem is it's not as if those players playing close together it's not as if they have astonishing chemistry in tight spaces they don't you've basically got some ball dominant players in tight spaces who don't have great chemistry Mourinho can talk all he likes about VAR and about bad refereeing but VAR and bad refereeing are not making Madrid counter-attack with a lack of decisiveness they're not they're not doing that that's going to be their problem this year because they're clearly set up to be a transition team right that midfield is not set up to have 60 % possession that's not the idea right okay fine there's no problem with that but if you're meant to progress the ball through midfield at light speed you might as well do it otherwise what are you doing here?

30:30I wonder and I know that he didn't love playing there in the end but I wonder how different this looks like if you have Bernardo Silva Camavinga and then Valverde at right back totally pushing into midfield when he needs to because I think or right wing right wing with ahead of Dumfries yeah potentially actually that's not you know what I mean as a flank as a flank there were moments when Fene Valverde he's played in that position further forward where he has been really, really effective. Maybe that's a more preferable choice for a derby than... I think it's a derby. I know initially we said, or I said, putting Yandy Amande up there I think would have helped to pin in that realm, that Atleti backline a little more.

31:10But maybe someone like Valverde up there just with the experience. Starting a derby, yeah. Starting a derby, yeah. And I think also, if you're going to have midfield, then Chiromane and Silva, then good. Then you've got someone who is like a basis for it and then Silva can advance the ball, can marshal the midfield and you don't need look all the talk of Vinicius not doing defensive work I'll give him some slack here if you've got a midfield three tucking in of Silva Chiromani and Valverde that's plenty enough for a derby especially with the spaces being as narrow as they are so I'm not even knocking him for that I just think I just think Mourinho got it wrong and the reason I'm doing this is because there's going to be so much conversation about the other stuff but this is classic Mourinho just classic classic classic alright man so is he I don't know I don't want to get ahead of ourselves but the Classico is Sunday the 25th of October they go to Camp Nou the Sevilla game was really good for Barcelona a little bit of a test they haven't had the toughest opening schedule so it was really important for them to fall behind have a bit of adversity and then just watch them extract themselves from it it's a good point actually you know just how does it feel to come back from the deficit they hit the post early on which is great it's an incredible save by Sevilla keeper from Laminio Mald but yeah going a goal down and having to play their way back into it and they did that superbly and we've said about Rafinha before but he's basically like rerunning the Ousmane Dembele Ballon d 'Or year or actually to be fair to Rafinha he's rerunning his own Ballon d 'Or year yeah yeah yeah just just an astonishing footballer he's amazing man must be a coach's dream any instruction do you want to play on the flanks left wing right wing yes boss do you want to play as the nine yes boss and just do it it's what the team needs Incredible.

32:52Incredible. And side note, those two FireNord defenders are still sliding. The meme. Shout out to my friend Kay. Kay's a massive Ajax fan, and that man was lapping up all the FireNord memes.

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34:24all right let's go to seriocity because it was a massive game seriocity top of the table roam it into oh my god oh my god a game of two halves quite literally yes the game i enjoyed the most this weekend i think i did enjoy the derby but i think i purely this was such a there was quite a lot into this because I think very important match massively important obviously Roma's start to the season has been brilliant they're undefeated after getting them into the Champions League Gasparini has gasped man like he stepped up in season two I mean if you look at how much Atalanta has struggled since he left right and getting Roma back into the Champions League and then starting the season unbeaten this is the first time they've dropped points actually this is the first time Inter and Roma have dropped points this season so far.

35:14It would have been the first time that they'd beat an Inter at home in a decade. And I know that like Inter ended well but they were relieved. Overall they were relieved. They dragged their way back into it and they were brilliant in the second half but my goodness Roma gave them that work in the opening stages. Two goals from Manacone in the first half who had I think he'd only had four goals in his entire 70 games and now two first time he scored a break. That's strange because that's a player who should be But you know when you see players that have, you know, like players that just have skill sets where you're like, oh, you could get 10, 15 a season, like in all competitions.

35:49Manu Kona is absolutely there. It's the positions he takes up, it's his technique. I think there are some players, and this is the Kamavinga trap as well, who are sometimes a bit too obliging. And they just do anything for the service of the team. I think actually, funnily enough, early Valverde was a bit like that, actually. Early mid-career Valverde was a bit similar. be a definitely a player Manu Kona who has more in him and the two finishers here were just great like really attentive close in crashing the box finishes and into up against it but Lautaro man that guy late in the game he is kind of relentless he reminds me a little bit and this is different I don't know he doesn't remind me but he there was a period when I think it was like late Fiorentina Dusan Vlajevic early Juve Dusan Vlatovic I thought you mentioned Alexis Sanchez no do you know what that isn't a wildly that's not a wild chat at all just the intensity the intensity a period in the game where it feels like everyone's intensity has just dropped off and that's where that's almost like their superpower that's where they they make a difference in those moments of the games because they are able to apply an intensity to certain periods of the game when people just can't keep up with that outstanding and the inter like YouTube like account I think it was all the socials they were like they were relieved man this is a really good point for them massive point for Inter massive because Roma have looked really good to start the season and Inter have been alright but they've had some scrapes that was that Napoli game remember that felt like that felt like a big escape we talk very often about like how teams like Roma that haven't won for a while will get criticism from the wider community, but how their direct opponents will respect them more than any other.

37:40You know, the same way that you had like Pep taking advancing teams, new teams really seriously in the title race. Roma feel like that. Kivu, I feel like there's no coach that takes Roma more seriously in Serie A than Kivu. You know, it's exactly what they're about. Yeah. It was just an amazing game of football. Fantastic. There's three teams all on level points at the top of the table. Roma, Inter, Lazio. Lazio drew on the last match day against Milan 2-0, which meant that was their only drop points this season. But Inter and Roma do look like the two teams who are like really just at another level above everyone else this season.

38:24Can I shout out Caliuri though? Caliuri beat Udinese away and are currently fourth in the table ahead of Milan, who are then ahead of Frosinone. who beat Como 2-0 on the weekend. Look, this is, that's one of the results of the weekend. Oh, yeah, 100%. I'm really surprised how much more Vinicius have struggled than Frozanone. Maybe that's my name. I mean, we've talked before about the players they lost, the Svoboda loss in the summer, but still, I'm surprised by just how much harder they found it than Frozanone. But yeah, respect to the newcomers. That's outstanding. Outstanding work. All right, shall we go to the Premier League?

39:00Let's do it. Where would you like to begin? we have to begin with Brighton we could share with Brentford as well but I think Brighton no no Brighton do you know what it is because Brentford as good as Brentford were Brentford took the lead late and against opposition that was not Brentford were unbelievable Chelsea were still finding their way Brentford was superb and in any other week I think it would have been the performance of the week but the way that Brighton just found every gap dude Brighton were absolutely amazing Pascal Gross' opener I think what was really interesting was the first five minutes of this game, I knew it was bad.

39:37I was like, oh no, this is going to be really bad. There was a feeling straight away in that opening five minutes. I was like, first of all, Brighton are pressing. Arsenal could not get out. And Brighton were forcing errors that Arsenal haven't made for a while, you know? And collective errors as well. And there was a lot of talk about how dreadful Arsenal were afterwards. so I think this is one of those games where there are points along the way that are absolutely crucial to the outcome more so than usually any other right so there's the Brighton coming out I think caught Arsenal on the hop a little bit caught them out a little bit and it forced them into errors which then kind of continues this sense of panic because it was quite unrelenting for a little while until Arsenal actually got control of the game a little bit at points in the first half but then you just have an amazing goal.

40:29You can't do anything about that. Pascal, Pascal Kroos. Pascal Kroos. Curling into the near post against Rye. The audacity to attempt that. The only thing that was really disappointing was that someone should have closed him down from an Arsenal point of view but the actual finish itself is so good that you're just like whipped around the defender. Bottom corner. And also you look at like turning points. The transition where Arsenal have got them under real pressure and they break straight away. And it's this broken field again where they have the ball to the mid. I mean, the first two Brighton goals are so good.

41:03I genuinely looked away when Verbruggen caught the ball at the end of it or had the ball at the end of that Arsenal attack. And I looked away and I swear to God I turned around and I flashed up 2-0 in the corner again. I was like, how? How? How has that happened? Genuinely, how has that happened? This is the type of coaching performance from Hutzler that puts you on shortlists. When clubs with the biggest budgets in the world, no disrespect to Brighton, when clubs with the biggest budgets in the world are looking at people they want to hire three to five years from now, Herzl is on those lists now.

41:35Like he's on a few of them. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't on, if Bayern weren't there, like looking around or whatever, like as brilliant as company is, if anything happens to any of these people, let's say company decides he wants another challenge five years from now, Herzl is on those lists. Like this is a masterclass against the English champions we didn't give it to them like those two goals again there's almost every other team in the league goes to half time at 0-0 but the execution from Brighton was outstanding it was outstanding and actually to Herzl's credit it was as free flowing as Brighton were as their best before he got there before they sold off some of their key players this was every bit as impressive as the last iteration of peak Brighton actually it's so so impressive they were just amazing so good so good yeah like I said I think apart from that weirdly Arsenal's best moment in the entire game came in the 10-15 minutes before their first goal but apart from that I don't think Arsenal really did anything until it was way too late you know if you just step back and look at the stats here you'd be like wow I mean that's one you know what a close game it just feels like but it never felt really close in terms of momentum in the game apart from that especially when the two got after half time it just felt like Arsenal were never going to get into that game and I think that from an Arsenal point of view from that I think we're talking about the Madrid derby I think Mikel Arteta got this really wrong because you leave out Miles O'Skely has had an amazing start to the season right you could tell in the first 10 minutes or so there was like Arsenal don't have anyone here who can who's like Miles O'Skely feels like the most press resistant Arsenal midfielder and which is an incredible thing.

43:24If you consider who's in that midfield, that's a pretty incredible goal. Yeah, because of his ability to, like you saw how, where were the channels for right, every single, pretty much every time an Arsenal player had the ball in the middle of the park or in the back, any of the back six positions, let's say. I lost count of how many times they had to turn around because there was no way out, right? And what Myles Lewis-Skelly does more than any other Arsenal player in the middle of midfield is use his body to wriggle and turn. He turns teams around more than I think pretty much anyone. Yeah, it means that occasionally you will lose the ball and you'll get, you know, turned over.

44:05But that's the risk that you run. And I think Arsenal just never had that. Brighton never gave them a sniff. And I think that I was really, really surprised at that. First of all, at that. I wasn't necessarily really surprised at picking Gimaraes but I was surprised that he started for this point or that you know Mikel Arteta has been quite bold in his changes recently I'm quite surprised that he didn't change it dramatically at half time you know The third goal will make him rethink I think a different margin of defeat might make him persist but I think the third goal I think makes you go actually I need to just chalk this down I've got this one wrong it happens it happens Yeah and I think that going into the international break from an Arsenal point of view before I go back to Brighton because I think Brighton were just so good I think this is one of the best performances I've seen against an Arsenal side in such a complete way for ages I think it's the biggest Arsenal defeat in three years or something in the league something like that what I'm really pleased about is that after the game McAuleteta made A.

45:13made a point of praising how good Brighton were and B. didn't sugarcoat any criticism of the players but for Brighton they're third in the league only behind Arsenal Manchester City and they go to Sunday on the next which will be a hell of a game I'm sure they've scored the most goals in the league and they've got the best goal difference in the league and just an unbelievable performance and a young young team young exciting team yeah fantastic I was super impressed by them the goals were great they handled the game really well they didn't concede in that period where Arsenal had way more of the control yeah just very very impressed beautifully coached team and I think you know I'm excited to see where their ceiling ends up actually obviously very early in the season but already some indications are that they're going to they're going to turn a few more masterpieces like this one don't quite think it's a crisis crown for Arsenal yet but it's no it's more of a like a wow that was a very very bad day at the office to be honest with you there's a part of Arteta that's really he's really happy with his defeat he gets to talk about the suffering and all the rest yeah yeah yeah certain coaches love this stuff mind game he's one of them right we talked about Bremford Bremford were brilliant on Friday against Chelsea yes and are currently fourth in the table another undefeated team in the Premier League this season Everton Everton Everton haven't lost a game this season Everton Liverpool Leeds Bremford and Manchester City are the only teams in the league without a defeat Bremford were yeah so good they go to Villa next Brentford absolutely superb just applying so much pressure the only surprise I suppose they did the leaders late as they did actually or that Chelsea held out so long but this is really one of those weeks where Chelsea are like a work in progress you're like it's going to take a while for Chelsea to reach their final form but Brentford already there I guess you could say if there's any kind of narrative to this in Brighton and Brentford it's money ball football like it's really brilliant scouting great analytics great coaching and bold appointments actually We've said this a few times now, but Andrews and Herzlera were bold appointments, actually, at the time, both of them.

47:24And you've got to say they've worked out superbly. So Manchester City responded with a 5-3 win over Sunderland. Brian Broby-Hattrick. That's a guy that needs an international break only because that man needs to put on ice. That man ran everywhere. It's the great Northwest run, wasn't it? The guy was absolutely... Oh, what a game, though. And do you know what? I mean, a good result for Manchester City because this one could have been dodgy, especially like the way that Sunderland kept coming back into it early on. You see now why the Enzo Fernandes, well, I see now the Enzo Fernandes midfield access with Elliot Anderson.

47:55It's really, you know what it is? I call it a good cop, bad cop midfield. Oh, yeah. But yeah, like for example, the free kick to open the scoring. Brilliant to hit that near post, like so, so smart. Yeah. And I think City, I compared Manchester City this year to Luis Enrique's Barcelona in the sense of sacrifice a bit of control for a bit more direct. It's just put the ball in, put the ball at the feet of the most gifted players and have them cook. Enzo Fernandes basically running the transition. You know, he's a very press resistant player himself. Elliot Anderson sort of just taking care of the air traffic controller behind him.

48:32And that is a potent lineup. It's going to leak goals, but Enzo Maresca said afterwards, I'd rather win 1-0 than 5-3. But he set up his team to win 5-3. He has not set up his team to win tight games 1-0 and to suffocate the opposition. He's set up his teams to go out there and go toe-to-toe. And that's an early indication of why it's a more exciting league. If you've got teams at the top of the league playing that kind of front foot, enterprising football, then it sits the tone to everyone else. So yeah, great win for City. Probably outstanding. Not many people can boast of getting a hat-trick against a City team.

49:13outstanding great just great movement as well from him and I like this film because I think he's a player who just because he's so so strong I think people don't see the other parts of his game as well it's very easy yeah yeah exactly but there's so much there so much there I think when you have that combination it's just so so hard to deal with I reckon he comes up a lot among centre backs as players that just a nightmare to deal with also I think that players look forward to the challenge of as well. I think so, yeah. Manchester City go to Anfield when the league resumes, which is going to be a really interesting test because, I mean, Liverpool won on the weekend and, you know, they're kind of ticking along figuring it out under Arreola.

49:58But I feel like City is still a little bit hard to gauge. Despite that great start, there's plenty to fix, yeah. There's a lot under the bonnet, yeah. And just a quick shout as well, we're going to kind of skip through the rest of some stuff, but... Newcastle with a good win over Hull. Yes. Everton with a good win over Ipswich as well. And Spurs are quite lucky that we're not going to talk about them more because we did do that episode three games ago about whether it was too early for a crisis. And they are currently the bottom of the league. This ends 3-0. I think De Zerbe's gone if it's 3-0.

50:36Yeah, I genuinely do. The Buendia goal. Oh my God. it was unbelievable yeah the brand new goal yeah so Villa look we knew Villa would like spark into life at some point they did the same thing last year yeah slow starters it is what it is also a lot of acquisitions a lot of players left we knew that but Spurs bookmark that because there's some trouble still there and Coventry with a great great great win against Nottingham Forest amazing win fantastic just to get some points on the board yep really happy for them because I think some of their performances have deserved a bit better than that actually so yeah really happy for them yeah I agree final game we need to shout out in the Premier League but we're not actually going to talk about Fulham Manchester United today great point for Fulham first of all their second of the season second point in a row more drop points for Manchester United but we are going to do an episode during the men's international break where we maybe touch on a couple of signings from various teams around Europe men's teams and actually we're going to use that as a bit of a thing to talk about some Manchester United stuff We talked about them last week and we talked about them briefly on Thursday's show, so we don't want to go too much into it today.

51:45But yeah, congratulations to Fulham and could have been three points. And that's the Premier League. All right, man, let's go to round up some other stuff very quickly. Some shout outs. PSG beat Marseille in Marseille. Tim Weyer got sent off for a second yellow. Marseille this season are in real big trouble. they had to for those who haven't been following that they had to basically just offload so many players to reduce the wage bill and for budget stuff and it's left them extremely thin the line-up they started with was not promising but PSG have always also been a bit but PSG I think Luis Enrique said that he called them like a weird season so far they look sleepy they look really sleepy just I think do you know what without sort of psychoanalyzing too much.

52:40The finishing was really, really lethargic. They weren't finishing like a team that was going to generate more chances. They were finishing like a team that wasn't desperate. They weren't snatching at chances. They were kind of just blazing them and they weren't really locked in. Some of the distribution, Nuno Mendes, not at his best, not in his rhythm. So again, not like, not, not a lack of effort, but a lack of, um, there's a lack of rhythm and they've won two on the bounce right two champions in the bounce and sometimes you know as bane might say victory can defeat you like what is your quest and if you're going to find your quest it's not necessarily in a game like this because didn't have their fans there um and marseille not with the greatest lineup this fixture is heralded more than it actually delivers i think marseille struggling as it is and that lineup if you look at the players on the pitch that marseille fielded compared to the psg ones like individually there's no real comparison.

53:35I will say that Marseille had a couple of incredible chances. Yeah, they should put the game to bed. Neil Mopé had two excellent chances. And I have to say, it's really interesting. He's like, he really plays the supervillain, but I don't think he actually enjoys it. Yeah, so he didn't really get it done. And of course, PSG eventually punished that. And of course, it was Ferran Torres that brought him back into it. His goal scoring record is amazing. He was the only person really on the market this summer who I think a lot of clubs will look around and be like, that's for that money. For that money, a lot of people are like, we should have really made a move for Ferran Torres.

54:17Brilliant footballer, great team player, incredible talisman from already. His start, his scoring start equals Latins. In a team that's not flowing really. some of it's weird though because their starting 11 I think was pretty apart from Hakimi was I think the same starting 11 as the Champions League final that's the problem yeah there's not enough of injection do you know what it reminds me of that a bit it reminds me of the Warriors the Golden State Warriors when Steve Kerr was so good at refreshing the locker room and adding because he was like what's the motivation when you want to go dynistic what is the motivation in there you need to refresh it and start winning it for other people and it's such a difficult Coming off for Ferran Torres was such a great sub in that context.

55:00Yeah, yeah. Because it was like, not a natural sub, actually. No. But then it was almost like, oh, yeah, like no one's invincible. Anyone can get pulled off. Yeah. I mean, Paris FC are the top club in Paris at the moment. They're third in the league, only on goal difference behind Lyon. They beat Lyon Rossenia doing a great job there to start off. He beat his old club, Strasbourg, on the weekend, 2-1. Lyon beat Wren 4-0 to go above them actually Wren were doing quite well that was their first defeat of the season Nice beat Lille as well another big game that was Lille's first defeat of the season Lyon up to second Monaco however are still top of the league they beat Lons 2-1 in what I would like to call the man bun derby because Lons fired Dino Topmuller former Eintracht Frankfurt manager.

55:56He did really well at Iron Track for a bit. They replaced him with Yannick Kouzak and him and Felipe Luiz, both rocking the man bun. I wonder when the man bun came back actually. I think it's like drum and bass, man. It never goes away. So yes, that is Liga. And we're going to the Bundesliga now to finish up in the Bundesliga because Borussia Dortmund are going to the international break, top of the league. Wonderful for them. They're doing it in very Kovac, very Kovac this season. Just getting it done. Beat Valofpe by a single goal. Maximum in Bayern, 1-0. Good result, that. Yeah, really good, really good.

56:34And it's good that they're putting out this strong early start because Bayern are waiting in the wings. I mean, Michael Elise scoring his first Bayern hat-trick and all three of the goals were absolutely sick. The final one in particular. But the first and the third... in real time, I assumed they'd been deflected. Yeah. Even though I couldn't see a change in the trajectory, but I was just like, those finishes are so, they seem to have completely bamboozled everyone to a level that you assume it was deflection. Man. Do you know what I found really funny was the Union Twitter account. Yes. Basically, basically jokingly, jokingly went after Laminya Merle on Friday.

57:23I was just like, why couldn't Laminya Merle? why couldn't that 19 year old kept his mouth shut Harry Kane and Michael Lyssa putting in Ballon d 'Or form 7-0 77 minutes honestly scheduling a Bayern game after a Barcelona game is a nightmare it's a night just put it on the dress hang the quotes on the dressing wall motivation's right there yeah actually I had a friend taking photos of that and just like taking pictures of that game watching Bayern in full flow is like absolutely something else something else do you know who weren't happy though? who? The Bayern Ultras. How so? Complaining about the kits because Bayern were wearing their special Oktoberfest kits.

58:03And Bayern Ultras have had a bit of a long-standing war over the last couple of years with Adidas about kit design and stuff like that. And I think there was a kit a couple of years ago that was red and black. It was the first time that there was no white featured on a Bayern Munich home kit, which is a big deal. They said something about the Oktoberfest special kits and just our kits are red and white or something like that. Their shirts did look amazing, I've got to say. Yeah, the shirts are amazing, but they're very traditional. And do you know what? I know, look, I think, look, big fans of Adidas shirts, especially the stuff they do at the moment.

58:36I kind of do respect that. I respect the fan base pushing back, though. Yeah, because they have that tradition element to it, where they're like, look, man, we play in red and white. Or sometimes blue. A bit of a peek behind the curtain. I've been spending a few days down in Bavaria, and when you see... I actually managed to check out some youth football while I was here. And what I'll say is, actually, the more time I spend in Bavaria, the more I realise how incredible it is that Thomas Muller came through this system. Because the thing about the scouting network right here in Bavaria is that there's no secret talents.

59:09Everyone gets found. There was one kid playing, and I was talking about this in the Discord actually, his team beat the opposition like 26-0 in 12 minutes. And this guy was just, as I was telling to my friends and I was going, this guy looks like an adult like the body language it was like that iax documentary they had like a guy it was talking about the 95 iax team and they had like the current iax youth team they were scoring these astonishing lobs and like whatever like team goals and i was thinking if you scaled this kid up he would be and he might not make it i mean who knows but like the kid looked like an adult the decisions he was making the choices the counter-attacks play with the maturity of a like a professional in the mid-20s it's like it's always mind-blowing yeah never gets old well elsewhere in the Bundesliga oh Harry Kane we didn't talk about Harry Kane 100 Bundesliga goals well he's I think it's 101 now in 98 games ridiculous another record for Harry Kane who is just doing unbelievable things lights out alright man erm we've missed so much stuff, but we've, we've gone quite long.

1:00:19So I think we should probably, anything else you want to shout this weekend? Do you know what? There isn't, but you know, I'll say this, I've always said this, you know, we were in Paris that time working and I think Wizkid was playing the same time we were there and I didn't know about it until the next day. And I thought, I think I said to you then, the sign of a great time is when you've missed out the stuff and there's cool stuff going on and you haven't got around to it. And I feel the same, like the sign of a great weekend of football is when you've talked about football for like well over an hour or however long we've reported.

1:00:50And you've missed all the stuff. And you've missed, yeah. Oh, do you know what we did miss? Millwall-West Ham, which was wild, by the way. Absolutely wild. Talk about a game of two halves as well. Millwall 2-0 up, West Ham coming back into it, 2-0 up. That's a separate episode. A draw was probably the best for the region, actually. Oh, there was also an old firm derby. Rangers beating Celtic 1-0 at Parkhead. But let's leave it there for today. Let's do it. Oh, actually, one final shout. Sandro Mazzola passed away. The legend. Oh, man. 83 years old. There was... Absolute icon. Yeah, there was tribute to them around Serie A this weekend.

1:01:32They do great tribute, Serie A, man. They really do. They really nail that. One of my favourite ever football photos is Sandro Mazzola and Gianni Rivera. Cool kids. both captaining so one's captaining Milan one's captaining Inter and I think they were really good pals there's just an amazing photo I love that there's an amazing photo of them just like stood next to each other chatting and what you know in their kits and it's like Paul Newman and James Dean isn't it for context yeah that's nuts that's unreal of their era that's incredible I love that but yeah absolutely rest in peace maestro rest in peace all right man let's roll we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are we'll be back on Thursday until then don't forget to check the stadion watch us play us on Spotify and speaking of which we are playing out on Vire Love by Odyssey anything you'd like to add Moussot.com nothing further all right everyone much love have a great week and we will be back with you on Thursday hang on to your crisis crowns hey you get a crisis crown you get a crisis crown you get a crisis crown

1:02:45It's a secret that I don't forget My life is always there It's a secret march It's a secret not to It's a secret

1:03:02It's a secret It's a secret march It's a secret not to It's a secret It's a secret

1:03:22Thank you.

1:03:42Get a mistake, get a mistake, get have my work. Thank you.

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