Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the first Clásico of the season

0:22Hello and welcome back to the Stadio podcast. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. I'm Mr. Not as well as Real Madrid, but we'll get on to them after the admin. Wow, what a game. Delivered. It did deliver. Goodness me, goodness me. We hope everyone's staying safe and well. Just a quick bit of admin. Moose and I will be doing Wednesday and Friday this week. If you want to listen to every episode in full, ad-free, go to patreon.com forward slash stadio. You can sign up for the podcast membership, which gets you every single podcast. Or you can sign up for the Stadio Social Club membership, which gets you every single podcast, plus access to the Stadio Social Club Discord.

0:59Load of other perks. Yeah, patreon.com forward slash stadio. And another quick reminder for our live show at the Southbank Centre in London on December the 4th, the first of our quarterly set of live shows. Tickets are available. The link is in the podcast description. And I reckon that's all the admin. So today we're going to talk about El Clasico, the first one of the season. And we're going to talk about the Premier League being a little bit wild. Absolutely. We'll talk about all of that and more, but there is only one place to begin this week. Where's that? Schalke are top of the Spitebundersliga.

1:36Looks like they're coming back. Do you know what? Do you know what? I'll allow it. Fair play. I respect it. I respect it. But I'm only kidding, of course. There is only actually one place to begin. And that is, of course, with Hearts' 3-1 win over Celtic. Oh, no, really? Yes. Oh, God. Eight points clear at the top. It's a good game, actually. 3-1 win at Tynecastle. But no, of course, I'm only kidding. We're going to go to the Bernabeu. The first Clasico of the season. Real Madrid 2, Barcelona 1. It felt like there were about nine goals disallowed in this game. Oh, my God. The first one happened.

2:13Well, no, the first cancelled incident. Yes, yes. After about two minutes, Laminia Marl was thought to have fouled. Vinicius goes to review, gets disallowed. penalty gets this allowed. Madrid had already looked quite good at that point and Barcelona were already being exposed very early and this was a theme throughout the game. Late Barcelona challenges, we'll come back to those, punctuated this match and actually it's... Do you think it was the right decision to... Yes, but it's fitting that the leading incident in the game was a late Barcelona challenge because, Segway, they were late to pretty much everything in this game and that I think is what defeated them over the course of the 99 minutes including injury time.

2:55Real Madrid were just sharper in a lot of key areas. And it felt like Pedri completed 70 passes or just under 70 passes in the whole game. And actually, those weren't also passes that hurt Madrid particularly. And he never fully, it's interesting, you consider that although they had the bulk of the possession, it never felt like they had control of the game. And it's one of the rare times you'll see Pedri not controlling a game when they have that amount of possession. It was super interesting. I think that they one thing that Xavi Lancer did so well was they hounded Barcelona in all the right areas really impressive tactical performance I think from him as a coach and a deserved victory but we'll get to that in a bit so how did you see the game because I've got my thoughts but how did you see it if you didn't see the game you just look at the stats you'd be like oh well you know it seemed like pretty pretty kind of balanced and I think that there was just a different vibe in the game where everything felt in front of Real Madrid and everything felt like it was going behind Barca's back line yeah yeah whenever they were in trouble The main difference was just without the ball.

3:56Real Madrid were just so much more comfortable without the ball than Barcelona were. Whenever Barcelona were without the ball, it felt like they were scrambling or panicking or it was given away in a weird area. For a side that had such a huge amount of possession, I don't think they kept the ball particularly well, if that makes sense. Because a lot of it was just stale. And in moments where they could have an opportunity to pop it around the corner or try and break a line, they were just a bit untidy with it. I think a few players in general had kind of like mixed bag performances because a few good things on the stat sheet and maybe, you know, even like, let's say, take Fermin Lopez as an example.

4:36You know, he scored, it was a good goal, but I thought his general play was just a little bit, it was quite symbolic of the wider Barcelona performance, I thought, which was that he was okay in flashes, but just generally untidy. He had that actual moment where he got in Pedri's way a little bit and gave the ball away for the Mbappe disallowed goal, which was an unbelievable finish, by the way. But that was such a warning sign so early on that Barca just seemed unable to fix, where Firmin Lopez, for some reason, has a bouncing ball going towards his own goal. He gets robbed a little bit. by Goulet you know it's funny because that thing you mentioned about mixed bag performances and this sounds like a strange thing to say given the brilliant games that both have Arda Goulet I thought was superb right apart from his apart from his mistake that leads to the Barcelona goal super weird and then Bellingham brilliant in so many ways decisive assist in the winning goal but also that like the shunky back pass to Courtois that puts him under major pressure from no danger at all but then look the the surrounding noise in this game in this fixture it gets to everyone because I don't think those are mistakes that those players make in fixtures that are not that are not this fixture I think that everyone's just a little bit tighter everything's a bit sharp and people pounce on mistakes more and I think to Madrid's credit they generated so much more chaos in key areas um so we look at Mbappe okay I said this in the chat and the discord so apologies for repeating it for those who already saw it in there but Kylian Mbappe is fated never to play a normal Classico.

6:12He's never... If you look at the Classicos, he scores in pretty much all of them, right? He has a major... He either scores really early in a Classico or has a heartbreakingly disallowed goal. So he had a heartbreakingly disallowed goal in the last fixture, ended 4-0. In this one, scores an absolute banger, even better than his last one. And it gets disallowed because he's basically like... His Achilles tendon is offside. It's so spiritually onside, man. His Achilles tendon is spiritually onside. I think German comms are going wild over there. Like, what the hell are we doing here? But Mbappe, to his credit, came back and did it again.

6:44Brilliant finish. And actually, one of the game's defining moments, how often will Pedri get out-thought defensively? Bellingham looks down the right flank as to play it, and then turns, turns actually quite a chavvy type turn, turns away from Pedri with the outside of his right foot, and then plays this gorgeous pass into the gap from Mbappe. It's such a good move. That whole move, that is probably the outstanding move of the game, just in terms of an individual interaction. But I think that goal typified what was happening in the game, where as soon as Barcelona lost possession, they were in trouble.

7:15It just felt like repeatedly, all the time. And Real Madrid were just completely happy to let Barcelona have the ball in front of him. And Mbappé's movement was brilliant, by the way. Yeah, it really was. For all the criticism. but I think that one thing which you know the stuff that we'll come on to and the stuff that will probably dominate the headlines post game I think one of the things will get lost is like how impressive without the ball Real Madrid were like defensive shape the Carreras performance incredibly difficult to break down yeah but like Carreras exceptional exceptional he kept Lamin-Yamal very quiet and I think that was the main going into the game you know this has been there's been a run of Barcelona wins in this game in this fixture even though Barcelona were missing a lot of players Real Madrid were missing a lot of players Real Madrid got everyone back pretty much everyone I think was in the matchday squad apart from Alaba and Rudiger for the game so they've got those injuries back like Carvajal was coming back Trent was coming back all of these players but the Laminya Miles stuff in midweek about like Real Madrid always get the refs and all this kind of stuff I think just gave Real Madrid a little bit of not ammunition but like motivation to really I don't go after Barcelona I don't think it helped look can I just say something i don't think it helped as well and it also it also was the thing that you saw flare up later on in the game because carl vahal said something to the laminya mile and then i think that was one of the things that triggered the thing later which we'll get to um because i've got i've got comments on that brawl specific or whatever it was look laminya mile is one of the best players in the world but he's still really young and i think that having like being the focal point for a very very very very loud bernabéu at such a young age when you don't have a lot of the kind of older heads around like Lewandowski was missing there wasn't a lot of people like the people around him were for me and Lopez he's 22, Pedro he's 22, Ferran Torres was up front he's 25 Rafinha's not in there Lewandowski's not there like there's not a lot of proper protection for want of a better word I'm not one to say ordinarily don't talk the talk so much but I think this and we've seen games before people talk about it but football is not basketball right it's not a game you can reduce the individual interactions so quickly you can't turn it into one-on-one you spend periods where you're basically like out of possession for quite a while he didn't get a wild amount of touches and i think the thing about it was even when he got possession you could see he never got into his rhythm like the game he never fully owned the game he was not in a position to own the game and i think i think it's worth having a bit of a conversation with him or whoever's around him because it's like it's unnecessary you're already going to get that that smoke you're already going to get it but the problem is i you've i felt like i was watching extra intensity apply to his areas of the pitch and you could see it like i said like carver i'll go up to the end and like going oh you talk too much like that was clearly a primary motivator you'll mean you don't need people to come at you any more than they already do um and look it's it's a sad reflection that the defining highlight, the most visible thing he did in the game, was the late challenge on Vinicius.

10:21Well, he got there early in the end, but the kind of the flagged thing, that was actually the most visible thing he did in the game. He never really got in the flow. And that is a real, real, I think, a problem. At the same time, like you said, mitigating factors. Barcelona had key players out. And Firmin Lopez, as fine a footballer as he is, is not your primary player in that position, right? So there were other factors and this was not a this was not the strongest Barcelona side they could have um they could have fielded all of that being said Madrid and back to them deserve immense credit I thought Kamavinga was very very good um pushing forward in the area Chiumeni had a fantastic game he he absolutely brought it and he he's a player who's been in a real arc we've talked about him needing a really good season because he struggled a couple times in patches last year but against this Real Madrid team with this intensity this is so Chabulonso's team there's a lot of talk about coaches coming into clubs and kind of continuing what was there before I mean he's taken them up a level he has fixed the left back problem he's turned Ardegula into this kind of mini Modric in terms of if you look at like his playmaking skills his defensive heft and he's got Mbappé and Bellingham playing in sync I wonder if this was a game it's going to be quite pivotal we're going to look back on I mean, not many Real Madrid managers win their first Glasgow anyway.

11:44I think he's only the second manager to do it in the last eight or nine. It did just feel quite calm from a Real Madrid point, even when Barcelona had their moments. There's a seriousness now that maybe a lot of these players were looking for. And this isn't to criticise Ancelotti, because I think his management style was so effective and it was really, really good for these players and it brought them a huge amount of success. You can't hate on Ancelotti. but you know when there's just like an arc and there's a moment in time where maybe you need something else and there and there is like another element that was i think was needed to this group of players they did just look another level above barca because this you know why it's because this is basically their first choice 11 tell you why i say that apart from rudiger's probably or trent in there i don't even think they i don't think they're the first choice 11 i think militao gets in over rudiger and i think valverde's at right back yeah i think this is it.

12:36I tell you why, because even when Valverde went off, Carvalho came on. He loves him as a playmaker, Trent. I think he loves Trent as a playmaker, don't get me wrong. But in this specific game, when you have to lock down... I don't think Trent was anywhere near fit enough there. No, but I think when you have to lock down defensively, I think this game, I think it's not that Trent won't play a big role for Madrid in the next few years or whatever. I just think right now with what he's specifically building, Bellingham, the thing about Bellingham is because Bellingham has such an abundance of gifts, he can lock down the right flank and come infield to play.

13:06That's the thing. He starts maybe nominally right, but he's more like an inside right because Valverde bombs on so much, right? So he's basically doing, like, you know when Zidane came, drifted in off the left? Zidane was basically kind of like inside left playmaker. That's kind of what Bellingham is. Got Bellingham and Valverde down one flank, Vinicius Carreras down the other. That is a lockdown. Kamavinga, for me, was always a player with break ground with running. Kamavinga, Goulet and Chouamaini anchoring midfield and Mbappe up top that is brutal that is the Madrid first 11 like we always say like the team sheet tells the ultimate tale and I think Vinicius being so frustrated at the sub when he got sub to 10 minutes to go is because Vinicius knows that he is the start on their left flank but he also knows that he's not maybe fully core like I think it's not that he's not brilliant but it's Rodrigo is a very good option whereas there are some players that were just not leaving that pitch there were some players that were just not leaving that pitch unless they were absolutely shattered.

14:03And I think that what Xabi Alonso has done quite cleverly is he's established both an identity for this Madrid team, but also he's established a pecking order. And then the pecking order, things that remedy, the pecking order has to include you as the coach, actually. There's this element where you let the players shine and he's very good at that. He's done this thing very well, which is typical of the best Madrid coaches, which is you let the players shine, but they absolutely know who the boss is it's a very difficult balance to strike but I think he's done it already I think he's done it already But should we go through the rest of the game first before we talk about some big picture stuff because of course yeah yeah we talked about Mbappe's opener after 10 minutes after his brilliant goal was disallowed for offside Fermin Lopez equalised for Barcelona Rashford assist assist from Marcus Rashford I think the note here as well I think Sidlow pointed this out the first time the two English players had faced each other in a Classico.

14:59Oh, really? Yeah, and they both got assists. Wow. It's wild, isn't it? That's a wild stat. Both got assists. Pedri gets his first yellow a few minutes later, which is key. Yeah, oh my God. Incredible yellow. Yeah, but also it was just such a silly yellow because they actually had numbers and like, there's a great angle of, you can see Pedri's face, like the amount of effort he was putting into pulling Vinicius. Yeah. Come back here. I don't think he needed to do that quite. I think Barcelona were actually all right. it's strange actually the two decisions that Pedri makes I mean the second one you can say it's a tired a tired tackle for the second yellow but the first yellow was a strange one it was incredible just because it was it was so blatant it was one of the most blatant yellows I've ever seen it's unreal yeah I was a bit surprised that he did it actually yeah I was because it went on for ages it was so drags him back and then Madrid taking the lead just before half time looped across to the far post by um, Vinicius, Militao nods it back across, then Bellingham taps it at the far post and just kind of shrugs.

16:04It's easy. Yeah, yeah. Actually quite glad he didn't milk it that much because it was, it was embarrassing and easy, but, but great movement to get there and actually the kind of movement that we take a little bit for granted. If you watch, for example, the, I don't know, to take it random, the Spurs-Everton game, there's a moment when Beto doesn't take a step early in the move and doesn't get the tap in and the Bellingham goal looks a lot easier than it is because a lot of people don't anticipate the ball breaking to that space. And that's what Bellingham brings to this team. They go in at halftime 2-1 and the second half, although goalless, is extremely eventful.

16:41Extremely eventful. So I suppose the standouts in the second half in the course of the plate, again in Mbappe's movement, that guy's acceleration from a standing start is just outrageous. And then Kamavinga, a brilliant piece of wing play. Bellingham cuts inside. Garcia is a judge to have handballed it. And the save from the Mbappe penalty. I think it's harsh, the penalty. No, I think it is. That's why I say a judge. But the save that Chesney pulls off from this penalty, this is a good penalty. It reminds me of a save that he makes, I think it was a way against Udinese in the Champions League for Arsenal, where he looks lower than he should be and somehow manages to get a hand to it.

17:22I mean, that's an elite save. Yeah, it was more of a really good save as opposed to a bad penalty. Because Mbappe likes hitting up and across. Okay, that's known. But it's one thing knowing that. It's another thing stopping it because he rips that penalty at a good height. Not as in a good height to score it. So the power on the hand, even if you see it, you're diving back and across. So he basically saw it. He was already past it. Chesney is past it when the ball's hit. And to get the hand, get the wrist up and across with sufficient power to deflect over the bar, that's an elite stop. actually, at a key point.

17:57They're still about an hour gone. So there's still plenty of football to be played at that point. So potentially a crucial moment to get Barcelona back into it. But again, to Madrid's credit, they just had too much, I think. They kept looking, and this was the key thing in both halves, they felt as if they were always a team that could put another goal on you. Well, they were just so efficient. Controlled the game, essentially, without the ball. And when they did get the ball, they created some really good opportunities quite quickly from turnovers. And it just led to this weird tension where Barcelona had to press for an equaliser and to get back into the game.

18:38But they'd been quite exposed and given the ball away in really kind of, not even necessarily super dangerous areas, but the speed at which Real Madrid just kind of like broke on them. If a team knows that you don't have to have the ball to hurt them, or that you're quite comfortable without it, but yet you also have the ability to really really hurt them as soon as you get the ball I think it creates just a little bit of nervousness within the back line especially when you play a back line as high as Barcelona's and for example an additional thing is that Hansi Flick isn't on the touchline he's serving his touchline back because he was which I think made a big difference as well I think it made a big difference yeah and yeah I think that you know I think there was probably there was an opportunity and this is Ferentara's on the counter yeah Ferentara's on the counter but I think this is what makes the Vinicius Jr.

19:24thing when he gets subbed off for Rodrigo. From a Jabby Alonso point of view, I would like, I could understand why Jabby Alonso would be absolutely fuming about this because it threatened to potentially destabilise something completely self-inflicted. Like that just sent such a bad vibe around the place. And I think you notice like the atmosphere felt a bit weird for a second afterwards because Rodrigo, you know, he's waiting to be brought on he deserves to be on that pitch as well he does and he does some good things as well almost scores with a free kick exactly and like you're seeing a guy do that when he's coming off and you're replacing him you're a bit like oh this is kind of this is a bit of a vibe killer i go straight down the tunnel for a bit and then realizes that he should probably come back and sit on the bench and jabby alonso does a really good thing actually where he just leaves him to it i can see why venice's head was hot because i feel like a third goal was there for the taking and there's been so much talk around this game and it felt like the point which he went off Madrid had a third goal in them like it really did like if you watch the flow of the game and you're playing it's almost like there's nothing broken here why fix it there's nothing broken and actually his reaction made sense from an ego point of view but so did the sub I thought the sub was a good sub because it's like actually fresh legs Vinicius had been running at high intensity for seven minutes he hadn't really stopped and Rodrigo coming and you can see from the quality of the substitution again like I said what Rodrigo added once he came on the field right so I thought it was an excellent sub actually and like Goulet got hooked four minutes before that and it had in my opinion an even better game Vinicius and was subbed and you know didn't see much of a complaint but I think it's because Vinicius again is a more established player look now all that being said game goes on and Barcelona threw everything at this to the point where you can see Araujo playing up at left wing they really you know try to exert everything sorry that's just reminding me of something that happened something amazing that happened where Militao looked around in the Barcelona box and was like, I'm alone here and I don't know what to do.

21:26Like, I actually don't know what to do. So rapid as well. Like, he had a fine game. But yeah, so Barcelona tried to chase the game. The efforts get increasingly desperate and that is summed up by Pedri's second yellow. It's very rare you will see the ball escape from Pedri like that. Technically, I think that's also a tired yellow. That is exhausting. Completely fair. Late challenge. Chua Maney immediately calls for the yellow card and is like, yep, get out of here. And at that point, chaos ensues. Courtois sprints over at some point to the touchline. Good old-fashioned, classical bench clearing.

22:00Now, here's the thing about this. The fascinating thing about the touchline clearing, I want to talk to the guy who had his iPad up and was filming everything from the railroad bench. He's the guy I want to talk to, because my guy was right in there. The other thing about this is wild, is that you know it's getting wild when Rudiger is playing Peacemaker. so you have like Vinicius and Rudiger there Rudiger playing Peacemaker but Vinicius somehow escapes the coverage and ends up ahead of Rudiger I don't know how he does this you have Bellingham Trent is like having a conversation with somebody and it's like who has got eye contact with who like who is picking a few Alibas in the mix and it's like damn like we're really doing this the police were in the mix what is going on the actual police what is going on who's saying what and of course Carval having stirred the pot is then bouncing again it's unbelievable.

22:49So yeah, these teams... So there was what? There were three Real Madrid yellow cards I think in that sequence. Militao, Vinicius, Rodrigo. Lunin got sent off. So Lunin and Vinicius weren't even on the pitch. Balde got a yellow, he wasn't on the pitch. Ferran Torres got a yellow, he wasn't on the pitch. I'm trying to figure out like really what kicked it off though. I think it was because someone maybe said something about like oh, you've got him sent off or something and then... Can I say this as well? What was the reason I'm laughing about it was because it was actually all quite tame. I can laugh at it because it was quite tame.

23:20It was ultimately like, we're Real, we're Barca. And I'm not saying they were going through the measures. It wasn't like just pantomime, but it was also like, it's just end of the game. This is a top of the table clash. Yes, it's early in the season, but it really does establish what the pecking order is at this point. This is a fair reflection of where both teams are in terms of their evolution, I think, because Real have just got themselves together. They've gathered themselves more than Barcelona. to have and I think that's all it was I don't think it's anything more dramatic than this everyone's going to be fine look put it this way and even Laminia Marle kind of all kicked off at full time again though didn't it and like no it did yeah it did it did it did Carvajal went for Laminia Marle yeah it was fairly and look again like for all the talk of like Laminia Marle what this means for him Mbappe had a far worse baptism the 4-0 defeat in his first Classico so yeah look early in the season Barcelona got with a bloody nose they'll be back and Real can just build on this so you know Yeah, five-point gap at the top now for Real Madrid.

24:18I can see that gap closing again. Yeah. Yeah. I think there are points to be dropped in the league this season. But yeah, I think it was a really... We did say the other day that I think that we thought it was a bigger game for Real Madrid than it was for Barcelona. At the specific moment, with all the specific context of what was going on, Barcelona, a lot more injuries. Real Madrid, it felt like if they'd lost another Clasico at home and they'd had the Madrid derby, which was poor. This was a much better performance. while still having some areas that Jabby Alonso will know that they will want to improve.

24:47The Vinicius stuff is obviously the thing that a lot of people are going to talk about. And Jabby Alonso after the game said, I'll focus on a lot of the positive things in the game and good things from Vinny. Yeah, especially his role in the eventual winner. And his general play gets... Look, can I just say quickly as well? The way that Vinicius went at Koundé was outstanding. there are very few players that will give Koundé that amount of trouble oh Koundé by the way had an should have scored right at the end had an unbelievable chance to equalise it was a good chance it kind of got a little bit lost in everything but I think that was such a big chance and wild if that ends 2-2 yeah you know what I mean the narrative my god is there anything else on this or no I think that's it well done Madrid Barcelona they'll be back and especially those players to return from injury but yeah it gave me all the vitamins goals and red cards goals and red cards Espanol by the way currently in fourth although that could change later on because Betis and Atleti are playing this evening Villarreal won again they beat Valencia 2-0 away and they are still third close the gap to two points on Barcelona so yeah that's La Liga shall we go to the Premier League?

26:04let's do it what do we want to talk about? because it just feels like the Premier League in general is a little bit on one. It's on one. I think the headlines have to be Bournemouth being second and Sunderland being fourth. Bournemouth is, look, Iriola coaching the lights out. Coaching the lights out at that club. Tavenier and Kruppi. Kruppi scored four now, I think. And Bournemouth just, there are some games in Bournemouth just like only score bangers. So Tavenier from the corner, I don't from the corner, but it's such a great delivery. Olympico, I forgot about that. It's such a great corner that you can't really blame cells for that.

26:42And Kruppi from distance after dispossession by Tyler Adams and he rips in the corner. So, and that, and Sean Dyche's second game in charge of Forest. They're having a tough season, it's fair to say. So yeah, Bournemouth in second, Sunderland up to fourth with a great late winner over Chelsea. A goal that felt like it was going to be a goal 15 seconds before it was a goal. You say that, but the hold-up play is exceptional. That's what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, he's not going to get dispossessed here. Not to mention the Arsenal thing again but you know when Bergkamp holds it up for light years against Juventus and Jungberg is not even in shot in that old Champions League game like Talby is not even in shot when Broby takes possession of this that's how long he has to hold it for like and there's something so old school about hold up play like this and the finish when it comes is so well applied uh such a great finish that actually overshadowed Garnaccio's first league goal for Chelsea uh great finish early on from him but Sunderland up to fourth Sunderland up to fourth they've added a lot of players obviously in the transfer window so that's obviously the caveat some very good players very good players and at the same time the coaching is is exceptional here so full credit to them what they pulled together so soon yeah and just a great team to watch a team that's staying up I would say look at that sorry for the curse Sunderland sorry for the curse like ahead of Manchester City Manchester United Liverpool Villa Chelsea I mean you could go down to you know even like down to Newcastle whatever I think it's it's wild it is absolutely wild but I think the Premier League is just in such a weird vibe at the moment not necessarily like a bad one but like when we talked to Neil Atkinson you know we knew that Liverpool weren't putting in the performances but we didn't expect it to fall apart like this quickly and at the time I think Arsenal were five points behind Liverpool and since then I don't think Liverpool have won a point in the league yeah they faced Palace that weekend and Arsenal are 7 points ahead so that's been a 12 point swing in 4 weeks or 4 games sorry longer with the international break which is kind of wild they lost to Brentford on Saturday actually talking of Brentford alongside Regis Libris at Sunderland Keith Andrews as early front runner for someone doing really impressive things quite impressive things as a coach in this league that's a great win for Brentford against look a Liverpool team that's out of sorts but still they are the champions and to beat them like he did it's funny because there's a lot of talk with people saying oh like you curse Liverpool with your chat about them but this is one this is a result for Liverpool that is it is concerning because it's the way they took the goals off them Brentford actually there was one bit when is it their second or third goal when they're through on goal and Canate kind of like doesn't make the challenge second one really strange where yeah the second one he's thrown goal and canate i'm not saying sort of gives up it's not that but like almost like doesn't make the challenge maybe he's afraid of like getting penalized for the late foul but was almost like an element of we really got carved apart here and that was a bit of a concern i think just that that specific goal looking at that and thinking that is not the kind of thing that was happening to liverpool at their best and that's not the kind of thing you can explain through oh that's just our forward line not gelling that's different that's a structural problem in the defense in midfield and that's when i kind of got a bit concerned by it yeah well yeah i think that like there has been talk about like what they needed in the summer from a signing point of view you know they they were quite unfortunate in the sense that they signed giovanni leone and he had that horrible injury i think on his first start right so they're just kind of missing defensive cover you see why they wanted gay he's so much now yeah you see and you can also see if you look at palace's form you can also see why glasden was like no we cannot lose that guy yeah such an essential piece because i think schlott knew that in a situation where you have maybe a slightly more open right flank you need someone that locks down the one-on-one defending and you know gay he coming from a back three knows how to cover these vast spaces as an as a more natural defender not that canada is not a great defender I'm not saying that but like Gay is just much more comfortable in those absolute oceans of space I think defensively and that's fine that's not a judgment on Kanata it's just you know these are small margins but small margins in the Premier League get you cooked I mean you look at United for example look where they are in the league but look how open they are at the back and look how uncomfortable they are like when the game is not in a chaotic state like match control is such an issue for the teams in the highest level and I said this like early in the season you can kind of judge where a team's going to finish in the league by their ability to control space to take the life out of games you look at Arsenal being at the top and Arsenal the thing the biggest credit to them is fundamentally how quiet it's been for them we'll get to them in a little bit yeah but if you look at other teams and let's before we get to Arsenal moving away from Liverpool because I'm sure they'll be back and credit to Brentford for a fantastic victory going across quickly to Aston Villa they turned it around man because they had a real struggle at the beginning of the season and now they've won four in a row in the league they go to Anfield next week as well they're eighth going to Anfield they've lost two but they've won four their forwards are still struggling to fire but they're showing some promising signs and frankly who needs forwards to score when you've got Matty Cash scoring bangers that goal's amazing gorgeous goal from Matty Cash really impressive from Villa Pep talking about the fact that his players were too proud to repeat the mistakes of previous years.

32:23But they got, they just got outcoached here. And it's always lovely to see the warmth of the embrace between Emery and Guardiola because you know they respect each other so much. And really good to see Villa finding their feet again. Really well coached game this one. And their third win, they've beaten Villa in three straight, they've beaten City, sorry, in three straight seasons now. So really impressive from Villa to get that win. At home, they've won three in a row against City here. Yeah. So great stuff from them. Other news, Tottenham will not want us to forget them. They got a really good win.

32:52Spurs up to third man is a low-key... Yes, Thomas Frank doing work there. Such a good appointment, that. There's also... I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but there's such an amazing weekend of fixtures next week because you have... Let's do it. City host Bournemouth. Love that. Spurs host Chelsea. Sunderland host Everton, which I think is going to be quite vibey. And United go to Forest. I love all those fixtures. Oh, if you want to keep going, Palace-Brenford these teams you know what it is there's such quality all the way down the league Fulham are in 17th Fulham are like a decent team this is not me hating they're a decent team Fulham in 17th place like four in a row now they've lost though yeah yeah but still I still think they're a good side right they're not like Arsenal defeating them narrowly in recent weeks they're not they're not clowns it was a good win for Newcastle late win Brunegge-Morais with the winner can I say as well yeah a bit unlucky for them really yeah a good side I know Fulham fans might roll their eyes but still a good side to me anyway I'll say as well Wolves Burnley shout out to that fixture because a lot of players a lot of chaos a lot of people rolling their eyes at this fixture like oh nothing happening there everything happened everything happened also a goal that's probably going to be forgotten quickly Fleming's volley for Burnley Van Persie levels of technique if you haven't seen yet if you haven't had a chance to see it raking through ball and he takes on the volley outside the box and just cushions it and this is the thing about this league up the quality all the way down is like super high man super high Burnley with three wins already it's what a lot of money will get you it is it is it is Leeds beating West Ham 2-1 on Friday night West Ham just cannot buy a win my god all the teams have been promoted with at least three wins the Premier League already I know that's kind of wild huh really strong yeah yeah are we left with Arsenal's win over Palace or do you want to talk more about Man United's win over Brighton before we do that I will quickly mention United's win over Brighton because I think it's really significant I do for lots of reasons I think it's kind of the perfect result for Manchester United right four goals at home always lovely to see first goal for Kunia we love that for him Mbumo with two Mbumo who's just just like an absolute warrior spirit in this team.

35:18But I also kind of love the fact that Brighton got a couple back because it shows the work that's still to be done. I love that Welbeck got one of them. Lovely free kick from him. But I also, look, if United get that control in midfield, and we've talked about this before, I don't think that, I like the selection of Bruno and centre mid. I think it's really good. I just think it also is one of those ones where it explains why you have United so hard after Belaber in the transfer window you can see why they were really pursuing him in this United really impressive for most of this game and always had goals in them The response to the two late Brighton goals I think was really encouraging because it could have been very easy to let that get super super nervy and you know Brighton have got the quality we've seen it before and the fact that Man United saw it out, scored another, made it a little bit more calm.

36:10I think it was very encouraging indeed. I thought so, yeah. Yeah, and that's three in a row now. Yeah. Forest away next week. I don't know, man. Which Dice are we going to get? That's the thing, right? Yes. Dice came in in the week. He got the Europa League win on Thursday. And it was like Dice has arrived. And then, yeah, going away to Bournemouth. A little bit of a reality check. I think it's actually quite hard to tell how that game's going to go next week. Because there's nothing that has got... Manchester United still, especially Manchester United, who are quote-unquote resurgent, looking like they might be good.

36:49It's kind of perfect, right? Because then Daesh afterwards can be like, oh, you know, Riemann Amarim, the trendy young philosophy manager, and I've just come along and just squashed it. It's perfect. He loves, yes. It is set up for peak Daesh. Yeah, definitely. so i actually think that from a neutral point of view that is the game that i'm most excited about in the premier league next week is there any such thing as a neutral in a game like this in a game like this yes given the the ideological affiliations real football it gets woke nonsense am i leaning a bit pro dice in this i don't know are you actually if you had enough of it you've had enough of wokeness woke nonsense well it's funny because i actually think that there are players in Nottingham Forest's team that would really suit what Amarim was trying to do.

37:38Why are you playing recruiter? What are you doing? I'm not. I'm just saying, Manchester United lined up a Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson double swoop. I think Anderson is amazing. Yeah, I mean, he's great, but leave him alone. I'm intrigued by the match-up. I think the two, yeah, two smart coaching minds and Forest looking to bounce back, a tough time and it's the perfect game to get that city ground really like up and rocking for it. So I'm excited actually. And it's a big game for United because it's the kind of game you've got to go and show you have the chops. Tough place to go. Great ground, great crowd.

38:13So yeah, looking forward to it. All right, let's wrap up on the Premier League with Arsenal beating Crystal Palace 1-0 in not classic on Sunday. Maybe a classic goal. What a time and what a goal to score as your first home goal for Arsenal. First in the league, first Premier League goal. for Iberici Eze against his former club. Kind of an absolute picture-perfect non-celebration. Just no no's. Do you know what? It was such a perfect non-celebration that it made you, it actually muted how good the goal actually was. Weird that, isn't it? Like, such a good finish, but then like, took all the drama out of it.

38:53And, you know, it's the old cliche, it had to be him. But Eze is really, I like the way he's easing into his role at Arsenal. It hasn't been super spectacular. It's just been, you know, little cameos here and there, starting off with his, you know, his first game as a sub, just doing little bits here, flashes here and there of like, yeah, I see the vision. Yes, he raises the level. The spaces that he finds, even the space that he finds for that strike, it's like just popping up in the right places where the defensively on attacking role. The technique is unbelievable. It's great. It's great. Yeah.

39:26I've actually been quietly impressed with him because it's a very different thing, very different setup different coach different system different players different expectation as well and I think this is one of the things that I kind of want to go to the defence of Arsenal and also as a for this season so far in the sense that yeah I know that Arsenal aren't creating a huge amount from set play from open play at the moment but they are still creating stuff from open play and teams are facing teams are setting up against Arsenal in like a really like it's really difficult to play against a lot of these teams because they know the threat that's coming Respectful yeah they've only conceded three goals in the league this season against Manchester City Liverpool and Newcastle and only one of those was at home against Manchester City like if you we were just talking about the strength of and how deep the Premier League goes especially from like an attacking point of view to only concede three goals in the league so far is kind of kind of wild other teams are absolutely shipping them left right centre yeah yeah yeah And the fact that they've also, it hasn't come at the expense of scoring goals either.

40:35There's only, they're the joint second top scorers in the league. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs have scored 17, Arsenal scored 16. Like, it's not that they're, you know, if they'd scored eight goals or something, I'd be a bit like, oof, yeah, I get it. Yeah, totally, totally. But they're not. They've locked it down. They've locked it down. The last goal they conceded was 28th of September against Newcastle. And since then, they've just like cruised through. Three wins against London teams, all without a goal conceded. And those are like fixtures where they've come unstuck, particularly like, for example, the West Ham game.

41:08And the West Ham have been poor, but that game has traditionally thrown the forenwick out the window. And Nuno said it best, and I think I mentioned this before, but Nuno came out and said how hard they were to play against. And that was Nuno coming in with all the incentive to make that a really difficult game for Arsenal to rally the troops. And Arsenal really didn't give them a sniff. So they're super impressive, actually. So yeah, Arsenal top of the Premier League. They are four points clear of Bournemouth. So their gap at the top is extended by point. Shall we quickly shout out a couple of other bits before we go?

41:42Yeah, why not? Yes, oh my goodness. First of all, Napoli three into one. Scott McTominay finishing on a counter-attack. Good gracious. Scott is audacious. It's a Mark Hughes finish. Goodness gracious, yeah, Scott is audacious. Goodness gracious. Look at you. ripping it from distance 3-1 win each Napoli goal a banger including a very good Kevin De Bruyne penalty and Anguissa Zamba Anguissa dancing through Leiton to thrash it in 3-1 Napoli just looking like the best team in Serie A level with points on points with Gasparini's Roma Wow who are doing bits I know there's a long way to go but if Gasparini wins the league this season with Roma what a coach there have been some stories in the last few years in Serie A.

42:30Is Serie A only running for second best league in the world? Most chaotic, second most chaotic, I would say. Second most interesting league in the world? I think without question. Roma don't have the firepower, that's the only thing. They don't have the firepower to, I think, sustain it. But we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Look, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing and I hope it continues as long as possible. So yes, Napoli are top, as you mentioned, level on points with Roma who are behind them in goal difference. Milan's draw against Pisa on Friday. Saw them drop to third and into our fourth.

43:04Juve lost 1-0 to Lazio and dropped to eighth. The crisis deepens. Behind Atalanta with a super weird season. Played eight. Won two. Drawn six. Lost none. Love that. Only a beaten team in Serie A but they're seventh. Well, that's just a sign of how wild that league is. do you want to hear the most surprising thing of the weekend what's that Harry Kane didn't score and Bayern beat Gladbach 3-0 away won their first 8 of the season Lennart Karl got another goal that guy man 17 yeah goodness Dortmund left it very very late 96 minutes a 96 minute winner for Maximilian Bayer gave him the points against Kohn they needed it because Leipzig They had hammered Augsburg early on in the day, 6-0.

43:57A team that's struggling a bit more is St. Pauli. Five straight now they've lost. They've got Gladbach next week at home and that is now a must-win. An absolutely must-win. Positive for St. Pauli though, Jackson Irvine came on for the last few minutes, returned from injury. It's good to see him back because he's had an injury hit start to the season. Also, Eintracht, that was a massive result for Eintracht because they have had a bit of a horrible run especially shipping a load of goals keeping a clean sheet for them was massive anything else you want to shout out or we're good? I think we're good we're good?

44:35all right everyone we're going to leave it there for today we hope everyone stays safe and well and yeah don't forget if you want to sign up for the Stadio membership patreon.com forward slash Stadio and go check the Stadio Archos place on Spotify speaking of which playing out on a track called Dancing Dub by The Pool playing out on the other side of this many, many years ago, but I haven't played out on this one yet. So anything you would like to add, Musa or Gwanga? Nothing further. All right, everyone, much love. Back with you on Wednesday. See you then. The time is right for another sound.

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