Pressure on Xabi Alonso, Atlético’s Title Hopes & La Liga’s Fall in Europe

22:03There's a long way to go.

22:05Alan Shearer:There is. And it's proving topsy-turvy. But the interesting thing is that because Real Madrid and Barcelona are dropping points every now and again, and I've got my gardeners blowing the leaves around, if you're hearing that strange noise, Alex. For me, it's one of the most baffling things around leaf blowers. A, they're so bloody noisy. And then they just blow them somewhere else. To your neighbor's garden. I've got the league table here, but the interesting thing is because the top two, I've dropped points. You've now got Barcelona 34 points, Real Madrid 33, Villarreal on 32 and Atletico on 31.

22:47Alan Shearer:We'll come to the other two games shortly, Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, and obviously we'll need Eric's view, your friend. Yeah, you've got it, don't worry. But yeah, Barcelona back to, I mean, I took a bit of a scare by going behind. Yeah. And seeing Hansi flick at the final whistle, he looked absolutely devastated. And Rafinha, who was back by the way, so that's positive at least. But Rafinha coming over to him and consoling him. And then Hansi spoke at the final whistle and said, he was just telling me, we're going to improve, we're going to get better. And he was comparing this Barcelona side to the Barcelona side last season sort of just saying that they're not as good basically and I think that's dangerous doing that as well I think it's rare that you you hear managers comparing teams with seasons before very rare because they sort of say look it's a new season not an entirely different team but but different players and and we can't compare we can't compare uh to last season so it's interesting he's saying that and I actually saw him up the final whistle after Chelsea and it seemed like they'd won 3-0.

23:53He was really animated, smiley. He was praising Chelsea, saying that they were brilliant and he seemed in a really good place. So to see just, you know, I know things change quickly in football, but just a few days later, he looked like his world was ending. Hopefully there's nothing going on. After they've won a game quite comfortably. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but hopefully everything's all right in his life because we obviously don't think, you know, the media don't say that. It might have been nothing to do with the football. but I think they didn't play well yes they won but they didn't play well and he's yeah maybe it was just hitting him what happened earlier in the week losing us getting thrashed at Stamford Bridge

24:31Alan Shearer:why does he think they're not as strong as last season do you think they're as good as last season well who's missing from last season that's not around I mean don't forget you know Pedri's injured at the moment now Pedri's a superstar and that is a big miss He came on. He came on for the last 30. He came back. That's right. He came back. So that'll be good. But apart from a couple of injuries, and at the start of the season, obviously Rafinha was out for quite a long time. Lewandowski missed a few games. I can't, you know, they've actually added to the squad with Rashford who's done really well for them.

25:10Losing Inigo Martinez. They keep speaking about that. Losing him to Saudi Arabia. And he was, you know, key, key player at the back for them. But you can't just say, you know, there's not one big, massive player that's missing.

25:22Alan Shearer:I don't see much difference in the Barcelona of last season to this season. At present, they're still playing a gung-ho way and they're great to watch generally. Maybe that's what he was disappointed at the other night was because most games are quite thrilling with Barcelona. This one was, I suppose, fairly mundane victory. You know, they're back at the Nou Camp as well, which is only, well, half empty or half full, whichever. And there were ticket problems as well, I believe. Yeah, so there's probably a slight lack of atmosphere in there because it's such a huge, huge theatre. So there might be a mixture of different things, but the players, I mean, they've got some absolutely incredibly talented players.

26:08Alan Shearer:Maybe he's just a bit frustrated that they're not playing beautifully beautifully at the moment, but you can't keep that consistency all season, but it's a solid enough result. Yeah. He's probably thinking with Real Madrid dropping so many points, how many, six in their last three. They could be 10 points clear. They should maybe be 10 points clear. Well, yeah, but they were trailing by quite a few points just three weeks ago. So the world should be happy for them at the moment, but who knows what's going on? You never know. True. And they've got a massive game against Atletico Madrid midweek at the camp.

26:41So I think that will be a big test and the result will have a massive impact on that top four as well.

26:48Alan Shearer:Well, it certainly will because Atletico plays so well at the moment. There's a couple of good goals. Lamin-Yumal came back. Obviously, the first goal was quite simple. He had a hand in one of the others as well, Danny Olmo's goal. He's not been absolutely on fire. You talked about him being in Kukareya's pocket in the Champions League game, which after the first 20 minutes, that was probably the case. But that's mainly because Chelsea bossed the game. Yeah. Completely bossed the game. Yeah. I interviewed Mark Cucuré a pre-match about Laminia Malt. Yes, you did. How was he? Because he's such a good personality.

27:23He's absolutely brilliant. He was saying all his family are Barcelona fans, but he's saying they don't get a ticket if they don't wear a Chelsea shirt. That was his rule for them. It was just really funny. And then we're talking about Laminia Malt. He'd said ahead of the game that Laminya Mao had dropped out of Spanish camp, international duty, because he was scared that, you know, Cucurea would do his homework and work out how he plays. Well, obviously he knows how he plays. But I asked him about that and he said, yeah, because Lamin's scared and he's having nightmares. So he was giving it a talk ahead of the game.

27:55So, you know, all the chat. So I'm pleased that he actually did well.

27:57Alan Shearer:In a banterish manner. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. How do we say, because this word didn't exist, obviously, when I, well, it didn't exist in the English. Well, we didn't use it, I should say, in the English language when I was in Spain. Is there a word in Spanish for banter? There's a word and I actually love it so much. It's cachandeo. Cachandeo just as a joke. Cachandeo is sort of like all encompassing for just mucking around, joking. But in a nice way, not in a negative way. And that word did exist when I played him. Cachandeo is a thing that we said a lot. I really love it I didn't yeah absolutely right yeah I don't think there's a direct translation but I'd say that banter would fit within yeah banter catch on there that's a good point yeah yeah brilliant we do Spanish lessons on this podcast too for people watching we're here yes okay let's take a break and when we come back we'll look at well Villarreal and Atletico are hot on the heels of the big two This episode is brought to you by WISE.

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32:00Alan Shearer:Welcome back to the Rest is Football La Liga. There was one exceptionally exciting game at the weekend, Villarreal. And big win in the 95th minute against the Real Sociedad. Yeah, Villarreal 2-0 up, Ayose Perez on the score sheet with Jotner. Former Leicester player. And then Molero with an absolutely brilliant goal in the second half. Villarreal cruising 2-0 up, but a golazo from Carlos Soler. Got one back for Real Sociedad. And then it looked like it was going to end two-all. Brilliant free kick from Ander Barrena Chea. And then a goal line clearance from Benyat Turrientes. look to have secured a point.

32:45And then, yeah, was it 95th minute?

32:48Alan Shearer:Yeah, it was the 95th minute, yeah. It was Molero again to beat Alex Romero and secure a crucial three points if you look at the table for Villarreal, who are doing absolutely brilliantly in the league. But we were speaking about this last week. They're doing terribly in the Champions League. Make it make sense. Well, football never makes sense, Alex. I've been in this business for too many, too many decades and love it as I do. And it's one of the reasons you love it because it's, it's, it makes a fool of you at times and predictions are difficult and the nature. And I, I finally, I was having a discussion with a couple of Americans a few days ago, you know, this sport they're going, you know, sometimes you can, there's hardly any goals.

33:31Alan Shearer:And I went, that's what makes it special because what makes it special is there's no, I don't think really another sport where you get the euphoria of the moment of scoring a goal. And the reason of that is because they're so significant and so important. And there are so few of them. So therefore you get that feeling of elation, the whole crowd gets behind you. And then VAR rules it out. And then VAR spoils it, which is a factor. That's why we love it. Well, that's why we love the sport. I'm not sure we love VAR. I don't think anyone loves VAR except for the officials. Because football has become about referees and VAR, sadly, way too much.

34:09Alan Shearer:And they're even defining the rules, let alone just applying them. So that's a topic for another day when they make a couple of shocking decisions. But re-reffing games is pretty much the thing now. And it slows it all down. It's boring. In fact, people talk about time wasted in football, right? And the real time wasters in football have become the referees. because, you know, the free kicks and it's the same in, I mean, people say over here in England, they go, oh, the VAR is terrible here. Believe you me, it's just as awful in Spain and Germany. And I've watched it everywhere. And it's mind-bogglingly irritating.

34:51Alan Shearer:I was at the game Crystal Palace-Manchester United, and I'm digressing here a little bit, but the nature of how much it slowed down because of the officiating now and people say, well, players need to get on with it quick. Players want to get on with it quickly most of the time. You sometimes get teams time wasting with two minutes to go when they're a goal up, of course. But every free kick now, the referee, he's got everyone's back. Then he goes to tell people not to push each other, say with corners, you can't do this, you can't do that. Then you wait till my whistle before the play must start.

35:27Alan Shearer:And it's like, come on, get on with it. let them take quick free kicks it drives me mad sorry I just needed to get that out of my system no I completely agree the whole momentum of the game and fans start to lose interest and no I completely agree with you but interestingly the Spanish the people in my friends in Spain that work at Real Madrid they actually asked me if I could send all the rules of how our VAR system works and everything over here in the Premier League because they think that we do it a lot better and they were trying to put together an article or whatever And then they think that we do it really well here compared to in Spain.

36:04Anyway, we will speak about this another day, obviously, because there's a…

36:06Alan Shearer:No, it varies in different countries slightly, but primarily it's all the same. The same. And then, you know, some countries might make more mistakes one week, and other countries might make mistakes one other week. But there's only one way out of this. I've said it a million times. They've got to go to an appeal system where only the captain or the coach can appeal a decision. they perhaps get one appeal a half or two over the game. If it's sustained, you keep the appeal. If not, you lose it. Like in other sports where it works. Tennis or cricket, it works. Yeah, I like that idea. It's the only way out of this.

36:44Alan Shearer:At the moment, every corner that comes over, they're going to look for something. Every goal that's scored, they look for something to be possibly disallowed. So under those circumstances, you can't just, as a team that's conceded, go, have a look for something. Yeah. You've got to say he specifically handballed it before he put it in the net. He pushed number eight, pushed number nine before he headed it into the back of the net. And then they have to decide whether it's a foul or not. Not this business about, oh, is it enough of a foul to overturn it? So it's the only way out of this mire, this mess that we're in.

37:19Alan Shearer:It will happen. I believe they're talking about trialing it or they have trialed it in an under-19s tournament somewhere. It will come, has to come. Although there's so much money and invested and so many people reliant on VAR for a living now that it's taken over the game. And it couldn't be a disaster for the sport if it doesn't act and the sport needs to act. And I think it will. I'm sorry I went off on one there. Rant over. The one addition I really do like, by the way, is that the ref speaks to the whole stadium. and that happened at Stamford Bridge when Moises kind of say when Tim went in with excessive force and then they explain to the whole stadium what's happened and I think that's so much better than what's going on, what's going on.

38:03Anyway.

38:04Alan Shearer:You still don't get the what's going on. All you do is get an explanation at the end which is something. Yes, yes, true. If it remains as it is, they also need to evolve the conversations. We need to hear them because it's fine at home because you can work it out but if you're in the stadium the experience is ridiculous you wait for a minute then you suddenly see on a big board it's a VAR checking for a foul or a hammer and you just think oh get on with it heart sinks right Atletico Atletico Madrid Atletico let's I mean seven straight wins for Atletico Madrid can you remember just a few weeks ago we were talking about whether Diego Simeone could survive this not only surviving he's relishing it Yeah, Greece is definitely over.

38:54Well, Eric thinks. Yes. We obviously always go to my Atletico Madrid source friend, glass half empty Eric. Empty, definitely half glass empty. Who isn't overly positive about Atletico Madrid. Still. So, well, he thinks they're listening to the podcast because.

39:10Alan Shearer:I suspect they're not. I don't think Diego Simeone listens to our podcast. I don't know how good his English is. I don't know if he'd understand it. but he said obviously Simeone and Soolot listen to the pod this is Eric he said one because Atletico scored a goal from a corner against Inter Milan do you remember he was saying that they just only own goals but can I just say at this point I don't think listening to a podcast will help you score more goals from corners however good this podcast may be we can't take credit for that and you can't take credit for that either Eric and then he said Soolot scored and he wasn't twice Yeah, twice.

39:48And he was quite critical of Solov a few weeks ago.

39:53Alan Shearer:He was critical of his heading ability, though. But I think that both these goals are scored with his feet. And he's put in brackets, has still yet to win a header. There you go, fair enough. And then he says Pubil exists, the summer signing. He hadn't played, but he came on against Inter and then he started against Oviedo. But Barcelona are up next. And he said, Oviedo, great fans going to struggle to stay up in brackets. Sorry, Sid. Sid Lois. They are going to struggle, aren't they? but incredible that they got back to the top division. But yeah, I think they will struggle to stay in La Liga this season.

40:25Good to see 90 minutes for Conor Gallagher as well.

40:27Alan Shearer:Yeah, he hit one screaming shot I saw that was straight at the keeper, but it was a good effort. So yeah, good to assume to get in time on the pitch. It was rotated as well. He rested Julian Alvarez, Jimenez, his son, Giuliano Simeone, Pablo Barrios. He came on at half a chance. Yeah, but all started on the bench, obviously, with one eye on Barcelona. midweek but it just shows the strength and depth of this Atletico Madrid squad as well I know they were playing Rio Loviero but still another good performance another win Solov starting scoring twice a rare start for him he doesn't often start but plenty of reasons for Eric and Diego Simeone to be feeling positive Yeah they'll be best mates soon I think the way it's going They will It's tight enough at the top that they could do it Atletico they're the only team really that's interrupted We'll beat Barcelona Real Madrid in Barcelona in recent times Beat Barcelona midweek and that would be a massive statement yeah new camp I'd like to be going to that game actually yeah me too I'd like to go to the new camp I'm actually off to Madrid today oh only for 24 hours I'm just doing some filming so amazing amazing amazing enjoy enjoy and I'm off to Paris Paris yeah in fact my Eurostar leaves quite soon alright we'll finish you better round things up Because I'll do it so slowly, you're much better.

41:49Alan Shearer:Carry on. Okay, so before we go, let's have a quick roundup of the other results from this weekend. Sevilla lost 2-0 in the Seville Derby at home to Real Betis. Former West Ham man Pablo Fornals got the opener for Real Betis before Sergi Altimira doubled their lead and gave them bragging rights in the Derby. Isak Romero was also sent off late on for Sevilla. A 2-0 win for Athletic Club away at Levante. First half goals from Robert Navarro and Nico Williams gave Athletic Club their second win in three La Liga games as they looked to recover from an awful run of form. Levante stay in the relegation zone after their fourth straight defeat and second managerial sacking of the season as well.

42:35Julien Calero sacked by Levante after another poor result. Celta Vigo lost 1-0, home to Espanyol. Quique Garcia's late winner made it back-to-back wins for Espanyol as their hunt for European football continues. They sit sixth in that final spot for European qualification. A two-all draw between Mallorca and Osasuna, a double from Vedat Maurici, had given Mallorca a comfortable lead, but two goals in the final 10 minutes from Raul Garcia and Enzo Boyomo rescued a point for Osasuna. Both sides stayed just above the relegation zone. Getafe won 1-0 at home to Elche. Mauro Arambari's second goal of the season was enough to give Getafe all three points as they bounce back from back-to-back defeats.

43:21Elche are now seven games without a win after a strong start to the season.

43:26Alan Shearer:Thank you, Alex. Before we go, I just have so many people come up to me and say, oh, Alex is good at these interviews where she translates with Estavao. You did it the other day. Stivo. Steve-O is what they call him. We call him Steve-O, Steve-O, Steve-O. He's so great, isn't he? 18. He's just brilliant. He's so humble as well. So, so, so humble. I was in a restaurant recently and he walked in with his whole family and I was there with my family. And instead of just sort of waving from afar, he came over, shook hands one by one with all my family members. And so did his family. His mum, his dad, his sister, they all came over.

44:06Was it like the beginning of a game where the two teams go across? Just so humble, so nice. I hope he doesn't change. Never change, Stiebaud. But thank you. That is really kind of you to say. Very true. Thank you.

44:20Alan Shearer:It's not an easy skill. Okay, that's it for this episode. I'll be back with Micah and Alan tomorrow. But for the rest of Football La Liga, that's it. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me.