Can We Play Here Every Week

0:00Phil Kitromilides:Tee off on the Turkish Riviera, Europe's premier golf destination. With championship courses in Bilek and Antalya, luxury all-inclusive resorts and year-round sunshine, it is the perfect getaway under the Mediterranean sun. Play immaculate fairways designed by golf legends, then unwind beside stunning beaches and five-star hospitality. Search Turkey on TripAdvisor now to book your ultimate golf holiday in the Turkish Riviera.

0:54Phil Kitromilides:might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18+.

1:36Hello everyone and welcome to this week's edition of the Spanish Football Podcast. I'm Phil Kitramelidi. Sid Lowe is off on a train traveling to Bilbao, so Alex Kirkland is with me. Hello Al.

1:47Sid Lowe:Hello Kitramel. How's it going? I'm good. Sid obviously travelling to the north of Spain, Arsenal visiting Bilbao in the Champions League. So he's off north for that one, which means that he will join us hopefully a little bit later on in the programme with his thoughts on Atletico Madrid against Villarreal, which he was at on Saturday evening. This is what happened on match day four. Friday night you saw an entertaining game between Sevilla and Elche. Sevilla were ahead, then Elche were ahead, then Sevilla equalised and it finished 2-2. Elche's strong start to the season continues. On Saturday, I think Sid paid€100 for a ticket to watch Oviedo lose 2-0 at Getafe.

2:27Sid Lowe:He sent us some choice messages. He said, we know what Getafe are like, but when they're playing your team, it's something else. Yes. I think he was a little bit frustrated. But it was a nice day, at least. At least it wasn't raining. But yeah, Getafe beating Oviedo 2-0, both goals coming in injury time at the end of the first half. Real Madrid went up to San Sebastián and beat Real Sociedad by two goals to one, a brilliant individual performance from Kylian Mbappé, some controversy as well as Dean Housen was sent off in the first half. The Basque derby at San Mames between Athletic Club and Alaves was won 1-0 by Alaves, a big result for them.

3:05And Atletico Madrid got their first win of the season, beating Villarreal 2-0 at the Metropolitano, a first goal on his debut for summer signing Nico Gonzalez. Then on Sunday, Borja Iglesias scored in injury time again for Celta Vigo to salvage a point at home to Girona. It was in the 93rd minute. The Panda scored a penalty, Girona getting their first point of the campaign. Levante and Betis finished 2-2. Levante were 2-0 up after nine minutes, but Betis clawed back a point. Osasuna beat Rayo 2-0 at El Cedar. Rayo absolutely never, ever, ever, ever, ever win in Pamplona. And Barcelona absolutely dismantled Valencia 6-0 at the Estadi Johan Cruyff.

3:51Monday night football is Espanyol against Mallorca. Now, there's a lot going on at patreon.com forward slash TSFP. Our patrons get a Q &A pod and a bonus pod every single week. Plus there's the newsletter and the Discord. Some of our top tier patrons also get a weekly diary entry. This week it meant that Sid was taking them behind the scenes at the Metropolitano. It's a really good listen. He's down in the tunnel in the mix zone waiting to speak to players. So yeah, worth checking that one out. You can join us from€4.75 a month. Right, Al, lots of stuff for us to talk about and not a huge amount of time because you've got to go to Valdeber Basa Real Madrid's training session and press conference ahead of the Champions League game with Marseille tomorrow.

4:37So let's get to it and start off by talking about the game last night between Barcelona and Valencia. Barca thrashing Valencia 6-0. It was 1-0 at half-time, but Barca absolutely took them apart in the second half. Valencia falling apart again against Barcelona. Last season, they won this fixture 7-1. And they'd also beaten them 5-0 in the Copa del Rey last season as well. Yeah.

5:02Sid Lowe:Did you see Carlos Corboran was saying, look, I still haven't quite gotten this right against Barca. It's basically a politics. Maybe next time. Yes. José Luis Gaillard, the Valencia captain after the game, absolutely furious. And he was just saying, we've had two weeks. We had two weeks to prepare for this game and we still couldn't do it right. So, yeah, they didn't do a lot right in this game. For Barca, the starting XI was pretty interesting because none of the theoretical first-choice front three started. Lamine was obviously injured. Lewandowski has been on the bench for all four games this season in La Liga, so I'm not sure if he is first-choice anymore.

5:40And Rafinha was punished now.

5:42Sid Lowe:Yeah, he turned up late. Not much, but a little bit late for the... It was the activation session, they call it, don't they, earlier in the day. And as soon as before with Hansi Flick, he's very strict. Now, without responding to any sort of national stereotypes about German efficiency and punctuality, Rafinha wasn't on time and he didn't start, although he wasted no time in coming on at halftime and scoring twice. Yeah, you're right. You looked at the starting 11 and you thought, oh, okay, interesting. I'm sort of intrigued as to how this goes, you know, theoretically weaker, Although, like you say, we can debate whether, you know, in those positions, the likes of Ferran versus Lewandowski, if it's weaker or not, didn't matter.

6:23Sid Lowe:Didn't didn't matter at all because they in the end, as you say, blew Valencia away. I want to talk about Fermin in particular. Yes. Because I've got to say, when there was all this talk about him leaving over the summer, I kept thinking to myself, why? Why? Why on earth would you let this this kid go? when I don't know about you but for me I mean he might be Barcelona's best player in that position yeah yeah yeah but again yeah but then you look at and lots of much needed money I know and the list of candidates that they can make that money on is relatively limited but he is not a player that you want to let go because like I say I think he might be Barcelona's best number 10 um Danny Olmo is great but in terms of what in terms of goal in terms of like end products I think he's he's a really really useful player and he showed it again here and he's started the season almost like a man with a point to prove.

7:11Yes. Well, I've got that feeling with quite a few of the players in the Barcelona team, actually. It feels like... Well, that's ideal, isn't it? That's exactly what you want.

7:17Sid Lowe:If you've got a bunch of players who really want to tell you, send you a message, then that's great. Yeah. Fermin, definitely, with a point to prove. And actually, I think he's ahead of Dani Olmo in the pecking order at the moment, even though he hasn't necessarily started every game. Dani Olmo, his form over the end of last season and start of this season, not particularly impressive. So I think Ferdermin is ahead of him. And, you know, apparently when Ferdermin was being linked with a move away, Barcelona, the figure that we saw in the Catalan press, 70 million euros they wanted. And I thought that's quite a lot for Ferdermin.

7:53Yeah, if it's that, maybe you think about it.

7:56Sid Lowe:If it's 40, absolutely not. But for 70, you at least give it some thought. What's your take on Ferran versus Bobby Liu? Listen, I was commentating this game and I was reflecting on it. Did you refer to Lewandowski as your favourite Chicago-based PI? Bobby Lewandowski. I didn't know. But I was reflecting on this sort of... I didn't think we saw this coming, that Ferran would develop and evolve into a really quite effective number nine. And there's loads of facets of his play, which I would not have imagined him being able to do even a year ago, a year and a half ago. I didn't think that he would be able to hold up the ball like he holds it.

8:39He can draw fouls in a sort of number nine style. There's some movement in the box that we saw in the first half, I think, him turning and spinning round and getting a shot away, which didn't look like Ferran. Ferran, we thought he was a sort of a wide player who can run in, needs to run into space and diagonally run into goal like that I didn't associate him with being this kind of player and he's obviously he's obviously thought listen if I'm going to play in this team I need to be the number nine I'm the backup to Bobby Lou and he was last season because there was nobody in the squad who was a backup to the Bobby Lewandowski and now he started all four games and he's scoring um scored in every um almost every game I think and um looking really sharp and looking like a number nine so i think he understands what he needs to do in that position and what he uh what he can bring to the team obviously bobby levendowski is not happy being on the bench uh he came off the bench with a point to prove and duly scored two goals fermin scored twice rafinha scored twice and bobby lou scored twice so um lots of points being proven there but yeah i'm really impressed with ferran actually genuinely impressed and i wasn't sure if he had the sort of footballing intelligence as well.

9:55You know, between you and me, I wasn't a massive fan of Ferran Torres. I didn't rate him that highly. And now I've been really impressed.

10:02Sid Lowe:Yeah, I think, I mean, it's a conversation we had last season a few times where we were talking about, is he the kind of centre forward that might actually be a more natural fit for this version of Barca, this handsy flick Barca? But you're right. I think we thought, OK, there are some things he does really well in terms of his mobility, the kinds of runs that he makes, he's a good finisher but as you say there were other aspects of his game that we weren't so sure about and what he's done is he's improved on that and now he looks like an all-round player I I don't think that he's a definite starter but like you say so far this season yeah and then that and that makes that that works for Barca if you've got Lewandowski there on the bench who can come on and still be decisive you know at the age that he is even though he looks after himself then that's that's the kind of role that I think you want a player at that stage in their career to to have.

10:49Sid Lowe:And if Varane keeps performing at this kind of level and keeps getting better, then yeah, he's right now his first choice. Good to see Mark Bernal come back from injury, came off the bench and duly provided a really nice assist for Robert Lewandowski after a really horrific injury on match day three of last season, started last season, started the first three games of the campaign. Everyone was thinking this might be the closest fit that Barcelona have to replacing, possibly replacing Sergei Busquets and then he gets this horrendous injury which keeps him out for over a year and they're going to take their time in bringing him back but it's good to see and it means they've got loads of options now in midfield.

11:27Pedri will start almost every game I would have thought but alongside him you've got Casado, you've got Bernal, you've got Frankie de Jong. I don't know how many minutes Gabi's going to play but let's see how many minutes Gabi gets as well.

11:39Sid Lowe:Well there are concerns about Gabi aren't there about this? You know he's not right, he's not fit are they going to stick with sort of conservative treatment for this knee problem? Will surgery be needed at some point? But yeah, options there for sure. The other big question is after this game, Phil, I mean, should, should Barca play there every week? Should they just forget, forget camp now, just play camps and records, play at the Stade Johan Cruyff? Yeah, it was nice. It was a bit like watching Abar back in the, in La Liga. Yeah. It's got a similar look, the stadium, right? That sort of kind of, kind of boxy and that sort of size of the, of the stands.

12:14Sid Lowe:Yeah, very, very similar to Iberua. There are even some, I think I saw someone, there are some flats that overlook the ground, right? Just like in Eibar. So if you've got the right flat with the right balcony, you've got a great view. Absolutely. So big win for Barcelona, beating Valencia 6-0. This episode of TSFP is brought to you by our friends at NordVPN. Now, you know, we travel a lot covering Spanish football, whether it's following Spanish teams around Europe in the Champions League. Or seeds going to at least three league games every weekend. The best way to make sure you've got access to all your content from back home is using NordVPN.

12:47Sid Lowe:I can personally vouch for this. I used it a lot when I was away in the States in the summer for the Club World Cup and it was great. Yeah, you can use it to keep up with the football, TV shows or movies. NordVPN lets you access your subscriptions back home wherever you are. Yeah, it's really easy to use, which is important if you're not tech savvy like some of us not mentioning any names, Sid. And me, to be honest as well. I'm not particularly tech savvy, but there you go. It also improves your internet security, which is important if you spend a lot of time using public Wi-Fi, let's say at train stations, airports, hotel lobbies, not mentioning any names.

13:22Sid?

13:23Sid Lowe:Yeah, where Sid spends about 90 % of his spare time. You connect with just one click. It's one of the fastest VPNs around and you can use up to 10 devices with one account. For more information, this is really important. You need to head to nordvpn.com forward slash tsfp. Yeah, there's a 30 day money back guarantee. You also get four extra months for free. What's the link again, Phil? You can find it in the show notes. It's nordvpn.com forward slash tsfp.

13:52Phil Kitromilides:If your business runs on five different apps, 12 browser tabs and one spreadsheet that everyone's afraid to touch, it's probably time for Odoo. Odoo is an all-in-one business management software that connects every part of your business into one powerful, easy-to-use platform. So instead of wasting time switching between disconnected systems, your entire business works together in real time. Your team moves faster, your data stays accurate, and you can actually focus on growing your business. Let one unified system run your entire business. From the first opportunity to the final payment, everything works together in one place.

14:34Phil Kitromilides:Whether you're a small business or managing a large operation, Odoo gives you one flexible platform built to grow with you. Learn more at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast, So why wait to find your new fave footwear? Step into a local croc store and step into your new look. Try it. Style it. Make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up. It shows off. First day fits, handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest croc store today.

15:19Phil Kitromilides:Turn it up. Storm has zero sugar and 200 milligrams of caffeine, so you can turn that workout up a notch. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life. Now, friend of the pod, Brendan Madden, a.k.a. Futboles La Leche on Twitter, has released a book. It's called Once Upon a Time in La Liga, and it's full of Spanish stories you'll love reading. We've got two signed copies shipped to anywhere in Europe up for grabs. Sorry, US listeners, Royal Mail currently aren't delivering there. To win, answer this question. Yes. Answer this question. Apart from FC Barcelona, which other Spanish club did Johan Cruyff play for?

16:02Apart from FC Barcelona, which other Spanish club did Johan Cruyff play for? Send your answers to brendan at onceuponatimeinlaliga.com. He'll pick two winners. That's Brendan at onceuponatimeinlaliga.com and get involved.

16:20Sid Lowe:We've got our copies already. Well, I say you haven't. I have. I've got our TSFP copies. I've got to drop yours and sit us off with you at some point. Yes, you've got our copies. So there we go. Right. Although I noticed, they weren't signed. I don't know what Brendan was thinking. No, no, no, no little. I mean, our names do feature amongst the, because we've got some little, what do you call it, in the blurb there, you know, from us, but an actual, no handwritten message. just nothing no personal touch i see brendan hates us that's that's that's not very nice i thought you know you are the wind beneath my wings that's what that's what sid that's his dedication to me uh when he signed my copy of fear and loathing in la in la liga his book is the one that you still haven't read the one that i have not massively read no um there's you are the wind beneath my wings, which is lovely and emotional.

17:10Let's talk about Real Madrid's trip to the Real Arena, where they beat Real Sociedad by two goals to one. We'll talk about the red card in a minute. Not as much as everyone else in Spain has done, but we will talk about it. But I think the first thing we have to kick off by is just reflecting on the form of Kylian Mbappé, who scored the first goal, set up the second goal. And at the moment, he is beginning to look unstoppable Al, which is bad news for everyone else and really very good news for Realme.

17:41Sid Lowe:Yeah, I thought he was unbelievable in this game. I mean, he's been very, very good all season look, he wasn't bad last year, we've talked about that in terms of the numbers, the goals that he was scoring, but he didn't look anything close to this level in terms of his all-round game. It's not just the goals that he's scoring, although the goal he scored here was taken with I mean, there wasn't a fraction of a second where you thought that he wouldn't score the chance that he had. He put it away with just such absolute conviction and confidence. But like I say, it's everything that he's doing.

18:05Sid Lowe:You know, you look at the move for the Arda Gula goal, the second goal that starts with Gula and then Mbappe and then back to Gula for the finish. It's every single aspect of his game. And it's, I mean, you said unstoppable. I mean, the L 'Areal defence here, they couldn't, it was almost like he could do whatever he wanted. He could literally do whatever he wanted and there was nothing that anybody could do about it. And when you've got a player playing at that kind of level and with that degree of confidence, I mean it's very good news for Real Madrid and it's bad news for everybody else yeah this is I mean this looks to me I don't know if this is what I expected last season maybe that was unrealistic or unfair but this is kind of what I thought Real Madrid were getting which is Mbappé in sort of career best form without having watched him that closely at PSG certainly not domestically I think he looks to me now as good as he's ever looked Agreed.

18:58Agreed. It's the combination of skill, strength and speed, which you saw perfectly in the first goal. The defender was never going to get there. Obviously, he's quicker than him, but he's stronger than the defender as well. And then the finish is so swift and instinctive.

19:14Sid Lowe:Yeah, he looks like if you were going to sort of engineer a forward in like a lab. Yeah. It's like this is what you'd end up with. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to. It's a bit like the feeling you got at times with Ronaldo Nossadio in his prime. that kind of feeling of someone who's physically unstoppable. Like, good luck. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so that's good for Real Madrid and for La Liga as well to have one of the world's best players looking very much in their prime. Interesting team selection for this game from Xavi Alonso ahead, probably because of the Champions League and coming off the back of an international break.

19:50Fede Valverde was left on the bench, how? That never happened. He got a rest.

19:53Sid Lowe:Well, he'd been a very busy boy, hadn't he, in this national break with, I think, playing either 90 minutes or close to 90 minutes in both of Uruguay's games, I think, against Peru and Chile and the transatlantic travel and everything else. So I think we kind of saw international commitments reflected in that team selection, although not entirely because, of course, you know, Carver House started having been with Spain and Trem was on the bench despite having not been with England. So that's not true throughout the team, but I think that's probably the case with Fedde. OK, so the red card, obviously this game absolutely conditioned by Dean Hausson getting sent off after around about half an hour.

20:31It's a very controversial decision. He pulls back Mikel Oyarzabal, who is a long way from goal, a long way from goal, potentially could have been through. But Edemilitao was pretty close as well. I was commentating this game and I tried to hide the massive surprise in my voice, where the red card was very quickly shown by the referee. There was no VAR check. He wasn't told to go and review it. Obviously, it's a decision that has been talked about a little bit here in Madrid over the last 48 hours or so. I mean, it shouldn't have been a red, right? It didn't feel like a red.

21:07Sid Lowe:Yeah, I loved the... I mean, there are a few clips of Xabi Alonso talking to the referee, Gil Manthano, on the pitch after the game. But there's the bit when Alonso clearly says to him, this one's going to the CTA for sure. Referring to these new weekly videos that the referees committee are putting out with kind of controversial decisions and analysing publicly for the first time whether they're correct or not. We got the first instalment last week and Charlie Lonson was saying this one's on the shortlist for inclusion in this week's edition. Let's break it down. There are two questions here, which you mentioned.