Matchday 4 Preview

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2:07Hi everybody and welcome to the Weekend Preview. It's me, Alec Kirkland, with Sid Lowe this morning. Kitcho couldn't be with us. Hello, Sid. How are you?

2:15Phil Kitromilides:Good morning, Al. I'm all right, thank you. How are you? Your theoretical holiday continues. When does it come to an end? uh it comes to an end on monday evening i well i mean monday i will be in the car mostly on monday on my way back but yes it comes okay we discussed on the bonus pod for patrons yesterday over at patreon that yesterday you were on a mysterious trip to barcelona can you reveal what yeah yeah i was i was that trip was yeah i was i was going there for an interview but it meant a very very very early start um uh and a reasonably late end but there we go it was it was quite fun a world Cup winner will be appearing in the Guardian in the next few days.

2:54Well, that narrows it down quite a bit. A World Cup winner in Barcelona.

2:58Phil Kitromilides:Although it doesn't narrow down as much as it might because it's a World Cup winner in Barcelona and they have quite a lot of them. True, true. They've got a fair few. Okay, look out for that on the pages of the Guardian. Very mysterious, Sid. Well done. Excellent. Let's look ahead to this weekend's fixtures on match day four. before we do that last week sid you were keeping track of your predictions i think it's fair to say it wasn't they weren't as successful as the as the previous week is that right am i right in saying it was six of nine the first week or seven and yes six i think still pretty good i think it was six this week but of ten or maybe it was five uh wait a minute you sid helpfully at the end of the match day he sends us a little note with some sort of tick and cross emojis let me count the ticks.

3:43One, two, three, four, five. Five out of ten. It's not very good, is it?

3:47Phil Kitromilides:I mean, it's not terrible, but it's not very good. It's not. Let's try and improve on that. Confusingly, there was a game last night, Sid, but it wasn't part of this match day. It was part of match day six, I think. Wasn't it the goalless draw between Ariel and Celta? And the reason for that is also the reason why in the middle of a midweek match day set of fixtures, I'm off for a European game in Donosti on the thursday night in the middle of the next round of midweek fixtures because yeah ralph had to bring that game early so they could play their european game which the dog makes a funny noise in the background the european game against bournemouth who thought i'd be going to see bournemouth in europe excellent um well look yeah we don't have to talk about that in in that case and it was a goldist draw anyway so not a whole lot to say um let's start looking at this weekend's games seed match day four kicks off with a big one uh tonight friday night this game may well have been played by the time some of you listen to this Real Betis against Real Madrid how are we feeling about Betis right now Sid?

4:46Phil Kitromilides:We are feeling I think that if you look at the team that they've got if you look at their ability over recent years to to re-establish themselves to to compete again we would be feeling I think reasonably optimistic because I look at that team and I think that's a pretty good side there's a lot of very good technical players in there the signing of Dani I honestly don't know how that's going to end up. But for all the way that people look at him from a Real Madrid perspective, this is a guy that, in theory, in another club in Spain, would be amongst the best players there. He's still a very, very good footballer and seems to fit the kind of style that Betis play of keeping the ball, maybe of keeping the ball a bit too long.

5:23Phil Kitromilides:But all the way through the team, despite the disappointment of the departure of Pablo Garcia, and yet you know he was a guy that might not have started very often so so in that sense it's not really debilitated so if you take all of that you would feel quite positive now on the other hand if you were to take the way that they played against Levante you would think that Real Madrid will absolutely tear them to bits yeah if Levante with all due respect if Levante can score five goals against you then what can Mbappe and Vinny and Bellingham do yeah and it was the nature of goals as well. It was how Betis lacked that great word that we often come back to, contundencia.

6:07Phil Kitromilides:You know, there wasn't a decisiveness about the way that they defended. There was a kind of a weakness, a vulnerability. They were very open. They didn't seem to, when they went into challenges, they didn't seem to go into challenges with any sense of determination or commitment or belief that they were genuinely going to win the ball. They were losing players from set plays. One of The goal is just a complete gift trying to play the ball across the back. I can't see anything other than a Real Madrid victory in this one. Although, you know, traditionally this is the kind of game where Real Madrid might find it difficult.

6:43Phil Kitromilides:And it's a way as well. That does definitely play a part with Betis, I think. I mean, not tonight because it's too soon, but going forward for Betis, do you think, can you see a team with Ceballos, Fournals and Isco? As a midfield three, is that possible? Do you think those three, can they fit them in? Yeah, and I can, essentially because this is sort of what Manuel Pellegrini does. If you look at his teams over the years, and he's quite eloquent on this. He talks about, essentially, the lesson of him as a player. And he sees himself as a guy that was very, very limited. And he's aggressive and nasty and a centre-back who would fight with everyone who he could.

7:23Phil Kitromilides:He said, deep down at some level, I learned that the players that won me the game are the ones with the talent. So as a manager, if there's a basic principle, it's as many good players on the pitch as possible. Now, his definition of a good player, and we see this repeatedly in his teams, are people with the ball, people who use the ball well in interior spaces rather than wide spaces, although it's not to say he hasn't had wingers. And in particular with this Betis team, we've seen moments when he's opened it up and maybe been a little bit more direct and a little bit more of the pitch wide. but he loves a technical inside midfielder and so how would you play those together well one of the reasons why four nails continues to play is that he's ended up as a deeper midfielder i suppose you could see almost a parallel with petri in terms of what's happened to him that this is the guy that theoretically is a floating number 10 or an eight and he ends up in the in the double pivot uh for want of a better phrase and then of course you could definitely have isco drop a little bit deeper and and play that role i think you could have those three probably in something looking a bit like a triangle in which isco is ahead of the other two i can see something like that um so that's an away win for for real madrid you think that would make it maximum point so far for real madrid this season let's move on to saturday big game at san mamez a game that i will be attending benefiting from your holiday i'll be athletic against atleti for for espn we don't know yet at the time recording diego simeon is about to speak we don't yet know what role if any Julian Alvarez will play and indeed the new signing Jonathan David.

8:53Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I mean, my feeling with Alvarez and in a way, I almost feel like this should be prefaced by an apology. The fact that we keep coming back for Alvarez and I know that I'm a little bit tired of it now. And I'm sure the rest of you are as well. And given that the transfer window is now closed and this situation is resolved, at least contractually, then you sort of think, well, why are we still on it? I'll tell you why we're still on it as much as anything else, because this is precisely what this podcast is today. This is a preview podcast about how Atletico Madrid will set up. And I think your question is, in a way, the key question is, what kind of role does he play?

9:27Phil Kitromilides:Is he going to be reintegrated into the team and how? Now, my feeling with this would be that he doesn't start. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that. And I think one of them is, well, there's a basic one. The basic one is you can't, I think, emotionally just put him straight back in the team. I think you need to show some willingness, if you like, to punish him exactly, but not to say, right, OK, you go straight back in. I also think, obviously, there's a physical element to that, which is that, you know, he hasn't trained. And even if that has been a staging, if you like, of his discontent, I think that has a physical impact to it.

10:06Phil Kitromilides:I also think that you've found reasonably good solutions without him. So I think that Simeone will be keen to play him in this run of away games. but probably not to start him. I would expect him to be not necessarily keen to start immediately with a new signing as well. So I think we'll see, at least to begin with, if you like, the play without a number nine formation. I mean, it worked pretty well with Alex Baena, more so than with Luckman. Yes, more so than with Luckman. And after the Luckman game, he said that he'd apologise to Luckman for asking him to play there. I think Baena quite enjoyed it, albeit Baena had this weird sort of hybrid role of dropping in to get the ball.

10:46Phil Kitromilides:But also then, you know, the first goal away at Sevilla is very much a number nine's kind of run across the face of the defence, angled just right for the little ball, dunched through for him and finished like a number nine. I think that's what he'll go for to start with. Although Simeone is a little bit unpredictable at the moment because of this question about the striker and actually because he's changed the formation around him. We've seen him play with wingbacks and play without wingbacks. We've seen him play with one as a false nine and one as an actual nine, even if he's not a number nine.

11:12Phil Kitromilides:We've seen him play with an actual nine in the first week as well, with Arnau playing there. So the short answer to this is I don't really know. But I think Julien Alves will get some minutes. In terms of what we expect in this game, this is a great game, by the way, as a kind of an occasion, Athletic against Atletico. It's a really enjoyable one, but I'm glad you're getting to go to it. I think it's great fun. My feeling is that what we saw from Athletic in the last game is the first step towards them getting it right. And I think, you know, they win away at Celta. Win away at Celta. But if you saw the first half, they were brilliant.

11:50Phil Kitromilides:Really, really good. Very intense. Very front-footed. Very aggressive. Willing to take the game to their opponents. They, I thought they, I thought they were what, I suppose essentially what we're saying here is they were what Tursic wants them to be. Now, that I think sometimes takes time. I think it takes incredible intensity. I think with a club like Athletic, this is almost, what would I call this, almost a philosophical question. But I think with a club like Athletic, you can do that because you have players who are physically pretty good. And we've seen this in periods over recent years.

12:25Phil Kitromilides:We saw it definitely with Bielsa. We saw it at times with Valverde. In fact, what we saw is that Athletic are only really good when they're very intense. And the reason why I say it's almost a philosophical question is that you've got a squad that's willing to do it and a squad that's quite homogenous as a if you like as a kind of what do you call it as a kind of attitudinal group if you see what I mean you know that this is a group of players who share a very similar ideal I think who have a sense of the importance of their club which I don't think you would have a you know your standard club that might finish seventh for eighth which is probably roughly what athletic are or maybe you know in a really good season fifth or sixth i don't think it would have that sense of this is big if it wasn't a club like athletic and so i think you can make those demands and i think players will follow you i think players are in a way i suppose more would you say more committed or more disciplined or more prepared to listen to a manager yeah they're inclined to buy in yeah than elsewhere so i so i i'm really fascinated by this I don't know how it will go.

13:30I feel like Atletico Madrid on the break might have enough.

13:35Phil Kitromilides:But this has tight written all over it. Okay, tight is not an acceptable prediction. No, it's not. I'm going to go for an Atletico Madrid win. Away win. Okay, I think so as well. A tight away win. Okay, after that, the 6.30pm kickoff on Saturday, Rayo against Racing Santander. Remind me, Sid, where is this game being played? Because sadly, it isn't being played in Vallecas. Did you see last night's... There's some video clips. I haven't actually listened to the full interview yet. Last night's interview on El Partidazo, which is a late-night copy radio show. They did it live. Live from Vallecas.

14:16Sadly, the only live action from Vallecas this weekend.

14:20Phil Kitromilides:Exactly that. I was saying that they should have announced that it was from Vallecas, but actually done it from Bultaki. That would have been a much better way, didn't it? But they did it and they had the Raya president on basically saying everything's fine as they're walking around the pitch that looks terrible. I mean, yeah, you laugh because you don't want to. Well, you don't want to cry. I think it will be a bit of a talk. We talked a bit about this yesterday with Kitsch. He was feeling pretty, understandably pretty down about the whole. Yeah, yeah. There is a suggestion, actually, though, that they might not be so far off getting back, that it could even be the next game, getting back at home.

14:52Phil Kitromilides:because one of the sort of the amusing, as you say, it's almost amusing because you laugh because you don't want to get upset about it, sort of amusing elements of this is listening to Bresa say, oh, there's nothing wrong with the stadium. There never has been anything wrong with the stadium at the same time as they are working frantically to try and make the stadium a little less bad. So, yeah, oh, there's nothing wrong, but we'll clean up just in case. I mean, it's, you know, it's laughable really and it's very sad. So it'll be played at Woutarque. Ruffing, there was a... I apologise for this.

15:25Phil Kitromilides:I can't remember who it was now. I think it was the CEO of Ruffing. There was a comment from him the other day saying they've been trying to speak to Ryo about tickets and Ryo aren't even answering their calls. Now, obviously, if it's with Itaki, there probably won't be a ticket problem. You just turn up and buy them on the gate, I would think. And that's certainly what happened last time. Anyway, as a game, what do we think? I mean, Rayo are not a terrible team. I think actually Rathling are really not a bad team at all. And at Boutake and everything that goes with it, I'm going draw. Okay, yeah.

16:03Rathling's last visit to Madrid was at Getafe and they lost 1-0. So that was tight.

16:09Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, technically Getafe and Rayo are a very different proposition, though, aren't they, in terms of what you're facing? Yeah, so you said draw. Okay. After all. After that, on Saturday, the late game is Villarreal against Depor. We were discussing on the bonus pod yesterday how Depor had won the transfer window. Yeah. With a magnificent business, bringing in not just Adama Traore, who gave us a historic press conference. With the number of basicalies. He used the word basically about 56 times in three minutes. Do you know what? I think that might be because he's been in England, you know. i think i think basically comes from english speech more than from spanish to be honest yeah it feels like a fairly a fairly common word that you use in english when you're trying to think of what to say and it doesn't sound as natural in spanish um i mean i know it happens but it doesn't have a natural in spanish well we forgive him for that but they've also brought in of course uh jimenez casa do you've got obama banging in the goals um but still away at via Villarreal is not an easy prospect.

17:11No, it's not.

17:12Phil Kitromilides:And Villarreal, who I actually think what I've seen of them, they've looked okay, but there's a sort of a vulnerability about them at the moment. I'm going home win on this, but I agree. I've really liked the way they've moved the market. A mate of mine sent me a message and it kind of brought it home to me and far be it for me to make it all about us. But he said, was there any real reason why Oviedo couldn't have done last year what Depor have just done this year? No, not really. It's not like they spent a fortune on it. This was perfectly plausible for a newly promoted team. Well, I mean, the wages, I guess.

17:44Phil Kitromilides:But there's no real reason why Depo should be in a significantly better place to pay wages than not the other were last year. But anyway, that's a sort of a broader debate for another day or maybe just a means through which I can feel very depressed. Yeah, sure, of which there are. Many. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group.

18:22The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. Hey Chicago, 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 Crocs 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.

19:28speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

19:56Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit BotoxChronicMigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more. Okay, well, let's see how many of Depo's exciting new signings take the field at La Ceramica. On Sunday, the big game arguably is the afternoon kickoff 4-15 at Mestalla Valencia against Barcelona. We've been getting a little bit worried about Valencia so far. Of course, it's their final season at Mestalla. they haven't had a good season so far we talked about this again apologies for repetition on the bonus pod for patrons and the signing of Harvey Elliott from Liverpool is a really interesting one for Valencia

20:36Phil Kitromilides:and it's an opportunity for him after a couple of very difficult seasons this is the game I'm going to this weekend so I'm quite excited about this one there's a very weird well it's not weird I suppose it's accumulation of many things there's a very pessimistic mood around Valencia. I don't know if you saw the press conference from Ron Goulet, the CEO at Valencia. It got a bit feisty in terms of the questioning, certainly. Well, I mean, I don't know about you, right, but I was listening to a Valencia-based radio the other day, and you say it gets feisty because the question is, I actually think there is something about the Valencia press pack or the Valencia media that I don't necessarily think they're wrong to have the feelings that they have and to have reached some of the conclusions that they have in the analysis.

21:32Phil Kitromilides:But there is a sort of an apparent determination for them to be the ones making demands rather than asking questions, if you see what I mean. And there's lots of this guy's got to go. Why is he continuing? This is a disgrace. You have to be sacked. and essentially I think what happened with Ron Gurley's press conference was that he was asked well why aren't you going anywhere because I said I was going to retire after I'd done three cycles, four transfer windows he was then maybe a little bit prickly in response but it's essentially because the question wasn't really a question the question was basically why don't you sod off, I mean that was basically insofar as that's a question, you know, why don't you sod off and so I can sort of understand that I can also, as I say the caveat here is I can understand why that's the position of some of the Valencia media, because, of course, they've watched this reality happen.

22:24Phil Kitromilides:They've watched a team that's now gone, I think I'm right in saying, eight years without playing in European football. Harvey Elliott turned up the other day and said, I want to get Valencia back into European football. I said, well, right now, the first thing is to get some stability and to survive with a certain degree of comfort. Now, Brangouli made a point which, I must confess, I hadn't fully appreciated. And I think he's entitled to make this point without any doubt. that in the second half of last season, they're actually third best team in Spain. And I had no idea. Or so he claimed. Now, this is probably where we check the stats and it's not true.

22:54Phil Kitromilides:But I had no idea. I think he said 32 points in the silverware for the second half of the season. I had no idea it was that good. It didn't feel that good, to be honest, even though they very clearly pulled away and you thought, OK, right, they're safe now. And then they kind of momentarily look like they might be dragged back in a bit and then they pulled away again. There's a very, very determined sense that Corbran is unpopular. and again this goes back to what I was saying before that the media agenda around Corran is why is he still here get rid of him this is a disgrace well is it is that is that you know is there are we really in a situation where we're not necessarily where you could accept him going or want him to go but where you feel entitled to basically say he has to go all I would say Sid and I know this isn't you know this is only a small part of his job but if I was a journalist who had to listen to him every week in press conferences I would be calling for his dismissal because, like I say, it's not the be-all and end-all, but it's so...