Matchday 8 Preview

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1:34Hi everybody and welcome to this week's weekend preview. Looking ahead to this weekend in La Liga, it's me Alex Kirkland with Sid today because Kittrow is playing football, Sid, on a Friday morning, every Friday morning, in a routine I'm quite jealous of.

1:48Alex Kirkland:I'm so jealous. It's not something that I've managed to incorporate into my routine since having kids and it's not something you're able to do anymore because your leg might fall off. The last time I played football was in Qatar, the day before the World Cup final. And I left that pitch thinking, I'm sort of all right. And then I never played again. Yeah, one of many legacies of the Qatar World Cup is that. Well, listen, we're here to talk about match day eight in La Liga. I'll run you through the fixtures first before we talk about some of these games in a bit more detail. Starting off this evening at nine o 'clock Spanish time, it's Osasuna against Getafe.

2:25Then on Saturday, the early kickoff is Oviedo against Levante. City, you're going to be there. I am going to be there. By the way, it's match day eight. How many Oviedo games have you managed to get to so far out of eight?

2:35Alex Kirkland:I was desperately disappointed not to go to Valencia on Monday night. So that would have been one. I've been at the home games against Madrid and Barcelona. I've been away against Villarreal and Getafe so I've done four and should have done five because I missed out on Monday night and this one will be the fifth out of out of eight so you're doing pretty well so far it's fair to say it's almost like you're trying to make the most of it because you think this might not last and as I say I've missed the two wins I mean I don't want to say the words don't go don't go yeah exactly later on Saturday Girona against Valencia Athletic Club against Real Mallorca the late game at the Bernabeu I'll be there for Real Madrid against Villarreal then on Sunday Alaves, Elche, Sevilla, Barcelona Espanol, Betis, Real Sociedad Rio Vallecano both those games kicking off at 6.30 because of course there's no Monday game because we're heading into an international break and the late game on Sunday you'll also be there at Balaidos really interesting game this one Celta against Atleti.

3:44We haven't got to spend too much time on your trip to Oviedo on Saturday, but having said that, the trajectory is very much heading upwards.

3:53Alex Kirkland:Well, I hope so. I definitely hope so. I mean, I suppose it is insofar as there's a win. Having beaten Real Sociedad at home earlier in the season to have won away at Valencia is huge. I think there was an optimism maybe that Real Oviedo could take a point from Mestalla. After the first 20 minutes, there was absolutely no way. I thought the first 20 minutes were absolutely dreadful. And then actually the response was really, really good after that. And this is a game. Shall I use the phrase? Go on. Let me use the phrase. Let me use a cliche. It's a final, Al. It's a final. It absolutely 100 % is not a final, people.

4:27Alex Kirkland:It is not a bloody final. But anyway, it is quite a big one because it's Oviedo against Levante. It's one of those games. Certainly, I think if you look at the potential candidates for relegation, And it's definitely too early to say this, just as it's too early to call it a final. It's always too early to call it the final, unless it's week 38. Between two teams who potentially, in theory, at least, should both be teams competing for relegation, to avoid relegation. And so I think it's really big for Oviedo to try and get something from a home game against Levante. The Mestalla match does put a different complexion on it.

5:01Alex Kirkland:I think for Oviedo, it gives them a degree of optimism that wasn't there before. We've talked a little bit about this, but I think you look at the teams down the bottom. And in all of them, you see something in the forward line. And I think Levante is a good example of that. Before the transfer window closed, you're thinking, yeah, Levante are definitely a candidate go down. I mean, in theory, they still are. But I think the signing Vete Jong gives them a player that will probably get 10, 12 goals this season. And 10, 12 goals this season when you're down the bottom is survival. Yeah, we can't say the same about big Salomon Rondon for Oviedo, but you never know.

5:34He did score this week. The dam has been broken and here they come.

5:39Alex Kirkland:Yeah, watch the floodgates are open. Whoosh. I mean, one thing I'll say about Rondon, and I actually really quite like him and quite like the way that he's played, but he's a player whose main quality, I think, is very, very good indeed, bringing the ball down. You play long to him, he'll take it on the chest, he'll hold people off, he'll bring the ball down into play. I personally feel like if you've got a player like that, you need someone playing off him. Because it's no good him bringing it down for nothing, really. Admittedly, as I say, he did score at the weekend. Sorry, on Tuesday night.

6:09Alex Kirkland:It was, again, a long ball that he controlled brilliantly. The finish was a bit fortunate. In fact, very fortunate. But the touch was good. Anyway, there you go. That was quite a lot of Oviedo for a game that we weren't going to deal with. I know, I know. But, you know, like I say, they're staying the top flight. It might be brief. So we should make the most of it. Let's talk about the game on Saturday night at the Bernabeu Real Madrid against Villarreal. Now, how funny would it be, Sid, if Fede Valverde starts this game at right back? Well, I mean, it would be funny in some ways. I think it would also be entirely logical.

6:42Alex Kirkland:And I think that's the thing that's been kind of missed in all of this debate, is that this is actually a really good position for Fede Valverde. It's one that suits him very well. And given the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and, of course, of Danny Cardvajal, for at least, we think at least three weeks, maybe more, I think it's entirely natural. I mean, I do think that there is an alternative, which is Raul Asensil to play at right back and Feddy to continue in midfield. But given that you're slightly stacked in midfield and you're not entirely sure what your best combination is and you're not at all stacked at right back, this seems to me like a good solution in the short term.

7:18Alex Kirkland:I suppose part of the problem is that what Feddy doesn't want is for his versatility and ability to provide a short term solution to eventually end up putting him in a long term position that he doesn't want to be in. Yeah, there's been a lot of fuss about this this week and it's probably unwarranted. The bigger picture, Real Madrid, of course, beaten in the Madrid derby last weekend. Got a win away in Kazakhstan in midweek, but don't learn a great deal from that. And Villarreal, I mean, yes, it's at the Bernabeu, but Villarreal, a good team. They got a draw against Juventus in the Champions League in midweek.

7:49How much of a test do you think this is for Real Madrid?

7:53Alex Kirkland:Yeah, I mean, I think to try and put it in the context of last week. last week I think obviously there's the performance from Atletico Madrid there's a performance from Real Madrid and there's analysing those on their own terms if you like in terms of the derby itself but I also think there's that broader question after the derby which was is this Real Madrid losing because it's the first time they've played a really strong team is you know is that the doubt and that's that's the worry I think that Real Madrid fans will have and I think it's a worry that goes back a bit because if you look at last season Correct me if I'm wrong, Al, I think that Real Madrid lost 12 times last year.

8:28Alex Kirkland:It might be 11. I think it was 12. And actually, if you go through the season, you think when they played a big team, they basically didn't win all year. So they didn't win any of the four games against Barcelona. They didn't win the big Champions League games except Man City. Man City is the one big team you can say they won. And this was obviously a year in which City were in crisis. correct me if I'm wrong I think they didn't beat Atletico Madrid in the league there were two draws and then in the Champions League there were two legs they went to a penalty shootout exactly right and so you kind of look at it and think well when they played big teams last year they weren't able to come through it the Club World Cup they mostly played pretty well we mostly saw the beginning of a structure and then they played a big team PSG and got absolutely walloped now they've just been battered by Atletico Madrid having started the season really well And look, I'm guilty of this.

9:20Alex Kirkland:We're all guilty of this. And actually we're guilty of it because we're not guilty at all because it is true. We were seeing a structure. We were seeing an idea. We were seeing the beginnings of them playing in a different way. And I've been on record on this podcast of saying to link this to the previous question, but one of the reasons why I think Feli Valverde is having a difficult start is this system doesn't suit him anymore. You know, it's not his natural game. And actually it felt like a good thing, but then they got absolutely battered by Atletico Madrid. Now that doesn't mean that all those things didn't happen.

9:48Alex Kirkland:All those things did happen. The structure did look better. But they've played the teams in 19th, 18th, 17th, 14th, 13th and 6th, I think. I can't remember exactly, but it's roughly that in the league. So I've gone around the houses a little bit, but I think you understand why. So here comes the next game when this is a good team they're playing. So here comes a bit of a test. Now, admittedly, it's a good team they would expect to win. It's a good team at home. And they are, you know, Real Madrid, even if there are some flaws, even if there are some things you look at, you're still talking about a season in which Kylian Mbappé started brilliantly.

10:21Alex Kirkland:Even if Madrid don't do a huge amount, you feel like Mbappé will score. I guess the tactical question here that's interesting is that Madrid are pressing that little bit higher, albeit it's a structured, cautious high press. It's not a wild high press like a Barcelona high press, for example. And you think actually Villarreal are a team that are quite well equipped to play you on the counter-attack. Yeah, FA. Exactly. And Villarreal are a team that don't necessarily need the ball. I would maybe even argue they're not necessarily a team that want the ball very often. And so I think this is a really interesting one.

10:53Alex Kirkland:I think this is one of those games where potentially if Madrid don't find a way through, they find themselves caught. So I do think this is big and I think it's important. And I think it's interesting as well. Now, for what it's worth, I still think Madrid will win it. But I think this is a proper match. OK, big test for Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso. So let's see if they can get their season back on track on Sunday. A number of interesting games. Let's talk about Sevilla-Barca. What about Sevilla, Sid? Because we haven't talked about them too much on the pod so far this season. They haven't necessarily always been getting the results that they might have wanted.

11:26But it feels to me like Almeida has them kind of heading in the right direction. And kind of they have an identity and a way they want to play. And I don't know. For me, for the first time in quite a long time, it feels to me like at least on the pitch, not off it. Off it. Obviously still a basket case. But on the pitch, it feels like Sevilla are heading maybe in the right direction.

11:45Alex Kirkland:Yeah, I'm a little bit like you. We've not talked a lot about Sevilla this year. I felt like I've not really focused on them very much. But I was at their game against Rayo Baikano at the weekend. And I don't want to extrapolate from one game an entire season. I don't even want to extrapolate from one game and a really interesting press conference, listening to Almeida and sort of engaging with it. It's quite sort of charismatic. And I like listening to him talk. Every time I see a clip of him in the press, I just, I don't know, I sort of stop and I listen. And he's telling some anecdote about Maradona or something.

12:19And I'm like, OK, I want to hear this.

12:21Alex Kirkland:Yeah, and it feels applicable. So he's telling, as you say, an anecdote about Maradona or a story where he goes off on a slight tangent. I mean, how can you have people going off on tangents? I think it's appalling. It's just a terrible thing to do. And I think he's very interesting. And I think there is a depth there. And the thing that struck me at the weekend, there was a handful of things. But I think you're right about this idea of them heading in the right direction. They haven't won yet at home. And one of the questions in the press conference was, you know, what do you have to do for this to happen at home?

12:50Alex Kirkland:Because I think I'm right in saying it's three victories, isn't it, away from home? Or maybe it's only two. I think it's three. Off the top of my head, I'm trying to think who the other one is now. They've got ten points. Yeah, they've got three wins and a draw so far. There we go. There we go. Right. And he sort of said, well, look, you know, we want that as well, obviously, because it's your response from your fans is what they see. every week, not just what they see kind of watching the team on the telly, but what they see and what they feel in the stadium. And it hasn't been that great. But I think you're right that there's an idea now.

13:20Alex Kirkland:There's a sense of stability and a sense of sensibleness of an approach. And I think that's actually more important than it sounds. Now, on the face of what we're talking about, a mid-table team who picked up a few away victories, not always being hugely impressive. And against Raya, they were absolutely second best against Raya. There's no two ways about that. I mean, you know, we're dressing this up now because they won it by Eccas, but they shouldn't have won. They should have been beaten. And so I don't want to go too far down this. But I think we do see a collective identity. We do see a togetherness.

13:50Alex Kirkland:We do see the construction of a group, right? A group that kind of, you know, that works, that runs, that has a structure, that knows what it's trying to do, even if it doesn't always do it brilliantly. And I actually think that's more significant than it might sound, because as I say, we're talking about a mid-table team that's not done a huge amount that is just about a group. Now, that's pretty underwhelming, right? But actually, in the context of the last two years at Sevilla, that's not underwhelming at all. Because at the start of this season, we talked about outside chances to really underperform in terms of their name.

14:20Alex Kirkland:And we said Sevilla. Because Sevilla are three or four really bad games away from an absolute firestorm, from a total shit show in terms of the structure, in terms of the institution, in terms of the fans' confrontation with the board of directors, in terms of the damage that does to the group. And we've seen over the last couple of years, they've been really vulnerable to that. They really were close to going down last year. They really were. You know, it wasn't that far off. And they brought in Joaquin Caparosa out of desperation, out of an attempt to try and find a link with the fans, to try and effectively get the fans on side, because the whole thing was in flames.

14:56Alex Kirkland:And so I think, actually, this sort of, what seems like a quite underwhelming construction of a calmness and a stability and a team, I think is massive. Really massive. That said, this is a preview pod for this weekend. It's hard to imagine them beating Barcelona, but it's not impossible now. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power-boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different.

15:41And Messi only trusts Duracell. This episode is brought to you by Google Health. Stop chasing someone else's definition of health. What matters is what's healthy for you. Google Health offers a new kind of coach, built with Gemini for effortless tracking, sleep insights, and holistic coaching tailored to you. Visit googlestore.com to learn more and start a new relationship with your health. Requires Google account, Google Health app, internet, and Google Health premium subscription. Features subject to change. Availability and results vary. Not intended for medical purposes. Works independently of Gemini apps.

16:13Check responses for accuracy. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. bundling just another way to save with the personal price plan prices are based on rating plans that vary by state coverage options are selected by the customer availability amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state a word about barca of course beaten by by psg uh 2-1 in in midweek and a big reaction to that and i think some people kind of going overboard with with that you talked about this a bit on the on the bonus for for patrons um but But, you know, generally, Barca, good team, you know, really good players, having a good season.

17:02Yes, they lost against one of the best teams in Europe, but that's not necessarily something to... Also, I was saying this on ESPN last night. I sort of think at this stage of the season, a defeat like that can be quite useful, actually. It can be quite instructive. You can sort of learn quite a lot from a defeat like that. It helps you and helps, you know, Hansi Flick in this case, kind of, you know, tweak things a little bit and have a look at certain things and players and the way the team is set up. So I don't see that, especially given this Champions League format, which means you can lose games like that and it doesn't really matter at all.

17:31Exactly. I think, you know, I think it could be actually quite handy for Barca that loss in midweek.

17:35Alex Kirkland:I do as well. I mean, you know, this was part of the discourse that Real Madrid had post-Atletico Madrid. And Carver Howell said, you know, it might be good for us to realise that everything doesn't, everything isn't the colour of roses. And Xabi Alonso says, you know, you've got love from it. We want it to hurt. And I think obviously the Barcelona game is different. It's against PSG. But I think it is a reminder that, look, there are some things that if you don't get right at this level, you are going to get caught. I think, you know, we tend to focus so much on the way that Barcelona play. But there were times in midweek where you thought, wow, are you really going to put that line there?

18:08Alex Kirkland:Seriously? Against this lot? And you look at the final goal and the amount of space that Hakimi's got to run into is far too much. It really is. It is too much. and you know I'm never going to say to Hansi Flick Hansi you haven't got a clue don't do this but you looked at that goal you thought seriously now you know I think you're right I think it probably does help us and I think it's a reminder maybe not to be over euphoric I think Hansi Flick has been there's been a few glimpses of this already remember after the Rio game and he talked about egos and he talked about competitiveness and work and I think that that's been aimed at handful of players.

18:45Alex Kirkland:I think obviously people tend to see everything in terms of Lamine. I don't think it's just about that. I think there's a little bit of a message there for Lamine, but I don't think it's just about that. And so maybe this isn't a terrible thing for them. The big thing for Barcelona, for me really, is finding a way through this, it's not a crisis, but this run of injuries at the moment and finding good solutions for the absentees. Let's talk about the game you're going to be at on Sunday night. Balairos-Celto Vigo against Let's go Madrid. Always an absolute delight to be in the city of Vigo. Good trip, this one.

19:17Celta, still without a win in the league this season. They've drawn five games in La Liga this season. That's not good enough. This is a team and this is a project that we felt like has really been heading in the right direction. Had a really good season last season under Claudio Giraldez. Are they okay? Has it just been a bit of a funny start and they're going to come out of this and coming up against you against Atletico Madrid team who are in you know the form of their