Matchday 9 Preview

0:07Hello everyone and welcome to this week's preview podcast on a Friday from TSFP. We're here on Matchday 9 in La Liga EA Sports. I'm Phil Kittrow-Molidi. Sid Lowe is not here. He is busy in his spiritual home of Oviedo. That's the bad news. The good news is that Alex Kirkland is here. Hello Al. Hello Kittrow. How was your Friday morning football? Quick match report. Friday morning football was good, very good. Usually it's supposed to be about eight a side. Last week it was ten a side which was catastrophic because there was no space and basically not very fun. And this week it was five aside. So there was far too much space.

0:45Are you feeling it? And rather exhausting. Yes. But how was your personal performance? Goals, assists, key passes, other metrics? A couple of goals, a couple of goals. Should have scored a couple more, but one nice finish. So pleased with that, take that. And we move on, you know. Good, good. Although Sid isn't here, you are repping Oviedo with the top. I am. Yes, I've got Oviedo zip-up top on. So there we go. Even though Sydney isn't here, we must keep the flagrant Oviedo bias going. Speaking of which, they're first up on Matchday 9. They play tonight. They are hosting Espanyol, an Espanyol side who are in, well, made a decent start to the season with 12 points.

1:30They're sitting in ninth position. Oviedo, as we know, are just out of the relegation zone. They've just changed their manager as well. Luis Carrion is back, replacing Belko Paunovic. So we'll see how they get on. Sydney is going. Sydney's going to be there whistling, whistling Luis Carrion, furious. No, his other fans are furious, but he's fine with it. No, he's fine with it. He's quite a big deal in Oviedo. So let's not suggest that he is against a new manager. Leading some sort of movement, some sort of anti-Carrion movement. Yeah, that wouldn't be good. That would be good. Could get us into trouble.

2:05Anyway, that's tonight. and I'm sure he'll go into it in minute detail on Monday's podcast. But what are the other games this weekend? Well, here we go. On Saturday, we've got Sevilla against Mallorca. Mallorca, of course, bottom of the table. Sevilla coming off the back of that fantastic 4-1 victory against Barcelona just before the international break. Barcelona are playing in the Saturday afternoon slot. They are hosting Girona, that Catalan derby, which is not what it was a couple of seasons ago. So, Villarreal against Betis is a very attractive looking game. And Atletico Madrid against Osasuna.

2:43You'll be at that one, Al. Then on Sunday, we've got Elche, the surprise package of the season, hosting Athletic Club. Celta Vigo against Real Sociedad. Real Sociedad were second bottom after eight games. Really struggling. Levante against the mighty Rayo Vallecano. And Getafe against Real Madrid. Monday night football is Alaves against Valencia. Yeah, let's kind of go in chronological order, I guess, and pick out some of the bigger games to talk about, starting with that game. Between Barcelona and Girona, the good news for Barcelona fans, I haven't heard Hansi Flick speak yet at the time of recording, but it does feel like Laminya Mal is certainly going to be available to play some part in the game, given the fact that he's been training with normality throughout this week with his teammates.

3:30Yeah, and talking of Hansi Flick and Laminya Mal, Did you hear this report that came out yesterday, discussed on the radio last night, claims that Lamin-Yamal was set to be the latest victim of Hansi Flick's kind of strict timekeeping when it comes to turning up to team meetings on time. And Flick was going to drop Lamin-Yamal, as he has with other players in the past, but was talked out of doing so by Deco, the sporting director, and that Hansi Flick wasn't best pleased with that. I don't have any information in that. For which game do we know? I don't know if was that specified in the reports?

4:03I didn't catch the game, but I presume it was fairly recently. And I mean, look, we don't know if that's true, but it has been reported. And it would be a not entirely unsurprising example of, I guess, the growing importance of Lumin, Yamal and an awareness at the club of we need, not just how important it is, but how we need to keep this guy happy. You know, we've seen in the past where that can lead. you know not not not it's not an entirely analogous situation but we saw the way that understandably understandably Messi's power at Barcelona grew over time as his influence grew and just how important he was to the team grew and how that had a somewhat destabilizing effect in in some ways over the long term it's much too early to talk about that with with Lamin Jamal I think but I think that was an interesting ball but the bottom line is yeah it'll be good to have him back on the pitch with Barca I mean I mean well look they've lost back-to-back games in you know in all competitions two games in a row for the first time since I think was it December 2024 last year when they had that little sort of wobble in November December so I mean if you want to come out of a of a world Girona at home is probably just about as good a team as you'd want to to do so against because you'd you'd back Barca to to win that game but if they don't if they fail to get a win for the for the third game in a row then that would be troubling it's um just some of the noise is coming out of the Barcelona hierarchy.

5:26Obviously, we heard Hansi Flick speaking about egos killing success. And then Deco was suggesting that talent is not enough. You need hard work as well. And Joan Laporta echoing those sentiments. I don't know if there is a growing feeling amongst the people behind the scenes at Barcelona. There might be some issues with their attitude. I'm reading in between the lines here. But those figures coming out and saying those kind of things, we'll see. We'll see. The game, by the way, is at Montjuic, just in case anyone was wondering. Yeah, we need to keep track. Week by week, we don't know. On a weekly basis, let us know.

6:01On a weekly basis. Yeah, if you're planning to go to that game, you need to know where you need to be. You don't want to turn up to the wrong stadium, even if they're not that far apart, I guess. Yeah, I was just going to say, look, some of those kinds of issues around an extraordinarily talented young player are entirely to be expected. You know, it would almost be weird if stuff like that didn't happen along the way, right? The growing pains of what it is to be a young superstar. We all see the stuff in the papers and elsewhere in terms of Laminio's personal life. Again, no concerns there. He can have a good time as long as it doesn't impact his ability to perform on the field, as long as it's not anything that's detrimental to him as a player and as a person.

6:44But yeah, it's definitely something to watch. And like I say, especially this latest story, the implication that Flick wasn't happy at being kind of overruled. That's the allegation there, that Flick wanted to leave Lamine out. Deco told him not to. And naturally, Flick felt that his authority was undermined and also feels that it creates a situation where, well, look, other players have turned up late and have been left out. And if you've then got a player who turns up late and isn't punished because of who he is and his status in the team, that's a troubling precedent. As I say, we cannot speak to the truth or otherwise of that story.

7:20I mean, other big players as well. You know, it's happened to Rafinha, it's happened to Marcus Rashford. So, yeah. Barcelona against Girona, this will be only the 11th ever top flight meeting between these two, I was going to say Catalan rivals, not really rivals, are they? Just two Catalan teams. Two Catalan sides who are at differing ends of the footballing spectrum. Remember Girona in the 23-24 season won both games against Barcelona 4-2. Same result. That was, I mean, it was incredible at the time, but you look back at it now and it's even more so. You just think, wow, like what an achievement that, I mean, that season as a whole was.

8:00but those performances in particular, sort of the symbolic nature of that, of them going and playing like that and winning against a team that a lot of their fans also support. It was, yeah, it was quite incredible. And it doesn't, I mean, look, at the moment it does look like it's the kind of thing that's going to be repeated every time soon. Both matches between these sides last season ended 4-1 to Barcelona. So that nice kind of symmetry, I guess, with the results being repeated. Yeah, I like symmetrical results. Yeah, that suits my way of liking everything to be sort of organised and ordered and, you know, all nice and tidy.

8:39More of that kind of thing, please. Still lots of players missing for Barcelona, but they are getting people back. We'll see whether or not Rafinha is involved in this one as well. Dani Olmo picked up an injury on international duty. Girona, by the way. Girona have had five red cards this season, which is absolutely mental. in eight games. They've got Alejandro Frances and Ivan Martin both suspended after getting sent off in the last game. And they've got a pretty long injury list as well. They've had people on international duty, so not the best for Girona for them to go to Montjuic. And the red card thing is kind of symptomatic, right?

9:20That's the kind of thing you feel that happens when a team is kind of going off the rails, that kind of lack of discipline, in the fact that people aren't really on board anymore with the whole thing. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see. So yeah, it's another worrying sign for them. Okay, you're going to be at Atletico Madrid against Osasuna. I had a friend of mine who is also a journalist who covers another European league, but keeps his eye on what's happening across the continent. And he was asking me, you know, what's going on with Atletico Madrid? Why are they so good at home, but so bad away?

9:51Yeah, that's it. I was going to say, yeah, the question is, yeah, it's like it's two teams. It's like, it's literally, look at the record at home and the record away. And it's like, it's two different teams because yeah, this game at home, you can guarantee they're going to almost guarantee, they didn't win against Elche at home, but you can almost guarantee they're going to win because they tend to play well and perform at home. And it's away from home where all these problems lie, you know, the good results they've had in, in, in recent weeks have come at home in terms of the Derby and the Rio game and in the Champions League as well.

10:20Generally at home, they're playing really good football. And I've got to say at the moment, I get to go there quite a bit for work. I love, going there to watch Athletic because generally it's really good fun. They play really good football. The games are good. There's lots to talk about. There's lots of players that I really enjoy watching. It's a really good place to be right now. So yeah, this one at home, back them absolutely to get the job done. Whatever is going on the road is perplexing to say the least. It is. Third best team at home this season. Tenth best on the road. and I was quite critical of their performance in their last game away at Celta Vigo.

10:57I know they were down to 10 men for an hour, but I didn't feel that they were doing enough to try and win the game, even when they had 10 men because they scored early, they shut up shop and that was it. And it was really not what I expected to see from a team of their level, but it's probably what I did. You slammed them for that. Yeah, slammed them. I slammed them again. I'll slam them again if they play like that. I will, Al. I absolutely will. but let's see uh i i am obviously you don't have to sort of go you know face to face with diego simeone in the in the flash zone every every week so it's it's like you can get away with that kind of that kind of brave talk yeah he is not someone who takes kindly to questions that he doesn't like quite scary yeah he is quite scary yeah um anyway incredibly incredibly incredible sort of charismatic power you there are very few figures you get this info don't you In different ways, but that kind of aura that you feel, you've had this when you're close to these people, whether it's like Zidane or Wenger or whoever, but Simeone, the aura around him when he sprints down the tunnel or walks into the room or whatever, it's very, very real.

12:08It's palpable. You feel it. So yeah, watch out. Hashtag palpable aura. Yes. But yeah, I completely agree with what you're saying about Atletico Madrid. And at home, they are good to watch. They are entertaining. And the margins have been very fine this season. Let's not forget they've had plenty of chances to kill off games in matches where they drop points. This has been their worst start to a season under Diego Simeone. Remember that. But they seem to be slowly recovering. And we do expect them to play a little bit better and provide some entertainment at home. to a Nossosuna side who are quite difficult to break down.

12:42And they gave Real Madrid a tough time at the Bernabeu in the opening game of the season, remember? And Alessio Lishi has made them tough to beat. And we saw what he did with Mirandes last season in the Segunda Divisor, making them extremely difficult to beat as well. So I don't necessarily think it will be maybe as open as we've seen in other matches, but I do think that they will get the job done. Atlético Madrid against Osisuna.

13:38app sunday night we've got this i mean again it's not really a derby is it jadafe against real madrid it's it's two teams in quite close proximity bigger of which it's a local derby it is two teams from the same city it's well kind of from the same city two teams two teams from the same region quite close yes the same metropolitan region can we call this a derby it's like it's yeah all right technically it is a derby but most a lot of Getafe fans sort of support Real Madrid like yeah yeah I was gonna say we joke about Girona and Barcelona it's not that it's not that different in in this case yeah Getafe's president is literally a Real Madrid member um so it's not a seething cauldron of hate let's put it like that um but it's going to be an awkward game for Real Madrid.

14:27Certainly if you look at previous fixtures, I was going through the previous games, and Real Madrid tend to beat Getafe. They tend to get the job done. I was going to say, their record there is pretty good, but it'll be by a goal or something, right? So these are the most recent results. 1-0 Real Madrid, 2-0 Real Madrid, 2-1 Real Madrid, 1-0 Real Madrid, 1-0 Real Madrid, 2-0 Real Madrid, 1-0 Getafe in 2022, 0-0, 2-0 Real Madrid, 1-0 Real Madrid. You see the pattern emerging here. So how are Real Madrid going to line up here? Is Bellingham going to play? Fedor Valverde at right back? What do we think?

15:10Yeah, Bellingham's the big one because, you know, Xabi Alonso has sort of effectively admitted that he rushed him back for the derby. It was the wrong decision. He wasn't ready. He didn't play well. And then since then, he's been really quite cautious with Bellingham. You know, it's almost been a, I wouldn't say an overcorrection, but definitely a correction in the other direction. And we still don't quite know how Bellingham fits into this Real Madrid team. We've talked about that. You know, we know that he played, of course, every game under Alonso at the Club World Cup. We've heard Xabi Alonso talk a lot about how he sees Bellingham, the kind of play he thinks he is, where he needs to be, the kind of positions he's got to take up and how he can get the best out of him.

15:47But we haven't seen it in action really yet, certainly not this season. And I think it's going to be interesting to see what the chemistry of this midfield is between Chiumeni and Gula and Bellingham. Maybe, like you say, maybe taking Valverde out of that picture and putting him at full-back kind of makes life simpler in a way because you can still play with a midfield three and a front three. Although Mastantuono has also got a bit of a fitness, a slight fitness problem, hasn't he? I think he'll probably be okay, but he's been struggling a bit with something during the international break. Of course, Mappé as well had the ankle issue, but I'd be amazed if he wasn't okay to play, because that's the kind of thing that tends to clear up pretty quickly.

16:29But no, Bellingham is still sort of the big unknown about this Real Madrid season. I think exactly how he fits in and what kind of levels of performance he can find. I think there's no doubt that Alonso really, really likes him and thinks he's really, really important to this team working. but we just haven't seen it yet to know exactly what form that's going to take. Otherwise, yeah, we joked about Fedevalvo, a right back. He did play a right back the other day. Predictably, he did pretty well. And for now, maybe that's where he stays. Of course, there's not issues at centre-back, but Dean Howson, of course, isn't fit, is he, in defence.

17:06I think they want him back for the Classico, and he probably will be back for the Classico, but not for this one, I don't think. So that means you're looking at another partner for Militao at centre-back. Otherwise, I don't think there are too many question marks now. No. You know, Vinicius Junior has played his way back into the team and probably stays there. And like I say, otherwise, I think there aren't really too many doubts. No. Real Madrid with quite a big Champions League game coming up midweek as well against Juventus. And then, of course, next week is the Clásico. So some big matches coming up for Real Madrid.

17:42We didn't mention that Barcelona have Olympiacos at home midweek in the Champions League because that is potentially slightly more straightforward than the most successful team in the history of Italian football. Yeah, Hellenic giants. Hellenic giants. In the port city of Barrios. They are giants within the Hellenic world. I think Bellingham's ready, actually. I think he's fit. I think he's had these two weeks of international duty to get back to full fitness. And it's just whether or not he fits into this team for this game. I think we might see Ceballos for this game, actually, instead of failing them.

18:21Because it's, I don't know. There's always that possibility. Yeah. Especially with Getafe. We know exactly how they're going to play. And it's going to be very difficult to break them down, etc, etc. So maybe someone like Danny Tobias when you have a lot of the ball to be able to unlock them. But we'll see. We'll see. Getafe, who are boosts. I actually think just on Bellingham, I was just going to say, I actually think do Bellingham with a point to prove is quite, I think that's a good thing. I mean, the fact that it's twofold, isn't it? It's the fact that he's been left out by England. And there's all this talk certainly in England about, you know, can Bellingham find his way back into this England team under Thomas Tuchel?

19:00And, you know, they play pretty well without him. with the World Cup coming up. So it's an exaggeration that he's lost his place with England because he wasn't fully fit. But he's got a place to win back in the England team and he's kind of got a place to win back in this Real Madrid team. And I think actually that's quite a good place to be because I think that's the kind of situation that he is going to relish and going to rise to. And I think he's going to quite enjoy reminding everybody of just how important he is both for club and country. So I actually think for Madrid right now, I think it's quite a good place for Jude Bellingham to be in terms of having something to prove.

19:36Hungry Jude looking to prove the haters wrong. A lot of haters in England of Jude Bellingham. I've got a friend who absolutely hates him, can't stand him. I was like, why don't you like Jude? He's like, ah. Well, there's been quite, yeah, I've had this a bit, I've talked about this on other pods, I think, where there's been quite a few reports in the English press about Bellingham, about how he fits into the England dressing room, about his relationship with England players, and stuff that hasn't necessarily sort of been, as far as we know, been an issue here. Here, then, as far as I know, there haven't been too many reports about him having issues in the Madrid dressing room.

20:13In England, there are claims that that is the case. And yes, he ended up being this weirdly divisive figure in England, which is something I agree. I don't fully understand. I think you get, I mean, you get that sometimes just with really precocious, really talented players, don't you? That they kind of rub people up the wrong way. Haters gone hate. Yeah. You have a bit of attitude and a bit of edge to them and that, yeah, some people can, you know, you've found this kit, you know, some people can take that the wrong way. Haters gone hate. Haters gone hate. Okay, for Getafe, Adrian Liso is back from the World Cup, which is a big boost for them.

20:54Obviously, their top scorer, he'd been fantastic before he went away to the Under-20 World Cup, but he is back as Spain got knocked out and expecting him to come into the starting XI alongside former Real Madrid striker Borja Mayoral. So, yeah, I think Getafe will once again make life difficult for a Real Madrid and it might be a particularly ugly game of football, but one which Real Madrid will probably get the job done. I look forward to being there at the Coliseum to witness it in close quarters. You mentioned Borja Maial, by the way. I mean, he's one that he's never quite got it together since the injury problems, has he?

21:32Before that, we know he was a very important player for Getafe, scoring goals. He had that one season in particular where he got into double figures and he looked like becoming the player that at times we thought he might be when he was a younger player coming through the academy at Madrid. Do you feel like Getafe maybe need him to get back to something like that version? But it hasn't happened now for what? The really good season he had was, what, two or three years ago now? Something like that? You know, it's been a while. Yeah. It's been a while and they could do with that player, that version of that player.

22:03That was, yeah, 23-24. Okay, yeah, and I probably can't say. I've got a really funny story about Borja Bayorel, but it's possibly one that I really can't tell. I'll tell you off air. I'll tell you off air. And then you will make a judgment call because you are the producer and also slash legal expert. You're such a tease. Occasionally, Kittro does this, even with me and Sid. You'll be like, I've got this amazing story about so-and-so. I can't tell you. Oh yeah, that other one. Oh my God. Just don't tell me. Just don't tell me. Just don't even say you've got a story. Well, I can't. Just save it.

22:35Do you know what I mean? You're frustrating us, Kittro. The sort of big mouth in me. Tell me off air. I'll tell you off air. the big mouth in me is like, oh, I've got something great to tell you. You love being in the know, don't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, someone said, also say something that I actually can't say. Anyway, there we go. Let's see how Boca Bayola gets on for a Getafe against... Okay, yeah, we won't be clipping up Kitro not telling a story from social media. That won't be... That won't be on the ground. Listen, we're rambling now, so we'll leave it here. Good luck to Oviedo tonight.

23:07Good luck to Rayo at Levante on Sunday. We'll be back on Monday too. discuss all the football enjoy the football over the weekend whatever you're watching make sure you are watching some spanish football and we'll speak about it on monday adios bye

23:40Thank you.

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