Sid 1 Thumper 0

15:11Sid Lowe:You connect with just one click. It's one of the fastest VPNs around. And you could use up to 10 devices with one account. For more information, and this is important, you need to head to nordvpn.com forward slash TSFP.

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15:33Sid Lowe:nordvpn.com forward slash TSFP. When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kid's pool day to feel like... and your hotel bed to feel like, ooh, and room service to feel like, because at Hilton, hospitality feels like, your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day. We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on, but too often life, or usually price, Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60 % off hotels and up to 50 % off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure.

16:27Sid Lowe:Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com and book your next trip today. Go to your happy price.

16:37Phil Kitromilides:Priceline. Race the runners. Race the sails. Race the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.

16:44Sid Lowe:over roger wait is that an enterprise sales solution reach sales professionals not professional sailors with linkedin ads you can target the right people by industry job title and more start converting your b2b audience today spend 250 on your first campaign and get a free 250 credit for the next one get started today at linkedin.com slash campaign terms and conditions apply. Now let's talk about what happened at San Mames this weekend. You were there, Sid, to witness Athletic Club against Barcelona. The 190th league meeting between these two Spanish giants. It is usually quite a spectacle, certainly in the last few years.

17:27Sid Lowe:Last few years, it's been very one-sided. Barcelona have absolutely dominated Athletic Club. It's now 13 games in the league without a win for Athletic against Barcelona. They'd beaten them 4-0 in the league earlier on, they'd beaten them 5-0 in the Super Cup as well. Barcelona winning 1-0 thanks to a brilliant goal from Lamin Jamal. You were there Sid, you were pitch side, you were soaking up the atmosphere, you told us all about it in the TSFP diary which is a terrific listen for patrons. Wasn't a great game this?

17:55Phil Kitromilides:No it wasn't. I think for Barcelona there's an element, now obviously you don't want to reduce it to this but there is an element of looking at this and thinking this is a difficult away game just go get the result get out of there and get on with it now I know that the problem with that kind of analysis is that it's actually really basic and far too basic because essentially it almost makes it sound like if you choose to just go and get the result you can but what I do think it means is that is that you do have a sense that it's about competing as much as about performing. Now, that said, the problem with that is that Barcelona tend to compete through performing.

18:34Phil Kitromilides:They tend to compete when they play well. They didn't play particularly well in this game. I thought there were moments when they did an all right job of matching the intensity of Athletic, which we haven't seen very often this season. In that sense, it was actually a pretty good performance from Athletic and a little bit out of keeping with what they've done for the most part during this campaign. But Athletic created the better chances insofar as there were many. and there weren't very many in the game. There are, though, a couple of very good interventions from Joan Garcia, who certainly until the second half is quite possibly Barcelona's best player.

19:08Phil Kitromilides:You then get the changes. Pedri comes on, Rafinha comes on. In truth, Rafinha didn't make a huge difference to the game. Pedri, though, did. And he provides a pass for Laminya Mahal, who mostly hadn't been able to impact upon the game a huge amount, but then scored a really, really nice goal. which, you know, if you haven't seen it, don't worry, you probably have seen it before. It's Laminemal getting the ball on the right-hand side. Inside the area this time, the footwork is nice, but it's more about nudging himself sideways enough to get the chance for the shot. Bent into the far corner, in off the post, so the margins are very, very fine.

19:41Phil Kitromilides:And I think Barcelona were aware that this was a huge victory. I was in the tunnel at the end of the game, and the response of the players going into the dressing room was of players who I think knew that this was big. I think as well, the other thing is that there's also part of the context of this, and the context in terms of games. You've got Champions League now, you've got the next two weeks of the Champions League, then obviously if they continue, you've got a whole load of Champions League games, which will see them through basically to the end of the season if they keep on progressing.

20:10Phil Kitromilides:But also you think about what's happening for Barcelona away from home in the next few weeks. So the next away games, you start with Sam Amés, the next one's Athletic, The one after that is Getafe. The one after that is Osasuna. And then the game after that, albeit home, is the classical. And so having seen what Real Madrid did the night before and been put in a position where you go into this game only one point clear, I think there is that sense again that, hang on, they're on our shoulders again. Now, I'm not saying that Barcelona panic as a result of that. And I think the most important thing they can do in a way is to kind of ignore what's happening around them.

20:43But I think they would be entitled because we're thinking this.

20:48Phil Kitromilides:And so, you know, if you're a Barcelona player, you must feel it even more so. I think, how is this not done already?

20:55Sid Lowe:Yeah, let's talk about Lamine. Sid, that's 19 goals this season in all comps. He's already scored more this season than he has in the last season in total. We've spoken about him, I think, making better decisions in the final third. I think his decision making has always been good. That was something that, you know, Xavi Hernandez spoke about when he broke into the team. He said, you know, he always makes the right pass. He always takes the right decision. But from being 15 or 16 to being now 18, those few years we've seen him, I think, develop and progress. And his maturity has shown that often when he gets into a situation, he used to shoot maybe from maybe a little bit too far out.

21:34Sid Lowe:Now the shots that he's taking are a little bit closer and the statistics back that up. But the maturity that he shows is impressive. He continues to develop, not just, I think, in footballing terms, but mentally as well. and saying all this Sid wasn't actually a very good performance from him apart from this amazing goal

21:51Phil Kitromilides:No I don't think it was a good performance at all really in the context of what he is because there are a couple of moments I think he obviously is being put in a position where he's normally got a couple of players on him that's the nature of a player that's that good I don't know what you would call it in English Spanish tend to refer it to as having your defence escalonada so that there's stages to it so if a player particularly if it's a player that plays on the opposite wing to his foot so in other words he's likely to come inside you have the player that's facing him as he comes inside and then another one kind of waiting if you certainly mean so once he goes beyond the first one there's another one there so that's the next step and then there's another one there now obviously one of the things that prevents you doing that with with rigidity is the fact that Lamine is prepared to go outside um not he doesn't like to he'd rather come inside if he can but he's prepared to go outside uh on this occasion he didn't really get past athletic to the outside very often.

22:44Phil Kitromilides:He didn't get past them to the inside. In fact, very often either, but enough to get the shot away for the goal. And you're right, it wasn't his best performance. I think all the way through the team, there weren't great performances from anyone. And I think that's kind of natural. But I agree with you on the decision-making because he's good at just dropping the ball off. He's good at not thinking, right, I've got to go at people this time. I've got to force the issue this time. But I think, you know what, I still think, despite that, he enjoys it when he's at home. I think he quite likes that thing of says, alright, come on then,

23:18Sid Lowe:give it to me. Totally, totally. I mean, it has to be said that Barcelona were absolutely knackered after the game against Atletico Madrid. Yeah. But Atletic too had had a draining and emotionally damaging defeat at the Copa de Re semifinals as well. I mean, they look paucid, Atletic. They look sort of worrying.

23:39Phil Kitromilides:They've looked they look poor all season but as I say I think the the positive thing from their point of view is that on this occasion there were some of the glimpses of their own old character yeah now I don't think this was super intense it might be exaggerated by the fact that I was pitch side

23:54Sid Lowe:you were pitch side mate on the telly on the telly I didn't see much of it did it look flat on the telly did it? yeah

23:59Phil Kitromilides:okay I thought I thought that there was an intensity about them that I think I haven't seen this season and certainly Balverde seemed to think that post-game. But yeah, I'm more than willing to admit that it may well be because I was too close to it.

24:16Sid Lowe:It's not just you. The general feeling after that was like, oh yeah, this is the Athletic from last season. This is the first time that we saw Athletic from last season.

24:24Phil Kitromilides:I wouldn't call it the Athletic from last season. I would say there were glimpses of that. I wouldn't call it the Athletic from last season by any means, no, no.

24:31Sid Lowe:Come on. I thought, maybe they set really high standards last season, but this was maybe a little bit more recognisable recognisable than we've seen in previous weeks but I still think they're poor there are still so many players individually unperforming I mean Ojan Sanse's form has fallen off a cliff scene got 15 league goals last season a lot of those are penalties but still he was capable of just sort of dominating games and scoring goals and arriving and sort of dominating people physically it looks a shadow of himself obviously we know about Nico Williams's problems Inyaki is peripheral in a lot of games.

25:07Sid Lowe:Gorka Guruseta is trying, bless him, but he's a limited forward who's got six goals and he's the top scorer this season. Alex Berenguer, his form has fallen off a cliff as well. He was chipping in with important goals and assists, you know, basically nothing from him as well. So, yeah, the defenders as well, Danny Vivian, his form is not what it was, although maybe he was a little bit back to his old self in this game. I don't know, It's just so many people underperforming.

25:34Phil Kitromilides:The defender thing, I think, has been really startling.

25:38Sid Lowe:Yeah.

25:38Phil Kitromilides:And I would go further than to say form. I would say, you know, absences, lack of fitness. They've just not ever had any consistency at central defence this season at any point. That just hasn't happened. I think Gord Kogleda Theta is an interesting case because I think he's a forward who is about the goals in part. But I think it's also about the facilitation and the facilitation of the other players around him. And in particular, Sanse. and that's where for me the really big hole is this season now the obvious holes are the two Williams brothers right because because they're incredibly fast they go at people although Inyaki's not as fast as he once was Niko's basically been absent all year as you say Inyaki's been almost entirely peripheral this season when he was a really important contributor last year stretching the game opening the pitch out making things happen and playing to the two players in the middle but where that big hole for me that's really interesting is that last year so much what they did came through Sunset and it came through Sunset's timing his arrivals he's getting into the area getting on the end of things and I think a lot of that was about Gurdwissetta vacating that space for him to go into now what's happened this year I think you've had one of those two Sunset miss quite a lot of games and also just not play very well and the other one missed quite games and not not not play well and it's felt like it's been a kind of a the breakdown of a partnership as well as just the breakdown of two different players if you see what I mean

26:55Sid Lowe:Yeah, no, no, totally agree. All right, back to talking about Barcelona, because there was a big interview given by Xavi Hernandez today in La Vanguardia, a Catalan newspaper, which has got some really, really eye-catching headlines to come out of it. remember we are a week away from the Barcelona presidential elections which is the context of this uh of this interview Sid and I would say maybe you know the biggest headline coming out of this interview there are there are quite a few we can discuss as many as you want Sid but obviously the biggest uh headline is that uh Xavi had agreed with Lionel Messi that he would come back to Barcelona he agreed with him in January 2023 to come back for a last dance like Michael Jordan but Laporta vetoed it because it would be a potential threat to his power.

27:47Phil Kitromilides:Well I mean the first thing obviously look the context this as you say is presidential elections and I'm surprised that Xavi has put himself in this position because Xavi is someone who despite the way it ended as coach and it wasn't particularly great and I think a lot of people were sort of a bit disappointed maybe with him as a coach and with the management of the departure although I think at that point most people were more disappointed with Laporta than with him in terms of the way it was managed. But I think what's happened subsequently has reinforced Laporta because Flick's come in and been brilliant.

28:17Phil Kitromilides:And Laporta has been seen to say, you know, you can re... With time, you can re-analyse that or re-evaluate that and say, well, Laporta had the nerve to do this, had the nerve to make the change, had the nerve to get the right man in because I don't think anyone would swap Flick for Xavi now. But despite all that, I think Xavi's still someone massively respected everything he represents for Barcelona. And to be honest with you, I think there are enough people around Barcelona with enough support for Laporta, enough belief that Laporta was fundamentally in the right, that Xavi has burnt himself, I think, a lot with this, even if he's right.

28:53Phil Kitromilides:That said, of course, it won't have helped Laporta. But the other thing is, I think a lot of people will see this in the context of the elections and think this was an attempt to tilt the elections. And actually, I think people will see a degree of cynicism from Victor Ford in that, in terms of, you know, this was your attempt to try and tilt the elections. And it's surprising that Xavi has gone so aggressive, so public, so direct. Now, obviously, there are lots of reasons for that. One is because you want to have an outcome. The other is because you've been bottling this up for ages and you just wanted to say it and you really felt you needed to say it.

29:27Phil Kitromilides:And I can understand that completely. And I think Xavi is entitled to feel that way. I think there's another question, which is then the content of this which is would Messi coming back in 2023 have actually been a good thing uh would it have been well yeah it wouldn't have been bad would it I don't know I don't know because in 2023 bear in mind we're not talking about the first time he leaves we're talking about only what 18 months ago we're talking about three years ago Sid 2023 it's 20 oh yeah three years ago okay we're talking about over three years ago and we're talking two and a half years ago yeah

29:56Sid Lowe:yeah yeah January 2023 um it was uh you know he just won the World Cup uh he was playing at PSG

30:04Phil Kitromilides:It's in the summer, right? He's talking about this being in the summer. So he would have come in the summer.

30:08Sid Lowe:Right. Yeah, but he was talking to him in January 2023.

30:11Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, OK. Yeah, I don't know if it would have been the right thing to do. I think a bigger question is whether it really was necessary for him to go when he went. And I do think, actually, that I'm amazed, to be perfectly honest with you, how easily Laporta seems to have got away with that.

30:26Sid Lowe:Yeah.

30:26Phil Kitromilides:To be perfectly honest with you. Xavi talked about some of the other players he wanted. Martin Subimendi, for example. I think the problem again with that argument from Xavi is that Barcelona do a really quite a good job without having bought those players. But what it does do is it underlines something that was said at the time, not least by us, but by lots and lots of people, that there was a story behind Xavi's departure, that there wasn't a comfortable relationship between the two men. Xavi did feel badly let down. Laporta felt pretty let down by Xavi too. because in that meeting, that famous meeting they had, the sushi meeting at Laporta's flat, there had been a rapprochement found between the two of them which was based on the idea that, look, this is the situation.

31:10Phil Kitromilides:Let's accept it and get on with it. And Xavi had agreed with that to then, and I think in a way Xavi has admitted this about himself in this interview, for then Xavi to say, well, actually, I want these other players, please.

31:21Sid Lowe:You can't have them. Well, we'll see what happens in terms of the fallout from this interview. It is, in theory, pretty explosive. in practice it's going to take quite a lot for Sean Laporte not to win these elections

31:32Phil Kitromilides:and I think that explosive as you say and put it in the context of elections this is the thing I think part of the reason why it's not so explosive is because of the assumption from a lot of people reading it that it was supposed to be explosive and so then it gets seen as a piece of electioneering and I think that was put a lot of people off on Xavi now it would have put some people off Laporte as well of course it would but I suspect that the impact possibly does Xavi more damage than it does Laporte

31:56Sid Lowe:we shall see Atletico Madrid beating Real Sociedad 3-2 at the Metropolitano. Sid, impact from Nico Gonzalez off the bench with two really well-taken goals. Antoine Griezmann with an extraordinary back-heeled assist. Again, just showing his qualities, showing how important he is to this Atletico Madrid side. And he's still there, Sid. Is he staying? He is still there.

32:17Phil Kitromilides:Well, I mean, Simeone and Matteo Alemagne, the director general, basically said he was. I mean, Alemagne has been saying all the way along, look, he's got a contract. Perhaps it's going to carry on. That's what the deal is. That's the end of it. Nothing else to talk about. Now, there is a slight contradiction there, which is, of course, the promise made to Griezmann about you can go whenever you want, if and when you want, was made by the CEO, by Miguel Angelicín Madín. And Alemán is a later arrival, who in theory has responsibility for this stuff now, even if he does ultimately still have a boss, which is still Miguel Angelicín Madín.

32:49Phil Kitromilides:But I thought the more interesting part of it was Simeone saying, well, when Antoine gets the chance to talk and tell us how he feels, I think everyone will be happy with it. Right. Now, I don't know, because, you know, if that decision is made and Simeone knows it's made, why doesn't Antoine just say so?

33:07Sid Lowe:Yeah.

33:08Phil Kitromilides:And so that makes you think, is this actually Simeone's way of trying to make it difficult for Antoine to now come out and say, I'm going? Because, you know, because if you think there's a chance that you can make it difficult for him to make a decision and you want to stop him making that decision, you take it, don't you?

33:23Sid Lowe:You certainly do. and I would trust Cholo Sibiodi to do something like that. So, yeah. All right. Well, we'll see whether or not I think what's the date? I mean, it's the end of March that they have to register him in MLS if he is going to go to Orlando City. So, fingers crossed. He doesn't yet and stays and then he can go in the summer. Go in the summer. Don't go now. Antoine, I'd be madness. Yeah, exactly that. You went to Getafe 2, Betis 0. Anything to tell us about that?

33:50Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, it was brilliant. Yeah? No, I enjoyed it a lot. It was quite What happened with the fans, Sid? Right, so what happened with the fans? This is the bit I didn't enjoy, by the way. There's a segue there, which is slightly uncomfortable because it makes it sound like what I enjoyed was the trouble with the fans. And I'm now laughing, which I shouldn't be either. So there was a moment in the first half in which suddenly kind of a bit, sort of, it kind of, attention got drawn to the end where the police started wading in. Now, I don't know exactly what happened. So I'm uneasy about drawing conclusions.

34:26Phil Kitromilides:But essentially what it seems happened was that there were some Betis fans in the Getafe end. Not just in the Getafe stands, but in the Getafe end. Now there's a group of Betis fans in what's normally the away stand, but isn't officially the away stand this year. But we're in that corner that is normally the away fans. There was then a big group of Betis fans in the diagonally opposite corner, which I think because it was such a big and concentrated group of Betis fans was presumably where Betis had their club tickets. I'm guessing They didn't have any club tickets for this game They didn't even have club tickets No there was no away allocation No but there's a difference between away allocation and club tickets given for things like family members and stuff Normally there's two different areas in the ground that the away team has and one is the away fans and the other is if you like the tickets given to you know each player gets family members and so on they're not always in the same place which is why I wondered if that little section was the family section I see The compromisos What do you call that in English?

35:22Phil Kitromilides:the compromises anyway whatever you call it um and then there was some trouble in the end and i think what happened essentially was that there were some bettis fans in there and the gitafe fans you know obviously in that section consider themselves to be the radicals didn't like it because there didn't seem to be any suggestion of there actually being any misbehavior except a kind of rejection of the fact that they're in there now i think part of the problem here is exactly what you've just said there isn't an away allocation and i don't think there can be any blame attributed now there's a difference here between behavior and going okay any blame attributed to bettis fans going to the game and buying tickets where they can now should they have thought about not being in the end yeah maybe but they bought a ticket because it's what they could get and possibly didn't contemplate it and and certainly listen to one of the radio um journalists at the ground i spoke to him afterwards he said that there didn't seem to be any sense of bettis fans winding it up in there and he said in fact it looked like it was mostly families with kids and stuff but because it was the getafe if you like singing section or hardcore end or whatever you want to call it they took umbrage at this and so presumably things were said and things were counter said and then it gets confrontational and the police weighed in and i think there's a broader question here and this is obviously applicable to raya via canon we've talked about it before this is an issue for the league in my view i don't care how much construction work is going on in your stadium you have an away section i don't think there's any excuse for not having an away section i don't care if your ground is reduced by 5 000 10 000 you have it as a percentage so if you can only get 9 000 in maybe you're only giving 300 tickets or something if you get 20 000 in maybe even 600 tickets whatever it may be but i think obviously if you have a situation like this then you are going to get away fans with the other fans now obviously on the face of it in an ideal world that's not that's just not a problem it's just not a problem and then you have to ask the question is why were the tickets available in the end.

37:18Phil Kitromilides:Now, presumably, that's some season ticket holder somewhere giving their ticket up because that end is full. Other parts of the ground you can get tickets in. That end is usually full. I'll give you an example of this. I went to see Oviedo at Getafe this year. Officially, no away tickets. But I just bought a normal ticket. Like a normal person going to a game as loads of Oviedo fans did. Now, as far as I know, none of us had tickets in that end because that end, in theory, was full. It's the cheapest part of the ground. It's the part you want to get people singing in and so on. But anyway, it feels like a system breakdown to me.

37:46Phil Kitromilides:And I think it poses a broader question, which is why are we in a position where there isn't a place that Betis fans can go? What about the game? And equally, you know, in human nature, in human nature terms, you know, why are we in a position where a bloke can't go to a bloke or a bunch of kids or a family or whatever, can't go to a game and watch a team?

38:04Sid Lowe:I mean, there's a lot of things going on in the world, which makes you ask why.

38:08Phil Kitromilides:Of course, of course, of course. What about the game? Of course, yeah. Well, the game itself was, sorry, yeah, I've gone off on that other tangent quite a bit. The game itself was, I actually thought quite fun I thought Betis they forced three or four very good saves from David Sorio but I actually thought Getafe were really quite good and I thought they deserved it Betis rested some players didn't they for their European adventures so Fornals and Anthony didn't start so they started with Chimi Avila where Anthony would normally be and in the midfield I can't remember who the extra midfielder was now but that's right that's right and they they weren't great Betis but as I said they still made sorry I make a handful of saves I thought Getafe managed the game really well I thought they created a handful of chances there was a moment I enjoyed and it was a bit tongue-in-cheek but it became part of the fun there's this almighty hoof up into the air and then a header and then another header and then another header and they're always headed back and forwards and the whole crowd starts all laying these headers and I thought this is borderless all over but actually there were moments when they made things happen and I think since the arrival in particular of the two strikers Luis Vazquez and Satriano but also I think of what's his face Romeo at the back I think they've been really really good they've won four of their last five and I think I'm right in saying is that seven of their last nine and they're close to a European place now

39:30Sid Lowe:and they deserved it closer to Europe than to the relegation zone we'll see what happens with Getafe I think they'll probably just get safe and then maybe just head to the beach emotionally. We'll see. I think there might be an element of that. I don't know if they're going to push for Europe, but we'll see. Before we go, this is what happened in the Segunda Division. Racing Santander are now seven points clear at the top. They beat quarter-throw by 4-3 and second place Castellón lost 4-2 at Real Sociedad B. And just one point separates Castellón in second and Malaga in sixth. Although Almeria could change that in their game tonight.

40:06Sid Lowe:Elsewhere, Cadiz are slipping towards the relegation zone after they were beaten 1-0 at home by Saragota. They've just announced a new manager in charge. Old Sergio is back, formerly of... Is he back? Of Valladolid. Sergio Gonzalez. So, yeah, speaking of Valladolid, they snatched a 3-3 draw at Malaga, having been 3-0 down with a 90-second minute equaliser. So, there we go. All right, we're over at patreon.com for the rest of the week. We're doing a Q &A pod tomorrow, bonus pod on Thursday. Loads of stuff. The newsletter is out as well. It's got lots of Spanish football goodness in there, so make sure you check us out patreon.com forward slash tsfp otherwise we'll be back on Friday for the preview pod so we'll see you then adios cheerio

41:18Sid Lowe:This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in. With a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles, you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip-off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at athleticbrewing.com. Near beer, fit for all times.

41:48Phil Kitromilides:Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here. First, Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then, Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app.