Sid's erotic hotel

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1:46Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of TSFP, the Spanish football podcast. I'm Phil Gittramelidis, joined as ever by Sid Lowe. Hello, Sidney. Good morning, Philip. Good morning from Girona. You're in Girona, where yesterday you covered Girona against Real Madrid for ESPN. You're in a slightly intriguing hotel room. We don't go into too many details.

2:06Phil Kitromilides:I won't go into too many details, but I think I can define it very simply. If I say to you, there is a remote control for the bed. Sid has inadvertently been booked into an erotic hotel for his stay in Girona well actually the hotel itself is not erotic I just think the suites on this floor are right so you just the specifically erotic rooms for Sid Lowe there's so many things I could say but I'm not going to it's a family show let's just let's just let's just gloss over that this is this is what happened on match day 14 Sid was at The Coliseum on Friday night for Getafe 1, Elche 0. He did a whole TSFP diary on not just the game, but the experience of going to the Coliseum on a freezing Friday night.

2:54It's some of his finest work. So make sure you're signed up to patreon.com forward slash TSFP and the diary episodes because it's really good work, Sid. Well done. Then on Saturday, Osasuna scored twice late on to salvage a 2-2 draw at Mallorca. Barcelona came from 1-0 down at home to Alaves to win 3-1. Alaves scoring inside the first minute, but a brace from Dani Olmo and Laminya Mal's first goal at the camp now, giving Barcelona all three points. They are top of the table. Athletic Club got a much-needed 2-0 victory at Levante. Absolutely brilliant goal from Nico Williams II. Go and see it. It's a lovely move and an exceptional finish.

3:36It was the final game in charge for Julián Calero of Levante. He was sacked on Sunday. You were also at the Metropolitano, Sid, to see Atletico Madrid beat Oviedo. Inevitably, sadly, but inevitably, 2-0 Oviedo. In trouble, Atleti very much not, very much in the title race, and it is looking good for them. Then on Sunday, an injury-time goal from Alberto Moledo, giving Villarreal a 3-2 victory at Real Sociedad. Moledo scoring two goals in that game. And Villarreal very much in the title race at the moment. Probably won't be towards the end of the season, but currently they are. El Gran Derby, the Seville Derby, was won by Real Betis.

4:17Their first victory at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pijuan for eight years. They won 2-0. It was a pretty comfortable win. They were much better than Sevilla, particularly in the second half. In the second half, the game was stopped for 15 minutes because people were throwing things from the crowd. Ugly, unsavoury, but also the scenes that we're kind of accustomed to seeing recently in the Seville derby. Espanyol 1-1-0 away to Celta Vigo. Espanyol a sixth in the table. Unbelievably good start from them, although the manager says, I'm not thinking about Europe. Let's get to 42 points and then we'll see.

4:54and then in Girona, Sid, at the Estadio Montelivi, Girona won, Real Madrid won, a third consecutive draw in La Liga for Real Madrid. Monday night football in Vallecas, where I hope to see you, Sid, in a few hours' time, is Ray Vallecano against Valencia. Now, are you looking for a Christmas gift for the La Liga lover in your life? Probably not, bit niche, bit specific. If you are, why not give them the gift of POD, an annual membership at patreon.com forward slash TSFP. Patrons get the Monday pod and the preview pod without any adverts. You get a Q &A pod and a bonus pod every week and there's the newsletter, the discord and the TSFP diary.

5:34It starts at just€4.75 a month but you do get a discount if you pay annually. So we'll start in Girona Sid where you are, where you were last night at Montelivi to see Girona 1, Real Madrid 1. There is a lot of things for us to talk about from this game. I guess the starting point is something that we mentioned a few weeks ago now. It seems to be a recurring theme on the podcast. El Real Madrid no juega nada. Real Madrid, don't play, don't create, don't have football in them, Sid. And we saw that again yesterday.

6:09Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, we did. And I think we can, you know, inevitably quite a lot of the discussion about Real Madrid is about attitude and application. But I think you have to go beyond attitude and application to talk about the idea of structure, imagination, ideas, inspiration, the ability to make things happen and have a clear sense of how you're going to make things happen. And I think it's actually quite useful for us in a way for this game to come off the back of the game against Olympiacos in midweek in the Champions League. because Real Madrid scored four times in Olympiacos and there was a sense of a certain degree of healing, although obviously we talked about this in Thursday's podcast and the fact that Madrid actually hadn't played very well and certainly hadn't protected themselves very well, although they've made lots of chances.

6:57Phil Kitromilides:They conceded lots of chances, but it was more than that. It was also about that idea of how you construct the way that you want to attack teams. And against Olympiacos, you had an opposition that played very high that didn't put as much pressure on the ball as they intended to do or weren't able to put as much pressure on the ball as they wanted to and essentially had very big, wide-open spaces for Vinicius and Mbappe to run into. And so you get this performance in which Madrid score four goals, create quite a lot of chances, and you think, OK, there's something there. But of course, it was something there in a very particular context.

7:29Phil Kitromilides:And then you go back into La Liga on Sunday night against what I think is not necessarily a better team than Olympiacos, but a differently approached team to Olympiacos, and where Real Madrid are obliged to kind of, how do I put this? I'm trying to think of the right way of saying this, to create rather than just to run, if you see what I mean. Now, that's a very dismissive way of putting it. It's not entirely fair, but I can't think of a better way of explaining it to kind of construct their attacks rather than just have two very, very good footballers who are very, very good athletes who are very quick running at and beyond a very high defence.

8:03Phil Kitromilides:And the truth is that it feels like there isn't a clear sense of how to go about that. There isn't a clear sense about how to create those spaces, open teams up, combine, how to find the right pass, choose the right pass, have the structure that makes that work. And we're back in that debate about what is it? Not only what is it, what are Real Madrid? But also, I think, actually a bit of a debate about what do Real Madrid want to be? And we talked about this on Thursday. And, you know, they've got very good players, Real Madrid. and I think they've got a very good manager or certainly someone who demonstrated in Germany that was a very good manager.

8:40Phil Kitromilides:And the ingredients should be there, but they're just not. I think part of it is about that disconnect between maybe the context within which their two best players, Vinicius and Mbappé, or at least their two best creative players, the context within which those two play well and the context that they, in theory, are trying to construct. And what we're ending up getting, I think, is kind of nothing really. Here is a suggestion. Tell me what you think. Now, we've been saying that Real Madrid have pretty big problems in the construction of attacking play. Remember, they won 10 of their first 11 league games.

9:18Yes, they did, exactly. During that time, we were saying, you know, what did you say it was? Brilliantly boring or effectively boring? They don't look good necessarily going forward, but they're effective. Here's the thing, Sid. I don't know. With the players that Xabi Alonso has, can he play in a way where they are creating more football or is the only thing that he can really do is make them more solid like make them difficult to break down don't concede chances and then rely on Mbappe and Vinicius's individual talent because you look at you know what's he going to do to

9:56Phil Kitromilides:create more football from that midfield yeah no no absolutely and and I think this is this is why you know we discussed on Thursday we discussed that line from Mendelebar when he said that the two are the top of the pitch don't track back but that's good in terms of what they do in an attacking sense because they're fresh and they go at you they're running beyond you and they're running at you and you you have these two fantastic athletes as well as great footballers going for you and and in a way there there was this kind of we were saying this on Thursday that there's this kind of, you can almost imagine Vinicius and Mbappé listening to that and going, see boss, at the same time as it comes with an implicit criticism, it also comes implicitly as a suggestion.

10:42Phil Kitromilides:And I think this speaks to your point about what is it that Real Madrid can do with the players they've got? What is it that Real Madrid should do with the players they've got? Now, I'm always really uneasy about anything that sounds like we are telling a manager how to do his job. But you do get into the situation where you think, is this part of the problem? that there's a disconnect between the pieces they've got and the, and if you like, the completed puzzle they're trying to make. And you start to think, well, maybe. And in particular, you know, I'm going to murder the metaphor a little bit now.

11:10Phil Kitromilides:These pieces are thinking sentient beings who maybe don't want to go in that place where you're trying to put them. You know, maybe they don't want the rest of the puzzle constructed in that way. And I do think we're still in a position and we are in the start of December now. It's still early. There's still a long way to go. There's still plenty you can do. But I do think we're in a position that what we thought was the beginning of a construction has actually been kind of undone a little bit. Because, you know, you've kind of built, you've done the corners pieces of this jigsaw. I'm really murdering the metaphor now.

11:41Phil Kitromilides:You've done all the side bits. You're trying to fill in the bits in the middle. You think, actually, it kind of doesn't go there. It kind of doesn't work like this. Yeah, not a bad metaphor. I quite liked it. You lost it a little bit at times. I know, a little bit, yeah. Yeah. Listen, you will have more questions about Real Madrid. There's lots more that we can discuss, but I want to move on because there are other things that we need to touch upon on today's pod. But send us a question. We will answer it on tomorrow's Q &A pod for patrons. We should talk about Girona, and it's a continuation of green shoots that we'd seen in the previous couple of games, coming off the back of a 1-1 draw at Real Betis.

12:14They'd won 1-0 at home to Alaves, the game before that. So five points from their last three games. I want to talk about an individual. I want to talk specifically about the goalscorer for Girona, Azzedine Unahi. I was hoping you would. Good. We're on the same page, Sid. We're on the same page. He is turning into a very, very good summer signing. Six million euros they spent in the summer to get him from Marseille. You might remember him. You might not. But you might remember at the World Cup three years ago when Spain got knocked out by Morocco and Luis Enrique, the post-match press conference, basically was like, who the hell is that guy?

12:50That number eight didn't stop running all the time. And against Real Madrid, he also didn't stop running, but he's got a lot of football as well. And his goal was a really beautiful, crisp connection. And I think he's a really, really, really impressive player.

13:03Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I agree with you. And to go back to your starting point, which is you might remember him from then, I remembered that conversation, well, that conversation, that discussion with Luis Enrique, him in the press conference talking about the number eight. I didn't remember that it was him until this weekend. end and it was picked up, I can't remember where I saw it now, it was picked up in the preview to this game, was that's the number eight that Luis Enrique was talking about. I thought, God, it is. And I'd completely forgotten that. And I remember at the time being really struck by this idea.

13:30Phil Kitromilides:And I don't want to sound dismissive of Luis Enrique, absolutely not. He's a manager I admire enormously. But I remember at the time thinking, hang on, they've only got 20, what was it, 25 or 23 players in their squad. I would like to think you would know who the number eight is. And I think what Luis Enrique was doing was actually doing it for effect to say, you know, there's this guy that you're not talking about and that maybe you should. And he was brilliant in that game. And it was just really quite a nice way of Luis Enrique, assuming he really wasn't discovering, because I can't believe for a minute he was actually discovering it.

14:01Phil Kitromilides:But that idea of, look at the number eight, he's amazing. He's everywhere. He never stops running. And he's been, I don't want to overplay this, but certainly before last night, he's been the one consistently good performer in the Gerona team this year. I think that, you know, still got one or two doubts about what they create in attacking terms. Sickenkoff is back and playing very well. But he's really, really important to them. The other player, by the way, just very briefly to point out last night, watching from pitch side, I thought Arnaud Martínez was absolutely fantastic yesterday. Really, really good.

14:35He is such a good player and he's such a versatile player as well. He's playing centre-back, but he can play right-back. I've seen him play in midfield. He can play as a wing-back in a back five. And he's only 22. He's the captain of the team as well when Christian Stuarty doesn't start, which is more often than not these days. And yeah, he's a really impressive player.

14:52Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, really, really, really fantastic last night. Imagine buying your kid a toy only to find the batteries aren't included or buying furniture but missing the tools to build it. Frustrating, right? Now imagine the exact same feeling, but you're paying way more. That is what buying business software usually feels like. Fragmented, disconnected, and incredibly expensive. Odoo completely changes that. Odoo is a complete, fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other. We're talking automated lead routing for your sales team, seamless AI integration, and intuitive point-and-click website builder.

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16:22Phil Kitromilides:Stock up and stay big on shoes, tops, dresses, accessories, and more must-haves for summer. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. All right, that's Girona 1, Real Madrid 1. Let's move on and talk about Barcelona beating Alaves by three goals to one. If you didn't see the game and you just see the scoreline, you're probably thinking, okay, relatively comfortable for Barcelona. It wasn't. They conceded inside the first minute, as we said, some pretty woeful defending from a corner capitalised on by Alaves.

17:03They did score pretty quickly to get themselves back on level terms, and then they got themselves in front as well. Both of those goals created by Rafinha. I don't think he's been credited with two assists. One assist, definitely. Maybe the first one is not given to him. But Rafinha started this game and it was so noticeable to see the difference on that left side. Not just in terms of the creation, but in terms of the energy, the contagious enthusiasm. He is so vital to this team. He's coming back. Pedri came on. In the second half, he's coming back as well. Joan Garcia's back in goal and he made an unbelievably good save when it was 1-1 to deny Joniotto.

17:46Absolutely stunning save. So these are the bright sparks for Barcelona. The negative is that actually in that second half, with the game at 2-1, Alaves absolutely went for it the last 10 minutes, put two strikers up top, tried to get an equaliser, came pretty close to getting an equaliser, and Barcelona were hanging on until Dani Olmo scored in the second minute of injury time to put some gloss on the score sheet. So overall, there were positives for Barcelona in this game. But once again, they looked vulnerable defensively and they were hanging on at times.

18:18Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, they were. There are so many different elements to pick up on. Let's start with the first one you picked up on, which is Rafinha. With every passing week, I think, and in his absence, I think we've seen his significance. I think you're absolutely right. I think contagious is probably the right word to use about him. I loved what he said post-game. I don't know if you saw it when he was saying, you know, there will be people saying, oh, look at this guy. He talks too much. He's a pain in the arse. He said, but I've got to do that. And that's me. And he said, in the dressing room, we'll give each other a hug and we'll celebrate the victory together.

18:46Phil Kitromilides:But on the pitch, if someone has to do it, I'm going to do it. And I think we're seeing, as I say, in his absence, and I think now with his return, his significance, it makes me feel better about sort of last year standing up and saying, actually, he's the best player in this team. And I felt like he got overlooked a little bit too easily last year with extraordinary numbers. And it's not just the numbers. And I think this is what we're seeing now. I think you could hear it in the things that Hansi Flick said about him both before this game and after this game, in terms of the intensity and in terms of what he imposes on the rest of the team.

19:17Phil Kitromilides:And I think that was vitally important. Obviously, Pedri is really important because in terms of how they play and the control of the ball and keeping possession. But, you know, even with Pedri on the pitch, they've got this Alaves team creating chances. As you say, the Joan Garcia save is brilliant. I still don't think Barcelona look that good. And then shall we come to what I think is one of the most extraordinary images I've seen for a long time, which is the footage of Flick sitting on the bench and looking. I don't even really know how to explain this properly. It's like a thousand yard stare.

19:53Phil Kitromilides:Totally lost. Yeah, totally lost. Like he's not there. Like his mind is gone. and you have Rafinha and I don't I sort of don't want to go back to Rafinha but but you know this is part of the scene Rafinha comes and sort of stands with his arms either side of Flick holding the the kind of the armrest of the chair so he's kind of if you like almost enclosing Flick in his seat in the bench and he's talking to him and Flick is just sitting there shaking his head and it's a really powerful um image and you know let's use something that we use a lot and don't want to play amateur psychologist but you see that scene and you think what's going through his mind now what is he thinking why is he why is he so gone and as much as anything else it makes you feel bad because it feels like you're seeing the degree of pressure it feels like you're a man who clearly isn't happy with what's going on.

20:49Phil Kitromilides:He said after the game that we were talking about the things that I've been talking about before, the idea that we'll get better. Now, if that is what's happening, if Rafinha is saying, listen, mister, it's going to be all right. We're going to improve. We're going to play better. At the risk of interpreting something that we don't have enough of the details on, Flick is shaking his head. Flick is shaking his head and looking the other way to say, it's done it's gone we're we're not very good it's over i mean it feels like it feels like something's really really broken now obviously it's something maybe you can snap out of it obviously i mean are we reading that much did that much well that's what that's exactly what that's exactly why i'm saying i feel uneasy doing this because i'm looking at it thinking but i don't know sometimes i look like that you know and i don't feel broken but sometimes of course exactly and then maybe the next day everything's okay again or it's just that moment and he's just sort of lost on but it's it's maybe just thinking you know he's lost in thought thinking about how can I maybe tweak things so we don't look so unbelievably vulnerable all the time when every team knows exactly how to attack us every single thing of course but this is but this is this is a this is a thinking process but you've got a player there talking to you and you're gone and you're not you're not responding you're sort of shaking I don't know I honestly don't know and you're absolutely right and this is why I feel uneasy having even gone down this path.

22:12Phil Kitromilides:Because I don't know how to interpret this. But it was one of the most striking images I've seen for a while. Yes, no, it certainly was very, very eye-catching. Obviously, it's made quite a lot of headlines here, people interpreting. All sorts of different things from those images. What is fact is that Barcelona are now top of the table. They were five points behind Real Madrid after the and now they're one point ahead of them heading into midweek fixtures barcelona hosting atletico madrid and real madrid heading to bilbao to take on athletic clubs so um big big games coming up in midweek um quick word on alaves sid and what did you what did you make of them uh better than i thought they were going to be yeah and i and by that i i should i should qualify that or explain that it's not just about oh they were quite good it was about they were quite good in a way that i didn't expect them to be good.

23:07Phil Kitromilides:You were talking about how they went for Barcelona. To be honest, I didn't anticipate that. I do think they've been better to watch this year. I do think they've been more... We talked about this in the preview pod, didn't we? The idea of seeing the weaknesses that you can attack with Barcelona. I do think they have the players do that. I do think they demonstrated that. It still feels like they're a team that will be bottom half of the table, but I feel like they're strong enough that they shouldn't be dragged into the relegation battle. Okay. Speaking of the relegation battle. Do we have to?

23:44Phil Kitromilides:It's not even a battle, is it? It's not a relegation battle. It's just a relegation future. Yes. Let's talk about Atletico Madrid and Oviedo. Oviedo travelling to the Metropolitano then to take on Atletico Madrid. You were there, Sid, to witness them lose 2-0. I must confess, I only had one eye on this because I was witnessing Spurs disappoint me for the 10 millionth time in my life. So I wasn't fully concentrating on your particular pain. I was focusing on my own. But yeah, it didn't seem like Oviedo created a huge amount in this game, Sid. No, well, I mean, one way of putting this was to say that I actually thought Oviedo's second half was really quite decent.

24:29Phil Kitromilides:And I suggested this to Al, who was at the game after the match. And he said, you know, second half was OK. I was quite optimistic by that. And Al said, you mean the second half in which nothing happened? Yeah. So the period of the game where we were quite good was the period in which nothing happened. And also entirely conditioned by the context. And to be honest with you, going into this game, I thought, you know, know, if Atletico Madrid don't score three or four, it's because they don't need to. And I think essentially that's what happened. They got two very early. How was it? Twenty five minutes, was it?