Suitably frantic

15:47Phil Kitromilides:There have been memes. That's the moment where he plummets down into the void below. So there we go. Now, Phil, did you know that today's episode of TSFP is brought to you by Salee?

16:02Sid Lowe:I do now, Sid. You travel a lot for work, don't you? And I think you probably use your phone more than any other human in the world.

16:12Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, that's true, even if it is just a shout Gamba fresh at you as I go past their factory near Burgos.

16:17Sid Lowe:Yes. What if I told you, Sid, that there's an app? That means you almost, wherever you are in the world, you'll never be without internet connection, and you never have to worry about roaming fees. Okay, I'm listening. It's called Saily, and it takes all the hassle out of using your phone when you're abroad.

16:38Sid Lowe:Saily Always have a connection wherever you need it.

16:41Phil Kitromilides:Okay, but hang on, hang on, right? Now, imagine, Phil, just imagine it, that I'm not great with technology. Can someone like me use this, really?

16:50Sid Lowe:Yes, even for you, Sid, even for someone of your very limited technological capabilities. It's simple. You download the app before you go. You choose the data plan. And here's the important bit. You use your TSFP code to get 15 % off. And after that, you follow the quick and simple instructions to install the eSIM on your phone. And when you land, you're good to go. So you don't need to worry about sorting data after you land, which is really the last thing that you want to be doing.

17:16Phil Kitromilides:This sounds like exactly the kind of thing that producer Al used last summer at the Club World Cup.

17:19Sid Lowe:I mean, he literally did use it and he was singing the praises of it and said it worked really well. You save time and hassle and you don't have to worry about buying a local SIM or getting scammed. It's secure as well and it's compatible with iOS or Android. And if you have any issues, there's a 24-7 chat support. Okay, so what do TSFP listeners need to do, Phil? Download Saley in your app store, S-A-I-L-Y, and use our code, which is TSFP, at checkout to get an exclusive 15 % off your first purchase. The details are in the podcast description box, or you can find them at salie.com forward slash TSFP.

17:58Sid Lowe:Right, so let's talk about what happened at the Reale Arena in San Sebastián, Real Sociedad 3, Oviedo 3. You were due to leave this game, Sid, on me. Yeah. And 85 minutes when it was 2-1 to Oviedo because you had to get to Osasuna. Did you?

18:16Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I'm afraid. I was sitting watching this game and Real Sociedad at 2-1 thinking, right, ready to go. and Rastosera got a corner. I said, okay, I'll just stay and watch this corner. They got a corner, scored, made it 2-2 and I thought, well, there we go. That's a cue to leave if ever there was. And I was having to go anyway. I left the stadium, but as I was leaving the stadium, I could see on one of the TV screens in the sort of the internal passageway that there was a bit of a wait to decide whether or not this goal was going to be allowed. So I was outside the stadium when I heard the roar.

18:47Phil Kitromilides:I said, no, that's annoying. It's been allowed. I was walking away from the stadium, up the little stairs behind the ground to get to the car to go to Pamplona. This was me being a consummate professional. As it turns out, I probably could have risked it and held on a little bit longer. I then heard another roar. Now, for those of you who don't know, Real Sociedad have this great tradition, which is that because of the fishermen in the Bay of Biscay or in the Cantabrian Sea, when there's a goal at Anoeta, so that they know the score, they send up a rocket if the away team scores. And they send up two if Real Sociedad score.

19:21Phil Kitromilides:So I'm going out to say there's a big roar. I don't believe it. It's 3-2. And then, boom, off goes the rocket. And I'm thinking, ooh. And then off went and up on. So, okay, there it is. I'm listening to the radio because, of course, the radio thing comes in a fraction later than the goal. So, there's a goal. So, I thought, wow, that's incredibly annoying. I'm going up the little stairs at the back of the, behind the stadium, up the car, and I hear sort of a noise. But it's not loud enough to believe, not least because, of course, the away fans are in a corner and they're behind that glass perspex thing.

19:49Phil Kitromilides:And it's at the other end of the ground. I think, what was that? And then the radio jumps in and Oviedo scored. And do you know what? I was really pleased. But I sort of felt a little bit cheated because I'd missed it.

20:02Sid Lowe:You had missed it. You did have two goals to celebrate, though.

20:05Phil Kitromilides:I did have two goals to celebrate, yeah. I was sitting with a friend of mine in his little area down in the main stand with mostly Real Estate fans. But there were a couple of Oviedo fans with us. I was being polite and, you know. Oh, I see. I was behaving myself.

20:22Sid Lowe:I was looking, I did look for you in the, I was commentating this game. I looked for you in the away section and couldn't see you.

20:27Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I got myself accreditation because I knew I was going on my own. So I thought, well, you know, and I didn't want to. And then as I was arriving in Donosti, a friend of mine who's a Real Southad fan says, I've got a spare seat. Why don't you come down and watch it with us? So I did.

20:39Sid Lowe:Fair enough. There were lots of Oviedo fans there to see the side. Throw away a two-goal lead. This game, literally the exact same scenario happened when they played Girona earlier in the season. 2-0 up, 3-2 conceding the third goal in injury time and then scoring an equaliser even later in injury time. Santi Cazorla coming off the bench to provide a magnificent assist for the equaliser for Girona, scored by Eric Bailly. You really needed a win in this game, Sydney. You would have been off the bottom if you'd won. You would have overtaken Levante. as it is you picked up a point. I mean, it's still only seven points from safety.

21:17Sid Lowe:It's not over, but you're running out of time.

21:23Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I think time has gone. And, you know, the good thing is that Oviedo have competed recently, that Oviedo have led. I mean, it's frustrating, but the Oviedo have led, I think in what, four of the last six games. And, you know, it feels like this is a team now that's going to go down with some dignity if it goes down. It's not completely done, no, but it's very likely to be done. This was even more like the Girona game, you know, in that all the goals are headers. Well, actually, all the goals come from set plays, except, I suppose, in the Girona game, I think it's taken short and then swung in.

21:53Phil Kitromilides:And in this game, obviously, one of the corners is taken short and then swung in. And let me say, Fede Vinas, I'm very pleased with Fede Vinas, but for all sorts of reasons. I'm just very pleased for him anyway. I think he's a good footballer, but I also think he's an incredibly generous footballer who fights for absolutely every ball. and I'm pleased for him because he now has with these two goals five goals this season which means for the first time this season he has more goals than red cards good yes excellent always good to

22:23Sid Lowe:get over that uh that particular barrier um let's talk about Barcelona against Levante as we said if there was ever a game yeah for Barcelona to bounce back from its home to Levante who never never even got on a point away to Barcelona. It was comfortable for Barca as we expected it to be. And yet, they still had a couple of chances in this game.

22:47Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, it was comfortable in the end, wasn't it? But I mean, that first Levante chance is what, 16 seconds?

22:52Sid Lowe:Yeah.

22:52Phil Kitromilides:They get another one pretty soon afterwards. I like the headline. To be fair, the headline didn't do Luis Castellan any favours. The Levante manager said, if we'd scored, it would have been different. No way. Thanks for that. That startling insight. Now, to be fair, the headline... I'm not sure it would have been that different.

23:10Sid Lowe:Exactly.

23:10Phil Kitromilides:The headline stripped that phrase down. He was talking about, had we scored one of those early chances, then the game sets up differently. I agree with you. I'm not sure it would have been because I'm not actually sure that Levante have built to withstand a team like Barcelona. I think there are some teams where you think if they get an early lead against Barcelona, then maybe the game is different. With Levante, I didn't really feel like that. This felt like a Barcelona performance that wasn't great, but that was always going to be good enough. And it's rounded off by a couple of bits of very good news.

23:36Phil Kitromilides:I think one is the absolutely belting goal from Ferdermin. Fantastic shot. And of course, the really big one is the return of Pedri.

23:43Sid Lowe:Yes, who came into the side in the second half and they need him. They need him back and we'll see whether or not he can start the next game. Should be able to. But yes, absolutely vital for Pedri to come back. A brilliant, brilliant goal from Ferdermin, which was the third long range strike from him after coming off the bench too. and an excellent, excellent goal. Now, you were talking about the glaring problem with Barcelona.

24:11Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad. Here we go. Let's do the other one, the other glaring problem.

24:14Sid Lowe:Let's do the other one, which is at number nine. They've got Robela Wendowski and Ferran Torres, two big players who are not scoring, Sid, and don't look like scoring. And it feels like in the highest level of matches, it could potentially be problematic for Barcelona.

24:37Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, I think the caveat there is that highest level of matches. I went through the table of goal scorers this morning because I was kind of interested in it because I was looking at it. I'll admit that the paper I was reading, they split it. So it shows the goals, it shows the penalties, it shows left foot, right foot, header and so on. And goals without penalties, do you know what? The gap's not that big. I mean, we're talking about an absolutely amazing season from Mbappé and no one's talking about an amazing season for Fran, but without penalties, Mbappe 15, Fran 12. He's only three behind him.

25:09Phil Kitromilides:In case you're interested, Lewandowski 11, Marici 11, Lamin 9 and then, sorry, Lamin 10 and Solov and Moledo on 9. Now, so it's not that far off because actually the numbers of goals are quite high because of course Barcelona create lots of chances because there are some teams against which they have an impact. And of course, it's not to say that Fran hasn't had an impact in big games, not to say that Lewandowski hasn't had an impact in big games, but you can't help but look at that team, I think at least, and think these aren't bad players by any means, but for a team that aspires to be the very best, it's just not quite there, is it?

25:44Phil Kitromilides:And it does feel to me like there is a gap at centre-forward for Barcelona.

25:51Sid Lowe:Is that why they've been linked with Julian Alvarez who isn't really a sort of out-of-and-out centre-forward? No, I suppose it is. Is it going to change in the summer? Because we're not expecting Lewandowski to continue, are we?

26:02Phil Kitromilides:Well, Lewandowski is talking about what he does next. I think we're probably not expecting him to continue, but it may well be that if they can convince him to play a secondary role that he would do. But then you would ask yourself, what do you do with Ferran? Because does Ferran want to play that role and be a player who will probably play a lot of minutes, probably score quite a lot of goals, probably have some key moments and feel comfortable in that environment? And I do think it's fair to defend Ferran in all of this, because actually I think his return has been really quite good, considering the expectation level at the start.

26:29Phil Kitromilides:But let's not forget that Ferran's a player that cost them, was it, 55 million euros. So this isn't a kid coming through, even though sometimes he feels like that. His profile feels a little bit like this is a kid coming through, and it's not really entirely true. I do like Ferran quite a lot, but I just sort of feel like the level they need is possibly, well, I think not possibly, I think probably a level above him and Lewandowski. You're right about Julian Alavarez is an interesting one. I mean, apart from the fact that whether or not you can actually get him, is what profile of striker do you want?

27:00Phil Kitromilides:who works best for the players playing around him. And I actually think there's an interesting element here, which is that Ferran and Lewandowski are very different profiles of strikers. And yet there are moments in which I can see the value of both of them. And I've said, I think even this season, that at times I think Lewandowski is really, really useful because he'll hold the ball and he'll come deep to hold it and allow the other two to go beyond him into those spaces. Ferran doesn't really do this. And yet there are other times when you see Ferran's movement is so much more than Lewandowski, even though Lewandowski does that particular movement really well.

27:30Phil Kitromilides:and that some of the other players, it feels like they play well off that, really well off that. And so you sort of think to yourself, OK, so as a profiler striker, do you want a mobile striker? And apologies for naming names because it's not fair on Atletico, really, but, you know, like Julian Alvarez who's moving around them. Or do you want a player that you can play off and can also be a fixed number nine and someone in the box that you can put a cross into if you need to and can, you know, to use that lovely Spanish phrase, can fix the central defenders? and I think the answer is that you want Harry Kane.

28:01Sid Lowe:You want both. You want someone who can do both.

28:03Phil Kitromilides:Yeah, and Harry Kane is the player that can do both. I mean, he's not as quick, obviously, and he's not as lively, but his movement's clever.

28:09Sid Lowe:Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's happening. No, no. Barcelona top of the table and beating Levante without too many issues. Atletico Madrid beating Espanyol on the preview pod. You said you had absolutely no idea what to expect from this game. And we sort of got what I expected,

28:26Phil Kitromilides:which is that we didn't really get what we expected, if you sort of mean, in that they conceded early and you thought, oh, here comes one of those. And then they got themselves back into the game. They scored four times. They then conceded again towards the end. I think the performance of Solov was really, really important, which it so often is, by the way. I mean, I've just gone through those goal scorers for you. Without penalties, he's on nine, which isn't loads and loads and loads. But apart from Mbappe, there's no one higher than 12, as I've just said. And he's not getting loads of minutes.

28:53Phil Kitromilides:His goals per minute ratio is really good. it's better than Julian Alva there I think it's better than anyone in La Liga this season I think I'm right in saying that, I'm not 100 % sure there are games where he seems to sort of I was about to use the word float but I don't think float is the word to use for someone with the kind of the size he's not really a floater no exactly, exactly that but he can sort of appear to not be in it and yet there are other games and I've said this before about watching him from pitch side, my word he takes a battering, but he gives comeback and he holds on the ball really well and I think he's a good footballer I actually think in a way and I think this happens to a lot of players and but for all sorts of different reasons and different types of profiles and stuff I think in a way the fact that he's big the fact that he's Norwegian the fact that and the fact that you know means that you I think people buy into this idea always very cold I think if he was exactly the same shape and he was from a hot country I don't know somewhere in the Caribbean for example right people wouldn't call him cold I think there's this kind of mental thing that's Norwegian cold.

29:58Phil Kitromilides:And I think there is a tendency because of that to suggest that he's not trying. And I think he is. I just think it's his body shape and his pace and his nature of the way he moves. I think we are all conditioned a little bit by sort of external factors. And, you know, myself included, by the way, we all fall into this trap a little bit.

30:16Sid Lowe:There is definitely a narrative in some parts of the media and the journalists that cover Atletico Madrid to suggest that he is very cold and doesn't seem to be trying at all in games, which I think is...

30:26Phil Kitromilides:I just don't think it's true. Exactly. I just think it's about the body shape and the movement and so on.

30:30Sid Lowe:Before we go, you went to Getafe against Sevilla and you sent us a message saying, this game is so shit, it's almost amusing.

30:38Phil Kitromilides:Yeah. I mean, in the first half, Fessrath Piliqueta did a long throw. And that is your first half highlights, everybody. I mean, it was so bad. I mean, quite often the two o 'clock games are bad. Now, obviously, that's not just because it's usually Real Lovieta playing in them, right? Quite often, the two o 'clock games are bad. The pitch is dry. It's bright. The ball's not moving particularly well. But my word, this was in the first... I will be honest, I left at halftime. I mean, I was probably always going to, unless the game had somehow been a classic. They are both two very, very bad teams.

31:14Phil Kitromilides:But, you know, except bad isn't the right word here. Because Getafe aren't bad. Because Getafe are doing this by design. This is what Getafe want to be. It's how they want to play and they're very, very good at it, even though they lost this game and there are limitations to what they've got and they did go down to 10 men early because of a red card for Gen A but this wasn't a lot of fun.

31:33Sid Lowe:I can imagine it wasn't. Before we go, this is what happened in the segunda. Castellón were held to a 1-1 draw. Las Palmas could have been worse for Castellón. They equalised in the 94th minute. Racing Santander beat Burgos 1-0. Almería beat Córdoba 2-1 and Depor beat Eibar 1-0. So at the top of the table all, listen to this, Rassinger on 50 points, then Castegon on 49, Almeria on 48, and Depor on 46. Remember, the top two are automatically promoted very, very tight at the top of the Segunda. That's it for today's edition of TSFP, the Spanish football podcast. We're over at patreon.com forward slash TSFP for the rest of the week.

32:11Sid Lowe:Q &A podcast tomorrow. Send us your questions. We'll answer them tomorrow. Bonus pod coming up on Thursday. And we'll do a TSFP diary as well on some of our travels and what's it like to cover Spanish football behind the scenes look at that and if you don't want to listen to any of that or pay a very small amount for some bonus content that's okay just listen to the Friday preview pod which we'll do on Friday preview what's coming up this weekend adios amigos cheerio

33:08Phil Kitromilides:It's a season two playoff race with TGL presented by SoFi. Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern, Jupiter Lynx versus Boston Common Golf. Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, Los Angeles Golf Club versus New York Golf Club. Tuesday at 9pm Eastern, the Bay Golf Club versus Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's golf. Watch on ESPN, ESPN2 and the ESPN app.