# Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol Postgame Reaction

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 20 Sep 2025, 47 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/108579632/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-8-20%2F407842630-44100-2-b7a5d46e0fca7.mp3

Loconte, Jarod Hector & Taalib react to Real Madrid's comfortable win over Espanyol. On our chosen attacking dynamics with Gonzalo Garcia joining Vinicius & Mbappe, counterpressing changes to preserve energy and more.

## Transcript

[0:59] The. Hello and welcome to The Real
[1:03] Deal, a Real Madrid podcast after Real Madrid's two nil win
[1:08] at home over Espanol with me, Jerrod Hector, joined as always
[1:11] by Le Conte and Talib. What's up fellas?
[1:14] Yeah, what's? Up, Yeah.
[1:15] How's it going guys? It's going well, right?
[1:18] I mean it Le Conte joke to me. Oh man, what a boring game.
[1:22] And in many ways, yes, but also sometimes that's just a
[1:26] wonderful thing. We go in, we get our three
[1:28] points, we go home. No controversies to speak of.
[1:31] Nobody got injured, no red cards like you.
[1:34] You know, after sometimes weeks on end of this, it's nice to not
[1:38] have that to worry about after a game.
[1:41] The February paints of bad game if everybody remembers.
[1:46] But yeah generally yes. That's my general consensus of
[1:50] boring ass game. Yeah, we we this was a a, a type
[1:54] of match last year that we somehow find a way to either
[1:57] give up a late goal and concede and and then a draw or just lose
[2:01] lose right, lose straight out, not not take our chances and
[2:04] then lose 1 nil at the end. So we're happy with this.
[2:06] Let's start from the beginning, which is Chapi Alonzo making
[2:09] some rotations, some forced because he had no other choice.
[2:12] Obviously Trent injured Rudiger injured and who else is injured
[2:17] housings out with a red card. Am I missing an injury?
[2:20] I think that's it. That's all for the injuries.
[2:22] So he had to start Gonzalo Garcia to get Artiguera some
[2:25] rest and everybody else had to play because that's where that's
[2:29] where we sat in terms of records and injuries.
[2:31] Were you surprised with the lineup, either of you?
[2:34] I I think Ascentio Militao starting pretty straightforward
[2:39] there. I think the only surprise that I
[2:42] saw was Gonzalo starting in the front right.
[2:44] That was a little bit of a surprise.
[2:46] Know Brahim again, maybe condition that Brahim hasn't
[2:49] been playing that well over the last couple of games.
[2:52] Not a massive surprise. Good to see Mass Centeno
[2:55] starting eight at 18 years old every pretty much every game
[2:58] this season. And we need back on the team
[3:00] also. I think that's a good positive.
[3:02] Yeah. Yeah, I'll say that much like
[3:05] Gonzalo was a bit of a shock, but outside of it, pretty safe
[3:08] forward with the way how we went.
[3:11] Let's start tactically. Lecante I in possession as per
[3:17] usual, we go 3, three at the back when we're in possession.
[3:22] It's typically how we like, how we like to operate and then out
[3:25] of possession it either be four or five and that would depend,
[3:28] right, true. And many would kind of decide
[3:30] are we going to do we need 4 or we need 5 back here.
[3:32] But for the most part, because we had possession for, I didn't
[3:35] look at the final stat, but I my guess is 75% of the time at a
[3:38] minimum we probably had. 78. OK.
[3:42] So, I mean, really, we didn't have to worry too much about any
[3:45] kind of sustained pressure from from Espanol.
[3:50] That first goal from Militao again, started a stem of just
[3:55] possession, right? Something that maybe fans
[3:57] complained about this club in years past, right?
[4:00] Which is slow in the passing. No idea about what to do, right?
[4:05] That was that that was often a complaint.
[4:06] But Militao and it was clear, right?
[4:09] When certain players had the ball at their feet, Espanol was
[4:11] going to put pressure on them. When others, they were like,
[4:13] we're not worried about this person.
[4:14] Militao was one of those ones. They were like, we're not
[4:16] worried about you, He said. Well, all right, I'm going to
[4:19] step forward, right? And that strike for the goal
[4:23] guys was among the cleanest and purest strikes of a of a ball.
[4:27] You will see it looked like training because nobody was
[4:30] giving it any kind of pressure or the turn.
[4:34] That was ridiculous that I say like one of if not the best
[4:39] goals for this year by any player really.
[4:43] But as you said, it really was like a training ground type of
[4:46] goal because his final players like let me start like 5 to 6
[4:50] meters away from him so he has a clearview on goal and he can
[4:54] just pump it up and 00 shots for the goal giver on the on the
[4:59] shot like that technique was fabulous.
[5:02] Our event genuine props. Beautiful like.
[5:07] Yeah, 20 minutes. You know, Madrid just kept
[5:12] moving the ball around side to side, Gonzalo not being very
[5:16] active at all pretty much I think the whole game.
[5:19] So I think there was that piece missing, not able to penetrate
[5:24] the defence because Espanol kind of kept kept like a semi block
[5:28] but just mudded, not able to go through it.
[5:31] And then I think Milita was given that space and nobody
[5:35] pressed him and he does that little bit of that turn and I
[5:38] think the ball kind of curled a little bit finger of the
[5:41] goalkeeper. So kind of a little bit lucky,
[5:44] but a super shot, you know? And I think it was a good moment
[5:47] for Madrid just to open up a little bit more right up up
[5:52] until then. And I think that was the point,
[5:53] right? Like, and Chubby talked about
[5:55] this, when teams decide to sit in blocks like that, sometimes
[5:58] you're gonna have to do these deep shots to get them on goal
[6:01] just to get for chance. A rebound, goalie spills out in
[6:04] front, you pounce on it in the box to get some action going
[6:06] because they're limiting, as you said, Gonzalo, make any moves in
[6:10] the box, any kind of any kind of action happening.
[6:12] But again, that shot with power pace and it was hurling from the
[6:16] minute he kicked it right, it was already curving from that
[6:19] second. So again, a beautiful goal by
[6:21] him. You mentioned Gonzalo Garcia.
[6:23] I think it's no surprise, guys, right?
[6:25] That I mean, his first touch was a bit off, Like things were just
[6:28] a bit off because this was literally his first start of the
[6:32] entire season. And very limited minutes.
[6:37] I still thought he did a pretty good job pinning letters and the
[6:39] racks. Because without Gonzalo Vini and
[6:42] Boppe don't get those spaces off right for the most part.
[6:47] If you didn't like how the first half played out, that's on a
[6:49] coach because that's how albums who wanted it very wide driven.
[6:54] He wanted Carreras to be that, as we spoke on last night, So
[6:58] that with a replacement, the player that's going to take the
[7:01] ball higher up, the player that's going to carry the balls.
[7:05] And thankfully it was paired with Vinny Shoes, who we know
[7:08] already has a very long experience of dropping deep to
[7:11] receive the ball either by a Tribble or today.
[7:14] We saw a lot of penetration with passes, especially to Mbappe, so
[7:22] design wasn't the best. It was a bit imbalanced.
[7:25] I thought that the team was going to be a little bit more
[7:28] aggressive. When I saw the 11 against the
[7:31] ball, I expected what we saw against Marseille.
[7:33] Instead, today we got a more passive side when it came to how
[7:39] they were going to approach it. But ultimately it worked and
[7:45] that's kind of the whole goal now.
[7:49] Is it going to work every week with a setup like this?
[7:51] We don't really know, but when we played Espanol they were
[7:55] third in the league. So today before today they were
[7:58] thirdly, correct. Yeah.
[8:00] Oh, Barcelona just losing a goal difference.
[8:03] I think touching up on the contest point, Gonzalo stayed a
[8:07] little bit upfront, right? We saw in the World Cup he was
[8:09] coming back and trying to get the ball and then connecting
[8:12] with them that we didn't see this time.
[8:14] I think that's something that he could have done a little bit
[8:16] more. Maybe instruction from Xavi,
[8:19] Maybe that's the reason. But again, I thought he was very
[8:23] kind of excluded in the attack didn't do much because you were
[8:28] just staying up on the right side up at the front didn't have
[8:31] too much feeding from our players also, right.
[8:34] So I think maybe a little bit of and he was taken off.
[8:37] He was the first probably the first player taken off, right.
[8:39] So I think that's where the the link link up was a little bit of
[8:43] not there. And in the times he did have a
[8:46] chance to do those one flick touches and stuff in the box,
[8:50] everything was just a hair off, right, which is a little bit off
[8:53] with with those things in the movements and and it's you know,
[8:55] listen, when you don't play like you're going to be a little
[8:58] rusty and your time is going to be off.
[8:59] That's just the nature of and Le Conte, you always say in a low
[9:02] margin sport, right. Well, that was a clear going.
[9:05] So any chance if that touch was 50 percent, 10% better?
[9:08] But it wasn't, right. So that's where we were.
[9:11] But I think it was clear the Conte, as you mentioned, the set
[9:14] up for Jabi was kind of having Vinny as that outlet fulcrum on
[9:18] the side to kind of start things.
[9:20] And then you pushed in and go. And I thought Vinny, by the way,
[9:22] had it. During the attack from then on,
[9:25] because everything was moving between how these two guys are
[9:28] moving. For example, like just to give a
[9:30] difference, Carvalho had 32 passes in the first half, not
[9:34] very useful on the team with 78%.
[9:37] Carreras had 61. That's almost double of passes,
[9:43] which goes to show that he wanted to be a left heavy and
[9:47] the last action was always going to be finnered by the guys on
[9:50] the right side. Let that be Carvajal, Franco,
[9:55] Masatuano or Gonzalo Garcia. They were the ones that were
[9:59] tasked with OK, so these guys are going to be here.
[10:03] I want you to trigger the attack and once that set of players
[10:08] taking place and the ball is going to shift across, then the
[10:11] right side players are going to take their own responsibilities.
[10:14] Also, we saw a lot of horizontal movement, movement, which even
[10:18] led to the goal, right, Because the ball shifts across both
[10:21] sides of the pitch. So it's more of like the design.
[10:27] It might have been flawed in terms of for us as viewers.
[10:31] But ultimately, outside of that first shot by Edwick's Rosita,
[10:36] which really do even count it as a shot, it was straight on TiVo
[10:41] and you have the Militaus block. That was huge outside of these
[10:45] two, but that came out of Harvard, of what I had counted
[10:49] as the biggest danger that we were going to face in this game,
[10:53] limited him to the extent that we did.
[10:56] Guster showed that alone was telling his job in a film room
[10:59] instead of what we were used to. So for the most part, it's an
[11:04] effective game. Yeah.
[11:05] But not the best game to. Watch yes it's aesthetics right?
[11:09] Like aesthetically we probably didn't love it, but at the end
[11:12] of the day, you don't get points for if it's pretty, you get
[11:14] points if you win right? So three points still the top of
[11:18] the league. Looking at some stats final from
[11:20] sofa score here. 1.35 XG for Real Madrid one one XG for
[11:25] Espanol. We had 72% of the possession, 3
[11:28] big chances created 16 total shots.
[11:30] Only one big chance for Espanol and eight shots.
[11:33] They had 20 fouls. We had 10 and a yellow card.
[11:37] Kind of weird. They had double the fouls and
[11:38] the yellow card. We won't get into all that.
[11:41] And we had many more passes because obviously we we we
[11:44] dominated possession. You mentioned left 10 heavy.
[11:48] I thought Vinnie played well today and I really thought that
[11:53] he was decisive in in many ways. He had a great opportunity for
[11:57] an assist to end the first half when he set it up for Mbappe.
[12:01] I mean, 9 out of 10 times Mbappe, he makes that.
[12:03] That was the one that, oh, well, we messed up.
[12:05] It happens, right? They're not perfect, but I I
[12:07] thought he he combined well and he combined well with them later
[12:10] for that goal in the second-half, which we'll talk
[12:11] about later. I don't know how many times we
[12:15] can talk about and say how incredible and amazing Alvaro
[12:19] Carreras is. I think what I did not take into
[12:24] account is what how much of a good athlete he is.
[12:30] Like yes, he's technically sound and but like, and if you look at
[12:34] him like and the classic example is you take off your shirt and
[12:37] physique wise, he may not look as good as name whoever the best
[12:41] physical specimen is in world football, right?
[12:44] But he is extremely athletic and there's so many different ways
[12:49] you can measure athleticism and his he's so nimble, he can move
[12:53] his body so fluidly, like and those are all attributes of
[12:56] athleticism. His agility is incredible.
[12:59] And again, obviously, as we say every week, his ball carrying
[13:03] press resistance, all of it is just honestly second to none in
[13:07] my mind right now. If you if you take out Mbappe
[13:11] from over the last few games, probably the best players.
[13:14] Karas right that Mbappe keeps going so he gets them out of the
[13:18] match. I don't know who got mad at the
[13:19] match today, but Karadas again, every game it's so he's got
[13:24] certain attributes like he's quick, he's fast, he gets to the
[13:28] ball first. He's decent in heading, he runs
[13:31] and he connects well on the left side linking up with Winnie and
[13:34] then he goes into the box and he crosses.
[13:36] So he goes all the way at the end of the line, right end of
[13:39] the field and he does this crosses.
[13:40] So I think offensively, defensively we have an amazing
[13:45] player and I think he is probably in my opinion on row to
[13:49] become one of the best left all round left backs in the game.
[13:53] I don't disagree. Yeah, I mean Roadie made a
[13:56] fairpoint of I don't remember the last time Madrid has had a
[13:59] two way live back, right, Actually don't remember one in
[14:03] my lifetime because you went from.
[14:06] Remote Marcelo is. Right.
[14:07] Yeah, Marcelo or were way more offensive minded heavy.
[14:12] Then you have that big period of Mandy who was full blown perfect
[14:17] defense and now this guy's kind of like well might not be
[14:22] neither of the 2 when it. Comes at their peak on either
[14:25] end, yes. You know, like he doesn't have
[14:27] that, but he's such a good blend to the point where he balances
[14:32] everything out. It's like today was the
[14:35] question, how does this scene look look without being right?
[14:38] Today was that question where? How does it look?
[14:41] And when Alonzo made the decision that there is no order
[14:45] either, it was like, oh, how is this going to look obsession?
[14:50] Well, we're just kind of blessed with two incredible full backs
[14:53] at this point in time. And Milly Tao, plus I think to
[14:58] talk about him, there's been. A big question.
[15:02] He is incredible. One mistake on that tackle, even
[15:06] though the replay showed that he actually didn't even touch the
[15:08] player, but you still don't be as aggressive as he was on that
[15:13] challenge because the referee is always going to eat it up even
[15:16] if he didn't touch you. Outside of that, though, I don't
[15:21] think you could have expected better.
[15:22] Let's let's also think of the setup.
[15:25] The right side was very much settled to give with, to follow
[15:30] the attack and kind of all had a very hard job to go forward and
[15:35] keep the ball moving and looking.
[15:38] So there was one guy to do that job if we didn't want to run
[15:41] volverly into the ground as much as we do, right, Since we did
[15:45] that perfectly as you. Could He did.
[15:48] He did. From rights on the back.
[15:50] Yeah, let's talk about Ascencio. I thought aside from early in
[15:55] the first half, one play where he went to ground and give up a
[15:58] free kick when he didn't have to, I thought he played
[16:00] extremely well. That aggressiveness was sort of
[16:05] in check and use when it was supposed to, other than the time
[16:07] that I mentioned. And look, the reality is, as we
[16:09] said, he has to play. So we're going to sink or swim
[16:13] in many ways with how well he channels that.
[16:15] And I thought today he channelled it well.
[16:17] And it also helps Espanol didn't do much in attack except for a
[16:21] couple of few players, right? So it was murdered on the ball
[16:24] most of the time. I think Militao was already
[16:27] there to clear up some of those headers, right?
[16:31] So I think Essence, you're on the on PC getting to the ball.
[16:36] I think that's where he showed his attributes, this game and
[16:40] everything else. I think we had Militao to clear
[16:42] up pretty much everything else. And look militao, right, like he
[16:47] we were all worried about him, right?
[16:48] I remember Lakanti, we did our pre season show and we were
[16:50] talking about and we can't guarantee this dude.
[16:52] OK, so we were quote UN quote wrong on that in that he is back
[16:56] to look seeming like almost his peak self.
[16:58] But the fear now is that, well, we can't lose that play or not,
[17:01] because we're in deep shit to. Play.
[17:03] If anything happens to him, so. I mean, normally you would hope
[17:07] for next game it's Millie Tao getting rest and Ascent you will
[17:10] be allowed to build upon this with Dean coming back and then
[17:13] you get both Millie Tao and Dean for at lady on the weekend.
[17:18] Let's keep in mind we play again on Monday, Tuesday.
[17:21] Sorry. So all of these things are worth
[17:26] mentioning right? But Ascent you, I thought that
[17:30] he did extremely well, not just well.
[17:34] Talib made a point that we were on challenge, right?
[17:37] But that's according to data Espanol or the most clinical
[17:44] team in La Liga. That's why they were where they
[17:47] were, right? So every small margin of mistake
[17:50] does count against them because ultimately they make you pay for
[17:54] it, right? Well you can ask Analytical
[17:56] Madrid for that because they just they gave up A1 nil lead to
[18:00] them and ended up losing 2 to one just like that.
[18:04] It was like in quick succession. It's their style of play that's
[18:08] very hard to deal with. I were able to hold off my Orca
[18:12] with 10 men just on Monday. It's not an unimpressive team.
[18:18] I think that it's it's more about how the team reacted to
[18:22] just into these circumstances. But I think that Espanol are
[18:26] going to be like on this place by the end of the season.
[18:29] No, But right now you're playing a team with very high momentum
[18:32] going into it and it's the worst possible time.
[18:35] So him playing that way, even defensively covering that much,
[18:40] not living because the biggest fear was Harry Potter, right?
[18:44] Was he going to make us pay for the spaces that we're going to
[18:48] give as we push our right side very high up?
[18:52] Well, thankfully not. And a centuries good reason as
[18:57] to why that didn't happen. We saw him on a touchline a lot.
[19:01] Stop it. Relax.
[19:03] And it's huge, very useful. Yeah, yeah.
[19:07] Oh, with that question. I think again, to your point,
[19:09] Lecante, to to put A to put a bow on it.
[19:12] You know, this is a squad that, as you said, third in the league
[19:16] to start this this match week. And the way in which Madrid
[19:22] lined up defensively and cut off and shut down any possible
[19:27] chance of them making any kind of attack.
[19:29] And even when they had their small spell of sustained
[19:32] possession, they weren't really able to do any damage because
[19:35] everything was was was locked down defensively.
[19:38] And we talked about that's what Chubby had worked on with this
[19:41] squad from the beginning. You guys have got you better out
[19:44] of possession because that's where you got carved up last
[19:46] year. The minute something happens to
[19:47] chaos, you give up goals way too easy because you have no idea
[19:50] who's supposed to be where. Everybody gets back to their
[19:52] zone and spot and locks in and we deny them.
[19:55] As I mentioned, 11 big chance created and that was it that
[20:01] that was the. Game, it's not that.
[20:05] Look, I'm not saying it was a small chance, but that's the
[20:08] biggest that they created the whole game.
[20:10] By the way, Espanol's shooting tally being 8/2 of them coming
[20:14] on dead end minutes, which was 92 and 93 if I believe they were
[20:19] in quick succession, that's the same amount of shots that and
[20:23] what about the whole game, like one player versus a whole team?
[20:26] It goes to show that was creating a sustainable side of
[20:32] the team that will be able to run through these games where
[20:37] they have to get the three points.
[20:39] I mean, they are perfect now. Doesn't mean they're going to
[20:42] remain perfect for the rest of the season, but it does go to
[20:46] show that one thing that we naturally lack on Link Along is
[20:50] bringing back and that's consistency and ability to get
[20:53] the ground going. Most importantly from this game.
[20:57] What do you think was the most important thing that happened?
[21:01] Yeah. I was going to touch upon
[21:04] Lecante's tactical organization of Xabi Alonso, plus the
[21:08] pressing, right? So you knew you have Masantuo
[21:10] Vini pressing. So last year we didn't have
[21:12] that. We had a disconnect on who
[21:14] presses and who doesn't press. The front 3 didn't press or a
[21:17] little bit of Rodrigo when he played, he pressed.
[21:19] So I think you have players counter pressing and getting the
[21:22] ball really fast and causing that chaos when with the
[21:26] opponent has the ball and that's when we strike, right.
[21:29] So I think, not sure exactly what you wanted me to answer.
[21:33] Can't they? What is specific about this
[21:35] game? But I was just going to touch
[21:36] upon that pressing aspect of Zabi Alonso being so critical in
[21:41] Madrid closing down these games and making it tough.
[21:45] Now we would have to see against big, big teams, Athletico, maybe
[21:50] Barsa again, you know, Champions League.
[21:52] So I think that's going to be interesting aspect to wait for.
[21:56] I think the biggest thing is sort of what you were talking
[21:58] about La Conte, which is again, we talked about what it this
[22:03] team had nothing to fall back on when things were.
[22:06] They have something to fall back on now, which is we limit what
[22:10] you do when you are in possession.
[22:12] That is what we fall back onto. I think the stat at one point
[22:15] was they had maybe a total of four shots through 90 minutes,
[22:19] 80. Minutes.
[22:20] The 80th minute they had a four. And and then Bape on his own had
[22:24] what, 6 I don't know, something 8 This is the right, this is the
[22:28] difference is that we can generate so much through one and
[22:30] then through a collective and we limit you throughout 90 plus
[22:34] minutes. That to me, that is the most
[22:36] important thing that that that has happened this game.
[22:38] And of course, nobody injured, no red cards, no anything like
[22:42] that. What a great way to leave the
[22:43] game. But just want to touch up on
[22:45] last game, right, against Marseille, I was not there on
[22:49] that one. So we there were much more
[22:51] chances for Marseille on that game, right?
[22:53] So again, that's what I'm saying.
[22:55] When you have teams that are a little bit more higher in
[22:59] quality, we need to be a little bit more and the Espanol didn't
[23:04] do a lot. So I think again, we have to see
[23:07] what comes in the next few games.
[23:10] See, I'm going to pull up the the Marseille, the Marseille
[23:12] stats just so I can OK. So in the Marseille game that
[23:16] that was the that was the game. So we had almost a four expected
[23:19] goals 3.74. They had .73.
[23:21] We had five big chances created. They had 228 total shots, they
[23:25] had 15. So I mean it still looked like
[23:27] and and they had more possession, 57 to 43%.
[23:30] And I remember we'd we'd gone down a man in the second-half.
[23:33] So yeah, but that's down a man. Yeah.
[23:37] Like we finished the first halt with like 2 exiters, 0.4.
[23:43] I think that's how we finished the first halt.
[23:46] So it's just like, I don't know, team is showing that at least
[23:50] they can defend, they can play against the wall, yes.
[23:53] But back to what I was trying to say, the most important thing is
[23:56] that 2 guys that came back at the end of.
[23:58] The game, yeah, of course, of course we will.
[24:03] We will get to we will get to our our midfield engine in a
[24:06] minute. I want to talk about Masantuano
[24:08] a little bit. Talib, you mentioned this is on
[24:11] the 4th game in a row he started, I don't know, something
[24:13] like that. Anyway, he's he's 18, he's the
[24:17] biggest signing money wise from Argentina.
[24:20] All the things, all the pressure, all that.
[24:22] I I think for an 18 year old, I think he's acquitting himself
[24:26] extremely well with the pressure that no doubt he is feeling.
[24:29] You have to remember, forget about what fans think and media
[24:32] think and whatever. He's a world footballers who put
[24:35] immense pressure on themselves outside of all that other shit
[24:38] that I just mentioned. So on his own self, he is
[24:41] putting pressure to be great because he wants to be great in
[24:44] all the things and I think there's so many good things
[24:46] about what he does. He's not shy, he's aggressive.
[24:49] When he loses the ball, he will run his ass off to go win it
[24:53] back, which is one of the main reasons he probably starts all
[24:55] that time because job is like, this is what I want to see,
[24:58] right? He puts that effort in.
[24:59] Obviously there are areas where he needs to be better, right?
[25:01] Like he needs to be more polished right in that final
[25:04] third with his movements, but that comes with time and
[25:07] experience and and all of that. I did think though, he had some
[25:10] very nice interplay in the box in this game.
[25:14] I'm like, look at that little quick sleet of foot.
[25:17] Yeah, he's a little bit. So it's there.
[25:23] So it's there. He just needs time to develop.
[25:26] And look, it's it's going to be hard because this is a club that
[25:30] is expected to win the Champions League in the La Liga every
[25:32] year, right? So development is very hard on a
[25:34] team of this level. This is not, you know, a bomb of
[25:38] the league team or whatever. So it's going to look sometimes
[25:41] disjointed because you're like, what's this guy doing here?
[25:43] So I think the fan base sometimes who were like not sold
[25:45] and want somebody to be a finished product.
[25:47] He's 18. He's not going to be a finished
[25:49] product for five or six years easy, right?
[25:52] So give them some time to highlight what I see.
[25:54] Say that again, Lagante. He's a hustler.
[25:57] Yeah, he's coming from a South American League, right, where
[26:00] it's very aggressive. You run you you are physical,
[26:03] you take the ball, you move up and do do those QikLink up
[26:07] touch, right. So I think that's what he's
[26:09] doing in a very aggressive way. Sometimes it you can be caught
[26:13] out of spaces, but the, the intention is right.
[26:16] And again, like you said, if, if he gets more polished in the in
[26:19] the future from a good coach, good players around him.
[26:23] And like Winnie, when Winnie came in, he, he was a little bit
[26:27] all over the place and look, look for what he achieved,
[26:29] right. So I think again, if the intent
[26:32] is there, I think sky is the limit for him.
[26:34] I. Agree.
[26:37] I wanted to talk about before we move to the second-half the the
[26:44] connection and and sort of communication and the just to
[26:50] me, there's symbiosis between Carreras and Chua Mini.
[26:56] That duo to me just seems to understand each other so
[27:00] freaking well. And it's not surprising to me
[27:03] because they are two of four players, three players who
[27:08] played every single match, right?
[27:10] Too many today, got some rest for like 3 minutes.
[27:12] But for the most part, the two of them have played every single
[27:15] minute this season. And I say that because they just
[27:18] instinctively Le Conte know what to do when the other one's doing
[27:22] something else right, that it's just, it's a beautiful thing.
[27:25] And I think that as much as anything, is a key to also why
[27:28] we're so well and why we're in the right spaces at the right
[27:30] time. Yeah.
[27:32] I mean, it's a training drill thing.
[27:34] Like I know that not everybody's happy with every decision of
[27:38] Alonzo, which is fair enough. You know, everybody can have
[27:42] their views, but it's the way what they're doing on the
[27:46] training. He is creating a machinery of
[27:48] the team right now. And frankly, he's filled a lot
[27:55] of the holes that were previously existence.
[27:58] Like obviously he's made use of the signings.
[28:00] It's not just about making signings, it's about making them
[28:04] a news of them, so there is that.
[28:09] Hypothetical question for you guys, if if we had the same
[28:13] coach Carlo for this season with the same team, new players, how
[28:18] do you think somebody like Carreras improving?
[28:22] Left back was a mess last season, right back, Trent
[28:26] Kavajal back. We have more players, right?
[28:28] So just wanted to know what do you guys think?
[28:30] If Carlo was still the coach and based on his tactics, what would
[28:35] it look different? I think we would look a lot more
[28:42] black of a better word, creative in possession just because he
[28:46] would give them a lot of freedom.
[28:49] But I don't think I don't think I know we would nowhere nearly
[28:54] be as good out of possession, not even with all the new
[28:57] signings and all of that. We just wouldn't be because that
[29:00] hasn't been drilled into them. They just now that's not to say
[29:03] that we wouldn't have Carreras or Militao, whoever make
[29:07] incredible individual one-on-one plays to save us.
[29:10] But in terms of the collective system, it would not look like
[29:13] that out of possession. 100% not, that's my opinion.
[29:17] Yeah, I would definitely agree with that assessment.
[29:20] It would maybe look a little bit more sparkly, but even that was
[29:24] missing last season. Anyways, I'm not really sure.
[29:29] Like, it's very hard to draw parallels now between the old
[29:33] team and this new team because also we're judging this new team
[29:36] from the lens of this coach, not necessarily from the other lens
[29:41] because we haven't really seen or even gotten close to it.
[29:45] Like, our issues with this team, too, which were previous that's
[29:49] still holding all the ball. How they combine rush, decision
[29:53] making, all that which needs to fall into place at times.
[29:58] But we're going to give it time. Yeah.
[30:00] So for as long as you win games, you earn yourself time.
[30:04] And this what Alonzi is doing right now.
[30:06] Oh. Yeah, he's bought himself so
[30:08] much time. Is that energy right that that
[30:10] we were missing last season from some of the players in the
[30:12] middle the get the ball back quickly, counter press, I think
[30:17] all over the place. I think that's what and also the
[30:20] new coach more motivation. So maybe that's like a big
[30:25] factor this season with Zabi coming in and and of course
[30:30] great players come in also. Oh, no doubt.
[30:32] And also, look, a players are not only the most competitive in
[30:38] the world, they're also, and I mean this in a in a positive
[30:41] way, they're also very vain. And by vain, I mean, when they
[30:45] are embarrassed publicly, they don't like it.
[30:47] And a lot of these players last year were embarrassed publicly
[30:50] by not winning any major trophies, getting humbled by
[30:53] Barcelona in four matches, all all that stuff, right?
[30:56] That all weighed on them. So coming into this season,
[30:58] right? And Bob, it came in look like he
[31:00] was ready to prove a point. To whom I don't know, but he's
[31:03] doing it, right? Like I just think that there
[31:06] there's a level of pride and professionalism in these guys
[31:09] that you're seeing. That's like, all right, man,
[31:10] forget all that noise from last year.
[31:12] We are Real Madrid. We're going to show you guys
[31:14] what we're about. And again, undefeated in what
[31:19] are we six matches total, including Champions League.
[31:22] So this is this is just excellent stuff in what we want
[31:27] to see moving to that second-half.
[31:29] And we scored that second goal relatively early in in the
[31:33] second-half. Again, Vinnie is gets into the
[31:38] into space. And you know, even though he is
[31:40] not at the highest of his powers right now, to me still, Vinnie
[31:45] in space is a scary mother effing thing, right?
[31:48] Like it just because he can do so many things.
[31:51] And with the defender backing off and giving him that much
[31:53] room again, the content looks like training, right?
[31:55] OK, here's a simple pass to when Bombay once again, defense
[31:59] doesn't pressure him at all. He's able to one touch get his
[32:02] laces into it. I mean beautiful shot tips low,
[32:06] fools the goalie completely 2 nil and that essentially dusts
[32:08] the game at that point. Having diverse attackers, how I
[32:11] like to call him, because the defenders are always like, OK,
[32:14] if I step here, he dribbles past me and there he goes straight
[32:17] and goal. So you would rather give him
[32:19] like a 20m shot then just let him get through?
[32:23] So they don't know what to do. Is that confusion that's being
[32:25] created? That's why I'm such a big
[32:27] advocate of Vinnie and Bobbitt. I think that both of them are
[32:30] also really enjoying the presence of one another.
[32:33] Vinnie, yes, a bit of confusion. I don't think he's got his tiny
[32:36] went to dribble, went to pass still correctly, at least full.
[32:43] But this game you finally, I finally got to see how a vignon
[32:49] or touchline with Alonzo would look like, because I think
[32:52] that's going to be like the end product of this team with Jude
[32:56] bag with everybody back. I'm saying that's going to be
[32:59] the end product, much less physically taxing on Carreras as
[33:03] we could see today, much less he didn't need to bump at all times
[33:09] and involved, be involved in the press, but rather keep the
[33:13] defense there, make that back three.
[33:17] But yeah, for the most part, like Vinnie is finally Vinnie.
[33:23] Right, and great players want to play with other great players.
[33:27] They just do. That's that's the reality of
[33:29] professional sports. They don't want to play with,
[33:31] for lack of a better word, players that are not at their
[33:34] level. They just don't want to do that.
[33:35] And the presence, to your point, Lecante, of both of them, even
[33:39] though all that's awful here is they can't coexist.
[33:41] They can't play together. They can, because what they like
[33:44] about playing with each other is how much gravity the other one
[33:47] draws away, right? Like when to Lecante's point,
[33:50] you have imbabe coming bearing down at you or Vinnie, it causes
[33:54] confusion by the defense because you're like, what do we do?
[33:57] Because these guys can cook us. They can shoot from this and
[33:59] they can do a lot of different things and they they love that,
[34:02] right? It's better to have more of that
[34:03] than only one. Imagine if it was just one and
[34:06] you go, oh, we'll just load up on this guy because we're not
[34:08] worried about anybody else in the front doing any kind of
[34:11] damage to us, right? Like and I, you have two, right?
[34:13] That's that's the beauty of that.
[34:15] Because I think Vinnie and the first half was he tried to take
[34:19] on some players, didn't lost the ball a few times.
[34:22] On the second-half, he was much, much, much better.
[34:25] Linking up, play more with Mbappe.
[34:27] And again, Mbappe is staying outside the box on the left
[34:31] side. Sometimes it's just you, you
[34:34] create chances that he'll shoot, he'll try to shoot.
[34:36] Sometimes the defender blocks it.
[34:38] But then if you get a sweet spot kick, that can go either way.
[34:44] But sometimes it goes into the post.
[34:45] And that's exactly drawing back defenders and giving Mbappe that
[34:50] space to shoot is is pretty, pretty good to see.
[34:55] Yeah, and to to put a bow on Vinny's day, he had two chances
[35:02] at at a, at a, at a really good chance at a goal today.
[35:05] One where he's curling in off off the left hand side shoots,
[35:08] forces the Espanol goalkeeper to make a save and and save it out
[35:11] of balance to get a corner and then off of a play where he hits
[35:15] the post after the ball goes in. I was like, oh, the gold mouth
[35:18] was wide open. On a rebound of Mbappe's shot, I
[35:22] think, yeah, it was almost probably nice for him to score
[35:25] and it's been a while. It would have.
[35:27] Yeah, but he's on the sheet, right?
[35:29] Had a had a goal contribution today with the assist to Mbappe.
[35:32] So again, another another good game for him.
[35:34] We saw Yeah, yeah, it was it was beautiful.
[35:41] Now we can talk about some of the the substitution.
[35:44] First Guler comes on for Gonzalo.
[35:46] No doubt the thought process from Alonzo there was OK, let's
[35:49] really just control this game now and not give up possession
[35:52] and just basically run, run the clock out right and until this
[35:56] is over. You saw that's when old Subs,
[35:58] right? They just went like, OK, if
[35:59] something hits, hits. If something doesn't hit, I want
[36:02] to preserve my players. But.
[36:04] Like those were the the thought process then nothing really
[36:07] major was going on. You know, it's kind of like you
[36:10] made the team give up by the 16th minute because they just
[36:13] know that, OK, there's nothing that I can do here anymore, so I
[36:17] might as well for some of the health of my blush.
[36:20] Yup. And then Rodrigo came on for
[36:22] Vinny Brahim from us Antuano. And then of course, as Lecante
[36:25] mentioned, the two most important things, Bellingham and
[36:29] Kemah Venga, came on in the 90th minute, I want to say.
[36:34] He can't because the ball is. Not much too many anyway, so.
[36:39] For imbabia too many hey look too many got some rest
[36:43] congratulations. Hey, 2 minutes off 2.
[36:47] Minutes. Congrats and it's the only two
[36:49] minutes you're getting off season buddy.
[36:52] Little more about Carras getting played every game.
[36:56] You know, I think Fran Fran has in.
[36:59] We haven't seen Fran. Carreras I'm worried about too
[37:02] many. I'm worried about like, do you
[37:04] Velvet like these guys? Although now I can't think of
[37:06] back I'm a little. Bit now Judy is back now.
[37:09] So I think there's going to be like more variations of this
[37:12] thing that we're going to see, and it also allows us to rest
[37:17] the others a bit more comfortably because these two
[37:20] are back. It does.
[37:21] But you know, obviously look, we can't draw any conclusions from
[37:24] anything we saw from Kamivinga and and Millingham today because
[37:27] it was literally 3 minutes of of football.
[37:30] But. You've looked a lot slimmer.
[37:32] Well, yes. For sure.
[37:34] And and, and I think that they're both going to be kind of
[37:36] rocket ships out of the gate because they've especially
[37:38] Kamivinga, because he hasn't played since April.
[37:40] It's you know, it's been months since that dudes play rusty for
[37:43] sure, all of that. I think it's going to be slow
[37:45] build up, right. We'll see more of them, I'm sure
[37:47] against Levante and let's touch on that as we wrap up here.
[37:49] Levante about the Levante match. Levante I feel like playing well
[37:52] this season if I'm not mistaken. They are very dangerous, like
[37:56] bars. I won against them, thanks a
[37:58] known goal, but they don't leave you leave you with a lot of
[38:02] shooting opportunities. Like that's the hardest part.
[38:06] Like Madrid from the data scores with every ten shots taken, not
[38:12] the best, not the worst at you know, it's kind of like middle
[38:16] of the pack, if I were to say. So we're going to see how the
[38:20] volume is going to be for that game because the volume needs to
[38:23] really be high. Yeah, yeah, Levante has equipped
[38:26] himself well this year, but I think we will see more of of of
[38:29] the both of them in that match, keeping in mind that we have
[38:32] Athleti the follow on on Saturday and, and, and I feel
[38:36] like Jabi's going to want them to be fully fit and ready to
[38:40] play 65 plus minutes in that match on Saturday at the
[38:45] Metropolitano. So, you know, well, do you worry
[38:49] about that in the middle of the week?
[38:50] Because that's always a a, a difficult match for us.
[38:53] But again, look, I threw six matches.
[38:58] I have no complaints. I am thoroughly pleased with how
[39:02] this team looks in terms of again, they have an ID, they
[39:05] have clear ideas about what they're supposed to be doing,
[39:08] particularly when it comes to being out of possession.
[39:10] It is very obvious. And in their build up phase it's
[39:12] very clear, OK, this is what I want you to do and I love that
[39:15] about them. And I should touch on today's
[39:17] game like Dante, you know, everybody talks about and tell
[39:21] them you waiting on this too, being too rigid and too many
[39:26] defined roles. OK, there's more definition in
[39:28] clear defined roles than there was last season.
[39:30] But there is still freedom. If you watch, first of all,
[39:33] Carreras ended up on the right side and Carvajal switched them
[39:36] and ended up on the left side, right?
[39:38] Like you saw Benny cross and go all the way to the opposite.
[39:40] So there's still freedom, right? You can still do what it has to
[39:43] do. It's just a matter of when you
[39:45] vacate your space, somebody else better be there to take up.
[39:48] That space, that's it, right? It's just cohesive freedom.
[39:53] More than. Random.
[39:56] Random, it's like sometimes you would get like 5 layers on the
[39:59] left side and nobody is on the right side.
[40:01] That doesn't happen anymore because some now we even see him
[40:04] bump it right pushed completely to the right because well guess
[40:08] what, his place is centrally or clogged by the other players so
[40:11] he's adapting to that. That's a good time.
[40:13] And when? And we're playing teams like
[40:15] Espanol, Majorca, where it is mostly at the Burnaby.
[40:19] We tend to keep position. So when we have position,
[40:23] players are going to play fast, quick football, go up vertically
[40:28] pretty fast, right? So I think that's the freedom
[40:31] you're talking about, right, Locante?
[40:32] So you have players doing their own thing, but also tactically
[40:37] being have a good organization in the middle, players covering
[40:41] now. But what we're going to see is
[40:44] against the big teams, right who somebody like Barsa, who tends
[40:47] to keep the ball way more than than these kind of teams.
[40:50] But that's where we're going to see how Madrid is going to
[40:53] press, how we're going to get the ball back against certain
[40:57] teams like Espanol in the border barrel again, it's a little more
[41:00] easier because ball, we have the ball like 6070% of the time.
[41:04] Interesting to see how it's going to be against possessive
[41:08] ball possessive teams like Barsa.
[41:10] So I think we're seeing we're going to start it it the way
[41:13] these games are playing out in terms of our opponents.
[41:15] We're going to get a kind of good read on that, right, guys?
[41:17] Because to date, Espanola is the best team we've played, right,
[41:20] to date out of everybody, including, right?
[41:24] So then we get Levante, who is not as high but has played their
[41:27] style of play will cause problems, right?
[41:29] And yes, Athleti is not playing as well as they should, but it's
[41:33] still Athleti and it still will be at the Metropolitano.
[41:35] So we know what they do. Always on steroids when they
[41:39] play US, yeah. So it will be very interesting
[41:42] to see and as we will watch these next two matches, what it
[41:45] looks like right when we're getting pressed by athletic, how
[41:48] do we respond and and and come out of that?
[41:50] And if we lose possession, how do we, to your point, counter
[41:53] press, try to win the ball back right, Like that's and if it
[41:55] looks like dissolves into chaos, which I I'm not predicting that.
[41:59] But if it does, well, then we have questions, right?
[42:02] But my guess is it probably won't look that.
[42:03] Will it look perfect? No, I'm not saying that, but I
[42:06] don't think it's going to look like Oh my God, disaster.
[42:08] What the hell are we doing? This is terrible.
[42:10] Everybody run away, everybody worry because we got problems
[42:12] that I don't think it'll be that.
[42:13] But like we're we're we're getting better, we're improving
[42:16] as a squad. And Batpe adds again to his goal
[42:19] tally. What's he up to now for the
[42:21] Season 7? Goal every game, right?
[42:25] Yeah, he scored twice on Tuesday, scored again tonight 3
[42:30] He's. Scoring in one league.
[42:31] One, I think one game. But he has two games with two
[42:36] girls. Yeah, well, there you go.
[42:39] There it is. He is.
[42:40] He is on one right? Now if you want to, since they
[42:43] come right, he's scored on both of the games there too.
[42:47] He is. I think maybe Sid tweeted it out
[42:50] from our from the Real Deal account.
[42:51] That is the best player in the world right now, right?
[42:53] I think you'd be very hard pressed to tell me anybody else
[42:57] is better than Mbappe. Right now, like it's like there
[43:01] is no Asterix behind the who's better than him because nobody
[43:05] is in. Terms of growth scoring Harry
[43:08] Kane is pretty close but he's playing Bundesliga No you know,
[43:14] but Mbappe does more for the team what Dan Kane would do
[43:18] right from from a ball carrying point of view coming back point
[43:23] of view to get the ball making face linking up with Winnie.
[43:26] We've seen a lot of actual Mbappe that we.
[43:30] Trapped back on defense this game and won the ball back.
[43:33] I was like and he got a huge share from the burn.
[43:35] About, by the way, I was tweeting Mullital.
[43:39] Damn. And then the camera zooms and
[43:40] it's involved and I'm like, damn, OK.
[43:44] Yeah, he's showing that. Look, I I hear, I heard the
[43:48] criticisms again, this is my point about players, right?
[43:50] They they feel a certain kind of way when they are talked
[43:54] negatively about OK, I I heard the talk that I don't do this, I
[43:58] don't do that. Let me show you Alec.
[44:00] And I score goals. I can also do this to see here
[44:02] it is. I mean, he may be.
[44:04] Was the Enrique Clipov trying to teach him how to press?
[44:07] I don't know. And I think.
[44:10] Before, before every match, he watches it in his locker.
[44:15] You. You.
[44:16] Can't ask Mbappe to press all the time, right?
[44:18] Because he's he's playing every game.
[44:20] So he if he keeps pressing, he's going to get injured, he's going
[44:22] to get tired. So you can't.
[44:24] But when there's a moment when he can where somebody's not
[44:27] pressing and the ball is at the hour half, then he can do it
[44:32] right. But just can't ask him to press
[44:34] every. Game Yep and and look, the the
[44:36] last thing I'll say is we wrap here guys vibes are always great
[44:39] when you're winning right, so 6 for six the mood is good right,
[44:43] like it's always easy to talk about what we can improve on and
[44:46] what we can get better AT and all that when things are going
[44:49] well, what we need to see, because it's going to happen
[44:52] because nothing is ever perfect when adversity hits, how does
[44:56] the team respond because it's coming at some point.
[44:59] I don't know when I mean you could argue it's already started
[45:01] right, with the injuries right, but I mean injuries and then we
[45:04] might lose this match, whatever. When those kinds of things start
[45:08] happening, how does the team respond to that that because
[45:11] that will tell me how connected this group is to me.
[45:13] It looks connected right now, but it's easy to say that only
[45:15] in the season 6 matches. Then when that happens, what do
[45:18] they look like? That's what I want to see.
[45:19] Yeah, exactly. I would agree with that.
[45:21] Some someone said seven games consecutive wins for Boston last
[45:25] season. I think it was McManaman who was
[45:27] saying that would be nice to, you know, Madrid to go over that
[45:31] seven wins in a row going forward.
[45:34] But again, we have Athletic coming up so.
[45:36] Listen, I, I would love to continue going to athletic,
[45:39] still unbeaten, right? And then honestly, a, a, a place
[45:43] that has historically been quickly in the league campaign
[45:45] just for whatever reason, a House of horrors for us, right,
[45:48] to win, to win matches. What a statement that would be
[45:51] for Jabi in his first in his first Derby, right?
[45:53] To get a win right and walk up. That would be huge.
[45:58] And talk about a confidence booster for the squad.
[46:00] Shit, man, this team, you do that, they might go on a high
[46:04] through the international break and then, you know, who knows
[46:06] what happens after that. So anyway, listen, it's Levante
[46:12] is your classic trap game, right?
[46:14] Because it's like O2. They'll lower the seats.
[46:17] You don't worry about them. We gotta let yeah, you look
[46:18] ahead to athletic and you get stung on Tuesday by by Levante,
[46:22] so I think. Do a good job of keep it
[46:26] focused. Yeah, for sure.
[46:28] All right, guys, thank you all for tuning in again.
[46:31] Please like the video, add your comments in the bottom share
[46:35] subscribe. I'll tell your friends if you
[46:37] want the audio only version of this, we're on Apple, we're on
[46:40] Spotify, so you can download it there real deal.
[46:44] And until next time, that is Le Conte, that's Talib, I'm Jerrod
[46:47] and we will see you guys later. Bye.
[46:50] Take care. See you.
[46:56] All right, boys.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.