# Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid Postgame Breakdown

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 11 Jan 2026, 53 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/113837655/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-11%2F415915709-44100-2-6b2e4728476dc.mp3

Jarod Hector and Sid react to the Supercup final. Real Madrid played surprisingly well despite the result and obvious limitations in the squad: what can we take away from this game and going forward?

## Transcript

[0:01] Hello and welcome to The Real Deal, a Real Madrid podcast with
[0:05] me, Jerrod Hector. I am joined by Sid Ramsundar.
[0:08] Sid, what's up? Pleasantly surprised.
[0:11] I was normally if we're not favorites in this game, Jerrod,
[0:15] I'm super nervous. I expect something to go wrong.
[0:18] I expect like to, you know, if we lose the last couple years
[0:22] it's been sad, but I feel like we got something from this.
[0:25] I'm not as sad and I'm proud of the boys.
[0:27] I'm proud of the boys and defeat.
[0:30] Are are is this are you at cope stage?
[0:32] And that's what is that what's happening right now that we see
[0:35] matches where you're like, damn, maybe we should have gotten
[0:37] blown out like 5 nil and we didn't.
[0:39] So 32 we had a chance to take it to to penalties.
[0:43] Hey. Hey, honestly I see a game that
[0:45] if if something didn't fall the wrong way, we win.
[0:48] And I'm proud for that reason. I really think considering we
[0:51] couldn't pass and we still were there like wow.
[0:54] I just, I don't know what sort of sorcery was going on, but we
[0:57] weren't there for a lot of it. We'll we'll we'll get into the
[1:00] bigger picture and all that and stuff that Sid's been saying.
[1:04] You know what we've been saying on this pod, what Sid's been
[1:06] saying, you know, there's a lot to get into, but thank you guys
[1:09] all for being here joining us on the stream.
[1:11] Please like this video. It helps us to share it with
[1:14] your friends. Subscribe.
[1:15] It'll also be on Apple Spotify later if you wanna listen back
[1:17] to the audio. Real Madrid 32 lost in the Super
[1:21] Cup of final to Barcelona in the latest edition of El Classico.
[1:25] Let's start with the lineup, Sid.
[1:27] So basically we ran it with the exception of housing because
[1:31] Rudiger's hurt. We ran it back with the same
[1:33] people except for housing in Rudiger's spot as they but the.
[1:37] Different shape though, right with yes so since he was going
[1:40] to right back to many to handle Lewandowski's but.
[1:44] Dropped in the center back. And Fede's moving up to the
[1:47] right midfield role. And what do you think there?
[1:50] I thought Lecante pointed out. Well, I thought Fede was.
[1:54] It's funny because when he was on the pitch, I thought he had a
[1:56] middling game. Was.
[1:57] Great. And I thought, but then as soon
[1:58] as he got taken up, he left. You were like, wait, what the?
[2:01] Right, right. But just for starters, I think
[2:05] looking at that line up like it, we were obviously going to have
[2:08] to press him higher. But the big worry is, you know,
[2:11] can Ascencio handle his fullback duties decently and then can
[2:15] chew him any handle Lewandowski? And I think it's interesting
[2:19] that, like, you know, another thing, when we're not favorites,
[2:22] we don't play well. But those things didn't go well
[2:24] and we were still there, Gerard. Which is what I.
[2:26] Find so interesting about this game.
[2:28] I would say so it's obvious that with with the shape and with the
[2:32] line up, the goal was to sit back in a mid to low block and
[2:36] counter, right. That was that was Javi's game
[2:39] plan because as you see, we did not press high right at all
[2:43] initially, right. And that was before the cooling
[2:45] break. I was like up until the cooling
[2:46] break, once the cooling break, after the cooling, things
[2:49] shifted a little. But I will say that up until the
[2:51] cooling break, Jabi's game plan was pretty clear, and we're
[2:53] doing pretty well with that. Well, I feel like the plan was
[2:56] to kind of press strategically and win the second ball.
[3:01] Like Gonzalo was really on their pivot a lot.
[3:04] He was marking their holding midfielder really tight.
[3:07] And I feel like the goal was to kind of let Barcelona play fast
[3:12] and take advantage of turnovers in that context, like set a trap
[3:15] for them and. Except in that first before the
[3:17] cooling break, though said they were not playing fast.
[3:20] Like weren't they weren't Well, so that's the thing.
[3:22] I feel like we saw a very cautious and scared Barcelona
[3:26] like flick. I feel like.
[3:27] And when those ball when the ball came back from with Vinny,
[3:29] each time I thought he got progressively more scared.
[3:32] He's like slow it down. They they don't really play this
[3:35] risk free. Barcelona played a very risk
[3:38] free game, almost in fear of us in transition.
[3:41] And it but it didn't really work because Vinnie kind of murdered
[3:45] them in transition, right? He was a a big protagonist
[3:47] today. Now, you know, we'll get into
[3:50] chronologically sort of, yes. He had the brilliant goal and
[3:54] the individual effort just outstanding a goal.
[3:56] He needed a goal we needed desperately on the second-half,
[3:59] though, which we'll get to that later.
[4:01] But so, yeah, I would say up until the cool, the cooling
[4:03] breaks in, we were looking pretty good.
[4:06] We had them playing slow and out wide right.
[4:08] And one of the things that I talk about Laconte all the time
[4:11] is, is that you can have possession all you want if
[4:13] you're not, if you don't have it in dangerous areas, right?
[4:15] And up until the cooling break, they did not really have it in
[4:17] dangerous areas, right? Like we kept them out wide right
[4:20] and we were and we were staying behind the ball.
[4:22] Now, once the cooling break hit, things changed a little bit.
[4:27] Well, up till the cooling break, I think Vinnie, well, it's
[4:30] interesting because like before the goal, he's he's like making
[4:33] the right runs, but he's still quite wasteful.
[4:36] Like like extremely wasteful, honestly, with a couple of the
[4:39] chances and Gonzalo Garcia and Rodrigo were not supporting them
[4:43] too much. And I think there was a moment
[4:45] where Garcia even got open before the cooling break and
[4:47] that I think marked the end of yeah, like near goal.
[4:50] He was one-on-one. And I think that kind.
[4:52] Of yes, that that was the one to his right.
[4:53] Like he probably should have let it run across him a little bit.
[4:55] He didn't get any power on it and he was that shot.
[4:57] Yeah, yeah. So we get the game plan works
[5:01] really well, and then, yeah, the cooling break hits the ball,
[5:04] pressure just drops off and they get their goal like first, like
[5:10] it's a lot of giveaways. It's like the goal was just a
[5:13] giveaway in possession. I feel like what happened.
[5:15] Was well. Yeah, we're, we're just not
[5:17] doing much on the ball. I want to be clear, like some of
[5:20] our better sequences are good with Vinny getting in behind,
[5:23] but in general, like there was a lack of overall protagonism on
[5:27] the ball. I would say between yes
[5:29] Bellingham, Camel Bingo we were struggling to maintain time on
[5:32] the ball and if you remember that goal, it was just a clean
[5:35] giveaway from our midfield straight to Rafinia.
[5:38] Yeah, the the midfield was bad today in terms of giving the
[5:41] ball away, you know, and part of the problem was, I think
[5:45] dropping Chuameni into center back because it took him away
[5:50] from like it's a weird way in which his instincts now, those
[5:53] first fourteen games of the season where he was playing like
[5:56] the best DM in the world, creating the pivot, right and
[5:59] and helping us in our build up. Still not not where we'd want
[6:02] him to be, but better than what he's been showing lately.
[6:05] It's like all of a sudden he's regressed back again when it
[6:08] comes to like, because it's almost like he's neutered,
[6:11] right? Like, oh crap, if I I got to
[6:13] stay back here. So if Jude makes a back pass to
[6:16] him or to Kema Vinga, they're retreating as opposed to let me
[6:21] be an outlet for Jude so I can then take the ball and help and
[6:24] help in our in our in our build up.
[6:25] And that I thought was a real problem for US post post a
[6:28] cooling break and we could not string together, I don't know,
[6:32] more than three passes. 4 like not even 2 like it was just bad.
[6:37] No, it was and I will say it at this moment I think we are
[6:40] capable of playing a good 30 minutes defensively even with
[6:43] our flaws. Can't play 90?
[6:45] No, but but at that point they're up one nil.
[6:48] We can't construct moves at midfield and like that maybe our
[6:52] good stretch is gone, we're down.
[6:53] And I will say, Jerrod, what transpired over the next half
[6:56] hour, both the end of the first half and the start of the
[6:58] second-half was impressive, extremely impressive from our
[7:02] guys. Like we were down one nil.
[7:04] I thought it was over. And the fact that we kept the
[7:06] way we fought from there and even in the 90th minute, like
[7:09] all the way till the very end, just point blank missing
[7:11] chances, hitting it straight to Joanne.
[7:13] I thought the fight from there because at that moment, one nil
[7:16] down, Ruffinia scores. We've seen this so many times,
[7:18] it's usually over. It's avalanche comes.
[7:20] Yep, and I think they got another chance even.
[7:23] And I was starting to get apathetic.
[7:24] Yeah, they did. I was starting to wonder what it
[7:26] is. Then how do you explain Vinnie?
[7:28] I think there are two things. One like that was just
[7:31] ridiculous out of nowhere. Incredible.
[7:33] But how do you? Explain the guy's struggling to
[7:35] create separation and then suddenly he just suddenly like
[7:38] from from that goal, that moment on like amazing dribble if you
[7:41] haven't. Watched it like through.
[7:43] The team from there, like one of the touches he takes was one of
[7:46] those like magic Vinnie, like space-time touches that like
[7:48] used to exist. And from there he's like a
[7:51] second ball magnet the whole game.
[7:53] He's tracking back harder. He plays way better the rest of
[7:56] the game and but that first goal I thought was awesome and it was
[7:59] kind of like, you know, two years ago in the Spanish Super
[8:01] Cup, like he really scored and it took him to a new level for
[8:04] the rest of the season. Yep.
[8:06] I feel like we I feel like he could have got his spark back.
[8:08] What do you think? Listen, I hope he did.
[8:11] I'm going to get to his break his his goal.
[8:13] And I will say that sort of often your goal.
[8:15] Remember he had a chance just before that.
[8:17] It was actually easier that he messed up, right.
[8:19] So we were starting to leak a little bit and and give up, give
[8:22] up some chances. OK, It's one nil, we get the
[8:24] ball, we get a turnover, we get the ball to Vinny and he just
[8:28] does again, this feat of billiard, that magic touch you
[8:31] mentioned and then his pace and what I saw said if it was
[8:34] Kubarsay or Kunde, didn't matter.
[8:36] He knew I can beat these guys today in a foot race, whatever
[8:39] it was today he had his super Jews.
[8:41] I don't know. But today he was like, anytime
[8:44] I'm back with either one of these people, I'm going to cook
[8:47] them in a race. And he did, right.
[8:49] He cuts back inside Nutmegs right and gets beautiful shot
[8:52] across to across Garcia to go up to go 11 and you can see this
[8:56] weight lifted off him in that moment and off the team.
[9:00] And even though right after that Lewandowski scored because of a
[9:04] mistake by Chuomeni, by the way, the space between Chuomeni and
[9:07] Houston on that, or was it too many in a sense, I don't even
[9:09] remember. It was horrible, man.
[9:12] Horrible, I mean. You can, you can park a freaking
[9:15] 3 Mac trucks to the space between them.
[9:16] I was like what what what is happening right now?
[9:18] Why are you guys so far apart? So Lewandowski just gets right
[9:21] between them and you know, it goes up to 1 and then Madrid, to
[9:26] your point, keeps. This is the thing we talk about
[9:28] this team, right? They go down one nil or two one.
[9:31] We often see them give up, right?
[9:33] And that's it Like this is a thing that happened last year
[9:35] and we're like, all right, it's over.
[9:36] They fought back again. That beautiful ball in by
[9:40] Rodrigo. Rodrigo, by the way, moving up
[9:42] the the, the, the, the, the the ladder in terms of who should be
[9:46] our set peace taker, right, like he's delivering some great balls
[9:49] into the box lately he's he has found his his his groove again,
[9:52] by the way, as a player. And then just again, just
[9:55] fighting and getting the ball into the box And Gonzalo while
[9:58] being dragged down by I want to say for mean maybe or pedry.
[10:01] One of them was dragging on the ground and the wherewithal to
[10:05] ball defeat. Get it in two two.
[10:07] We go in in the halftime. Yeah, yeah, it was ridiculous.
[10:11] Like we, we fought back twice in the span of 5 minutes at the end
[10:15] of the half, Rodrigo for sure going up the depth chart.
[10:18] And so I guess like at half time I'm, I'm just shocked kind of
[10:23] just soaking it in and I, I think the XG was 1.5 to them to
[10:27] .8 to us. And so.
[10:28] All right, Yep. So at that point on the
[10:30] aggregate, you could say we're still not like deserving to be
[10:32] ahead or anything just because, yeah, the way we play inherently
[10:36] means giving up territory, not constructing moves.
[10:39] But well, I feel like at half time it was a pretty
[10:42] straightforward answer to what we need to do and I don't even
[10:45] think it happened. I thought we reshuffle like move
[10:47] Asensio to center back, maybe move Fetty back to right back,
[10:50] move to a many into midfield. As far as I remember, I believe
[10:54] we just kept it the same until something had to change.
[10:57] We kept having the same and one more thing thought there was a
[11:00] lot of space on the right hand side for Rodrigo in the OR just
[11:03] for our guys. Like sometimes you saw Kemah
[11:05] winger going there to a many, but Rodrigo was playing on the
[11:08] left and I expected Alonzo to move him to the right.
[11:11] I expected all these positional reshuffles and a different
[11:14] second-half, but instead it feels like he just came and got
[11:17] them all to play tighter. Like they were just tied to
[11:20] their man. Just more compact, not as much
[11:23] space to Lewandowski. Shomani played the same role
[11:25] better and the start of the second-half Gerard up till
[11:29] minute 70 when they scored up. Till we had a chance, we had a
[11:31] chance. Yeah, like basically if if I'm
[11:34] trying to box in a team like Barcelona, that's what I want
[11:36] the game to look like. Lots of like headed balls in the
[11:39] middle of the park. Scrappy fighting.
[11:41] Ball not going. Anywhere, and I will say this, I
[11:43] feel like we got screwed by the referees because they just kept
[11:47] tactically fouling. Like they constantly tactically
[11:51] fouled us throughout the second-half and especially those
[11:55] 20 minutes. They were getting nothing.
[11:57] We were getting everything. We were missing chances.
[11:59] Rodrigo missed a chance, Vinnie. Vinnie missed a chance.
[12:02] Yeah, and I think and hey, as soon as Fed even made an
[12:07] incredible run. Past and.
[12:08] Vinnie couldn't find him. So that was the place in where I
[12:11] was like, you were playing so well today, all you had to do,
[12:15] it's feta. Like it's not even Pereira's who
[12:18] we've decided you hate to pass the ball to.
[12:21] It's freaking feta. You get that ball up there.
[12:23] Feta's alone, alone on goal, right?
[12:24] Like I just like, and this is the madding part, right?
[12:28] It's the gift and the curse. You get to give the good, right?
[12:31] The goal. He was a protagonist.
[12:32] He was getting shots, breaking away one-on-one, all that good
[12:35] stuff. But then he makes these plays
[12:38] where it's like, dude, I just need you to be.
[12:40] And it's awareness in it's just being aware.
[12:42] How are you not aware that Feta Valverde has just made a
[12:45] beautiful run? Like I know you're on form, but
[12:48] when you're in flow state, just you got to read the Oh my God,
[12:52] it's feta said it's Feta would have been alone on goal by
[12:56] himself. Yeah, no, it would have been
[12:58] awesome. And I will say at that point I
[12:59] was upset, but I'm like, listen, if this game keeps going this
[13:02] way, we're going to get more of these.
[13:03] So I was like, it is what? It is, and we did get too late,
[13:06] which we didn't. Well, and so at that point, and
[13:09] someone's asking, we got rid of the right wing entirely.
[13:11] I don't understand why. Well, I will say this with
[13:13] Vinnie and Rodrigo together on the left, the other team was
[13:16] actually kind of scared. Barcelona were scared of
[13:19] doubling up too much on one or the other or they they were just
[13:21] constantly in their head. And so one was always open.
[13:24] Like when they were playing together and honestly, Rodrigo
[13:28] like there were moves where Vinnie was dribbling through the
[13:29] guys and Rodrigo was wide open. They could have combined more.
[13:32] They didn't. That was something people
[13:33] pointed out and but ultimately I thought the gravity they had
[13:36] together was working on the left and there was even a sequence
[13:40] where Rodrigo dropped and played like the through ball to Vinny,
[13:42] like the Carlo days. And I thought that dynamic was
[13:46] too effective to change. And I think ultimately, right
[13:51] wing or not, the thing that changed the game was Fede
[13:53] getting injured. I think possibly on that Sprint
[13:55] itself, like maybe pulling something and asking to come
[13:58] off. And I know I hate to do this and
[14:01] you know, people are going to get mad, but I thought it was
[14:03] just me. I look around, I, I read other
[14:05] people, I'm like, OK, it wasn't just me.
[14:07] The 2nd Art of Guler came into the game for Fede Alverde.
[14:10] That was we pretty much got chances near the end when we
[14:13] were desperate, but that killed our momentum from minute 70 to
[14:15] 90 and we lost our defensive ability.
[14:18] Listen, I think Art is an incredibly talented footballer,
[14:22] but how much more tape does Jabby need to see that this dude
[14:28] like Sid, like he is weak physically, right?
[14:31] Like he's not fast, right? Like he can't when he is, you
[14:37] see, it's like when he has the ball, the opponent just creeps
[14:41] closer and he just keeps retreating, retreating,
[14:44] retreating. He can't turn out of it.
[14:46] And like nothing, nothing. And if you're going to take off
[14:50] Fede and Fede's injured. So we had we had, I mean, we've
[14:52] limited options about who, who we can put on there, right?
[14:55] Like Arne just doesn't fill those needs, right?
[14:59] And for a club that wants to do what it needs to do, he is not a
[15:02] midfielder that can play the kind of minutes we need to play,
[15:05] particularly against big opposition like right, like
[15:07] we're playing against top teams. He will not work.
[15:10] So obviously no Barsa, no Athleti and none of the top
[15:13] teams across the European 5 leagues.
[15:15] Like it's just, it's very obvious.
[15:17] So that's an issue that that'll have to get have to get
[15:20] addressed. You know, the player, the, the,
[15:23] the person in the chat mentioned giving up on the right wing.
[15:27] You know, I think with Mesa Antuano coming in there late,
[15:30] right? Like that's another sign that
[15:34] job is just not confident in certain players, right?
[15:37] I mean, at this point of the season now we're mid January,
[15:40] yes we've had injuries and it's obvious, but look at who has
[15:43] been playing and look at who he went to in the substitutes,
[15:47] right? Like now Braheem was not here
[15:49] cuz he said Afghan maybe you think he goes to Braheem you
[15:51] didn't have in that instance well.
[15:52] He didn't have options I feel like, but I think the main thing
[15:56] is like could he have done something different for Fede and
[15:58] would that have made a difference?
[16:00] Is it the like, I think Sibios was one option, like, right, he
[16:05] could have maybe passed it around in a way Guler couldn't
[16:07] have. Franco, I actually kind of like
[16:10] that. But the problem was, yeah, I
[16:12] kind of like the Franco idea because you need someone
[16:14] tenacious who moves up and down. I do blame Jabi for this sub.
[16:18] I don't think Jabi should get sacked for that.
[16:21] No, no. I.
[16:21] Think. But I think Jabi sees too much
[16:24] of himself in Guler. Like literally himself as a
[16:26] player. Like, really?
[16:28] Yeah, I, I. Think I've told you Alonzo was
[16:30] not like some three. He wasn't some like honestly, he
[16:33] would look like honestly in settled possession he was
[16:35] overrated, like very overrated. Like he was a guy who could see
[16:39] like long passes vertical and play him through you.
[16:41] Like you see it in the way his teams.
[16:43] He wants him to play like vertical central, quick passing
[16:47] and he was a good defender who couldn't understand the game and
[16:51] defend Arta's like that without the defending and and that's a
[16:55] problem. Yeah, and I.
[16:56] Think he's like, OK, like when I was a player, I remember like I
[17:00] would get robbed in these games, but Mourinho found a use for me.
[17:02] I can't like not use Google air. I just feel like that might be
[17:05] it because you go through those games, Alonso would get pressed
[17:08] the shit out of against Barcelona.
[17:09] He couldn't do anything. He was no Modridge.
[17:11] He was no Cruz. He couldn't figure it out.
[17:13] He wasn't watching film and learning to become press
[17:16] resistant like we want from our players.
[17:17] But it wasn't happening for him and I think in Arda he sees more
[17:21] of the same like and I get it, but listen, it's not it's just
[17:25] once Arda came on then it feels like you had to bring on Killian
[17:28] because our just died. And I mean Killian, I mean, was
[17:32] essentially non existent, right? Except for the end where he gets
[17:34] the free, he wins the free kick or against the red card on on on
[17:37] Deyoung, right? I mean, in those 20 minutes or
[17:40] so, he got lively. Towards the last five with that
[17:42] and I thought like Barcelona did a good job slowing the game
[17:46] down, wasting time after this well and.
[17:48] This is the point, Sid, you see Madrid's clear and obvious
[17:54] weaknesses at this point in the game.
[17:57] I think we both agree Barcelona's not a great team,
[17:59] right? We, we, we can agree upon that.
[18:01] But here's what they can do when they have a lead and they know
[18:04] the other team is desperate to try to.
[18:06] They can just hold the ball and can, I mean, I'd say it again.
[18:12] We could not string more than three passes in a row together.
[18:15] Like this is great school stuff. Like that's a problem if you
[18:19] can't pass the ball because if you're only if you're only
[18:24] option is go along to Vinny or one of your wingers and cook
[18:28] your man one-on-one. OK, but now Vinny's out of the
[18:32] game, he's subbed out, right? So who's that person now?
[18:35] And that's where it's on the and that's where, you know, like
[18:39] people are going to blame everyone top to bottom.
[18:41] I thought Alonso acquitted himself well, Vinny acquitted
[18:43] himself well. Heck, like Mbappe in like his 15
[18:45] minutes, injured, like acquitted himself well.
[18:47] But Florentino not getting us an Isco or a Kovacic, that's all on
[18:52] him like, and people were pointing it out throughout the
[18:54] game. And that's why I find this game
[18:56] so fascinating. You can see it the whole game.
[18:58] Yet at 22, we were in a moment where you could do something
[19:00] that is coaching, that is quality and coaching winning out
[19:03] because we are good. But yeah, then you see the rest
[19:06] of the game and you see all the things big teams can do
[19:08] routinely, and it's like we're playing with our hands tied
[19:10] behind our back. It's ridiculous, literally.
[19:12] Literally and I you know, and so that So what does that do now?
[19:15] Because we have to because Jude and common thing have to do so
[19:18] much defensive work in the middle of the field, right?
[19:21] That leaves them not able to help out so much up front,
[19:24] right. But OK, Benny's doing his thing
[19:25] and he's he's cooking his guy one-on-one.
[19:28] But again, he comes off and I don't know how you thought how
[19:30] you felt about the the Vinnie sub.
[19:32] I mean, it's probably right because Chabi figured we'd have
[19:34] to press some more and Vinnie was getting a little bit tired.
[19:38] But I don't, you know, that's where I.
[19:40] Think Chabi. Chabi tied his hands with
[19:42] Cooler, honestly, in that regard because like, in terms of the
[19:46] Vinnie sub at that point, yeah, like just strictly speaking with
[19:49] the personnel on their physical levels, like you don't have too
[19:51] many options. You probably have to take him
[19:53] off. And there was a sequence when
[19:55] Mbappe and Guler and Vinny were on the pitch together and Yamal
[19:59] was attacking our Carreras and Vinny tracked all the way back
[20:03] and robbed them of the ball. And I'm just like, dude, this is
[20:05] cuz Mbappe is not running anymore.
[20:07] And you see Guler not running and you want to win.
[20:09] I want to commend Vinny. Yeah, he.
[20:11] Played well today. He played well today.
[20:12] It's. Phenomenal.
[20:14] I like, I know he was wasteful and I still have suspicions that
[20:18] he's been sabotaged, frankly, from our whole medical deputy.
[20:21] Medically, no. Doubt just from watching.
[20:23] Him. This guy cares.
[20:24] Like aside from all the leverage and posturing, this guy gives a
[20:27] fuck. I know.
[20:28] Like he gives a fuck. And oh, it's obvious.
[20:30] Yeah, and and. Like you, you saw how many times
[20:32] he still goes one-on-one. He keeps trying.
[20:34] He never stops even when his burst is gone.
[20:37] Well, his burst should never have been gone if the doctors
[20:39] were doing their job. But yeah, that I thought was a
[20:42] complex situation. And it comes back to this Guler
[20:45] situation man, it's it's tricky and I just want to say one guy's
[20:48] saying if Arda isn't playing as 10 then don't play him in such
[20:51] matches, especially if my puppy's on.
[20:52] I don't know how to say this. 10s do not exist anymore at the
[20:55] highest level. It's like saying play the pass
[20:58] first point guard who can't shoot Jerrod only in situations.
[21:01] That make sense? Don't blame that shooting guard.
[21:03] That's what they're saying. Play the old school center who
[21:05] can't shoot anymore only in garbage time.
[21:08] That's what they're saying. OK, then what do you want from
[21:10] this guy if that's what you see of.
[21:13] But like, it's ridiculous, Jerrod.
[21:14] Like you, if you're going to play 10 and you can't help the
[21:17] team control the ball and you're not a good defender, then you
[21:20] are never going to get that concession over and bop it.
[21:22] You're not scoring fifty goals and you can't do this thing
[21:25] where two guys who don't defend play together to get the most
[21:27] out of one. That's not going to work.
[21:29] Yeah. And with all that being said,
[21:31] right, we still had chances at the end that ball in from
[21:36] Rodrigo that to many let's go by him to Carreras.
[21:40] I don't know if he knew it was Carreras behind him or not, But
[21:42] even if it Carreras or who are at left back, I know some people
[21:45] are like, oh, but it's a left back.
[21:46] Look, man, you get the ball in that spot, my guy.
[21:49] Why are you playing catch with the OR pass it back and forth
[21:53] with the goalie. Just crush that shit and that's
[21:55] in and we tie the match right. Then we get the ball in on
[21:59] Ascencio's head and heads it right to right to Joan Garcia.
[22:04] I think you're muted, Sid. Yeah, people are saying my only
[22:07] problem was Vinny shooting directly at the keeper.
[22:09] Well, Rodrigo did that once. Carreras did that once.
[22:11] Like that. Our whole team did that, man.
[22:13] Did a lot. Yeah, that was a That's why it's
[22:16] been hard to bench and bape this season, because you can't like,
[22:19] having good stretches where you really don't capitalize.
[22:21] Sucks your soul out as a team, man.
[22:23] Like, you don't have endless energy.
[22:24] We're not robots. We're humans.
[22:26] Like you. You try infinitely hard till you
[22:28] get a goal, then you need to. You need a break.
[22:30] But like this infinite open-ended of keep trying at
[22:33] 100%, keep generating the same chance only to watch it to like
[22:37] be shot straight at the goalie. That's not ideal.
[22:39] And yeah, I mean, it is what it is.
[22:41] I I think ultimately, like chance generation is important.
[22:44] And I'm going to choose to be happy that Carreras got that
[22:47] shot. And then since you took that
[22:49] header. Yeah, I mean, look, Carreras is
[22:52] a guy, remember? Right before we started playing
[22:55] bad, he was the one who had that amazing Galato that he scored
[22:59] for us right line on the left leg.
[23:01] So we know he can crush the ball.
[23:03] He's just for whatever reason in that moment, and I will say
[23:05] this, physically tired players make mental errors, right?
[23:09] Like these dudes were gassed and you you could just see it,
[23:11] right? It's like, oh, you need like
[23:13] it's just the brain is just 1/2 a millimeter just slow right and
[23:18] and it these are this is what matters right like little
[23:21] margins. It could get to 3 three.
[23:22] Then if it goes to pens, we're in a good spot because they took
[23:25] off Lewandowski, they took off Yamal, they took off right like
[23:27] maybe it's different than who knows what happens but look it
[23:30] is what it is we didn't get blown out we played well I
[23:35] thought, despite our clear and obvious flaws and issues with
[23:39] this team. This is a very good question,
[23:41] said. What is the excuse from having
[23:42] such low physical levels? Because this isn't unique.
[23:46] We aren't the only club that has a very packed calendar schedule.
[23:48] And there's something with this team where it looks like they
[23:51] look like they have heavy legs all the time, Sid, all the time.
[23:55] Well. I I think firstly we would never
[23:58] apply ball pressure for the last five years consistently anyways.
[24:01] But because we had the ball so much was fine.
[24:03] I think the whole equation of, as I keep saying, like the
[24:06] equation of we never keep the ball for 30 pass sequences.
[24:09] So you're now defending literally twice as long as you
[24:13] ever used to, twice as hard with more stress.
[24:15] And just knowing you're not getting that next sip of water
[24:17] from Tony Cruz, you know you're going to keep running around.
[24:20] And I think I think that this squad is not designed to like it
[24:26] has a lot of great players, but like Vinnie and Boppy and Arda
[24:29] are not guys who want to consistently win by winning
[24:32] second balls. You want to kind of play with
[24:34] the ball. And I think that's where the
[24:35] Subs really showed like even the starting lineup, despite those
[24:39] periods where they're in the mud, they fought like I thought
[24:41] Gonzalo fought, they fought and like even Barcelona, I, I mean,
[24:46] I guess Barcelona didn't have stretches to where they were
[24:47] boxed as much, but I think they fought.
[24:50] And what it is is the totality of the profiles.
[24:54] Like you can't have Guler and Mbappe, like I said, you can't
[24:57] have a 10 who doesn't want to defend.
[24:58] And then also the tendency of these guys to want to win with
[25:03] the ball means you're good. Hold on.
[25:05] One second, keep going. Yeah, let.
[25:07] Me just get to 1 more comment. Someone said we need Elliot
[25:11] Anderson and Vitinia or Enzo Fernandez, full stop.
[25:16] I agree. We we definitely need an Elliot
[25:18] Anderson and Vitinia or Enzo Fernandez, like so many guys who
[25:21] would help us in that midfield would have been ideal.
[25:24] But yeah, I just think that's what it is.
[25:25] You get those guys, you get oxygen because if you remember
[25:27] when we were coming back, Jerrod like it's it looked like our
[25:31] defensive shape and tactics were dependent on whether we were
[25:34] down or not two years ago. So when we were down in games,
[25:37] we would suddenly win every second ball, the playmakers
[25:40] would pass to the attackers and win.
[25:42] And I think that confidence, that knowledge of like once we
[25:45] win it, our physical efforts will get rewarded is not there
[25:48] right now. It's just totally demoralized.
[25:50] No it. It it, it's very true.
[25:52] And so you know, this leads into now the question.
[25:56] Well, let's start. Let me ask you this question.
[25:59] Given how we played, what do you think the future of Chabi Alonso
[26:04] is this see the rest of this season.
[26:07] That's a good. Question.
[26:10] Oh yeah, Chabi said in the presser.
[26:11] Vinny has to be sucked. I just want to put that.
[26:13] OK, cool. Good to know.
[26:14] That's great. Yeah.
[26:15] Cuz like, honestly, I don't think he would have been subbed
[26:17] otherwise. I'm fed it to by the way.
[26:18] So he did what he had to. Guys were hurt.
[26:20] Man, what are we gonna do? I will say this.
[26:23] The fact that I think what the club wanted to see was not
[26:26] excuses about the personnel, but do your best with what you have.
[26:30] That was today. That was the best.
[26:32] We could do the Athletico. Loss or or the earlier part of
[26:35] the season we lost by trying to play too slow and just thought
[26:39] we the other team would submit to us.
[26:42] We don't have that complacency now we know the other teams
[26:44] coming. We defended pretty paranoid
[26:47] today and honestly, I think at some point I think we created
[26:50] way more big chances than them. So if we can do that in a big
[26:54] game with these personnel, that's a coach you invest in.
[26:56] Like that game plan was honestly pretty solid.
[26:58] Like the 1st 20 minutes of the second-half.
[27:00] Jerrod, where are you getting that from?
[27:02] Like where? Well, like that was solid stuff.
[27:04] No, we. Listen, I thought the game plan
[27:06] was, was was good, like I really do.
[27:07] And I thought the players executed it as well as they
[27:10] could given their limitations. And not just the limitations
[27:13] physically, but the limitations from a technical ability
[27:15] standpoint, right? Like they did as well as they
[27:18] could do. All right.
[27:20] And I'm with you. I'm in agreement with that.
[27:21] I think Javi Alonzo has proven that I can make do with what I
[27:27] have. I would like some different
[27:28] things. But look, this is what we can
[27:30] do. Sanita's letting players eat
[27:33] Donuts for breakfast. Has to be in there.
[27:34] I mean, look, we we talked about this, right?
[27:37] This kind of like everything matters this club and I think
[27:40] the Florentino and the roster construction era side of it.
[27:46] This needs to be heavily, heavily criticized.
[27:49] We need to stop doing the thing, Sid, where it's like, oh, hot
[27:52] young 16 year old, doesn't matter what position they play,
[27:56] we're signing them. And it's like, OK, so we have an
[28:00] an they're usually forwards at that at that age, right?
[28:03] Great. Another attacking player when
[28:05] that's not what we need, right. But because you wanna market
[28:07] value and because you've got great relationships in South
[28:09] America and whatever and you think marketing and this guy can
[28:11] be the next whatever, This doesn't help us in the immediate
[28:15] term, right? We have, again, to your point,
[28:18] we could not string more than three passes in a row together.
[28:20] Like we need people who can help us do that.
[28:23] How about you find that person? Which, by the way, would cost
[28:26] you a hell of a lot less. Like on aggregate, Yeah.
[28:30] Totally. No, we need, we need those
[28:32] pieces. There's that rumor about Vitinia
[28:34] going around. I don't know if we'll get him
[28:36] Rod. No way, PSG.
[28:37] Is letting him go no possible way.
[28:39] And yeah, whatever. If Rodri's back, the rumor is
[28:43] going around there too. Just just just kind of sneaking
[28:47] around. But I I don't care about who, I
[28:50] just want more. Like you could get me a Rodri,
[28:52] just get me like a Vitinia and someone else as well.
[28:54] Elliott Anderson get me 3. Like just get me 3 or 4.
[28:57] He when Florentino finds a problem and realizes he has to
[29:01] solve it, he throws money at it, in my opinion.
[29:03] And like 2016, 2015, we ended that season under Carlo, not
[29:08] enough squad in depth. He goes signs Lucas Vasquez,
[29:10] Kovacic, Danilio, just stacks him up and we have like one of
[29:14] our best squads ever two years later.
[29:15] So that's what I want to see. I want to see like an indulgent
[29:18] rheometer to esque recruitment solution to this.
[29:21] Like just go sign. Like I want people to be
[29:24] disgusted by how many controlling midfielders we have
[29:26] this summer. Diller, Alex Garcia, whoever,
[29:28] whomever is, just go and do the thing and get them.
[29:32] All right. Here's another thing I want to
[29:33] talk about, Sid. I want to.
[29:36] Throw up. I want to throw up with the
[29:37] number of controllers we have, that's how.
[29:40] I'm like, I obviously we need to sign defenders as well.
[29:43] We need more center backs. We need more, more wing backs.
[29:48] I don't want to kill him because he, you know, he's coming off
[29:52] injury and he hasn't had much match sharpness.
[29:54] But even before the injury, Dean Housen's level outside of the
[30:02] first Club World Cup and up until the athletic game, after
[30:06] the athletic game, he's been once the athletic game hit and
[30:08] thereafter he's been bad. Is this a situation you think
[30:11] of? People got too hyped on him too
[30:13] early and he started reading his own press clip and I'm thinking,
[30:16] yeah, I am the shit versus the reality of my God, you are 20
[30:20] and not that good yet. Like you're just not.
[30:22] You got a whole lot more development to do.
[30:23] Well, firstly. I think he maybe got a little
[30:27] unlucky with the red cards but also is a little slow and then
[30:30] he a lot slow. He's very slow.
[30:32] He is slow so. He's he.
[30:34] He gets broken up in terms of minutes and then when he comes
[30:37] back into the lineup, I think the team's buildup is worse and
[30:40] they're leading on him a lot and then he starts getting erratic.
[30:43] He does tend to make risky passes.
[30:45] I think he realizes that the team needs him in build up and
[30:48] tends to overdo things. Whereas at first it was like
[30:50] they need me we're good. But at some point I think teams
[30:53] keated on Arda and all those small things happening meant he
[30:56] became more of a protagonist. And lastly, I think like the
[31:01] injuries are a factor. Like I think he needs to be.
[31:04] I don't know how much the injuries are down to him, but I
[31:06] will say like, he seems a little complacent sometimes in the
[31:10] sense that like he posted, his dad posted a pic of him wearing
[31:14] like, like these UV light blocking things and like he was
[31:17] shirtless and like smiling and happy when he was injured.
[31:20] And I'm just like, dude, like we're going through, we're
[31:22] literally going through a crisis right now.
[31:23] What are you doing? And I saw that and I was just a
[31:26] little taken aback. I'm just like, bro, this is just
[31:28] such the most tone deaf Gen. Z shit ever.
[31:30] Like come on man, He, he, his. Chill guy persona, right?
[31:33] I'm like, you're a little too chill, my guy.
[31:35] Like I need you to be a little bit more.
[31:37] Look, I think it's fair to say that you have to pair him with
[31:41] having him right? Having him be the main guy next
[31:44] to a non an an also similarly experienced offender is not
[31:48] good, right? Like you pair him next to a Van
[31:51] Dyke, right? Things are better, right?
[31:53] You pair him next to a militao, things are better because he has
[31:56] someone who can help him with pace.
[31:58] Like it's also to teach him right, like, 'cause he's 20,
[32:01] he's got to learn like he's a lot of things he has to learn
[32:03] about. We I talked about this dude, you
[32:05] know, if you're fast or not right?
[32:07] Like you, you, you know. So if that is the case, you
[32:11] adjust for that, right? And but it's things that you
[32:13] learn as you play, right? He's never gonna all of a sudden
[32:15] get super fast. That's just not gonna happen,
[32:17] right? But there are lots of not super
[32:19] fast center backs who are good, right?
[32:21] You figure out how to work around that.
[32:23] And he hasn't figured that out yet.
[32:25] And again, he's 20. It'll take time.
[32:27] But again, to your point, when you rely on him so much at this
[32:30] age, these are the problems we have with Militao being hurt and
[32:34] all that. It's just it we, we, we need to
[32:37] do some different things there on that back line.
[32:39] A rare Oliver. Was spotted.
[32:41] I mean he. Had no he knew where else to go.
[32:44] Like who else you going to play? Rudy's hurt.
[32:46] Miller's house hurt. You don't probably don't want.
[32:48] Fran or Mandy on the pitch? Mindy's.
[32:50] Also hurt Mindy. 'S hurt.
[32:52] Forgot. He got hurt.
[32:54] Yeah, he gets. Hurt when he comes back for
[32:55] like, months every time now, huh.
[32:58] Mindy has not. Played five consecutive matches
[33:01] in Lord knows how long. Yeah, no that.
[33:04] That renewal still biting us and he, you know, someone pointed
[33:08] out he's 3. Hoyson 66 took advantage on the
[33:10] Gonzalo goal. Yes.
[33:11] I thought. I think the set pieces I am
[33:14] somewhat impressed by like our work just as the seasons
[33:17] progressed offensively, like with Trent out, the Rodrigo work
[33:21] we've seen. Yeah.
[33:23] And I think this game also shows that the equation of this team
[33:27] shifts a lot towards applying ball pressure because Gonzalo's
[33:30] touch was bad sometimes this that it didn't matter.
[33:32] He was a big plus in his minutes, huge, huge plus.
[33:35] And like and just the way he marked their pivot.
[33:40] I haven't seen like, Killian ever defend that way, ever.
[33:43] Yeah, no. This says Kelly doesn't do that,
[33:46] right? I mean, that's not what he does.
[33:48] But you you accept that because he scores 60 goals in a season,
[33:52] right? So you're like, all right, it's
[33:53] a trade off. Also I forgot to.
[33:55] Say he only got we only went alive once Dion got sent off.
[33:58] But that does bring me to they could definitely have been shown
[34:02] yellows throughout the game and I feel like that was like a late
[34:05] consolation red and then we came alive.
[34:07] But but even then. Even up a man, Barcelona was
[34:11] still controlling the ball better than we were.
[34:13] I was like, they were about two. Two point block 22 point blank
[34:15] shots though. And we should.
[34:16] Have scored one of those so like.
[34:18] That at the end of the day, even if they controlled it, they
[34:20] fucked up and they gave those up and like, we just fucked up.
[34:23] Yeah, we we couldn't score. Yeah.
[34:25] Carreras, he can bang it in. It felt like a pass.
[34:28] That was a pass, not a shot. I was like bro.
[34:30] What are you doing he, by the way, I thought Carreras.
[34:33] That aside, I thought he played well today.
[34:35] Like he he is, he's so good on the ball, Sid like and pull up.
[34:41] He is also press resistant when Bruce was pressing him.
[34:43] He's able to turn, spin, get look, we talked about this
[34:48] before. We have one right now who's
[34:52] actually available to play. We have three players on this
[34:55] squad who are press resistant right in in Carreras, Jude and
[35:00] Kemah Binga, right? Like that's it.
[35:02] Like nobody else can handle pressure when they when they get
[35:05] it, they just can't do it. I don't want.
[35:07] This because there's a stereotype going around on
[35:09] Spanish Twitter that you get drunk before games and he's a
[35:12] retarded Englishman. That's not true.
[35:13] Like that's not true, I think. Everything we've learned about
[35:16] him, firstly, just his personality, the way he presents
[35:19] himself, right? None of.
[35:19] That is right. Well, if there's a guy who.
[35:21] Doesn't fly out to Ibiza midweek and drink.
[35:23] It's him. I know it's him if there's the
[35:24] guy who's not doing it but and and a few others.
[35:27] To be honest, I don't want to disrespect our team.
[35:28] But with that being said, I will say that him and Camo Vinga,
[35:34] just the combo of different positions and not consistently
[35:37] playing midfield, like people are really going in on Jude and
[35:40] yes, he needed to be better. Yes, he was not as good as let's
[35:44] say Spanish Jude at the end of the year, like the last couple
[35:46] games before Athletico. And I just think that he's
[35:52] learning and it's not his perfect role.
[35:54] And this is the game where playing that role is really hard
[35:57] for someone who doesn't come as second nature to like he.
[36:00] I know he wasn't perfect and I think if anything Cama Vinga at
[36:04] this point has played more in the base to be able to do more
[36:07] in those games. But Yep man, it's hard.
[36:08] He hasn't done it, controlled these games without Cruz before.
[36:11] Like this shit's not easy. And and he's another.
[36:13] Player Cama Vinga, who doesn't have a a long tracker, going to
[36:16] run of just playing consistent matches.
[36:18] When he gets hurt, he's also hurt for months at a time.
[36:21] Yeah. And that's why I think honestly
[36:24] I just think more would do everything.
[36:26] Like give me 3 Cama, Vingas will be fine.
[36:28] Give me 3 dudes, give me an Elliot.
[36:30] I do really think volume solves a lot of our problems.
[36:33] Like does Nico pass solve it? No Would Nico pass coming on for
[36:37] article for Fete have been a much better sub for us.
[36:39] Yes. We would have been so much
[36:41] better off with him instead of Guler.
[36:43] Guler is starting to piss me off in terms of how lightweight he
[36:45] is, man. Like dude, the guy just walks.
[36:48] Around and like he's like scared to go into challenges.
[36:50] The way he plays, he's like, it's like he can't get his feet
[36:53] dirty sometimes the way he plays.
[36:54] And the second he came on, I just, it was just shocking.
[36:57] Like, suddenly they're near our box.
[36:59] Like, I was just getting a tweet composed about how like we've
[37:02] like, successfully boxed them in and then it, and then I'm just
[37:05] like, wait, like what's going on here?
[37:07] They're suddenly in our half and I just had to change it.
[37:10] But yeah, I do think literally volume and replacing some of the
[37:13] tweeners solves our problems. Yeah.
[37:15] I I. Like you could not have said it
[37:16] better, Sid. This squad is very thin and it
[37:22] has players on it who are eating up roster spots who are not
[37:25] serving any purpose. Allah mehndi Allah Allah right
[37:29] Allah like it's just sabios in a certain to a certain extent,
[37:32] right, Like players who you can't play extensive minutes.
[37:37] Here's the thing, if you are Real Madrid Ted, this is how I
[37:39] see it. It's not about having the first,
[37:43] second, third and 4th best player in the world at depth at
[37:46] at every position. That's just that's not possible.
[37:49] However, if you are on this roster and I cannot play you 45
[37:55] minutes, 50 minutes, 60 minutes in the biggest matches against
[37:58] top competition, then why are you on this roster?
[38:01] Then you then you cannot be here because this is not a team
[38:03] that's trying to move up to from relegation or qualify for.
[38:09] This is Real Madrid. We're trying to win every
[38:12] possible trophy available. And so again, if you can't be
[38:15] available to do that, you can't be here.
[38:18] Imagine if Lucas. Vasquez was available peak in
[38:20] place of Fede. That would have been so nice.
[38:22] Just someone who's tenacious runs up and down.
[38:25] I mean that's why I think man. Shabby.
[38:27] You should have thrown Franco on bro.
[38:28] Why'd you bring on Arda in this game?
[38:30] I'm so mad dude. Why?
[38:33] Why? What were you?
[38:34] Thinking You know what's funny? I.
[38:35] Tweeted before the game that like I saw Arda's stats, I I'll
[38:38] pull it up in a second, but like this dude, he's been playing for
[38:42] a while and his stats have all dropped off and I just said like
[38:45] maybe he'll play a role as a sub.
[38:47] And man, that was that was the worst worst case scenario.
[38:49] And he did play the good ball in that eventually landed at
[38:52] Carreras, I think. But it's like, come on, dude,
[38:54] anyone like you're really bringing him on to do that and
[38:56] sacrifice and control Jaby. Like that's my big, I mean,
[38:59] honestly. If if Cooler is staying on this
[39:02] squad, he plays in the Copa del Reyes against the, you know, the
[39:06] the non La Liga top tier opposition.
[39:11] He plays in matches where we're playing against bottom of the
[39:15] table teams, but he cannot play heavy minutes against it.
[39:20] We're we're seeing it like I, I don't know how else to say this,
[39:24] like we are seeing it when there's an an opposite, an
[39:27] opponent who has a physical midfield, he gets bullied.
[39:32] Yeah, no, he does. And just look at his production,
[39:35] you can see, like, I know he's playing less minutes, he's
[39:38] playing deeper, blah, blah, blah.
[39:40] But there was a point when we were leaning on him to produce
[39:42] and control and then we realized we can't.
[39:44] And you can see the drop off in his end product.
[39:46] It's just falling off. It's not looking good.
[39:50] And it is what it is, man. I'm I'm really sad.
[39:53] And it's it's really sad because honestly, it's I feel like him
[39:57] putting it there is now amplifying the criticism on him.
[39:59] And but yeah, on some level, Gerard, though, like you said,
[40:02] you know, if you can't play this game, what are you doing at Real
[40:04] Madrid? It's tricky.
[40:06] It's tricky. These flat track bully players
[40:08] are not my type. I'd rather have like defense
[40:10] first. Guys, you can bring on a big
[40:12] games, we can also solve small games.
[40:14] But yeah, this whole concept of like the guy who can dominate,
[40:17] if you give them platform in possession, it's out of there.
[40:20] You have to platform yourself and dominate like like David
[40:23] Silva. Like David Silva was a great
[40:25] example. I just mentioned him because he
[40:27] was scoring 10:15, but he also helped control games.
[40:30] If Arta Guler isn't hitting that David Silva type tier, we just
[40:34] can't have him, Yeah. And look, all that being said,
[40:37] right, we had our chances to score and we did not.
[40:41] And again, I want to be clear, they want it.
[40:43] So gotta tip your hat to them. They are back-to-back super Copa
[40:46] champs. This person on the team is not
[40:48] that good Like they're they're not now what's the thing about
[40:51] us? We're not that good either,
[40:52] right? Is is clearly what you are
[40:54] saying right, because they were there to be had.
[40:56] And you know, we we we could not do it.
[41:00] Look, the question is what happens going forward,
[41:03] particularly Sid, when we spent, oh, is it almost $200 million
[41:07] this past summer getting getting Hoisin and Carreras and Trance
[41:12] and all our guys in? I find it probably highly
[41:16] unlikely that Florentino spends money again this summer.
[41:21] I mean, I, I hope he does, but I don't know.
[41:24] That's the thing. This.
[41:24] Guy has been doing this thing where he he keeps some pieces
[41:27] and like, no, he's been doing this for a while where he kind
[41:31] of just fills some holes and then he doesn't fill other holes
[41:33] at all. And I do believe some of the
[41:36] pressure on Chabi is is because he got Dean and Carreras because
[41:40] he wanted him. And they're right.
[41:41] OK, we gave you who you wanted instead of just dude, you filled
[41:44] the role. You filled the roles of people
[41:45] we need in the squad. Correct.
[41:47] Correct. It's the same as the first time
[41:49] under Saddam, they wanted for land Mendy and or he wanted for
[41:54] land Mendy. And basically what was happening
[41:57] is with once Sidon was under pressure in 1920 because he got
[42:02] Hazard, Jovic and Mendy, they were like he got what he wanted
[42:05] and if he doesn't figure it out, we're going to sack him.
[42:07] That's why all that pressure started coming out.
[42:08] So it's ridiculous. Like 3 or 4, you get 3 players
[42:12] and then it's you're trying to put all the pressure on the
[42:14] coach. I don't like that at all.
[42:15] I agree. And you know, again, this
[42:20] Florentino and the people that and the and the board and the
[42:22] folks that make decision about the roster, they are the ones
[42:25] that need to be really held to account right now because they
[42:29] have year after year put together a squad that is
[42:34] depleted. We've done extensions when we
[42:37] shouldn't like too early. Like what?
[42:38] OK, Carlo wanted the mend extension.
[42:40] You don't have to give you could.
[42:42] There's a report that came out today that said the medical
[42:44] staff was looking at it and saying, we're not so sure about
[42:47] this man. This guy has serious concerns
[42:49] about being able to play more than two matches in a row,
[42:52] right? And now, look, now he's saddling
[42:53] our books till 2027, right? And every time you make one of
[42:57] these errors, it compounds it because you can't just say, oh,
[43:00] let's go get somebody else in that place.
[43:01] No, he's on the roster. You have roster limitations with
[43:04] the size. So you have all these spots that
[43:06] are full of people who are not playing and it's obvious for
[43:11] whatever reason, either they're not good enough or he doesn't
[43:14] trust them or whatever. Job is not willing to pull
[43:16] anybody up for Castilla either. So This is why we get what we
[43:20] get, yeah? And I guess it's a little small,
[43:23] but looking at the XG real quick, 2.6 down to 1.4 US.
[43:28] It's interesting because we had seven big chances to therefore,
[43:31] but and like it felt like some of the largest opportunities in
[43:34] the game landed to us. And man, that Rafinia goal is
[43:37] just kind of crazy. Point O 5 Expected goals Point
[43:41] .32 on target it it hit it. Hit off Ascencio's foot and
[43:44] just, you know, listen, shit, the ball bounces funny.
[43:48] And like, there's a saying in golf, I'd rather be lucky than
[43:51] good, right? Like, sometimes you just, you
[43:54] know, but you got to be good enough for luck to for luck to
[43:57] happen, right? And Barcelona was slightly
[43:59] better than us today. That's why they won. 3, two.
[44:01] Yeah, I didn't. Realize by the way that Fat mob
[44:03] literally has like every goal like Gonzalo Garcia .19 XG .8 on
[44:08] target probability great. It has every goal and the like
[44:11] the type of finish they put that's crazy.
[44:14] It's beautiful. Mendi, Rudiger and Alibi need to
[44:17] go. It's here.
[44:17] So this is a perfect example, right?
[44:19] You have three players right here, right, who are some
[44:23] version of either long term injured or always injured and or
[44:28] too old and Jabi does not trust them to play extended minutes.
[44:34] So that's three spots now that are basically wasted spots.
[44:38] So your idea of oh, get somebody else.
[44:40] Wait, you have three spots that are producing literally nothing?
[44:46] Yeah, and it's just we won with some of this going on and he's
[44:50] just letting it linger. So I'm curious to see what he
[44:52] does. I don't think January signings
[44:53] are coming. I don't they're.
[44:55] Definitely not coming. It's very obvious that's not
[44:57] you, think Jaby. 'S shack I just feel like this
[44:59] is what they kind of if he wasn't going to get sacked, it
[45:02] would only be from something like this where you legitimately
[45:04] like showed up and I don't think anyone who watched that game is
[45:08] depressed about anything but our lack of midfield quality really
[45:11] and like sometimes the defensive level, but still like it's
[45:14] nothing's perfect. I mean if you're a Barcelona
[45:16] fan, how do you watch this dominant season?
[45:18] But like you guys get skinned because you're just your
[45:21] defenders aren't great like Hyundai's fried Kubarsi.
[45:24] If I'm Barcelona, I'm pretty worried.
[45:26] I'm like, we're having a good season and yet we struggle to
[45:28] impose ourselves at points and. Well, This is why they're
[45:32] they're not going to win the Champions League, right?
[45:34] Like they can score goals and their front 3 fours are very
[45:37] good, right? Like even Pedry and yeah, but
[45:40] they can't defend, right? Like Joanne saves them a lot,
[45:43] right? But I mean, look at Kubarsi's
[45:45] getting cooked, Kunde cooked. Yeah, yeah.
[45:49] And Lamine, I want to talk about him.
[45:51] He was good. I thought Rodrigo and Cara is
[45:53] phenomenal at shutting Lamine down.
[45:56] Lamine's honestly, like he's scoring the season more, but
[46:01] it's not like linear, I guess it is somewhat linear.
[46:03] It's not exponential. It's not some sudden leap.
[46:04] It's a linear steady growth. But like, people keep bringing
[46:08] up Lamine versus Inter, but I just want to say Vinnie.
[46:11] Vinnie did the dribble and scored before Lamine, you know?
[46:14] I hope Vinnie gets his confidence back, man, because we
[46:16] have, we have someone wild who can do all the same things.
[46:19] And yeah, I see you with Barsa, a team with the same flaws as
[46:22] when they lost to Inter, a team that like, I just think between
[46:25] Barsa and Man City, the way those teams have played us this
[46:28] season, you guys are not all that.
[46:30] Neither of you. Karifian, Karifian, whatever you
[46:33] want to call them, the Karifian Karif Nation is not there.
[46:35] It's Arteta Ball this year, baby.
[46:39] I mean, I mean US nor Barcelona would farewell against Arsenal
[46:44] or if. We're not good, Gerard.
[46:46] You have to spiritually root for another team out there in Real
[46:48] Madrid as the team that protects our legacy.
[46:50] So who's that for you? For me, that's Arsenal.
[46:52] They haven't won. They're not getting near us in
[46:54] total Champions Leagues. Man City hate them and like
[46:57] they're counter to all those teams I want.
[46:58] Yeah, it's. Arsenal.
[47:00] Liverpool's not good enough. I'd say Liverpool cuz I don't
[47:02] like, you know, Liverpool's whatever.
[47:03] I'm fine with them winning. Chelsea, yeah, but they're not
[47:05] good enough either. Like, you know.
[47:08] Hey, Chelsea. Winning with an interim coach
[47:10] would be on brand, but. Chelsea.
[47:14] Chelsea winning and then sacking their coach in October is like
[47:16] very probable. Honestly just go sounds about
[47:18] right for them. I will say this while touching
[47:21] on this Vincent company, Leonard, Karl, I think they're
[47:24] just thought I'd touch on companies comments on Carl, cuz
[47:27] Carl comes makes a big mistake, talks about Real Madrid mistake
[47:30] to them, to us. Carl that was right.
[47:32] Great. Great stuff.
[47:33] Great. We're gonna keep it going, keep
[47:36] it going, but basically we're watching you now.
[47:38] You're a lone player at Byron. The company had a.
[47:41] Great quote. He's like, listen, I only care
[47:43] if he doesn't show up in training.
[47:44] Like it's natural. It's a big team.
[47:46] And I just thought he was so mature and there were so many
[47:48] Bayern fans are like, cuz the rest of Bayern, they have a
[47:50] little bit of a German way of seeing things.
[47:52] Like we have to punish him. We have to land hard on him.
[47:54] Like got to be old, old school, like mechanical way of seeing
[47:57] things and company just comes in.
[47:59] He's like none of that, bro. Like, as long as he trains well,
[48:01] we're good, we're good. And.
[48:03] Yeah, I think spiritually I feel happy with company.
[48:05] If PSG win, I'll throw up. I'll stop this podcast.
[48:09] Yeah, if Company and Bayern win, I'll be happy for Company for
[48:12] sure. And.
[48:13] Michael Elise, who's better than Yamal?
[48:15] Agenda that agenda Nice you're. Pushing that, I like it.
[48:18] I like it. I do like Michael Elise a lot.
[48:20] He's better statistically. He's objectively better
[48:22] statistically. I get he plays in the
[48:24] Bundesliga, but his expected goals and assists, I'm pretty
[48:26] sure they're higher. Maybe I'll have to double check
[48:28] that. But but yeah, just thought I'd
[48:30] mention that because I say all that because we're not winning
[48:34] the Champions League. I don't think this season, I
[48:36] mean do. What more proof do we need to?
[48:39] What can we do? Like literally like I it's just
[48:42] not there, man. It's just not there and that.
[48:45] Last thing, Mbappe is going to go trophy less for two years in
[48:50] his prime it looks like. I think we're going trophy less
[48:53] this year. It's safe to say I don't see how
[48:55] we turn it around in the league. Maybe the Copa del Rey,
[48:57] something special happens. But what do you any thoughts on
[49:01] that? I know it's just stupid results
[49:03] based thinking, like, you know, a player doesn't define a club,
[49:05] but you know, it's Mbappe in his search for records just kind of
[49:09] hit a plateau, yeah. He he has look, I I think it's a
[49:15] couple fold right, like we have not done anything to position
[49:20] him in the best possible play weight to win trophies because
[49:24] the rush around him is not working again, not we could have
[49:29] probably won the league right, because parcel is not that good.
[49:33] But you know, we're not good either, right?
[49:37] So those those sort of lower hanging, we can't even win
[49:41] those, right? So we're definitely not going to
[49:43] win Champions League. And then Copa del Rey is a a, a
[49:46] tournament that as a club we don't prioritize or care about,
[49:49] right? So if that's the ethos from up
[49:51] top, like what are the chances the players decide to be like,
[49:54] all right, guys, we got to just bust our ass to get at least
[49:56] something right. I don't know, maybe, maybe.
[50:01] But it's, it's, it's probably likely that we, that we do not,
[50:04] we go 2 years now without a trophy, a major trophy, and that
[50:07] will be, I mean, that's catastrophic in Real Madrid's
[50:09] world. Well, it seems.
[50:10] Like Florence, you know, it seems like Vinny and the club
[50:14] probably have come closer on their demands recently.
[50:17] Vinny's dropped his demands, I believe.
[50:19] Where do you go this summer? I I think that's what the rest
[50:23] of the season is, if I had to be honest.
[50:25] Vinny, you are auditioning to stay on this team.
[50:27] Oh. See, everybody is the only
[50:30] people who were not evaluating the stay.
[50:31] We talked about it, Bellingham. And.
[50:33] Bobby and Bobby Camo. Bingo.
[50:35] Because you know he's too good to sell.
[50:36] Like you don't want to sell, correct At this point, Tebow.
[50:40] Obviously too many, because you're not.
[50:41] Going to get anywhere near 100 million for him yes and and
[50:44] because he defends he defends well.
[50:45] He does for well and outside the mistakes.
[50:48] Carreras 5. You said Dean, right?
[50:51] I didn't say Dean, but. We don't have really.
[50:53] We're not value for. Him, right, Dean Courtois,
[50:55] obviously, yeah. So it's.
[50:57] Like 7 dudes at this point. Trent, I guess.
[51:00] Even though we how many how many matches has Trent played this
[51:03] year? Three only bro if.
[51:07] He doesn't fix up soon. She's gonna enter Eden Hazard.
[51:10] He needs to like not enter Eden Hazard territory.
[51:13] That's where I'm worried about I'm I'm worried about Trent
[51:16] ending up as Eden Hazard cuz like wasn't this dude hurt a lot
[51:19] before too? Like he got hurt against PSG.
[51:21] That's why they couldn't beat PSG.
[51:23] I think what scares me is with these generational guys is like,
[51:26] if you can't build around the generational fullback in a big
[51:28] game and he's not consistently available, you can't build
[51:30] around it. Like Marcelo played most of the
[51:32] season. It's not like Marcelo would get
[51:34] hurt and play some games. He played small games, he played
[51:36] big games. He was part of the lineup and I
[51:39] think that's essential to learning how to defend with a
[51:41] player like that in the team and attack together.
[51:44] So hey I'm just praying that this ends for Trent because
[51:46] honestly if it doesn't dog him and papi are on like a
[51:50] 150,000,000 a year combined including bonuses bro. 150 mil
[51:56] and 0 trophies that is. That's bad return on investment
[52:00] folks. Real bad.
[52:01] And I get it. We we got them on freeze and
[52:03] it's baked into the money, blah, blah, blah.
[52:05] But I just mean it, it's just disastrous optics at this point
[52:07] because it's like 2 guys on three transfers and like no
[52:10] trophies, man. But it's going to be an
[52:13] interesting audition to close the season.
[52:15] Let's just say I think tomorrow's your odd to wash the
[52:19] taste off this. I'm going to we're going to drop
[52:20] our Barcelona Steve Kerr episode where we debunk the idea that
[52:26] the Warriors offense was based around tiki Taco.
[52:28] So at least we'll have something fresh.
[52:29] Wash the taste off the defeat, you know.
[52:32] I love it. All right, folks, thank you so
[52:35] much for joining us. Please, if you haven't already
[52:37] done so, like this video? Subscribe to our channel, share
[52:41] it with your friends. We think we do good work here.
[52:43] We want to keep growing and building for you guys.
[52:45] This will be on Apple and Spotify as well later.
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[52:51] And until next time, everybody, peace.

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