# Real Madrid 3-1 Pachuca Postgame Reaction

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 23 Jun 2025, 1 h 07 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/104496087/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-5-23%2F402626991-44100-2-9af5950820291.mp3

Jarod Hector and Loconte breakdown Real Madrid vs. Pachuca match at the Club World Cup

## Transcript

[1:02] The music is hitting hard today because Real Madrid has their
[1:07] first win in the Chavy Alonzo era.
[1:09] Welcome to the Real Deal in Real Madrid podcast with me Sherrod
[1:12] Hector joined by Lecante. That was awesome.
[1:16] A31 win down a man early the first couple minutes of the
[1:20] match. So let's just start De la Conte,
[1:23] just like your quick overall thoughts, like just about this
[1:26] match. So you know how we prepare for
[1:28] this podcast, right, Going live and it's like there are notes
[1:31] being written and it's like 6 minutes into the game, a red
[1:34] card, and you go like, OK, so all of these questions are out
[1:38] of the window now. So yeah, thank you, Asencio.
[1:42] Yes, thank you, Rolasencio. We had these notes all prepared
[1:45] and ready that we're going to go through based on some quotes
[1:47] that Chubby had earlier. And listen, that's the beauty of
[1:50] live sports, right? Anything can happen at any time
[1:53] and This is why we are where we are.
[1:55] But a three one win for Real Madrid in their second crew
[1:58] stage match, the Club World Cup. Nonetheless.
[2:00] Thank you for all views. By the way, who joined us on
[2:02] live. Please like the video,
[2:03] subscribe, share, you know the deal, do all those things.
[2:07] All right, let's get into it first, Lechante after the first
[2:11] match. I mean, you would have thought
[2:13] Lechante, that it was the end of the world.
[2:16] I mean, Real Madrid fans were going crazy.
[2:19] Sell Vinny, he's a bum, get him out of here.
[2:21] I mean, it was it was nuts. I was like, guys, I was like,
[2:25] yes. And to be fair, he has not
[2:28] played well for the last six months.
[2:29] He's been out of form. That we can be totally honest
[2:32] and fair about that. That is all well and good, but
[2:35] have you all not forgotten we don't win these last two
[2:38] Champions Leagues without Vinicius Junior?
[2:40] Like, that's just a fact. OK, so all of a sudden he has a
[2:45] poor six months and you're ready to ship him out and do what?
[2:47] And who are you? Who are you going to get to fill
[2:48] that spot? Like, I mean, who's as good as
[2:51] him right now? And don't tell me about Rodrigo.
[2:52] We already discussed that on our last episode.
[2:55] Yeah, we're not getting in the left the shiny new toy syndrome,
[2:58] right? Exactly.
[3:00] So after the match or before the match, excuse me, Chubby Alonzo
[3:05] had his sort of, you know, pre match press conference the day
[3:07] before talking about different players and he was asked about
[3:10] Benny specifically and he said Benny's doing well, we just need
[3:13] to help him be more decisive. He's a very different player,
[3:16] very unpredictable. And when he has fun, he helps
[3:19] the team a lot. And I thought Le Conte, those
[3:21] words were extremely important. When he has fun, he helps us a
[3:26] lot. The one thing I can say,
[3:28] obviously his form has been poor the last six months, six months,
[3:32] he has not looked like a happy individual at all #1 #2 these
[3:39] players, and I said this a million times, they are not
[3:41] machines. They are not robots.
[3:43] I have no idea about this. Maybe something's going on in
[3:46] Vinny's personal life that is affecting him on the field of
[3:49] play, but he is not playing with that big smile and that big joy
[3:53] and the dancing it. He just doesn't it it, it's not
[3:56] there. And so I think that is important
[3:58] because happy, fun Vinny. That's the best version of
[4:01] Vinny. And that's when we're like
[4:02] basically the best team in the world and unstoppable.
[4:05] Yeah, exactly that, right. I mean, considering all the
[4:09] mental toughness that he has to gone through, needing to hold
[4:11] the press conference before to cry about the racism that he's
[4:15] facing in Spain, Like whether people like it or not, it's an
[4:18] actual real thing. And with them, it's just being
[4:21] taken to another level. It's always existed in Spain, in
[4:25] Spanish football. I still remember, remember to
[4:28] this day, Danielle was getting thrown a banana on the field.
[4:31] But with Vinnie, everything just escalated.
[4:35] Before there is nothing normal with racism, but with Venie's
[4:40] just been taken those 10 steps ahead of like with the majority,
[4:46] I don't want to take anything away from any victim that's
[4:49] being pressed. I don't want to take anything
[4:51] with that because it's such a sensitive topic.
[4:54] Spanish media took. Spanish media are the ones that
[4:57] have around with this and have made this 10 times fold.
[5:00] That could be also one thing when you said that he might be
[5:04] going through some mental things, it's also the physical
[5:07] load. We have been asking the guy to
[5:09] do way too much for way too long.
[5:10] And there's a certain point in which you hit and you go like,
[5:14] well, my body just can't take this anymore, right?
[5:17] Even when we won the Champions League now I don't know how
[5:20] we're counting Club World Cup. Is this still?
[5:23] Is this a new season? Or I think it's, it's an
[5:25] extension of the of this current season.
[5:27] So we're still in. We're still in this current
[5:29] season. Yeah, OK, so a season ago when
[5:31] we won the Champions League, he's he's suffered injuries,
[5:35] right when Jude have to carry for quite a while until Beanie
[5:39] came back in January. And then from there we saw like
[5:42] a different beast. But he was already suffering
[5:46] physical issues and we were going to be on a position like
[5:50] this, right. Last season it seemed that this
[5:53] season more so, it seems that Angelou, he wanted to mediate,
[5:57] he's load a little bit by using more of Mbappe, Rodrigo,
[6:01] Bellingham. But ultimately it goes down to a
[6:05] player that might be mentally fatigued from all what from
[6:10] this. I expect perfection at all times
[6:13] because I have personality, I have color on my skin, if that
[6:18] makes sense. And also my coach has asked me
[6:21] to carry the ball three times as much as the second winger over
[6:24] the past three years. This, this, this really a
[6:27] combination of everything of that norm.
[6:30] But for today, though, Vini showed us exactly what we spoke
[6:33] on the last episode. We said he wasn't good, but he
[6:38] was understanding the assignments.
[6:40] And today we got a player that a lot more decisive.
[6:45] We got a player that had a pause to his game.
[6:48] He was scanning a lot more. And I even tweeted that he's
[6:52] such a tactical weapon. Like, I don't know if you
[6:55] remember when Angelotti used him as #9 against Manchester City,
[6:58] right? He was holding up, he was
[7:00] getting his teammates involved, got an assist for Rodrigo, which
[7:04] was very important, especially after running in behind.
[7:07] That's we know Rodrigo is not the most athletic guy, so he had
[7:10] to do a lot there. So he's such a tactical weapon
[7:15] and Alonzo has realized that cause so far on those first two
[7:20] games, he's kind of left alone up there running behind because
[7:23] Gonzalo Garcia is being asked to come back a lot.
[7:27] A lot. A lot.
[7:29] He's a lot alone up there and he has told the ball for longer
[7:33] than maybe you want him to or he has to make quicker decisions
[7:36] than any other player, maybe because he's very much isolated.
[7:41] But today he showed to you glimpses of what he's going to
[7:45] become. I'm not saying that he was a 10
[7:47] out of 10, right? This was Vinny's Champions
[7:50] League final against Dortmund performance, but this was a
[7:53] Vinny that I really enjoyed. Yeah, he was much better today.
[7:56] I thought he was much more decisive.
[7:58] To your point, he had clear ideas about what Chavi wanted
[8:02] from him, and you saw him trying to do that.
[8:04] And Vinny, to your point, is a tactical weapon.
[8:05] He has so much gravity, right? When he is out on the pitch,
[8:08] defenders have to be concerned about him, whether he's in form
[8:11] or not in form, right? You can't just be like,
[8:13] whatever, just leave that guy alone.
[8:14] No, he's going to track two or three dudes because he's
[8:17] vinicious, junior. And now when he knows, knows
[8:18] that he's able to pause up, right, do the quick one touch,
[8:22] get off the ball running behind as you're talking about, do
[8:24] different things to cause the defense to get into stress.
[8:26] So, yeah, we definitely saw a better Vinny.
[8:29] And I think, again, it's going to take time to see to see more
[8:31] of that. We started the match talking
[8:33] about Ascencio, and we have to sort of continue there, right?
[8:37] So this is now the second match in a row that Ascencio has made
[8:41] a not bright play. Now, you can argue, you can
[8:44] argue whether or not it deserved a straight red.
[8:47] I think because he was the last man back.
[8:49] That's why they gave it to him. But in terms of like softness,
[8:53] like, I mean, it wasn't like he was, you know, the guy that the
[8:56] striker on Pachuca felt the tug of the jersey.
[8:59] And anybody once you feel the tug of the jersey, you know,
[9:01] you're the only person down. You're going to fall on the
[9:02] ground and the rest is going to call it every single time.
[9:05] Exactly. So Casacencio has to be smarter
[9:08] in that position because where he was positioned, Lecante, he
[9:12] didn't even need to tug him down.
[9:13] You were on the right side of him where the ball was.
[9:15] You're going to just stood there.
[9:16] You don't have to do anything. But, and this is I don't want to
[9:20] say that Ascencio rested on his laurels.
[9:25] I don't think that's the case. What I think the situation is
[9:28] that because we had no choice and had to play him and he's
[9:31] shown us good things, but now because he's getting all these
[9:34] minutes, we are seeing more of his warts and more of the issues
[9:38] that he has to improve on, right?
[9:40] And that is an area decision making in those moments where he
[9:43] just needs to be better. Because even prior to the red
[9:46] card, that ball over the top to their striker was getting us
[9:50] every time because he was just a step out of position every
[9:53] single time. And that's an area where he
[9:54] needs to be better at. Yeah, and comparing this season
[9:59] to last season, last season was a lot more individual, right?
[10:01] So his personality was shining through more throughout those.
[10:06] This season now with Alonzo, he has to be a lot more collective.
[10:09] He needs to be more in line and that's where deficiencies are
[10:12] starting to show. We already you already set 2
[10:15] critical but errors 2 games back-to-back. 2 experienced
[10:19] strikers have all the respect in the world for Salomon renown.
[10:23] He's been a player that's been around for like 1415 years now
[10:27] one time. Yeah, he's 35.
[10:29] Whatever. You know he's but he's old.
[10:32] We also have to remember that. And you're young and your
[10:35] partner in defense, he's also young.
[10:38] And it's like you don't have to do that.
[10:43] Let it be, try to recover, maybe challenge him a little bit to
[10:47] make it uncomfortable. Just add mental issue, not
[10:50] mental issues, sorry. Just add mental stress, Right,
[10:54] right. Well, don't just so, because you
[10:57] can tell from the action right when it was immediately looking
[11:00] for that challenge and immediately do that.
[11:02] The moment when he doesn't get that challenge, the moment when
[11:05] he doesn't get the hands here is the moment when all of his plan
[11:10] falls apart. You're probably leading to a bad
[11:13] decision making for him. So that's something that
[11:16] essentially needs to learn a lot.
[11:18] That's not the first mistake that he makes.
[11:21] There's been quite a few of them.
[11:23] Will I say that there is talent on a sensor, Yes, of course
[11:26] there is personality there is, right.
[11:28] But that's coming at the cost and now we have to measure the
[11:32] cost, right? Like, is all of this coverage of
[11:36] his even worth it for the team on collective level?
[11:39] That's something to think about. Yes, it's something he's going
[11:42] to have to dial in. And you mentioned he's young and
[11:45] Solomon's old, but that's where he has the advantage in terms of
[11:48] physicality, right? You're faster than him.
[11:50] You already beat him back to the spot once.
[11:52] So just use your youth if you can beat him in a straight line
[11:55] race. And again, to my point, he
[11:56] didn't have to touch him. You were already on the correct
[11:59] side where the ball was. All you do is stand there.
[12:02] And to your point, Lecante, he probably would have messed up
[12:04] and made the wrong decision, Solomon, right?
[12:06] Like either kicking off the wrong foot, like taking a dive,
[12:09] whatever, because his plan was this young kid is going to do
[12:12] something stupid and I want to take advantage.
[12:13] And that's what a sense you did. And obviously, what I think
[12:16] we'll see over time is ultimately that the pairing, the
[12:20] starting pairing is not going to be a Sensio and Hoisin.
[12:23] It's going to be a Sensio and Rudiger, right, Because Rudiger
[12:25] with that experience will not would not make that mistake,
[12:28] right? One, he wouldn't get caught out
[12:30] in that position to start with number 12 when he's there, he's
[12:33] not making that type of that type of mistake.
[12:36] But look, it it it happens. Young players have to get this
[12:40] coached out of them and like worked out of their games.
[12:42] And he's going to feel bad about this.
[12:43] No doubt. The team wanted they bailed him
[12:45] out in in that way. But he will, he will feel like I
[12:50] this was me. I did some bad things in this
[12:53] match. I do wonder if Rudiger getting
[12:57] minutes today was because of that red card.
[13:00] Right. I don't think it was even
[13:02] probably planned beforehand for him to even get the minutes.
[13:05] You know, because they even said they wanted to be slow coming
[13:07] back, coming off the surgery and coming back into it.
[13:10] And there what you're seeing from Javi Alonzo is and what we
[13:13] all as a fan base clamored for from Carlo was when you see
[13:17] things not working, you have to do something different and make
[13:20] a change. Javi is not seeing two games in
[13:22] a row where sense he was doing something he doesn't like.
[13:24] And he's like, all right, I you can't do this, right?
[13:28] You're not learning. You're not learning here.
[13:30] OK, so I cannot play you here, right?
[13:32] And so these are the things I think I think we're going to see
[13:35] big time here in a change from Javi versus versus a Carlo for
[13:38] sure. Yeah, and what we saw from last
[13:41] game to your point, right, two worst players on the pace that
[13:44] night, Lucas Vasquez and Rodrigo, 0 minutes.
[13:49] It's like, well, if you want to play, you have to improve.
[13:54] I have already said that I'm going to use the whole squad.
[13:57] Everybody's going to get their chances equally.
[14:01] I would assume that now to this point is I think that Frank
[14:06] Garcia is doing just enough to keep his space, but I don't
[14:10] think he's doing the OK. We do need to enter the transfer
[14:15] market for a left back because we do need to enter it at least
[14:19] from the first two games showing we do need to enter it.
[14:23] Yeah. So let's talk about Fran.
[14:25] I thought Fran's effort and energy level, particularly going
[14:29] forward was very good, which it always is because that's where
[14:34] Fran I think excels. He was a little bit better in
[14:38] duels today than he was in the first match against Al Halal.
[14:41] However, in one V1, he was getting turned inside out and
[14:45] like it. Listen, we know that's an area
[14:47] he's going to struggle in one V1.
[14:49] He's going to get cooked the majority of the time because he
[14:52] just doesn't have the hip flexibility and the ability to
[14:54] stay with really good wingers or people coming.
[14:57] And you know, look, Pachuca is a good team, but let's not let's
[15:00] not be mistaken. This isn't a top Premier League
[15:01] team or you know what I mean? It's not, it's not that OK, But
[15:06] he, he still struggles with, with, you know, people of, of,
[15:09] of a certain caliber. It's a bit of IQ thing, I'm
[15:12] going to be honest, right? Because there were times,
[15:16] especially in the second-half, when he could have avoided being
[15:18] turned. We're with 10 players
[15:20] essentially for what, 91 minutes of this game?
[15:24] Actually, no, it's 96 minutes because we got 5 minutes extra
[15:27] on the first half. So it's hard, right?
[15:32] Apologies, It's very hard. It's hard to manage those
[15:36] situations because every time he has to look where his teammates
[15:39] are and how much he can commit. Correct.
[15:42] But I say one thing, I've always said this, this is an issue.
[15:46] How about falling before, you know, like you're at the hallway
[15:51] line. It's not very consequential.
[15:54] Hold the player, try to smartly take him down and reset their
[15:58] attack, reset your team shape and go from there.
[16:02] But he wasn't doing it. He was just going back, going
[16:06] backwards, going backwards. And of course, when you're
[16:08] giving an attacker that much vantage, it doesn't matter
[16:11] whether it's Laminia Mall or Malcolm last game or today.
[16:17] I forgot his name. To be honest.
[16:18] The winger, it doesn't matter because he has so much space and
[16:22] time where he can scan everything.
[16:24] He's going to beat you. If one thing I want to give
[16:27] credit to Mandy is the fact that Mandy is very good at blocking
[16:31] those areas for attacker. Sample Prime is not good at
[16:35] that. He is very good when it comes to
[16:38] defending where he has to use, as you said, his energy, right
[16:42] when he has to up his intensity and coming at you.
[16:45] He can be good defensively. He can be burned with good
[16:48] because he has like good pace on him, good recovery.
[16:50] Even if he gets beat, he can still get there, right?
[16:53] But like today, when you have to be a little bit more tactical,
[16:57] you have to play on the back hill basically where you're
[17:01] consistently turning back. That's not his strength and and.
[17:06] He to your point, all he did was concede ground, concede ground
[17:09] every time. And when you are, I mean, that's
[17:11] the best place to position if you are the offensive player.
[17:14] Oh, this guy's going to keep ceding space to me.
[17:16] You're you're cooked right. You are at my mercy because I
[17:19] have all this space in front of me.
[17:21] It's in any sport. What you want to do with elite
[17:23] players that in a ball possession sport is take away
[17:26] their time and space. That's when they're ineffective.
[17:28] But when they have all day to kick around and sit down and
[17:31] have coffee and whatever they're going to cook you right you and
[17:34] but only players who are tactical enough to understand
[17:37] what's my positioning, how can I recover can do that right?
[17:40] You're better left backs and I do think you're, you're, you're
[17:42] better full backs. The Alvaro Carreras thing I
[17:45] think will happen. To your point, I I don't think
[17:46] it's a situation where he's done anything to say, Hey, we, we're
[17:50] going to, we don't have to worry about the, the transfer market.
[17:53] Madrid will for sure do something in transfer market.
[17:55] Just gonna wait till the Club World Cup's over.
[17:58] That's my opinion on that. It feels like they gave it a
[18:01] chance to this, but with the way how alone is using Fran a bit
[18:06] deeper not really to his strengths, right?
[18:08] You saw Fran at his strength when he was running in behind
[18:12] going on the space, but that's that's not a consistent thing
[18:15] because he wants Vinnie to do that correct.
[18:17] So normally you want a deeper left back, correct.
[18:21] Normally you want a left back that's more comfortable in a
[18:24] ball, can come on the inside and can also defend the white spaces
[18:28] correct. That's exactly Carreras right?
[18:29] That's. Exact.
[18:30] That's Carreras in a nutshell. That's exactly.
[18:32] So it seems that this is a trial where he's going like, OK, look,
[18:36] I know that Fran is not very good at this right now, but he's
[18:39] the best choice that I have. But now, now I actually will
[18:47] have a left back presumably that they're already speaking
[18:50] internally going like, OK, this guy has a release clause.
[18:53] He's not a very high wage. So I think that he's going to be
[18:57] worth to pull the trigger. So a long as he's probably just
[19:00] planning ahead ahead of time planning, I'm just going by OK,
[19:05] Frank, you're good enough probably for this World Cup.
[19:08] But I don't know if I really want to go into 80 game season
[19:11] again with you on this role. And I don't think I trust David
[19:15] Alaba's knees, for the most part, to keep up.
[19:17] Because Alabama paper would have been a good choice for this
[19:20] role, right? But coming off those.
[19:22] Injuries yeah, but it's not the same Alaba anymore.
[19:27] It's a post ACL Alaba who's just struggling, right?
[19:30] He's not the same guy and we keep speaking Rodriguez out
[19:35] physicality that doesn't matter. And even more for the players on
[19:39] the back, right, because they have to recover so much and the
[19:42] highline that Alonzo is keeping that adds and even extra load.
[19:47] So yeah, I don't think that Alonso is just going by Alaba
[19:51] comes back. I don't think so.
[19:52] No, no, no. Carreras is the move and they'll
[19:55] figure out a way to, as the backup, be some combination of
[19:59] Garcia because I think he will remain on the squad as a squad
[20:01] player and whomever else they can kind of look, I think.
[20:05] With this win today, we're going to see maybe potentially some of
[20:08] the Castilla kids give them some run at at that spot at left back
[20:12] to see what they can do because maybe one of them not as a
[20:14] starter over Carreras, but can be potentially, hey, they're
[20:17] better than Fran, but one of them might be better than Fran.
[20:19] OK, well, now Fran, this is who you're competing with for backup
[20:22] minutes, right? And we'll see what what what
[20:24] happens there. I want to move to Art of Guler
[20:27] and I want to start here because again in that same pre match
[20:30] pass conference yesterday Ardo was one of the players that was
[20:33] made available and he had some really interesting things to
[20:35] say. So the reporter asked him what's
[20:37] the difference between playing for Madrid and playing for his
[20:40] national team in Turkey. He said there I play all the
[20:42] matches so I have more confidence.
[20:44] I feel good with Javi Alonso because he sees me as a
[20:46] midfielder which is good for me. He likes to control tempo and
[20:49] wants more short passes. I feel more important because
[20:52] Javi Alonso talks to me all the time and and Javi said, you
[20:56] know, Arden needs to touch the ball a lot.
[20:58] That's how he needs to play. He needs to be very close to the
[21:00] action. And lo and behold, guess who
[21:02] started today and who was in the center of the park and then, you
[21:06] know, going deep to recover, sometimes next to true and many
[21:09] before before it says, you know, got taken off and true and many
[21:13] had to get put. But yeah, he.
[21:14] Had to get put back to center back for Chu and many every time
[21:17] that guy is getting a run to start doing his thing.
[21:19] Oh sorry something happened man. You got to go back to center
[21:21] back because we got nobody. But anyway.
[21:24] I feel bad for Chu and many because he even said that he
[21:26] doesn't doesn't prefer the center back role but if he has
[21:28] to do it he'll do it of. Course, because he's a team guy
[21:31] and he'll do what they ask, but every time he gets the momentum
[21:33] going, something happens and he's got to shuffle back the
[21:35] center back until we get healthy bodies back in the squad and he
[21:38] wants to do that anymore. But anyway, I thought Lecante
[21:43] Arda, wow, what a difference when he is injected on the
[21:46] pitch. And again, I don't want to go
[21:47] crazy. This is Pachuca, right?
[21:49] This is not PSG. This is not OK, but still this
[21:53] is ultimately who we want as our game controller.
[21:56] That clearly is the the the direction we're going.
[21:59] So he has to start getting his run doing that.
[22:02] I thought he was phenomenal today.
[22:03] It it Lacante just he has that profile that every Madrid man
[22:08] has been screaming about. Everybody wants Stiller and this
[22:10] person and that person, but Art already does all that, right?
[22:13] He knows exactly where to be and he's younger, which means he can
[22:16] grow into potentially something even better, right?
[22:20] He he's quick with his decisions.
[22:22] He can hold up play for that that pause up for that one
[22:24] second. He knows exactly where to be at
[22:26] all times to be a release valve and then to also say, OK guys,
[22:30] let's build up and link up and move the play forward.
[22:33] Exactly right. Like are the, to my surprise for
[22:37] now, both games, right? He came on on the second-half of
[22:41] last game. We start dominating just like
[22:43] that today. He's on there.
[22:47] He's just the fact that he's such a good tactical tool to the
[22:50] point where he barely makes mistakes, right?
[22:52] Which wasn't really the case last season when it was a little
[22:57] bit disorganized. This season now, where the
[22:59] players, you can tell, know what to do, where to look at.
[23:03] He's not misplacing passes. He's not working any play.
[23:06] He's not trying to be like, OK, I have to make something happen
[23:10] here or else I'm sitting on a bench.
[23:12] No, he's like, OK, I can calculate my moves.
[23:15] I'm already training with this coach.
[23:17] I know what this coach wants and I'm going to try to execute
[23:20] that. And the goal doesn't change
[23:23] anything on his performance. The goal is just him learning
[23:26] more and more about adjusting because that's every single goal
[23:30] that we have scored on this Club World Cup so far has been an
[23:34] Alonzo goal. It hasn't been like a lucky 1
[23:38] deflection, a long shot. It's been an exact Alonzo goal.
[23:43] I want those three boxes in the middle to open up the gap for
[23:48] the players out wide. Those players out wide then have
[23:51] to make the right call. This is where Alonzo's strengths
[23:54] come. Unlike the majority of other
[23:56] coaches, he gives the players a little bit more more freedom and
[24:01] that freedom place to the port. When you have players like
[24:04] Vinicius Order on this example, right, who can pick that pass
[24:09] and those credit Order is very good at waiting for that,
[24:15] waiting for the run to be triggered.
[24:17] He's so good at that. He waits for it.
[24:20] He's not just rushing because hey, we have to move the ball
[24:23] white. No, no, no.
[24:24] No, no, he's. Waiting for the move to be
[24:26] triggered, then then releasing the ball.
[24:28] And that's when you go like, yeah, that's what I want to see.
[24:32] I know that it can be Al Hilal and Achuka, but that's not
[24:37] really taking away whether it is Al Hilal or Barcelona, right?
[24:41] Correct. Because it's the thought process
[24:43] behind it. And when you're organized as a
[24:45] team, that adds such value and really a value that I was scared
[24:52] that we might lose. Once Madrich leaves, pose this
[24:54] right. But it's but it's Arda.
[24:56] It's Arda. It's Arda, he's going there.
[24:58] He is, he is, and let's be clear, folks, Ardo will have
[25:03] struggles this season. They're going to be moments
[25:04] where you're going to be like, Oh my God, but this is important
[25:08] now that he's getting these minutes now.
[25:10] So just to Lecante's point, the habits are starting to get to
[25:13] build up and the repetitions there and now he's knowing and
[25:16] he's getting comfortable with all the players on the pitch
[25:18] knowing this I so that they're In Sync.
[25:21] So he knows I know what but he's going to do right now.
[25:23] So he's already pre know that it's coming.
[25:25] Balls already released. Boom, here we go.
[25:27] Now we're now we're cooking, right?
[25:29] I loved it. I thought he made great
[25:31] interventions defensively. I thought in that first half
[25:34] running back to stop a scoring chance for Pachuca, which is
[25:38] really great, right? That was on an issue of his like
[25:40] his physicality. Can you do it?
[25:41] He showed a little bit there. I was really impressed with
[25:43] that. Again, I'm going to make a
[25:46] cross-border analogy. Arta, you know, Chubby said that
[25:50] he has to be where the action is, right?
[25:52] So in essence, the ball with him at his feet at all times, he's
[25:55] like Chris Paul in that way, right?
[25:57] NBA point guard Chris Paul has to have the ball in his hands at
[26:00] all times, right? He's like, he's literally like,
[26:02] Gimme, it's my ball. Like, because when he has it, he
[26:06] is in control, right? He's orchestrating, pulling the
[26:08] strings. I know who's going where.
[26:10] I know where that's going to happen.
[26:12] And Arda is like that in that way that when he has the ball, I
[26:16] make it happen because I know where where everything's
[26:18] happening because he can read the game, right?
[26:20] It's one of the skills he has is that he is a preternatural
[26:23] reader of the game, right? Some people, their athleticism
[26:27] and their skill talent, just they can overwhelm because
[26:29] they're so good at that and they use that to overwhelm people
[26:33] with Arta. It's up here yes, and it's that
[26:35] magical left foot as well. Don't get don't get it wrong.
[26:37] That's incredible, Although he did score the goal with his with
[26:39] his weak foot, his right, but I I think art is great and I was
[26:44] so happy to see him get this run and I think this is again a
[26:47] great building block for him and he even said it.
[26:50] He makes me feel important because he talks to me everyday.
[26:53] Guys, again, these are not robots.
[26:57] When your coach is talking to you all the time and instilling
[27:00] confidence in you that makes you feel great.
[27:03] I'm going to give you guys another example.
[27:04] So in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are in the NBA
[27:07] Finals right now, Chet Holmgren's rookie year, he broke
[27:10] his foot and was out for the before the season even started.
[27:12] But that entire season that he was out and rehabbing, the head
[27:16] coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Dignall, had lunch
[27:19] with him just about every single day.
[27:21] Just the two of them, one-on-one, talking and saying
[27:24] here's where you're going to be good.
[27:25] That's we're going to use you. Is there no surprise that last
[27:28] year he was able to hit the ground running?
[27:30] Why? Because his coach gave him all
[27:33] that confidence and wind in his sails.
[27:35] Like, as much as we love Carlo, Carlo was not doing that for
[27:38] Arda. There was no wind in his sails,
[27:39] right? Chavez giving them all the wind
[27:42] in his sails. And you can see it.
[27:43] He's walking around with his chest out a little bit.
[27:45] He's talking to his teammates on the field.
[27:47] We need that. That's how our guys get good.
[27:50] Exactly. All right.
[27:51] Like you have the information and you have the courage and now
[27:55] you have the cautious confidence.
[27:57] So for that reason, it's just working out.
[28:00] So speaking on that, there's a player that just joined the team
[28:03] that looks like he was forever there, Dean Hoisen, right?
[28:07] He was so good today. I'm like, Jesus, where are you
[28:12] ever, you know, like, OK, I know I was one of the guys that drew
[28:18] parallels between Ascencio and Ramos, right?
[28:21] I was one of the guys I was one of the culprits.
[28:23] I was maybe desperate because Ascencio was taking risks.
[28:27] But now I'm watching Dean and I'm like, we actually haven't
[28:31] really had this since Ramos and we have haven't even had the
[28:37] structure since that time, right?
[28:40] Because Angelotti just like to give the team a little bit more
[28:44] freedom on a pitch to do what they want.
[28:46] I'm not saying that it didn't work in terms of results, but it
[28:49] wasn't always the prettiest. While with Alonzo it's not still
[28:53] the prettiest, right? But you can tell that players
[28:57] are knowing what to do. For example, Dean, does he take
[29:01] sometimes some rash calls? Yes.
[29:03] He jumps a little bit too early. You know, like the offside on
[29:08] Ascencio's red card. He could have been quicker at
[29:11] moving. He wasn't so it, but those are
[29:14] the growing pains. I'm completely fine with it for
[29:17] as long as you're seeing that that guy didn't repeat that.
[29:22] As we said before, 95 minutes more of football.
[29:25] You didn't see Dean repeat that for one second, right?
[29:28] And he had some clutch moments clear on the ball on the
[29:31] defensive end, sure. Did.
[29:32] Sure did. One thing that I want to say,
[29:34] though, in Dean, this is with Courtois in a first hole, when
[29:38] we were getting pressed, especially the moment when we
[29:41] went to 10 men, Dean had the courage to move to the sides,
[29:47] tell Fran, move up, but Tebow was booting the ball up.
[29:51] And I'm like, actually you need to look because you have a
[29:54] center back there. That's literally.
[29:56] Like a midfielder. Take the ball out and he's not
[30:00] doing it. And I know why he's not doing it
[30:02] because he said that on on the presser of the last game.
[30:06] He went like, well, guess we have had four years of
[30:08] completely different football, right?
[30:10] And with he's been told boot it and he just boots it because
[30:15] it's his natural instinct. Goes back to your points from
[30:18] previous podcasts, right? When you said that they will
[30:21] revert back to what they're most comfortable of, and that's what
[30:25] you saw, the best goalkeeper in the world was reverting to what
[30:29] he's comfortable at doing. And he was putting the ball
[30:32] instead of going to that guy. And I know that there was a
[30:34] sequence where Alonzo is like, you know, like this.
[30:38] He didn't like it, but he understands.
[30:42] He understands that, OK, I'm going to have to take this out
[30:45] of this guy. As the game progress it, people
[30:49] became more and more comfortable, right?
[30:51] He was probably told, He was probably told don't do it again
[30:54] unless you really have to scan first, which he never really had
[30:58] to do with Angelotti. So when he had the opportunity,
[31:03] he was playing the ball to to the players.
[31:06] He wasn't booting it as often, but back to reversals, yeah.
[31:10] And, and it will, as we know, for Chubby's build up, the
[31:13] goalkeeper with the ball at his feet is critical, right?
[31:15] So that's a a habit that Tebow has gonna have to build back
[31:18] into his game that again, was gone for the last four years
[31:20] because that's not what Angeletti wants.
[31:22] But when you see Dean on the ball, my God, look how he looks
[31:24] like a midfielder. I mean, he just slaloming and
[31:27] threw it. I'm like, yeah, man, when he has
[31:29] the ball, I am not stressed at all.
[31:31] I'm like, cool, you go do your thing, my guy.
[31:33] I'm not worried. Like I think it's wonderful.
[31:36] And again, to your point, we it's not since Ramos, right?
[31:40] If we had center back, that's that's doing that kind of thing.
[31:42] And so I think it's wonderful because now everyone's always
[31:46] worried. What do we do?
[31:47] We have nobody who can control. And like, guys, I just talked
[31:50] about Arta. I'm not talking about Dean.
[31:52] All right, Like wait till when we signed Carreras.
[31:56] He can also do that. Oh, hello.
[31:58] Did you notice Trent Alexander Arnold today basically was
[32:01] tucked in the entire game, right?
[32:02] Like he could, he's essentially A midfielder, right?
[32:05] Like. That sequence on the 2nd hole, I
[32:08] don't know if you remember when we had Cebios Modrich Hoisen and
[32:13] Oh my God Trent. I have that.
[32:15] I have that in my second-half. Let's wait to talk about that
[32:18] because it's so good. It is so good.
[32:20] I was like, Oh my God, this is fucking brilliant.
[32:22] Anyway, but to, to go back to Dean, look, he, I, I tweeted
[32:26] this out. He's already a very good player.
[32:30] He's and he's 19 or 2020. 20 He's 20.
[32:35] In my opinion, La Dante, he's going to be elite and we're
[32:38] talking about like best center back in the world type of
[32:40] discussion like that is what I see.
[32:42] Already, to your point, I think he's elite.
[32:44] Yeah. All right.
[32:46] But I think like, ultimately, you know, Van Deck's been the
[32:48] best center back in the world over the last, I don't know,
[32:50] decade or whatever. I think that that's that's
[32:53] that's Dean sealing for me like best center back in the world, I
[32:56] think. Love the ceiling, yes, with one
[32:58] guy basically of undisputed the best you all are fighting for
[33:03] the second yes. That's kind of like how it is.
[33:07] That's what I see. Another player I want to talk
[33:09] about Le Conte is Gonzalo Garcia.
[33:13] So it isn't so much that he's perfect or the best at any.
[33:19] It isn't about that. What it is is, is that he has
[33:23] striker instincts and knows how to do the things that strikers
[33:28] are supposed to do, which is I can drop deep, hold up, play
[33:32] right, and then pass the ball off to whom I need to write like
[33:35] the best strikers in the world do.
[33:37] And then when I get in the box, I can lay the ball off for that
[33:40] beautiful goal, for order from that pass from Trent.
[33:42] Like I think just in these games, these two matches alone,
[33:46] to me, Loconte, he has done enough to earn himself the
[33:51] opportunity to get minutes next year, next season on the big
[33:55] squad. Now he isn't the profile we
[33:57] want. He isn't the boudemir, all
[33:59] right. We don't because he's not tall
[34:01] enough to head. He's not the crossing guy.
[34:02] Right. He's the crossing guy, but he
[34:05] has those in a way instincts that Imbabe doesn't have, right.
[34:09] Like he just, he just has them right.
[34:11] And so, again, calm down, people.
[34:12] I'm not saying he's better than Bobby, but I'm sitting here, he
[34:15] has those natural instincts to do those kinds of things.
[34:18] And sometimes in a match, those are needed.
[34:21] So I think he's done enough to earn himself an opportunity to
[34:23] get playing time next season. The simplicity of his game,
[34:28] right? You know what they like the
[34:30] most. I don't know if to be honest
[34:32] here, gotta give credit to Raul because Raul, like Raul used to
[34:36] be a master of of some of the things that Gonzalo was doing,
[34:40] that body movement, that trap that he sends for the defenders.
[34:45] He's just like, oopsie, there you go.
[34:48] It's out, your defensive shape gone.
[34:51] You know, the flick for the goal.
[34:53] It's just a simple flick, right? But it's just enough and he
[34:58] kept, we said we talked about Vinnie.
[35:00] Vinnie doesn't get in behind us often.
[35:02] If Gonzalo Garcia is not making those moves because he's
[35:07] dragging the defensive line, he's getting those center back
[35:10] such as him. If he's not involved himself,
[35:15] he's already created the involvement of the ball for the
[35:20] players on the ball to actually know what they're doing.
[35:23] So I'm intrigued to actually even see if Alonzo goes with
[35:27] like Vinnie Boppe and Gonzalo Garcia.
[35:30] Look, reality is that football is not very linear, right?
[35:34] You can fake shift a lot. We're realistically speaking
[35:39] today we played without the right wing normally because even
[35:42] when we were the 11 players, which was very little, which was
[35:47] like. 5 minutes way inside. There was no left wing, there
[35:50] was no right wing at all. Trend was still inverting.
[35:53] Because I thought that, OK, this might be the time when Alonzo is
[35:58] going to try to have trend more on traditional fullback roll.
[36:03] This was my expectation getting out when I saw the starting
[36:06] level. But no trend is inverting.
[36:09] You're still doing those rotations with the midfielders.
[36:12] Jorda is there, they're rotating, they're passing the
[36:14] ball, they're trying to clog those faces and they're trying
[36:17] to play very narrow, very slow because they want to utilize,
[36:22] they want to create the gaps for that left wing to attack.
[36:25] So an attacking trio of Gonzalo, Mape and Vinnie is on the court.
[36:33] Maybe that way you drop Jude a little bit.
[36:36] I'm saying on his positioning, because Jude sometimes was
[36:39] staying with Gonzalo Garcia. Maybe on that instance, Jude
[36:43] drops deeper. Yep.
[36:45] And Bapa stays exactly there with Vini providing us the main
[36:50] outlet, Bapa joining in. And you know what's scary?
[36:54] Once the ball goes to Vini, Bapa has the pace to get there
[36:57] exactly time. Exactly, exactly.
[37:00] No, look what you're talking about, like Conte is what we
[37:04] have been saying is going to happen with Chubby, Alonzo as
[37:07] the the manager, tactical versatility with these different
[37:11] people that we have. So yes, we have clear ideas and
[37:14] Chubby's clear football principles he believes in.
[37:17] However, because of all of this talent, it's going to be such
[37:20] versatility. You mentioned we might do
[37:22] Gonzalo, Vinny and Mbappe upfront.
[37:25] Hell, in another match we might do Franco, Mbappe and Vinny
[37:28] upfront. In another match we might.
[37:30] And God help us if we get a boudamir type or a or a or
[37:34] someone who can head crosses. We'll do something completely
[37:37] different, right? This is what we want out of this
[37:40] team is the versatility that the talent level suggests that we
[37:44] should have because we have so many different types of players
[37:47] and they have all kinds of special and unique abilities,
[37:50] right? Instead of just Vinnie one on
[37:53] four, you got to cook everybody because we have nothing else to
[37:55] do. Which is why he's dribbling bro.
[37:57] Right you. Know Vinnie was dribbling by the
[38:01] way to the Today. You can see his numbers.
[38:03] It's not that Alonzo is taking his dribbling away, but he's
[38:07] just not making OK. We have to dribble here to
[38:11] create the chance. We need that separation to come
[38:14] off a dribble. That's not happening.
[38:17] Dribbling is becoming more of like we can return the ball
[38:20] here. We can maybe enter better spaces
[38:22] if he dribbles and cooks that full back.
[38:25] But I'm not going to fully rely on it because I do need to.
[38:29] Maybe from time to time you're going to need to, don't get me
[38:31] wrong, because there are games that are going to require for
[38:33] that isolation and Beanie isonball, as I like to call it.
[38:38] But for the most part, you can see that there are patterns.
[38:42] And do you know what? The thing with the patterns that
[38:44] we're seeing, they're hardly impossible to counter on a
[38:49] tactical standpoint because this theme is coming at you from
[38:53] every angle. So let's say that you're going
[38:55] to block the wide areas for winning, not to enter.
[38:59] As we saw today, Pachuca actually adapted to it.
[39:01] Then Vinnie just started floating around.
[39:04] He was just coming on the inside.
[39:06] He's adapting to the circumstances.
[39:08] It's not that you're playing one way, one way only that gets
[39:12] countered. It's done.
[39:14] No, you're not getting that. You're getting an adaptable
[39:17] team, a team that is capable of doing anything and everything
[39:21] that the coach is asking them to and that first solve generally.
[39:24] I even tweeted at the at the whole time point I went like, I
[39:28] haven't felt for one second that this 10 men team.
[39:32] Yeah, but. It didn't feel like it.
[39:35] No, the the the ability to be able to do what we did with 10
[39:39] men, I thought was impressive. Again, even though it is Patuca,
[39:43] I understand that, but it's still a professional football
[39:45] team, right, who were up a man, right.
[39:47] And we were able to and that first.
[39:48] Goal. We played them on a final right
[39:51] on December. Now they're calling it the
[39:54] Intercontinental final because they wanted this to be the Club
[39:57] World Cup. Right.
[39:58] So they were not there for no reason at all.
[40:01] Exactly, exactly, exactly. They are a, a, a good squad in
[40:04] in the league they play in. And on that goal we scored
[40:07] right. This is where we saw the good of
[40:09] Fran, right, that overlapping run, right, he plays that ball
[40:12] in the jute and you know, Jude with his weak foot, right, hard,
[40:16] low, right to the to the to the outside of the of the goalie.
[40:19] I was like this team still, even when all else is lost or
[40:25] whatever, we're still arguably I and I'd say it's arguably the
[40:30] best counter attacking team in world football when all are and
[40:33] by the way, there's no one bopping today, right?
[40:35] And then it wasn't our, our potentially best player wasn't
[40:38] even there. We're so good at that when we're
[40:40] coming at you in those unsettled situations because the quality
[40:44] is just so high, right? And that's ultimately because
[40:46] Pachuca had their chances. They just don't have enough
[40:48] quality in the final third, right?
[40:50] And you saw it, they were unable to, to capitalize on chances.
[40:52] Whereas, well, then we at one point in the, in the match, we
[40:55] only had three shots on goal and three goals.
[40:57] And they had like 9. And at that point, none.
[40:59] We were clinical in finishing our chances, right?
[41:02] And, and they were not. But that is that's what you
[41:04] expect from a club like this. And it was impressive to watch.
[41:07] Yeah, but respectfully, you know, like we have Tebow, it
[41:10] felt very normal. I don't know, maybe it's because
[41:12] that Ancelotti thing where I'm wild of we're going to concede a
[41:16] lot of shots on the target anyways.
[41:19] So it's like for me that feels very normal.
[41:22] You know, like game against Holly Hill all didn't feel
[41:24] normal. When they have two shots on
[41:26] target and one of them is a penalty that gets converted,
[41:29] that doesn't feel normal. Conceding nine shots on target
[41:33] feels relatively normal because we have the goalkeeper that
[41:36] broke the saves record final. So thank God that we have him
[41:42] giving credit to him there, right?
[41:45] But that's become the new one for us, right?
[41:48] So when you're judging performances, we're looking at
[41:50] other things rather than how much is our goalkeeper bailing
[41:54] us out. No doubt.
[41:56] All right, move to the second-half.
[41:57] So we're up to nil at the end of 1 and again that we talked about
[42:01] the goal, the excellent pass from Trent into Gonzalo Garcia,
[42:05] who again, just a simple flick and get Arta knowing what right
[42:09] and a player who just a younger player typically might have just
[42:12] been in the wrong spot. So Arta knew exactly where to
[42:16] be. He's going to lay off because
[42:17] that's his natural instinct. His back is the goal.
[42:19] It's like a hold up play. I'm just going to go right here.
[42:21] Arta into his weaker right foot, right scores like it was
[42:25] beautiful. All right, second-half.
[42:27] Let's talk about that awesome, awesome play.
[42:29] So Javi took off Brahim for Gonzalez here.
[42:33] My thought was he probably wanted a little bit more
[42:34] control, which is probably why why he did that.
[42:37] And then he took off. Jude and I forget who would put
[42:43] in Modrich and Cebios for the ultimate control, but there was
[42:46] that play where Petrucha Petruca started pressing and it was
[42:50] Trent Cebios, Modrich, right? And the three of them were like
[42:56] a Rondo, right? Just working, working.
[42:58] And I was like, this is what we've been missing.
[43:01] Look, I'm saying this is what I've been trying to.
[43:03] Move. And it's all it was was like,
[43:06] again, if I took out the game, if I took away the idea of
[43:10] you're playing a game that would just look like what a Rondo
[43:13] session, right? That's all they were doing,
[43:15] pass, pass, move, move. But just to get the ball to get
[43:18] space. And once they had once the shape
[43:21] was missed, was was out of position for Patricia.
[43:23] OK, now we can turn and go up. It was beautiful to watch.
[43:26] I loved it. I don't think we have seen an
[43:28] action like that since we had Cruz and Madrich basically at
[43:33] where not youth but younger selves.
[43:37] We haven't seen a play and the team shifting a block just like
[43:40] that. So that was OK.
[43:42] They're getting pressed no problem.
[43:44] Didn't feel when Trent was getting the ball, just zero
[43:48] pressure. You just know that that was
[43:50] throughout the game, but especially in that action, you
[43:52] just feel that this guy just knows how to get the right play
[43:57] at all times. No Fear in there.
[44:00] You know what I liked about that action?
[44:01] That Dean was stepping up. Yes, Sebias was there.
[44:04] Dean was just there always as an option.
[44:07] Yes, they were disguising it to play between the three of them,
[44:11] but you need the supporting cast and this guy was just jumping in
[44:15] immediately. And now, oh wait, I have to
[44:17] worry about this guy because if this guy gets the ball, he's
[44:20] going to carry it forward and the spaces there.
[44:23] So it's like, OK, I have to to block him.
[44:24] So these guys are getting the time now, just enough time to
[44:29] not fall prey of any press and they can shift the body so well
[44:33] to the point where, OK, this ball is just not lost.
[44:36] They can get it forward and that's what they did.
[44:39] Yes, and this was the biggest thing that the fan base had been
[44:44] so upset about once Cruz retired, right?
[44:46] We were like, we have 0 press resistant people on our team and
[44:50] like, how are we going to be able to get us a lot of trouble
[44:52] and be able to build up Trent, right?
[44:56] I mean it's a BIOS has that kind of profile when he was playing
[44:59] well last season, that's what we love the bottom.
[45:00] We were like, man, this guy, it's that paws out, right?
[45:03] It's getting the defense out of shape and you hold it at your
[45:06] feet a little bit longer to get them to lean in One Direction.
[45:09] And once they lean in the wrong, OK, now we're cycling other side
[45:12] here we go front foot, let's move the ball forward and we
[45:15] have that now. So between Trent and Dean, I
[45:18] mean, now, even though he wasn't involved in that place, so BIOS
[45:21] looks like he's going to be at least a squad player here.
[45:24] So he has that ability. When we're getting pressed now,
[45:27] I'm not gonna be as worried as I was in the past where it's like
[45:30] we're gonna lose the ball now and now we're in trouble.
[45:32] It's interesting how the Madrid fans are understanding how
[45:36] unorthodox Alonzo is compared to what they expected, right?
[45:40] Because they expected, probably what I'm reading, at the very
[45:43] least, they expect that the Pep prototype of, you know, but no,
[45:48] this team is going to get just enough and those players are
[45:53] going to solve the rest. And that's why Alonzo was such
[45:58] an exciting coach and that's why they gave him that contract.
[46:01] And that's why they're giving him the players.
[46:03] Because they know that this guy is the mixture between the
[46:09] football that we're used to play and the modern way of playing
[46:14] football, which basically means we're going to be more organized
[46:18] as an institution as a whole because of this coach.
[46:21] And we're also going to still remain in our principles because
[46:26] he understands that some of the footballers are going to lean a
[46:29] little bit more freedom, right? But Alozo has himself pointed
[46:33] out. I want my players to know when
[46:36] when they get the ball and went to release the ball.
[46:39] Absolutely. That goes with Vinnie right on a
[46:42] second hole. There was that play when he was
[46:44] alone. Normally Vinnie there would have
[46:47] tried to dribble, but no, he just stopped the ball and he
[46:50] waited and waited. And then it comes from the right
[46:54] side and it just goes. Perfect.
[46:57] That's what you want. He you know that Alonzo there
[47:01] has talked with Vinnie already being like, hey, look, this film
[47:05] from previous seasons. Well, I don't want you to do
[47:09] this at all times. Maybe there might be cases when
[47:11] you want it, but please first look around, look what's coming.
[47:16] And when you're seeing a specimen like Fed, they just
[47:18] coming up, you're like, yeah, I'm going to wait because this
[47:22] guy exactly, he's going to be in better.
[47:24] Spot And that was a perfect example, right, because that's
[47:27] the third goal, right? So Vinnie again in the past
[47:29] would have probably tried to take that defender on and
[47:31] dribble, right? Maybe he get back some, maybe he
[47:33] lose the ball, whatever, but he holds it up right, gets the
[47:36] Fede, Fede gets the Brahim. And then again, once Brahim had
[47:40] it, Fede kept on his bicycle heading towards goal.
[47:42] And once he was in behind, well, you knew this is like, you know,
[47:44] easy, easy pickings. All the goals are just very
[47:48] Alonso, very. If you watch Leverkusen for like
[47:51] 5 games, you would have seen all of our goals, some of this Club
[47:55] World Cup on repeat basically because you know that play
[47:59] between the lines. How much Jude and even when the
[48:04] sobs because it became a more defensive approached game.
[48:07] But as Alonzo said, I want to defend with the ball.
[48:10] So it's weird to tell somebody that hey, he became more
[48:13] defensive, but he put moderation Sabrians on right, But he wanted
[48:17] to have more of the ball. He wanted to move the team a
[48:21] little bit more. Yes, he's aware that this seem
[48:24] physically just cannot contain at this point in time,
[48:29] especially with the conditions that they're playing in, right?
[48:31] The heat, it was very hot with all of that.
[48:35] That's why Jude was taken off. Vinnie was taken off last game,
[48:38] right, Is just his understanding of the circumstances, but he's
[48:43] still making sure even the goal that we can see that right.
[48:45] It was a bit of a shame. I know that Pachuca, given the
[48:49] shots and chances that they have, might deserve the goal,
[48:52] but it felt very unjust because the team wasn't giving you that
[48:56] 100% chance to score, right? Correct.
[48:59] And it comes off a deflection. Yep.
[49:02] Troy is very good at blocking shots.
[49:03] By the way. I'm just going to tell this to
[49:05] people, but he just got it a little bit wrong in that moment.
[49:11] The foot is not step right, so that deflection just gets it in
[49:15] instead. A bit unlucky, you know, but we
[49:18] were lucky that we already scored three goals ourselves,
[49:20] right? So and that didn't hurt us.
[49:21] Some quick quotes from Chabi. We need to be flexible and able
[49:25] to adapt, but we also need core principles that we stick to.
[49:27] This is him after the match. And so you're seeing it.
[49:29] You mentioned what you thought that some fans, oh, this Pep
[49:33] Guardiola thing. Remember guys, yes, he did play
[49:35] under Pep Guardiola. He also played under Carlo
[49:37] Ancelotti. He also played under, if I'm not
[49:39] mistaken, Jose Mourinho, right? Like so he has various different
[49:44] coaching models in his brain and also his own idea of modern
[49:49] football and what we are supposed to be doing as a club
[49:51] and as an organization. That stuff is critical.
[49:54] This is also Chubby after the game talking about fete.
[49:56] Fete Valverde is a Steven Gerrard profile.
[49:58] Every coach wants a Fete Valverde in his team.
[50:00] He's incredible. This is Fede the difference
[50:04] between Alonso, Angelotti and Chabi.
[50:06] Chabi asks us midfielders to have more control.
[50:08] He doesn't want us to drop deep to receive the ball.
[50:10] He wants us between the lines so that we can turn and drive
[50:13] forward. And I'm like, listen, we're
[50:16] starting to see a little bits of progress now.
[50:18] Don't be surprised, folks, if in the Salzburg game you see some
[50:24] dip, right, a revert back or whatever.
[50:26] Just because we were good doesn't mean now next game we're
[50:28] going to be. We could, but it's likely that
[50:31] we either level plateau or we drop down and start making bad
[50:35] mistakes. It's just the nature of when you
[50:37] are trying new things and when you are learning something new.
[50:41] It's going to be up and down, up and down.
[50:42] But you hope that the trend line is up, right?
[50:46] So you're there's up and down going, but the trend line is
[50:49] constantly trending upwards. That's what we want to see.
[50:53] Yes, that's that's kind of the thing, right, That's expecting
[50:58] the team to change dynamics in like a week or two is just
[51:03] impossible. It's not going to happen.
[51:05] Like it took Guardiola whole season at Manchester City to try
[51:09] and change things bit by bit. People were calling him a
[51:13] failure in his first season because he finished third,
[51:16] right? And they were like, oh, look at
[51:18] how hard Premier League is, but wait a minute.
[51:21] No, no, no, it's just a process of players that I want, players
[51:25] that are good players that are going to fit certain molds.
[51:29] Yeah, we don't have a Pep here. I don't, I don't really
[51:33] correlate Alonso with a Pep because I think that Alonso is
[51:36] more like adaptable when it comes.
[51:38] Even Pep became adaptable. But I'm talking I'm speaking
[51:41] about Pep in 2016 and not Pep now because Pep has adapted a
[51:45] lot since. But that Pep used to be more
[51:49] like I want to have. If I could, I would have 100% of
[51:52] the ball at all times and the other team wouldn't have it.
[51:55] For one moment. He kind of saw that that's
[51:58] impossible, Yeah. And I'm giving up way too much
[52:01] trying to achieve it. And a Lozo, as a coach, at least
[52:04] as on the highest level, he's shown that he's already aware of
[52:11] mistakes that the others have done.
[52:13] Yep. He's aware of the fact that not
[52:16] everything is going to be perfect at all times.
[52:19] We're going to make mistakes. Those players are going to make
[52:21] mistakes, Yeah. And it seems that we have to
[52:25] address this. People seem to think that Alonso
[52:27] is some sort of like a radical coach because I saw a three
[52:30] today by going like, oh, Venie's never going to get to dribble.
[52:34] That's never going to fly with them.
[52:36] You know, it seems like I'm like, this is the guy that has
[52:41] probably used the most players over the last one or five years.
[52:45] What do you mean? Is that adaptable?
[52:47] What do you mean the players aren't going to get he's playing
[52:50] to their strengths. Like let's be real, for example,
[52:53] like some people are going to come here to come here and
[52:56] comment like Grimaldo, for example, right?
[52:59] Like I know that Grimaldo at one point was a name.
[53:01] He came from La Masia. You know what comes with that
[53:03] PR, right? But that name faded away
[53:06] relatively quick. And it wasn't until Alonzo came
[53:11] where Grimaldo was back on a picture.
[53:14] OK. He has I think a 16,000,000
[53:16] release clause or an 8,000,001, which is very low, which goes to
[53:20] show what what he was signed for, what was expected out of
[53:24] him. He made him over perform a lot.
[53:26] So Alonzo is that. Yeah, with Alonzo you're going
[53:29] to get maybe goes on Garcia, just nothing's good in general,
[53:35] right on the game to game basis. But Alonzo has found a formula
[53:39] where he knows this guy's strength.
[53:42] He knows that he can flick it. He knows that he keeps it
[53:44] simple. So he asks him to do, hey, more
[53:47] of this because it's coming to the benefit of the team.
[53:50] That's your coach right now. So Vinny needs to dribble a
[53:53] little bit more. He's going to let him dribble a
[53:56] little bit more to have him on the flow of the game.
[53:59] If Boppe needs maybe a certain run to make to be efficient,
[54:04] you're probably going to see that.
[54:05] I know that we haven't seen Boppe yet, but you're probably
[54:08] going to see that because this is the coach.
[54:10] He's structuring it. Jude played deeper.
[54:12] Last game you saw Jude on this game, it was more of repetition
[54:16] of the second-half of the landscape, right?
[54:19] He gets higher, he's more supportive of the number 9 and
[54:22] he's also great between the lines, which I always criticize
[54:25] Ancelotti for never using him. And now you're saying like a
[54:28] player that, oh look, I can bully the feminers and I can
[54:33] play with my back and he's. Able Jew's a physical freak.
[54:35] He can. I mean, he's I was watching the
[54:38] the Dortmund game. He and his brother look so much
[54:40] alike. It's so crazy.
[54:42] It's just, it's scary. They're just big.
[54:45] I know, right? I'm like, they're just big
[54:47] physical freaks. It's like, well, of course he
[54:49] can play between the lines. Good luck trying to knock that
[54:51] dude off the ball. He's so big.
[54:52] Look, the big thing, as I said over and over, and I'm going to
[54:55] keep repeating it, Chubby is a pragmatist.
[54:59] Yes, he has his principles and his ideas, but if something is
[55:02] not working, he's not going to keep trying to force a square
[55:04] peg into a round hole. It's gonna be like, OK, scrap
[55:07] that, we're doing something else.
[55:09] And in modern football, with the talent so high and there's so
[55:13] many good peep players all over the world, you cannot be so
[55:17] regimented and stuck in your ways because you'll have
[55:19] success. But it'll be a short amount of
[55:21] time and then it will end. And I think Chubby is really the
[55:25] epitome of of someone who's, who's super pragmatic.
[55:29] You know, we we talked about the midfield and there's all those
[55:31] questions about control. And I want to go back to the,
[55:33] the again, the pre match, the pre match press conference where
[55:36] he says, look, we're not thinking about the transfer
[55:38] market right now. We're trying to win this
[55:39] competition. But I'm convinced that with all
[55:42] the great profiles we have, we can create a dominant midfield.
[55:45] I'm sure of it. And that's what I have been
[55:48] saying forever. You cannot tell me a Jude
[55:51] Bellingham camel, camel finger we haven't talked about yet
[55:55] because he's because he's not healthy right now, but.
[55:57] He's not even back. Yes.
[55:58] Camel, Finger, Chua, Many, Val Verde and Artigula.
[56:01] You cannot tell me between those five guys alone, we can't be a
[56:05] dominant midfield. You can't.
[56:07] Exactly right. Like, you know that I've always
[56:10] been opposed to this. Or we need to sign a Tony Cruz
[56:13] replacement at all costs because, well, there's only one
[56:17] Tony Cruz to be more exact. And look, the closest guy that
[56:22] we have seen to that was Enzo Fernandez, who's now playing
[56:25] like a #10A box crasher more than a controller because, well,
[56:31] things change, like physical profile change, the way how they
[56:34] tactically gets implemented. Those things change players,
[56:37] right? And I'm like, you don't really,
[56:41] unless you're a Tony Cruz, like you're not really going to be
[56:44] able to control a game under Angelotti to control that chaos
[56:48] that Angelotti setup records, right?
[56:50] But when you're removing that chaos now you're going to have
[56:54] it because momentum shifts and all of that.
[56:56] But when you're removing a big portion of that chaos, chaos,
[57:01] you're going to get a good product with those players.
[57:04] Those players have the technical ceiling to be able to pass the
[57:08] ball and find their teammates. They just need to know when,
[57:12] where and the receiver needs to know the exact same thing.
[57:18] Once those two things get combined into one, then we're
[57:22] talking about a different product, different base.
[57:26] Going to take a while, probably not even going to be there for
[57:29] the first game in La Liga. Maybe it's by December, but at
[57:33] one point you're going to see a team that is just closing their
[57:37] eyes and they already know where the ball is.
[57:39] That's what it's aiming, aiming for with this team and I think
[57:44] it's going to. Get there I I I I'm a firm
[57:46] believer in that I'm with you Lecante.
[57:48] It it just you you can't watch what's happening and not see
[57:51] that the ideas are already starting to take form.
[57:53] And we've only again, they've had a total of with and first of
[57:57] all, the whole team is even fully healthy yet and
[57:58] everybody's not even here. But Choppy's had 10 training
[58:03] sessions, right And with all the every 4-5.
[58:06] So like, trust me, we we got to give this guy some space and
[58:09] some time, but you already are starting to see a little bit of
[58:12] the improvement. Last thing I want to leave with
[58:14] is it was late in the game, but you saw shall be using he's also
[58:19] using this Club World Cup, even though he keeps saying we're
[58:21] trying to win it. He's being very smart.
[58:22] He's saying the right things publicly.
[58:24] He's also trying shit too. You see, OK, can we is we're
[58:27] going to work with this late in the game.
[58:29] You saw it. He went with the back three,
[58:31] right, because he had Hoisin Rudiger and too many.
[58:36] And I was like, OK, this is right, because Trent, as I said,
[58:39] Trent was already tucked in for most of the game like a wing
[58:42] back anyway, right. And then you had Valverde on the
[58:45] other side and I was like, OK, we're seeing it.
[58:48] He's listen, everybody, don't freak out.
[58:50] And again, you and I have to talk about the Kante.
[58:53] It's not a who cares? It's not about Oh, is he lining
[58:56] up? We're going to be in such shape
[58:58] shifting positions. Sometimes it'll look like we're
[59:01] 3IN possession out of possession.
[59:03] We're it's going to be all varied on what's happening and
[59:05] who's on the field, but I think he did.
[59:07] Make up is actually 3 of that because Fran is inverting a lot,
[59:11] correct? When I see that on very deep
[59:14] areas because he wants the winger to be wide.
[59:18] So that's why you're seeing the full bags.
[59:20] Trent is more, he knows that Trent is more suitable to move
[59:23] up in midfield, correct? And he's like, OK, if I get
[59:26] these guys, I just need to get the ball there basically and
[59:30] comfortably, not just get the ball a we're need to get the
[59:35] ball comfortably there. And from there on I can
[59:37] dominate. He wants to dominate the area
[59:41] that is the most important touched and it pulls.
[59:43] The first game is the central zones.
[59:46] If you're not giving up the central zones, you're good.
[59:49] You can't be perfect in football, perfectionism doesn't
[59:52] exist. And I always say if I have to
[59:55] make peace with giving up something, I'm giving up the
[59:57] wings, because the center can always.
[1:00:01] Always bail me out. But if I'm losing the center and
[1:00:05] proceeding the goals like last season, right, you saw how many
[1:00:08] times we were too slow to get back like goal as example, right
[1:00:14] on this Copa del Rey final. That's when your central hobby
[1:00:19] is just not working. But think of these two games,
[1:00:22] you're not being penetrated centrally at all.
[1:00:26] Every attack is coming of the site.
[1:00:29] Are there problems that probably need to be fixed?
[1:00:31] Yes, of course. But for as long as, again, I'm
[1:00:36] having to give up one thing, I'm always giving up the white areas
[1:00:40] because that's when less danger can come.
[1:00:42] For as long as my defenders know how to clear it, my midfielders
[1:00:46] are being positioned correctly, I can always get it out.
[1:00:50] And we have such physical specimen freaks, White,
[1:00:55] literally. Like you're heading into a game
[1:00:58] with Charmini, Jude Bellingham and Federico Alverde that free
[1:01:02] alone is just freaks of nature, right?
[1:01:06] And then you mentioned Kama Vinga, who's a freak on itself,
[1:01:09] like some of Kama Vinga's tackles.
[1:01:11] Oh my God, just like elite. How is that even humanly
[1:01:16] possible? He does that.
[1:01:18] And now imagine that in a team like this that is centrally
[1:01:23] congested and Kamabinga can actually go inside with those
[1:01:28] tackles and win the ball back. That's why you want him.
[1:01:31] That's why I always said I don't want Kamabinga 6.
[1:01:34] I don't want him as a pivot. I want him a bit higher.
[1:01:37] I want him floating a little bit on this role that we're seeing
[1:01:40] all there, right where he's floating a little bit more.
[1:01:43] He's off to the left, he's off to the right.
[1:01:46] He's moving where the space is because he wants to get the
[1:01:49] ball. That's where I want.
[1:01:52] Yeah, listen, Camo Bingo, I've said it a million times, he is
[1:01:55] so good. And guys camo bingo too many
[1:01:59] Bellingham, these guys are the oldest person is Chua many at 24
[1:02:03] and the oldest person in the whole is, is, is Val Verde at
[1:02:05] 26, right. I mean, so we have and to the
[1:02:10] development wise particularly of camo Bingo and Chua many,
[1:02:13] they're nowhere near their ceiling development wise.
[1:02:16] You know when you think about it right outside of Rudiger and
[1:02:19] T-ball, but Word is the oldest player.
[1:02:22] Correct. Yeah, when you think about it,
[1:02:25] right. And that's awesome.
[1:02:26] That is awesome. You know, you're like, you know,
[1:02:31] like the energy levels and and the ceiling where these players
[1:02:35] can go to just changes a lot because in back of your head
[1:02:38] it's always like, OK, this is better than the last one and
[1:02:42] this one is better than the last one.
[1:02:44] And the more games they play, the more they are the chemistry
[1:02:48] is building up and that chemistry building up is just
[1:02:51] getting better and better. The results are coming in.
[1:02:54] Let's be Real Madrid result driven club, right?
[1:02:58] You are gonna need the results here.
[1:03:00] It's not just about the process. Right, you gotta win, but.
[1:03:04] For me, the game against Ali Law was a result.
[1:03:07] The penalty missed was what really took you away, the three
[1:03:11] points. But I said when we started that
[1:03:14] I liked what I saw and today the execution was just better.
[1:03:19] Probably the next game is execution might be even better
[1:03:22] than today. Even though on that game I would
[1:03:24] like to see some different players.
[1:03:26] Yes, play normal on normal circumstances.
[1:03:29] It's all going to depend on the result tonight of the game
[1:03:31] between a little and Red Bull Salzburg.
[1:03:34] But I would like to see some other players.
[1:03:35] I want to see this team a little bit without Vinnie, maybe have
[1:03:39] Rodrigo that left wing, and I want to.
[1:03:41] See. It looks like.
[1:03:42] How the right wing is going to actually look like, but maybe
[1:03:46] Mbappe plays on that game. So my theory is just completely
[1:03:49] out because we just added the player behind again you know
[1:03:52] it's just this team has so many weapons keep in mind this is a
[1:03:56] team without Mbappe, right? This is a team without the
[1:03:58] Golden Boot winner. Whatever people think about
[1:04:02] Mbappe in general, did he perform well or not last season?
[1:04:06] Did he have some cranky games? That's he's a Golden Boot
[1:04:09] winner, correct? That's the player with the most
[1:04:11] goals in European top five leagues.
[1:04:14] I mean technically not, but Yokers plays in a league with
[1:04:17] lesser coefficient correct? But for the most part Mbappe is
[1:04:22] the Golden Boot winner and that guy hasn't even stepped foot
[1:04:26] with this team. And keep in mind Mbappe for
[1:04:28] France scored and assisted both games.
[1:04:31] Yeah, sure did. Sure did.
[1:04:33] Well, when you have that, as I say, that's a + 1.
[1:04:37] No, listen, we have an abundance of talent.
[1:04:42] Javi is clearly someone who's going to rotate and change and
[1:04:45] put different line UPS in, which is going to save the legs of and
[1:04:48] the lungs of Freddie Valverde and Jude Bellingham and all
[1:04:51] these guys in our midfield. This is the guys.
[1:04:54] Bright days are ahead for this club, so I want everybody to be
[1:04:59] continue to be patient and watch what you're seeing process wise,
[1:05:01] but enjoy it. I want to thank everybody with
[1:05:04] 145 people on the Live Today. Awesome.
[1:05:07] That might be our new record. We'll get a new record every
[1:05:09] time we go live. Everyone, make sure you like
[1:05:12] this video. Smash the like button on this
[1:05:14] video. Subscribe to this podcast, share
[1:05:17] it with your friends, please. If you want the audio only
[1:05:20] version, we are on Apple and Spotify and wherever else you
[1:05:23] get your podcasts. I know that Laconte you'll be
[1:05:26] back this week with a solo episode either tomorrow or
[1:05:29] Tuesday. And then later in the week, Sid
[1:05:32] and I'll be back for the Salzburg post game.
[1:05:35] Or is it you and I? Maybe I no, it's too late for
[1:05:37] you here. That's that's that's a way late
[1:05:40] game for you, Sid and I. What is coming guys?
[1:05:42] And don't forget, that might be more than Rodriguez minutes.
[1:05:46] See look up. They had to get a last ticket.
[1:05:49] I just needed, I needed to do that because the comment on the
[1:05:52] last episode was that, oh, I'm retarded.
[1:05:55] I'm not supporting him. Well, I don't know if I'm
[1:05:58] retarded or maybe the coach didn't give him a single minute
[1:06:01] of this game. And I'm not saying that he's out
[1:06:05] of the team and all of that because of today.
[1:06:08] But there's no reason why he did that.
[1:06:09] He's trying to figure out different things.
[1:06:11] Absolutely. And 100%, yeah.
[1:06:13] Guys, as Jared said, everything is for free.
[1:06:17] You're not paying for anything. We're here to hopefully
[1:06:20] entertain you. Look, I'm playing the petty
[1:06:22] game. I don't actually mind that at
[1:06:24] all. I understand that Rodriguez a
[1:06:27] Madrid player, so if by September 1st he's a Madrid
[1:06:30] player, we support them all in for that because they've made
[1:06:34] that decision for a reason. While I might not believe that
[1:06:38] that's going to be the case, and that doesn't necessarily mean
[1:06:41] that I'm going to sit here for a whole season and just shit on
[1:06:44] him at all times whenever he's bad.
[1:06:47] But what I mean is the fact that my belief is that he's gone.
[1:06:51] My belief. So that's it really.
[1:06:54] I. Think when I'm out.
[1:06:56] Of context and want to attack me completely fine, I don't really
[1:06:59] care. I barely mentioned the guy this
[1:07:01] whole episode because he didn't play.
[1:07:03] He didn't play. And yeah guys, look, we are here
[1:07:06] because we support Real Madrid, greatest football club in the
[1:07:09] world, right? Let's also we care.
[1:07:10] We want the team and the players here to do well.
[1:07:12] We want success and we want everybody to enjoy themselves.
[1:07:15] That's ultimately the name of the game.
[1:07:16] But again, thank you all for joining us.
[1:07:18] Like this video? Subscribe and we will see you
[1:07:22] next time. Take care.
[1:07:24] Take care, bye.

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