# Atletico Madrid 5-2 Real Madrid Postgame Breakdown

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 27 Sep 2025, 1 h 10 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/108894529/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-8-27%2F408249990-44100-2-29a3d0ff4fc22.mp3

Siddharth and Jarod Hector break down Atletico Madrid's dominant win over Real Madrid. Simeone outclassing Xabi Alonso, tactical mistakes, the decision to start Jude Bellingham, what this says about Real Madrid's floor and ceiling going forward, what Xabi Alonso can learn and more.

## Transcript

[1:03] You know, I thought I was going to have a fun September 27th,
[1:06] Saturday morning, but what was I tricking myself?
[1:09] We're going to the Metropolitan. What was I expecting?
[1:14] You know, I'm sitting here with my jersey on.
[1:17] You know what, I got to take this off.
[1:18] We lost. No rocking, no rocking jerseys
[1:20] when we lose. So this Jersey's coming off.
[1:24] I got the Bayern jersey on. Just letting you guys know
[1:26] today's not the day to have the the Real jersey on.
[1:30] It it and and and you know, listen, and this is, you know
[1:33] me. I, I love all our players.
[1:34] I don't kill them after bad games, bad performances, even
[1:37] bad runs of form. But that was a Fede jersey too.
[1:39] And listen, Fede was a a culprit tonight in, in a lot of or this
[1:44] afternoon in a lot of our, our issues.
[1:47] But Sid, before we get into like tactics and all these different
[1:50] things, which of course matter. And you know, whenever something
[1:53] happens, the easy thing fans want is someone thing to blame,
[1:57] right? It's this or it's that.
[1:59] And as you know, it's never one thing.
[2:01] It's a multitude of things, right?
[2:03] And we'll get into all of that. But at some point, Sid, it comes
[2:08] down to aggressiveness, energy, effort and will to and want to
[2:13] right, like and just forget about tactics for a second and
[2:17] just straight up duels. How many duels did we win today?
[2:20] Balls on the ground? All right, it's live.
[2:22] Go get it. I feel like not that has nothing
[2:25] to do with tactics. That's do you want this yes or
[2:28] no? And I felt like at A at a game
[2:30] that is such a a huge game, L Derby Maddaleno, our first big
[2:36] test of the season to come out with that kind of passivity.
[2:40] I was like, what are we doing? Like that's just, that's just
[2:42] poor. Yeah.
[2:44] So on that note, like we're coming out into the game and
[2:49] Simeone's Athleti, they were a mixed bag, like many bad games,
[2:54] but some good performances mixed in.
[2:56] And last game they played a pretty good Deportivo I believe
[3:00] and came back, fought hard, played a good win.
[3:03] Bullion. Had a hat trick.
[3:05] Right. And so going into this game, I
[3:08] already knew it's going to be a tough athlete.
[3:10] But with that being said, I think we all thought we could
[3:14] win this game. And I, Alonzo, I think like the
[3:17] whole issue just starts with our approach and the very central
[3:21] assumption of whether we could execute the approach from the
[3:23] coach. And I think he thought we could
[3:25] go dominate Athletico. Honestly.
[3:27] We all thought we did, though. Like, the lineup he put out was
[3:30] what Lecante was saying. What I'm saying, what we're all
[3:32] saying, like, hey, we can take it to them and actually give it
[3:35] to them. So Alonzo's like, you know what?
[3:37] I believe this too. So I'm starting Jude in his
[3:40] first game after the surgery. I am playing our strongest
[3:43] lineup. I'm gonna ask our strongest
[3:45] lineup to play with the ball at their feet.
[3:47] We're gonna go walk into Athletico's home, dominate them.
[3:49] And that was the approach. And just going through the game,
[3:54] like I feel like it was a game of so many weird faces, so kind
[3:58] of breaking down. Like it didn't all go wrong
[4:01] immediately too, but it did at the same time.
[4:03] It's it's just so weird it. It, it was strange and your,
[4:06] your microphone's a little hot, so turn your gain down a little
[4:08] bit on your crackling. I just, yeah, I, I think you're
[4:11] right. I think Javi Alonso had an idea
[4:13] that this is my best 11 as it currently stands with who's
[4:16] available and who's healthy. And I think with these guys, we
[4:20] can dominate possession. Now, I have to imagine Chabi,
[4:23] Alonzo, smarter about football than I am, than either of us
[4:26] are. I have to imagine he assumed
[4:28] that Simeoni and Athleti would come out aggressive on the front
[4:32] foot to start and try to get an early goal, right?
[4:34] It's just what you do at home, right?
[4:36] Like, so that part shouldn't have been a surprise in any
[4:39] possible way. And yet good.
[4:43] Well, I guess the 1st 10 minutes is actually, if you even look at
[4:45] the XP chart, that was the commonest part of the game when
[4:47] we started when I thought like we actually kind of add the ball
[4:50] a little and. They're first, outside of that
[4:52] first shot that Sorloff probably should have scored on.
[4:55] Yes, so that's where so the first 10 minutes I'm watching
[4:57] and we're keeping the ball where you want to dominate.
[5:00] And then Sorloff, he gets on the end of two chances.
[5:03] My first thoughts are like, you're all alone and you're not
[5:06] fast. You're all alone.
[5:08] Like I'll take Dean one-on-one with you every day of the week
[5:11] at the back, like I'm not scared of you.
[5:13] Then they score by with the set piece when they're like, you
[5:16] know what, what if we send like five guys next to Sorloff?
[5:18] What are you going to do then? And I going into the game, I
[5:22] think that was a big reason Alonso actually wasn't afraid of
[5:24] them. And he's like, you know what,
[5:25] we're going to keep the ball, play with it because he's
[5:27] looking at Barrios and Sorlot. He's like, if you guys had a
[5:29] transition chance, you're gonna need too many players next to
[5:33] them to finish it off. Like Sorlot isn't gonna be
[5:36] someone man attack force. So he's like, if you're gonna
[5:39] play Sorlot, I'm gonna totally crunch you and win all the
[5:42] second balls and win it back. So we, we camp in their half.
[5:45] We're not scared of their crosses.
[5:47] And then they realize this as this is happening in the 1st 10
[5:50] minutes and score their goal. So and then not only do they
[5:53] score their goal, I think even after the goal, they get a
[5:55] chance where they're sending multiple guys in the box.
[5:58] Sorlot is of course in corners. So at that point I'm already at
[6:02] a loss for words because I'm just like, yo, guys like do not
[6:06] give the ball away unless you're close to each other.
[6:07] But at that point, Fete and Chuomeni and Cortois, as people
[6:13] are pointing out, they really couldn't stay patient and had to
[6:17] keep kind of booting it away and or they were too slow.
[6:22] And so by the time the play goes through them, Athleti have like
[6:25] double teamed Vinny on the wing already.
[6:27] There's no place to go and I thought like around that time in
[6:32] the 1st 1015 minutes, it was becoming obvious that like the
[6:35] game isn't going to go the way we want.
[6:36] And people are pointing out but a tired Fede giving the ball
[6:39] away, struggling to take touches and chasing the duels in
[6:42] midfield. That's where I thought the game
[6:44] was lost because our whole strategy was we're going to keep
[6:47] mopping up second balls. Sorlock isn't getting out of
[6:49] your half. And it to me, it felt like the
[6:51] team, but once it got past Fede, it felt like they weren't even
[6:55] expecting them to cross it. And it's like, oh shit, like
[6:58] we're not winning the second balls, what do we do?
[7:00] And they didn't retreat to block mode.
[7:03] So I thought that was the big error of the game.
[7:06] What's weird is that we went up to one while that was happening.
[7:10] What are your thoughts there? So what are your thoughts on the
[7:12] response? We go down one nil.
[7:13] We get our response in without changing the dynamics.
[7:16] Nothing changes tactically. We just go glare to Mbappe V1 on
[7:20] one and they will keep getting open in any type of game like
[7:23] this. Yes, because when in those
[7:26] situations we actually do win a ground duel and get the ball and
[7:31] we are in transition. We are still, despite what we
[7:35] saw today and all the other teams in Europe, to me we are
[7:39] still the most devastating in transition team in world
[7:41] football, like bar none, because of Mbappe, Vinny Gulair,
[7:47] Bellingham bearing down. It's just we're so good, right?
[7:50] And that's what happened, right? We had two moments where we
[7:53] actually recovered the ball and went at them.
[7:55] And yeah, you can't stop us in those unsettled transition
[7:58] situations. So we go up to 1.
[8:00] Yippie, Kyo, Kyo, great. But you just said it yourself,
[8:03] nothing changed because of the rest of the game state right?
[8:07] So at like you realize hey man, just keep crossing the ball into
[8:10] the box because these people have no idea what to do when
[8:13] when we cross the ball into the box and literally said it was
[8:16] like grade school football like am I marking this guy?
[8:19] Should I jump now? Should I not?
[8:21] Oh wait 2/1 it was we had on one of the on the solof goal.
[8:26] Carreras and Hausen were there first solof Now to be fair, so
[8:30] all is a big guy. He pushes Carreras away like he
[8:32] was a gnat. And then, well, it's just me and
[8:34] Dean and he's like, well, I'm bigger and stronger than you, so
[8:37] fine, I'll go up and get it. And he did right?
[8:39] Like all of their goals were scored off of crosses, set
[8:43] pieces and then the end, that last giveaway.
[8:45] But no build up, no clean like domination of possession,
[8:49] carving us up. Just hey, man, don't you guys
[8:51] know how to mark people and understand, Hey, if you don't
[8:53] clear here's your zone, you got to jump to the ball like 2 or
[8:56] many on that, on that Lenormand goal.
[9:00] No man just jumped over the top of him.
[9:01] He didn't even go after up and attack it.
[9:03] And it's like, my guy, how, how are these guys who are on less
[9:07] energy than you being more aggressive and more and and and
[9:11] more decisive to every ball where you guys are thinking and
[9:14] unsure what you want to do. So that was that was
[9:17] disappointing. And that's exactly why to me,
[9:19] it's not a question of hunger. I know a lot of people are, but
[9:22] it's because I saw them thinking I could.
[9:24] Like I just, I'm a ruminator. I overthink things.
[9:27] OK, So when I I see that on the pitch, like if I see you
[9:30] thinking, I know when you're like, not sure what to do.
[9:32] I can smell indecision from a mile away.
[9:35] I did not see lack of hunger. I saw indecision and surprise
[9:38] because it's like this guy fed it.
[9:41] The number of times he's just behind the guy chasing him and
[9:43] not catching up to him. I'm like, guys like they are
[9:46] bypassing the second phase. Just retreat to the artbox and
[9:50] chill. Like I would have went like a
[9:52] little more Carlo ball. Now under Carlo, the team never
[9:55] had a clear idea, so they would just retreat by default maybe
[9:57] and maybe the damage would have been limited.
[9:58] Under Alonzo, things kind of start working.
[10:01] We go up to 1. Even when they make it 2 two,
[10:03] it's like, hey, guys, like a shitty half is 22.
[10:05] Like if we just like are able to win a few second balls, let's
[10:10] take control of the game. And I think in some ways the
[10:12] goals kind of paradoxically made it hard to change a lot because
[10:15] Alonso was looking at this like, guys just tighten up a little
[10:18] defensively. We keep playing.
[10:20] But they didn't even do that. That's the point.
[10:21] It's like, OK, I'm not going to change.
[10:23] He didn't even tighten up defensively.
[10:24] That's the annoying part. Like, OK, keep what we're doing.
[10:27] Yes, So that was annoying. And so we go up to 1 and the
[10:31] last 10 minutes of the half at that point I just got a little
[10:34] complacent. I I took it for granted we would
[10:36] be able to use their press to just keep scoring like we did.
[10:39] And and then that 2/2 was a sign.
[10:42] OK, Like somehow we guys, we just went up to 1 and we still
[10:45] just conceded like 10 corners after that, like we we can't
[10:47] stop them. And yes, the two 2 was
[10:50] inevitable. We haven't seen anyone attack us
[10:52] early. And then what?
[10:53] The third goal was also another yeah, cross Guler.
[10:57] Let's talk about that. So it was really funny because
[10:59] the Guler narrative, we saw everything in the games.
[11:04] Like you mean you mean on on social media today about his
[11:06] performance? Well, in general, like coming
[11:08] into the game like we, we knew there was a possibility.
[11:11] The big game line up is Arda and Jude with Vinnian and Papi and
[11:14] then Alonzo tries it and first half Chuameni, Fete and Jude
[11:20] honestly all look pretty slow on the ball, especially Fete and
[11:22] Jude. Jude was a big zero, which I
[11:25] think was a big risk. You in a game like this, if
[11:28] you're going to play with the ball you it means Guler and Jude
[11:31] are going to have good games is what you assume.
[11:33] If if the game is not going to allow for that, why would you
[11:35] play them? And, and I just thought like in
[11:38] the first half, glare was the reason we were in the game.
[11:41] Like the only midfielder would do anything.
[11:43] It's weird though 'cause he's not like a Cruz Madrich type of
[11:46] press resistance. Still, he just beats the press
[11:48] all the time. But he but he but he is in that
[11:52] way that when the pressure comes, what he's gotten better
[11:55] at with the again playing time, because you need to try the
[11:58] stuff on the pitch when pressure would come soon.
[12:01] It was subtle stuff, a little dip of his shoulder, switching
[12:03] the ball to this other foot and then moving.
[12:05] Right. OK, defenders now behind me in
[12:07] my wake, we can push forward. He was very good today at, at,
[12:10] at being pressed resistant and abating pressure.
[12:12] Extremely good. Yeah, good.
[12:15] Well. I was just going to say, you
[12:16] could say maybe it's his best game ever in that regard.
[12:19] And and in the first half we also got the like whole don't
[12:22] play him in big games because of duels.
[12:23] Like the whole team's losing duels anyways.
[12:25] He's the reason we're in it. Yeah.
[12:27] It's not like it like by not keeping him in there, we lose
[12:30] our opportunity to even play those two balls and get those
[12:33] goals. So.
[12:34] But at the same time, like that third goal, whether it was a
[12:39] penalty or not, that's one thing like like, so if you, if you
[12:43] watch the game, you know, Guler does the high boot, we can give
[12:46] up a goal at the start of the second-half, 32 penalty.
[12:50] My understanding is high boots are subjective.
[12:52] Like Guler technically got the ball.
[12:54] And but like my understanding is even if you get the ball, it's
[12:58] kind of at the referee's discretion.
[12:59] And I, and I think also if if it hit him in like if the boot hit
[13:04] him like in his side or his shoulder, he might have been
[13:06] different. But because it hit him in the
[13:07] head, I think the ref automatically saw head and was
[13:10] like that's it. Like he didn't even like have to
[13:12] think about it right? Like oh, kicked in the head done
[13:14] right. Like even though not even kick
[13:16] him in the head but it was what it was.
[13:18] Yes, and that's where you see like the ultimately it was
[13:21] unlucky and unfortunate. Like there are many scenarios
[13:24] where you make that choice. Maybe you the ball moves a
[13:26] little different. The guy's head isn't in your
[13:28] way, but your choice Gulare to use your like leg there and not
[13:32] your head or body is kind of why people were afraid of you in big
[13:36] games in the 1st place. And I'm not gaming.
[13:39] There's no way you can blame this on Guler.
[13:41] That's not what I'm doing at all because he was still our best
[13:43] player on the ball. But it's just like funny because
[13:47] you you get like he keeps us in the game.
[13:49] He's the best player on the ball, but then he loses a duel
[13:51] in the worst possible place in the worst possible way.
[13:54] Even if it's unlucky. It's because he's not a good
[13:57] duel winner that he's in that situation.
[13:59] What do you do? It's just, it's a damn shame.
[14:02] It it's, it's unfortunate, right?
[14:03] And yes, look and, and Jobby said this all season is like,
[14:07] look, Arta needs as many touches and minutes as possible.
[14:09] And we're going to I'm in paraphrasing, we're going to
[14:11] have growing pains with him, right?
[14:12] There's going to be times where he makes mistakes and things
[14:14] happen, but I trust and believe in him.
[14:16] And I think in that moment because he didn't sub them off
[14:19] right after that, right? Like I think he sub them all
[14:21] mainly because he played the full 93 days ago and we have a
[14:24] match coming up on Tuesday and 8 billion miles away.
[14:28] And so I think he's like, look, that's I think that's a mistake
[14:32] Chubby's willing to live with. That's a mistake I'm as a fan
[14:34] willing to live with because again, to your point, no Guler
[14:37] in the first half, I don't know that we score those two goals
[14:38] because nobody else was was, you know, doing anything on the ball
[14:44] for us. But again, this was a problem
[14:48] last year. Sid set pieces, simple things
[14:52] like how to man mark like it it just inability to clear your
[14:56] line and then nobody knowing. It's like if the ball and we'll
[15:00] get to some of the individual performances who were were were
[15:02] playing poorly. OK, Carreras has a bad
[15:04] clearance. OK, when you when everybody's
[15:08] watching and you see he didn't clear the ball, how is the
[15:11] deepness not connected enough to know that ball didn't get out?
[15:14] Everyone locked and Mark, they're supposed to mark.
[15:16] No, nobody knows where anybody is.
[15:18] Crap ball go right. Literally the athletic player
[15:22] has forever and a day to sit there.
[15:25] He could have switched feet five times before anybody came out to
[15:28] touch him and crossed the ball in like, it's like training
[15:31] ground, like this type of thing is problematic for us.
[15:34] Like to me, those were training ground errors that I saw.
[15:37] Now you can look on the the glass half full and say, well,
[15:40] training ground errors, meaning we still haven't gotten the
[15:42] system yet. Once we get it, we'll be fine.
[15:44] But that I I just didn't love that, that we haven't gotten
[15:46] solid at that point yet. Yeah, and I think the question
[15:50] is like, why didn't Alonzo adjust in the second-half?
[15:53] Like, fine, I can accept you go up to 1 and like it's too early
[15:57] at the 38th minute to like make a defensive sub and talk to your
[16:00] team. And then you kind of just want
[16:02] to make it to half time and huddle and then God damn it,
[16:04] they have to equalize before half time.
[16:05] Whatever at half time. Why aren't you Brittanyon
[16:09] Franco? Or like, I'm not sure why Jude
[16:12] wasn't taken off earlier because Jude for me was just a big zero.
[16:15] I think that's where if we have to go individually, yeah, he.
[16:19] Had he had one, he had one really nice possession where he
[16:23] won the ball, bounced it forward and that got us into maybe one
[16:26] of our scoring chances. I don't think it will lead to
[16:28] direct goal, or maybe it did when he passed to Vinnie and
[16:31] then Vinnie passed to Arda. But for the most part, he was
[16:34] not his normal duel winning and he's not he's not sharp on the
[16:37] ball. But surprise, surprise, the dude
[16:39] hasn't played an actual I mean, yes, he played earlier this
[16:42] week, but he hasn't played for real in like 3 months.
[16:45] Like he needs time to like get himself together.
[16:48] Training ground is one thing, but the heat of a Derby where
[16:51] again, and we know athletic doesn't matter what their form
[16:55] is or what's going on prior to they come into this match and
[16:58] they are they are cooking and they are ready, right?
[17:01] And to start shooting a game like that to me, I don't think
[17:04] was right. Franco probably would have been
[17:06] better to start in that game. But to that point said at the
[17:10] start of the second-half, it's nil, nil, basically, right?
[17:13] 22, it's a new game. It's a new game, so you can do
[17:16] something. It wasn't like, oh, we got to
[17:17] protect the lead. Oh, we got to chase.
[17:19] No, it's nil. Nil, literally.
[17:21] That's where I would have at least tried to protect the draw.
[17:23] If you know that like, and I guess Alonzo was not seeing the
[17:27] writing on the wall that like, hey, they're going to keep
[17:29] pressing us, They're going to beat us into submission.
[17:31] I would have tried to set up in a block just with the amount of
[17:35] chances sore Lot was getting and then Eco Gonzalez, Julian
[17:38] Alvarez, Barrios just getting on the end of everything around
[17:41] him. Surprised he didn't change that.
[17:44] Just a note on Carreras. I know he didn't have a good
[17:47] game. I just feel like that ties into
[17:49] the dynamics of playing an out of like touch.
[17:51] Jude having fete who's like tired.
[17:54] This was going to add up at some point.
[17:56] The fete stuff especially so when like your 3 midfielders are
[17:59] all slow to on their touch or especially two of the three.
[18:02] Fete for sure. Jude by his standards for sure
[18:05] Jude and Lenny. Sometimes I feel like he's a
[18:07] little out of the action, like maybe I I don't, I don't always
[18:10] feel like it's him as much as fete and then Chuameni not being
[18:13] a God to make up for fete like the way Cruz was to make up for
[18:17] Casamaro and then you. But I, I think ultimately the,
[18:22] the choice to keep playing with the ball when and play like a
[18:26] slow circulating style of play when you're losing the duels is
[18:29] risky. And I think Carreras and Dean
[18:31] struggled because of that because all these easier teams
[18:35] we play, the pressure they're putting on the ball is less
[18:37] where these guys can handle a lot of the usage rate.
[18:41] This is the type of game where if you're trying to hide A
[18:44] midfielder, it's a lot harder and it's.
[18:46] What it's what we talk about. It's better, better competition,
[18:48] right, When you play a better ticket.
[18:50] Look, this worked against Levante and Rialo Vieto, right?
[18:54] Like where Dean and and Carreras can play, you know, 140 touches,
[18:59] not against Athletic, it's not going to work.
[19:01] Never mind when we play Liverpool, the Champions League
[19:04] and Barcelona Classic, never mind those matches, right?
[19:06] Like it's just not going to work.
[19:08] And so I mean, we saw it said like, I'm not even going to say
[19:12] like Athletic Press was that awesome, but any little
[19:17] pressures it and we couldn't complete passes at all.
[19:19] It was like, what? And it's OK if that's the case
[19:22] and we can't build from the back, which we saw.
[19:23] Then it was Cortan just bombing the ball down the field and
[19:26] let's go out and try to win it, win it up there and make
[19:28] something happen. And I just got.
[19:31] Well, I just think the team decided that like, we can beat
[19:34] Athleti with the ball at our feet.
[19:36] That's how we're doing it. That's what the coach told us.
[19:38] Let's do it. And I think this is something
[19:41] for Alonzo to look at that like, you know, we talked about how
[19:43] you need different flavors of the ice cream.
[19:46] We haven't had to have the deep block yet.
[19:47] Like honestly, like maybe in the Club World Cup, but that that's
[19:50] literally like, like not even the same sport.
[19:52] Like it's a pre season summer tournament.
[19:55] Like we've never had to use a block in a big game.
[19:58] But that being said, like I just feel like the first loss of the
[20:01] season, if you're gonna find out something, you need to find out
[20:05] your limits. You don't find out that you
[20:07] could have played with the ball. No, like you find out OK.
[20:09] Like this is what we can do with the ball.
[20:11] This is what we can't do. Then you go defensive.
[20:13] I would personally. Like, I like the braveness is
[20:17] all I'll say. Like I would prefer to be bold
[20:19] and make a mistake being bold with a new young coach.
[20:22] Like young coaches start playing attacking and are effective.
[20:24] As they get older, they get boring like Pep and Arteta.
[20:27] They start doing all these Rice, Merino, Zuba, Mendi midfields
[20:30] with Yokrez upfront. But when you're young, you can
[20:33] go for it. And I saw a coach trying to go
[20:35] for it who got totally cooked by the Metropolitano who didn't
[20:39] realize like, hey, like, you just need to coach a block
[20:42] sometimes for this team. And and yeah, in a lot of ways,
[20:45] we see why we haven't just walked over this team for 10
[20:48] years. And, you know, under Carlo, the
[20:51] last four years, it was a lot of draws.
[20:52] Even under Zidane it was draws and people are saying this was
[20:56] our worst gaming and said Letty, listen, I was there when Arbiloa
[21:00] and Cointrau were and Khedira were playing in February 2015.
[21:04] I was there. That was the worst one those.
[21:07] Were some we had some we've had some bad athletic losses like.
[21:11] Wait, that was the worst one though, right?
[21:12] It was 40. And then we've lost like that.
[21:15] I feel like bad and this are the 2 bad ones.
[21:18] Yeah, and. Then the preseason one under
[21:20] Zidane, listen, every, it's just the rite of passage.
[21:22] You got to lose to Athletico as a as a Real Madrid coach.
[21:25] But I'm not defending Jabi's decisions.
[21:28] I think, I think there's a lot of scrutiny on him right now.
[21:30] I just feel like like did you expect us to go unbeaten the
[21:33] whole season? Like I I think we could still
[21:35] get 100 point year. There are possibilities, but
[21:37] like, did you expect us to not lose a game in the fall and
[21:40] learn from it? Oh, definitely not.
[21:42] And I and I think look, but I think there's it's right to have
[21:44] fair criticisms of Javi Alonzo, right?
[21:46] Like I, I think again, to our point, if you saw, because what
[21:50] we love about Javi's is pragmatism, right?
[21:52] All right, this shit's not working.
[21:53] Let's do something else. OK, You, you had 40 more than
[21:56] your 52 minutes because of extra time of data that was showing
[21:59] you this shit ain't working. We had it.
[22:01] It was it was evident he saw it and his whole staff saw it.
[22:04] Why did you not do something different?
[22:07] Are you telling me that in you haven't done enough training
[22:09] ground work that you can't get the team to play a block, play
[22:12] in a block in the second-half? You can't do that like.
[22:16] Yeah, and I wonder if there was a bit of hubris or that's where
[22:19] Alonzo, we believe in him because he's good at math
[22:22] fundamentally. Like the math of are you going
[22:24] to give the ball away too many times with your technical
[22:26] quality to risk putting you on the field?
[22:28] Are you going to deliver enough times mathematically to make the
[22:30] trade off worth it? And I, I guess I just, I get it.
[22:33] Like coming into the game, I get the math first half, you score
[22:36] 2, you stay in the game. I get not changing half time.
[22:39] I don't get it. And then I guess we did make the
[22:42] change once we went down 32, but I just felt like momentum was
[22:45] gone after that glared incident. It was like, it just felt like
[22:49] if at that point, if he changed it to make it 3 three, I'd be
[22:51] like, you're a genius. Cuz it it felt like really off.
[22:54] And yeah, we didn't get back on the ball.
[22:58] I think the only positive saving grace may be that we did slowly
[23:02] prevent athletic from like accumulating expected threat
[23:05] according to the chart. But with the I, I don't know if
[23:08] I even saw that. Like I saw Camo Winga constantly
[23:11] turning out of his own boxes like again and again.
[23:14] I I saw us having an inability to possess the ball and do
[23:17] anything in build up. I saw us have an inability to
[23:20] defend crosses right and and set pieces.
[23:23] Look, Julian Alvarez goal look, it was what it was right, like
[23:27] you the the the free kick 1. You could I guess you could say
[23:31] Corta, you gave him a little bit too much room on that on that
[23:34] near post. Maybe shade over a step, right,
[23:36] because he did get his tips on it right.
[23:37] If he was over one more step, maybe he makes that save.
[23:40] But ultimately your your point is right, Sid, which is we did
[23:45] nothing in the second-half. I don't think we had a shot on
[23:47] target in the second or a shot period, if I'm not mistaken in
[23:50] the second-half. Two.
[23:53] It was what I talked about last year with this squad and what I
[23:56] said this year, when adversity hits, what is this team going to
[23:59] do? I saw a lot of head hanging and
[24:02] I like her rump, like Oh well and just giving up.
[24:06] And I'm like that to me, that part has to be coached out of
[24:11] the squad. I don't know how, but he's got
[24:13] to get, look, it's easy to do well when things are going well.
[24:16] Even if even those games we played earlier in the season, we
[24:19] won 21, whatever, and everybody in the media was critiquing, but
[24:21] we saw the underlying build up. Was there the expected goals,
[24:24] threats? That was not the case today,
[24:27] right? We had that in the first six.
[24:29] Wait 6 before this or 76, I think in the 1st 6 before this,
[24:33] we had all of that. So it's easy to stay positive
[24:36] after that, be like, oh, no, it's coming.
[24:38] We're going to do it. We're going to do it.
[24:39] We had none of that today, not one single iota.
[24:43] So I'll be very curious to see what the message is about from,
[24:47] from Jabby. And you know, I said this
[24:49] yesterday on the on the, on the, on the pre, on the preview show.
[24:53] What does it say about Madrid stealing in floor, right?
[24:55] What I thought was that the way Alonzo coaches our floor would
[24:59] be raised to a certain level, right?
[25:01] Our ceiling may not be as high, but I think just know a baseline
[25:04] floor level. I thought we'd be a lot better.
[25:07] And to me, that floor level dropped today to a level that I,
[25:10] I didn't expect, right? I, I, I just did not expect it.
[25:14] I was, I was with you. OK, it got tied 22.
[25:16] I figured, OK, no worse than this.
[25:18] Maybe it's 33. But we, we, we pull a draw out
[25:21] of here. But to just be like, oh, well,
[25:23] 5/2. I was like, oh man.
[25:25] Yeah, and just leaving Jude on the pitch is what doesn't sit
[25:28] right with me. It just was like, I'm just not
[25:30] sure what you saw in the first half that convinced you that him
[25:33] staying on the pitch and like, I get moving, removing Militao.
[25:37] You're probably worried about the hit he took.
[25:39] Yeah, Yeah, that was smart. But like, what?
[25:42] What did you see from June in the first half?
[25:44] Like, because all the good sequences came from Vinnie
[25:47] Mbappe and Guler playing together.
[25:49] And I was a bit confused. I would love to hear that from
[25:53] him in the press conference. If if I what I expect from him
[25:56] in the press conference is to own up for a wrong approach.
[25:59] I I don't think he'll blame it on the players.
[26:02] And I think so when we talk about responding to adversity,
[26:04] this is where, you know, like before our strategy was still
[26:07] some level of hope. And hope is not a strategy, but
[26:10] it, but it won us a Champions League draw.
[26:12] So and so and, and you know, I know it only happens once in 100
[26:18] times, but part of it was that nobody knew what was going to
[26:20] happen but the players and not even the coach himself.
[26:23] And I think now it's the difference is like, if the
[26:28] tactics are wrong, the players have committed to executing
[26:33] tactics like employees to some degree.
[26:35] I don't like using that term. But fundamentally, yeah, they're
[26:38] trying to be employees to execute a game plan of a greater
[26:41] vision than themselves, not. Didn't even execute it though.
[26:43] That's the thing. They didn't even execute it
[26:45] right. They didn't wait second balls.
[26:46] They didn't so. Yeah, so I I guess it might I'm
[26:49] thinking the convo at halftime must have been hey, like SHO,
[26:53] Chuomeni, Fede Courtois, Jude clips of them circulating and
[26:56] asked them to circulate faster. Maybe it was like, hey,
[26:58] literally take the touch faster, we'll be fine.
[27:01] And it might have been that the team and coach went into the
[27:04] second-half thinking we can still hold the ball, we can have
[27:07] touches and we can still keep dominating the possession.
[27:10] Because I think, and I think that's where Athletico or little
[27:13] paradoxical with Barrios and Sarlat and the Colcate, they're
[27:17] a little more conducive to like playing a game that isn't as
[27:20] reliant on transition, if that makes sense.
[27:22] I, I think if they needed pure transition, they wouldn't have
[27:24] worked as well. And I think that's why it might
[27:26] have been defensively motivated. He might have been like listen,
[27:28] like throw that half out the window, like you miss your some
[27:31] shots sometimes, start over, pretend it didn't happen, go
[27:34] dominate the ball, walk them over.
[27:37] What I would say is I don't expect him to repeat this
[27:39] mistake. Jerrod.
[27:40] I think that's where people are going to panic and be like, Oh
[27:42] no, what's going to happen? Listen, now he knows 2 of many
[27:45] like half fit. Fetty and Jude are not bossing
[27:47] anyone in Europe. He's going to play a little more
[27:50] vertically. I would expect the response to
[27:53] the appropriate response to me would have been Franco on 442
[27:57] and like stop trying to like wait till they press you and
[28:00] just go go for goal. Like just go to Mbappe, bypass
[28:03] Arda, Jude. Don't even do these like cute
[28:06] 3-4 pass sequences to get it to Mbappe.
[28:08] Just get it to Mbappe Long. I would have played like a small
[28:11] team, like a scared small team. That's probably the solution.
[28:15] I I got some quotes from Javi Alonzo for Escape Press post
[28:19] game. This is a process.
[28:21] We're in a phase where we're building an identity.
[28:22] We'll get better for sure. We gave the rival too many
[28:26] gifts. We gave them everything and we
[28:28] didn't compete. We deserve to lose for sure.
[28:31] And I think to me that we didn't compete.
[28:35] I have a problem with that Sid. Like, not that I'm saying he's
[28:37] wrong. I have a problem with them not
[28:39] competing because I think he's right.
[28:41] Like in this kind of game again, and I hate to harp on this and
[28:46] beat on it over and over, but tactics aside, how are you not
[28:49] running and winning? It's a duel on the ball, on the
[28:53] ground for the ball. This is nothing new with
[28:55] tactics. How are you not saying no, it's
[28:57] my ball, I'm going to beat you there and I'm getting it.
[29:01] That's just effort and want to and to and not have that in this
[29:04] kind of game. Again, this was shades of last
[29:06] year, right? This is the biggest problem.
[29:08] Last year I was like, yeah, we're getting walked over
[29:09] because nobody gives a shit. Only Fede and Jude want to run
[29:12] for every everybody else is walking around.
[29:14] Nobody wanted to win duels today.
[29:16] And I'm like, well, we can't win if nobody's winning duels like.
[29:20] I think also up till now in the seven games, I would argue, I
[29:25] think what was happening was Alonzo had induced such a level
[29:28] of buying where so many of the duels were taking place in
[29:31] scenarios discussed in training. So when they get there, they're
[29:34] like, OK, guys, this is how it's supposed to go.
[29:36] And so today, when it's not happening that way, instead of
[29:39] retreating, they're like, oh, it's supposed to work this way.
[29:41] Let me just go back to my spot and execute it.
[29:43] That's I, I personally saw that and the lack of want, so to
[29:47] speak. I, I have seen that before in
[29:49] that the momentum goes away. And even today, yeah, momentum's
[29:51] gone. We had no ability to get back in
[29:54] the game because the paradigm we thought would work wasn't
[29:57] working. And so we were out of ideas
[29:58] before there was no paradigm. The paradigm was the players are
[30:01] the ideas. And I think what happens is
[30:03] like, really, it stands out to me watching FedEx Sprint back
[30:07] again again in the first time, I'm like, you literally expect
[30:09] the ball to be landing in front of you.
[30:11] So you're going and standing in an area in possession where you
[30:14] think that's going to happen. It's not happening again and
[30:16] again. But at this point, you've told
[30:18] yourself, even if it doesn't work, you're going to trust what
[30:20] your coach told you. That's what I saw.
[30:21] And because even Carreras and Dean, when they like they were
[30:25] struggling, I saw not them struggling to just keep the
[30:28] ball, but actually they thought they could manipulate the block
[30:31] open. And it wasn't happening so many
[30:33] times. Like in the second-half,
[30:34] Carreras, just like there was nowhere to go.
[30:36] He tried spinning the guy and there was still nowhere to go.
[30:38] And he's like, oh, I thought there was supposed to be space
[30:40] opening up. Like I thought we had a thing
[30:42] and. And I think that's the thing in
[30:45] in the six previous games, Carreras was able to do that
[30:48] right. We how many times on every post
[30:51] game are we like, Oh my God, Carreras like we're right.
[30:54] We'll have man crushes on him. Like he's so Depp and slick with
[30:57] the ball. He just drops his shoulder.
[30:58] The defender flies by. That wasn't happening today and
[31:02] he didn't know what to do when it didn't happen.
[31:04] Wait, I just dipped my shoulder and turned and he's in my face.
[31:07] Shit, I'm going to lose the ball, right?
[31:09] Barrios pick his pocket. Like we're a player and I'm not
[31:12] saying that Barrios isn't good, but for a player that's so good
[31:14] on the ball, like Carreras, to have such a poor on ball game,
[31:18] right, Like that was problematic, right?
[31:21] And again, this is what we talk about when competition levels
[31:24] up, right? And look, and athletics far from
[31:26] the best team we're going to play.
[31:27] But to be fair to them, they played well against Liverpool in
[31:30] the Champions League and it was kind of a shame that they lost
[31:32] that lost that match. Like they actually played
[31:34] extremely well against what many people think is the best team
[31:36] in. Europe dude.
[31:38] Their XG was pretty bad though. For what it's worth.
[31:40] The underlyings were pretty bad interestingly.
[31:42] But yeah, you know, they stayed in the game.
[31:44] She's a weird thing right? Like I mean you can have a .8 XG
[31:48] and win a match for like just I don't know like right were they
[31:52] able to maintain things? Yes, they were right like and
[31:54] Van Dyke late header wins at 21 right like I.
[31:58] Think it was 3/2 right presume. 32 yeah, but I know it was a
[32:01] late Van Dyke goal. I like I'm not going to lose my
[32:06] mind or go, Oh my God, this season's over not winning
[32:08] anything. Guys, it's freaking September
[32:10] 27th. Like we got time.
[32:12] But I do think that there are clear areas where we need to
[32:18] improve and get better. And look, it's this is this is a
[32:21] wake up call, right? Like what we always said, like,
[32:23] and this is part of that adversity thing I was talking
[32:25] about Sid, like adversity doesn't just happen game to
[32:27] game, right? It's like, OK, now we've had a
[32:29] match, right where everything that could have gone wrong for
[32:32] the most part went wrong. So now between now and Tuesday,
[32:35] every paper is going to be like and every talking head Madrid's
[32:38] fraudulent Javi can't coach but get right.
[32:40] All of that noise is going to happen now.
[32:42] OK, so now how are we responding, right?
[32:46] What does the team look like on Tuesday when we go to
[32:50] Kazakhstan? And then what's the match we
[32:52] have on Saturday? Another another big test.
[32:53] Valencia maybe? Let me pull that up.
[32:57] I. Believe we we put one up, I
[32:59] think. It's yeah, Bella real, so that's
[33:01] gonna be but at home, but yes, that's not that is a test so.
[33:04] So I'll be very curious how we look in the and if I see like
[33:08] hangover like, then I would start to be like, OK, guys,
[33:12] maybe we should have a little concerned now because this is
[33:15] now 2 games, three games in a row that we're not doing what
[33:18] we're supposed to be doing. And we let, we let it one bad
[33:20] loss, shake our confidence, shake our trust in whatever.
[33:24] And now we're panicking and now we're not playing well.
[33:26] I don't think most teams can summon the level of emotional
[33:30] intensity against us that Athletico do, which is the main
[33:34] like just when you're trying to execute positional tactics like
[33:38] Guardiola would get screwed by Premier League teams this first
[33:41] year for the same reasons. Like this reminded me a lot of
[33:44] like, like, I don't know, like watching a game with Joel
[33:48] Cancello. But when their build up's not
[33:50] good and they give up goals, like it felt like that like a
[33:52] bad Guardiola game. And that's why positional
[33:55] systems have their flaw. Once you commit to that paradigm
[33:57] and if it goes wrong, the paradigm works better if you try
[34:00] to commit to it no matter what. And so if you don't like switch
[34:04] to a block in transition spontaneously as a team, it can
[34:07] look really stupid and which is kind of what we got today.
[34:11] And this is the big flip in why people criticize it.
[34:14] But with that being said, I think this team still needs the
[34:17] positional approach. And for the short term, what I'm
[34:20] focused on is just help and of the guys who mop up second balls
[34:24] and defenders, like the attackers deliver every game
[34:27] like they're good. And like, even if like they
[34:30] barely got the ball, they they got us two goals today, but.
[34:32] I, I, I do want to mention the attackers really quick.
[34:34] I thought Mbappe, Arda and Vinnie played well up front.
[34:37] I I really did. And I thought even, you know,
[34:39] I'll see a lot of comments. Oh, Killian started walking
[34:42] after he scored his first goal. Like, look, I, I, I think I
[34:46] thought Vinny pressed. Well, today I thought he, you
[34:49] know, had decent work right off the ball.
[34:50] Like I, I, I don't, I don't have too many complaints with the
[34:53] attack. My complaints are from the back,
[34:57] right from from the midfield back right from Jude Fede
[35:00] Chuomede, back to that back line.
[35:02] And by the way, Carvajal and Militao are gonna undergo tests
[35:06] tomorrow to see what's happening with them.
[35:09] Injury wise, Carbajal's got some pain, so does Militao, which of
[35:12] course is not good because we already have.
[35:14] Problems in the back line, Trent and Rudiger out.
[35:17] Yeah, it's a problem. Trent, Rudiger and Fede
[35:21] Chuameni, Camovinga. Those are like the those two
[35:24] spots, the right back, the right center back, the the holding
[35:27] midfield area, though if those players continue to either be
[35:31] unavailable or half fit and played because other players are
[35:35] unavailable, it's the math isn't looking great.
[35:37] We just need a little respite. We need some breathing room like
[35:40] a win with like like we did with the rotations against Levante.
[35:43] That was awesome because we needed it.
[35:45] We we will need more of those going forward.
[35:47] And I think it's a big thing is can Kamelvenka and Jude not get
[35:52] hurt and stay healthy and fit and get like a minute load that
[35:55] makes sense for them and also rest fed it at the same time?
[35:59] That is, that is the balancing act Alonso has to figure out.
[36:02] You are you are asking for a lot set and I don't even know how
[36:05] that happens. Like literally I don't know how
[36:06] the math works. I just don't.
[36:08] I think, I think it works well if again, it really comes down
[36:12] to like, what's the first game you can rest Fete?
[36:15] Because we tried multiple times and the red card screwed us.
[36:18] So it's it keeps coming back to when's the earliest you can get
[36:21] Fete off the pitch. I think from there everything
[36:23] gets easier. Yeah, Fete is the big bottle.
[36:26] And today I was wondering, I'm like, how many games are we
[36:28] going to win with the tired fete?
[36:29] This almost doesn't feel real. Like like it's there.
[36:32] Like you don't win with your role player being too tired to
[36:34] do role player things. What the hell?
[36:36] This is the last. This is the last two seasons of
[36:39] Fete playing literally every single minute for club and
[36:41] country. This is the result.
[36:42] This is what you see now. So maybe it was last year, Sid,
[36:46] we talked about it. You were like, we're going to
[36:48] run that guy into the ground him.
[36:49] And Rudiger this time. Him and Rudiger this time last
[36:51] year. Yeah.
[36:51] And look where we are. Like by the time he's 28, a
[36:53] guy's career is going to be over because all we do is play him
[36:56] full 90s for club and country and guys, he's not 28, he's 26.
[37:00] This is this is where we're at or 27.
[37:02] This is we're here. This is where we're at.
[37:04] Now. I will say this how much?
[37:07] Because as you know, and this is not a, I'm not saying, oh, what
[37:10] was us? This is what you sign up for
[37:12] when you when you play for Real Madrid.
[37:14] Every team that plays us, it is a final and it is the biggest
[37:17] game of the season for them. Every team, I don't care who it
[37:19] is, Barcelona, Liverpool, every team that plays us, this is the
[37:23] biggest match of the season and that's what we're going to get.
[37:24] That's you sign up when you're part of the best club in the
[37:26] world. How much do you think Kyrat
[37:28] right now is licking their lips like they're coming to our
[37:32] stadium? Hey, who knows, maybe the
[37:35] impossible could happen. They were already going to come
[37:37] into this feeling a certain kind of way, like this is a big
[37:40] remember how excited they were when the draw came out?
[37:42] They were jumping for joy when Real Madrid, like when they when
[37:45] they drew Real Madrid, How much are they going to be that more
[37:47] excited now, like coming in a Tuesday?
[37:50] It's complicated because like, I think they're excited, but they
[37:52] do remind me of like Tska Moscow, like those long trips to
[37:56] Russia that would end like 7/1. It could.
[37:59] It could, I'm just saying. You you based on what I've seen
[38:02] this forget about today this whole season.
[38:04] I don't see 71 anytime soon from this team.
[38:06] I just. Don't see, no, no, I don't think
[38:07] they're there. I think I think it's because
[38:09] they're still alerting to execute offense within defenses
[38:12] like defense for strategy like 7 one while only giving the ball
[38:16] away in the areas Alonso allows. That's going to take some time,
[38:19] long time. That's going to take a process.
[38:21] Just learning when to accelerate at the perfect moment, being
[38:24] patient till that moment. But like always, like getting to
[38:27] that moment where you do accelerate several times a game,
[38:29] that's going to be a whole process.
[38:31] And these guys are, these guys are knackered, right?
[38:33] They're exhausted. Like who?
[38:34] What's the starting 11 going to be on Tuesday?
[38:38] I don't know. I don't even know if I want to
[38:39] think about that right. Carreras another full 90 for.
[38:42] Him. Carreras looks tired.
[38:43] Carreras looks tired, right? But that's where the Oh no, he's
[38:46] out red cards because of a champ, right?
[38:48] No, no, that was a Little League, not Champions League.
[38:50] He's in Carville. He's out, Carville.
[38:52] Out. Yeah, yeah, no, that's a
[38:53] problem. I sense he was gonna be playing
[38:55] that day and I think the the challenges, those red cards were
[38:59] screwing us as we were winning those games.
[39:01] And the reality is that we fact that we got those points.
[39:04] It was big because those red cards forced us to overextend
[39:07] fete and arrive in this part of the season in a off shape.
[39:11] With that being said, the main difference I think between this
[39:15] team's floor and ceiling that we learned today is that like 2013
[39:19] fourteen Real Madrid and the three P teams were two different
[39:21] forms of greatness. 1 was a ball dominant form 2013 fourteen
[39:27] would go and set up shop like they would sit off Byron away.
[39:31] We actually did not play well against Athletico in 2013.
[39:33] Fourteen both games. The second game we could have
[39:37] won and I I think they got an equalizer or we did, but it was
[39:39] Tutu and we were injured a lot by that second game.
[39:43] It's not like we were in a perfect form, but we didn't look
[39:46] great that year and we couldn't impose ourselves over every
[39:49] team. But we could win pretty much
[39:51] anything. Like we could beat anyone head
[39:52] to head. And if it really came down to
[39:54] it, yeah, we're like, we're gonna be able to sit back and
[39:56] hit you in transition. My take away today is that we're
[39:59] not replacing Cruz or Madrich this season in the big games.
[40:02] That's my take away. Like we're not gonna go and walk
[40:06] over a team for half a game because of our skills on the
[40:09] ball. It's gonna be from other
[40:10] reasons. But you know what though?
[40:12] Like this is now come on, enough of this.
[40:15] We don't have cruiser mod. That's why like it's we've even
[40:17] had cruise now this is two seasons now we're going on the
[40:20] second season without cruise like and Madrich right, played a
[40:22] lot of bench role for us last year like so I feel like we have
[40:26] to get over that. Like first of all, even if we
[40:29] had replacements for them, there is no one to one Tony Cruz
[40:32] replacement or one to one Luca module.
[40:34] Is it? Those people don't exist, right?
[40:37] So we have to do what we can with whom we have.
[40:40] And if that kind of system and set up is it working for what
[40:43] you have, then you have to figure something else out,
[40:46] right? Something different has to be
[40:47] done. No, I agree.
[40:49] I I just think you, I think the the season was always going to
[40:51] be a process of finding out what that ideal system is and
[40:54] discovery and discovery means losing and finding out on the
[40:58] margins. Now are we going to chill, try
[41:01] to find out if we can be the three beat team a little more
[41:03] maybe, especially because like we're just the talent is so
[41:06] absurd. Like Alonzo is looking at this
[41:08] like, okay, that's the Metropolitano game of the season
[41:11] done. Like that's it.
[41:12] We're never going back there. All the other teams have to go
[41:14] back there. If we play a team that tries to
[41:16] do what they did with 30% less intensity and we learn some
[41:20] lessons and we and I wouldn't be shocked if he's like, I want to
[41:23] try again. Like I wouldn't be shocked if
[41:24] he's like, hey Dean, it's been two months.
[41:27] Hey Fede, like I rested you, you better pull the ball with one
[41:30] touch this time. Like it might be something he
[41:33] tries again. I think experimentation is just
[41:35] essential. And the, the, the problem is
[41:38] this Jerrod, it's 'cause like I think we're, we can be like the
[41:41] three beat team in 90 to 95% of games.
[41:45] And it's going to hurt to find out that we can't end those few
[41:47] games. It's going to hurt and we're
[41:48] going to have to sit off. And I just don't know if also
[41:51] the second thing I'll say is this.
[41:53] I think it's something you kind of want to leave in your bag
[41:55] more for the second-half of the season.
[41:57] Like people think you're going to set up with the Jude and a
[41:59] slow team, then you come out with your 451 and you just hit
[42:02] him in transition in March. It might be something he holds
[42:05] off on. And again, this kind of goes
[42:08] back to how Carlo approached it when he was here in 1314 with
[42:12] Bale and Alonzo here. Like he tried playing some
[42:15] expansive stuff, but by the end we had a very good transition
[42:18] offense for the big games and that's what we went to every
[42:20] time. I, I think, yeah.
[42:22] And, and I, I, I totally hear what you're saying.
[42:24] I think one of the problems with being a Real Madrid fan, someone
[42:29] who covers the team, whatever, because of this club's glorious
[42:34] and pristine history, it's always about, oh, this is like
[42:39] our version of the three P team or the And to me, I'm much more
[42:43] pragmatic than that, right? Like, I don't even like the idea
[42:46] of, oh, can this team defend and go back-to-back?
[42:49] Like each season is its own thing.
[42:55] Yes, Real Madrid may have won three consecutive Champions
[42:58] Leagues and the spine of that team was the same with who our
[43:02] attacking trio was and all that. But each season presented its
[43:05] own level of challenges and difficulties, right?
[43:07] And so how the team would win certain things or come out of
[43:11] certain matches was always different, right?
[43:13] Because each season is a different way, like your
[43:15] different opponents, different injuries at different times.
[43:18] So for me it's like, OK, this is the roster that we have when
[43:22] there ain't no new signings coming.
[43:24] Maybe someone from Castilla, I I doubt it, but whatever, right?
[43:27] This is it. Who is who we see is who we have
[43:30] what I want to and I think this is what to your point, the
[43:32] experimentation. So I just got to figure out in
[43:35] these different scenarios, what do I know my guys can do?
[43:39] OK, maybe maybe after today, although I don't think you say
[43:42] that, but maybe it's too many and Fede alone are not enough to
[43:46] be press resistant. Maybe I don't know, but maybe
[43:48] that's that's that's something he's saying, right?
[43:50] Or he's saying I'm going to give it one more shot in a game to
[43:54] your point state against the team that's maybe 30% less
[43:56] aggressive than Athletic is and see how they do.
[43:59] But another big game, right? So maybe it's a Champions League
[44:01] fixture, right against, you know, not Liverpool, but someone
[44:05] that's that next run up. And if they struggle again, OK,
[44:07] we're done. We're never doing that again
[44:09] because you guys can't do that, right?
[44:11] Like I, I'm hoping that this is what we're doing and we're not
[44:13] worrying about, you know, can we look like this team?
[44:16] Can we have? I don't.
[44:17] Think, I don't think they're looking at which team.
[44:19] I I think fundamentally the reason they're trying to be more
[44:22] like the three P team is because if you can do it with the ball,
[44:24] the ceiling is higher. This is reality.
[44:27] And so not only that, I think Alonso already knows these
[44:30] players can do what that 1314 team did.
[44:33] Like he knows the transition setup works, but in the modern
[44:36] game I think it's he's more interested in develop,
[44:38] developing this curveball that may not play to everyone's
[44:41] strengths, but could be the difference between 30 minutes of
[44:44] respite in a certain matchup that allow us to breathe.
[44:48] Because defending in a block for the whole game is exhausting in
[44:51] its own way and different. And you don't want very good
[44:54] players on the ball like we have doing that unless it really
[44:57] makes sense in the right matchups.
[44:59] Otherwise you go. City City in the semi final.
[45:01] Second look at the semi final. The Etihad.
[45:02] Right, Yes, yeah. And I do expect stubbornness to
[45:05] show that we have that curveball that we can play slower because
[45:09] ultimately, like if you look at the total talent and the metrics
[45:12] of everyone on the team before they were signed while they're
[45:14] here, man, I'm, I'm probably trying what job you did today.
[45:18] That's all. I, I'm just biased towards
[45:19] saying like, if I'm, if I'm playing FIFA and I see these
[45:21] players with their ratings, I'm trying to keep the ball, man.
[45:23] I'm not giving the ball away like, and I'm just hoping that
[45:28] in a big rival matchup like we when we play Athleti again or
[45:31] Barcelona, I hope he's just quicker to pull the trigger in
[45:34] the biggest games. That's all it is.
[45:35] Like pull, trig, go block. To be honest, this all sounds
[45:39] like so much pain, but the first defeat of the season's always
[45:42] painful. Learning from your first
[45:43] mistake's always going to feel like a lot more of a chore.
[45:46] Then the second time you get back to the same situation,
[45:48] you're like, oh, I've been there, done that.
[45:50] I could not have learned this without making the mistake
[45:52] right? And I think it's and I think
[45:54] it's the score line too that I think has everybody upset,
[45:56] right? Like 5-2 just doesn't look nice.
[45:58] Like it just no matter how it just doesn't, right.
[46:00] Like it was two 2 1/2. We literally got beat 3 nil in
[46:05] the second. Yeah, that just doesn't look
[46:08] cute. Like it just doesn't.
[46:09] Yeah, yeah, three people and no, no adjustments.
[46:10] Yeah, it was bad. And no adjustments.
[46:12] And we didn't put, we didn't even get a shot off.
[46:14] Like, like that's, that's just piss poor.
[46:17] And so like, I'm not gonna again, I'm not jumping off the
[46:20] bridge. Like, Oh my God, it's over.
[46:22] Like, no, this is all learning. Job is a smart guy.
[46:26] He is a pragmatic guy. We talk about this.
[46:28] He's always in the lab, always cooking.
[46:30] He's also ultra competitive. You know this shit is eating him
[46:34] up right now and he is. He is burning up right now.
[46:37] We were losing it at 2324 as well when we lost What lady and
[46:40] gone on to win the double. We only lost that game 31, but
[46:43] that game was pretty much the same type of idea that like once
[46:45] we went down 31, the game was over.
[46:47] No real semblance of hope, no semblance of coming back.
[46:51] All that was never happening. So it it's the same genre of
[46:54] Athletico defeat. But again, This is why I caution
[46:58] fans to stop worrying about the past.
[47:00] Don't assume that, oh, just like it was two years ago, we won the
[47:02] double. Don't make we'll win the double
[47:04] this year. Like, listen, do I think we'll
[47:07] be have a shot to compete for the league?
[47:09] Obviously we're top of the league right now.
[47:11] For now. Do I think we have shot to win
[47:12] the Champions League? I think we we always have a shot
[47:13] to win the Champions League. But this idea that, oh, we did
[47:16] it like you have to eliminate. It's like it's like that quote,
[47:19] that thing about the, the about the stock market.
[47:21] Past performances are not indicative of future results,
[47:25] right? Like that was two seasons ago
[47:26] under a different manager with a different team.
[47:29] Like, forget that. Examine it now for what it was
[47:32] for this season and for now. It is something that must be
[47:35] learned from. Period, point blank, end of
[47:37] story. And I hope it does.
[47:39] We won't know yet until the season progresses.
[47:42] The the underlying numbers are still up across the board.
[47:45] Well, this game kind of neutralizes that a little, but
[47:47] they're they are up across the board on the last couple years
[47:50] or maybe even 3 or I don't know, they are up across the board.
[47:53] So strength is getting better. But like all that is with the
[47:56] caveats of red cards players being tired.
[47:58] So there's a lot to navigate and a lot to learn.
[48:02] And also Sid, like despite whether it's narrative or it, it
[48:08] doesn't matter, right? Because as you know, perception
[48:09] is reality. And so until not only Javi
[48:15] Alonso, but Madrid, until they both win a quote UN quote big
[48:21] game, this is going to dog them for a while, right?
[48:25] In that Javi can't win big games.
[48:27] Madrid still has trouble against actual good teams, right?
[48:29] That that is going to be the narrative, whether we like it or
[48:32] not, whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter.
[48:34] That's what's going to be said ad nauseam by the most powerful
[48:37] voices in football punditry, right?
[48:39] That's just what is going to happen.
[48:41] So, and what's not going to help us is if we further give them
[48:45] proof, like classical comes around and we end up losing that
[48:48] 1/3 nil or we have a Champions League match.
[48:52] It's it's, it's we're not helping our 'cause, right?
[48:54] So regardless of anything, we have to, as a unit, bunker down,
[48:58] shut off that outside noise. OK fellas, we learn from this.
[49:02] Here's what was horrible. Here are the mistakes I made.
[49:04] Here are the mistakes you made. We all own it.
[49:06] We're going to fix that and move forward and and look better as
[49:08] we continue to build, right? Once that happens, it'll be
[49:11] fine. Then, then, then the proof is in
[49:12] the pudding, right? The results speak for
[49:13] themselves. But if we continue to beat up on
[49:16] teams we should win and struggle in big games, it's going to dog
[49:19] us and that's just the reality. Yeah, and I think the good thing
[49:23] is there. I mean, the Champions League
[49:25] means there are some good games. I think with the Champions
[49:27] League, the way the seasons are progressing, I do think teams
[49:31] are increasingly going to use the fall to learn like PSG last
[49:34] year, just kind of getting better as the fall went on than
[49:37] the second time they played Arsenal, they still struggled,
[49:39] but they had enough to get over the line against them, whereas
[49:41] in October they were played off the pitch.
[49:43] So I do expect more learning curves.
[49:46] I, I think we're going to learn the lessons, but there's a
[49:49] reward element like to experimenting like this and I
[49:52] think there's a very high reward to finding out your limits in
[49:56] exact situations. You need to know what your
[49:58] parameters are, how long ago got it wrong today.
[50:00] But you know, if you've ever tried anything in life, you you
[50:03] got to get things wrong and then try again from scratch.
[50:05] So we'll see how we pick things up.
[50:07] Also, Sid, as you know, the first time you do something,
[50:11] you're so much better the 100th time you do it.
[50:13] And you're even better the thousandth time you do it.
[50:15] You're even better the ten thousandth time you do it right.
[50:18] Well, that, that's why I'm not like the same shit with Vinny is
[50:21] how I feel about Vinny's growing pains is how I feel about
[50:23] Alonzo's mistake today. I'm like, this is all the same
[50:25] thing. It's like you guys are trying to
[50:27] shift to playing in a way you didn't for four years.
[50:30] And you need to find out what parts of that shift are feasible
[50:33] and make sense for this team and what parts of that shift are
[50:36] maybe unrealistic and don't make sense.
[50:38] And that's just, yeah, it's going to be a process.
[50:40] And so you want to get to the stage of unconscious competence
[50:43] where like, you know, before the game, you know your team's
[50:46] limits, you know what dynamics may matter for your team in that
[50:50] match up. And you decide Alonzo's not even
[50:51] there. He's in the like, still finding
[50:53] out the team's limits, not even sure if the experiment's going
[50:56] to make sense on in the game. That's the whole process.
[50:59] He's. Also not there as a coach
[51:00] himself. This is only his second senior
[51:03] job in his life so. Yes, with that being said, like
[51:07] I, I do think young coaches are very high ceiling with
[51:10] occasional big floor mistakes like Guardiola's first season at
[51:14] Citi. I know he wasn't young then, but
[51:15] like a coach with a vision of how to play the game adapted to
[51:19] the modern style is going to take risk reward.
[51:22] That looks really dumb like Pep did.
[51:23] It's gonna it's gonna look silly sometimes.
[51:26] Hopefully not too much more of this and hopefully we honestly,
[51:30] my big thing is get those midfielders rested.
[51:32] I I believe I'm, I'm always going to want to play with the
[51:35] ball. Gerard, I'm biased.
[51:36] The three P team won three, the 14 team won one.
[51:38] There's a reason for that. Listen, if if I have a
[51:41] preference, I like playing with the ball, of course, but I I
[51:44] also like winning, right at the end of the day, I like winning
[51:47] period, end of story. And So what is the most
[51:50] pragmatic way with what I have to get the best possible
[51:53] results? And the challenge with, as
[51:54] you're saying, with Vinnie and and and Jabi and, and, and the
[51:57] learning is unlike, you know, there's a, there's a saying
[52:02] right in that experience or, or life is the is, is the hardest,
[52:06] is the toughest teacher, right, Because it gives you the test
[52:08] 1st and the lesson second, right?
[52:10] Well, that's the same thing of sports.
[52:13] You don't have an opportunity to well, let me experiment with
[52:15] this in a lab and see if it works.
[52:17] No, there is no lab. The lab is an actual game with
[52:19] wins and losses and draws. So if you lose, it's that's the
[52:23] that's the lesson shit. And unfortunately you drop
[52:26] points like that, that's just how it goes.
[52:28] There is no way to tinker because training ground as much
[52:31] as it that's not. But you, you don't.
[52:32] You don't test your lineups on FIFA and 2K before the game.
[52:36] That's what Durant, Durant says he does that LeBron you don't
[52:38] do. Exactly right.
[52:41] Like this isn't, this isn't FIFA or NBA2K.
[52:44] Like no, I have to see it in live action.
[52:47] And the problem is, in live action there are real sticks,
[52:50] wins, losses, draws, and that's just how it is.
[52:53] Hey, I do. I do want to say the 2K tests
[52:55] are more translatable to real life than the FC ones.
[52:57] That's FC. I don't know what they did.
[52:58] That's not a video game, that's not physics like that's not
[53:00] football. That's like that's like like
[53:03] anti gravity football where the ball just flies wherever it
[53:05] wants when the game needs a goal to keep engaged.
[53:09] It is it it, it's just the nature of this, right?
[53:12] It it is, it's just how life works.
[53:14] So look, Madridista is like, I know you're all upset that we
[53:17] look, we're upset too, Like this is not how we thought this match
[53:20] was going to go, but it did. The hope is that you believe in
[53:24] this project and this coaching out there and these players,
[53:26] they have like, OK, we learned a valuable, not one lesson.
[53:29] We learned valuable lessons, plural today about what we can
[53:33] and can't do. There's some actual real
[53:35] physical things we need, IE Jude is not match fit enough, but he
[53:39] needs rest like that. We have to overcome and fix and
[53:43] get better and we have time, right?
[53:45] Look, it'd be one thing if this was, you know, February and like
[53:49] we're fighting for the league and shit.
[53:52] Now we drop this and we're screwed now, right?
[53:53] Like it's September, we won all the games we should have.
[53:56] Yes, this is a tough one. Have been better to at least
[53:58] come up with points. So dropping points is huge, but
[54:02] all is not lost. Yeah, yeah.
[54:04] And it was on Alonzo today. I would please don't play Jude
[54:08] or just don't play guys in big games coming off injuries.
[54:11] It was like when Zidane played Bill in a Classico that we lost
[54:14] like after an injury. It's like, dude, what did you
[54:16] expect? This guy has like he takes 10
[54:18] games to get back in shape every time you started him in El
[54:20] Classico Like, and that was when that was when that game actually
[54:23] meant was the end of Bill under Zidane.
[54:25] Like if you remember, it was just E go from there on out.
[54:28] And I mean, obviously it won't be like that today.
[54:31] I, I guess I'm most curious to see how much PTSD Alonzo gets
[54:34] from this game. You know, does he go like get
[54:37] really scared and like try to fix all the parameters here on
[54:40] out or does he be like, I just fucked up, didn't get them in
[54:43] shape to defend crosses goes and works on defending crosses all
[54:46] game. Maybe we tried the same thing
[54:47] and we defend crosses better next time.
[54:49] There's a lot of paths we can go.
[54:50] It's not like one or the other. There's a few ways.
[54:52] To think Sid, if this team was better at defending crosses and
[54:56] play the exact same way, could. Have had a result, yeah.
[54:59] Correct. Yeah, So this is this is the
[55:02] thing about like it's there's so many areas of like where and
[55:06] again, because this team is because Javier Lars are trying
[55:09] to do a full makeover like it it takes time.
[55:13] Look, we are on this show and we are no lovers of Luis Enrique,
[55:16] but one of the things that he said during Club World Cup that
[55:19] was important, I thought poignant after the four nil, he
[55:23] said this is year 2 plus of me and this project Javi's in like
[55:29] month one like it's going to take time like and I know fans
[55:33] don't want to hear that and. What Pompany said, Did you hear
[55:35] what company said? He said, This is my this is my
[55:37] second year on the team. Now everyone knows where to go
[55:40] and where to play. And now we can actually focus on
[55:41] the details and everything is much more fine-tuned because
[55:44] they already know the starting fundamentals of their position.
[55:47] So we can get to the details and I think that's why I'm
[55:50] optimistic because I'm like, you actually can't train every style
[55:53] in a team. It's just not possible.
[55:55] You you can't. Well, well, Alonso is one of the
[55:57] closest we've got to that that we've seen.
[55:59] And that's why I'm confident. It's because like, ultimately, I
[56:02] don't think I think Alonso knows an ideal team of his is going to
[56:05] be able to switch between a block and a positional system.
[56:07] Like literally with a snap of finger.
[56:09] That's his dream, that that would be my dream as a Real
[56:12] Madrid fan, as a player who's seen the evolution of the game
[56:15] and people telling us what we need to do to win.
[56:18] I think both is the way. And ultimately, yeah, I mean,
[56:21] we've seen like when we lost 7 three to Athletico under Zidane.
[56:25] I know it was pre season, but they fixed it.
[56:26] Like that was a catalyst. Like Kante pointed out in our
[56:29] chat that 73 wasn't just a loss. That was the catalyst for that
[56:32] season, literally, along with the loss to PSG in the fall
[56:36] early in that season. So yeah, I'm, I'm thinking that
[56:39] will be a catalyst, but the extent is what'll be
[56:41] interesting. Does he go like imposter
[56:44] syndrome? I'm taking responsibility.
[56:45] I'm never putting you guys on the spot again.
[56:47] Or is he going to approach it more like a tinkerer in the fall
[56:50] and then put his competitor hat on in the spring, which I'm
[56:53] curious. And also something like Conte
[56:55] mentioned, I love that you went there in terms of the tinkerer
[56:58] and the Conte has talked about this.
[57:00] We are also or Javi's also because I think Madrid have a
[57:03] plan on him being a long term coach here.
[57:06] So who are the right kinds of players that are going to be
[57:11] here with me for the long term? And who is not right?
[57:15] I, I, I think that's part of this too, right, because we're
[57:17] always walking about profiles fit.
[57:18] Do they fit? Do they fit?
[57:19] Do they fit? Do they fit right?
[57:20] Like we, we, we think it's very clear that house in and Carreras
[57:25] and and Truman, we know there's certain people who are locked
[57:28] solid. We know they want them.
[57:30] Others maybe not so much right. And we will see how that happens
[57:34] over time and and how everything plays out.
[57:37] Yeah, yeah, Well, interesting game.
[57:38] It's just so many narratives, like if you hated Alonzo, you
[57:42] can latch on. If you don't like Guler, I don't
[57:44] know, maybe you can point at that goal.
[57:45] But also he carried us. It was a interesting game and
[57:49] yeah, I think mainly we're going to need a few more.
[57:51] I think the next big one that'll teach us a lot, Villarreal those
[57:54] games will, but the Classico will also teach us a lot.
[57:56] We have two tough games in October.
[57:59] We have, I mean, Villarreal is going to be tough regardless
[58:02] because of Villarreal and Hattafe away.
[58:04] Like it's just all these games are going to be tough.
[58:06] But we have UVA in the Champions League and we have Barcelona the
[58:09] Classico at the end of the month.
[58:12] Just to end, apparently Koke said this game will go down in
[58:15] history. Damn.
[58:15] I mean listen the fact in. Athletico in Athletico history,
[58:19] maybe not in football history. The the, the fact that Koke was
[58:24] able to get an assist and like boss us a bit, it's like, oh
[58:26] man, that motherfucker, are we serious?
[58:28] Yeah, he got to roll the clock back.
[58:29] I know it was annoying. But but, and oh, and the I don't
[58:32] know if you wrote Lakota, you said I had this weird feeling
[58:35] Griezmann was going to break his scoring streak against us.
[58:37] And sure enough, it fucking happened first.
[58:40] Time in 25 games. It happened.
[58:41] It happened. I will say the one I wasn't
[58:43] surprised about is Barrios. I knew he was going to have a
[58:46] good game before even watching. Like I just knew I'm like like
[58:49] that's the kind of link up guy, you know, that we're almost
[58:51] looking for in our midfield and the nominal player.
[58:55] Congrats Athletic. You have a guy who lets you go
[58:57] toe to toe with the best teams. They always have a couple of
[59:00] guys that you're like, how are they competing?
[59:01] You're like, oh, they have a few of those guys who are actually
[59:04] not just Athletico players, but good at the game.
[59:07] The the the one thing I'll say is that you know, you mentioned
[59:08] about hey Fede, next time when I play you, I want one touch, one
[59:14] touch, one touch and we get out of here, right?
[59:15] I will say this. It is really annoying to watch
[59:19] teams like Athleti when we press how they can easily evade with
[59:23] quick one touches, right? They set up their triangles.
[59:26] Boom boom boom. And they're and they're going
[59:28] right like that too. Like when we I can't do the
[59:31] same, that drives me insane. And when I say do the same, do
[59:34] the same against a team that is even a little bit hungrier, not
[59:37] against Levante and whoever A-Team a little hungrier, we
[59:41] can't do it and that's really annoying.
[59:43] We did. We did shut out Marcel trying to
[59:45] do that against us. I think if we can stop the other
[59:47] team from doing that to us, who would be nice that and that's
[59:51] where like after the success of Marcel, Marcel, I get why he
[59:56] kind of wanted to persist. He's like, just give it one more
[59:58] half. Let's let's try and just stop
[1:00:00] him at the halfway line because Marcel was such a stunning
[1:00:03] success for a team so early in its development cycle, in my
[1:00:05] honest opinion. Like the number of times they
[1:00:07] were right there to win the ball back every time against a team
[1:00:10] that wants to play through you and beat you was cool.
[1:00:13] So it's in there somewhere. But.
[1:00:15] The other thing is, I think growing pains for implementing
[1:00:17] something like that literally looks like maybe in A5 game
[1:00:20] span, you get two or three good games, you're gonna get a bad
[1:00:23] one. It's just every team is slightly
[1:00:24] different in terms of dynamics and the process of figuring out
[1:00:28] OK, like I need to slightly tweak the dynamic to make sure
[1:00:31] I'm actually effective against this team.
[1:00:33] That is a whole thing. And yeah, like you said, Fede
[1:00:35] being tired, Like, man, there was just one play where I'm
[1:00:38] like, it just reminded me of me. When I'm out of shape and like
[1:00:41] trying to do something, I'm just like, dude, I'm dead.
[1:00:43] You can't. Like you barely see the ball
[1:00:45] coming at you and then like when you're trying to control it,
[1:00:47] your eyes are drooping like you're.
[1:00:48] Exhausted, physically tired players, right, their minds move
[1:00:51] slower, right and then and the reaction your body then move
[1:00:54] slower. Like everything about Fede right
[1:00:55] now was just slow. And by the way, it's been this
[1:00:57] way since the end of last season, right?
[1:01:00] Like and again, this is because he plays full 90 for club and
[1:01:03] country every single timeout. And you know, we that's got to
[1:01:08] change. I don't know how or who or what,
[1:01:11] but it hasn't changed. I want him to pick up an injury
[1:01:13] just for the international break.
[1:01:14] That's an order like to like, I don't know who you are, like not
[1:01:17] even or that's a mandate from the real deal.
[1:01:19] If you're listening to this near the club, go tell him like go go
[1:01:23] like spill orange juice on his foot, like break the glass
[1:01:26] nearby and say something happened.
[1:01:27] I don't know, like like we. We said it on the last show.
[1:01:30] I'm like, I need Madrid to create some kind of fake injury
[1:01:33] for him and keep him out and keep him in Madrid.
[1:01:36] This, this is the international break.
[1:01:37] I don't care what, Figure something out.
[1:01:40] I don't know, just do it. Definitely.
[1:01:42] Definitely, and also make sure Carlo calls up Rafina and like.
[1:01:46] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Rafina's heard, I think.
[1:01:49] Last I saw, I think so. I don't think.
[1:01:50] He's playing, he is, he is, he is.
[1:01:52] Him and Joanne are out, but all I know is we need those national
[1:01:55] team coaches to step up. Good question here I.
[1:01:57] Thought it is a good question. I was actually going to ask you
[1:01:58] about Sabios. Would Sabios have been a better
[1:02:01] choice than Bellingham today? So there's no question that like
[1:02:05] exactly what Sebayos provided against Levante is kind of what
[1:02:08] we were missing today in midfield.
[1:02:10] The 100 passes from that zone at a decent enough speed where the
[1:02:14] opposition can't keep up. No question.
[1:02:16] Now, I think though, if you play the Sebayo, I don't think you
[1:02:19] could have played like, I think what he was worried about is
[1:02:23] Sebayos Fete, Chuomeni and Guler.
[1:02:25] That's a very lack of vertical verticality.
[1:02:29] I would have wanted Franco in the lineup if Cibios is in the
[1:02:32] lineup like we did last time and that means no Guler.
[1:02:36] I don't think he felt confident about chance creation.
[1:02:39] Now Guler. Guler is our chance creator
[1:02:41] right now. And so put all that together and
[1:02:44] I don't think he found a spot for him.
[1:02:46] He could have a role. Is Cibios a big game player?
[1:02:49] I don't know. It's it's just like ultimately
[1:02:53] you kind of have to test it out and see after the evidence of
[1:02:56] today, you can definitely argue there could be a spot for him in
[1:03:00] this type of matchup. It's it's just tricky because
[1:03:04] there's age, career trajectory. Like you probably don't want
[1:03:08] Danny Sabayos to be the one in the Gala 11, but then again,
[1:03:11] Casamaro wasn't the one people wanted in at 11.
[1:03:14] He made it in. If that's what it takes, it's
[1:03:15] what it takes. And that's, and that's what I
[1:03:17] think, I think we need to get out of this idea of for a gala
[1:03:20] 11A player, like Sabios can't be in it.
[1:03:23] Like who gives a shit if he compliments the other 10?
[1:03:26] I don't care. Like his name is Danny Sabios,
[1:03:28] right? Like, I think it has to do they
[1:03:29] fit well, That's sure. Does your Gala 11 fit well?
[1:03:33] That's what it should matter, right?
[1:03:34] One of things we love about Shabby is he doesn't care about
[1:03:36] what your name is on the back of your jersey, right?
[1:03:38] Like it's about do you fit what he wants to do?
[1:03:40] That should be the Gala 11. And if he thinks Sabio is, is it
[1:03:43] going to be a better fit than Bette or then put him in right
[1:03:47] like. I would have, I personally think
[1:03:50] if you throw in say BIOS, you then lean a lot into like ball
[1:03:53] to feet play. And if the same thing has today
[1:03:55] happened, you're kind of stuck where you have to make a sub to
[1:03:58] even change the way you play. But that was the case today too.
[1:04:00] And yeah, I I think you can play Sebayos, but for me, the Franco
[1:04:05] was the missing one, like in this type of matchup from the
[1:04:07] beginning, like, and by the time he came on, momentum was gone
[1:04:10] unfortunately, like there was no possibility of holding the ball
[1:04:12] and Galero was taken off. It felt like there was, we
[1:04:15] weren't sure how we were going to get the ball to their box at
[1:04:18] that point. And so and I think so.
[1:04:20] Let's say it's it's 32 right and momentum's it's left at that
[1:04:23] point. But if he Subs and keeps Gulera
[1:04:26] Ante's Bellingham off, do we have a chance?
[1:04:28] Maybe still cause Guler still on the bitch or you're like now
[1:04:30] we're still we're still toast. I would, yeah.
[1:04:32] I I just honestly felt like, like I love you, Jude, but I
[1:04:35] felt like we didn't have a chance while you were out there
[1:04:37] today, honestly. So that more than anything, it
[1:04:40] was just like, yeah, well, I take off a guy who's giving you
[1:04:42] plus moments and I, I, I'm sure the coroner traumatized him for
[1:04:46] like a little bit. He's just like, guys, if we're
[1:04:48] going to get back in this game, it's because we're going to stop
[1:04:51] losing duels. So then he's like, how do I stop
[1:04:53] losing duels? Which is not taking off Jude,
[1:04:55] It's taking off Hitler. Yeah, Which I totally get.
[1:04:58] And that's where, again, it's like, you can Alonzo made
[1:05:01] mistakes, but he's honest and trying to do math at the end of
[1:05:04] the day. And I at that moment, I'm like,
[1:05:06] you have to pick your poison and we're losing every goddamn duel.
[1:05:09] I I get get taking Guler off. There's just nothing that was
[1:05:11] working like you just bring on guys who are going to shove and
[1:05:14] tackle and hope something changes that didn't change, but
[1:05:18] at least something can change in that in that moment.
[1:05:20] If you keep Guler on, you don't get enough deal willing.
[1:05:23] They might just call for your head.
[1:05:25] You might lose 5-2 anyways and they might just make more fun of
[1:05:27] you. Who knows?
[1:05:27] But well, it's not about being made fun of.
[1:05:30] It's just you want to bring some warriors onto the pitch and I
[1:05:33] think that was the reason. But Jude I think was just like,
[1:05:37] it's just there's games where if his touch is off and he he just
[1:05:41] becomes too much of A role player.
[1:05:42] And I don't like that. Like he's he was just a role
[1:05:44] player out there. Like you're a star.
[1:05:46] He's too elite to be, but you did see that he had two, two
[1:05:49] sequences today where you're like, he's got that that that
[1:05:52] magics in them, right? He just needs to do that for a
[1:05:54] full 90 and he's not there yet, right?
[1:05:56] He's. Rusty like, which was the
[1:05:57] sequences I I was, let's just say I don't remember the exact
[1:06:01] ones right now. He disappeared to me.
[1:06:04] The the one where he got the ball to Benny and that scored
[1:06:06] the goal to Arda, right? I think there's a that was the
[1:06:08] one of the one duels that we won and then he had a played, I want
[1:06:12] to say in the first half where he spun out of pressure with guy
[1:06:16] and he just shatted the guy off him just because even though
[1:06:18] he's slimmed down, he's still bigger than any midfielder that
[1:06:21] that I thought he has and stronger than any of them,
[1:06:22] right. So he's able to use his
[1:06:24] physicality, strength and his touch, keep the ball close to
[1:06:26] his feet. They couldn't pick his pocket
[1:06:28] and and progress the ball forward, right.
[1:06:29] I'm like, he still got that in his game, right, Of course, but
[1:06:32] he just needs he's just rusty, man.
[1:06:34] He just needs to keep playing and doing that and you know,
[1:06:37] he'll be fine. I'm not I'm not worried about
[1:06:38] Jude long term. I think she needs more time to
[1:06:40] get himself match fit. But again, this is the problem.
[1:06:43] There is no lab you can go into to get ready so that now he has
[1:06:48] to get ready in games with growing pains.
[1:06:50] That's that's just the unfortunate reality of
[1:06:52] professional sports. Yeah, and honestly, I felt like
[1:06:55] he was disconnected a bit, like just from the like the team has
[1:06:58] a way of winning and playing. 'Cause he hasn't played with
[1:07:00] them so. Yeah, it it, it felt like it was
[1:07:04] him and then the other three together and like he was in
[1:07:06] spaces, like right half space alone, just standing there.
[1:07:09] Sometimes I'm like, what? Like what is this gonna do for
[1:07:11] us? Like even if you get the ball,
[1:07:12] you're not in the type of form where you can dribble 4 guys
[1:07:15] right now. What are we doing?
[1:07:16] And yeah, so I think we've covered all the different
[1:07:20] mistakes and what needs to happen going forward.
[1:07:22] It's it's a lot, but I'll say I'm optimistic.
[1:07:25] But I don't know if the team ceiling, I don't know what the
[1:07:28] team ceiling and big game lineup looks like fully.
[1:07:30] I think some level of today's lineup with Jude, Vinny and Bape
[1:07:33] when they're healthy is what it'll be.
[1:07:35] But yeah, if any one of them isn't 100%, it can look tricky.
[1:07:38] So and that's just the theme. Health and surviving.
[1:07:41] It's unfortunate, like you could play the best fall in the world,
[1:07:44] but like your your season depends on if you're starting 11
[1:07:46] is healthy in the spring and it's just going to be navigating
[1:07:50] these things. That's why coaches are paid
[1:07:51] Monday. You know it.
[1:07:52] It's not your best players going and winning the games every
[1:07:54] week. It's a lot of dealing with this
[1:07:55] nonsense of like the calendar. It's just all calendar work now.
[1:08:00] Yeah, it it. Listen, not only that we have
[1:08:03] that you have international break coming up after this next
[1:08:05] match next Saturday, everyone's going to be called up except for
[1:08:09] too many. Thank God, because he got a red
[1:08:10] card. So he's not playing cool.
[1:08:12] Can we keep everybody? Well, here's what I'm hoping
[1:08:14] today, Sid. I'm hoping de la Fuente saw this
[1:08:16] Carreras and it's like, Nah, I'm not calling that guy up.
[1:08:19] He's he's not ready. Great.
[1:08:21] Let Carreras stay home this break because I don't want him
[1:08:23] going up to Spain either. That would be wonderful.
[1:08:26] But it's just a real look we have the rest of the month as we
[1:08:31] talked about Kyra on Tuesday, Villarreal on Saturday, the
[1:08:35] following Saturday and then we have two big games next month,
[1:08:39] UVA in the Champions League and Barcelona.
[1:08:42] And we'll see, right? And if we are having the same
[1:08:45] types of issues and well, then we know, OK, we don't have
[1:08:49] three-game sample size and it's now end of October, it's other
[1:08:52] 30 days post, right? Then we can have another.
[1:08:56] It's like when you talk about like Defcon levels, right?
[1:08:59] It's like, OK, now we can ramp it up another Defcon level.
[1:09:02] This is we haven't learned anything and haven't gotten
[1:09:04] better. We're roaming the same.
[1:09:05] That's a problem, right? But not not time to panic yet.
[1:09:09] Yeah, yeah, that's a good way to wrap it up.
[1:09:11] Thank you all for tuning in. If you like this show, you know,
[1:09:14] we just got started this year. Please go tell someone, a Real
[1:09:17] Madrid fan or any football fan in her life who's trying to keep
[1:09:19] up with Real Madrid, if they watch the games Or maybe they
[1:09:21] don't watch the games and they kind of want to keep up
[1:09:23] tactically for games they don't watch.
[1:09:25] Please go let him know about the show.
[1:09:26] Thank you all for coming and supporting.
[1:09:29] We will be back on Tuesday or Wednesday whenever we go travel
[1:09:32] to the to the other planet to go play that.
[1:09:35] The Star Wars. Another planet.
[1:09:37] Literally another planet. Are we going to take one of
[1:09:39] those Star Wars ships to go at lightspeed across?
[1:09:41] You know, you know, you know, we're going, we're going to the
[1:09:43] host system. We're literally going to the.
[1:09:45] Host system. We're literally going to the
[1:09:46] host. That's what it's just we're
[1:09:47] going. So it's going to be funny.
[1:09:50] So we go to hot and then we return to Spain and Earth for
[1:09:53] Villarreal next Saturday. And you know, we, we do our
[1:09:56] Friday mailbags and previews. So we're, we're ramping up the
[1:09:59] volume of shows. We're also recruiting people,
[1:10:01] bringing them on to the team. If you know any top tacticians
[1:10:03] who want platforms, talk about Real Madrid.
[1:10:06] We're moving. So thank you all for tuning in.
[1:10:08] Please tell your friends, Jerrod, any any final things you
[1:10:10] want to tell our viewers. Nothing just enjoy.
[1:10:12] We thank you guys so much like subscribe, comment, share,
[1:10:15] please. We read the comments.
[1:10:16] We'll we'll do more to incorporate you guys into the
[1:10:18] show as we keep as we go forward.
[1:10:20] Love your chatter in the in the comment section.
[1:10:23] Keep it up guys.

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