# Atletico Madrid 1-2 Real Madrid Supercup Reaction

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 8 Jan 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/113712933/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-8%2F415758374-44100-2-fa8744cfcac24.mp3

Sid reacts to the win against Atletico Madrid in Saudi Arabia, key takeaways, Xabi Alonso's substitutions and more.

## Transcript

[0:00] Hello everyone, welcome to the Real Deal of Real Madrid podcast
[0:04] and today we are here to talk about the victory over Athletico
[0:08] Madrid in Saudi Arabia to open our season.
[0:11] It's going to be a quick solo episode.
[0:12] Thank you all for joining me here.
[0:14] So obviously I wasn't the most excited going into the game
[0:19] after our last game against Athletico.
[0:21] It's not surprising that, you know, not having expectations
[0:24] was to be expected, but we had a really good win over the weekend
[0:27] against Batiste, so we're putting out the same line up.
[0:30] Gonzalo Garcia's here, we're all going to defend together.
[0:33] That's the feeling and that is already his goal in the first
[0:36] minute of the game. Second minute, that free kick
[0:38] was a blessing. It was perhaps an O Black error,
[0:41] but regardless, 2 minutes in, we're up one nil.
[0:43] We have a chance to actually do something and that's when we
[0:47] kind of the things we don't like about our team and we kind of
[0:51] learned some things about different dynamics across the
[0:54] pitch that were super interesting.
[0:56] I don't think our floor or ceiling for the season changes,
[0:59] but I'm this wasn't the game he got sacked.
[1:08] So getting right into it the first half struggles outside
[1:16] Fetty's goal. In the first half there was a
[1:19] lot of lack of progression. We weren't really protagonists.
[1:24] Once we scored, we basically ceded space to the other team.
[1:29] We essentially weren't able to progress the we weren't
[1:33] defending the flanks really well.
[1:35] All these were thought considering everything, it was
[1:40] smart to kind of sit off in a deep block because a lot of
[1:43] people were wondering was that active or a passive decision?
[1:46] The active choice with Camo Vinga and Bellingham both
[1:49] playing would have probably been to play through the other team.
[1:52] But as we've seen with this these guys, like it's one thing
[1:56] to do it against Batiste with Camo Vinga, but Camo was played
[1:58] like 8. Suddenly expecting us to control
[2:02] games against Athletico is super reasonable.
[2:04] So first half we're not too good.
[2:06] Just want to leave it there. We don't really create much.
[2:09] second-half thought the big story was Fetty Pal Verde first
[2:12] returning to peak form where we get to halftime.
[2:15] It's about .88 expected goals to the for them .66 us where you've
[2:20] played better than we did going into halftime than we did last
[2:24] season. Like because we're playing more
[2:25] or sorry in September because we played more passively and didn't
[2:29] try to like constantly play through them.
[2:30] We accepted that we have to sit off in a 442.
[2:33] I feel like we had a bit of a chance the first time we played
[2:36] Athletico. If you remember, I was very
[2:37] critical of Alonzo for constantly trying to set up in
[2:40] the opposition half and fix the opposition.
[2:42] So I do feel Jabby Alonso actually learned from his
[2:46] mistakes today. That was big.
[2:48] Listen, if you can't control the game, just play more passive.
[2:51] It wasn't pretty today, but given the restrictions of our
[2:53] players and the limitations of our midfielders, the dual
[2:56] winning capacity of our current wingers, it was one of the only
[2:59] ways we could have played. So second-half.
[3:02] Fede's return to peak form was really palpable because besides
[3:05] the goal, he had some incredible sprints up and down the pitch.
[3:08] Just absolutely phenomenal, really decisive, I thought, in
[3:12] terms of playing defense. And then there was this
[3:15] incredible pass or the Rodrigo goal.
[3:18] Rodrigo we'll get to in a second, but he I remember at
[3:21] that moment true and many was taking 2-3 touches on the ball.
[3:23] Got it to Jude. Jude's like all right, like just
[3:25] switch this enough. Jude if you know, Jude gets kind
[3:28] of annoyed sometimes watching true and many take touches.
[3:30] Just knows he knows true and many needs to play faster.
[3:33] Jude switches it to Fete. Fete takes a touch inside and I
[3:36] thought he's going to play the obvious pass.
[3:38] I think Gonzalo or someone was available for an obvious pass.
[3:42] The less obvious pass was the Rodrigo move through the middle.
[3:44] It was a little riskier. You had to time it better.
[3:47] You had to be aggressive and that was phenomenal.
[3:50] Fede, it's funny that we're seeing some of his peak format
[3:53] right back. I do think it's easier to manage
[3:55] the angles for him. He's able to kind of see where
[3:58] people are like with a little more room, no one's going to
[4:02] creep up behind him. And ultimately right back is a
[4:06] zone where you can dominate with a lot less technical quality.
[4:09] But with someone's like Fatty's qualities, I think it makes a
[4:12] lot of sense. But with that being said, we go
[4:15] up two nil and it it's a little too good to be true, right?
[4:17] You're wondering what's going to go wrong.
[4:19] Like we we went up two nil without playing great, I should
[4:22] say. Like we we weren't really doing
[4:24] much spectacularly on offense. On defense we were solid, but at
[4:29] points when the shape was able to keep us safe, but there were
[4:32] a lot of moments where Vinnie would get dragged across on the
[4:35] left flank and he would, Vinny would struggle and Carreras
[4:39] would be left. In A2V1 because Carreras is
[4:41] there, a midfielder would sometimes come over and that
[4:44] would leave a midfielder on the edge of the box open for an
[4:47] underlap or over. Sorry for a cut back normally.
[4:49] So this was happening consistently in the 442 and that
[4:54] goal that came was not too surprising.
[4:56] The surprising thing was that it actually came directly against
[4:59] Ascencio in the air because I thought we would end up ceding
[5:02] space to an individual somewhere on the ground.
[5:04] We didn't do that. Instead what happened was the
[5:08] goal ended up just being A1V1 in the air.
[5:11] But with that being said, at that point in the game, the main
[5:14] theme of the first hour, 2 nil, one nil 10.
[5:17] No matter the goals outside the goals, they were coming down our
[5:20] flank too often. Then he was struggling and the
[5:23] decision to put Jude up front next to Gonzalo, while it did
[5:26] help our ball pressure at points, maybe up front, the
[5:29] reality is that Athletico started realizing that you can
[5:33] just play away from Jude and play through Vinny.
[5:35] That's really what happened that game.
[5:36] And defensively it was a disaster.
[5:39] So at 21, Alonzo made some of the most interesting
[5:42] substitutions I've seen in a long time.
[5:44] My first reaction when I saw the Subs was like, what are you
[5:47] doing, bro, 'cause it was Buddha Grun Ascencio coming off for
[5:51] Fran Garcia and Ferland Mendy after we'd given up an aerial
[5:55] goal where Sorlok just dunked on Ascencio.
[5:57] So I'm just wondering, yo, we gave up a goal where we had the
[6:01] one V1. Like, it's not like they created
[6:02] a numerical advantage and we lost it.
[6:04] And you're taking off our only hike at the same time.
[6:09] Then I look at the shape on the pitch and this suddenly looks
[6:12] like a genius move. So Ferland and Franz start on
[6:14] the left flank. Carreras moves to center back
[6:16] along with Chua, many who drops from midfield.
[6:19] Jude is no longer in the in the front line.
[6:21] He comes into midfield and tucks in.
[6:23] Vinnie moves from the left wing to the front 2 next to Gonzalo
[6:27] and I thought that change honestly gave us a good 10
[6:31] minutes of respite. I'm not saying it saved
[6:34] everything but I'm just saying go watch the game.
[6:36] The 10 minutes after that sub, the ball doesn't really bounce
[6:39] into our half until Athletico make more Subs and Vinny comes
[6:42] off. Like basically 10 minutes of
[6:44] respite are bought. What happened after those 10
[6:46] minutes is, in my opinion, fatigue because we saw
[6:50] situations Athletico just started playing with a lot more
[6:53] intensity and in my opinion, A451 with Guler talking might
[6:57] have been more appropriate or even a 460.
[6:59] Like I just think having too many outlets can be
[7:02] counterproductive sometimes in a situation where the other team
[7:05] is desperate and just wants to send more numbers forward.
[7:07] So what was happening were small lapses on the flanks that were
[7:10] letting crosses get through. There was a situation where
[7:13] Ferland Mendy, Frank Garcia and Jude were three on, two on the
[7:16] left and they allowed a third man run on the interior in on
[7:20] the inside half space Despite that.
[7:22] And I thought the main thing was fatigue.
[7:23] Camo Vinga started looking really tired.
[7:25] Feta again, he did a crazy Sprint like late in the game all
[7:29] the way back. But I thought overall, the
[7:31] physical level of the team wasn't great.
[7:33] And I'm sure Florentino Perez is watching this thinking, hey,
[7:36] Antonio Pintas, like, come and tell these guys how to run
[7:40] because frankly, the defensive effort, the physical effort and
[7:44] level of the team in Saudi Arabia today was really not that
[7:46] good. So yeah, those are my main
[7:48] takeaways. Feta's return to peak form.
[7:51] The holes of this team remain the same.
[7:53] The substitutions gave us respite because we're lacking
[7:56] somewhere in terms of physical fitness.
[7:58] I'm going to go look through some of the comments talk to you
[8:01] viewers if any of you want to chime in.
[8:02] I'm just going to look at these talking points.
[8:05] It's great through, but AW is AW says kick C 96 again already
[8:09] sound like a hater, but Vinny has to go.
[8:10] I think Vinny is trying, but you know it was not a great game by
[8:14] his standards. He's not great in duels right
[8:17] now. Rodrigo was frankly a much more
[8:20] lively presence from what I saw today, and it's not ideal, but
[8:25] it was really the defense that wasn't perfect.
[8:27] And that Sorlok goal was partly a result of Vinicius struggling
[8:31] to on the flank. It's just on the flank, the way
[8:34] football works and it's been like this for a while, like
[8:36] teams are going to send two guys you have to defend together as a
[8:38] team. Looking at ahead, Finland at
[8:42] Cadero says this team is embarrassing.
[8:44] Barcelona will trash us. We can't do win duels, can't win
[8:46] headers, lose 1st and 2nd balls, can't pass, can't press, can't
[8:49] finish. Hey, it's not looking good.
[8:51] And that's why I'm just glad that Alonso survived another
[8:54] day. Like again, we're trying to win
[8:56] games without agency on the football pitches hard.
[8:58] And we were literally just, it feels like we spend a lot of
[9:01] game jogging between spaces where player where the other
[9:04] team like aggressively hunt spaces.
[9:06] We're just jogging and doing the bare minimum of like staying
[9:09] with our match ups sometimes. And that was going to be an
[9:11] issue. We packed the boss against bars.
[9:13] So we are dead. Yeah.
[9:14] I thought this game had a different approach to Barcelona.
[9:17] I think Barcelona actually merits more of a high pressing
[9:21] approach like last time. And that's why they signed Joel
[9:23] Cancello because if you get at Pedri de Young and man mark them
[9:27] like that, you will take away some of their build up specialty
[9:30] where maybe they'll create five chances in 30 minutes.
[9:33] Instead, they create a couple and they just they don't create
[9:36] as neatly unless you take the ball pressure off them.
[9:38] So I am curious to see how things go tactically because
[9:42] this was the right tactical decision by Alonzo to play in
[9:46] A442 block. But the whole with Vinnie or you
[9:50] know, it was pretty bad. And I do want to say this like
[9:53] it's the desire to skate goat and bape is one thing.
[9:55] The issue is that like neither of them defend well.
[9:58] And Vinny himself takes the wrong angles.
[10:00] Like he's just not taking great angles.
[10:02] He Vinny's really good at working hard in a way that looks
[10:06] like it's working a lot on defense.
[10:07] I'll give him that. But the reality is he could run
[10:10] a little less and just constantly just stay near his
[10:12] man, jog near his man, take the angle.
[10:14] If he played a little more aggressive, like just paranoid
[10:17] defense in zonal and areas on the flank instead of like
[10:21] chasing around in circles like he does sometimes, everything
[10:24] would be way better. So Vinnie doesn't have the
[10:28] physical ability to overpower the opponent in transition and
[10:31] attack so easily dispossessed. That's what stood out to me too.
[10:33] So when we made the second-half Subs and moved Vinnie up front,
[10:37] I actually thought one of the big shifts was that Fran Garcia
[10:40] kind of gave us thrust on that flank again.
[10:42] And that's where with Vinnie, everything is physical with this
[10:45] guy. This guy's whole thing was he
[10:46] could burn you in a few duels every game with the with all the
[10:51] stuff going on with the nutritionist.
[10:53] And I know he did a lot of physical training, but like, if
[10:56] you don't have a full team and dialed and you're not perfect in
[10:58] that regard, you're not going to get back to where you were.
[11:01] Like he's clearly worse off than what he used to be.
[11:03] And it is scary sometimes to see his physical level fluctuate
[11:07] like this. I'll say that because that's the
[11:10] entire basis of his game. The already so massive, only
[11:13] positive. I'd say Rodrigo was phenomenal
[11:15] too. I just want to touch on that.
[11:17] Rodrigo's own this De Maria role kind of honestly and he just
[11:21] doesn't have a Ronaldo to just blindly cross the ball to.
[11:24] And he also is not like, well, he's good at delivering dead
[11:27] balls. As we saw last game with
[11:28] Gonzalo. I thought Rodrigo was absolutely
[11:32] essential. I just want to say, and I, I did
[11:34] want to sell him, but I didn't Firstly, I didn't envision a
[11:37] world where Vinnie ends up like this.
[11:38] I, I assumed you sell Rodrigo and Vinnie can like produces the
[11:41] way you'd expect Vinnie to not like Vinnie regresses or
[11:44] continues regressing or stagnates.
[11:47] But with that being said, Rodrigo's like turning ability
[11:49] is a respite. Like Rodrigo is our goddamn
[11:53] controller. It's crazy to see Rodrigo's
[11:55] controller. I just want to put up a banner
[11:56] here, but it's kind of shocking that we have such little like
[12:00] ball control capacity that Rodrigo has to be the one as a
[12:05] controller. But basically it's it's just
[12:08] what it's come to because he can receive in tight spaces, he can
[12:11] turn, he defends, he can join the attack, he can fill in
[12:15] spaces selflessly that other players can't.
[12:17] He's not the fastest in the world.
[12:19] But you don't actually need that if you're a controller.
[12:21] Speed is something you need more in attack or maybe as a full
[12:24] back, maybe it's center back for recovery.
[12:26] Midfield is a place where if you're crashing the box, you
[12:28] might need speed. But if you're really just trying
[12:31] to help us weave out of midfield, I think Rodrigo has
[12:34] everything it takes. And it's ironic because like
[12:38] like the angles on the right flank don't hurt him the way he
[12:40] needs. Like he's just so good and so 2
[12:42] footed with his touch that the angles on the right, like you
[12:46] can really take advantage of them.
[12:47] Even Masantuano can't do some of like he can't dribble like that.
[12:50] This is something only Rodrigo can do.
[12:52] Vinnie could have maybe done it at points, but the way he's
[12:55] dribbling now, he doesn't have it.
[12:56] So yeah, I want to give a huge credit to Rodrigo now.
[13:01] Someone asked what about the lack of pressure to stop the
[13:03] cross with the goal? Yeah, Carreras was getting
[13:05] skewered. That's why Carreras had to move
[13:07] to center back, bro. Like Carreras was getting
[13:09] skewered 2V1. Vinnie was struggling to double
[13:12] up with him, but Carreras was not having a good time.
[13:15] And I think that again, that substitution just reshuffled
[13:18] everything. Carreras and Viney are no longer
[13:20] on that flank. And I thought Athletico actually
[13:22] just had to think a little and attack differently.
[13:24] They tried going to the other flank.
[13:25] Then eventually they realized just at play fast and some of
[13:28] their guys are tired, will play through.
[13:29] They played intensely. They baited our guys into
[13:32] different positions. They played the aggressive pass.
[13:34] I thought Athletico actually played a really good game and so
[13:38] it was important to make sure that the guys defending on the
[13:41] flank are locked in and even when they were, they give up
[13:43] chances. I understand skepticism against
[13:47] Javi, but if I had a squad more of a problem.
[13:49] We need a recast for midfield and attack.
[13:50] Except for four guys, yeah, Cam of Inga, Gonzalo Garcia, KB and
[13:55] JB. He says, well, we do need a
[13:57] recast and you do. We do need a change, but there's
[14:02] no question in terms of personnel, I think, but I I will
[14:05] say I think like another controller adds a lot like if
[14:07] Trent was there today, we could have escaped our half a little
[14:10] more. We could have done more Trent to
[14:11] Gonzalo. Maybe Gonzalo heads it down to
[14:13] Vinny. You could have you would have
[14:15] had more solutions. So I just think getting more
[14:17] points of failure, like when Cama Vinga came off, it was
[14:19] Sabios coming on. What if you could have started
[14:21] the game with someone other than Cama Vinga in midfield and you
[14:24] can manage Cama Vinga's minutes better and bring him off the
[14:26] bench instead of Sabios someone better than Sabios.
[14:29] That would be good. We do need more players.
[14:31] With that being said, I will say the number of Subs Alonzo made
[14:36] were also essential to this victory because you can't just
[14:39] make like the the players were getting tired and I thought the
[14:42] Franco and Sabayo Subs that happened later we're absolutely
[14:45] essential. And I know Franco messed up.
[14:48] He completely messed up that transition chance, no question.
[14:51] But the main thing is like this is a team that's not fully fit
[14:56] right now. I, I, I see that fully.
[14:58] I see why some of the reports have come from Perez because
[15:00] like I'm watching this and it it just reminds me of a team that's
[15:03] just a yard short to a lot of things.
[15:06] The way we defend space is just a little lackadaisical sometimes
[15:09] without Mbappe. This was all without Mbappe and
[15:12] I think that is something that's really important to understand.
[15:15] Like even without Mbappe, we are a tired team that struggles to
[15:19] defend. And it's partly down to Vinnie
[15:22] for sure. But I'll be honest, even outside
[15:24] Vinnie, just just going past Vinnie, the fatigue is clear to
[15:27] me because I remember, like when Vinnie came off, every player on
[15:30] the pitch was theoretically someone wanted to defend Guler
[15:32] was there to. I thought even then the
[15:35] intensity sometimes was strange, like there's a lack of paranoia
[15:40] and I just go back to like some of the Don's teams and they were
[15:42] so defensive. And I thought that today was a
[15:45] step to go towards that direction of like, we're not
[15:48] controlling games. We accept we're not controlling
[15:51] games and we are not going to go for defensive possession for the
[15:55] sake of it. Like, I thought of our our
[15:57] attacks were not sustained enough, but when they happened,
[16:00] I thought they actually the speed was useful for the
[16:02] situation. Like, again, Franco, if Franco
[16:05] doesn't mess up that chance late in the game.
[16:07] We had like a four on 2/4 on one or something at the end of the
[16:10] game. And I do think against some
[16:12] teams like this, we have to play in transition.
[16:14] And that's even without a papay. And Rodrigo has been good, man.
[16:18] But be ready with the purple patch.
[16:20] We always get around this time for a month.
[16:21] I would be curious as to yeah, yeah.
[16:25] What do you make up at Athletico's performances?
[16:26] Well, like I said, they were good.
[16:28] Like, I don't think Pablo Borrios wasn't even there.
[16:31] So we're looking at like a pretty good like performance
[16:35] from Athletico without him. Just going through their lineup
[16:38] where their best passers. Coquet, Gallagher.
[16:41] Yeah. I just think playing without
[16:44] their boy and still playing well was quite impressive.
[16:48] Barrios was the scariest guy and I thought the level of level of
[16:53] manipulation of Athletico of the defense, this occupation of
[16:55] spaces, the overloading of the half spaces, they were good and
[16:59] they were surgical at like picking out the numerical
[17:02] disadvantages. And I will say credit to Jude,
[17:05] credit to Cama Vinga, to a many, like whatever you say on the
[17:09] ball, those guys work their ass off.
[17:10] They covered and tracked and we're going to need all of this
[17:13] again, again in the El Classico. So yeah, that gets near the end.
[17:20] One guy says, I think Gonzalo Garcia needs more stable
[17:23] minutes. He has it in him.
[17:24] Remember, Kareem's struggle with occasional brilliance in his
[17:26] early years reminds me of him. I thought Kareem was just like a
[17:29] prodigy at that age compared to like Kareem was a total prodigy
[17:35] if you just go watch him. Like, the guy was dropping 20
[17:37] for Leon at a young age. I don't want to, like, put that
[17:40] level of pressure on Gonzalo, compare him to Raul and Kareem.
[17:43] I think there also were, I think, some valid reasons why he
[17:46] wasn't seeing all the time early in the season.
[17:49] That being said, I think he has developed.
[17:51] There's a reason Alonso's leaning on him.
[17:53] I agree that if we need to find out what he's going to be, we
[17:55] need to give him stable minutes. Like, are we going to make him
[17:57] our Hosalu and or like our striker for the next like 10-15
[18:02] years? And yeah, I guess like, if you
[18:03] mean you mean Kareem's first years, yeah, he was.
[18:06] Kareem was inconsistent. I just mean I think Kareem was
[18:09] better outside the box. It's weird though cuz Gonzalo
[18:12] sometimes has some decent like moves, but he also has I guess
[18:16] Gonzalo's touch and like beauty of play technique.
[18:21] I can't say it's there yet. I know he's had some great
[18:23] moments, but I want to see it. But I do think if if this guy's
[18:27] going to be our Hosalu, like I would be totally a fan of having
[18:31] like the same way we had a Nacho in a Lucas Vasquez.
[18:34] I would be a total fan of having a Hosalu at all times.
[18:37] Like you want a tall striker poacher who can poach and you
[18:40] don't necessarily want someone who wants to play every minute
[18:44] who handicaps you tactically like because he wants to do that
[18:47] and prevents you from playing non striker setups that are so
[18:50] effective. And then there's also the fact
[18:54] that you know, if you it's just useful like that this impact sub
[18:58] tall striker target man is a useful archetype.
[19:00] He pins defenders. I do think we need to see more
[19:02] of him. I think honestly, like the
[19:04] Gonzalo Mbappe duo is going to be phenomenal.
[19:07] I think people point this out all the time, but Mbappe looks
[19:10] horrible sometimes for France in the past without Giroud, Giroud
[19:13] comes into the lineup, Mbappe starts looking good.
[19:16] So. And yeah, I think it's big our
[19:19] Rodrigo goalie happening without Gonzalo Garcia, by the way, drag
[19:21] one CV Yeah, that's what I love about him.
[19:23] He pins guys. It's just everything in soccer
[19:26] is about or football is about like creating advantages.
[19:29] And one of the easiest, most fundamental ways to do that is
[19:33] to make a run into space that creates a question mark for two
[19:37] separate defenders and forces them to hedge and kind of figure
[19:40] it out in terms of who's guarding him.
[19:42] When you make that, you create hesitation and you createspace
[19:45] for other players. Again, that's what Athletico
[19:47] also did pretty well against us. I thought just they're pinning
[19:50] and their ability to find the open man from the pinning was
[19:53] great. And Gonzalo brings that up for
[19:55] us too. I don't think anyone else pins
[19:57] on this team, to be honest. Like Jude does pin, yes, but
[19:59] like. Gonzalo plays like such a pure
[20:02] Pinner, and we need someone to do it near goal.
[20:04] Like Jude is also playing deeper.
[20:06] So I really like that. Now, going through any other
[20:12] interesting comments here. The only way Gigi plays at the
[20:15] expense of Vinnie. We need to address the elephant.
[20:16] I mean, yeah, I'm going to be honest.
[20:18] Like if, if, if it's now a question of what's the best duo
[20:21] between Vinnie and Boppe? Vinnie, Gonzalo, Gonzalo and
[20:24] Boppe, It's going to be very interesting because you you need
[20:27] to, at the end of the day, I don't think Vinnie needs to get
[20:29] benched, but I think there needs to be a freedom to start games
[20:33] with Gonzalo and one of them on the bench, and that's going to
[20:37] be Vinnie. Considering the statistics and
[20:39] performances at some point, that has to be Vinnie.
[20:42] I'm not saying I I think I'm all for games like this where MBAPI
[20:45] wouldn't start too. Honestly, on some level, the
[20:47] fact that they're redundant means that's how things should
[20:50] go. Like they're redundant.
[20:52] Don't stagger their minutes as much as possible and try to come
[20:55] up with the lineup that works in big games.
[20:58] But yeah, obviously for political reasons we've seen the
[21:00] opposite. We've seen a lot of force
[21:01] feeding of those two together and it's painful to watch
[21:05] without someone pinning the center backs for sure.
[21:08] And what else are we looking at guys?
[21:11] Any other talks and Miriam says Sid while attacking wise I don't
[21:14] doubt and Bobby GG would work. That leaves Chorus again
[21:16] struggling even more than with Vinnie.
[21:17] Their problem has been Vinnie. Yeah, so the problem is Vinnie
[21:20] has been non existent offensively and defensively.
[21:23] So the equation for him is worse than Mbappe.
[21:27] And even though his pressures are better, the equation is
[21:30] worse because the reality is Mbappe and Vinny, you can hide
[21:35] one player like today we won. I'm not complaining that we won.
[21:38] I'm complaining that we didn't get an elite 1V1 game from Vinny
[21:43] along with or a tracking performance if we could get one
[21:46] side of the ball. This is what I keep saying like
[21:48] these are strikers, they're paid for one side.
[21:50] Just master your side of the ball.
[21:52] If we're in a competition as a team where you can't like find
[21:56] balance without, you know, without like shifting things
[22:00] around and maybe not playing someone, sometimes that's how
[22:02] it's going to be. And I think today, like Vinnie
[22:06] was overall not ideal, but the idea that like the the attacker
[22:11] is not the only problem. There are 50,000 issues is all
[22:13] I'm saying. So when you bring in Bapi
[22:15] instead of Vinnie and BAPI is slightly worth defending, even
[22:17] if it causes issues, is likely not to be the core issue in the
[22:20] team. It might.
[22:21] It's more likely to be than our lack of control.
[22:25] And by the way, I think that mess up was Gigi, not Mas
[22:28] Santuano. Not so sure it was Gonzalo.
[22:30] Oh, OK. Yeah, Yeah, I confuse it.
[22:31] I'm so sorry, guys. So it was Gonzalo Garcia at the
[22:33] end. Yeah, it was.
[22:35] I was wondering why he attempted the pass with his right foot.
[22:37] So that was my mistake. And yeah, so much was going on.
[22:42] They did zoom into his face and I glanced away when they did
[22:44] that. But yeah, I will.
[22:46] Yeah. That's actually Garcia's flaws
[22:48] in a nutshell. In some ways.
[22:50] He's basically really good at a lot of striker things, but some
[22:53] of the basics that he's not great at might totally tank in
[22:56] certain moments. And that was his reluctance,
[22:59] Alonso's reluctance to not play him again.
[23:01] I think the two V1, the two V1 off ball capacity brings where
[23:05] he occupies multiple defenders and important.
[23:08] Another example of this is Victor Yokrez at Arsenal.
[23:11] I I think Arsenal's Yokarez situation is exactly why I would
[23:14] love a Gonzalo Garcia situation where basically the like Yokarez
[23:21] was 60 million and because of that there's a pressure on
[23:24] Arsenal to start him every game and play him.
[23:26] And so they maybe drop points in some key big games because they
[23:29] have benched Victor Yokarez or because they played Victor
[23:32] Gilcharez who offers very little when he's not like occupying 2
[23:35] defenders and crashing the box. And even then he's not creating
[23:38] huge separation. With that being said, if you get
[23:42] a home grown Gio Perez, that pressure is gone.
[23:44] That's what I'm saying. I want a Gio Perez archetype in
[23:46] a Nacho or Lucas Vasquez. I want the box crasher.
[23:50] He doesn't have to be great at like other aspects of the game,
[23:52] as long as he delivers in that one element of the game.
[23:55] And the other thing is, you know, Garcia's Spanish, like
[23:58] Spanish football itself doesn't produce too many of those.
[24:01] Josalu himself is a rare archetype for Spanish football.
[24:03] Like they're they're very oriented towards midfielders,
[24:06] tweeners, turning capacity, things that strikers don't need
[24:09] as much as strikers need to be strong, fast and go after goals.
[24:12] So yeah, big fan of Gonzalo over all.
[24:16] Little surprised that Alonzo waited to bring him into the
[24:19] fold so late, but happy it happened.
[24:22] Now we have a big game coming up against Barcelona.
[24:25] I will put out a separate preview for that, but I will
[24:27] just say some if that I hope that's not Alonzo's last game.
[24:31] I hope Cortois has black magic and maybe we cast some spells so
[24:36] Joanne Garcia's black magic turns off.
[24:38] Because the last thing I'll say is Joanne Garcia has been the
[24:40] best goalkeeper in Stat Mom's database for a few years.
[24:44] The highest difference in post shot expected goals versus like
[24:48] conceded versus actual goals conceded.
[24:51] And Cortois still like all time. Don't get me wrong.
[24:53] I'm just saying like this guy, wherever he was statistically
[24:56] was showing up that good. So my big worry is that black
[25:00] magic versus black magic is happening on Sunday and I'm just
[25:03] scared to play Barcelona with Joanne Garcia for the first
[25:05] time. That being said, I'm glad we
[25:07] won. I'm glad Alonzo didn't get
[25:08] fired. And thank you all for tuning
[25:11] into this show. You know, we've we're working on
[25:14] expanding the show as much as possible.
[25:15] We're even thinking about taking on outside investment because
[25:18] the reality is we are not able to produce the show to the
[25:21] degree some of your fans want. I know you guys want more.
[25:24] The main thing I would say is if you really want more from the
[25:26] show, leave a like leave a comment.
[25:28] It always helps. Tell your friends.
[25:30] And if you can leave us a good review on Spotify, Apple,
[25:32] Podcast, anywhere, all these things help us.
[25:35] The reality is we need a big army.
[25:37] And a lot of you are there. But what?
[25:38] The more of you can be loud, the easier it is going to be for us
[25:42] to give you guys what you want. But yeah, we're working on a lot
[25:45] of things. Thank you all for tuning into
[25:46] the podcast. We will be back soon.
[25:49] We will likely have a preview out for sure.
[25:51] And we will be covering the big game on Sunday at Real Madrid
[25:54] versus Barcelona.

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