0:00

TaxAct can think of a million things

0:02

more fun than filing taxes. TaxAct

0:05

is going to name some now. Sitting

0:07

in traffic. Folding a

0:09

fitted bed sheet. Listening

0:11

to your coworker talk about his fantasy

0:13

team. Digging a hole. Digging

0:16

an even larger hole next to that original

0:18

hole. Unfortunately, TaxAct's filing

0:21

software can't make taxes

0:23

fun. But TaxAct can

0:25

help you get them done. TaxAct.

0:28

Let's get them over with. Hello

0:38

everyone and welcome to this week's

0:40

Spanish football podcast. Hello Sid. Good

0:43

morning Phil. Good afternoon. Oh you

0:45

did a very Spanish thing because we're recording before

0:47

2 o'clock. You refer to it as morning. It's

0:49

still morning. It's still morning until you've had your

0:51

3 hour lunch break and you get back at

0:53

5. Afternoon doesn't start till 5. Correct.

0:56

I guess 4 is... I

0:59

guess it's anytime after lunch. Basically when you

1:01

go back to work. Anytime after you've gone

1:03

back to work it's the afternoon. Well we've

1:05

very much been working all morning so we'll

1:07

just crack on until we go off for a 3

1:09

hour lunch break. Ha! Here's

1:11

what happened on match day 23 in La

1:14

Liga EA Sports. There were lots of interesting

1:16

games, Sidney. We were at one on Sunday

1:19

evening together. Doesn't often happen. Doesn't, does it?

1:21

No, it was good that. We were at

1:23

the Madrid Derby. He had a closed Burnebowl.

1:25

And I mean closed because they had the

1:27

roof, roof shut. Which is an interesting dynamic.

1:30

Anyway, this is what happened on match day

1:32

23. Friday night saw Athletic

1:34

Club continue their storming fantastic home

1:36

form. They beat Mallorca by 4

1:39

goals to nil. The first 2

1:41

goals were scored by Yuribercice, the

1:44

left back. Two brilliant goals.

1:46

The first goal is really quite ridiculous

1:48

what he does. It's a sort of

1:51

back heel flick volley. I can't really

1:53

quite describe it but it's really quite

1:55

extraordinary. Athletic flying high ahead of their

1:58

Copa del Rey semi-final against Athletic. Madrid

2:00

it on Saturdays Valencia continue to inflict

2:02

pain on Almeria who a bottom of

2:04

the tables windless and on close to

2:07

be the worst team in La Liga

2:09

history. Under six points at Valencia beat

2:11

them to wants than other Las Palmas.

2:13

Played out one one draw. And

2:16

Barcelona us made it to Windsor of

2:18

to following champion and this decision to

2:20

step down that the end of the

2:22

season they be out of a spice

2:24

three goes to and vetoed okay scoring

2:27

for the second game in a row

2:29

but also being sent us as well

2:31

as you don't have had Real Sociedad

2:33

played up a really entertaining at goalless

2:35

draw. ah monte, leave these added. On

2:38

Sunday there was a somewhat less entertaining

2:40

goalless draw between Via the Baths and

2:42

Kaddish as cell tower one free nil

2:44

I also sooner rather surprising. Mates and

2:46

Betty's and hit us. I played out

2:48

a one one draw the same school

2:50

as Dmitri topic at Brain Diaz getting

2:52

Real Madrid The leads before Marcos your

2:55

intake equalized in the ninety fourth minute

2:57

Monday Night Football It in my A

2:59

casts his rival good Cbs and of

3:01

just clocked Sydney. I'm going there alone

3:03

because it's going to be there. Are

3:05

you off of going to seize on

3:07

out on so annoyed about this South

3:09

Side noise? I I, I have to

3:11

octagon London to die. And I was.

3:13

I was looking. I've read desperately struggling

3:15

assaults, scrambling. For a fly early enough tomorrow

3:17

morning that would allow me to get to London

3:20

in times and still got to rise of it's

3:22

an Eye on It Just was a postman. I'm

3:24

not pleased with none neither am I said putting

3:26

a hopefully. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon.

3:29

I think I'm sure we were Something

3:31

happens in a little help. Exotic Soviet

3:33

severe the or Us this going to

3:36

sound harsh on severe finds. It's a

3:38

fascinating basket cases of I'm and severe

3:40

I does he have hospital nothing? It's

3:42

a very accurate description on the absolute

3:44

clusterfuck as a severe at the moment.

3:47

a patron. Wanna. come and join

3:49

us a patron to come/to assistants to

3:51

get weekly cuban a podcast you get

3:53

bonus podcast every single weeks the get

3:55

our series to assess the presents and

3:57

drink on who to routes you get

3:59

out occasional paper reviews, access to

4:01

the fantastic La Liga loving community

4:03

on the TSFB Discord. What's not

4:06

to love? It's only around 4

4:08

euros a month. You can sign up for

4:10

annual membership and you get 10% off, guys.

4:12

10% off.

4:14

patreon.com/TSFB. So we'll start

4:17

with the Madrid Derby then. Real

4:19

Madrid 1, Atletico Madrid 1. A

4:22

result that's actually really quite good for the

4:24

neutrals because it very much keeps alive the

4:26

La Liga title race. Had Real Madrid 1,

4:29

they would have been 4 points clear ahead

4:31

of the visits of Girona. Next

4:33

weekend to the Bernabeu, if they'd beaten Girona, they

4:35

would have been 7 points clear and it would

4:37

have been looking very much like Real Madrid are

4:39

going to win the league, as it is. Still

4:41

just 2 points between Real Madrid and

4:44

Girona. We had already 3 Madrid

4:48

Darbys this season. One in

4:50

the league, which Atletico Madrid 1, and then one in

4:52

the Super Cup, one in the Copa del Rey as

4:54

well. They were all pretty entertaining matches and this one

4:56

was a little bit more low-key,

4:59

Sid. Yeah, it was very

5:01

definitely. In fact, I quite like

5:03

Diego Simioni's analysis of this. He said it

5:05

was a weird game. Yeah,

5:07

he described it as a weird game and

5:09

he said it felt like Real Madrid were

5:12

the better team but we had the better

5:14

chances and I think that's probably broadly true,

5:16

at least in the first half anyway. He

5:18

said it had nowhere near the excitement and

5:20

the kind of dynamism

5:23

of those recent games. He actually

5:25

included the first Darby, the first

5:28

league Darby at the Metropolitan League.

5:30

I'm not sure I would include it if you're talking

5:32

about really exciting games. I thought it was a game

5:34

where Atletico played very well but I don't think it

5:36

was anywhere near as exciting as those two knockout games,

5:38

which of course both went to extra time. This one

5:40

would have done, had it not been for the

5:42

fact that it was a league game as well. It tells you something about the

5:44

level of these two teams. I

5:46

must confess, my feeling going into the last

5:49

couple of minutes of this was it's

5:51

only one nil but Madrid are just

5:53

too strong. Of

5:56

course, they got caught and they got caught

5:58

for a handful of reasons. of

6:00

course is I suppose the injuries they've had at Centre

6:03

vehicle and the fact that the centre back partnership

6:05

was a pretty small one and

6:07

a slightly makeshift one, although I think it would be

6:09

a bit over simplistic to point purely at that. I

6:11

thought it was a good response from Atlético in the

6:13

sense that they kept going for it, but they really

6:15

should have been probably put out

6:18

of sight beforehand. In particular

6:20

you would say that chance for Rodrigo wouldn't you when he slipped

6:23

in in the right hand side of the penalty area, then you

6:25

have that wonderful run and shot just wide

6:27

from Brahim just before they take Brahim off. And

6:30

so the feeling going into those last

6:32

few minutes was yeah it's not been

6:34

a great derby, but it's a little bit like

6:36

we were talking about with Real Madrid. I think

6:38

last week probably it was on the Q&A pod

6:41

or maybe it was on Thursday's pod, we were

6:43

sort of saying you look at Madrid and you

6:45

don't think this is a really sparkling football team,

6:47

this is a really brilliant side that does everything

6:49

well and totally blows people out of the water,

6:51

but you do look at them and think this

6:53

is a side that does everything,

6:56

if not perfectly really well, that has

6:58

lots of different ways of getting at

7:00

you, that looks and feels like a

7:02

team completely in control and

7:04

even when they're not playing brilliant

7:06

football. And that's kind of how I felt last night, I

7:08

just sort of looked at my thought that midfield is

7:11

just kind of too good really, without needing to

7:13

be at its very best last night. I thought

7:15

Tony Cruz played brilliantly again. I

7:18

thought then you see the athleticism

7:20

of Camavinga Valverde and Bellingham obviously

7:22

crosses the one that doesn't have that, but he has

7:24

the technical quality. And

7:27

also I suppose partly because Atletico didn't really have a fourth

7:29

man in midfield because it's a 5-3 and 2, now

7:33

I know part of the five joins in midfield, but

7:35

it felt like they were outnumbered there, it felt like

7:37

Real Madrid had control of that part of the pitch,

7:39

albeit Atletico then shifted to something closer to

7:41

a 4-4-2, it still felt like Real Madrid

7:43

had control of the middle of the pitch

7:45

and it was actually a little bit

7:47

of a surprise and a little bit out of keeping

7:50

with the game for Atletico to have eventually got the

7:52

equaliser. But I do think Simeone is right when

7:54

he talks about them having had two or three

7:56

really good chances to a school because they did

7:58

have. They certainly did. And I think it possibly is

8:01

worth us just dwelling on the fact

8:04

that Real Madrid were playing with their

8:06

fourth and sixth choice centre backs in

8:08

this game with Nacho and Danny Carvajal

8:12

playing as a centre back. I mean, Danny Carvajal is

8:15

a five foot eight right back seed and he was

8:17

playing a centre back

8:19

and actually did really quite well until

8:22

maybe the 94th minute when him

8:24

and Nacho were caught out for

8:26

that goal. Yeah, I mean,

8:28

it was a bizarrely simple goal and

8:30

a really, really badly defended goal. For

8:32

what it's worth, the risk of sounding

8:34

like I've got a better better. For

8:38

what it's worth, the person to point the finger at in

8:40

that goal is Nacho, not Carvajal. No. Nacho

8:42

does a very strange jump, doesn't he? He sort

8:44

of, it's like he's not sure if he wants

8:47

to risk going for it or not. And

8:49

it was a very strange goal for

8:51

Madrid to concede. Actually, Ancelotti himself said post

8:54

game. I can't remember

8:56

the exact quote now, but it was worth the

8:58

effect of we had a small defence and we got

9:00

caught in the air. Yes. Admittedly,

9:02

it only really happened once, maybe twice, because there's

9:04

that, I think it's the Saul header that goes wide,

9:07

isn't there? There's a Savage header that goes wide,

9:09

I think. Oh, the Savage and there's a Savage one

9:11

from the corner, yeah, the far post, but there's

9:13

also a Saul one that goes wide, so there's two

9:15

then in the first half. Doesn't Lune make a

9:17

very good save as well? Yes, he does, doesn't he?

9:19

And that's in the air too, isn't it? Yeah,

9:21

good point. Yeah, yeah. Score a goal from a ball

9:24

in that was, you know, not so. Which is

9:26

also in the air, you know what? It's almost

9:29

like Atletico... You're breaking these up, Phil. Yeah, it's almost

9:31

like Atletico had isolated this and thought, hold on, they've

9:33

got a small team, small defence, and let's put balls

9:35

into the box and cause problems. I mean, for what

9:37

it's worth, you know, Atletico are a team that will

9:39

create goals against you when you've got a big defence.

9:41

In fact, you look at the 3-1 earlier in the

9:43

season in the league and all of those goals are

9:45

basically built the same way. Yes. Down one wing, finished

9:48

on the other wing. I think it's down the left

9:50

and finished on the right, isn't it? All of them.

9:52

Or is it the other way around? Hang on. I'm

9:54

trying to picture them now. Yeah,

9:57

it's all down the left, finished on the right, isn't it? Anyway,

10:00

it doesn't matter. The point is that they were

10:02

looking for that space behind the sort

10:06

of the more distant of the two central defenders

10:08

and between him and the other fullback. This

10:10

obviously has special circumstances and Anschlotti was asked, you

10:12

know, why didn't you buy a centre back? And

10:14

we talked about this ourselves at the time and

10:16

we thought, well, I thought at least that they

10:19

probably would if someone became available relatively cheap the

10:21

same as they've done with the goalkeeper. But Anschlotti

10:23

made, I think, a reasonable point which is to

10:25

say that, look, this is a one-off game. Now,

10:28

that's not quite true because it's a one-off game

10:30

to get Schoemany back who's also not a

10:32

central defender. Yes.

10:35

And maybe a one-off game to get Rudiger back

10:37

assuming that he's bit in time for the Girona

10:39

game that we can, which he may

10:41

or may not be, we'll see. But

10:44

yeah, they definitely paid for it. Vinicius

10:46

Jr. also not in the starting 11. He

10:48

was initially but then seemed to have had himself

10:50

in the warm-up and retreated as a bench and

10:52

didn't teach. It was his neck, wasn't it? The

10:54

curious thing about that, of course, is that that's

10:56

why Brahim played and he was the best player

10:58

on the pitch from a Real Madrid point of

11:00

view, at least. Certainly the most exciting, maybe not

11:02

the best, because as I say, I thought the

11:04

midfield played really, really well. From

11:08

a Real Madrid perspective, I thought, you know, there's quite a few

11:10

individuals that you could pick out and you had really

11:12

good games. Brian Diaz played really well. Tony

11:14

Cross played really well. Lucas Vasquez played

11:16

really well. Yes, he did. Very, very

11:18

well. Yeah. For

11:20

Atletico, who could you pick out and

11:23

say had a really good game? Yeah, it's curious,

11:25

isn't it? Because individually, I'm not sure because, for

11:27

example, Rodrigo Paul wasn't as influential

11:29

as normal. I'm going to rescue Griezmann from

11:31

this a little bit. Now, I don't think

11:33

this was Griezmann's best performance at all, but

11:36

I was very struck by something. He literally

11:38

had not touched the ball in the first

11:40

seven minutes. The first time he touched the

11:42

ball, he created an absolutely glorious pass for

11:44

Maratha Charles. Actually, Maratha probably should score. And

11:47

I felt like the moments of quality that

11:49

they produced invariably came from him. And

11:54

so he did. I suppose you could possibly argue

11:56

that once Memphis came on, he

11:58

made things happen as well. He's involved. He's involved in the

12:00

goal, he wins a couple of corners with a couple of runs.

12:05

So I think you could maybe point

12:07

to Memphis as well. But you're right, individually, this

12:10

is why, I mean that goes back to what Simeone

12:12

was saying. This is a

12:14

really strange game that sort of doesn't make a

12:16

huge amount of sense in terms of the final outcome. And

12:19

yet, nor would you look at it and say, well, Real Madrid

12:22

should have absolutely battered them. Now for what

12:24

it's worth, I think Real Madrid probably should have run out winning this. As

12:26

I say, they had a couple of good chances. I think

12:28

they've got at least one pretty good

12:30

penalty shout as well. And so you

12:33

sort of look at it and you think, well, the balance of it

12:35

and the feeling of the way the game played out, yeah,

12:37

Madrid probably should have won this. But what it's worth,

12:39

you know, this isn't a bad result

12:41

from Real Madrid's point of view. It

12:43

doesn't open the title race entirely. It doesn't close it either, though,

12:45

that's for sure. No, it doesn't. So

12:47

the fourth and

12:50

probably final Madrid derby. No, I don't think so.

12:52

I reckon they're going to meet each other in

12:54

the Champions League. I reckon it's happening for them.

12:57

Well, let's see. Maybe we'll get a

12:59

fifth Madrid derby of the season, a

13:01

fifth and sixth Madrid derby of

13:03

the season in the Champions League. For

13:08

the moment, we'll put that fixture

13:11

to one side and talk

13:13

a bit about Girona, Neil Real's Sociedad,

13:15

Neil. I

13:18

mean, this felt like, I think Girona were really

13:20

actually quite disappointed at the end of this game

13:22

by drawing Neil Neil with a side who

13:25

won their Champions League group, which obviously

13:27

shows how far they've come. It

13:30

was Neil Neil. It was actually a really exciting

13:32

game. It was good, yeah. There's

13:34

plenty going on. It wasn't a boring

13:37

Neil Neil draw. But yeah,

13:40

Girona dropping two

13:42

points at home because they've been so strong at home and

13:44

they've got some big games coming up. Obviously, they're a way

13:46

to, they're a way to Real Madrid. I think they've got

13:48

to go to Bilbao as well and take on Athletic.

13:51

There's some really big games coming up for

13:53

them. And these were two points dropped

13:55

at home. Against the Real, Sociedad

13:57

side who had loads of players missing as

13:59

well. were pretty happy with how

14:01

their trip to Catalonia went

14:03

out. But yeah, what did you make of this game?

14:06

Well, I mean, as you say, the players missing, they

14:08

also had to get injured during this game, both Becker

14:10

and the other. The other one's horrible as well. You

14:12

see the way his knee sort of pops inwards slightly

14:15

as it bends in a way that it shouldn't.

14:18

His knee sort of bends, I mean, to try... It's

14:20

okay, don't go into it, okay. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,

14:22

right. I'm not going to. Bad injury. Yeah,

14:25

a bad injury. It looks like a bad one.

14:27

Let's hope that it's not as bad as it

14:29

first appeared. I actually thought this, as you say,

14:31

this was a really, really good game. It was

14:33

really enjoyable. I thought both teams created sufficient chances

14:36

to have won it. Both of them had

14:38

goals disallowed. For what it's worth, the

14:40

Girona goal disallowed, I think, is really

14:43

dubious. And I think it's really dubious

14:46

as much as anything else because of the conceptualization

14:48

as, by the way, the drilling has started again

14:50

outside my house. So if you can hear a

14:52

horrible noise, apologies for that. It's very much the

14:55

sound of Madrid. The

14:58

reason I'm so dubious about this one being ruled

15:01

out isn't so much the decision... Explain what happened.

15:03

Well, that's why, yeah, isn't so much the decision

15:05

itself as the conceptualization of it. Essentially, what happens

15:07

is there's a long ball up the left wing.

15:10

Savio is running after it. I think it's Savio

15:13

anyway. He's offside. Yes.

15:15

He... The

15:17

move continues. 37

15:20

seconds passes between that pass and

15:22

Girona eventually getting the ball back in the net, in

15:25

which time, Ralsoff and I have

15:27

headed clear two Girona crosses and

15:29

even got hold of the ball, albeit

15:32

very, very briefly, after a Girona

15:35

attempt across breaks down. So you have two headed

15:37

clearances and you have one moment when two Ralsoff

15:39

and their players, one gets it, knocks it to

15:41

the other, who loses it again. So,

15:44

of course, then you get this argument as, well, is this

15:46

really still the same move? Is it the same

15:49

attack? Is it still the same phase? And that's

15:51

where the argument comes because Ralsoff and I did

15:53

get possession back and, as I say, not only

15:55

that, but cleared the ball a couple of times,

15:57

which maybe doesn't count as them actually getting possession

15:59

back. but on one occasion I think they

16:01

probably did. And my problem with this really isn't

16:03

so much the decision itself because actually really and

16:06

truly the linesman should probably put the flag up

16:08

straight away because I think the original offside is

16:10

pretty clear. But I think it's a relatively clear one because it's right

16:13

in front of him. It's right in front of him. So

16:15

in a way that's kind of part

16:17

of the problem for me is that this suggests

16:19

that the existence of VAR causes a problem

16:21

because it discourages linesmen for putting their flags up and

16:24

then brings it back for something that happened 30 seconds

16:26

earlier when a whole load of the game has continued.

16:29

And I don't know, I'm just very uneasy about

16:31

that. I'm with you. I think

16:33

it's pretty ridiculous to be honest. But

16:36

there we go. At the end, did you

16:39

hear the Girona fans were chanting I see,

16:41

I see, I see, I see, Ganel Madrid.

16:43

Yeah, I mean Madrid weren't even playing but

16:46

obviously you can understand why because it's round

16:48

Madrid that they're up against in the league

16:50

and they would have seen this as a

16:52

decision designed. Well, not designed, that's the

16:54

wrong word. Well, actually maybe they sit like this, much

16:57

like I don't. This

16:59

isn't designed to derail their

17:01

title chase and to help

17:03

Madrid. I don't see it like that

17:05

at all. But I mean, I'm sure that they will. One

17:08

of the reasons of course for this is that a

17:11

lot of Girona fans are Barcelona fans as well. A Girona

17:13

fans are going to hate me for having said that but

17:15

some Girona fans certainly in terms of their natural

17:17

inclination to be sympathetic towards one or

17:19

the other. And in the case of

17:22

some Girona fans, actually Barcelona fans who've

17:24

taken to Girona as well. So

17:26

maybe that helps to explain a little bit why that's

17:28

the focus. I

17:31

just want to tell you guys, because

17:33

obviously the majority of you listening to

17:35

us don't live in Spain and you're

17:37

not necessarily consuming football in

17:39

Spanish and through Spanish media.

17:43

The discourse on referees in just, I mean

17:45

this season in a hole, but in

17:47

the last few weeks it just

17:49

feels like it is relentless and it has

17:51

just gone up to a level that is

17:54

becoming really quite unbearable. It is genuinely quite

17:56

unbearable to listen to Spanish radio, to

17:58

try to watch TV or read it. it's just, it's

18:01

too much, it's really really difficult. And people say, well why

18:03

don't you, you say you don't talk

18:05

about the referees. I think it's

18:07

partly a reaction to what we're experiencing,

18:09

certainly for me anyway, what

18:11

we're experiencing here in Spain, it's just, it's too

18:13

much. There was, it was very interesting

18:15

I thought last night, well, I don't know if interesting's

18:17

the right word, but I'll stick with it for now.

18:20

Last night, one of the Sunday night roundup

18:22

shows, the one that's done on Movistar, which

18:24

is presented by Juan Macastano, they

18:26

talked about this and they clicked

18:28

together comments of managers talking about referees

18:31

and basically to say that they all do.

18:33

Now, I thought it was quite

18:37

disingenuous to be honest, because the discussion

18:39

was saying, you know, look, everyone's

18:41

doing this, just stop it, it's got out of

18:43

hand, it's too much, and

18:46

I would basically agree with that discussion. The

18:48

reason I say it's disingenuous is, that was

18:50

done by a program that

18:52

enjoys the controversy much more than

18:54

the football, mostly. That

18:57

also projected the way that the managers were talking

18:59

as if it was all the same, and it

19:01

absolutely isn't, because some managers were talking in conspiratorial

19:04

terms and others were just saying, I'm not sure

19:06

about that decision. You

19:08

know, I saw someone this morning as well, criticizing

19:10

Marco Sorrente after the Real Madrid game, for

19:13

saying, well, I'm not entirely sure about the

19:15

rules, because Atletico had a goal ruled out

19:18

for offside, positional offside, Saoul is standing in

19:20

front of the goalkeeper, Looning, but Looning is

19:22

inside his goal. And people said,

19:24

well, you should know the rules, and to be

19:26

fair to Marco Sorrente, he wasn't moaning, he was just saying,

19:28

I actually, I haven't had a chance to see

19:30

it yet, and I'm not sure if it

19:33

changes anything, that the goalie is off the pitch inside

19:35

his goal. And it was literally him just honestly saying,

19:37

and I'm not complaining about anything, I

19:39

just don't know what the rule is. And so it just

19:41

feels like everybody's kind of waiting

19:44

to basically fight their corner on this. And

19:46

that's the other problem, of course, is it's always from your

19:48

own corner. For all it's

19:50

worth, I do think over the last

19:52

week or so, the discourse coming from

19:54

Chavi has been pretty absurd.

19:57

Go On, do feel free to elaborate. On

20:00

them why he he he he was too he said

20:02

the other day is absolutely clear even a blind man

20:04

can see it is has been happening since the start

20:07

the season we're paying for than in the get their

20:09

data case now. Isis

20:12

and just this idea that is set up

20:14

against the months or a just. Years

20:17

and this weekend at a weekend which

20:19

prompted are admittedly I wouldn't call them.

20:22

Big. Penalty shells with is it is one

20:24

for me is ah just other the Us

20:26

and our upon this size it's is on

20:28

a semi from everyone my the I both

20:30

it as which is why we really do

20:32

not dwell on these things to market we

20:35

just as a success of with i spent

20:37

over time to my mother talkative zone while

20:39

so tyson facing so yeah but to be

20:41

there you know when when also screaming at

20:43

each other from deeply entrenched Madison that I

20:45

believe. We've We've. Used we've

20:47

we've used a lot of time to decry

20:50

the fact that the media uses a lot

20:52

of times. Took her a suffer possibly economists

20:54

three one at the stadium? Indecent across? I

20:57

am. I guess this was kind of the

20:59

reaction. From. Barcelona, Yeah

21:02

I guess I'm he says against it was

21:04

okay but now exactly I'm glad I'm glad

21:07

than the data kiss somebody said post game

21:09

that we seen the rats and now from

21:11

from the decision in the last two games.

21:13

honestly honestly atrocity. ah Sassoon a game in

21:15

midweek and he was. We spoke to him

21:18

on on Legacy be A we had him

21:20

in English and it's as did an interview

21:22

with our reporter. Any with I'm really really

21:24

happy I'm so happy paid really ways and

21:27

test me see the reaction and I think

21:29

everyone else is looking. Everyone in the studio with

21:31

looking at each other like. What?

21:33

Like I know, Tabby is A He's a

21:35

positive guy He's a positive person That's how

21:37

he view things in his or of be

21:39

in theory But this was just. Bizarre.

21:42

It was accidentally bizarre because that game he

21:45

gets suspicious that was nothing's and like that

21:47

with stage would be really really nothing this

21:49

and this one against i love them a

21:51

mitten minute limo my nuclear a bit better

21:53

but really death suffering yes as as things

21:55

in this game the I think he can

21:58

feel post the bob i don't think any

22:00

other this two different things him but they

22:02

go hand in hand one his weapon What

22:04

you can be positive about it and I

22:06

think there are elements of this can he

22:08

can be positive about that's fine art of

22:11

I got this ad for the ovaries. the

22:13

idea that is positive because of his announcement

22:15

mythical. Definitely don't sit idle definitely I yeah

22:17

exactly as far as I see this is

22:19

being out of step with because has been

22:21

games issue has been positive moments and actually

22:24

Chubby has been most the season selling. This

22:26

is my well in front of the season

22:28

we pull while others are already. Cs and

22:30

so so if if you now say we're

22:32

playing well is because I. Resigned.

22:35

But then does that mean you weren't selling Says you put

22:38

he said you play well before. Now

22:40

I mean made way plus misrule the bit

22:42

here on for another I work with with

22:44

picking I'm a bit too much and maybe

22:46

would be a little bit too kind of

22:49

pedantic and and and a nit picky but

22:51

there were other were things become a me

22:53

For example eleven does he go beautiful, beautiful

22:55

A.what I would do that or oh yeah

22:57

I'll add it was the kind of go

22:59

for you eat you. This. Is gonna

23:01

go you should have when you got petrie good again

23:03

front of the on a level of the on the

23:05

pitch. Or those four players will plaza

23:08

come by and that's the kind of gold

23:10

those color place to be. a breeze and it's

23:12

a really really lovely goals are I thought that

23:14

they? I'm bitter Okay, Go was really nice, had

23:16

taken a pretty nice instructed his wealth on

23:18

the gold at the Good Guys Go was

23:20

also read yeah I see, constructed and finished

23:22

with your that's really really good but my.

23:25

I must confess my feeling in the

23:27

last one fifteen minutes of the first

23:29

often maybe the first sixty minutes and

23:31

second off was actually Barcelona looked really

23:33

really vulnerable and they go on the

23:35

lot and they go to develop and

23:37

in. Oliver score me to make it

23:39

to want and to be perfectly honest

23:41

with everything that be watching for the

23:43

twenty minutes around those goals or thought

23:45

Oliver's going to come on him because

23:47

it felt to me like every bolivia

23:50

they were winning. every every

23:52

loose ball they were getting see first snow of

23:54

us have many sir arthur recently good side that

23:56

picked up nine point seven niner it is about

23:58

three wins and arose coming into the Yes, this

24:00

was a game where I'll be honest with you, pre-game

24:02

I thought, Basque can lose this. This is

24:05

the game that Basque can lose. So in that sense, yes,

24:07

this is a good result. Yes, there were moments of the

24:09

performance which were pretty good. Well, we're

24:11

OK. But I don't

24:13

see this as some clear demonstration

24:16

of a reaction. No, I mean, it's not.

24:18

But it is definitely a good result. Definitely

24:20

a very good result for Basque. It is,

24:22

yeah. And they're

24:24

eight points off the top.

24:27

Who knows if they win next

24:29

week, which is highly,

24:32

highly possible at home to Granada.

24:35

And Real Madrid and Girona take points off

24:37

them. Well, cut

24:39

the gap down to six. Who knows? Who knows? It's

24:41

not it's not over yet. But,

24:44

yeah. No, no, it's not. And the main thing

24:46

I think from Barcelona's point of view is is

24:48

that, you know, a few weeks ago we were thinking,

24:51

wow, they might not even get a champion in this

24:53

place. And certainly we were thinking they don't look like

24:55

they're going to get second. Now, if

24:58

Madrid were to beat Girona and

25:00

Barcelona win next week, then I think Barcelona

25:02

do start thinking, actually, you know what, second

25:04

is within grasp. Yes. So they need Girona

25:06

to do them a favour. Take some points

25:08

off them and draw. Let's see.

25:11

We've spoken about them before on the podcast. I think

25:13

we're going to have to continue to speak

25:16

about them while they're in this kind of

25:18

form. But Athletic Club with that 4-0 thrashing

25:20

of Mallorca on Friday night and

25:22

the Friday night game often gets overlooked

25:26

a little bit. But what Athletic Club are

25:28

doing this season really is extremely

25:31

impressive. The goal scoring,

25:34

the kind of... How

25:37

can I put this? There seems to be almost a sort

25:39

of constant momentum when they

25:41

play at home. There's just

25:43

this constant relentlessness about

25:45

them, which is really fun to watch.

25:47

Yeah, really fun. And, you know, it

25:50

fits with the environment as well. The

25:52

noise, because Sammamis is probably

25:54

with Betis and maybe

25:56

Atletico, the noisiest ground. They're

25:59

probably the noisiest. his free grounds in Spain at the

26:01

moment. There

26:04

is a real joy to that. There is

26:06

a breathlessness about it. Valverde

26:08

was talking about this after the

26:11

last Copa de Rey game. I

26:13

think he must have been that game because that's the last

26:15

athletic game I was at. So I think it must have

26:17

been that game. He

26:20

was saying that actually the measurements

26:22

that we have of our

26:24

physical output are not that

26:28

different to last year. But it's what

26:30

really stands out. I suppose what's different now is they're being

26:32

effective in front of the goal. They're taking the chances that

26:34

they weren't taking last year. There's a dynamism

26:36

about them that's great to watch, as I say,

26:38

partly there last year. But I think it's a

26:40

little bit better. It's a little bit clearer. I

26:42

think it's a little bit more incisive than it

26:45

was last season. I think the move, a

26:47

position from Reaki Williams, plays a part in that.

26:49

I think the performances of Sandset definitely play a

26:51

part in that. You see the performance of all

26:54

the way across the midfield actually is

26:56

really, really good. Obviously in this game, Yuri

26:59

Bachichi, I wouldn't claim that he was the

27:01

outstanding player this season, but of course he's

27:03

important. And they are brilliant. I saw a

27:05

statistic, I think I saw it this morning

27:08

or last night, although this morning and last

27:10

night have segwayed into the same things in

27:12

my mind, that this is

27:14

their best home form

27:17

in 26 years, athletic. 14

27:20

games unbeaten in all competitions since Real Madrid

27:22

beat them on the opening weekend of the

27:24

season, haven't lost since in any competition. And

27:27

yeah, they're looking very, very impressive indeed. Nice

27:30

that the fourth goal,

27:32

I like this, it was scored by Ika

27:35

Munyayin, assisted by Oscar de Marcos, two one

27:38

club men who have been there for 14 seasons.

27:41

And Munyayin isn't playing much this season

27:43

at all, but he still seems as

27:46

committed as ever to the cause,

27:48

popping up for his first league goal of the season.

27:50

Last season was the first season he didn't score a

27:53

league goal, Ika Munyayin. Oh I didn't know

27:55

that, right. He scored his goal this season

27:57

and nice to see two veterans combined.

28:00

finding there for that goal. Sidney,

28:03

in the Segunda division, are you fully

28:05

aware what happened in the Segunda division?

28:08

Well, I'm aware in the sense that Oviedo are

28:10

now back in the Oviedo position, which is two

28:12

positions, two points away from the playoffs. Having drawn

28:15

1-1, I don't know if you've got the chance

28:17

to see any of this, even if it's just

28:19

the highlights or just the goals. Oviedo

28:21

actually played pretty well. I saw

28:23

Santi Cosola hit the bar. Yeah, I tell you, I

28:26

thought I'd gone in. And,

28:28

you know, full

28:30

disclosure here, a member

28:32

of my family did come into the living room to find out

28:34

what had happened and what the noise was. Right,

28:37

and you just said

28:39

Santi. Yeah, I just said

28:42

Santi is just almost done. Anyway,

28:44

so yeah, Oviedo drew 1-1 with El Dense.

28:47

Elsewhere, leaders Leganes drew 0-0 with

28:50

Valladolid. Espanyol beat Lavante 2-1. Thanks

28:53

to a brace from the Segunda's top goalscorer,

28:55

our former friend Martin Braithwaite. Are

28:58

we calling him former now? That's his doing the

29:00

hours. We're not denouncing him, he's just not

29:02

denouncing him. That's not the word we're announcing. We

29:05

just lost touch, you know, we lost touch,

29:07

we grew apart. Drifted apart. So,

29:11

Leganes are our first, Ebar second,

29:13

Rasingferrol our third, Espanyol fourth, Valladolid

29:15

fifth, and Elce our sixth. And

29:19

as you said, Cindy, Oviedo are naturally two

29:21

points off the playoffs. This

29:24

week, we've got Copedale Ray's semi-final, first legs,

29:26

which should be a lot of fun. Tuesday

29:28

night it's Mallorca against Real Sociedad.

29:32

Then on Thursday it's Atletico

29:34

against Athletic, which... No,

29:36

Wednesday. Wednesday

29:39

night it's Atletico against Athletic,

29:41

sorry. And obviously Athletic

29:43

Group have had two days extra

29:45

to prepare that game compared to I think Madrid.

29:48

Which is why you thought it could be Thursday, because of course

29:51

that's what Atletico asked for. I mean, honestly,

29:53

I'm not going on this front, that's it, I'm just

29:55

not doing it. Don't do

29:57

it, Sid, we know how you feel about Chetling. And

30:00

we share your feelings as well. That's

30:03

it for today's edition of the Spanish Football Podcast. If

30:05

you want more Spanish Football content of the highest quality,

30:08

come and join us, patreon.com/TSFP. We're going to be

30:10

podcasting over there for the rest of the week.

30:13

Lots of good stuff coming up for you. So

30:15

come and join us, four Euros a month. And if

30:17

you don't want to do that, we'll do another free

30:19

podcast for you next Monday. Adios.

30:21

Cheerio.