2:00

or I've literally forgot he even played for Spurs, but there

2:02

we go. So that was my

2:04

weekend. Your weekend was spent mainly watching

2:06

football, predominantly

2:08

in the city of Madrid, but also you

2:10

ventured further afield on Sunday as well. So

2:12

we'll get to what you did in just

2:15

a moment, but what you've been doing today, Sid, you've

2:18

been writing really, really rather

2:20

well, as you're prone to do, about

2:23

Terry Venables, who died the weekend

2:26

at the age of 80. We

2:28

had really quite a moving minutes

2:30

of applause at the Tottenham Hotspur

2:32

Grand on Sunday, obviously

2:34

former Spurs player, Spurs manager as well.

2:37

Very, very loved figure in that part

2:39

of North London, but his legacy stretched

2:42

much, much further than just North London,

2:45

obviously Barcelona manager. What,

2:49

how is he remembered here, Sid? And what

2:52

are your memories of

2:54

people who encountered him and

2:56

how has he thought of here? Yeah, and

2:58

I think in a way, the best place

3:00

to start is to pick up on what

3:02

you were talking about, how his legacy stretches

3:04

beyond, obviously beyond England. And I

3:06

guess the question with Venables is whether his

3:08

legacy stretches quite as far as perhaps it

3:10

should. What Venables did

3:13

at Barcelona, for those who don't know,

3:15

he arrived in the summer of 1984, just

3:18

as Barcelona are forcing out Diego

3:20

Maradona. Now, ultimately the final decision

3:22

is, I think

3:25

ratified by Venables, rather than taken by Venables,

3:27

the idea that Maradona, who has been banned

3:29

for three months or after that huge punch-up

3:31

at the end of the Copa Rey final

3:33

in 1984, the fallout

3:36

with the board of directors at Barcelona is

3:38

intense and he is on his way. Now

3:40

Venables does sanction that

3:42

departure, but I honestly don't think

3:45

he would have had a huge amount of power if

3:47

he'd come in and said, absolutely not, this guy stays.

3:51

And so then he has to rebuild a team that

3:54

hasn't played particularly well anyway, hasn't

3:57

won a league title for 11 years. And

4:00

he chooses, and this is kind of

4:02

the headline signing, he chooses as the

4:04

man to replace Diego Maradona, Steve

4:07

Archibald. Which is just

4:09

an extraordinary statement at that point. Now, Barcelona are

4:11

in a go shape with Hugo Sanchez. Terry

4:14

Van Boulton says, no, look, if we're going after a

4:16

striker, this is the guy I want. This is a

4:18

guy who I think can make a difference. Now, I

4:20

think long term you can look back on this and

4:22

say maybe this wasn't the greatest decisions because, of course,

4:24

Hugo Sanchez goes to Real Madrid. His top scorer four

4:26

times for Real Madrid, having been top scorer with Atletico,

4:28

and his part of a Real Madrid team that wins

4:30

five league titles in a row. But

4:33

I think if you look at it in terms of

4:35

Venables' position, there isn't very much optimism when he takes

4:37

over. By the end of that

4:39

season, they've won the league, as I say, for the first

4:41

time in 11 years. You've basically

4:44

got, I'm going to try and do the maths here off the top of my

4:46

head, I think it's 40 years in

4:50

which the league titles at

4:52

Barcelona are only won by Terry Venables

4:54

or Johan Cruyff. Is Johan Cruyff

4:56

a player or Johan Cruyff a manager? There's no other

4:58

period in which they win the league title. This is

5:01

the first league title in 11 years, a second league

5:03

title in just shorter 25, I think. They

5:06

win the league playing a different style

5:08

of football with an intense press all

5:10

over the pitch, and that's very much

5:13

Terry Venables' kind of tactical innovation is the way

5:16

that they press teams, the way that they hunt

5:18

them down. They isolate a fallback and then basically

5:20

hunt them down in packs and win the ball

5:22

off them and score a lot of goals like

5:24

that. They play these diagonal passes to

5:27

the top of the midfield diamond who kind of goes

5:29

wide, they score a lot of goals from set

5:31

plays and they win a league title, which is

5:33

a huge, huge success, particularly in the context of,

5:35

Terry Venables at this time, by the way, is

5:38

41 and he's coming from QPR. This

5:40

isn't like a huge figure and he wins the league

5:43

title. What happens is in the second

5:45

year, they reach the European Cup Final. So this is

5:47

where we come to your legacy question. They

5:49

reach the European Cup Final and

5:51

they lose it. It's only the second European

5:53

Cup Final in their history. It's the chance to win the European Cup

5:55

for the first time in their history. You win

5:57

that, they draw nil-nil against Stalabu Krest. in

6:00

Seville at the St. Louis Quadrant, and

6:02

then they don't score any of their penalties in

6:04

the shootout. Now, Venables carries a

6:06

huge amount of, I suppose blame

6:08

is the word for that, or the criticism for that,

6:11

but the bottom line of

6:13

course is that they are a penalty

6:15

shootout away from that being the first

6:17

biocerinotem to win the European Cup, for

6:20

his legacy to have been absolutely gigantic.

6:22

And I think partly what happens is the trauma

6:24

from that final is so great, so

6:27

intense, that I think it took time

6:29

really, for people to kind of look back and go, actually

6:32

you know what Venables did was extraordinary. I think

6:34

with his passing this weekend, we've seen a little

6:36

bit of that, a bit of that recognition. You

6:39

know Steve Archibald very well, because you've worked with him

6:41

as have I, and Steve was in that

6:44

team, and Steve has talked a lot about

6:46

how it upsets him, that Venables

6:48

wasn't maybe given the credit that he believes

6:51

that Venables deserved, that that team maybe wasn't

6:53

given the credit to use Steve's own words

6:55

for bringing Barcelona out of the darkness. Does

6:58

that mean that some of the things that have led to this modern

7:00

era are about Venables? Yes,

7:03

absolutely. I

7:05

haven't actually worked with Steve Archibald, I would have loved to

7:08

have worked with Steve Archibald. Have you not? No, I thought

7:10

you had, sorry. No, no, no, but I

7:12

wish I had. But yeah, Terry

7:14

Venables, who died at the weekend,

7:16

and his legacy expanded

7:18

well, well beyond North London,

7:20

really, really loved figure in

7:23

the world of football who left us this

7:25

weekend. Let's talk about

7:28

what happened on match day 14. These

7:31

are the results from the most

7:33

recent round of fixtures in La Liga EA Sports on

7:35

Friday night. It was the final

7:37

game in charge of Granada for Paco

7:39

Lopez, because he was sacked after their

7:42

3-1 defeat at Alaves. They've

7:44

got a Uruguayan manager, who's

7:47

just been appointed today, whose name

7:50

momentarily escapes me, Sid. I

7:53

must admit, I don't know either, I'm sorry, I've been

7:55

heading down with everything else today. I've not had a

7:57

chance to see it. Absolutely appalling on our part. His

7:59

name is Alexander Medi. and he

8:01

is a Uruguayan manager and don't know too

8:03

much about him but he's the new man

8:05

in charge of Granada. Then on Saturday the

8:07

mighty Raya Vallecano held

8:09

Barcelona to a 1-1 draw it's actually a pretty

8:11

decent result for Barca because they were beaten 1-0

8:14

on their last two previous visits to Valleca so

8:16

at least they managed to get something out

8:18

of this weekend's trip to the Spanish

8:20

capital. I'll take my tongue firmly out of

8:23

my cheek because there is plenty for us

8:25

to discuss from that game which Sydney was

8:27

witnessing firsthand. Rafa Benitez returned

8:29

to Mestaya and got a warm reception

8:31

with his Celta Vigo side didn't manage to

8:33

pick up a victory though it finished 0-0

8:36

Khetafe beat Almeria by two goals

8:38

to one Almeria taking the lead

8:41

but Khetafe coming back with two

8:43

well-taken goals all in the first

8:45

half. Almeria still bottom of the

8:47

table still the only

8:49

side without a victory in La Liga

8:52

and looking like they're going to be

8:54

already a second division side pretty soon

8:56

unless things change pretty quickly. Atletico Madrid

8:59

beat Mallorca by a goal to Nille

9:01

at the Civetas Metropolitan of Sydney was

9:03

also there witnessing Antoine Griezmann win the

9:06

game with the only goal of the match. This

9:09

stuff for us to talk about there. Then

9:11

on Sunday El Comandante Morales scored a hat-trick

9:14

for Villarreal in the first league game

9:16

in charge for Marcelino Garcia Toral his

9:18

second tenure as the yellow submarine coach

9:20

the beat Osasuna 3-1. We were

9:23

talking about El Comandante Morales last week on

9:26

the podcast and mentioned that he might be

9:28

important under Marcelino Garcia

9:30

Toral and so has proved the case.

9:32

L'Areal beat Sevilla by two goals to

9:35

one Umar Sadik scoring

9:37

his first goal in over a year what

9:39

an absolutely extraordinary goal it was to Sevilla

9:42

looking really poor really really poor

9:44

and they still haven't won under

9:46

Diego Alonso they've got some big games

9:48

coming up and it feels like the

9:51

new manager is already under severe pressure

9:53

if they don't turn things around quickly

9:55

I fear he could be gone. Real

9:57

Madrid is a pretty comfortable afternoon at the office to be

10:00

Cadiz by three goals to nil, two excellent

10:02

strikes from Rodrigo Goez who wasn't supposed to

10:04

play, he was supposed to have the week,

10:08

weekend off but Brian Diaz got a

10:10

stomach bug twenty minutes before kick-off and

10:12

Rodrigo had to play and boy he

10:14

put in a pretty strong performance. Betis

10:16

beat Las Palmas by a goal to

10:18

nil Sunday night football as well. And

10:21

then Monday night football is Girona against Athletic

10:24

Clube, it's a really really big game Girona

10:26

win they go back top of the table

10:28

where at the moment Real Madrid are residing.

10:31

Coming up this week for our Patrons

10:33

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10:38

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10:49

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come and join us patreon.com/TSFP.

11:03

So Steve you did a triple header on

11:05

Saturday, we were talking about whether or not

11:08

you'd be able to do it, the logistics

11:10

of it, you managed to go to Rio

11:12

against Barca, you saw the first half of

11:14

Getafe against Almeria when all the goals were

11:16

scored anyway and then you also saw Atletico

11:18

Madrid beat Mallorca. We'll start with Rio against

11:20

Barca because I said that this was actually

11:22

a good result for them given what they've

11:24

done in previous years. It's

11:26

five games that they haven't been able to

11:29

beat Rio, it's a really quite an extraordinary

11:31

unbeaten run for Rio but I guess more

11:33

pressing for Barcelona is

11:36

again another poor performance,

11:38

another really really poor first half.

11:41

I don't know if you saw the statistic

11:43

that they're the side in the top five

11:47

divisions in European

11:49

football that have picked up the most points in

11:51

the last 15 minutes of games. I

11:54

didn't see that right. So they've been

11:56

getting points late

11:59

on but they've been starting. games really really poorly and

12:01

I don't know if you heard the they did

12:03

a little montage on the radio last night of

12:05

Chavia Nanda repeating the

12:07

phrase de nemos cater al do gritica.

12:10

We need to be self-critical and he said

12:12

it after the game against Rael Sosidhead after

12:15

the game against Shakhtar Donetsk after the game

12:17

against Alaves and he said it against after

12:19

the game against Ryo as well. De nemos

12:22

cater al do gritica we need to be

12:24

critical of ourselves critical of

12:26

the performance. It wasn't good

12:28

Sied, first 15 minutes was not good. No

12:31

it wasn't and at the risk of falling

12:33

into the kind of radio debate territory I

12:36

suppose part of the debate is how

12:38

much of that al do gritica is al do

12:40

in this case and how much of it is

12:42

Chavia pointing that finger at players. After this game

12:45

he talked about a mentality issue he talked about

12:47

that because as you've mentioned those statistics which I

12:49

didn't know those statistics were quite as dramatic as

12:51

that but the way that they're starting games which

12:53

are so poor and

12:56

finishing games actually reasonably well at least in terms

12:58

of making things happen but I still don't think

13:00

there's a huge amount of fluidity there and obviously

13:02

look when you look at statistics you can interpret

13:04

them the way that you want and you could

13:06

say well Barcelona do respond and Barcelona do tend to

13:08

find a way back into the game but

13:10

it's not entirely convincing even when they do and on

13:13

this occasion they could very legitimately say that they should

13:15

have had a penalty later on. I must admit live

13:17

I didn't think it was having seen the replay I

13:19

do but there's a

13:21

broader question than just the kind

13:23

of the specifics of this match

13:26

and yet some of the specifics of this match I

13:28

think feed into everything else. We were talking about this

13:30

the other day weren't we when we actually went through

13:33

the games and we reckoned it's 12 games

13:35

now 13 games now since Barcelona played well

13:38

and that's a really well pretty worrying statistic from their

13:41

point of view. Now admittedly that's that's they play pretty

13:43

well in the classical that's the one. Yeah

13:45

they did for that's true that's the one but they did

13:47

that well for what was it when you were playing it

13:49

or 65 or something like that yeah and

13:53

admittedly 65 good minutes against Real Madrid

13:55

is pretty good but it wasn't it

13:57

wasn't the whole game the other games I think have been

14:00

really quite disappointing. I think as well when

14:02

you look at them you see

14:04

all sorts of different flaws. And so when

14:07

you talk about intensity and mentality and mindset

14:09

and all of these kind of things, I

14:11

think that's true and I think that does, and I'm

14:13

not so naive as to say it doesn't, that does

14:16

influence the way you play. But I

14:18

also would kind of back away from that a

14:20

little bit and just look at

14:22

this from a more purely footballing point

14:24

of view, which is that structurally this

14:26

doesn't work. It doesn't flow that well. They

14:28

don't keep the ball as well as they should. They

14:30

don't create as many chances as they should. You look

14:33

at the three chances they got, the

14:35

first three chances they got in the second half against Rio

14:37

when they were starting to carry the game to Rio, and

14:39

to be fair to them they did. And

14:41

Rio were struggling a little bit to keep them, keep them

14:43

at arm's length in the second half. That is true. But

14:45

the first three chances they get, and

14:47

I'm not by any means by the way, by the way

14:49

dismissing this as being illegitimate, I'm not going to go down

14:51

that bus on the route, but I think it's interesting, the

14:54

first three chances are all from headers. Now,

14:57

that doesn't mean that those don't count. It doesn't mean that a headed

14:59

goal can't be brilliant. It doesn't mean that a headed

15:01

goal can't be created. It can't be elaborated.

15:03

It can be. It absolutely can be. But I

15:05

think we are seeing a team that's struggling to

15:08

find a way through teams, which used to be,

15:10

or at least in theory, is part of the

15:12

aspiration of the way that they play.

15:14

I was struck as well, and I

15:17

often mention this, that your perspective on the

15:19

game is conditioned quite literally

15:21

by your perspective. And I was pitch-sized,

15:24

very low down, at the end

15:26

that Rio attacked in the first half and Barcelona attacked in the

15:28

second half. And I

15:30

was really struck in that first half

15:32

by how sluggish Barcelona were getting

15:35

the beginning of the play moving. And Frankie

15:37

the young within 10 minutes has already had

15:40

to hold up his hand and apologize twice

15:42

for losing the ball in compromising positions. Odio

15:44

Romel loses the ball in a couple of

15:46

compromising positions. And in

15:48

part, you can point the finger at them,

15:50

and this really is alto critica. Frankie

15:53

the young post game said, I'm not at

15:55

my level. I wasn't good today. I didn't play

15:57

well. I've still got work to do. I

16:00

think it's also a construction problem in

16:02

that there were times even standing where

16:04

I'm standing, which is an

16:06

interesting view for things close up, but maybe

16:09

not a full panoramic of the pitch. But

16:11

I was struck by how often I saw

16:13

both Odeolomeo and the Yonge come and get

16:15

that ball in that deep position. And I

16:17

could see that they didn't have the passing lanes

16:19

that they would normally want. And

16:21

so it's all well and good saying, well, they were slow, they didn't move

16:23

the ball out quickly enough. And Rio pressed

16:25

very well, by the way. And that is about Rio as

16:28

well, but just about Barcelona. I

16:30

felt that Barcelona, I just don't think

16:32

Barcelona are very good at the moment. And I think

16:34

it's all over the pitch. I think it's in terms

16:36

of the structure of the team.

16:38

I think it's in terms of the intensity. I think

16:41

it's in terms of the sort of little bit of

16:43

spark. And I think key players haven't got it at

16:45

the moment. I think the absence

16:47

of Frankie the Yonge has been really important. But let's see

16:50

whether that's borne out by his return and

16:52

obviously how long it takes him to find a level that

16:54

helps them with that. And I think they will miss Gavi

16:56

as well. Yeah, they certainly

16:58

will. Obviously matches do not last

17:00

45 minutes, breaking news. But if

17:02

they did, Barcelona would be

17:04

14th in the table, Sid. And the opening

17:06

halves of games have not been good from

17:08

Barca this season. Let's see if they do

17:11

react. And as you said, they've got a

17:13

big round of fixtures coming up. They

17:15

have. Here in action tomorrow in

17:18

the Champions League at home to Porto, playing

17:22

for top spot in that group. They

17:25

should have sealed it last week or

17:27

last match day away to Shakta Donetsk.

17:29

They didn't. They lost. Boy,

17:32

if they lose again and they really

17:34

shouldn't, they shouldn't. But if they lose again, they get

17:36

to Porto side who caused them all sorts of trouble

17:39

in Portugal. If they lose again. Well, they were very

17:41

lucky. So we were very lucky. Very lucky. They're in

17:43

serious trouble in Group H. But anyway, I'm sure Barcelona

17:45

fans will try and be optimistic and think that no,

17:47

we're going to get a victory. And then we'll beat

17:50

Atletico Madrid next weekend, which is

17:52

a very nicely set up game.

17:55

Now, obviously, I work for La Liga TV and

17:58

I am a corporate man. So,

18:01

Sid, I'm going to be referring to

18:04

Barcelona against Atletico Madrid. What

18:06

was it? We've invented an

18:08

absolutely fantastic new

18:11

word for this game. It's called El

18:13

Superduelo. Alright, so

18:15

everybody now has to refer to Barcelona, Atletico

18:18

Madrid, as we are in La

18:20

Liga. And Superduelo. Anyway, that's

18:22

coming up next Sunday and it should be

18:24

pretty bloody super, actually. It should

18:26

be good. I mean, just very

18:28

briefly to pick up on what you were saying, you know, that

18:30

Barcelona are in a position now and they're not convincing. And so

18:32

you look at this and you think, wow, they've got problems if

18:34

they don't get through these three games. But

18:37

we've had this situation a lot over the last 10 years

18:39

or so with Real Madrid, haven't we? And every time we

18:41

think, oh, Real Madrid are on the edge, they find a

18:43

way through. Now, I'm not saying Barcelona will or that Barcelona

18:45

won't. But I think what it does do, of course, is

18:47

it tells us that these kind of turning

18:49

point games can turn you both ways. So

18:52

it could be that this run of fixtures

18:54

is very good for Barcelona, but they need to

18:56

win for that to be the case. And funny

18:58

enough, you look at their results, their results until

19:00

this weekend are not that terrible. In this run

19:02

of 12 games or so where we're saying they're

19:04

not playing very, really well, their results

19:06

are not that terrible. But it's the way

19:08

it's happened. So they beat Real Softadon with a very

19:10

late goal, having been really totally outplayed

19:12

for most of the game. They

19:14

beat Sevilla 1-0 with a circular ram or so

19:16

goal. They beat Alaves. So these are three wins,

19:19

but they get it with a late goal in

19:21

a game when they really don't convince. So all

19:23

the way through these matches, you think, yeah, they're

19:25

getting there. And I suppose,

19:27

Atletico Madrid and then Girona, by the

19:29

way, I'm telling them, then Girona the following

19:32

way, they win those two games, even if they

19:34

don't play well. And you'll think, actually,

19:37

it's hoping up for them again. So

19:49

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available in all areas, restrictions apply. Talk

21:10

to me about Atleti. You were at

21:12

the Civitas Metropolitana to witness Antoine Griezmann

21:15

score a lovely header. Atleti had been

21:17

knocking on the door. Yeah, they had.

21:21

Could have scored before. Alvaro Morata had a number of

21:23

chances which he didn't take. But at

21:25

the other end of the pitch, Amat

21:27

spurning a glorious opportunity for Majorca

21:30

which would have leveled things up

21:32

very late on and would

21:34

have taken important points of Atleti.

21:36

But Atleti hang on for that

21:38

1-0 victory. Worthy, worthy winners I

21:40

think in this game. Antoine Griezmann,

21:42

the match winner once again, Sid.

21:45

Yeah, yeah. And the header is absolutely brilliant. And

21:48

I was at that end again. I was fortunate

21:50

for which end of the ground I was at.

21:52

And it's not on. Yeah. That

21:55

header's not on. That shouldn't be

21:57

going in the net from there. From that position and that angle.

22:00

yes it's a very good cross and yes it's

22:02

a half chance. But he takes the

22:04

header as if he's kicked it. Yeah. It's

22:07

really, really brilliant. And the game pattern was

22:09

interesting. I thought it was a fairly flat

22:11

first half. Well, let's go, didn't

22:13

create, I mean they created a reasonable

22:16

number of chances and we were kind of back to

22:18

the old Albert on Maratha. It was one of those

22:20

Maratha performers where you can see him getting frustrated when

22:22

the ball is dropping to him a lot. It wasn't

22:24

really dropping to Griezmann actually. And he wasn't involved and

22:26

there was a statistic at halftime that I think it

22:28

was, he's normally the

22:30

player that I think the second player who gets the

22:32

most touches on average in an athletes coming to a

22:35

performance. And at halftime I think

22:37

he was the second fewest touches of the team. Playing

22:39

in midfield rather than at the top of the pitch.

22:41

It wasn't really running through him. They were going a

22:44

little bit long to Maratha. And

22:46

it wasn't quite happening for Maratha and he was getting caught

22:48

offside a bit and getting frustrated when the chances didn't go

22:50

in. And it was

22:52

just a sort of all round a slightly sluggish performance.

22:54

But I thought the response in the second half was

22:56

really good. Samuel Lino really impressed me. I

22:59

thought he played very, very well indeed. And made a

23:01

lot happen. Cut through people really

23:03

well. And has completely made a,

23:05

forget about Yannick Carrasco. Yeah,

23:08

yeah exactly. And to be honest we didn't

23:10

think that was gonna happen. Because Carrasco had

23:12

been so important. I thought Mario and Mosa

23:14

was brilliant. Watching her Mosa up close, it

23:16

was really striking how physically fit he looks.

23:18

How slim he looks. His passing range is

23:20

good. Now we know this from the year

23:22

they won the league. He was really important.

23:24

But the last couple of years he's been

23:26

kind of calamitous really. Sort

23:28

of a really strange player. But he was really good. I

23:30

think he's been good all year. He's played more minutes than

23:32

anyone in the team this

23:35

season and there's a reason for that. But

23:37

you mentioned them struggling at the end and Matt having

23:40

that chance right near the end. Which he really should

23:42

have scored. And there's a couple of other half chances

23:44

as well. When Kyle Lowry comes

23:46

on they start making a bit more happen, we all

23:48

go. It was curious. It felt like, is

23:51

this gonna be one of those frustrating nights where I've let's go

23:53

make a lot happen, don't score and

23:55

get more and more frustrated. And I think

23:58

personally and this is, maybe it's Amazon. to

24:00

a psychologist hour again, but that when

24:02

they got the goal that put them in the lead, there was

24:04

a couple of decompression. Okay, we've done it. We

24:07

were worried that maybe this wouldn't come, but we've done

24:09

it and we've scored this goal. And at that point,

24:12

I think they were a little bit vulnerable. And at

24:14

that point, instead of carrying on playing, keeping the ball,

24:16

maybe making a chance chances for a second goal, I

24:19

think there was a sort of, I don't think it

24:21

was a deliberate conscious decision, but there was a dropping

24:23

off. And then of course, you ally that to the

24:25

fact that then New York have got to chase the

24:27

game a bit more than they've been doing until then,

24:29

because until then they more or less

24:31

been happy to hold on to it, although there was

24:33

a very good chance for them in the first half

24:35

as well. And athletes go suffered towards the end to

24:37

use that Spanishism a bit more than

24:40

they should have done. But they were worthy

24:42

winners, no doubt about it. We really

24:44

don't have any other sort of adjectives or

24:46

anything really else to say about Antoine Griezmann

24:48

being extremely good at football. He is extremely

24:50

good at football. He continues to be extremely

24:52

good at football. Now here's a nice

24:54

stat that I've, I was going to

24:56

say I found wasn't didn't

24:58

didn't find it. I was passed it

25:00

by my producer at La Liga TV

25:02

for tomorrow's show. So here's a little,

25:04

a little spoiler alert. But the players

25:07

who have scored all the goals in

25:09

a game in La Liga history, Antoine

25:11

Griezmann has scored all the goals in

25:13

a game on 24 occasions in La

25:15

Liga. It's more than anyone else. Hugo

25:18

Sanchez 23, Lionel Messi 19, Kinney

25:21

18, David Villa 18, Raung Tammudo 17.

25:24

So just to give you an example,

25:26

give you an idea just how significant

25:28

a player he has been. The

25:31

majority of those would have come forward for

25:33

Atletico Madrid. But yeah, he's a massive, massive

25:35

player. He is one thing, one thing that

25:38

I think, you know, our listeners know this and

25:40

we know this, but I think it's probably worth

25:42

adding. One of the things that I always think

25:44

every time I watch him play is there's a

25:46

there's a wonderful simplicity about him.

25:50

He's not trying to do anything flash ever. And

25:52

when he does something flash, it's because he has to, you know,

25:55

if it's a flick, or if there's a kind of

25:57

reverse pass, or if there's something that maybe is a

25:59

little bit you know, the kind of

26:01

thing that makes people insane and go, ooh, it's

26:03

because he has to. There's an

26:05

economy about the way that

26:07

he plays, which I really

26:10

like, and I think possibly has stood against him

26:12

a little bit in terms of recognition, because you

26:14

don't have these really headline moments that he's not,

26:16

I suppose to use that phrase that they're using,

26:18

there's an English version of it, and I can't

26:20

think what it is. The Spanish talk about it

26:22

as being someone that goes into your eyes, entre

26:24

en l'ochon. You know, I suppose he's easy on the eye.

26:27

There are some players who are easy on the eye, and

26:29

maybe Griezmann isn't. You know, maybe Griezmann

26:31

isn't because he's not doing things that

26:33

are immediately obvious, that are immediately,

26:35

wow, that was amazing. But every

26:37

decision is right. Every

26:39

pass is right, which isn't to say he never messes up.

26:41

Of course he does. But

26:43

he just does everything so well.

26:46

Yes, absolutely, he really does. It was

26:48

also Kokeh's 600th game, by the way,

26:50

as a athletic commentary player. He's going

26:52

to play a lot more for them,

26:55

Kokeh, the local boy. Although his contract is up at

26:57

the end of the season. No, no, no, he's going

26:59

to play a lot more. Yeah,

27:01

I'm sure he will. We

27:03

should mention obviously Real Madrid, although there

27:05

isn't a huge amount to talk about

27:07

in this game because it was so

27:09

comfortable for Real Madrid. A Real Madrid

27:12

side, absolutely decimated by injuries, and they

27:14

were still able to put out a

27:16

really impressive looking starting 11, including a

27:19

midfield made up of Tony Cruz, Luca

27:22

Baudrych, Fedevo Alverde and Jude Bellingham. So

27:24

despite the horrendous number of injuries, they

27:26

still had a pretty decent side. Baudrych

27:29

actually getting injured in this game, so we'll see whether

27:32

or not he can feature at the weekend. But

27:35

yeah, it was pretty comfortable, this, for

27:37

Real Madrid, and really, really well-taken goals.

27:39

The two Rodrigo goals are fantastic, are

27:41

particularly awesome. Brilliant. The first

27:43

one, but they're both really excellent. And

27:45

Jude Bellingham's goal is very, very nicely

27:47

taken as well. Jude Bellingham's

27:50

goal is, I don't think we've seen

27:52

one of these from him yet, have we? Yes. It's

27:55

a different type of finish to the others. It's

27:57

very cleanly hit. Left foot

27:59

in a corner left. Yeah across on a little

28:01

I mean he's allowed to run very it's very obvious which

28:03

run he's going to make and no one goes With him

28:05

that is true, and he runs into a space in the

28:07

air is like well It's

28:09

no one okay fair enough and Rodrigo just has to

28:11

roll it into me He takes it very very well

28:13

though, and it is slightly different the I

28:16

don't know if you were suggesting earlier on by

28:18

the way I I must admit. I'm I'm malevolent

28:20

like this is that the word malicious rather malevolent

28:22

maybe The you have a

28:24

I did the idea big crossed my mind

28:26

Rodrigo wasn't going to play until Braheem got

28:28

a stomach upset Mmm Did someone

28:31

spot a small Brazilian sneaking into Braheem's

28:33

room with some dodgy powders that he

28:35

sprinkled in Braheem's drink before a few

28:37

hours before the game Sydney

28:39

do you think that didn't happen no? Why

28:44

would that happen a slice of dodgy lasagna to make

28:46

sure he gets to play I? Think

28:49

but the whole point was that he said that his me

28:52

wasn't a hundred percent and he also had a toothache as

28:54

well Wasn't a hundred percent

28:56

ready to play so so so so what you're

28:58

saying is he wasn't he wasn't you know evil

29:00

That's a pity no. I like the idea of

29:03

a bit of evil evil doing No,

29:07

no one is suggesting that Gonna

29:10

get a legal troubles here, but yeah

29:13

Rodrigo taking his chance if he

29:15

needed to do that and very

29:17

much Impressing with the

29:19

two two really well-taken goals bit worried

29:22

about caddis to be honest I

29:24

yeah, we've got a we've got a soft spot

29:26

for caddis given. It's such a lovely

29:29

place Fantastic fans. It's

29:32

a sporting entity that does bring something

29:34

to having them in the division, but

29:36

they are they're in serious trouble They're

29:39

the lowest scorers in

29:41

the division It's called ten goals in 13 games

29:44

and that's that's worrying and it's worrying You

29:46

know they brought in players and in theory

29:48

there should be some golds there. They've got

29:50

down my cheese They've got maxi Gomez. They've

29:52

got Sergey Guardiola. They got Roger Marty They

29:54

all experienced La Liga strikers, and

29:57

they are really really really struggling in front of

29:59

goals so worried about Cadiz hopefully

30:01

they'll be able to get back on

30:03

track they've got a rearranged fixture against

30:05

Mallorca midweek on Wednesday night so um

30:07

huge huge game there. I'd

30:10

forgotten that that was this week yeah

30:12

they they that probably hasn't helped either

30:14

them or Mallorca you know the the

30:16

21 days that they've they went without

30:18

playing um because obviously rearranged and then

30:20

international break actually fun enough I

30:22

can't remember which which um Cadiz player

30:24

it was or was

30:26

it Mallorca player? No I'm pretty sure it was definitely a Cadiz player

30:29

because Mallorca had a couple of really key injuries um

30:31

in the build-up the game actually saying we think

30:33

this break might have done us some good if

30:35

only to get some some key players back back

30:38

from injury um but but yeah I think look

30:40

for what it's worth there wouldn't have been an anticipation

30:43

of getting very much out of Ramadhiud they might have

30:45

thought that they could be very defensive and possibly possibly

30:47

get a draw or or who knows if they've been

30:49

fortunate enough to snatch a win but you're right they

30:54

they do look really quite

30:56

limited um yes quite

30:58

honestly I suppose they transmit limited

31:01

sensations yeah that's that's fantastic

31:03

yeah absolutely they transmit limited

31:05

sensations I like it um

31:09

maybe we've got a podcast title

31:11

for this one transmitting limited sensations

31:15

uh you went to see Oviedo play

31:17

Miranda they obviously lost to um in

31:19

the Segunda which is which is

31:22

a shame but um what about people

31:24

listening to us who are

31:26

intrepid lovers of Spanish

31:28

football would you recommend a trip

31:30

to see Miranda, Miranda

31:32

Desplays, Miranda de Lebros slightly off the

31:34

beaten track um not

31:38

really okay

31:41

it sort of depends if you like

31:43

a kind of a little ground with three sides

31:45

how much do you love Spanish football yeah yeah

31:47

a little bit of carrots how much driving you

31:49

want to do it's not the most amazing city

31:51

although the city centre the very centre is quite

31:53

pretty um you're quite close to Bitoria so if

31:56

you're going to go to Bitoria in Ciala Bess

31:58

and you can get Miranda. Thank

34:00

you.