Matchday 24 Preview

[Music] Hello everyone and welcome to this week's preview podcast from the Spanish All-Podcast. I'm Phil Kitchel-Millidis, it's alongside me to look ahead to what's coming up in La Liga EA Sports. Match day 24 this week and hello, Sid. Hello, Philip. You're wearing your aviado jumper. I'm wearing my own rai-a-vai-a-canode jumper. In honor of the game that never happened. In honor of the game that's going to happen on March the 4th, is it? March the 4th at 7 o'clock at my yakuza at the moment because of course that's what La Liga has said unilaterally. Well, that's not quite fair actually. They haven't said it unilaterally. The two clubs have had conversations about when the date would be but aviado continue to insist that their idea is to continue to protest and to continue to push for the game to be forwarded by rai. Let's see what happens there. But meantime, there are games to be played this weekend and also more controversy surrounding rai-a-vai-a-canode and their pitch. Friday night kicks off in El Che at the Martinez Valero as inform Ososuna visits the illicitanos then on Saturday, espanyol trying to end their horrible run of form. They were the surprise package of the first half of the season but they've started in 2026. Absolutely appallingly they host Celte Vigo. Jettafegans Virel is the match that Sid Lowe and myself will be commentating for the world on Saturday afternoon. It's not the game we were supposed to be commentating about. And it's slightly less good in truth than the one people going to commentate for the world. Where no, it's a low-fist goal. I don't know. It could be a belter. Yeah. It will not be a belter. Sivir against Salavés is immediately after that and then at the Bernabéu, Saturday night for against Royce Sosse. Then on Sunday Sydney is making this way up to Oviedo. I assume for the home game against Athletic Club. Immediately after that is a rye by a car now against a clinical Madrid which is going to be played at the Estadio Montepalde Botarque at the home of Cluj de Porti Voleganesque because the pitch at Valleca is still an absolute shambles. Levantegans Valencia is the Valencia Derby at the sea of that Valencia stadium. It is an absolutely massive derby if Carlos Corberan loses this surely he's out as Valencia manager. Mallorca against Betis is the Sunday night game and then Monday night football is Gerona against Barcelona really fascinating looking Catalan Derby. Of course this is the preview port looking ahead to those games. It's coming off the back of a rather extraordinary Coppadele Rey semi final first leg at the Metropolitano yesterday. Sid, Al and I were all there to witness Athletic Madrid dismantle Barcelona. Four-0. We did a TSP diary on us three covering the game from three different perspectives. I was commentating it. Al was pitchside for ESPN and Sid was writing a match report for the Guardian. So head over to patreon.com/tsfp to listen to the TSP diary. This week hopefully it's an interesting insight into us covering that game as we said from three different angles. patreon.com/tsfp for all your Spanish footballing needs. Elchert against Osasuna then said let's kick off with a prediction two sides in their contrasting form. Yeah two sides and very contrasting form so much so and I admit that I have shamelessly ripped this out of the Aluastas morning because I didn't know this statistic and that if you take the results from 2026 only Elchert are second bottom and Osasuna in the Champions League place. So only Real Sveta at Barcelona and Athletica no Real Sveta at Barcelona and Brown would you have been better than Osasuna in 2026 and the only team worse than Elchert in 2026 is. Spanish who of course you just mentioned a minute ago who were the big revelation at the first half of the season and very poor in the second. Now I think it's true that if you listen to Edas Rabi and I did listen to Edas Rabi as press commentator yesterday. Now how long is press comment as well? 39 minutes. What? That is a record is it 39 minutes. Well one of the answers one of the answers was was a let hang on I broke it down was nine minutes long. He made a comment last week in which he'd said that you know we're Elchert and we we play where El Sveta had and they trained at El Sveta's training ground at Fulvieta and he said you know you see that and you realize as a difference and you realize that there are some teams who have got bazookas and tanks and some of us are turning up with a with a catapult and trying to complete against them and we will do so and that didn't go down particularly well. And so basically this nine minute answer was him responding to that in which he said look it feels a little bit like you a lot of deliberately trying to misunderstand me everything I say is a reality. We're recently promoted club and all the rest of it anyway it was a fascinating press comments and one of the many things he said was to talk about recent results and to talk about the way in which actually they sort of look a bit worse and they really have been you know in particular so you go I've got the here I went through them after he'd said them because I thought I wonder if he's actually right against Raos Rathindade they lost three one and they were the they were weaker than Raos Rathindade Raos Rathindade with a better side but it was two one and they lost it in the 89th minute against Levantes free two and they lose it in the 96 against Sevilla it's two two and they're two and a lot and they they're considered the 75th and the 92nd against Valencia it's a Pepele penalty in the 87th minute against VRL free one all right that one's a bit different and against Barcelona although they were beaten free one and and pretty well they played well it impacted so I think the results are probably worse than the performance level and actually I can only assume that you're commentating this game yeah yeah otherwise I would of course I thank God no no no no no yeah otherwise it's mental that I even sat through 39 minutes of press conference yes indeed all albeit Sir Abbey's press conferences are quite entertaining so it's kind of quite good fun to listen to them but but yes so yes I'm comfortable on this and so I do think it's it's probably true that they're slightly better than their recent form suggests but I also think it's true what what Sir Abbey was trying to say which is look of course our target has to be survival and part of the problem maybe is that early in the season we were so good that people started talking about European football and that created an expectation that wasn't real anyway all of that said I would also say that Elchey away from home have been really poor but at home it's still not terrible so I'm going to go for a home win despite despite that run of the different run of results from two teams okay home win there for Elchey or so soon afterwards then our first game on Saturday is espadrilla against Celta Vigo as we said espadrilla and atrocious form yeah Celta with a really really strong away record five wins and four draws just two defeats on the road from the games they've got the third highest number of points on the road this season in La Liga only Braille Madrid and Barcelona have got more points away from home so away when you said I mean it's the logical thing isn't and actually Celta who would be in last week by us as soon as and who would just been talking about where I thought really quite unlucky they were clearly the better side in that game but didn't win that said it earlier in the season it had been probably the other way round between those two teams I think I feel like away when is the logical answer here but I'm leaning towards a draw I'm going to offer a draw and a not very interesting game okay yeah I'm gonna need a fine-lancer from you so it's a fine-lancer is draw there okay just for the just for the record because you know last last weekend we had nine matches not ten because Raior Vierde was cancelled did we mention that but yeah nine matches and Sydney got six right so six out of nine is pretty decent it's if you can go even better than that this weekend a Chetafi gets Virreal is gonna be one mil to Virreal is it or is it gonna be one mil to a Chetafi oh it could be one mil to someone yeah I feel like it's not likely to be more than that is Joe what here's at the risk of upsetting Virreal fans here's the thing there are enormous differences between the way these two teams go about the game but it is true that these teams share something which is that nive them particularly they don't want the ball yeah and and so I was kind of thinking about how to Virreal go about this when they'd like to counter attack I don't actually know the answer to that I mean they're absolutely gonna have the ball against Chetafi you know I think they are I think they are and and actually obviously they're quite a good team and they have the players to do that and I suspect that that will be the pattern that that plays out but in terms of their creativity I think it might be slightly problematic for them but yeah I lean towards a one mil that should to Virreal yes Virreal are 15th in terms of average possession this season and Chetafi bottom and surprisingly in terms of how much they have the ball in matches okay severe against Alavés is a big game for both sides and both managers Chetafi Calde was under pressure relieved a little bit by Rizal results but it is very tight at the bottom severe last weekend I did their game against Jorona for supposed to do their game that was drafted in because it was rescheduled their first half performance was so bad so staggeringly bad it got a little bit better in the second half but not much they're a bad team yeah they are not a good team they're not a good team the atmosphere is horrendous at the stadium and the fans this is supposed to be one of the most passionate fan bases or cauldron of a stadium and you could just tell it was flat in that stadium that you could tell that they didn't believe they're you know they'll just keep singing the whole game but it wasn't intense it was just so flat they were whistling their own players as well Karamana getting all sorts of abuse from his own fans the atmosphere is terrible, the team is terrible. And if they lose this, I think I may lose. So another manager playing for his future, I think. Yeah. Just a very quick point on that thing of the, the, the ultra's keep singing at severe games. One of the things that happens is not just severe, where I would, but I think it's happening at the severe games is, is didn't, do you sometimes not feel like the ultra's kind of sing kind of irrespective of the match? So there's no rise and fall with the flow. It's just there they're doing the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, the way through. And so do you have no sense of this being connected to the play or even encouraging the play? So it's not supporting the team, obviously, because they're there and they're singing and trying to create an atmosphere. But it's not a kind of, right, to take the example of the game we were all at last night with that player coming through, it doesn't feel like the roar is carrying the players in any meaning of the way or, or, or, or a response to the players in any meaningful way. It's just this kind of background white noise, isn't it? It was like that valencia as well. Wasn't on Sunday. Yes. On the grid. Yeah. Yeah. There was a bit of that. And the first at the very start, it felt wow, this is a big occasion and then it very quickly became like that. Um, and severe aren't a very good team. I'll make them might well get sacked if they get beaten. And yet at the same time, I feel like almost everybody recognizes that it's not purely about him. It's just, it's just that you reach a point in the season. Yeah. You might think, well, you've got to try something to kind of provoke a reaction here. Um, and I don't think for a minute that he's, he's the man guilty of this, although he doesn't always help himself. I think there are some things he does well and some things he clearly doesn't. So what's the prediction on this one? I, I find this a really hard one to call. I don't particularly like either of these teams. I think given their limitations, I think, Alive, it's for a better work team. So we're going to talk about it from the managerial point of it. Yeah. Um, is it just, is the thing to do here just to cop out and just say how, um, draw? I mean, it is, it sounds like that would be the, the obvious thing. Does, doesn't it? Yeah. I'm leaning towards a, how can I lean towards a severe victory when they've only won two and 11? I'm going to go for, yeah, draw. Draw. And then Real Madrid against Real Sosiedad, of course, Real Madrid, have had all week to prepare for this match. It's Real Sosiedad, where in action, the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, big performance from them in Bill Bauer winning one, they'll against athletic club. Um, had a big performance from some of the Real Madrid players. I think it was on Tuesday night. Was it on Monday night? Well, they all went out for a, a set out of the conjure. I loved how much was made of this. I loved how big this was. Mine, my favorite one. Um, and actually in this little Real Madrid section, and the, you know, apologies to Campanero, I was in the media, but I'm going to lay into a couple of them. Yeah. I, I love the start of, um, one of the, uh, one of the late night radio shows, um, and I think you can probably guess which one in which, uh, they said they, you know, they had a report or outside the restaurant where Real Madrid's players were having dinner. I mean, in fairness to them, the issues put it on social media. So suddenly, everything's well, we've got to turn up, you know, not on your end of the world. We've got to turn up. And, um, and I realized, by the way, the hypocrisy here of me talking about this dinner, as a way of saying, look at these morons talking about the dinner. But anyway, I really loved it because there was a bit of the start of the show. It said, well, you know, they just gone for dinner. They're not doing a mass-historia. That's it. That's all there is to it. There's no big deal. And then proceeded to spend the entire show giving us live up. Live up later. Who had left the dinner? Yeah, because they weren't inside. They couldn't give us live up. That's what he's gone for the wine. Oh my god. He's having a dessert. It's a, it's a, it's a creme brulee. Anyway, it did make me laugh a lot. The last one out was a, I said, CEO, I believe, at two, 50 in the morning, um, and getting into his car and driving off. Yes. Um, it was subsequently missed training with Fieberde. Yeah, with a fever. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's okay today. Yeah. But can you name up? It might not be more more things. Can you now play my, I actually, but they're very briefing on the dinner. It did feel a little bit public. It felt a little bit like they were trying to express the idea that they're all in together as much as they actually were if you sort of mean it felt a little bit, um, what would you call an English party, Bay? It was a bit of a show, wasn't it? It felt like a little bit of a show. Anyway, that's firefight. Um, and buffet might be out with an entry, um, still not being confirmed. And here comes the other media thing that I was going to have a go at. Are you ready for this? Headline in Diario yesterday. Four finals for our below. Right now, apart from the fact that I, you know, I, I am unnecessarily occupied by the fact that everyone keeps using finals and it gets on my tits, right? I did test it. I did test it. So do I. Same here. And we shouldn't worry about it that much because we just, you know, we should just raise a lot of those cliches that exist in Spain, right? But I'm going to take them on their own premise here. Right. I'm sorry. These two league games that Ralford should have coming up. I know meaningful way of final. The way that these Muppets use. They are just not the two Champions League games. Maybe, but even then they're not because they are quite literally what are we? Court last 16 or whatever went round. We're all in the Champions League playoff round. Whatever you want to call that. I don't know what we call this round. Play around. It is true that for our below, if they were to get knocked out of the Champions League, that would feel pretty bad. But the two league games, when there are any one point behind bars, and absolutely aren't finals in any meaningful way, not even in the massively overblown exaggerated way that these morons use it. So up yours final. Yes. Match day 24 game at home to Real Sociedad is actually not a final. It's just no and not just that, but you know, it's four finals. So they're talking about Ramadj's next game, which I must admit off the top, maybe I can't remember what it was, but it definitely wasn't a big one. Their next name is away. I'll say next. It's a nice final. I'll say sooner. I was going to say that if Ramadj would win, they'll go top and Barcelona will wait at your own or a Monday night, which is not an easy game. So actually we could it's also not a final because if you win it, you go, oh, yeah, but your top. So there's your trophy. Yeah. In this Barcelona going win. I mean, what do you want people anyway? Enough. What do we think will happen in this? I genuinely don't know. Despite the Real Sociedad's incredible performances under Matadazzo. And I believe it's 10 games now, isn't it without the feet in all comp times? No, is it nine? Is it? Okay. It's nine. And they play really, really well against athletic and midweek. What is it? I think it might be 10. I think it might be eight plus two. All right. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway, the point is that they've been fantastic. But I do think the midweek game matters. I do think Roundup at home all be at home. They haven't been that great this season. And I don't think they play well at any point. This is a little bit like the way I felt about it last week with them going away to Moustalle, albeit of course, Ralph's off the other a far, far better team than Valencia. There's a bit of things I don't expect roundup to play well, but I think I probably do expect them to win. So I'm going to go for a home win, but not with a huge amount of faith. It's nine matches. Seven and a league and two in the cup, is that right? Presumably, yes. Yeah. Jokka, hello, at Liikunta, Elamüxia. Liityn, now, is the first to be in the league and is training for the next two-year-old fellow. Not Liityn, but Katsok, Kampane, Eherot and Liityo Osvaite, are the first to be in the league. Motivation included. All right. You're going for a home win there. Yeah. I said without too much conviction, but we'll see what happens around Madrid against the rest of the day. Do you want to be at that one? I am. Yes, yes, yes. I'm at the end. You're working. Yes. So after a minute you finish with Khatafé Vierre, I will be hotfooting it to the Bernabéu. Beautiful stuff. And then you'll be hotfooted to get to Asturias. Will we? You're not going to sleep a huge amount. No, I'm not going to sleep very much. No, there's this. Leave quite early together. I will sleep on the train. I'm not driving. I'm not driving. I'm not driving. I'll be at a against Atlético Madrid. Well, this game is not taking place on the day. No, no. This game is not taking place on the day it was due to take place only six days ago. It is not taking place in the city. It was due to take place in only one day ago. I would just like to stand and give a round of applause to all the people involved in the management of this game. Congratulations. Fucking great job, everybody. Well played. Anyway, that little moment out the way. And funny, isn't it, that how a week on they can't risk playing at Valleca, because the state of the pitch. And yet, until 10 o'clock in the morning, last Saturday for a two o'clock kickoff, that was exactly what they were supposedly going to do. Apologies if we keep going on about this. I think this is just extraordinary. I still think it's extraordinary. And I'm going to take out the Rail of the Edo element here and say that I really, really hope that this clarifies yet again, although everybody knows now, and the clarification doesn't really help, just how bad the management of the club is at Valleca, how extraordinary the job the players and the coaching staff do, and quite a lot of the employees at the club as well. How brilliant their fans are considering all this shit. I very much hope that there's no one there of Ultaki on Sunday which might well be the case because I think it carries with it a sort of symbolic weight here because of course what Presto would like to do is leave Vyakas entirely and maybe this gaming entirely empty would underline that you can't do that. I've just been in Vyakas this morning and I was outside the stadium and there is fresh graffiti on the side of the stadium and it says "reista noreteeres tu entrada" "dechemos vāfi o būtárke presa inavillitā fion" so Ryofan don't get a ticket for "let's leave būtárke empty" and let's try and get my impressor out basically. I've got a season ticket I'm not going to that game I think I've decided emotionally but part of me thinks "Ryā, I'm really glad he needs these points" Well that's the really one of the really game. Yeah that's one of the really sad things about this. This is bigger than that and if Rai go down, I agree with it. But you have to try and make a point. You have to try and make some kind of point. You know it cannot continue like this. The club cannot be run like this anymore. It's reach breaking point so if it takes Rai going down to make that point and for something to change I think every Rai of Anis is willing to take that. Yeah because it's bigger than that. And as for this game, obviously we've just come from watching Athletic and Madrid play an extraordinary first 45 minutes against Barcelona. I don't want to be a smart ask but I think fairly recently we said in the podcast that at some point it feels like someone who's going to catch Barcelona and score a bucket load of goals against them. I think we then said actually a bit like Sevilla and Chelsea already have done but this was the performance from Athletic and Madrid last week which as sorry last night which fits with something that Simioni said last week which was to say against teams that play deep against us and close off. We actually are not finding solutions but when we're allowed to run it's a different matter. I don't know how to judge what this game will be like in purely footballing terms. I don't know how much of a difference changing stadiums will make and changing playing surface will make and playing that surface dimensions will make. I find this quite a hard one to foresee except to say that obviously Athletic and Madrid in theory at least despite their poor away form are favourites. I think this might feel a little bit like the pandemic games you know. I think there's a chance that the stadium might be really empty. I'm going to go through in a way win. I think three wins from 11 on the road for Athletic and Madrid. Yes which is why I'm nervous about going for an away win. I feel that this is a slightly different type of away game. Yeah away win but not with a huge amount of confidence. Levantier Valencia Derby? Yeah and it's massive as you said earlier 17 against 19. It's bigger than it should be although actually in truth it's not very much bigger than we expected because Valencia have been a porting for a long time. Valencia have never finished below Levantier. There's a possibility this season they've finished below Levantier and yet both of them go down. I find this quite difficult to call. I think it's a home win though. I'm not I must admit I'm one of those that's not completely convinced by this little turnaround from Levantier and since the change of manager obviously they they can see the fall last week and they weren't very good away at Athletic. It finished fall two which actually flatters them a bit. That Neil Neal draw at home against Athletic and Madrid is obviously a really good result. They bit Elchay three two they lost at the Bernabéu didn't they and they drew with Espanyol and it all started with that three-neil win away it's a vs. There's definitely something more dynamic more enthusiastic better organized about them a kind of a mental state that's better. They can win this game and still not climb out the relegation zone. That said if they were to win both games because they've got gaming hand in midweek against Vrera on Wednesday night. If they win both of those they do climb out in theory because they climb to 24 points but of course lots of other teams around them could win points this weekend and actually RIO of course and Ré Loviedu now have a game in hand too. Now Ré Loviedu aren't really a threat to them unless they don't win over these games but in this scenario we're in them both. I think Levantier have half a chance of survival. I must admit I still think they probably won't survive but I think I probably like the more than Valencia for this game. Yeah yeah I'm going home win. I'm going home win. Valencia got loads of injuries and the suspensions as well. They don't have a right back and yeah I am. Well it was very very very like them. Wasn't the the right back thing with Tiedic or Ré are coming back and almost immediately getting injured again. I don't have the numbers in front of me but it feels like over the last three or four years he has missed way over 50 or 60 percent of his games. Mallorca against Betis, Sunday night game, Betis who won away from home last week at the Medropolitano first team to win away. The Medropolitano this season against a Mallorca side just out of the relegation zone. Well I'm going to do Mallorca a little bit like you wrote about this in the diary on Monday about the way that we've been responding to us as soon as you go bloody hell they won again and because when you're a fan of a team down the bottom as we are you sort of look around for teams to lose. You want everyone to lose and I'm very sorry to those teams because there's nothing against them but you kind of need them to and I just sort of feel like every time I think oh well Mallorca could be pulled into it they find a way of not quite being pulled into it or just about stepping out which is not so they're out out because they're absolutely not. I'm going to go for a draw in this one. Betis more draw on the road than anybody this season so that makes that makes sense. I mean it was the newsletter that I was writing so it's not the diary but that's okay. I called it die so I meant the newsletter. It's like it's the right newsletter which is right and free and delivered to all patrons, well I say free, so patrons but it is a part of the membership package at patreon.com/tsfp for all patrons from four euro 75 a month so not free but well worth it. You get lots of other content as well. And the band-in-out game is Judo Nair against Barcelona Sydney in Treging clash. I'm commentating this one. I'll commentate the first game this season which Barcelona won at Monjuic 21. I think it was an injury time goal that did it. Juro Nair had four one-on-ones in the first half which they couldn't score. They were very very fortunate to win this game Barcelona coming off the back of this absolute dismantling which took place against Attedico Madrid on Thursday night at Jirona. It was a really interesting interview with Michele at the radio I don't know if you heard it. He's always good actually. He's one of the best at being introspective at taking responsibility himself at describing the processes that he uses and doing it honestly. There's not many managers in the first division that genuinely talk to you about football and he is one of them. They're going to try and have the ball. That's how you defend against Barcelona. That phrase he used wasn't it? How do you stop L'Amini-Mar? You create a void. You don't let the ball get to him. You don't let the ball into that space. Now one way of looking at it is to look at what Attedico did to L'Amini-Mar last night which was to have Rogerio name and not let him play and have your enter there to help you then Rogerio. And it was partly about stopping the ball getting to L'Amini-Mar but it wasn't just that. It was also about hitting him every time he got the ball and being quick to close him down. But yes, I think I think that will be part of the approach and the other approach I think despite wanting the ball. I think they will and he mentioned this as well then they look for the space behind to Barcelona after and obviously that's nothing revolutionary. Everyone's talking about it. In fact at times I think we talk about it too much but then you get a game like last night and say well how can we not talk about it because it is such an obvious and clear approach to playing Barcelona. We are recording on Friday morning this game taking place on Monday evening. We'll see whether or not Rashford or Raffinia can be involved in this game but a peddry isn't going to make it and he goes obviously a big big miss. Give me a prediction Sydney. I'm going to believe Hansi Flick. After the Attedico Madrid game he said this could be a really great lesson for us. If it comes at the right time sometimes these are lessons for us. I'm going to trust that this is a lesson and I'm going to say away with. Nice. Okay a lesson for Barcelona. That's it that's what's coming up this weekend. Enjoy the football amigos. We will be back on Monday to discuss everything that's happened apart from the Diorona Barca game which will take place on Monday evening. patreon.com/tsfp4yourspanishfootballing needs loads of content there. Give an A podcast, bonus podcast, newsletter, diary, what sap group, discord community from just over a euro a week. It is good value if you want to get involved. All right then we'll leave it there Adios. Diorio. [Music] Saman väkenä Neljää Uji.