Bayern’s bumpy week, Barça bouncing and Conte rides high: Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Here's a Europod for you.

We'll start in Germany where Bayern, Leverkusen and Dortmund all failed to win, Bayern conceding an injury time against Eintracht in a brilliant game.

We'll get a Vincent company report and find out the reaction to that defeat at Villa.

Lever Kusenblow, a two-goal lead at home to Holston Kiel.

Is this proving to be Javi Alonso's difficult second album?

And then to Spain, Barca flying under Flick, a hat-trick in half an hour for Lewandowski.

Real Madrid win, but lose Danny Carvajal for the season.

We'll ask the Mbappe Bellingham and midfield without Cruz questions.

And across the city, talk Athleti and how much Diego Simeoni loves Conor Gallagher.

In Italy, Scott McTominay goes all Brentford and scores after 25 seconds.

Juve are held at home by Calgary.

And there are three penalty saves as Milan lose at Fiorentina.

There's a bit on Pogwa's band being cut and some Liga, your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenny, welcome.

Hello, Max.

There were also three penalty saves in a match in Spain, and that's probably going to be my only notable contribution in this podcast.

Wow.

Good to get it in early.

So well done, Barry.

You may rest easy.

I didn't want anyone gazumping me.

It's worth pointing out that Barry has just done the substitution signal to the bench.

Archie Rintutt, hello.

Hi, Max.

And from the racing post, Mark Langdon, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Let's start then in Germany.

And let's start with Bayern.

I mean, it all looked like it was going swimmingly for Vincent Company until the Villa game and then this incredible three-all draw against Eintrecht Frankfurt.

Even before then, there was this

question mark, which was, okay.

Bayern are now going into their tough runner fixtures with Bayer Levakusen last weekend, Aston Villa, Eintrech Frankfurt, and then after this international break, they've got Stuttgart and Barcelona.

And the thing is, is that they have still dominated their opponents in all of these games.

It's just in the last three where they've been facing opponents of some repute, they've not won any of them.

And yesterday against Eintreich Frankfurt, where I was, The first two touches that Eintrecht Frankfurt had in the Bayern Munich final third was the first touch for Omar Mahmoud to control the ball and the second one where he finishes it past Manuel Neuer, which gives you an idea of how teams have to play against Bayern right now, which is a significant improvement from a Bayern Munich perspective in terms of how much they're controlling games.

But it is that thing of

if you're still conceding on the counter, which is the only way that teams are getting chances against them, then

is it something that they need need to change and adjust?

Everyone seems happier at Bayern right now, with Vince and Company in charge.

Hearing Thomas Muller

yesterday after the game, seeming he said in a slightly weird analogy that if they'd played this game 15 times, they would have won it 13 times.

He's changed up the

model there.

That's a very German perspective.

It is, right?

So

I think that it's a happier camp and everybody's pushing much more in the same direction, whereas it didn't feel that way last year.

But still, even with someone like Michael Elise really clicking early on,

I think that

there's still some doubts over Bayn, even if I think they are nailed on favourites for the title in a way that I didn't think they were six games ago.

Mark, do you share those doubts?

Well, I think in terms of Bundesliga, yeah, because the way that Bayern play, I just think that they're going to swat aside all of the kind of mid- to lower-ranking teams with just considerable ease.

And Leverkusen are not sort of as consistently sort of racking up the points at the moment.

So that just did feel like a bit of a one-season wonder-almost type thing, really, from Leverkus and Walter, those late goals that they were scoring.

and just one of those magical seasons when everything went right for Leicester

and Bayern, I think will just beat a lot of the weaker teams.

It's going to come down to whether they're able to control matches against the elite sides.

I was going to ask Archie about Paulinha because obviously he was a summer signing.

Is he somebody that can control that counter-attack and maybe get used in the games when they feel like they're kind of coming up against opponents more at their level, I suppose, as they go further in the Champions League.

But I'm enjoying watching them play,

but

the centre-backs just still concern me, and I don't think that will change

no matter what the style of play.

So the thing is,

I agree that

Minjay Kim and De Opamakano

look

wobbly at the back, but they also have the toughest role in this team, which is when the opponents attack, it's generally sprinting back at full speed for 40 meters and

trying to salvage things.

And

that's

for the most part,

when they're attacking and pressing, they look good.

But I think that it is such a fine line of how many defenders in world football can do what they do.

If anything,

you want Mickey Van der Venn there

for what that role is.

And I'm starting to see Upamakano get out sprinted on a few occasions, which is, he is no slouch at all.

So I do sympathize a little bit with them in that I think they're victims of the system, the way that Vincent Company wants to play.

When Eric Dyer came on yesterday,

he was also comfortably outsprinted by Omar Mahmoud.

You don't say.

As well, he was seen as one of the players of the season at Bayne in the second half of last season after he arrived.

Yes, Max, I can see the smile.

But

he's been out in the cold.

And Xiao Palinia has not had a chance yet because Vincent Company is valuing Josua Kimmish and Alexander Pavlovich's ball playing skills in the center of midfield.

And people are wondering, I mean it, when is Paolinia time going to be?

And

I've wondered as well if Vincent Company has put too many eggs in his I need to make a good start here basket because of how Jamal Mussialo was out injured yesterday and he has generally not rotated that much.

So

it remains to be seen, shall we say.

I am also on board the we need to still see how they get on against

other teams.

But the thing is the way that they sweep out the rest of the league, I just think that will probably be enough for them to be Bundesliga title winners.

The biggest question is the Champions League final is at the Allianz Arena.

That comes with a lot of pressure at Bayern and particularly now just going into an international break where they haven't won their last three games.

Thomas Muller says, I'm happy to be in this kind of crisis,

but maybe Vincent Company will feel a bit more heat.

He's called yesterday's performance fantastic, and

I wasn't quite on the same wavelength as that.

Look to to me, though.

I only saw the highlights package, but that they were sort of comfortably better team, but it was a ruthlessly efficient counter-attacking performance from Frankfurt.

And

Omar Marmouch scored two wonderful goals.

Their ninth goals, eighth, and ninth goals in seven games.

Yeah, he is on fire.

Nottingham Forest were

in for him at the end of the transfer window, but Marmouche and Frankfurt turned it down and

to Frankfurt's profit because,

yeah, nine goals in eight games so far this season, and a lot of them have also been on the counter.

And to just go through on goal against Manuel Neue and not blink

in the way that he does is something that I've not seen many strikers in the Bundesliga do with such ruthlessness.

So, Frankfurt are a team to watch, I think.

Their keeper had a brilliant game as well.

Power Santos, a

Brazilian goalkeeper who dropped two in against Victoria Pilsen in the Europa League a few weeks ago.

He's come in to replace the injured Kevin Trapp in goal.

And

yesterday, he seems to do the more difficult things.

as a goalkeeper better than some of the simpler things because he produces the ones that are going top corner.

He somehow has this kind of backward reach of being able to scoop the ball out that I saw both against Beshiktas and against Michael Elise yesterday and a dot nother

who who evades me right now.

But yeah,

he's made a fantastic impact so far.

So Frankfurt could be hitting the top four, but they play on the counter.

Maybe they'll struggle against teams who sit a little bit deeper.

Mark, what have you made of Avakusen's starts so far?

Three wins, two draws, and a defeat in their opening six?

I think that last season set sort of unrealistic expectations of actually what Levakusen kind of are or what they should be looking to do this season.

You know, it was, as alluded to earlier, it was a miracle campaign.

We saw actually in the Europa League final

that the Atalanta comprehensively outplayed them.

There were many occasions last season, as great as it was, where they could have lost games, they could have drew games, and then they just kept on winning.

And this season, if anything,

we've seen some of that, but they've also been

the reverse as well.

Chabi Alonso doesn't seem, I would say, that delighted with the way that the team is playing and defending at the moment.

I've watched more of their Champions League games, and I've been impressed with the way that they've played in those.

And I suppose the question to Archie is: like, is the Champions League a slight distraction for them?

We've seen other teams maybe not be able to back it up mid-week and then weekends.

Chabby Alonso was able to comfortably rotate more last season, in the first half of last season, because they were in the Europa League and things were a bit gentler.

And now they're not.

Where, when it comes to the intensity that they're having to play with, I was at the game against AC Milan, and

that was a really tight run thing.

And I think that

they're not putting away teams in the same way they did in the Bundesliga last year.

When they scored first in the Bundesliga, which happened in 26 of the 34 games, they won all of them.

Wow.

And this season, they've gone 2-0 up on, I think, three or four occasions.

And it's been back to 2-2

on

three or four occasions as well, which

is something that,

as you say, I think they're struggling to deal with the mental side of, hang on, we were untouchable a few months ago.

What's happening now?

And they're struggling to hit the reset button mentally.

The new signings who have come in have been okay,

but haven't been great.

Talking about Martin Terrier, who came in from Wren, and Alish Garcia came from Hirona.

Jean-Wel Bellosia also came in, and Nordi Mukiele, and none of them have really looked great so far.

So yeah, I think they're still adjusting to this rhythm and to being beatable as well, even if they've only been beaten by RB Leipzig.

And yeah.

I did notice that Lewis Holtby plays for Holstenkiel.

I presumed he was about 58.

I think the interesting thing for Alonso is because he obviously had loads of decisions to make, possibly, you know, Barcelona or Liverpool or whatever, buying Munich and he didn't make any.

It's like, how badly would Labour Kuzn have to do for his stock to have gone so badly that that was a terrible decision from him?

In your words, Archie Dortmund are doing Dortmund things following up their 7-1 win over Celtic with a 2-1 defeat to Union Berlin.

I think that being a Borussia Dortmund fan must be being like in the royal family because you're in this gilded cage where everyone's like, oh, look, you must be having great fun.

It looks so glamorous, the yellow wall, and oh, you're in the Champions League final.

And yet, the reality is misery.

It's the kind of misery where you have to watch players

who only want to eat dessert in the Champions League.

But when it comes to, no, but you need to eat your five a day in the Bundesliga,

they're pushing it away and they're throwing it back at you.

And it is the result of a club culture

where

just qualifying for the Champions League has been good enough.

And

there's no consequences for players who do not bring the consistency.

And there's so many players who Brussels Dorman just shop around the Bundesliga, picking off the best of the rest in a way that Bayern Munich used to, except that you notice that Bayern Munich haven't been doing that because these players are not to their requisite standards right now.

So as much as people are going, oh, Nouri Shaheen, who's the latest coach in, is he doing a good enough job?

I think

there's too much chumminess when it comes to appointments in the club.

How it's more important, and in a way, Nouri Shaheen does play into this, it's more important if you have some link to Borussia Dortmund in the past on your C V or did you mow Jurgen Klopp's lawn at some point

than having an independent view on football and being just good enough in your field.

And

yeah, I think it's created a really dangerous environment at Dortmund.

I say dangerous, they will continue to qualify for the Champions League still,

but their fans are so frustrated at

just their lack of ability to compete, even though there are names on the team sheet which look like, well, that they should be competing.

And yet, yeah, there's a certain gravity that's lent to you in the same way that Bay and Munich, who have a budget over 400 million euros,

that lends you a certain gravity of performance.

And Dortmund have the second biggest in the Bundesliga.

It's well over 200 million,

which is some almost 100 million more than

the closest rivals.

I think it's RB Leipzig.

And that's the thing: they're going to be stuck in that area.

And yet, too many players in that club are just comfortable, I would say.

You did notice, or we all noticed,

an amazing thing from the Bundesliga Zwei of two penalties with, is it the same defender?

No, just

two different defenders.

Just picking the ball of different teams.

Okay, that does make it slightly better, but even still, just two different players just picking the ball up and giving away a handball.

I mean, absolutely sensational.

Oh,

so

the first time it happens, it's at nil-nil between Magdeburg and Gruyterfoot.

And the Grutterfoot goalkeeper, he picked the ball up close to the byline.

And as a result,

his teammate and defender Gideon Jung thinks, oh, he's, you know, he's just moving around the box and working out when he wants to take the goal kick.

So he rolls it to him.

Gideon Jung picks it up.

Referee Bastian Dankert goes a whistle.

Nope, that's a penalty.

And you think, oh, well, that was quite comical.

Until later in the half, not even in the game, in the half, by which point Magdeburg are 2-0 up.

Daniel Herber

of

Magdeburg,

there's a tackle coming in, going towards the box, and he thinks that the referee is going to give it.

He picks the ball up from the resulting tackle, so he's expecting the whistle, and the referee goes, I didn't blow, so nope, that'll be another penalty for also picking the ball up.

And yeah,

the coach of Goethe Foot, Alexander Zorniger, said, In my 600-game career, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

And I can understand why.

Can I ask Artie?

You mentioned Jürgen Klopp and his lawn there.

Has he rocked up on German TV as a pundit or anything since leaving Liverpool?

Because he was quite the TV star, wasn't he, when he's not managing?

He's not been seen

on tv in in in any role yet he's uh he he did have a uh an appearance at uh the testimonial of lukas pisczek and yakublajakovsky uh of two to brussia dortmund icons a few weeks ago he he turned up there um but yes he has um he has not sprung up anywhere else apart from on my tv during every every other advertising break for cars,

razors, insurance, beer,

I sometimes, and I still feel that he's just following me around.

And it's quite scary.

To give you a sense of how little Jurgen Klopp is doing currently, this is the lead news story on Google.

Dua Leaper Tom Holland and Jurgen Klopp among celebrities who visited Cornwall this year.

Imagine turning up to the pub and them all being there together.

Anyway, that'll do for one.

Part two, we'll do La Liga.

Phil Krishna Milidas will join us.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Let's do a bit of La Liga.

Phil Kitramalidis, the better half of the Spanish Football Podcast, joined us.

Hey, Phil, how are you?

Hello, I'm very well, thank you.

And actually, the last time I said that,

I got a rude message from Sid.

And I was like, wow, probably the first time you've ever listened to this.

So it was exciting that this is the only way we get Sid to listen to this podcast.

Should we start with Barcelona?

I played Alavez on Sunday.

Levin Dodsky scored a hat-trick in the first half hour.

Very elite centre-forward hat-trick, wasn't it?

They've won eight out of nine,

starting incredibly well.

I think everybody presumed Real Madrid would be out of sight.

We might have spoken in the summer and looking ahead to the La Liga season, and I may or may not have suggested that Real Badrude were going to walk the league because I think that was the general feeling.

You know, they just won La Liga pretty comfortably.

They just won the Champions League.

They just bought the best player in the world in Mbappe.

Logic would dictate that they would probably be pretty comfortable champions, but it's not been the case because Barcelona have started so, well, under Hansie Flick, new manager at the helm, and it's basically the same set of players that he's using, that Chavi had last season.

Added Danny Olmo, who's been brilliant, but he's been injured for the last couple of weeks.

And he's just getting more handsy flick out of the best players.

So Robert Lemandowski is playing better, being more effective, getting in better positions and scoring at a higher rate than he was last season.

Rafinha has turned into an unbelievable leader.

He's been playing as a number 10, which I didn't see he had it in him, but he's played really well as a number 10.

And Lamin Yamal just continues to excel and develop at a terrifying rate of knots, which leads everyone to compare him to Messi.

Shouldn't say the M-word, really shouldn't, but it's almost impossible not to say it.

So

they're looking really, really strong.

They'd won all of their matches bar one, which they lost last time out against Osasuna, when he made loads of changes.

And Osasuna away on a cold Saturday night.

It's the Spanish version of Stoke away.

So if there's a tip on a Tuesday night, yeah, if there's a place where you're not supposed to switch up

the starting 11 and rest six player, it's Osasuna away.

And he he did that.

They lost.

He learned from that.

Played the strongest team yesterday against Aleves and won pretty comfortably.

So yeah, really, really good start from Barcelona and Lewandowski.

Nine league goals this season.

He got 19 in the whole of last season.

So he's well on his way to surpassing that goal tally.

Do they knock it long?

Are they 4-4-2 hit the channels Osasuna?

Or is it just it's more figurative?

They're playing the stoke way.

No, no, they are playing the stoke way.

They're a very direct team.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

Launch it into the box.

They've got a big, sort of lumpy centre forward and um the the fans are a bit aggressive as well the weather is usually pretty bad in pamplona i mean i've never actually been to stoke but i assume the weather's pretty bad there um so yeah it's the it's the it's the spanish version of stoke basically but the guy who scored twice for them brian zaragosa is about five foot three

you know that oh you're allowed in one nippy one aren't you yeah

that's the whole point it's big man little man that that's how that's how this perfect system works um

Mark, do you like these comparisons to Messi for Lame Yamal?

Is that a bit silly?

I mean, he's a different footballer, right?

Yeah, I mean,

yeah, I think it is silly in as much as you're unlikely to ever see another Messi probably in our lifetime, I would suggest.

But I think what Yamal offers Barcelona is that hope that he can reach sort of, you know, even if he reaches 80% of Messi, that would still be an incredible footballer.

He, I think, has just taken Barcelona's game to another level.

I agree with Philon Rafinha as well.

I didn't really believe he had it in him to kind of

play to the levels that he has been.

But I think as far as Yamao goes, there's just something about him that just makes him watchable.

And maybe that's what the Messi comparison is, that he, Messi, even from a really young age, took responsibility, would dribble past people.

And you couldn't believe that this was like an 18, 19, 20-year-old when Messi was doing that.

And Yamal does that, and you forget how young he is.

So, I mean, that's where I would sort of say that comparisons are true.

And that, you know, he's already won

Euros, and Messi took him a while to win

with Argentina in terms of a Copper America.

So

Yamao's definitely on the right trajectory, but I just think that Messi

is just on a different planet to most other footballers.

So you don't want to sort of burden him with kind of the new Messi.

Just let him be Lemiño Mal.

Okay, I'm happy to do that.

Phil, are Real Madrid actually doing fine?

It's just because nobody expected Barcelona to do so well that you sort of look at it and go, well, it hasn't all worked perfectly.

You know,

they've won six and drawn three.

That's not terrible, but it's not like Mbappe scored 45 goals already.

Yeah, I mean, these two clubs they are always judged not just about what they do but what the others doing as well that's the nature of the relationship between them so as you said real madrid's start is not terrible they are unbeaten barcelona have lost a game but real madrid have not lost a game and yet there are quite a few question marks about their style of play mbappe fitting into the team

They've now got problems defensively because Danny Carpajal picked up an injury and he's out for the rest of the season.

But yeah,

it's not been that bad.

It's not been as good as people had maybe expected it to be.

And maybe that was the big problem.

You know, as I said, at the top,

adding Killin Mbappe to a team that had already won so much, everybody expected them to be immediately superb.

And they haven't been immediately superb, but they've also not just been awful either.

I mean, some games have been a little bit stodgy.

particularly in the first half.

And there was this ridiculous statistic until a couple of weeks ago, they'd scored one goal in the first half and 17 in the second half of matches.

So, they'd really been

taking a while to get going, and they'd had quite a few penalties as well.

It's not been terrible, and it does feel like they are getting better.

And actually, Mbappe

is getting better.

Um, you can see it physically, he's turning into the Killian Mbappe that you are used to seeing going past players, looking strong, and finding finishes as well.

So, you know,

it'll get there, it'll get there.

Phil, there's been that video during the rounds of Luis Enrique

basically telling Killian Mbappe

how good he could be if he defended as well.

I don't know if you've seen this.

Yeah.

I was just wondering, how's that gone down

in Spain?

Or has it made any waves?

Because

I'm doubting how much Killian Mbappe really is listening to Luis Enrique there and basically being like, I can't wait till I don't have to work with you anymore.

if he's going, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I am taking that on board.

Yeah, Luis Enrique is a pretty divisive figure in Spain.

Basically, anyone associated with Real Madrid absolutely hates him.

I genuinely cannot stand him.

Like when he was manager of Spain, I had friends who support Real Madrid.

I was like, I'm not supporting Spain.

This is not my country.

This is not my team.

This is Luis Enrique's team.

That is the kind of, that is the level.

of animosity and pettiness that he generates amongst, you know, basically half of the country, because half the country supports Real Madrid.

Mbappe, I don't think he's expected to jack back and work that hard in this Real Madrid team.

Although there was a moment,

what game was it?

I don't think it was at the weekend.

Was it at the weekend or was it in the Champions League?

I think it was the Champions League at Lille, where there was a moment where Bellingham sort of turns around and, you know, Jude Bellingham, very hard-working fella.

running up and down, sort of turns around and looks at Mbappe and Vidi.

He's like, come on, lads, what do you do?

Like, you know, press a little bit.

So, yeah, maybe, maybe Jude didn't get the memo or didn't really realize that, you know, Mbappe will not be doing too much tracking back in this Real Madrid 2.

I think Luis Enrique is right, though.

I don't understand

this freedom with which Mbappe is allowed to play.

It's the same for France, where he just decides whether he wants to sort of press with the rest of the team.

And I just, I don't feel like he does enough to justify that, really.

And, you you know, if you go back to last season's Champions League final, in this, you know, Real Madrid had a very difficult first half.

Vinicius worked incredibly hard in the second half.

You know, he played left wing and sort of tracking back as Dortmund were pushing down that right-hand side.

And there was that imbalance really to the Real Madrid team.

And it was Vinicius's hard work, and then he would sort of use his quality when he got on the ball.

And I think it's really difficult for any successful team to just allow somebody to kind of do what they want.

And

Luis Enrique doesn't get everything right

and sort of feels right in terms of his character there and sort of how some people see him.

But I think calling out Mbappe for a lack of hard work is absolutely spot on.

Just to mention, you know, we did mention Messi previously.

He didn't track back too much either.

Messi's done far more

in terms of club football anyway than Mbappe has at the moment.

I feel like Mbappe strolls through too many games.

How are Real Madrid doing in solving the fact that Tony Cross isn't there anymore?

I saw Valverde scored a great goal at the weekend.

I mean, Vinicius scored a better one, but Valverde's got the eighth shirt, but I think we talked last week about Kamavinga sort of doing it, but in a slightly different way.

How is that developing?

It's not going great, Max, to be honest.

It's not going great.

They found out, I think they knew it, but it's sort of completely confirmed that there is nobody like Tony Gross.

And that is why they were so desperate and a little bit sort of surprised that he decided to retire when he was still basically the best in the world, or more or less the best in the world in what he did.

So it's a big, big loss.

I mean, all the money in the world can't really buy another Tony Cross.

They have spent a lot of money on midfield.

Chamini cost 80 million.

Camavinga cost 40 million.

They did a bit of good scouting with Valverde, but there has been money spent there.

And it feels like Kamavinga is the one

who is most likely to try and inherit that role.

But he is not Tony Cross and he does not do the things that Tony Cross does and he cannot play the passes that Tony Cross does, but he is more likely to be able to do the things that Realmud would want from the player there than Chamini, for example, who isn't absolutely not that player.

And if you put Val Verde there, then you kind of lose his athleticism a little bit higher up the pitch as well.

So it is a conundrum and it's one that they're kind of muddling their way through at the moment because

it's pretty obvious that Tony Cross

is a big loss.

I mean, Luca Modric has played quite a lot recently, actually, because they've had players out injured

and he played at the weekend as well, played well, and he's still great.

He's 39.

He's 39 and he's still starting La Liga matches and Champions League matches and doing pretty well.

So he is playing more of a role, I think, than people thought he was going to, because people

didn't necessarily realize it was going to be this difficult to find someone in midfield with in Spanish Spanish the word is toque which is literally like touch someone who's got touch which is not about like control necessarily how you control a board it's how you can sort of manage a game basically it's a slightly difficult difficult um thing to to to to translate but modric has got that um and yeah he's playing quite a lot he just can't kick it as far as tony cruise i mean it's not you know it's an osasuna reference obviously but like like

Modric, I reckon he's still obviously good, right?

But I don't know if he ever did those big Tony Cross diagonals.

Like, were his ankles ever strong enough to kick it?

He never needed to.

He just did little.

He just kicked it a short way.

He's got really muscular legs, Modric, for a little fella.

He's got really strong legs, like impressive thighs and calves.

Speaking of old men, Phil, Jesus Navis

finished yesterday's Seville Derby being on the shoulders of his teammates waving a corner flag at

the home fans.

It obviously went well for him.

It went well for him.

It went well for Sevilla as well.

They won 1-0 against Real Bettis with an absolutely absurd penalty that was given.

I mean,

oh, the worst.

I couldn't bear it.

It was utterly ridiculous.

Yeah, yeah.

It was genuinely just, you know, game's gone.

What happened?

It was one of those handball, sort of, I think it must have been a header from a free kit, you know, film.

It sort of brushed someone's hand.

It's looking the other way.

Looking completely the other way.

It makes you want to give up watching the game.

Genuinely.

I mean, good, bad.

Those were my sentiments exactly.

So we're on the right, we're on the right track.

But yeah, Jesus Navas came off the bench and played in his 28th Seville Derby.

I mean, talking about players, as you said, that are still going, old men.

He's just about still going, just about.

I mean, he's got ridiculous hip problems,

which means that he can't train very well.

He basically decides when he trains, when he plays.

The manager goes, can you play?

You're right to play.

And he's like, yeah, I think so.

So isn't this called the Ledley King stage?

A little bit, yeah.

But I mean, Ledley King only had one knee, and he was still better than John Terry.

But yeah, I mean,

he's a legendary figure of Spanish football, Jesus Navas, and Seville football as well.

You know, a local lad, proper Seville fan, giving everything for this club that is on a downward trajectory.

Like Sevilla are not in good shape at all, but he helped them win this derby.

And let's see how long he goes for.

I think he's leaving after Christmas.

That's the idea, but but you never know.

He's retired before, and they've dragged him back in.

You know, Jesus, we still need you, don't leave.

So let's see, let's see how long Jesus lasts.

Well, of course, you need Jesus for Christmas.

I was going to say, if anyone's going to be reborn, then

it's him.

Betty's lost that derby, but Phil Gio La Selso has been one of the standout players in La Liga so far this season, I believe.

Lovely player.

And I mean, he scored five goals in five appearances before yesterday's derby,

more than than in all the previous three seasons combined.

And he's just

fitted into this team really well because they needed him.

Blettis sold Nabil Fakir, had got him off the wage books, but they didn't really have anyone to play in that number 10 role.

I mean, they did have a guy who was pretty good at it formerly for Real Madrid from Malaga, but Isco is out injured for a...

for a while.

So they needed someone to come in.

And La Selso just looks happy, looks fit, and he can spot passes.

It's not just he's scoring and those five goals in five games.

It's pretty impressive for someone who's not really a goal scorer, but it's just he's been dominating matches.

I mean, genuinely dominating them.

He didn't score yesterday against Sevilla, but he was, you know, pretty decent for Bettis.

Betis, by the way, haven't won a league derby for six years, which is a long time.

And it's been a while.

Like they've been going into this fixture, like way ahead of Sevilla in the table for the last few seasons now.

Still not managed to win.

It must be just unbelievably frustrating not to be able to win a cross-city derby, says the spurs fan absolutely not bitter about anything at all but yeah not good not good times

not not sad about what what happened in the second half i don't want to talk about that no that's okay you don't have to we've already done that but i was going to ask about conor gallagon how he's settling in at athleti yeah not bad um the athleti fans really really like him like that he's already got the he's already got a chant which is pretty good for for spain because I mean, it took Ronaldo about seven years to get a chant from the Real Madrid fans, but the Atletico fans have basically just taken the

Chelsea's chant for him and they just say it in a slightly Spanish accent

so

he's he's been well received by them a couple of lispy bits in the middle of it it's like

yeah I mean you know the fan the fans like him he does seem to be like a very Simeoni kind of player he didn't start the first few matches but now he's kind of worked his way into into the into the starting 11 alongside Coque and probably Paddio Pablo Barrios or Rodrigo de Paul.

I mean, Athleti haven't been fantastic at the start of this season.

They've been a little bit disappointing given the huge amount of money that they spent, the big names that they brought in as well.

They've been a little bit underwhelming.

But yeah, Connor Gallagher is sort of bedding in Iwa, I think.

Lovely.

As you are, Phil, as our Spanish correspondent.

And as is customary, you're only allowed to stay for a part, so you can go away now.

But thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, I've got to take the dog out.

Good man.

Phil Kutchimilius there.

Don't worry, Sid will be back.

We'll do Seri Aram part three.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Barry, you just announced after we'd let Phil go that the only thing you were bringing to the table, we didn't let you bring to the table.

So bring it to the table.

Well, there was a very entertaining game between Girona and Athletic Club,

in which Paolo Gazzaniga, the Girona goalkeeper, ex-Spurs, ex-Gillingham, who is getting an inordinate amount of coverage on this podcast this season, far more than he ever did when he was in England.

He saved three penalties.

So Girona won two one.

And during the course of the game, he saved a penalty from Alex Beringer.

Then he saved one from Inaki Williams, but the ball was re-spotted because he'd come off his line.

And then Ander Herrera stepped up for the retake and he saved that as well.

And Christian Stuari

scored from the spot to win the game for Girona.

Do you think, I mean, the amount of coverage we're giving Paolo Gazzaniga, I mean, if there was a spin-off of Paolo Gazaniga weekly, do you think that would top the charts?

Or do you think that would be a little bit too niche?

Probably more likely matched than the Ryan Loft one that we tried during the Euros.

Hey, Lofty.

Lofty started at the weekend.

I mean, it didn't necessarily help, but

I think...

I also forgot while Phil was here, Ollie McBurney watched.

He's at Las Palmas.

Still hasn't scored.

Okay, thank you so much.

Speaking of three penalties saved in a game, Mark,

AC Milan lost to Fiorentina.

I saw Mike Mannion save a penalty for Milan, and I was like, well, that's who's in goal for Milan.

And then I saw David DeGea saving two penalties for Fiorentina from Teo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham.

I was very surprised to see him there.

Yeah, but Barry wasn't.

Barry won-upped you in the WhatsApp.

He was fully aware of De Gea's whereabouts.

I think from Max sent one of his condescending WhatsApp messages because he didn't think I'd know that David De Gea played for Fiorentina.

To be fair, Barry, you spent the whole, you spent the day the you know Sunday complaining that we're doing two podcasts in a day.

So then I

presumed.

But I'm in better form now because I can see you shifting uncomfortably just for for the benefit of listeners who aren't aware of the fact you are recording your second podcast in a row while seated on a toilet I am sitting on a toilet it is a second row I have put a cushion under the toilet but I'm also side saddle on the toilet because the toilet is

the laptop and the microphone are on the sink

so yeah it's you know I it was it's not that you've eaten something dodgy it's just no you're not at home and it's the setup it's the Byron Bay setup.

And you know, Mrs.

Rushdon has had to do a lot of solo parenting as soon as we landed here.

That's what they'll call it in

podcast and years to come.

The Byron Bay setup.

The Byron Bay setup is when you sit side saddle on a toilet to record a podcast.

That's absolutely right.

They all do it.

Rogan's done it.

The Diarrhea CEO done it.

You can't get Humphrey off the side, sidesaddle off a toilet.

Just fully at the Byron Bay setup.

It's how to top the charts these days.

Sorry, Mark, you were talking about David De Gea.

Handbrake turn.

Handbrake turn back to events in Florence.

Yeah, so I think from Mike Mannion's point of view, that's what he does.

He saves penalties on a regular basis, known as sort of one of the best spot kick savers in Europe.

And Moisa Ken missed early on for Friantina.

David De Gea isn't known for that.

I think it's fair to say.

So he stops from Teo Hernandez and then Tammy Abraham were more of a surprise, although I'm sure Barry had watched the Conference League playoff that Friantina won against Pushkis Academy when Friantina were down to nine men and De Geje was the absolute hero for Friantina, including saving a penalty in the shootout.

He made one astonishing save late on in that game as well.

And up until that point, like that he wasn't being trusted to play all the time.

He'd obviously been out of the game for a year, but it's good to see him back.

Milan were furious.

Well, their coach von Secret was absolutely furious because apparently Christian Pulisic was the nominated penalty taker.

And Teo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham just decided amongst themselves that they were going to take the spot kicks and both missed them.

Pulisic later scored, but it wasn't enough.

A lovely goal as well.

It was, yeah.

He's been,

you know,

he might also get a little bit too much sort of mentions, I would say, in Football Weekly sort of podcasts down the years.

But he's definitely playing well at the moment and justifying the amount that we're speaking about him at the moment.

But another defeat for the Rossaneri.

So been inconsistent start, I would say, for Fonseca.

That the derby win that...

really helped him because he was under massive pressure going into that.

They nicked the victory against Inter, but Champions League hasn't started well and they were beaten again, as you say, on Sunday.

I saw Antonio Conte be given manager of the month.

I don't think I've ever seen a manager look more depressed to receive.

I mean,

he just looked furious,

like dead behind the eyes when he got that.

But, you know, they won again.

They beat Como, Scott McDominé scoring after 25 seconds.

All going well for Antonio.

I would say he's just now in like title winning mode.

He can almost sniff it

even this early on.

I think everybody in Italy sort of just senses that you know it's kind of what conte just does um you know while it's going well um anyway he has been turning up the pressure on everybody else particularly thiago motta at juventus but um it has been a really strong start from napoli not one that i saw coming particularly um you know the disastrous result lost 3-0 to verona on the opening weekend conte had spent the entire summer moaning that the transfers weren't right.

I know that's unusual for him.

No way.

He wasn't happy with

the transfer business.

Then they get beat 3-0 by Verona, and

you wondered whether he'd even get to sort of the September international break.

And since then, they've been fantastic, won every game, bar the 0-0 draw at Juventus.

That 3-1 victory over Como, three new signings that he was allowed to make

all scored, which helps his calls.

McTominay, David Neres, and also Romalu Lukaku.

Lukaku, four assists already, as well as goals.

So, you know, that was the one that Conte wanted.

He knows how to get the best out of Lukaku.

The one thing that I suppose is a surprise from Napoli is that they're no longer, certainly at the moment, not playing with a back three.

They've reverted to a four, which is not really Conte's

in his DNA, but it's working at the moment.

It's been a fairly soft start.

I've just been going, if you look through their fixtures, Verona, Bologna, Palmer, Caluri, the Neil-Nil at Juve, Monza, and then Como.

So I think in isolation, you'd expect Napoli to win a lot of those games.

But they've got Empoli and Lecce next before Milan.

So more opportunities, really, for Conte to get on a roll.

What about Interbok?

How are they faring?

Yeah, I mean, they won a very topsy-turvy game

against Torino at the weekend.

And they're playing against 10 men for a long time.

Turan was the hero of that game.

Was it Barry was saying on the previous pod that he never sees him play well?

So, or was it Jonathan Wilson?

Certainly, somebody said that they'd never seen Turan play well.

If you'd have tuned in on Saturday, then that was the time to watch Turam.

I think, I think Inter are still, I would say, the team to beat

in terms of sort of Scudetto.

They are

the most rounded side and the team that looks

under Simone Nzage, they know what they're doing, they have won it before,

and the Champions League could become a distraction.

I think they were disappointed last season to go out to Atletico Madrid, a game that they should have put away really in the first leg.

And I do wonder about sort of the effect and impact of all of these games is going to have on teams.

We saw with Juventus conceded a very late goal at Calieri

and they played with 10 men in Leipzig

on the Wednesday night.

And there's eight rounds of matches and so still six to go.

But I think Inter have got the squad to be able to cope with it.

They lost that Derby, as I mentioned, but still would feel like the most settled team.

And I was getting really excited about Juventus, but the draw with Calieri at the weekend, the fact that Bremer, really important centre-back, they haven't got many centre-backs.

He did a crucial in that game against Leipzig.

So he's going to be out.

You would have fought for a large part of the season, maybe the whole season.

And that would be probably the biggest concern for Juve, I would say, at the moment.

Mark, you also wanted to talk about the Monaco manager.

Well, it's more the fact that Monaco have been one of the, I suppose, standout teams so far in European football.

They're unbeaten

in Ligue Un.

They're top of the table ahead of Paris Paris Saint-Germain.

Six wins and one draw.

Addie Hutter is the coach.

He has made a sort of flying start, you know, not only to the campaign last season.

They were pretty good as well.

So I was more going to throw it over to Archie in just in terms of whether you're surprised that he's doing so well.

After it went quite pear-shaped for him at Barusi-Münching Gladbach, his stock fell in Germany, but he was the one in charge of Einstrack Frankfurt when they reached the Europa League semi-final originally and being beaten by Chelsea on penalties with that front three of Luke Jovic, Sebastian Hallaire, and Ante Rabich, whose stock never really got

higher than when they were playing under Adi Huta.

So

he's done well to revive his reputation, I think, after what happened at Gladbach, where the club just fell into no man's land under him.

But

as has been seen under

previous and now future coaches at Gladbach, it's maybe not all to do with the coach there.

Archie, you wanted to do a full minute?

Bear in mind that yesterday we did spend a lot of time talking about how wonderful Adama Traore is for many reasons.

But if you have 60 seconds, if you want it, it's yours.

I'd like to suggest a friendship

between Adama Traore and Timo Viana.

Oh, yes, we actually had that discussion yesterday as well, but do carry on.

They should spend they should spend more time with each other.

Holiday together, missing things, throwing them into the bins, these kind of things.

Yeah, laughing along.

Running to the boarding gate incredibly quickly, but not quite getting there in time.

I think with both of these players, there's such a high level of skill to be able to get into the positions that they do every time that

will never get recognized because of what happens at the final moment.

And by the third time that Adam Atroore

was through on goal,

I got to watch the City Fulham game on my sofa with my mate Tom.

And

Tom was still leaning forward the third time he went through.

And I was just sitting back being like, don't know why you're getting excited, mate.

I know what happens here.

And

that was a shame.

But

it's a relatively fun season.

Hey, you're good.

Yeah, you're good.

You're interesting.

And so, you know, long may that continue.

Anyway, that'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, Mark.

Thank you, Max.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Archie.

Thanks, Max.

The Byron Bay setup has one more outing on Friday.

We're doing it after the England game on Thursday.

I think instead of the closing credits, Max.

We should just have you flushing the toilet of the Byron Bay setup.

There we go.

Let's go.

All right,

Football Week Clear is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.

This is The Guardian.