Chapter 1: What challenges does Alvaro Arbeloa face as Real Madrid's interim coach?
Welcome to the show. I'm Dan Thomas, joined by Stevie Nicoll. It is very intimate today, but that doesn't mean it won't be very special. Special, of course, for Alvaro Albaloa at the moment. Terrible link. Let's do that again. He has had a mixed bag, I think it's fair to say, since over at Real Madrid. Of course, the latest, the 6-1 victory over Monaco.
But it all started with that defeat in the Copa del Rey that saw them eliminated from the Spanish Cup and that rather poor performance against Levante, which, of course, the Bernabeu booed. both Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham. Big test this weekend as they take on high-flying Villarreal. Here is the Real Madrid manager.
In the 10 days I've been coach, with what I've seen, I want the Monaco game to be a turning point. Obviously, we have a lot to improve and work on, but from day one, the players wanted to work and that's what gives me confidence. In the games and training, Jude Bellingham has shown me his abilities as a player, his technical ability, his leadership, his personality, his character.
I believe the effort he made the other day, along with the teammates against Monaco, was tremendous, marvellous. A player with a winning mentality does everything a Real Madrid player needs. Yep, Alvaro Arbeloa saying everything expected of him as the Real Madrid interim. Sid Lowe is here, as is Sjoerd Robson.
Chapter 2: How did Real Madrid perform against Monaco and what does it mean for their future?
Sid, you'll be at the game tomorrow. We're talking about the Monaco match being a turning point. It's only a turning point, obviously, if you get a good result against Villarreal.
Yeah, exactly. And obviously, you look at the first games in charge for Alvaro Abaloa, you expect to win at Albacete. They didn't. You expect to win against Levante. They did. And you expect to win against Monaco, which they did. But they scored six goals, which I think does change, if you like, the emotional sense around Real Madrid at the moment.
But you're absolutely right that away at Villarreal is a proper test. And if they were to come through this, then I think there would be a kind of a feeling of optimism that would come back. Now, we shouldn't
overlook something here which is that Xabi Alonso won five out of five before they went to the Super Cup and so this isn't a team that was necessarily struggling to get results it was a team where the dynamics didn't feel good a team where they weren't getting the results against the biggest sides and they weren't playing particularly well now obviously what Monaco does is not just register as a victory but register as a game in which they performed and in which in particular Vinicius who was a big part of course of the problem with Xabi Alonso performed so well.
So is it fair to say, and it's interesting the point that Alex brought up, the Champions League crowd is a bit different to the Santiago Bernal crowd normally for a La Liga game. So the fact there were no whistles wasn't a great indicator that he suddenly won the crowd over. That's going to take a lot of time, isn't it?
Yeah, I mean, look, I think there's a couple of things here. And I think that first point is an important one, that they are slightly different crowds. Not entirely, but slightly. And you do get a sense of people coming for the Champions League games as an occasion, rather than turning up for a routine league match.
I also think that one of the ways to judge this is to look at the first few minutes of the game against Monaco, or indeed look at the warm-up in the game against Monaco. When the teams came out to first come out onto the pitch and look around an hour or so before the game, there was a kind of a sense of, well... We had our protest at the weekend.
And I think there was indifference more than anything else. Then, of course, as the game went on, there were moments in which Real Madrid started to play well. And that increased the enthusiasm and took away some of the whistles. And for me, there was a couple of really key moments towards the end of the first half. One of them was when a pass fell behind Jude Bellingham and he fell on the floor.
And there was kind of applause, kind of a supporting thing that said, all right, come on, we can do this from the crowd. And then a moment after that, Vinicius Jr. did what... I'm afraid to say, was a rather pointless attempt at a pirouette, which went wrong. And there were some whistles of him. But that was immediately met by the rest of the crowd with applause and cheers.
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Chapter 3: How do fans perceive the current dynamics at Real Madrid?
I think it's going to be more difficult for them. I don't think they'll be able to play with the same sort of ability to counterattack. I don't think they will win so many balls back because Arsenal at the moment are playing very well and they're playing some great football. At times, I know you think they're sometimes boring, but they're playing very efficient football at the moment.
Thanks, Sarah. Overall, what does he need to change then to address that from Arsenal? Carrick? Yeah.
Carrick has to somehow get them in the same frame of mind they were in last weekend at home. And he somehow has to change their mentality because last week they never got punched in the nose by City. Right. You know they're going to get it against Arsenal because Arsenal will absolutely be on their toes considering what happened last week against City. So the key for Carey is...
He'll find out how strong mentally this team is. Was it Ten Hag? Was it Amarillo? Is that where the problem was? It wasn't the players. Well, we'll find out because Arsenal absolutely are going to give them a punch. And we will see whether last week is just a one-off or whether there's actually some substance to what they did last week. I'm not so sure.
Man United are going to produce what they did last week. I think it's a one-off.
Wow. Let's take a look at the predictions then. So obviously, Stevie, you've gone for an Arsenal victory. A convincing victory?
I think so. 3-1. Listen, Man United were absolutely gassed. Yes, it was a great performance, but... They were running out of steam.
They've had a week to recover.
Arsenal have had a game against Marseille midweek. Aye, aye. But this is all about the mentality of Man United. Because we know what Arsenal are going to be like. That is the key. Let's see what happens when Arsenal... If Arsenal go ahead, will this Man United side do what they've been doing for the last few years and... not of the stomach for it, and just get completely outplayed.
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Chapter 4: What makes Villarreal a formidable opponent for Real Madrid?
Yeah, it has to be better next year.
Final question, Jules. Casemiro is now officially leaving Manchester United this summer. Which realistic and budget-friendly non-Premier League top midfielder would you recommend to replace him? Wow.
I mean, I'm not really sure what budget-friendly means. If you want a world-class midfielder, that doesn't exist. You're not gonna get a world-class midfielder for 20 or 30 million pounds. It's impossible. If you want to go and get Elliot Anderson, for example, who's the one outstanding, really, that I think
would improve this United team straight away, for example, that could play well with Mainu or somebody else next to him, that would cost you at least 80 million. But that's the value. You would not overpay. I think this is the value for a player like him. If you prefer Carlos Baleba, although he's not having a season as good as...
the one he had last year or the one that Anderson has, for example, again, it will still cost you a lot of money. Same with Adam Wharton. If you want that quality, you'll have to pay for it. So I think all three are realistic for United. I think they should be the targets and I believe they are the targets.
It's just down to if they have the money and if they want to spend that money on one player, that will cost you a lot but can make a difference as we saw with Rice and Arsenal, for example.
That's it. Robbo, what are you doing this weekend? What games have you got for us?
I'm doing Villarreal versus Real Madrid tomorrow night.
It should be a good one, of course. Top of the table clash, as Joel mentioned before. Joel, which games are you going to?
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