This Patron-only episode of the Managing Madrid Podcast comes in two parts.

Part One: Mailbag with Kiyan Sobhani and Lucas Navarette)

- A reflection on the loss against Sheriff

- Should David Alaba play more as defensive midfielder?

- Winter transfer window options

- The decision to loan out Alvaro Odriozola

- Ferland Mendy’s return

- What is Carlo had Zinedine Zidane as his assistant again?

- Ancelotti’s A-team / B-team comment

- Rotations

- The Casemiro - Camvinga - Valverde midfield

- Why didn’t Ancelotti start Isco against Sheriff?

- Have we lost our ‘fear factor’ at the Vernabeu?

- A hypothetical, gun-to-our-head scenario involving the departure of a player

- Luis Enrique’s Spanish squad selection.

Part Two (55:00): Las Blancas post-game with Grant Little and Om Arvind

• Real Madrid not opening tickets to the general public and why any excuses for this are nonsense
• How bad our start to the league is and the realistic chances of a comeback
• Thoughts on the starting lineup
• Why David Aznar might be preferring Rocío Gálvez over Babett Peter at the moment
• The reasons Real Sociedad’s press failed
• Madrid’s inability to capitalize on their territorial dominance
• Athenea del Castillo’s struggles
• How much Marta Cardona would’ve saved us over these last four league games
• Which defender was most responsible on the penalty incident
• Whether the penalty call was harsh
• Natalia Arroyo’s comments in regard to Real Sociedad adjusting their build-up structure; video analysis:

• Babett Peter’s second half performance coming in for Ivana Andrés
• Nahikari García’s impact off the bench
• Lorena Navarro’s case for player of the match
• Caroline Møller Hansen always being introduced into the worst situations
• A brief summary on the allegations against ex-North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley
• Links for further info on the last bullet: detailed Athletic piece by Meg Linehan; live timeline of the evolving situation; official statement by the North Carolina Courage terminating Riley’s contract; official statement by the Portland Thorns; official statement by Commissioner Lisa Baird and the NWSL; statements by Alex Morgan; statement by Becky Sauerbrunn; tweet by Nadia Nadim
• These problems not being isolated to the NWSL and the wider problems in women’s football as a whole
• Supporting the players and bearing in mind the things they might be going through behind the scenes

Click here for access

Thanks for being a Patron. We hope you enjoy the show!

Book your tickets to these cities on the Managing Madrid Podcast world tour:

Toronto, October

Dallas, November

New York, December

Miami, January

London, February

Washington DC, March

Chicago, April

Mumbai, May

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Hosts this week:

Om Arvind (@OmVAsports)

Grant Little (@grantlittle09)

Las Blancas (@Las_Blancas)

Kiyan Sobhani (@KiyanSo)

Lucas Navarrete (@LucasNavarreteM)