VUSA Pod #95: Change Might Be Good

Not a pleasant few weeks for fans of the Yellow Submarine. Remember how we said getting 12 of 15 points was our goal? Well.....3 out of 15 with four losses in a row, injuries all over the place, and a squad weakened by selling Rulli and loaning Danjuma (weaker on the pitch, anyhow) with no replacements. How much is Quique Setién to blame for recent results, and how much is the fault of a front office that decided to wait for the summer to make things happen? Sidarth and Allen discuss all of this, our recurring injury problems, ask what might lead the club to cut Setién loose, etc etc etc. And, the Conference League takes on new importance--win it, and we would get into the Europa league next year. Otherwise, qualifying for Europe might be difficult. Certainly this losing streak has put pay to any Champions League dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robin and Allen discuss our transfer happenings, or lack thereof. It's a wide-ranging discussion, replete with references to our favorite players over the years, why some of Villarreal's current squad just can't fit into Setien's 4-3-3, how much we will miss Danjuma, etc etc. And we even feel sorry for Valencia at the end. Have a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allen and Sidarth discuss the transfer market this January, Quique Setien's impact on Villarreal, and for some reason (maybe we still have memories of Villarreal's relegation in 2012 we need to expunge?) we talk a lot about the bottom half of the La Liga table and teams that might be a little....worried? Enjoy, and Endavant Villarreal! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allen is joined by Jamie Kemble to talk Villarreal---what's going on in the transfer market, who might leave, where might we (or should we) look to reinforce ourselves in January or the summer? Also, we briefly celebrate our recent results. And we also talk about the stadium rebuild, not all positively given what we've seen in social media about the away end becoming even more unwelcoming. Enjoy and Endavant Villarreal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allen is joined by Sidarth to review recent happenings at Villarreal. We are pretty upbeat, though we still await our first victory under Quique Setien. This was recorded prior to the Athletic Club match, and prior to all these rumors about Aston Villa moving for Nicolas Jackson..... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been quite a week--I spend a month in Spain and come home to this! Apologies for not having a pod for a while, but hopefully this helps to make up for it. The main topic is of course Unai Emery's departure--why now, why Aston Villa, and then the replacement. Quiqui Setien has been out of football for a couple of years but a lot of the panel remember his Betis teams fondly. Julian, Robin and Rahul are pretty mellow about it all...though the real worry will come in the next transfer windows, we think. Endavant Villarreal, and fond memories of Sr. Llaneza as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I was a guest on Jeremy's 'Colchonero Chat' podcast previewing the match, and now he returns the favor on a postgame pod. We were expecting this to be a tight, exciting match, and so it was, though for the first hour of a 0-0 we thought we might have jinxed it. But then things happened! We talk about Cholo Simeone's decision to let Villarreal have most of the possession in the first 30 minutes or so--a sign of respect for Nico Jackson's speed, or hoping we would turn the ball over in midfield? Whatever, it didn't work as Villarreal dominated the first half and were unlucky not to go in with a lead. Second half we knew Atleti would change things up,and they did, dominating the third quarter of the match and pushing the Yellow Submarine back. But strangely enough, Villarreal's first goal came from the sort of counter--indirectly, at least--Cholo had feared. A Jackson shot off a pass from Gerard produced a corner, and Atleti's Molina miskicked an attempted clearance, the ball fell to Yeremy Pino who arrowed a shot across Oblak into the corner. Gero Rulli channeled his inner Iker Casillas to claw a Carrasco header back--just--and then the luckless Molina was sent off in injury time for a fist to the neck of Alex Baena, who had incurred his wrath by wasting time giving the ball back. Gerard Moreno scored on the last kick of the match from another counter. Cue the Atleti 'faithful' in the Fondo Sur screaming and throwing insults and water bottles in his direction, and apparently after the match a small group of 'fans' insulted Griezmann and Mario Hermoso as they were running on the pitch after the match. Anyway,Unai Emery's first win over Diego Simeone, ever. Enjoy our discussion! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I am joined by Sidarth to talk about things Villarreal. Two episodes in one week!! We'd like to focus on victories for the first and second teams in week one, but the looming cloud of transfers requires our attention too. Which is sad really--why can't the transfer window end BEFORE the season starts? And why do we have to focus so much on how much money everyone is making--can't we just enjoy the Beautiful Game? Well, obviously not. And that was before we heard of Barcelona trying to buy Juan Foyth for some made-up price that they can't pay except in Monopoly money anyway and we have indeed sold Pervis Estupiñan, who is now a Brighton Seagull (my mother's favorite English team, for reasons I won't go into here!!) Anyhow, do enjoy this. We managed to keep it pretty short, for us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Safe to say the summer has been hotter than the Villarreal transfer market, so we figured it was time to do a podcast to get the action going. Seems to be working, with Lo Celso deal apparently agreed. Anyhow, Robin, Julian and I had a good time chatting about the prospects for the upcoming season, which players might still leave, who we might still get, etc etc. Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We jokingly called this the "Grumpy European" episode. Robin from the UK and Julian from Norway join me to discuss some controversial talking points.....sure, Unai Emery, you won the Europa League, but what have you done for me lately? 7th in the league is pretty disappointing. (Of course, when you barely got a full season out of the trio of Gerard, Danjuma, and Paco combined, maybe the medical staff bears some responsiblity.....) Anyhow, we discuss this, whether Gio Lo Celso was really that good, where we really need to reinforce the squad, who might leave......and Allen and Robin are respective fanboys for Manu Trigueros and Alfonso Pedrasa, of course. Enjoy!!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices