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New Year Same Calcio: Welcome to 2025 (Episode #38)
47 Plays3 months ago
Vos and Logs return for the first Calcio Culture episode of 2025, diving headfirst into Serie A’s ongoing drama, the January mercato madness, and the moments that made 2024 unforgettable.
The episode begins with a heartfelt reflection on 2024 including the start of Calcio Culture. The year left a mark on Italian football, and the hosts spotlight some standout moments: Atalanta’s gleaming new stadium, the resurgence of players like Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean, and the breakout of Nico Paz and Samuele Ricci. They also explore the managerial shifts that defined the year, including Cesc Fabregas stepping into the dugout, Palladino's rise, and Ranieri’s return to rescue Roma.
After catching up on the stories missed during the break—like Patrick Vieira firing Genoa up the table and Milan’s SuperCup triumph—the hosts discuss the current table to set the stage for 2025’s action.
Then, it’s on to the mercato fireworks! Napoli is lost their key man Kvaratskhelia, with notable replacement lined up such as Pellegrini, and Marcus Rashford. AC Milan hope to strengthen their right side with a possible addition of Kyle Walker from Manchester City while Juventus appears to be on the verge of signing Randal Kolo Muani and stealing Tomori from Milan. The hosts break down all the big links and what they mean for Serie A’s title race.
Finally, the Match Week 21 preview serves up a feast of fixtures: Milan heads to Turin to face Juventus in a blockbuster clash, Roma looks to hold firm against Genoa, and Napolitakes on Atalanta in a showdown of title contenders. Logs and Vos wrap up the episode with the first Culpi di Luna of 2025,.
Start the year off right with Calcio Culture. Follow us on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @calcioculturefc for more content. 2025 is here, and calcio is thriving!
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Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Ciao, everybody. Welcome to 2025. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Whatever you may celebrate. I hope you guys had a great holiday season. Calchio culture is back. We apologize for the little hiatus. We had a some life things getting in the way. A lot of travel between three of us, but we're back. We're ready to talk Calchio. There's a lot that we missed. This is Vost here. We also got Logues on the Horn, and we're happy to be back.
00:00:31
Speaker
Isanos, we missed you. It has been far too long since we've gotten together. We've missed a ton of shit. The league has been popping off. Footy has been popping off. There's been no slowdown in 2025. And let me just tell you guys, there will be no slowdown in the couch or culture boys either. Excited for a great 2025. Excited to have you guys with us for along the ride. And I'm just looking forward to it, boss.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think we missed four weeks and it feels like it's been a year. It's kind of insane how much stuff has happened. before so We're going to change it up a little bit today because we're in the transfer window, so there's a lot to talk about there. We also want to go through some of the stuff that we missed because there were some pretty big developments. We're going to check in on the table.
00:01:17
Speaker
And then we're going to preview this match weekend, which is match week number 21, and then finish it off with the first Colby of 2025. So pretty exciting stuff. First Colby coming hot. But to kick things off, we got to take a look back at 2024, go through some of the highlights, some of the things that happened, probably the most significant cultural culture started 2024 really good.
00:01:46
Speaker
It's really our it's our birth year. 2024 will now go down in history. It will officially be on our tombstones when cultural culture eventually dies with the three of us. But we have a lot of time between now and then. But we made immense progress, I would say. I mean, more progress than I ever could have imagined for our first six months, I'd call it. And I mean, we couldn't have done it without the Paisans. No, we certainly could not have. And just to give you guys an update, I think we made 36 episodes at this point, so quite a few. Quite a few. I love it. We've got 107 reviews on Spotify, almost entirely five stars. In the last four weeks, we somehow picked up a couple of one stars, so I don't know who that was, but we don't know who you are. We don't make people listening, but fuck you guys. You're definitely not fucking listening if you're giving us a one star.
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, we got 82 subscribers on Spotify, 109 on YouTube, and we have three Colby hits, which really picked up in the last two months of the season. So it should be a hot second half of the year in 2025. Not too shabby. And really, I mean, again, can't say it enough, Paisans. Thank you for coming along for the first couple months of this journey that we're embarking on here. We have a ton more content coming your way. We have huge plans for this year. And we just hope that you let you enjoy the ride with us.
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah, and Motz is appreciative, too. We literally don't know where he is. We tried to track him down today to get him on. We cannot find him. um If you see Motz on the streets, let him move. Give her a shout. And then one other thing, we got we gotta to highlight. Logs past level one, CFA, coming fast in 2024. Found out about that today, so snaps are really nice. A lot of good things happening out here.
00:03:22
Speaker
but Let's kick it over to the league because there were some 2024 highlights we did want to talk about with Serie A specifically. And first, I just want to kick it off. Atlanta finally got a new stadium. We got a lot of other stadiums in the queue. It looks like in Milan, we're going to get one. In Rome, we're going to get one. I don't know what's going to happen in Naples, but we might be getting one there. I think Genoa and Bologna are getting new ones too. It's it's insane. guaranteerantine quarantine I will say though, it is no surprise of mine and probably no surprise to anyone that Vos had to kick off R2025 with an Atalanta Shroud. Yeah, he did. Fair. He did. Guy tries to say he's not a fan. I don't know about that. I don't know about that.
00:04:01
Speaker
I am a fan. I'm a fan of everybody in the league. Moving it on, there's some players who wanted to shout out for a couple different reasons. I'll let you kick it off low. Just a couple guys you want to talk about. Yeah, this is the season of the resurgent of the nine. We got Mateo Rotegi, Moise Keene leading the way, Marcus Taram and Inter. It's great to see some fast starts out of a couple of nines. For a couple of seasons there,
00:04:24
Speaker
2020, 2021, the nine was kind of dying. People had been working on the inverted winger for far too long. The nine is coming back, becoming much more important. These young guys coming up, showing out, a couple of guys on the resurgence also getting their second chances at the nine, love to see it. Another guy getting a second chance here and looking like he was in his heyday. What the hell? David, looking like a monster in purple. Monster. I was talking to some man new fans that are on my rec league team and they're really mad about it.
00:04:54
Speaker
but They're really mad that he's gone. Onan has been poor, which is actually also a surprise to me because he was very good on interest. So that's a weird one, but it's great to see the nine back. It's great to see two Italians chasing the golden boot in the league. We haven't seen that really since immobile. I mean, granted he's, I was like, he just, he kind of just left, but did there are, there have been a lot of Italian scorers, like obviously mobile had kind of been the guy, but it was never more than just him. and We had Quagliarella briefly, but that was kind this kind of a fletching time. the The other thing with the Moble was that he was always up there because he had double-digit pens. Yeah, that's true. It was never a pure scoring effort, and for what it's worth, Rotegi is actually horrific and empty, so you can't say that his efforts this season have been from a dot. But I really just love
00:05:44
Speaker
the Moisey-Keene show that's coming out of Fiorentina. I mean, you gotta be happy for that guy. After all the years of struggle at UVA, a ah quick trip to the prem, coming back, I'd love to see him at the top of the table here. Definitely. And then three other guys who wanted to just highlight as kind of breakout stars, I would consider them breakout stars and the and in the first half of 2024.
00:06:05
Speaker
and we'll see what happens in 2025 and it looks like all of these guys are probably going to earn some bigger moves after this. I know they're all linked away at this point, but if we got to kick it off, one of the lads that hangs out by the lake looks his boy really at this point.
00:06:20
Speaker
nico nico pas baby if you have not watched him if you listen to this pod and you have not watched nico pad's two date you are absolutely missing out this guy's a talent ah young talent nineteen real madrid product playing up the lake Looking great under check fabric ass. If you haven't seen him, take a look. He's got all the intangibles. He's a smart player. He's creative. He's aggressive. You don't see this type of, I would say, swag from a 19-year-old these days. I think you can't you you see it a little bit with Yieldiz, but not even as quickly as Nico Paz has instituted it, especially being brand new to the league this year. Love to see it. you know Como picking that up out of the Real Madrid.
00:07:02
Speaker
Academy there and so I think ah to your point a bigger move is on on the horizon for Nico And if it's not back to Madrid for some time, I think it'll be another loan but to a much better team Yeah, what what I find interesting about Nico Paz is some of these other guys like you mentioned the Yieldies You can kind of phase them out of games. I haven't really seen Nico Paz get phased out of a game this year He always finds a way to pop up and just kind of exert himself on the game. And number two about him, which I find interesting, I don't know what his best position is yet, because I think you could play him as a like a nine, nine, play him as a false nine. He plays kind of in that attacking midfield space right now, a lot of the time.
00:07:41
Speaker
but you could probably throw him on the wing and he'd be fine. He's kind of a guy that can just fit in anywhere, and I would be shocked if he's still on Como come 20-25 start season. He's honestly what Milan wanted out of CDK when they bought him. Yeah, I would say that's true. I think that's exactly what they were looking for. Obviously, it didn't turn out on Milan. Different story this season, but the thing with Nico Paz is he's definitely a 10, I think, at his strongest position, but the way that he plays with Patrick Catroni,
00:08:10
Speaker
they're interchangeable at all times. Catroni can drop in the midfield and and and bring that center back with him, open up space for Nico to run behind. Nico can pick up the ball in the midfield and drive ah without his feet, with his dribbling skill. And he can play out wide if he needs to. Honestly, the only time, to your point, that I see him get phased out of games is when he phases himself out. He can't kind of you know he shows that ah immaturity as a youngster, but i mean there's nothing but better better days ahead for this guy, and he certainly will be on a better squad next season.
00:08:38
Speaker
Definitely. And in the same boat, another guy broke out this year in Turin from Torino, a team that has been hard to show that you're a really good player on, given their form over the last. I don't know, four months after they started really well is Sandiel Ricci, who is now broken into the Azori squad. It looks like there that he is one of the players that's going to go to the World Cup and maybe even push for a starting spot the way things have been trending, especially with how Pellegrini has been this year. And he would be at the base of a midfield. He's a number six. He's a Pacer number six, a really valuable position in the modern game.
00:09:13
Speaker
and it looks like he's not going to be on Torino come the end of the season and maybe he might could he could get moved in January. He's been linked to Man City, he's been linked to U of A, he's been linked to pretty much everybody that needs a midfielder. He's also come to personal terms with Milan, don't forget that. Obviously the price tag has not been figured out but he could be going to AC. The thing I'll say about Ricci is You know, aside from the fact that Torino's totally fallen off from their hot start, and obviously that kind of takes his publicity down as well, he's probably been the most improved player from a Serie A perspective right up there with Reinders, I would say.
00:09:49
Speaker
To Johnny Reinders has had an unbelievable rise to fame this season. Ricci, if Torino had kept the form from being in the season, would be right there with him. People are forgetting that he had a $50 million price tag ready to go to Man City in this window just about a month or two ago.
00:10:04
Speaker
that's not that's That's no small fee coming from a player out of Torino. So this guy deserves his flowers, has been in Syria for a couple of seasons, still pretty young, but certainly was unheard of, especially from an an Italian perspective, had gotten called up the to the Azuri, which is great for him.
00:10:21
Speaker
And so, Gray for Torino's look from a player progression standpoint, and Gray for Samuel Ricci to ah plow his way into ah into a tough Italian midfield in terms of, you know, in terms of being talked in the ranks of the Barrellas, the Tenali's of the world, he's right up there with them. Yeah, the Tenali, it's a really good comparison with Tenali, because they're obviously different players, but similar exit, kind of, what's going to happen is what I see with Ricci.
00:10:47
Speaker
So not only slightly different because Brusho did go down, Ricci, they're going to be, Torino's going to finish mid-table. I don't really see any other way of that happening. But to be a standout player on an OK team in a kind of non-offensive role is pretty hard. and And that's what's so amazing about Ricci.
00:11:03
Speaker
And the last guy I want to shout out, this is, I don't even know why I put this on here. I've just been all over him all years. Nicola Ravella on Lazio. He's kind of made his way back into the Azori. I saw some new links actually, premierly links for him, some other serial links. I don't really see any reason Lazio would sell him.
00:11:22
Speaker
But he's had a great season. His partnership with Guanduzi is a big part of the reason why Lazio is pushing in their top four right now. And I just think this was a guy that needed a big step. They take a big step this year. He left Juve to go beat that guy on another team because he wasn't going to get it there.
00:11:38
Speaker
He kind of had an offseason last year, like a lot of players at Lazio. And he has really taken the bull by the horns here and solidified himself as kind of the the new boss in the midfield at Lazio and a team that's probably overachieving. And if they can keep Ravella, they can keep all the guys there. It's a good team and and they're going to continue to get better if they add the right pieces.
00:11:58
Speaker
And he's just a guy that I think we're going to see more and more of now, that he has a role in a team, he's got a good manager, and he's kind of becoming what everybody is had expected of him when he let you pay. And that's why he had that big price tag when he did.
00:12:14
Speaker
The thing I'll say about Revella here is I hope he leaves Lazio because I do think the window is closing on this Lazio squad. I think a lot of those guys are over the hump in terms of where their peaks could be. You look at Zikani, you look at Romagnoli. Those are kind of their main guys. Winduzzi is getting up there in age as well.
00:12:35
Speaker
pedro Pedro You know, I know that they they have Tati Castellanos there who just came in as a young talent But I do think that this Lotsio squad and is a little bit over the hump I don't think they keep doing Tavares either. So from a development perspective, I hope Ravela leaves but just as a ah Summary of the three guys that we just mentioned who kind of all roam in the same headlines here for a serious spotlight That's what you got to love about Syria. You look at what we just highlight you have a barely You have an unknown guy from an academy in Spain coming in and making a name for himself playing on a bottom tier team. You have a guy in San Maurici who's been in the league, been a known name, and all of a sudden over the summer, gets in the right squad, gets in the right rhythm, gets good called up to the Missouri, is having a phenomenal season. so
00:13:25
Speaker
And then you have a guy like Ravela who had some of the highest expectations out of a young guy, young Italian in Syria, who didn't live up to them on the on the wrong squad. He gets a new chance and ah that is sick in his sophomore season on a new team. We just got the full gamut of different player progressions from Syria. And I think that just that kind of just talks to the testament of what this league can be.
00:13:45
Speaker
you know we It's unfortunate what we're seeing out of Napoli in terms of, and we'll get to it an unfortunate exit of a great player. You see Victor Oseman falling out of the squad and leaving the league this year. You saw the best defender of the league league leave two years ago after a Scudetta winning season. But on the flip side of that, to say to argue against that whole thing, Serie A has just a ton of differentiated talent that I think people are missing out on if you're not watching.
00:14:11
Speaker
Then even even beyond that now, we get into the managers that we wanted to talk about in 2024. Marco Barone with Lazio, extremely overachieving. We see Paladino, what he's been able to... He took Italiano's Fiorentina and has basically improved upon it. And it seems like his project there is going to go to the moon.
00:14:30
Speaker
We have Italiano who took on a really difficult Bologna project and we he started the season poor and now Bologna is flying and is playing that Italiano ball that we expected with still probably a squad that needs three to four more players. And it seems like Bologna now could become a team that's competing for that top.
00:14:51
Speaker
those top European spots year and in and year out. And we just see the league being the most competitive in the league or the most competitive league over the last five years, somehow getting more competitive this year.
00:15:02
Speaker
And then we go down to the bottom half of the table and we have new managers who are making a name for himself. Obviously everybody knows who Seth Fabregas is, but he's taking this como team and is doing well. And everybody sees that this guy's going to be a real deal manager. He's playing top six ball with a bottom six team realistically. And he, this is a guy that's going to have a great career and we're just seeing the start of it happen in Syria. He's been given the chance.
00:15:27
Speaker
And that's one of the things that's such a driver of this league. You get a chance, young guys get a chance to come in and coach Italian players. We would like to see it more, but we do see young guys come through and just been an exciting 2024 and I think 2025 could be even better.
00:15:43
Speaker
100%, and I think another thing that we're not touching on here, I mean these guys were all great names, but you've seen a rotation of some managers on other squads not doing as well, but there's there's a pretty big theme that I would say I see in that, and it's that they're managers that haven't haven't coached in Serie A before.
00:16:03
Speaker
They're guys that have come in from different leagues, League Un, even from the prem, sometimes La Liga, and they just have, they don't know, they don't understand the league. And I think it speaks to the testament of some of these guys, Palladino, Italiano, Baroni, Conte, who came back to Syria after having success before, and Zaghi, who's been ah been around for ages now.
00:16:22
Speaker
These guys understand the league and it doesn't just happen to any manager. It's not just any guy that comes in this league and does well. I mean, even look at Nesta fired a Monza after Monza had a decent season last year. They have their their fully relegation mode there. They should be ready for Siri B next season. And so I think it's a it's a testament to again to the strength of the league, um but it's great to see a lot of these names popping up, making a name for themselves, solidifying their legacies a bit here. And hopefully we can see that in the second half of the season come to fruition.
00:16:53
Speaker
Definitely. And to round it out in 2024, we saw the resurgence of Spelletti's Italian national team. It looks like they're officially back. They had a killer 2024 World Cup qualifier in Nations League. I think the sky is the limit. This is going to be a team that could compete for a World Cup. I'll say it. I think they're going to be really, really competitive. A lot of young players and it's going to be amazing.
00:17:18
Speaker
That wraps up our highlights, but we do need to talk about what we've missed. I think it's been four weeks since we hopped on here. Maybe there's a lot. We miss a lot. So we we can't name it all. So we got some quick hitters. We're going to go through. Number one, Logues mentioned it briefly. Nesta was fired from Monza. Made a lot of sense.
00:17:36
Speaker
Right. like they They are in last. I think they're still going to get relegated. I think you it didn't really make a difference. They wanted to manage their bump. They have not really gotten it. So it's kind of just spiraled the situation there. The interesting part about Monza going down.
00:17:51
Speaker
for me would be there's a lot of guys that are syria caliber players that are now going to be sold at a discount specifically defender carboni we talk about danny maldini and milan dirich both forwards that are really good danny mata a really good forward mateo casina who you've always talked about you're a huge fan of his 27 year old italian midfielder he is going to be on another syria club next year so this is going to be an issue for manza because you're going to lose presumably all of your best players because they're not, it's not like a Venezia situation. It's probably a good comparison. They're probably going to go down, but their core group has a lot of guys that kind of belong in Serie B or a bottom tier team in Serie A. These guys are good enough to play in mid-table top, top half of the table off the bench kind of thing.
00:18:40
Speaker
100 percent. You're going to see an exodus from Monza upon their their relegation. It'll be unfortunate for them. That's not going to be a bounce back Siri B season for the next year. They're going to probably they're probably spend a good amount of time down there. There's out there's also just a good amount of talent in Siri B. I haven't been specifically watching it that closely as of this season, but there are a ton of teams down there that are ripper on ready to come up and stay up.
00:19:04
Speaker
And so from that perspective, you're right. Venezia, again, on the other hand, core guys, young guys, not necessarily named brands that that need to go anywhere, but certainly happy to stay with them. And I think it's a lot of the names that were with them in their first stint. Yeah, I agree. Of Syria, who then went down and now have come back up. They're going to go down again, presumably. But again, I think, like you just said, it's going to be it's going to be the core that sticks around there, unlike of Monza, where they're going to have a fire sale.
00:19:32
Speaker
Shout out Busio, American. and albu sand think is very good I think he belongs. as' a I would like to see him go to like the Netherlands or something and play there because I think he would get a little bit more recognition. There's a ton of American talent that have done well in the Netherlands. That's true. Shouting it out to somebody else. Shout out to Frasco boys. We got to talk about Roma.
00:19:52
Speaker
They're back. I think I was Claudio Ranieri has taken over. Things didn't start all that well, I guess. It was kind of more of the same draws and losses. Since then, last five, two wins, two draws and a loss, trending in the right direction, kind of getting the balance of the team more right.
00:20:14
Speaker
I mean, it couldn't have gotten worse than it was. I will say that. But things are moving in the right direction for me, and I'm happy with that. I think the Ranieri appointment is doing what people wanted, stabilizing the ship.
00:20:27
Speaker
They're not really competing for anything. I guess and they're in the euro or the conference league, Europa League, and kind of spacing out on which one they're in so they can still compete there. But it's about just getting guys in. What is worrying me is Soulay hasn't really been playing. It may have been partially injury related, but that's worrying because with the team they're playing with right now, Dybala is obviously playing a lot and I still don't see a way he gets Soulay in there, but he's got to be playing like this is.
00:20:57
Speaker
a five year kind of five, 10 year whole kind of guy. You've got to get him in for bare minimum sell on capability. I think the reason you're not seeing Soule is because Dybala has been an absolute stud since the appointment of Renieri. Yeah, that's true. And I think the only reason why I'm not freaking out about that is because Dybala is Argentinian. Soule grew up watching Dybala. Soule is Argentinian. It might be an older brother thing where he's like, um' I'm going to learn I'm this guy for the season. Dybala is probably going to leave at the end of this one or retire. He's getting old.
00:21:34
Speaker
And that's the only reason I think it's okay. It's not great. You want these guys to be playing. You want the young guys to get the experience. It's not like he's riding the pine the entire game. He's getting, you know, 30 minutes a game. But going back to Ranieri, great job. We said it a bunch. There wasn't any worse they could really get from when Nierich left. But you could tell that this guy, he loves the badge.
00:21:57
Speaker
He loved the opportunity to come back. He's got that locker room under control. They're sitting nicely in 10th right now. They were about 14, 15, two or three points off relegation. I know there are only six points off. It's a tight table, but they're still sitting nicely in 10th. There's six points behind Bologna and eight. So they're not too far off from having a rather average finish for a Roma team as of the last six or seven years.
00:22:23
Speaker
which isn't the which is a little bit crazy considering their start. But then you also look at where Napoli was last season. They finished what, 12th, 11th? So this may not be doomsday anymore for Roma. Yeah, it might not be. And there was a reason we had them finishing top four.
00:22:39
Speaker
and
00:22:42
Speaker
It could be next year if you're going to say it again. oh i do I still love this squad. I love Pit Silly, what he's done, Bob Adams. He's been great. And I mean, I'll pat myself on the back on this one. Alexis Salomak has been an absolute machine under Ranieri. He's got four goals, one assists and eight starts on the season.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yeah, I'll pat myself on the back. Great player, used incorrectly under some other guys. Go ahead, stroke yourself a little bit. But no, I think this Roman team has the has the bones for it. The one area that I'm still concerned about is that back line. Yeah. tongue And I said it, and he's still there. Mancini on the list. ah He's not that good. No, Mancini deserves to be on the list right now. As the backbone of that defense, as the longest standing Italian on the on the team from the Capitale,
00:23:31
Speaker
You got to be better than that. You simply have to be better than that. And that's just not working out. I don't see, they need to make some big moves, some big splash moves in that back line to really have a chance next year, from my opinion. But, uh, big takes from the logs here. Listen, I'm a big take on a guy and the list lives on. The list is very, ever rarely wrong. And I think the only one that we might have a graduation soon from the list and CDK. Do you have the list written down like that? We can grab it quickly.
00:23:59
Speaker
I think I have it on my phone. I have to come back to it. But in the meantime, what we'll pause and come back to it. But in the meantime, yeah, we got to talk about the Bianco Neri, while Mats isn't here. Some good things this year, some bad things this year, 2024 still haven't lost the game, which is kind of insane, but they don't really win. They have an insane draw streak going 13 draws on the season.
00:24:24
Speaker
I get that you don't really want to lose, but some of these law or some of these draws have been really bad. They're dropping points against a lot of teams and it hasn't really gotten better. I'm still not going to sit here and say Tiago Mata hot seat, because I do think it's getting better in a way. It's not getting better. I take that back. It's not getting better, but I see what they're trying to accomplish and I like what they're trying to get to. And I've been, I've been consistent on that the whole year. So at what point am I going to flip the script? I don't know.
00:24:55
Speaker
But it is it is not great. I don't see what they're trying to do. I think there are a couple of things that they've tried to anchor themselves to name. We will have it that are just not it. They've obviously made moves that we'll talk about in a second to counteract that.
00:25:14
Speaker
but their inability to close out games or to even get ahead on on some teams that they really should be obliterating has been very concerning. The only thing that gives me solace is that I know the tightly caliber of players that are on this roster and none of them are playing at their top potential.
00:25:33
Speaker
None of them. I would say- I would say- I would say Cholulu. And Kefran Taram, I would say. And Taram. I think Taram will marry me. Taram's just like the young, energetic, he's just, if you cover that much ground, you're gonna look good and you're gonna play well. And Cholulu's been playing well. Yeah, exactly. The fact that he was, the fact that he scored that goal the other day, that far up the pitch- This is just classic. Classic Cholulu. Like that's, like even in just like the transition of play, that was not, that was open play. That wasn't like a counter, it was just, you just ended up up there, regardless.
00:26:03
Speaker
There's a lot of great talent on this roster, none of them playing up to par. Where that concerns me now is the fact that what is Mota doing that they're not playing at the at that potential? is he Is he not able to get the best out of these players? That's my concern. And if that continues throughout the rest of this season, if he doesn't find a way to start getting these guys to form, I mean, look at it look at what he has to work with.
00:26:28
Speaker
Koop Miners, who we all know is a top tier talent in Syria, proven. Dusan Flahavij, who maybe not Mocha's fault. not goingnna Maybe not Mocha's fault, but I mean, he's not he's not playing to his best either. Taram's fine. Locatelli's slowed down a little bit. Douglas Louise might be on on his way out, and I know for a fact that that guy's got talent. Fajoli, beans, not playing up to par. You got a lot of name brands out there that just aren't doing it. Cambianzo slowed down.
00:26:57
Speaker
right? So you see a lot of these guys kind of fall by the wayside and I wonder, is it them? Is it the squad? I don't think it's the squad. So then you look at Moza and you're like, well, what are you doing in practice? What are you doing in training sessions? So that's where that's where I'm a little bit concerned. I don't there's not a there's not a scenario in my head where Moza's like go after the season.
00:27:16
Speaker
But it it is concerning. I mean, if Jun to Lee does need someone, I would throw Mott, I would throw Mott's name into the hat for UVA manager. The couple of times he has predicted what or he hasn't predicted, he has stated what UVA should do in a game.
00:27:33
Speaker
and then they do it, they have one. That has happened a couple times this year. Couple times. So Junitally, he moths in the back of your mind, maybe non-manager, consultant, maybe, in some way. Consultant would be a great position. Consultant moths. Get that guy on the game day bench. I could get behind it. I could get behind it. Get him in the room. Some other things that we missed that we just want to go through quickly.
00:27:55
Speaker
Patrick Vieira, since taking over Genoa, has basically gotten them out of relegation completely. They are now an 11th on 23 points, which is five points clear. And they were horrible before he got there.
00:28:11
Speaker
So it people a lot of people in Italy, I read a lot of articles saying that this was a bad idea, a bad appointment. Look, me and you were on this one. We thought it was going to be good. We saw what he could do with Palace, kind of similar caliber players, a lot of guys that still have potential. And eat if they don't win, he's a guy that gets points a lot of the time. Like they defend well. And it's great to see this like a new another manager getting a chance.
00:28:38
Speaker
On a percent, again, I think that this was a you and I's experience with the era, obviously fully from Palace. And it's he was the exact guy for this job because Genoa has, if not the same better talent, I would say, than Palace at the time. I would say worse, yeah. Granted, as a, at least, a Margaeyi, very, very, very good players. but yeah i would say I would say Genoa in the grand scheme of things, Syria, it's a trim, decently same caliber. But Genoa was bottom of the table. That was not a place for this team to be. And so they did just need a manager to just get it get the players in the right spots. And that's exactly what he did. Fired up this the squad.
00:29:22
Speaker
You know, sometimes it doesn't necessarily work with guys that you've played with before. So Purelo didn't work with you. They, DeRosa, didn't necessarily work with Roma. But most every player on this Genoa team probably grew up watching Vieira on very good teams. And so they obviously looked up to him and respected what he did during his career. And I think that goes a long way to turning a season around. And so that's where I think you're seeing a lot of that, a lot of that emotion, a lot of that pride come through is just simply from Vieira coming in and saying, listen,
00:29:52
Speaker
I was never a loser when I played, and I'm not letting this team be a loser. Like, let's get let's rally behind that, and let's let's get this going. So to see them in 11th is a huge move for them. And it also appears that him and Balotelli could not bury the handshake, because that has something on it. But we knew that was going to happen. Balotelli knew it. We got to wrap it up here with the biggest news that we missed. Definitely the biggest news we missed. I'm actually devastated we didn't get to talk about this. Fonseca got sacked.
00:30:21
Speaker
He got sacked. I'm actually surprised that this happened. Thank the Lord. It's pained me to hold my tongue up until this point in the in the episode to not talk about Fonseca. But thank the Lord that Fonseca is out. I will echo you, Vos, on that to say that when he did get sacked, I was surprised because he it didn't seem like that we were at such a low in the season compared to where we had been previously when he was in the in the works to get sacked.
00:30:50
Speaker
Now it's it's hard to argue against some results in the Champions League. It's not hard to argue against some of the results in Syria. But I think there was a little bit of a contractual clause in there that really pushed this to over the edge. But he needed to go. He simply needed to go. What's weird about this one to me?
00:31:09
Speaker
is they were basically even with Juve when this happened. And yet we look at them in such different fashions. And what's most surprising to me is Fonseca was doing everything that I had expected of Fonseca. They just weren't getting all the results, you know? like What more could he have really done to keep his job? Like, yes, I know that they they did did drop points a lot, but it was his first. we We're basically halfway through a season in his first year with the team. There were some turnover. He's brought rinder story made him the best midfielder in the league. He doesn't really have a great striker. The defense didn't really look like it was completely his fault.
00:31:55
Speaker
It was just a surprise for me. and For for from what he delivered, it was exactly what I had expected from him coming in. I'll tell you exactly what the difference is. To go as far as alienating your top two best players on the team is unacceptable. yeah You cannot come into a team and expect to meet any type of expectation when Rafael Liao and Tao Hernandez hate your guts.
00:32:23
Speaker
I don't care who you are, I don't care what you're trying to do. If you are alienating those two guys who are inexcusable, it's just unequivocally important to the team to have those guys playing at their top talent and you saw that in the last four games.
00:32:38
Speaker
specifically the last four games, you saw that previously, but again, last four games more so you know more recently, it's inexcusable to have those guys not playing at their best when you absolutely need them. I will not discount the fact that he brought Pulisic to the talent that he is today. I think that Pulisic has obviously found his way under him. I think Pioli had started that though. Pulisic was great under Pioli. Pulisic has already amassed the same amount of goal contributions that he had last season.
00:33:07
Speaker
and it's halfway through the season. So to some extent, you kind of have to give that up to Fonseca. A lot of an individual town, a lot of just individual fight from Pulisic, but to given the opportunities there, I think it's a little different. And then you spoke, you said it, Reinders is obviously another one. I also think that one thing you can give to, nope, I'm going to take that back. I was going to say talent.
00:33:29
Speaker
talent
00:33:31
Speaker
Acquisition, but the only guy that we can really say that I like that we got was was for Fafana. Yeah, because you look at Tammy's not been good. Maratha's not been good. Emerson Roy has been fucking dog shit. Pavlovich has been dog shit. So again, the answer to your question is it's you cannot alienate your two best players. Bottom line.
00:33:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting. So the guy they replaced Fonseco with is Sergio Conchessao, dad of Conchessao on UVA on spacing out on his first name, actually. Is it Fabian? No, I think it's Francesco. Yeah, Francesco. The father or the son? The son, no? Francesco. Yeah, Sergio's dad. So he came from Porto, was there for seven years. Good manager, good proven champion, sleek manager.
00:34:22
Speaker
I have qualms with this appointment as well. I don't know how long this appointment is going to be. But what does he do? Wins the Super Cup. Pretty big deal. I don't love how much he celebrated. Like. Did you have that big of an impact like that? You can. I don't know. I would have like to see him be like, OK. We got in the bag, not really care that get move forward. Like you have a lot to figure out here. Like don't hang your hat on this. You've been here for like two weeks.
00:34:53
Speaker
I didn't mind it. There hasn't been a lot to celebrate from an AC Milan perspective this season. And I think it just goes to show the fire that this guy has. He's an incredibly emotional manager. So you got to take the highs and the lows with him. you know He's going to get on your ass about even the littlest things and be on your ass in training and and expect the highest highest potential of every single player. And if you're not giving that, he's going to get on you.
00:35:17
Speaker
But at the same time, if you win, he's going to celebrate right there with you and probably more. So I think it was a little bit more of like, hey, I'm here. This is me now. This is my team. He did his classic cigar celebration.
00:35:32
Speaker
Is the Super Cup really that big of a trophy? I don't know. Is it a trophy? Yes. AC Milan has now won the first trophy of any Serie A team this season, so go you know it's great for Milan. But I think the the biggest thing that you saw out of that pseudo tournament is, number one, we can play with any team in the league.
00:35:50
Speaker
It's not like UVA and it's not like you Inter had put out their their B teams. those they you know They were fighting for that that cup as well. But number two, I think you saw a lot of the the joy come back into the squad. Both games, we hit we were down. Both of these games, we had to come back and win it on multiple goals, not just not just one from a tie, multiple goal comebacks, 2-0 to Inter.
00:36:15
Speaker
That's a huge one. yeah we won We came back 3-2. Tammy scored the winner and celebrated like he made the best play ever. He literally fell into the ball as they lay out and burned the entire defense. But you you just saw the joy come back into a lot of these players, and namely, Teo. I think Teo's had probably the biggest improvement in the last four games of anybody on the squad, and to see that is huge. I just touched on it. It's huge to have Teo at the top four and and to enjoy the football there.
00:36:40
Speaker
We had to stumble against Caliari. I'm not going to give that, I'm not going to blame that in Kunstensao. I think that that's truly just now the Milan way. We find, ah we find any way to get momentum and then absolutely shoot ourselves in the dick. Because, you know, we go out against Caliari and you get the draw there. Mignon for whatever reason, well, started with Alfana. That, that was the worst play of his career. And says in certainly this season gives the ball up in the midfield and then just
00:37:06
Speaker
What is this? Are you celebrating? What is this? What is this? Does this in the middle of the fucking game. They charge down the field. I think it was Pavlovic who's just backtracking, watching the, watching the striker on Caliari and Mignon has an absolute pizza, an absolute blunder. Never seen this out of Mignon. Looked like Don and Ruma out there. And you know, we tie 1-1.
00:37:27
Speaker
Granted, do we have a another comeback win against the Como team this past week? Yes. Should we be coming back against Como? Absolutely not. I'm not going to discount Como's effort. I thought they played great. But, you know, again, it's it's an up and down battle for Milan to have any type of consistency. I'm just happy to see the fire back in the squad. That's yeah that's what we're going to get as it comes to sound. I want to spend a couple more minutes on this because this is the most significant thing that's happened that we did miss, and I think it deserves some time.
00:37:56
Speaker
What is interesting about this is, and i I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I watched a ton of Porto with Contra Sal. Like I saw what they did in the Champions League, definitely. But what it seems like is they went back to something that Pioli did, man management, right? That's what this looks like. Fonseca was very much like, I am the manager. You listen to me, strict rules, this kind of thing. This is somebody that seems like he's gonna put guys in a position to succeed.
00:38:25
Speaker
kind of allow them to do their thing and just bring back good vibes. And Pioli, to be fair, with everything we said about him, won a league on that. And a lot of this team is similar, it not similar, a lot of the players that won are still here, right? like And there's no reason to think they aren't capable of doing that again.
00:38:47
Speaker
What worries me about this and what I don't like about it is we're back to the same argument that I made at the beginning of the season when they brought in Fonseca. What are you trying to achieve as a club? ah you i don't It doesn't seem like they're trying to get to the next level with an appointment like this. Granted, this could be just until the end of 2025. I don't know what Milan's plan is here. But this guy was at Porto for seven years and nobody has picked him up yet.
00:39:17
Speaker
There's a reason for that, right? Like we see a guy like Amorim who just got appointed by Man U because he was at, he had two good years at Sporting Lisbon. There are things that he was doing that said, you know what? He deserves to go to the next level. Very similar to Fonseca in my mind. Fonseca had bounced around, was that Roma did okay. Was that Lille did kind of okay? Like Lille, you kind of expect to finish top four in the league every year and kind of do nothing in the Champions League.
00:39:48
Speaker
What's different about Contrasau? I'm not sure. I really am not sure. I i i think it's a... Same thing as Fonseca that plays in a different way. I don't i i don't see this being a multi-year project under him that brings them to that next level. That's what's worrying me. why like You're right. This could be just the end of the season and that's specifically why they didn't take other managers because they wanted that clause in there that they could just end this the short stint after the season.
00:40:23
Speaker
It was painful to watch this fun second team roll themselves out week in week out and just see the dread that came from from some players. And I think that this was just a move that needed to happen. Obviously your options mid-season aren't terribly great. And so I think we did what we could with what we had.
00:40:44
Speaker
I'm not sure that Konstantin Sal was necessarily in the running during the summer, which goes, it kind of falls into your point of, is this really what the long-term vision of the team is? And I think the answer is answered by the fact that Konstantin Sal was not in the mix over the summer. The answer is no.
00:40:59
Speaker
This AC team is certainly looking for somebody with a longer term vision, somebody who's going to implement a system, but for the time being, for this season in particular, which I do think is important to do well. If we have a blip here, a huge blip, we've lost all the momentum that we had under the Piola years from the Champions League success to the Scudetto win. All of that goes out the window if you end in 8, 9, 10 under Fonseca.
00:41:26
Speaker
This change needed to happen. The best possible person you can bring in mid-season is a man manager because you can't just come implement a you can't just come in and implement a system. That's not how it works. So you need to bring in a man manager that can work with any roster. You just got to light the fire.
00:41:46
Speaker
and I think that's exactly what Konstantsau is here to do. I will be forever grateful if we can get to a top six foot finish here. Solidly top six. Obviously, the goal would be top four. There's a lot of good teams in the Serie A table that I'm not sure that where we can get back in front of at this point, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel under Konstantsau that I did not see under Fonseca.
00:42:07
Speaker
yeah that ultimately right now it's top six period like it's not top four necessarily i think it's top six and then it could be top seven right depending on what happens and they get another european spot but that is not a shoe in at this point like i think bologna are significantly better than Milan right now. Like they they started the season worse, which is why they're still behind Milan. But I also think Fiorentina is still better than Milan despite their recent slip ups. And they've been really bad, but they're still ahead. And it is so hard to break through once you're outside of the top six right now. but And this team has not shown that they're capable of winning games that they're supposed to win.
00:42:52
Speaker
And it's going to be difficult, but I mean, we're going to revisit them at the end of the season. I think it's going to be more conscious. I would have to do something insanely wrong to get sacked. I don't really see any situation where that could happen. Like just it just.
00:43:08
Speaker
He would have to be doing such insane things to get sad. It would have to be insane. I think he's got a leash until the end of the season, especially given his first couple of results here. I mean, again, we can't be dropping points to Kalyari, who's in a relegation spot, but you know that's that's a Milan team. That's going to happen if you race a Milan through and through. If I've come to learn it, it's painful, it's going to happen. But I see i see the potential if we can get some kind of form. We we don't lose, the losses are and not, like there's there is no team in the table where I'm like, we like we should 100% be losing that game now. yeah that's this is my I don't see that. i i What I get from Milan right now is the culture is gone.
00:43:58
Speaker
like Juve's culture, and that's probably why we see Tiago Matza as he's there, everything he's doing is okay. They go in with the swagger still. like It's going. They're losing it, 100%. But you don't see Matza come out and be like, oh, it's so difficult to play Calliuri.
00:44:19
Speaker
their expectation is to win every game. And what's second set that you have in Milan have lost that like there is no they should go into every single game. Homer away. I don't care who you're playing. If you're playing Napoli, it's still we are going to win this game. Period. i i I can't imagine any other situation for a club like this. And that's where they've gotten to, which is the core issue.
00:44:48
Speaker
100%, 100%. But I'm telling you, that's where i so that's what I like in this Conan Sow anointment is that not know doing them anointment a payment yeah so he's anoint is the anointed one. yeah No, he's not. Is that he does have that fire. He does have that fire. he yeah That he's gonna walk into every stadium, walk out that tunnel and walk get on that pitch and say, well I'm gonna win this game.
00:45:15
Speaker
he has that mentality. And I think that that's going to permeate through the team, especially with the type of players that we have. Teo for one is for sure the kind of guy that's like, yeah, we're gonna win we're to win this fucking game. I think Reinders can have that mindset. I think obviously Pulisic has that mindset. I think Tamori had that mindset the year we won the Scudetto. If you can get back to that kind of that kind of way of thinking, I think that's a huge move. Leao's always gonna be lax days ago and he's always gonna be the surfer, but at the end of the day, he kind of feeds off the energy of the rest of the squad. um And so, you know, you get,
00:45:51
Speaker
You get one of Maratha or Tammy going, you get Pool of Sitch healthy, Leow's in form, Teo's in form, Fofana, Reinders, like that's a scary lineup. That's not something that you're go to that any other team's walking in saying that's a cakewalk, right? Not even if you're inter.
00:46:08
Speaker
Certainly, Inter's gonna come into that pitch and say, I'm gonna win this game as well, but it's not a cakewalk. I mean, you just saw it, 3-2 in the final. So again, I think that there's lightning in the tunnel. I feel hopeful for the rest of the season. It's unfortunate the way we started, but I'm i'm you know i'm no longer dreading going into the weekends and saying, oh, fuck, we're playing Venezia. So that's where that's where I stand.
00:46:35
Speaker
My last point on Contrasal that I would say is worth touching on. He has shown that he's a Champions League genius. He has been won some really, really big games with Porto. He's also brought a lot of players through at Porto that were really, really good. So if they're focused on the Champions League, which I think that the board has been and have kind of been saying this all year, this is a much better guy.
00:47:05
Speaker
have at the helm going into the knockout stages, period. He sets up his team very well defensively. They know how to counter. They know how to cover. It's more, can the players deliver it? Because his Porto teams had far less skill than this, and they hundred percent punched above their weight every single year, like 100% of the time. They were, nobody, want you never wanted to play Porto. Yeah, that is always a difficult game, and you don't know what's gonna happen.
00:47:34
Speaker
So that's good. That is going to be an interesting thing to watch in the Champions League. I mean, I'm excited. That's all. I mean, I'll I'll leave my therapy session behind us. But that was that this is something I'm certainly excited about going forward. God, I miss cultural culture debating. so and So that wraps up things we missed. One other thing we have to do before we get into what's going on right now is take a look at the table. We haven't talked about in a while. We're not going to spend a ton of time, but just want to run through it.
00:48:01
Speaker
In last place, we have Monza. We mentioned them earlier on 13 points. It's looking like they're probably going to go down. There are six points off of safety, we'll call it. Ahead of them, we have Venezia in 19th, 14 points, five points out of the safety zone. Still looking pretty bad there. they not getting points when they should be, and they've been good. In 18th, we have my sweet love, Callery, the boys from Sardinia. I'm still holding out that they're going to get out of this. 17th, we have Verona, a team that's been really rocky all season. They've actually been better in the last month or two in getting some results, still dropping probably too many points. And I... They're the most losses in the league.
00:48:45
Speaker
Yeah, they I could see calorie flip-flopping. i That's what I would say at the end of the year. I think Verona is going down, calorie is staying up. I can get behind that. Yeah, so that that's my prediction. you're you're You're in agreement on those three going down?
00:49:00
Speaker
I honestly think the best, the team with the best outlook is Venezia and I do think that they're going down. So I would agree there. No, I'll count. On 16th, we have Como, who's actually even, I have boys, even with Verona, but they are just way better than all these teams, apart from- And they're getting better. yeahre getting there's yeah There's no doubt that they have made immense strides through this season, not only just coming together and gelling, but I think just from a maturity standpoint,
00:49:29
Speaker
They're also in the market. They're buying players. They're not selling. and Not that they have any way that they would necessarily sell right now, but they're buyers. So that that shows me that Faber-Gasse is thinking that they have some potential to move up this table. And I totally agree. I mean, I think as we move up the next three spots in terms of potential, I think they're certainly better than two of them. And on form, they're I'd say they're better than all three.
00:49:55
Speaker
All right, there. Moving it up one more spot, 15th place. We got also recently promoted Parma, who I've been really hot on, Mats has. They're tied with Goma, 19th place. I think this is a good example of, there's two different ways to play soccer and they're they're both, they're doing it in different ways, right? The counter attack versus being ball dominant kind of team. Interesting to see. I think both of these teams deserve to stay up with how they played and caliber of the player that they have.
00:50:22
Speaker
Parma actually just moved on from the right back. Sorry, jumped on the gun on the Mercato a little bit. Cool volumes. Great player. I'm really disappointed they're losing him. I think this is actually kind of a big mistake. Make it to the summer. like be They should be confident that they're going to stay up. That's my thinking. And then you can sell for more in the summer or even a mountain in the summer when you don't get relegated kind of thing. I think this is kind of a panic sell is the way I would describe it. Well, I don't know. if i don't We'll talk about it in a second.
00:50:51
Speaker
All right, cool. Fourteenth place, we got Empoli. Twenty points, so one point clear of the others. Big fall from Grace from where they were started this season. We had been jassing Empoli up. Hardest scene to beat. Don't drop, don't don't lose games. And they kind of got away from it and it's burned down. They've been way more expansive and have fallen off the table here.
00:51:14
Speaker
I mean, they're lost for the last five games, but what I will say is though, only minus six from a goal differential standpoint. So they are still hard to break down. It's just that they are not staying in games that they need to stay in.
00:51:29
Speaker
And then moving it up in 13th, probably shock of the season so far. Still a shock to me. Leche 13th on 20 points. And I just want to pause here. So 20 points. So these these teams are two points clear of relegation right now. And from 18th to 13th, there are two points. So you're two points clear of relegation right now. All the way up to 13. Realistically, any of these teams can still go down.
00:51:57
Speaker
I think that these are these are your candidates. I think anybody above here is rather safe except for any type of absolutely nuclear debacle, um namely out of the next, call it, two teams. But I i think the outlooks for everybody next spot and above is good. Anybody this leche and down, you're you're definitely worried. You definitely got a little bit of poop in your pants here.
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, we're big fans of that poop in the pants. um But Keith and I are rolling. 12, we've got Torino on 22 points. I kind of expect them to finish one or two spots within that. Not really anything new there. I don't think that they're better than the teams above them. And they're not worse than the teams below them. We're going to the team above them. On 11th, we got Genoa on 23 points. So I i do think Torino is better than Genoa, in my opinion. Genoa's kind of been riding the high of the manager bomb. Sure.
00:52:49
Speaker
10 short got roll up i think they're probably gonna finish there as well nothing really new to report in nine to udon as a i'm 26 points another one that kind of fell off but i've stabilized a little bit and this is where they're they're gonna be nine to 12 right like my problem with udon essay is i don't know what their identity is and i don't know where they source Success from aside from Luca who's had a great season But he can't do it by himself and I think that the rest of the squad has been pretty bare-bones Especially after then getting picked a part of the Mercado. So It's it's a tough outlook for me in terms of what would an essay's outlook is Yeah, I think it wouldn't as they could fall pretty significantly. I they just have a lot of experience though Which is why I I would guess they're gonna be there
00:53:34
Speaker
but This is what we talked about before with you to NASA. They they've kind of been a relegation to lower middle table teams for like three or four years and really haven't done anything new. And they overachieved at the beginning of the season. This is a reversion to the main short.
00:53:50
Speaker
Breaking into the top eight now. I think all of these teams have a shot at a European spot. There's kind of variation in which tournament you're trying to get into. But in eight, we have Bologna on 30 points. I would say this is an extremely hot team now. Italiano's got everybody firing on all cylinders. They have all their players back finally, like massive, massive player. Lewis Ferguson fully playing, scored a goal this weekend. Guy's flying, massive piece of this team.
00:54:19
Speaker
Going above them, 31 points. Spent a lot of time on them, seventh place. Milan, slightly similar to different outlook for you. I think Bologna is better right now. said I said it a couple of minutes ago. But I think Bologna is going to pass Milan this year and finish above them. Again, like I said, I think the Dow look here has changed for me. I think that the potential of the ceiling has been raised for this Milan team. And if they do play to that new ceiling and they're healthy, this is a dangerous one.
00:54:49
Speaker
Speaking another dangerous squad, kind of gone the other way. In sixth place, we have Fiorentina. 32 points, 19 played, one point above Milan. They both have a game in hand on pretty much the rest of the league. The game is actually against each other, so it's a really significant game.
00:55:05
Speaker
Paladino squad has really fallen off in the last couple of games. Four losses in the last five, one draw. For me, I felt like this was kind of inevitable. Paladino has never really been in this situation, neither of any of the players. They were definitely running hot and deserved to kind of be pulled back.
00:55:24
Speaker
And this is kind of what we talked about with Atalanta. Atalanta used to do this. They would be ripping, not lose, and then drop a ton of points. And over time, those pieces, they've dropped less points. They've been worse, I'll call it, like worse over like two to three weeks rather than two months. And I think this is just a learning curve for Paladino. I saw a couple links that he like may be getting fired. i i I can't imagine a situation where that happens. And if it does, Milan should immediately fire. buts the owl i probably do you know Because I think he's going to be one of the best coaches in the league for a really long time. Yeah. ah This is. This is a panicking team right now. Yeah. Right. Rightfully so young.
00:56:09
Speaker
The players haven't been there. Paladino hasn't been in this situation. Neither have the players. Well, I was just going to say, I mean, this is a newly constructed team. A lot of these guys have come in from other squads better or worse. Paladino in a bigger spotlight than he's ever been. And this was you can you saw this after the result this past week. They lose to Monza. Last team at the table may lose.
00:56:29
Speaker
So I think that this is simply a team that's just panicking. Huge opportunity to right the ship against Torino in this upcoming match week. So I'd like to see them get back into form, especially and against the Torino team. I think they will. I think they have the right players. They had the right form. It's new it's a new year for them. They've obviously been playing a couple of games in 2025, but Things are looking up with Fiorentin Florence. I have a hard time seeing this team fall any further than six, seven, eight. I mean, yeah, we talked, we you just said it. I mean, these these top eight teams are going to be the top eight, and it'll be unfortunate if Fiorentina ends up being that eight spot, because I do think that they deserve more. Yeah, they definitely deserve a European side of my mind. And the other thing I just thought about, kind of interesting, we're talking about like this new squad, a lot of redemption players. They don't really have a guy on the field
00:57:23
Speaker
or not even on the field, a player in general that I would say can calm things down. Like they're losing, they're kind of spiraling. There really isn't somebody there that's, that's repaired to do this or been in this kind of situation in my mind.
00:57:39
Speaker
Like Baragi we get, they have guys who've been there. Three names, Baragi, Bartosagi, and De Gea. And De Gea could simply... That's the only guy that I would say has been there, done that kind of thing, and he's just got there. That's my worry about it.
00:57:58
Speaker
He's been playing so well and he's and he's been around for so long that I think that he holds, even though he's just he's just joined the team, I think he holds enough with the guys that he could sit in that locker room and and and hold a meeting and say, listen to guys, breathe. Yeah. We are in such a good spot. We overran our potential very quickly. We've had a bit of a drop here. Slow it down, go back to what was working. Let's get back to form.
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah, still a great project. Moving on to another project, Juventus in fifth place, 34 points. So game in hand, I'm Fiorentina. Two points clear. This is another one. I think Fiorentina right now is better than Yuvei. Fiorentina came in hand. Yeah, that's what I said. Did I say the reverse? Okay, so Fiorentina's got a game in hand. If they win, they're ahead of Yuvei. I think if the season were to end right now, Fiorentina deserves to finish above Yuvei. That's how good I can save them. yes For Yuvei, I think inevitably they will fall behind Fiorentina if they don't change what they're doing. Because with despite Fiorentina's losses that they've experienced,
00:59:07
Speaker
They win games. You haven't really won a ton of games. We know they haven't lost. That's the claim to fame. But at some point, you need to start winning games to finish in ah in a European spot, period. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I mean, I saw that clip today that was talking about how draws are kind of discounted, especially when you talk about the invincibles of of years past the ah that old Arsenal team.
00:59:37
Speaker
But this is a different type of frequency of draws. Juve would have to win every single game from here to end of the season to match the point total for the Invincibles. That's how many draws they've had thus far and how many draws the Invincibles didn't have and through the end of the season.
00:59:57
Speaker
They need to figure out how to get three points. They're allergic to it. I don't understand. The players are capable of it. So it just. I think it has to be tactical, really. That's all I can think of. I would love to. There were a lot of injuries. There were a lot of injuries. They go. They go. Gonzales is back, which I think does make a really big difference because it it pushes Vlahavish a lot.
01:00:22
Speaker
Something I wish Mats was here, because Mats would say in Bangula needs to play more, and I i would agree with that. He does think to play a lot. He's been so good when he has played. So Mats does finally kind of have all the pieces at his disposal, more or less, minus Bremer, which I... which doesn't really matter for the situation, right? Like, Bremer's not winning you games. He's helping you keep clean sheets, which just has not been their problem. So the piece served there. It's on Mats to figure it out.
01:00:50
Speaker
here I agree. Moving on. Finally, we have the top four. The guys that probably are in contention, we'll talk about it. um But in fourth, we have Lazio, 36 points. So they're too clear of UVA. We've talked about Lazio all year. Baroni has done a masterclass with this team. On paper, I would say therere they probably don't deserve to be here, but Baroni has been a tactical genius all year.
01:01:15
Speaker
has shown how you can attack and how to defend. They're winning games, they're not losing a lot of games, and they're just competing. They're one of the hardest teams to play against. And I would say that across the entire table, you don't really want to play Lazio right now. And that's also a function of everybody's playing well from the top to the back.
01:01:34
Speaker
They're, they're a tough team to play. I'm not terribly scared of Lazio. If I'm, if I'm a top tier team, there are certainly ways to beat them, but when they're on the run and they play with a ton of heart and they're physical and they're a mean team, which can get you pretty far, especially in this league. So it's been a huge, huge move for this team, especially given what we had for expectations. I think we had them pretty solidly and probably the eighth position in terms of expectations, but this is where.
01:02:04
Speaker
I think this is, this tier, this is is kind of like the B tier of the league. You go Laat, CLU, Vey, Fiorentina, Milan, Bologna. those Those five are the B tier and these top three teams have solidified themselves far and away above the rest. Yeah. So but let's break out the top three here because I think that that's the right way to talk about it. Would do you say any, like these are the three teams that are going to win the league. Like one of them is going to win the league. 100%.
01:02:28
Speaker
so in first we have Napoli 47 points inter second place with 44 points game in hand so the three back if they win they would eat be even with Napoli that game is against somebody pretty good actually I'm pretty sure that game is against Fiorentina Milan has Bologna that's the game Milan is Bologna and Fiorentina is inter And then in third, four points off the top is Atalanta who have stumbled over the last month, which kind of what we talked about. I think the big difference with Atalanta, like a year, two, three years ago, they've drawn their last three games. They would have lost one of those games two or three years ago, 100 percent. And for me, I backed Inter to win it.
01:03:10
Speaker
I still back Inter to win it, right? Like we talked to this this whole year, probably all of 2024 in the 2024-25 season, we've talked about how Inter haven't been at their best and they they haven't looked great and they haven't had focus. And yet here they are, three points off the lead.
01:03:29
Speaker
game in hand. To me, that screams we're going to win the league. That's what Man City have done in the Premier League for so long. Great teams like heat up throughout the season and that's kind of what Inter has done. And with Napoli, I haven't seen anything get better. And I'm also really, really worried about what happens without Kefirah Scalia.
01:03:52
Speaker
and you You can't have that big of a departure mid-season and still think that your expectations are the same. No fault of Conte or the rest of the squad. It's unfortunate, but you have to deal with it. ah Quick point on Adelanta.
01:04:06
Speaker
And I think it speaks to the talent that Rategi has turned himself into. Atalanta is not the same team where Rategi is off the field or not playing to his full potential on the pitch. He is in a pivotal part of this team, not even just from a goal scoring perspective because you do have other goal scorers in Lookman, in CDK, some archers when he's on can score.
01:04:30
Speaker
But, you know, I've watched Adalanta the past couple of weeks now, and when Rategi's not on the pitch, they kind of lose their direction, I would say. They become very apathetic in the final third, is that how I would i would describe it? And so it becomes a very boring Adalanta team, which you wouldn't normally say under Gasparini.
01:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that's probably a function of what we talked about. They were doing so well this year is just relentless service into the box. And when Rategi's not there, CBK's big, but he's not really it like, you're not trying to get him balls in the air, right? Like.
01:05:06
Speaker
And when Rategi's there, they'll just endlessly, you just hammer it into him and eventually he's going to score and they get away from that. I mean, Rategi's just got that fire in him. That CDK is more of a finesse softer player, which it's worked out for him. Obviously being able to play out wide, play in the middle, bring the ball up, but that's not the Rategi way. and And obviously it's it's benefited Atlanta when Rategi's on and playing that position. And at the same time, like that when they were, they, the CDK Lookman front two was working because Lookman was running so hot. Like looking back, that was unrealistic for him. He was literally going every single game. It was unrealistic to think that would continue.
01:05:47
Speaker
so they It's on Gasparini. Yeah, definitely. But there's still a scary team. i mean alans a scary gary james scary jane fair so so I'm not going to take anything away from them. I actually put them now above Napoli in terms of where I think they finish. And again, it's it's it's unfortunate to have to say that because it's not Napoli's fault. I actually don't think that Caveret Scalia had a reason to leave him this season, aside from a bigger contract which he just 10xed his salary. Yeah, but he was making dirt. Dirt. I mean, he came from Georgia on a $10 million dollar transfer. you know Your agent's got it your ages got to feel a little bit better about it. The 18th highest played player on Napoli.
01:06:30
Speaker
Sure. And D. Laurentiis should have been paying him way more. Totally get it. I mean, fair. so Super fair. And also, I guess fair on Napoli's part to be like, if you're unhappy, let me let's just cash in. 80 mil is nothing to bat your eyes at. But it's an unfortunate timing because they now have to look at a market where I'm not sure that anybody really fits the bill. And it's tough to replace Kaverin Skellia. I mean, he's a top five winner in the world, and he might be top three, and he might not be close.
01:06:58
Speaker
We'll talk about options in just a second here, but so I see Napoli at three. I see Adelanta at two, just given the depth of their squad and the the potential of every single player under Gasparini. And then I'll just I'm not even going to really comment on it, but I echo everything you just said about Inter. it It's it's they're inevitable. Yeah.
01:07:17
Speaker
right I mean, if it's not Taram, it's Lutaro, it's not Lutaro, it's Barella. And if it's not them, it's their two wing backs. So I guess not backs just wingers now at this point. And, you know, when, when Kalana Glue, Johanna Glue is playing at the top tier and their back three is unstoppable. So beyond Somer is playing like he's 21 again. It's, I mean, it's, it's, it's disgusting. Yeah, it is. it It's souring to the stomach to see how good inter is year in and year out these, these past couple of years.
01:07:47
Speaker
especially playing and being the better team in my home stadium. But, you know, Flowers to Nzagi, he just keeps doing it. He does keep doing it. And just a quick question for you because we how you said anything about Napoli. Do you see them falling any further than third? It's kind of crazy they've amassed an 11 point gap. Truth forward. So I would say no. I mean, it I think the worst it gets would be third place.
01:08:12
Speaker
I mean, even without Caveret Skelly, their team is better than Lot2. I don't think that's much of a discussion. I mean, you you still have a core of very solid players. You have names like McTominay coming to the forefront, which we... and fuck I mean, we we we always like Scott from from menu and you specifically, but he's been an absolute revelational for them. And he has he started every single game so since he's joined the team.
01:08:37
Speaker
Right, so that midfield three is definitely much more well-rounded with him in it. Once Bongiorno comes back, that back line is again back to be solidified due to Lorenzo is for somehow keeping himself in top form even though we think he's washed. He he still is kind of washed but is is being carried along by the rest of that back line.
01:08:55
Speaker
Lukaku seems to be very comfortable again playing under Kante. And so there's no, aside from the fact that when they take out Lukaku and they take out Polotano and David Nerris kind of disappears, their offense kind of goes. They don't, their bench is not very deep, which I think is an issue, but for a team that, and Mats would say if he's here,
01:09:15
Speaker
one game a week. yeah It doesn't particularly matter that much. So I think there they between the hot start that they've had and the fact that their roster is still rather talented, at least from a starting 11 perspective, I think they'll be just fine. Yeah. And I think David Narrows has been good, which kind of makes, and this is a good segue, because were we want to talk about Mercato right now. And we'll start with Napoli, convert with Scalia, 72 million plus some add-ons, brings it to 80, is going to PSG.
01:09:43
Speaker
I'm very disappointed that this is happening. Like full stop. I think he's the best player in the league. And I think people are actually and start saying one of the best players in the world. Once he starts playing in the Champions League with PSG, like I still think at the broader, sorry, can you go on a tangent and convert Scalia? The broader footballing world doesn't understand how good he is yet. ah I literally think he could start for every team in the world. Period. like I can't name a team that he wouldn't start for. Real Madrid. You play right wing. He's way better than Rodrigo in my opinion.
01:10:20
Speaker
Do you think Rodriguez is better? I don't. I really think Kavratz Kelly is such a monster in every phase of the game in a way that those guys aren't. I'm not going to get into it. I mean, I think that he's better than Mbappe right now. I'll say that. But it sounds like Mbappe is also just playing in the right position. But in any case, I mean, i I agree. I mean, the guy is an absolute phenomenal talent. He's got the Georgia discount, similar to how Salah has the Egyptian discount, I would say.
01:10:46
Speaker
But the the talent is no less than a top three player, maybe a top five player period, not just winger but player period right now. And so it is a shame to see him leave the league, especially given the fact that.
01:11:03
Speaker
i I do believe that he had some loyalty. I mean, he you said that you saw the clip of him last night, 3 a.m., at the Maradona picked but portrait in the streets of Napoli. you know the guy The guy likes, he loved the league. It's where he made his name, it's where he's come up. I think he's a loyal guy.
01:11:20
Speaker
Obviously, I don't know if he had any other jurisdictions that he could have played for, but he's a Georgian through and through, and he's brought that team to to multiple tournaments now. And so it's an extremely sad to see him leave. I'm glad he's getting his bag. He's going to a PSG team who's currently undefeated in League Oom. So they're certainly going to be a a monster in the ah and Champions League. But i my concern is I hope that Napoli doesn't Arently use the proceeds this window just to make up for that loss Because I don't I don't think that they need to go out and spend 50 60 million on a guy just to fill that hole Yeah, and this this is the important thing that we need to talk about now because he's gone We are never gonna talk about for us Kelly again because we're searing on podcasts. It's very disappointing. I'm very sad about the whole thing
01:12:09
Speaker
But they need to replace him. And when I, when I mentioned David Naras has been good, it kind of makes it weird with how you replace him now. Because Politano is presumably your starter on the right still. Like that wouldn't, why would that have changed? David Naras was pushed off to the left and has kind of been the starter now, presumably there. And he's been very good. So the question becomes, do you replace Cavered Skellia with someone of the same caliber and in that price range, like,
01:12:39
Speaker
there are very few guys you can even get because nobody's willing to sell wingers that are that good and i they they aren't really linked to anybody that good so it's more of people that compliment what they have is kind of what they're looking at is how I would kind of summarize it and the names that we've seen linked to are Pellegrini Rashford from Man U and then Garnachio from Man U. The Pellegrini one is definitely the biggest link because the idea was this was happening. People knew this was happening. Get Pellegrini in. He's the Scott McTominay kind of 10 roll rotator. He can also play left wing. So kind of a versatility kind of guy. I think that one makes a lot of sense. What I don't love about it is I wouldn't take anybody out of the team to Pellegrini in right now. So it's interesting there.
01:13:30
Speaker
i I think the way that he fits in nicely, though, is the way he plays left wing is very similar to how Kaveri Skellia played the the left wing 50% of the time. Yeah. When Kaveri Skellia would cut in, it was very much a Pellegrini-esque left wing, which i can I can support. Certainly not at the same level and certainly not at the creative skill that Kaveri Skellia had. But I think the Pellegrini move there is
01:13:58
Speaker
it would be good for both sides. I think Pellegrini may need a fresh start to get out of this funk that he's been in. I think that Napoli would be buying at a at a discount at the moment, given the fact that he's been so bad. And I think that he brings a little bit of a leadership perspective and a little bit of an Italian flair that Napoli doesn't necessarily have at the moment.
01:14:17
Speaker
Yeah, it could be interesting. I hope that one happens because I don't think it would cost all that much money, and it seems like this would have happened even if Covert Skellya hadn't left. It's kind of the feeling that I got around it. The two men, you guys, Marcus Rashford and Garnaccio, what are your thoughts on that one as a replacement? Because those are both 100% they're playing left wing and probably starting. I'm not sold on Garnaccio.
01:14:45
Speaker
I mean, he's been a good young talent. I think that people rate him more so on his potential than his current talent. He's a flashy guy and and certainly can score goals that you you don't see elsewhere. I think he won goal of the year last year for the prem.
01:15:00
Speaker
and maybe it might just be a man you think, but I don't see him as that top talent that his potential certainly shows, just given that he's so young. I don't mind the Rashford shower. I don't even know. Because he he just, he'll strictly play in the his favorite position, and I don't think that it, I think that he would have a great time in Syria. I think that him having to play the caliber of players that Syria has to offer may be a nice refreshing start for him.
01:15:29
Speaker
Not to say that we're a second, you know, sam likear when he said it was harder than the former elite. Well, he also had to say it while he was playing in Syria. So I think that's, that's a, it's a little bit of a bias there, but I really don't actually hate the Rashford thing. He's played with Lukaku before he's played with McTominay before. So I think it just makes sense. I think at the continuity, the conte annuity is kind of nice there.
01:15:53
Speaker
But i I like the Pellegrini better. You put Dennis Mann's name up here. I love the idea of staying within the league to find the talent to replace. Again, but kind of what I was talking about with the manager before. It's easier to just adjust to Serie A if you've already been in Serie A.
01:16:09
Speaker
and Dennis Mann is a great talent. Not sure that he really fits in the way that they play or maybe the caliber that they play. I'm not sure that he he's a Kante type player, but certainly I think that if there was a place to to look, I think that Dennis Mann has certainly earned his chance to show to show his talent at a new team. And not to get too far off the beat the path here, but two names that I spoke about that I know you kind of wrote off that I still think are are rather possible they haven't been linked so this is just this is just logues links here but Kuleszewski
01:16:46
Speaker
I think could be a name that's in the mix here, has already played for Conte, has already played in Syria, and Tottenham kind of on the outs in terms of playing in European ball for next year. That could be an interesting take. And then I also think that Farron Torres, who hasn't gotten his enough minutes on Barcelona, could also be a take. A guy who's kind of fallen out of town, but we've seen play at a very high level before. A talented winger for Barcelona right now, I think could also be a name that may come up in the next couple of weeks, but again,
01:17:14
Speaker
i I really really really don't want them to spend too much money here. Good points. I like it. The other thing that Napoli did, ah they let Fulla Runchu go to Fiorentina, which I'm happy for both sides. I think Fulla Runchu, I'm kind of surprised he hasn't played more. And he's going to Fiorentina team that's very attack minded, rotates the squad kind of a lot. And I can see him being able to play in the middle, outside. And he'll he'll get minutes now, which I like. And I think Polodino is going to use him well. So I love that that one's happening. And another young Italian guy.
01:17:47
Speaker
was on the Euro squad and just has kind of fallen off the face of the earth with Napoli this year. Keeping a role in the Ross O'Nary, a couple links, Kyle Walker, kind of makes a lot of sense for me. yeah I would have liked the, I don't know, something different, a little bit more creativity.
01:18:06
Speaker
it's mutton ke let you Let me walk you back, let me walk you back. Analanta bought Belanova for like 20 mil at the beginning of the year. I know, I know. What the fuck are you guys doing? I mean, blunders on that front, especially given the fact that we spent 15 mil to go to the prem to get Emerson Royale, who's just been a trash can. Yes, Belanova should have been in the mercenary.
01:18:30
Speaker
I love the fact that we're even in the remotely in the talks for Kyle Walker. I think that even just for a placeholder at the end of the season, it's a great move. He's a solid player, a proven player, a winner. And even if it's only just for six months,
01:18:45
Speaker
I think that ah he could at least leave a ah lasting impression on the rest of the guys, which I think could be more more helpful than even his play on the pitch. Yeah, it just seems like a like i plug the hole for six months kind of thing, which I ah don't love out of this team. But we need. that We've lost games from the right back position. We've lost games. He collabed it back in.
01:19:08
Speaker
Absolutely fucking not. A couple other things. AC Milan, also late to Marcus Rashford. For me, I hated. Doesn't make any sense. He doesn't fit anywhere. Same guy for Rafael layout, essentially, but just way worse. I don't know why they would do that as it is. Very expensive. Yeah, they have like a salary perspective. As they can play there. I mean, there's other guys that can play there in a pinch. Why why are you going to do this?
01:19:33
Speaker
it It doesn't make any sense to me. I mean obviously you have the English connection there, but we also can't actually get both Kyle Walker and Rashford and we need Kyle Walker more so than Rashford because of the whole Brexit thing. But no, I'm 100% out on Rashford.
01:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, it really doesn't make any sense. I mean, the other guy that is still like trying to get Menance and where you could play him, theoretically, is Kamorda. Don't say Okafor. No, Kamorda. Like Kamorda could play there. I was talking about Kamorda today, though, and it's it's the same story with Liberale. It's the same story with Zeroli.
01:20:07
Speaker
they're just too young. I know, but this is how they're just too young. You don't bring in Rashford. like You play Camarda in games where you you are better than the other team and you you let them play 60 minutes. I agree, and I've always been huge on playing these guys. I think they're uber talented. what i've But from what I've seen from them playing the season, they're far too timid to get first team minutes.
01:20:31
Speaker
they're just too young. yeah they're not they They're not even getting they're not getting better by getting these minutes. It's like when i when we played on varsity freshman year at that stupid tournament Berlin and we had extra-large jerseys on and heard us and we would we would play for five minutes and get steamrolled. yeah Like, her your out hurts your cop they're out there, yeah they they're losing confidence, they're scared, and it's not, it's no it's no good for us either. So i i'm I'm actually out, I'm playing them this season, for like the next season when they have, you know, 365 days more under them. Fair. ah could Keep it rolling, kind of UVA slash Milan. We're going to talk about this. Fakayo Tamore is linked to UVA. I don't see a way that this happens. After what just happened with Kalulu, they cannot do this.
01:21:15
Speaker
I mean, they seem to be open to getting a bag. I think the price tag is at $30 million right now. It would be a disaster. there's no reason For me, there's no reason to pun on Tamori at this point when overall- There was no reason to pun on Kalulu either. Yeah, that's true.
01:21:32
Speaker
And I still think the way that we rotate at center back, we can't just lose a center back here. I mean, you typically don't need, if you're playing a two back, you typically only need three, but we've been playing four the entire season. yeah And, you know, injuries happen here and there. And I mean, for us to give.
01:21:50
Speaker
our arch rival, our Scudetto winning back to Scudetto 1 defender of the year and got scored in that. And you just can't do that. ah You can. Got some other links going on. This one, Juve and Milan are linked to, but it seems like if it it if it were to get done, he would end up in Turenne.
01:22:11
Speaker
That's kind of what it seems to me. Ronald Arajo from Barcelona. He's kind of been plagued by injury for the last couple of years. And prior to that point, he was looking like he was going to be one of the best defenders in the world. I love this guy. He can play right back. I don't love him at right back personally. he Kind of doesn't offer as much offensively. But if they go into next season, Bremer Arajo, that is a champions league winning partnership. That is gross. Insane. When I saw the fake headline that Matt sent about the deal being done, i my heart dropped. My heart sank a little bit because Raho isn't is a talent. Yeah, he's ah he's in he's an extremely talented center back. Injury played, which is I think why he's even in the conversation of being moved out of Barcelona. But this guy at his healthiest and at his in in peak form is disgusting.
01:23:03
Speaker
I mean, they at that point they could do a back three with Gachi who's left footed. Is he left footed? Did I just make that up? Yeah, you did. I totally made that up. Damn. Well, they could do a back three with Gachi, Remer, Araho, which is insane. That's insane. Right. I mean, you you just don't get by that. And they all they all may also have... And they also have... And you can just send everyone forward. Yeah. they If they can get this done... They're in really good shape. um Although they die late at home. But based on the recent news, I don't know that it's getting, I don't think he's leaving. And I don't really see a situation where Milan gets this one done either, to be honest with you. know We won't spend the money. We're allergic to spending money. um Another link from Juventus.
01:23:42
Speaker
um Weird one for me. Cola Mwani from PSG. Linked to UVA. Yeah, I would say weird one for me. It's the best way I can describe it. Well, I think it's basically done. I believe loaned to the end of the season. No option buy.
01:23:58
Speaker
But I was saying this before we started recording, that it's odd that you they is going after a player like this when they had a guy that fits this mold and they didn't do well with him. And now he's bawling for Fiorentina. And his name is Moisei King.
01:24:15
Speaker
who also went to PSG and played pretty well, which is why they brought him back and that he didn't play well for them. So I don't, I mean, yeah they definitely need striker help, but give especially given the fact that well, how, which is really, they're only true nine. I'm just not sure that this is the type of guy that they wanted to bring in. Yeah. For me, what I, what I don't love about this is what worked really well for it's Yagamata last year was a true false nine and Joshua Zirce. Why aren't you trying to get somebody like that?
01:24:46
Speaker
I don't know if if they were it's not the easiest thing to find. I'll say that. But but you're certainly there are guys out there that you could get to fit the mold better than Cole Moine does. Cole Moine. Yeah, exactly. they They didn't even try to get close to it. Cole Moine is an out and out. Yeah. You're a long ball. And he's cool. I'm not saying Cole Moine is bad. I just I don't know how this works.
01:25:11
Speaker
And I think it's it's also weird, to your point, because when Konstantin Tsao had to fill in for Vlhovich, he played really well. So that, obviously, Mota excels with a false nine-type player, so I agree. It's weird that they didn't even try to get that profile of a player in. My only guess on this is that they want to use Kook miners in that space, and they haven't been able to yet, because Dusan is kind of like that target man, and then Kook has had to, like, vacate that middle sort of nine space. So that's my guess.
01:25:43
Speaker
But why are you getting away with getting away from what got you brought up a along your team into the Champions League? You should have way better players do the same thing. I agree. I agree. And he he has every other position rather one for one, except for the nine. When you think about it. Yeah, I agree with you. It's it's really weird. Another the last big link we need to talk about is David for Tezi is heavily linked to Roma and Napoli.
01:26:13
Speaker
And I don't like either of them, to be honest with you. I don't think either makes sense in my mind.
01:26:20
Speaker
If he goes to romance because they sold Pellegrini to Napoli, if he goes to Napoli, it's because Napoli didn't get Pellegrini. But I think Fertesi and McTominay play far too similarly, and Fertesi doesn't play the wing as well as Pellegrini does. So the Napoli link doesn't make a ton of sense. He's a talented player and should be getting more minutes. It's unfortunate where he has to play right now because of who's in front of him at Inter. But i i i don't I don't think that he makes any of those teams worse.
01:26:49
Speaker
No, certainly not, certainly not. But I i i see your point. Like, there's there's better fits, but he doesn't make them worse. So, I mean, if you if you have the money to spend, he's not a bad guy to get. What's weird for me, though, like, from an intro perspective is, like, Makatarian has been great this year, which is why he's playing so much. But for Tezi's Italian, Makatarian is not getting any younger. Like, you're going to need him in Literally, probably in a month when somebody needs to rest. Like, you know what I mean? It just makes sense to keep him... He's not out the door, he's just linked. yeah I think it's more so the... Seems like it's a a heavy, heavy link. But I don't know if it's team-driven though. Yeah. He might want to just... think I think it's strictly just player-driven. I also don't really see him playing that 10-roll that McTominay plays as well.
01:27:39
Speaker
Because McTominay kind of plays off of the striker in a way that Fertesi hasn't really ever done. And McTominay is also so scary in the box as a cross threat. He did for Italy. Fertesi did that for Italy. In Spurs, in Spurs of brilliance. other I mean, it wasn't consistent, but he did it in Spurs. So I can't say they can't do that. But he's also been playing on Inter where they had two strikers the entire time he's been there. Yeah. And in on the roll of thing,
01:28:05
Speaker
that would be a disaster for me. Because he's essentially, he would play alongside Manukone, and Manukone is a way better player and is a better attacker than him. and but I don't see that paired well. If I'm for Tezi, I think, you know aside from the pairing, if I'm for Tezi, I've already done my you know, my dirty work of being in projects and playing for SaaS for so long and now sitting my time at Inter. Why am I just going to go join a project like Roma that has zero yeah solidified future? It's not for me. It's an interesting one and we can be proved wrong. ah That wraps up the transfers. We've been running a little long here, so we're just going to run through match week 21 really quick and then you give you guys the Colpi. um First game we got Genoa going to Roma.
01:28:55
Speaker
Difficult game for both of these scenes. Not not much else to say. Bologna hosting Monza is another one for Bologna to get one under the belt. Milan at Juve, shoe and draw, I would say. Nothing really more to say on it. Napoli going to Atalanta. Very big game for the Scudetto race. This is going to be a tough game for Napoli and a tough game for Atalanta again. Torino hosting Fiorentina. You would like to see Fiorentina get this one done without Torino has been over the last few months.
01:29:24
Speaker
Venezia going to Parma. From a Parma perspective, you have to win. You're in the relegation fight. Venezia is presumably going down at this point. And at home, you've been good. You've got to get this done.
01:29:37
Speaker
Caliuri hosting Lecce, another big game for a team that's in the relegation zone. Caliuri right now at 18th, being pretty good at home, not winning a ton of games but for fusing to lose games, I would say at home. Good one for them. Lazio going to Verona, another one.
01:29:56
Speaker
battle for both teams. Verona got to get a result. When they have gotten results, it's been at home. They've just been so shaky. Empoli is going to enter. i Good luck. That's been probably the hardest game of the year, right? At enter. Easily. Easily. That's a horrible game to play. And then Udonese at Como. I like Como in this game. At the late against you and as a I think they can get it done honestly don't sleep but I think my my sleeper game of the week though is general at roma I think that might be a high scoring game I think to two is is what I'm looking at I think the rocks fired great match week yeah I'm a really gonna match week really really really big games here for a lot of these teams there's not there's no real sleeper matchups here maybe let's say Caliare I don't really give a shit about I do but other other thing
01:30:41
Speaker
But other than that, I mean, again, Roma Genoa both need to win. Bologna need to make it, they need to win against Monza. Monza's bad. Milan Juve, Game of the Week. Actually, no, because then you have Napoli Adelante. I think Adelante will win that, but, you know, Napoli is still a strong team in the rest of the lineup, you know. You know, see some surprises, Paisans. See some surprises. You got to wrap it up.
01:31:05
Speaker
co p luna Well, first Colby 2025. We kicked Mott's out of the, of the Colby picks this week, because as you said before, we we can't find him. We literally don't know where he is. Don't know what he answered. And we called him. We texted him. We cannot find him anywhere. So we had to make a pick. We just said it. One of the games of the week is Milan at UVA. This is kind of our high conviction sleeper pick.
01:31:32
Speaker
It's a draw. It's a draw. You guessed it. You guessed it. It's a draw. You may at home, all they do is draw. Milan, we don't know what we're going to get out of them. This makes sense. We're taking the draw, coming in at plus two ten. And then I just make these up. Is the next one you or is the next one me?
01:31:50
Speaker
I think these are all just consensus picks this week. Yeah, we make consensus picks here. Parma Moneyline at home against Venezia, we both like, we think Parma's been good at home, they've stolen results off of some better teams than them. Venezia, definitely playing for their lives, but we like Parma here, also great odds, plus 115, we like it.
01:32:14
Speaker
And then the last one, Lazio at Verona. We like Lazio Moneyline here. Verona have been so shaky and we think Lazio is still in a really good place as a team. They only got one win in their last five, but it seems like they're due for a bounce back. Veroni is a guy they want to have done. He's also going back to his old team. Wants to pull one over at Verona. This one comes in at minus 135. We think these are well thought out good picks this week, I have to say, in a hard match week. This is... the most we've ever plu most we've ever thought together on a couple of picks here, I'd be surprised to see this lose.
01:32:50
Speaker
with there there was a couple other pickcks with right well this the call becomes in at plus ten sixty hi ah this is the fattest but i think we've had yeah but there's some other do takess out there that i did want to mention Filonia at home against Monza was minus 170. That's a really good one. I think Fiorentina at home against Torino is also a good one and there was decent odds there. I can't remember what they're off the top of my head. And then Como at home against Utenese I think was plus 120 or something like that. You're getting plus money. Yeah, that's we get home I think that's a good one too. I would I would take that.
01:33:23
Speaker
But that wraps it up. First episode of 2025, we're back. What a sewed back. What a sewed back. Thanks for joining me. I don't know if we're ever going to get Motz back on him. Maybe he quit. We don't know. ah But we're back. You can follow us on everything. Logs rattles it off always. Where are they? Where are we? Guys, you know the drill. It's the same as last year without that won't change. Instagram X.
01:33:45
Speaker
TikTok until it gets banned in a couple of days, YouTube at KautroCultureFC. And of course, you're going to find us on all your favorite streaming sites, the ones you listen to right now, Apple Pods and Spotify. And so as Matz likes to say, don't be Gaguts and Forza KautroCulture.