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Derby Drama & Transfer Turmoil: Match Week 23 Breakdown (Episode #41)
31 Plays3 months ago
Vos, Logs, and Motts are back with a jam-packed episode of Calcio Culture, breaking down all the key storylines from Match Week 23, the transfer window madness, and a look ahead to the upcoming fixtures.
The show kicks off with the Milan Derby, where a 1-1 draw saw center-backs steal the show until the final moments . Terracciano’s struggles, Leao's quiet performance, and the absence of impact from Barella and Pulisic are dissected, while standout battles like Theo Hernandez vs. Denzel Dumfries and impressive performances from Kyle Walker and Tammy Abraham steal the spotlight.
Next, the hosts dive into the rest of Match Week 23: Napoli and Roma's 1-1 stalemate featured goals from nowhere and defensive lapses. Fiorentina edged Genoa 2-1 but continue to struggle closing out games with their young squad and manager. Juventus secured a 4-1 win over Empoli, though far from convincing, and Bologna's 2-0 win over Como hinged on a pivotal red card. Lazio, Torino, and others provided more drama as the table tightens.
The transfer window buzzes with big moves and head-scratchers: Napoli's dealings, Inter's additions like Zalewski and Sucic, Atalanta bringing in Danny Maldini, and Juventus' puzzling signing of Lloyd Kelly for €18 million. Milan made headlines with Santiago Jimenez and Joao Felix, while Roma, Torino, and Como also shuffled their squads.
Looking ahead, the Coppa Italia heats up with Bologna facing Atalanta and Roma clashing with Milan. Match Week 24 features key matchups like Inter vs. Fiorentina and Juventus visiting Como.
The episode wraps with Culpi di Luna, featuring betting picks from the hosts. Tune in to Calcio Culture and join the conversation on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @calcioculturefc. The Serie A race is heating up—don’t miss a moment!
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome back everybody. This is Vos here with both my co-hosts Logs and Mots to bring you another episode of Calcho Culture. This past weekend, we had Match Week 23. This coming week, we have some Copa Italia action, some makeup games.
Transfer Window Recap
00:00:20
Speaker
And to finalize it, we got Match Week 24. Today, we also saw the end of the January transfer window and a lot of business got done today.
00:00:30
Speaker
We're going to be taking you through all of that in today's episode, but guys, good to have you back here. It's an exciting
Serie A Shocking Results and Standings
00:00:36
Speaker
weekend. So the Milan Derby, a lot of, a lot of good games, a lot of crazy games, a couple of shocking results as well.
00:00:42
Speaker
What's going on, Paisans? Yes, a couple shocking results, especially from the top of the table. It's getting juicy. This happens every Serie A season. Top teams dropping points, leaving the door open for other teams to start start clawing back here. So it's definitely heating up. It's been hot. I expect it to get hotter.
00:01:01
Speaker
Happy Monday, Paisanos. Lot of dropped points from a lot of big teams besides Juventus to wrap up this weekend, putting Juventus in prime position for that fourth spot.
00:01:18
Speaker
I'm so excited for that great weekend of Calco and looking forward to an exciting episode. And as always and the in the Scudetto race, when one team drops points, they all drop points. I don't know what happened again. It happened to again and this weekend. Started to break the news to you guys, but all Napoli intern at Atlanta did drop points. They all drew.
00:01:39
Speaker
And this just goes back to the year the Milan won the Scudetto. Every time I feel like Milan would play as the first game on the weekend, drop points and then like the window is open and it went on for like weeks and weeks and weeks and nobody could catch him because everybody dropped points at the same time. I don't know what it is, but it's just, it's just a stereo thing. Like nobody ever picks up points on each other. That's why we love it. That's why we love it. It doesn't matter. Uh, it doesn't matter what day of the week, doesn't matter what week of the season it's anybody's ball game out there.
Scudetto Race and Milan Derby
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think at this point in the season, it's almost secured a three horse race for this Scudetto. Atalanta's almost falling behind. They got kind of lucky that both Napoli and Inter drop points as well. But the way that things are shaping out to be, it's a three horse race for that number one spot. And then the fourth spot is like a five horse race that's going to go down to the absolute wire, potentially the third, depending on what Adaland to do for the rest of the year. Awesome. Excited for it. And we got a lot, like we said, we got a lot of talking about it. Yeah, we're going to jump right into it because we got, we got to talk a lot of transfers today, but first we got to talk match day 23 and obviously the marquee matchup of this weekend. We all know it.
00:02:56
Speaker
The Derby de la Borde! I knew Marz had one cute off there, so I let him deliver. Morning Marr. This was a crazy one. This was Milan's third attempt at winning this to try to make it a three peak just this season alone. They've beaten Inter twice.
00:03:13
Speaker
came back to the San Siro a third time and just barely didn't pull it off. This one ended one-to-one. First goal scored at the brink of halftime by Tijani Reinders. And then in the 93rd minute, Man of the Match, Defon Defry delivers, scores one to walk it off and secure a draw. Really important point for Inter. Really bad drop of points for Milan when you look at it with how what did pan out at the end.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, this was a war. It was an absolute war. It was extremely apparent that every single player was giving it their all this game. Unfortunate that we couldn't get it done. We couldn't lock it up at the end. um A couple of of key decisions were made that it led to that this draw. But what I will say, shout out to the Dutchmen. They both were the score the the two goal scorers, Reinders and DeVry. Always loved Lao Ranj.
00:04:09
Speaker
But again, a war. And I think that that was the the highlight of this war were really the two center backs from Macy. I mean, Tamori and Pavlovich left it all on the field. They were phenomenal. They played with every bit of energy that they had. Really, really, they really good to see them come back.
00:04:28
Speaker
especially Pavlovic kind of keep the form that he's had the past couple of games. They seemed very comfortable together. The one thing that is a little concerning is that we were playing defense the entire second half. Fosse pointed it out and it's it's apparently obviously true.
00:04:45
Speaker
A.C. goes up right at the half. We go into the locker room and and apparently COVID-19 says, we're dropping everyone back. Dropping the line, playing a completely different ballgame in the second half. And wow, it was a very long time of Ben don't break.
00:05:02
Speaker
fire The last straw that broke the camel's back came in the 93rd minute, obviously. I don't know how this happens, but when we make subs, the entire half to bring on almost eight defenders and somehow Zalewski on the back post is by himself, is beyond me. I do not know why we have this innate ability to just forget the back post. I'm surprised that Dumfries wasn't the one at the back post by himself. He usually is.
00:05:31
Speaker
But it was it was a tough game. I mean, we played we played our hearts out in the first half. I think it finally showed that we are fully committed to playing on the counter. That's obviously where we've been the best. And we fully committed to at this game, which I thought was a it was finally good to see that we had some intention in the way that we were playing. But that intention was all gone at halftime.
00:05:53
Speaker
when we just dropped the lines. Inter, it was inevitable. Inter hit the post, I think, three times in the second half. Bisic had a great header. um Taram had a, I think it was more of a deflection, but it came off his knee, but that should have gone in.
00:06:07
Speaker
We got lucky. I mean, this game could have been 3-1 Inter. It was a little weird for me being that my Colby leg was both teams to score. So I'm like, oh, I gotta ah i got bones. I'm both teams to score by itself. And i'm I'm waiting for our three points. But it was inevitable. You kind of saw the paint the the writing on the wall. Inter deserved to have a goal there. Unlucky for us to come out with only one point. We really needed three, especially with the Bologna um performance over the weekend.
00:06:34
Speaker
got very lucky that both Napoli and Atalanta also came away with one point for the if of the weekend. But overall, this was a this for me is a standalone game. I'm not taking it. There are no takeaways really from me in terms of ah of the long term outlook because we always play this game so differently. Every player plays this game so differently. They know what it means.
Milan's Tactical Analysis
00:06:57
Speaker
And so, like I said, last week going into this was a huge.
00:07:01
Speaker
great difference in preparation. And I think that we just have to put it behind us and and move on to the next game because this is certainly not something that I think is going to to snowball. I really liked about it was going from Fonseca to the start of conscious how could this game This was the first, not the first game, but the most clear time this entire season that I was watching a Milan game and understood what they were trying to do at every point in the game. In the beginning game, they were obviously more expansive trying to go and get that goal, but they were so comfortable on the counter attack.
00:07:37
Speaker
And I was clear that we were trying to do, this is clearly the identity of the team. And yeah I think it will be a learning experience for the players, but also for conscious out because they literally came out 45th minute at halftime. And refuse to attack like period. And I think anybody watching was just like, this is too early to start doing this intro too good. A goal was always going to come.
00:08:01
Speaker
But the fact that they were able to get 48 minutes into the second half before conceding is astounding. Inter is one of the hardest teams to not concede, I mean, to whatever, to keep clean sheet against. I don't know how they were able to do it in such a deep shell. In number two, with the Pavlovich performance, the Tromoy performance, we both went to them as probably the two best players, arguably for Milan.
00:08:24
Speaker
I think they really benefited from Kyle Walker kind of tucking in at times as being a third center back. He also, Kyle Walker was kind of communicating a lot with Eunice Musa, who's not a traditional wingback and was kind of forced into that wingback role. And you could just see him yelling at Musa the entire game, directing him like you need to go. Everybody though. Yeah. So I think that made a difference. And then the third piece that I will give the conscious hours, but I'm second try doing similar things to this.
00:08:50
Speaker
The defensive structure in all three lines, defense, midfield, forwards, which is good. I mean, this is what he did on Horjo for years and years and years. Played teams better than him, sat in a defensive shell and threaded it on the counter. This is just a guy that has an identity and he's getting it across to these players now. And it's saying like, was it a good performance? Was there a bad performance? I think it's hard to knock it.
00:09:14
Speaker
But I see this being the identity going forward. The difficulty is still going to be what Fonseca had and how do you beat Team Korsunu. Also, to that point, before months, we did this without our star defensive midfielder in Fofana. Yeah, very true. Benesiclee useless this game. Benesiclee was a non-factor, but I think that if we do if we are able to stick to this and we do make it the face of our team, that Fofana is certainly going to be a helpful addition to this lineup, obviously. But having him in there will, I think, open up the rest of the midfield, especially with some of the additions that we've got and we'll talk about.
00:09:50
Speaker
But again, just a big note that Fofana was not playing this game. Yeah, I think you guys covered a lot of it. So I'm not going to add too much and then we'll go into kind of the player highlights that we have. But I just think like I always say.
00:10:04
Speaker
Today's players are too talented, too skilled to sit back for that long. And you can sit back, but they totally gave up on the counter as well. And you saw it clearly with the subs they made with taking Polisic off and Liao off, which I did.
00:10:21
Speaker
agree with the Liao one, but I didn't necessarily agree with Christians because he already sacrifices for the team and will defend and will be better on the counter than Chucky, right? And then also taking Tammy off, Tammy was working his ass off, so I understood why you subbed him ah off, but then you put it on a 16-year-older who met who did have a good shot and almost had a crazy goal but doesn't necessarily know the moment and isn't gonna be as good as holding up the ball as Tammy to help on the counters. So you guys basically just said we we quit playing offense or Milan basically said we we're not gonna play offense anymore and we're just gonna defend which you guys did a great job of but at the end of the day they did so hit the post three times like they should have scored
00:11:03
Speaker
I know it took them 48 minutes in the second half, but they probably enter pressure to scored earlier. And if they do, then it's like, now you're going to probably lose the game because of those subs. So I didn't necessarily agree with the subs, but I agreed with the con se south, how he lined them up. Like we're going to counter. I just think he aborted it too quickly.
00:11:23
Speaker
and And I agree with you, this is how they need to be set up. And this is how the management, whether they realize it or not, this is the team that they built is a counter-attacking team. So stop just trying to change it up all the time. It's going to look a little different against teams, lower lower level teams, but i so I still think you can set up low and counter attack, even if you you have a better opposite or you're you're the better team, you just have maybe 55% of the possession rather than 30 or something like that. You have to allow them to have the ball, which I think you can do. But I thought it was a good performance from Milan. I think that the end of the day, like being undefeated against Inter, it because of the season that they're having, and they might not make champions again, we'll see what ends up. At least they can hold their hat on that, that, hey, we
00:12:10
Speaker
we Milan is red and black this year because we, and at least in the head to head. Yeah, actually it would have been, if we had won, it would have been the first time in 40 years that AC had gone 3-0 against Inter in a singular season. So it would have been cool, but i again, can't knock the performance. One thing before I go into the player highlights here is, you know, to your point months.
00:12:33
Speaker
The beauty of the counter is that you're already you're already in a defensive shape. You're already prepared for their attack. So why why give up on you know sending three or four guys forward if you have the opportunity to? we kind of just Every time we had a chance on the ball, we just knocked it, let them get the ball back.
00:12:52
Speaker
Again, ah it was great in the first half. I think we got a little bit scared and we just got nervous in the second half, which is is tough to see, especially with some of the some of the the guys that we have that have been there done that at Vos. But with that being said, a couple player highlights, right? So we'll start with the bad. Subs, we'll start with Terichano.
00:13:15
Speaker
hard. He has been useless for a while, not really sure what his position his best position is. He's an outside back at heart, but he can play in the midfield. But when he came in, he did not do anything for the squad. So not much to be said about him in terms of ah what i what I will say about it him is that In all the games he's played this year, he's kind of played a different position. Like he's playing left back and he was in the middle of the field. And a lot of those starts at the beginning of the year came under Fonseca, which is kind of chaos. And then this game, you're thrown into a lot of derby where you guys are just sitting deep and you're playing right wing back when you're playing traditional left back at the beginning of the season. Kind of a recipe for disaster, a little bit kind of thing. So I do feel bad for him, although like still very poor for us.
00:14:02
Speaker
Well, one around the guys that there are things I like about him is my point. I still think he's a good player to have. I'm not out on Terichano. I think he's he's obviously still young. ah He's come up through do the academy, but a poor performance. Another guy that you on the surface level, maybe if you look at the stat sheet, he played well.
00:14:22
Speaker
lia was ah This was a a perfect layout game. He has two shining moments maybe and then is completely invisible for the rest of the game. What I really hated out of his performance is There was a ball in the first half, we were on the counter, obviously, and Reinders had an opportunity to play him perfectly through. I mean, if if the ball was just on a straight line, Laiau was in one-on-one with Silmer, and then i would I would trust him to fix that there. it's gone The problem was he put a little bit of spin on it. it was The ball was in a little bit of a weird spot to play off his right, so naturally he just had a bit of curve. And it took Laiau away from the goal, which allowed Pavard to get back.
00:15:03
Speaker
Liao was livid after that, livid, screaming at Reinders, pounding the ground. And from that point on, every single time that Liao got the ball, it looked like it was Liao from three years ago, where he had incredibly poor decision making and didn't pick up his head any time he had the ball. He could have played it across to a couple of guys at the top of the box, and he just decided to take a bad shot. That was Liao a couple of years ago, which we have commented on that he's matured from that.
00:15:32
Speaker
But I think he got his his motion got in the way of that and he for the rest of the game, I think was completely useless and made a bunch of poor decisions in the final third, which again is something that we've been. We've needed to work on and that didn't help at all. So yes, layout, shining moments, definitely good in certain places and and good for him to get a shot on net that somer botched and Reinders actually had a great finish. That's not an easy finish to roof that from there.
00:15:57
Speaker
but layout was a little disappointing from that point on from my standpoint. Last bad thing, this is a really bad thing, but just wasn't wasn't what I was expecting out of and of this player from this caliber of game, especially given his form this season. Pulisic was a non-factor. I think the entire game obviously had high energy, but I'm not even sure he was on the ball that much, which is tough because obviously he's been one of our our best goal scorers this season. And for him to kind of shy away from this game was, was was not what I wanted to see. So a little tough from, from, you know, I think we talked about layout and pool search kind of in tandem because obviously same essential position, right? Wingers, you know, have had really different seasons and on the layout point that kind of sums up his season as a whole, right? It's, it's in hit player as a whole, right? It's moments that he shows up. We keep saying it. There's no consistency in the season. He's only a four goals. Like.
00:16:53
Speaker
it We thought that the the periods of him going where he would just show up, play well, and then disappear would continue to kind of shrink in his his growth and his development. Like three years ago, like you were saying, you go like three or four games without playing well or having a moment. And then last year was like every other game, you'd have this moment and now it's These stretches have just come so long and we saw Fonseca bench him conscious how he's still to the point where he can win you a game like this. Like, right. He's the reason that they got three or they got a point out of this game. And that's just why it's going to always be so hard to leave him out of the team.
00:17:28
Speaker
but somebody has to do something to get more out of him and i don't I have no idea what the answer is. It's going to be hard to get more out of him, but what I will say is the at the very threat of him and Tio on the left is in and of itself almost enough to help Milan in other areas of the pitch because they can go score a goal. and It took two passes, three passes for Milan to get down the pitch and score that goal because of Tio and Liao. so Yes, it wasn't his best performance. I thought he was a little bit better than what Logan is saying. But just the threat of them will help Milan and Conseisao manage the rest of the game. So you can't always have him out. You have to have him out there. In terms of Pulisic,
00:18:11
Speaker
He has struggled since coming back from that calf injury. He was on a tear in the beginning of the year. I don't think he has a goal now in the last four or five or even a goal contribution last five or six games. I do know that's because Tijani Reinders is just playing out of his mind. It seems like he scores every single goal. um But Cushion is someone to keep an eye on since Konsei Sao's appointment has definitely not done as well that he was under Fonseca's management.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, just just to close it out on Layao, and this might be a really hot take, but I'm i'm almost at the point where I wanted to sell Layao. He's not good enough nor consistent enough to game plan around him every single game, and that's my issue with him. He's a great player. I bet that if we did sell him and he goes elsewhere, he probably will be fucking unreal. But for me, getting a bag for him and refreshing the refreshing the team here, I think would do us wonders, just because again, like it like I just said,
00:19:12
Speaker
We can't continue to game plan around a player who isn't consistent. And he' that's that that's really been his old career. He's just not consistent like most just said. So that's my take.
Player Performances and Team Strategies
00:19:22
Speaker
Obviously, we benefit when he's on the pitch. we're not good like We shouldn't be benching him. But I i would be happy to sell him in the summer.
00:19:28
Speaker
I mean, that any case that that's definitely like, if he is consistent, like if he was consistently doing what we know he could do, he's probably up there with Vinny as like the best winger in the world. It's just his consistency is not bad. I said it today, I said it today to Paolo, Paolo, shadow you, if you are listening this next time, he did tune in this last one. I said to him today, his his ceiling is Vinny. Yeah. I wholeheartedly believe that. But that ceiling only happens in three minutes of a 90 minute match every four games.
00:19:57
Speaker
And it it shows it really shows you like how much mindset matters in this game of soccer. like If you don't have the mindset or the will to sacrifice, like you're going to be worse than what you are. like Vinny has that mindset and the will to... And Mbappe go on the left and he'll play off the right. like He's doing whatever it takes for the team. And so it really goes to show like mindset can make or break a career.
00:20:24
Speaker
100% but that that does bring us to some highlights from an AC perspective Obviously, I don't need to talk about rinders. We've talked about him a whole bunch That man is just unreal if I we need to do everything to keep him in the summer But you guys touched on a little bit Kyle Walker was phenomenal having him in the back line I think really really did show a difference for Pavlovich and for tomorrow Tucking in directing the whole field again a captain at heart played under pep you have to have that He has the pedigree to come into any side and make them better. And it just goes to show that one position can make a difference. If we had Calabria, RIP, or Emerson Royal back there, it's a whole different game, in my opinion. So thank God for Kyle. I'm happy to have him. And I think that that's going to be a very consistent you know base of our of our team there.
00:21:16
Speaker
i This goes hand in hand with I was just saying, Kyle Walker's got one of the best mindsets in the game and one of the best mental mindsets. He, like you said, like he's been with Pep for the last eight years. They won four Premier leagues in a row, a treble. He has heard Pep talk in the locker room time and time again. He understands what it takes to win the mindset you need to have, the sacrifice you need to give, the culture you need to build. And when i I'll ahll go as far to say this,
00:21:45
Speaker
When I heard Kyle Walker wanted out and he was linked to Syria, it's obviously if you're linked to Syria, you're linked to the same teams, Milan, Inter, Juventus. I was like, we don't need him at Juventus. He is such a leader and that's something that this Milan team was missing. That's something that the Juventus team, I said it last episode, is missing.
00:22:03
Speaker
that having that leader in the locker room and for for all of your players like tomorrow like like you saw what it did for tomorrow in Pavlovich, it's only going to snowball effecting and allow you guys to kind of stack wins together and stack points together and potentially turn your season around to to push for a Champions League spot.
00:22:21
Speaker
So at the time I was like, he's kind of washed up. Is he an improvement? Yes. I think it was a good signing, but I don't think I realized how good of a signing it was until I saw how much of a leader and how talkative he was on the pitch and what it did for not just the defensive line, just everybody on the pitch. I agree. And this might be an overreaction, but like.
00:22:41
Speaker
It was so different that he almost needs to play every game. Even but if he's not playing right back because he can't cover it on the ground and needs some rest. He needs to at least be playing his right center back because it made that much of a difference. It it was insane.
00:22:57
Speaker
I mean, know his they all settles alone they also sold Calabria, Emerson Royale, I think's injured. So they got no other right back besides potentially Tamoria every now and then. But I think they got him for him to play every game or as many games as possible. And if he's not playing, he's going to be a second manager on the sideline with Conseil Sal. 200%. Two quick hits, guys that didn't show up on the stat sheet.
00:23:21
Speaker
really made a difference. Another sub here, Jimenez, Alex Jimenez. Dog. Love this guy. Unreal energy. He's kind of what I wanted i wanted out of Terra Chano, but he's a little bit more offensive, can play outside back, is from Rial. This guy's a talent. He's a young talent, 19 years old, and has come onto the scene here the last couple months, has played extremely well. Really love the addition of him in the lineup.
00:23:44
Speaker
And then a guy that we've been dogged for the season, his running mate got sold for the same ineffectiveness. But I think that this guy gave it his all and and was all over the pitch literally. Tammy Abraham had had an absolute game. This guy was all over the pitch, high energy, did everything he needed to do, not necessarily from an offensive perspective, but even just defensively all over the pitch. He had a beautiful defensive play in the box composed.
00:24:09
Speaker
where he he'd want us a goal kick. But just again, all of the pitch from the from the nine perspective love to see that. So I hope that he can keep a little bit of confidence going forward, even though we did just buy his replacement. Mounts, I think you're on mute buddy.
00:24:24
Speaker
always on mute always on mute but I said this is who Tammy is he has to be that energy guy because ever since that first season at Roma I believe it was where he scored like 28 or goals or so he struggles with converting right so if he's gonna get time on the pitch he needs to bring that energy sacrifice be all over the place which if he could just score a little bit more goals. He's going to be a very certifiable rotational player for this team. And you hope with the new signing that that they brought in, it'll bring in that inner competition and he'll start scoring when he can. But I thought it was great game. Yeah. The other, the other piece of this ah that is going to go in Tammy's favor, I believe is conscious. Sal is not out or against playing a traditional four four two.
00:25:10
Speaker
And I think what will suit Tammy Abraham well is having somebody that can play off of them, like a little guy and what we're going to talk about it in a little bit. But I think Milan may have brought in a player that can play as a second striker. And if I think about like Athletic Home Madrid and how they've done that for years. I also think pool is such could probably do that. And if you need them to, and it could be interesting.
00:25:29
Speaker
But Tammy Abraham, is there's a player in there. Like he got hurt after that first year on Roman and never really bounced back. And I don't think the Fonseca system ever really suited him. And now we're kind of finally in a place where he's kind of playing to his strengths finally for the first s time in several years. They're just something to watch. He could be quiet for the rest of the season or it could be a big part of the team.
00:25:48
Speaker
And one more thing I didn't say that I just want to add really quick about Timmy is he's but been a Milan player for one, not even a full season. And immediately when Milan signed him and he was playing and he had the jersey on, it looked like he cared more than half the Milan players that have been on their squad for the last three, four years that Logan say have been there done that.
00:26:07
Speaker
ah So you just, once again, and i've I've been preaching it all day and it's, it was Milan's problem and it's mindset. And he's one of those guys that will sacrifice, that will do it. It's needed done for the team and you need those guys. And those are glue guys. You need those guys in order to make a run and and do something.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yeah, i just last point here and just not just, I mean, it's more of a dual highlight, but just a matchup that was awesome to see and it continues to be kind of this perennial rivalry is the Teo Dumfries matchup is just awesome to watch. I mean, they're both absolute dogs. And I know Vos has his own opinions on on Teo's performance, but I thought he played extremely well. Then he looks like he's starting to come back to form into the old Teo. So good to see that but after he rejected Komo, which is a really hard projection. I think that it's good to see him come back from that.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah. And that brings us on to the other team, right? That, that did play in this game. It was a two, there were two teams in this one. It was second place team enter Milan, probably the strongest Milan lineup we've seen since the start of the season. Everybody was healthy. Hakan Chantaloglu started from the beginning. It had been the first time in a while. Lefaro Martina started, Marcus Taram started. They weren't really missing anybody. This was arguably the best lineup. And they definitely deserve points at this game, right? Like after the first half.
00:27:24
Speaker
So my, my stream shut off with like two minutes ago on the first half and I missed it. And then I, I turned the game back on and I was like, how the hell I did Milan score like enter should have been up in the first half. And, and they dominated for large parts of the second half. So for them, are there really any takeaways from this game? Could they have done anything differently? They hit the post a bunch of times.
00:27:47
Speaker
The only thing that I kind of thought was that they didn't get enough service into the box. I didn't see Dumfries or DeMarco in the box all that much and now probably would have expected more, given how much per possession they did have. But the from a defensive standpoint, Bovard, DeVry, Bastoni were lights out and pretty much did everything they could do, minus one goal, which was kind of a chaos moment.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, Summer could have. If Summer doesn't spill it, it's probably not a goal. Pavard played really well. ah he shut He did very, very well against Liao, who's obviously a handful. And Liao is way faster than Pavard. So you have to give props to Pavard. And even when Inter rotated, Carlos Augusto ended up playing left center back. Towards the end of this, they took Bestoni out. I was like, why are you taking Bestoni out? <unk> Didn't even matter, though, because Milan wasn't playing offense.
00:28:40
Speaker
Then ah ah after I said that I was like well actually Milan's not even attacking so you don't really need best Tony in there But yeah, I mean, I guess the only thing for that I would say Yeah, I guess they there's not much takeaway for into they played well they got unlucky hitting the post three times Manon made two or three really great saves as well um And inter kept fighting and they ah they ended up getting their goal to tie the game.
00:29:06
Speaker
My only takeaway from Inter was that I thought that the their midfield was a little bit underwhelming. The entire game, Borrello had a couple of good passes, but other than that, I thought he was a non-factor. Mikitarian, I'm not sure, did too much. And obviously, Hakan is always on the ball, but I'm not sure that that really made a difference again. I think Playing in such a low block kind of neutralized their midfield because they're so good at breaking lines together. And so that was my only takeaway from here. Defense was phenomenal. Obviously Bastoni came out a little early with the yellow, but we, you know, AC couldn't do too much. So that's ah definitely telling. um But again, that, that midfield is absolutely strong, probably the best in the, in the league, aside from the way Napoli is playing, but a little bit underwhelming from my perspective.
00:29:54
Speaker
They also did score like twice or three times. Like the ball went in the back of that three times, but all of them were called back for offside. So like it could have been a lot worse than what it was. So yeah, entered in that Lutaro, the Lutaro offsides was a great. Yeah. That was just a good, that was a good line. That's just hold your line. but but Also like when we're talking about this is.
00:30:15
Speaker
Pavlovic and Tamori did do a very good job of kind of stopping both Taram and Wataru from making those runs in behind that they wanted to do and they kind of, I guess it was more Milan as a whole was shut like shuttling them into channels where they couldn't really hurt them, right? Like a lot of, a lot of the times Taram's run went outside of the center back rather than coming inside the center back. And it was the same thing with Lutaro. And then Mamam did a good job of making the field small. So once they did get through and they did hold it published tomorrow, but just right on them, they didn't really have anywhere to go, which where we see a lot of those integrals come from, they get in behind and they can attack the net and they weren't really able to do that.
00:30:56
Speaker
I don't want to spend too much time on this, but did you guys see at the end of the game the conversation CBS was having about the tackle that Pavlovic and Tio Hernandez made on Taram that was in the box on why it was not a penalty?
00:31:14
Speaker
I mean, because it wasn't a penalty. But did you see, what did you did you hear the explanation? Because Pavlovich trips to Ram. Like he hits him on the leg in the box. But the reason why it wasn't a penalty is because Tio Hernandez is there. And the ref assumes that because Tio Hernandez is there, he's going to make the tackle. So if Tio wasn't there, it would have been a penalty. Pretty crazy explanation. Who's to say? But they had like an hour of conversation about that.
00:31:45
Speaker
Listen, a tough game for AC. Lucky that we didn't lose by Moore. Inter just needed to get a point out of this and and stay in the race. But I hope that the ah this image of AC can continue going forward. And I think for Inter, it's a non-factor. This is but just ah um the to the next one. And Milana's red and continues to be.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yes, sir. Rosinieri all day. There were some other big games that happened. Oh, do you want to wrap up, Logan? Pointing in my picture. Oh, OK. Other big game that happened. The leaders Napoli went to Rome to take on Claudio Ranieri's Roma.
Napoli, Roma, and Fiorentina Matches
00:32:22
Speaker
This one was another one-to-one draw. Some crazy moments here as well. In this game, we have linette Leonardo Spinazzola returning to Rome, netting a goal in 30th minute. And then a 90-second minion Angelino nets one to tie it and steal a couple points for Roma.
00:32:42
Speaker
How are we feeling about Napoli after dropping points here? were We're going to talk about their window in a little bit, but then into a whole bunch of reinforcing and maybe just slowing down a little bit. Well, this this is my one concern about Napoli is that how many games have they just won, won nothing? I'd say a bunch. And so eventually this is going to happen. They're going to give up a late goal like this. And so I i would like to see out on Napoli as they make the Scudetto run.
00:33:08
Speaker
not take their foot off the gas once they go up. Because you see ah they're able to to turn it on when they're down. They did that against Uve. I don't know why they decide to, every single time, just cut hit the brakes and and let the game play on 1-0. I know it's a conte thing, but to give yourself a little bit of buffer, especially in a game where Roma has been weak this season, you should be able to put them away without without giving up too much of ah of a ah risk on the back end.
00:33:37
Speaker
Well, I mean, they did have a chance, right, most to to put the game away and they kind of just biffed it. Yeah, and and I think it was like the 85th minute. I'm kind of spacing out and this kind of goes back to me pointing and we talked about this. We thought they needed to reinforce a little bit to really push. ah They're not out of the race, right? When I'm not saying that, but to really make a strong push, we thought they made a need to reinforce. But there was a moment and i when it happened, I was like, oh, this might be significant. 85th moment or 85th minute, Gio Simeone and Giacomo Raspidori, they're they're kind of super sub forward, realistically, like the best guys they can bring in.
00:34:10
Speaker
Two-on-one at the top of the box and Gio Simeone just tries to slot a ball at the rest of the door and doesn't get it across. If you have some stronger guys in the team, they maybe score on that opportunity. I think their midfielders score on that opportunity. In those moments, ultimately came back and bit them in the ass. And that's why they dropped three points because they couldn't take advantage of another opportunity.
00:34:33
Speaker
So my my thoughts about this game is when I first saw the Roma lineup that they put out, I had a ton of questions. I didn't understand it at all. They're playing the number one team.
00:34:49
Speaker
in the league, and they're probably going to get eliminated from the rope. I'm not sure where their standings are exactly, but it's not looking good for them there. And they didn't play, I think their only starter that they played, Mancini, Kone, El Sharar always been getting some starts, but no De Balla, no Dovbik who's been playing well, no Hummels. I didn't understand why Ranieri rotated as much as he did.
00:35:18
Speaker
Um, it didn't haunt them entirely because it really was a slow paced game with like XG for Napoli was 0.3, XG for Roma was 0.52. Like it didn't kill them. Spinach Sola's goal was terrible defending and terrible goalkeeping by Roma, but it really, really, really was a high class play by Spinach Sola. One touch chipped it over the keeper, tough finish.
00:35:44
Speaker
Shout to Kante because he has Spinachsola playing in his Euro form. And we all know Spinachsola is one of the main reasons why Italy had won, was able to win the Euros or at least go so far because he didn't play in the finals because he was towards Achilles. Shout to Spinachsola for not celebrating classy man there.
00:36:03
Speaker
But yeah, this was just kind of a dog fight, not not a great game. i did I think it deserved to be a tie because of how kind of slow the game was and little opportunities. And Yelena had a great finish at the end with a ton of bodies in the box, sliding it in the corner.
00:36:18
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, Napoli could have put it away. They didn't, and Roma took advantage of it. I didn't, but that's my kind of takeaway. didn't I think that if Roma played their guys, they could come out of here with a win. I know they said, don't pick on. See, this is what I'm going to disagree with you a little bit, because I think that they don't necessarily get the result. And I think this was a testament to Ron Yerry and kind of the clout that he can pull and not really feel any pressure and playing a defensive game against Napoli who's top of league when you've had a bad season as Roma and playing guys that you know are going to do the running for you.
00:36:53
Speaker
Because Diabola and Dopec are going to put in those hard legs running up and down the field as much as these guys are. And I thought that that game plan actually works really well. right like If that spin at Solokol was kind of out of nowhere, Juan Jesus played a phenomenal ball, yes. And Spillar kind of made bad decisions about what Chini did. But they didn't let Napoli do anything really that they wanted to do. And it it kind of worked. And ultimately they got the point out of it.
00:37:20
Speaker
But they definitely are out there best when they have Diballa and Dopek from an offensive perspective. Are we young? Yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead. It's a small show.
00:37:32
Speaker
Okay, I do want to talk about Mateus Sulei though, because he hadn't really played in a while. And this net wasn't necessarily the best game for him to show off his skills, because Mats, I think you you've probably seen him more than most. He was kind of a non factor in this one. And to me, he was dropping way too deep. And he strikes me as a player that kind of needs to be Against the back line receiving the ball wide areas 1v1 and kind of coming in He was more so trying to do a little bit of diabolic Really deep to get it and he just never really found the game for me And there's a couple times he got it on his left foot and really couldn't deliver
00:38:05
Speaker
So there's still question marks around Sulei for me as a whole. I think part of it is definitely Roma hasn't been able to figure out the bright spot for him and we've talked about personnel in the roster. But it's a little bit worrying because it's their marquee signing of the summer probably when it happened. Granted, like Mon and Kony has kind of stolen the spotlight. ah But it's he needs to start producing a little bit or they're already going to be looking to replace him.
00:38:29
Speaker
Listen, I think with Sulei, he has to wait his turn. And that's what it is. like he on like You got the ball in front of you. He's better than you. He's more proven than you. you I forgot how old Sulei is. I think he's like 20, maybe max 21. He could be 19 around there.
00:38:47
Speaker
So I hope he's taking it the right way with his attitude and and trying to learn from from this guy to Bala because he's supposed to be the next one. And so I'm not I do think that if you're Roma, you want to see more from him because he was supposed to show a lot more. If you're so late, you probably want to show a little bit more because you had a pretty good season on Frazinone last year and you're kind of putting up stinker this year. But I just think he's got to wait his turn and because of the Argentinians and they do obviously have a relationship and they like each other. I think he's understanding of that. He's learning and hopefully in its next year is his year. um So hopefully he can kind of end the year on a streak and then really comes on next year when he's going to be the guy. And I don't know what happens with the ball, but I do agree. He has to show more, but maybe he's just it's going slow because obviously the ball is the guy he's next up. He's learning. He's figuring it out under the ball and we'll see what happens next year.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah, before we move on, two quick things. One, let's not diminish the Angelino finish. That was impeccable, especially from a guy who I did not know had that in the holster. Great volley. But taking a 10,000-foot view, and for as much hate as we gave Roma for this entire season, which was certainly deserved, watch out. Ronnie Arie, last five games, Serie A. Three wins, no losses, two draws.
00:40:11
Speaker
That's nothing to sneeze at. So if they can keep this form going, they may have a chance to get themselves back in a little bit of a race here. Yeah, definitely. I mean, they look just as good as Milan at this point. I would say like they they're doing all the right things and they're trending in the right direction for sure.
00:40:25
Speaker
um And I believe we want that too, right? Like we've talked yeah about this all we want that there's so many players who want to see me successful on this team and they just haven't I believe it's last eight games now unbeaten his Roma under Ranieri in the Serie A So yeah, and and we saw that he was riding the ship Dov Bixby getting better. So we definitely have seen that and and We said it last episode, they are. I mean, who they got? They got Milan. Oh, no, that's in the Copa. So they got Venezia. And then who else do they have in their next upcoming Parma? Monza? Como? Emply? Calliari? Leche? These are winnable games in this stretch. They could they could come out of this very well in contention for
00:41:11
Speaker
maybe a conference league spot that we all thought was impossible to start the season. So they couldn't really turn their ship around with how they've been playing. And from an Napoli perspective, this was the first loss and and and a little bit of time they had been on a hop streak, winning a bunch of game. and any This is the first drop drop personal first drop drop points. yeahrop For me, it feels like a loss, right? um what do your Do you guys have any big takeaways from this one? Anything new from an Napoli perspective?
00:41:37
Speaker
just that we might start seeing, like, if Kavada's in this game, if they have Kavada for 90 minutes, i I assume that they win this game. They had very little offense, like I said, only 0.52 XG. They replaced him with Okafor, who I don't think is of is a really and ah a replacement at all.
00:41:57
Speaker
So David Neres, Politano are going to have to step up because you have to you have to replace the production that Kavada gives. Right. And obviously. Oh, the other. Another really important thing that I didn't forget to mention, this comic dominate miss.
00:42:14
Speaker
a really good chance to. And I mean, he's not the one in the box. so Yeah. Wasn't amazing. I mean, I just look at I remembered it now in point two, two extra. He definitely should have hit it the target. He was kind of untouched. That's another one like they had the chance and they don't always go your way. But again, I think your point about Kavata is the is the most important point. They don't really have a forward that's just going to go and get you goals.
00:42:41
Speaker
I mean, this one, it feels like the inter matchup for me. It's just onto the next one. Yes, the Kavara story is is a bit daunting, but we've seen them have success already against good teams without him. And so again, like I said, the beginning of the section.
00:42:58
Speaker
They tend to turn it off when they go up 1-0. So they just need to pretend like it's a 0-0 every single time that they score. And I think that would make a big difference. Another thing is this game was – I believe it was in Roma, right? Yeah. So it's not like Roma's an easy place to go get three points. You have to look at it like Napoli, yes, they won seven in a row.
00:43:16
Speaker
But you do have to come back down to earth. You're not going to win every away game. So sometimes getting away against, I know Roma is sitting deep in the table and not having their best year, but they still have a great team. They've spent a hundred million transfer into last or in the summer. Like it's not an easy place to go get.
00:43:33
Speaker
three points especially when, like you said, Ranieri runs out a lineup that's like, we're gonna we're going to sit low sit deep and defend. So at the end of the day, they got their point they away from home. Kante is probably happy with it. And they're moving on to the next game now.
00:43:48
Speaker
One thing I will say is my outlook on this game does significantly change if Inter has three points out of out of the Derby. I will say that. Well, that's far I mean, I mean, that's also to be said because they knew Napoli knew Inter dropped points. So to to even unplug.
00:44:06
Speaker
when you have one nothing like go get the second one, kill the game, and then you have a nice six point cushion, even though it has a game in hand, so you could have a real three point cushion. So that is something to be said on Kante where he didn't fire him up enough to be like, guys, let's go get a cushion here.
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, my last point on this one. We don't really need to talk about it all too much. Romelu Lukaku has kind of been missing on the stat sheet for a couple of weeks, but I thought he played really well in this game. This was kind of vintage Lukaku hold-up play. They almost scored an insane goal where there's like four passes and they got it from the back to front. Lukaku had a crazy hold-up play. He was just a monster against Machiny and I hadn't got the entire game. But I still feel good about him.
00:44:45
Speaker
He's not going to be like the 20 plus goals for a guy. He was, but he still does a lot of things. Well, so I think that's, that's still going to be um something to walk for it for the rest of the season. But keeping our own to some other games we have this weekend, pure on Tina hosted Genoa and they won that game two to one. especially if the others general who we've been phrasing a lot read and recently as a team that's been hard to beat, getting some draws, getting some wins. But Fiorentina, we have to shout out Moise Keene and Kudmiston who also scored in this one. Moise Keene had one of the craziest goals that I can remember. I don't know how we get it. I don't know how we generated the power to get it done.
00:45:20
Speaker
Well, Gudmundsson also had that assist on the free kick, which I don't know if it was, but the way that the angle that I saw in the replay that they were showing, it looks like it's a no-looker. Like it looks like Gudmundsson is looking at like- No, no, that wasn't Gudmundsson. That was Mondragora. Oh, that was, that was, I thought that was Gudmundsson. No, it was Mondragora left foot on the left foot. Yeah.
00:45:39
Speaker
It looked like a no-looker from him. Yeah, it was. Which was nasty. But yeah, Moise Kinsko was fantastic. We're going to talk about it in a little, but this Fiorentina team coming out of the winter Mercado is loaded and ready to make a run in for a Champions League spot. And with Paladino at the helm, I think anything's possible with them.
00:46:02
Speaker
What I'm really happy about with this and I just want to take a second to shout out Fiorenti and I kind of highlight them. I think we've all been fans of them this year. Kane and Gudmundsson partnership is finally like here. Gudmundsson was out for so long and now we're finally seeing what they're capable of doing. Moise Kane has been such a handful all year. And then when you put Gudmundsson behind him, it was probably a better like pure goal score than Moise Kane. Like granted this year, Moise Kane flying. There was just a lot of goals between those two guys and we're starting to see that.
00:46:32
Speaker
The other thing, full of runeshoe once again played well, add something a little bit different to the team and not to jump in. Yeah, I unfortunately didn't watch this game because I woke up at 6.30 to watch UVA and then had to go back to sleep because I was dead tired. So I'm looking at the stats now and it seems like it was just a couple of moments of brilliance by Fiorentina, that one in this game. Genoa dominated 60% possession, XG 1.57 to 0.64. Like you said, Moise Kien's goal was How did he score that on on a set piece? So I do think, like, listen, I do agree that, uh, um, Fiorentina, like what I just said, Fiorentina is ready and loaded, but this game, uh, could have gone the other way. Yeah. Could have easily gone the other way. And what I'll also say is Kevin De Winter, a Juventus guy that I talked about last week or two weeks ago has now three or four goals from the center back position for Genoa.
00:47:28
Speaker
yeah i Yeah, there's a couple of guys I want to highlight in general, but I just want to wrap on Fiorentino, because i'm I'm happy that you kind of mentioned that. Because this, I think, summarizes where Fiorentina is. We're talking about Paladino and these players. It's a young so manager with a young squad with a lot of guys that haven't really been in this kind of position before. And they went up to nothing in this game early, 30th minute, and very much it turned into that. Like, nobody really knew what to do.
00:47:56
Speaker
They still wanted to attack, but they don't really have any natural defenders in the team. And I said it earlier in the season, they don't really have somebody that's just going to kind of pull everybody in and be like, okay, we're going to defend hard, but we're also still going to be a little bit expensive, put a little bit of pressure on them.
00:48:12
Speaker
And I don't know, they may have brought that guy in in the transfer window, but we're going to talk about it in a little bit. But that's another evolution of the scene that I think Paladino is going to need to get right. And I'm sure he will. But again, this is very, very early days on a Fioreccino project that me and Miles were actually just talking about how excited we are about it because of the core group that they do have and how young it is. But this, these are some of the things that are going to happen and they could have drawn this one had it gone the other way.
00:48:37
Speaker
But that's my takeaway. Obviously I'm, I'm, I'm through on Tina through and through, but this Genoa team is not, not something to write off when they come up on the schedule. Patty Cakes over there in Genoa has done a really great job since taking the helm. And, uh, they're definitely a scary team. I think that they're certainly better than Torino. They're certainly better than with an essay. So they're very easily on the brink of a top 10 finish on this season. And I think that they, they are certainly one to watch if you haven't been.
00:49:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and they new and the other thing that happened to this one was Maxwell Cornett missed an absolute sitter from like the six yard box. Definitely should have scored there. That was when it was, I think, nil and nil. That was really early in the game and that one could have happened. But from a general perspective, I think that the De Winter shout is really good. I mean, it's that's tough. That's another UVA center back that they let go. As soon, soon,
00:49:30
Speaker
All the leagues across soccer, I'm talking Spanish league, Premier league Syria will be littered with Juventus. Uh, Juventus next gen players that we thought weren't good enough for the first team that are just so clearly good enough for the first team.
00:49:47
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, the winter has been good all year. And then after this game, I was like, wow, he could be the right center back on inter, but then I realized that they already have this second. yeah They have too many guys there, but he is not going to be on the same next year. He is very, very good.
00:50:03
Speaker
yeah he's He's fantastic. He has size, power, goal scoring ability, athleticism. he's he's Dude, he's got it all. And you know who else has been playing well for Genoa is Moretti. He's on the loan, so we can recall him, but he has been absolutely bawling for them every single game. He didn't play amazing this game, but Every game he's causing problems. He's not always getting on these the stats sheet, but he's creating opportunities. He's causing problems. He's usually the center of their attack and the kind of the creator of everything that they do offensively. Yeah. I mean, I think the other thing with Moretti is he's shown that now we can play on the wing and he can play in the middle of the field. And he is definitely good enough to be on a European competition team, but probably not a starter on a Champions League caliber team just yet.
00:50:53
Speaker
But definitely should be playing the Europa League, should be playing the conference league and is going to be a very good player. I don't know what you ever are going to do. I still don't think there's a spot for him on Juventus with how they structured the squad. So he'd probably get leave. But this one could also be a big loss in the future. I mean, I'll talk about it a little bit, but he was not acquired by Juntely, so he can he's probably getting the axe.
00:51:19
Speaker
think All right. So some other games that happened this weekend, uh, Leche went to
Lazio's Victory and Relegation Battles
00:51:24
Speaker
Parma. This was the most shocking result of the weekend for a Leche three to one against Parma. Very bad result for Parma who's fighting relegation right now.
00:51:34
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, Leche is also fighting relegation. So very big result for them. They're now sitting three points above Parma, which obviously not a lot of breathing room, but you got some breathing room from the last place. What I will say is Leche has been beat up on in their last two games, but they lost to Caliari four to one inter four zero. So they Parma just got him at a bad time where it was like, Hey, back against the world. Yeah. Hungry dog runs faster.
00:52:05
Speaker
But was this at Parma or was this in Lecce? This was at Parma. Oh my god. Very, worse very bad result for Parma. What's crazy is how tight the race is still. Parma's on 20 points and is the last team in the relegation zone. And up to 12 is 6 points, the 13 is 3 points.
00:52:25
Speaker
like it's still if you lose you might be fucked if this is gonna be a last game of the season we're going to find out who's going down i actually think because nobody well for in that third spot right yeah the third spot because real i mean even vanessser and four points back but and they haven't done enough to really show that they're going to be able to get out of there And that kind of breaks us perfectly into the next game. Venezia went to Uden as a difficult game. Uden as they made it a little bit hard on themselves, but they dated this one, win this one three to two. And at this point, I think Uden as I was just trying to figure out who they're going to be next year. They look like they're going to be fine this season. Oh, Lorenzo Luca netted another one, which has kind of been an underlying story on the sheer for them. And he's been linked away. Yeah. I've been linked away. Um, you've a, um, sure.
00:53:13
Speaker
And I will say I was watching this game, it was 2-0, and I was like, alright, this game's over, I'm gonna shut it off. I then look at the score, 3-2, I was like, wow, missed a fucking great game in the second half there. But just one more thing I'll add, not too much.
00:53:31
Speaker
another ex-Iventis player that was deemed not good enough to play for Iventis on the goal sheet in Hans Nickolousi. So it's just at this point, it's that's littered everywhere with players that were not good enough for Yve but are good enough for to score goals against good teams on bad bad bad on lesser Serie A teams. But it goes to show like, hey, maybe they were good enough for Iventis.
00:54:01
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't ah when call a goal against Venezia a marker of success for a player, but you're right. He's on Venezia. He scored against Venezia. And this is his like third goal of the season. And if you watch a Venezia game, he controls their entire match. Oh, yeah, definitely. He is, their by far, their best player. A couple more teams that are down there in the relegation zone. We had Verona go to Monza. Verona won this game, won to nothing.
00:54:29
Speaker
And it looks like moms are now going to be the punching bag for the rest of the season. They are pretty much guaranteed to go down. I think they're only, they're seven points. No, they're eight points from safety at this point, but they don't look good. They're eight points from safety and they've starting to sell off all of their best players already. So at this point, they're kind of a wild card that everybody might just be dog and points off over the rest of the year, which is kind of insane.
00:54:55
Speaker
yeah What I'll say about Verona is that they were like letting up goals, scoring a bunch of goals. last pose beside You take away the Lazio game and the Napoli game, they've kind of right the ship only allowing two goals against, I would say, their calibbra caliber squads in the last three games.
00:55:16
Speaker
So that's what they're going to need to do in order to stay up is stop allowing everybody to put up two to three goals on them, which they've gotten right. Although they have a tough, tough schedule coming up with Adalanta, Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, and Bologna next. Doesn't get much harder than that, i but perfect onto Adalanta, who hosted Torino, who have been trending in the right direction. They haven't lost a game in a while in the last five, four draws and a win.
00:55:44
Speaker
They tied this game one to one, notably Mateo Ritegi missed another penalty. And this would have been a really big win for Adelanta knowing what then was going to go on an inter-dropping point and an aptly dropping points. This may have been the opportunity that they had to close that gap and it might not come back. Yeah, Ritegi's got the yips when it comes to the spot, which is really tough for a nine, but he'll we'll have to get over that.
00:56:09
Speaker
I think a storyline from this one is Shay Adams and his form that he's been in for Torino. Obviously he was at his best when he had his partner up there in Duvan at the beginning of the season. But if Shay Adams can continue to play like this, I think Torino can look a lot better than they had. They had a very long run of of some poor performances. Obviously Ricci, I think, had an injury in the middle of that. So with Ricci, Shay Adams can get going again. This Torino side can stay relevant.
00:56:37
Speaker
The only problem is that I don't think that they have too much town outside of that. And it's going to be tough for them to ah to pull out too many wins here. But certainly a a tough game for Atalanta to not take three points away from it. They really needed to close that gap and you need your players to step up. Rategi did not show up at the spot. Like you said, Vos, I think if they do get that, if they get another one, they're going to get another one. This is a 3-1 game.
00:57:02
Speaker
but a little tough to see out of Atlanta, especially at this point in the season, you want to see them flying high and they had been, but you need to like, this is a, this is like an AC performance. You need to win the games that you're supposed to win in order to get the Scudetto. And this was, this may be a game that we look back and we're like, that could have been it.
00:57:21
Speaker
taking a step back from an Atalanta perspective, they are kind of doing what Atalanta do in really stumbling at this point in the season. yeah you I'm talking all competitions here, so not just in the league, but they have only beaten uh, Sturm, uh, champions, the game and they beat up on them and then como other than that. And their last, I think six games, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight games, two wins, four draws, two losses, not good. Obviously it's not just in the league. So not all of those points go to the league, but.
00:58:00
Speaker
Really, really stumbling and it's going, it's, it's kind of showing you across all competition. So it's not just in the league, right? They are not winning games like they use or like they were in the beginning part of the season. And if Gasparini wants to make a push.
00:58:16
Speaker
for the Scudetto, which like we all know he does. He's got to get out of this rut as soon as possible. They're still playing great. Like, if you look at all their games, their XGs is right on par which what it was with what it was at the beginning part of the season. It's just they're not getting it done for whatever reason. And like I said, they got to get out of this rut.
00:58:34
Speaker
quickly. They got really, really lucky enter and Napoli both also dropped points or else it could the top of the two so the one two spot could be shaping up to a two horse race rather than a three horse race. I think another another big thing here is as we as we think about Adalanta's chances through the rest of the season are they able to keep up with the amount of games that they're playing playing the style of ball the Gasparini wants to which is high energy high press.
00:59:02
Speaker
You look at the kind of injuries that they have. Lookman and his out for another couple of weeks. I think CDK picked up a knock. And then just from a depth perspective, they brought Skamaka back after six months and he got hurt in his 10 minutes of playing and he might be up for another surgery. So he might be out for the- Scovini, who they brought back five months, is out for the season of all different non non ah not on a-related injury. but the they they They were looking at Skamaka and Skalvini as their January signings, rushed them back, and now they're not their January signings. Parlayed with, like you said, Loew's lookman being hurt, who's been there um mean he's been incredible.
00:59:43
Speaker
you got yeah it's It's a good question to ask that you posed there, Logan. it's Yeah, it's I think it's ah it's a daunting outlook, especially from a defensive perspective. I think that they needed to get a center back in this window. They actually let Ben Godfrey, who obviously didn't play much, but they let him go. They canceled his loan out. He so he went back to Everton. And so their defensive line is a little bit shaky in terms of depth.
01:00:06
Speaker
I still think it's strong, but Scalvini out with the shoulder injury for the rest of the season. You can let Ben Goffry go. And then I think up top, your backup nine right now is Pasilich.
01:00:18
Speaker
in essence and I don't think that that's a very strong backup especially when they do play two two nines at the front obviously it's been a three four three but they do tend to get a second nine in there they need Lookman back CDK can't be hurt for that long or else that this might be a a really really really tough stretch for Adelanta especially given the fact that they finish top or relatively top of of the Champions League, and they definitely don't want to give up on that competition. They also lost Zon Yolo in terms of depth up top. And going back to their their defense, I don't think they don't have depth there at all. And I don't think it's very strong, even without the depth or with with s Scalvini. Right there at Atlanta, we know this their best defenses that they put up, they this they play offense. So I agree, Logs, with everything you said there. We did have a couple of other games.
01:01:09
Speaker
The little lads by the lake went to Bologna to play Vincenzo Italiano's Bologna and Bologna won that one two to nothing. Little skewed because there's an early red card in this game against Como. Italiano ball is kind of built to punish you if they're up a man and death by a thousand passes kind of thing.
01:01:27
Speaker
Well that red card was so unnecessary and that goes back to the the immaturity that Como has and we've talked about it before. But okay, you get fouled in the and the final third, so be it. This man went ballistic, absolutely ballistic on the ref. I'm sure he said something in a different language that I don't understand that really set off the ref, but to get a red card in the 35th minute, 36th minute there,
01:01:50
Speaker
in a game that you should be in, given the form that Como's been in, that was just really tough to see. It took them completely out of the game. Yeah, kind of sucks, too, because this was going to be a fun game to watch. And the second that red card happened with Como's inexperience and the young guys, you knew it that the game was over. Mots, you take the next one. The next game was...
01:02:14
Speaker
What do you think? What is it? I was obviously emply in karen to play horrendous. That was at 6 30 in the morning that I set my alarm for 6 15 to wake up. How many times have you said that today? I have ah got to show people my pride of the black and white right here.
01:02:32
Speaker
Listen, the score line doesn't tell you the game at all. It was four to one, event or one to four, Juventus one, whatever you want to call it, but very, very unconvincing win. Emply scored first, obviously scored early on in the game. I think five, 10 minutes in, don't know the exact minute off a corner kick. Nobody guarded the far post. Koop miners were just standing there, not guarding his man.
01:02:55
Speaker
And it was, you know who scored? It was Mateus Desiglio, who is another one of the Juventus players, but he was not, he's not good enough to play for Juve, so I'm okay that we sent him over. Didn't celebrate, Atta boy, way to be a gentleman. And then Juve just obviously struggled for the majority of the game. Canon Yildiz was a little, was a bright spot. He was taking on his man. He was, he was creating opportunities.
01:03:23
Speaker
But the first goal was completely lucky. It came emply, just lost the ball in the middle of the field and Coupe Miners just kicked it to the 18 and Kolo Moani was able to muscle a 20-year-old defender ah who is linked to Juventus, by the way, probably not after that. And then Kolo was able to slot, it was a great finish by Kolo to slot it to make it 1-1. And then three minutes later, Ken and Yielders made a absolutely disgusting Maradona turn to get by two players, pass it to Mckenny who went back to yield this. it was That was actually the first give and go I've seen Juventus play in eight years. The first give and go I've seen them play. And then way up for some reason said, you know, ah let me so let me let me destroy this great movement that we're doing and take a 25 yard shot that has no chance of going in and just so happened it hit Columwani in the foot and went in the net.
01:04:15
Speaker
So good good on Kolo Moani, because sometimes it goes to show you that when you're hot, you're hot in soccer and things just go your way. And he was pumped scoring the second goal. That makes three goals in two games for Kolo. I think that's only going to allow him to snowball and play better, which you love to see.
01:04:32
Speaker
After that, Emply got a red card, which then it was 10 on 11, and Yaventa scored two more. So I know that was a pretty long explanation of what happened in the game, but I just want to say like it very much was not 4-1. Kolo Moani's goal was... extremely lucky the second one and then it was we were up a man so yes they did their job but this game could have easily finished one to one if they don't go down or two to one if they don't go down a man emply what i will say though is
01:05:05
Speaker
Dusan Vlawovic was getting ready to go in the game and Kolo Moani scored the second goal and Tiago Mata was like, I can't take him out. We got to take off Yildiz, who was balling. So they took Yildiz off. They played Kolo off the left, which I like to see that you can play both of them together. And then what it did to Dusan is, I mean, he was like, I need to prove myself because Kolo Moani's got three goals in two games. He's playing well. He's linking, he's linking play up. He's doing a lot of things that I'm not doing. And Dusan scored an insane goal. I don't know how he scored it. It was very selfish. But my point here is that I just like how Kolo's pushing Dusan and he sees if I don't play well, I'm not going to get in this team anymore because we have an actual striker who can
01:05:50
Speaker
touch the ball or it can take a pass and not lose it. So really, really like to see that there. And then the last thing I'll say and I'll stop my rant. Renato Vega, the new loan from Chelsea, center back with his left foot. Doesn't not even he's technically not even a Juventus player because he's on a dry loan from Chelsea.
01:06:11
Speaker
I, he was demanding these guys to, to move forward. We're down one, nothing stop running, slowly walking for the ball for on a set piece. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. He was locking up defensively, keeping possession. He played great. And a little tidbit here, little little tidbit. He replaced Ricardo Califiori at, at Basel when Bologna bought him.
01:06:38
Speaker
You know what happened with Monica Califiori. So we'll see what happens there, but not convincing at all. and ah but Not convincing at all by Juventus, but I love it. Monza, another big thing from this game. Wes played, or at least started at the 10. Terrible.
01:06:54
Speaker
and But but ah not not necessarily Wes, I don't think the storyline's there. I think the storyline here is Coop. So Coop finally gets to start a little bit lower on the field like we talked about as he played on Atalanta. How did that change his gameplay? he but he I mean, he knew where to be on the field. He knew what balls to play. He was in he he should have scored a goal. Weston McKinney blocked the goal that was going in for Coop Miners. He knows how to make those late runs in the box, which he did so well for Atalanta. He knows how to play those long balls.
01:07:24
Speaker
to put a ball into the box like he did for Adelanta. Putting him in his natural spot is so much better. But what I will say and the reason why so maybe they can't is because Taram plays in that spot and Taram is balling in that spot as well. So maybe you Once again, I keep saying it, you drop Locatelli and you play Taram and Koop Miners in a double pivot because that would be almost identical to what he had an idol into with Edison. I would love to see it you play Yielders at the 10 and Bangula on the left. I don't think Tiago Mader will continue to do that. I bet you next game he'll go back to Koop Miners at the 10 because he doesn't want to not play Taram because how well Taram is playing. Taram had, he he had, he played eight minutes, he got an assist to Konsei, so that was a sick pass.
01:08:10
Speaker
But I agree, Logan. I mean, Koop Miner's night and day in his natural spot when you play, instead of playing him with a 10. I also just think one more thing, and i'll I know I'm ranting. You have to go to a 4-3-3 with the squad. No, you know, this can't play the 10. He's not strong enough. McKinney looked terrible playing the 10 against, I believe, losing the ball all over the place. Koop miners cannot play the 10. I don't, there is nobody that can play the 10. Play a 4-3-3 with two eights and then Locatelli as the Regista. I don't know how they haven't tried that yet.
01:08:44
Speaker
You just said to drop Locatelli, so I think that's why they haven't tried that yet. but They refuse to drop Locatelli, so then if you're gonna refuse to drop him, stop playing him in the double pivot, put him as a Rajista. Sure.
01:08:57
Speaker
No, I think it's promising. um and a two one We'll call it a 2-1 game because the red card obviously changed a lot. But a 2-1 game against an empty team is nothing to sneeze at, I would also say. So I think that this is a good look for U-Bay, especially given the the the full window that we've got out of them. So I think that brings us to the last game today. And that was a Lazio dub against Caliari. 2-1. Zecani and Castellanos putting goals in the net. Lazio really needed this win.
01:09:28
Speaker
I was really hoping for a Lazio loss. And Lazio are just continuing to do what they've been doing all year, right? like They just put crosses into the box and score on them. First goal, cut back, netted by Zecanny, second one, cross, and just kind of chaos in there. Tati Castellanos pops off and gets it. And then for Cagliari, Pacoli's kind of been the bright spot all year. He did get another one. They're in the danger zone too.
01:09:54
Speaker
But from Lazio, I just continue to love what I'm seeing out of Baroni and how they want to play. They don't really do anything crazy. It's kind of just like a 4-4-2 with Dia and Castellanos up there. And nobody has really had the formula to stop it. Like they kind of just play classic ball with two midfielders that like to cover some ground and get the ball in the box and see what happens. And it's been working and they can only strengthen the squad. They didn't really do much in the window. I don't think they did anything. But this is, I still think the start of a project and there's a high ceiling on where they can go.
01:10:23
Speaker
That was the week.
Napoli's Transfer Strategy Issues
01:10:25
Speaker
Roma will finish higher than Lazio. You don't think? Let's see what happens. I do. and night but happened That's what we bet last week. They're going to make up 11 points? All right, well, that wraps up match week 23.
01:10:38
Speaker
We had to transfer window clothes, so we had to go through that. We apologize if we miss anybody on this, but we're just going to kind of go through all the teams that are significant here and talk about some things that have happened. Starting with Napa League, who we said we thought they should strengthen the squad if they were on a really push for the Scudetto. You could say maybe they did, maybe they get in question marks. They did get something done today though, Lugs.
01:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, no Okafor on loan for now. There is an option to buy, I think it's 23 mil. I don't think that that's ever going to come to fruition, but they brought in a player that is is versatile at his best, can play off the left, can play the nine, a pinch.
01:11:17
Speaker
didn't really show out for EC, but if we take it one step back further and look at his days in Salzburg, he was a phenomenal player, has also balled out a little bit for Switzerland. So if he can come to form and be a versatile player off the bench, it definitely gives them a little bit more of a depth play, especially given the fact that when they do bring on Rastadori and Simeone, it's like watching toddlers play. so They definitely did need to bring in a little bit of an offensive player there. But one funny note out of this window is that Napoli was looking to buy a player from Bari. Bari I think is in Serie B or maybe Serie C, Medi d'Orval, not the point. The point here is that De Laurentiis is obviously the owner of Napoli.
01:12:05
Speaker
De Laurentiis is de facto, the also owner of Bari. And De Laurentiis could not get a deal done with himself in his window, which I think is absolutely hilarious. Playing hardball against himself, classic. Well, we talked about it. and It is his son. He sold it to his son so he could still own Napoli, like you said. So his son was like trying to stick it to his father there, I think. He was like, no, dad, I'm running my squad. I'm not a feeder team to Napoli. I'm trying to get promoted.
01:12:35
Speaker
But yeah, very funny. That is funny. And now that's all I did this window. They argued with themselves. I know.
Inter Milan's Squad Enhancements
01:12:42
Speaker
He got a taste of his own medicine because it's impossible to get the shade with it. Any great problems fall far from the tree. Is this going to bite them in the end? Yes, it could. It really could.
01:12:54
Speaker
I mean, they had they had to have had a plan they had enough time to plan for this. It's not like Kavera came out two days ago and said, sell me. I mean, this was, they got they knew he was leaving at the beginning of the window and to not bring in a higher caliber player than Noah Okafor, I think, is going to be a mistake. It is crazy when you think about them. They were also linked to Pellegrini so strongly.
01:13:17
Speaker
They were linked to Adeyemi, Pellegrini, Garnaccio, Rashford. We can't discount how good Cavata was and how the the gap between him and David Nerez is like, I do think there would have been a gap between Rashford, Gernacho, whoever they brought in, but it would have been less than that. Like Kavada so could go kavada couldve go could go win you a game at any point in time. They don't have that anymore. And it could very well bite them in the ass.
01:13:49
Speaker
Moving on to the team that's chasing them still, Inter Milan. They didn't need to do a whole bunch of business, but this one kind of came out of nowhere. And we, I think we talked about it a little bit. We were texting in our chat and we thought it was interesting. They got rid of Tae Jon Buchanan, who was kind of the de facto backup.
01:14:06
Speaker
right wing back essentially. He wasn't really playing a whole lot this year. He went to Spain and then they went around and signed Nicole Zalewski from Roma, which we were pretty surprised about, but I really liked this one.
01:14:22
Speaker
I mean, i we we're huge Aluski fans, obviously hasn't been getting minutes at Roma and immediately is a presence on the pitch. Obviously we lost him, but he was the he had the assist, beautiful, beautiful technique, honestly, out of Zalewski, chested to DeVry and the on the winning goal for Inter. So an immediate impact, a death player, especially with Buchanan leaving, I think that this was a great signing.
01:14:45
Speaker
Yeah, the other thing that's good about him, he's been used to playing on the left all these years and can also play on the right. So you're getting a little bit of both wing back, back up action. And I like it. I think it's only upside kind of thing, right? Like he's not playing at Roma for him. I'm not playing at Roma. Why don't I just go to enter and see if I can get into the team? If not, I'm competing for a Scudetto. At least they need bodies in the Champions League. They need bodies in all these extra competitions. I'm probably going to play more. So why not?
01:15:10
Speaker
We also saw him play very well in the Euros with Poland at the wingback spot. I know Roma do deploy wingbacks, but for whatever reason, it didn't necessarily work out there. We see how well wingbacks excel in the intersystem. This is a great depth ad for, uh, or I said how well interplay at the wingback positions or interplayers, great depth ad for them. I think he can, he can be a very good player, uh, or a very key player for them late on in the season. And we saw this past game.
01:15:40
Speaker
He's also 23, so he has a a ton of time ahead of him. Aside from their other move of bringing in Suchich from Dynamo Zagreb, and the only reason I know him is because he's absolutely cooked AC ah in the past couple of weeks. He was phenomenal in the Champions League game against us. I think their best move was keeping for Tezi.
01:15:58
Speaker
Like that was their best move of the window was not selling him, honestly, because the, obviously he was linked away and I think there was actually some pretty strong links to other teams, but they need him. He's a great player and that midfield, yeah I don't think that midfield's going to last. doesn't have to run around it doesn't have to physically be that elite anymore but certainly mechatarian has a lot of duties up front and to make sure that they kept for tezi to bring on with zielinski i think it was huge for them also with
01:16:30
Speaker
And I'm probably going to butcher the name. Who was the guy that they brought in that Croatian looks? Suchich. Suchich. He can potentially, his his's he's more of a regista and they're playing Zelensky there. And Zelensky has said like, I don't, I prefer to play higher up the pitch.
01:16:47
Speaker
but they don't have anybody else besides Hakan that can do that. So Zielinski is sacrificing. He can now do that Hakan role when he's out and then allow Zielinski to play further up the pitch. And then now they really have three full midfielders that can be a full rotation where Zielinski can play within the Bareilles spot. and for Tezi can play in the Mikitarians box. I know they don't like to deploy for Tezi and Barela at the same time. So I kind of expect to see a little bit more rotation there in terms of the midfield for Inter with that sign, in which I think he's a great player. And he kind of reminds me of a old Inter player that they had, Croatian, same spot in Bražević. We all know how well he was, so let's see what happens with him. He's 21, so I think that was a very, very good business move by Inter.
01:17:36
Speaker
Another team that's in title contenders here at Atlanta. They stole a guy that was kind of hot this season, hot commodity, Italian got his first caps this year. And that's Danny Maldini kind of made sense given that they thought they were going to get Schumacher back. This is kind of the replacement in a way, getting another guy that's going to be playing as that kind of attacking midfielder, striker.
01:17:57
Speaker
grouping and i I really like this one this seems like one of the ones that Gasparin is gonna get a lot out of like we saw with CDK I think he's similar he's done a lot of similar things to CDK so it's gonna be interesting to see how they do play him but they needed another guy up there with the injuries they have. And he could, this could be big, this could be big for Adalanta season, but also for Danny Maldini, playing on a team that's playing in the Champions League. You're kind of in contention for an Italy spot now in a couple of years. Here's your platform.
01:18:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he he can slot in where Lookman is missing right now at the moment. I think he can play as a come competition player against where Brushinini likes to play, and obviously can, I think, mirror what CDK does off the right.
AC Milan's Transfer Window Moves
01:18:46
Speaker
But this is just screaming another AC Milan mess kind of in the UVA, in the UVA vein, where Gasparini takes one of our guys who we thought was dog shit and turns him into a superstar.
01:19:00
Speaker
Now, do i am I really that high on Danny Maldini? Not particularly. I've never been. But if there's somebody that can turn him into a real product, it's Gasparini. yeah a mo Yeah, my bad. This is good for depth. ah He could play all three of the little they had that attacking three you could play in any spot. He's been balling for Monza. You didn't like him this year. I think you're kind of he's he's kind of winning you over. I don't know if he was on the list or not yet. Loaves, but I definitely think he's should be off the list. He's definitely a good player. Let's see how what Gasper and he can do because we know how he can just he turns water into wine over there in Bergamo. We need to revisit the list. That reminds me.
01:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, but to be fair, Maldini was not good enough at any point in time to make the list. like So yeah, fair, fair. um that But we got to move it on. We got the Bianco Nari here, Motz. Kind of a lot of business. We've talked about a little bit of this so we can skip over, call it a Moani. There were some other things that went down. Well, skip I'll skip over Kolo and Renato Vega. They also brought in Alberto Costa, who's another Portuguese for 12 mil right back. Why I have no idea. It makes no sense. You have Savona, who's obviously played really well. You have Kalulu, who can also be a right back if needed. I don't know the plan.
01:20:15
Speaker
there. on west up And playing world the West can play right back, Kambiaso can play left and right back. wait Exactly. So it's like, where is, what is the thought process there? You didn't spend, he wasn't cheap. He's 12 mil. Like that could have easily went somewhere else. I don't know why you did that. you and And to top it off, Danilo also could play right back and you forced him out, who was our one captain. He is the our one leader in the locker room. Now we have no captain. We just pass the captain arm band around like it's fucking hot potato.
01:20:45
Speaker
But then to top it off, you forced Danilo out who once again was a, you didn't have to pay for him and he had pretty low salary. And then you're like, we need another center back. And you tried to get Tamori. You tried to get spacing on a guy who went to Tottenham, his name. You tried to get Hanco.
01:21:04
Speaker
And yeah you sold Hoisin in the summer for 18 mil, who would probably be pretty good to have in this situation. And what do you do? You buy Lloyd Kelly, who has played a total of 500 minutes on Newcastle, unproven, probably you would classify as a flop.
01:21:26
Speaker
For the same cost that you buy Hoisin who now is getting looked at from Madrid, Bayern, like this is, it's awful, awful business from Juntoly. You sold another guy that we're going to cover soon. And I talked about it a little bit earlier. What I'm starting to get the sense of is that if you have if you were not brought in by Juntoly, he doesn't care about you. He will cut ties with you. He's building his own team and he's not building it the Juventus way. He's building it his own way, which doesn't work because Juventus needs Italians, and he's he's basically building a Napoli-esque team in Juventus, which I don't like. And he cuts ties with with anybody. He doesn't learn from his mistakes, which we'll go over in a short second. A terrible window. The only saving grace is that we have Cola Milani and Renato Vega from it, but they're on a dry loan. And if they play well, Chelsea and PSU are going to be like,
01:22:22
Speaker
For Cola Moani, 70, 80 mil. For Renato Vega, 30, 40. You have to have an obligation to buy in there somewhere or an option. C window? C plus? I don't know. Terrible window. We'll see what... Moving on to, my I think, my favorite window here. Fiorentina did some very interesting things, added some more telling guys that we're talking about, added more young guys to this team.
01:22:51
Speaker
And the most notable one, I would say that got done today. I think we're all surprised by it. Mats, you were really disappointed. And I was alluding to it. From Eventus is now on Florentina and immediately, in my opinion, becomes their best mint builder.
01:23:08
Speaker
Yeah. And, and this, once again, Jun to Lee, how do you not learn from your mistakes? You saw the Moise keen to Fiorentina in the summer for 13 mil. Look what he is doing on Fiorentina. Look what Dean Hoisin is doing on.
01:23:26
Speaker
in the Premier League. Now you're going to do the same exact thing with Fajoli, who has been his entire career at the club since he was 10 years old. We gave him the number 21 and now goodbye. See you later. that You know what this is like, folks? And you're gonna this will hit home for you. This is like if Juventus sold Claudio Marchesio before he became Claudio Marchesio. This is what it's like.
01:23:50
Speaker
It's exactly like that. And we did that and great signing by Florentina. He's going to help them control the game when he's not going to help them defend, like you said. But what he'll be able to do is rather than them defending, they'll just possess the ball now because he doesn't lose the ball. He's great on the ball, great passer, great, great signing by them. And and that's just a tip to start because they had a great window.
01:24:12
Speaker
I mean, even what's surprising to me is even that Juve was willing to do this, given that they're literally competing against Fiorentina right now for that Champion f League spot. And you just gave them maybe the most important piece they now have to do that, which is... i think with I think with this window, and we'll cover the guys ah right now, Fiorentina, it's going to be Fiorentina neck and neck for the four or five spot. They could easily win a Champion League spot now with this guy.
01:24:41
Speaker
Well, they also become one of the most press resistant teams in the entire league. And I think that that's a huge additive for ah a team that's growing and and trying to make a top four spot here. You have Fajoli and you have Yasin Adly now pairing together, which I think is going to be deadly. Both of them have great control on the ball and great presence on the field. They're going to have zero problem getting the ball to those attackers that they've brought in and obviously want to showcase. Yeah, and the attackers that they did bring in that we're going to highlight right now,
01:25:10
Speaker
Full of run-through, which we talked about a little bit. He's more of like a hardworking outside mid. I could, I could see him playing in the middle of the field at some point, young Italian. And then the other one that got done was Zun Yolo from Atlanta. It didn't really work out there. It wasn't playing a whole bunch, of but the ceiling you have on Zun Yolo is a guy that scored a game winning goal in a European final a couple of years ago. He's played in some big games. He can play through the middle. He can play off the right. He can kind of play as a 10. So I think that one's more of like, let's just take a flyer on it and see what we can do.
01:25:40
Speaker
And you don't need a lot because of the guys you have with Guimison, Keene, Kolpani, the Flying High. What I'll just say about this window that I love, all three of them Italian. Like that what Fiorentina is building is amazing over there and they there it's only the start here.
01:25:56
Speaker
Yeah. And then one, one of the guys that they brought in, it's a little bit less headlines, but this guy was really successful under Paula Dino at Monza. And that's Pablo Mari, who's a center back. And I think this partially came from emergency preparedness for losing Camuso, which did not happen. He opted to stay at the club. He actually played this weekend, but they're in really good shape to continue on a big loss that they did have.
01:26:20
Speaker
was kind of their backup slash super sub Italian, young Italian and Satil. And this moves on to Mulan, who actually did sign him. It was a little bit of a surprise for me, thinking that they didn't really need him, but looks you kind of like this one, right?
01:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, I do like this one, especially since this was more of a one-for-one, letting Okaforgo bring in Satiel. I think he's going to bring a lot more to the game in the second half going forward. ah Plays off the left, a tricky player, creative. A little bit of a different flavor than Leao. He's not as... of a speedster but certainly just as direct and I do think that he can he can provide in the in the final third which we've certainly been missing we've been missing that creative final that final additive from from the outside that I think like I just talked about with Liao he kind of just phases himself out with that
01:27:08
Speaker
Another signing, another one for one that we did deal on on today, last day. Ben Oster out to Marce, Ben Oster out to Marce. I'm fine with it. They got a decent deal. I don't think the market for Ben Oster is that great these days, but you know he he had his run with us. And I think as you can see from the last couple of performances, that runs over.
01:27:32
Speaker
But we did bring in Warren Bondo. I do not know much about him. I know that he's a stout defensive player, which I think will help build out our our base because we do miss that when Fofana's out. Came over from Monza, a decent deal. I don't think we spent that much on him, but he's certainly going to be excited to be playing for the Russinari. Another one from one, we kind of were just recycling the squad, which is tough to see from us, especially this far into the into the window, it' into the season. But Moranta out, he goes to Galatasaray, a cheap deal. Something must have happened in the locker room because they shipped him out of it rather quickly. But we did bring in Santi Jimenez, the Mexican striker from
01:28:16
Speaker
Feyenoord, he has been on fire, especially in the Champions League, in electric left foot. My concern is I'm not sure that he's a creative player. He's certainly an elite finisher, but we certainly need to give him the service that he ah he deserves and and to make him the player that he was on Feyenoord. Interesting, he will be able to play against Feyenoord if we do decide to start him in the Champions League next leg.
01:28:37
Speaker
And another really important point on Jimenez, Italian passport. So he does not take away from our non-EU spots, which I think is a huge thing that we've we've struggled with in the past, like especially given how many English guys we now have, especially with Kyle Walker coming in. Another huge day deadline day deal we got on loan, very expensive loan.
01:28:58
Speaker
Joao Felix is now a rosenary player. This one is extremely interesting. We were linked to him over the summer as well. Now finally coming to fruition. Just couldn't get into the lineup for Chelsea given how many players they have. They have 90 guys on the bench. But we're certainly going to give him the opportunity to play across the entire front four.
01:29:17
Speaker
like we were alluding to before, if we do go back to a 4-4-2, he's going to be a perfect strike second striker, did it phenomenally for Atletico. I do think that that was weird considering we just gave up Murata, who played on Atletico with Joe Felix. So that would have been a good partnership, but in any case, whether it's Jimenez or it's Tammy Abraham, I think Joao can actually be a great compliment there. I think that he'll play off the right to start.
01:29:44
Speaker
but certainly gives us a ton of versatility, a very quality player, very expensive loan. So my biggest takeaway from this signing is that we the management is giving a ton of confidence to Konstant Sow to finish out the season and get us into a oh European spot.
01:30:00
Speaker
to spend this much money on a dry loan, you don't just do that just to just to keep us in the top eight. this is This is a push for at least top five. And so I think it's a lot of confidence. They are trying to win the Champions League. like that I think that's been the number one objective all year behind the scenes, like behind everything, like this is what we're going for.
Champions League Focus and Upcoming Matches
01:30:19
Speaker
We still have a decent path. I mean, we beat Fey Nord and then we play either UVA or PSV and then No, no, no. Sorry. Excuse me. We beat, if we get past Phaidor, we play either Arsenal or Inter. If we play Inter, that's perfect. We've already, we we already know what to do. If we play Arsenal, it's a little bit of a tricky one, but they do have a lot of injuries. And so I think that we may still have a chance, but our path is still there. So I'm not, I'm not giving up on the Champions League and I think it's a great signing. Two quick points here.
01:30:46
Speaker
I do want to just give this man his flowers. I've shat on him day in and day out. and it it's tough It was tough to see him leave Melanista, but David de Calabria is officially out. He has gone to Bologna on a true deal. It was a free transfer. I think he just opted to leave it a winter window. Man was the saddest guy leaving Melanista. His post on Instagram was tearful. and I do want to thank him for being our captain. I don't want to thank him for his performances.
01:31:16
Speaker
One last note here, Camarda was linked away to go to Monza on loan. We said no. Ibra said no way. But we did give them Zeroli. I'm glad that we let one of those guys get out and get some playing time because that's exactly what I think they need. I've been seeing it all season. They can't run on our bench and they can't play for us right now. They don't have the confidence. Go play for the last team in the league with zero to lose. Let's see what you can do.
01:31:40
Speaker
So I'm actually excited for this AC window. I think we made a ton of great moves. He meant this is going to be a huge step up from the nines that we had previously. So Till is going to build out the bench nicely. And hopefully, Bahando is something to watch out for. But Zhao Felix should add something to our attack.
01:31:55
Speaker
I'll add something super quick. This is my favorite window of anyone in the league. I think you guys trim that added some, some key players that could have, uh, could make good runs in the late part of the season. Really, really good business here by the management and Conseau. I think you guys are starting to get on the same page. You guys were all on different pages before. It looks like you guys are all getting on similar page now.
01:32:18
Speaker
for 23 matches. Interesting. Another team. Everybody's kind of getting on the same page. Roma. I had a couple signings. We talked about divine wrenches, who looks like he's going to be the starting right wing back and probably play a little bit of right center back. He came over from Ajax and has been playing Maro or Mo so who they signed in the summer has been shown the door. He left Samuel doll left, and then they added to kind of flyer sort of guys. I'll call him.
01:32:44
Speaker
and Yeah, yeah, two. Yeah, go ahead. malan I don't know who these guys are. I've never heard of them. Never seen them play. I think one of them is from RB Salzburg. The other one is from Galatasar Galatasarie. The one from Salzburg is Lucas Garuna Duath. Butch of that name. Don't know if he's good. Don't know what he does. And then same with Victor Nielsen. He's a defender. Once again, don't know if he's good. Don't know what he does. Never seen either of them play. We'll see what happens.
01:33:14
Speaker
Some other notable signings for around ah around the table here. Torino had some two very interesting moves. They signed Cesare Casady from Chelsea. That's an undisclosed fee. I'm not really sure the details about that. This is a really...
01:33:27
Speaker
fought up and coming Italian prospect and I'm a little bit surprised that he ended up on Torino and this could be a really good one for them. He was kind of hip to start actually playing for Chelsea at the beginning of the year. Obviously, Chelsea just reinforced the team and there wasn't way a way for him to get back in it.
01:33:45
Speaker
That's a really interesting one. The other thing I did was sign a former Scudetto winnow in Elmas, who won it with Napoli a few years ago, had since gone on to the Bundesliga. But I think this makes sense to add a little bit of young flair with high potential and guide that's been there and done that.
01:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think Elmhouse is certainly gonna help them from day one, has had a ton of Serie A experience under his belt and actually played decently well in the Bundesliga, but definitely needed some offensive help, a little more creation, and I think he'll play well with LeShay Adams. Torino now has probably, I could probably say this with confidence, I think you would both agree, the two best young and up and coming prospects for Italian midfielders,
01:34:28
Speaker
I think in the league or just period with Samuel Ricci and how do you pronounce this guy's name? Casade. He won like player of the tournament for Chelsea under 1918 a couple of years ago. He is a very, very good player. I expect a lot of things. This was a crazy buy. Juventus wanted him or were linked to him a little bit. Milan was, Inter was, and Torino got it done. I believe They have a 25% sell-on fee as well, Chelsea, but this is great buy. And Torino's going to flip these two players for 100, 120 mil easily.
01:35:06
Speaker
What? ah Eventually not. Ritchie and Cassidy, you're saying, yeah. No, I know. Ritchie for sure. I don't know. we This guy's going to be net for it. Trust me. Trust me. I know. he He's a good price tag. I'm excited to watch him. But keep him growing a couple other young, exciting guys. Kolo got a little bit of business time. We talked about it a little bit. They've signed da Jelly, Jelly Ollie, if you couldn't hear that one. They also signed Maxine Kakare from, I believe he was on Leo.
01:35:36
Speaker
I believe it was Leon, I could be wrong. And then they just signed Alex Valle from Barcelona. I think he's just an Academy prospect. I don't know anything about him, but that strategy has worked well. You didn't know anything about Nico Paz, baby. You didn't know anything about Nico Paz. It's worked well for them, but that closes out to Mercado. We got some games happening this week. We just want to pull out for you guys. Coppa Italia, two games, Bologna going to Atlanta.
01:36:01
Speaker
awesome game. And then we also have Roma going to Milan, which I also think is going to be an awesome game. All these teams are probably wanting to win, going to go for it, try to win the Copa Italia. We also have match week 24 happening at the weekend. But before that, on Thursday, we have the match week 14 makeup game inter going to Fiorentina. That wasn't going to be starting in the 18th minute because that's when Eduardo Bolle went down.
01:36:27
Speaker
That game has massive implications for the table. Also, if Inter win this, they are even with Napoli. If you're a Tino win, they grow the gap between, or close the gap on Lazio, right? I believe it is right now. It's, it's very close between Lazio. No, Inter, Inter close the gap on Napoli. It's three points. So yeah, they would, and they would probably take the lead because they have a better, uh, goal differential than, than Napoli.
01:36:54
Speaker
Yeah, yes on the other side of things, Juve, Lazio, Fiorentina, all within three points of each other. It's a big game for Fiorentina on that front. So on match week 24, the other games we have, Juve going to Colo, always a difficult battle there. Atalanta likes ah hoping to get back ah on schedule at Verona, a game they should win. Milan are going to Empoli, Genoa to New School Torino, hopefully we see some of those new new guys playing there.
01:37:21
Speaker
Roma are going to Venice. Monza and Lazio. Oh, there we go. Punching right for Lazio. Should've been the lock of the week. Parma going to Calurite. Looking to get back on track there. Bologna, Leche, Urenese at Napoli. And then once again, Fiorentina playing Inter Milan twice in one week.
01:37:40
Speaker
Huge. Huge. Great, James. i I don't want to comment on every game, but I'll be interested to see how Milan play Emily in a low block, being it that they want to counter. That'll be an interesting game. Yeah, no, I think, you know, the biggest matchup are the games in the Colby.
01:38:00
Speaker
co pluna cut no We didn't cover it in the beginning part of the episode, but we were two out of three last week. Vos' leg, unfortunately, was the loser, so we are both, me and Logs, both closing in on Vos' record. But we were, once again, though, two out of three is very, very respectable, and we were not far off of the Vos' leg because Atalanta did have a 2.97 XG, so there's that. We're back at it for another week to try to hit this week, though.
01:38:29
Speaker
and obviously Mats has gone with an over in his own game, over two and a half, Como U of A plus 106. I would love to see some games in there. This guy just told them my pick. Yeah, he did. He just tainted my pick. I'm also going to take the next one. We got AC Moneyline, which I think is a trap. We're riding a little bit high, but AC minus 165 to pull it out against Empoli. You're right, Mats, I would be interested to see how we play it in this game. And then my leg.
01:38:59
Speaker
That was my leg. You forgot to say that. on um Now I'm establishing the last leg as mine, so buy a transitive property. Genoa plus a half, minus 145. Listen guys, we want to win this one. We want to put money in your pockets. This parlay only plus 470 this week. For that, you put 100 bucks on it, you get 570 back. That's just how the math works, and that's why you just do it. You do it every week, every single leg, every parlay. That's why you bet the Colby. Now, very important point before we sign off.
01:39:30
Speaker
We have not had a paison leg in some time. So please, let us know what your pick of the week is. We need to add a little bit of juice to this one. This is probably our lowest odds ah since we started the Colby. We need your leg. Bump it up, juice it up, I'll bet it, Matzo bet it, Vossel bet it, everyone's bettin' the paison leg. Let us know on all the socials.
Listener Engagement and Conclusion
01:39:55
Speaker
You know where to find us.
01:39:57
Speaker
That's X, Instagram. TikTok, if you have it, because if you can if you don't have it, you can't download it. Thank you, Trump. And on YouTube at cultural culture FC, and you know where to listen, Apple pods and Spotify. And so with that, matz.
01:40:14
Speaker
Take us away. And please leave a like, rate us five stars helps us reach more Paisanos. Uh, this was a long episode. This was a fun episode. So thank you guys for tuning in. If you're still here, like I said, leave a like comment, subscribe, write us don't be a guy boots forza.
01:41:16
Speaker
Thank you very much.