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Free Weekly Episode - Inter Milan Beat Juventus, Jovic AC Milan’s Supersub, Kvaratskhelia Wonder Goal, De Ketelaere Explodes & Much More (Ep. 396)
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From Inter Milan defensive masterclass when taking charge of the Scudetto race after beating a good but toothless Juventus in the Derby D'Italia, super-sub Luka Jovic saving AC Milan once again in 5 goal thriller win against Frosinone, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia wondergoal gifting Napoli win, Atalanta's King Charles De Ketelaere gifting win over Lazio in Serie A top 4 race, to Fiorentina losing at the death to heroic Lecce, as Bologna stage late comeback win over Sassuolo, and in memoriam Viola legend Kurt Hamrin and Roma legend Giacomo Losi, as well as Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week and much, much more when Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from an action-packed weekend in Italian football.
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Transcript
Inter's Scudetto Pursuit
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian football podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese joined as always by Nimat Tovale. A big show for you today as Inter take a huge step towards winning the Scudetto by beating Juventus 1-0. An own goal from Federico Gatti in a very fiercely contested match at San Siro. Elsewhere Milan Super Subs turn the game around for them as they beat Frosinone 3-2.
00:00:36
Speaker
The race for the top four are at Atlanta starting to look favorites to get that fourth place as they dominate Lazio Napoli though are just about hanging in there a late two late goals just about beat Verona and we'll be reviewing all the rest of the of the weekend action and we also have some crackers for you on bad Joe prim face and Celia ass of
00:01:23
Speaker
the week.
00:01:27
Speaker
And become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month plus VAT.
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00:01:30
Speaker
And you can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify. And we'll provide the link in the description. Same price, same terms. And for all of you that do listen on Spotify, on Apple, on iTunes Podcast, really appreciate if you give us a five-star rating. Give us a follow and a like. And we're also on YouTube as well. All of that really helps us to grow and do more quality content for you guys. So let's get into today's show.
Inter vs Roma: A Title Decider?
00:01:54
Speaker
Okay then, the Derby d'Italia, the only place to start, Inter beat Juventus 1-0 in a game which I quite enjoyed watching, actually. I thought it was a pretty good game. Inter, I think, deserved to win the game, but I thought Juventus did reasonably well. We'll get to it and we'll discuss this from both teams.
00:02:18
Speaker
points of view, but first of all, Nimr, I think the big takeaway from this game is that this is a massive step forward for Intel winning the Scudetto this season.
00:02:32
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. I think, I mean, as I've said on this podcast for like, I think it's a month for a couple of months now and also I think I said last week and the week before that. Look, if Inter go out of that game next weekend, next Saturday against Roma, if they win that game and there are four points clear with a game in hand,
00:02:55
Speaker
then I think we move away from into our favorites to win the title to into our champions elect of the Serie A this season. Because after Roma away, they've got Atalanta, Lazio, Napoli and Milan at home. And I don't think they're going to lose all four or lose two of them. Of course it can happen. But that also means that Juventus have to win every single game they've got as well.
00:03:25
Speaker
So I think we kind of start to put some daylight between Inter and Juve. We can see that clearly now, if Inter beat Roma next weekend, because I don't expect Juve to drop very many points moving on this season for the next, you know, until the end of the season.
Juventus' Challenging Fixture List
00:03:42
Speaker
Cuz you are that good and that's something that I wanted to discuss as well I think yesterday showed that you are back as a topside in the city. It's cemented it I think you will excellent yeah we'll come on to you then says I do want to talk about into point of view first just just just following on from your your point on the Scudetto yeah I mean I agree with that I think that four points.
00:04:04
Speaker
and a game in hand to take it up to seven. The fixture list, as you said, only have, in terms of tough away games this season, the rest of the season, they only have Roma this coming weekend and Bologna to play away from home the rest of the season from the big team. Juventus still have to go away to Napoli, Roma, Lazio and Bologna, so Juventus have a tougher fixture list in terms of the Serie A fixtures, of course.
00:04:28
Speaker
Juventus are not in Europe in Tarah, which will mean more games. But, of course, Juventus also are in the Coppa Italia, and Inter are not, so that claws back some of those games. I just don't see Inter giving up eight points on Juventus. Between now and the end of the season, 15 games left. Still enough games left to drop points, but I don't see this Inter as strong as they are, as they showed again last night.
00:04:56
Speaker
it would have to be, I don't want to say a collapse, but it would have to be a real kind of special set of circumstances, I think, for Inter not to do it from here. I think that this game showed that they are the better team, they are the better squad, they have much more experience, which is going to be absolutely key. What was key in this game, it was also going to be key going forward.
Pavard's Performance Against Juventus
00:05:18
Speaker
And then you add that to the healthy lead that they will have and the easier fixtures, I think it definitely
00:05:23
Speaker
you know, interim now in an absolutely fantastic position to win the title. And bringing that on to how Inter played in this game, I think that, well, a few takeaways from me. First of all,
00:05:41
Speaker
the the back three were all magnificent. Pavard especially in terms of the completeness of him as a defender but also the other going the other way in terms of that he was influential in the goal as well. I mean he has now obviously had those injury issues is now showing what a signing and what an improvement he brings to this inter team from last season. I think
00:06:05
Speaker
exactly 12 months ago, when Inter had written that it was clear that Milan Scrinyar was not coming back. He was leaving on a free transfer. He'd confirmed as much. You asked me, who would you replace him with and who's your dream signing? And I said, Benjamin Povard, without hesitating. He's not only showing it, but he's also superseding
00:06:32
Speaker
all, he's completely blowing all of my expectations out of the water. Yesterday, I mean, I saw someone tweet out something like, he might be the best player that you could have signed for their system in over 10 years. And I think that might be a little bit too exaggerated, but I kind of understand what they mean when they say that because he is perfect in this in Zaghi back three to the right. He really is.
00:07:00
Speaker
He's tailor made for that role. Yesterday, he continued to be outstanding defensively, but he started showing in attack what he can do. In the first opening 50, 45, 50 minutes, he was just unplayable. The crosses he fed with millimeter precision, the overlapping runs, the link up play, the passing, the intelligence to know when to drop, when to push forward,
00:07:29
Speaker
He was just absolutely unbelievable. And you marry that with a cherby who once as always doesn't put a foot wrong in a big game. And Bastani on the other end, the three of them just complement each other so well. And we're talking about what is shaping up to be one of these classic inter defenses.
00:07:54
Speaker
they were perfect in how they played defensively in both phases. And I keep hammering, yammering on and going on about these two, both phases, because the way that Inzaghi uses his right center back and left center back in the defense, he wants them to come forward, he wants them to push forward. And when they come out on the outside and overlap, the wing backs, they invert.
00:08:21
Speaker
and cause that extra man in the middle of in the opposition's penalty area or they do what Pavard did for the goal which is invert and swap with you know so Barilla goes out on the wing and or Darnian is out on the wing Barilla inverts the Pavard becomes the extra man in attack
00:08:44
Speaker
And he's just, you know, that's where the goal came from. And they keep doing that on both wings. It's so it's it's a very difficult football, but they they just do it time and time and time again. And they do it so, so, so well. But he wasn't the man of the match for me. That was someone else. But we'll get to that.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, just expanded on the rest of the defense. Like you said, a cherby, I mean, he is ultimate big game player. And he was brilliant again, and he's smart as well. And he's got that, what we call in Italy, the football that the old school Italian defenders have. And I kind of said a few weeks ago that
00:09:25
Speaker
Georgia Killini when he retired and we commemorated him on his retirement. And I said, you know, probably the last old school Italian defender. Well, probably maybe he's not, I would say maybe a chair, he's the last old school Italian defender because he has those smarts and he's aggressive and he always stands up and he was fantastic as well, which is very important for Italy going into the Euro as we need him. But also Bastoni who has, you know, got some criticism sometimes for
00:09:53
Speaker
for his defensive. We all know how good he is with the ball in his distribution, but he was really good defensively as well against Juventus. But as a whole, the whole back line was fantastic and really
00:10:14
Speaker
Juventus didn't, the only clear
Inter's Defensive Prowess
00:10:16
Speaker
chance Juventus had was the Vlaovic one in the first half where he fluffed his touch. Apart from that, you know, Inter didn't concede any chances really. There was one in the second half where a ball got put across the box, Juventus were a bit unlucky the way that that ball felt, could have been a tap-in.
00:10:32
Speaker
There was a gatty shot that went just wide, but that's it really. And I didn't think Juventus played bad. We've come to Juventus, but I just thought Inter just were very comfortable defensively, and that's how good the back line is. I mean, it's insane, their record this season. They've considered 10 goals in 22 Serie A games. I mean, that's unbelievable. Did they still have the most clean sheets in Europe? I believe they do.
00:10:56
Speaker
I think they've got 14 clean sheets in the city are now and the record is 21 and I'm looking at.
00:11:06
Speaker
Upcoming games and I'm not thinking I don't think that's impossible to be honest 50% or more just over 50% of the games left to get clean sheets you break that record So it's possible but the one stat that I found amazing like that I saw last night and what I was watching this on TNT and they read out a stat that Inter have not conceded a single goal this season in the last 15 minutes of the game I mean that is absolutely insane because that is the time of the game where
00:11:34
Speaker
most goals are scored it's in the last it's at the end of the games where teams are tiring or where the other team are pushing forward and they're taking more gambles and for in turn not to perceive a single goal all season in the last 15 minutes i mean that is that just tells you everything everything about just how amazing this into the fences so yeah you have to you have to give it to the defense for sure
00:11:58
Speaker
But moving further up the pitch... Actually, sorry, 16 clean sheets in the Serie A. Sorry, no, 14, 14, I counted the Super Cup, yeah. 14 clean sheets in the Serie A, 16 overall in the Italian competitions, including the Super Cup.
00:12:12
Speaker
uh it's mental it's no other words but that record in the last 50 minutes the game is even more mental yeah i that that that that that damn stat that they've been showing now every inter game for the last two three games is it's just it gives me ptsd every time i see it because like it feels like they're almost doing a guffata there but yeah i mean if we go leaves leave um like uh
00:12:38
Speaker
superstition apart, that is a crazy stat that you haven't conceded a goal in the last 15 minutes of the game is truly, truly. I mean, that's when it's the most difficult. That's when you're tired and you somehow managed to pull it through.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And he's not really the last 15 minutes of the game. It's the last 20 minutes or even more. Nowadays, we get some games with 10 minute stoppage time. So, I mean, that is mad.
Chalanoglu's Midfield Masterclass
00:13:03
Speaker
Moving further forward at the pitch though, I think Charlie Nogolu was amazing. He has a contender for one of the passes of the season, maybe the pass of the season in the first half when he put it, he just
00:13:15
Speaker
like an arrow through a tiny space to DiMarco and DiMarco put it across the box and took for Taram to tap in and Rehme did an amazing tackle but that pass was incredible and Chelanogli was outstanding again. I saw a stat where
00:13:34
Speaker
He completed 100 out of 106 passing attempts last night. The most progressive forward passes, one, two out of two, we made two out of two ball recoveries. I mean, look, it was if we leave the stats society that, you know, I had him just behind Pavard for the man of the match.
00:13:59
Speaker
in the first half, but then in the second half, the opening 15-20 minutes, he gave a world-class masterclass that the last time I saw an inter-midfield play like that at the San Siro was Wesley Snyder. I know they were different roles, but the level, I'm talking about the level of quality.
00:14:23
Speaker
When the way he was winning challenges, the progressive passes forward, winning headers, crosses fantastic. He hit the woodwork.
00:14:35
Speaker
man of the match for Inter by a mile yesterday. And not a single Inter player was bad yesterday. In fact, most of them were good. Pavard and Cala Noglu stood above the rest, but Cala Noglu was just, he was in the stars. That's how good he played. That was his best game in an Inter shirt. Those 15 minutes were just magical, where he just completely dominated the midfield.
00:15:04
Speaker
uh did everything was the brain behind everything he is now the
00:15:12
Speaker
the big, the brains, the hearts, the lungs of Inters midfield. And I don't think it's even close as to who is the best Seriam midfielder this season. I think he's just a mile, a mile there in Europe. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I really don't think there have been very many players who are better than him. That pass that he played to DiMarco. No, that's insane.
00:15:37
Speaker
That's the same. That reminded me, that reminded me of me when I was under 15 level, I used to do those passes. I mean, that was, that was absolutely insane. That was just, that was patini. That was a Michelle patini. Yeah, there's not very many footballers full stop that have played a pass like that and succeeded with it. Um, and I'm just annoyed that DeMarco couldn't play the ball a little bit harder and a little bit more in front of
00:16:05
Speaker
Trump, but we have to give credit to Bremmer, who... Yeah, we'll come to you. What a tackle. What a tackle. Yeah, we'll come on to Bremmer in a bit. He was actually saying. No, but we put his... Yeah, it was incredible. DiMarco was very good as well. The point I want to make about DiMarco is...
00:16:25
Speaker
after the three defenders in Chattanooga, he was the other, I thought, top player for entering this game. And the reason for that is that, and this is what makes DiMarco so amazing, is every game he plays almost, he's so influential. If you count how many chance creation actions that DiMarco is involved in, either in terms of
00:16:47
Speaker
an assist or in terms of a cross he puts in or in terms of the hockey assist or the hockey pass before a chance or in terms of having a shot himself and he had one early on which he kind of didn't connect particularly well with and he also had another one which he shot wide. I can't remember if it was the end of the first half or the beginning of the second half. He is always so involved in terms of
DiMarco's Offensive Contributions
00:17:14
Speaker
chance-creation actions. For me, that is what makes DiMarco so important and so influential and such an important player because he's always involved in the actions that are chances. His delivery is great. If you see the ball that he put to Barela for Barela's shot in the second half, I mean,
00:17:35
Speaker
If there's a player available in the box in an area, DiMarco would always pick them out. I remember watching that and I saw Borrello at the far post, I saw DiMarco look up. The first thing I think, and I think it's every single time DiMarco gets the ball in an area like that, is I think DiMarco is going to put that exactly where it has to go for the chance, and he did.
00:17:57
Speaker
So Demarco was really influential in this game. Not everything came off exactly how it should, but as we said with that Taran one, maybe he could have put it slightly ahead of him and that chance he had, but he's so influential. He's so influential every single game, Demarco. Especially in big games as well. He's very, very good in big games. You look at the Champions League final and he always seems to turn up like a cherby in the big matches.
00:18:22
Speaker
No, he does. He really does. I got to be honest, I thought he wasn't a bad performer, but I don't think he was one of Inter's best for me. That's the point. Even when he's not playing necessarily at his best, he's always involved in all the chances and the actions that create chances for Inter.
00:18:41
Speaker
always. I've just read out three of them already, or four of them already, right there. So that is what makes him, you know, he's always involved and that's what makes him so important for Inter. No, absolutely. No, look, it was just one of those games where it all came together for Inter and I think they should probably be kicking themselves that they didn't win this by a bigger margin.
00:19:09
Speaker
That's the only negative I'd say because I think they created more than enough chances to win this. They had the chances to kill the game off with those two chances. But also during the first time when Pavard's cross to DiMarco and he miskicks it.
00:19:24
Speaker
I mean, those things will happen. I wouldn't say that was a big, big chance. And also, I thought Inter's goal was a little bit fortuitous, the way that he obviously went in. It was an own goal after all. But Inter definitely deserved to win. They created the big chances. They created more chances. They had more control of the game.
00:19:40
Speaker
They were good. They were outstanding, but they were very good. I thought that everyone generally played well. The only negative was Lautaro. I thought he was pretty poor. He looked a bit tired again, so they have to keep a little eye on Lautaro. I think this was a different game for him, though. I think this was a game where he was fighting.
00:20:02
Speaker
His job was to hold the ball up, was to get in there and get stuck in and win challenges and help them and field out. I agree that it was not one of his better games because he missed simple ball touches and he missed simple passes, which you usually don't see him do this season. But I didn't think he was bad. I don't think any interplay were bad. I think everyone was good. It's just that
00:20:29
Speaker
I think this was the night where Chalanoglu and Pavard touched the stars. I think they were just unbelievable. And I think Turam had a very good game as well. I think you have to give it to him. I mean, he just continues to deliver in big games. You talk about big game player. This guy just continues to come up good for Inter in these important games. And I also want to give
00:20:53
Speaker
a special mention to Mikitarian who is one of the most intelligent footballers
00:20:59
Speaker
that I've seen wearing into a shirt. Yeah. And also Borrella, Borrella, Borrella didn't have his best game. He didn't do an outstanding pass for the goal. I mean, made that part, that little chip pass. Yeah. Most people won't, won't even see that or do that kind of pass. He executed that well. So that was just a bit of quality show. Let's, let's move on to Juventus though, from, from the Juventus point of view in this game. I've seen, I've seen quite a bit of criticism and not just from Juventus fans from, from, from all kinds of non-inter fans.
00:21:29
Speaker
about Juventus' performance and Allegri in particular, which I think is a little bit harsh, if I'm honest.
Juventus' Offensive Struggles
00:21:37
Speaker
I actually thought that, and remember, I have the highest standards possible when it comes to Juventus or any Italian team that I'm watching because I was
00:21:47
Speaker
brought up in an era when Italian football and Juventus were world-class and so I do have high standards but I thought that the Juventus competed pretty well in this game. I thought they were well organized generally. They didn't make it easy for Inter to create clear chances and until they pushed forward at the end looking for the equalizer and they left gaps as a result in which case
00:22:11
Speaker
which had those really big, big chances. Inter didn't really create that many clear chances. They created chances, but not clear chances. I think physically and aerially, they matched Inter. But the difference was they lacked the quality of Inter, especially the attacking quality. And that was the biggest glaring problem in this game for Juventus.
00:22:35
Speaker
just how limited they were as an offensive force. I thought that they pushed forward well. I thought the second half, there were periods in the second half where they actually were, they weren't pinning into back, but they were in their half. They were controlling the territory into what were holding back a little bit. And Juventus were pushing, and they had a few near moments like that Gatti shot I mentioned, and that ball across the box from Kostich, which
00:23:02
Speaker
really, you know, could have been was a 50 50, it could have fallen to for bow for tapping and it didn't it just went behind him. You know, so they were pushing forward, but ultimately, they they weren't, you know, this wasn't into what you meant as weren't able to
00:23:18
Speaker
to really create chances themselves and the build-up of play and the patterns of play and the team moves to create chances that we saw, say, from Inter, we didn't see from you. We still don't see it, and that has remained an issue this season. Throughout this good season that they're having,
00:23:37
Speaker
And it kind of, it shows when you play such a top team like Inter and that is, you know, remains Allegri's, Allegri's weakness. I think in the first half, Juventus were, were a little bit overly defensive. I mean, Wlowicz was, was very isolated in the first half. Yildiz is a, is a, you know, he's a wonderful play, he's a skillful technical player, but I think for him to flourish, he needs players that he can pass and interchange with. And he didn't get that at all.
00:24:07
Speaker
in the first half especially and he generally kind of won't get that much with Allegri football because Allegri doesn't play that football. Allegri is get the ball out wide, cross it, push, put pressure on the opposition, make them make mistakes, you know. So I think that was shown with Yield's performance and he was a little bit disappointed in this game and ultimately Sommer didn't make a save of note. Juventus had one shot on target
00:24:30
Speaker
in this game, which was an easy shot for him to save. So I think Allegri's ability to create chances is still an issue for Juventus, and it showed in this game, and even though Juventus, as we've discussed on this pod, the XG has been much improved on average this season, and they have been scoring more goals, especially in 2024, and they have been creating more chances on a whole,
00:24:59
Speaker
Against the big clubs, it has remained an issue. And if you look at the XG against Intel, the two games against Intel, they had 0.6 XG in this game. In the first game against Intel in Turin, they had an XG of 0.49. Against Napoli, the game, they won 1-0, and they virtually created nothing in that game. They had a 0.6 XG. They managed to get the win.
00:25:19
Speaker
against Fiorentina 0.8 xg against Atalanta the nil-nil that was the worst of all they had a 0.2 xg and against Bologna a 0.9 xg so these are the kind of like you know these are a number of the big games here that Juventus are you know not creating enough chances and that is that was shown in this game that you that is that is a weakness still
00:25:45
Speaker
for Juventus. So that was where they fell short, I thought, in this game. Because other than that, I thought that they did pretty well. They competed well. They showed that they were a team. And you have to praise Allegri for that. He's made them into a team. He's made them competitive. They weren't bullied by Inter. They showed that they would deserve to be on there. But ultimately, they lacked that, the quality of Inter. And from Allegri's point of view, they still
00:26:14
Speaker
struggle to really be able to put those attacking patterns in order to create chances against the bigger teams that insert. For me, I look at this. I thought you were very good. I think Juventus stood up really well. They showed maturity. They showed growth. Juventus are back. It's Juventus are back as a top team in the Serie A. And Juventus will continue to fight for the Serie A title next season.
00:26:43
Speaker
and probably the season after that, because they've got a young team as well. And this is all what we say in Sweden, learning money for them. Yesterday was another experience for them. Vlawic was too fired up, which happens to young strikers and young players, and he will learn from that.
00:27:03
Speaker
And the fact that you have to be fired up, but you have to be concentrated in discipline, being too fired up can cause you to lose concentration, which he did on several occasions.
00:27:15
Speaker
But Juventus showed that they are back as a top team in the Serie A, that they have a serious project moving forward, and that it's a serious project built on a defence where I don't think we're very, very many months or matches away from discussing whether Bremen is the best central defender in the world.
00:27:38
Speaker
Danilo was excellent again, as to the right of that back three. Wojciech Szesny was the man of the match.
00:27:46
Speaker
He's the reason that Juventus don't lose this by at least two goals. I don't think he's necessarily the future, but it shows what identity this Juventus have, what the maturity that this Juventus squad and group of players have shown and continue to show. And I think Allegri showed once again how he
00:28:11
Speaker
tactically is a world-class manager, the way that he controlled, the way that he adapted to this game and the way that he, you know, both Inter and Juva showed that although you Inter are further far more better than it this season because they're much more ready, much more readier and mature in their growth.
Tactical Battle: Inter vs Juventus
00:28:35
Speaker
about suffering, knowing how to suffer. That's the hallmark of a big team, knowing how to suffer in difficult moments and knowing that despite when you're suffering, when the chance comes, you can hurt your opposition on the counter-attack. Juventus showed that they could do that.
00:28:52
Speaker
throughout and I was very impressed by that. This was a top-class interview of a game, the intensity of the game, the quality, the tactical quality.
00:29:07
Speaker
the individual quality, it was a very, very good gain for neutrals and a good advert for the Serie A because the Sancira was buzzing. But again, Juve were really, really, really good. And I was so impressed with
00:29:27
Speaker
the chess match between Nzagi and Allegri. Allegri made Nzagi work for it. Every single tiny change he made, Nzagi had to respond. When he brought on Kieza and Darmian was exhausted, Allegri probably thought, okay, well, I've got the upper hand now. He brings on Dumfries, and Dumfries was faultless defensively.
00:29:53
Speaker
completely nullifying in Kiazaa's substitution down that right hand side. So it was just stuff like that, and constantly between these two tactical decisions and chess moves, that was just an absolute beauty to watch. Yeah, it was a good tactical game to watch. There's no doubt that from a tactical point of view, Allegri did well in this game. But moving forward,
00:30:21
Speaker
you know, Juventus are going to have to be better offensively. And he can't say that Juventus haven't got the offensive players to create more. So that is, you know, that is an issue going forward. And it's why, you know, next season for sure, you know, I've never changed. I've stuck with my, you know, I don't, you know, I want a different coach to allegory next season. But that doesn't mean that at the same time, we can't
00:30:44
Speaker
put all the positives there, which I have done. And I think from an individual point of view, spot on, Chesney, two world class saves from Pirello and Arnautovic. The one for Arnautovic was out of this world. It was absolutely insane. I think I actually kind of disagree with you more there a little bit. I think the saving from Barilla was world class. Both world class.
00:31:01
Speaker
No, but the way that he does exactly what a world-class goalkeeper should do, that he makes his body big, he follows the shooter, he tries to close down the angle, and he's smart enough to keep his legs there, knowing that, you know, just covering the goal. But for me, the Arnautovic, yes, it's a good save, but that is an atrocious finish by Arnautovic.
00:31:23
Speaker
straight at him.
Juventus' Defensive Strengths
00:31:25
Speaker
When you have the ball there and you know that the goalkeeper is coming at you, he should know this. He's not some spring chicken. He's an experienced striker. You have to put it underneath the goalkeeper or fake a shot so that he commits himself, but instead, I don't know, he just bangs it straight at him. It's a good save, but I think it's an awful shot. Well, he's getting a catalogue of big misses this season.
00:31:48
Speaker
I don't want to take anything away from Chesney because he was outstanding. He had to make up so much to get there. That was an insane say. But Bremmer, there's no doubt Bremmer has been the best defender in Serie A this season. This game he was
00:32:05
Speaker
indomitable. Lautaro got nothing out of him, as I said before. His pace, his reading of the game, his position is so good, his recovery. We all know how strong Taram is. There was one moment where he
00:32:26
Speaker
shoulder-to-shoulder, he sent Turan flying across the pitch. That's how strong he is as well. That annoyed me with Turan in the second half, I think it was, when he shoulder-to-shoulder for a ball with Turan.
00:32:44
Speaker
literally falls to the floor. Bremer is strong, but Taram did not exactly try to stand up either. That annoyed me, because there was no need for Taram to do that. I honestly think that if he had taken the hit, he would have still won the ball, because the way that
00:33:06
Speaker
But the way if you know which situation I mean when he wanted a penalty right in the second half that that's not a penalty. It's not even close to a penalty and more importantly.
00:33:15
Speaker
It was a pretty shitty dive, if we're perfectly honest. Yeah, Taram is starting to... He does go down too much, Taram. He's so strong, he doesn't need to... Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, I wanted him to stand up much. He goes down too much, Taram. That annoyed me, because I think he beats Bremmer if he stands up, because he looked like he was controlling the situation. He had the ball at his feet. He is a strong guy. We know he's a strong guy.
00:33:40
Speaker
I think he gambled a little bit there to get the penalty and I think that was the wrong decision. Yeah, the regret Juventus will have from this game is the Vlaovic chances, 0-0 at that time. It's an absolute sitter, it's a horrific touch from Vlaovic.
00:33:59
Speaker
It's a Lukaku or Emil Hesky touch from their worst days. I mean, that was shocking from Vlovich. And that's the big regret the Juventus had because Inter don't score not too long. They take the lead not too long after that.
00:34:17
Speaker
So that's that's the big regret you end to sell because they score that then it's a completely different game Then it's you know, a legary can be a legary Yeah, and and then the chances may be open on the counter and then who knows what would have happened after that So that's the big regret I think that Juventus will will have from this game is that is that Vlaovic mixed and it just shows you how low which is still you know, not ready top top top class striker and
00:34:41
Speaker
you know, well class striker, which obviously which isn't right now, not yet is, he's in the right direction, he's going in the right direction. I think his link up play has improved incredibly. He's winning, his learning, learning to play with his back against the goal has improved. But again, he's not exactly
00:35:03
Speaker
30 you know it's not exactly the most oldest guy on the pitch he's still a little bit inexperienced and it shows but these are things that go away with time so i'm not too worried um and i think yesterday he showed he was too fired up he was too fired up to the point where he was
00:35:19
Speaker
I affected his concentration yeah gave away like four free kicks in the first in the first two minutes yeah he could and the referee gave him chances to cool down and still didn't until he gave me yellow card and that's when he called out and that's what you're thinking well.
00:35:37
Speaker
any other you know any other referee you can get sent off and then you put your team in all sorts of trouble but again I chalk down that down to inexperience to be honest I think that's the kind of thing that you grow the more games like this you play the more you learn from it
00:35:52
Speaker
to be honest and i'm not too worried about that let's move on anyway at least we had no rat f in in this game except for the yellow card on simone which is ridiculous but other than that i thought uh what's his name um i thought i thought marisca was good i think he had a good performance i think he was
00:36:10
Speaker
very clear. For one, Smareska was good in his communication to the players. He didn't allow this to deteriorate. He was on top of it on every situation. He was very well positioned for every single major call. And that's why he immediately made his choice. You know, he was assertive in his decisions. And so as soon as the players looked at him, he was like he was already showing why he made the decision. And I think that you have to do that in these games.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Milan with a late comeback to win 3-2 and closed the gap on Juventus in second place now to only four points and is down to the supersubs again and that man
Jovic: Milan's Super Sub
00:36:52
Speaker
Jovic, who does it again as a supersub to score the winner, poachers goal. It's now his seventh goal in two months. Four of them have come in the last 10 minutes of games. I mean, he has become the supersub of Seriano.
00:37:07
Speaker
Yeah, he is. And he scores decisive goals too, doesn't he? I mean, it's not just stat padding goals, but he scores decisive goals and he scores the winner for Milan in the 81st minute, one minute after coming on. And it feels like every time he literally scores, he's an immediate impact sub as well. He seems to score within minutes of coming on. It doesn't take a lot of time.
00:37:36
Speaker
for him to impact the game. I hope he stays at Milan as a backup striker because I think that's the role he should have. I think this is his level. I think he can be an important player for Milan as a backup striker. I don't think he's good enough to be the starting striker.
00:37:55
Speaker
The way that Milan play, his killer instinct in the box pays off time and time again. And now, look, I hope that Milan can afford to buy him. Well, it's not unclear kind of how much they have to pay for him. But yeah, I think that's.
00:38:16
Speaker
He's shown in the last two months how many goals he's scoring. Giroud I thought was also important in this game. He's shown in the air that still now he's one of the best ever, let's be honest, Ariely. Ariely, yeah. How many goals he's scored with his head, especially big games and big goals, World Cups and Champions Leagues.
00:38:42
Speaker
I mean he scored so many with his head and he scored with his head for the first and he got the assist with his head for the second so he was very very important but ultimately I think Milan
00:38:53
Speaker
you know, they got away with one that they've done a lot of late comebacks. That builds character, that builds character. And I think this is part of that kind of growth of a squad of a team that is, you know, getting back to the top and winning trophies and titles is the fact that they keep coming back despite mistakes, despite
00:39:14
Speaker
There's positives and negatives to take from that. It's positive in terms of that it shows that we talk about it, like the famous Fergie time of Man United. It's not a coincidence if you keep scoring late goals and late winners. That's down to being a good team and having character and being mentally strong and never stopping and being well conditioned to keep going at the end.
00:39:38
Speaker
all those qualities and your subs being good as well as, you know, having players off the bench that can make the difference. So there's positives, but there's also negatives and we have to talk about the negatives because again, it shows, I mean, Milan's defense is just not good enough. He's not good enough for a team that wants to be challenging for the Scudetto because he did another two goals here. Again, just too easy to open up, too easy to play through, too, can't defend their box, too many,
00:40:05
Speaker
Conceded in too many chances. They've conceded more goals than anyone in the top half of Serie A this season. You have to go down to Monza in 12th to find a team who's conceded more. Last year, they conceded the fifth most in the calendar year, so this is a consistent problem. This isn't just something that just happened. This is something that consistently Milan's defence is conceding. You can't blame it just on the recent injuries it's sent about.
00:40:32
Speaker
And you can't just blame it on Manon either, even though Manon is also making too many mistakes. And I think you have to blame him as well on the Matsuteri goal. It's a tight angle. And he's let the shot. It hasn't even gone through his legs. Sometimes when it goes through the goalkeeper's legs, you can kind of take away the blame because sometimes you shoot it straight through the legs, hit it early, and the goalkeeper just the way he's positioned, he can't do anything about it sometimes. That can happen on the angle.
00:40:58
Speaker
Even if you're being on the near post, it's always the goalkeeper is always a blame to an extent. But if it goes through the legs, you can you can kind of debate it whether it's the goalkeeper's fault a bit more. But when it's to the side, it wasn't through his legs. It was to the side with a again with a weakest shot as well, to be honest with you. Again, by his near post, this is a problem. This isn't just
00:41:22
Speaker
one odd thing that happens every night. This is now consistently. Mike Mignon has a problem with shots by his that he concedes in his near post, whether it's left or right. I thought it was for one at one point it was his near right post. But no, this is he has a there is an issue. I think it's a positional issue. I think they need to find a goalkeeper, goalkeeper, goalkeeping trainer who can
00:41:48
Speaker
who can work with him to improve on that, because he has a problem there. He has a problem when shots are driven low by his near post, right and left, and it's consistent. It keeps happening consistently. So it's something they need to work on. Whether it's his positioning that's wrong, or if it's his read of the game, or whatever it is,
00:42:15
Speaker
he has an issue and player in the city are these strikers and attackers they know that they they are like sharks they can smell a drop of blood in in the water and they know that he struggles there so they will pepper him with shots down there um just like
00:42:32
Speaker
all teams did on Handanovic with long shots. I mean, Allegri was a master at that. He used to laugh at how Juventus players used to take long shots to test Handanovic just because Allegri told them to, because he knew that they couldn't. And that was a weakness for him with rebounds straight out.
00:42:51
Speaker
This is this is this is the serial they know if they find a weakness they will push it like they will ruthlessly exploit it and And he he has a weakness there and and they keep doing it and they keep shooting there But look the the Milan defense is a bit of a mess. They do have let's be honest. They are also a little bit of They're a little bit depleted but
00:43:16
Speaker
That still doesn't count for what I think is a structural issue. I think Milan's defense is hollow, and that is a structural issue. That's on purely.
00:43:29
Speaker
there is a problem there, that this team leaks too many goals, regardless of many on. I think there's a structural issue where teams are able to exploit Milan's high press, because Milan are a little bit unbalanced. And I think that's something Pioli needs to address. Now, he's addressed it in the sense that they keep, you know, if as long as you keep out scoring one more than your opponent, you'll win,
00:43:57
Speaker
But Milan should not be conceding this many goals. They really, really shouldn't, regardless of Mignon. And I think they're way, way, way too easy to carve open, Milan.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah, they are. They are. And then they're not going to be able to. That's the point I'm making. They're not going to be able to keep making these late comebacks. You know, you can you can do it, but you can't you can't keep doing it, especially again. There's levels against stronger teams. You're not going to be able to do it. You go behind the goal or or you can see the second goal in a game to go behind. And then, you know, you're just not it's just not unsustainable. It's basically the point I'm making. So that that that they need to sort out from from
00:44:38
Speaker
From crossing on his point of view, I thought Seq was pretty lively. Down the right he gave a lot of problems to Teo on the left-hand side. But Sule, he now has 10 goals for the season. Double figures, lovely assist for Matsutelli, the pastor, to slip him through. Every, I mean, I don't have any information itself, but all the reports coming out are that the Juventus are planning to sell him in the summer.
00:45:07
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. Should Juventus be selling him? I mean... Yes, yes, absolutely. What, you don't think he's good enough for Juventus? I don't think he fits this Juva. Well, he doesn't fit Allegri system, but that's the whole, that's part of the point. I mean... I don't know. I think there's a player there, but I don't know. I just don't think that... I don't know. I just feel that if you get a good enough offer for him,
00:45:33
Speaker
30, 35, 40 million you sell immediately, because I think they can use that money to strengthen other areas of the pitch that can get this Juve to take the next step, if that makes sense. And I think sometimes you have to sell one talented young player to bring in two
00:45:55
Speaker
young, talented players in other positions where you need them, if that makes sense. So I think Suleh, it's been a fantastic success for Juve, this lone spell at Frosinone, and he has taken strides, Matias Suleh. I mean, double figures is impressive. Great assistant. He's one of the top scorers in Serie A. He's the top dribbler in Serie A. He's one of the top chance creators in Serie A. I mean, I just think that, you know,
00:46:21
Speaker
Well, why would Juventus want to sell him unless they... Well, because I'm not sure that he can do it against teams that defend deep. I still have my doubts there. I feel that with Frosinone, teams attack them. And so he's given space. I don't think he... I think he can too easily still be erased from a game. And that's the difference.
00:46:43
Speaker
For if he's gonna stay you are not if a legary if a legary stay and then there's a waste of time having to let cuz he can't play in a free fight too but i just think the event should be looking for the food i'm not saying they shouldn't sell him i'm you know i still you know i'm not saying one hundred percent he's gonna be a massive success at the event is but i just think that i don't know
00:47:03
Speaker
My doubt is like I said I don't think that regard I just I'm just like kind of amused by the whole that all I mean I know some of the reports you can't you know you can take a pinch of salt but just how it's kind of almost accepted events are gonna sell him like it's it's just unanimous he's going and there's no kind of like even debate about it and it's just.
00:47:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I think is like, as I said, I mean, for me, it's this I don't think I'm yet to see something to suggest that he can produce these numbers and this this kind of form against teams that double up on him and defend deep. When you play for frozen honor, you will always have space because teams will attack you. They will have an attacking mindset when they play against you.
00:47:46
Speaker
against Juve, they won't be. They will be defending deep. And I'm yet to see something to suggest from him that when he's got like Liao is treated with two against one, they close him down, they put him off his balance. I'm yet to see anything to suggest that he can handle that.
00:48:02
Speaker
But I mean, I don't know until it happens, do we? Well, no, but it's not. He has the most dribbles. He said he has the most successful. Yeah, because he's got one because one one V one, he's very good when coming attacking the space. What I'm talking about is I want to see what happens when when teams close like defend well against him, how how he does. And I don't feel that I just haven't seen anything to suggest that he would do well.
00:48:28
Speaker
And I'm not saying that, you know, I could be wrong and I'll gladly own it if I am. But I think Juventus would be wise, to be honest, if someone were to pay 30, 40 million euros for this guy. I'm surprised how good he's been put this way. I didn't see this coming. But then when I've seen how amazing he's been this season, I didn't think he was going to make it Juventus when I saw him. I didn't think he was quick enough. I didn't think he eliminated his man enough. I didn't think he had the dribbling in him.
00:48:55
Speaker
That he's been shown to be the number one in the league at dribbling. You have to be a fantastic dribbler That's not just by chance or circumstance or the type of game that you're playing and you know, I think there's a big chance I think there's a big aspect of it to be honest because well to be fair for not only push teams back, you know They dominate positioning as well, you know, and you've entered so hardly a team that dominates position anyway, but anyway
00:49:17
Speaker
We'll see, we'll see what happens. Atalanta though, Atalanta are now, I think, the favourites to win top four after they dominate, they dismantle Laxio on Sunday. Completely dominant, they win the game 3-1.
00:49:33
Speaker
And they're in fantastic form now. It's their fourth win in a row. They've won one nine drawn one and lost one of their last 11 games. They are starting to take this fourth place by the scruff of the neck. And they are threatening to make that their own and to pull away now. Are they favorites for you now to finish fourth?
00:50:03
Speaker
Yes, they are. They really, really are. I was so impressed by that performance against Lazio, how controlled they were and how they've grown this season, not at the beginning of it, but into the season. They've taken strides and steps.
00:50:23
Speaker
and take games to the opposition and are starting to reminisce of the way the attack reminisces me. It sends reminders of an Atalanta
00:50:36
Speaker
that when Atalanta are at their best under Gasperini when they swarm teams. They're not there yet, but they're not far off. And I thought, look, Charles de Kettler was just so good again. The funny thing with him is
00:50:57
Speaker
Despite scoring twice penalty and a good goal from open play. Yeah, very good goal. The second one. Yeah, the second one. And then that secondary assist prior to the Paschalich goal.
00:51:12
Speaker
He still looks like he's suffering a little bit from confidence. He's not fully looking like the player that's completely relaxed and is showing off all his skills. I think that might just be his personality. I think maybe he is just someone that's quite shy person, a bit introverted. That's fine. But I feel like when a player is in form and they're playing at the peak of their game, they look relaxed. He looks a little bit stiff still for me.
00:51:39
Speaker
which is incredible because he's had a really good season. And if this is not him just kind of playing at 70, 80% of what is talent, well, congratulations on that. Well, he's in great form. He's got five goals and three assists in 2024. There can't be many that have got better than that, if any. And he's got six goals and five assists in his last 10 games, 11 goal contributions in last 10 games. Yeah, he's an excellent, excellent forward. And he's even pushing Schumacher. I mean, Schumacher can't even start. He's another one to discuss. I mean, after the
00:52:08
Speaker
you do wonder what the future is for Schimacher, that you can't even be a regular first team starter at Salanza. But as for De Ketzaler, I mean, yeah, very impressive, very impressive in this game. He even
00:52:28
Speaker
The one thing that I didn't like about him at Milan more than anything was he seemed to have that burst of pace. He didn't seem to have that acceleration, that ability to just surge away from his man. And when I'd see that from attacking players, attacking attackers or wingers or attacking midfielders like he is, my concern is always
00:52:50
Speaker
I don't think they're going to make it at a top club because I think you need that. The best players, the top players need that. And if they're a kind of, you know, a de Keter, they kind of play, you know, the kind of player that wants to be creative and dribble and he didn't have that in Milan at all.
00:53:07
Speaker
In this game, he was even showing a bit of pace in this game. What's Bangspoke feeding him? He's such a tactically intelligent player, I think. He's starting to show that.
00:53:28
Speaker
you know, Atalanta and Bergamo is just the right size of city and club for him to show off, to start to be rehabilitated after two years of the abuse he was subjected to at Milan, where he showed he wasn't ready at all for a club of Milan stature. But it's interesting, and I think he's really starting to come into his own.
00:53:54
Speaker
Well, so are many of the Atalanta players. Gasparini is starting to build something there. I'm not even going to dare say this is anything like the team they had a few years ago. It's not on that level. But you can see the Atalanta are playing as a team. They're pressing great. Everyone knows their role and function. They're aggressive. They run. There's some good patterns of play. You can see the work on the training ground with certain schemes they do. A good example is that free kick routine.
00:54:22
Speaker
they play to the edge of the area which which came out when he came on blazed over the bar you can see that they're all on the same wavelength and that is why i make accidents of favorites because i see that with them and i don't see it with any of the other except for bologna but then i don't know whether bologna will ultimately
00:54:40
Speaker
be good enough in terms of on paper, in terms of the individual quality of their players, is not enough to really fight for the top four for the rest of the season. But in terms of the realistic teams to finish fourth, I don't see that with any of the other big teams, Roma, Lazio, certainly not Napoli. You don't see that
00:55:00
Speaker
they're a team and everybody's working and they're well oiled. This Atalanta is becoming well oiled. And Gasparini is developing players again. Decatura is one. But you know, if we look at, I mean, Scalvini was very decisive offensively. Again, we only ever talk about him in an offensive sense. He had the assist for Pasalitz, he won the penalty. But also other players, I mean, Koop Miners and Edison are
00:55:26
Speaker
I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think after I think
00:55:47
Speaker
He's just so, so good. This season he's really taken strides. The way that he dominates the midfield in terms of, with passing and movement and Dick, you know, helps Dick. No, he's box to box with defensive numbers and he's a deals one and his interceptions are amazing. I am really impressed by Ederson, I've been really, really impressed. I think they're a showing for fourth, I really do.
00:56:12
Speaker
I really do. I think they're going to have the squad as well. They have depth in their team. I mean, Lukman is the only one there, I was going to say. He's one of the best players at the Africa Cup. I think he's top scorer as well, second top scorer. And he's still got to come back and at home has been really good as well, right wing bat. So they've bought Hien as well to strengthen their defence in January. I mean, they've got the squad.
00:56:40
Speaker
And even Kanaseki has really started to grow since taking the place of Musou as well. So they're looking good. But from the other side of the coin, Lazio were abysmal, completely outplayed, opened up easily. And the way to describe Lazio is that I just think that, and it's been the case generally all this season, despite that good run, they went on that good little run, didn't they? And then now they've kind of returned back to what they were at the start of the season, the last couple of games in terms of performance.
00:57:10
Speaker
is just look at every department on the pitch and none of them are working. They've got nothing in attack. There's just no quality or goals in that attack. They're dominating the midfield, which is so strange for a Sarri team to be dominating midfield. Sarri teams usually control the midfields in possession and this season they haven't and they've dominated in this game in midfield.
00:57:31
Speaker
And then the defence as well has been leaky. It was one of the best defences in Serie A last season. So nothing is working really at Lazio at all. And all I can say to them is
00:57:45
Speaker
Good luck against Bayern Munich. Look, they're going to be destroyed against Bayern Munich. It's not even fun. I just feel like it's going to get ugly against Bayern Munich. It really, really is.
00:58:03
Speaker
But look, I think Lazio are at a crossroads here. I think Sarri will start to demand things and I think the lotito will not be able to reciprocate. I think Sarri is leaving in the ceiling. I think that that project is ending.
00:58:21
Speaker
because it's just not played out. It's not working in Sarri. Sarri's a system coach. This is the thing. When you have a system coach, you need to give them what they want because otherwise it doesn't work and they get fed up and pissed off and leave. I think it could be a difficult few years, couple of years at least for Laxio because I look at the team and I think it's going to break out. It's going to break out. I'm not feeling a bit savage already. In Montbellaire, you know, he's way past his best and, you know, who knows if he will stay anyway.
00:58:46
Speaker
you know, Felipe Anderson's going to leave, you know, Luis Alberto's getting old, maybe he will leave as well. You know, so you're looking at the pillars of the team, they're all gone. And, you know, so you're thinking, I think it's going to be difficult for them the next season. 199 goals now for in the Serie A for Chiro Immobula, one away from joining Club 200.
00:59:11
Speaker
Which is interesting. Yeah, it certainly is. Napoli then. Napoli, crucial late comeback to beat Verona. Kvalak Skadia saving Napoli, saving Matsari, a moment of world-class brilliance. Cole's at top corner from 30 yards. It's sensational, Cole, from Kvalak Skadia. We have to start there. I mean, what a goal. What an absolute wonderful magical goal and shot that was.
00:59:39
Speaker
It was literally, he set the Maradona aflame, didn't he? He set them alight with that goal, because it was a dreadful game by Napoli, generally. But the way that he, you know, this is what he can do, you know, this is the kind of, this is his talent. You know, you need your big players and your world-class players to make that difference.
01:00:02
Speaker
And he did. He won the game. He won the game. It was an awful performance from Napoli. They rallied late on last 10-15 minutes to get those two late goals. Otherwise they would have lost. They were losing 1-0 to Verona and they were awful the whole game. They didn't look like a team. They're not a team. This is the difference between them and Atalanta. Atalanta are a team. Napoli are not a team.
01:00:23
Speaker
There's no patterns, there's no cohesion. It was just Kleritsky doing stuff himself now and again to create something, otherwise they weren't going to create anything. And they fell behind and they looked like they were going to lose. I mean, the positives, I guess, the two subs, Lindstrom and Gonsch did well. They combined for the equalizer. So I guess you can take a little bit of a positive there that they combined. Let's hope that both of them can push on.
01:00:49
Speaker
But all in all, this Matsari Napoli doesn't look very good. I can't see how they can get a result against Barcelona. Even though Barcelona are not great either, they're better than Napoli. The way to do this is they're struggling to beat a team like Verona who have had a complete fire sale.
01:01:13
Speaker
in, they've sold their whole team. I mean, they're struggling to be a team that basically had to play the tea lady and the kit man. And then they, you know, surprised about on it didn't come out of retirement to play for Verona. I mean, that's how, you know, how many players Verona have sold, and they need to lose to them. They need to lose to Verona team that sold their entire team in January. I mean, if they'd have lost this game,
01:01:40
Speaker
it would have been absolutely one of the biggest embarrassments I can think of for a long time at Napoli. I mean, I'm sorry, you surely would have had to go if they lost this game. So yeah. There's really not much to add to that. It just goes to show the state of what's happened at Napoli and with a president that is doing his utmost song and dance routine to divert attention.
01:02:06
Speaker
De Laurentiis has lost the plot. He's left Zelensky out of the Champions League squad, and don't listen to their excuses that it was nothing to do with the transfer. Of course it's got to do with that. He literally confirmed that it's got to do with that when he said that Inter are going to pay him less money than we are. Inter are going to pay him less money than we are, but Marotto has lacked respect and blah, blah, blah.
01:02:30
Speaker
Look, he's been there for so many years and now he wants to go. And you're not exactly very good at, you know, building up, treating these players with the respect they deserve. Look at how you're treating quite a trailer. Look at the way you've handled the awesome and contract situation. Look at how you've handled replacing. I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just, you know, the Champions League squad is just madness. That is, that is the, you know, that is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
01:02:57
Speaker
really is. The sentiment field is already weak and Cayuste was horrific in this game again. He's an embarrassment. He is. He needs to leave. I mean, what the hell are they going to do against Barcelona with with Pedri and Gundogan in sentiment field? Are they going to say, can you stay against these two guys? Why would you let Zelensky? Why would you would you take Zelensky out of your squad? It's madness. It's absolute madness. They've thrown away that tie just with that one decision. And then and then I feel bad for Cayuste. I hope he leaves Napoli. It's clearly not working.
01:03:28
Speaker
And this is not an environment for a young player like him to be at because I don't think he's going to grow there. I just think he's just not good enough. I don't know. I want to wait. I'm not saying he's going to be a top class player or anything like that. He's not naturally level. I look at his qualities. I look at his attributes. He's just not got the quality, unfortunately. I really don't know. I think he was just
01:03:50
Speaker
he was always going to struggle to get into the swing of things, and the chaos at Napoli hasn't helped. And I think for him, with young players, everyone is different, right? And I think he needs to be in a more nurturing and familial environment than in Napoli, where the president is going around
01:04:13
Speaker
making an ass of himself, and he's doing it on purpose. He's made him making a spectacle of himself to divert attention from the absolute mess that he himself and no one else has done. And there was an unhinged interview as well, talking about players with their testicles hanging out. Hanging out and stuff like that, yeah.
01:04:32
Speaker
He was talking about how clueless Italian TV coverage of football games is, how it's marketed. He's right that they're clueless, but all the examples he gave were wrong and showed how clueless De Laurentiis is. He said about the TV shouldn't be in the changing room before games. He said that they shouldn't be post-match interviews. They shouldn't be press conferences before and after the game.
01:04:52
Speaker
Now, let me just say one thing. These are the good things. That's the things that people do want to see. That's the things that make the politics interesting. That's literally what people want to see. People want to see behind the scenes stuff. That's very sellable in terms of marketing. They also want the rawness of a post-match interview and they want the press conferences, the rawness of that straight off the game. What they don't want is they don't want the stuff that is all polished.
01:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, polish is the perfect word. Yeah. So these are the good things. The bad things are the things that he didn't mention, the things like the camera angles, the empty stadiums, the showing that the empty sections, the old stadiums, the old stadiums, the, the, yeah, but he's, he is what the, the, you know, we'll come to, to, to Sarias of the week and we'll give you some other examples. These are the bad things, you know, not, not those, those are the good things. So just showed it, showed him how much
01:05:42
Speaker
I mean, if you look at US, if you look at North American sports, they're always in the dressing room, regardless of the, I mean, I would say that's, that's a little bit too intrusive for me when people are literally in their underwear. If you want to argue from that point of view, yes. But if you want to talk about what is actually marketable and what
01:05:59
Speaker
what football fans want to see. They love the behind-the-scenes stuff, the stuff behind the story, the stuff that you don't get to see when you watch football matches on TV. Those kinds of things. Fans love that kind of stuff. They're some of the most sellable stuff in the media, just in terms of just, if I'm talking about just articles. No, I understand that. I understand that. If you want to make the league a bit more marketable and more interesting, that's the kind of stuff you want to be doing. You want to be doing more of that kind of stuff.
01:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. I just feel like, and I don't know if you watch, but like ice hockey games or NBA or football, like they're literally there where the players are naked. I think that is a little bit too much. Like they're, you know, it probably is, but the point is that it sells.
01:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, well, it might be a little bit intrusive. I mean, if that were the case with Serie A, then fine. But they've actually struck a pretty good balance here. I think they don't exactly sit there. They just show the changing room before the game starts to give a feel of the atmosphere there. They never talk. They just listen to the players for like 10, 15 seconds and then they go out.
01:07:05
Speaker
I don't have a problem with it, but this is typical de la rentes nonsense. He's doing this to divert attention from how bad he has failed. He always does this. He is a showman. This is what he does. He gets out there like a stand-up comedy routine like he did in this press conference and walks around and says,
01:07:23
Speaker
a bunch of controversial shit to stir things up, just to create a bit of hype around him, focus on his person to divert from the mess that he himself has created. It's nothing new. Yeah, right. I'll just read out the rest of the games because we're running behind. Let's say 3, Fiorentina 2, another great
01:07:39
Speaker
Wow. Two stoppage time goals from Piccoli and Durgu win it. Bologna 4, Sassuolo, Sassuolo 2. Again, another late comeback win. Three goals in the last 20 minutes, or two goals in the last 20 minutes. Zixi was absolutely perfect in this game. He was amazing. And then three nil, nil draws. Torino, nil, Saloni, Tan, and nil. Boating's debut, and he played pretty decently, actually. Only a second clean sheet of the season for Saloni, Tan. Of course, it happens against Djuric.
01:08:07
Speaker
Empoli, Niel, Genoa, Niel, Udenez, Niel, Monza, Niel. So it's a bit of a feast or famine as Sadia this weekend. I have loads of goals. Just two things. Lece Fiorentina was one of the most entertaining games of the season. Villa del Mare is just this magical place that is packed every single game now. And Lece turn up
01:08:30
Speaker
Every game and they give the drama. It's been like this all season, but this was incredible The two goals in one minute towards the end there was just I mean, how do you not love lecture? Like how do you not love this tiny little club in the in the bottom heel of Italy?
01:08:46
Speaker
just delivering these incredible dramatic wins and experiences and the fans and the singing. It was just beautiful. And Bologna Sosolo, look, Sosolo are in trouble. I don't understand why they don't suck Dionysus.
01:09:04
Speaker
Like, seriously, they can get relegated. This is real now. Sasolo can get relegated if they don't watch out. They are abysmal defensively. They don't even have a defense. They really need to get rid of Dionysus. That's all I'm going to say.
01:09:19
Speaker
Yeah, no, they do. They need Buradi back desperately as well. Okay, let's finish off with Badjo, Premface and Seria as of the week. So to start off with Badjo, we've got two Badjos and unfortunately, two more legends of Seria passed away at the weekend. It's not been, 2024 has not been kind. After Gigi Riva recently, we lost
01:09:46
Speaker
Kurt Hamrin, who sadly passed away at the weekend aged 89, former Furentina Milan and Sweden winger, a legend. Nima, tell us a little bit about Kurt Hamrin.
01:09:57
Speaker
Kura Hamrin, as he was nicknamed, he was born in Stockholm. He was one of the most magically, technically gifted wingers that Sweden is ever produced. He came first to Italy, played for Juve, was loaned out to Padova, where he scored 20 goals and 30 games. And then he came to Florence and Fiorentina, where he became an icon. He became a legend.
01:10:25
Speaker
His nickname was given to him in February 1964 when Fiorentina beat Atalanta 7-1, where Hamrin scored five goals by a legendary nazlanazione journalist, Beppe Pegolotti, who described him as he flew past the defenders like a little bird, Luchelino, and after that he became Luchelino, the little bird.
01:10:49
Speaker
with all of Florence and Fiorentina. Paolo Rossi, who was born in Prato, famously said, I didn't go to Prato to watch, I didn't go to the stadium to watch Fiorentina play, I went to the stadium to watch Kurt Hamerin play.
01:11:05
Speaker
He was part of that 1958 Sweden FIFA World Cup finalist team, scoring one of the most iconic goals in football World Cup history in the semifinal against West Germany in 1958 in Gothenburg, where he's walking with the ball down the right wing.
01:11:27
Speaker
and the Germans start pressing him, and he starts jogging, and then he dribbles past two, three of them and scores. He was part of that magical generation of Swedish players, Gunnar Grían, Gunnar Knudahl, Naka Skooglund, Nisseligdall.
01:11:45
Speaker
and so on. And now everyone barring one of that team have all passed away, unfortunately. Only one player left from that team is alive. After his career, I mean, he went to Milan where he had incredible success. He won the Cup Winners' Cup, the Serie A, and the Champions League. He scored twice in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup. He won the Cup Winners' Cup and caught by Tyler with Fiorentina. But the thing is, he
01:12:13
Speaker
After his career, he bought a house near the area of Coverciano near the stadium and became for all intents and purposes forever a Fiorentina fan. The rest of his life he became a Fiorentina fan. He's the all-time goal scorer, joint goal scorer for Fiorentina. He's eighth for all-time goals in the Serie A on 190 goals.
01:12:46
Speaker
Stefano Cechi, who is I would say the best living Fiorentina journalist out there, spoke of him that
01:12:58
Speaker
You know he chose to remain he bought a house in just in outside of florence to quote to demonstrate even in the plastic world of football that certain deep and simple bonds can remain forever in a world crowded with many faces he remains forever luchalino.
01:13:16
Speaker
And that's true. You know, Glenn Hussein, who we interviewed on this pod when he played a Fiorentina for two years, he's he's talks about how he he spent every day with Kurt Hamilton because he helped him fix everything for him, you know, off the you know, off off the pitch. He was a truly, truly lovely man. His his wife, Marianne, used to welcome people to their home.
01:13:40
Speaker
fans and journalists alike. Lovely, lovely, lovely man and an absolute legend and icon. Yeah, that's beautiful. Beautiful from Nimr there. He was a great winger as well. I've watched a few games of him. There isn't that much footage of him. He was a fantastic winger. Tricky, fast, great dripper. Mr. Nutmeg. Mr. Nutmeg. I mean, that was his specialty.
01:14:09
Speaker
the nutmegs. Yeah, he was a great player. Four goals in the 1958 World Cup as well, which shows how important he was in that tournament. We also lost Giacomo Lozzi, who died at the age of 88, and he is a legend, Roma legend. He played 15 seasons for Roma in the 1950s and 1960s. He was nicknamed the Corre de Roma, which is the heart of Rome.
01:14:34
Speaker
and he made more than 450 appearances for Roma, which was an all-time record, appearance record, for Roma, which lasted almost 40 years, 38 years, until it was beaten by Francesco Totti in 2007.
01:14:51
Speaker
And he was part of the Roma team that won until Jose Mourinho won the conference league in 2022. He was part of the team that won their only European trophy ever, which was the inter-cities fair cup in 1961.
01:15:15
Speaker
which was the basically that was the UEFA Cup basically it was the predecessor to the UEFA Cup to change its name so he was yeah he won two corporatallias he played 12 and 11 times for Italy as part of the Italy team the 1962 World Cup and he was like an adopted son of Rome and we talk about
01:15:35
Speaker
Rossi and Francesco Totti and being legends of Roma where he was on that
01:15:46
Speaker
level, but not Roman born and bred. He was born in Cremona, so yeah, another legend leaves us. And he was also one of the founding members of the Italian Footballers Association, the Union basically. In 1968, he founded the AIC, the Italian Footballers Association in Milan, to give players more rights and stay in their affairs. So yeah,
01:16:14
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. So big legacy there on and off the pitch. Right. Prem face of the week. Do you have anyone? Well, we've we've been handed with. There's been a couple, isn't it? I want I want to nominate myself, to be honest, because after the after the after the Asian Cup quarterfinal drama against Japan,
01:16:40
Speaker
I was on a space with a bunch of Iranian football fans and Golbazan, which is an English speaking Iranian podcast, and we were previewing the semifinal. And I was so excited that I don't know how many times I said Iran are going to play South Africa on the semifinal. So I think I have to nominate myself to be honest. And then one of the guys said South Africa. I was like, shit, have I been saying that all along? I'm in South Korea, but they're not even going to play South Korea because South Korea and the other about half. So I was completely having a prep.
01:17:10
Speaker
I premed out. I premed out properly. Completely premed out. That was really, really exciting. But I was so excited because I mean that 91st minute penalty win by Eliza Jamba, beating Japan for the first time in 2005 was just...
01:17:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have one. I have one, Eniola Aluko. So she was playing one of these games. I think you played them on your phone. I've never played it. You know where you watch your phone and then two footballers flash up and you have to like move your head to the right or the left and to choose which player is the better one. Have you seen that game? I've never played it. But anyway, so she was, she was, why am I not surprised that you've never played it?
01:17:52
Speaker
I just can't see you playing games on your phone that aren't like Snake or something. That's the only games you play on your phone. Come on, admit it. Snake was a great game. I knew you'd love that. It was a great game. But I haven't played it for about 20 years. Yeah, of course. Right. So yeah, she was playing this game and it was kind of like in a tournament style where it started off with like a last 16 or a last eight and she had to work our way through to the final and then pick basically the greatest player all time.
01:18:19
Speaker
And so she was working her way through the route and she did some ridiculous ones like Jude Bellingham, she picked the head of Pierlo, she picked Gabrielle Jesus ahead of De Rossi. And then the final was between Jude Bellingham and Diego Maradona for like the greatest player of all time. And who do you think she went with? Who do you think she went with? Stop.
01:18:39
Speaker
No, stop. She went with Jude Bellingham as the greatest player of all time ahead of Maradona and the reason she's not done anything yet. I think he's a fantastic player, but he's not done anything yet. Can we at least wait until after his career or five years into his
Critique of Ennio Oluca's Punditry
01:18:54
Speaker
career? Oh, it's hilarious. But yeah, that's Ennio Oluca. She was a former England
01:19:00
Speaker
And she actually played for Juventus as well. She's now a TV pundit. She's really bad, really, really, like painfully bad. But yeah, so yeah, Aleko.
Is Bellingham the Greatest Player Ever?
01:19:11
Speaker
Bellingham is the greatest player of all time. And then my other prim face of the week was
01:19:17
Speaker
I guess we can talk about this in a little bit. Let's go to Serias of the Week, and then I've got a nice little spin-off on this one. I've got two Serias
Fiorentina's Social Media Blunder
01:19:27
Speaker
of the Week. Two Serias of the Week. One is Aurelio De Laurentiis, as we've spoken, because that's the most Aurelio De Laurentiis thing in the world. And then Fiorentina, the English account. When your all-time goal scorer has just passed away,
01:19:42
Speaker
and you get his first and last name wrong. Kirk Hamrim. And you leave it up. And you don't delete, you don't edit, you don't change, you don't do anything. It's just...
01:19:56
Speaker
I don't even know what to say to that. That's embarrassing. That's like, like you, like you messaged me saying that's like after Bobby Charlton died, Man United tweeting, you know, rest in peace, blobby Carlson. Like it's just, it's, it's, it's embarrassing. It really is. It's insane. We should be laughing at something like this. No, but it's, it's such a, come on. It's insulting. It's insulting.
01:20:19
Speaker
And it's just, and it's just, again, it's just Italians, live jackets, Titanic. I mean, why can't Italians spell? Is it there's something about Italians cannot spell? I mean, last week it was in Zaghi. They called him in Zaghi. And now it's, I mean, the first name and the surname. Yeah, it's not one, but two. How is that even possible? I don't know. Don't know.
01:20:43
Speaker
It's it's just and it's we're not talking about some like random like we're talking your all-time great like number one goal scorer Like that is that is a name. You should know off by heart how to spell if you if you work for the comms department at a football club Good and there's the other prim fatal serious of the week is the Italy national team the FIGC announcing friendlies in the United States during the March International break against
Italy's National Team Scheduling Criticism
01:21:11
Speaker
I mean, Luciano Spelletti asked for two of the biggest European teams so that they could prepare for the Euros and test the players, and he guards Venezuela and Ecuador. That's what pisses me off the most, to be honest. The level of opposition, yeah. That annoys me even more than... No, look, I get that they want to play, and there's lots of Italian Americans and people with Italian heritage in the US, so I don't have any problem with them playing there.
01:21:38
Speaker
Not mid-season though. They want to do it, they should have done it in 2025 at the end of the season. June 2025. That's when they should have done it. A year before the World Cup. Don't do it in the busy part of the season. Or if they want to put their pre-World Cup tournament training camp, whatever. I don't have a problem with that. For me,
01:22:00
Speaker
It's the fact that Spaliti literally, expressly asked these people to give him top-class European opposition, and they give him Venezuela and Ecuador. It's like, why are you doing this? Are you setting him up to fail? Do you want him to fail? Are you just pissing him off? Are you deliberately being...
01:22:24
Speaker
you know, obnoxious to him, like what is that? He literally took a job in a very difficult situation because you pissed off the previous manager with antics like this so that he just walked out the door the way that Roberto Mancini always does when he's fed up. And Spaletti takes over, gets you through without any preparation time, gets you to the European Championship, saves you another embarrassment.
01:22:45
Speaker
Evidently and clearly expressly tells you what he wants and you ignore him completely. Yeah, it's just they're just Americanizing everything. Everything. But they're ignoring their head coach. They're Americanizing everything and it's just, yeah. That's what pisses me off.
Americanization of Football: A Discussion
01:23:01
Speaker
It's not just instantly that Americanizing everything because our friend of the show Adrian Del Monte, versus me, he said that FIFA are using Kim Kardashian to promote the World Cup.
01:23:12
Speaker
In america well i mean it's in america so why not they use one of the biggest it's kim kardashian i mean i just i'm just done with football now i really am i'm just done i'm just done with football i'm done i'm done kim kardashian promoting the world cup i mean
01:23:27
Speaker
Well, to be fair, I mean, if you've had the e-Kardashians in football for a few years, you might as well have the real ones as well, especially when the World Cup is being played in the United States and she's the biggest, the most famous celebrity, I guess, in the US. But yeah, she did a music video, a Brazilian music video. I don't know if you saw that. No. Juan Dita. Juan Dita is Brazilian now.
Kim Kardashian's Unexpected Football Connection
01:23:53
Speaker
It was, that video was... Which, which, the Argentine... Yeah, one that I can't... One Juanita. Mama Juanita. Mama Sita. She's now, she did a gangster rap video. A Brazilian one. And it was, yeah. It's wild. I bet it was. I bet it was wild. I'm sure it was.
01:24:18
Speaker
Okay, right. Let's leave it at that. We will be back on Tuesday for the Q&A and then Thursday for a Thursday midweek review show. Have a good week everybody. Until next time, ciao ciao.