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Extended Clip - Napoli Win & Impress Again: Can Partenopei Mount Scudetto Challenge This Season?
576 Plays3 years ago
Nima Tavallaey and John Solano debate how far Napoli can go this season in the Serie A after a fantastic start granted it has been against two poor sides in Hellas Verona and Monza.
This is an extended preview of this weeks free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction to Monza and Managerial Trends
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Monza. Monza is a good team. We can talk about their manager a whole other time. That's exactly. He's entering that list of, you know, managers we have who just get recycled.
Napoli's Market Moves: Successes and Concerns
00:00:19
Speaker
Manager Island. Manager Island. They suck. However, we have Mister Island. We can call it Mister Island.
00:00:26
Speaker
And I have to come clean because admittedly through two match days, again, we can't overreact. However, I expressed some very deep concerns about the way they were doing the market. However, since we last spoke, they finalized a deal for the Nano, the Spadori, and that is on top of Intombele. I mean,
00:00:52
Speaker
What they're doing here man, that's not even By the way, I spent five minutes Perfecting my pronunciation on this guy's look he put out a video
00:01:03
Speaker
I don't understand why people are making it so difficult. He put out a video in English on Napoli's English Twitter account saying, well, people's not following Napoli's English Twitter account for obvious
Napoli's Twitter Presence and Viral Content
00:01:14
Speaker
reasons. Well, they should, as it's incredibly entertaining. You follow Napoli on Twitter and Aurelio dell'Arantes for one thing and one thing only, entertainment, which is guaranteed. And non-English as well.
00:01:26
Speaker
But he pronounces it, Chwiche Klaratshelya. That's him. That's according to him, not me. That's, you know, go to go to the, go to the Napoli English where he, there's a video of him saying. Yes. I, I just don't do the hard, the hard K very well. Yeah. The K sound. Yeah. As many of you know, I mean, that's a very, we make a lot of sounds in Italian. That is, that is not one of them. But anyway.
Adapting to Player Losses at Napoli
00:01:51
Speaker
Listen, three goals. He bags a brace yesterday. And that is just on top of the overall play because, listen, I thought they would suffer. I think most of us thought they would suffer because you lose guys like Koulibaly, Mertens, Insigny. I mean, it goes beyond what they do on the pitch. You also have to consider the dressing room, so on and so forth. My concern
00:02:15
Speaker
My concern was only ever the dressing room, not the pitch, because I think Pintinha showed last season that he's peaked. I think Khouli Balis, as I've said several times, I think he started to show signs of decline already last season. As for Fabian Ruiz, wonderful player, but not the quickest. And Spaletti likes dynamic quick midfielders. And also with Osseman already there, Kaylor Navas, although he's
00:02:42
Speaker
past his best, he's still way better than Alex Merritt, and he will bring in the kind of winning routine and mentality that you lose when Colybali and leadership, that when you lose when Colybali and Insignia lead.
Kvaratskhelia: A Rising Star in Serie A
00:02:54
Speaker
Dries Martens, of course, as well. I think this is, and I said it last week, and I keep saying it, I feel very comfortable in naming Krita Krita Kvaratschelya as my breakout player of the Serie A season. I feel very confident in saying they're definitely finishing in the top four.
00:03:08
Speaker
And I feel absolutely confident that they are my dark horse to win the Serie A. They're not the favorites, that's Milan Inter, but they are the dark horse because this is the most Spalletti adapted team on paper that Luciano Spalletti has ever had. He has everything he wants in terms of quality in the squad. In Roma, there were always something missing. I mean, he had to turn Totti into a false nine. It turned out really well, but it was an idea. No, this is something this is insane.
00:03:37
Speaker
It's it's it's literally every single player is adapted to his to his football. I think Rahmani, I think Kim Min Jae will, you know, he scored a goal. He's he's a giant in the air and he will adapt more and more. I think he he's shown that, you know, he will take some time for him to adapt fully to the Syria. Rahmani is so underrated, it's almost criminal.
Spalletti's Role in Player Development
00:04:00
Speaker
In Donbile, this is Last Chance Saloon. But look at Anguisa. Holy God.
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, I've been on this train for a while because I know his agent pretty well. The fact that no top team besides Napoli and the Seria made a concrete approach for this guy is criminal.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's I mean, it's absolutely crazy. And and I mean, look at what Spaletti has done with Lobotka and Anguissa. It's this man is, you know, we know that Spaletti is not in terms of winner winning titles, the most decorated manager. But when it comes to individual development of players, he does not have many peers. He does not have many masters. He is absolutely fantastic. He's he always does this. He always has. He always gets players to take the next step.
00:04:49
Speaker
and he's done it throughout his career. And now, if he can do that with Tungi and Donbile and get his head straight, well, then they have another world-class midfielder, because we know the talent that Donbile has. It's fantastic. I mean, Carlo was speaking about
Potential Managerial Changes at Monza
00:05:02
Speaker
it last week. We were speaking about it last week. So, no, it's absolutely extraordinary what they're doing. And then, Chichac, Valetrelia.
00:05:09
Speaker
I mean, he's already world class. He's 21 years old. He's fairly one footed. The composure and control in that first goal, you can say, I mean, you can say that they're not really a team. They're 11 individuals.
00:05:25
Speaker
No, I think qualitatively it's a good squad. I think qualitatively it's a good squad. I think they're just not managed well enough by someone, by Stropa. I had my question marks going in, and now there's talk of him being sacked and the zerbi being brought in, which I think would be a fantastic move. Oh my gosh. That would be, I mean, that's just, they should have done this already when they were promoted, when they won promotion to the Serie A.
00:05:48
Speaker
I mean, every club should have been looking at him. I mean, I believe he announced in early June he wasn't going to return to the Shakhtar for obvious reasons. And by the way, I find it so weird, unless I've missed something. Did you notice Pesina was collecting splinters on his ass?
00:06:08
Speaker
He didn't even play. It's strange to you. I think he's a dead man walking.
Napoli's Successful Player Development and Sales
00:06:17
Speaker
I think he's a dead man walking and I think he probably will be the first manager to go. But regardless, he already at this young age, at this early part of his career, is at world-class level. The first goal, the composure, the intelligence,
00:06:33
Speaker
the timing, the technique. It's absolutely astonishing. Incredible what he did. And then the second goal as well, he looks fairly two-footed. He seems pretty strong in the air. His delivery is great. His technique is fantastic. Congratulations, Napoli. They've done it again. It seems they found another player that they will sell within one to three years to a Real Madrid or a Man City or whichever oil state-backed blood money club Pep Guardiola is coaching at the time.
00:06:59
Speaker
they'll sell him for another 100 million pounds, and they'll find another creature of Kralatskhelia, another Lavetsi, another Hamshik, and so on and so forth.
Napoli's Top Four Contender Status
00:07:08
Speaker
They always do this, and this is why I had them as a definitely in the top four, and I have them as my dark horse during the Serie A, and why I think that they're going to be a handful for many teams, because I think the top four in the Serie A is going to be tight as hell, but for me, Napoli are going to be there, for sure.
00:07:30
Speaker
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