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Serie A Match Week #15 Review & Match Week #16 Preview (Episode #36)
23 Plays4 months ago
This week on Calcio Culture, Vos and Motts break down the highs and lows of Italian football in a jam-packed episode.
The discussion starts with a look at the Scudetto race, where there have been multiple league leaders all season and then moves to match week 15 action, where Lazio edged Napoli in a 1-0 grind, and Milan stumbled against Atalanta with CDK haunting his old team. The hosts discuss Pulisic’s injury, Juventus’ worrying form despite a gutsy comeback, and Inter’s masterclass against Parma. Roma’s switch to a 3-4-3 paid off in a big way with a commanding win over Lecce, while other fixtures saw Fiorentina edge Cagliari, and Verona take a shocking 4-1 loss to Empoli.
The drama continued midweek with Coppa Italia fireworks, including Milan’s 6-1 demolition of Sassuolo and Lazio beating Napoli once more 3-1. In European competition previews, Inter faces Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid takes on Atalanta, and Juve braces for Man City in a must-win Champions League clash. Meanwhile, Roma battles Braga in the Europa League, and Fiorentina heads to Austria for a Conference League showdown.
Looking ahead to Match Week 16, the hosts preview key matchups, including Lazio hosting Inter, Fiorentina clashing with Bologna, and Roma visiting Como. With Inter’s dominance and Juventus’ inconsistencies in focus, this week promises more twists in the Serie A story.
To close things out, the team drops their Cupli Di Luna picks, featuring a bold parlay and predictions sure to fuel your calcio cravings. Don’t miss another electrifying episode filled with analysis, hot takes, and a passion for Italian football!
Follow us on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @calcioculturefc to join the conversation!
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Transcript
Show Introduction and Hosts' Health
00:00:05
Speaker
What's up everybody? Welcome back to Calchio Culture. This is Boast here and we got Mottz on the horn as well. Logs is out sick, unfortunately. He's always got an excuse. This is just another one. Abba Mottz has a good weekend of footy. Great weekend to Calchio. How are you doing?
00:00:21
Speaker
It was a great weekend of Cal Show. I'm doing very good. Little ah information for the Paisans. Actually, Loges and I both got sick shortly after we recorded last week episode. Went to a bar, watched the Liverpool... Who'd they play? Liverpool City Game last Sunday got food poisoning. I bounced back. Logge parlayed that into potentially laryngitis. So, little health update for you right there.
Weekend Football Excitement
00:00:48
Speaker
But I'm doing well and excited for this episode. Boys are down bad. I'm not. I'm doing great, actually. I had a great weekend. I watched a ton of games. I watched some Wild League. I watched some EPL. I watched a ton of Count Show. So it was a great weekend for me. But today, guys, business as usual for us. We're talking match week number 15. We're talking a little bit of Copa Italia that we missed last week.
Show Topics Overview
00:01:10
Speaker
Then we're talking Champions League, Europa League, Conference League. I think I missed Copa Italia in the lesson. I mean, that's a plan. I think we got to add that in. And then we're talking match week 16. Copa Italia is here. We have Copa Italia this weekend. I don't know. We can't. I don't think we can with Champion League. So there might be a break there.
Colpe de Luna Performance
00:01:31
Speaker
But before that, we don't have quick shots today. We've got something else because Loges isn't here. So me and Maso, we'd mix it up a little bit.
00:01:38
Speaker
We do. First things first, we're going to do a check in on the Colpe de Luna wanting to give everyone an update. It's been extremely hot as of the 10th game. As I mentioned, 10 games into the season, things start to become more predictable. The season technically starts. And since then we have been on a heater. We are seven and two in the last nine.
00:02:04
Speaker
We went two and one last week. Me and Vos hit our legs. Logs unfortunately missed it by a goal, I believe. But it's starting to heat up. So people should be riding these picks because if you have been taking them individually, you are seven and two in your last nine.
Betting Strategies and Individual Picks
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty good. Seven and two all good is is very good. That's almost non-repeatable form. No, that's almost non-repeatable form. Yeah. But we'll see. I mean, we're we've got a tally going at this point. and We do have a tally. We'll see if we can actually repeat it. Yeah, so checking in on the tally of individuals, I am on a on a hot streak. I've hit four in a row now. I've hit five of the last six. And overall, I am six and seven.
00:02:46
Speaker
ah Vos is doing the best right now. He's the only positive one of the group. He has hit three in a row, so just almost just as high as me. And overall, he's nine and eight. I will caveat that with I did a solo KOPI. And if we adjust this for solo KOPI, and we we say that's one loss, I am nine and six, which is really good.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yes, that is true. However, you can't. that you Yeah. So you're you're taking the wins, but you're not taking the losses. That's true. That's true. So ah you wanted to be here that weekend. we That week we appreciate it, but you are nine and eight. And then Logues is currently riding the struggle bus, but is going to see his way out of that. He is two of his last four and overall five and nine. So that's how each individual is doing. The Paisan Lake has kind of fallen off. We have kind of been slacking on that end, our bad. However, you're welcome because you guys wouldn't be doing as hot as me and Bose's right now. So we would just be making you look bad. We're very hot. And if we can hit again, that's four, is that four weeks in a row where we would have hit?
Serie A Standings and Team Highlights
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah. Four minutes in a row. That'd be nuts. Me and you. But if we can, if Lowe's can hit, we would hit two of the last five Colby's, which is pretty good considering it's a three leg parlay.
00:04:04
Speaker
But yeah, Kobe's hot. so if yeah but And that's why we said we've always said take them individually and parlay them because obviously it's some it's harder to hit a ah three leg parlay. But an individual record of seven and two in the last nine, I would say we are officially climbing back and we're not in the green yet. I don't think you're in the green, but I think overall we're definitely not there yet, but we're almost there in terms of making people their money back.
00:04:32
Speaker
What I will say is this is living proof that we've been watching this year and we have been learning what's going on. And now we really know, right? Cause the beginning of the season was a fucking shit show. And now, you know, we kind of know what's going on. Also, yes you've kind of changed your strategy, but we will probably talk about that later. Yeah, I used to, I was taking heavy ones before now. I'm doing ah more more favored. Just did some quick math for you. Overall, ah we are 20 and 24. So we're flirting with 50%. Need a couple more weeks and I think we should be able to get there. If we continue to go two and one, three and L, like we've been doing lately, I think we should get there by match week 20. By the max, I think we're going to be 50%. That's our goal.
00:05:20
Speaker
That gives us over a third of the season, just red, too. Yeah. So, Colby started off poor, but very, very big bounce back in the last five match weeks, which you love to see. Huge, huge. But ah anyways, guys, this is not a Colby podcast. It is a piece of it. And, meanwhile, it's part of the the replacement of Quickshots today. We haven't really done a power rankings or a check-in on the table in a while.
00:05:45
Speaker
So we wanted to modify that a little bit and just talk about the Scudato race as a whole right now, because I think things have really shift since the last time we talked about this was honestly, I think it was in like October.
00:05:56
Speaker
was the last time we really took a look at the table. And it's different now. I mean, this is the first title race, I think, in several years that has been open to this many teams, right? It's kind of been like a two-man race, a three-man race. And at this point, we're kind of in a five, like you could say six, five, maybe four, and we're gonna we're gonna talk through this right now. But as the table stands right now, Atlanta is in first place on 34 points. New leader.
00:06:25
Speaker
New leader, new leader, Napoli in second with 32, Inter in third with 31 with a game in hand, Lazio in fifth on 31, Juventus in sixth on 27. So that's where we get the little bit of the drop off. And then we are largely just counting them out of the race at this point.
00:06:44
Speaker
And the objective is kind of flipped for Milan and Bologna. They both have 14 matches played. The game in hand is actually against each other because that game got canceled. And they're on 22 points. So that's 12 off the top.
Scudetto Race: Who Will Win?
00:06:57
Speaker
And the way the rest of the teams are playing, we just don't really see that as a makeable ah amount of points, I guess is the right way of saying it. And their objective is kind of flipped to make European ball more than anything.
00:07:10
Speaker
Well, I think Bologna's objective has always been to make European ball that probably top four, right? They weren't saying, our goal is winning the Scudetto this year. I think Milan has had to do a little pivot in terms of their goal was probably contend for Scudetto at the very minimum.
00:07:28
Speaker
Probably not gonna do that now unless a lot of these teams at the top of the table really Hit the struggle bust later on in the season which we have seen happen before so anything's possible But at this point in time, I'd say it's pretty comfortable that Bologna and Milan's clear cut objectives now are going to be European spot and hopefully top four ah where And then you have Juventus, where I think they're in a very similar boat, but there is not hope for a European spot. There is this push for a top four. And if they land five or six, probably disappointed. um and Milan, you're probably going to be disappointed as well at five or six. But I think you at the the way the season has gone for them and is continues to trend, that's probably where they're going to end up.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. And I think Milan and Bologna right now are good like a good clubs in terms of where they're at in their evolution this year. like Good comparison, obviously even on points. And for me, especially over the last couple weeks, Bologna has overtaken Milan for me. I think they've been very good. You can just see Italiana's fingerprints are like now fully on the team. like At the beginning of the year it was They're really good at keeping the ball and nothing else mean Now they're turning that into creating and scoring one to two goals Which is really all Italiano wants to do and we're gonna talk about a little bit in the Copa Talia They did they kind of blew the doors off of Monza, but that's kind of an anomaly for him
00:08:56
Speaker
And this is, you know, the other thing is he's getting his guys back. Like, Lewis Ferguson is now playing. And in joy, he's hitting that level that we saw last year. Castro's coming into his own. Lukumi's playing a lot better. Just to go around the team and everybody's playing really well. And they're dangerous. And I still think they're better than Juventus at this point. Obviously, they played this weekend. We're going to talk about that game a little bit. What makes them better than Juventus? I just think theyre they have a plan.
00:09:24
Speaker
There's more of a plan to beat more teams than Juventus, for me. And then for Milan, it's been two weeks, three weeks of good play, but not getting all the results I would hope they get.
00:09:39
Speaker
Well, lot for me, why i have i I don't think Bologna is better than Juventus at this point. I think Bologna, I would give the nod over Milan. And the reason why is solely because with Bologna, you know what you're going to get every single game. Milan, I don't think you do. Juventus, I think you also know what you're going to get for for the most part every game. Milan, it could be...
00:10:02
Speaker
It's just like, what what am I going to watch today with Milan when they play? You have no, there's no consistency. We talked about it a couple of episodes ago, their front office, their manager, and their team are all on different pages. With Bologna, you're starting to see everyone is starting to now be on the same page. play People are starting to play much better. Italiano's fingerprints are all over this and they're starting to score goals. That was their problem.
00:10:26
Speaker
That's everywhere Italiano goes. Their problem has always been he can't score that many goals and Bologna is starting to score goals. However, unfortunately, this past game, they did score. They let in the amount of goals that they scored, but.
00:10:41
Speaker
Bologna are trending up, Milano are trending down, and I'd say Juventus are just on a straight line because, you went like I said, you know what you're going to get with Juventus. They're going to possess the ball almost too much and do nothing with it. And you're going to, for the most part, get organized defensively. However, since that loss of Bremmer, they have been leaking goals.
00:11:04
Speaker
But for the most part, they're going to have the ball for 60 percent of the game and defend very, very well and organized. The problem with Juventus is, are they going to score? And it's kind of we're going to talk about this later, but it's kind of a lack of mentality that they show every now and then. But I would I wouldn't put Bologna over Juventus yet. And Dusan Vohavic is also a major issue still. Now, I'm not going to let that go. Yeah, he's he is.
00:11:31
Speaker
All right, and that brings us into the real, these are all these themes have a potential to win it, right? There's three team there's three points between Atalanta, Napoli, Inter, Fiorentina, and Lazio. Inter and Fiorentina have a game in hand which is against each other and their points. For you, Mats, who is your favorite?
00:11:50
Speaker
right now my favorite is still going to be Napoli ah they did take a little slip this past match week and they've have slipped i would say these past five games they're two uh
Lazio vs Napoli: A Surprising Victory?
00:12:02
Speaker
two two one and two two wins one draw and two losses so they've definitely slipped up but they're now, they're out of the Copa. Conte is fully on one game a week, so he's gonna have to rotate even less than he was going to have to if the Copa was, if they went far in the Copa. Conte has been there, he has won his Scudetto. Because I know that you're probably gonna say Adelanta, a lot of people are probably gonna say Adelanta. The thing with Adelanta, they're great, they're firing right now, they're scoring three goals a game.
00:12:36
Speaker
They're even defending well. But and we've seen this before from Adelan to play this way and not be able to do it when it's crunch time. And we've seen Kante be able to grind out a ah season and know what it takes to to win.
00:12:51
Speaker
So I'm giving the edge to Napoli because of the experience of Kante and then even go below that and the players there's still like six or seven of the core guys have won a Scudetto before and they know what it takes to win a Scudetto. However,
00:13:06
Speaker
they did destroy everybody in their Scudetto race. So it will be interesting to see if a tight race like this, they're going to need to pull out some points that that they didn't need to last Scudetto race because they were winning every game by three goals to zero. So we'll have to see how they can shake out. But because of their experience with winning, I give the edge to Napoli over at Atlanta and even Inter.
00:13:31
Speaker
You thought I was going to say Anna Lanza. I did, yeah. I still think it's Inter. I was really impressed this weekend. they are they are slowly getting better like of all the other teams they've kind of started slow and then like spiked to where they are and like have been that good inter of just steadily like players got hurt and they didn't look great and they were getting results and like now they're just like week after week i'm seeing better things from everybody on the field apart from maybe lataro who i still think hasn't figured his shit out yet and i don't know why
00:14:06
Speaker
But they've been comfortable playing in so many different game states. And we've seen what they can do in the Champions League, which is just button down the hatches against our, like our quote unquote dangerous teams. And then against the lower level teams. But this is really where I see Inter excelling ahead of these teams. They destroy teams that are worse than that. They do. Yeah, Napoli grind out 1-0 some years and Inter go 3-0, 4-0, 4-1.
00:14:32
Speaker
And that I think they're going to continue to get better. And I mean, if Atlanta outlines it could do
Inter Milan's Dominance and Juventus' Struggles
00:14:38
Speaker
it. And what I will point to with them is I would say this is the best player personnel Gasparini's ever had it deep in terms of every position. They're very good. Yes.
00:14:50
Speaker
And no, I think even in the first team, like the starting 11, other than like two minors and on the defensive side, they actually have good center backs now. And he, know i'm I agree even the starting 11, but I don't think Adelaide has ever had this much depth. You also remember that.
00:15:09
Speaker
technically speaking they're gonna have two January signings in Skamaka if he can come back that soon but definitely Skalvini because Skalvini is already getting burned so if those guys come back and they're already in this form it's gonna be tough to to knock them them out but Gasparini I know he did it last year with the Europa League and he finally got his silverware but he we've seen it so many times that Atalanta just somehow piss away what we think is going to be a trophy-winning season for them. Now, they got over the hump last year, so maybe that will allow them to... now they know what it takes to win. But with Napoli winning it two years ago and Kante and the players knowing, and even Inter and Inzagi winning it last year, how they did, like, those guys have been there. they know they They know how to win and they know what it takes. I did think you were gonna say Atlanta. I honestly, like...
00:16:04
Speaker
Inter to me because of how poorly they started and they didn't they they started poorly and they're three points off to lead with the game in hand. That's why I didn't really consider them. But yeah, Inter is totally in this Scudetto race and can easily win it.
00:16:20
Speaker
for
Roma's Positive Changes and Empoli's Upcoming Matches
00:16:21
Speaker
sure. And I think for the other two teams that we didn't mention yet, Fiorentina and Lazio, I listen, they are both playing out of their mind. Fiorentina, I don't know. I don't remember the last time they tied a game, let alone lost. But for me, I don't think they have the team depth to win the Scudetto. I think for them, it's finish in the top four. I think even it even with how good of a season they started, if they finish fifth or sixth, it's still a win for them because Italiano could only get them in the conference league year and in and year out and he would dominate the conference league and they'd always be in the finals. So I think they're ready. The fans are probably ready for the next competition, whether that be the Champions League or Europa League. I think they'll be thrilled with that. And the way that they're playing now, I think it's totally capable for them to finish in a Champions League spot.
00:17:14
Speaker
And depending on how Italy does in the European tournaments, fifth place could get us that Champions League spot again. So that would be great for Sorrentino. Lazio, I think right now playing with house money. Yeah, I think Lazio.
00:17:29
Speaker
this is where they would deserve to finish in my mind. I think the table is probably a pretty good representation of how I would rank the teams right now in terms of how good they've been. For Fiorentina, I think the this the best 11 Fiorentina in my mind is better than Lazio's. Best 11 that they can put out there But I think Paladino, we're going to see a little bit of like early days at Atlanta. Like at some point this season, like they're, they're overachieving right now. The squad is good. It's not quite this good. And Paladino is getting the best out of them. But at some point, they will fall off. And that's what always kills Atlanta.
Verona's Relegation Concerns and Empoli's Offensive Play
00:18:08
Speaker
And Atlanta overtime gotten better and better at making those times smaller and smaller where it's, it was a game and you bounce back versus losing three in a row or something like that.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I don't think that they keep this form up. Not that. I mean, this form is almost impossible to keep up. I don't think any teams could could keep this up. But I do agree. I i think they'll fall out. They're going a couple skids. They're going a little rut later on in the season. But once again, if they finish five, six.
00:18:36
Speaker
That's good for them. And I would argue the same thing as Lazio, right? everyone People were were saying Lazio might not finish top seven. We were saying. they met Maybe not top 10 with the type of recruitment that they did in the summer in their transfer window. And they are three points off of the top of the table. So I think they're playing with house money. Sorrentino is playing with house money.
00:18:59
Speaker
I think Adalanta is playing with House Money a little bit. We all know how good they are, but for I wasn't really having them as a Scudetto contender. I thought definitely a top four contender, but they're clearly in the Scudetto race and they should probably stay in it throughout the season.
00:19:15
Speaker
So right now in my mind, it's a three horse race between Atalanta, Napoli, and Inter. And then the four, five, and six is a five horse race between Fiorentina, Lazio, Juventus, Milan, and Bologna.
00:19:32
Speaker
Are they up to fair assessment? I would agree. But that brings us into what happened this weekend. A lot of big games, a lot of big teams playing other big teams. It was an interesting one. We'll start with what happened on Sunday with the league leaders, former league leaders actually. Napoli hosted Lazio. Lazio won this one one nothing. A little bit of a surprise. i I thought this was going to be Kante masterpiece. Napoli get it done. And it wasn't that.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, I don't wanna, I know we're gonna cover ah after the the match week, but it was a double header with Lazio. Yeah, we'll have that in right now. Yeah, and Lazio dismantled Napoli,
Copa Italia Results and League Implications
00:20:15
Speaker
albeit both teams rotated.
00:20:17
Speaker
a ton right there wasn't anybody's starters out there but Lazio beat him in the Copa and then people thought alright well Kante didn't really care about the Copa he cares about the league so let's see what they do against against them in the league and they didn't dismantle them but they They shut them down. Napoli had one shot on target. They didn't really create much. They did have a lot of lot or more of the possession, but I thought Lazio did a great job defending as a team compactly and then getting the goal when when they needed to in the 80th minute and then seeing the game out. I expected more from Napoli, if I'm going to be honest. I expected more from Lukaku. I know Kavada missed a chance. I thought that one of them would be able to score, but really good game by Lazio.
00:21:05
Speaker
A
Champions League Preview
00:21:06
Speaker
great game by Lazio. Part of the story is definitely the big players on Napoli didn't show up. I thought Kavera Scaglia was very quiet in that he got the ball in the areas he wants to get the ball and really struggled to create. I don't think we saw the amount of service we've seen in the last couple of weeks get into Lukaku and McTominay, which also didn't help. But Lazio just defended well. like the It was kind of a content game. Like this game went out. I think they wanted it to go. They just got. I mean, at the end, the Blotzio basically countered them with one of each hero and as I said, just made a good move and buried the one chance he got. Right. Like.
00:21:46
Speaker
If Covert Scalia buries his chance, we're looking about this differently. This was really a game of, there's not going to be a ton of good looks. And if somebody takes and the chance, you're going to win. And I think Ploroni was okay with that as well at Napoli. As long as we don't give them anything and we get a couple. I mean, he went Conte. He went Conte on Conte.
00:22:07
Speaker
And it was kind of a weird game. Not a ton really happened. Not a ton really happened. Which i ah i was I was surprised how kind of poorly Zakanya did against that. And in even Nuno Tavares against that Di Lorenzo side. Because that's where Napoli is kind of ah you can attack them and counter them. But they didn't do a whole lot in this game. I would argue this is one of Zakanya's worst games of the season.
00:22:31
Speaker
I honestly this might be a little harsh effect on Logan about this. I don't think the economy has been great this year i
Bologna's European Challenge
00:22:37
Speaker
i I Were seeing his age in my mind. His stats are are decent because he's taken a bunch of penalties But I was looking at it today because one of the players aren't gonna highlight in a little bit is Stephen al shara way if you take away zakani stats I mean his penalties Same stats as El Shurawe. And I i think El Shurawe has done way more for his team than Zakanya has. Yeah, agreed. You go to Baras. Part of this, I think, is getting back up to fitness because he was out for a while. But I would agree. Dad, it just, again, it was just a cagey game. Like, really not much to report on it. There wasn't a lot, yeah. I mean, I guess to flip it from the Napoli perspective, I thought Scott McTomney, he kind of didn't play all that well and neither did Lukaku.
00:23:20
Speaker
ah which I don't know how many games in a row this is now for Lukaku, but he has not scored a goal in a very long time. I was reading that the Napoli fans are starting to get a little upset with him because he hasn't really done much. So do you expect Lukaku and his struggles to continue? Did you see this coming? What are your thoughts with Lukaku?
00:23:40
Speaker
I saw it coming a little bit. He's going to be okay in my mind. In the way they're deploying Scott McTominay in the final third, it's very much going to be if one of them is playing well, it's going to be, I mean, if one of them is playing bad, it's going to be hard for the other to play well because a lot of Scott McTominay's goals have come from Lukaku occupying the two defenders yeah and then McTominay dropping into the space and vice versa. So I think that is going to be a big part of this.
00:24:06
Speaker
For Lukaku, who he is now, he relies on service more. And Lazio made the field small. And Lukaku wasn't really able to do any of the things he's good at, really, is what I would say. Like, he didn't really get chances to hold the ball up and lay a pass off. He didn't get chances to use his body in the box to go and get a goal. And because of that, we he was just quiet. The whole team, I could say, was quiet, really. Nobody did anything.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, listen, this is who Lukaku is now, right? He's not 26 anymore. He's an older guy. We saw it with Roma last year. He's gonna have spurts. He's gonna have spurts of games where he gets three goals, three assists, and he's gonna have spurts of games where he doesn't do a thing. He's no longer the Lukaku on Inter that can score 30 goals. I think this is just has to be accepted, has to be understood. And I think that's why Napoli are in the race for Parma Striker.
00:25:05
Speaker
the Bonnie because they see that and they know that and they're going to need somebody else that can play the nine because Gio Simeone is not going to get it done for as many minutes as they're going to need him to play with with Lukaku and what he's going to bring to the table. Yeah, the other interesting piece of this that I Napoli, I would like to see at some point in a game like this, David Neres might work better than Politano in that Politano is good at getting the bonus left foot and trying to shoot, but he rarely scores.
00:25:34
Speaker
realistically. Yeah, very, very early. David Nares is more of a tricky guy. They can get 1v1 and drive the ball into the box. In a game like this, if you have two guys doing that and not just convert Skelea, it just creates different angles, creates a key more problems than, and Politano is predictable. And he doesn't really, he's never just riven the ball, right? Yeah. To create. And I would like to see a change there. I agree. I'm honestly surprised Politano has played as much as he has. Yeah.
00:25:59
Speaker
I would have thought that Neres would have gotten multiple starts at this point in the season. I don't think he started one Serie A game. This year, I know he started the Copa, but I was very, very surprised or I'm still surprised how much Playtano is playing and how much he's starting. And I would definitely give David Neres a run. You paid a good amount of money for him. I would definitely give him some some starts.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, for me, to i I have nothing more on Napoli from Lazio. good the Baroni, good coaching, right? Good defensive coaching. You just got a result in Napoli. You did you just did your business here and you you kind of overachieved in getting a win.
00:26:33
Speaker
And yeah, plus they they dropped points last week to a team that they shouldn't have. I'm blanking on who they've dropped points to. Let me think, let me think. Who was it? Parma. So this was a very good bounce back win for Lazio in a statement when saying like, Hey, we can beat anyone in this league. We've already known that because of how good that they're playing.
00:26:52
Speaker
But this was a great win. And I think that this win is a one of the reasons why they how they were able to get this one goes back to the game against Juventus. And I said it before, when they went down a man against you, they realized, hey, we can defend for 90 minutes if we need to. We don't need to play as open as we always do. And I think that's what they did this game and it worked out for them.
00:27:14
Speaker
That's a good point. This this season, we're definitely seeing Barone of all and going on like a journey to becoming a very good manager. We're seeing it with Paladino as well. We're seeing a lot of different guys, but Barone's been in some, he said ah he's overachieving. I would say. For sure. For sure, no doubt about it. Yeah, but some other big games that happened. Let's jump to Friday, because that was an insane day of Caltrio.
00:27:42
Speaker
We had Parma at Inter and then we had an Milan at Atalanta right after that. So that was a sick day. Let's start with the Parma game. What I liked about this game, so Parma lost this game three to one. What I liked about it from a Parma perspective is honestly not much. they got They got work, they weren't as good, and they were allowed to play how they wanted to play in transition, defending in transition and attacking in transition a lot of the time.
00:28:10
Speaker
And they just got outperformed at every position on the entire field. Even their goal was kind of a fluke at the end. They didn't deserve it. It was their own rule. Yeah, it was ridiculous. Yeah, but from an intro perspective, and this is kind of what I highlighted at the beginning and why I'm so hot on them is,
00:28:32
Speaker
they allowed this game to be played in transition and just were confident enough to just dominate it, right? Like they would counter and then allow the counter to come against them and they would just muffle it. They they would just stop Harma from attacking. I don't know how they did it so well on all areas of the pitch. And then what we talk about with the fluid Inter Milan counter attacking, we saw at this game. They go from back to front so quickly. It's one or two passes and they're at the top of the opponent's box.
00:29:01
Speaker
And they just showcase that so well. And for large stints so far this season, we haven't seen that. It's either been like sitting in the shell, trying to be a little bit more ball dominant and getting away from what they're so good at. And it it kind of reminded me of how how Liverpool played against City a couple of weeks ago, granted like obviously two different levels, but just execution, player ability that was just superior and they just displayed it.
00:29:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, listen, this was Parma was a 13th ranked team going up against the Scudetto champions in the San Siro. It was a tall mountain to climb for Parma, as it was. Did anyone have Parma winning? Probably not. With that said, we've seen Calcho before. Big teams not be able to finish their business, take care of business and get three points. Inter dominated this game from start to finish. I think they actually scored four goals, but one of them one of them was called offsides. It might have been five, actually.
00:30:03
Speaker
but one was called off or or they were called off for offsides, but they absolutely dominated. DeMarco was just dominating. Mikatarian played extremely well as well, getting two assists. Barela can do everything in the midfield. i can He can tackle, he can run, he can finish as we saw that. And then Marcus Taram is He's just always in the right place at the right time scoring goals. And you mentioned it earlier, their one player that's been struggling is probably as their captain might be their arguably their best player. Lutaro, not a great game from him again. But it doesn't seem to matter, right? I mean, in the beginning of the season, it sort of seemed to matter because they were dropping some points.
00:30:46
Speaker
But they're scoring three goals without Lutaro scoring. Taram is scoring for him and Lutaro. DeMarco creates many every so many chances every single game. So this was the inter of last season. This is probably going to be what we're going to see from inter moving forward. However, what I'll just say is my and I do think the goal was a fluke, but I've been keeping track of it. Another 80th minute goal allowed by inter in the Serie A. It's something to keep an eye on because Maybe in the next game or in the future, they're not going to be up by three. So they can't switch off, which I don't think that they necessarily switched off. I think it was a fluke goal. But you want to you want that game to be a clean sheet with how you dominated that game, right? I mean, their Parma's X2 is .38. You want that to be a clean sheet. And and it was.
00:31:38
Speaker
I would agree they definitely switched it off and it is a point of concern, but a question for you that I just thought of. ah If you're in Zagi, are you benching Lutaro at some point here to try to get somebody else going? in Maybe it's just one game though. like right He comes off the bench in the 60s because they do have Arnautovic on the bench who is a proven Serie A goal scorer.
00:31:59
Speaker
Joaquin Correa is playing really well in East Milan. And then Mehdi Toremi, I think, has kind of lost his play too. He's been mad when he's played in the season. It's interesting two bias yeah it's it's really interesting because like those three the the three strikers, Correa was totally out of the team last season. And now he he started that one game and he got two goals into his sister, one goal into his sister. I can't remember the exact stats.
00:32:25
Speaker
He would be the only player really that I would say can go in for Littaro because Arnadovich, Taram, and Teremi are all, they're not the same players, but they're similar builds, kind of do very similar things. So you're not getting like a yin and yang. I think Taram can do obviously way more than Arnadovich and Teremi. But, you know, when you when you're playing two up top, you like to play a smaller guy, good on the ball, good passing, and a taller guy, physical bruiser, good in the air.
00:32:55
Speaker
which to have with Lutaro and Taram and I think they projected to have with Lutaro and Teremi but that those two have not clicked and I think that he stumbled upon something with Taram in Korea two games ago which I would if I was in Zagi I would try again right but I would it's it's tough to know when because you wouldn't want to play him in one of those bigger games because you you want to play Lutaro. But you also want to play Lutaro against a lower level team to get him out of his funk because sometimes a goal a goal or a striker just needs to see the ball go in the net and get a goal and then all hell breaks loose and he goes on and he's in amazing form. So it's ah it's going to be tough to navigate because though these are the games that you would expect Lutaro to break that that slump that he's in. But
00:33:44
Speaker
yeah I wouldn't play Correa in like against Juventus or Milan or Napoli or Atlanta. So he's gonna have to fiddle with that, but I would definitely do it. I mean, Lutaro's struggling. Correa showed that he played extremely well. You have to reward the guy for when you plot when you allow him to have opportunities and he he succeeds and excels in those opportunities you give him. You need to then reward him, right? Because that's you're giving him his chances. He's doing what you're asking him to do. Play him a little bit more.
00:34:12
Speaker
I agree. And just to wrap on that point, I wouldn't be saying this if Lutaro's off-the-ball stuff was was noticeably good, but he's just been out of games on-the-ball and off-the-ball for me and just not really doing enough. And Marcus Taram is just kind of bossing. Taram is going. Taram is having yeah trauma's going great um all and having such a good season.
00:34:34
Speaker
I don't know who, but it might be tough to keep him in the series. Some prime team might throw 100, 110 million for him because his he's scoring a po's poacher's goals. He's getting assists. He's scoring number nine goals where it's like he takes on the whole team. He's scoring goals outside the box. Like he's scoring any way you want a striker to score and he's getting people involved. He's doing it all. Yeah. Now Barcelona could use a striker right now too.
00:35:02
Speaker
It's a good show. The game that happened on Friday, AC Milan went to Atlanta. This was an absolute shootout, mostly favoring Atlanta. They did win this game two to one off of a late goal from Lookman. But the game started with the CDK header at the back post against his former club in the 12th minute celebrated, jumped over Taylor Nanda's celebrated had to celebrate over a Morata that netted one about 10 minutes later, which was a good goal. Good counter-achives from Milan.
00:35:33
Speaker
and then in the 87th minute off of another set piece Adam O'Lookman gets another goal that's a guy that's been swine and I will say there was a point in time where Rategi missed a really really easy opportunity when you first come on But Milan had their chances at the beginning of the game. I think Milan played well. The entire game, their offense was potent for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then it kind of went quiet from there. I went and hit over 2xG. Milan didn't get more. And Jan stood on his head. and yeah That's a great game.
00:36:04
Speaker
great game. I mean mil this was a classic Milan game and they scored the goal the a very Milan way. Tio Hernandez great through ball to Liao. Liao destroyed Belanova for pace who, Belanova's got some speed to him in Liao. I think Belanova was out running Tio Hernandez the entire game and Liao made him look like he had pooping his pants. and then and then Liao plays a tremendous ball across goal and I'm not gonna Marotta that's that's a good finish that's that's a great smash a type of chance that Marotta is known to miss so very clinical Milan's goal was very pretty
00:36:41
Speaker
But other than that, other than that one play, this game was dominated by Atalanta. And if it wasn't for Mike Mignon, this game probably finishes three or four to one. They absolutely dominated every ah just every asset of the game, Atalanta. They had four big chances, 17 total shots.
00:37:01
Speaker
and it actually of 2.11. So Adelanta is just more of the same with them. they You know what you're going to get with them. You're going to get man-to-man all over the pitch. We want the ball. As soon as we lose it, we're going to press you. And we are going to try to score as many goals as we can. And we're just going to put up goals. and I didn't think it was going to come. It was one-to-one for 70 minutes and Lookman did get his goal. Lookman's also flying high as well, scoring a goal, a game, looks or a goal or an assisted game it looks like. So great, great game from Atlanta. And also they did it with, Rategi did come in, as you mentioned, but they did it with him on the bench. So they're showing, they're doing it with, they could do it with many different people.
00:37:47
Speaker
yeah There's just so many different ways they can beach. That's the thing. like Belanova has been a revelation this year. I would say he's the best right-sided fullback, wingback. I think he can play as conventional right back. I would say he's the best in the league right now. In my opinion, i I love everything that he's doing.
00:38:06
Speaker
The other thing that's a little bit different about this team that I would say that has helped a lot is Daroon has hit a level that he was probably at like three or four years ago and has been playing really well. And then Edison just continued to fly. And these shootouts and Milan wanted to shoot out in this game. They didn't sit back and you're not going to beat them. I don't even like nobody, other apart from Inter,
00:38:29
Speaker
You absolutely torched them. If you get into a shootout with this team, you aren't really going to win because of the amount of opportunities that they're going to throw at you. And this is just another example of who they can do it to. They can do it to anybody. Anybody. you i which I feel good about them in the Champions League this week and they're playing around Madrid at home.
00:38:45
Speaker
like I mean, Madrid's been struggling, so and then now's the time to play Madrid. I mean, yeah, and they did get dismantled in the summer, but that's the summer. And they're they're and they are in such good form right now, nine straight wins in the league. They've only allowed one goal in the Champions League, so.
00:39:01
Speaker
What I'm so surprised about, and I shouldn't be because it happens every year somebody goes and buys a player at Atlanta and it's like he's not missing at all. And I'm surprised on how well how little they miss Coupe Miners. Coupe Miners was a huge part of their team last year, played game in and game out, had 10 plus goals, 10 plus assists.
00:39:26
Speaker
And they slot in the room and like you said, he's playing well, but then they subbed in Somerset and Somerset played amazing as well this game. So it's written in Edison, even though like whoever you partner next to Edison, he's going to he's going to allow his partner in crime to not really have to think about.
00:39:46
Speaker
Tracking back because he's gonna just be a brick wall and be everywhere So he allows his partner to kind of just focus on an offense And I'm really I've really thought that they were gonna miss coop miners because he's such a good player and they do not miss him at all Even they basically replaced him with three people. They went one of some arts it's brushy anini and Or pastelich was there but hes he's kind of he's played very well this year. i'm So as yeah, from yeah, he's he's rolling the years back to But they basically said one of these three guys is going to replace Koop Miners and they've all played and they've all had their chance and they've all played well and it's just working. Yeah, it's just it's it's the system and Gasparini has a system, the guys understand it and and it's even the same with when you leave the system like Koop Miners, i I watch obviously every Juventus game. He is a good player. He is not playing that well right now. He's not having the numbers, but you see the moments of brilliance from him.
00:40:39
Speaker
But you take him out of the Gasparini system and he doesn't do the same that he does in the system. So it's really, and I know we've talked about it time and time again. It's a testimony to Gasparini, Adelander, their scouting, their coaching, there how well they are ran as a club overall. They're going to be a tough team to beat every single week in and week out, especially with how good they're defending.
00:41:04
Speaker
and how, because that's their weak point, right? Their center backs are not their best, is their weakest position, but they are defending very well right now. Milan had to score a picture perfect-esque goal to to get by them. Yeah, definitely. for from We can talk about Milan too. Again, nothing new. I don't think you have to come away from this game feeling really all that bad. Out of lands are really good, and you're not at their level right now, very simply. And you're trying to build there,
00:41:33
Speaker
What's bad is Christian Pulisic maybe got hurt. I don't know what exactly it is, but that's not good. He tore his calf, like confirmed. I don't know how long he's going to be out for, but he's obviously been their focal point on offense, been their leading scorer, leading assist man. So he's going to be tough to replace. But what I'd say, Milan is is it in in not like the Pulisic injury obviously adds to this, but Like, Fonseca's clearly thought he's found something with playing Musa on off the right, adding that extra line of defense to help Emerson Royale on the right-hand side. But it just, it kind of clips their wings and it doesn't allow them to fly with not playing Pulisic on the right and then another body in the midfield and having Reinders and Loftus Cheek, or who was playing the 10 there?
00:42:23
Speaker
Yeah, they were supposed to start, but then they brought on Loftus Cheek. Well, no, but I'm saying when Polisic played on the right, it was Reinders and Loftus Cheek, so like it's clipping their wings playing Musa off the right and not Polisic and Loftus Cheek and Reinders in terms of offensively, I think, and now without Polisic in, you're gonna, you need Loftus, Cheek, Liao, Reinders, and Hernandez to step their game up even more in the Maratha and create chances that Polisic was providing because he was, he probably has half their goals in assists and now he's going to be gone for however long.
00:42:56
Speaker
at least let out is playing well and not on the Emerson Royale thing what I I don't know why maybe he's hesitant to play guys out of position but for me like what is the justification of playing Emerson Royale there and maybe tomorrow he's not playing but he's definitely better defensively and then you can get another attack right there. And it's interesting to understand, you know what I mean? Yeah, I know. I just don't know. At least Emerson has played fullback before, outside back, he understands it. You don't know what you're going to get if you throw Tamoor there.
00:43:28
Speaker
I mean, you know who I wouldn't hate to see there? Just because he's not a chicken with his head cut off. He's very thoughtful in his positioning and his approach is Gabbia. But he's a clear center back. Yeah. But Gabbia is like- That's why I would say Tamori though. Tamori is by far the most athletic. So athletic. Yeah.
00:43:49
Speaker
And the way Emerson plays in this system is a lot of the time he's kind of a third center back. Like he occupies a little bit wider in his base, but he doesn't really have a lot of offensive responsibility in my mind. And if you completely take it away from it, it doesn't really blunt the offense. So just play a better defender out there. I don't really get it and then get another attacker on the field.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's tough. I, they don't really have, like they haven't tried it yet. I don't know if they will, and they don't have really anybody else to fall back on. So I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of Emerson, Royal and Musa, especially now with the police injury. Cause now you can really just slot in Loftus cheek and and rinders in that 10 spot where they're kind of more known to to play. But it would be interesting to see how they, how they create without Christian.
00:44:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's a little scary, but to keep it rolling, we had a lot of good games this week. We got two more we got to cover here a little bit. Bologna went to Juventus. Mathis was an interesting one. This was a interesting one for sure. It was the <unk>ga mata ball ah Tiago Tiago Mata, his ex-team Bologna came over in the Allianz Stadium in Turin and took the game to Juventus. Italiano was pressing. ah He was High Press wanted the ball at all times. And when they did not have the ball, they dared Juventus to play out from the back. And when they did have the ball, they wanted to pass it all around Juventus. And they did that for the first half. Absolutely destroyed Juventus. Dan and Doyne had a great goal from a fantastic assist as well. Just murdered Juventus in the first half, even though they only went up one nothing. It wasn't even a contest.
00:45:38
Speaker
ah Second half, right out out of the second half, it was same same story. And they scored a picture perfect goal with Castro doing a nice ah back heel flick to who was at Pobega. Pobega had a nice chip over Perrin. Perrin needed to save that.
00:45:55
Speaker
And the event just went down to nothing. And then all of a sudden, the event just flipped to Switch. And they started taking it to Bologna, and they realized, we need we cannot lose this game. And they ended up tying this game 2-2. But...
00:46:10
Speaker
It begs the question again, it's a very similar story against Inter. They went down 4-2 and they came back. Why is the mentality not there from the start of the game? Because if you have if you go into the game with that mentality, you probably win this game 4-1 or 4-0 because you scored two goals in the 60th minute on.
00:46:31
Speaker
The mentality is not there for Juventus to start the game. It's very lackluster. It's very weighed around We think something's gonna happen. Nothing ever happens until they force the issue because they need it to happen So I don't know what what what is missing to start the game with the mentality and I would say it's directly related to two guys that came off the bench, and it brings questions around who should be starting, and Ken on Yieldy's and in Bangula, who both came off the bench, both probably guys that pushed the pace more than most.
00:47:05
Speaker
And you know what you know what also he did was that Yildiz played as a 10 and Bangula played fully out and out left wing. And remember when when we didn't have Koop miners, Yildiz was playing the 10 and Yildiz had a goal and an assist, I believe, in the first two games. And in Bangula had a goal and an assist in the first two games playing left wing. We got Koop miners, we put Koop miners at the 10 and we pushed Yildiz to the left and we've been struggling. He then put uh Yoda's in at the 10 and then Bangula at the wing and we scored a goal so I do agree it might have that might have an effect it's because and Bangula is such an out and out winger and Yoda's is a winger but he also likes to play he also likes to go in the middle. What's your solution then?
00:47:51
Speaker
I don't know, it's tough. to Is there a way to play Gildes in Bangula? Yes. Or Gildes basically through the middle? Yes. with And then you would assume Koot miners and a third midfield. Yeah. for call Four, one, four, one. Now what happens is you probably have to drop Locatelli from the three. You play the the back four, Taram or Locatelli right there. I would go Taram because you can cover more ground as a one.
00:48:19
Speaker
four with Yodiz and Koop miners behind Dusan as the two tens, and then Mbangu La holding the width, with Conse Sal holding the width, and then Dusan. The problem with the 4-1-4-1 that Juventus probably will find when they play, or if they ever play it, is having having that Typically what you want those two guys behind the striker to get in front of the striker and have the striker play play them in Doosan can't do that You can't hold up the ball to then play a through ball or play a pass to yield as a coop miners He doesn't have the that's not his skill set, right? So that's what they're gonna struggle with if they play that that way but that would be how you can play them all and And still hold the width and dominate the middle That would be my solution
00:49:07
Speaker
What I would be concerned with, and my assumption as to why Tiago Monte is not going to do that, is when you play the one guy who... Because Fagioli and Locatelli aren't going to do enough for you defensively to compensate for coup miners and Yildis. And then with Taram, I don't think he's good enough at pacing the game. yeah and that's well They don't really have like a number six to score. I mean, ideally what what it would look like in possession would be Kambiaso goes next to around and it's a three, two, four, one, but that's not the case at all. And I'd argue Kambiaso is coming in the midfield, but I'd argue that's hindering or making Koop miners play more defensively because of how high Koop Kambiaso gets. That's my concern. is Because he his best part of his game, final third creating scoring goals, and I would be worried that he would be forced back because Yildiz is not going to go back to retrieve the ball down.
00:50:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, that's how I would I would rock the four one four one, but you can only do that sometimes because I would even say can you can Douglas Louise play that one, right? Is he defensive enough to play that one? I know he played behind the midfield at Villa, but he likes to get up and score goals. He had 10 goals at Villa last year. So if he's in, can you play it? it's it's It's a lot to figure out and a lot to balance, but he does need.
00:50:33
Speaker
Mada needs to start playing around with stuff because we, Juventus is off to the second worst start in the Serie A in the last 14 years, but we haven't lost. So like those two shouldn't go together, right? We're an undefeated team that's in sixth place and in the second worst start in 14 years. So they need, he needs to play around with something, needs to tweak some things. And I think one solution would be playing in Bangula a lot more, even if that means having to take Koop Miners out every now and then. Because Koop Miners has never been subbed off or not played a game since he's been Juventus. He did get injured a little bit, but if Koop Miners is playing, he doesn't get subbed off and he's he's almost 99% chancey in the starting line of every game.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah, I would like to see some player rotation. From a Bologna perspective, more it's really more the same for both teams. For me, you're struggling and then somehow flipping the switch to then crawl their way back into a game. For Bologna, you go up to nothing. You would think a Tallyano ball would get it done up to nothing, but so when they score goals, they concede goals. and Things are going in the right direction, but still, like the way Talliano plays, this has got to be three points up to nothing on a UVA team that have not really been in great offensive team. You've got to get it done. Yeah. I mean, this for Juventus, it's terrible to say, but it felt like a win because you're down to nothing. ah You have if you're Bologna and you want to finish top four, top five again, like you do with Mata. This had to be three points when you're up to nothing in the 60th minute. You have to be able to find a way to see this game out and get all three points.
00:52:16
Speaker
italiano special blowing the 2-0 lead he does that all the time but listen as at the end of the day like bologna are still trending in the right direction i know it's taking them a little bit longer to get there but they still got a point right there is scoring goals now i mean you can see italiano's fingerprints and even modest fingerprints still all over bologna So they're training in the right direction. I would be shocked if they don't somehow get in the top seven spot, although it's going to be tight because he got Milan and Juve struggling right now. So it was a good game for Bologna though. If I was a Bologna fan, I would be upset that it was a draw, but I'd be very pleased with how they played.
00:52:57
Speaker
Point at Juve is always a good result, I think for any team, even like you, literally any team. I was listening to the post game in Del Piero, or maybe it was the pregame, I can't remember, but Del Piero, they're interviewing Del Piero, and he said Juventus is in a little bit of a worried state, or they should be, because teams in the Serie A now are starting to believe, no matter what level,
00:53:21
Speaker
They can come into Turin, come into the Allianz and not just draw, they can win. And you allow teams to have that belief and it's only going to into more and more. And and it's going to snowball into Juventus losing, which we've seen them do at home so many times throughout this year, which in their nine run Scudetto reign, they never lost at home. It was impossible to get a point in Turin in Juventus. And now it's time and time again, their job points at home. and The more they do, the more teams are going to believe that, hey, it doesn't matter if we're in out the Allianz in turn, we could still beat them. Yeah, I heard it a point at least. It's crazy they haven't lost though. That's actually, but it's still insane. Yeah, it's a crazy stat. ah Last game you want to break down or spend a little bit more time. It's going to be a little bit less. Claudio Ranieri's Roma got their first win under his reign. They beat Lecce 4-1.
00:54:12
Speaker
And I just want to highlight this game. I watched it. i This was Roma's best performance of the season so far. They did a 3-4-3 and I actually think what works so well is Ranieri just put his players where they were supposed to play in the field.
00:54:27
Speaker
3-4-3 in Dybala as the number 9, which we hadn't really seen yet this year. Solo 9, with El Sharawe and Salamakers running off of him, which they were very much conventional wingers. And then in the midfield, it was Manu Kone with Paredes, which I thought worked really well with Paredes kind of doing all the dirty work.
00:54:47
Speaker
and Mountain Kone being the one that drove the ball, produced a little bit more offense. The other thing that I really liked about this that I saw was the balance of the team seemed to finally be right. Diabolo playing as the number nine didn't have to worry about getting into Dopec space or creating opportunity for Dopec. He was able to play with the back line of Lecce or coming deep in that right side space that we know he likes.
00:55:11
Speaker
And the reason now that that space isn't so crowded is Salomonkers is a very traditional hold the width guide. So then that space doesn't get crowded. And then on the other side of the pitch, El Shirowe is an inverted winger. So then he's occupying the left side space with Angelino, who's their most technically gifted crosser, I would say.
00:55:31
Speaker
and occupying space on the left. And the other thing that happens is that Manukone can occupy a space that's a little bit more central in the area that Diwala vacates and the whole thing just worked really well. It makes sense. I mean, that was you that was very really good to see.
00:55:46
Speaker
the the the other The important takeaway, though, for me is that Ranieri's a guy that is probably insulated from the board a little bit because it's a one-year deal. They're not going to fire him now. Like, he has the reins. He can do what he wants. And what happens? Big signings aren't playing. Benches Dobrik, Benches Soule, Pellegrini not playing either. And they have their best game of the year. Now, do you think it was their best game because of all that you just broke down or because it was against Lecce? I would say
00:56:17
Speaker
mixture of both because lechery as much as we've dogged them this year have gotten results against clubs that have been playing far better than roa like they're not necessarily winning games but they took it to let's say one's game four to one and the only goal they conceded was chelic got hurt the new sardia raving guy came in i think this was the first time he got substantial manage made a horrible tackle in the box gave up a pk I don't know if they're going to keep this up. My my worry always with a two-man midfield is you can get overrun very easily. Especially with Kuretas, he doesn't have too much pace. But Kone's been bomb for them. Kone's nasty. Kone is nasty. And this was Dybala's best game too. So it for me, it's hard to put Dovik back in the teams. Dybala is great.
00:57:01
Speaker
Amazing. I mean it was classic Dybala like when you put him and just let him do his thing and own that area Yeah, he is so fucking good and I forgot how good he he's so good dude when he's healthy and in his ah and has his space to kind of Express himself. He's so good, but I I'll be honest with Paisano's. I didn't actually watch this game I'm looking at the lineup now, you broke it down. it just That makes total sense, right? Salamakers taking out the right side, wanting to stay wide and allowing the Bala to be all in the middle, whether it's as a nine or as a false nine, not needing to worry about so stepping on Sulei's space or Dobrik's space just makes total sense. and it's also
00:57:46
Speaker
They don't need to send in with Dovbic not in and liking crosses. You don't need to send in 10, 20, 30 crosses. you can You can hold the ball. You can play it back. You can possess it as the ball being the false nine around the box and play one twos. So it makes a lot of sense, this lineup. But as you said,
00:58:04
Speaker
that will probably not fly for a long time because they made heavy investments in Dovbik and Sulei and if they want to either see their money's worth or make more money from these players they need to play but The reason that they're struggling is because they all, it doesn't, this lineup makes sense. Can this lineup win a game against a bigger Serie A club? We'll have to see because the talent level I'd say is probably not amazing, but the continuity on this lineup makes the most sense for Roma. So it's going to be interesting for Roma and Ranieri to figure out how to play them and who to play and how to line up game in and game out.
00:58:47
Speaker
What I'm a little bit worried about for Soulay is Ranieri has historically liked guys that are like willing runners. Like even El Shirowe now, you could probably play him at Wingback and he's going to, he's going to make the run still. He was really good. And then Salamakers is just a classic winger that he likes to play. Just runs up and down the field on the flip side of things.
00:59:06
Speaker
Ried Mares is a Claudio Ranieri creation. Sule does a lot of similar things. It's probably less of a running behind yard than Mares was, because Mares was that at one point in time, but they're both tricky. Maybe he finds a way with Diabala, it's going to be a little, it's always going to be hard to play both of them.
00:59:27
Speaker
And always, always. And I don't know what the solution is. I really don't. And then you throw, I mean, we talked about you throw a dope pick there, too. It just makes it even tougher. Yeah, it makes it very tough. But that with the way Diwali played, you are not dropping him. And Salamach was scored a goal. And El-Shurawe had two assists. So who you're not dropping any of them at this point. Who do Roma have got next week? Roma got Como.
00:59:55
Speaker
You've got to play everybody against Como Ochu. The other thing that I did want to talk about with the two-man midfield, I don't know how Pellegrini's playing either. Because you can't play him in a two-man midfield. You have to play him in the Diballa space. like that's where But Diballa was a nine in this game. like he was pure I know it's it shows like a 3-5-2, but Diballa was a nine, 100%.
01:00:25
Speaker
Yeah, then, I mean, maybe, maybe in the El Shirarwe space because he understands that space so well. But it it it provides a little different because Pellegrini is not going to run like El Shirarwe is. Yeah. He's not getting up and down the pitch.
01:00:43
Speaker
and That's where I don't know and he didn't even come off the bench like pit silly came off the bench and played the solemn ochre's roll off the right played it Phenomenally running up and down the field made things happen and then yes, he's gonna subbed in for us right away Yeah, and I see that like those guys make sense like they're gonna run. They're gonna continue. Yeah, no matter what's going on but silly score sure scored twice and quickly it's Pellegrini doesn't have a spot like very quickly and Yeah, I mean, you're not wrong. I'd also say you cannot, you have to play Kone, especially having like humbles as a center back and it being in a two minute midfield because his pace, like you can't do Cristante and Paredes there. Kone is unbenchable at this point. yeah He has to play every single game and he is the more attacking midfielder in a midfield too. ah yeah Like you're stuck with him. He's really good though, I will say. he Yeah, he's been a great signing.
01:01:39
Speaker
Nasty he's gonna be a big big he's in player. He might make the French team in place of ravio Like he is really really good. Yeah, this is years from now, I guess but Yeah, I mean, that you got Taram as well in the midfield for French, so it'll be tough. But I think Kone has been playing way better than Taram has. Kone almost scored last game, almost scored like... Kone is... three in Yeah, he he almost scores every single game, obviously scored this game. So, yeah, he's unbenchable for sure.
01:02:09
Speaker
It's going to be interesting to see because I mean, I would I would say maybe because the ball is not always the healthiest guy. So instead of sure, instead of having the ball of play as a nine, when you play a Pellegrini, you play him like like the three, four, one, two.
01:02:25
Speaker
in that space. But then I think that you don't have a true anybody occupying that nine space in with Sala Maka's in El Shirowe playing the wings, right? So I don't even think Pellegrini would fit in that spot with these two up top.
01:02:42
Speaker
Honestly, the i the best way of playing Pellegrini and Soleil for me would be Pellegrini off the left as more of like an inside forward and then Soleil off the right, do whatever you want, and then dove back through the middle. That's the only way I really see it working at this point.
01:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Pellegrini understands space so well that he could be able to figure it out, but it'll be tough. You know, we were so hot on Roma. It makes so much sense why Dovbik, Dabala, Sulay and Pellegrini, like, doesn't work. and We should have seen this coming.
01:03:16
Speaker
It's just there, that's like a so, so much talent in that four that you just figured it would work. But like, if there's a clear reason why it doesn't work, because Sule and DiBala play the exact same position. Pellegrini and DiBala like to hold up very similar spaces. And none of those guys like to cross it and Dovbic only likes to score through cross. So This Varnieri's figuring out maybe. We'll see if they can piece it together a few more games. We keep it a rolling. Torino went to Genoa. The game ended. No, no. Terrible game. Watch it. It was terrible. Calliore went to Fiorentina. Fiorentina got it done. 1-0. I was a little bit worried about this game because Calliore having a very, very tricky opponent. 1-0. One is a great result, I think, for Fiorentina. I mean, they're just absolutely flying. I don't remember the last time they dropped a point at this now. I mean, it's crazy.
01:04:09
Speaker
Emily went to Hellas Verona, won the game 4-1. I think I am starting to say if Verona is getting relegated. They are really, really bad. And losing 4-1 at home against Emily is not bad. that is fair That's real bad. And they've allowed 37 goals for the next closest is 27. So they've allowed 10 more in the next closes and that's Venezia who's in dead last. So Verona started hot but since then they have not been able to figure it out. They can't get out their own way. I do think Verona will probably end up getting relegated.
01:04:46
Speaker
Barone shows out what Barone is showing it again in two different ways. I was hot on Zanetti too. I thought he's gonna be a good coach. They really fought off a cliff. um Como went to Venice, hardest place to play in the league. We've been saying it. This game is basically it's late in a hurricane. It was insane and Thai two to two kind of a bad result for both teams. I was yeah, both teams. I would say I agree.
01:05:12
Speaker
Venezia has scored on the best olympico i've ever seen to tie it up I think part of it was the hurricane whipping the ball into the net perfectly but I mean, is there any way to stop back in the little lads at the lake at this point? i'm not and Listen, I would say it's a worse result result for a como because they dominated this game Venezia had zero big chances a xg of 0.32 and they scored two goals so not the best showing from Komo because of that. However, Komo only had two goals because Venezia put in an own goal. So I think that this game Komo should have got the three points. So it's a worst result for Komo only getting one. But because Venezia was at home, also a bad result for them. So bad result for both teams. I agree.
01:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, Venetu going down for Rona going down. I don't know who the third one is. Because I i think Monza are better than Kolo. I think Leche stink too, though. I i know, but Leche have been getting it done. I don't know why. They have been, but in dude, same with Calgary. Calgary's your club, but there are only two points off. It's going to be crazy, that relegation battle. It's going to just be insane. um Other games that happened last week, Copa Talia, Monza, the team I just backed, got absolutely thrashed and in Bologna for nothing. Really good game for Bologna. I was happy they got something done here. Cessuolo, Serie B club. They're running away with Serie B. I actually looked down at this before the game. They're going to be back up here next year, deservedly so. Yeah, it makes sense. syria well They're a Serie A club for sure. ah They got fucking smashed 6-1 at AC Milan. So maybe be tough next year.
01:06:56
Speaker
Emily went to Fiorentina. 2-2 game, kind of a shootout. Emily will through on PKs. Great result for Emily. I actually think this is probably good for Fiorentina, so they can focus on the league and then winning the conference league, which they yeah should do. I agree. that's right When I saw that result, that's the first thing I thought it was, listen, Fiorentina is overachieving in the league.
01:07:18
Speaker
They obviously have the conferencing that their fans expect them to go for. It's tough managing three competitions. Just have polydino focus on two, the league and the conferencing. But Empoli's six goals in their last two games. Empoli's good. Empoli's good and they're changing before our eyes. They're getting more offensive. It's really amazing. I would like to see them get back to playing good defense at some point because they're getting away from that. I don't know why.
01:07:42
Speaker
Thank you. They're not in your shootouts. I don't know what happened. They're like, the script plot us. On the last game that happened, we already talked about Napoli went to Lazio. So Lazio won in Rome in the Copotalia, and then on the weekend, won in Naples. Hatrick, I forgot by by who, but... Oh yeah, it was ah the young guy, I forget his name. It's a good show. He had a Hatrick. I think he's Belgian. Yeah, I don't remember. I can't remember his name either, but he had a Hatrick. Good for him.
01:08:10
Speaker
Yeah, good for him. But that wraps up what happened. This week, some previews here. We got Champions League, Inter Milan, and Bayer Leverkusen. I saw a lot of pundits today talking about how Leverkusen are going to win. Inter Milan are eons better than Bayer Leverkusen this year.
01:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, also, I mean, Serie A just doesn't get its respect too. Yeah, when it comes to any pundit that doesn't cover the league. So I'm not surprised that they said Lera Kucin will win even though they got absolutely dismantled in the Europa League final by Atalanta and Inter destroy Atalanta. So by the transitive property, this is Inter's game.
01:08:54
Speaker
ah but Obviously the transit property makes no sense. So it's, it'll be a great game to watch, but yeah. Inter have the best defense and the league and the champions think the top of the, ten or the second and and the table. So this was a good game. The other one, we got Real Madrid in Bergamo to play Atalanta. This is a repeat of the super cup. And the super cup, what was it called? Tuna thing or something like that? They kind of got smacked. Yeah, it is. 3-1 maybe, something like that. They got smacked for sure.
01:09:22
Speaker
But that Adelanta that played Real Madrid is far different from this one and Real Madrid has been out of form. That Adelanta also was when they were going through the Coupe Miners saga and they expected to have them and then they didn't. Now they obviously know that they don't have Coupe Miners and they are starting to gel. And Real Madrid are also, I'm trying to find the Champions League table right now as I'm talking. and right I'm struggling to find it. They're not, I don't think that they're qualified right now. They are very low way off spot right now. Yeah. And, but did you see what enchilades said? He was like, don't worry guys, rail Madrid will be in the finals come may 31st or wherever ever date it is. But yeah, missing I see us. He's, I think he's still hurt.
01:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, they're missing Vinicius for sure. jude Jude's starting to come out of his his little rut. I saw the last five games. He has three goals and four assists. But listen, Atalanta's firing on all cylinders. Real Madrid is knock. We do know that this is Real Madrid's competition, obviously. However, Atalanta typically play better in the Champions League than in the Serie Aso.
01:10:24
Speaker
this I wouldn't be shocked if Atalanta win this game. And they've also had the second best defense in the Champions League, only behind Inter. Which is insane. And the other thing I just thought about is this whole Atalanta being unstoppable directly correlates to them having a stadium with fans. ah Yeah, that's true. we could once They actually built the stadium and could have people. and they Yeah, that is true.
01:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, Bergamo has a fortress now, I guess. A couple other ones. We got Bologna at Benfica. I don't really have a lot of comments there, whatever. They can get a dove here. Benfica's good, but should they? No. I
AC Milan's Champions League Challenges
01:11:00
Speaker
don't know. yeah AC Milan hosting Severina Tseveda. If Loegs is here, it's a washout for those Eastern European teams. And I believe him. I mean, these are the games Fonseca wants to lose. He only wants to play against the big teams.
01:11:12
Speaker
You got to win this game if you're Milan. It's going to be tough with no Christian. But if you want to advance in the Champions League, you got to win games. Even though the Eastern European teams are tough, you have to win against these
Juventus vs Manchester City: Who Will Prevail?
01:11:24
Speaker
games.
01:11:24
Speaker
ah these games And then the last champions league match, a third to Manchester City at Juventus. That's going to be a tough one for Juventus. However, Manchester City have been struggling. We do know that they lost like seven of their last eight games or something like that. No, Roger. They're really missing him.
01:11:42
Speaker
And Juventus got a plus with Weston McKinney and Douglas Louise. Both should be in the lineup or at least available to play. So that's two guys coming back. But we know that, listen, both these teams are struggling. So it'll be an interesting match. Hopefully Juventus can get three points because Juventus are also, I don't know, like I said, I don't have the Champions League table in front of me, but they are getting to a point where it's going, it's getting concerning on if they are going to qualify for the next round of the Champions League.
Upcoming European Matches Overview
01:12:11
Speaker
They're even with points um with City right now. So interesting game. How many points do they both have? Eight. Where are they at? Two, two, and one. ah They're both tied for 17. 24 teams advance. So any team, one of these teams, if one of these teams lose this game, that could be huge for them advancing to the next round.
01:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, the other thing is we don't know what gets you through yet, because this is the first year of us, and we don't even have a barometer yeah of what you need to go through. ah Moving on to the other European competitions, Europa League, Roma's hosting Braga. I would like to see them get another one done here. You can still win the Europa League, so they got they got to get rolling. They can. They don't think so.
01:12:54
Speaker
they still can because they're not knocked out i mean it's i don't know if they have they're going to but they could i don't know if enough top of el shara our way and sala maukers is gonna get that job i'm a big sala maukers guy so i don't know uh the other roman team playing latio's going to aya because that's always a hard battle kind of interesting for this this Lazio team to go to kind of like these other big European stadiums. I think it's a lot of guys that haven't really shot that pressure before. And then in the conference league, we got Fiorentina hosting another team that I've never heard of last. Get it done, please. Yeah. yeah you i never Every time we cover the conference league, I'm just going to say Fiorentina Chelsea final. Yeah, I think that's all that needs to say.
01:13:35
Speaker
But that wraps up the European competitions midweek and then at weekend, we got match week number 16. Couple interesting games, not a ton of crazy ones this weekend I would say, right? Yeah, definitely not any crazy ones besides Inter at Lazio is a good game for sure. And then Florentino Bologna as well are the two that we think would be the most enjoyable to watch.
01:14:01
Speaker
Inter at Lotzio is interesting to me because Lotzio can you do this two weeks in a row and it's very different playing Inter and playing Napoli. I'm going to continue to back Inter now. In most games, they again, i'm I'm very impressed with them and their ability to play in different ways, um but Lotzio are good. And i I still think this is a learning season for them and they're going to get better and continue to get better, but they're not they're not at this level yet where they can compete with this team, these kinds of teams doing this.
01:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Listen, I didn't have Lazio being as high as they are at all this season. So I think they're overachieving. And I think Inter should win this game. However, team like Lazio and Inter being the team that they've been this season switching off, Lazio can easily get one or two goals in the stab of the fingers.
01:14:50
Speaker
I'm kind of blanking is to Nuno is going to be on Demarco side or Dumpers side when he attacks. Dumpers, OK, so that that's a matchup to watch. Those are two just absolute fitness animals going up and down the pitch. However, Nuno still coming back from an injury. So we'll see. We'll keep an eye on that. But that will be a great matchup to watch.
01:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, the other game we wanted to pull out here is Fiorentina at Bologna. This is another one for me. Bologna, you're trending in the right direction. I think they can win this game. For Fiorentina, can you go away from home and get three points? Because they're kind of in this similar cycle of how good are you guys? You're obviously getting better. Games like this are hard to win. Like going to Bologna and winning the way they're playing is going to be a tough battle. If you want to win Scudetto, these are the kind of games you gotta get point.
01:15:38
Speaker
That's what I was going to say. If you want to win this 3.2 or finish in the top four, as tough as this game is, this is a game you have to get points out of, right? These are these are games that enter Napoli, Atalanta, Juventus, Milan, maybe not Juventus and Milan this year, but in their past careers as clubs have known to be able to go and win three win games and get three points to allow them to finish in the top four so consistently.
01:16:05
Speaker
Yeah, at the same time, I think Italiano's thinking we can beat Fiorentina. Like, they're overachieving. For sure. Dude, Bologna's been firing firing us firing on all cylinders, flying high. They played a great game against Juventus. It's Italiano's going back or playing his old team, you know, is going to be motivated for that, wanting to get the boys fired up. Yeah, true. I mean, think about that. So Bologna are definitely going to be tough to beat and get three points to from now on because of how they've been playing and that they've been figuring out how to score goals.
Serie A Match Previews and Betting Tips
01:16:35
Speaker
Take us through the rest of the games. We got Torino going to Empoli. Empoli are going to win that game. Yeah, I agree. New new school Empoli are going to be really good there. Atalanta we're going to Calliore. For nothing. Atalanta we're going to get it done. Napoli at Udeneze is a tough game. I feel good about Napoli. You gotta bounce back if you're in Napoli. You can't drop more points. Three teams in a row that would be losses. If you include Copa Tali. Oh yeah yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I just don't see a Conte team doing. Yeah, agreed. I think they're going to win. And I'm still not sold on Udeneze at all at this point.
01:17:08
Speaker
And that's he is going to you very this would be a good one to get the home three-point monkey off your back and Yes, so was so was the games calorie and we tied that one I mean he got yeah if your event is You have to win this game and you got to go back to those three zero wins that you were doing at the start of the season you cannot scrape buying with three points on this one or else you questions are still going to be asked, right? You want to kind of put some of the questions to bed on a lower on the lowest team in the league in your Juventus. So you need to to win and win convincingly.
01:17:44
Speaker
The other game, big relegation stakes here. Monza at Leché. Monza's in 17th. Leché's in 16th. Only separated by three points. So this one's another. This goes to show like, if you lose a game down there, you are in trouble immediately. So that's an interesting one. We also got Pirona playing Parma. I feel really good about Parma at home against sure. I've been saying it all year. I'll say it again. Parma at home is going to be tough to win. And Verona led in these so many goals. In Parma, it's square goals. Yeah. And then we got Roma going to Como. This can be an interesting one. The way Como play and the way Roma just played, I think it's going to be a really good matchup.
01:18:25
Speaker
That'll be a fun game to watch. This is probably, gonna get and this is probably my, the third best game of the, of the week. I'd say behind for your Antina Bologna and into Lazio. This will be a fun game. I mean, maybe Napoli would an essay, but this will be fun to watch. This should be goals, right? Como score, tend to score two goals a game, uh, or at least a goal a game and Roma have scored four last game. So maybe they figured something out. We'll see what they, how they come out after coming stumbling upon a line of that work.
01:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, well, I hope another one works. um The last game is Genoa at Milan. You would think Milan can get this one done. Genoa have not been very good. but I'm looking at their form in the last five. Genoa, two wins, three draws, zero losses. So, what's the what's his name? Beare? Starting to figure something out, right?
01:19:17
Speaker
Yeah, this I don't think this is a tough one for her Yeah, it's not a tough one for Milan, but Genoa can't sneak up on you But the fact that you're at home and in the San Siro, you cannot drop points Fortress the absolute fortress, ah but that brings us into our last segment for match week number 16 cool PD Luna cool be we got to stay hot we are like weon stay hot like were so we're ending the pod like we started it with the Colby we updated you guys seven and two in the last nine and 20 and 24 so we're flirting with 50% we need we need to go two-for-one minimum to to get ah Closer to that 500 record. I feel good about it. I'd like some picks. I like our picture I'm the only one doing plus picks also recently. So I gotta I'm the odds booster. So I'll leave how the hell is That is not your pick. That's it. The first one's your pick. How are they plus? Yeah, I
01:20:12
Speaker
How were they plus? That's why I'm picking it. good There's value all over the place. If you look at the Serie A betting slips, nobody thinks anybody's going to win ever. And it's always plus. You can always find one. I got Inter. They also just beat Napoli. Inter at home against Lazio. No, Inter's away. No, Inter at Lazio. That's why they're plus. That's why they're plus.
01:20:33
Speaker
I feel good about Inter. I still think they're significantly better from than Lazio. And I don't see anybody on Lazio that's capable of stopping Marcus Tram right now. And I also think Federico DiMarco was a very good matchup on that side of the field. So there's going to be service. I feel really good about it. That one comes in a plus 120. Logan's pick. Horma Verona over to an IOW.
01:20:59
Speaker
at minus 144. Another one that I like. Parma scores a lot of goals. Venetia concedes a lot of goals. Yeah, before I say my pick, I like Logan's pick was a pick that I might've picked, but he picked it before me. I just said pick a lot. That was a pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, but I thought I really liked Parma. Like I said, they score a lot and Verona letting four goals a game. It seems like at 37, let me do the math like quick, 15 games and they've allowed 37. So that's two goals a game, right? And Parma score a ton, but going back to your pick.
01:21:31
Speaker
uh, Lazio are also coming back from the Netherlands. So a lot of travel for Lazio against a tough IX team that we know have champions league level talent. So that is a really good pick and plus money too. It makes no sense. I'm shocked that, uh, it's a good value there, but moving on, my pick is going to be same game. Lazio enter. I'm sticking with what I've been hot with what I've been riding over two and a half coming in at minus one 10 I've hit.
01:22:02
Speaker
Four overs in a row, five of the last six overs. ah Sticking with another one, minus 110. A little bit more value here. I've been taking like minus 140, minus 150 picks, but minus 110. Lazio score goals. We know Inter score goals. ah They both have over 30 this season. So they're both averaging two goals a game. So that's why I got Lazio, Inter over two and a half.
01:22:28
Speaker
It brings the whole Colby to 4 plus 470. Pretty good. Another good one. You know how it goes. Bet them single. Hit the parlay a little bit. Yeah, the one annoying part about this Colby is that mine and Vos' game is Monday, so we're not going to know until Monday if it hits.
01:22:46
Speaker
Last Colby, uh, we, mine and Voz's game were on Friday. They both hit and we had a cash out of, uh, what was it? I think Lowe's bet 50 on it. He had a cash-out of like one 30, I think is it was 50 to one 400. So that was a good spot to be in having a cash out. We're not going to have that this week, but.
01:23:05
Speaker
Now, unfortunately, unless Logos has, you know. You want to. But that wraps it up for us, guys. We're done. As always, follow us at Culture FC, at Calcho Culture FC, on all of our socials, X, Instagram, TikTok. We're going to get back on there at some point. We've got a little bit busy. Get sidetracked. It's on our list. Get back on there. Get on the Twitter scape and all that. We'll get there. As always, we appreciate your support and muscle hands off to you.
01:23:30
Speaker
Like, comment, and subscribe. Paisanos, do not be a gaggus, and forza, coucho.