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Free Weekly Episode - Vlahovic Takes Juventus Top Of Serie A, Maignan Racism Scandal, Subs Save Milan, Roma De Rossi Debut Win, Mourinho-Napoli Talks & Much More (Ep. 391)
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From the fallout of the vile racist attacks against Mike Maignan when AC Milan stage late dramatic comeback win over Udinese despite a Lazar Samrdzic wondergoal, Dusan Vlahovic brace leads Juventus to top of the Serie A, Romelu Lukaku scores when Roma win in Daniele De Rossi's debut, to José Mourinho in talks with Napoli, to the relegation race as well as Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week and much, much more when Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from an action-packed weekend in Italian football.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello everybody, and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Tavadi. On today's show, we will react to a slightly shorter Serie A weekend calendar, only six matches due to the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Racial Abuse Incident Debate
00:00:23
Speaker
The big story of the weekend though is unfortunately not a positive one, as we once again have to talk about another racism storm, Mike Mignon and Milan walking off the pitch.
00:00:34
Speaker
After Manon was racially abused by fans in the match in Udina, we'll discuss that as well as Milan's dramatic late comeback win. Elsewhere, Juventus go top in the absence of Inter being at that Super Cup as they beat Lecce thanks to Dusan Vlawovic double.
00:00:53
Speaker
It was a great debut on the bench at Roma for Daniela de Rossi and also for Davide Nicola at Empoli.
Serie A Team Highlights and Transfers
00:01:00
Speaker
Roma's former coach Jose Mourinho is incredibly in talks with Napoli and what the hell is Aurelio De Laurentiis smoking there?
00:01:10
Speaker
And the relegation race is even tighter now after the weekend's results, as Nimmo, I'm sure, will be very happy about. We're going to do a profile of Tarina defender Alessandro Buongiorno, who is wanted by Milan and a number of big European clubs. And we'll also have our usual Baggio, Prem Face, and Celia Ass of the Week. For all our first-time listeners, this is our free weekly episode that we do every Monday, reviewing the weekend's Serie action and all the biggest talking points.
00:01:40
Speaker
in Italian football if you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all of our content that we do throughout the week including a weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday where we answer all of the questions sent in from our patrons plus the weekly Thursday midweek review show plus interviews post-match reaction and much much more then go to patreon.com slash TIP and become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month plus VAT and you can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify
00:02:07
Speaker
We'll provide the link in the description. It's the same price and same terms. And for all of you who listen on Spotify, Apple, and iTunes Podcast, we'd really appreciate it. Give us a five star rating. Give us a follow or a like. We're also on YouTube as well. All of that really helps us to grow and do more quality content. Okay, let's get into today's show.
Racism in Football: A Deep Dive
00:02:28
Speaker
Okay, so we have to start off with the negative, and that is the racism storm involving Mike Mignon. Mignon and Milan walk off the pitch during the first half of their game against Houdinéz in Houdinéz at the study of Fiouli.
00:02:51
Speaker
Manion was subjected to repeated racist insults from some of the fans behind the goal. He had already warned the referee on the first time it happened.
00:03:04
Speaker
and the fourth official, that is, and that he was receiving abuse from the stands behind him. And then it happened again. And as per the protocols of Serie A, a statement was read out, warning that if this continued, that the game would be suspended. And the monkey chance, it seems, continued after the Milan went 1-0 ahead.
00:03:29
Speaker
and manon again alerted the referee and the game was temporarily halted manon walked off the pitch followed by the milan players and then a few minutes three to five minutes later the players returned to the pitch and they continued with the game and it seems that the racism didn't didn't didn't persist once they'd returned but obviously this is a
00:03:58
Speaker
another very ugly spectacle for Saria. And here we are in 2024, Nima, and we're still having to talk about it. Yes, we are. And there's so many thoughts going through my head when I saw that, and I've kind of written everything down to try to collect this. There's one aspect which is just anger, rage, fury,
00:04:26
Speaker
at this happening time and time again. But when I calm down, I'm starting to think, well, why is it that this happens repeatedly in Italian football from Serie A all the way down to Serie C time and time and time again? But it doesn't happen in the Premier League. It doesn't happen in North American professional sports. It doesn't even it doesn't happen in very many other professional sports in any
00:04:56
Speaker
of the other countries in that we can compare the city out to or even any other Western countries. And the reason for that is because it doesn't mean that Italy is more racist than any other country in the West. Absolutely not. That's a stupid thing. It's a stupid, hot, childish take. What it is is that there are no serious, proper consequences for these actions. And that's why they keep happening.
00:05:25
Speaker
And what I mean by that is the Serie A can't do, obviously, this has been a problem for 30 years. This is not about Italy's new government, the older governments, whether they identified as left wing or right wing, they were all the same. They need to enact legislation that helps the league to act tougher because obviously the league can't do
00:05:53
Speaker
more with the current legislation. It's as simple as that. And what do I mean by that? You live in England, Carlo. What happens if someone starts doing that at a Premier League terrace? They get prosecuted, they get thrown out, and they get banned for life. The Serie A doesn't have those abilities to do that.
00:06:13
Speaker
Well, with a lot of the stadiums not being owned by the clubs, it's actually out of the hands of many of the clubs, even if the club wants to do anything about it, which a lot of the clubs don't want to do anything about it, but even if they did want to do anything about it, it's out of their hands.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah, because it's public land. They can't, they don't have the power to do something about it. They can't just, we can't put this on. And I'm going to say the same thing here, as I said, when, when it happened with you, this is not a event that should not be policing this. This is something that the police should be doing.
00:06:54
Speaker
But from a sporting point of view, they can identify and ban the fans. Well, the dashboard, the dashboard, the bands should be handed out by the police like it was with the 171 people who monkey chanted Lukaku. The police in Turin did that, and it has to go through the proper channels.
00:07:16
Speaker
But the stadiums can identify if they own their own stadiums. If you don't own your own stadiums, then the clubs can't do anything. That's why Intel and Milan can't do anything because they rent the stadium from the council. And also because of the fact that that stadium is so old that the technology isn't there to be able to identify them.
00:07:36
Speaker
This is exactly what I mean and this is why it keeps happening in Italy over and over and over again because there are no repercussions. Most of our listeners who are from England or from North America listening to this will laugh at the ludicrousness of people monkey chanting black players at a football stadium because they know if they did it in their countries, it's just unthinkable. That just doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen because
00:08:05
Speaker
There's been long-term, it's not just a knee-jerk reaction. This is something that sports authorities in all of those countries have been working on for decades. I should come back at you, and I don't want to make this about what's aboutism, but this does happen a lot in Spain, in Eastern Europe, in Russia, in these kinds of places. It isn't just exclusive to Italy, but when you're comparing it to, say, England to North America, absolutely.
00:08:30
Speaker
that's what I'm saying that's what I'm doing that's what I'm doing the Spain is is it come on let's not even go is even on another let's not even I'm sorry the president of La Liga Javier Tebas I mean his behavior and that's one positive that's one positive of yesterday's that at least we saw we haven't even seen this and I mean this is a low threshold so we should be a clue I was gonna say this is a
00:08:49
Speaker
But by Italy's, by previous instances, it was at least a step forward that we saw, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
00:09:14
Speaker
less less good from from the from Gabriela choppy the manager who basically said that he doesn't he doesn't he what he doesn't he would prefer to ignore it and talk about football and that's the old way of it or the wrong way of going about it but what Bowser at he did you know what Gravina did at least that's at least their stat that they're acknowledging it so I guess that that is
00:09:36
Speaker
Not only that, the protocol that all of the Seria and the Players' Union and everyone have agreed to follow was followed immediately and without much fuss to the letter.
00:09:52
Speaker
You know, Mike Mignon first told the referee, the referee understood it. He told the speaker, they said it on the speakers, and it happened again, and then he took them. Like, all of those things, they followed the protocol to the letter and without much fuss. But it also shows that the protocol is inept. It's not good enough. It's inadequate.
00:10:12
Speaker
I've seen so many stupidly hot takes about, oh, you should, you know, they should empty, they should ban the home team and they should give them, you know, points deductions. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The players on the pitch aren't being racist.
00:10:29
Speaker
It's people in the stands who've paid a ticket to enter and watch football who are being racist. It should not fall back on athletes being punished for the behavior of idiots and the terrorists. They've got nothing to do with that. I think it's not even collective punishment. It's stupid. It's the equivalent of you robbing a bank in England and the police arresting me in Sweden because we got a podcast together. It's stupid. There's no logic here.
00:10:53
Speaker
So, it's just dumb. So, I don't buy that nonsense at all. What I want to see, and the Italian government has to act now, and it's not because they're right wing. Look, again, this has been going on for 13 years. Well, to be fair, even Manion said himself after, and I thought he put in a fantastic statement on checkout, go to his social media and check out what he put out on Sunday morning, Sunday lunch time. It was fantastic.
00:11:22
Speaker
No, I think so as well. What he put out. And I thought that he comes out of this as a real leader as well, because he was he was everything that he said was was sincere. Like he didn't blame everybody. He said that he said that the players were fantastic. He said that the way the referee dealt with it was fantastic. But he also said that, you know, it's unacceptable that, you know, that that, for example,
00:11:50
Speaker
through the lazy Twitter account just said there's been an interruption. Yeah, I know. Like, yeah, he called out the things the kind of like the little cultural things that you know, that are wrong, that we talk about. And also, I think from a cultural point of view, there are there is a feeling in Italy that you're racist, you're racist to black players. Not because
00:12:19
Speaker
you're racist, but because you believe that by doing so, you are affecting the opposition. It's like a way of getting at the opposition to help your team win. That's a cultural way they look at it. And unfortunately,
00:12:35
Speaker
Udenezer turned the game around and they equalized pretty soon after they returned to the pitch and then they took the lead and went 2-1 and that kind of adds to that feeling. This is the cultural side of things that also needs to be worked at as well. I know a lot of Italians actually feel that way. They think that we're not being racist. Well, you don't need to look further than the statement put out by
00:13:04
Speaker
Corvanord after Caliari fans monkey chanted Romelu Lukaku and these guys were explaining racism to Lukaku in an open letter. That is one of the most bizarre statements. I don't have a lot of, I don't exactly have a high, you know, expectation for any Corva or any ultra, but that was even, that took the cake. Like that was just, I mean, it was, it was one of those moments where you're like, yeah, thanks guys.
00:13:29
Speaker
Thanks for your input. Now go get a job or apply for one. It was just unbelievably stupid. But this is that mentality and they perpetuate it. But it will disappear because again,
00:13:45
Speaker
Most people in Italy don't like this stuff. Italians don't live in a bubble. They don't like this nonsense any more than you and I do or anyone else does. The League has done what it can. It can't do more now with the legislative tools that are available to it. This has to come from the government. They have to
00:14:08
Speaker
act quicker. I don't know if they're going to make it criminal or not because that's a separate debate. But what they need to do is to be able to quickly identify and prosecute in terms of giving them bans to all sporting events for life. And I say for life because
00:14:33
Speaker
going to football games is not a human right. It's a privilege. And if you can't go to a football game without hurling racist abuse at the players on the pitch, then that's a privilege that's taken away from you. It's as simple as that. It's not harder than that. That's how it is. And until people learn that you don't do that, you just don't do that. And again, it wasn't a lot of people who did it, but it was enough.
00:15:03
Speaker
You know, one is one too many, you know, and that's a good thing. And I think that we're moving towards that. We're not having entire sections monkey chanting, which we've seen in the past and hopefully we'll never see again. Maybe, you know, progress is slow, I guess, in this regard, even though it should never happen to begin with. But you know what I mean? Like maybe maybe the penny is dropping. I don't know.
00:15:24
Speaker
I hope so. I'd like to think it is. But it's exhausting. I think the way that Manon handled it, like you said, was... All I would say is, if I try and look at this in a positive light, that at least we saw maybe a few steps forward in the response to it this time.
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, we did. I think very slow. Yeah, very small. But still, it's moving. It shouldn't happen in the first place, of course. But the response to it, I think there were there was a few steps forward in the way that it was handled. And that's why I think that it again, I think that the Serie A and the league showed with their response that this is they can't do more than this. This is something else. And this is something that needs to come from the government. And they need to enact legislation to help the league
00:16:11
Speaker
police this and get these people. And also we need new stadiums so that we can quickly identify who it is and be able to ascertain their identities and get rid of them.
00:16:24
Speaker
Well, good luck with that. I didn't see how this was going to happen. I just said it was something that should happen. Yeah. Well, talking about the football itself, it was it was an incredible game, the dramatic game and dramatic ending and incredible comeback from Milan, who who after that incident with Manon, Udeneschi turned it around to go 2-1 up and looked like they were going to they were going to win the game. And then two late goals from
00:16:54
Speaker
from Milan substitutes. Jovic, first, with the equaliser, and then Okafor, with the winner, deep into injury time. So this was about the Milan subs. This was about the Milan subs. And, yeah, Okafor and Jovic. I mean, Okafor has done well, I think, this season, when he's played. Unfortunately, he's been injured so much. And that's for Jovic.
00:17:18
Speaker
Jovic now is looking at this. He has six goals in his last eight games now for Milan. That's six goals in 360 minutes of football. That is an average of a goal every 60 minutes in that time. Since he scored his first goal for Milan against Frosinone at the start of December, he's scored a goal every 60 minutes.
00:17:40
Speaker
I mean, I don't know if I want to say that Jovic is back, but there's talk about him getting a permanent deal at Milan.
Milan's Dramatic Comeback
00:17:51
Speaker
I mean, the subs won this for Milan, didn't they?
00:17:57
Speaker
They did. And I think what happened, okay, Samajic scores a stunning goal. But how Milan, you know, because Milan were obviously rattled and destabilized mentally from this. And who can blame them? I mean, come on. And that's why, again, I think the protocol as it is today is inadequate. But Milan, the way that they come back, I mean, let's remember, Udinesse take over, they take the lead.
00:18:25
Speaker
And then Milan kind of bounce back and show that they are a team that is moving in the right direction in terms of growth and mental growth and end up winning this deservedly. For me, Jovic, like you said, the subs, Luca Jovic, I think should stay at Milan. This is where he needs to be. He's at the exact he's he's at the right place in the right club. He shouldn't go anywhere else because
00:18:49
Speaker
He's exactly the kind of substitute that Milan need. Someone, when you're chasing a goal, you need someone who's parked there, who's a poacher, who doesn't dribble 15 players, but just scores. And that's what Lyovic does. It's no surprise to me that it's him, because I think, you know, I've always liked the player. I thought he made the dumbest decision in history going from Frankfurt to Real Madrid. That was a step that was too big.
00:19:18
Speaker
And he's nowhere near that kind of number nine bat Real Madrid needs. But I think at Milan as a sub, that's his level. And I think it's the right decision. I hope he stays for him and for Milan because Milan have a backup striker in Jovic that is good enough for Milan. They need a starting striker with with all due respect to Giroud, who I know, you know, he's he's he had a good game against Odeneza. But he's it's looking, you know, Milan need to look to the future. He's 37 after all, right.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think that there was there was lots of positives, also negatives for Milan in this game. I mean, Teo Hernandez is well, offensively, he's on fire. We'll talk about the defending in a bit, but on fire, he's offensively got another assist for the Loftus cheat goal. He he he set up a lot of other chances in this game. He had the I think he had the cross for the jury shot before Jovic
00:20:16
Speaker
Jovic scored equalised if I'm not mistaken. In five games in 2024, he's got one goal and four assists. He's doing brilliantly. He did go for that long
00:20:28
Speaker
you know, playing as a centre back as well and did really well in that position. Loftus Cheek has also had a good start to 2024, second goal this month and he had the header that led to the Ocofor winner. Obviously, 2024 full stop has been really, really good for Milan if you take away the Coppa Italia.
00:20:49
Speaker
They're certainly back on track in Serie A. I mean, seven wins in the last nine games since that Newcastle game. The top four is absolutely secure now, and they do have a glimmer of a hope, I guess, of getting back into the title race. I mean, for as long as Inter and Juventus continue on this pace, they're not going to, but all it takes is a couple of slip-ups, a draw in that game between Inter and Juventus, and yeah, Milan could potentially.
00:21:14
Speaker
I think I've said throughout this season, I think it's a three horse race. I don't think Milano favorites to win it. They're not, but I think it's a three horse race and I was always very reluctant to count Milano out of the title race.
00:21:27
Speaker
I think this is going to be between these three. It's a classic. It's the city of our childhood, isn't it? Milan v Juva Vinta for the Scurretto. They do, though, Nimmer have too many chinks in their armour still, Milan. That makes you suggest that they're going to give away some stupid games that maybe Juventus and Inter certainly defensively. I mean, you cannot compare.
00:21:51
Speaker
I mean, they say, I think it's maybe a little bit outdated, but it still holds true that over the course of 38 games with consistency, they say defenses win championships. I don't think that's strictly as true as it was in the past, but being defensively solid and certainly having games away from home where you have to be solid defensively, Milan are, I mean, the defending was all bismal in this game. I think in the city are,
00:22:13
Speaker
That's true. I think in the Serie A, that's true. And I mean, if we're talking defensively, I mean, Calabria, Kia or Teo, some of the stuff they do. Look at the two goals. I mean, some instances for as brilliant as the goal was, I mean, the way that he done just Kia before he takes a shot. I mean, the shot's fantastic. He takes it early. It's brilliant. But the way that he goes past Kia, Kia gets wrong foot and goes to the floor. I mean, that's that's that's terrible from Kia. There was an instance as well with Calabria where he I mean,
00:22:41
Speaker
All those three instances, the tale before the Tovahn goal, Kiar when Samajic scores, and then that situation in the middle of the park where Calabria, I mean, it's schoolboy errors. Like this is... Well, the second goal is pub defending. It's pub defending. I mean, Tovahn totally messes up his skill and loses the ball. And then
00:23:03
Speaker
Reinders, I don't know what he does, somehow sort of half-miss kicks it and it goes through Teo Hernandez's leg. It was embarrassing. And then he scores. I mean, that was pub defending. No, it is, it is. And there was an instance with Calabria too, in the middle of the park, where I just burst out laughing. It's like, how is this a profession? And the second half again, I've said it so many times, Milano just so open on the counter in that second half. I mean, Udenezi with better quality, Udenezi messed up the final ball so many times at 2-1, where they could have killed off the game, but they got
00:23:33
Speaker
didn't necessarily create chances, but they could have created chances, but they messed up the finals because they don't have the quality who denies it. Um, and you know, I still don't think Adley protects in the back. Well, they need to get Veniceer back. Obviously he's a couple of nations. Ryan has had a shocker in this game. After I gave him the big buildup last week, he had an absolute shocker. They were better Milan once he came up, but I think it's more that Milan central midfield is just not a unit. They're not a unit. We can criticize individual players and say this player and that player, but they're just not
00:24:03
Speaker
they're not a cohesive unit. They don't play as one, that central midfield. It's so easy to move through them. I think that's a very fair assessment. It's still a little bit getting to know each other and gelling kind of thing, because let's remember two of those three rinders.
00:24:18
Speaker
Loftus cheek they're all new players and their plan Milan is playing a new system compared to previous years So I think there is that aspect of it, but I'm for Milan's sake they have all but secured top four I mean, they're there, you know, the amount of points down to fourth and fifth, you know, they they're gonna finish third There's no doubt about that minimum third And they can actually now go for
00:24:43
Speaker
the Europa League, which I really hope they take seriously. I really hope Milan go far in the Europa League because I think it's important for the growth of this team to be able to build their confidence up and win a trophy in Europe, which shows that, OK, it's the Europa League, but it's still a trophy. I don't think we should underestimate the importance of winning trophies, even smaller ones, because it creates a hunger. It creates a culture of winning.
00:25:11
Speaker
And I think, you know, it's a trophy Milan have never won. So I hope they go far because I think they can a little bit. They don't. I'm not saying they should ignore the Serie A, of course not. But now with the amount of points they've got and where they are in the league, they can actually focus and put some time and effort in care into the Europa League, which I hope they take seriously. I hope so. I hope so, too. As for Udenez, I mean,
00:25:36
Speaker
a yet another late collapse. I said before, if games were 80 to 85 minutes long, Danese would probably be fighting for the Scudetto this season. The same with Salomeitana as well, isn't it? I mean, those two teams, the amount of late goals they can see is crazy. I know. And then they're obviously now in a relegation race, but they could see so many late goals this season and turn wins into draws.
00:25:57
Speaker
or draws into defeat or wins into defeat as the K2 gives it two goals. I do think there are positives in this game because I thought the second half they were the better team until that late collapse.
00:26:11
Speaker
Some are such as pure class. I mean, that brilliant goal. He made it look so easy. He just has such an amazing effort. And this is why all the big Italian clubs want him. And this is why whoever gets him is going to be very lucky if they use him. Right. He is a unique player in that really is you have to fit him into the right system, I think. Otherwise he can become a bit of a luxury, but you can see his talent that he has. And and I guess Torvann as well is who was a fantastic player early on in his career, never really fulfilled his potential. But
00:26:41
Speaker
He's scored back-to-back now and after looking like a next player, let's say, last season. I don't think there are some positives that we've denoted, but, you know...
00:26:51
Speaker
If they keep collapsing late on like this, they are really in a relegation fight, so they do need to be careful with Inezza. They absolutely do. Okay, let's move on to Juventus then, who go top of the table now after a 3-0 win at Lecce, although of course Inter do have the game in hand, Inter are at the Super Cup.
00:27:12
Speaker
We're recording this before the Super Cup final Inter against Napoli, Inter and Napoli winning their semi-finals comfortably. So in the absence of Inter, Juventus had the chance to go top. They won, so they go one point above Inter, although Inter have that gaming hand against Atalanta, which, have they actually set a date for that, Nemo? Yeah. When is it?
00:27:35
Speaker
It's going to be, if you give me one second, I'll pull up the date here, but it's going to be in about a week and a half. Yeah, it's very soon. Let me just bring it up, give you the exact date. But it's going to be after the run of games against Fiorentina Uwe Roma. Basically, it's going to be on the 28th of February in a couple of weeks.
00:28:04
Speaker
so after a month yeah but a month here so you would you in times i mean oh my god i'm Iranian leave me alone two weeks i'm Iranian leave me alone five minutes ago like for me 1990 is literally last week so well it is for a lot of us to be honest like i can't believe that 1994 is 30 years ago yeah no it's not it was literally last summer
00:28:26
Speaker
But now, but it's on the 28th of February Inter-Atalanta. So it's going to be Fiorentina, Inter-Yuba, Roma, Inter-Salanitana, Atletico Madrid, Inter-Atletico Madrid, Lecture, Inter, and then Inter-Atalanta. Yeah, that's not a great time, is it? So it's in between the two? No, it's between lecture, inter, and inter-general. So it's a mid-weekend.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah. But it's after the first Champions League game. After the first Champions League game. And before the second. Yeah, but Inter have got Salah in itana at home before. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. But it's still, yeah, it's still a little bit congested. But yeah, fair enough. That was always going to be the case there, wasn't it? Once you played the Supercut. But anyway, going to Uve.
00:29:12
Speaker
A game of two halves for Juventus, I think. But first half was terrible. There was nothing. It was abysmal. It was unwatchable. The first half from both teams. Nothing created at all. Nothing. The second half, though, Juventus were much better and they created lots of chances. Without playing amazingly well, they created lots of chances. But obviously, Vlauovic is the big one for the UVA.
00:29:36
Speaker
I mean, he scored to break the deadlock. It wasn't a cleanest strike, but he found himself in the scoring position and then he put it away very accurately into the corner. And then the second goal was a poacher's goal, which he stole, let's be honest, off Western McKinney. The goal was going in and he was lucky. But that's what you want to see. Well, yeah, I like that. Me too. I love that. I love that because he's that kind of a player. And I tweeted out that, you know, this is the return of the Fiorenti Novlawic.
00:30:04
Speaker
and he's a poacher, he's beaming with confidence, he's loving life, he's come back from hell and beyond and now he's back, you know, being the main guy for you over. And that's what you want to see, you want to have a player of that quality, you want your number nine, your star signing, your marquee number nine signing to score goals like that. And he is doing that, that the volley was stunning, it was absolutely fantastic, the first goal, the half volley or whatever you want to call it, it was brilliant. But
00:30:34
Speaker
his overall hunger as well. He looks fired up. That's the big one for me. That is so important. You were going to need him like that if they are going to continue this title charge. Alegre has spoken about that, saying that sometimes Blauwitsch can be too hungry. He can be too on edge. I think in the first half, he was a little bit too much, that's the test. He was on edge. He was complaining at the referees.
00:31:01
Speaker
He was having to go to some of his teammates. Sometimes you can want it too much. I think he got the balance right in the second half. And he does have that hunger, that's for sure. Like we said before, last season and the first part of this season, it was almost like he had a defeatist attitude. Like he'd almost given up on his Juventus career. But now he's now got 11 league goals.
00:31:25
Speaker
I still think he should be aiming for more than that, but he's overtaken his league goal tally from all of last season and he's on great form. I think he's on form to score just under 20 Serie A goals, which is respectable.
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. He's on great form. That's the key thing. He scored two against Roma. I think Juva are in great form.
Juventus' Strategies and Player Focus
00:31:52
Speaker
All of Juva are in great form. The thing I like about this Juva is how comfortable they look, how relaxed they look. An inevitable kind of thing. The first half was bad, but that's okay because the game is 90 minutes and over 90 minutes we're better than Letcher and we're going to make them pay.
00:32:11
Speaker
and everyone knows their roles. I think both Inter and Juve are further down, are much more ready in their project.
00:32:20
Speaker
in this regard but Juve are starting to look where everybody in this regard that Juve and Inter at Juve and Inter everybody knows their roles there's clarity everybody knows what their role is in the team on the pitch on the sidelines there's harmony there's a harmony around Juve that I've not seen for a few years just like it is around Inter no I agree with that I agree with all of that I think the other thing is that Juventus keep an allegory to that extent and the place
00:32:49
Speaker
are answering questions, keep answering the questions that we think, well, this is what's going to stop them from being sustainable. So I'll give you a few examples. First of all, keep winning by one goal.
00:33:04
Speaker
not scoring enough goals is unsustainable. The attackers not scoring goals and just relying on defenders and midfielders scoring the goals, as was the case up until the last month or so, was unsustainable. Well, they're answering these questions because first of all, now the attackers are starting to score. As I said last week, you know, Vlawovic, Milit scored a hat-trick in the copper,
00:33:27
Speaker
Keyes has scored last week although he got injured will come on to him and also you know the lack of goals like you know having too many one-goal wins you can't keep winning by one goal all the time that sounds sustainable well now they still I mean have a look at how many goals Juventus have scored in 2024 okay two of those were copper italia games against weakened teams but in five games in in all competitions in 2024 Juventus has scored 18 goals and they've scored they've got two three-nil wins in a row in
00:33:58
Speaker
They're answering the questions, the obstacles that we should say to them being sustainable. Well, they're answering those questions. Now it's about, can they keep it up? Can they be consistent? So they're answering the questions. Every question that's been put to them so far, they've answered it. So you have to say well done. So there's still a long way to go. But I mean, you can't argue with that. And obviously, the record since the Saswara defeat
00:34:18
Speaker
in Syria.
00:34:27
Speaker
is magnificent, played 18, won 15, drawn three, since that's the famous four, won the feat, and they've conceded six goals in 18. So you continue that form, that's skedetto-winning form, or skedetto-challenging form, because the intro are doing just as well. So, yeah, you can't argue with it. As for the other good performances, I do want to give a shout out to Canby Esso.
00:34:55
Speaker
The more that I watch him and the more that I study him, this guy is a monster tactically. He's a tactical monster. The way that he can adapt and interpret different roles, different positions, but different functions
00:35:12
Speaker
on the pitch in the same game, even in the same move, is magnificent. He can move from the left so that he can play on the left, he can play on the right, he can even now play in the center, which is a role that he played as a youngster in his career, but he could do it within the same move and the same, you know, but he's also got quality as well. The only moment of quality in that dreadful first half was an incredible cross, it was a well-class cross that he put across the box when Wlawicz came charging in at the far post, just didn't get to it.
00:35:41
Speaker
And then, of course, he got the assist for the first goal. I think he's a real interesting one to watch, going forward, Cambia, so... No, I agree. He really is. The more I see him, the more these zambrotta comparisons become... They just resonate in my head because of how tactically similar he is to him.
00:36:10
Speaker
And he's both footed as well. He's got two great fit. He doesn't have the dribbling maybe of himself. And maybe that's something that might stop him from becoming a real top top top player because he doesn't have that dribbling. But he's still very young and to have a player with such a high football IQ is truly...
00:36:32
Speaker
It's very good in tight spaces. When I mean dribbling, I mean running at players. Like Zambrota used to do on the either left and right wing. He could dribble two, three players and get around them. But yeah, no, no, he doesn't have that yet. Maybe we haven't seen it yet. Yeah, absolutely. Just finally, before we talk about Kei, the Bremmer penalty incident.
00:36:56
Speaker
There was a little bit of debate on this. I don't think it's a penalty. I think that they're level side by side. Ankhvist, maybe slightly like a step in front of Bremmer, but it's really a side by side. There is a push, a slight push from Bremmer on the arm. Ankhvist goes down, but it's not enough contact for me. Ankhvist was already off balance. He was stumbling a bit when Bremmer touched him. Bremmer's much stronger physically than Ankhvist.
00:37:24
Speaker
It's not a penalty for me. I did see some debate on that on social media. What do you think? I don't think it's a penalty either. But I'm looking for consistency is what I'm saying. If people are going to pretend that when inter players are in similar situations, the greatest outrage of all time and it's Marota League, fine by me, then give penalties every week. But one standard will do. I don't think it's a penalty. I don't think it's
00:37:50
Speaker
You know, he's using his arm to push Alan Kuz, he has the right to do that. It's a challenging for the ball. I don't think it's a foul at all. But, you know, I think he stays on the right side of the line, just like Acherbi did against Osiman, against Napoli. There is contact, but you're allowed to have contact. It's football. Yeah, Morelli says that there was a slight push for Bremmer, but nothing major. So I don't agree with that. But my point is simply that,
00:38:19
Speaker
you know, one standard will do just fine. I mean, it's, it's, it's, no, one standard will do just fine. I mean, I don't think this is a penalty because I think these are cheap penalties that shouldn't be given. But I'd like to see, but then again, this game was also refereed by the best referee in the world, in my opinion, Daniel Adovri. He is outstanding. His games never deteriorate. The level is consistent. If there is a problem, he looks for the, he checks for the VAR.
00:38:46
Speaker
I think he's fantastic, Davari. And I just hope that they give more big games to him. And I hope that he becomes one of Italy's biggest referees because I think internationally as well, because I absolutely love this referee. I think he's, the level, he allows physicality, but it never gets ugly. It never deteriorates with him. And that's what I think football should be. I think football is a contact sport. There should be a physical element of it.
00:39:14
Speaker
Um, and I think he was correct throughout. Yeah.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, well said. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about Kiesa because he misses this game again with another injury, problem with his knee. It swelled up in the days leading up to the bat match. It's the same knee as the other operation, I believe. But this is his 11th injury in just over a year since returning from the ACL. So this doesn't include the ACL. Since he returned from the ACL, he's had his 11th injury just over a year.
00:39:47
Speaker
The question now is...
00:39:51
Speaker
what do Juventus do about Kiese? Because his contract... We have a question on this in the Q&A pod tomorrow, sent in from one of our patrons exactly about this, about the Kiese situation, what Kiese do with that. I'd like us to answer that. Yeah, let's answer that too, because we got like one or two questions on that in the Q&A pod for tomorrow. Okay, well, let's answer it to that. Let's answer that. I'll put that out to the listeners. What do Juventus do? His contract runs out next year in 2025 and he's having all these injuries.
00:40:20
Speaker
So yeah, one thing, the only thing I would say is I think Moisakine Juventus will be making a mistake if they get rid of him on loan until the end of the season. Atletico Madrid are in talks. I think that would be a mistake. It's too risky because Chiesa with all these injuries,
00:40:38
Speaker
And also yield is his age. He's only 18. You can't expect him to be super consistent every week. And he didn't play well yesterday either. So I think it'll be a mistake if he wins. But I can understand why Keene will want to go because he wants to go in the Euros squad. He wants more regular playing time. But from Juventus' point of view, I would not be letting Keene go. I would be keeping him. Okay, right. Let's move on to Roma versus Verona and Daniela De Rossi, debut.
00:41:03
Speaker
on the bench and a good start for De Rossi. He got the win, which is the most important thing. 2-1 against Verona. Again, a little bit of a game of two halves like Juventus, but the other way round, I thought Roma were excellent in the first half.
00:41:20
Speaker
not great in the second half. They couldn't keep it up and they weren't hanging on, but they weren't comfortable. But there was, I thought, some good positives. First of all, De Rossi changed the formation, which was good. He went to a four, three,
00:41:37
Speaker
2-1 from the 3-5-2, which I think is good because if you're going to come in and make a change, don't use the same system. I saw some of the main journalists, Roma journalists were actually predicting in the lead up to the game that he was going to just use the same system and it almost looked like the same team as well. So I thought, well, what's the point? There's absolutely no point. So I was glad that he used a 4-3-2-1
00:42:00
Speaker
Also because I'm fed up of the number of teams in Serie A using back three. It's just three five twos. Everyone using three five twos Napoli the latest now to go to a back three and I'm fed up of it. I mean, I'm not against using the back three. I'm just against
00:42:16
Speaker
the the the the the way the italian teams just use that as a as a win a bit of trouble or let's just go to a back three and i mean there are exceptions but i think the way that many and i would even say most coaches play the three five two in italy.
00:42:32
Speaker
including Mourinho is generally outdated. Now, not all of them are. I mean, Simeon Inzagi is the best example of that. You know, I'm not saying it's an outdated system. I'm just saying the way that it's used by a lot of coaches in Italy is a little bit outdated. Because they pack the central part of the pitch. I mean, that's what a 3-5-2 does. You're essentially shutting down, pushing your opponents out to the wing.
00:42:56
Speaker
because that's where they can cause the least amount of danger. But you also lack the cohesion and the team playing as a unit and moving as a unit and getting those patterns to play I think is often a lot more difficult as a result.
00:43:16
Speaker
you know, that was certainly the case of Mourinho. And what we saw in this game in the first half is that Roma did look much more fluid. They were passing through the lines, moving the ball quickly, good short passes, short passing moves, putting some moves together, rather than just Lukaku Di Barla and Inshallah controlling the game instead of counter second. De Rossi said that after the game. He said, I believe that you should control the ball and therefore dominate the game. It's one of the first things we worked on.
00:43:43
Speaker
And so I think that that's all positive. Of course, the opposition is not great. And it was the only the first half. The second half wasn't good from from from Roma. But I thought, you know, there were some positives. McCarthy scored. Pellegrini, I thought, was outstanding in the first half. That's as good as I've seen him play. And I'm glad that he played in a deeper center midfield role. That's where I want to see him play. I think if there are seeking move him further down the pitch and claim as a medzala, which I think is the best position for him.
00:44:11
Speaker
and get the best out of him, and together with Dibala and Lukaku.
00:44:17
Speaker
I think the Roma will have a lot of fun. But it was quite the Roma fest, wasn't it? I mean, you have the second biggest deity in the Giallo Rossi part of Rome, Daniela de Rossi on the bench. You have the new Roman captain, Pellegrini scoring a goal. I mean, it was quite the Roma fest, wasn't it? And it was the kind of thing that a club that has gone through
00:44:45
Speaker
quite a bit of turmoil recently needed. They needed a bit of healing. They needed a bit of licking their wounds and not drama and anger and people throwing hissy fits and the usual madness that has been associated with Roma this season, the negativity, the toxicity. They needed a bit of healing and they and they did that and they got that. And I think that's maybe what De Rossi brings. I think he basically brings a bit of calm to this side.
00:45:13
Speaker
a bit of, you know, let's calm down a little bit. I just want to just expand on that Pellegrini point you make because I'm starting to think that as well because one of my issues with Pellegrini playing in a kind of a more attacking midfield role is, well, number one,
00:45:30
Speaker
there isn't that many areas, like there's not many teams that play systems that will allow him to play in that kind of trecotista role. Unless you play like a 4-2-3-1 and play Mr. Ten. Well, I mean, he was lower on the pitch. He was more of a medzalla. Yes, what I mean, he played as a centre midfielder. He played as part of the three. He was in the three, in the 4-3-2-1. I loved him there.
00:45:54
Speaker
I think that maybe that is a role for him maybe going forward with the right coach. I could see Spoletti maybe developing. I was just about to say that. Spoletti will be so thrilled to see Pellegrini play there because in his 4-3-3, that's his Zielinski, if you know what I mean.
00:46:11
Speaker
Possibly yeah, possibly. Yeah, because I mean there has been a lot of debate and doubt whether he can actually play in the deeper role and Naturally until now he has been more of a trek or tista But I look at him and my issue with him is his lack of pace He has that he doesn't have that athleticism to stretch the game to you know And I just feel like you need that to play in that role to be a real top top player Yeah, and I think that we've seen you know in the last two years. I know that the system maybe hasn't always
00:46:39
Speaker
been great for him under Mourinho, but he has struggled a lot and he has looked physically, hasn't looked right. So maybe playing in a deeper role and where he can just control the midfield, if he could play in a team that dominates the possession of the ball, maybe that's the right role for him. I thought he was outstanding in this first half. Me too. Great finish, he got the hockey assist with the first goal and with a great pass. Yeah, I thought he was good. He really was, but I have to give a shout out to Bovet.
00:47:08
Speaker
I love what he's become at Roma. He continues to impress week in, week out now. And it's nice to see youngsters, Roman youngsters, players coming through the youth ranks doing well. And it's good for the club, it's good for the
00:47:29
Speaker
how a club views itself, the self-esteem of a club, an identity of the club, especially a club like Roma, that is so tied to its city and its families. So I love to see that. El Sharawi was great as well, by the way, talking about Italians. He's got two assists. Dibala struggled. He wasn't so good, Dibala, but I thought El Sharawi was really lively, lots of energy, and brought that little bit of pace,
00:47:58
Speaker
I think you play Lukaku, like if it's a four, three, two, one, you play Di Bala and Pellegrini behind Lukaku. I mean, you've got, there's just no legs there. There's no athleticism, there's no pressing. It's gonna, you're gonna, yeah, I think you need one of the three at least needs to be someone that can run a bit. So maybe El Shiroi does have a role. The negatives though, Rui Patricio,
00:48:22
Speaker
shocker for that goal. I mean, they need a new goalkeeper. We've said that for a year now. I mean, absolutely awful mistake for the, for the, for the Ronshu goal.
00:48:36
Speaker
No, it was, it was, it was a much needed calm wind, but we have to talk about Hellas. That penalty missed by, Oh my word. That is atrocious. Yeah. I mean, you can head the ball, but you can't really kick it. You know, he's not a football player. He's not very good. The game was headboard.
00:48:56
Speaker
He would be fine. He'd be a Ballon d'Or winner in that case. Have a look. I mean, the numbers haven't got the moment, but the numbers of, of like aerial challenges, one in Serie A, like Duroic is just like in a league completely on his own to everyone. He's like, he's like a poor man's Bosnian Jan Koller. Do you know what I mean? He's one like double the headers of anybody else in Serie A. Like he's just like, he's just, he's just unbelievable with the air. But yeah, you can't really play football very well.
00:49:26
Speaker
Yeah, defending was bad as well. Cha-cha, cha-cha, cha-cha-cha. What's his name? What are you doing? The right back for Verona. You have a anesthesia. Well, you have a guy pronounced that name. No, no. Oh, you mean, oh, let me see how you pronounce that. I think it's
00:49:51
Speaker
I think it's cha-cha. I think so. The cha-cha, like the dance. I think so. I've not seen anyone... I think so. I think that's how you pronounce it, but I'll have to do my research on how you pronounce that. I think it's cha-chua.
00:50:11
Speaker
Chachua, yeah, probably Jackson Chachua, yeah, Chachua. See, once I saw the name written in front of me, I had no problem with saying it. Yeah, Chachua, sorry, Chachua. Chachua or Chachua, yeah, something like that. Not Chachachachua.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, he was shocking on both goals. Slipped on the first, missed kick the second. Verona's selling everyone. What is their plan? I don't get it, because they're sold Tarachana, they're sold Doig, they're sold in Ganj. What is their aim? Are they financially struggling? Yeah, I think they need to. They're cash strapped. I think that's what it is. And it's a shame, because it feels like they are playing Russian roulette with their season.
00:50:55
Speaker
and it's silly because they, you know, they're not getting stronger. So. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, okay. Um, just before we get to the relegation race, Jose Mourinho, according to the Sunday times, Duncan castles, who, who is basically the Mourinho mouthpiece has been the year.
Mourinho's Potential Move to Napoli
00:51:18
Speaker
He says that Mourinho's unofficial British spokesperson, that's what I call him. Mourinho wants to continue working in Italy and will meet with Napoli president Aurelia de Laurentiis this week. His agent, Jorge Mendez, has already opened talks with Napoli about him becoming the next permanent coach of Napoli next season.
00:51:39
Speaker
I don't know. Listen, this could just be... I don't believe it. This could just be Mourinho getting casts to put this out just to erase his profile. I don't believe this. I don't believe this one second. I'm sorry. I don't believe it. But already De Laurentiis, I mean, anything's possible with him right now. I mean, he's lost the plot this season with his coaches. He's already appointed two coaches who have been finished for a decade.
00:52:04
Speaker
Why not? Why not? Why not a point a third? I think you're being ridiculous. Now you can't compare Mourinho to them. Come on. Mourinho has not been finished for a decade the same way that Mazzari and Ruby Garcia have been. Come on, let's not. At the top level, at the level that Napoli is striving for, absolutely he is.
00:52:22
Speaker
No, I don't. I think that's an appelice level. Yeah. You listen, you do not appoint Jose Mourinho if you want to if you want to challenge you don't you don't point Jose Mourinho if you are really on the guarantees because you know that there's going to be fighting and given how the history between these two as well. I mean, I I remember how they went after each other 13 years ago when they said he would never hire a coach like Mourinho and Mourinho said you because you can't afford me and and and all the nonsense that they would they they've never had a good relationship.
00:52:52
Speaker
So I don't believe this for one second. I think this was just Mourinho's way of putting it out there to stir up some shit, you know, to just keep the word going. I mean, the man's in Barcelona right now and there was, you know, El Chiringito at the airport when he was coming and they asked him about Barcelona and he started smiling. I don't. Well, that's not going to happen either.
00:53:16
Speaker
Come on, not as if Barcelona are going to sack. I don't see him going. I don't see Marina going to Napoli. I don't see Marina going to Barcelona. We'll see what his next move is. I think he wants to wait. I think he wants to carefully see what happens with the big. I think he's going to buy it his time.
00:53:38
Speaker
and we'll see what happens, where he goes next and what he does and so on and so forth. But nah, I think it would be madness if he went to Napoli. It would be absolute madness, both for him and for De Laurentiis. Mourinho knows how to handle big personalities, he knows how to handle the dressing room. I'm sure he'll get the best out of Osteeman, absolutely, but
00:54:07
Speaker
the football he stands for and the personality he is, those two getting along. I mean, that is just mad. That's insanity. There's no way. I just can't see that happening. Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see what happens. Right. The relegation race. I read out the other fixtures. So frozen on a beat calorie three, one fully deserved win, dominated the game, totally dominated and
00:54:34
Speaker
and turned it around. Also had a goal ridiculously disallowed by VAR. Brilliant free kick from Soule. So it ends a terrible run of form for Frosinonez and it saved Di Francesco. Calorie were terrible in this game, so they're right back in their relegation race. And Frosinonez gave them spells, a little bit of a breather now. I think they've got a five-point gap now over the relegation zone.
00:55:00
Speaker
So that was important for frozen on an employee win 3-0 against Monza a hat chick from Szymon Zarkowski and a great start for Davidy Nicola Surely couldn't you can't lead another great escape Kenny Surely can this is Davidy Nicola. It's this is what he does he
00:55:20
Speaker
This is his function in the culture environment, in the culture ecosystem. He turns up mid-season, creates a great escape, and then he rides off into the sunset. This is what he does. On that note, Zorkowski scores a hat-trick. That's four goals in two Serie A games after spending the entire season so far thus far in the Serie B and can't score to save his life.
00:55:51
Speaker
And Empoli play a 3-5-2, and just to piss you off even more, Bal Dansi's not even, doesn't get a minute. So it literally is, at this point, I think Empoli's existence in the Serie A is just to troll you. I think that's exactly why they exist. Now, Dansi's supposed to be a big 21 star, and you can't even get a game for the team at second bottom. And they're playing a 3-5-2 as well. And they're playing for when she actually suits him as well.
00:56:20
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. I'm hoping it's just an injury issue that maybe Nicola didn't play in. But anyway, they won 3-0. We can't argue with that. Monza, as I said last week, I'm disappointed with them this season. Eight goals conceded in two games. They were awful in this game.
00:56:37
Speaker
Um, so Lenny Turner won Genoa two, um, retigue a rocket. My favorite moment in this game was someone through, was it a chocolate bar? I thought it was a panina. Was it a panina? I think so. I think it was like, I couldn't see what it was. I think it looked like it had a wrap in though. It had a wrap now. So I thought, yeah, maybe I don't know. I couldn't see what it was. Well, I know it was a snack and, and that started eating it.
00:57:00
Speaker
Yeah, of course you did. And I think I would have done that as well. It's a brilliant way to handle it. But look, this has been one of the most insane weeks, which the serious of the week is this genuinely. This has been one of the most insane weeks, even by cultural standards, where the most one bizarre thing after another has just from Monday to Sunday. And of course, it ends with someone throwing a snack at a player and the player eating it. Of course, that's the only way this this could have ended.
00:57:29
Speaker
Um, but yeah, it's, it was, it was completely bizarre. And, and, but unfortunately, or fortunately, I should say some idiot threw a piece of concrete as well onto the floor, onto the pitch and it missed everyone. And it's just like.
00:57:41
Speaker
Which, why was a piece of concrete, like, obviously that has to be from the stadium. The stadium's falling apart and the fans are now literally picking. I just, I don't even, oh, no, breathe. Yeah, it's, um, yeah, it was, it was, it was weird, but yeah, Genoa win and Genoa, 25 points in 21 games as a newcomer.
00:58:04
Speaker
Gotta give it to Gielardino. It's good. No, it's good. Retiki has got one of the hardest shots that I've seen. Not just in Serie A anywhere, he has a rocket. When he strikes that ball, my gosh, he...
00:58:21
Speaker
blast. Batistuta, the way he hits the ball is, you know, the way he smashes it into the roof of the net is like Batistuta. He's obviously, yeah, he just blasts them and he's very accurate with them as well. He's a very good finisher. He's a great finisher. So yeah, him and Goodmanson are, you're never going to have a trouble.
00:58:43
Speaker
in you're always going to be mid-table at least, I think, when you've got those two in attack. He just needs to stay fit, Rettigy. And so they're in trouble now. They're six points adrift. And I think it breaks my heart because I love that fan base. I love that club. I love what they provide in and around the games. The drama that we've seen from them, I just
00:59:10
Speaker
I don't want them to go down, but I think it's almost inevitable now. I think it's going to be... It's looking like Salah and Zaggy's not able to lift them. In fact, they've got worse with Zaggy, so I think there's also a question whether you get rid of Zaggy now as well. Well, to be fair, they play better and they put themselves in better positions. It's just if games were 80 minutes or 80, 85 minutes... Well, they were very unlucky against Juventus and against... Who did they slip up against last week?
00:59:40
Speaker
Excuse me. No, it was they just keep conceding. Napoli as well. They keep conceding these late goals. Anyway, just before we finish off with Badjo, Primface and Serias, we can do a profile on Alessandro Buongiorno, who has been in the news a lot in the last week because there's a lot of transfer interest and Milan have been trying to
01:00:04
Speaker
open negotiations to sign him even this month, but that was always going to be very, very difficult. But there is a lot of interest in Bongiorno all over Europe, among the biggest clubs.
01:00:19
Speaker
like him, but outside of Seria Manchester United, who will sign a centre-back, at least one, two centre-backs this summer, Bayern Munich, who will also sign a centre-back this summer, Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, a lot of Premier League clubs, all interested in him. Urbano Cairo has made it clear
01:00:43
Speaker
no chance of him leaving in January. But in the summer, I think there is a good possibility that Bongiorno could leave. Torino valued him at 40 million, which I think is a pretty good price for the potential that he's got, because he has been undoubtedly one of the best centre-backs in Serie A this season. If you look at all the key metrics, he's right up there.
01:01:12
Speaker
He reads the game really, really well. He's first in Serie A this season for interceptions, the average number of interceptions per game, 2.5 per game.
01:01:28
Speaker
He's joint six in Serie A for all players. This isn't just offenders for tackles. He's joint tenth for clearances. He's outstanding in the air, which you'd expect. He's six foot four inches tall. He averages three aerial challenges, one per game, which makes him the joint seventh best in Serie A and the third best
01:01:50
Speaker
among all defenders. Milan Djuric is number one by a mile in this category, I should just say, as we were talking about him earlier. So he's a big weapon from set pieces, both in terms of defending for his own team, but also in the opposition area, he's scored three goals this season. And I think I said in an earlier podcast, he reminds me a bit of Materazzi in the way that he kind of
01:02:10
Speaker
leaps and heads the ball. He's got a similar kind of figure to Materazzi, left-footed as well. I think someone can't remember who he was, he said, a cherubim. He reminds me of a cherubim or the Materazzi. Yeah, maybe.
01:02:26
Speaker
Yeah, he's very aggressive with the way that he plays. He's not scared to get stuck here. He puts his body on the line. He makes professional and cynical fouls for the good of the team. He's made more fouls than anyone in Serie A this season. 2.6 fouls per game. He has four yellow cards, which can be a weakness, but I actually like to see this as a positive. I like to see this as somebody that
01:02:48
Speaker
has the right and the right mentality of being a winner and wanting to if you apply it in the right way you know that's been lost a lot from from it's from italian defenders we talk about the loss of the offensive art in general but also among italian defenders you know
01:03:05
Speaker
having that you know like claudia gentida like canada like mata ratzi like uh nesta you know they would maldini even you know maybe less so maldini but these plays barrezi these plays would make fouls if they have to if they had to you know and um the furobo as well you know he he has that uh so what i like the most about him is is his
01:03:28
Speaker
attention to his positioning, his read of the game. I think that is what I think is the most impressive part about him given his young age for a defender. He's 24. Yeah, I mean it's still fairly young. It is the seria. You're young until you're 28 and then you become magically a senator in Italy. It's an amazing place.
01:03:49
Speaker
Yeah, time is relevant. Well, he's been very important for Torino in, you know, they had the last season, they had the, I believe Torino had the fifth best defensive record in Serie A last season. Yes, they did. Even though they finished 10th, they had the fifth best defensive record this season.
01:04:08
Speaker
But only because either 18 goals in 20 games, which I think is really, really exceptional for a team of Torino's level. I know they've had problems in the attack, which we always talk about with Evangirich. But defensively, that's the third best record in Syria. Only Inter and Juventus have conceded fewer goals. And those two have had ridiculous defenses this season. I mean, they're off the charts, they're defensive defenses.
01:04:31
Speaker
So, I mean, that's really the reason. Buongiorno is a big reason for that, because remember, Pierre Schurz, who's a very key player for Torino, has been out for basically the whole season, and will miss virtually the whole season, I believe, won't he, with a serious ACO injury. So he's really marshaled the defense. And Buongiorno can play, I mean, Torino play a back three. They play a three, five, two. And
01:04:56
Speaker
But Bonjour is able to play in the centre of the back three or the left of the back three. You played more on the left of the back three when Schurz was available. Now Schurz is out, he's been playing more in the centre of the back three. Which is why I think he should be playing. I don't want to see him on left or right. I want to see him in the middle of a back three, which is why I don't understand.
01:05:17
Speaker
why Milan wants him, unless Milan are planning on bringing in a certain Antonio from Lece, who plays with a back three. At that moment, yes, congratulations. Milan, congratulations. Buongiorno, because him in the middle of a back three with
01:05:35
Speaker
Tomori and Ciao or Kalulu or whoever on the sides, on his side is a fantastic defence. But Giorno has played twice in the Italy national team. He got his first call up by Roberto Mancini in March 2023 and he got his debut in a 3-2 win over the Netherlands in June of 2023 in the UEFA Nations League. But the big one was he played only a second game for Italy
01:06:06
Speaker
in the crucial Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine in November. It was a dual-die game. It needed to avoid defeat to qualify for the Euros, and a loss would have seen them go to the playoffs. And he started that game, played the whole game in a back four, and he was outstanding in that game. He got an early yellow card, which would have added to the pressure on him. I thought he was one of the best players on the pitch. I thought he was brilliant. He didn't put a foot wrong.
01:06:33
Speaker
and Italy got the nil-nil just, okay, there was the controversy at the end with the Christante foul on Mudrić, which probably should have been a penalty. But Dronjona was great, and that was in a back four. So I'm hoping that he can be fine in a back four. I think if there is a weakness in him, maybe that's a bit of pace.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah. Which is a little bit, yeah. And if you're going to play in a back four for Milan, who play with such a high line, I mean, if Piotr is still there, that is. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. I mean, if it's content, I mean, they're probably gonna play back three if it's content, but yeah.
01:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's he's a very interesting, very, very interesting player. But he is. And also just as a kind of a side note in his personal life, in February 2023, started a three year university course in marketing at a private university in Naples called Università Telematica Pegasso, who is a university that is founded by guess who?
Alessandro Buongiorno: Athlete and Scholar
01:07:38
Speaker
Sala Anitana, President Danilo Yervolino. He's got a nice little culture full circle there. Okay, well, you do a degree in marketing and that brings us on very nicely to Badger, Premface and Serie A asks of the week because Buongiorno can probably take over the marketing division of Serie A because they certainly need it. So let's go into Premface of the week.
01:08:04
Speaker
Right. Start off with preemface of the week. Do you actually have a preemface? No. Otherwise we're going to have to combine it with serias because they're both one and the same really. Yeah. Go for it. To be honest with you. All right. So combine the preemface and serias of the week is CBS, their promotional image of the super cup, Italian super cup, which is just unbelievable.
01:08:30
Speaker
is one of the biggest, do I call it a gaffe? Whoever's responsible for making this graphic, signing off on this graphic, the whole process is just pure incompetence. It's embarrassing. I'm sorry. I know people at CBS. I've got friends at CBS.
01:08:48
Speaker
This isn't a knock on any of you guys. This is embarrassing. You should be embarrassed of whoever's responsible because this is bad. This is just reflects on so badly on you as well. It's embarrassing. So the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia at the moment, the two semi-finals in the final, the Interbeat, Lazio, what did it finish? 3-0 in the end. What was the final score? 2-0 or 3-0?
01:09:16
Speaker
I can't remember. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I was blanking. You mean, you mean against Lazio, 3-0? 3-0. Yeah, so Interbeat Lazio, 3-0 in the first semi-final, and on the second semi-final, Napoli beat Fiorentina in the first 3-0. So Napoli will play Inter in the final. So those are the four teams, Napoli, Fiorentina,
01:09:36
Speaker
So naturally there's this. So CBS do a promotional image of the Supercup. They have five, for some reason, five teams in the promotional image. The five teams in the promotional image are Juventus, Roma, Milan, Napoli and Inter. Dusan Vlaovic, Paolo Di Bala, Christian Pudasic, Victor Osseman, Lautar and Martina. So out of these five teams or out of these five players, only one of those players is actually playing in the
01:10:05
Speaker
in the super cup because obviously Juventus and Blau which are not in it, Di Bala and Roma are not in it. Milan and Pudicic and Pudicic is the centrepiece of this promotion image. He's the big image in the middle, like the big standout and they're not in it. And Osseman is at the Africa Cup of Nations. So he's not in the super cup either. So it's just embarrassing. There's no Lazio or Fiorentina represented in this promotional image at all.
01:10:34
Speaker
The image is blurry as well, which is another thing. The kits are all last season's kits as well, except Milan. So, wherever they've got their images, they've picked their images from last season.
01:10:50
Speaker
Um, then the two background images are, is the San Siro is one of them, right? Am I correct in saying that? Yes. I think, I think, yeah, I think it is a San Siro. It's the San Siro. And the other image, I'm not sure what it is. It's not the, it's, it's, I think it's,
01:11:10
Speaker
It's something in Rome. It's something historic in Rome. It's not the Colosseum. It's something. But anyway, whatever it is, the game's been played in Saudi Arabia, and yet they have the background images of attractions in Italy. So, I mean, all round, it's just one embarrassment after the other. It's just the most shocking
01:11:35
Speaker
promotion. The CBS had a shocker this week as well. They have this morning show, which is, I don't know what to call it. It is so cringe-worthy. The intellectual level of this, I thought it was a joke when I saw it. I thought it was like they were doing it as a skit. It was like one of those, we're just having a bit of fun.
01:12:02
Speaker
like in terms of, you know, it was like for comic relief or something. But they actually on air spent 15 minutes putting together the animal starting 11.
01:12:16
Speaker
Like, I'm not making this up. I know, I saw this and I wanted to die. I didn't, I still can't believe they actually did this. But it wasn't actually an animal, it wasn't actually players who have animal names, was it? No, just animals. Like, I've got a snake in the centre midfield, I've got a horse in right wing. The kind of stuff that children do at the age of five, do you know what I mean?
01:12:44
Speaker
And it's just and then the same people, the same geniuses, they're showing the Asian carp. They don't know anything about Asian football and they don't care, but they bought the right. So they have to show it and have to talk about it. And they talk about it in the most stupidly ignorant, dumbass way. Just listen to this, this back and forth. Iraq, Iraq has just won.
01:13:11
Speaker
has just beaten Japan in a historic 2-1 win, right? The show is called Morning Footy.
01:13:23
Speaker
Guerrero, one of the hosts, says, is that a rivalry? And then Charlie Davis responds, they're the two favorites. And Guerrero asks, sure, but I mean, culturally. I mean, in Asian football, yes, Davis added. And then, you know, not understanding what he was asking. They're the two best teams. They're very good. I get that. But I mean, culturally, is it a rivalry?
01:13:46
Speaker
Okay, Japan and South Korea have been at war. They're still barely on speaking terms, so yeah, culturally it is a rivalry. And the thing is, you don't need to be a history major. This is the kind of stuff I mean. Do a bit of prep. This literally takes 30, 35 seconds
01:14:16
Speaker
like to go and do research before you go on air and sit and talk. Then the way they talked about Iraq, like how they've been- Iraq. Yeah. If this was the greatest performance or greatest thing for Iraq in history, not understanding that Iraq actually won the bloody tournament of the Asian Cup.
01:14:38
Speaker
It was like, it was a car crash. Iraq. I lost brain cells. My brain cells committed ritual Japanese suicide watching this, these two clips. They committed Harakiri. My brain cells sat down and killed themselves when they watched these two clips. Americans in Iraq, they don't have a, I mean, Biden said that Putin was losing the war in Iraq the other week.
01:15:03
Speaker
Maybe it's happening in his head. I mean, you know, whatever. No, but it's genuinely... Yeah, but this is embarrassing. It's so cringe-worthy. The animals starting 11. Like, this is where we're at, folks,
Media Critique: Cultural Understanding in Sports Journalism
01:15:15
Speaker
now, huh? We just put anything on air, just... Oh, my God.
01:15:20
Speaker
And then, oh, no, no, no, they've had a shocker. It's the prim face and the steady ass double. Congratulations to them for morning footing on CBS for the first time winning both of those. Like they combined them. It's just unbelievable. So stupid. You can never beat, listen, whenever there's an international tournament on, like the Euros or the World Cup especially,
01:15:45
Speaker
you're always you're always going to get gold for prim face and now serious but certainly prim face comments because culturally like you know they just but this is this is what i mean in england english media english media and the american media when it comes to anything outside of their own countries when we i mean we laugh in england about you know you know that when it comes to to things outside of england you know they're not the best culturally but i mean america takes things onto another level i mean remember miss south carolina they're the famous
01:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, but it's a beauty pageant and whatever. But this is not that. They have bought the rights and they're showing the Asian cup, they're discussing it. This is their chance to actually, they want to show this to their audience. They want to talk about the game to their audience. And they don't even do the basic minimum level of prep.
01:16:35
Speaker
You don't need to give a lecture on the geopolitical impact of Japan versus South Korea. No one's expecting that. But for heaven's sakes, like at least know the basics. Do 30 seconds of prep or have some some poor researcher do the prep for you so you can show it on air and then boast on social media that you know things like because that's how it works in so-called journalism and broadcast media today.
01:17:01
Speaker
And it's just so embarrassing. Why are you wasting your views? The ex-players usually tend to be the worst at this kind of thing because they have the attitude of having been former players and also probably most cases, certainly in England, being well off and being set for life, that they don't bother having done any research. They can't be bothered. They don't want to work hard.
01:17:27
Speaker
so they just turn up and then they don't have a clue what they're talking about and you know so this is what i mean like no one's expecting you to be the professor of everything but if this is something you're going to talk about if you if this is what you the your tv station you this is a segment you gonna talk about
01:18:07
Speaker
at least prep for
01:18:17
Speaker
back. You know, you'd stick to that. It's childish. At least stick to that. I mean, if that's the intellectual level, then keep it there. But at least do the minimum bare minimum prep before going on. Yes, and that is true. And that is that actually happened that the animal starting 11. I used to do I want to do a whole part just just talking about ripping that I mean, it's just I can't
01:18:42
Speaker
oh my god it's true by the way i want to continue we used to do things like that when we were seven years old.
01:18:59
Speaker
in school. That's the intellectual level here. And it's fine if that's what you want to do for a bit of a laugh. It's not my cup of tea. But yeah, it was so, so cringe-worthy. And they spent a good time doing that. But of course, the Asian cup thing, they deleted it, of course, after a while.
Max Allegri's Wit and Wisdom
01:19:19
Speaker
But I've got to give a shout out to Dan Orlowitz on Japan Times.
01:19:25
Speaker
who went to town on them on Twitter. It was very fun. If you think I go to town, go on Dan's Twitter feed. He went to town on what they did. It was hilarious. Yeah, it was it was very, very fun. Badger of the Week, pretty simple. We've spoken about it. It has to be Mike Manion, I think, for the way that he
01:19:51
Speaker
that he handled everything that happened. I thought he came out of it. For me, it's also distant second is Max Allegri. Like his bit on horses, it made me burst out loud laughing when he was asked about, you know,
01:20:13
Speaker
when he was asked about Intel and the title race. The robbers and the. No, no, no. That was the week before. And then, of course, Materazzi responded and responded, saying, you know, you know, calling kettle black if you're the cops and wear the robbers. But then Allegri responded to that, saying, oh, come on, it was just a joke. I didn't mean it like that, like that. And then he goes, some horses need to wear blinkers or blinders, whereas others don't.
01:20:41
Speaker
The horses you put blinders on are the ones that can get flustered when another horse approaches them. So if you put blinders or blinkers on them, at least that horse only looks straight ahead.
01:20:54
Speaker
I love him. I absolutely love his sock. I need to work that one out. No, it's what he's saying is that in a horse race, they put blinkers or blinders on a horse to look forward and just concentrate on its own race. And he's basically saying, inter are the other horse that are stressed about other horses they need blinders on so that they can focus on their own thing, which is hilarious because he spent the last month talking about it.
01:21:22
Speaker
But it doesn't matter because it's hilarious and it's allegory. And he's so his his slight sarcasm, his tuscan wit. You love him for it. I know. I know. I love it. It's so funny. And I love how Inter are just not engaging with it. Like Simone Zagis just laughed it up and he's like, nah, he just doesn't care. I'm not, you know, I'm not getting into that. Apart from a chirby.
01:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, Shelby did. But I think they've had a conversation about that because like, don't even don't even bother with this. Just laugh it off because it's funny. It is funny. He's hilarious. Max is hilarious. This the thing he's got going in the way that he's doing. And the thing is, he's got this kind of mischievous look about him when he goes off on one of these. He definitely knows what he's doing sometimes.
01:22:05
Speaker
Of course he does. He knows what he's doing. I mean some of the other stuff you know like when you know he says stuff like we need to defend better you know in a game that they draw 0.1 xg and they draw 0.0 and he says oh we need to defend better and that just triggers everyone. He knows what he's doing because he does it all the time and I just love him for it. I just absolutely love him for it and
01:22:31
Speaker
It's so brilliant and it's so, the slight sarcasm, the slight irony in his tone is just, I absolutely love him. You just love anyone, Nimr, that triggers people. That is Nimr. Anybody that triggers someone, Nimr loves them. No, I don't like anyone who does it. I don't like when someone, you know, I like when they do it with a bit of class and intelligence and Allegri does it.
01:22:55
Speaker
with intelligence and class. And so did Mourinho when he was at his best. Yeah, he did. And it's funny. It's really, really funny. I mean, Conte, he didn't do it. He was just, you know, when he triggered, he just got angry and started grunting like a caveman. That wasn't either classy or intelligent at all. But with Allegri and with Mourinho, with guys like that, and also Sir Alex Ferguson was brilliant out of it as well. They use their language skills, their wit,
01:23:25
Speaker
and they use it in the right way and it's very, very, very funny. It's incredibly funny. Allegedly, the horse thing, I died when I saw it. Anyway, let's leave it at that.
Podcast Announcements and Schedule
01:23:38
Speaker
Thanks everyone for listening. We'll be back on Tuesday for the Q&A and then we will have an interview coming on Wednesday or Thursday.
01:23:49
Speaker
No, we're doing it on Wednesday and then we're doing our... Yeah, exactly. We're recording it on Wednesday. We'll see when we put it out. Okay. All right. Thanks everybody for listening. We will see you on Tuesday. Until then, ciao ciao.