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Full Free Episode - AC Milan's Beat Roma, Inter Doom Genoa, Lazio's Awful Week Etc. (Ep. 102)
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Transcript
Introduction and Patreon Access
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast with John Solano, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tuvali.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Italian football podcast. We hope that you are doing great. It was an absolutely packed weekend of action in the city. Before we get to everything, though, since it is the first of the month, this episode is free for everybody.
00:00:40
Speaker
If you would like to gain access to all of our episodes, as well as our written work post-match podcast reactions, you can go to patreon.com slash T I F P. Again, patreon.com slash T I F P. And that gives you access to our two weekly episodes, our review episode and our interview episode. And again, our written work post-match reactions. So it's much more than just two episodes per week.
Roma vs. Milan: A Controversial Match
00:01:08
Speaker
So, Carlo, Nima, let's get into everything. We're going to start with Roma Milan.
00:01:16
Speaker
Okay, so Milan, they defeat Roma by a score line of two to one. There was some refereeing controversy. However, here's the thing. We can have a nuanced discussion here because you know what? More than one thing can be true. It doesn't have to be that Milan won simply because of the referee. Could be that Roma lost because of poor play and the fact that the referee had a pretty big influence on the result. I don't think I'm being that controversial by saying that am I Nima?
00:01:44
Speaker
No, like you said, more than one thing can be true at the same time. I mean, first of all, Milan were fantastic. I felt that they started the game from the get-go with a completely different aggression, with a completely different cohesive press. I really liked what Pioli did with moving Kessi a little further down the back.
00:02:05
Speaker
I like that he benched Captain Romanioli, who shouldn't be the captain for Tomori. I like that he freed up Tonali that way, who was very good. That was his best performance in Emmila's shirt. I thought Emmila created chance after chance after chance after chance and should probably been 3-0 up at halftime.
00:02:24
Speaker
first half an hour, they were incredible. Yeah, they were really, they were really, really good. Milan were, I mean, this, this, the purely high thing that we were asking last week, if it's over, well, no, it isn't. It's absolutely working. He's got these players following his lead and he's found a way to, to, to, to,
00:02:43
Speaker
to, to address the issue of not having been assertive there who links up defense and midfield and doesn't leave this gaping hole in the center of the pitch that meet that the Milan's opponents have been using that that was selling makers was
00:02:59
Speaker
was very good. I'm not a big fan of his, but yesterday he showed why he has a role to play in this Milan. He cleans up so much for Chalanoglu. Rebic was probably the man of the match, who was phenomenal. Milan were absolutely brilliant. Roma were woeful. That's not, especially in the first half, Roma were awful. They were completely disjointed. There were three separate teams in one.
00:03:25
Speaker
But let's not, you know, that's all true. But the lack of penalty for me on Mikitarian, look, it's not about opinions. Open your eyes. Teo Hernandez has his arm wrapped around Mikitarian's leg. And he was in one whistle for the foul Mikitarian.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean of all the decisions to make. I thought that Macatarian's one was maybe more of a penalty than the first one. I don't think either of them were penalties. It comes back to the same discussion that we had. Consistent, yeah, but the same discussion that we had, I think maybe two or three weeks ago, where I was saying that I remember a time, 10, 15, 20 years ago, where
00:04:10
Speaker
to get a penalty. It wasn't just about contact. There had to be sufficient contact for there to be a penalty. Whereas nowadays, everybody seems to have an opinion, especially when it goes to VAR, that if there's any contact at all, it's a penalty. You hear people say, oh, there was contact. It's a penalty. There was contact. Look, there was contact. No, that's not how it works. There should be. There should have to be sufficient contact. And I think with the first one with Calabria,
00:04:37
Speaker
That was definitely the case. For me, there was contact, but there wasn't enough contact for it to warrant a penalty. Especially when you slow it down and you do it in slow motion, it always looks worse. It always looks a lot worse than it does in real time. For me, neither of them were penalties.
00:04:55
Speaker
The way I look at it is this, if one is a penalty, the other one is also a penalty. It's the consistency that will always bring this league down, that will always create these discussions. I think that if you're going to give one, you've got to give the other. And the second one is more of a penalty than the first one, if you ask me.
00:05:16
Speaker
Again, arm wrapped around leg, impeding player. Again, for me, I don't have a problem with either one being a penalty. It's the lack of consistency that pisses me off because it was a very good game. It was a good game between two teams that it was entertaining to watch for the neutrals. Milan were better than Roma. I can't think of a single Roma fan that I've spoken to that doesn't agree with that.
00:05:45
Speaker
that Roma were lucky to even be in the game at halftime. But the referee inconsistency is what we're left talking with. And I think that's a shame. That's a shame. It ruins the overall, it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth and it's annoying and it's unnecessary and easily addressed.
00:06:03
Speaker
Yeah, so one thing I mentioned in my post-match podcast, from a Roma perspective at least, you can blame the referee, but Carlo, I know you're sort of on this, just like I am.
Roma's Struggles Against Top Teams
00:06:15
Speaker
When I was pointing it out early, I caught a lot of stick from Roma supporters saying, I'm the usual negative. Carlo, I know you back me on this. Regardless of the circumstances, okay, regardless of the refereeing performance of Marco Guida, it's another red mark against Fonseca in a big match.
00:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't seen Roma as dominated by any of the big teams, even throughout this bad run against them, than they were in the first half. Certainly the first half now. I mean, Zlatan missed three absolute sitters, really, for him, by his standards, in the first. And they were cutting through. I mean, I know Roma's defence was makeshift and, you know, they had Fazio
00:06:54
Speaker
who can't run they had Cristante again playing in the defense you know so okay that that was easy but I guess the other the other way you could look at it is that that Milan were on a really really bad run of four you know four games without a win before the match I think four losses and four losses and two draws in their last eight you know going on you know in a crisis I guess you could say and
00:07:19
Speaker
and Milan had a few players, they're getting their players back, but they had a few players that are not 100% like Chalinogolu for example. Zlatan definitely isn't right back on his full fitness either and he went, both of them went off injured. You'd have thought this was the opportunity for Roma to finally
00:07:35
Speaker
you know win against one of the big teams and it was probably their worst performance uh yeah so so yeah it is an indictment it is clearly an issue it is clearly clearly because yeah just because yeah it is clearly an issue because yes I think you know you both know everybody knows my opinion that I don't see Roma as a team that are a top four team so I don't expect them to be in the top four but you would expect that after a while they would at least win one or two of these games against the big teams
00:08:05
Speaker
So there is clearly a problem there with Fonseca there.
00:08:09
Speaker
To me, I think he even addressed it himself afterwards, saying that we can't hide it. We struggle against the top teams. And it's like, well, good. Now at least you're talking about it. And it's again, the way I see it is it's clearly down to how Fonseca plays. He can overpower and outmuscle the weaker teams, the mid-table teams, the weaker teams.
00:08:37
Speaker
because of their lower quality and the coaches there not being as good. But when he's up against a good coach with a good quality team, he suffers and he struggles and all the problems that are there become ruthlessly exposed. It's not just random, this is a trend and it's been going on since he's been there. And I think this is what's gonna cost Roma top four place.
00:09:06
Speaker
because that's a lot of points dropped where you can't even get a draw. I think it's Inter and Milan are the only ones he's been able to draw this season.
00:09:18
Speaker
And that is, this is an indictment on him and this is not working. And if Roma want to take that next step, they need a coach who is better equipped to handling these situations because sure, you know, when I've said that, you know, a win against Juva and a win against Genoa are worth just the same in terms of points. Well, that kind of cuts both ways because you can't build a season
00:09:43
Speaker
thinking that you're barely gonna get three points out of 18 or 24 when you play the top four teams. You get nothing from those games. That's not reasonable and that's not worthy of Roma and that's not where Roma should be.
00:10:00
Speaker
And I look at that squad and I say, I disagree with Carlo. I think Roma have a very good squad overall that should be fighting for a top four and should be delivering better results against the big teams. And they're not doing it. And that has to land on Fonseca's table. There's no other way to describe it, I think.
00:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. Now, I think there's a trend with Roma in these big matches. If you just look, especially at the expected goals. I mean, yesterday at the break, I think Milan's expected goals were like 2.7 at halftime.
00:10:39
Speaker
Within the first half an hour, they were over two. I mean, from a defensive point of view, they were absolutely ravaged. Yes, it was makeshift. Yes, they didn't. They didn't have kumbula. Well, they had kumbula, but he was never going to play. He had just returned from injury. No smalling, no Ibanez. So three of their four top defenders were out. But still, there is a trend here where they either get gashed because they're playing too open or they have individual mistakes.
00:11:08
Speaker
If you look at their XG for instance, they lost to Juve, what was the loss to Juve? 2-0 a few weeks ago and then the loss to Lazio was 3-0.
Milan's Defensive Evolution
00:11:18
Speaker
If you look at the expected goals in both of those matches, Roma held both of their opponents, both Lazio and Juve, to under 1 in the expected goals department.
00:11:29
Speaker
That just goes to show you that they're conceding because of stupid individual mistakes. Before we move on to Milan, I have never seen a club get the goalkeeping position so wrong in my life. Listen, I am getting close to nearly three decades of watching this club. And this is going to be my small little rant here.
00:11:50
Speaker
Of those 30 years, Roma have had a top level goalkeeper for what? Chesney, we had a full year and then we had about three months in his first season because the previous six were disastrous from him. And then we had the one full season of Alisson. Remove those two and two and a quarter years and Roma have shit goalkeeper after shit goalkeeper.
00:12:15
Speaker
I would say Michael Consul was the only other one other than those two. And he was about he was about 80. Yeah, I was about to say, does it really count if it's a senior citizen? But anyway, Paulo Pesman, that was a nice. How many gifts did he deliver to Milan? We're going to start calling him Bobo Natale because.
00:12:34
Speaker
The back-heeled goal to Zlatan would have been the biggest meme of my life of a goal I've ever would have seen. Pal Lopez was brought to Roma when you include bonus almost 30 million euros for a club like Roma that's huge to pay for a goalkeeper and the one quality that everybody talked about with him coming was he is phenomenal with a ball at his feet.
00:12:55
Speaker
I mean, he gifted that second goal, that pass. I don't know what in the world he is thinking. Everybody, I saw everybody telling me when I was complaining about Paulo Lopez, they were saying, well, look at the number of saves he made. I hate to break it to you, but listen, the goalkeeper position is it is more important not to be a complete and utter knob than it is to make a beautiful snapshot safe. It just drives me nuts. Roma have no goalkeeper. I want Monchi tried for war crimes. That's where I want to end it.
00:13:25
Speaker
Anyway, on the other side of this though, Milan, regardless of how you slice and dice this, the controversy, the refereeing, whatever, at the end of the day, and I said this in the post-match pot, if I'm a Milan supporter, I am absolutely thrilled. And I'm most of all thrilled for a couple of reasons. First of all, Tamari, welcome to the starting formation, Roman Yoli.
00:13:49
Speaker
Don't don't pick up too many splinters because you're going to be on the bench and you deserve to be because you have been terrible You've been terrible off a prediction here. I think Romanioli is gonna leave in the summer. Why is he sure? His contract expires next year and for me
00:14:08
Speaker
assuming Tamori joins which you think based on how good he's been since since he's come on loan that Milan will definitely make that uh you know make that permanent then you know do you give do you give Romanioli a new contract on the way he's been playing with a big salary
00:14:25
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't. We've had this discussion already about him, so we don't need to do it again. But I'm going to make a prediction. I can see him going to Lazio. He supports Lazio. Lazio needed a fender. They're probably more of his level, that kind of standard team, more of a Europa League standard team. So I think that would be a good move for both parties.
00:14:51
Speaker
I think it would be the ideal move for all parties if Romanioli left because he's not captain material. I've said this a hundred times and I keep saying it that he's not good enough. I don't see it there. He's a remnant of the banter era and he has no business being at that club.
00:15:12
Speaker
Bertolacci, this is, you know, he's not good enough to be at Milan. It's as simple as that. And I've always thought this. He's too slow. His positioning is never, that supposedly his strength is simply not good enough.
00:15:27
Speaker
And he needs to have quick players around him to make up for it. And that's not working at a Milano place with a back four because he's slow and Tomori's fast. And I mean, I don't want to go to, you know, to fanboy here and say, oh, Tomori is the second coming of Paolo Maldini here. But no, what he does, what he possesses is a certain set of skill sets
00:15:51
Speaker
that are really adapted and suitable to the Seria. And if he can combine that and add to those skillsets that he naturally already has with an awareness and read of the game, we're talking about possibly one of the best central defenders in the world here, if he can combine those two. Because in the Seria, the tactical awareness that you learn, and if you're able to process that and you have the intelligence to understand and express that on the pitch, you're a world-class defender.
00:16:20
Speaker
And I think Milan, you know, Maldini kind of touched on it yesterday that, you know, we have an option on him. It's a lot of money. We'll see what we do. But it's clear that they want to keep this guy. It's clear that they like what they see at Milanello. They like what he does on the pitch. He also allows them to push up to the halfway line and do that press, which Pioli actually wants to do. Yeah.
00:16:38
Speaker
Exactly. Which you can't do with Roman. Holy, can you? Because he's so slow. He and then I think that definitely helped against Roma. Because Roma actually, Roma are very good, aren't they, John, at making those kind of those quick transitions. Yeah. Behind. And with Tomori, I mean, Tomori made a number of recoveries where occasionally he is out of position because he takes gambles. He's actually very good at making interceptions, but he takes risks to try and win the ball. And sometimes, you know, if he gets caught up, he's got the pace to recover. He did that.
00:17:05
Speaker
You know, he did that yesterday. One amazing goal-saving challenge on Pellegrini. So, yeah, I really like the look of him. He's been great so far.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I think Tonali, when you say in the same situation, Tonali saved the rebound there as well. And I think both of them look better in a formation where there is a cohesive, you know, they're young players who, especially Tonali, who's, this is a second, third season playing professional football, first team football, and he'll need time to make mistakes and learn from that. And when he's playing in a team where they can press
00:17:41
Speaker
that high up and more intensely, he comes more to his rights and he can express himself better. I thought he was phenomenal yesterday and I was really impressed and I keep saying this that I still think that I want to see a 4312 or 4321 with him, Ben Asel and Kissi together. I think that is one of those, you know, the Christmas tree formation that Milan fans have very fond memories of. I think that's where you get the best out of this team.
00:18:06
Speaker
and Tonali and Tomori are where you want to build around because it allows Milan to be quicker, it allows them to be more compact but also more cohesive in their press and it was really impressive.
00:18:20
Speaker
Well, let's go to the rivals then.
Inter's Dominance and Upcoming Challenges
00:18:23
Speaker
Nima, you have to be thrilled with how Ink Dead played resounding. Now, maybe it took a little longer than most would have hoped to get that second goal. Also, props to the Genoa social media manager.
00:18:39
Speaker
I thought that was you for a couple of moments. They got very excited. Let's be honest, I can understand why people were offended or were found that whole thing. It was very weird. Even by Italian standards, that was very weird. But were that dominant?
00:19:00
Speaker
Genoa have been very good and Inter have mopped the floor with them and they were lucky to just be 1-0 down because Inter did everything right except the finishing. This is the weird part. Inter have scored the most goals in the Serie A with 60 and we're still left here with a sense of
00:19:19
Speaker
They haven't scored enough because they keep missing they create so many chances, but they keep missing them And and and as long as you do that the the team is, you know, your opponent is still in the game But they were they were great But having said that look four points is nothing that game, you know for me
00:19:39
Speaker
Everyone was hyping up, oh, can Milan do it against Roma? That's not the game that's the trap game for Milan, for me. It's the Udinesse game that's coming up.
00:19:50
Speaker
That's a game that we know that they can bore and frustrate the crap out of anyone. And they in Milan will go to that game without Chalanoglu and Ibrahimovic and most likely Rebic too as Stefan has confirmed right now by Milan that Ibrahimovic is going to miss at least two weeks, at least two weeks.
00:20:11
Speaker
There's a lesion, there's a tear to one of his, to his groin, I think, where they're, you know, small tear or lesion that they're going to look into in 10 days time. With Chalanoglu, it's, I think it was called, I don't know, the medical term in English, but it's basically like edema, you can say, where water has has gathered in his muscles.
00:20:33
Speaker
it's it's you know these these players are out for for a while and they're going to have to face a Udenese next week that frustrates them whilst Inter play Parma next week a Parma who for two games in a row now have gone two nil up and then completely fallen apart to two two and this is why they're going to get relegated I'm ready to call it now I think Parma getting relegated and
00:20:56
Speaker
And I think it's sad because I don't want them to get relegated and I don't think they should be relegated. But if you can't win against Spezia and you can't win against Crotonne when you're 2-0 up and you drop these to 2-2, you have no business in the Serie A. I do think that they will cause Inter troubles, but I expect Inter
00:21:17
Speaker
to be able to overcome that given the form they're in but here's another caveat we know that Conte's teams are only good when he has a week to prepare for them this is Parma on Thursday and then Atalanta next Monday so you know yeah if they're going to drop points it's going to be it's going to be
00:21:35
Speaker
And that's what I'm saying. That's why I kept saying that after the Atalanta game, if Inter are a minimum of seven points ahead of whoever is in second, then I'm comfortable in saying that Inter are going to win this Corretto. That's why I'm not comfortable saying that yet, because Parma and Atalanta, within three days of each other, three, four days of each other, that's usually when Conte struggles.
00:21:59
Speaker
And when you think that Lukaku, Bastoni, Brozovic, and Barela all are one yellow card away from a suspension, and with Milan turning the tide the way they did it against Roma, if Milan win against Udinese, they're one point behind Inter who go to Parma, and then go to Atalanta when Milan go to Fiorentina. So this thing is far from over.
00:22:21
Speaker
Sure, you can say Inter are in the best position today, but this thing is far from over. And you've got to remember, you still have a Juventus who are not. Ah, that was a good segue. I was going to interrupt you, Carlo. Misery loves company.
Juventus's Struggles and Ronaldo's Future
00:22:36
Speaker
Misery loves company. So tell us why Juves Scudetto hopes are done over
00:22:41
Speaker
Just watch them. That's what he needs to do. Just watch them. Before we take this deep dive on Juve, where are you at with Pirlo? Because this is... Listen, I think you can, again, have a nuanced discussion about this. It's not exactly controversial to say Juve are lacking quality in certain roles. I think Striker, Midfield, come to mind immediately.
00:23:02
Speaker
but also that Pirlo has been oof. It's almost as if he took that managerial dissertation, threw it in the bin, added some petrol, and threw in a match because that's not the way he has the playing.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah well you know as I always say theory is one thing but until you actually put the theory into practice you know that's what decides whether it's going to work or not and you know with with Pilo I was on the I was giving him time for a long time you know even though it wasn't working I was like well let's wait let's wait and see because you know we see what he's trying to do but the Porto match was the was the match where
00:23:41
Speaker
it really hit home, I think, to everyone that this is a disaster. This is a complete disaster because that Porto game was an embarrassment, an absolute embarrassment to watch that Porto game. And, you know, the same with Verona, it's the same old story, every single game, you just don't create chances. There's no creativity. The midfield is just a complete, it's just complete shambles, that midfield. I, you know, I wrote a feature yesterday
00:24:07
Speaker
which got quite a big, quite a big buzz. And pretty much every Juventus fan agreed, pretty much. The midfielders are Europa League standard midfield. There's no... I won't have anyone else argue any other ways. It's a Europa League standard midfield. Bentonker, Rabio, Makeni as your playmaker, as your number 10. I mean, that's just... I mean, this is Juventus we're talking about. No, this is Juventus. These players are not Juventus standard players.
00:24:34
Speaker
they're squad players at the very very most you know they're the sixth choice midfielder at the very very most these players and yeah i mean they're 10 why is the skedetto over well they're 10 points behind they're 10 points behind they've got a you know a much bigger schedule although they probably go out of europe so that won't matter
00:24:56
Speaker
But I think it's more from the inter point of view. Antonio Conte doesn't give away 10 point leads. I'm not going to say it's definitely over, but I think you will need a collapse from Inter for it to happen. And even if they do collapse, Juventus are not going to blow enough teams away to guarantee that they're going to go on a winning run. Because we've seen it all season. The metrics, the underlying metrics, which is what all the bookmakers
00:25:26
Speaker
accurately predict who's going to win the title every year and that's why they have interests such red top favorites. It's because the metrics show us that Inter are creating millions of chances every game and whereas Juventus just aren't creating chances. I've said it so many times. They're sixth in Serie A for chances created for shots on goal and that plays out on the table. That's known. That's the metrics play out over the course of a season. Generally, that's how it is. You get the odd freak season now and again where it doesn't but generally,
00:25:54
Speaker
you are, that's the position you're in. So, you know, an injury situation is horrific as well. I mean, if there's only one thing I can say in PLO's favor is that, you know, Juventus went into that game against Verona with seven first choice players out. Exactly. So that doesn't help. That doesn't help either. But also, that's a damning indictment on the management. You know, I mean,
00:26:15
Speaker
a lot of people disagreed with me when I said in January that it was it was just complete incompetence not signing a forward in January and we're seeing that well that way because you know Diabala's got a chronic injury we don't know when he's going to be back. Morata's been out of form and now he's he's injured as well and we don't know if he's even going to be back for the Porto game either. You've got Koulisevski playing as a centre forward he can't play as a centre forward he can't play with his back to goal you know so he's the one and we've got a 36 year old Ronaldo he's been in over there got two forwards
00:26:45
Speaker
Well, one forward plus a winger playing out of position, you know, so it's just not going to happen. So, yeah, Juventus need to be more looking over their shoulders and making sure they get in the top four. I've been very unimpressed with Parietti's work since Marotta went, but I thought he did a better job last summer. I thought that he bought, he made some good signings, but then he made, you know, the one big mistake he made was he didn't sort out that central midfield.
00:27:15
Speaker
And and also obviously they you know whether it was his choice or or annie lee's choice they've hired a rookie coach who who which was always a big gamble and that hasn't worked out and obviously january he failed to sign a forward they needed a forward in january now they're paying the price for that.
00:27:31
Speaker
The way I look at it is this, Juventus will, all the things you said, or I agree with to a certain extent, I do not agree that this is the Europa League midfield. I think that is the gross overreaction. Artur Melo is imperative to this system, and when he isn't there,
00:27:48
Speaker
That's when it falls apart because Bentankur can't be that register. He just can't. It just doesn't work. Artur Melo, Bentankur and Mckenny is the midfield that Pirlo wants and that's when Juventus really clicked and looked really good.
00:28:04
Speaker
that you can blame the management for not having a backup to Artur Melo, someone who can interpret that role. That's a different debate. But to tell me that this midfield with world champions and, you know, come on, it's not... Well, answer me this question, Nima, right? If we go through just the Serie A midfield, so we're not even talking about the top elite champions leaving the field, which obviously Juventus are nowhere near their midfield, nowhere near the level. But if we're looking just at Serie A, who has a better central midfield into Juventus?
00:28:33
Speaker
You shouldn't even have to think about that, surely. No, but look... Who has a better central midfield? Milano Juventus. I'll just go through all of them. Milano Juventus. I think on paper, if we're looking at how they actually work together, I think Lazio, the three of them together, are probably one of the best, if not the best, the way Luis Alberto Milicovic and Lucas Leiva have worked together in midfield.
00:28:57
Speaker
and how well they're playing, you know, how used to they're playing together. I think that's the key issue here, that this midfield has not been playing together for more than a couple of months, where the coach has not been a coach for more than a couple of months, and the most important player in that midfield is Artur Melo, and he's injured.
00:29:14
Speaker
That's the issue here. Player for player, I don't think there is that much difference between all of those. Well, even Artemello, who was playing excellently, but he played excellently for three games before he got injured. Before that, he was very poor as well. Then he suddenly came into form for a few games. I agree. He's probably the best of the, he is the best of the lot and he's the only one out of them who I think has the potential to be
00:29:37
Speaker
to be a real Juventus midfielder, a real Juventus of the quality required to be a Juventus midfielder is Artemello. The rest are squad players at the very, very most. No, I disagree. Compare that to the midfield they had with Vidal and Pogba and Pielo and Marcheseo. I mean, these guys, these guys not even differently.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, but at this stage in their career, when Arturo Vidal was 22, I think he was barely getting into the team at Bayern Leverkusen. I mean, it's like you got to look at their age as well. This is a young midfield with a coach that's very young and hasn't coached before. It needs a bit of time. We don't like this overreaction at the Europa League. And like, come on. I mean,
00:30:21
Speaker
Juventus know that, which is why they're trying to sign Pogba and Locatelli. They're their two main targets. They wouldn't be signing them if they thought the current midfield was good enough or was ever going to be good enough. The reason why they want those players is because the Juventus who compete on four fronts, you need to have more quality backup players. Juventus don't have that. They have numbers in midfield. They have a lot. They have like six midfielders, six central midfielders for three positions.
00:30:48
Speaker
But they don't have the role, they don't have a proper backup to Artur Melo. They don't. They simply don't. Weston Mckenny is not a regista. Bentancur is not a regista. Artur Melo is the only regista in that squad. There is no other regista in that squad. Manuel Locatelli would be the backup to, they would circulate between those two. And that's why they're going after Locatelli and that's where they're going to get him.
00:31:10
Speaker
because they need to have those two together. They're young and they will be able to sort this out. But look, I don't agree that it's that fire and brimstoney that you painted out to be. I think a lot of it is also down to situations.
00:31:29
Speaker
and just the situation that you find themselves in with injuries and players out of form. And I agree with you that not signing a striker in January was a massive mistake, but look, I differentiate between the quality of the midfield and the squad and what's the blame on the management. I think it's absolutely a mistake to bring in Koulousevski and then use him in this role as a seconda punta, which he's not.
00:31:55
Speaker
and get him to kind of start second doubting what he's good at. And then you have Morata, who was good, but he's out of form, and then you have nothing. You have Cristiano Ronaldo, who's 36, has to play every single game and save you of it because of the situation. That's bad management. I agree with that. But I don't agree that this midfield is dead over buried and it's Europa League yet at best and all that.
00:32:17
Speaker
If I'm Ronaldo, this is exactly what I wrote yesterday, and I was tweeting about it. If I'm Ronaldo, I'm looking at that midfield and I'm thinking, what the hell am I doing at this stage of my career? Because he's 36 years old. His record is absolutely astonishing. He's 19 goals this season. Juventus are so reliant on him. I think 22 of their 45 goals in Serie A this season has been a Ronaldo goal contribution.
00:32:44
Speaker
And I also tweeted, I mean, Kiese and Ronaldo are pretty much between the two of them. Kiese has been the one big success story for Juventus this season. He's been absolutely fantastic since December. Him and Ronaldo, the last 21 games, Ronaldo and Kiese have scored in every match that Juve have scored in, except for two. So they're pretty much, you know, Kiese got the assist for Ronaldo against Verona. They're pretty much, if it wasn't for those two, I don't think where Juventus, even you would be agreeing with me, Nemer, if it wasn't
00:33:12
Speaker
if it wasn't for these two, because they really are doing everything for Juventus. Kiesa is fantastic. You know where I stand on that. Amazing. Amazing. And it's great for Italy. I don't understand. The thing is, I'm not surprised. And I laugh when people act all, who knew Federico Kiesa was good? Anyone who's watched him?
00:33:32
Speaker
with a clear and open mind and objective mind, has known that Federico Chiesa is a fantastic player, that he has tools in his toolbox that not many players of his age do. His ability to go one-on-one, he's good with both feet, he's crossing, he's rid of the game, he's fast, he has everything that you can ask of a modern winger. And he's had it since he was 17 years old. Everyone knows my opinion on Ronaldo, right? But let me ask you two, as non-ubentini, like, if you're Ronaldo, you've got one year left on your contract,
00:34:02
Speaker
coming this summer. What do you do? Do you want to stay at Juventus with this team or do you want to go to a team that can actually challenge for the Champions League? You leave for PSG where you join forces with Neymar and Mbappe and you win the Champions League before you go to America and make your final cash in the MLS. That's what you do. I think the best thing for Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo would be to part ways this summer because with the pandemic and the lack of revenue, Julett can't afford to have him.
00:34:31
Speaker
PSG are essentially a state-backed team that doesn't bother them. They have an entire country backing them up. So I think it's time for everyone. This has been good for Juve, this has been good for Ronaldo, but they need to end this relationship here because it frees up capital for Juve to do exactly what you just said. Locatelli is the most important thing.
00:34:55
Speaker
high on Pogba, but Locatelli and a proper striker, two proper strikers, you know, whether it's Morata or whoever comes up to partner Morata, you need to bring in at least two strikers and Locatelli. That's what you even need to do. The defense is solid. It's one of the best in the world.
00:35:11
Speaker
And events just made a loss of 131 million and they got Ronaldo who's earning 31 million net. So that becomes, well, maybe probably I would imagine it wouldn't be, it'd be just less than double growth, you know, with the taxes. So probably 55 million, I think a year.
00:35:28
Speaker
they will save if Ronaldo goes and people can talk about you know the sponsorships and the commercial deals but you know that all goes out the window obviously partly because of Covid also because because you know it's still really not helping Juventus close the gap as I wrote in my feature close the gap on the on the 10th richest club in Europe Juventus and they're miles behind the Premier League I mean the Premier League are now in the just a completely another league
00:35:52
Speaker
which is kind of like, what do you do? What do you do if you're the Serie A teams now? How the hell do you bridge that gap with the Premier League teams? But for Juventus, they can't rebuild the team like they need to with Ronaldo. And that's the problem. That's why this project has been so flawed since they signed Ronaldo is because they basically put all their eggs in the Ronaldo basket and didn't have the money available to make that midfield.
00:36:15
Speaker
the strong you know at the strength that was required that they had to get rid of top players like Cancello and others even Spin that Solar just to just to balance the books to you know for the capital gains at the end of the end of the the financial year you know so that's where the Ronaldo signing hasn't been good for Juventus there's no doubt Ronaldo has been a phenomenon at Juventus but the project was flawed because
00:36:38
Speaker
I still think that it was a good idea. It's been a win-win situation for everybody. And Ronaldo, he's got his eye on winning the Capo Canonieri and the Copa Italia to become the first player who's won everything in Spain, Italy and England.
00:36:53
Speaker
On as a team in it, you know the top titles as a team in a team and also as on an individual level I think that's what he's going for and I and I still think that you've are in the race I just don't think they're going to win it But I still this they'll think they're in the title race and I think this thing is going to the wire It's gonna be much more tighter than people expect it to be. It's a three horse race still very much and you aren't out of it there they they they will come back and look
00:37:21
Speaker
I have watched and listened to Juve been ripped apart for a better part of the last 25 years. And they have how many Champions League finals and how many Serie A titles to their name during that time? Like, I'm sorry. This is when they struggle usually. I think it was one or two seasons with Allegri when they were just flying from August to May in the league. This is when they usually struggle. And but at the end of the day, they stand there in May with a championship medal and everyone wonder how the hell happened. And they start blaming the referees and all that.
00:37:51
Speaker
No, it's not that. This isn't the dark ages of the 90s. This is something else. There's a reason they keep winning. It's because they win ugly. The other teams don't know how to win ugly. You even know how to win ugly. They're going to win it all right now.
00:38:07
Speaker
Well, exactly. Well, also because they're fine. They draw ugly and lose ugly. Yeah, but because they have fans like you who have lose their shit completely and go full on drama queen and fire and brimstone when they don't win two games in a row. Like that's the mentality at Yuba. And that's a good thing for Yuba. Well, hang on there. We got to move on because they're not the only ones struggling. Carlo, do we have to listen to any more of this?
Lazio's European Challenges
00:38:35
Speaker
Carlo and I were messaging about this. How much stick do we give Nima for saying a lot? So maybe he could shock. And then not only do they follow that wonderful performance up with a terrible performance, we're not even mentioning what's going on with their covid testing stuff that has come up. But the covid testing stuff isn't Simone and Zaggy's fault. No, no, no, no. I'm just saying added to the clown show and the circus.
00:39:02
Speaker
But I mean, the Bayern game, look, look at the Bayern game, look at the Bayern game. That game was over, not on I mean, I think Paolo Kondo, the Italian journalist in the sky said it best. He said these mistakes, you know, individual errors in football are made via when when a team either presses and creates that the situation for an intimate individual mistake to occur or
00:39:24
Speaker
or they don't and the team, you make an unforced error yourself. Lazio against Bayern was all unforced errors themselves. What Musacchio did, he basically cost them the game within the first 15 minutes, but when unattacked, unpressed, just gave it away to Bayern. And Bayern are better than Lazio. If Lazio are to be able to threaten Bayern Munich, they need to have a perfect game.
00:39:48
Speaker
Then Musakiou can't do what he did. I don't even know how to play the perfect game though. That was a completed Bayern side.
00:39:55
Speaker
Yeah, and Patrick, what the hell was that? I mean, Patrick, why is he still starting for this team? It triggers me. I'm not a Lazio fan. Just his name triggers me. His name? His name is Patrick. I mean, how can a footballer named Patrick be any good? No, honestly. He's just got that name where, you know, without even watching him play, he's going to be, I'm going to say, I was going to swear there, but he's going to be crap.
00:40:23
Speaker
No, but Mosaccio and Patrick is just, they are the unforced errors. That was criminally bad. I mean, the game was over. Patrick against Bologna as well. I'm not a Lazio fan.
00:40:40
Speaker
now he's not there anymore. But the Patrick and Johnny show triggered me to no end because these are Serie B players. They have no business in being at a Serie A side that plays in the Champions League. I mean, what Patrick did for that third goal against Bayern, I lost hair.
00:40:56
Speaker
literally lost hair by watching that. I was watching it with three different commentaries. They were laughing. The Swedish guy was giggling. The Italian guys were stunned. The English guy was trying to hold his laughter. It was comedy. It was complete embarrassment. It's shambolic. And I go back to Lazio's
00:41:17
Speaker
shambolic you know again there is nuance here lotitos work miracles since taking over from craniotti and what he's done to this club with no money absolutely but but in a covid economy you spend 20 million euros on mochi when you need a defender is it's it's just what is wrong with you when you send simone nzagi into the champions league with patrick and musakyo musakyo coming in in january
00:41:43
Speaker
It's embarrassing. Patrick triggers me. I mean, and he wears his socks rolled down as well. I mean, that's another thing. Like, there's a few things you don't do unless you're good at football. That is wear colored boots. Yeah. wear your socks down or chew gum. You don't do any of those three things unless you're good and he does one of them.
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah, and Francesco Totti got away with that because he was Francesco Totti. You know, he can do that. That's Ruicosta. Manuel Ruicosta and Francesco Totti can wear their socks rolled down. They can chew gum. They can walk. I don't care. Pirlo walked for 20 years. Doesn't matter. He was Andrea Pirlo. But Patrick,
00:42:23
Speaker
no mate no no but just but on a serious note i would say about Lazio yeah you in the Champions League uh you cannot you cannot win in the Champions League with with a defence that bad and and also i think lack of experience definitely definitely went against Lazio you could see right from the first kickoff
00:42:41
Speaker
Bayern did a long ball forward and Lazio just nervously, they put it straight out for a corner under no pressure at all. From that moment, I knew Lazio had lost the game straight away. You could tell the nerves got to them. They just didn't have the experience and the ability to handle the occasion. And we saw that. That's why they gave away three goals.
00:43:00
Speaker
And I thought Imoble had disappointed me as well, because, you know, we've criticized him in the past for not doing it when it really matters on the biggest stage. And this season, I thought he'd started to move away from that, but he's had a bad week, you know, and he didn't take responsibility against Bayern. He had the chances to shoot and he tried to give the responsibility to someone else. And obviously then he missed a penalty against Bologna as well. So it's been a bad week for Imoble.
00:43:27
Speaker
No, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Elsewhere. Oh, another bad week. Nima, we'll give you a stick for this on another day. Fiore Tino lose again.
Fiorentina and Genoa Derby Highlights
00:43:37
Speaker
They lose to Udenese, won to zero. Napoli defeat Benevento. If you ever, speaking of indictments, Calle Rigue get their first win in how many months? They defeat Caratón at 2-0. So all they took was for you say BOD Francesco to leave the club for them to win.
00:43:56
Speaker
Absolutely amazing. Just when you think you've seen it all, I swear to God. Only in Syria do we see this stuff. So, we have some midweek fixtures, okay? We have Lazio Torino, we have Juve Spezia, we have Milan Utinese, Apalanta Crotone,
00:44:13
Speaker
Fiorentina Roma Parma Inter just to name a few of them but Genoa Sampdoria That's where I was going but I was going to say the big one is of course the Derby Genoa Sampdoria that Derby is one of the most beautiful if it's probably the most beautiful Derby in all of Italy if you ask me yeah in the stadium by the way I You and I we complain about a particularly that I won't name Yeah, if you haven't been to the Ferraris, I cannot
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah, I cannot recommend it enough. And by the way, in terms of just surrounding restaurants and food, it doesn't get much better than different. I'm really looking forward to see how Ranieri takes on Ballardini because Ballardini is done. I mean, if we disregard the fact what happened against Inter where they were just flattened, they were overrun.
00:45:06
Speaker
He creates problems for teams and he did for Inter as well. He annoys teams by the way he balances his defense to kind of throw teams off.
00:45:21
Speaker
And you have to be very efficient in the chances you create against Ballardini, or else he will do to you what he's done against all teams, especially Helas last week, where they had so many chances and then somehow the game ended 2-2 in the 96th minute. It's not a chance that Ballardini has the highest points average.
00:45:42
Speaker
of all teams, of all coaches in the Serie A since, you know, if you're counting from when he took over. And in 2021, I think he's got one of the, I think Genoa are top side in terms of points. You know, that's not all, you know, that's not all.
00:45:58
Speaker
chance. I think here he goes against Ranieri, who's also good at closing down and frustrating teams. It's going to be a very interesting battle. And again, we do miss football fans in the stands, but if there's ever a game where I miss fans in the stands, this is it.
00:46:18
Speaker
The show that these two fan bases put on with their with their beautiful Tifos, depending on who's got the home, you know, who's home, they get three quarters of the stadium. The away fans get just a quarter. It's it is absolutely gorgeous. The sound, the sound they create around the stadium. It's like it's one of the most beautiful. It's the most beautiful Derby in Italy, if you ask me.
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah, and full credit to me, on any other day, I would completely troll you harder on Prandelli because they're unwatchable, Fiorentina. All I said was he'd steer the ship into the harbor, and that's all he's doing. They're not in the relegation battle. They're going to finish 12, 13, something like that. That's it. I didn't say he was going to win the scoretto. Well, you didn't mention that the ship was the Costa Concordia, where he was essentially going to run it into the ground.
00:47:08
Speaker
Oh, for goodness sake. He's not in the relegation battle. He's going to finish 12, 13, 14, something like that. That's, that's what he's going to do. I'm sold, Carlo. 12 to 13. I'm sold. Okay. We're moving on. We're moving on. Bajo and Ventura of the week. For those of you who are new here, instead of our
00:47:30
Speaker
Club of the week, person of the week, we decided to name it after somebody everybody loves in Roberto Baggio. And the opposite of that, everybody hates a particular man who was the former Italian national team manager that goes by the sword name Ventura. So let's get into those now. OK, Baggio of the week. Who are we taking with this one?
00:47:54
Speaker
Yeah, something a little bit different this week. Ricardo Mezzorini, former Inter striker that I'm sure Nima was a big fan of. And yeah, he scored probably the goal of the season this past weekend for Vicenza in Serie B.
00:48:10
Speaker
go on YouTube, type in Richard Domingerini, Vicenza against Pisa. I saw John will like this as well. My Vicenza, the 15th edition of it. We've had 20 different versions of Vicenza because of the dozen bankruptcies we've had. But yes, keep going. Better than all the past versions of Vicenza, Wonder Goals, because he did this crazy bicycle kick, which was kind of like side on. It was like a
00:48:35
Speaker
for the older people that remember Hugo Sanchez. He once scored a bicycle kick like this, left footed on a crazy angle as well. Unbelievable goal. So yeah, shout out to Majorini.
00:48:48
Speaker
We know it's bad when we're going to Vicenza for our highlights of the week. Okay, Nima, maybe you can make up for this in some way, shape or form with the Ventura of the week, even though you've already brought him up. Yeah, it's Patrick for every single reason I've already mentioned. He shouldn't be in Lazio. He shouldn't even be in Vicenza. He should be doing, he should be playing. He should be at, you know, maybe he's good at teaching football. Maybe he should do that, but he shouldn't be playing it. Well, those who can't do teach, so he might be onto something.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah, so so you know, maybe he turns out to be a master tactician or something, but whatever he can do back there for john for the reason. That's how we roll. He know, but this is this is getting like, it's not even funny anymore. It's just, it's just
00:49:34
Speaker
Now, I mean, every time he starts, you know that he's going to call. I mean, it's like, it's, I remember when Juan Jesus, who you have at Roma now, but you don't need to play him. We had to play him. When we had Ranoque Juan Jesus and Nagatomo on down one end, and you had Pereda and Jonathan on the other, it was, you knew that you're at least going to concede two, three goals simply because of incompetence and stupidity.
00:49:57
Speaker
And that Benny Hill music is every time he goes on the pitch. Forget that, you know, Latzio Vola thing. It should be Benny Hill. Every time he goes on the pitch, it should be black. It's embarrassing. He is absolutely terrible. All right. Let's move on to our question segment.
00:50:16
Speaker
OK, our first one is for Carlo. I'm assuming he's taking this first so he can have his panic attack now and, you know, get get the get the mental health issues out of the way up front. This is from our patron Fahad Al-Kari. His comment is, it is difficult for you to create chances in the absence of a tour. Pierlo keeps pushing for buildup from behind while he lacks the tools for it to materialize. Don't you agree?
00:50:44
Speaker
Well, I think even with Arturo, Juventus struggle to create chances because Arturo is not a chance creator. He's somebody that's brilliant at breaking the first line of the opposition press, getting you out from the defence into the midfield and then supplying that ball from the, you know,
00:51:05
Speaker
just inside your own half to the final third. He's very good at that. He's not someone who supplies the final ball. All of Juventus' midfielders, including Arthur, just don't have that creativity in creating that final chance. None of them have it in their game. The stats back that up. Look at the number of created chances that Juventus have, the number of assists that midfielders have.
00:51:27
Speaker
And then also just the goal threat in general that they have. I mean, apart from McKinney, who's decent at making late runs into the box, there's just no goal threat at all from any of the midfielders. Just look at their numbers this season. I don't know, has Benton Kerr scored a goal? Has Rabio scored a goal? I'm not sure that either of them have scored this season without looking it up. Rabio, Artokarn, none of them can shoot from outside the area. Artokarn scored one goal, which was a long shot, which was deflected. That's the only reason it went in.
00:51:56
Speaker
So yeah, they do. The midfield just lack creativity. So whether that stops PLO's team from being able to carry out what he wants them to do, I don't know. But it is clearly a problem, especially against deep-line defences, like the Porto one, because Porto literally looked like they could be there all night without conceding. And eventually the Juventus did manage to get a goal, but it wasn't through the centre midfielders.
00:52:27
Speaker
All right, Neiman, this next one is for you. It is from our patron, John Ventrillia, and he says, Suning announced at the weekend that they have dissolved Jiangsu FC.
Financial and Refereeing Issues in Italian Football
00:52:37
Speaker
How much of a concern is this for Incder? This is not a concern for Incder at all, because it goes to show that what Suning did on the weekend was sell 25% of their holdings group, like 25% stocks. They brought in an investor to buy around 20, 25% of the company's Suning.
00:52:56
Speaker
That was to address the acute liquidity issue, which is at the heart of all of this. This tells me that Suning are in this for the long run. They're not going to sell Inter at any discounted price. Now they've resolved their liquidity issues. They can hold out for another year until they get what they want. They're not going to sell Inter on the cheap. That is for damn sure. So the reason why they did that to Yangshu is because there were no buyers.
00:53:23
Speaker
There was nothing there to salvage. So they just completely just, you know, shut up shop. Yeah, shut up shop. Yeah, exactly. They're they're not, you know, they're they're like all businesses there. You know, they they're not very sentimental about this. And and they just look at what they have and what they have in terms of what's worth something and enter. They want a million, a billion euros for and they won't settle for anything less. And now now they with the sale of the of their, you know, of 25 percent of the company.
00:53:53
Speaker
they have the liquidity to take care of it, which means that they don't need to loan from Bain Capital or any of these other predatory lenders like Milan did with Yong Hong Lee did with the Elliott Fund. So they've just taken care of it.
00:54:07
Speaker
There's talk of that, that some of the companies that have come in have backing of the Chinese government. They're basically, they're going to leave Intel. There's no doubt in my mind now anymore, especially after what Zhang Jingdong said about returning to basics and what we do, you know, what is our core business and we're going to focus on that. And that's retail and real estate. That's what they're going to focus on. They're going to sell Intel, but they're not going to do it unless it's on their terms. And one of the ways to reach that point was to get rid of Yang Shu.
00:54:36
Speaker
All right, Carlo, for you, it's from Ivan Barone and he asked, after some more shocking decisions over the last two weeks, are Italian clubs deliberately targeted by referees in Europe? This one is gift wrapped on a platter for you. Hopefully like Muriki, you do not fluff it, though.
00:54:55
Speaker
Well, I think most of the listeners will probably listen to my podcast on this last week. So I think the answer is pretty obvious. I've been talking about this for years now. And so I've been I've been tallying up as they go. And for me, there's absolutely zero doubt about it. There's no cut. It's just I'm not people can call me a conspiracy theories that they want.
00:55:19
Speaker
I don't care. I would rather be a conspiracy theorist than a coincidence theorist, because for me, shout out to Chris from Wakefield, our patron on Twitter, who's called you Carlo with a Q, Carlo Anon with a Q.
00:55:35
Speaker
This is anybody who watched the Sopranos. There is there is a wonderful line from from Silvio where they're whining about Columbus Day or something, because for some reason, I don't know why it's a big holiday in the United States, but apparently it is. And he says it's anti Italian discrimination.
00:55:56
Speaker
So Carlo is like Silvio. He thinks there is an anti Italian sentiment. By the way, that's not even mentioning the right card, right? I mean, the red card was by the look of it. I thought the red card was criminal. It was to me. How in what world is that a red card or a thing? You can. Let me see. I don't I don't agree with with this. I think it's a harsh decision. OK, but it's not the wrong decision, because if you look at it and I was I was right with you until I saw the replay and I saw the stills.
00:56:26
Speaker
you can argue that that's a red card. The stills are no use though. The stills are no use. But either way, when you look at it again, it's not a clear and obvious error. There is absolutely support for the red card. It's a harsh decision, not necessarily the wrong one. That's not so stupid about VAR, that if it's not a clear and obvious error... Yeah, they need to remove that.
00:56:46
Speaker
then you don't change it. But that's not the point. The point should be, you should only be a red card if it's a clear, clear and obvious. Yeah, exactly. A goal scoring opportunity is a clear goal scoring opportunity.
00:57:01
Speaker
Well, you can argue that it is. Well, you see, that's the thing. You can argue it both ways. It's a dubio. It's a, you know, it's an allotaggio. But what I don't understand is this, again, with a consistency. If you decide to be this anal as a referee and apply the rules by the letter of the law, the way that this guy did, Stila did in that game, then how the hell is Casemiro not sent off for a second? Exactly. That is to me. He took, he took naught point naught, naught, naught, naught. He broke the speed of sound to get his red card out of his pocket.
00:57:31
Speaker
to send off go-sins where he literally gave Casamiro all the time he wanted to get up and then warn him and say, no, no, no, don't do it again. He gave him a lecture for two hours and then decided not to give him a yellow card. He was very eager to pull that out. I have to admit.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was is I mean for me there's no doubt about it I mean there's you know that we saw in the last week we had the Lazio penalty which was a clear penalty at 1-0 okay yes Bayern probably still get what they are they were gonna go through but that's not the point the point is it was 1-0 it was a 1-0 it could have been it could have changed the course of the of the game completely Juventus yes Ronaldo clear penalty they didn't even look at the VAR. Liverpool Roma. I don't even mention that.
00:58:16
Speaker
He put on his Gigi Buffon mask and the most clear hand handed ball of all time in my opinion Yeah, exactly with what 25 minutes to go penalty a penalty and a man up To make it three two and then you've got 25 minutes to score another two goals You know in a game that Roma were completely on top on but you know, I went in the podcast I went through all the incidences in the last up to the last 10 years, you know And I and I and I posed a question on that podcast I said, you know what because the comeback you always get from people
00:58:46
Speaker
is you can always find penalties in favor and against you. Well I ask everybody listening, please be my guest and come back to us and I promise I will tweet it out, we'll call you out, we'll do it on the next show. Find me the instances in the last 5-10 years where
00:59:02
Speaker
where referees have benefited, put an Italian team through in a key Champions League game. I'm talking about key matches. I'm talking about a knockout game when it's do or die. I'm not talking about a second group game where it doesn't matter. I'm talking about
00:59:17
Speaker
a Champions League second round quarterfinal, semi-final, final, the last group game in a Champions League group. I'm talking about these matches and it's overwhelming that the evidence to show that the Italian teams are getting done over time and time again. I don't know the reason
00:59:33
Speaker
But for me, it's absolutely clear. It's clear-cut. And as I said in my podcast, Italian teams are struggling enough as it is. Italian teams don't have the money anymore to compete with the Premier League teams. It's been, what, 11 years now since an Italian team won anything in Europe, went into the Champions League in 2010. So the last thing that Italian teams need when they're going through this is to have the referees against them as well. And he just totally, again, like you said at the start of the Roman Milan game,
01:00:02
Speaker
You just think, what's the point of even watching? When you know that every single game, an Italian team is going to get a massive game-changing, tide-changing decision, go against them. What is the point? What's the point of us watching? So I'm just fed up a bit, to be honest with you. I really am.
01:00:16
Speaker
I just looked it up. There was an American-Italian Anti-Defamation League political advocacy group in 1967 chaired by Frank Sinatra. I think Carlo Gagini just reformed that. Look, seriously speaking, I don't know.
01:00:36
Speaker
I put it to you this way. I will believe any conspiracy theory you want, if you have something conclusive showing that there's something supporting it. I will tell you this, and I think Paolo Kondo... The matches. No, no, but that's not... No, you can argue that the same thing has happened to other teens from other clubs. But look, from other countries. Look, what I'm saying is this.
01:01:00
Speaker
It's starting to add up. I think what Paolo Condos at Cerebes says, look, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm not saying there's something against Italian teams here. But in the last few weeks alone, there have been clear and obvious errors. Lazio were hammered by Bayern, yes, but they were denied a clear penalty. At one nil. At one nil, all right. Juve against Porto, clear foul, clear penalty on Ronaldo, not given, not even reviewed.
01:01:28
Speaker
And this is, you know, you can argue that, and then the Atalanta game and everything else. But look, you can argue that, or this is, you know, I don't have the exact stats, but they were speaking about this on Sky Italia saying, look, that it seems that UEFA doesn't want to have a, does not want VAR to intervene in knockout stage games at all, unless it's a shocking mistake.
01:01:53
Speaker
Because I think there's something like only one or two times in the last two years in the knockout stages, the VAR has been used. You see, that annoys me. That annoys me. Very specifically, if you have the technology, if the rules are there, interpret them coherently and consistently from group stage to final. Otherwise, what's the point?
01:02:13
Speaker
Yeah, why are we paying for it? That's the thing that pisses me off. That grinds my gears to no end. This notion that it seems to be deliberately, internally, by UEFA that we do not use the VAR in knockout games. And to me, that's childish.
01:02:31
Speaker
It is curious. Very quickly, Santa calls me. My favorite Romanista is coming back. Anytime this guy is present in my life, the days seem to be a bit sunnier. Food tastes a bit better.
01:02:46
Speaker
Things just seem to improve. It looks like, it's not official yet, or at least I don't think it is, by the time, at the time of recording, that he will join Kratone, who are already going down to the Serie B. So this, this fits his CV to, to, to a T. I mean, this is Cerca Cosmi's CV. If you're already relegated or you have zero to fight for, there is nobody better to have on your bench than Cosmi. Nima, I know you're just as big of a fan as him as I am.
01:03:16
Speaker
I love it. I don't even care if his team is doomed from the start. It's just the fact I see him. That's all I need.
01:03:29
Speaker
what a character he was in Perugia when he was there. To me, he is quite the character. He looks like a pit bull. He likes baseball caps. I think it's going to be fun to see him. It's like a pop culture reference from 20 years ago returning back to relevancy in 2021, and it's hilarious. I don't know. I think it's going to be fun to see. I expect
01:03:59
Speaker
expect Cortana to be just as bad as they are now. Which is pretty awful like you just alluded to. I don't expect them to do much other than maybe get a few more red cards because he likes aggressive and crazy challenges. He wants his teams to be very aggressive and I don't know. I think we'll
01:04:24
Speaker
I think, well, I think nothing can save Crotona. I don't understand why they sacked Tropa now. What was the point? There is no chance. There is no hope. This team isn't good enough. They shouldn't even be in the Serie A. It's like we've spoken before, we shouldn't have more than 18 teams in the Serie A and these two are, you know, Crotona is one of those teams that should never have come up. So yeah, and then it's a shame because I want, I like it when we have teams from the south of Italy. I just wish they were better when they come up.
01:04:49
Speaker
Well, I'm hard pressed to think of better ways to end a podcast related to Italian football than with conspiracy theory, and CERSA calls me discussion. So chat with you in a few days for the review episode. If you would like to become a patron, make sure you go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P, where you can get all of our episodes for $2.99 per month. Again, patreon.com slash T-I-F-P. Thank you so much for tuning in and we will chat later this week. Bye bye.