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Serie A Match Week #14 Review & Match Week #15 Preview (Episode #35)
27 Plays4 months ago
This week on Calcio Culture, Vos, Motts, and Logs take you on a whirlwind tour of Italian football’s most compelling moments. The episode kicks off with quick shouts, including a shoutout to Carragher’s bar in NYC and Liverpool football club under Arne Slot. The hosts also discuss juicy transfer rumors, from Inter’s potential move for Marco Verratti to Napoli’s interest in Danilo, while Torino has reportedly shut down a hefty €35M bid from Manchester City. The spotlight then shifts to the 2023/24 Calcio Awards, where Simone Inzaghi took home Manager of the Year honors, Lautaro Martínez was crowned Player of the Year, and Marcus Thuram’s stunning strike secured Goal of the Year. The hosts unveil the star-studded Team of the Year, featuring Yann Sommer, Alessandro Bastoni, and Nicolo Barella, among others.
The conversation picks up again with Champions League action, including Juventus’ gritty 0-0 draw with Aston Villa and Bologna’s narrow loss to Lille. Europa League and Conference League fixtures were equally dramatic, with Roma salvaging a 2-2 draw at Tottenham and Fiorentina falling short against Pafos in a 3-2 thriller.
Match Week 14 delivered plenty of talking points, starting with Milan’s dominant 3-0 win over Empoli, fueled by Tijjani Reijnders’ brace and Álvaro Morata’s clinical finishing. Parma stunned Lazio with a 3-1 victory, a result that showcased both Lazio’s overconfidence and Parma’s grit. Napoli edged Torino 1-0 thanks to Scott McTominay’s decisive strike, while Atalanta’s 2-0 win over Roma sent the Giallorossi into an alarming slump, marking their fourth consecutive league loss. The drama continued in the week’s other matches: Monza and Como battled to a 1-1 draw, Piccoli’s goal secured a vital win for Cagliari over Verona, and Bologna cruised past Venezia 3-0 with a standout performance from Dan Ndoye. Genoa’s 2-0 triumph over Udinese marked a new low for the latter, and Lecce held Juventus to a 1-1 draw, setting an unwanted record for the Bianconeri with 18 ties in a calendar year.
As the episode builds to its conclusion, the hosts preview Match Week 15’s biggest clashes, including Napoli hosting Lazio, Milan facing Atalanta, and Juventus taking on Bologna. Cup action also gets a nod, with Coppa Italia matchups like Napoli vs. Lazio and Sassuolo vs. Milan promising midweek excitement. To cap it all off, the hosts reveal their Culpi di Luna, offering bold predictions and a special parlay for the calcio ultras. Stay tuned for another thrilling episode packed with insights, humor, and the passion only Italian football can deliver. Follow us on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @calcioculturefc for even more calcio madness!
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Updates
00:00:06
Speaker
Cheryl Paisanos, welcome back to another episode of Caltro Culture. This year, I host the most, joined by both my co-hosts, Logs and Matz. They've been struggling in the cold in New York City. I've been hearing about it. Logs is a little bit sick. Matz has got some new UVA merch to get him through the year. How are you guys doing? Paisanos, I wish I could say I'm doing better, but we had an absolute fun day of a Sunday, going into a little work from home Monday.
00:00:35
Speaker
We're feeling all right. It's a little chilly outside, definitely feeling like an icicle, but it's certainly Christmas time. The vibes are coming up, waiting for the Christmas tree lightings around here, and that's that's all we got. That's what we got going on.
Christmas Excitement and Thanksgiving Greetings
00:00:49
Speaker
the um They put the Christmas tree by the stock exchange logs. Have you seen it?
00:00:53
Speaker
i Have I haven't they li it theyre already kind of lit it up the official lady is on Wednesday. Yeah, there's like a party and stuff and vendors are anyways Oh how I'm doing I have mixed feelings. I'm doing well because my UV gear did come in but I'm also kind of upset because I've officially declared that I've lost my beats today because they've they've been gone for over a week now and I haven't found them so little torn and But excited for couch. That's why I have different hardware as well. I'm rocking a different headset because no beats. I'm just told to move my mic up to that. I'm already already an issue. um R.I.P. those beats. Hopefully they come up. Yeah, I hope so, too. What's Thanksgiving? So happy Thanksgiving, guys. The thing I'm thankful for this year is the Paisano's. Thank you guys for listening. We appreciate you. But we're doing today so fucking soft. What?
00:01:49
Speaker
What was that? They said you're soft. That was a good shout out to you. Yeah. Logs showing us true colors, showing us true colors here back in the pod.
Episode Topics Overview
00:02:02
Speaker
But in any case say guys, we're going through a couple of things today. What we missed last week in European competitions, we talked on I think Tuesday afternoons, we missed a couple of Champions League games. We missed Europa League and Conference League.
00:02:16
Speaker
Then as always, we're going to be breaking down what happened this past weekend in match week number 14. And then we're also going to be talking a little Copa Talia today. We got a couple games this coming week. And then as always, we're going to finish it off with our preview of match week number 15.
Liverpool vs Man City Match Highlights
00:02:31
Speaker
But before we get into all of this, we do have quick shouts.
00:02:36
Speaker
Quick shouts squeak shouts, quick shouts, quick shouts. Paisans, welcome back to my favorite part of the pod. We are hopping on the jet this week. I hinted at it, a little Sunday fun day for me and Matz. We were an electric cloud crowd at Carigers down here in Fidey Manhattan, an absolutely unreal time, Liverpool bar, Carigers, naturally, Jamie Garagher, shout out to our Champions League coverage there.
00:03:03
Speaker
But Liverpool... No correlation though. No relation or anything. No relation, but he is all over the walls, so... He's been there a couple of times. He has. He's been there. I think the trophy's been there as well. No, they have a replica of big trophy. I've held it before. Big replica. Big trophy. In any case, Liverpool by-looks. Yeah, but I wasn't paying attention.
00:03:28
Speaker
It was a little cold. Anyways, 2-0, Liverpool, Overman City, crowd's calling for Pep to get sacked. Pep's chirping back, says he got six in a row, six of the last seven. And it was a great game, solid, nets a penalty. My boy, Cody Gackfo, gets on the scoreboard.
00:03:46
Speaker
It's getting harder and harder these days for Liverpool not to re-sign Salah, but again, shadow characters, great time. Crazy pass by Salah as well on the Cody goal. Amazing pass. But yeah, Carriers was electric. We were singing the songs. Good to see Liverpool flying high. Slots really got them playing extremely well. The top of the table are both the Prem and the Champions League, so hats off to Liverpool.
00:04:13
Speaker
I agree with it. I meant to put this actually on the the episode plan because that was probably one of three or four Premier League games that I've watched this year, and I think that was my first Liverpool game. And they are the best team that I've watched by a massive margin. They are insanely good.
00:04:33
Speaker
Like from like technical ability to like game plan, they execute everything so quickly. And with such precision, it's ridiculous. Nobody has touched them from any team I've watched this year. I mean they mean, they made Man City look like a bunch of kids. They couldn't even get near the ball.
00:04:52
Speaker
That first half, I think was the best half I've ever seen a team play. Manson, he didn't touch the ball. Liverpool was dangerous for the entire 45 minutes, probably could have scored five. And I mean, it's a shout out to Slott, because that team is not too different from last year's team. Yeah, and shout out to our buddy Potts, because I was texting him back and forth, and he said, Jurgen Klopp walked, so our nice Slott could walk, right?
00:05:18
Speaker
ah Well, also shout out to Pots because, as I mentioned, everyone in Carriers were singing the songs and Logan somehow knew every single word to every single Liverpool song and he credited Pots to knowing all those ah those songs because Pots always sings them.
Liverpool's Future and Transfer Rumors
00:05:33
Speaker
and before yeah but la and we got never poor but um Before we move on, though, from Liverpool, I had a question for you guys. They have Salah, Virgil, and Trent's contracts all coming up this summer. Do you think all three leave? you to what Virgil and Salah are obviously on the older side. Do we think they resign? What do you guys think is gonna happen? I think in order of magnitude of who's gonna stay,
00:06:03
Speaker
It's verge number one. I think they're, they're certainly going to re resign him. They're starting to find magnitude, like probability. Yes. But not necessarily need, but I would say probability verge first also in because of need and not to go too deep in it, but they are really thin at center back. They could not, they can't stay, can't stay healthy. So certainly need verge back. I think second to that is probably so odd because of how important he has been. Although Saudi's calling PSG was calling today.
00:06:33
Speaker
And Liverpool haven't made half the effort they should be to pre-sign that guy, so I'm not sure that he's going to be staying. And then I think just third, and because I don't think that they need him so much, especially with how Conor Bradley played, ah especially against Mbappe, I think Trent's on the outs. Although, news headline from today, Real may be out on Trent because he doesn't want to sign until the summer. They want somebody in the and the January window. Diego De La is now on their wish list.
00:07:02
Speaker
I think Virge will definitely re resign. um I think they'll meet him. He is the captain. So I see that one getting done. I i guess I'm hotter on Trent staying than you are right now, Lugs. He's been playing very well. He's been playing better defensively than he has in a long time. um In this slot, the system is almost even more attack minded than the clock.
00:07:26
Speaker
ideology to some degree. So I think he actually fits better in the team than he has in a long time. Kind of rather, he's very good though. So if they did lose Trent, it would be less of a big deal now. And then Unsalah, just everything I've gotten from him says he's ready to leave. He's going to let this season ride out. And I think even if they finish, if they want to trouble this year, I think he would still just be done. That'd be sick though. Leave on like a highlight. It would be really cool. And then he's also I don't know. He's the last one of the original guys that were a part of the CLOP era because Verge was kind of the last guy that they got.
00:08:05
Speaker
And there was there was kind of a lag because they got Mane, they got Firmino, and they got Salah kind of all together and then built the team behind them. And Mo is the last guy that's left. And I just think that at some point he's going to fall off a cliff. And I think that he knows it with how he plays.
00:08:24
Speaker
and he's going to get phased out of this Liverpool team for what they're, this is like a new rendition and he's got his chance to go to Saudi and just get his bag and he definitely deserves it. And I don't think anybody's going to feel badly about him leaving at this point.
00:08:37
Speaker
I think that's the only reason why he wouldn't resign is because he knows that he can he deserves and can ask for an absurd amount of money where Liverpool might not be able to pay it or would not be smart paying a 33 year old that kind of money with the Saudi league now there and he's won everything so I think that's the reason why he might walk but Good for them to having a good first year, first slot and possible a farewell tour for Salah. But now let's get into the couch show. Logs, I'll throw it back to you on the quick shouts. Yeah, some but some transfer news in the in the quick shouts today, all Syria centric.
Transfer Market Dynamics
00:09:15
Speaker
So back in the PGA, we are landing. First and foremost, I'm not sure how true this one is. I did see some wrong ways about it. I actually love it, but we'll see if it actually comes fruition.
00:09:25
Speaker
Inter is in on Virati the midfielder Italian midfielder who is most known for his days at PSG I don't even know if he played anywhere else to be honest has since gone to Saudi could be coming back I would love to see it I always thought that Virati should be in Syria And I don't think that there's a better spot for him than this inter midfield. I think he would fit in quite nicely and actually be the missing piece that they they haven't been able to figure out this season in that he can fill in where Hakan plays really, really nicely. um I'm not sure the price tag there or if Rati even wants to come back, but I do think that this move makes a ton of sense.
00:10:04
Speaker
I think it makes sense. I agree. I'm not sure. I doubt that Virati wouldn't want to do this. And he would make sense given what we've seen in Minsagi in his hesitancy to play whoever it may be. We saw Barella play us like that number six, Rajista. We saw less of it, Selinski. He seems to be very hesitant with to put Selinski there for some reason. I'm not exactly sure why, because I thought that he played well when he did go in there. My concern with getting somebody like Virati is the pace of Syria this year has picked up tremendously and I'm not sure you're going to be coming back be able to come back to the league after being in Saudi Arabia in playing in a role where you're going to be pressed a lot and have to run around to get on the ball a lot
00:10:50
Speaker
So I would be a little bit worried there because Akan now runs around the field all the time. It's very quick. It's very shifty. And I'm not sure Marko Virati is going to be capable of that coming back to the league, which would worry me. Although I do think he would be a good one to have in games. We're going to be ball dominant, be able to just kind of run over an opposition, maybe rotate the squad. Do they need him? I would say no. This is kind of just like of like a flash in the cash kind of thing. I don't I don't fully get it personally.
00:11:19
Speaker
I'd rather just hold out and try to get Ricci. I think you just said you want to move on to Ricci, which ah then and we can and we will. But we've talked about this leap before. Ricci has been on the shortlist for Man City for quite some time and especially after Roger's going down.
00:11:37
Speaker
We have an official number that's kind of out there to start the bidding 35 million, 40 million rejected by Torino from city. They do not want to let their star six go for that amount of money. And to be honest, they really, really, really need them. I mean, this, this Torino side has been lackluster to say the least.
00:11:56
Speaker
for a couple of months now, and Ricci's really the only shining star coming out of that lineup as far as I see it. So 35 to 40, deny that, deny that, deny that, happy with it, especially because you're working with a city team that, you know, has bags in the back end. You can definitely, you can definitely squeeze more out of them for that. I mean, my counter argument to that is I actually, don' the way since Zapata has gotten hurt,
00:12:21
Speaker
The way that Torino has played has been far less progressive. So I actually think if you were to lose him now, it would have less of an impact on the rest of the team because they're being less ball heavy. And at the beginning of the season, that's what we saw the best out of Ricci. And that is what he's best at. So I actually think they would be okay with losing him. But what I do think is kind of the question mark is at what point are we getting, have we squeezed all the value we're going to get out of him kind of thing, right? like is this his peak value unsure if it is I think they should sell him in January if they think he can go for maybe 60 70 then it's hold out till the summer and I'm not sure he's that caliber of a player yet and I don't know he probably won't get there this season right like
00:13:09
Speaker
You're only going to pay so much to get a player from Torino because they're going to accept it. So for me, i would I think it kind of makes sense to move on from him if you think that they've capped their value that they're going to have on him. like He might go for 40 in the summer and 40 in January. So just get it done now, because God forbid he gets hurt, then you lose out on that 40 million as a club that you really need. And I don't think this is a player that they 100% need in the team to continue to be playing at the level they're playing at, is my point.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah, I see both sides. I ah definitely agree. Like, how much is he worth, right? Man hasn't played a international game on the real level ever in his career, has never played a Champions League game, never played a European League game. So he can't really be going for 50 million, in my opinion, because of that inexperience.
00:14:02
Speaker
But I also see it from Citi's side where it's like, hey, Roger's out. We look terrible without that. regista We need one. So let's go buy him. So Torino's maybe saying we can probably squeeze them while they're injured or down right now. So I see both sides, but I definitely don't think he's worth more than 40 million. I think 35 was a fair bid. I understand why Torino rejected it because Citi is missing Rodgeri, but I don't know how much more you can get for him with his inexperience, but obviously his potential can grow. We heard a few things to talk about because this is really similar to what happened with Sandra Tannali actually. So Sandra Tannali went for 37 million euros when Russia got relegated. So I would actually put them in kind of a similar boat.
00:14:50
Speaker
So to your point, I think that that bids probably spot on where this just shows where if you go out and do this and kind of take the risk, you can end up getting somebody like Tonali and some a question for you months. You know, I don't know how true these rumors are, but it it hasn't gone away. And that's Nicola Fagioli linked away. I keep seeing it. I'm kind of surprised by it. If that happens, could you see you may maybe getting in the mix for for reaching in the summer because he is similar to Fagioli, but I think he's a little less.
00:15:19
Speaker
get forward kind of guy. Like he's more comfortable playing very deep, even more than for Jolie. So I guess it would be something a little bit different from what they have. um And it's he's Italian, which I think kind of always makes sense for you. but Yeah, i so I've seen the Fajoli rumors. I was shocked by them because he just sat out a whole year and we extended his contract, and now we're we're okay with moving on. I think that the reason is because Juntoly realizes he fucked up not having a striker back up, and we need to sacrifice somebody to get that. Also, we had two defenders tear the ACL, so we need to send her back, so he's got to sacrifice.
00:15:55
Speaker
somebody because he bought six other midfielders and Fajoli has been struggling to get in the team. Why? I'm not sure. I do think Locutelli has been playing well, but Mata should rotate a little bit more because Fajoli is a good player. But to answer your question, even if we sell Fajoli, I do not think Juventus enters into the reaching race because we have other needs at more pressing needs at other positions like defense and striker, whereas we still have Douglas Louise to come back to Rahm, Locatelli, and Coupe Miners in the midfield. So we could sacrifice him. It'd be very sad to see him go because of the player he can beat. But it's just the way that it is right now because of the injuries we've had and not having a set a backup striker.
00:16:40
Speaker
Who would you want to sacrifice? Because it would be a midfielder. And I guess it would be between Locatelli and Fagioli, really. and I don't want to sacrifice any of them. I would sacrifice Locatelli over Fagioli in my mind at this point, but I could be wrong.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the way that Monop is playing these guys, he's clearly likes Locatelli over Fagioli. I would love to see the change because I just think Fagioli or Locatelli makes us stop the transition too much. He's definitely been way better under Mona than Allegri, but we continually just like we're building, we're building and we stop it. And it's usually Locatelli that stops it. I want to see Fagioli and how he paces the game, but I don't know if we're ever going to see that because every game game in and game out, it's Locatelli playing and not Fagioli.
00:17:24
Speaker
Well, is there any more transfers to take us through? We have one more. We do have a development out of Naples. Napoli in Hawks for another defender. But what else are they looking at? They're looking at Danilo. And I don't know why this would happen, because he's bad. but like The couple that has played this year has not been good. He has been actually the worst player on the field, I think, at every game he's played this year.
00:17:52
Speaker
You're not wrong. He hasn't had the greatest year, but he had a really good year two years ago under Allegri. I think Napoli are just looking to bolster the defense, but Juventus aren't going to let him go because we're looking for a defender. Because like I just mentioned, we have two that throw on their ACL.
Serie A Awards and Betting Success
00:18:07
Speaker
But what I've seen is that they're going to try to maybe parlay this into Raspidori. But I i still think that's a lose-lose, right? You lose the defender and you get a clear rotational player. You're not getting a starter where there's a lot of rumors that Xerxes out there that you can go get and you know what he did under Mata. Don't settle for Raspidori. I would keep Danilo until his contract runs out, let him go for free at the end of the summer. He's just another defensive piece that can play multiple positions like we need right now with those ah ah all ah those injuries.
00:18:43
Speaker
Just to not to play devil's advocate here, but are we sure that this is ah the Danilo from you? but Yes. Okay. Yeah. Cause I, I would actually think that the more appropriate Danilo for Napoli at this point is Danilo from the prem. it's about noting again This is the one from you, but let's move on from the transfer news.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah, we got a, we got a long quiz here. So I just want to mention this very quick. Today we have the Keltier awards and I think this were like the 23, 24 season. I don't know why they do the voting now. It's funky like that. I had a couple of awards to shout out. And Zagi got manager of the year, Latoro, player of the year, Taram, goal of the year, and Inter Milan, team of the year. Not all that surprising. And and then the starting 11th of the year, Yong Sommer.
00:19:31
Speaker
don one nova That was a little bit of a surprise to me, but I absolutely love it. I think that's deserved. Bastoni, Chalafiori, DeMarco, Barilla, Hakancho Noglu, Kube Miners, Xerxes, Marcus Taram, and Lottaro Martinez. As you can see, dominated by Inter Milan. That's really the story of last year. No surprises there. But to wrap up, quick shouts. Gotta talk Colpy as we do.
00:19:56
Speaker
Me and Mott's hit. We had an Atlanta money line on my end. Mott's went over two and a half and Lazzio Parma drilled it. And then Lowe's continuing to bag back the little lads by the lake, continuing to go poorly. They are now sole holders or 18th place. So I don't know when that's going to happen.
00:20:14
Speaker
Listen, we'll talk about it when we get to the mandatory to use, but I'm not upset with this take by any means. And I'll defend myself in due time. I just want to say someone over here is getting hot with this Colby legs. Three in a row, four at the last five. We are battling back. I'm getting hot. Start riding my picks.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, two over three will take, though. That's not it's not terrible. We like to hit back-to-back Colpey's full head, sort of in sick, but Lugz has to go and ruin it. But that wraps up most of the quick shoutouts. We have to end on one quick somber note, though, Lugz.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, quick moment of silence here ah for a friend of the pod, Eduardo Bove, unexpectedly went down with cardiac arrest, probably in the 11th or 12th minute in the Interfiorentina game. Match was suspended and eventually postponed. The good news is that Bove was alert in a week and knew where he was as of this morning at the hospital. But you really hate to see this. We're seeing this a lot more over the past couple of years, especially ever since the Erickson incident. But again, ah Hopefully, Bovee with a quick return here. Obviously, his health is first and foremost, but he's a young aspiring player that we do want to see back in the pitch, and hopefully he does come back soon. So, prayers up. Well said, Lugs. That'll take us to a quick break.
00:21:34
Speaker
back from the break to get into the reviews of last week. Again, like we mentioned, there was a couple games we missed in European competitions, starting with the Champions League. We had Juventus go to Aston Villa. They actually drew that game, nil, nil. And I think Moths, our resident UVA fan, will actually take the draw there. They kind of got bailed out at the end of the game, right?
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I said this on the last episode. We were going to play for our draw no matter what. We had 14 guys, free field players to play this game, three subs. Totally went for the draw. Did not earn the draw. Villas scored in the stoppage time. De Gregoria went to jump up on a free kick to catch the ball. Just clearly did not catch it. Was a foul, fell on the ground, faked an injury. Villas scored in the ref.
00:22:19
Speaker
Called it back shouldn't been called back should have lost. Thank God. It wasn't we'll take the draw and move on We got to start winning game. So Did you guys do speaking a team that does not win games in Europe? Bologna hosted Leal lost that game two to one I'm actually feeling good about Bologna recently in the league. So I'm kind of happy with them losing more European games. They They're kind of out of it at this point. They've been playing very bad in Europe But things are trending in the right direction elsewhere, which is the good news. Kind of like flop Italiano, right? Like he went to Bologna to do the Champions League. Obviously, it was a major hill to climb, but like try to win one, right? No. Like what do we think on Italiano going to Bologna for the Champions League and having this lackluster of a performance?
00:23:08
Speaker
It's tough because, like we yeah, we say he went there to go to the Champions League, but this was also, he went there to be like the start of a bigger project than he had at Fiorentina. And Fiorentina was kind of shuffle the cards start new every year. And I think they still kind of are that.
00:23:29
Speaker
And with Bologna, I see this being a little bit different of ah of a project. And i I think that has something to do with it too. but they the i I see what you're saying, Novos, but based off of the two starts of the season, and obviously it's only 13 games in, it looks like Fiorentina is a better spot to be than Bologna.
00:23:51
Speaker
I agree, but do you think that he would have thought that? I think everybody probably would have, right? I don't know. I think his time at Fiorentina was coming to an end, right? he did He did well there, so he tried to take the next step in the Champions League team, but at the end of the season, it could be Fiorentina and the Champions League in Bologna, nah. And he him back in the conference league, that he knows so well.
00:24:13
Speaker
very shrill Very true. Very true. I keep it at Roland in Europa League. Both Roman teams played last weekend. Lazio hosted Luda Goritz. Could be right. Could be wrong. They tie that game. Nail, nail. And then Roma went to London and pulled out a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur. I don't know where that came from. I don't know. You don't see that many. You don't see that a lot by Roma this year.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, and Tottenham are good. like then They're not a fake team this year. They're they're actually good. Shout out Packey. So he'll have to let us know what happened there. He didn't send us any match notes on this one. The other European game we had was in the conference league. Fiorentina hosted Pafos and I wrote this wrong.
00:24:53
Speaker
Fiorentino won this game three to two at home. Like we said, they're going to continue to boss this competition. That's going to be a Chelsea Fiorentino final at some point. I wonder if we could bet on that right now, like a future, like that final, like what the odds are because that would be. then You could probably parlay them to make the final. Yeah, but the problem is you don't know what the the knockout bracket is going to look like yet. That's true. They could be on the same side. Okay. That makes sense.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's the concern there. But in any case, let's get back to Kelcho. Let's get back to why we're here. Match week number 14 happened. There were some pretty good matchups. The first game you want to talk about brings your attention. Emply at AC Milan. Milan won this game three to nothing. Big takeaway from this one. If you did watch it, you could pretty much not see anything for 90% of the game. I don't know why. I think it was fog. It was horrid.
00:25:49
Speaker
ah But anyway, they want this game through to nothing to Johnny Reinders and netted two more goals. Alvaro Morat and net one as well. For me, one of the brightest spots on the line has been to Johnny Reinders. Loge, you've been odd at him. Here he is again. This is a guy that he just seems like he can do everything right, right? He can dribble, he can pass, he can score as we're seeing now. They might have trouble hanging on to him at the end of the year because this is that type of position when you got guys that are so complete like this that people are willing to throw huge sums of money at too.
00:26:21
Speaker
He really does do everything for this team. um And again, I like kind of chalk him up to a much more polished Tenali, a little bit less bite, but more polished on the ball. And certainly a little bit higher. High praise. High praise. That is high one of your favorite players. And I love Tenali. I just think that I think Reinders is just visibly and more polished on the ball. But I think that just that comes from a little bit less ph physicality that Tenali brings. In any case, ah to your point on keeping him,
00:26:51
Speaker
As of the last couple days, there have been some very promising quotes out of Reinders saying that he's very happy with Milan. They're very close to extending him. He's going to get a decent raise. Three and a half million euros is what I'm hearing. And so I'm I'm confident that we keep him.
00:27:07
Speaker
This guy is borderline world class at this point. He's the most consistent player on our team. Obviously, Pulisic takes the headlines and um is involved in a lot of our goals as well. But Reinders is really all over the place making it happen. Play defense, transitioning the ball, being an outlet, following up on on the break. and and being that drop-off man where where he scores a bunch of goals. Great finish on his se on his first goal for this game. Half volley, just way to get over it. I mean, beautiful finish. Second goal, I'm just going to say that I've never seen this Emily team play worse defense.
00:27:42
Speaker
We got the ball at the top of our 18. Fofana is able to break out. Also, side note before I continue. Fofana's passing has been phenomenal the last couple weeks. I don't know if that that was in the scouting report when he came from Monaco, but certainly wasn't on my radar. His passing is so on point. His passing leads to Reiner's breaking out.
00:28:01
Speaker
but they were playing three center backs, as Emply always do, and Reinders just dribbled at all three of them and no one stepped. Not a single one stepped, he gets to the top of the box. He puts a shot on net, not even really that great of a shot, goalie makes it such a poor effort, gets to the back of the net, I'm not mad about it. um And then you love to see Morath again after it, ah a good goal, obviously a little bit of luck with the big deflection, getting two in, a little bit of deflection on the shot to get into the net, um but luck to see him getting on the scoreboard there.
00:28:30
Speaker
Tammy probably should have had one there at the end. Emply probably could have had one still there having a lot of defensive troubles from the Milan side. But one thing I will say is I'll give a little bit of credit to Fonseca here to realize that finally he had a kind a little bit of confidence to be like alright we're playing a much a much less attacking squad in Emily. Emily has gone to show that they won't score more than you know one goal, maybe not no goals in every game, but they won't get scored on. So for us to go up 2-0 very early on the first half was a byproduct of the fact that we left our two center backs on islands.
00:29:08
Speaker
Everyone else was getting forward high press high energy that allowed us to get those two goals in the first half. I think a lot of other teams do try this against the employee. It just so happens that this game they you know, they finally went in a little bit of luck was on our side. um I do want to air on the side of caution though that I hope that this isn't the.
00:29:26
Speaker
approach that we use with every game because it was super high risk, high reward. We just ended up getting a bit lucky there. Emply played it horrendously throughout. So I think it was a a little bit of our good tactics, way to get forward, way to take advantage of leave ah of the chances that we had. But on the flip side, Emply, you got to be better.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, Emply were very bad in this one. Mike, that can't be overstated. Their first half was miserable. They pretty much did nothing right. They were trying to play more expansive, build out from the back, and it did feed into Milan's hands, so they they probably looked better than they have in the past month, two months or so, because of how bad Emply were.
00:30:04
Speaker
But what I will say in kind of what you had been saying that I really liked about this is two games in a row, they did it against Juve and then they brought it now to Empoli is high pressing, very high pressing in the final in the the final third, high pressing out of the mid block. It was extremely effective against Juve.
00:30:24
Speaker
now extremely effective against Emily. I think two out of the three goals actually came from the presses and they created a ton of other a ton of other opportunities there that didn't necessarily go in. So that's something we can finally point to Fonseca and a possible identity, right? We've seen it two weeks in a row. I don't think we've seen anything two weeks in a row for the the other part of the season.
00:30:47
Speaker
So it maybe just took a while, but they're finally doing this, they're doing it effectively. And it seems like there's more of a plan, right? Like we're defending, we lose the ball, we counter press, or they have the ball, they're building up from the back, we have a press, we have a system. This is how we want to try to score our goals, rather than being this kind of in between possession, in between this and between that kind of thing, which is really good to see. Because I'm not sure Milan are going to be able to win the league like this. But this is a step in the right direction from where they've been this season.
00:31:15
Speaker
to piggyback off the step in the right direction there, Vos. Stat of the day for the Paisanos. This clean sheet makes it Milan's fifth clean sheet out of their first seven Serie A home games, which is the first time they've done that.
00:31:33
Speaker
in 20 years. So I know we've been kind of giving them a lot of shit because their defense isn't that compact. They're always open. They're easy to counter. You score the same way every single time. But he's fun. So I was starting to figure something out at home. At least we're hard to score on them at home, which means it's obviously hard to beat them at home because it's the first thing first time they've done that in 20 years. So that.
00:31:57
Speaker
with Fonseca also beating Inter for the first time in like six seven eight matches or six six years whatever that drought was he's starting to do things that Milan's never done before so that is always a plus right the second plus I took away Logan obviously covered it in that great breakdown he gave us but You're starting to find the players that Milan need to play with game and it came out. That's a really good point. Fafana and Reinders need to be in the starting lineup every game. Polisic and Liao need to be in the starting lineup, obviously. If Morata can continue to stay healthy, he should be playing. But Tammy, when he gets subbed in, brings on great energy. So you're starting to see more and more come together. I still think they have question marks with what two center backs that they need to play.
00:32:45
Speaker
but you're starting to get much more solidified players to start every game. Yeah, definitely. And from an Emily perspective, I will say that Lorenzo Colombo, former AC Milan man, probably should have scored. And that opportunity did come directly from attack down the left side of the field. You beat Emerson Roy out, cross the ball, and which again, has been the issue the entire year. So we have to just make that point. But overall, Emily got destroyed in this game. What I don't like that Emily has been doing
00:33:16
Speaker
is getting away from what got them as high up the table as they are. They sit in 10th right now. They got there by not losing, by being impossible to play against. And I get that you want to be a little bit more expansive to maybe take points, get some wins, but this is not the game to do it, right? like like At the Sun's Hero, that's one of the hardest places to play in the entire world, let alone in the league.
00:33:39
Speaker
These are things just get a result. Like don't try to build from the back. Be just hard to beat. Be fine without the ball. And they got away from that. And that is ultimately what led to their demise.
00:33:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's thing it stinks for Emily because like they didn't try to do this against games that they, or teams that they should have tried to do it against, right? Like one of those lower level teams, like Uden Essay, go try to get that win. Not against Milan, kind of go back to what's got you there, but not, that was not the case for this game, which is why kind of was a wake up call zero to three. Like that's what happens when you play with fire, you're going to get burned.
00:34:18
Speaker
But i don' not to bring it back to Milan, but one more thing really quick. Maybe Fronseca has figured out how to attack these ah lower level Serie A teams that he says he struggles against because they typically sit so far deep and it's hard to break down a team when they're sitting in that low block with 10 men behind the ball. And it's just throw everybody forward in the first half and hope something sticks and try to get as many as you can. And then in the second half, just kind of play it out, possess it, death 5000 passes. But obviously, we're saying that because it worked out this game, that could backfire on him. But we'll see how he how he approaches the next lower level team in the cereal.
00:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And hopefully we see some consistency now. Again, we've seen it for the last two games. I would like to see that go to a third game. Keeping it rolling though, another team kind of lower level that were sticking to the way they've played, sticking to what got them here. Lazio went to Parma. Lazio won the hottest teams in the league, had won five in a row before this, I believe it was. Maybe more than actually. I think it was like, yeah they won, they were they didn't... I think it was eight or or eight. I think it was nine of their ten, nine of ten.
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah, they had been rolling, they lost this game three to one. Again, we've been saying it, Parma are a tricky puzzle to go against. And if you aren't on your game, they absolutely punish you. In this one, a couple of things that didn't happen. Nicole Ravella for me had the goal of the season and like the second minute, unfortunately got called off because of a foul that he committed earlier in the play. That's a whole nother VAR discussion that I don't love, regardless, goal got called off. But then what happens?
00:36:00
Speaker
Parma pressing high up the field. When the ball back, Dennis Mann jumps the ball, gets its scores. A couple other goal scores in this one, Anaz Haj Mohammed. Tunisian player for Parma making a Serie A debut, 19 years old, netted a beautiful one. Again, Parma countering attack from the top of their box all the way down the field. Three against two, netting a goal.
00:36:23
Speaker
and then to seal it in the 90th minute their captain Del Prato again on a counter attack granted Latio toss everybody forward then net to third. Notably Tati Castellanos did net another one in this game.
00:36:37
Speaker
For me, this was a a instance of Lazio were running too hard and kind of underestimated who Parma are. And we've been talking about how good Parma are. Some of this may have been Baroni not being used to a a position of being a team that's top of the league, right? Like top five, where you're kind of just rolling and It's a little bit foot off the gas. We don't need to be hard nosed in the training sessions, maybe. We don't need to overthink our opposition or prepare for them as much. That's what really struck me in this one. Because the way that Latte were playing was very lax and kind of casual, which is kind of the opposite of what they've been doing all year, which is playing kind of no nonsense in possession, no nonsense out of possession.
00:37:22
Speaker
Direct, very direct. Yeah, very direct and and smart. And in this one, they just allow Parma to press them in areas that Parma wanted to press them. And all of the goals came from that. I mean, this was exactly what Parma wanted to do, especially at her home. And it was a phenomenal performance of the of from them.
00:37:42
Speaker
The other thing that's important to note is Lazio probably should have scored a couple goals in this one. Parma's keeper Suzuki, who we've highlighted several times this year, made some phenomenal saves. um They had 2.6x cheat, so they did create chances. But again, Parma just created their chances, and they they don't really miss. Parma score if they get their chances, and that's why you got to be careful with them. This was ultimately Lazio not being careful and getting punished for it.
00:38:09
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of good points there. What I kind of took away from this and what I thought after the watching this one and seeing the score line, Parma. have gotten better like they are they're fully growing and they could be here to stay before the 10 games uh 10 games they probably lose this game and this game was two to one or they probably tie this game this game was two to one and 80th minute after tati scored right so last game or maybe a month ago, a month and a half ago, two months ago, they they let a goal in, and it's 2-2, and they get only one point. They were able to defend well enough, even when Lazio were throwing all their guys forward, to hold them off, and then because they were so out of position, we all know how well Parma does on doesn't the counterattacks, we're able to get the goal to kill them off. So this is a great game for Parma to take and grow from, as you see them growing throughout the season.
00:39:08
Speaker
and they can build off this. And and like you said, both Parma, they're yes, they're super tricky, but especially at home. We saw them dismantle Milan at home. Parma's got one of the biggest stadiums in the Syria, which is why it was crazy that they did end up getting relegated when they did. But now that they're back up, it's going to be very hard to go there and get three points. It's going to be hard to get one point at Parma, let alone three.
00:39:31
Speaker
And if they can continue to grow and kind of defend like they did in the second half and hit on their lethal counter that we know that they have, they can finish where we thought that they might after that Milan game, ah middle of the table, like 10 or nine or eight or something, not eight, but around there.
00:39:48
Speaker
And each one of their individual players are great. So we can't say enough good things about Parma. And I'm very confident at this point that we're going to see them in the top flight next season. I think they're far better than a lot of teams that are currently under them. And from a lot to your perspective, I think this.
00:40:05
Speaker
will actually be good for Baroni and his his kind of learning curve with this team because he, again, he went from Verona where you're kind of punching above, you're trying to punch above your way, you're trying to get results, but now it's, we're Lazio with how good we're playing, we have to try to beat everybody, but then you can't have this kind of result if you want to win the league, right? Like you can't go to Parma, a newly promoted team and lose three to one.
00:40:32
Speaker
Right. Antonio Conte isn't really going to do that. I agree, let's pump the brakes. Lazios, they're not winning the league. That's not their expectations. I think because of how well they've they've been performing in the last 10 eight games, people are saying, oh, wow, Lazios, you're here and they could finish top four, which they could do. But let's not forget that everybody thought that Lazio was going to not finish in a European spot because of how poor their summer was. They're obviously overachieving now. They're playing great.
00:41:04
Speaker
These things are going to happen with the team like Latio because of the the lack of depth, I think. So I would just say pump the brakes on in terms of winning the league. But yeah, top four is obviously their goal, probably, especially with how hot of a start they've had.
00:41:20
Speaker
Cool. These are two of my favorite teams in the league, too. So I was kind of happy to see Palmer get one. um I would have preferred to be against somebody else. But we're done. The last game we want to really look into, and I don't think we need to spend all that much time on this one, but Napoli are still top of the table. They went to Torino. We'll be trying to talk about it a little bit earlier, who have not been great um in recent weeks. And again, they won this one one to nothing. Not a crazy result. I would say Musso.
00:41:48
Speaker
Not really, kind of an expected result. The highlight of this one, Scott McTominay, that's another one. Napoli, second week in a row, playing a little bit differently than we expected a typical Antonio Conte team to play. Being a little bit more effective in possession and being okay, having a lot of the ball.
00:42:09
Speaker
and creating chances off of crosses and using guys that they have up there with Romelu Lukaku and now Scott McTolene who's sometimes playing as like a second striker when they're really high up the field you have two guys that are well over six feet tall both very good in the air both very physical And Antonio Conte is a approaching this with, as when we're playing teams that are worse than us, we can afford to create more chance and be on the ball versus at the beginning of the season. That's not the Antonio Conte we were really used to. So that's why we really wanted to highlight this one. I think but a lot, like you said, more of the same from Napoli. Obviously, there's some differences, but this is what you've thought that this is what you expect from Napoli, right? Not too much possession, score, good defense. What I kind of wanted to flip it is to Reno.
00:42:56
Speaker
We might need to start talking about them possibly getting relegated. They cannot score. They had an XG of .25 this game. They didn't have any good opportunities. And that's not the first time that this has happened. They have not scored since October 20th.
00:43:17
Speaker
like Since they were having such a good start to their season, and since Zapata tore his ACL, we said it. They're probably going to start to struggle because where the goal is going to come from. um You're starting to see them missing Belanova on that right hand side. They cannot score. And I don't know what's going to happen with them. They they might not be able to. I eat that water.
00:43:40
Speaker
It is a good point that you risk because they have been very, they've been terrible. And because they had a good start is the only reason that they're they're still in 12th place. Right now they're four points clear of relegation.
00:43:54
Speaker
But it's weird because with Zapata going down, I still wouldn't have expected it to get this bad. Like with how they were playing, they just bailed on it. They were being a very offensive, ball-dominant team, and I just find it hard to believe that Duvan Zapata was the key cog in being able to do that, and they just fully abandoned it. i I don't really understand what has happened.
00:44:16
Speaker
Well, it's not that they abandon the style of play necessarily, but he's the end product that put it in the back of the net. And that's what they're missing is putting it in the back of the net.
00:44:28
Speaker
And I guess it is easy to underrate how good he is as a nine. Like he's not good for a lower level team. He's just a very good player. He's got one of the the most or top five most headed goals ever in the Serie A. Like he's a finisher. And I mean, they had that, had and weren't they, were they top of the table at one point? And they are now they may have been four points off of relegation.
00:44:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's scary. And then in the next couple of weeks, so they are playing Genoa and then they're playing Empoli. So kind of do or die, both are really hard games. Yeah. They could get down their mounts. That's a really good point that I hadn't really thought about. Well, do you think they're staying up? Well, I just think it's interesting that the juxtaposition that we just talked about a Parma team who's finally regained some steam. They're sitting at 15 points in the league.
00:45:27
Speaker
at 11th and they just have a goal differential ah advantage over Torino who also has 15 points and he is just sitting at Guelph-Goulis. So it's it's kind of a weird place to be right now for Syria on mid-table teams because you drop points here and you are very much back in the relegation battle. And if you win you win some games here, you put yourself very nicely in you know, the 8-9-10 spot. You know, Porma didn't win that game, they're in 17th. So, it's it's a peculiar place for a lot of these, I would call, average teams and police Porma's Torino's of the world that they need to stay consistent. Well, it's crazy that Roma's even in that conversation, but but correct, even Roma, that they need they just need to at least grind out some some draws because you drop, you get no points out of a week and you are in a bad, bad spot.
00:46:17
Speaker
yeah i mean Yeah I mean this isn't losing to Napoli as a bad result right? That's that' not per se. like again owe yeah Just to bring us back to what actually happened this weekend right? He was Napoli but now like you're Gerino you're playing Empoli who is one point clearer of you. Gotta get it done right? No these games are gonna be dog fights I mean From Uda Nesei to the drawing at this point, Roma, I mean, these are more going to be dogfights. Yeah, I mean, nines now in the mix. Nine to 18 is six points. It's two games. and Again, but they they all start they're all going to be playing each other in the coming weeks, puts a ton of importance on these games and where the three points or the one point ends up going. So it'll be interesting to see who who makes the right adjustments, who's able to lean on their core players and who doesn't have those core players.
00:47:10
Speaker
which brings us perfectly into the battle for relegation. What mods? I just want... I jumped the gun on not talking about Napoli. Just wanted to give another quick stat to the Paisano's. Napoli have nine shutouts in their first 14 games, which is three more than they had in their Scudetto winning season. To be fair, they were scoring a million goals. Yeah, they were. I agree. In the Scudetto winning season. They weren't the most exciting team in Euro the year they won. Yeah, they were so fun to watch.
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah, that was the best team to watch. But anyway, getting back to the relegation battle, we had a battle of two of the teams that might get relegated, Monza, Wintacomo. I'm going to, kill I'm only going to let you have this one, Lush, because you have been backing and I'm going to, I should loop lots into this, but you've been more vocal about it. Little lads at the Lake couldn't get it done at home against Monza, who theoretically you should be beating at home. They tired one-to-one.
00:48:08
Speaker
Listen, Como actually played a phenomenal first half. They were dangerous. They were attacking. ah in Actually, the most surprising part about how well they played in the first half was that Nico Paz was actually rather quiet in terms of ah his involvement. Catroni was playing out of his mind. And Da Cunha was also playing very well. So they have other guys, other pieces. Their Strifetsu was a little quiet as well. And they were able to put one away.
00:48:35
Speaker
where it came to be a problem was they weren't able to keep up that momentum from the first half into the second. And Monza actually played some beautiful soccer in that second half, getting some nice passes together, nor can the ball up the field rather easily against this como defense, which ended up resulting in a corner. Nikko Paz has his arms nine feet in the air. It goes off his elbow. It's a handball. It's a shitty handball, but it is. They get a penalty.
00:49:03
Speaker
and And Monza puts it away. So a 1-1 draw here is actually pretty accurate for what the game played out to be. But for two bottom of the table teams, it was actually extremely exciting. And there was a lot of talent to be seen. mine canir be With how Como wanna play, this is the one where you have to be able to deliver that. Like if you're going to be a ball dominant, expansive team, Monza at home is probably the best game to showcase that right now.
00:49:32
Speaker
No, 100% agreed. and they What but the biggest problem with the them is... but I feel like the whole team is really excited to be on the ball and they love having the ball and they love getting forward. But as soon as they give the ball up and the possession changes, they kind of just switch off. There's there's no fight, there's no fight to want to defend. there's no good And so there's no green gun on defense. And so- That's what I've been saying. that's your you They built a team that is meant to compete for like a Champions League spot.
00:50:05
Speaker
but their quality is relegation level. And that's what has worried me this entire time. Well, the other problem is that a lot of these guys are trying to use this as a stepping stone. So they're, they're looking for the highlights, right? You don't get a ton of highlights, especially from a mid table team, but that's that you, once you go up one nil in a game like this, you need to shut it down and they just weren't able to do that.
00:50:30
Speaker
No, they were not. And keeping a roll into two other teams down low. Hellas Verona went to Callery. Verona, very bad. Continuing to get worse. They are definitely in trouble with relegation. Lost to Callery, who have been very good. Probably outscoring expectations. We knew they were going to be hard to break down. But they've won some more games. And this one, Roberto Piccoli, netted another one. He's having a phenomenal season. And there's a lot of guys on Callery that are continuing to score. This is a team that I thought Mikey relegated. Now I'm very confident they're staying up. They do everything right. They bring it to the bad teams and they they play for draws against the good teams. I know how much you love them. I want you to retract that statement. Very confident of staying up because once again, ninth place could go down right now because there's six points out of relegation. Like it's two bad games in a row and you're in relegation.
00:51:23
Speaker
I know, but for me, like the difference between like Calgary and the other teams around there as choluy is, Calgary is- I agree, I agree, but still, two bad games, like two flute games, and you're at bat you're in relegation. Like, that's how paid it is.
00:51:40
Speaker
Definitely. Some other games that happened, Venezia going to Bologna. They lost, they won three nothing. Venezia is going down. night They're doomed. They can't win anything. Can not. Yeah. For Bologna, this is a good one. Dan and Doi netted two goals. ah He got a PK, he drew his own PK, and then took the penalty, which is nice to see. Scored one from Open Play, and then Ricardo Orcelini then the penalty. There was a lot of PKs given this weekend that I thought were relatively soft, and I think it also happened in Europe.
00:52:09
Speaker
Side note, I just don't really like that. But this is a good one for Bologna. For Verona, you're dead and die. Keep it rolling. Genoa went to Udinae. Patrick Vieira's first win for the team. 2-0 win at Udinae is a very, very good result for Genoa, who are very much in the relegation battle. And this is another one now, Udinae, kind of spiraling in my mind. They are really falling off. Yeah, they are. I just don't know where Udinae derives their like there's their I don't know who their captain is I don't know where they're getting goals from anymore thousands really falling off as the years going on so I'm not sure where they like what their I feel like it would not say soul searching
00:52:54
Speaker
ever since their house start. And I don't know where they're going to find the motivation or the the tactics to to really pick up wins when they really need to. I can tell you that a recipe to not get a win is getting a red card within the first five minutes of the game. but That's not going to set you up for success, which happened to them. so They are, they started, they went similar boat to Torino. I think that they're obviously better than Torino because they're not struggling to score as much, but another, another club that was top of the table. Obviously everybody knew Torino and Udenese were not going to stay at the top of the table or necessarily be close to a Champions League spot. But I do think that people were not expecting them to slip up as much as both teams have slipped up.
00:53:44
Speaker
Udenese has got one point in the last five games. Torino, same exact boat. One point in the last five games. These are clubs that have been in... I know Udenese almost got relegated last year. They were able to save themselves. But these are clubs that have been in the Serie A for like multiple years in a row now that know how to grind out wins against lower level teams. And we're not seeing it this year. And because of the race being so tight, you never know with these two with these two clubs.
00:54:13
Speaker
Shouts to Vieira, though. Congrats on the first one. Yeah, Pinamonti scored again, too, which I love to see. I still think he's going to be a good striker in this league, so I'm happy that's continuing to roll. And to wrap on Nirenese, this might be us seeing a, like, a what's it called? but Not relegation, like a... A renaissance. Now, going back to the norm.
00:54:36
Speaker
Reversion to the meanversion to the mean of their roster level because they didn't really reinforce all that much from last year so it may have been a case of starting the year well because of your consistently Consistency that you brought over from last year, but now we're seeing a team that almost got relegated with not a ton of changes Moving in that direction. So I guess it shouldn't be all that surprising It's tough because Delafeyo is not the Delafeyo of past. He's it's not even playing. Core player for for an essay for a couple of years there. Is he even there? I thought he left. He is only doing an essay. He just has not played a single minute. Yeah. Old bag. A couple of the games that happened. Mots, dude. Yuve Lece 1-1. Not killing. Just a lot of- Pavel Hovitch was hurt. What's up with that? He is. He was hurt.
00:55:31
Speaker
Oh, they he just turned into Taram for a second. Oh, my goodness. ah Just more of the same from Juventus. We have all of the ball, but we do not ever create anything unless it's from Konsei Sao who ended up hitting the post this game. Yoda did create a quick opportunity in the first five minutes of the game that Logan's alluding to, that Taram just did not score an open net. Yoda's crossed it across.
00:55:58
Speaker
The box, so Ram should have put it in, he put it you may put it wide, I don't know how. And, but you take, take away that chance because that was a clear, like 1.0 XG for Juventus. Juventus would have had 0.25 XG against Leche in 60% possession. The goal that they did score was the luckiest goal you'll ever see. If you saw it, it was Kambiaso decided to take a shot from 25 yards out. A Leche defender tried to block it. So didn't get to the goalie, ended up deflecting and just wrong for the goalie dribbled right in.
00:56:35
Speaker
But then you have Kambioso in the 90th minute instead of trying to just kill the game and pass it back to Perrin. He tried to, for some reason, counter and try to go get another goal, turned it over, led to the, to the, uh, Rebbech goal. So there are a lot of growing pains, like we've said. Once again, you may still have it lost though, but you gotta, you gotta win this game. This is a game you gotta win, right? Kalyari's at home is a game you gotta win. They're not winning the games you have to win.
00:57:03
Speaker
Thankfully, they're still close to the top four. They're only Five points off of Napoli and first so we're still in the race, but things has to be figured out. We need to learn how to score goals um We need to learn how to create And this but this is stuff that goes back even past motto, right? I saw a stat another Saturday of is the third stat of the day for the Paisano's Juventus have Be a Serie A record for the most ties in a calendar year. So in 365 days, it was 17. Juventus have now tied 18 games.
00:57:37
Speaker
an insane amount of games that you need to you need to win. And I'll say this one last thing and then move on. youve The Juventus that I grew up on that won the nine Scudettos in a row was very similar to what we're seeing now. like Everybody's in every single game, but Juventus in the nine years would just figure out a way to get the goal in 90th minute.
00:58:00
Speaker
And like everyone was like, oh, they're so good. They do it all the time. This is what happens when you don't get that goal. You're seeing the other side of it. And so they got to figure out a way to be the Avengers of old and just get that goal to win them the game. Yeah. But for me, like the problem with this one is they had it already.
00:58:17
Speaker
like What they've been so good at is just holding the ball and not conceding goals. So when you're up one, nothing, at let's say, how do you not get that done, right? Cambiaso decided, I'm going to try to dribble by all the 11 guys. He turned it over and we weren't in position or we weren't like in the correct position to defend.
00:58:37
Speaker
If he, I'm telling you, if you go watch it, he could have just passed it to, I think it was Waya on the right and Waya could have just dribbled the game out. He decided to not pass it and just try to bob and weave, lost it, like three dribbles in and we were screwed. Shout out, Hante. That's his shut up rubbish. I mean, he only scores against Juve. He's got like zero goals against everybody and then he's got five against Juve.
00:59:01
Speaker
is the UVA killer. Quickly, my my takeaway from this game, and it kind of goes back to the point Vos made a couple of episodes ago, where UVA are on a very distinct timeline, and top of the table is not in the timeline right now. This game to me showed a lot of immaturity from a lot of the squad. They actually were rather creative. They got a ton of chances in the first 25 minutes, so I think what happened is you kind of just get, you get down on yourself because nothing's going. A regular season, a team would have been like, okay, we're on them, we're peppering them, let's go get one. They kind of got a random one in the second half, 20 minutes in. I'm not sure what happened in the locker room in halftime, but it seems like they were kind of just emotionally drained from that first half. They had one go off the post, they had Taram, they had the off-sides on Waya.
00:59:54
Speaker
So from my perspective, a lot of what they need to do over this next year will put them in a really great spot for next year. But it's just a lot of, it's literally just growing pains. It's getting older, it's getting more experienced, it's gelling as a team. That's what I didn't see. And what i what confirmed for me today was that they're just too new in this in this structure. But it's such a great foundation moving forward. But it's just not their time. Last game.
01:00:21
Speaker
Womatsu, we gotta know one more thing. No, nothing, I agree. Last game that happened, it actually happened today, Adalanta went to Roma, probably unsurprisingly, won this game 2-0, Adalanta are absolutely firing, and this one Martin Derun scored, and then the other notable goal scorer was if Kolo Zendiola came off the bench, netted off a header off of a corner to make it 2-0, then in Rome,
01:00:47
Speaker
400 club pops off the fucking tar. It goes absolutely ballistic. There was kind of like a, like a scrum at the end of the game. You really just made it a fucking scene. But this is just Adelanta overpowering a team once again, right? Like if you aren't going to score goals against Adelanta, you are not going to win. And this was probably Roma's best defensive performance for maybe like a tactical structured approach to things. And I can see this now getting better.
01:01:16
Speaker
But if you're going to sit in a shell, you are not going to beat Adelanta. Like the only way to beat them is to go and try to get goals against them, because this is what happens for a lot of the game. Adelanta couldn't find the net and then just relentless service. And eventually they are going to get one. They are going to get two.
01:01:35
Speaker
The relentless service hit it on the nose. I was watching this game. The amount of crosses they put in, but I'll even take it a step further. The amount of crosses that they end up getting on the end of is insane. I don't know what the stat is, but I want to see how Adalanta's crossing accuracy is what percentage it is because every cross they they got on the end on it. And I don't think that that's not necessarily a Roma problem. like They weren't attacking the ball enough. I think it's just every game Adalanta puts in 75 crosses and they get on 60 of them. Eventually, one of them is going to go in. like They just are really good at finding their players in the box.
01:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, ah i'll I'll take this from a Roman perspective. Another game, nil, nil at halftime under Ranieri. But it this is this is the purest form of Atalanta. You shut down Rotegi, they bring in the support, some arjage. I mean, they even brought in Quadrato, which i you know played well. They subbed out all three of them. They subbed out their top three. Yeah, Lukman off, Rotegi off, the CDK come off as well. yeah So I mean, even in that sense, it's like they you you shut down one lineup. It's like the Kentucky team of years past, they just had two full lines. They can just swa swap out their front three for their bench front three, and it's no different. They're still going to they're still going to pin you down. The other thing that I saw, but especially in the second half, which I think goes very much in line with, all right, they're going to overwhelm you.
01:03:05
Speaker
When they had the ball and they were just sending in crosses, Kean actually slips up into the box as a second striker. They're one of their center backs. Kasuno and, was it Jim Sitti today? Whoever that other third center back is. Was it He and goes up into the box, another 6'4, 6'5 guy in there ready to just get ahead on the ball. So no matter what you do, there's always going to be they're always go be on the front foot when it comes to being the final third. And it just clearly just overwhelms Roma to no end. And that's what happens. 2-0 with a 70th and 93rd minute goal. A little bit more about Roma.
01:03:46
Speaker
Dabala had one of the most creative passes to Dobic in the box. I i mean, I've seen Dabala do that a lot. I think he was offsides. No, he was on. He was onsides. And the announcer goes, and Dobic just forgets the ball. Like, all Dobic had to do was just tap it by the goalie, and then it would have been an open net. Couldn't even do that. Dobic's been one of the most disappointment disappointing signings of the summer after scoring 29 goals in La Liga. He's been pulling at Dusan Blavic.
01:04:15
Speaker
Mancini, they had a, I think it was a free kick whipped in. Mancini put his foot out and hit it straight up and then rushed the rebound and just hit it even farther up. And this time out of, out of bounds had to do better there.
01:04:32
Speaker
I will say there, I can't remember if it was Atlanta's first or second goal was lucky on a deflection, but you just, you need more from Roma and DovBic and everybody. And, but, and then the last thing I'll say is Zanyolo, you can just shut the fuck up. Like.
01:04:49
Speaker
Clearly you were trying so hard to score a goal. You did score good for you, but like you're not having a good season. Yes, ah your team is doing better than the old team you were on, but you went there because you know, Gasparini can resurrect people's careers. You haven't been good since you left Roma. So I think that was a pretty like.
01:05:09
Speaker
I don't know, a douchebag move by Zagnolo. I hope he, it this could be like one of those things that like, oh, you win, score on Roland now, like you feel invincible. He's, it's so, it's gonna be so tough for him to break into that CDK, Lookman, Rategi up front because those three are flying so high and don't look like they're gonna stop anytime soon. He's never gonna be that consistent starter with those three. Definitely, I agree with that.
01:05:38
Speaker
But I think there are going to be more games like this where they will they are willing to rotate them because just unlike the attacking front, in this one it was Samarzic, Quadrato, Bruszcianini, and Sanjolo offline. And all four of them played really well off the bench. So it might be Gasparini being more willing to sacrifice Rotegi or CDK to get fresh legs for maybe not 10 minutes, but maybe 25 minutes to see what they can do. And performances like this are where it gets you that.
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. Also, last point, this makes Adelante's eighth consecutive win in the Serie A in a row. Pretty good. Second place, one point off the top. And for Roma though, Loves, you had a stat, really bad one. Yeah, last time Roma lost four games in a row in league play was November, oh wait. Coincidentally enough, 16 years ago, they could not win a game this November.
01:06:37
Speaker
and I won a game this November, so it seems like history is repeating itself. Hopefully the markets don't do the same thing that they did at the same time then. Shout out, finance. But it's anka it's not a good look for Roma, but like you said, Vos, I think that this, the first half is certainly a more positive showing that we have seen in games past, so we might be looking up. ah It's not that hard for Roma to look. up Are we even? No. I was just gonna say, are we even expecting anything at this point? No.
01:07:04
Speaker
From how bad Roma's been in the beginning in the first 10, 12 games of the season, it's not hard to look better than what they have looked. And yes, I somewhat agree that they maybe looked a little better, but like not a lot.
01:07:22
Speaker
The other thing that I did take away from this was him like the 70th minute, the entire team just ran out of gas. Like they were all like lying on the field, gasping for air, which is a whole separate issue. They, they looked like this was the first game they fully tried in and maybe that's why they look good. But like Brian Cristante, I don't think actually got injured. He just ran out of energy and just flopped on the ground. Like he couldn't stand up anymore.
01:07:49
Speaker
And there was a lot of guys like that, which was really worrying to me. Yeah, who knows? What surprised me? I mean, they just haven't had a consistent trading schedule. So that's also new of last season. so All right, well, guys, that wraps up match week 14. We're going to take a quick, quick break, and then we're going to get it into Copa Talia previews in match week number 15.
01:08:10
Speaker
We're back from the break, guys. We got four Copa Italia games this week. We got Monza, Apollonia, Sassuolo, Seri B Sassuolo, going to Milan to play AC. I don't love this. I can't say I'm confident. Vos, you just said it.
01:08:29
Speaker
I mean, those Siri B teams better than, better than Real Madrid these days. So Fonseca, this is, Fonseca already has like something written down in case they lose this one. They really don't make them like those Siri B teams. Give me a Real Madrid every day and I'll read Clarity. Interview with Siri B teams. Other games going on, we got Empoli going to Fiorentina. Tough mid-week game with what happened at the weekend. And I think we forgot to mention it.
01:08:53
Speaker
No, we didn't forget to mention that. we like got Just a reminder, Inter versus Fiorentina got suspended, postponed. Last game going on, Napoli at Lazio. And then at the weekend, bring it in into match week number 15, Lazio then go to Napoli. So they got each other twice in one week. My guess is that they both rotate the squad in the Copa Italia. Yeah, content doesn't even fuck about the Copa Italia.
01:09:20
Speaker
Concha is fully sending the Syria. I missed the intro of the Monza Bologna game. Just wanted to, oh wait, no, nevermind, I lied. I was gonna say that was Italiano's bowl, but that's not fjordino. Odd me. Oh, you think your paladino bowl? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's not either of them. It's not either of them, but anyway.
01:09:42
Speaker
We're not going to talk too much about the co-pitalic games. We'll see what happens in those. I expect a lot of squad rotation from pretty much everybody playing.
Predictions for Upcoming Matches
01:09:49
Speaker
But going into match week number 15, I would say Lazio, oh, there's a lot of good games actually, a but leading off with Lazio and Napoli. For me, Conte is going to get the best of Verona in this one. Napoli at home.
01:10:02
Speaker
Lazio was good, they just suffered their first kind of major defeat in quite a while. Napoli is just going to go about their business the way they do and I i see them struggling. The other thing is Nino Tolaris is still hurt and I would see him being a very effective player in this game if they did have him, but they don't. yeah And as with the goals that's Akane scored, I'm not all that worried about him this year. He has scored on a couple of penalties.
01:10:27
Speaker
And I would say that's, if anything, that's where Napoli's weak point is. So I just see this being as good as Lazio or are better. And where you would want to try to hurt Napoli, Lazio don't really have their T guys there, Nino Tavares and Zaccagni at high speed, let's say. Spot on. I also think that, I think Lazio is also going to play the way that they usually play, meaning that they're going to play most of their dogs, and Tante's just going to take all the notes in the world for Saturday.
01:11:00
Speaker
when they play the Copa, is what I meant. So they play the Copa, I think Lotso's going to actually play the way they they usually do. That's just gonna be a ah for first-person scouting report for Conte, and he's just gonna implement what whatever's gonna break him down on Saturday and or someday.
01:11:14
Speaker
I also, if I can bet on it, I will. And I promise I will let you know if I find it. Gunduzi is going to get a red card in this game. Because... Guanduzi. Oh, in the second... In the in the in the weekend one. Because... These are two Redfields that are going to be fucking dog fighting. And Scott McTominay is a legendary motherfucker to play against. Where he just talks so much shit to you. And Guanduzi is historically a hothead.
01:11:42
Speaker
And it's going to happen in this one because Scott McToloney is probably feeling more confident than he ever has. So he's going to be talking his goddamn shit everywhere. And the reason I noticed, because I heard, I heard, I forget who was talking about it, but Scott McToloney when he was like first coming through at Man U and was playing regularly, would just go up to players that are on worse teams and just be like, I make more money than they're like, fuck you.
01:12:06
Speaker
like ah Let's go and just talk so much shit and like it was legendary. We're just talking shit I hope he has a little bit of Italian now, so he should say an Italian but that's one to watch I think this could be a Napoli Comfortable victory honestly regardless of how good lots you are Another game we got going on another great game we have going on is AC Milan at Atlanta This should be a game with a lot of goals because of how both teams have been playing for Milan How are you feeling lugs?
01:12:36
Speaker
Not great. Not great at all. I mean, I think Rategi, Lukman, CDK coming back, playing against Milan. They're going to have a field day with our two center backs, no matter who it is. Gabbia, Cha, Tamori, or Pavlovic. So I don't think it particularly the matters. Also, Lukman against Emerson Royale just doesn't doesn't scream confidence on my part. What I will say is that I think that our front line actually can take advantage of their back three.
01:13:05
Speaker
It just really depends on what happens in the midfield. Our midfield has been playing very, very well. I hope that Fonseca keeps rolling with Musa because I think that he's he given a little bit more of a defensive tilt to our front willing, which has been nice as as a little bit of help on the defensive end.
01:13:21
Speaker
But if Adelanta is able to give the amount of service that they've been giving gaming game out for this game, they're going to score a million goals so because our weakness is the back post and they're just going to target that and they're going to put them away.
01:13:36
Speaker
I agree. what i look What I'm worried about here is, from a Milan perspective, I think the area they can actually exploit is through the middle, with Reinders. Because Atalanta played that two-man midfield. If you can get Fofana, and it would probably be Musa, right? And then Reinders kind of threw the two of them into Werner and deruner or and or Emerson, and like get him behind him. He's going to have a lot of space to run into and make those good decisions, take those long shots that he's been very effective at.
01:14:06
Speaker
What I think is going to hurt Milan is I have a lot of confidence in Belenova to shut down both Liao and Teo Hernandez. He has such an engine and is now covered by Kasunu, who's also been phenomenal. So that's going to be an interesting battle. But again, to your point, our lands are going to get the service and Milan's defending inside the box, especially has been abysmal.
01:14:27
Speaker
And if you're just happering balls into those guys, it's not going to go well. But I'm going to guess he's going to go with Pavlovic in this one because have to of the height. I think Tamori would get. It's because of Pavlovic and Shaw. Yeah. Or Gabbie, I think.
01:14:42
Speaker
I just think that they need the height against Ritegi. But one thing that just came to my mind though is the way that Atalanta do press so high, we might actually bag our pressing and just play for the counter. Oh, I think that's just gonna be a war. I think there's gonna be a ton of goals.
01:14:58
Speaker
it It should be, and I think that would be very exciting, but I think for Milan to be the most successful here, bag the high press, let Atalanta come at you, let them get the cross in, and just hope that we can get a good clearance, have Fofana break the lines like he has been in the past couple weeks, lay it off to Reiners to make a good decision whether that be lay out with Kasunu, Pulisic on the right side against Glasinec, and Mady Murata is able to play one off, you know, a little one-two.
01:15:23
Speaker
Um, but that's where I see AC succeeding. I just don't, I don't know how many crosses we can defend until they actually break that break us down. Yeah. All right. Last a really big game. We got Tiago Monte Derby mods.
01:15:37
Speaker
Oh yes, he's going back or ah this old team is coming to Turin. This to me screams one to one, zero to zero draw. However, while you guys were chatting about Ace of Milan, I went back and looked because Bologna has been starting to figure it out slowly. Since October 19th, they've scored.
01:15:56
Speaker
only less than one goal or less, only one game. Every every other game, it's been two goals or more. And Juventus is the exact opposite of that. They typically score one if they score. So that's not the recipe for success there. I would also add that both these coaches, no to no surprise, are going to want to play possession. So it'd be very interesting to see who wins the possession battle because they both just love passing it for no reason.
01:16:26
Speaker
This game, on paper, sounds like it'd be a great game, right? It's the Bologna wannabe Tiago Mata's new team. I'm sure Tiago Mata wants to be his old team. It's Juventus vs Bologna. However, when you get down to it and you probably are watching this game, I'm sure this game is not going to be the most fun watch because it's just going to be a lot of passing. when When is this going to change, though, for Juve? Like, we we keep saying, oh, this is Juve, this is Juve, this is Juve.
01:16:55
Speaker
Is it next year? I don't know, dude. I really don't know. It it would be like Coop Miners isn't playing in the role that he was playing with Atalanta. He's like all over the pitch. He's never really in the box to score like he did. He was so much so much against or with Atalanta. I think Yieldiz hasn't played his best since since we've slotted Coop Miners in that 10 role. I think maybe you should try Yieldiz in the 10 role. But the thing is, if you take Coop Miners out,
01:17:26
Speaker
or put yielders in the 10 roll, we're missing a winger. You know, it would you know be great with yielders at the 10 and a winger. um kiesa he'd be He'd be great right there. and There's always that thing with, our there's always going to be now with the injuries, right, with Nico Gonzalez. du something I mean, it's just on and on. There's a big list. So, I would probably say, like, maybe we'll start scoring goals when we have a fully healthy team again. But who knows, right? And it's also, I don't want to use an injury bug as an excuse because we still spent a ton of money. We still have a lot of good players that are healthy, like Conse and Sal, like Koop miners, like Taram, like Wei has been playing well this season. So,
01:18:08
Speaker
I really don't know, but I will say this. If you go back to last season, last season's Bologna, Tiago Mata's, and I said it in many, many episodes, Tiago Mata's Bologna tied a bunch of games and their XG was really low. So he's just very good at defending. He has possession. So we'll have to see, but I would, I would blame some of it on the injuries, some of it on the players and some of it on Mata.
01:18:31
Speaker
You guys still haven't lost, too, which is insane. We keep it over all the other games we got. We got Parma going to Inter Milan. Scary game for Parma. This might be a three, four, five, nothing game, honestly. Dads. Parma's plus a thousand money line. That's a crazy... They're just not gonna get it done. Junfer are so good at just mothering, counter-attacking teams. It's just not gonna happen. The other game is you got Torino going to Genoa.
01:18:59
Speaker
Good game for Genoa to get one. Get one on him, I think. Letche going to Roma. Come on. ma This is where the season turns around. I like Letche recently. Letche have one loss in their last five. Two wins, two ties, one loss.
01:19:16
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's pretty good form. That's, Roma's got four losses in one. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, I don't know if Roma can get it done and nobody seems to be scoring. Uh, keep it, keep it going though. Callery going to Fiorentina. I'm still worried about Fiorentina and how they react to the, the bové situation and not to like downplay what happened to him, but.
01:19:37
Speaker
This is something that can like get, get like a team. You know what I mean? Like guys might not be able to focus this stuff, the other thing, or they could go on and win the league on this and be like, Oh, we gotta like, we're going to be the best team ever now because he went down and and Mark made the semis. What was that team of destiny?
01:19:55
Speaker
Denmark made the semis the year that Ericsson had his cardiac arrest. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting. Cali research is still a very difficult team to play against. So I never back anybody to necessarily win those games. Empoli going to LS Verona. I would like to see Empoli go back and get a point here. They could probably beat Verona, but they need to kind of get back to basics and get one done. Como going to Venezia. Good for Como, playing the worst two teams in the league outside of themselves the next last couple of weeks. Lo, is he going to win here?
01:20:25
Speaker
Little lads have a win and then this is the take on the money line. That's how I would say it. Vanessa, Adam Koma, you have to win this game. You have to. If Koma doesn't win this game, that i then I have to quit on the Koma. And then last game going on, Udineze at Monza. good but Big one for Monza. Big one for everybody. dead All these games are super important. But that's a match for 15 guys. Before we let you go, we got one more segment.
01:20:54
Speaker
called PD Luna called me my streak continues my streak is going to continue Yes, that was beautiful. Thank you. You know what else is beautiful? Me winning three in a row, four in my last five in the Colby, going for four in a row. What I've been doing in the past three weeks is, I don't know if you Paisanos have caught on, strictly overs. I'm no longer betting results because they're just impossible to predict in the Syria. yeah
01:21:26
Speaker
but You can kind of predict how many goals are going to be scored. Uh, and I have three in a row for my last five. I've been over and I'm riding it again. And there's a game in particular. There's a team in particular who averages two goals a game. And there's another team that lets in two goals a game as well. So that's four goals right there. And the team I'm talking about is Adaland to averages two. Milan lets in two. So let's take over two and a half of that game. Love it.
01:21:55
Speaker
there comes it by hit mine is i just want to make that math meant no science yes i agree yeah can we make a no on the math the how does technical sense but i land toig war two butan con seeit to that equals four goals but
01:22:10
Speaker
Not sure I'm that mad. The cold pick is already locked and loaded from odds. The other thing that I have to say is you hit the last three, but I think the worst odds are minus one 52. Oh, like you were definitely going for for smart picks. I had to come back. I was
01:22:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's full of momentum right now. Yeah, you are full of momentum. I'll go into my pick. I'll pick in the same game. I've backed Adalanta a bunch. I have them in minus one and a half a lot this this year. I'm walking it back just to Moneyline. I really like everything they do. They don't really like to draw. So I always kind of back them to win boot outs, especially against teams that are going to play into that. Milan, I think, are. That's why I've got Adalanta, Moneyline, plus 100, even Lani.
01:22:57
Speaker
And I am betting on Team of Destiny here. Again, hopefully Bove is all in well, and he comes back soon. But I do think that Fiorentina reacts positively to this, and I have the minus one and a half against Caliari, plus 132. Brings a full colpy to plus 541. We're going for two full colpis in the last three weeks. Would be nice. Would be nice, and I think it is possible. So, would be nice to fund the Black Friday. But right now, we're five...
01:23:24
Speaker
out of six in the last two weeks. and Yeah, it's true, because Loves is the only one they miss. Yeah, so we've hit five of last six legs. That's pretty fucking good. Yeah, let's let's keep bringing it up. lost like you Like I said, ah again the the season started 10 weeks in and now it's back to normal. And so since match week 11, we're pretty hot.
Social Media and Podcast Follow-up
01:23:45
Speaker
Gopi's hot. Gopi's hot. We'll let you guys know how we did on Monday, because with that, we are done. Loves, where can everybody follow?
01:23:53
Speaker
Thank you guys for another wonderful episode. Sorry for my disappearance for a little bit there. We had to deal with something, but you know where to find us in between now and next week since we are one game a week on all the socials. X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, at tauchoculturefc, and wherever you're listening right now, Spotify or Apple pods.
01:24:17
Speaker
my Take us away, baby. Forza, you vey. Nah, I'm just kidding. Paisa Hano's Don't Be a God Goose and Forza Count Show Culture.