Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
AC Milan Shock Inter, Paulo Fonseca Saved, Vlahovic A Write-Off, Roma Mutiny (Ep. 457)
3k Plays1 month ago
Carlo and Nima react to a dramatic weekend of Serie A football, as AC Milan stun Inter in the Milan Derby thanks to an 89th minute winner by Matteo Gabbia.
Is this a new beginning for Paulo Fonseca? What went wrong for Inter?
We also analyse the goalless draw between Juventus and Napoli, and look at whether Juve should give up on crisis-hit Dusan Vlahovic.
There is chaos in Rome as Roma sack their manager, appoint a new one, see their CEO resign, their fans launch protests and threats, and their owners buy a Premier League...all in the space of seven days!
Elsewhere, we have a shock leader at the top of Serie A, and first wins of the season for Eusebio Di Francesco, Vincenzo Italiano and Raffaele Palladino.
Plus our usual Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week and much, much more.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all. To NEVER miss an episode of The Italian Football Podcast (and support the show), go to Patreon.com/TIFP or Spotify to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast, the official podcast of Football Italia.
Milan Derby Analysis
00:00:11
Speaker
I'm Carli Garganese, joined again by Nima Tavalli, who has been on his travels around the world. He went to Dubai last week and and he went to to Milan ah for the Milan Derby.
00:00:24
Speaker
And that's where we'll be starting with ah today. Of course, the ah huge shock in the Milan Derby is that an 89th minute winner from Matteo Gabbia gave Crysis Hit Milan a dramatic but deserved 2-1 win over Inter and saving Fonseca his job in the process. It will break down Milan's fantastic performance.
00:00:45
Speaker
and but also look at what went wrong for Inter.
Juventus vs Napoli
00:00:48
Speaker
There was another huge game at the weekend, Juventus against Napoli, which finished 0-0, much less exciting as defence is dominated in a game of pretty much no chances at all. And the biggest talking point is, again, Dusan Vlawic, who had another horror game and was hauled off at half time.
Roma's Management Chaos
00:01:06
Speaker
Is it now time for Juventus to start thinking about giving up on Vlawic?
00:01:11
Speaker
There is chaos at Roma, despite beating Udinese at 3-0 on Ivan Urich's debut on the bench. The Roma CEO has resigned in the aftermath of the Daniele de Rossi second amidst what some are calling a mutiny. It's been absolute chaos in in Rome. And also the Friedkins are also buying Everton football club, which doesn't help things either.
Serie A Updates and Standings
00:01:36
Speaker
Atalanta Game has been postponed due to some crazy rain in Bergamot and we also have a shock leader at the at the top of Serie A and we have our usual bad joke prim face in Serie A as of the week. For all our first thumbnails this is our free weekly episode that we usually do every Monday reviewing the weekend Serie A action and all the biggest talking points in Italian
Patreon Promotion and YouTube Availability
00:01:58
Speaker
football. If you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all of our content that we do throughout the week including our weekly Q and&A episode every Thursday where we answer or every Tuesday rather, where we answer all of the questions from our Patreons, plus the weekly Thursday, midweek review, share plus interviews, post-match reaction, and much, much more, then go to patreon dot.com, slash T-I-F-P, and become a subscriber for just $299 a month, plus VAT. You can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify. I'll provide the link in the description. It's the same price in terms. And for all of you that do listen on Spotify, Apple, and ah iTunes Podcast, we'd really appreciate it if you give us a five-star rating. Give us a follow and a like. And we're also now on YouTube as well.
00:02:34
Speaker
Give us a subscribe to us there. And we're really starting to to grow a ah nice following there. All of that really to help us grow and do more quality content for you guys.
Tactics and Team Unity in Milan Derby
00:02:45
Speaker
Okay. Let's get into today's show. So the Milan Derby, I already did a post-match quick fire reaction on, on Sunday evening, but let's now talk about this ah with Nima back. Nima was at the Milan Derby.
00:03:02
Speaker
and So we will get a lot of insight from from them But let's first of all talk about this from the Milan point of view because this was really the big narrative Going into the game the fact that Milan were in crisis that had a disaster starts the season They'd just been destroyed by Liverpool in the Champions League and more importantly Paulo Fonseca was on the brink of the sack it was unanimously reported by everyone really in Italy that Fonseca would be sacked after this Derby and if if its a if Milan didn't win. In fact, there was even some that reported that even if Milan did win, that Fonseca would be sacked unless they put in ah a really great performance and they did put in a really great performance and they did win and Fonseca has saved his job. never Yes, he has um because
00:03:50
Speaker
What we saw ah from Milan was a complete team performance ah over 90 minutes and at a time. they They stuck to their game plan. They managed to execute the game plan that Fonseca had put to them.
00:04:07
Speaker
um and they managed to do so brilliantly even though there were periods when they suffered um in the game especially in the first half after winning three equalized and part some parts in the second half they they managed to ride out the storm and by sticking to their game plan sticking to their to what they've discussed that they were going to do. um One thing that they did which was very interesting ah was that they did play a 4-4-1-1 with Morata dropping deep to help out and create and and numerical advantages in the central of midfield to intas 3 or with the two wing backs 5 because when they did that they had they together with Liao Pulisic on the wings
00:04:53
Speaker
who inverted a little bit, you have Royal and Teo coming in, as well as Wanata dropping, there were always passing lanes for Milan's midfielders and defenders to pass through. And Inter were not switched on um and weren't as energetic um and Well, they looked how we're going to get to Inter, but they weren't able to to match that. And so basically what happens what happened was that Milan were able to just play through Inter and nullify Inter's passing lanes and also passing game.
00:05:30
Speaker
um It was masterfully ah executed ah by by Milan and that kind of a performance shows that the team is united behind Fonseca, that he hasn't lost the dressing room, which is very important. That's the only time you really have to sack a coach is when you feel that the players are no longer responding to the coach.
00:05:53
Speaker
But they did. They really, really did. And if you remember, I said so on this podcast and I've said it all week that I did not think that iner my, my feeling going into this game was that it was going to be a draw or a Milan win for the simple reason that Milan's backs were against the wall. Um, they were in complete crisis. You know, when you were in Milan, every all the only thing everybody was talking about was.
00:06:19
Speaker
you know, Milan fans as well as Inter fans was, was basically what the hell's going on at Milan. Um, findings, Latin, Abrahamovich cringe after that Boban interview
Inter's Performance Issues
00:06:31
Speaker
where they were like, this is not how you behave as a director. And of course, uh, the rap battle between Feddes and, uh, what's his name, who, who everyone is saying is a fake PR trick. Um, but those of those were the conversations being had going into the Derby.
00:06:48
Speaker
Um, um, and, uh, no, it's, uh, when you look at it, um, like if you take on, uh, if you take on the, uh, if you take on this game in and of itself and the way that Milan handled it, the way that the the changes that come for second made everyone who came on knew what they were doing.
00:07:10
Speaker
Um, and everyone who came on continued to execute the game plan. I thought immediately when I saw the predicted lineups from the day before 4411 was just, I was, okay, this is, this is going to be difficult for that because it demands that Inter have to run more. It demands that Inter have to move more and nothing so far this season, I suggested that Inter are physically able to do just that. And that's exactly what happened.
00:07:39
Speaker
um So no, Milan won deservedly, they created more than enough chances to to win 3-1, or even 4-1 if we're honest. um But poor finishing, um ah best exemplified by Tammy Abraham and Noah Okafor.
00:07:56
Speaker
um ended up being uh you know the allowing Inter to still be in the game until the very end because this was not a good performance by Inter at all um they look very sluggish very slow um but no well done Milan and and it's and it's good for the Milan Derby because if you look at it from an objective point of view the Milan Derby was you know it was a very strange atmosphere. I've i've been to so many Milan Darby's, I've never felt anything like it. it was Milan fans were very quiet, Inter fans were too relaxed, and that changed the dynamic of the Darby completely going into it. Sure, at the stadium you're always there, it's always going to be a fantastic atmosphere, but the build-up towards it was not like the usual ones.
00:08:44
Speaker
And I think that's because Inter have won so many Darby's in a row. Six. Six in a row. And there could have been a record if they had won the seventh. Now that's out of the way. But more importantly, from an objective point of view, what's good for the Darby is this Darby needs the spicy talking points. This Darby is built on both fans being confident going into a game. There was none of that. Milan fans were were quiet and Inter fans were relaxed.
00:09:12
Speaker
And that's not good for the dynamic of the Derby. And the fact that you have two local lads, one of their own, ah scoring in the Derby is even more important for me, Dimarco Gabbia, because it allows the city of Milan to identify closer with the Derby. um Because it's always going to be an international affair when Inter and Milan play. But for the for the identity of the Derby in Milan, it's important that you have local heroes.
00:09:41
Speaker
um that play protagonist roles in this derby. And as such, um now this result breathes life into the derby. It's like a jolt of energy right into its heart because it was becoming a dead affair. It was becoming like Manchester United versus Man City during the Alex Ferguson years. That wasn't a derby. That was a there was Manchester United playing a shit team. But here now you have actual the spiciness of the Derby back. And that's for the Derby itself, the Milan Derby itself. This was very, very important to, to kind of breathe some new life into it. And talking about breathing, in the breathing new life, I mean, breathing new life into, into Milan as well. I mean, I don't want to go over and repeat everything that I said in in my post-match reaction about the formation, the 442 formation, how, how that worked so perfectly. Um, you know, the, the, the fighting spirit of Milan.
00:10:40
Speaker
the the the mentality, how they played as a team. And all that, you know, ive've i've I've said all that in the, in the post, which I want to go over that. But, but what, what was surprising for me is, is not that they showed fight because it is a Derby and in a Derby, you know, at the very least you expect the teams to be up for it or or the the team that's struggling to to to find something extra. What surprised me was how compact they were in what was a new formation.
00:11:14
Speaker
which i they've not used before, but also in what in a season in which everything we've seen from Milan so far is that there haven't been compact at all. They've been so open. They've been cut through at will and there just has been no structure to the team. And we saw all of that in in this game. And that's what that's ah that's what surprised me the most.
00:11:38
Speaker
i again Well what impressed me the most is kind of connected to that and that is the fact that Milan's press was so intelligent. They knew when to fall back and when to push up cohesively as a unit. They didn't go too high up because they didn't want to concede too much space team and they didn't drop too deep to become to sit in the lap of Mignon and they did it as a unit throughout.
00:12:02
Speaker
and Alvaro Morata was kind of the key in that it was as if he was the reference point for the rest of the team knowing when to do what um and and that's the hardest thing to do and they did it they executed that part masterfully and it was very interesting to see um how they handled situations when they were in trouble which they weren't too many times in this game but there were occasions they were and the way that they handled it and bounced back and every everyone knew what they were doing. um There was no panic. There was none of that confusion that we've seen so far um from Milan. And as such, it was ah it was a good it was it was a good performance by Milan. It was something it was everything you hoped for ah going into this Derby as a Milan fantasy.
00:12:52
Speaker
a Milan that, okay, fight, you're always going to see that in a Derby, but a Milan with cool heads, with a clear game plan, and with an identity and looking like a team, which is exactly what we saw tactically, psychologically, um and also as as as a unit, defending as a unit, attacking as a unit, clear instructions, who does what. It was very, very good for me. Yeah, that's what impressed me. though They seem to understand that everyone seems to be on each other's way. Well, 442 is like the reset formation for everybody, isn't it? Like it's when in doubt, you print the re you hit the reset button, you go to 442 and then you tweak and then you move towards to where you want to go.
00:13:35
Speaker
um I, when I was watching that, because when you're in the press time, you've got an excellent view of the entire pitch. And you could tell that Milan without possession were a 4-4-1-1 and in in transition, they kind of almost went into a 3-5-2 at times even, or a 3-4-3 even, but they knew they never got lost in in the formation. um And they never got lost in these transitions, but they were excellently balanced.
00:14:02
Speaker
um And they also, one thing that was really interesting is to see Pulisic invert and then just go straight towards goal, like for the first goal. That was clearly something that Fonseca decided he'd see, he'd identified a weakness and and he he used it. um But, ah you know, cause he said himself on the, he fibbed or lied, if you will, in the pre-match press conference, he said he was going to, you know, the best way to,
00:14:29
Speaker
to, you know, not to concede chances is to retain possession. They weren't too bothered with that. In the first half, I think Inter had 55% possession. Milan, it's not like they didn't have possession. No. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying what they did was they were comfortable to not have possession because they still knew what they were going to do. And they knew when to press and push and win possession.
00:14:52
Speaker
and to retain it and to play themselves like I said by creating numerical advantages creating passing lanes which Inter were unable to to counter so it was a very interesting tactical battle it was very well executed by Mila and Fonseca hats off to him he showed ah chinio that I did not think, or which is I have been critical of him of, because I've not seen it at Rome, I've not seen it elsewhere either. But he showed that tactical cynicism, to use the Italian version of that word. um And he had all the players behind him. um and The question now is nima is like where Milan go from here, because you know this is just one game, it is just a derby.
00:15:36
Speaker
not just a derby but a derby as we said where form can go out of the window and now we need to see whether Milan can bring consistency and in the next few games and that that that's going to be the key now um for Milan how well they can do and and whether ultimately you know Fonseca can be a long-term success at Milano, whether this is just a you know this is just saving him for for a few more weeks and delaying the inevitable. But you know I think that you have to stick with the formation, the same system now that's worked. You have to stick with this 4-4-2 formation. But also when I look at the personnel, I think the changes that he made for this game
00:16:12
Speaker
that also that he needs to stay with the same with the same players. And we're not and um I'm looking at Gabbia, I think should be a starting centre back now next to Tamoria. His performance was brilliant. Forget about the goal, but just his defensive performance. He he was he was wonderful. Gabbia, you mean?
00:16:30
Speaker
yeah gabia yeah yeah tomori was a headless chicken gabia nixa tomori and and and the what i like about gabia is something that i've spoken about quite a lot in the last few weeks is that i feel like a lot of milan defenders defenders individuals rather than as as team players and they vacate their position and they get greedy and they and they they press alone and they they try and gamble and i think we see that with with all of the milan uh defenders that are currently on the roster now. ah Certainly Tomori does it a lot, Pavlovic does it a lot, Tiau when he plays does it, Teo Hernandez definitely isn't isn't a a defender who who is is orthodox, let's say. and So what I like about Gabbier is he is he is
00:17:18
Speaker
he is more orthodox in the way he defends, he keeps his position, he's safe, he's steady, he keeps things compact. And and I think Milan need a defender like that in their in their back four, especially someone next to Tomori, somebody that can just kind of ah be be a calming influence next to Tomori. Well, Gabbier is a classically schooled in the Italian central defender.
00:17:41
Speaker
Um, in the sense that even though in the sense that he's not, um, a super defender or a world-class defender yet, or we've not seen anything to suggest that, but he's a classically schooled Italian central defender in the sense that he provides that calm, the defensive, uh, defensive calm mindset. Um, and this performance will obviously just increase his confidence to max because not just for the goal, he was outstanding, even when Tomori went walkabout, which he does for the, for Inter's equalizer, for example, Tomori just lost his head. I mean, he's a half, he's two meters behind the defensive line, which is why DiMarco wasn't off-site. And Emerson Royale as well in the first half was a bit of a headless chicken, but in the second half, he was actually really good.
00:18:30
Speaker
yeah um but because he found his place there so that there is there are positives even for the players who might have struggled a little bit but for me I have to say the best Milan player was Reinders I thought he was absolutely unplayable him and Teo were just unbelievable Teo was a captain and you can tell that he wants to be the captain he wants to be important he wants to be a leader But Tijani Reindeis was just unbelievable. And he was given time as well to play these no-look passes, to thread balls through, two to kind of create for Milan. And now he was outstanding. He was outstanding. He was. I really think that Reindeis has so much potential. He really does. He's just, again, that word, kind of like that lack of discipline going
00:19:19
Speaker
going off and doing his own thing that is that is the one thing about him but you know he was playing in the midfield too with Fafana and I thought Fafana was really really good as well and you know I think we found his his position like like if those two can can keep playing like that then that's gonna that can be a really really formidable sense of midfield partnership that's well they need to play them too in the middle as a pivot I think right now that they need each other you can't just it gives me a lot more balance um it It makes life simple for Fafana. What was good about Rynders in this game is is that he he made the right... um We know how good he is on the ball. We know he's fantastic at making those little surges and those little bursts. He reminds me of Kovacic a little bit and actually has the same probably the same weaknesses as Kovacic. But what Rynders does, and let's let him down since he's joined Milan, is that you know he his decisions of when to push up, when to hold back,
00:20:14
Speaker
kind of when to just sit there and and create a midfield unit. Like that side of the game, he he he doesn't you know he hasn't quite got it. Whereas in this game, he actually he was perfect in that sense. he When he had to to to sit and hold a compact duo with Profana, he did. But when he had to make those little bursts forward, he went on one amazing run in the second half, slalom him run.
00:20:40
Speaker
you know when he when when he had when it was the right time to do that, he did that. He he was he was absolutely he was actually brilliant. It also helped by Morata kind of dropping in ah dropping in as well into midfield, which he did with Spain as well with the Euros. I thought that was help, that that that stopped Milano from getting kind of over, because it had a three to Milano's two. And too and that a that's the when Morata drops in deep and you have Pulisic who likes to invert,
00:21:09
Speaker
And so does Liao, you know, you were them three together with those two, that's five players. And if you also count in, depending on where the ball is, Emerson Real down the right tail on the left, that's another person. And this Milan needs that in order to.
00:21:25
Speaker
to be able to, when under pressure, pass themselves, you know absorb the press and be able to play themselves through that. um So Fonseca saw that and and yeah he got them executing that and that made everyone kind of calm down. I think he's um he's really handled himself really well through this first crisis.
00:21:46
Speaker
he's He's done everything right. He's been a calming influence. He's, you know, trying to everyone to kind of, you know, take away the pressure and, you know, build the team spirit and build the team around it. And it seems to have worked. Whatever problems they had after that cooling break or whatever, it seems to have kind of, that's all gone now because they're, you can tell that Milan are, they have something to build from now after this, not just the win, but the performance. It's a team.
00:22:14
Speaker
we've been you know So far, before this game, we haven't we hadn't seen a team. um But now we saw an actual team. Something was clear idea, clear identity in both phases. And it looked really, really good. And it's moving forward. Look, I think already against Venezia, they were they were showing signs of this.
00:22:33
Speaker
um I think Milan will, well I still don't think they're going to challenge for the Scudetto by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that this gives them some breathing room and breathing space and above all time to continue reaching to where Fonseca wants them to go, which is the next step. He's not going to play a 4-4-1-1 until the end of the season.
00:22:55
Speaker
But he is going to try, he's going to try to move towards a more four, three, three. That's what he wants to do. And he will move towards that because he just needs the players to find their confidence, to be, to be, to believe in what they're doing and find their feet and then slowly move towards to where he wants to go. Um, and I think now they've got lecture at home.
00:23:16
Speaker
ah you you know, they've got Lecce at home, Fiorentina away, and Udinese at home. And I mean, seven points is not unthinkable though from those three games. And of course, you've got the champions leading as Leverkusen as well. So, no, it's um it's it's not unthinkable that Milan, you know, will... And and after all that, they're level with with Inter on eight points and only three points off the top of the table. So, you know, we're talking crisis. Now there's there's no no need to panic if they can kind of get on a little bit of a run, they can they'll definitely be in the mix. But let's move on to Inter though now, because because as I said in ah in my post-match, know it does take two to tango and as good as Milan were, Inter were were unrecognizable.
Inter's Fatigue and Management
00:23:58
Speaker
We sat here after that that performance against Man City, Lietti had, and just we praised Inter about what an incredible performance, what a tactical masterclass it was from Simona Inzagi, just how good everyone was.
00:24:10
Speaker
I mean, this, this just didn't look like the same, same team, same inter team. And then exactly had a horror show himself. I mean, what, having been there at the game, what, what went wrong? it was What went right? but What went wrong is that inter's physical status after this pre-season, the one where they obviously worked the harder than they've done before more intensely, which as a result,
00:24:38
Speaker
You have Chala Noglo Bastoni, Barella all having muscle issues, muscle fatigue issues. You've seen other players struggle. You've seen, you know, kila this was a step up for Lautaro, given previous performances.
00:24:52
Speaker
DiMarco looked better, um which he hadn't, you know, even played 90 minutes. But um the the issue is that they they have they still look like a team that is one week ah you know one week post the preseason retiro and that is a problem because that means that they They're not match fit in the sense that they're not 100% in their fitness levels and they look tired, devoid of energy. they they you know the the What the mind wants to do, the body fails to because of lack of energy. And you could see that time and time and time again against Milan in the Derby. They wanted to create their passing lanes. They wanted to do what they always do with the positional shifts, but they were just too tired. They were too gassed.
00:25:41
Speaker
um And that is a hangover from the preseason. Now, there's no crisis, I think, that it would be ridiculous to say that there was, because if we're perfectly honest, if we look at the Serie A table, no one has you know started you know the season flying you know from the blocks.
00:26:02
Speaker
Napoli at 10, Uve at 9, Mila and Inter 8, Torino's first top spot with 11 points, so there's no crisis. um No one's going to dominate the Serie A, as we both predicted, it's going to be much tighter this season. So there's no crisis, but I think Inzaghi, as he correctly said after the game, and Lautaro said as well, you know they took responsibility.
00:26:26
Speaker
um it is they they need this They need, the players need to be rested into form. And that's why he gave them the day off, yesterday, Monday. um They need to rest. that that's you Right now, this isn't this isn't a structural problem. this is ah This is not a mental problem. This is this is not a tactical problem. This is a energy problem. And the only way to do that is to rest yourself into form.
00:26:53
Speaker
Many athletes will tell you that they you know they they do their preparation, but then they also have to to hit hit that physical peak. They also need to rest themselves. They need to find that right balance. They're not in a position to play three games a week and perform three good games. Monza, we saw something similar to what we saw against Milan. City, they were good.
00:27:16
Speaker
But against Milan, they were again back to they ah the the how they played against Monza. They looked tired and Barilla and Cela Nogliu are so fundamental for Inter, that when they can't perform at their maximum, Inter struggle.
00:27:37
Speaker
Mikitarians should not have started this game. Can I just stop you on the tide in this thing? I just want to expand on the on the tide in this angle because I think there's a few interesting angles to this. First of all, ah picking up on what you've said and I've seen a lot of people saying I i was listening to Uncle Shama who filled in for you last week on the pod who was talking about this on his on his YouTube show um as well. like The thinking behind this extra intense pre-season for Inter? Is what? Is to is to to to make Inter more ready for what's going to be a longer season? Yes, exactly. It's it's the longest season ever. It's a ten and a half long season. Ten and a half month long season with a Club World Cup at the end.
00:28:19
Speaker
So the thinking is that by doing that, you're going to get the rewards. What later in the season, later in the season. Yeah, exactly. Like content would, you know, how he cooks his player in pre-season and all into all content teams look a bit sluggish in the beginning and then they get going. But of course now probably have one game a week. So that's not an issue. Well, let's do our thing to have three games a week. And they pretty much have three games a week or season. Luckily now.
00:28:44
Speaker
would you near season until Saturday so they do get you know they're not playing every three days they do actually get a couple of days extra rest but after that it's games every three season and so now he needs everyone to rest themselves into form Yeah, and I mean, listen, neither of us are ah ah fitness, you know, fitness coaches, I would love to have one on the show to explain the theory behind this thinking for me playing haven't been a player, not not on this level. but You know, for me, I, I don't don't quite get the theory behind it, to be honest with you. Why go extra intense? Why would that help you later on? If you're if you're getting more injuries earlier in the season, because how can that be a help anyway? it doesn't for me that it For me, when you've got such a loaded season, rest would be better, I think. but you know Well, preseason is when players build up their strength for the entire season. I mean, everyone says that's why preseason training is is is like it is. I mean, Zeman used to drive everyone insane.
00:29:46
Speaker
I remember toti talking about how preseason with them and where the worst things he's ever done he just you know that's when football is build up the strength for the i I know that I understand that completely nema I just mean the fact that we are there are so many games.
00:30:01
Speaker
and we're coming off a season where there was no rest at all. Well, not just one year of no rest. It's been like we've said on the show, four years of noise. I mean, Rodry, who's now done his ACL, ironically, was talking about strikes because the players should go on strike because there's because there's there's so there's so many so many games. For me, yeah, I don't know. We'll see. Time time will tell. I would like love to to know from a fitness coach or from an expert, the theory behind it, especially in regards to modern football, because we know this has been a thing. Well, this is how they've always done in the past. In Italy, yes. In Italy, they're famous for that. The interior, the driving them to death is famous. But in modern football, I don't know. Time will tell. I don't think certainly what we've known from interest, it doesn't seem to have paid off in these early stages at all, especially with injuries and with the level of Well, if you look at injuries, well, that's the thing. If you look at the injuries, they're all muscle fatigue injuries. They're all fatigue injuries. And that means that they're not serious injuries. And it also, you know, if I'd be much more worried if it were muscle tears or muscle, you know, stuff like that, but it's not, it's muscle fatigue injuries. And that to me just suggests that rest, rest is the key now. Rotation and rest.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. And because but also on that, on that note about about the players, is, well, in Zaki's rotated heavily in these in these three games, and like half of the five of the players that played started against city, ah didn't start in this game against against the against Milan. So yes, while while I get the whole, you know, they played a day later, they traveled to England,
00:31:47
Speaker
And I'm sure that would have played a role, ah you know, a little bit of a role, and especially, you know, also from a mental point of view, I think that needs to be taken to count mental fatigue, not just physical fatigue, you know, that the rotations in Zurgi done, I mean, I think he did as much as he could.
00:32:02
Speaker
to mitigate that. Which is why he will continue doing them um but the issue again is it's it's ah it's ah it's a fatigue issue throughout with the fact that neither Tarimi or anyone else came on to attack towards the end when Inter were exhausted. that you know It suggests to me that this was an Inter inter who are not, like as as a squad, they are not a physical mint condition.
00:32:33
Speaker
um And that and I think his response to giving the squad the day off on Monday is very very Revealing as to what they feel the problem is. Yeah, the other physical condition point I wanted to make an emir is this Francesco Achebe 36 years old. He played a brilliant game against Manchester City and you know completely silence hard and you had what six touches in that game or something stupid like that and and but You know, it's clear he cannot play twice a week at his age, regardless of what your pre-season was. you You can't, not two top level games. It's okay if you're playing against Venezia and you win 5-0 and he just walks around the pitch with the whole game. You're talking about two two really tough, tough games. You can't play a chairman. He really struggled in this game. So I think Inzagi needs to be a little bit smarter about his use of certain players when they
00:33:25
Speaker
You know, when they, when they, you know, they probably can't play twice a week. That's fitness tests and fitness levels so far show that he can play three times a week. He's actually one of the people in the squad who has the best results consistently in all fitness tests.
00:33:45
Speaker
Well, fitness test or fitness test, I'm looking at the matches. but Yeah, well, i and i so did I. I don't think Achebi was bad in the Milan Derby at all. I think there were players who were... I don't think so at all. I think Pavard. I thought he looked... He laing um he looked... No, Mikitarian looked like a like an old age pensioner who should be rolled down in a wheelchair but whilst he he was completely... He laid into every single situation.
00:34:11
Speaker
He was, his his reaction was late. His challenges were late. His bulb, his passing was late. Everything was about a fraction. Well, yeah, I said that on my post. act I said Macatarian should not be a first choice starter now. no Right now, he can't be because Zielinski above all, needss showed when he came on that he's much more fitter. He's much more fresher. And so he has to start right now. um There's no there's no doubt about that.
00:34:38
Speaker
But for me, Mikitarian was a big issue. Mikitarian... I thought Mikitarian was Dinta's worst player. I thought Achebe was really bad as well. Povade was surprisingly bad. Achebe is to blame for the first goal to a lesser extent. Well, Mikitarian obviously lost it in the first place, but then Achebe you know, you can't, that that's Sunday league. You cannot, you cannot allow a player to just search straight through the center of of your defense. Well the problem with that, the the thing is with Acherbi is he's not very quick and everybody knows that. So when you come at him with speed, he he will struggle regardless of if he's playing three games a week or one game a week. That's just, that's just, that's just him. That's just his characteristics. The problem is that he shouldn't find himself in those positions to begin with.
00:35:33
Speaker
um in this game Now, of course, as I've said on this part, there is an issue with Inter and the central defense because he ain't getting any younger and they need to address that next summer. There's no doubt about that. But Mikitarion, that goal, i mean the way that Pavard and Mikitarion just fumbled it throughout, making so unforced error after unforced error, simple mistakes, reading the game wrong. that that you know That's not just a fitness issue. I think that's a form issue as well. They're not in form either of them. And for me, I think B-Sec has to start right now and Zilinski has to start right Yeah, agreed. The other point I want to make is about is is ah is ah more of ah something that we've seen for quite a long time now, and that is Barela's fitness. but It drives me mad, because we saw this in the Euros, how Barela can go from a world-class performance one game.
00:36:23
Speaker
And then a a three or four days later just looks absolutely dead physically, just like he's got nothing to give. And we've seen this for a few years now with Barela. We've seen many examples of this for Barela, for club and for country. And it's something that, considering he's only 27 years old, is something which which frustrates me with Barela. How he can go from being an absolutely world class in that game against City.
00:36:50
Speaker
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Bess midfielder on the pitch. And then three or four days later, he looks just like he's got nothing left to give it. And we see this with Beretta a lot, where he just looks exhausted. and and ah that there is That's why he came off. you know We found out later that there was a physical issue with him. That's why he took him off.
00:37:11
Speaker
um And the same with Chara Longlan Bastogne. That's been my biggest frustration with Breda for a few years. Ever since that, you know, since the Conte Scudetto season. Well, well, Conte kind of killed him. Yeah. And played him every single game and burned him out.
00:37:27
Speaker
um But look, no, Barilla had a physical issue. We know that. And they're pretty tight-lipped about it. But it's not a serious issue. But it's it's again, it's a fatigue issue. But we don't get enough consistent physical performances from Barilla. We haven't done it for years. Well, I disagree with that. I don't think we there's a problem for him to to to to do that week in and week out. I think the problem is that when he's not, and because of the fact that his playing style is so ruthless to his own body, because he never stops running, and he's everywhere. So that when he when he when he doesn't have the energy or the ability physically to do that, he just looks, he he he he he does give hit and miss like this. But when he is in mint physical condition, he can go on for weeks. um The problem is of course that many times,
00:38:19
Speaker
in decisive moments for both club and country, this is shown. And so it becomes kind of a kind of a thing. But now we'll have to wait and see. I mean, I, I hope before, because again, Paréla is Inter's most important player. Paréla and Chana Noglor are Inter's most important players. When they tick, Inter tick.
00:38:39
Speaker
um And one of the reasons why Barilla, you know, when Barilla plays well is when he can, like this season, when he can play without shackles on his feet. When he has someone, okay, he doesn't, when Dumfries is there, he's much more attacking. But Denzel Dumfries has no tactical intelligence whatsoever. And so Barilla, time and time again in Derby, lost it on Dumfries. You know, I saw it at least three times when he was yelling at him going, why are you doing that? Why are you going there? Why are you passing there? um Whilst when Darmian came on, you didn't really see any of that. And you haven't seen that so far this season. But when when when he's played with Darmian, Balela has been very, very good.
00:39:23
Speaker
So that that that that is also something to take into consideration. um But look, int I think, as I said, as I tweeted out, it's way, way, way exaggerated to talk about a crisis at Intel. No, I don't think anybody talks about that. But there are concerns and alarm bells are ringing in the background. what one not one last alarm bell before we move on to Juventus. Lautaro Martinez still hasn't scored a goal this season. I actually thought he was a little bit better in this game. I thought he was this was a step forward. Yeah, I thought it was a step forward, but he still hasn't scored. is Is that something that? No, I mean, look, he's always going to be a patchy striker. Like I'm not looking I saw a stat that he has one goal in his last 17 games. People who say that are stupid because the Serie A season is five games old. In between last Serie A season and this Serie A season you had a Copa America. yeah he's He was the top goal scorer of that tournament. This is a ridiculous notion of going back
00:40:27
Speaker
across seasons and and and doing and and reporting some sort of oh look factoid that is completely irrelevant. Yes, he hasn't scored in the Serie A, that is empirically true, but it's not one and the same season. It's not 17 games in a row in one season. There was a Copa America and a three month break between those two, those those those games. So no, it's, ah but that's just the the you know, these stat nerds just you know, read off Wikipedia like robots without drones, without using their brains, just annoy the shit out of me. But no, there was a Copa America in between those games where he was the player of the tournament and was the top goal scorer. So no, and it was the previous season. Now, the problem with barre with Lautaro has been, as he said himself in the post game, was that he is physically, he came, he voluntarily ended his
00:41:21
Speaker
um, holidays earlier because of the injury situation. Nobody asked him to, but he took responsibility by doing that. But the problem is that after having played the Copa America all the way to the final, having won it, he didn't have proper rest and he needed that rest. And now he's working himself back into fitness and I thought he, he looked better. I thought he looked better. This, uh, this was a step forward for him.
00:41:47
Speaker
um not it wasn't very good but it was it was a step forward and that means that because he's also the kind of guy you know how he is lautar he's a patchy striker you goal scoring he will always be that he once he gets into form and starts scoring then he'll score five six seven eight nine games in a row we know that that's just how he is he's a little bit like Lukaku in the sense that Lukaku is not difficult to get going but once he gets going then you know he goes on a run and Laotaro is a little bit like that as well once he gets going um he will he will um so I'm not worried I would have been more worried if we'd seen another performance where he didn't move in the right direction um but no it's um
00:42:27
Speaker
I'm not worried about him. I'm more worried about the general fitness level and the general tiredness of Inter as a whole i can and against Udinesse.
00:42:38
Speaker
we need a performance even, and it's a difficult game, it's an udenesu started the season really well and they're, you know, and it's a way at udene where either traditionally start struggle. Yeah, okay. Talking about lack of goals, Juventus.
Juventus' Offensive Struggles
00:42:53
Speaker
Juventus against Napoli, which is a game that finished 0-0 and it was a game where there were virtually no chances at all. The fences won, attacks were non-existent,
00:43:04
Speaker
Listen to this XG from from the game. Of course, this this led to lots of allegory memes. 0.31 versus 0.27 XG in this game, which is pretty pretty mad. i I thought, first of all, before we get to the lack of gold, two excellent defences. I thought the whole Juventus defence was excellent, especially Bremmer, who completely took out Lukaku.
00:43:26
Speaker
And I thought, though, the whole Napoli defence was excellent too. Buongiorno Di Lorenzo was back to to something like his old self in this game. I thought Rachmani was back to his kind of Scudetto Rachmani, especially on crosses into the box. He went he won he won everything. so So first of all, defence is excellent. But we have to talk about Juventus' lack of goal threat and chances.
00:43:50
Speaker
and who is to blame and what is to blame for that, um because this is the third Selya game in a row in which Juventus haven't scored a goal. 0.31 xg in this game as I said and apart from a kind of decent coupe minus chance in the second half where he didn't really have much time to think about it, he curled it over with his weaker right foot That was it really, they created nothing. One shot on target in this game. ah Look at these numbers talking about stats. Last three seria games, zero goals. Last three seria games, five shots on target for Juventus. Last three seria games, these are the the XG's for Juventus. 0.31, 0.73 and 0.42.
00:44:32
Speaker
and Juventus are penultimate in Serie A, penultimate place in Serie A this season for assists and shots on target. and So what is the what is the reason for this? Well, I've spoken about this quite a bit already. In fact, I was the first person to call this out about Motta while everyone was getting excited thinking that you know this was going to be free flowing and that all these new attack and silence. I said the biggest weakness of Motta is that his football can be at times a little bit sterile. Maybe sterile is the wrong word, but he has a ah ah a game in which his teams dominate possession, dominate territory, um control the game. But a bit like the way that Michel Arteta plays with Arsenal is that he doesn't like his players to to overcommit. He doesn't like to push too many men into the box, too many men out of there,
00:45:22
Speaker
their positions, what's called a rest defense, which means if you are to lose the ball while you're in possession, your players are in a rest defense, in positions in which they can't get, you know, can't can't be exposed and can't be hurt. And that's what Mota is brilliant at. And that's why Juventus haven't conceded a goal this season and why Bologna are one of the best defences in Serie A last season. But what that does is that as an attacking force offensively, it means that you can sometimes, if you're well set up, the opponent is well set up, it can be difficult to to create overloads, ah create create chances, basically, full full stop. and So part of it is on Mota.
00:46:08
Speaker
um Part of it is also on the fact that the event is having no strike, which we'll come on to in a minute. but um And also part of it is getting used to the new players. It's a new coach, new ideas.
00:46:19
Speaker
and this is a complete massive change around from the way that Juventus played under Allegri, which was the complete opposite of the way Motta plays. So, um how much do you think this is on Motta, Neman? Is it something that... No, I think... diff Look, we we all knew this was going to... I mean, we spoke about him last year at Bologna, where we said that he's he is a pragmatic coach, he's safety first. The difference between him and Allegri is that he does have a more modern identity when moving forward in the in the in the in the final in the attacking third but other than that this is uh this is a young younger handsomer Allegri that's just who he is he's a pragmatic guy he's a safety guy first he's he wants his teams not to concede because of the the other side of that is that Juventus have barely conceded a shot on target this season in this area
00:47:13
Speaker
um And that's how he builds from the back. And that's why I don't think it's a cause for concern because we're only five, six games into the season, and counting the Champions League. And Juventus will get there because they have the individual quality, even discounting Wlawic, which we're going to get to.
00:47:32
Speaker
to to to win games. And everything about this Yuva reminds me of old school Yuva. From Juntoly, how he carries himself, to how Tiago Mota leads by, leads the team, leads himself, how he talks, how he carries himself, how he's off the pitch, on the pitch, tactically. This to me is just screams of old school Yuva. This is vintage Yuva, the Yuva that we grew up with.
00:48:00
Speaker
um that doesn't choke, that just calmly moves forward step by step, um without caring really what anyone says. um And I'm not the least bit concerned about, because I'm sure that the more they play together they will find each they will be able to execute,
00:48:21
Speaker
the Tiago Mota patterns of play in the final third. I've no worries about that at all. but for The question remains however if Dusan Blau which is on the pitch when that happens. Yeah well let's talk about Dusan Blau which because this is ah this is a huge huge problem for Juventus. Something that we've that we've spoken about for for well again since the start of the season. We said if Juventus are going to have a ah successful season then they need to do some Wlawicz to be the player or be a little bit closer to the player that we we thought Juventus were getting when they signed him almost three years ago now and we are seeing a Wlawicz who is is shadow of of the player that we thought he he would be. And he was a total disaster in this game against Napoli. He got subbed at half time after an awful half. He touched the ball six times in that in that first half. And and so desperate ah were Juventus that they brought on Timothy Weyer as the striker, who's not a striker either. If anything, he's ah he's an outside attacker, if we want to call him an attacker.
00:49:27
Speaker
And and that is now to argue motor acknowledging the problem cuz until now motor has been very supportive and the fending blow which in the media saying he's doing very well even though he wasn't saying that he works very hard he's got a great attitude that he's a great player blah blah blah.
00:49:44
Speaker
Now Motta has, not with his words, but with his actions, has acknowledged that there is a big problem there. and If you're subbing off your only striker, remember Juventus' other striker Milik is injured, so you don't have a striker, a proper striker on the bench. If you're taking off your only striker and you're putting a player out of position, Timothy Ware at that.
00:50:03
Speaker
there, then that is a sign that Motto realises that this is a big problem. And I mean, yeah, he was awful in this game. I mean, he's the way he miscontrolled the bull, his clumsiness. He ruined a couple of, probably even since there's only two kind of dangerous attacks in the in the first half, one was a cross that came in from the left hand side, which he he completely got his feet in ah in a tangle and it kind of bounced off him. And the second one was, ah was ah he messed up a McKinney cross after a really, really great Juventus counter attack. He messed that up by by getting again getting his feet tangled.
00:50:42
Speaker
and he gave the ball away really badly on ah on a McTominay. McTominay did a really good counter for Napoli, had a shot. and he He just does nothing really. he It's hard, you know, we can talk about, you know,
00:50:57
Speaker
the how Juventus are a little bit sterile. Motta football, motta ball is a little bit sterile at times but it's very hard for any team regardless of what your football is and how are you play. If you have no striker it's like playing with 10 men and at the moment it really is like Juventus are playing with with 10 men and with this Vlawic if Vlawic is going to continue playing it's going to be very very hard for Juventus to to really go All the way to go to make that final step because and i've said i think you're going to have a good season they're building something good you can see the structure there you can see the foundations you can see already the progress means light and day compared to to to what it was in the last three years but
00:51:40
Speaker
Juventus don't have a striker and it's very, very hard to win things when you have no striker at all. and So I wonder if Juventus had purchased, the if they'd signed Morata in the summer instead, if this, how much more of a complete team they would have been. Yeah. Because just think of Morata's movements in that, in this team with flanked by, you know, Nico Gonzalez and yieldies and cup miners, how much more dangerous they would have been in the final third. I agree. I agree completely. it's It's a hard question to answer. We don't know just how much better Juventus could be with a with a with a striker, with a proper striker and also one, because I may be to an extent, maybe Blauwitsch
00:52:25
Speaker
his type of striker isn't suited to, and they were talking about this in Italy um a lot after the game, about how yeah maybe Wlowicz isn't the the kind of, you know, mottle needs a striker like a zig, say, like a mo like a maratta that comes deep for the ball, joins with the midfield, picks it up, holds it up, and then allows like the outside forwards to to make bucks to be high. Meaning Wlowicz, meaning, essentially, Wlowicz is still to learn, has still yet to master,
00:52:53
Speaker
how to play with his back against the goal, which is what Allegri was trying to get him to. Yeah, to master. he's He's still on, he's not even a past level one of the game. And that's what Allegri struggled with, with him last season. He was trying to teach him how to play with his back against the goal. And if you are a striker at Inter, if you are a striker at Milan in Juve,
00:53:12
Speaker
That is what you have to do. You have to be able to play with your back against the goal. When you play for the smaller sides, you'll get more chances. You won't be tight to marked as tightly because teams will try to attack you more and as a natural result of that, you'll have more chances and more time and more space.
00:53:27
Speaker
But to succeed at the top clubs when they gridlock you and when they don't allow you a second of space, that's when the big number nines are separated from the provincial number nines. You separate the Vieri's from the Gilardinos.
00:53:45
Speaker
um and And that's, that's all. Yeah, no, I agree. But Wlowicz is, there's no way even close to a Gielardino, the way he's playing. I mean, he's, he's, he's way off that. um I mean, the the question now is, Nemo, is, is what does, does Mota, what do Juventus do about this? by Short term and long term. If we talk about short term as in what do they do this season? What do they do now in the next weeks, the next games, the, you know, looking ahead. um I mean,
00:54:13
Speaker
The options, there isn't really any option there's mill options. There's Milik. There's Milik when he's fit, but he's still injured at the moment. And he has been getting a lot of injuries recently. So I don't know how much he can be relied upon and whether he's that kind of striker either. So there's Milik. Other than that, there's Weijer who we saw in the second half. you know he's He's not up to the the level required or Like you said, you play a false nine. you play ah but Nico Gonzalez has been reports, Tutor Sports reported on Monday that Mott is considering using Kenan Yildiz as a false nine. But then if you use Yunez as a false nine, you then weaken yourself out on the on the left wing. And Yildiz has been really good so far this season, so you then
00:54:55
Speaker
I mean, you play with Bangulo, he's probably not up to the level, or maybe you move Nico Gonzalez to the left and you play Cambiasto on the right or Concesao when he's back on the right, but you weaken your options behind you if you do that. Or you, you know, there's Angelay from the next gen, but I don't think he will be on the level. So you either do that,
00:55:14
Speaker
Or you signed someone in January, but do Juventus have the money to to to do that? i mean i What would you do? What I would do is I'd probably try to play in Mangoula and try to to have a false nine and send a strong message to Vlaovic that this is Juve, everyone is always Soto Izame.
00:55:35
Speaker
ah You have to earn your place at Uwe. And in order to do that, if you don't show it, then I think I'd probably look at now trying to sell him in January and and reinvest that money in a number nine, because it it will have been four years, but three years seven three is in January. yeah excuse me It'll be three years in January and we have seen absolutely nothing. The problem is though, I mean, I agree. I think they should look to sell him, but like who is going to buy him? I mean, you know, what big clubs are going to be interested in Dusan Blauwitsch? Now pay the kind of money that the Juventus want for Blauwitsch. I mean,
00:56:15
Speaker
you know I'm not sure what his amortized cost will be on his contract, which which will require your vendors to get that fee in order to not generate a loss on their accounts. I'm not sure. I haven't worked it out. um How much are they signing for? 80 million on a five-year contract. So 80 divided by five, what are we looking at? 15, 30, 40, 40, 60. Just over about 17 million a year. So you're looking at what, around 35 million is on his value.
00:56:42
Speaker
Something like that. No, just over, because it's still there'll be two he's got two and a half years left on his phone. So probably about 35, they need to make about 35, 40 million ah then to to not generate a loss. I mean, yeah, would someone pay that? Maybe, maybe. But nothing but when you when you've got a bouncer in his his his salary, he's the highest paid player in the league. He's on 12 million a year. I mean, we saw this summer, no one would pay 10 million a year for Aussieman.
00:57:07
Speaker
And Osseman is a far superior player and a proven striker then than Blauwitsch was. And no one would would pay that. you know Even the Premier League clubs are not able to spend these crazy figures at the moment because they're they're hamstrung by you know financial fair play, ah PSR.
00:57:24
Speaker
um So, you know, and when you factor in just how bad Vlao, which is, he looks way off even a 35, 40 million striker and he's shown nothing to to suggest that he can be, I mean, if Motta can't can't ah rehabilitate him and he's like one of the best up and coming coaches, especially at developing players, then, you know, if you're Arsenal, you need a striker or Chelsea, you need a striker or, you know, the clubs that can pay that kind of money,
00:57:49
Speaker
Would you sign, would you, would you pay that kind of money? I think they, they risk another case of the barter situation in that no one's going to be prepared to pay the transfer fee or, and, or his salary. And he's kind of stuck there and you've entered to have a big problem there.
00:58:03
Speaker
and Yeah, and with Kiazaa, they had to take a Minos Valenza even because to get rid of him. um So, no, look, I think, I don't think we're quite there yet. um I don't think we're there yet, but we're approaching the vicinity of that area because I don't think he spent the entire season. If he continues like this to November, December, I don't see him finishing the season at Iove. I think they will look to get rid of him in January even. Because this is, this can't continue like this.
00:58:31
Speaker
um and they'll like look to try to bring someone younger and fresher who works better. It's ironically Um, like I said, Morata would be, would have worked really well in the silver, I think, which is funny given that he's been at the club and wasn't exactly very well appreciated by some fans. And, and, um, no, it's, it's, it's, it's an interesting, it's an interesting, I agree. I agree. Let's, let's move on though. Uh, first of all, Douglas Louise didn't start again, only one start behind McKinney. Now I'm going to park that we've got a question on that on the Q and a, um, tomorrow. So we're going to answer that basically about.
00:59:09
Speaker
is there a Is there a Douglas Louise problem now? Is there, ah they say in Italy, a case, a casa, a casa, don't they? They say in Italy, yeah. Casa Douglas Louise. Casa Douglas Louise, yeah. like the Is there one? um I think potentially there could be. So let's park that. We'll talk about that tomorrow.
00:59:25
Speaker
But in terms of positives, um I am still remaining positive on Juventus because I mean, first of all, the defence, I mean, another strong defensive performance, even without Gatti, he was out 0.27 XG against in this game. Lucato and Clouder did nothing. They cancelled those two out.
00:59:41
Speaker
no goals conceded this season in Serie A, only one in all comps, which was an injury time goal when they kind of switched off against PSV. and so i'm I'm remaining positive because I mean i think that the the comparisons to Allegri are a bit stupid because Juventus are playing like a big team now. They're playing like a team that wants to control games that wants to be the bosses on the pitch. And you can see what he's trying to build. And and there's the foundations there to actually build something when you play in this way. Yes, they're not creating much. That's a problem. And we know Vlalvich is part of the problem. And we know Motta needs to improve as well. That's part of the problem. But I think there's the foundations they're on the foundations look pretty good for Juventus.
01:00:23
Speaker
It's going to take time. There's still gaps, personnel-wise. There's still weaknesses, personnel-wise, because you can't build a team, revolutionize a whole team in one market. and So you know there needs to be a little bit of patience in that regard. But and i I'm still kind of remaining positive. Also, because, Nima, I mean, we have to give credit to Napoli as well.
Napoli's Tactical Flexibility
01:00:43
Speaker
and you know They're playing a good team, and Napoli are a good team, aren't they, Nima? I mean, they showed in this game that they are definitely going to be there or thereabouts, aren't they, at the end of the season? No. I mean, for me, like I said, I think Tiago Motta is Allegri 2.0 in the sense that he's an updated, fresher version of Allegri with a more modern attacking approach. But to but when you look at Napoli and Antonio Conte mixing things up, playing a back four, playing McTominay as a number 10,
01:01:18
Speaker
um which is something I never thought I'd say when covering the Serie A, but here we are. Napoli were good and the fact that Napoli already are responding so well to Kante and whenever he makes changes, and I was not expecting him to play with a back four.
01:01:35
Speaker
It was very interesting um to to see him do that. um and And they were so well balanced, Napoli. They were so, I didn't, you know, Juve, aside from Laovich, Juve didn't look like they were going to create much either.
01:01:50
Speaker
um because Napoli was so solid defensively. um it was it was ah I was very impressed by Bonjorno playing in the back four, which was a very clear message to a certain Luciano Spalletti. Rahmani was very good, di Lorenzo was very good.
01:02:10
Speaker
Um, no, it was, it was, it was, uh, it was an interesting performance defensively from Napoli. And I thought they, they, they showed, they passed this difficult first exam away at UVA without conceding anything really. Um, okay. They didn't create as much themselves, but I didn't think that was the plan. I think this was just basically show that we can go to a difficult ground, hold our own, not concede, not be, you know, not be rash, but be disciplined.
01:02:38
Speaker
and just get the result which they did. So I was very impressed by Antonio Conte's reaction or change to Tiago Motta by reverting to playing essentially what was a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 really. Yeah, no, it was a very, it was very, very much a surprise, a lot of surprise, tactical changes, Mokonseka, and then, and then Conte as well. And that Conte has said that actually they've been working on this in training for a while. And the signing of, of Gilmore and, and more so, McTominay means that he felt that they were capable of Napoli a planar.
01:03:18
Speaker
a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and that they will be alternating between the two systems this this this season. That's what Conte said. So that is very interesting, I think, and it adds a a different dynamic and to to to Napoli. Even thinking longer ahead, I'm thinking further ahead now, maybe even to next season, if Napoli are going to be in Europe, I think that would be important because I think that's been Clearly a weakness of Conte is that he has had ah maybe one rigid way of playing and in Europe Yeah, sometimes you need to be a little bit more adaptable and flexible I think but I thought I thought i think that's I think it's it's fast. It's gonna be fascinating Tactically now that they're gonna have this other option to use and I thought it did work well in this game certainly defensively They look very organized
01:04:02
Speaker
and and everyone played well in that back four, including Di Lorenza as well, and Olivera as well, I thought was really, was really good. The midfield was organised and compact and McTominay, I thought, for his first start, I thought he did did pretty well. He had some good buzz through midfield, let down a little bit by the final ball, and but we know that's not his strength. He's not necessarily an elegant creator, but I thought we he was powerful He had one good shot um in the first half and I thought he did i thought he did did did pretty well. The disappointment for Napoli really was the same disappointment as Juventus in that they had nothing can attack Lukaku.
01:04:37
Speaker
and Cavaro were disappointing. I mean, Lukaku was bullied by Brema, which we've seen before. And this this this has happened obviously too much in big games in his career, but he did do well. What he did do well is is defensive work, helping the defense, ah coming back, winning the ball, winning free kicks yeah in his own half, you know, that kind of thing, which Conte loves. So overall, I think that, you know, Napoli and Conte will be happy. You get a draw away at Juventus this start of the season. It shows your compact. It shows you're there.
01:05:06
Speaker
and you're ready and you're staying in touch and I think, yeah, I think it's a good result. It really is a good result given that they've got Monza at home, Cormor at home, Emperly away, Litch at home, the next four games and those are all winnable games and I think they probably will win all of those.
01:05:26
Speaker
But then now because after that, immediately after that, they got Milan away, Atalanta at home, Inter away, Napoli, Roma at home. So they're going into their tough stretch as well. And it wouldn't surprise me if before they played Milan, they're top of the Serie A after the Lecce game at home.
01:05:43
Speaker
um and I think that's kind of what Conte's banking on. Yes, as but it's possible. you don't and You certainly don't want to let Conte team open up a gap at the top of the table oh ah because that's when he's at his he's at his best, isn't he, leading from the front. um Just before we move on to the the chaos at Roma, just a little announcement that we, the Italian Football Podcast, have been nominated for for Best International Podcast of the year at the the Football Content Awards of 2024.
Podcast Recognition and Roma's Turmoil
01:06:13
Speaker
The Football Content Awards, for those who don't know, is it's been dubbed like the the Oscars of the of the football content ah industry. They do an annual award ceremony where they they they have lots of awards, lots of categories. I think it's 34 this year where they they basically celebrate the best in the media, the online yeah online football media. They have lots of ah lots of awards like best
01:06:34
Speaker
best ah broadcaster, best influencer, best documentary, best football club, best content creator. And they do have best best podcast or best international podcast, which is the category that that we are in. So yeah, we're really, really ah happy and delighted to to to get that recognition. um it's ah It's an award which is done 50% by fan vote and 50% by a ah group of ah judges.
01:07:01
Speaker
and so you can vote. So for all of those that are fans of the podcast and follow us and like the podcast, yes, please do vote for us. You can you can do so. we're actually we're We're actually posting an article on our Patreon page where we'll have links. But if you go to the ah Football Content Awards official website, which is footballcontentawards.com,
01:07:24
Speaker
you can add slash slash forward slash voting and you can yeah you can you can award you can vote for us there or you can also vote on on instagram threads facebook and twitter if you go to the the football content awards Instagram page facebook or Facebook page you can just go to the the post where they they post about the best international podcast nominations and you can you can vote for us on on that post.
01:07:56
Speaker
ah Or you can you can vote on Twitter by by tweeting I am voting in the at the FCAs for at Italian football pod Use our Twitter handle in the best international podcast, and but this will all be on there on our patreon article but yeah, that's just a little announcement and the the ceremony is in November at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Yeah, we are one of the the nominations for the best podcast. So big. Thank you to everyone who has
01:08:27
Speaker
Followed us supported us listened to us over there over the well, what's it been four years now? So it's a nice nice little recognition for us there Yeah, absolutely. And if you go on you have to go to the the post ah of on Facebook and Twitter Facebook and Instagram and on Instagram reply to the post at eat a foot pod tag us there and on Facebook tag the Italian football podcast and um And that's how you vote for us. You can vote for us once per platform. um And so you can vote four times essentially, once on the homepage, once on Twitter, once on Instagram, once on Facebook, and once on threads if there's actually anyone who uses that. Um, and, uh, so, so yeah. Um, well, that's just, uh, that's how, who does use threat threats. use threats? I created the account. And then I went there like a week ago, I'll take you like once every three months and it's like dead. It's like, boy, it's like Twitter, but even shitter and more boring. Um, without the drama.
01:09:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's just boring. It's like, God. but It's certainly not boring at Roma. It's been absolute chaos there in the last week. I mean, absolute madness. It's like they're the fall of the of the Roman Empire. Like everything is going on. First of all, De Rossi gets sacked out of nowhere. Then on the same day, Ivan Urich is hired.
01:09:53
Speaker
You've got some of Roma's senior squad members, including Pellegrini and Giannico Mancini, who go and march to the club's offices, the management's offices, about the Rossi-Sacking demanding answers.
01:10:09
Speaker
And then you have the the Roma fan base law doing massive protests during the the game against Sudanese on Sunday. ah You had the Curva Sud who were outside the Olimpico for the first half hour um of that game. You then have the the CEO, or let's say the now former CEO, Lina Sulaku,
01:10:30
Speaker
being placed reportedly under police protection due to all the or the the the protests and and reportedly threats that that she was getting. Then on Sunday, just before the match against Indonesia starts, Roma released a statement confirming that Suleku has resigned from her role as CEO with a media effect.
01:10:52
Speaker
and and that is because i mean she was the person who was reportedly behind the the the de Rossi second and obviously there was a lot of anger in the way that was handled, the the statement which was how many words long that they sacked this de Rossi a club legend.
01:11:06
Speaker
um and then And then you have you know lots of tension around the club. You have Pellegrini being booed during the Udenezer game. um And then, to top it all off, on Monday, the Friedkin Group, the owners of Roma, confirmed and announced that they were required to buy Everton, a majority state in Everton. And it basically means that um The Ryan Friedkin will be the person that will be following Roma now, basically the the main man at Roma, whereas um the the other Friedkin, whose name is now Dan. Dan Friedkin is the dad. Yes, Dan Friedkin will be Everton, the person basically running Everton, and now his son Ryan will be the person running Roma.
01:11:54
Speaker
um ah say
01:12:00
Speaker
Where do you start with all that in your mind? And then they also released a statement saying that, you know, we want Roma to win trophies and we took the decision to sack Daniel de Rossi because we thought it'd be the best thing to do in order to to win trophies this season. And, you know, our commitment to Roma doesn't end with us buying Everton and blah, blah, blah.
01:12:21
Speaker
Look, they they one thing about the Friedkins is that they they have their own money. They're not a hedge fund group. They spend their own money. They're not afraid to invest. And that's good. But as a family run business, the negative side is they do also do. Make these crazy decisions um and create havoc because this was not the time to do this.
01:12:49
Speaker
from De Rossi to the CEO to everything that's going on. um and and and And they don't seem to understand where they are. They're not in the United States. This isn't a franchise. a Roma is not a franchise. It is a football club in Rome. And there are certain things you can't do in Italy and in Rome. And one of those things is you can't unceremoniously kick out someone like Daniela De Rossi that way.
01:13:16
Speaker
It just won't fly in Rome. And that's what we're seeing now. um Off the pitch, of course, because on the pitch, they won the game. But so I think things will calm down the more, the more if you each can hit the ground, you're running and win, win more games. But it's the Friedkin's have alienated after Sacking Mourinho and then de Rossi after giving him just a three, three, four months ago, the the job permanently. If they wanted to get rid of him, they should have gotten rid of him.
01:13:46
Speaker
and the summer like when he was just a caretaker coach the blowback wouldn't have been so hard but when you confirm him and then sack him four games into the season that's that's not a it's also the way they did it as well i mean such a short statement so so cold hearted so brutal very similar to the way that milan got rid of maldini do you remember that you know it was it was just like maldini was just a just a just a number on a spreadsheet and that's the problem spreadsheet wankers as i called them last week You know, it's it's is the the American way of doing things is a bit too cold. And when it comes to football, you know, there's warmth in football. It's not just spreadsheets. It's not just, you know, you can't be 100% corporate. You can't treat football clubs completely like you would at a corporate, ah a corporate business, a global corporation. I did ah did see a stat from AS Roma data.
01:14:45
Speaker
who had compared um ah Roma's XG created and XG conceded since 2020, 2019, 2020, under Fonseca and under Mourinho and under De Rossi. And the XG conceded vastly, vastly outperforms the XG created.
01:15:13
Speaker
um And if you look at when Fonseca was sacked, it was exactly that that that's exactly when Fonseca was sacked, when his DXG conceded, vastly outperformed, DXG created. And I think that's more than anything. they're they I think they're a little bit worried about not enough chances created and too many chances conceded. I think that's what precipitated the derossi sacking. Possibly. I mean ah there could be some football so football football in part to it as well, but I don't i don't think so. I think this was something this was more something to do with a ah clash over
01:15:55
Speaker
the way the club was being run, the transfer market for sure, and which those reports come out that De Rossi wasn't happy with the transfer, which is what I predicted last week as well. He wasn't happy with the Mercato and he also reports that De Rossi, this Sula coup, was trying to pressure De Rossi not to play Di Bala because they didn't want his release, his clause in his contract to be activated, and which would mean another year's contract. Obviously, he's on big big salary, so they didn't want him to be played. They basically wanted him to be frozen out, and De Rossi was unwilling to do that. Although, you know, the fact that Duetsch has played him in the first game, and we'll see whether that that is is actually true, and also now that Suluku has gone and as well. but so But yeah, I think there is a little bit of
01:16:47
Speaker
a mini-crisis in american ownership in seria right now in the in the sense of the way that they do things and milan obviously we've seen that crisis play out this season in fact cardinale put out a statement as well um over the weekend about this and also you know with roma and also the tv rights shambles as well and you know which is maybe not so much linked but there is it is it is a little bit you know there there is a little bit in the fact the bit of a bit of a crisis in the the idea of the influence of Americans in in Syria and whether that's just how much of a good thing that is or how they do certain things you know and I think the situations at Roma in Milan illustrate that right now. I mean there's always going to be a cultural difference um and and I think maybe um we've not seen that as strongly as we're doing right now but I don't think it's the end of the world I think at the end of the day
01:17:45
Speaker
You know, it depends on who the American owner is. I think with, with, with the Freakians, they're a family who invest their own money. They're not, you know, they, they, of course they want to make money, but they're they're not, they're not a hedge fund, you know, they're not bankers. um And so they run the clubs differently than, than Inter Milan's owners do.
01:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, more so how they run it, how they do things. And yeah, but one thing just to finish the room, I would say is that I do think that Ivan Urich is, I don't think he has strengths and he has weaknesses, but I do think Ivan Urich is the right kind of personality and character to deal with.
01:18:21
Speaker
this kind of chaos and and mutiny, some people call it a mutiny, of the pitch, you know, because he is, he is, I think he's very, very, I think he's the perfect guy, like character wise, to deal with this kind of thing. We'll see on the pitch, whether he is at the level needed for someone as Rome, obviously is a good start three nil win over Indonesia, but I do think that he can handle this.
01:18:45
Speaker
Absolutely. He is a strong character. He's a very, he's he he's he's the kind of guy who he's he's like he's a strong leader. And I think you need to be, when whether you're Morini or De Rossi or the kind of different kind of leader you are. But if you're a Roma, you have to be a strong leader. You have to yeah have a strong character. And i I do think that things will go work out in the end well for Roma.
01:19:12
Speaker
um it's It's interesting, I mean, if we're talking winners and losers, I do think that however that, you know, this could be, Matias Sula is a loser here, unless he plays a 3-4-2-1, but I don't expect him immediately to do that. I think Dovbik is a huge winner here, because he will get the kind of crosses that he needs to score goals.
01:19:34
Speaker
Dibala will play obviously as ah as a number 10. So the biggest winner is Dovbik and so far I'd say the biggest loser is Mathias Sule, who is probably on the phone to his agent saying, get me out of here, if this continues.
01:19:52
Speaker
Yeah, well, this if again, I don't even put that on the manager. um I just think that how do you possibly play Sulay and Di Bardo in the same team? and that Again, it's down to the Medcato, really, let's say, the the manager for me. I think that's always going to be an issue. um that's the Before we finish off with Baggio, Pempez and Sarriastri, I'll just read out the other results. Cadarino, Emply 2, so Emply are still unbeaten. Verona 2, Torino 3. Torino also still
Venezia's Rise and Serie A Dynamics
01:20:18
Speaker
unbeaten. Great start for Venodi.
01:20:21
Speaker
They are top of Serie A, which is pretty amazing. Crazy. Pretty incredible. you know Fantastic start. Venezia beat General at 2-0. They played a crazy game against Hellas. It was mad. Yeah, it was one through two it was a mad game. Venezia 2-0 were nil, so Venezia win their first game or under Di Francesco, who kind of again buys some time because he was at risk of the sack.
01:20:46
Speaker
I do fear a little bit for general, they just have nothing in attack. That's thanks again, thanks to the ah sales of Goodmanson and and who who else did they say? Oh, Gretagie. And but the we really wish our best of luck to Malinowski. You had a horrific leg break. I've seen the pictures. I really wish I hadn't seen them. Yeah. Thanks, Uncle Shama, for posting that one on Twitter. So yeah, that was the yeah, we wish him the best that was that was horrible. ah Let's say to Palmer to let's say throw away two points with two injury time goals. And then Fiorentina beat Lazio to one of Goodmanson comes on at halftime for his depth schools to penalty schools to penalty. So first, it's been quite a bit of arguing over that about those penalties as well from Lazio corners. They're not happy with yeah some of those calls. um
01:21:36
Speaker
yeah first first win for paladino and also a first win for for italiano as well as bologna win 2-1 at monza so it's very very tight at the top of the table three points separate first to seventh and torino are top udonese are third and then you've got na napoli eventas into melan all separated by by a couple of points you know roma now also kind of getting back towards it as well so it's very Very, very tight at the top of the table. Never is. It's three points between in turn seven from Torino and in first. So it's still very early days. I mean, Marcello Lippi famously says the Serie A doesn't really start until match day 10. These are all preliminary rounds. And what we can say is I don't think anyone's going to run away with it. It's going to be tighter and the teams are more evenly matched. And I think the big teams are also a little bit hampered by all the games they're going to play as well.
01:22:35
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, let's finish with Badgio, Prem Face and Celia Ass of the week. So Badgio, I've got to first of all, Riccardo Calafuri, fantastic goal, curling goal from outside the area in the in the gi draw for Arsenal against Manchester City. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant from Calafuri. Great to see.
01:22:55
Speaker
And then i've also got leonardo pinucci who who only made ten appearances for union berlin last season before before leaving for fenavachi Obviously he's now retired he donated 10 000 euros to the to the go fund me of unions under 19 player Birkin Aslan Nogulari, who is is very, very sad story. He's fighting bone cancer and he's had his leg amputated and Benucci and donated 10 does. I saw that story and I thought that was really beautiful considering, I mean, he barely played for the Union Berlin, but he hasn't even had to deal with the club. and So that was nice. That's a good way to use your um your privileges and your your wealth and and and whatever else. So I thought that was really, really nice. So best of luck. to
01:23:39
Speaker
to the player. We hope you, yeah, we wish you all the best. For me, the badge of the week is the moment of silence at the San Siro for Toto Skilachi was just surreal. The way just everyone went quiet and 80,000 people went quiet and then applauded, it was just, it was beautiful.
01:24:01
Speaker
Yeah, unlike the the the Sarayas of the week to do him first, which was the Napoli fan at the Allianz Stadium, who ruined the minute silence for Scholachi by shouting out Munez, which means like trash or rubbish in the in the Neapolitan derelict. I mean, what a complete idiot to do something like that. And so he's a Sarayas of the week. And together with ah with a few others, the calorie pitch was like a potato farm against emply or sheep farm because it's the region of sheep farming and yes against well not only against Napoli but against again against emply I mean it's just embarrassing I mean you know again we talk about Saria and why it can't get to where it is and this is no excuse for that at all you can't get your pitch you got you you have a pitch like that
01:24:55
Speaker
Just just awful horrendous. um So yeah, those are my two seriouses of the week.
Ibrahimovic's Role at Milan
01:25:01
Speaker
Do you have? Yeah, lot I mean, the what everyone was talking about in Milan words was three things. It was the Derby.
01:25:07
Speaker
uh Milan's crisis how they're gonna handle that it was Tony F versus uh Fedice the beef is it real or is it just ah a fake PR trick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic embarrassment uh being embarrassed by Boban and that interview and that ridiculous statement of When asked about his role, the role is simple. I'm in charge. I'm the boss and the others work for me. When the lion goes away, the kittens come closer. When the lion comes back, the kittens disappear, but I'm not referring to the team. It's just, you you can do that when you're a player, you can get away with that because then you play, there's always another game and then you score a magical goal and then everybody shuts up. But as a director.
01:25:55
Speaker
leading a big club which he was in crisis this just comes off as so embarrassing and he's been and and everyone uh Milan fans neutrals were just you know yeah it's embarrassing and there's been a lot of complaints also that he keeps going above uh uh Fonseca's head in kind of like belittling his authority by basically like going to the changing room and like giving team talks without Fonseca there and and like when he came back from his holiday good timing and last week he he went in and then he like huddled all the players around and like gave him all like a ah big speech and like talked to them as a group without Fonseca even like knowing about it and you know there's been these kind of reports and it's just like yeah it's just just
01:26:46
Speaker
You just can't do that. Apparently Fonseca has been unhappy on ah on a couple of occasions as well and by the way that he's kind of like just kind of acting like he's the boss, like that he's above the manager, but, you know, not doing it in a way that kind of like belittling in the authority of Fonseca. It's been very clumsy. He's been very clumsy in this role. And it was obviously expected that he would be a little bit clumsy in this role because he's never had this kind of a role in his entire life. He's just been a dressing room leader his entire career.
01:27:16
Speaker
um But you have to be a little bit more diplomatic and a little bit more careful when you're a director. I don't think it was a bad thing that he did that. I think it's good that he comes in and shows himself in the squad and takes them on and and plays to his strengths because I think that's why he's at Mila. But I think he needs to do that in conjunction with Fonseca so that it's not like he's running over Fonseca. Yeah, which is what he's been doing. He even did it in the transfer market the last few days of the market night Fonseca said that our transfer market is over about like two days before the window closed in a press conference and then like a few hours later Zlatan was asked about it and he says no, the transfer market is closed when I say it's closed. Just kind of also like all set up a manner in which he does things, you know, and and and it's not a good, oh you know what he reminds me of?
01:28:02
Speaker
It's like, you know, like in a mob film where you've got like a restaurant, like think of Goodfellas, you've got a restaurant and it's owned by by somebody. and then But then the mob basically i own it. like money They launder their money through it and and they they basically control it and they just come in and it's like they own the place. And it's like that scene, like, do you remember that scene with with Joe Pesci and that and the owner of the of the restaurant in Goodfellas where he like basically smashes a glass you because he comes over and asks for some money.
01:28:32
Speaker
And Joey asked him to pay his tab. He tells him to pay his tab. You want to hear something funny? ah just I just christened his grandchild last week. That's Slatter at Milan at the moment. Fonseca is like trying to be there the person that runs the cooklight that is in charge. And Slatter is just like, you know, I'm the boss kind of thing.
01:28:54
Speaker
No, but like we know he always does that with tongue in cheek and it works to a certain extent. But as a director of a big club and especially a big club who's had a little bit of hope was going through turmoil, you have to be much more controlled and composed. um And for the first time ever in Italy, he is actually being ridiculed in a way that is he's not used to. And I think he he he would know that.
01:29:18
Speaker
um and I think he's very conscious of that fact because when he's been criticized as a player is different this is more his competence as being questioned whether if he's right for the role that's not something he's used to um but I think you know there's always going to be teeth teething issues Milan winning the derby the way that he kind of you know Milan will get some breathing room. They'll you know they'll be able to create um some team spirit around the entire club and and and calm things down. But Slaton needs to learn the dynamics and the how the diplomacy of Italian football. Otherwise, it's not going to work.
01:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. and Finish off on prem face. So first of all, Joe Cole, who said that, ah and this was after Intrad had drawn at Manchester City, it was so increase he said that all the English teams will will be inter comfortably, except for Aston Villa, will be inter comfortably. And he butchered all his words, didn't he? No, as he was saying that.
01:30:24
Speaker
No, he was trying to pronounce Chalanoglu and he didn't because he, you know, Joe Cole can't pronounce anything that has more than one syllable in it. um And it's it's ah it was just a cringy and and the whole thing was just completely cringy. And and the way that he was asked for what and he was asked a question to by someone, you know, but by the presenter. I can't remember exactly what the question was, but it was something like along the lines of you know, what would, you know, why didn't Citi, you know, be, well, why were they unable to win or, you know, who, who, how would the Premier League teams, you know, you say that, um, that they would, they would all be into, but how would they do it or something like that? And he just had no answer and then started waffling on about, uh, trying to pronounce Charlie Nogla's name, that he played a good game, but, uh, you know, the usual implying that none of the inter players were getting to any of the Premier League teams, the usual nonsense, and then
01:31:19
Speaker
And then um and went on to say that all Premier League teams would be in to comfortably. And it was just... ah Yeah, there was a couple of others around this game. First of all, they're called football. I saw this on, I think it was done over his Instagram and Twitter. STPL was the account. i think the I don't know what they are. they They're some kind of football account. got Quite a few followers. and They did a post asking who was better between the Man City ah trouble-winning team and the inter inter-trouble-winning team in 2010 but then they showed a picture of of Madzari's inter-banta team which had like Jonathan and and all these useless places. That's him so embarrassing. Madzari's like Jonathan and Guarin and I don't know, oh so bad. It was really bad. I actually ran into him at the airport.
01:32:14
Speaker
on my way home. wela us Yeah, Rodrigo Palacios. Does he still have so the little rat tail? Oh, yeah, he actually, no, he didn't actually. I looked and I didn't see it. Maybe, no, I didn't see the rat tail. And um he was there with like a million people an entourage um and And And the entire Caliari Primavera squad was was also Elinates. It was a busy day at the airport yesterday. And finally, final one is the the YouTuber who said that, again, I don't know who these are. that This was sent to me by Adrian, sent this to me.
01:32:55
Speaker
of It was three three YouTubers. It seemed like a like well prove a produced show, and but I don't know who they are, who said that Villa Park is a bigger stadium than San Siro, which I found quite amusing. My head hurts. Which is like wrong, literally, because I think Villa Park is like just over 40,000, whereas San Siro is.
01:33:18
Speaker
79,000. Yeah. Yeah. Just shut up. It's not right that way. And it's not certainly not correct in terms of just shut up. Just shut up. Like, I mean, just shut up. Okay, let's leave it at that. um We will be back for a Q and&A show on Wednesday. We've got a lot of really good questions. And yeah, have a great week, everyone. See you next time. cha um