Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Antonio Conte Napoli Nightmare, Inter Milan & AC Milan Thrillers, Paulo Dybala Leave Roma? Serie A TV Scandal & Much More (Ep. 447)
3.2k Plays1 year ago
From Antonio Conte nightmare start when Napoli get rinsed by Hellas Verona, Noah Okafor the hero in AC Milan dramatic comeback against Torino, Marcus Thuram stars as rusty Inter Milan drop points at death to Genoa, to how Roma solve a problem like Paulo Dybala, Valentin Castellanos leads Lazio to win over Venezia, the Serie A TV rights scandal deep dive, Empoli pitch disaster and preview of Atalanta and Como hosting Lecce and Juventus respectively, as well as Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week and much, much more when Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from Match Day 1 of 2024/2025 Serie A season.
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 & Serie A Season Start
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. I'm Carlo Garganese joined as always by Nima Tavalli. So the new Serie A season is underway. Many of you probably weren't able to watch it legally due to the Serie A TV rights scandal, which is something we will be talking about later on the show But for those of you who could watch the matches it was an incredible first weekend of the the 2024-25 Celia season pretty much all the big teams struggled and drop points both Milan teams failed to win in the in two four-goal thrillers, incredible matches, dramatic injury time goals in in both games, ah so much to talk about in in both of those
Criticism & Tactical Challenges
00:00:57
Speaker
fixtures. and The criticism though has already started for Paulo Fonseca at Milan after a frankly bizarre starting 11 that he put out, and but he isn't the manager that's under the most pressure over the first week
00:01:10
Speaker
end of the season that is Antonio Conte who had a nightmare debut for Napoli as they were thrashed 3-0 by Verona and then in the the Sunday night time games both the Rome teams played Lazio got a good 3-1 win and but Roma also slipped up they drew so pretty much all the biggest teams in Syria ah slipped up on this first weekend of course Juventus and Atalanta still had to play on Monday we were recording this before then um We will as well have our usual Badgeo, Premface and Celia ass of the week. For all our first time listeners, this is our free weekly episode that we do every Monday, reviewing the weekend Celia action and all the biggest talking points in Italian football. If you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all of our content that we do throughout the week, including a week Q and&A episode, which we ah record every Tuesday where we answer all the questions sent in from our patrons.
Supporting the Podcast
00:02:07
Speaker
a very very popular show that plus the weekly thursday midweek review show 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 $2.99 a month plus VAT and you can now also sign up to be a paid subscriber on spotify we'll provide the link ah in the description it's the same price and same terms And for of for all of you that do listen on Spotify, Apple and ah iTunes podcast, we'd really appreciate if you give us a five star rating. It really, really helps us to grow. ah ah Do also subscribe to our YouTube channel, which we're producing a lot of content on there, some ah some content on there that you can't get elsewhere. Our YouTube page, which we only really started
00:02:55
Speaker
um Really focusing on about a year ago. um It's really been growing massively in the last month. We're now we've now grown to way over 3,000 subscribers so do follow us on there um And give us a like on there as well It really just helps us to grow and do and do more content for you guys. So so big. Thanks and for those that do Okay, so let's get into today's show.
Conte's Role & Napoli's Struggles
00:03:20
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to switch this around. I was going to talk start with the champions into but I think we have to start off with Antonio Conte, Nima, because he had
00:03:29
Speaker
the debut from hell for for Napoli. They lost 3-0, got absolutely thrashed. I mean, Conte warned before the game about just what a job he had on his hands. He was moaning and complaining about the transfer market, as he always does, but with any club. um But I think after after seeing this game,
00:03:55
Speaker
Not only he but I think we would also see it. He has a job on his hands. Doesn't he never He absolutely does um but I don't I mean I understand that he's he's upset about the About the situation with Victor Ossiman that has not been resolved. It's completely blocked. That was what he's moaning about um And he wants Romelu Lukaku but regardless he i I don't understand. you know I'm glad that he came out and took responsibility because that's what he did. Let's remember that. um He came out and apologized even. He said, I'm the one to blame for this, for this result. I'm i'm the one who's responsible for this. um so and any And he apologized to all Napoli fans and Neapolitans, which I think was very important that he did because
00:04:55
Speaker
Even with Bonjourno injured, yeah, they got unlucky with Šviča getting injured. I mean, there's no there's no excuse excuse whatsoever to fall apart like he did, like Naapoli did. That's on him. That's entirely on him.
00:05:15
Speaker
um so it it' So I was very happy to see him kind of just you know, go off and say, look, um, he, you know, it's, it's, uh, you know, if his, he called it melting like snow in the sun is what his players did. That's on him. but That's not on anyone else. And it was an unacceptable second half and he took complete responsibility. Um, but I mean, he, hit the, you know, what he, what I do have to say though, that I do think that there is a point to what he's saying in the first half Napoli where the better team, uh, you know, but.
00:05:53
Speaker
as soon as Verona had a shot in on target is when they conceded. And that's just not um it acceptable. but after that That's a mental thing, isn't it? Yeah, that's a mental thing. that first First sign of adversity in you in you fall and you fall apart completely. That's on Antonio Conte. That shows that his approach in how he's handled this ah situation has not been the right way for this group of players at this this particular club.
00:06:22
Speaker
um It has worked elsewhere, but here it hasn't worked, and he needs to understand that. And I think he kind of did. um and he and and And that's why I think he said, as the coach, I take full responsibility. um And I think he understands that he can't just hammer them. He needs a little bit of mix of tough love here, not just hammer the players. He needs to also build them up.
00:06:47
Speaker
I think that's something that's something I have no doubt Conte will sort. that's That is where Conte is so very, very strong. It's the man management, the mental side of the game, so that teams, obviously, they have some mental hangups from last season, and which haven't been resolved. And that is up to Conte to resolve. And and and the heaven think we saw in this game that that's the same issues are still there.
Napoli's Strategic Hurdles
00:07:09
Speaker
Because as he said, I thought first half was actually decent from Napoli.
00:07:13
Speaker
Verona barely got into the Napoli first half, barely got into Napoli's half, Napoli controlled the completely controlled the game, they had two big chances, they didn't create anything until those two big chances at the end, but they were two big chances, but put a shot over, then Cavada was was one-on-one, and and then he went off-heel, I think it was an illness, a hard time, and then everything everything went wrong, Verona come out strong in the second half, they took the lead just after hard time, and then, but like Conte said, they melted,
00:07:43
Speaker
completely melted. um So I'm not worried about that side of things. I think where Conte definitely has a big job is, you know, on the on the quality side of things, because there are some clear gaps also because of of the blockage in the transfer market and not being able to bring in the players. But the the team as it is now is the attack is is so thin, it's literally just clatter at the moment with Osseman out with Osseman frozen out that there's nothing in the attack. Politano, I don't think really suits Conte's system.
00:08:12
Speaker
um Simeone is not that man, Raspadori is not sure if he is that man either. and They are lacking very much. i mean When your only real attacking threat in this game is Anghisa.
00:08:23
Speaker
from Senzimich Field, that says it all about your about the the issues you have in the attack. So they absolutely have to bring in attacking players. I know Nerez is going to come in and that deal's done already, but they need more. They need more zones. They obviously need to get Lukaku in. If they don't get Lukaku in, they have to start playing Osman. They probably need another attacker. They're very, very short.
00:08:43
Speaker
ah in attack, I think. but concept For me, for me this is this is this is a midfield issue. This is worried that as well yeah that this is not a this is not an attack issue. he He has decided in his head that The problem, the reason why he may have failed elsewhere is because 3-5-2 doesn't work, he needs to play a 3-4-2-1. The problem when Antonio Conte gets these ideas in his head is that he will hammer it home if it costs his job, the club, everyone their sanity and everything else. The quicker he understands that he will win the Serie A, he can even, he can win the Serie A with this group of players if he plays a 3-5-2, the better off him and Napoli will be, and the better off
00:09:27
Speaker
napopoli will be buying players that suit that three five two system three four two one does not work in the seria it's as simple as that it could it worked it helped them in in chelsea it helped them when when when when he wants to play in leagues that are more high intensity when he plays competitions that are higher intensity, much more open, much more attacking. The 3-4-2-1 does not work in in the Serie A, it just doesn't. um Unless you are OK being Fiorentina and Atalanta and conceding lots of goals. But if you're Napoli, if you're Inter, if you're Milan, if you're Juve, that is just not acceptable. You're too open. And he understood this before when he switched from a 4-2-4 early on in his career to the 3-5-2.
00:10:10
Speaker
now My issue is Lobotkanangusa need a third man in midfield. It was as clear as day. If you look at those goals, the reason why they are so carved open, the reason why there's no balance is because the midfield, those two, are the ones that everyone else looks at to see where they should be positionally and they are in no man's land right now.
00:10:35
Speaker
And that's all on Kante, all on Kante. I think there are there is some truth to what you're saying, especially with regards to La Boca not being suited to a two-man cinema field. He doesn't you can't play in a two-man cinema field. I don't think he's a Kante player anyway, but but but yeah in a two-man cinema field, you are when he has ground to cover, especially on transitions and stuff, that he's is's he's just not he's just not suited to that style. But apart ah aside from the tactical ah issues that Conte will have to resolve, regardless of the formation, I think that they need to bring players in and because there's there's there's the i don' there's there's lack of quality here, there's there's there's gaps here. I mean know Juan Johno was out, but the defence, you know,
Formation Debates & Squad Balance
00:11:18
Speaker
is it strong enough personnel wise? The full backs, I mean, Spinup Solo was the only one that made his debut of the new signings,
00:11:25
Speaker
he looked like an ex-player yesterday every single time he tried to take on his man he just didn't have the the pace or the ability to get away from him from from his man and then Mazzocchi on the other side I mean you know we know how important wingbacks are in the Antonio Conte system you know spin at Sola at his age Mazzocchi at his age playing as wingbacks you know these are these are question marks and then you look at the players that are looking to bring in I mean if they do manage to sell Osseman and they're bringing in uh Nerez, Billy Gilmour, Scott McTominay and then and then okay Romelu Lukaku is another issue we'll together but are these players are these really players to to win you this to try and win you the skedetto are they a level high enough these players i mean they're outcasts you know so it's it's well he has done it before i mean um again like they he turned Victor Moses into an international class wing back i've seen him play
00:12:17
Speaker
wins correti with padoin and jacqueini i mean it's yeah but they also had i think better players around and top-top players in those keys. But he did the same thing better than what naie have i mean yeah but the the problem again is is that he played a 3-5-2. His system, in order to function, he needs he needs balance in all areas of the pitch. That's the biggest problem Antonio Conte has everywhere he goes, calibrating the right balance to play his very system-based football.
00:12:45
Speaker
it's obvious that with Napoli, that doesn't work. Now he's bringing in Neris, who's a winger. He's got Raspadori who functions better in a two-man attack.
00:12:58
Speaker
i'm I'm wondering, at some point, Delalente's patience is also going to be. Well, you don't you don't sign there as in player three, five, six. Well, that's exactly what I mean. We can forget about that. I just think that, listen, I just think of personnel. I think Conte has, it regardless of the tactics and and everything else, the mentality, I think Conte has one hell of his hell of a job on.
00:13:19
Speaker
just also because of the the quality of players, you know, these are the players that Napoli are bringing in, then that's a sign of really also a sign of where Napoli is iss also a sign of where Serie A is, you know, you get all that money for us, you know, up to 100 million, and you start selling, you're spending that money on Billy Gilmore.
00:13:35
Speaker
David Nerez, Scott McTominay and and ah and out another outclass Lukaku. I mean, for me, there's a bigger bigger ah issue there away from that player. That's concerning for me. No, I think that's got to do with that. That's because those are the characters. Look, they're buying players that Konta wants to fit his system, the character players. This is what he did it at Inter too. He sacrificed Sandro Tonali for Arturo Vidal at the fag end of his career. He did the same thing when he won a Colorado because he He was hell bent on having a left centre back who can play the diagonal ball and and then ended up costing him lots of money because he was completely useless at that point in his career. This is what Kante does.
00:14:13
Speaker
had to have an ashley young quality of the player not yeah but ashley young a likeand Well, I'm talking about Alexander Kolarov and Arturo Vidal when when he brought them in at the time he did, they barely had Serie B level quality at that time. This is what he does. He wants characters and players that suit his system. He gives that to the sporting director. For sure, but he also, in those those teams also bought top players. They also bought real quality players, you know, like Lukaku at his peak. Yeah, at his peak. But that's what I'm saying, Lukaku. Or, you know, these top top players, you know, with the Napoli side, And then he was still complaining that, you know, Nunchisono Tanti Solini after same time. Yeah, absolutely. But what I'm saying is we're not bringing in these these these type of quality players, they're bringing in real, you know, kind of second rate players. And that's for me, that's concerning as a bigger talking point. But, you know, we we can get to that at the end of the market. But I do want to praise Verona, though, because, you know, I thought there was an essay. This was Paolo Zanetti's debut and he did really well. But what I really want to praise Verona for is their scouting team, their scouting network is
00:15:13
Speaker
absolutely he's gone under the radar what an incredible job i don't know who's in charge of that scatter network but but they deserve they deserve to be sean soliano is a sporting director who has been there not not too long but he is a fantastic sporting director he's Well, the team he has, Soliano, and the team that he has working for him, what's a job they have? Because with absolute pennies, the club is in financial crisis. They nearly went bankrupt earlier this year. They basically sold their entire squad in January and brought in a bunch of complete unknowns. And that's basically what they've been doing for the last year or so. They've been bringing in unheralded, unknown players from minor leagues, from small leagues, many of them from the Dutch league. They've got an incredible scouting team in out in Holland. I mean, just from neb the Netherlands alone,
00:15:59
Speaker
Tijani Nozlin, who had a really good game for Lazio yesterday, Suslov Ungon, who obviously had gone to Napoli now on plate and played and came on for Napoli.
Verona's Scouting Success
00:16:09
Speaker
And now this new guy, Livramento, who whom they brought from the Dutch ah second division, Maastricht, complete unknown, and he scores on his Verona debut to to to give them the the lead. And then the lab that came on, Mosquera, who scored twice but as a substitute against Napoli, they bought him from the Colombian league. He played on loan at Atletico Bucaramanga, which sounds doesn't sound like a football team. so I don't know what does it sound like? never rather but No comment. But, I mean, he comes, it sounds like a a party of, so we have better scare any party or something. Yeah. you yeah at a muga party with me But yeah, it's, so he scores twice. I mean, these are complete. I mean, where the hell they find these guys? I mean, what a scouting network. Yeah, but Sean Soliano has worked, his career um started when he took over Varese in Ecellenza, which is the sixth tier of Italian football, and he brought them to the Serie B.
00:17:07
Speaker
um And then, of course, he was at Verona, he's been at Verona before. He was the reason they his scouting network, he brought in Iturbe, he brought in Lucatoni, who became the oldest Capo Canoneira winner and Verona's first Capo Canoneira winner in the season at Serie A. So this is ah this is an environment and Piazza he knows very well. And this is what he does. He's absolutely fantastic with with with the shoestring budgets, finding scouting players,
00:17:33
Speaker
that work in particular systems um and and and at small clubs and then sell them at high profit and then continue to rebuild. That's Sean Soliano. I'm not surprised at all. He is he is typically one of these fantastic um players who are sorry, but sporting directors who who is just unbelievable. It's typical Italian sporting directorship um at its best. He had a had an interesting career as well as a play. He played for Napoli, but I mean, most most I remember him from the 90s playing as a central central defender for Torino.
00:18:13
Speaker
But yeah, no, yeah this is a this is a very, very, you know, this is what he does. And we he kind of his career kind of his career trajectory went a bit down after he went to Palermo because he couldn't work with Zamparini surprise there. um But but he was destined for, you know, because he had a really, really his trajectory was going right up. He's only 53 years old and.
00:18:33
Speaker
I wouldn't put it past, maybe now it's a little bit too late for him to go to a bigger club, but it's, you know, if he does really well here at Hellas Verona and they do something fantastic, I don't see how, you know, it could possibly be a goal. I think he's already proven himself just with all that list of players that I've named there and his others as well. But I mean, that shows that his scouting team know how to identify players from, you know, small leagues and because I thought it was it was a miracle what Verona it is at the end of life. A little bit surprised that De Laurenti's appointed um Manna and not Petrachi because if you want Antonio Conte to be happy, if you you bring in his best friend who would have who knows how to handle Conte,
00:19:24
Speaker
who he loves. i mean they He's openly spoken about how good friends they are and how much he loves him. and he We've also seen Petraki do well before at other clubs, but of course Petraki is also a strong character and De Laurentiis needs someone who can maybe be a bit more diplomatic between content himself, as opposed to someone who's a little bit of a of a head case as well, um like the the rest of them. but i mean ah well now know It is what it is. I thought Manna's comments on Sky Sport was very calm, very on Sky Sportitalia. The thing that he said about how
00:20:03
Speaker
You know, look, Osimena's contract left, he's going to stay if he if he can't be sold. We're working do to make him happy. And I think that's the right way to do it. It's just a very awkward period until the end of the Mercado. But they just have to go through. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. We'll see how... But I'm not worried about... Look, before people talk about, oh, how could you say that they are a
Napoli's Scudetto Chances
00:20:21
Speaker
Scudetto Canon? I still stand by that. There's no doubt about that. One game, look, it's 38 games. One game, ah bad loss to Hellas Verona, doesn't change that. Bonjourno will come back. And I look at it like this.
00:20:32
Speaker
They will he will either have Victor Oseman or Romelu Lukaku up front. Napoli's attack will be fine. The problem is when this man realizes that he needs to play with a middle three. Lobotka and Angui Sa does not work together. They don't have any balance. Lobotka doesn't have the engine in him. He has other qualities that work for Conte, similarly to what Brozovic did in in the in the sense that he's a very calm and patient passer, but he cannot run. Marcelo Brozovic runs more than any human being has ever run on a football pitch. Lobotka does not. That's the problem. And he needs someone to run for him. That's what he needs. And he needs to find that player. And and and I know that it's we're gonna he's going to keep
00:21:16
Speaker
this This is content when he's at his most annoying he's gonna do this whole square peg round whole thing until it doesn't work and then you play a three five two and then by then it'll be too late and you start I mean it's just Yeah, why i mo like the positive for con say is that all the other big teams and slipped up at the at the weekend so there wasn't much damage done um in terms of points and But because because
Inter's Early Season Analysis
00:21:41
Speaker
the the champions the context former team in sir i'm also ah did not win they drew two to an absolute thriller against a general the best way to describe interest performance never for me was sluggish and.
00:21:58
Speaker
defensive blunders. I think that sums up. That's exactly what it was. It's an inter that we're tired mentally and physically. You could say that the preseason that they've had this season, which was more this summer, which has been far more intense because it's a it's an 11 month season for inter with five competitions that has taken its toll on them. It's clear that in Zaghi and the team have decided to up the workload and more in the work more work more and more intensely.
00:22:26
Speaker
And that's obviously, you know, we've seen lots of players fall victim to that, Zielinski, Tarami, and so on, and other players who've been injured. Bastoni's had a slight knock too. But, you know, these this is what you do during pre-season to build yourself up so that you can handle a long season. um They all looked a bit, you know, Lautaro looked Slow, tired. They all looked, except for Taram, who looked very fresh. um But the rest of them looked really, really tired. um And and that's that's kind of what it was. And also the the defensive errors, which we never seen to do. um You know, Jan Sommer just lost his mind. I don't understand why he just doesn't push tip that ball over the bar. I don't understand why he has to hold that. He had a shocker. It wasn't just that. He had a shocking game. He was he was kicking. He did at least two kicks straight to the general forwards as well.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yeah, very unlike him. Yeah, no, he was not. I mean, he saved a penalty. He was a bit unlucky there. But um no, I think yeah for me, it was inter. This was a this was an inter in in um in still in preseason ah temple. And that that's the problem. ah But again, look, generalize a bit of a bogey team for that. You know, they've three consecutive draws to them. They haven't beaten them and in four or five years away, I should say.
00:23:46
Speaker
Um, last season one, one season before no they were in steady B, but the season before that goal is straw. So this is a difficult team for him to to play, to face. Um, but I think, uh, so for me, I mean, I look at it like.
00:24:02
Speaker
If I look at the positive things, I look at Interam, who was absolutely fantastic. His finishing looks better than ever before. Can he reach 20 goals this season? Yeah, I was just about to say that I think he's going to score more goals in the Serie A this season for Inter than Lautaro is. I think he's going to be the top goal scorer for La Frinta in the Serie A.
00:24:20
Speaker
He looks, I think unfortunately this might be the last season we see on Marcos Terraminto. I think this is the season where he has an absolutely explosion, scores 20-25 goals in the league alone, and somebody comes in with 100 million or something like that, and and then that's it. Unfortunately, ah because he's got that clause, doesn't he? So um that that's that's unfortunately where I think this is. But yeah, no, he he's gonna be very, very important. And and he looks he looks so complete.
00:24:48
Speaker
um as a striker. i think he The thing that I've always been impressed with him is he's very technical, he's good at beating his man dribbling 1v1, he's quick, um good in the air, great shot, but the problem has been the clinical finishes, the lack thereof.
Inter's Offensive Strategies
00:25:05
Speaker
Well, this time around we saw two very clinical finishes. i mean the The second goal was a goal poacher's goal.
00:25:12
Speaker
um and
00:25:16
Speaker
The first goal for me, yes, magical header, fantastic movement. But Barilla's cross, that first time cross, that's that's what I want to see from Barilla this season. I want to see Barilla further up the pitch. I want Barilla to be the guy that everything comes from. And we saw that he he he did i mean everything it's inter-attacked with because DiMarco was having a shocker and Mateo Darmia doesn't offer anything up front.
00:25:42
Speaker
It all came from Baralla. Everything went through Baralla. Either the secondary assist, the primary assist, everything went through Baralla. He's the key to unlocking this attack. um and and i so And it was nice to see from an intro perspective that he was able to to do that. um But you know I know a lot of people are upset Inter fans, but for me, I look at the reaction after the goal. Inter completely dominated Genoa after going one goal down, quickly equalised, took the lead. We're unlucky not to finish the game off of side goals and this and that.
00:26:15
Speaker
But other than that, it was it was a good performance, I think, given the way you are in the season. Well, yeah, I think that maybe Inter didn't create as much as as as as they as they normally were, it and then and they should. but Obviously, first game of the season, yeah this happened.
00:26:31
Speaker
The biggest disappointment for me with Inter was definitely the defensive
Defensive Vulnerabilities & Genoa's Tactics
00:26:36
Speaker
blunders. I mean Summer of course, then B-Sec obviously on the penalty with with his with the handball, but also I thought that Inter didn't defend really quite basic attacks from the very few basic attacks that Genoa launched in this game ah well at all. The high balls into the box, it was there was too much chaos. Every time a cross came in or a long ball was but was thrown into the inter penalty area, it wasn't defended at all well.
00:27:07
Speaker
And that's that was I think that that was a little bit a little bit concerning um ah forfo For me ah looking from the outside and because this general attack really had nothing at all. I mean, Genoa have no attackers. They've sold them both, which we'll come to when we talk about Genoa. And this was a team that shouldn't have caused into any problems. And really, Genoa didn't do anything. They didn't create anything. Well, I disagree with that. I think, you know, Dino, this is what i but I wanted to talk about. this Well, yeah, well, yeah. But my point, we'll we'll talk about it in a minute. My point is that, you know, it was basically very agricultural highballs into the box.
00:27:44
Speaker
putting pressure on the incident. intervention and I don't think that they coped with that very well. That's my point. And ah that that's the that was that that's the really the concern I had. for put so I don't think I understand what you're saying, but I just I don't I don't agree that they had problems there. I think the problem was they looked, they didn't look switched on. Normally, in Intel and in Zaggy, it's very switched on. They know what they do, they know what they need to do, they know where they need to go, they know who does what, because it's it's a very fluid style in both phases. Here, it looked sluggish, it looked tired, it looked a bit rusty. um And I think the reason why he played Jan Bieseck is because Bieseck has had an excellent preseason, he had to start a player in form. um And, and,
00:28:30
Speaker
But Bizek made, as Inzaghi said, he was not very lucid at the end. Poco Lucido, he called him. And that's very important to Inzaghi. So Bizek will now be given the Inzaghi treatment. I don't think we'll see him until October, November earliest. After that, that's just how Inzaghi works, and usually anyway, based on previous behavior.
00:28:54
Speaker
but I'm not too worried about that because i I don't think it's a structural problem. I think it's more to do with them not being switched on. And it was a good kick up the backside. But I really do want to talk about Genoa because Alberto Gilardino has got this group of players who I, they are, it's not a very good team.
Gielardino's Coaching Potential
00:29:19
Speaker
let Let me put it to you this way. It's, it's a very, I mean, the way that he lost both of his attackers, Goodmanson and Rettigy, and he's got like, he's having to pick up these other players who are not very good. Junior and Messias, God bless. I mean, it's the way that he structured them to the way that they build up, the way that they defend.
00:29:42
Speaker
I think Gielardino is the next big thing in Italian football in terms of coaches. This season is going to be, I expect him to go the Thiago Motta route, the Deserbi route, whatever you want to call it. um i think he's I think he's got a big future ahead of him. um Because also the way that his teams always react as well. um they don't They never lose their heads. they never lose They never melt like snowflakes in the sun, to use a conte phrase. It never rarely happens with his teams.
00:30:11
Speaker
um and and and tactically the solid and compact. and And I think that's... And also, of course, his career. He's been at big clubs, he's won the World Cup. So, no, I um i was really, really, really impressed by Gielardino. I was as well. I was as well. This is all on Gielardino, the fact that Genoa got a point out of this game. They had no no business getting ah getting a result in this game with the team.
00:30:39
Speaker
that they that they put out with the preparation that they had for this game, with in the last week, having Retagie and Goodmanson sold, and none of no replacements that were able to play in this game. I know Pinamonti was signed, but he wasn't available and for for for this game. And Julodino's been let down by the club, his club in the market, um and he still manages to to to work out a way to get a draw in this in this game. um Nothing can attack at all. i mean he's working with Macias, who isn't an attacker anyway, he's ah he's a winger, and Gatinia, who had an absolute shocker in this case. Awful, awful. And you know they they still somehow, and like you said, the heart that his team show, and the fights that they show, and maximising everything, and playing as a team, and playing until the end, ah never say die attitude that they have. He did, I do know teams really do have spirit, don't they?
00:31:36
Speaker
and and And so, he you know, he deserves so much praise. And the gelardino's record, can I just say gelardino's record against big teams in Serie A is absolutely out of this world. Last season, his record against the big teams he drew within drew against Inter drew against Milan unbeaten against Juventus.
00:31:57
Speaker
winning a draw against Bologna, unbeaten against Napoli, beat Roma, beat Lazio, and then he starts this season with a draw against the champions. I mean, that that's an unbelievable record. now Look, it's it's it's it's the maturity too. Like in Italy, if you want to see a big coach, you the biggest coaches are the coaches that show tactical maturity.
00:32:19
Speaker
that show a cool head in crises and their teams show fighting spirit and that they're tactically and structurally sound. Gielardino ticks all of those boxes and has them throughout ah his tenure at Genoa. And for me, another exam passed to use another Italian of football phrasing was this week when you lose your both of your starting strikers and you And the club is in turmoil in the sense that the fans are furious. 25,000 season tickets sold. They were expecting a fantastic season. They don't have any attackers. They sign Andrea Pinamonti, who's a Serie B striker at best. um And they're looking to bring another one in. But the reaction and and the the the sticking to the game plan and and how he's able to transmit that negative energy into something positive and fight.
00:33:10
Speaker
to to give them something to build off of the season. that That's the kind of things that will have him ah play will have him coaching a big big big club suit. That's just how it is. and and And of course, you know, he comes from the right pedigree as well. I mean, he was a striker at Milan. He won the Champions League with Milan. He won the World Cup with Italy. You know, he has the right pedigree as well. He certainly does. Talking of Milan though, Giulardino's former club. They were also involved just like Inter in a four goal thriller against Torino Paolo Fonseca's first official match um as well.
Fonseca's Lineup Criticism
00:33:45
Speaker
and he has got in, I believe, rightfully so, a lot of criticism um for for this. For me, this result, this failure to win is all on Fonseca and it's is somewhat surprising because although there was a lot of opposition to his appointment at the time, Milan have looked really, really good in pre-season um they've they've They've had some some some quite prestigious results against big teams and in pre-season and and you know there was quite a lot of optimism coming into the season as ah as a result of that. Then they play against Torino and just frankly bizarre
00:34:28
Speaker
starting 11 choices from Fonseca in this game, play benaai over rnd that's playing over over If I can just ask, just to play devil's advocate, wasn't there fitness issues though? Because when I spoke spoken to some people, I spoke to many people who were covering Milan and following Milan, they were like, well, he had to because there was fitness issues for all of those players. They didn't have 90 minutes in them.
00:34:55
Speaker
Well, maybe they didn't, but he could have taken them off if they if if if if if if they didn't have 90 minutes and then start the game with them and take them off after 60 minutes. fair enough But um I mean, seller make the the big one for me was seller makers at left back. Whether Teo doesn't have 90 minutes in his legs or whatever, to start seller makers at left back is just an absolutely bizarre, bizarre choice. What the hell is that about? And it and it completely failed. it I mean, he was a complete flop in that position.
00:35:25
Speaker
Well, he shouldn't play that. I mean, Pulisic as a number 10, maybe in time he could but he could play. I'm not totally convinced of that he's a natural fit for that role, but maybe can he can. He still needs to win me over it in that fit. But all of those choices, none of them worked.
00:35:42
Speaker
and all his starting choices, they all backfired. And in the first half, Milan were just way off it, way off it. There was no intensity. There was everything that we saw in pre-season. It was gone. It was completely gone. And I put that down to just kind of like Fonseca just making these unnecessary changes, unnecessary gambles, plain cellar makers at left back, just completely unnecessary, inexplicable. And that and that that these are the kind of choices that made everybody be opposed to Fonseca getting the job in the first place because they're just inexplicable. It's just something, why why would you do these changes? Why would you make these these choices? So so this this is all on Fonseca. The positive is, as Marata said at the end of the game, is that Milan
00:36:29
Speaker
showed fight, they were much better once they made the substitutions, once Morata came on especially. ah and And he showed why why he will be so important, and why we, we were those of us who, you know, we said this is a very good signing by Mila, Morata showed exactly why he will be important for Mila.
00:36:49
Speaker
um yeah he will makes penalties almost Yeah, but he makes those around him better. That is what he does. he He's so good at making players around him better. um and And he's done it throughout his career, and I think he's going to be very, very important for Mila. And i just i for me, I think
00:37:12
Speaker
There's two ways of looking at this, really. Yes, OK, points drop to home to Torino. That's fair. That's not good for Milan or Milan, who clearly, according to Fonseca and everyone else, they want to win the scoretto. That's what they've said. Their objective is to win the scoretto. A draw at home to Torino is a minor setback.
00:37:32
Speaker
But the reaction is what I'm looking at here. The season is very early. I mean, it started very, very early um because of the long a season that it is. So they're kind of not the teams aren't really fully prepared, most of them. And I think that's why you saw so many draws on the weekend. um But I look at this and I say, it's not the end of the day, it's not the end of the world, but what I do like and what I think Milan will definitely build on is the reaction.
Milan & Inter's Resilience
00:38:05
Speaker
Because again, same as with Inter, it's the reaction you want. This early on in the season, when you're you've just had a difficult, you know, a hard pre-season, you're tired, physically, you know, it takes time to get into match fitness, so to speak, and to calibrate the right level between match fitness and training and and and being fresh physically, right? But the mental freshness is what's, or the mental reaction is the difference between Milan Inter and Napoli.
00:38:34
Speaker
Napoli fell apart. Snowflakes melting in the sun. Milan and Inter did not. And that is that is that is what both Milan and Inter will take from this. And what Antonio Conte is the reason why Conte apologized and accepted complete responsibility. So I was very impressed with how Milan reacted. I agree. I agree. I absolutely agree. And both the substitutes scored as well. I played to the 96 minute Ocopho obviously got that equalizer in the 90 96-minute. I agree and I and i've saw enough from Milan. I see enough quality, I see enough depth. They created enough. They created lots of chances in this game. They were all over Tony. I've seen enough from Milan to suggest that I think they will be, schizogenia and like you said, it's early and everybody's slipped up. so yeah there's There's nothing, let's not panic. My only point is that these inexplicable
00:39:26
Speaker
starts in 11 choices from Fonseca. These are the kind of choices that the the demonstrate why people were were against him. I get what you're saying. and um i just want to say these' the kind of you cannot make the can yeah making I hear what you're saying and i and I kind of agree. I'm just saying that there are mitigating circumstances and I don't want to crucify him too much about it. um I just want to wait. I want to wait a little bit more. If we're at match day 15, 16 and he does these crazy things for no reason, then that's a different animal completely.
00:40:02
Speaker
But I think match day one, given the situation, um'm I'm not gonna, I'm gonna chill for a bit on that. I'm just gonna say the reaction is what I think is the most positive thing. um the The fact that the substitutions all paid off, the three of them coming on pretty much in the same minute, and they all are the reason why Milan get a point and I actually could actually go on and win this. If if the game was one minute longer, I think Milan will score that third goal. um They had this kind of zest about them that were just, they were fiery or hot.
00:40:32
Speaker
um And and that was that was in the you know that shows to me they're a united team, they they believe in what they're doing, um and that that's important. That's very important at this early stage. But we have to talk about Torino. Ah, wow. Yeah, I think wow first half very good. Very good first half. um Just didn't do a very good job at seeing the game out, I think, at at the end. But I think they've showed enough here that that they will be they will they will be fine in this season. They've got enough goals in them. And Zapata, I think, will have ah well have another we'll have another good season. I think he he will guarantee he will guarantee goals. but they But that midfield, though, I have to wax lyrical over Ivan Illich, Samuel Ritchie. I mean, they those two together,
00:41:21
Speaker
It just, it puts a smile on my face to watch them play football. Well, let's hope, let's hope that Richie can can push on this season because we know we need an Italian midfielder, we need a new Italian central midfielder to come through. so Yeah, no, we do. Let's hope that he can build on this now. No, it was, it was, they were wonderful. I thought they were wonderful. Paolo Vannoli, you know, but to me, it looked like it was Ivan Yurich coaching. And I was, that makes me happy. That makes me happy. ah If they're going to play like that, because they're so structurally sound, they're so difficult to break down.
Torino's Midfield Impact
00:41:52
Speaker
They press you, they annoy you, they chase the life out of you in midfield, they never give you a second. And going forward, Illich and Ricci are quality players. Belanova's quick as hell. He looked very fresh as well. No, I, you know, they're going to be fine. My question is still... They didn't play any games. They didn't play at the Euros, did they?
00:42:11
Speaker
Well, yeah, he's been rested. No, but he looked really good. And up front, Sanabria Zapata, like you said, they'll get their goals. But ah if Paolo Vannoli can get Jan Karamo to stop being a clown and actually function in a football system, that is a potential fantastic player. He can score lots of goals if he understands that it's football he's playing and not Futsal or FIFA Street or whatever else he thinks he's doing, because he had a chance to kill off this game and score the third goal, but instead he wants to showboat at the San Siro. And that's been his problem his entire career, Karamo.
00:42:52
Speaker
is too much of a, it's too much of circus, circus antics. Oh, look at me, I can juggle the ball and I can dribble and I can do this. You need to be concrete. You need to kill off games, about goals and assists. Yes, skill is it's fantastic. But if you're Torino at the San Siro, your two goals up, you need to kill off the game. And that's why you're being brought off. And if Van Ollie can get that out of Caramel and get him to mature and be more concrete and and cynical, to use an Italian expression,
00:43:21
Speaker
Then they have a fantastic attacker on their hands because individually, skill-wise, Kanamo is very good. We've seen it. We've seen him do magical things. The problem is he's a little bit too much of a... He's got this kind of clown aspect to his game, which is just frustrating to watch. But they were really, really solid and structurally very sound. I really like what I saw from Torino and I'm again, Ilic, Ricci, midfield.
00:43:45
Speaker
i'm gonna yeah I'm not missing very many Torino games this summer. Nemo still loves Torino even though he's God. Yeah, they broke my heart. yeah They broke my heart even though they betrayed me and and sent Ivan Yurich packing. They're still going to be a good team to watch. Yeah, for sure. Another team that we that we hope will be good to watch this season is Roma.
Roma's Tactics & Di Bala's Role
00:44:10
Speaker
who have had one of the the the the the biggest transfer markets, let's say, so far, and there's still a lot to go as we'll come to it in a second. This game wasn't great until Paolo di Vada came on, and then it was just an unbelievable match. the loss but of like 20 minutes was was there was just no midfield in this game. It was just end to end, end to end, chance after chance but for for both teams. Both teams hit in the bar um and and really the ah the only way to describe this game really is there was a game before Dibada came on and there was a game after Paolo Dibada came on.
00:44:49
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's the that's what it is. And and i want I know we're going to talk about Roma trying to sell Di Bala in a minute, but to me, it it's just the fact that it just it's so typical Roma, isn't it? that behind the scenes, you try to sell Di Bala because of if he plays 15 games, he gets an automatic contract extension or his wages double almost. They don't want that. And he's 31. They want to bring in some money for him, blah, blah, blah. Do you know what I mean? And then that that gets leaked. They deny it because Rome is a very special place. I mean, if you if you listen to the interview I did, the the Roma Mercato deep dive I did with Andrea Di Carlo for me, the most interesting part interesting part of that interview was when I said, where is Di Bala going to play?
00:45:38
Speaker
And his reaction to that was like a typical Roman. It was, it doesn't matter. He's Paolo di Bala. He plays wherever he wants to play. So that's the Roman reaction to Paolo di Bala. He is their star. He is their talisman. He's their jewel.
00:45:53
Speaker
and but Roma trying to get rid of him is going, has pissed off the fans to no avail. And so they, they you know, Roma were damage controlling, putting out statements that, oh, we didn't even know that he was, you know, negotiating with Saudi Arabia, which is, I'm sorry, I don't believe that. That's nonsense. um As for, and so then he's on the bench. Roma look very sterile. He comes on, everything looks good. He looks, he livens up. He brings his jolt of life to Roma.
00:46:24
Speaker
And now, you know, they still don't manage to win, but what do you do with Paolo Di Bala? How do you handle, how do you diffuse this potentially nuclear meltdown system, meltdown situation? Because... Well, is the question is really, even more so after this game, is should Roma sell Di Bala? I mean, we know there are financial reasons which you just touched upon there that if he plays those 15 games. His contract is currently set to run out in 2025. If he plays those 15 games, he'll get an automatic renewal. And then that means it goes on to 2026. He's on a huge salary, 16 million gross this season. And that would be the same following season. So that's a lot of money. That's
00:47:16
Speaker
that's that will have to be paid that Roma can't really afford no Italian teams can afford those kind of contracts ah any anymore um but there's also and I think you know we saw that also in this game there are tactical reasons as well which De Rossi has indirectly hinted on on on a number of occasions even at the end of last season but how do you fit Di Bala into the team? and And I think that was shown in this game even before Di Bala. I think the biggest ah challenge that De Rossi will have this season will be finding a system for these players, finding the right system to make this work for Roma. I think De Rossi, secretly deep down, thinks that if he can sell Di Bala,
00:47:58
Speaker
bring in a winger, maybe it's Kiesa, maybe it's somebody else on the left wing, and then have Dobrik in the middle, Soule on the right, and then a new left
Roma's Future Planning
00:48:07
Speaker
winger. that He thinks that tactically, that is the best way to to to to be successful with robot. And I think Theoretically, I think he's probably right. The problem is, again, and we saw that again in this game, it comes down to it to actual quality. We can talk about tactics till the cows come home. What's the right formation? What's the right system? Just like we did with Conte. And it's all true. The problem is at the end of the day, if you you've got to have the quality at the same time. And we saw in this game that Roma have a certain quality when Di Bala is not on the field.
00:48:40
Speaker
And then they have, the there's a massive leap of quality when Di Bala is on the field and they start creating chances. He put one on a, on a, on a, you know, Dovbit, it's an open goal, thanks to Di Bala with an incredible cross. He put it on a plate for him and he headed against the bar. I mean, Di Bala, Di Bala gives that raise of quality. Yes, he tactically unbalances the team and that's probably why Cannery had chances as well so to win the game after that. Well, that's exactly it. So, so it's, for me, it's a very difficult, it's a, it's a very difficult, um,
00:49:09
Speaker
question to answer here on whether Roma should sell Di Bala. And then if they do, they have to they have to make sure they bring in a player with with a lot of quality. in it Because the because they car nu they cannot go 4-3-3 with Zalevski or El Sharawi as the left winger. They're not going to struggle. No, no, they will. they're They're definitely going to sign another winger. but It has to be good enough. That's the point. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. It's a Jeremy Borgai. It's a Loriente. I mean, like these other players being touted. Exactly. It costs too much.
00:49:39
Speaker
but Again, fina mercato things with Chiesa, because I think something will happen with Chiesa towards the end of the mercato. I just cannot envision Juntoli messing that up too, yeah in the sense that he goes into the season and sees out his contract and you will lose him on a free transfer, especially with you know, now that PSG are looking to sign Lukman and Atalanta or Nico Gonzalez. yeah So, yeah, I mean, we will get to that. That just depresses me. But we're talking about that on Thursday. yeah That depresses me. but But yeah, I mean, it's it is what it is. But my my point is simply that this is so this is this is this is such a Roma thing. This entire situation is such a Roma situation. It's like when you look back, the the magical way in which he was unveiled,
00:50:27
Speaker
and how he won everyone in Rome over and he's he's a superstar and they love him and all that stuff. And then De Rossi comes in and and in you know De Rossi is a demigod in Rome. And and now he can't he wants to move away from Di Bala, the financial situations, all of that. It's like you go from that unveiling to Di Bala becoming a problem and the fan base being angry. it's it's such a it's It's just one of those Roma situations that are very, very difficult. that That's such a difficult, such a difficult puzzle to to solve. And financially, I don't think there's anything, there's nothing to discuss. Di Bala, it's Roma have to get rid of Di Bala. It's as simple as that. I mean, again, Andrea Di Carlo explained it to us. They're Roma is now looking at clubs, the cre of the players that create value for them. they just And if that means sacrificing Di Bala, then so be it, right? So financially, there's no discussion. Tactically,
00:51:27
Speaker
And quality, I think tactically, they have to move away from Dibala anyway, because he's pushing, for he's over 30. But the quality, where is Rama gonna find quality of Dibala's level? They're just not going to. They're just not going to, they don't have that money. And so that's where it kind of becomes this conundrum where you're like, what do you do? And and regardless of what you do, someone's gonna be very unhappy.
00:51:54
Speaker
No. I mean, put it this way, you've you've mentioned two names there, Boga and Laurente. Now, I don't know whether it will be one of those, it could be someone else, but let's just pretend that Roma bring in Seldivala and they bring in Boga or Laurente. Do you think a tactically a more tactically balanced Roma with a front line of, let's say,
00:52:13
Speaker
Volga, Laurente, Dobbic, Sulay is the front three, would do better than a more tactically unbalanced ah Roma attack with Sulay, Dibala and Dobbic. However, they've managed to get that to work. I'm not sure they would, but do you know what I mean? what what what team do you think Which team do you think would get more points this season and do better? I'd probably say the Dibala team with Dibala. I don't know.
00:52:36
Speaker
I honestly don't know because at the same time, I want Drosi to try to get in Baldansi into this system. I want to see him. Well, he he said Drosi that Baldansi is going to be playing as a Metzala. Good, good, good. I'm happy about that. I'm happy about that. I think a 4-3-3. Then I'd like to see Pellegrini play as a Regista then. You know, I'd like to see him do that. I'd love to see him play Pellegrini as a regista, Baldansi as a mezzala, and then put you know bring someone in, like my Andrea DiCarlo said, to someone with physical presence to kind of run and protect them both in the middle of the pitch. le And so Le Faire is not exactly, may might not be that guy. But we'll see. But they're going to need ah different options for different games. But no, I think Baldansi as a mezzala, I'm fine with that.
00:53:31
Speaker
just what happens with Pellegrini, because I don't think Pellegrini is a number 10 or as a left wing or an inverted left wing, he just doesn't have the pace for it and I think it would be a waste of time to put him there. yeah um I do think that you can play Bal Dansi and Pellegrini together, but given that Pellegrini lacks pace, the only natural solution for me is to play him as a registrar.
00:53:48
Speaker
Yeah, for sure but to be honest with you, this could all be kind of moot point because the bar that could just reject, could just reject Saudi Arabia. And he's done that before, we've seen him do it at Juventus. If he doesn't want to move, um you know, when he's happy, he's very, he's the kind of person who's very, when he when he's happy somewhere, money and like,
00:54:05
Speaker
No, absolutely. and and i'm sure andsmashing and And if you listen to most Juventus fans, they'll say that Sabatini owns him, his girlfriend or wife now. I think they if they got married now or they were about to. I think so. Yeah, I think they would get married this summer. But anyway, yeah Sabatini, who is actually the niece of the the famous Argentine and tennis player. Gabriela Sabatini. Yeah, it's Gabriela Sabatini's niece.
00:54:27
Speaker
um Yeah, if Sabatini doesn't want to go to Saudi Arabia, he he won't go to Saudi Arabia yet. So they'd have to try and convince her somehow if they want to sell the Birla. But yeah, um it's it's good going to be a big week and a half but for Roma, for sure, in terms of determining their season. Lazio, though, um more positive but for Lazio. They get a good win, a good 3-1.
00:54:56
Speaker
i I was watching this game and I thought they did did pretty well actually. um We obviously had to take into account the fact that Venezio I think are definitely the worst team in Serie A this season. I find it very, very difficult to see
Lazio's Strong Start
00:55:12
Speaker
them.
00:55:12
Speaker
staying up and and and I don't think we can even really criticize De Francesco that much either because I just don't think there's the quality in this team to to stay up. I think they're going to concede a lot of goals this season. Their defense really doesn't look good. They made horrible mistakes on all three goals actually. ah But if we take it from that to your point of view, they can only beat who's in front of them. um I thought that they looked pretty good. I was i was impressed by the new the new signings. Nozzlin um who came in from Verona. He played as a right attacker in the in the three. um Very direct, been taking his man on, beating his man, good pace, putting balls into the box. He did really well, and I was also very impressed. I knew nothing about this guy.
00:55:56
Speaker
Délé Bashirou, in midfield, who's who's come in. very very good ah Very good debut, the Nigerian. Very powerful, bursting through, joining the attack, lots of energy.
00:56:09
Speaker
very, very impressive debut from Dele Ballesteru. Very, very impressive. I'm excited to see, it's the first time I've ever seen him. So I'm i'm um very, very interested to see how how he does against the better teams and going forward. um But this Lazio team, the attack looks better than maybe we gave credit for them.
00:56:28
Speaker
um So Kanye coming off a good euros on the left. He was good. Nelson on the right. Castellanos has had a good preseason. He's with one of the the goals of preseason. And he could have, he should have scored a hat trick in his game. He hit the post, had lots of chances. but He was unlucky. He was unlucky, but he looks very energetic. He looks very fired up and and in great condition. um So no, I think Lazio impressed me. The reaction again, going a goal down.
00:56:53
Speaker
reacting well, systematically, never panicking, but slowly but surely, you know systematically working themselves into the game, equalizing quickly. then you know the penalty um and then and then you know see the game out ah but only you know it's not surprising that he i think he'll do well i mean again this isn't this is the reboot button yeah i think lo what what what was noticeable about this last team is they're a lot they've got a lot more pace and energy and intensity in their team they've got rid of a lot of the older players
00:57:25
Speaker
And there's a lot more legs in this Lexi team, which is strange to do something that Tudor wanted. But if you look at it, lots of signings, Tavares, Boulaidia, they didn't play. Castro Vili just came on the 87th minute.
00:57:40
Speaker
East Jackson in the 77th, so there is there is more to add. Again, players with legs, all of those players you mentioned, yeah that there' there's going to be a lot there's a lot a lot more energy in this last 13 and this season. Enoch, we shouldn't read too much on it, it's Venezia, they are a really bad team, but I was quite Yeah, ah some positive lots of positives to let you anyway, let's say that. um The other Serie A matches quickly, so Parma, Fiorentina 1-1, Parma back in Serie A as well. Parma will be fine this season, absolutely fine. They should have won this game, they were the better team, they they should have killed off the game before half-time. Dennis Mann, lovely goal, lovely player, lovely left foot. They attacked, has goals in them, Mann, Michaela, Romanians. The youngster, Bonnie, has sent four as a beast, but by the way, strong very strong at holding it up.
00:58:28
Speaker
uhm guarantee his defense looks leaky as nigola missile told us in our in our podcast pongra chitch awful debut horrific what the hell was that awful awful he got was getting done he was getting beaten taken on and he got sent off as well he was a big money signing to replace blink of it very worrying debut from pogra chitch um and But I do want to say, when we did see Coyoteer and Parisi come on, they look much better. And Paladino's not an idiot, so he will have noticed that, and I think he will adjust accordingly. Let's hope so, because it was a bit of an insult, a bit of a kick in the teeth, isn't it, for Parisi being left out for
00:59:12
Speaker
for that, for a teenager, for Komut Komutso, wasn't it? And again, that's what something that Nicole Mizzou told us in this podcast, that Palladino wasn't happy, isn't quite happy with Parizi, what you've seen of him so far. So, yeah, Empoli, Neil Monson, Neil, terrible game, we'll talk about that on Celias of the Week.
00:59:31
Speaker
Bologna won, Udenezi won. How Bologna did it win this game? I have no idea. They had an XG of like 3.6 in this game. Chance after chance after chance, so that... Oh, the Vincenzo Italiano syndrome. The Italiano forward first continues to... not to the chances, but yes. So that's a good result for Udenezi. But yeah, Bologna had so many opportunities in this game. And as I said before, we're recording this before the games on Monday. Lecce Atalanta,
01:00:00
Speaker
Juventus Colma.
Serie A TV Rights & Mismanagement
01:00:01
Speaker
We will review these two games on our midweek show, which I think we'll probably do on Wednesday, just to put it but a little bit closer to to it to the games. So we'll review that those games along with like all the transfer stuff. that all that There's going to be lots of transfer news, and transfer has been completed in the next few days, so we'll talk about that as well. um But NIMA, before we finish with Badger, Premface and Celia as of the week,
01:00:29
Speaker
um We have to talk about the Serie A TV rights scandal because it is a scandal um I mean this crisis has plumbed to new debts a new Serie A season has begun and there are numerous big markets internationally and big countries around the world who are don't have TV rights and for Serie A and it is absolutely shocking. There's lots of anger around the world among Italian football fans. um I've just been speaking to a lot of fans and a lot of ah lot of people from those markets. um i mean four Some of them now have it because lots of them you know yeah loss of last minute these deals, which which I'll come to, 48 hours before the season started,
01:01:15
Speaker
Here are some of the big countries that did not have TV rights. India, home to 1.4 billion people. Indonesia, 375 million people. Australia, with a huge Italian population. ah Malaysia, France, most of Scandinavia, Austria, Hungary, Nigeria, Morocco, much of South America, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Barbados. I mean, I could go on and on and on. That's like 2 billion people. That's over 2 billion people. yeah that can't look but I mean, it's just now. I could go on and on and on.
01:01:45
Speaker
As Nima said though, Serie A managed to do some last-minute deals, which I frankly was very surprised on considering it's Veracosto and usually Italians, let alone Italians at the leg of Serie A, usually
01:01:57
Speaker
You don't hear from them for the days or weeks when it's better. cool stuff So I'm frankly surprised that they managed to close some of these laws. Australia, apparently they close four hours before the season started. Australia, New Zealand, that is. yeah Yes, Australia, New Zealand. India um secured a frankly embarrassing deal from from what I've been told, speaking to speaking to Italian journalists, football journalists in in ah in India.
01:02:24
Speaker
um with an online e-sports company to show Serie A matches online, but they can only watch the games online on computer, only on computer. There's no working app yet. And the deal came so late that basically the company, through no fault of their own, really, ah were not ready. They're not ready for it. So there's nothing to the yeah exactly on TV. Apparently the first games, lots of complaints about quality and sound. A couple of the games, apparently, I found this hilarious,
01:02:54
Speaker
there was double commentary on the game. Somehow, how is that even possible? like ah Double commentary. That was a great guy. I love that. i love them They were making fun of it. Of course they were. It's hilarious. Which is brilliant. um I also like Poland. Poland, I was speaking to to a journalist, Marcin, lovely guy who covers Serie A in Poland.
01:03:22
Speaker
He could send me a voice note saying that Poland has the first match day. But it nobody knows if they will have it any other more than anything else the rest of the season. It's unclear if they have the rights after that. I don't know how the hell that works out, how you can have match rights for the first day of the season. Well, I can tell you how, if what they've done with the UK and Northern Ireland is is very instructive of how they they do deals. It's like the UK deal is just a joke. if They've turned the Serie A rights into some sort of a cow that's been slaughtered with the prime cuts go to TNT, the two games a week.
01:03:56
Speaker
And then the rest is is is on ah is on one football, but some of it is free, some of it you have to pay for, nobody knows how much. That's an OTT as well. That's that firm over the top. It means basically online. like okay It's on large streaming yeah online. yeah Yeah it's just it's well it's unclear actually nobody actually knows with that either because I mean that was secured a few hours before the season started as well um and it's free for the first weekend so that those eight matches that you said are free everybody can can can watch them online but nobody knows yet as far as I know
01:04:32
Speaker
um what will be the cost afterwards, you know, will will you have that? I mean, it seems like it's because the other two games this weekend, the ones that were on TNT, so the inter general game and the Roma calorie game, you could buy them on on football for $4.99. So it's unclear whether I would imagine, because they're going to have to make their money back somehow, that people are going to have to pay for this. It's not going to be free from match day two onwards. Will it be pay-per-view? That seems to be the suggestion. It's going to be pay-per-view. But nobody knows right now. Maybe it will be.
01:05:06
Speaker
But then they have to do like, they can't just charge people for game, they need to create a season pass or something like that. It's ridiculous. Because it'd be too expensive. And and no one's gonna, no one's gonna pay for that either. Yeah, of course. um So yeah, I mean, I watched, ah I watched a couple of games on on football, the Fiorentina game, first game Fiorentina I had on, there was no commentary in the first half, but the commentary suddenly appeared.
01:05:31
Speaker
in the second half. um and And then it was I was watching a bit of the Roma game and it was it was free it it it was freezing a little bit. It kept freezing now and again um as well. I mean, that could just be you know growing pains first week. all that kind of stuff you know well the city i don't know they need that i mean i we know did you watch did you that happen with the zone i know because i it's no no no did you yeah i was goingnna say Did you watch Milan Torino in the middle of the second half when it went blank?
01:06:02
Speaker
on what on what network Well, it was it was the serial that went blank. Oh, they were the ones producing it or the design or whoever is producing. It just it just said test, test or whatever. It was great. And I thought it was just me. But I saw in online that everyone watching was like, ah what what the design has been, a but the design has been a running joke. I mean, that's all again on Syria. I mean, if everybody makes fun of it, it's me all the time. So I don't know who's producing it. So they call it the CAZM.
01:06:29
Speaker
But so I mean, yeah, so I mean, we'll see what happens with the UK. But that the point is that this has just been so badly handled the whole team. Sweden, Sweden, Sweden, Sweden has one Norway, it's only on I think you can go on and it's a newspaper. It's a national newspaper that's bought the rights only streaming online.
01:06:50
Speaker
But Sweden, it's a bit it's one of the it's the network that's had it for the last year or so that are going to have it for the next two seasons. They they closed out the day before. Yeah, it's not been handled well. been handd to and Obviously, there's the value of the deals as well, which is important that I mean, that is probably the most well, it's the most important in terms of finances, but also, as has been, we've said so many times before, it's not just about going for the best financial deal, because that you have to be able to sell to someone who can put on a good, you know, has a good product. and and And because that's what helps the market and grow the league. And if you sell, sell to someone who can't put on a good show,
01:07:27
Speaker
then you're actually you know which is what happened in india in some of the last recent rights cycles um and then the last one in that nobody was actually able to watch the game and it wasn't promoted and then and then really you're not growing the league are you so it's it's there's a lot of variables there but but just so everybody understands and because I did put out a tweet on Thursday which went viral and there's a lot of anger about how bad badly this has been handled. Who handles the international TV rights sales? So, basically, the Lea Gasseria and a sports marketing agency called In Front Sports, the way has
01:08:07
Speaker
been handled in recent years as they divide the selling and negotiating of TV rights between them. Now, the League of Serie A generally takes care or has until now ah taken care of the big markets like the US, MENA, which is the Middle East and North Africa, the UK, as far as I understand. In front sports until now generally have done much of the rest of the world, including the Asian market.
01:08:32
Speaker
um Now, my understanding is that they are now working more closely together since Anna Guanherio, who is the the head of international TV rights at Lego Serie A, se yeah um until she was since she became the head of international TV rights there, for over 20 years. Before that, she was at Infront.
01:08:51
Speaker
um So the two organisations basically work together. I mean, the buck stops with Anna, of course, ah and it's been terribly, terribly handled. Terribly, terribly handled. Well, I mean, that's a title, isn't it? She's the head of international TV rights at Lego Serie A. Yeah. I mean, I've be been speaking to a lot of people and I've been told that the Lego only started talks over, I'm not going to name the the the country because i I don't want to give away ah the sort of sources, but I've been told that League only started talks over a few of these big countries, which which I've listed before a few of the bigger markets three weeks ago.
01:09:39
Speaker
Anna, Anna herself, that is. So, um you know, I'm not again, I don't want to put it all on Anna because I know there are cultural issues which we'll come to in a minute, but that is embarrassing. You know, why are you starting ah to negotiate but i mean you write three weeks before the season starts? Why so late? Why didn't you do it months ago? Why didn't you do it the start of the year? They didn't even do it with their biggest prized asset, which they love the most, the the the Americans that are going to save us.
01:10:07
Speaker
they didn't They didn't start that. when When did that deal become clear? I'm not i'm not sure. Was it a week ago? like Five days ago? Four days ago? I mean, this is what they do. yeah this is It's always last minute deals. And from what I've heard and understood, CBS basically one told them, we're not paying you what you want. And they got whatever they wanted. No, financially it was a terrible deal. I know there are reasons for that. um did The whole climate, you know,
01:10:35
Speaker
And, um you know, I don't want to sit here and criticize the Americans. I actually think when it comes to marketing, you know, what they do, even the guys at CBS, I think that they do ah as good a job at any it trying to actually market the league, trying to actually. Oh, I disagree with that profoundly. We can talk about how will they do it and whether you like it, but in terms of actually but them Do you reach new audiences or not with your marketing or do you keep preaching to the choir? that's what i'm that That's what I'm interested in. I'm interested in growing. I'm interested in talking and finding new audiences that you retain. That to me is successful marketing. yeah Preaching to the choir
01:11:18
Speaker
over and over and over again to people who already love the Seria because they have a cultural historical family heritage. That is is is is is good because you need to keep your base happy like when we interviewed the CEO of Seria um in North America. That's great. I'm not interested in the base. I mean because you've got the base and you need to take care of them. You need to respect them. All of that is true. What I'm interested is in is how are you going to reach new audiences? And the answer to that has been to pay lots of money to bringing these idiots who cook naked, who cook Italian food naked, or I show speed, who plays the whoever talks is gay game with Zlatan. That is the strategy, apparently. that That seems to be the tone of what they're going after.
01:12:05
Speaker
up that is but that it's not it it's that's a nonor point What I meant was that at least that they are making noise, let's let's say, whereas in these other markets. Well, when people make noise that no one wants to hear, then it's essentially yelling out, yelling into the ether. That's my point. What is your strategy to reach new markets and to retain them, not just flash in the pan, a bunch of likes on Instagram? No. What is your long-term strategy and short-term strategy to grow the popularity of the city in the United States and Canada? Because I, again, I believe
01:12:43
Speaker
firmly that this is this people like Italy it's one of the few things most people on this planet agree on is that Italy is a place that most people have a very positive connotation to when they think of Italy, whether it's the food, the weather, the history, the fashion, the the music, all of these things, and the football. I agree with you. What I'm saying is I'm talking about, first of all, but I'm talking about the whole process here. I'm talking about selling the rights, actually getting the rights done, and then those markets actually being able to to to to to to actually
01:13:17
Speaker
at least be you know visible let's say in in these look in india for example they're not visible there's no visibility at all so whether you agree with how let's for example cbs do things what you know the whole marketing strategy and all that.
01:13:33
Speaker
ah That's another talking point. That's that's further down the line. At least they're visible at least has visibility at least that they're ah trying to make some noise That's what I'm saying. I'm to i'm talking about that stuff starting stage process Then there's another then there's another talk about further down the line how the whole so you feel that's what I'm saying about Your bar the bo is the bar is low yes the bar is low it is literally this like nima the souls of satan's foot in hell Australia tv rights are sold for four hours you know by then most of the most of the i know lots of people and by then most of people and we'll come to piracy and most of the most of the Italian football fans have already gone out and bought IPTV boxes
01:14:09
Speaker
of course because they want to watch the games. It's too late for hours before, so they've already lost those. But that's, you know, Malaysia, i' but I've been told they started a few weeks ago to to talk about. I've got a really good friend that that that lives in in Malaysia um who moved out there with his with his with his wife, Italian, ah from Bedford. He's the guy that, remember I went to the 2006 World Cup with, who missed three of Italy's goals during the tournament because I wouldn't let him watch the watch the the corner kick. Is that the poor guy you terrorised in 2006? Yes, yes. He's the one that I i demanded not watch the court. Yeah, we're in against the Czech Republic. Yeah, yeah because I said that Italy would score if he didn't watch, and they did. ah man she And then I wouldn't let him watch. You are a menace.
Broadcast Rights Frustrations
01:14:55
Speaker
You ruined the World Cup for him. That's what you did. yeah but we won it we won the world cup so it was better yeah i mean you could have you could have watched it and we then went out you know you could have watched the totty penalty against australia and we missed it and we went out so it has no correlation literally no correlation well i i stopped him from watching the pilo corner which led to the which led to the groso go as well you are a terrorist he missed three goals he missed three goals in the tour anyway he lives god he lives in malaysia and
01:15:22
Speaker
He moved to moved to Malaysia to get away from you. i mean he lives at his name sch zeppy He lives in Malaysia and he yeah yeah they they still don't have they still don't have the rights. They are furious and it's a massive it's Italian population. Indonesia is the biggest Islamic country in the world. A lot of people don't know that. But it's the biggest it's you know there's lots of people who live there.
01:15:45
Speaker
and they don't you know they don't have the right, from what I understand, as of today when we're recording, there's no, there's no rights there. No, they are absolutely furious. The inter club, the inter club of Indonesia has, I don't know how many hundreds of like sub chapters, they have 80,000 members paying members, something like that. That's just, that's just inter like the Milan, Juve and then like, it's i've actually got, I've actually got a quote here and I'm going to read it out because if he asked me, it's from,
01:16:14
Speaker
from his friend, Charan Jit Singh, who is the head of the official, ah you've va always always one of the one of the main guys of the official UVA fan club Malaysia, and which is absolutely huge, just like the intramural. I read out his quote because he he asked if I could and said, look, my message to Infront and the idiots running the TV rights distribution, you are the reason Seriat is called the farmer's league.
01:16:39
Speaker
as they can't even get their act together and leave huge swathes of Seria fans in Asia in a lurch. Pretty soon we will share similarities with the Eredivisi Turkish Super League and the Portuguese League. I mean, they they are absolutely furious. Of course they are. And rightly rightly so. um And I think that one of the reasons, absolutely, is that Leka spent so much time worrying about America, thinking America is going to save us.
Criticism of Serie A's US Market Focus
01:17:06
Speaker
And even then, the deal that they did with CPS, you know,
01:17:10
Speaker
there are reasons why it it's so low, but the the deal financially is is really not good. And we don't even know what the financial figures are of these last minute deals they've done. you know They're probably not very good either, I would imagine. um And then you know that plummeted from the last deal. um So you know why on earth they they they spend all that time worrying on America when they didn't even get a good deal? And then you know all these other big markets. They only started three weeks ago. I mean, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, which are competently run organisations, they started these talks, secured these deals months ago. You know, beginning of the year, they would be starting talks with the new right cycle. You know, stop three months, three weeks before the season starts. I mean, it's just embarrassing. And that's why I say they cannot sell life jackets on the Titanic. the Titanic.
01:18:04
Speaker
No, they can't. They're awful. They're awful at it. And it's time to name it. It's time to name and shame them. I'm sorry. I know, you know, some people, some people that that have ties to Syria were a little bit unhappy that I named and a Guinario, but I'm sorry, but the problem is that first of all, the buck
Accountability in Italian Football
01:18:22
Speaker
stops with her. She's she well she is the head as the head of of international TV. tv rights She needs to be answerable. She she should be explaining herself. The problem that we have in Italy, it's with Italian football, with Serie A is that when there are these fuck ups, when there are these scandals,
01:18:37
Speaker
There's no one is no one ever comes out and then there's no there's no names, there's no faces. No, there's no accountability. It's always just old Seriano is a joke. it's not you know that It's just that's it. Gravena gets it all. And he's I'm not saying that he's any good eye. But you know, it's always just it's just Gravena. It's just Seriano as a whole. It's just Italy as a country. We need to name name. I mean, it is a cultural problem as well. There's no doubt about it. But we need to start naming names and a Guinario.
01:19:03
Speaker
Answer yourself. What what is going on? Why the hell is this such a mess, you know and Others as well, but we always make fun of them of the of the marketing, you know, the marketing is a joke in Syria It's a complete and utter joke. Just look at look at the Twitter account and the absolute you know Just listen to our serious of the week every week and see that the fuckups that go on on social media when they're marketing It's just embarrassing Miguel Cicaresi is the commercial and marketing director. i've been told by few people but he's one of the main men I've been told by a few people, he's always in New York, he's always in the Middle East, he's always rubbing shoulders with all the former players and he does nothing. His job is to commercially grow the league outside of Italy. How does he commercially grow the league? you know And he goes and that everybody goes boasting that they're conquering America, they're conquering the world.
01:19:50
Speaker
You know, the head of social media and all the goons working for them. I want to know who the name is. I want to know who is the person responsible for these people on social media that they're embarrassed to leave every single week with someone. Last week, what did they do last week, Nimr? In the middle of when there's hardly any rights sold to half two billion people on Earth.
01:20:10
Speaker
they go talking about how piracy kills football. Like there's being tone deaf and then there's being, I don't know what that is. they taking that was their floridaff That was their campaign for match day one and match day two of Serie A. You see it before the games. Piracy kills football ins ah in Italian.
01:20:26
Speaker
I mean, a piracy campaign when you haven't sold any TV rights. I mean, you've just got to laugh. What are the pirates stealing? There's nothing to steal. You haven't sold it. You haven't sold anything. I mean, you know what it's like? It's like a farmer blaming insects for destroying his crops when he never gives any of the crops any fertilizer or any sunlight or water, moisture, you know, they're never going to grow. Then you blame the insects. Exactly. That's what it's like. And then of course, area becomes a farmer's league. There we go. Nice little nice little you came full circle there. Yeah. No, but it's I agree with that. I agree with everything you said there. And I think that it's not just the appointments and the people in charge. I think there needs to be accountability across the board. And I think when you look at how the Bundesliga handles themselves and how they systematically there's what I love about German football is how
01:21:22
Speaker
rational they are and how bluntly matter of fact they are about the facts. They know their place in the food chain, they want to grow, they set up realistic targets long term and then they try to build towards that and then they move the entire German ecosystem towards that from stadiums to and this is in a league where it's fan owned. Like most of the clubs are not businesses, they're owned by the community still.
01:21:49
Speaker
And you look at how I mean, just look at the production quality of a Bundesliga game there in 2024. Italy's in 1984. Yeah. And then you look at. Wasn't there a massive technical error before the inter-game as well, i like to start the season? Yeah, yeah. no they like like three yeah there was yeah and then And then the referee couldn't get the VAR thing to... i whatever. And the goal on technology wasn't working for the Milan game as well. know that's With was the goal that got given, um apparently as well. Luckily they they make the right decision. But you know but anyway, that's another talk we brought together. But yeah, no, it's it's um it's it's it's stuff like this that is so easily sorted.
01:22:29
Speaker
that they just don't have the infrastructure in place to take care of. and And the reason why we're naming people is because somewhere the buck has to stop.
Media Silence on TV Rights Scandal
01:22:38
Speaker
This is something that I find utterly astonishing with Italian media is that nobody is talking about this. They only talk about the domestic rights. They don't. and it's It's as if. But there is another there is a world out there. You're competing on a global scale.
01:22:59
Speaker
You're not just competing with the Premier League in Italy. You're competing with the Premier League everywhere and everyone else everywhere. And so that's what, you know, they don't talk about this and it needs to be talked about. And we know why it's not talked about.
01:23:12
Speaker
because you you you risk pissing off a lot of powerful people and and and they don't want to you know they want they'd rather ignore it and silence it to death. And and they're just working for themselves as well. That's that's what they're working for. And it's exhausting that they don't do that because that that that this is not a bigger scandal because I mean, I'll tell you this much, if if the Premier League failed to secure rights abroad in big markets and and had to resort to this,
01:23:42
Speaker
They would be an absolute scandal. The British media would be all over it. And I'm not saying the British media are any better, but they would be slaughtering them. The F.A. for this. Oh, and it would roll as well. It would roll. People would have to resign. You'd see organizational changes. You'd see structural change because because it's a cash cow that brings in lots of revenue and tax revenue. It's part of the global branding of the England as ah in the world.
01:24:10
Speaker
And so it's important for them to maintain you know that that you know a good service level and and a good quality. Exactly. And then that comes all down to the finances and that's why, you know, Serie A teams have no money and that's why we don't buy any
Serie A's Organizational Issues
01:24:23
Speaker
plays. I mean, that's the last. We're just really more talking about you know, serving your actual your your fans, allow them to actually be able to watch the games. Are we able to allow allow our fans to watch the actual matches? Forget about the money. you can yeah No, seriously, like when they talk about piracy, they they they say that piracy is killing football. No, piracy is not killing football when you can't even sell the rights. Like what are you talking about? What are you on about? You can't even
01:24:52
Speaker
shore up your own base. The people who love your league, who will watch your league no matter what. You can't even get your product to them. That is the level we're talking about here. Then we can talk about long-term growth and reaching new audiences. But you can't even preach to the converted.
01:25:10
Speaker
You can't even sell the product to the people who want your product globally. It's just insane. It's insane. But yeah, let's let's see. Let's see. I'll be very interested to see what the financial numbers are on these on these deals when they eventually come out. Let's finish off, though, with Badjo, Premface and Celia Ass of the Week.
01:25:33
Speaker
say badgio I don't know whether this should really be called a bad joke. I don't want to be like promoting kind of fan insults, but I'm sorry. There's something about the Napoli Verona rivalry. I like love it. Me too. I absolutely love this this rivalry between the fans.
01:25:58
Speaker
But, and the fact that they use Shakespearean kind of like references, this is not the first time we've seen Napoli fans and and insult Verona fans by using Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Napoli-Verona Rivalry Humor
01:26:12
Speaker
This was this latest one, I was cry laughing.
01:26:17
Speaker
Romeo knows Juliet julie juliet from OnlyFans. It's a pan out. Like, I'm sorry. It's brilliant, isn't it? They always find a new way to insult Juliet. That's what's so fantastic about it. i mean it's a good side Yeah, it's it's it's just, I mean, these are, again, these are fictional characters that don't exist. It's a Shakespeare it's a shakespeare play, right? And then and it's like, it's just, it's so funny. um and And lots of other things as well, like this weekend.
01:26:44
Speaker
um with with just the memes online. Like, ah it is so inappropriate. Which earlier B-Sec was one, which we can't share. No, we can't. No, it's just, but it was it was just, it's so out there. It's so unhinged. It's so crazy. You know, Lazio and have Verona have been topping the serial league with that meme of Mussolini in Hitler. It's just, I'm sorry, because of course Verona's fans, Ultraz are Nazis and Lazios are historically fascist.
01:27:14
Speaker
It's just this is just cultural Twitter in its nutshell. It is just on fire. This is match day one. The means and the way that they take the piss out of each other is just it's completely there are no there's no they just go after each other in the most funniest way it's ever.
01:27:34
Speaker
and the most unhinged ways ever. there's no like It's just but unhinged and therefore it's by definition sometimes very, very funny. yeah and and And this last weekend, it just been um mean it's just I've just been laughing so much. yeah to see And Juventus are yet to play yet as well, so just wait until Juventus plays. We just didn't match day one. like um Roma fans. i mean Well, I'm waiting for the allegory memes when when you went to sleep. I mean, it probably won't happen against Como, but when the net really does, you know there's going to be something. And also the self-deprecation, too. like That's what I like. I mean, the Roma fan, who made an AI image of Dobby the house elf from from ah Harry Potter and called him Dobby Bic,
01:28:21
Speaker
of Artem Dov big and then make them meet. I mean, it's just, I don't even know. Like, although this is, this is what we love about Celia for sure. um premfaces cell acid of the week I have a combined one for, premface you have any other premises? No. Yeah. Did you look it up? Did Paul Skoll's really compare? um yes he did Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did he actually do this? I believe he did. Yeah. I mean,
01:28:50
Speaker
Yeah, that to me is just... I don't even know... Yeah, he called Coby Manu, Manchester United, Zinedine Zidane. He's the nearest I've seen to Zidane. He also sucked his daughter's toe, didn't he? So, I mean... Can we never... You promised we would never talk about it. You promised we would never, ever bring that up. Ever again. Yeah. But the point is, we shouldn't be surprised. That's what I mean.
01:29:20
Speaker
Speaking of memes, the funniest thing, the most disgusting meme about that was when somebody, when when Rio Ferdinand was in the hospital and took a photo of himself lying in a hospital bed and someone cut in poor skulls. It's the most disturbing thing I've seen on the internet. um It was just, yeah. Anyway. He says he doesn't want to talk about it, then proceeds to talk about it. Yeah, but I'm not going to see him suffer alone. Right. The Serie A's of the week. So first of all, one that we already mentioned. So Serie A Twitter getting the Milan title year on. They did a list ahead of the new season. Listing the most recent Serie A champions. Somehow they had ah Napoli winning the 2022 Scudetto and ah Milan winning the 2023 Scudetto. They got Napoli Milan the wrong way round. But the other Serie A's of the week, this is just shocking.
01:30:18
Speaker
Parma as well. The Parma pitch was atrocious as well. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't as bad as the Emily Monza pitch. I mean, that was, I mean, they actually, Emily have actually apologized with a statement. But the Emily Monza pitch was a potato field. And again, coming back to farmers, um but the playing surface, it was cutting up so much that there was actually there was just chunks flying around the pitch. and some someone kick fall It was like, you didn't know whether you were following the ball or the pitch. You know, like there was just It was just unbelievable. I mean, but also seriously, really dangerous. We're talking about ACLs. yeah i mean you you I mean, it's just, ah it's just disgusting. But what, what, what, I mean, again, sums up Serie A where we're at. I mean, we've got playing surfaces from the 1970s here.
01:31:06
Speaker
i want I want to as a as a as a. Can I just add to this, though, Nima, that the employees' statement was was hilarious as well. And their excuse was that they didn't have time to treat the pitch. That was there. That was there. There was no time. What can you possibly be doing as an employee? They claim that there was an issue. There was a match there at the beginning of at the beginning of June. And because of that, they didn't have time.
01:31:38
Speaker
Italy played there at the beginning of June. I love this. July, August. You've had two months since that Italy game. Yeah, but everyone's been on holiday. You know, you just look at like this is the thing that... I mean, Feregosto, come on. I mean... No, it's not just Feregosto. I got to tell you, the thing that I love the most, like nothing like you, like this, this is to put it into context. You have a Mercato show. OK, Gianluca de Marzio has a Mercato show on Sky.
01:32:05
Speaker
every summer well i say every summer with an asterisk because every the whole purpose of this mercato show surely is to be open and broadcast when the mercato is open he does two and a half weeks in june then he's off on holiday for all of july and then he comes back in september in august break for feragosto like
01:32:30
Speaker
so It's hilarious.
Italian Holiday Mindset Humor
01:32:33
Speaker
It's unbelievably hilarious to me. like it's just oh you have ah You have a transfer window show that's clo that where where where you don't broadcast for a third of it because you're on holiday.
01:32:44
Speaker
because you know it's july is' is so good i just love this italian mentality and of course that's what happened at em the groundskeeper was in his what is zoie holiday you know you can't can't break that you know probably i mean deserves a too it's probably really hard workinging i'm not having a knock like criticism critic i about having all Well, you know, but Good what I'm saying is that you should be able to sort this out. Like, do night you know what I mean? out. I just want to also, as a bad jot of the week, Dennis Mann, part of my winger, I think he's going to have a fantastic season. I think he's going to be, I love watching him. Me too. And I think he's going to be, he's one of my, you know, as always, after the Metcalf, I'm going to give my final predictions for, for, for.
01:33:25
Speaker
you know, for the Serie A, but he's one of my breakout stars of earth stars of the A this season. I think he's going to be, I haven't decided between him and a couple of others, but he's definitely up there. he's he's he's He's quite the attraction to watch and I think he's going to be the next big star that everyone's going to fight over.
01:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, I like watching it, very elegant, lovely, lovely left foot and a great goal as well. Okay, right, let's
First Weekend Excitement & Engagement
01:33:50
Speaker
leave it at that. um First weekend of the season and so much to talk about, both good and bad. It was it was certainly, you couldn't have picked a better first weekend I don't think in terms of doing a show afterwards, could we? I mean, it was amazing. amazing and we still got two big two big games and there will be lots to talk about with with Atalanta and Juventus, Juventus because it's Juventus and also because of all the transfer stuff but Atalanta as well because of all the stuff that's going on with Lukman and now demanding a transfer we'll see how that ah
01:34:23
Speaker
how that develops in the next two days, but it is fast turning into an absolute disaster over summer but for Atalanta if they lose him as well. So we'll have lots to talk about with Atalanta.
Growing Audience & Listener Gratitude
01:34:33
Speaker
We'll see what happens then. We hope, obviously, that he ah he somehow he stays at the club. Okay, right. Until next time We'll be back tomorrow for the Q&A. And then of course on Wednesday we'll be doing a review of the two games that we didn't talk about tonight and also previewing the weekend and all the other talks. We'll be looking to do before that up you know we're going to do things a little bit differently in the sense that if it's not a Champions League week
01:35:02
Speaker
ah or a European Cup week, we'll be trying to do the Thursday pod on a Wednesday. If there's games, yeah. If there's games yeah there's sorry i games to talk about, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Otherwise, we'll be doing that on Thursday. But it's only for patrons only. And I have to say, we've never had as many patrons as we have right now. It's really, really fun. Our listenership, we've never had an audience as big as the one that we have right now, both the free and the patron one. And it's really, really encouraging. And thank you to everyone who has signed up, who are sending us messages, questions, sharing on social media, on YouTube, free, you know, whether it's your paid subscriber. Yeah, thank you. I mean, they've got to follow their seria somewhere in them, haven't they? And they can't watch the game. so mean They for the listen, don't they? Mad. Maybe we should buy the TV rights. Yeah, I was just going to say, why don't we? Do you a director no we can afford it? I mean, why not?
01:35:52
Speaker
You can make it part of the Patreon plan. Yeah. Monthly, monthly one. um But yeah, no, so thank you to everyone who does that. And and and we really appreciate it. And and it's just it's incredibly humbling um and an honor to to have your to have your but you know, that you believe in us and that you follow us and that you like what we do and you keep sharing and and subscribing. and And we really we're really grateful to you and we're looking we're hoping to have ah you know, we want to have the greatest season we have.
01:36:21
Speaker
We have them and we hope that you enjoy this journey with us that you've embarked with us. So thank you. And we'll be back next. We'll be back on Tuesday for the Q and&A, which is only for patrons. And after that, on Wednesday for a midweek review show. So until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. Ciao ciao.