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Free Weekly Episode - Magical Milan Put Mourinho In Crisis, Sarri Stuns Napoli AGAIN, Lautaro’s Inter Flatten Fiorentina, Chiesa Drags Juve & Much More (Ep. 356)
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From a brilliant AC Milan performance winning 3 from 3 in Serie A after a Rafael Leao wondergoal against a Roma where José Mourinho is being criticized just like Rudi Garcia is after Napoli dominate first half but stumble to Maurizio Sarri's Lazio thanks to a Luis Alberto masterclass, to Inter putting on a show after another brace by unplayable Lautaro Martinez against a woeful Vincenzo Italiano coached Fiorentina, where Juventus win and create chances but Paul Pogba injured again while Dusan Vlahovic gives a shocking performance, as well as Gianluca Scamacca begins to fulfill his potential at Atalanta and much, much more as Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from a jam-packed week and weekend in Italian football.
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Transcript
Serie A Match Day 3 Review
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Kylo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Tavalli. And on today's show, we will review match day three of Serie A, the first really big weekend of the season with three huge match ups. Are Milan the real deal after winning again in Rome? Is it third season syndrome all over again for Jose Mourinho as Roma?
00:00:32
Speaker
Well, it's been a crisis starts the season for them. Lazio end their own crisis as Maurizio Sarri earns another historic victory in Naples, partly thanks to the to the genius of Luis Alberto. And of course, there are already question marks now over Napoli manager Rudy Garcia. Inter absolutely destroy Fiorentina with Lazaro Martinez on fire and his strike partner, his new strike partner Marcus Taram school and his first Inter goal.
00:01:02
Speaker
While Juventus get back to winning ways, partly thanks to a fantastic goal from Federico Chiesa, we'll review all the other big matches and big talking points from the weekend ahead of the international break.
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00:01:17
Speaker
So for all our first time listeners, this is our free weekly episode that we do every Monday reviewing the weekend Serie action.
00:01:24
Speaker
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 weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday, where we answer all of the questions from our Patreons, plus a weekly Thursday midweek review show, plus interviews, post-match reaction, and much, much more, then go to patreon.com slash TIP and become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month, plus VAT.
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Speaker
And now you can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify, and we will provide the link in the description. Same price, same terms. And for all of you that do listen on Spotify, Apple, on iTunes Podcast, we'd really appreciate if you'd give us a five-star rating, give us a follow and a like. We're on YouTube as well because it really helps us to grow and do more quality content. So let's get into the show, but first, a word from our sponsor.
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00:03:15
Speaker
It's time to share your story.
Milan vs Roma: Tactical Analysis
00:03:18
Speaker
Right, so let's start off with Milan, the Friday night game, the big match in Rome at the Olympico between Roma and Milan. Milan win 2-1, their third straight victory to start the season. And people are already starting to ask the question, is this Milan the real deal, Nima?
00:03:40
Speaker
Well, you and I have been saying for quite some time that we think they are, and we really like them, Erkato. A lot of people didn't, but you and I consistently did, especially Christian Pulisic. If I may toot my own horn, I did say he was going to be the first Uismus national team to break out and be a star at a classic
00:03:59
Speaker
It was European super clubs, traditionally big club. And I think he's done an absolutely, he started really, really well. He didn't score against Roma, but Milan can hurt you in many different ways. We know how good Rafael Liao is. We know how good Teo Hernandez is. Well, now they've got the depth as well. They can hurt you in very many different ways. And they're a difficult side and they're defensively solid. We already knew that as well.
00:04:26
Speaker
No, they are so, so good. They look so solid. I think they completely dominated the game. If we're perfectly honest, I think if Tomori hadn't gotten himself sent off, I think we could have been talking about a 3-0, 4-0 win, to be honest.
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There was a fantastic performance. They created lots of opportunities. They conceded absolutely nothing in terms of chances until the red card, or I would actually say until Romelu Lukaku came on. Until then, Roma didn't lay a glove on them. They dominated possession. They had 63% of possession. You have a look at all the statistics. The XG, 1.63 to 0.41.
00:05:19
Speaker
which would have been even more emphatic if, like you said, there hadn't been the red card. And, you know, throughout the team, it was a great team performance, but also so many individually great performances as well. I mean, Rafael Liao, we have to start with him because here's Biostool kick goal. I mean, that is just insane. He's half on the floor, lying on the floor, back to goal.
00:05:40
Speaker
in a really awkward position and he manages to execute that kind of acrobatic bicycle kick. I mean, it's just an insane goal, the difficulty level of that. I mean, it's already a contender for goal of the season. Without a doubt.
00:06:01
Speaker
I gotta hand it to our good friend Patrick Kendrick. I know he doesn't like when we talk about him, but his call of that goal was just as good as that goal itself. Go and see it. Check it out on YouTube. It was fantastic. No, look, Rafael Liao, like I said, we know how good he is.
00:06:20
Speaker
uh... this isn't news to us but if he's going to see if you know if you can really be the icing on me one's cake uh... when when you are not as good than me on will have teams and i think that they're going to have teams not just in in italy i think i i actually think that i think i don't remember if i said it in my prediction but i thought i should have me on going fathers of all city of teams in the champions league i think they play in a way
00:06:46
Speaker
that will pay off in Europe as well, given the depth and, you know, the quality of Teo, who I know we're going to get to. But I have to first, I'm not going to do a mea culpa, but I'm going to say that I'm preparing the groundwork to raise my hand up and do a mea culpa, because if Ruben Loftus Chink is going to continue playing like this, well, he's one of the signings of the season, isn't he? He was absolutely fantastic again.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would say he was he was man of the match for Milan. You take away that Raphael goal, which is such a insane goal that it automatically, I think, makes you the man of the match. But if you look at the overall performance from the beginning to end until he came off.
00:07:32
Speaker
He was great. Roma couldn't get close to him. He was bouncing off challenges. He was so dominant, so strong. He was great. He was totally running the show in the midfield. And I think nothing symbolized already his importance for this Milan team. If you look at the reactions, there's a video that's gone viral on social media of Teo Hernandez and Rafael Liao,
00:08:02
Speaker
complaining to Stefano Pioli when Pioli took Lubin Loftus Cheek off. You can look at both ways and say they shouldn't be doing that, but you can also look at it as, well, from Lubin Loftus Cheek point of view,
00:08:18
Speaker
this is a player that Tio and Liao, Milan's two best outfield players, the respect he's already got from them, that they're complaining and they don't want him taken off. It also shows he's really integrated well. I mean, all the signings, Piulice, Reinde, Ruben Loftuszczyk, they've all integrated really, really well into this Milan side and that really bodes well because usually, you know,
00:08:42
Speaker
when we you know we said I think we did raise a little warning that you know this side might need some time to gel and get going oh they no they don't they're already flying out of the blocks and they seem to get along really well off the pitch as well but no it's absolutely great but I do think we should talk about the inverted fullbacks that seems to be the theme in world football if it's not destiny or dodgy you know if it's not the inverted fallback tactics
00:09:09
Speaker
if it's not under Cambiaso, now it's Calabrian Teo as well. Yeah, it's getting to the point now where I feel like this is going to become redundant by Christmas because everybody is going to be doing it. It's going to be pointless doing it anymore and someone's going to have to come up with something new because that's kind of what happens. That's the cycles of football tactics. Somebody comes up with something new, everybody copies it and then it becomes redundant because everyone's copying it or people work out ways to counter it.
00:09:39
Speaker
But it's the thing that is everyone copy? It feels like this is just where football is. Everyone is doing this right now. Everybody's slowly starting to do it. I mean, probably the exceptions. I mean, Mourinho, I mean, put this way, right? This kind of tactic will work brilliant against a team like Mourinho. We'll come to Mourinho. We'll talk about it in a minute about how he's a little bit outdated with his type of tactics.
Mourinho's Challenges at Roma
00:10:01
Speaker
But, you know, it worked brilliantly in this game. And Calabria,
00:10:04
Speaker
who you would never imagine being inverted full back, playing in central midfield. Whenever Milan had the bull, Calabria was coming into centre midfield in the build up. Teo was doing it quite a bit as well. Sometimes they were doing it together. Krunic was dropping to centre back to make a three man centre back in the build up. And this is a reason why Pioli liked Krunic so much and doesn't want to sell him. Is the Turkish market closed yet? I think it's still open for a little while. I think it's still open for a little while.
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah this is the reason why Pioli's been so strong and adamant that he doesn't want Trunich because he feels like he's tactically very, he's tactically key and that he's able to drop into a centre back in the in the build up. But yeah I mean it worked fantastically for Milan and it meant that they completely dominated. I read out the possession figures before it meant they completely
00:10:54
Speaker
dominated sentiment field. So it's interesting, like you said, Milan have got so many different ways of killing you, but they're also tactically very flexible and versatile. And so yeah, this is another string, another string to the Milan bow.
00:11:10
Speaker
It really is, and I think Milan are... I still think it's going to be a three horse race. I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment and come with reductive takes and say stuff like, oh, because Napoli lost, that they're out of the Scoredetto race. That would be stupid and silly on match day three.
00:11:29
Speaker
there are two teams that have stood there are two teams that look yeah they there are two teams that really so far that you know you can't draw to race out the block yeah both raced out the blocks but they also play in a way where they're structurally both very sound i know we're going to get to intel as well they both look very structurally sound and they play each other after the international break so
00:11:53
Speaker
The team that doesn't look structurally very sound at all at the moment is Jose Mourinho's Roma. They've had a terrible start this season. They've got one point in three games and we'll go into a little bit more detail of the game itself but I think the big question right now is
00:12:09
Speaker
Is this another case of third season syndrome for Mourinho? Is this the beginning of the end for Mourinho? Are we starting to see the first signs of that, you know, Mourinho meltdown that we've seen so many times before? We've seen it at Chelsea, both spells at Chelsea, we saw at Manchester United, we saw at Real Madrid, you know, that in his third season,
00:12:30
Speaker
It's either he falls out with players, the press, the club, and or there are bad results. That has been the common theme throughout most of his career. The manager, the famous quote from the
00:12:45
Speaker
the the the legendary benfica coach bella gutman from the 60s the third season is fatal coach was very similar to to uh to to to marina and that he always seemed to leave and in his third season things used to fall apart in his third season this has been marina throughout his career really the third season things have started to go wrong or he's lost his job
00:13:05
Speaker
Are we at that situation now with not necessarily the end of that situation, but are we at the beginning of the end? I think it's too premature to say that, and I'll tell you why. Because Romelu Lukaku, when he came on, he gave Roma a balance and clarity and structure that I don't think Roma had.
00:13:24
Speaker
before that. And I think it's unfair a little bit given where Roma have been and how quickly he came and the problems they've had. I think let's wait. But yes, he is on an expiring contract. Yes, Antonio Conte is available. Romelu Lukaku is there. Paolo Di Bala is there.
00:13:46
Speaker
Spinazzola, wingbacks are there. Antonio Conte would be able to work at this Roma. So I think that is something to stick a pin in and think of in the background. But I don't think we're quite there at the Mourinho meltdown stage that we saw, I think, really the worst case of at Chelsea and of course Manchester United famously.
00:14:13
Speaker
But I don't think we're quite there yet. But look, this is what happens if you don't give Mourinho, to use an Italian phrase, a project to marry and his contract is on an expiring contract.
00:14:28
Speaker
Oh, this is what happens. He has an ego as well. When there were reports that he went berserk at his players at full time in the changing rooms. But for the first time, some players stood up to him and actually criticized him for his tactics. And then he refused to speak to the press after the game too. And we know already that his blood has been boiling for a while because of the suspension at the start of the season.
00:14:53
Speaker
He felt that Roma are treated differently to other clubs both in Italy and in Europe. He quit obviously the UEFA role. You have got the FFP situation and you've got also obviously this ridiculous situation in the transfer market where basically Roma couldn't spend a single penny or some of the basically the whole transfer
00:15:11
Speaker
Which is not Roma's fault, and I think Mourinho needs to understand that. This is not Roma's fault. Roma have a settlement agreement they have to respect, and they have to turn a profit. There's nothing they can do. And I still think that given those parameters, they had the best mercata. I give them an eight and a half.
00:15:32
Speaker
If you take everything into consideration, I saw some people online that understand how we could do that, and it's like, well, we look at the whole picture. It's not just any idiot with barely opposable thumbs and sentient
00:15:47
Speaker
mind can sit there and say player A in, player B out, this is the grade. No. If you have to analyze the entire situation, you have to understand the situation. And to me, I think you need to give this a little bit more time. I think the players that they brought in are really exciting players. I think they suit the system. I think Romelu Lukaku and Di Bala and Pellegrini are going to have lots and lots and lots of fun together.
00:16:11
Speaker
after the international break, starting after the international break. Yeah, I think I agree with that. I think we have to look, let's all wait for Lukaku and Di Bala to come back and let's see how Roma start playing when those two together, because those two are going to score a lot of goals. They're going to be a great little income. And in fact, we saw Lukaku. I thought, you know what, I thought Lukaku, even though he's probably about 30%, I thought it was fantastic when he came up. I really did. Everything
00:16:35
Speaker
stuck to him. He held everything up, even hopeless long balls, brought others into play. He had a shot that just went over. He totally changed the game. I mean, obviously the red card didn't as well, but he
00:16:46
Speaker
Roma started, you know, started causing a bit of trouble when he came on. So you put Di Bala in there as well, Awa. But I do think that, you know, tactically, though, I think, you know, if it's true about them, then criticize Mourinho for his tactic. I think tactically, we saw a difference between this is something I speak about a lot on this, but we saw a difference between a modern interpretation of football of Pioli with the kind of the high press, the intensity
00:17:14
Speaker
the inverted fallbacks, the flexible tactics against the more outdated rigid tactics where everybody stays in their position, you know, which is Mourinho football. And this is kind of this is why I said back in 2016, 2015, actually, when he lost his job at Chelsea, the second time I said that Mourinho back then I said, Mourinho at the top level
00:17:37
Speaker
is that's it for him at the top level in terms of the top club. And, you know, everything that we've seen since then has shown that to be the case. And I think that, you know, we still see that you can still, you know, we're not saying I'm not saying he's he hasn't got a role. This isn't still a place for him in football at a certain level. You know, he's won. He's got to he's got to two finals in a row. But that very, very top level, you know, we saw the difference in this game. And I think that that I think that that is an issue. And what I also think is an issue for Roma
00:18:06
Speaker
a big, big issue is we can talk about yes, when Lukaku and Ibala come back and they're going to be great.
00:18:13
Speaker
Are they going to be, how many games are they going to play together? Because this is a huge problem. They've got too many injury-prone players. And some of this is down to the club. We know Roma have got a long record of injury issues, but some of this is just down to actually the players that they have signed are injury-prone players. Now, anybody can look at Di Bala, Awa, and Renate Sanchez's injury records in the last three to four years. Just go and look it up yourself. Google it.
00:18:38
Speaker
It speaks for itself. These are incredibly injury-prone players. Now, Diwali is injured at the moment. Awa went off injured in this game. Sanchez missed the game through injury. I mean, this is a huge problem for Roma. We can sit there and say, oh, they've had a fantastic market. When they get everyone back, they're going to be fantastic.
00:18:57
Speaker
How often are they going to have them all back?
Lazio's Win Over Napoli: Tactical Breakdown
00:19:00
Speaker
No, that's a very valid point. I think that's a very, very valid point. And I think we shouldn't underestimate that because the quality that those injured players have are Dibala, Awa, Sanchez. And to a certain extent Romelu Lukaku now too.
00:19:18
Speaker
So yeah, no, it's a good point. It's a really good point. The other thing I want to mention again is, we already spoke about this on the pod last week as well, is Roy Patricio, the goalkeeper. He's so bad. I want to talk about that penalty situation. What is he doing? There's no doubt in my mind that, you know,
00:19:42
Speaker
There was an exaggeration, but his foot has no no business being up there. What is he doing? Yeah, it's just like I said, he just makes so many mistakes. He makes so many mistakes, unforced errors. And that's why.
00:20:01
Speaker
I don't get it. I don't get it. This is it. He's costing Roma so many goals. He's costing them so many goals. He's costing the first goal in this game. He cost them the first goal in the game before. I mean, you know, when the game is nil, nil, this makes a difference in matches. And this was the one biggest...
00:20:19
Speaker
Failure from the transfer market that he didn't need to replace this man They need to replace him as soon as possible because I choose he made one fantastic saying you did but you did but by then he'd already put them they're already go behind and also the Roman defense has been a disaster this season really has been they considered six goals already in three games and I have to say
00:20:45
Speaker
it doesn't help when you've got Paredes protecting the defence. We're going to talk about Fiorentina afterwards as well because I think this is a problem for Fiorentina. But when your when your Regista is so weak defensively, it really does put pressure on your on your defence. And I think this is a problem. This is a problem with Paredes throughout his career. And yeah, I think again, we saw it in this game. No, it's silly. It's silly. I just don't.
00:21:15
Speaker
They've strengthened an attack in the midfield. I think they did the right thing, getting rid of Roger Ibanez. And if you want new data as to why that is, then please go and check out the Roger Ibanez highlights in Saudi Arabia. And once your eyes stop bleeding, then you'll understand, reflect on why I cannot stand that man.
00:21:36
Speaker
They need to, they need to, they need to, you know, they, they, we have to wait and see what Ndika can do, but they need to, they need to sign defenders. There's no doubt about it. It's, it's as simple as that.
00:21:48
Speaker
Absolutely. So let's move on to Napoli against Lazio then on Saturday evening and Lazio win again in Naples for the second time this calendar year. Maurizio Sarri is really becoming a bit of a bogeyman for his for his hometown former team.
00:22:08
Speaker
Let's first of all let's talk about this from the from the Lazio points of view and then we and then we can talk about Napoli. I thought that the first half Napoli controlled it without creating chance after chance they dominated the you know the play the territory the possession but then Sarri
00:22:26
Speaker
really worked out what was going wrong. He made some tweaks, some tactical tweaks. I think he targeted the half spaces around the fullbacks, and he really outcoached Rudy Garcia in the second half. Rudy Garcia, we'll talk about in a minute, just have no answer for him. I thought Lassie were brilliant in the second half. They had two goals disallowed, very, very narrow decisions. And in the end, for me, they were deserved winners in the end.
00:22:53
Speaker
No, I agree fully with that, especially given how the first half looked, you know, based on the balance of play, it was unfair that Lazio took the lead, even though the goal was, we're going to talk about Luis Alberto because he is a genius when he's like this, when he's in this mood, he is just unplayable. But yes, the goal did go against, you know, if you look at the balance of play, I thought,
00:23:18
Speaker
Napoli were much, much better. Łića Kvaratschelya looked outstanding, was beating his man, he was looking like the Łića we fell in love with, or I fell in love with last summer, last season, in the beginning of last season. Osseman was just a menace, their midfield was really good, Pizdielinski I thought was outstanding, Anguisa was just this spider in the web, and I really liked your Viera comparisons, because when he's like that, he really is a vintage Viera kind of midfielder, isn't he?
00:23:45
Speaker
But then, like you said, Maurizio Sarri just showed why he's such a better tactician than Rudy Garcia. And he adapted and he adjusted. And then we saw in the second half how
00:24:05
Speaker
I've got to give some credit to Providel, because in the first half he kept them in the game, made outstanding saves, but their defense was so-and-so. But in the second half, Marushich Romanioli, they were outstanding, and they really managed to neutralize everything that Napoli and Rudy Garcia threw at them.
00:24:27
Speaker
No, no, absolutely, absolutely. And you know, I thought Felipe Anderson was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He made both Lazio goals. He destroyed Olivera, destroyed him. And then Luis Alberto, I mean, I love this guy. I love watching him.
00:24:44
Speaker
This is Simon Inzagi's Frankenstein monster. What has he done to him? Like, when he took over Lazio, Luis Alberto was nobody, was a nobody, you know, he'd failed, you know, Liverpool player, essentially, that's what he was mostly known as. And then he turned him into this Metzala. And I know that it's become like Christmas, every summer he fights with Lazio, and then once he stays, and then he ends up being brilliant. It's just, it's
00:25:09
Speaker
It literally is, it just follows this pattern. That first goal and everything he does in midfield in the second half was just, oh my God. Football candy, as we say in Sweden, I know you like that, but that's what he is. He embodied football candy on Saturday night.
00:25:29
Speaker
No, absolutely. I mean, I love watching him. He's an artist. He's an artist. He's so elegant. Just the way that he just the way that he controls the ball, he moves with the ball, his vision, his guile, his little death touches, his little through passes that just the way that he sees the game. And I just love watching him. And I mean,
00:25:51
Speaker
If I had to pick a team, he wouldn't get in my team because unfortunately he's not a modern player. And if he was around in the 1980s, this guy would be one of the best players in the world. Unfortunately, he's born in an era where, you know, he's in the wrong era. He's like a Rick Elmer, you know, kind of player in this era. And that's why he's playing for Valazio and he's not playing for Real Madrid or
00:26:14
Speaker
or Liverpool or one of the elite teams in world football. That's the reason. And even Sarri didn't really fancy him because Sarri has his view of football where every player has to contribute to the team. And he's an individual, Luis Alberto, but what an individual.
00:26:40
Speaker
you know, amazing back-heeled goal for the first goal and then that assist dummy for the commander goal as well. I mean he's just the kind of player that you just have to enjoy because we don't have many of these players around anymore.
00:26:54
Speaker
these players have disappeared from the game, pretty much. So it's beautiful to still see these players. Kamada, great goal, great finish, lethal left-footed finish. I read somewhere, I looked everywhere for it, but I can't remember where I saw the stat, where I saw somewhere that in the last five years, in all the top five leagues, he's the third most prolific goal-scoring midfielder.
00:27:25
Speaker
It's possible. He scores a lot of goals. And you can see right foot, left foot, you know, that was lethal. That was like an arrow into the bottom corner. And he gets into the positions as well. He gets into the right position. And this is why I had him as my breakout player, because I think despite all of that, he's not very well known. And I love that finish. That entire move, like you said, Felipe Anderson, Luis Alberto jumping over the ball and Camada.
00:27:52
Speaker
with that finish. I think that we're going to see quite a bit of that. But before we continue about that and talk about Gendouzi, who I thought had a fantastic substitute, what a substitution, what's coming on. Can we talk about Chiro Immobula now? Because I honestly think that Lazio will fly once he's not on the pitch.
00:28:16
Speaker
yeah you saw i wanted i wanted to talk about immobile on thursday because we're going to okay let's talk about thursday fine fine but with the internet because i feel there's no business being being in the international team and i think this game proved it as well so yeah let's talk about him on friday yeah but for me it's more yeah we can do that on friday but just for me it's more of a
00:28:32
Speaker
the Sari system. It's not even about shitting on Imobile because I don't shit on him at all. I respect him immensely. I just don't think in this system he has a role to play. I really, really don't. And I think he slows Lazio down. I think you saw that so many times, the movements that he just doesn't get and can't do in this system. And I think that this is what I meant when I said last week as well that they should have sold him in the summer.
00:29:02
Speaker
I really think they should have sold them in the summer. I think so too, for a 33-year-old, absolutely. But yeah, Guendouzi had the most unluckiest start to a debut I've ever seen, ever. Got an assist within a couple of minutes for Sakani, which was disallowed for a very, very, very, very tight decision. And then a few minutes, literally like three minutes later, he then scored his own goal with a curler. But that was also ruled offside in the build up against Sakani again.
00:29:31
Speaker
Well, that's exactly it. Zakanyi, for me, who cost Gendozi more than anything. I mean, both decisions are correct. It's just Zakanyi. This is why I don't rate Zakanyi as highly as many Lazio fans do, and I don't... Well, it's a bit harsh on him. No, he doesn't have. This is the difference between...
00:29:53
Speaker
No, I'm not saying... I'll tell you why I'm using that as proof, because the top players can read a situation better. And he's not a top player. He's a very good player, but he's not one of the top players. A top player knows how to time and can read. His read of the game is where I've always had my question marks. And I think he showed that fully in this game.
00:30:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's a good player, but he's not. I didn't say he was a good player. I didn't say he was crap. Yeah, I'm just saying. I think it's okay. I'm fair to use these two offsides to prove. Well, I think it's just, it's not proof. It's a long time I've felt this and I've seen that it's in the game. I just wouldn't use these offsides as evidence. Anyway, Sari, just final on Sari.
00:30:34
Speaker
He likes sticking his middle finger up like Jerry Mancini, middle finger up. Yeah, our patron. Jerry Mancini is probably the only person that can rival Maurizio Sarri for use of the middle finger because he does it at least about two or three times a season. He did it again before this game at the airport when they arrived in Naples.
00:30:59
Speaker
Well, he did also clarify, Lazio released a statement, we should say that, and this quote reads, images on social media show my gesture aimed towards someone who insulted me. It was certainly not aimed at someone shouting for it's monopoly, because that's what was force first reported. So we have to say that. And that's what that's a statement that Sarri, Sarri made. It still makes me laugh that this guy managed Juventus the way that he is, because it's just like the most uny Juventus manager ever in terms of the way
00:31:28
Speaker
holds himself. He loves his middle finger. And the Italy National team as well. I can never see him managing the Italy National team for this reason. No, he's too rough. He's too rough. You can't do that. Brilliant. Let's talk about Napoli then.
Napoli's Defensive Struggles
00:31:48
Speaker
The big question now really is, it's only three games. You might say we're jumping the gun a bit too early.
00:31:57
Speaker
I have to say, maybe when you go looking for a problem, sometimes you find it. You see it, confirmation bias. Yeah, exactly. So maybe there is a case of that because we're all honest here. We all thought the appointment was absolute madness and maybe we're out looking here for things. But I have to say, I'm already seeing things.
00:32:16
Speaker
that I'm not liking already from what was already a perfect machine. And I'm already seeing things starting to look like they're starting to go wrong. So the question is, are Napoli already starting to miss Spellettian and by extension Kim Minjae?
00:32:34
Speaker
Oh, Kim and Jay, absolutely. Juan Jesus is not. He's no replacement. How is he still playing? Why are they playing this guy? He's a coach killer. I call players like that a coach killer.
00:32:50
Speaker
the ones that get numerous coaches that somehow coaches play them and then they end up getting sacked because of this guy and his errors. I don't know how many coaches this man has on his, I think between him, I think him, Galliardini is another coach killer, like players like that who for some reason coaches like him and play them and they end up costing them their jobs.
00:33:18
Speaker
This guy is just, he just does this over and over and over again. He has so, you know, you know, that prim face terminology in terms of he's got an error in him. Well, he's a walking error. It's just, yeah, no, I'm not a fan, not a fan. No, I don't get it. And you have to ask the question.
00:33:45
Speaker
Where is Paul Pogba? They have to ask the question, why isn't Natsan playing? Where's Paul Pogba in all of this? We have to pay homage. Whenever somebody says you have to ask the question, the first thing you say is, it literally is that. I forgot that for a second, and then when you said it, I reminded, that's brilliant. Literally, you have to ask yourself, where's Paul Pogba in all of this?
00:34:11
Speaker
gets a full cockler after this latest injury. Where is Natan in all of this? Yes, where is Natan in all of this? And where is Leo Ostegord in all of this? And where is Aurelio de Laurentiis in all of this? Because
00:34:29
Speaker
To answer your second question, yes, Napoli do miss Spoletti for sure, don't they? I have to say, in this game, I already saw it a little bit in the Frosinani game, but the Napoli departments don't look so tight together as they did under Spoletti. And this has been something that all the great system coaches always preach this, from Guardiola, Arigos Saki, he does it, I mean,
00:34:54
Speaker
I've interviewed Saki twice and he went on about it both times, unprompted to me when I interviewed him, about the importance of having your offense and your midfield and your attack all in close proximity to each other, no more than five metres between each department, really in a tight space. And there was just such gaping gaps between the departments.
00:35:18
Speaker
saw that in the second half, especially on the counter attack, that the spaces between the lines and the half spaces, which I think that Sari really, really attacked those half spaces in the wingers, Felipe Anderson, especially. And they had a field day. And so I think that's one thing that we've noticed. And Garcia just didn't seem to have any answer
00:35:44
Speaker
Everybody that was watching that game in the second half could see that Sarri had made changes, that Lazio were getting a tactical stronghold in the game, that there was clear tactical weaknesses in this Napoli team in terms of the spaces that were opening up, and that Lucas Garcia had to make changes. Even if it wasn't personnel, I thought Anguiso looked exhausted by the hour mark. He needed to come off. He stayed on for the whole game.
00:36:10
Speaker
but Garcia didn't have any answers, he didn't make any changes, changes he didn't make were too late. He was out coached by Sarri in the second half and that is part of being a top manager is that you have to make changes during the game. You have to see, I mean, there was, you won't like me using this example, but the Newcastle versus
00:36:31
Speaker
Brighton vs Newcastle game. The first 10 minutes, Newcastle started the much better team. Deserbe was going berserk on the touchline, he was speaking to his coaches, he was berating his players.
00:36:46
Speaker
You come here, you pull here, you move back. And then they worked it out. They made a few tweaks. They absolutely dominated the rest of the game and they won easily. Now, that's part of being a coach. You have to make little tweaks here and there. And it just seemed like Garcia was just passive. He was just watching them on the sideline while things were going wrong and he wasn't making any changes. And I guess that's one of many concerns I have with Garcia.
00:37:16
Speaker
Definitely. I've got absolutely nothing to add to that, especially the deserving example is brilliant because I was actually, I've got it in my notes here. The fact that that's the difference between a modern coach in today's game. It is that within 10 minutes you can make those changes, that you can, you have those answers. It's not just everything is prepared.
00:37:39
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? You can change it on the spot, and you can get the players to react and understand, because you will have communicated them, prepared them to understand. Do you know what I mean? And the same goes to the other side, we're sorry. Yeah, no, sorry, that's true. Sorry saw what was going wrong, and he made the changes, and Dan is down to Garcia to counter that, and he didn't counter that. But he can't, he just doesn't have, he's never been able to do that. He's just not that guy.
00:38:09
Speaker
He's never been that guy. And this is one of the reasons, again, where Rudy Garcia, I don't think Napoli will win the Serie A because of it. I don't think there's anything wrong with the players. I just don't think the coach is good enough.
Inter Milan vs Fiorentina: Match Highlights
00:38:21
Speaker
And I think this is such a tactical league where this, where coach's deficiencies are ruthlessly exposed. And Rudy Garcia has lots of deficiencies and they're reigning champions already. You're going to have players already are going to have teams on their toes when they play them. Yeah. If there is one weakness though, with the players,
00:38:39
Speaker
Definitely, as we've said, the centre-back is a concern, but the left-back. If Olivera is going to be the starter, he's been horrific this season so far, Olivera. He is a clear weak link for Napoli. He was caught out on the goal. Anderson destroyed him. He gets caught out positionally a lot. One-on-one, he's not very good.
00:39:00
Speaker
And then imagine he's got Juan Huizos next to him as well. Yeah, it's the strongest left-hand side in the world. This keeps me PTSD to remember when he and Nagatomo to enter in a back three, him to the left and Nagatomo to the left wing back. It felt like
00:39:16
Speaker
like watching a cartoon of like the, you know, the Curly Larian mole, what are they called, like the Three Stooges, like it literally, it's just, and then you added, what's his name, Kuzmanovich to that, and he was just brilliant. Luckily, Napoli have amazing quality in midfield and don't have to worry about that, but... Yeah.
00:39:37
Speaker
Just one comment on Kvaadat's skating because I've seen him getting hammered online and there's no doubt he's on a terrible run. But I just feel like it's unfair. I think this is the wrong moment to pick on him. I thought like you, I thought he was excellent first off. I thought he was Napoli's most dangerous player in the first half. He went close three times. He was cutting in a lot, but he was also roaming around
00:40:08
Speaker
He's not fully fit. He's not fully fit. We know that. And he faded in the second half. The second half, he wasn't good in the first half, but I think that was the second half, but none of the Napi players were, and he's not fit. He's not fully fit. I agree that Kavara needs to adjust. He was found out a bit at the end of last season. He became predictable at the end of last season with the way that he cut inside.
00:40:34
Speaker
and the fact that he had zero goals and zero assists in the last 16 games of last season for club and country since March, that proves it. That's not by chance. But I think that this is the wrong time to... Let's give him a few more games, because I actually thought this was a step forward for him in this game. Same. Nothing more to add to that. I would say one other thing, though.
00:40:59
Speaker
The contract situation might be affecting him. I mean, this is again down to De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis. This is again De Laurentiis. Yeah, why is he so disrespectful for people that do great things for him? I mean, Klaude Skadiets paid 1 million euros a year. I mean, that's an insult. He's one of the best players in Serie A, one of the most wanted players in Europe. He's just been in a crucial part of them winning their first Scudetto in 33 years.
00:41:23
Speaker
He's got a pay rise. Well, this is the negative side of Aurelio de Laurentiis, isn't it? I mean, we've always praised him correctly, so for building things. But now that he's at the top maintaining, that's a situation he's never been in. And I think he's making new mistakes. I've never seen him behave like this. And it is costing Napoli. And I hope that it doesn't cost him too much, because an Napoli without Osseman and Cara
00:41:49
Speaker
I don't even want to think about that. Well, I read a report that Kvada's agent recently came to Naples, like the last week or so, trying to meet El Arentes. And just like Oseman's agent was, as our good friend Vincenzo Credendino from Calcianapoli, Venticuatro reported today, actually, that they were, that Napoli were on his agent, it was in Naples and his agent
00:42:17
Speaker
didn't meet with Delarentes and although he was there and there are still details that need to be ironed out and so on and so forth and yeah, it's not looking good.
00:42:30
Speaker
Talking of great attackers, Lautaro Martinez, what a start to the season. He has had five goals in his first three games, two goals against Fiorentina, absolutely flawless performance from Intel. They win 4-0, they absolutely destroyed Fiorentina, and even you, Nimr, can't have any complaint about this performance, can you? They had an extra level of five.
00:42:54
Speaker
I can't remember the last time I've seen Inter have an XG over 5. They could have won 7-8-0. There's really nothing to complain. Inter, look, the only thing is, the only negative, if I'm going to have to be critical here, is I'm a little bit scared that this is too soon, that they're hitting this form too soon, too early on in the season.
00:43:17
Speaker
because they are on fire. They completely dismantled Fiorentina. Fiorentina had nothing. And I don't think it would have mattered who they would have played. The way they pressed, the positional shift, you're talking about inverting, the way that for that turam goal, the way that they win the ball high up the pitch and no
00:43:38
Speaker
It's just the movement, the changes between the midfield and the strikers. It's just outstanding. It's absolutely outstanding. You talk about, you mentioned third season Blues. Well, this is in Zaghi's third season, and Inter have never started any better. They look balanced, they look composed, they look in control.
00:44:00
Speaker
Lautaro Martinez has never been better, and he said so himself after the game. Ah, look, if Inter are going to win the scoretto, he needs to be this good. I said he needs to score 25 goals in the league alone minimum. Well, he scored five and three already, as you mentioned. I mean, what else can we say?
00:44:23
Speaker
No, he was fantastic. He's becoming the total footballer now, the total striker. You're starting to look around and think, are there any weaknesses in his game? Maybe that little bit of lack of pace, but he's looking so sharp the way that he got in front of his man for the second goal.
00:44:38
Speaker
I mean he's looking great in the box looking like a natural penalty box forward as well now not just is great work outside the area in terms of the support striker. Or nine and a half as you some people might call me he's now looking like a great number nine as well and you know not orange around.
00:44:57
Speaker
They already seem to have sprung up this great partnership. Everyone used to speak about the Lula partnership and now we're talking about the Tula. I think they look great. They've got a great understanding already. Taram has had a great start with Inter. He scored his first goal. He won a penalty as well. He missed a few chances. We know he's not the most clinical if we want to be critical of him.
00:45:25
Speaker
in terms of his overall gain. I thought he was outstanding. He links it up, he rounds the channels, he stretches the defence, he presses and wins the ball back. As a team, helping Inter be better as a team, he's been great to round so far. The whole of Inter, everybody, everybody was great. Great performances everywhere. DiMarco again, he's just a
00:45:53
Speaker
He's just a left foot machine. I'm now wondering whether he actually has the best left foot in football after Messi. I don't think there's anybody other than Messi. Is there a better left foot in football than DiMarco? No, for set pieces and crosses, you're starting to ask that question, aren't you? Yeah.
00:46:09
Speaker
But this is why I keep saying that Turam was Jeko's replacement. He's filling that role. Everything that Jeko had the class and quality and understanding and intelligence to do, but his body couldn't do quickly, well, Turam is doing that now. And Lautar is loving it. But also, Intar deeper, they're much more balanced. I think, just remember that Pavard hasn't even started yet.
00:46:35
Speaker
So, Fiorentina, though, is good as inter-work. Fiorentina were terrible. And I said this last week in the podcast.
00:46:43
Speaker
Fiorentina, I'm not convinced by them this season. They're not impressing me. And I watched them both their games against rapid Vienna in the conference league playoffs. And they weren't good. They were very vulnerable in that time. They only just went through against the team that they should really be beaten easily with a 90th minute goal in the second leg, a penalty. And that took them through behind for a long time in that time. So that already, I think, showed that there are some issues there.
00:47:13
Speaker
Of course, it's still early. We'll see what the new science can do. I mean, I think Arthur Mello has been pretty good so far, but he needs the right players around him. We've seen how easy it is to counter through this quarantine. And I think you've got Arthur Mello and the new signing from
00:47:29
Speaker
from Saswala, who's maximum Lopez. I think you've got those two as your sentiment fielders, then, you know, you're going to be vulnerable on the counter.
Juventus' Tactical Journey
00:47:41
Speaker
And the other signs haven't really shot out of the box. Beltran hasn't looked that good so far, still early days. Unzala, you know, as great as he was, especially, there's always still going to be question marks whether he can make that step up to a European level team.
00:47:56
Speaker
as a starter, that is. And Amrabbat, of course, is such a huge loss in midfield, losing into Man United. Kastrovili seems to have been frozen out in the midfield, seems to be weaker. And is the attack any stronger with Beltranin and Zolaova, Cabral and Jovic? Time will tell.
00:48:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not blown away by this Fiorentina and I'm thinking right now of a European place or even a top eight place is not guaranteed this season. I see Torino and Bologna both potentially challenging this season. I think you're right. I couldn't agree with more. I think everything you just said and it's been Cenzo Italiano.
00:48:42
Speaker
He just does it defending his optional with this man. And it's not that. And the reason I say that is because they just look clueless defensively and they don't look vulnerable. They look hollow. Vulnerable would be a step up. They look absolutely hollow. And with Castro, really, his contract situation and he seems to be a frozen out. He's not signing a new contract.
00:49:04
Speaker
I don't know, man. This is not a good idea. I think Beltran could deliver, but yes, he did well at Spezia, but if you're charging for a
00:49:17
Speaker
I'm not entirely sure that he's a starter for a team that wants to break into the top six, top seven. I just don't see that. That's the question is, because the attack was the big issue last season. And I have to say, my biggest criticism of an Italian is not the defendant. It's the fact that we're in 2023, and he's still playing as his left attacker, Cristian Kwame, as a left attacker, a guy that scores on average about three to four times. Can I reveal?
00:49:48
Speaker
Can I reveal to the listeners your message? Out of the blue, I get this angry message from Carlo about Cuomir just randomly just cussing in. Why is he playing for Phil and Tina just randomly? Christian Cuomir's hatred.
00:50:03
Speaker
from Carlo. It triggers me. He triggers you and he should because he's not a Serie A player. He's one of my trigger players along with Declan Ryse being the best midfielder in the world and Western McKinney just anything about Mr. McKinney. Those are my triggers, my three trigger players.
00:50:21
Speaker
Well, everything about Allegri triggers you to the point... Allegri, of course. How could I forget him? That brings us on nicely. Let's talk about Juventus and Allegri. So, Juventus went 2-0 at Empoli. They won, they created a lot, they conceded virtually nothing. They weren't clinical, but those were the hard numbers. The thing is, you can't read much into being an Empoli team. Because they're not very good.
00:50:48
Speaker
This employee team are terrible. They're the worst team in the league. I'm sure of that now. So what I want to do here is I want to look at the bigger picture here with Juventus because you can't look into this empathic win very much.
00:51:03
Speaker
My frustration from this game is I look at Allegri's selection choices and he dropped Cambiazzo and played Kostich and Mckenny as the wing bat. He made four changes from that Bologna game, which Juventus played badly against Bologna and they didn't deserve to win that game. But I don't like it that, you know, after the first game against Udinezi, the first half against Udinezi in the first game, we were talking about this new Juventus
00:51:31
Speaker
this Juventus that were trying to dominate possession, that were playing high up the pitch, that were more attacking, more inventive, more exciting, trying to play that kind of way. It's a new Juventus that we've seen, a new Allegri, some were saying, although I wasn't saying it. And how, you know, after your first sign of trouble, the Bologna game, Allegri
00:51:55
Speaker
you know, he reverts, I'm not going to say completely to type because Juventus were still, they're still playing definitely with a higher line and they're still pushing their wing backs higher up than they ever did last season, even in this game. So I'm not going to say he's reverted completely to type, but
00:52:10
Speaker
he was, if you look at the team that he put out, you know, dropping Cambiazzo, I don't understand that at all, and playing, even though Kostitch played well, but just, I'm just thinking of the bigger picture here. The idea that Cambiazzo has one half disappointing game he's dropped, Juventus have one half disappointing game, and have one disappointing game, and Juventus return to a kind of a rigid and straight-lined way of playing. You know, this game against Emply was never going to be an issue, because Emply are terrible. Juventus were always going to win this game, whoever they played.
00:52:40
Speaker
We've seen in the last two years that inventors can't be successful playing like this type of football and playing with these players. I disagree with that, because I don't think that was the issue. The issue here for me, and this is something I wanted to talk about, Dushan Lovich, I think maybe it's time for you and me
00:53:00
Speaker
to maybe say that is Dusan Blauwitsch was it fool's gold? Because he was atrocious. He was gold. Genuinely atrocious. Like, no fool's gold. Genuinely. I'm starting to think was he fool's gold?
00:53:16
Speaker
because I'm not talking about the penalty miss, I don't care about that. I'm talking about him regressing from match day one to a dreadful empoli side in terms of what a number nine in the big club has to do. You said he turns like a World War I tank,
00:53:37
Speaker
Well, I would say he turns like a catapult from the Middle Ages. I mean, World War I tank would be a step upwards right now, given how he plays. It's dreadful. And there were always question marks for whether or not he could do it and turn into that kind of... Because again, if you're going to be a number nine in one of the big clubs, what do they all have in common? They can all play with their back against the goal.
00:54:07
Speaker
Flauvitch is so far away from that. I know it's a small sample size, but I was expecting more. I liked him in the first game. I liked what I saw in the second game's bits and pieces, but this was genuinely atrocious.
00:54:23
Speaker
Genuinely, it's not. It's not. Yeah, that is true. But I actually thought the biggest concern from Blauwitsch in this game is his his inability and this is part of his inability to link up with his teammates, bring others into play. But in particular, his inability to link up with games. I mean, we're talking about
00:54:38
Speaker
how Lautaro and Toronto immediately sprung this amazing partnership already. They've got such a chemistry and understanding of doing linkups, one twos. How do you fail playing with a Federico Chiesa? There was absolutely no link up between these two at all. They didn't seem to be on the same wavelength at all. They couldn't combine with each other and they're playing against empathy. Now, if you're going to do that against empathy,
00:55:05
Speaker
then there's an issue there. That's what I mean. I don't blame Kiazaa. I blame that. I don't blame Allegri. I don't blame Kiazaa. I blame that on Blauwitsch. I genuinely blame that on Blauwitsch. This is the thing here. Maybe it's a case of maybe we overrated that a bit.
00:55:25
Speaker
I think we have to have that conversation now. But also it's a case of you've got to look at the manager, it's down to the manager. This guy comes as an 80-90 million player. He come from a player who's the second best scorer in all of Europe in 2020. When did he join Juventus? January 22.
00:55:43
Speaker
So the calendar year of 2021, he was the only, who was it? It was only Lewandowski that scored more goals than him. He was the second best scorer in the calendar year of 2021. He scored a ridiculous, he broke the record, the Serie A record for 60 year record.
00:56:00
Speaker
for the number of Serie A goals in the calendar year. You don't do that unless you've got a special quality. It's not just a fluke. He did it two seasons for Fiorentina. He scored 21 goals in 40 games in 2021, and then he scored 20 in 24 goals in all competitions to start the season. He was a monster. He was an absolute monster. I'm sorry, but
00:56:23
Speaker
You have to put this on the leg. We've seen it. It's not just Blauwitsch. It's a leg we've inability to develop attacking players. We've seen it. You can't name one attacker that's got any better. They've all regressed. Kiese has regressed. Blauwitsch has regressed. Locatelli has an offensive player who has regressed. It's the common theme of a leg we've seen. So yes, of course. Maybe we did overrate Blauwitsch, but
00:56:50
Speaker
it's unacceptable this this this this level of not even being able to do the simple things but this is what i mean i don't blame allegory for that this is what this that's exactly why i don't blame allegory this is on vladimir he can't i mean max allegory can't be blamed for dushan vladimir not being able to make a simple pass i mean we're literally talking about the abc's of football here
00:57:11
Speaker
But that's the level that he is failing at. And that's not on Allegri, that's on... We saw at Fiorentina what he could do. Well, you see, I'm not entirely... Yes, we saw Fiorentina was a player who was a poacher. He was one of the most wanted players in world football. He was a poacher, but he wasn't a poacher. He scored all kinds of goals. He scored goals from outside the area.
00:57:33
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I remember the goalie scored against Inso where you can charge. Attacking space, attacking space. That's my point. But the thing is, when you can't, that's the difference of a step up. You have to be able to play with your teammates. He cannot do that. We're talking Empoli here. He got out. He was misplacing parcels against Empoli.
00:57:55
Speaker
This is number one on Allegri. It's number one. If you can't develop your attack in play, it's down on the manager. The manager's job is to develop his play. Can't make chicken soup with chicken shit, mate. And sometimes... This is what I love about Allegri, that he's actually got people thinking that Blauwitsch is chicken shit when he's the second best scorer in all of Europe. How can we get from the second best score of all of Europe to this? It's on Allegri. The common denominator is Allegri with every single attack up.
00:58:21
Speaker
You know, no, I'm not. Listen, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Vlauvitch is chicken shit. I'm saying that when you're failing as the employee after when you're clearly start the season well and you're going the other way and everyone else that you bet is actually always actually looking pretty good. They're creating chances. It's a new you bet. And you're the only one that's failing. It's not easy to play. It's not easy for an attacker to play under a leg.
00:58:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sorry. But you can't blame it. You've got to put it on on Vlovich too, man. Like this is... I'm not, I'm not, I'm not upset with anything. I'm saying maybe perhaps we overrated him a little bit. Perhaps he had some chinks in his overall game. Perhaps that is true. But at the same time, it's totally unacceptable that... Let me make a proposition. Let me make a proposition. Let me make a proposition. What about this, that... Because I mean, the kind of player he is, the big players like him, usually don't really peak
00:59:17
Speaker
until 25-26-28 onwards. Maybe the horlands don't need to do that. The hurricanes don't need to do that. These big strikers, because he's a big guy.
00:59:31
Speaker
Maybe Flowers just needs a bit more time. Maybe the fact that we saw him as this Wonder Kid, that's where the over-rating part was. In terms of him being a great player and a huge talent, I don't think we over-rated him at all. I don't think anyone did. But the Wonder Kid thing, where we were talking about potentially a world-class superstar, bad on-door striker at this age, maybe he just needs more time.
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah, maybe he does. Maybe he does. Also, these are key developmental years for a player. You don't develop during this stage. You lose that development at this stage. It's not always easy to come back. You don't usually develop technically later on in your career. You develop technically at a young age. So that is a concern. But I mean, yeah, I think now it's going to be difficult. If he's not improved by now, it's hard to see him improving, especially what we've seen with the other attackers.
01:00:26
Speaker
But what I would say, just to finish up my earlier point, what frustrates me most is that, as I said, we were hoping that we saw this new event and after the first sign of difficulty,
01:00:41
Speaker
allegories returning to type in playing it safe with straight line players with a rigid formation.
Other Serie A Highlights
01:00:49
Speaker
And, you know, even you look at the repossession in this game, it was a 50%, 51% possession, you end up having this game to 49%. So already the possession game that improved possession that we saw at the start has already gone down, you know, which isn't a problem in itself. But I'm just saying that, you know,
01:01:09
Speaker
If Juventus are committing to playing in a new way that we hope and that we saw in the first game, you commit to it. You don't at the first sign of trouble, you know, you have a slip up in your second game and you revert to type because we've seen that what type gets you. Type, Juventus have the same team as they had last season with this revert to type. It can only get you results that are not going to be good enough. You know, Empoli is fine. Empoli are a terrible team.
01:01:39
Speaker
you know, and they would have won this game play anyway. So, you know, that's my only frustration from this game. I hope that this isn't a sign that allegory is returning to a more kind of, you know, cautious way of playing and, you know, the expansive, you know, the inverted full back that we saw from Cambia. So, you know, that's been shelved because, you know, they had a slip up against Bologna. So, yeah, that's my concern. At the end of the day,
01:02:06
Speaker
Juventus have seven points from nine. That's not bad. That's very good. That's a good start. And they play two of the worst teams in the league, two teams that you would expect them to be. And they've drawn and played badly against the one good team they played. So they've got Lazio next. That will give us a better indication of where to be a crazy, crazy game, isn't it? Sorry against the Lakeri. Yeah. And it will give us a better indication of where Juventus are. And it will also give us a better indication of of what
01:02:33
Speaker
and Legri's mentality is, is he going to be the new Juventus that we saw in the first, or is it going to be the, the, the, the revert to type, which it wasn't total revert to type, as I said, but is it going to be more reverse into type? That's going to be interesting to see. So we'll see where we are. But one thing is clear is that Milan and Inter are on a completely other level to Juventus. It's so clear. And also,
01:03:03
Speaker
We have to place Prez Kiesa's goal. I didn't think his performance was good up until probably the second part, second half. I thought he was very bad again as well, but it was a fantastic goal, great finish. Again, he clearly doesn't like the role, but you know, it's a fantastic goal. So hopefully you can build on that. McKinney.
01:03:29
Speaker
overall was a bad, but there was one moment on 11 minutes, honestly, I mean, you talk you were talking about trigger triggers. It was a simple pass. He miscontrolled it and then fell backwards onto his back. I mean, if anything sums up the eventous or the McKinney of the last two last years, it's that it's that moment. And final point Pogba as well. It seems that isn't a
01:03:57
Speaker
They've had the test and it isn't anything concerning the injury that he got in the game, but it was nice to see it back. It seems like it isn't serious, but it shows the fragility. But it's still another injury, just like Stefano Sensi. It's not serious, but it's another injury. You just can't rely on him this season. It's like what we discussed with Roma, isn't it? It doesn't matter who the players are. If they can't play,
01:04:22
Speaker
then they're not of much use to you. But Empoli are definitely going down. I think that's clear. Zero goals, zero points. I wonder if our good friend Zanitti is the first one to get sacked. He's going to be the first to go. He will be the first to go because Empoli have got Roma and Internecs. So they're going to probably get nothing from that. And that's going to be five defeats and five. I think he'll be gone. I think he'll be the first coach today. I think so too.
01:04:45
Speaker
Yeah. Just a very, very quick, quick message on Atalanta. Schiamaka is back and they beat once with 3-0. Two really, really nice goals from Schiamaka.
01:04:57
Speaker
I love your Neapolitan roots showing every time you mention this kid's name. He wasn't called up for the Italian national team. Which annoys me. It's annoying me. That really annoys me because I don't know how many years upon this year I've said on this part, I've said he is the future of Italian football. He's the number nine to lead Italy.
01:05:20
Speaker
He showed against, he started showing what he can do and who he is. Those two goals were a number nine goals. Like, did you see his link up play? Did you see how he holds up the ball? Do you see how he puts others in play? Do you see how he can score with both feet? I mean, this is what you want from your number nine. And yeah, Arnaltovic, that's all I'm going to say because it pisses me off. I know, I know, before people start tweeting at me,
01:05:47
Speaker
you know, it was either Pavard on Skamaka and Inter needed, without a doubt, they needed Pavard way more than they need Skamaka, but it still annoys me because he's going to go for big money to either Juve and he's not going to end up at Inter. It's as simple as that. Okay, right. The other weekend fixtures, Sassuolo 3, Verona 1, Berardi's back with two goals, Gudenezio.
01:06:11
Speaker
Yeah, Udenez in nil, Frosin on in nil, Bologna 2, Kalyri 1, Fabian scoring a last-minute winner, Bologna. Torino, we're also getting a very late goal, 95th-minute winner from Radonec, they win 1-0. And Lecce had a great start to the season, another win for them, 2-0 against Saloni Tano, they got seven points to start the season.
Upcoming Episodes and Schedule
01:06:34
Speaker
And
01:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, they're looking really, really great. Okay, right. Just before we get to budget for this week, just to mention, this is an international break. We will be doing a Q&A on Wednesday this week, and we're going to do a preview to the Italy game. I think we'll do it on Friday. Yeah, we'll do it on Friday for patrons.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to do a bit of a shuffling round of schedule this week. We will do a proper review, preview of the game. We're going to review this because a few contentious decisions with Spelletti's first squad, the absence of dodgy, especially, which is unacceptable. Certainly a dodgy is unacceptable. And so we'll discuss that. Sure. And we're also, yeah, we can also
01:07:18
Speaker
We're also going to discuss about the absolute shambles of Italian marketing we've seen in the last week. Few names are going to be mentioned on Friday. We said we're going to start naming names. That's destroying the league. So we're going to start naming names now. So that's for our patrons on Friday.
01:07:38
Speaker
Right, let's do Bad Gio and Prem Face of the Week. Bad Gio. Yes. Other than the Milan and Inter Show and the Lautaro. I have one. Before you get to the Nemanja Radonic goal against Genoa in the 95th minute, go and look at that. That's my Bad Gio of the Week. Wow. Wow. She's a great little droopler.
01:08:03
Speaker
Damn, stunning, stunning. Good job you didn't get subbed before that. Yeah, subbed last season. Right, I've got Salemi Turner, sporting director, Massimo DeShantis, the former goalkeeper, Morgan DeShantis, sorry. And so he was responding, he did a press conference responding to the attempts and the last hours of deadline day out of nowhere,
01:08:30
Speaker
Wolves tried to sign Boulay Diya, the Selenium Turner attacker, and Gary O'Neill tapped up, according to Descentis, tapped up. Diya rung him up, basically unsettled him, basically didn't say these words, but pretty much tried to make him force Selenium Turner to sell him, which Diya tried to do. Selenium Turner, obviously, with a few hours left to go out the window,
01:09:00
Speaker
weren't going to be able to find replacement and weren't going to sell them. Also, the offer was, we don't know what it is, but apparently it's one of the most insulting offers there's ever been. It was peanuts, basically.
01:09:15
Speaker
And it was I think it was apparently as room as it was less than actually the money that so that it's paid for. Yeah, paid for him. So pretty fun anyway. So DeSantis does this press conference and all I could think of when he did it was Liam Neeson in Taping. Liam Neeson, if Liam Neeson spoke in broken English and a thick Italian accent doing all the greatest hits that Italians do when they speak English that I love,
01:09:39
Speaker
in this moment, the club, all the greatest hits. It was fantastic. We don't forget. We don't forget. Salen Itana, don't forget. We will don't forget. It was basically a Nissan saying.
01:09:56
Speaker
I will find you. I will hunt you down and I will fight you. So good, so good. I love that, I love that. That was brilliant, it's absolutely fantastic. Angry people in Italian football doing press conferences is gold. It's one of my favorite things in life.
01:10:18
Speaker
And Desanctis, who actually had a good summer and I think is a decent sporting director, has an interesting future out of it. But yeah, for sure. It was good. OK, prim face of the week now.
01:10:30
Speaker
my computer in front of me is basically frozen so I can't see my notes. I can tell you what it is. We're having a nightmare today. We've recorded five goes because our software keeps backing up. It's a complete nightmare. Dreadful. But I can tell you what that is and it is one of the greatest prem faces that has ever existed in as long as we've done this. I remember when I saw this, I tweeted it out, I sent it to you first privately with I think
01:11:00
Speaker
a million hahahahaha because this is so hilariously funny. BBC News did a report on Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish F.A., and in their footage they had another bald guy who also happens to be Hispanic, namely Pablo Zavaleta.
01:11:26
Speaker
And it's, I can't stop laughing. And it's like, they do look a little bit similar, but still, it's, they're not. Why do they always do that? Why do they always mix up people? Whether it's the names, whether it's the faces, whether it's the names of the clubs or the cities or, you know, it's, oh, gosh. And it is Pablo Zabaleta.
01:11:54
Speaker
it's not Lourubiales, it is Pablo Zavaleta. It's so funny. Do you remember when they did it? Was it when LeBron James died? Not LeBron James, he offered to study myself again. When Kobe Bryant died, their main BBC News report they did was
01:12:12
Speaker
was Kobe Bryant was they did use the picture of LeBron James throughout the whole they don't even look the same like because of that news report I mix them up all the time now because of that that's my excuse like I know the difference between of course I do but I mix it up all the time because that's just etched in my memory now
01:12:35
Speaker
Do you remember that time you went on Talk Sport when they called you Nina? Nina, yeah. That ended up on the eclipse of the week. I remember that, yeah. That was funny. So talking about the... She said, I was there to talk about the Copa Italia and she said, Nina, she's here to talk about the Copa America. She didn't have a single thing right. So basically three prem faces in one.
01:13:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. It was really, really good. You couldn't script that, could you? No, no, that was hilarious. We got Nina, wrong name, a woman, actually a man, talking about the Copper America when it should have been a different competition. Copper America, yeah. And a club tournament, not a national tournament. Exactly. No, it was fantastic. That is funny. That is really funny. You ended up on the... Yeah, your second greatest talk sport moment after that. Yeah, probably. Probably. You're like the ravish. The ravish.
01:13:31
Speaker
Can't believe he got so triggered. Anyway. Brilliant. Okay, let's leave it at that, everyone. Thanks for listening. And we will be back to you. So Wednesday this week for Q&A and Friday. And as always, if you want to sign up, you can sign up on patreon.com slash DIFB or on Spotify in their paid broadcast section. And it's $2.99 a month, excluding VAT.
01:14:00
Speaker
Brilliant. Thanks everybody. Until next time, ciao ciao.