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Free Weekly Episode - Osimhen's Napoli Crush Juventus, AC Milan Slip Up Again, Roma's Dybala On Fire & Much More (Ep. 288)
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From Victor Osimhen's masterclass when Napoli crushed Juventus during Bremer's disasterclass, AC Milan's horrible week continues slipping up again this time against an impressive Lecce, Inter win without impressing, Dybala's show for Roma against Fiorentina to Atalanta's goalfest and Lazio back to winning again, Nima and Carlo break down another action-packed weekend of Italian football.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all. To listen to all full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Is It Napoli's League to Lose?
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Tavale. And we have a great show for you today. We are going to be focusing heavily on the fallout from Napoli's historic 5-1 thrashing of Juventus at the Stadio Maradona on Friday. Is it Napoli's Scudetto now to lose? Is Victor Osseman the best striker in the world? Are Osseman and Carat Scalia the best partnership in the world?
00:00:35
Speaker
What about Juventus? What went so horribly wrong? What about Allegri? Where does this leave Max Allegri? All of this and much more we'll discuss as well as going through the big talking points from all the other big games as well as of course the January transfer window which we're now halfway through.
Podcast Introduction
00:00:55
Speaker
For all our first time listeners, this is our free weekly episode, which we do every Monday, reviewing the weekends area action and the biggest talking points in Italian football. So if you want to support the Italian Football Podcast and receive all our content throughout the week, which includes a weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday, where we answer all the questions sent in from our patrons, plus the weekly Thursday midweek review show,
00:01:22
Speaker
Plus interviews, post-match reaction and much, much more, then go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P and you can become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month.
Napoli's Serie A Aspirations
00:01:32
Speaker
Okay, let's get into the football. Right, well, only one place to start and we're going to focus on this match for quite a big portion of today's show. So Friday evening at the Madadana. Rightly so, my dad. I mean, what a match.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, what a match and Napoli crush Juventus. 5-1, absolute obliteration. Is it now, I mean it's been a few days now to digest this, is it now Napoli's skedetto to lose? No. I think so. I mean you can't tell me after the results.
00:02:09
Speaker
We've seen this weekend and we're not halfway through, but we're 18 games. We're one game off being exactly halfway through the season. Napoli are nine points clear of Mila.
00:02:24
Speaker
in second place and I say nine points but there's a little asterisk there because Napoli beat Milan away which means that even if Napoli lose three games and Milan win their three games Napoli are still ahead of Milan which means three losses and a draw is needed at least something like that or more five six draws in order for Milan to overtake them now that's not impossible Napoli could absolutely that could still happen with half the season left to play for no doubt
00:02:54
Speaker
But let's remember that Napoli, if they win their next game, they will have won 50 points. They're on course for 100 points in the seria if they repeat the exact same results of the first half of the season, should they win their next game.
Napoli's Style Evolution
00:03:13
Speaker
in on the weekend away against Salernitana, which is not impossible for them to do. So this is how good Napoli have been. And I don't think we're talking about overhyping. This isn't this is a different Napoli side. This isn't like it was a few years ago with Sarri or even with Paletti last season. This is a different Napoli side. They're not playing on enthusiasm solely. They're playing on enthusiasm for sure.
00:03:40
Speaker
but they are also dominating every attacking metric. And as I told you, I remember we were talking after the game, and I sent you a message, a voice note. I'm not saying that they're going to win the Champions League or that they're going to win the Continental Treble. I still think Man City and PSG and Bayern Munich are sky-high favorites to win the Champions League. But I do have Napoli as my dark horse to win the Champions League. And I'm just raising a tiny little alert
00:04:09
Speaker
Continental Treble Alert. Watch this space. I'm not saying it's happening. I'm not saying it's 100% going to happen or they're the favorites to win it. They're the favorites to win the Serie A, for sure. And it's a congested fixture list and all of that. But watch this space. They could win a treble or a double. Absolutely, they
Napoli's Champions League Potential
00:04:27
Speaker
could.
00:04:27
Speaker
Yeah I mean this I think it's clear now this is this is a really 3D special team and they're in such a fantastic position to win this this first Scudetto since since 1919 and you know 33 years it will be. You look at the fixture list apart from Juventus who they've just hammered 5-1
00:04:45
Speaker
Napoli have played all the top teams away from home in the first half of the season. In the return fixtures, they'll play Milan, Inter, Roma and Lazio at the Maradona. That's a big advantage. We've just seen what they've done to Juventus. They're playing incredibly well. I think psychologically, this was a big win too. Not just winning the game, which would have been psychologically
00:05:07
Speaker
important enough, but just a manner of how they've done it. I mean, just think the confidence that this is going to give Napoli when they play these other big games and just going into the other games and the fear that this will put into other teams as well, that they've managed to do this. So the Juventus team who, and you know, we'll come to Juventus, we'll come to Allegri, you know, okay, it's not the greatest Juventus team ever, but it is a Juventus team that had got 1-8 in a row and had not conceded for eight games and they've just gone and scored five goals against them.
00:05:35
Speaker
You know, so it's obviously a special team. There's so many stars in the team. There's so many goals in the team that you just expect them to steamroll the bottom half of Serie A for certain. I mean, Napoli scored double the amount of goals than more than half the teams in Serie A. I mean, it's insane. And there's so much, there's also so much depth in the team. That's what I was going to say. The depth is what impresses me. Lozano and Simeone as their bench attackers. I mean,
00:06:05
Speaker
Raspador is a bench player now. Yeah, I know. I mean, that speaks for itself, doesn't it? And, you know, yes, I mean, if we want to give hope to the others, there is only 18 games going, we're not even at the halfway stage, it is going to be a jam-packed calendar. And, you know, also, if we want to say that, you know, there isn't any players really, maybe just Di Lorenzo with the
00:06:27
Speaker
the euros and maybe Lozano, you won an area to visit with PSE. There's no one that's really won any trophies of any kind in this team. So when it gets to March, it will be interesting to see how that affects the players.
00:06:43
Speaker
So far, though, mentally, they've stood up to everything. I mean, they lost to Inter in the first game of 2023 after a long break, you know, and a lot of question marks were being asked. And, you know, they come back and what they've done, they've won their next two games convincingly. And I think that Di Lorenzo said, didn't he, in a post-match that he's given that Spelletti's brought this winning mentality to the team. Well, you know,
00:07:09
Speaker
We'll see if that's true, but at the moment, it looks like it is true, doesn't it? I mean, that's so interesting because Hamdanovich said the same thing. When Inter won the Skoretto, when Konta, he said that the change in mentality came when Spalletti arrived at this club. That's a direct quote, and he's not the only one who said it. I think Luciano Spalletti has not won much in his career. That's damn true. He's not won anything important with all due respect to the Russian Premier League and the Copa Italia.
00:07:40
Speaker
But I think he's been incredibly underrated and disrespected. If you look at where he's been, he's always done what you can expect from him with the squads available to him. And now he's, I mean, I wanted Spalletti two, three years ago when Gattuso was appointed. I said this team, there are building blocks in play that would suit Spalletti brilliantly. And then they've obviously, the Mercato they had in the summer,
00:08:07
Speaker
I feel very good giving them a 9.5 out of 10, but I did not expect them to do this. This is some of the best football that we've seen in Syria in the last 10-20 years. And they do it week after week after week after week. And the work that he's done with Lubotka and Elmas,
00:08:27
Speaker
What is going on with El Chivelmas? I mean, Jesus Christ, what is that to have off the bench? This 23-year-old little magician coming on and just, I mean, he's just, he's unbelievable. It's the way that he develops players is just unbelievable. It's just unbelievable. It's just unbelievable. It really is. I mean, I think you said it in your post-match podcast, didn't you, on Friday? I mean, you could almost go through every single player and say, look at what Spatzi has done to them, how he's developed them.
00:08:56
Speaker
I mean, every single one of them, pretty much. I mean, Mario Rui at 31 years old playing, you know, playing at a level. Top assist in the city. Who would have thought that quite an ordinary, I don't want to say average, but, you know, just an ordinary left back for most of his career can suddenly become, you know, probably the best left back this area this season. You know, just just to cite one example, you go through every single player in the team and look at what what what Spelletti has done to them. And I mean, I just think that if
00:09:26
Speaker
still a long way to go, but I just feel like the other teams, they probably need Napoli to get a load of injuries if they really want Napoli to collapse. And in midfield, I think that's where I look at that midfield and I say, okay, Elmas is a fantastic option coming on. But then it doesn't look too good, no? I mean, it doesn't exactly help me. I mean, and Dom Bele is a work in progress. He's still far from the finished product.
00:09:51
Speaker
Gaetano, 22 years old, Demme, I don't know, Zadatka. Then they bring Zielinski back into midfield, they bring Elmas into the field. He's so good at finding solutions, isn't he, Spelletti? Solutions that we didn't think existed when Cloud at Scalia was out and he was playing Elmas on the left wing. He's just had the solution to everything. I just feel like
00:10:13
Speaker
Napoli probably need to get a whole load of injuries to give hope to the other teams. But then even then, they've got this great depth. I mean, Aussie men was missing so many games at the start of the season and Napoli were still winning every game. I look at Aussie men. I mean, it's unbelievable. And the other thing I would say just before we talk about Aussie men is
00:10:35
Speaker
Are the other teams consistent enough to make up the gap? And we're going to speak specifically about Juve, Milan and Inter, but they're not showing any consistency. So even if Napoli are to drop points, can we honestly see at the moment, can you see an Inter, I mean, I know Juventus have just gone on a long winning run, but can you see the other teams consistently making up that gap? I mean,
00:10:55
Speaker
I can't see it at the moment, especially as we're going to have a really congested fixture list and these other teams are going to be tired and they're going to have games and they're going to drop points because they're tired of playing in Europe and it's coppertown here and everything else. I agree 100%. I think this is Napoli's title to lose now and I tweeted out as much. I mean, when you're this far ahead and you're playing this good,
00:11:18
Speaker
You have to be the favorites. I know Napoli fans are very superstitious and they don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry, you're just going to have to accept the fact that the football you've played is up there amongst the best that we've seen in Europe this season. And you're just going to have to accept that you're the favorites to win it now. And I think, you know, I understand this Paletti, the mind games that Allegri and him played,
00:11:38
Speaker
or I get them, but the fact of the matter is you are the favorites to win the Serie A title, and I think you should. And learning how to handle that pressure that comes along with being a favorite is part of being a winning side. It's part of being a winner. And I think that that's the part that they have to demonstrate, that Spalletti has to demonstrate that he's good enough to handle.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's the next step. Yeah, but let's let's talk about Victor Osseman because this game this was an absolute monstrous performance by Osseman. He was completely unplayable. He scored two goals. He got an assist. He got the dummy for the third goal as well. I mean, he was he he he
00:12:19
Speaker
I think that the three Brazilian defenders, I think that they'll be having nightmares for weeks to come, but they're going to wake up in a sweat in the middle of the night and see Osseman, because he really did slaughter them in this game.
00:12:39
Speaker
Where does Victor Osseman rank now?
Victor Osseman's Rising Status
00:12:42
Speaker
I mean, you did touch upon this in your post-match podcast, but where does Victor Osseman rank among the best strikers or the best number nines in the world right now? Well, for one, he's the best in the Serie A by a mile. You and I introduced the concept two seasons ago, and lots of people were that, you know, criticized and made fun of what we said. Well, you know, haha. But
00:13:05
Speaker
But I mean, as George Galloway always says, it's always best to have the last laugh. And I'm not going to do that in a Scottish accent. No, but seriously, he is unplayable right now. And as I said on my post-match reaction pod, which is available for Patrons, all that stuff, patreon.com slash T-I-F-P. Nice little self plug there. But if we actually get into it,
00:13:34
Speaker
except for Benzema, who is a Ballon d'Or winner, Harry Kane, Holland. I can't think of anyone else that, or Lewandowski, of course. But who else? I mean, he's up there with them this season for sure. He is complete. He's absolutely complete. You saw what he did against Juve was
00:13:55
Speaker
He wreaked absolute havoc in their defense. He had Bremer so frustrated and so annoyed that he made these simple schoolboy errors because he's so difficult to mark. He drops in and out. His timing and read of the game exactly went to drop deep, to link up, when to push forward, when to make his run. And we were praising Jeko a few weeks ago about making dummy runs and fooling defenders.
00:14:22
Speaker
Aussieman does that as well. He's added that to his game as well. He's very technical. He can score in the air, he can score with both feet.
00:14:32
Speaker
He's a dribbler. He is the complete number nine, and as I said on my post-match reaction pod, I hate to repeat myself, but Seria and Napoli fans, enjoy it while you can. This guy is gone in the summer. They're going to come for him, the big guns in the Premier League, and with the characteristics that he has, as you've said for many years, he's got every single characteristic to play in the Premier League. We know he wants to. I think he's the next 100 million pound player without a doubt in the summer.
00:14:59
Speaker
Not just 100 million. 120, 130. If Michaela Mudrić is 100 million, then, and I'm not going to, I'm not saying Mudrić is a bad player. What I've seen with him, he looks an incredibly exciting player. Exactly. But based on what he's done, based on what he's done over maybe the course of a year, if he's 100 million, then... What's in his 150? 160. That's 200 million. Yeah, 200 million.
00:15:25
Speaker
No, seriously. So, I mean, he is, yeah, he's got everything. He's got everything. I mean, the one criticism, I can just say, well, criticism of Aussie men that we had.
00:15:37
Speaker
is his finishing sometimes is a bit inconsistent. And also his record in big games as well. That's been completely, I mean, he's put that to bed this season, which I think was only a matter of time. It was always only gonna be a matter of time to iron that out. And also, maybe if there's any other thing, a little bit worried, the way that he plays, I think can be conducive to picking up injuries. So that is something that, if you're gonna pay that kind of money for him,
00:16:07
Speaker
you need to be playing a lot. You can't be only available for as little as he's been available in the previous two seasons. So that's something as well. But I mean, yeah, I mean, he destroyed your business. He absolutely destroyed them. I mean, Bremer,
00:16:22
Speaker
Bremmer, who's made them look like a child. Yeah, I mean, Bremmer was, he was a complete disaster in this game. He made unforced errors. I couldn't believe what I was saying, because he's been so good. And I think he's a fantastic defender. And but one thing about Bremmer is physically Bremmer is a beast. I mean, have you seen how he's built? You look at Bremmer with his top off. I mean, he is like, like a brick shithouse. Yes. Like a brick shithouse.
00:16:47
Speaker
pushed all over the place by Osseman. And Osseman is only a skinny little guy. I mean, he's not, do you know what I mean? But that is, he's just got natural, natural athleticism and strength and speed and just force. And I mean, he's just a force of nature. And he really, he's just, he's unbelievable. He can do everything. And he can play tactically as well. He can play the last match.
00:17:11
Speaker
You can play on the last man and make those runs in behind, but you can also come deep and hold the ball up and lay it off and be linked up with the others and play one twos. And I think that one thing, I mean, if you ask me, is he the best striker in the world? I mean, it's a big question. There's a lot of areas to that. I mean, do you look at form? Do you look over the course of a few years? You've got to look at how is he done in the Champions League? I mean, Usman's never played in the knockout stages of the Champions League. We're not for Napoli anyway. So you've got to look at all of those.
00:17:40
Speaker
things as well. If we're looking at it on form right now, I think on form, he's playing as well as anyone right now. I think the only players, you know, you know, you probably put Benzema ahead of him, you put Lewandowski ahead of him, but you know, we're talking about 35 and a 34 year old. It's only Haaland who's the number and only Harry Kane, but he's also pushing fairly. So
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, I put Lewandowski, Benzema and Haaland above Osmond because they've got that proven consistency over the course of a longer period. But as for Kane, I think he's on the slide. I still think he's an excellent player, but we saw it at the World Cup. If you're a defender, you'd rather play against Harry Kane than you would against Osmond because Osmond would just
00:18:27
Speaker
is just a pain in the arse. And he really is a pain in the butt. He really is. And if I'm on the topic of who would want to sign him, Manchester United and Arsenal are going to be all over this, I think.
00:18:40
Speaker
I mean, he is. Well, Arsenal, maybe not Arsenal, because they've got Gabriel Jesus. So you buy Otzi Mende, you have to get rid of Gabriel Jesus. I don't think Man United and Chelsea, absolutely. But, you know, I think Otzi Mende needs to decide what his next club is going to be carefully. I think he's got the pick of anyone. I think Bayern Munich will be in for him as well. Although they don't pay that kind of money for anyone. So, you know, that maybe rules them out. But, you know, one thing I would say, Nima, is that, you know,
00:19:10
Speaker
if he's not the best number nine, I think for sure right now, the Aussie men in Nevada are the best partnership in Europe right now. Certainly on form.
Kvaratskhelia's Impact
00:19:21
Speaker
I can't think of a better attack. Can you think of a better attacking partnership? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
00:19:36
Speaker
You know, I'm looking for it. I'm thinking for the English teams, the United City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool. No, there isn't. There isn't a better partner. There isn't any, I mean, Mbappe and Messi, maybe, maybe. You know, I think they're as good as anyone right now. And Caradona, we have to say, what a way to silence your critics. I mean, he just this is what builds character. This is what, you know, this is where the
00:20:05
Speaker
where they separate the greatest players from the top players. I mean, to come into that, he's had a bad shaky start these few games preceding it, and he goes into that, and he works his way. He didn't have the best of starts either against Yuba, and he works himself in, and he's off to the races, and he just does the things that he does, the beautiful little technical numbers, the dribblings,
00:20:30
Speaker
are the the low center of gravity which allows him to go in with you know the ambidex being ambidexers as well which gives him the the the the the the the strength and the advantage over his defenders that he can do anything he can go on the inside go on the outside and go on the right left yeah nah i mean it's no he's an alien he's an alien you can't defend against him because when you when you when you play against somebody that that can go right and left
00:20:56
Speaker
then I tell you, it's so hard to mark them. And also with the low center of gravity, which allows them to shift their weight from one foot. Exactly. Even more so if you're two footed, because then, you know, that's how you can go one way than the other. I mean, he is, he is, I mean, he's, he's, he's, he is almost, I mean, we've got, we've got this, this, this, he's got the kind of Galactical
00:21:19
Speaker
Real Madrid PSG in two years time for 180 minutes. Like if he continues down this, I mean, it's just, we're talking, you know, one day he could be a Ballon d'Or winner at this leg. No, I think absolutely. He's got the, well, I said it didn't we said it at the start of the season, you know, he definitely has the tools to be that kind of level player. A goal to assist
00:21:42
Speaker
but so many dribbles. I mean, I didn't look at how many dribbles he did in this game, but he did nutmegs on players. I mean, Kieza, poor guy in the first 20 minutes, I mean, we'll come to a leg where he's playing him as a right wing back, but I mean, you're really are hanging it. You're hanging out a winger to drive playing it.
00:21:58
Speaker
playing a right, playing him on the side of Kavara, you know, and then Mckenny, when he moved over there, he slaughtered him as well. And then the Brazilians, when they came over, Danilo got absolutely destroyed by him a few times. He ran them a merry dance in this game.
Napoli's Defensive and Midfield Strength
00:22:15
Speaker
But I just want to give a little bit of a shout out before we go to Juve. Merritt, that save when Rahmani and Bremmer, because they had really, before Rahmani scores, he had a bad game. And that save by Merritt when he almost scores an own goal is so important. I think Merritt, he's really repaying the confidence that Napoli paid in him to make him that first.
00:22:39
Speaker
uh... choice keeper cuz they will get an hour again we talk about spaghetti and what he's done improving players well we don't maybe don't associate with goalkeepers but you know uh... every single play if if if merritt if merritt you know has a successful season as well again it's not a thing you have to you have to take your hat off to spaghetti for because merritt is somebody that you know he hasn't hasn't convinced me at all when i watched him in the last few seasons for a few seasons now uh... and you know they were trying to sign a replacement for him weren't they they were trying to sign uh...
00:23:08
Speaker
Kayla Navas and it didn't happen. So, you know, again, you know, I'm still not, I'm still not totally sure, but yeah, you made a great key save at 2-1 if it goes to 2-2. Who knows? I think that's the kind, I really, that's why I wanted to bring it up exactly. In those key moments, you need your goalkeeper and your, you know, your key players to step up and boy did he.
00:23:30
Speaker
Absolutely. And that's why it's a team effort and everybody for Napoli in every department. And we haven't even spoken about Lebokka. I mean, I thought he was absolutely sensational as well. I thought he completely run the show in the center of midfield. He was just the way that he's little, the way that he break the press, if you call it a press, you meant it's a press, it's not really a press, but the way that he just, those little bursts, the way that he does those little bursts over five meters just reminds me so much
00:23:56
Speaker
of Xavi, Modric, Verratti, that level player. I've said it so many times, those are my players, those are the top players, those are the players that win you titles because they dominate the midfield, they control the midfield, they dictate the midfield, they get out of tight spaces and just do little short passes, which to most people don't seem like much, but they make all the difference in getting your team breaking the lines and getting your team into dangerous positions. And that is what Lobocco is just incredible at, and he was masterful.
00:24:24
Speaker
master football in this game. He's an incredible player. And again, again, what Spoletti has done to a player. He couldn't even get a game under Gattuso. It's just unbelievable.
Juventus' Struggles
00:24:34
Speaker
To me, that is like what he's done with Lobotka. It's just ridiculous to be honest. It's insane. Anyway, enough of the Napoli love. We do have to move on to Juventus. To your love. To your love of destroying Lalegri. Fasten your seatbelts, everybody.
00:24:58
Speaker
Before we get to Allegri, what the hell happened to Juventus first? Without focusing specifically on Allegri, because we'll come to that. What went wrong for Juve in this game? I think that Juve showed that they're not mentally a team da Juve, in the sense that there were few players. Di Maria showed that he was, but the others showed that they're not there yet. Whether they will be or not is completely
00:25:20
Speaker
Okay, right, where do we start?
00:25:27
Speaker
up to debate for people to discuss. But I just think that what we saw, it's not like Juva to fall apart like this in the city ever. And when they do, there are reactions. And Juva as a club are not exactly doing great with the board resigning.
00:25:45
Speaker
due to the criminal investigations. Whatever you think about that, that is an actual scandal plaguing the club. That can't be good. Juve are not in a good place at all right now. What Allegri had done was that he was able to take away divert attention from all the nonsense by those 8-1-0 wins.
00:26:04
Speaker
And you can only do that so far when you're faced against a team that is playing some of the best if not the best football in Europe and you have players that aren't there yet in terms of their development or whether or not they ever will be is a completely different question.
00:26:21
Speaker
But that, to me, is the biggest takeaway I take from this. How this is still... This is not one of... This is a uvane transition in every aspect of the club, and there are weaknesses. And Inapoli just exposed every single weakness with ruthless precision.
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, there was a golfing class between the two teams. It was apparent right from the first whistle. And despite that, the Maria goal, which to be honest, came from a mistake from from from Napoli. And it wasn't like it was a created chance. And it was created. You can't say it wasn't like it wasn't like they bounced off someone's head into the
00:27:01
Speaker
But it came off, well it was a mistake from Kim, let's be honest, it came off, it was bad, it was bad defensive, he ricocheted off Kim straight into his path, he scored, it wasn't really, it wasn't a created moment of magic, like some of Napoli's goals, and even the second shot, again, was a mistake from Ramani, we deflected it onto his own goal, so anyway.
00:27:18
Speaker
Without getting into the nuts and bolts, there was a golfing class between the two teams, astronomical. And that was seen with the football, with the possession, with just everything about the way they played.
00:27:33
Speaker
We have to give credit to Napoli first, as we have done, but he takes two to Tango and as brilliant as Napoli were, Juventus were awful and they were awful as a team. They weren't a team at all, but they were awful. Every player was awful individually except for like you said, except for Di Maria. He was the only one.
00:27:49
Speaker
the only person that come away from this game individually with any credit at all. Bremmer, as we said before, had one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a defender, and that's coming from someone who's a big fan of the player. He was directed to blame for two goals, the defending for Kvadat Skadia's goal, in which I think... We're talking about individual mistakes. What is he doing there?
00:28:12
Speaker
Yes. I mean, that is the kind of defending that if you saw that from a Sunday league defender, from a pub team, you'd be laughing at it. It was that bad. It was Jekyll laughing at Lukaku level of mistake. Yes, it was. It really was. It was embarrassing. I mean, turning his back and it hitting his back. I mean, that was... It was cringy.
00:28:33
Speaker
And he was making mistake after mistake, and it was like the pressure really got to him, really, really got to him, but everyone really, everyone was terrible. But, you know, it was, I think I tweeted this, it was like watching, and I got the year wrong, I still thought it was 2022, but it was like watching football from 2023 versus football from 1963. You know, one team, Napoli, was dominating the ball, they were creative, they were putting multi-team moves together, they were pressing with a high line, they had so much intensity,
00:29:00
Speaker
They were taking risks. They're fallbacks were bombing forward to make overlaps and overloads. Playing against another team who set up the game, started the game with 11 men behind the ball with a low block, no pressing at all, no patterns, passing patterns at all, no creativity, not taking any risks at all. One of the best wingers in the world is a right back, is a right wing back, basically defending as a right back.
00:29:27
Speaker
and just trying to counter-attack. Catenaccio, kind of what you saw from Nerio Roca and Helenio Herrera in the 1960s. I mean, the difference between the two teams was astronomical, both on a technical level. I mean, Napoli are a magical team, technically, but also on a physical level as well, the intensity that Napoli showed compared to Juventus, but also just on a tactical level. And this is something that I go on about all the time about Allegri.
00:29:54
Speaker
It was modern football against outdated football and that was shown in this game.
00:30:03
Speaker
Yeah, look, there's everything you said was absolutely right. But let's remember that Inter beat Napoli. And like you said, it takes two to tango. Inter were brilliant in that game. Napoli were dreadful in that game. But Inter did defend deep and played the Nereoro, the Helenio Herrera Catenaccio, which you truly hate and I love. And they won. And they should have won that game 3-4-5-0. So let's, you know, winners' right history is the more polite
00:30:34
Speaker
example and saying I would say I wanted to use something crude but I remember this is a Spotify, this is a free for all episode and I don't want to have a bad language explicit marking. We all consider doing a late night 18th
00:30:51
Speaker
That's definitely going to be on Patreon though. I'm not putting this for the world to listen to. But no, seriously, the winners write history. And there's no doubt that this was one of the worst nights ever in Juventus history. It's not beat around the bush. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. And they showed all the limitations that this squad has. They showed all the limitations that
00:31:18
Speaker
that this current project has. I'm not going to go so far as to say, oh, it's because Allegri was lucky when he won 8 games 1-0 and this shows how poor he is. No, I don't think it's that. I think there's more to it than that. I think that Juventus
00:31:37
Speaker
are in transition. Again, football isn't played on paper. Going into the season, we had expectations. But after 50%, almost 50% of the games being played, it's evident that Juventus squad with the injuries of Pogba, with all that, everything they wanted to happen, same thing with Inter, didn't materialize.
00:32:00
Speaker
And you have to own that both on the coach, both on the directors, the ownership, the players, everything, everything. Everyone has to take responsibility collectively. There's no getting away from that. So to me, that's where we are with this.
Allegri's Tactical Challenges
00:32:16
Speaker
I to go on the I mean, you said everything I agree, everything is that I agree with. I don't want to add anything to that and repeat myself. But Allegri, I think we should talk about that.
00:32:26
Speaker
Oh, we're going to talk about a legory, don't worry. No, I think we should talk about that. And I know who you want to. Listen, I think that those eight games in a row showed glimpses of what his Yuba can do. An embryo? No, even more than an embryo. I'd say this is a nine month pregnancy. I think we're almost into six, seven, eight, nine months to take that. The child hasn't been born yet, but it's where we're close to. It's going to be another child.
00:32:54
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, the question is, well, that's actually a good analogy, because at Juva, the children are ugly, but they're successful. At Juva, the winning is the only thing that matters. Exactly like Spaletti said, that at Juva, the winning is the only thing that matters. Well, Sarah Napoli, we have an obligation to play beautiful. We are a club where Maradona played.
00:33:14
Speaker
You know, these things matter. And I think Allegri is I think next season is where you don't want to see anything like this. Next season is where it has to work. They need to invest. They need to have a structure in place both off the pitch because they don't have one at all right now. And they need to continue down this path. I think what we saw was a team that is that those eight wins showed what you what his you can be and.
00:33:40
Speaker
this the win the match against Napoli showed that his work that his uh that his uh that allegory is uva isn't there yet far from it um and and more and more than i'm not gonna go on and say oh because they lost one game against one of the best teams in europe throw everything out and and can't you know sack him sack him sack him no bringing the zerby or as i like to call him bankarele pep
00:34:03
Speaker
He's like a rip-off shirt from Pep Guardiola. We were a kid in the 90s and he wanted like a, because it wasn't like now where you could go online and buy everything, but I wanted a Roberto Bajo shirt in the 90s for Italy shirt. And God bless my relatives, they sent me one that cost like 10,000 lira at the market stalls, which was pretty much a polyester rip-off. That's how I see Dzirbi as a bankarelli pep.
00:34:26
Speaker
as a cheap rip-off market tool. I think you're going to regret saying that. No, no. Anyway, listen, I don't want to get away and deflect allegory. This is why I stuck to my guns on allegory. During this eight-game winning run where you've got all these planks, Juventus fans and allegory disciples that are boasting about how allegory has proven the doubters wrong,
00:34:47
Speaker
you know it was back to all those that they were criticized and let go how stupid they were how you bents is we're gonna win the title that we're gonna win trophies i stuck to my guns throughout my stomach on throughout and i have done for eighteen months winning one meal every game while best barely creating anything five of those eight wins were one meal.
00:35:05
Speaker
that's unsustainable. You can't keep grinding out 1-0 wins while barely having a chance. And with late goals from from goalkeeping blunders like we saw in the game against Kremonezi, eventually your luck runs out and your true quality is shown. And that is what happened on Friday. We saw Juventus' true level when they played against the top team. And again, I've stayed consistent on Allegri. I'm not going to change. I've not flip-flopped once as some have. Allegri is outdated. His football is outdated. You can't play
00:35:34
Speaker
ultra defensive, low block, counter attacking football with no pressing, no intensity and expect to have success at the top level in club football in 2023. You can't and yet again in this game, we're looking specifically at this game, he started a 3511 against Napoli. Federico Chiesa at right wing bat is a crime against football.
00:35:54
Speaker
It's a crime against football. When Beppe Yekini with that stupid baseball hat was playing Kiesa, a right-wing bat, what were we saying? We were all taking the piss out of him. I'm going to explain what I mean by that. I don't think it was a 3-5-1-1. I think that's unfair. I think it was a 3-5-1-1 with that position that transitioned into a 3-4-2-1 in counter-attack.
00:36:15
Speaker
Well, they're never, they're never encounter attack because they were all defending in their penalty. The midfield and defence were completely were off their game and there was no intensity and pressure, which because Allegri plays that kind of football, Neymar is always going to be playing as a right wing back. He's never going to be up the pitch to do what he wants to do, because that's how that's how he plays. And that's how you go. That's what's going to happen. Well, Allegri is obviously in Allegri team against against Napoli are going to get completely out of possession. But anyway, he's playing Kiesa.
00:36:45
Speaker
Look, we can't get away from the fact that playing Chiesa as a right wing back is a disgrace. It is a disgrace. For me, that's a sackable offense on its own. Playing Chiesa at right wing back. One of the best wingers in the world, playing him as a right wing back. He was at fault for two of the goals as well, by the way. The first two goals, Chiesa was at fault for that.
00:37:03
Speaker
But that's just talking from him on the defensive side, which Allegri's obsessed with himself. I'm talking about not having a Chiesa playing up the pill in the attacking winger position. That is a crime, not putting him in his position. This is like playing Kylian Mbappe as a right wing back, or Mo Salah as a right wing back. It's absolutely unforgivable. It's unforgivable. And this is why I said last week, Chiesa has just come back from injury, right? For now,
00:37:30
Speaker
My focus on Kiesa is I just want him to build up his fitness, not get any more injuries, not be overplayed like Sanjolo. And in a way, I said, I think Allegri maybe is the best coach for that because he's not going to overplay it, I hope, although he did start this game. But I did also add that long term,
00:37:53
Speaker
Allegri is the worst manager possible for Chiesa. And if Allegri is still at Juventus next season, I want Chiesa to leave because Allegri will destroy him. He was already destroying Chiesa last season before his injury. Look at Chiesa in the first half of last season, how he played, look at his stats, look at his performances. He was playing him basically as a second right back, as I used to say, in the 4-4-2, as a right midfielder that was just tracking back all the time. Now he's playing him as a right wing back. I mean, it's unforgivable and, you know,
00:38:22
Speaker
to leave and I think allegory is not only terrible for the development of players like Chiesa and young Italians, but he's terrible for the international team. And, you know, he's, he just doesn't develop young players. And I think the other that brings me on nicely to the second point, I want to really criticize allegory from this game, dropping all the kids against Napoli.
00:38:39
Speaker
game. Yeah, this is something I agree with. It was the kids who took Juventus on this eight game run. Alegri only played them. And this is the point. This is why when people give Alegri credit for the eight game winning run, and of course you have to give him credit for it. But remember that Alegri was forced to play the lights of Meretti
00:38:56
Speaker
and Fagioli and, you know, some of the others like, you know, that even come on his subs, like, Ian Jr. and the like, he was forced to play these because he couldn't have anyone else available. He had so many injuries, he had to play the kids. Then they happened to play really, really well. They played better than the senior players that they replaced, like McKinney and the others. And they did, you know, and they went on this excellent eight game winning run.
00:39:17
Speaker
Now, as soon as a Napoli game comes along and he's got most of his players back now, what does he do? He drops all the kids and he goes back to the seniors who had failed for well over a year under Allegri. And what is the result? They get smashed 5-1. So, again, it's just unforgivable.
00:39:33
Speaker
No, I agree with that. I think that was a mistake, dropping at least play one of them at least. I am very critical of him for that. I thought that was a mistake, especially given how you have looked when the kids have played.
00:39:49
Speaker
I thought that was a mistake. But then again, you know, maybe he wanted to protect them from from playing and, you know, getting smashed 5-1 like this. They haven't been getting smashed, though, when the youngsters have played. They've been willing to win games. I don't know, but they haven't played Napoli either. My point is simply that maybe he was, you know, taking this, you know, trying to protect young players as well. I think a lot of times we have to remember that, you know, these kinds of heavy defeats for young players can really leave their mark, especially for players that are developing early. It can really, you know,
00:40:16
Speaker
I think, again, it's another symptom of the outdated allegory mentality that he doesn't trust kids. He doesn't trust kids. I mean, look at Napoli. Napoli are top of the league with a lot of young players that are being the protagonists for Napoli, like Clara and Osseman and some of the others. Arsenal are top of the league, if I'm not mistaken. Arsenal are top of the league by eight points. And if I'm not mistaken, they're the youngest team in the Premier League. They do have.
00:40:40
Speaker
they do it is that right am i right yeah absolutely give these youngsters a chance because modern football is about it's about you know i agree with that it's not about if the players is important i get the wrong thing i take the contact approach if they're good enough they play no matter how old they are anything do what the coach wants.
00:40:59
Speaker
What is the famous quote that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Well, we've seen for well over a year when Allegri was playing all these senior players, that they were playing badly and they were getting bad results. They suddenly go on their best run under Allegri during this time with a bunch of youngsters playing, who are also all very highly rated youngsters, by the way, if we are able to develop them.
00:41:25
Speaker
He gets rid of them. I just think it's unforgivable. It really is. It's unforgivable. And again, like I said, I've been repeating myself for 18 months, you know, anybody that expects this to change. I think they're living in the past. They're living in dreamland because we're not, you know, this thing showed where you went to Surat under Allegri.
00:41:43
Speaker
No, no, I think that, I think, as I said, I mean, I don't want to... I know you believe in them that, you know, they're at the stage of a development and we need to be patient. That's kind of where you're at, isn't it? You feel that they need to be patient. I don't agree with that. I know you don't. And I think the thing is, I think, I look at Jovaninto pretty much the same. A fish rots from the head down.
00:42:03
Speaker
And this has been a long time coming, and having said this, it's not just Inzaghi, it's not just Allegri, although they're completely different places in their careers. I'm not equating them at all, because Inzaghi is a young coach who's building towards his best, and Allegri is an established coach who now is at his best.
00:42:26
Speaker
So I'm not, you know, no comparisons there, but I do look at these problems. These two clubs are very similar. There's been lots of unforgivable mistakes made on and off the pitch, which is now which is oozed into to the pitch. And you've got coaches there trying to do the very best they can with what they've got.
00:42:44
Speaker
and trying to reinstall some sort of winning mentality worthy of both Juba and Inter. And I think that's where I'm at. And I think with Allegri, given that the difference being, of course, that Juba have actually invested in the sense that they've sold the Leichblot in Bremmer, they sold Bentankur and Kolesevskyblot in Wlawic, I think Juba are in a better place in that term because they don't have to end their transfer windows on a profit to make up for other things.
00:43:13
Speaker
But other than that, I do think I do see similarities here between them. I do. And I think that it's just unfair to put it on the it's not just unfair, it's just it's not it's not it's not it's not an accurate description to put it just on the manager. I really don't think that I think if anything, with the crisis you were going through, I'm glad they've got a leg there, because if they had someone who was not able to handle this, I mean, think of Pirla was the coach when all this madness was going on.
00:43:43
Speaker
You know, it's not. No, no, I'm not. I just, you know, Allegri's 18 months into his project and, you know. I do think questions need to be asked at the end of the season. Don't get me wrong. I mean, if you compare, you know, and you're absolutely right in all the off the field pit stuff, that does play a part. But, you know, we're still talking, we're talking about Juventus here. Yeah. You know, I think I said to you separately, didn't I, in a group chat earlier today, you know.
00:44:09
Speaker
This is Juventus. It's all no disrespect. I don't want a bunch of Tottenham fans destroying my mentions as they've been doing for last year. This is Juventus. This is not Tottenham. I'm not saying you're saying this. This is the history of the Tottenham. Using a fourth place or fifth place finish or just going on a good run for eight games, using that as evidence to try and win an argument that Allegri's done well.
00:44:38
Speaker
That's what Tottenham fans would say. Yeah, but listen, Tottenham fans haven't won anything important since, I don't know, since before the collapse of the Soviet Union. That's the point. That's the point. That's the exact point I'm making. But Carlo, this last season was the first season that you didn't win any silverware. Before that, they had an 11-year run where they won important titles all through it. This histrionic reaction
00:45:00
Speaker
You can give them, it is. It's the third year in a row. They finished fourth, two seasons in a row. I'm talking about silverware and I'm talking about winning cycles. They had 11 years where they won trophies every single year. Again, this is Juventus, it's not Tottenham. Winning a Coppa Italia is not a success for Juventus. It is. It's not for Juventus. Again, this is Juventus, it's not Tottenham.
00:45:22
Speaker
And it's not the Scottish league. I know that Juve fans think they're entitled to winning the Serie A as if they own the damn thing and they behave on and off the pitch like it. Well, maybe not win it, but challenge for it, not finish fourth. This is not Tottenham. Finish fourth is an impassive failure, wouldn't you? However, one, as I said, Juve are having challenge for two years. That's it. Two, three years. That's nothing when you look at
00:45:43
Speaker
a cycle coming to an end and everything going on about it. If you had spent like Tottenham had spent, if you had had had the Premier League budget that Tottenham had, and you're still not close to getting anywhere close to winning... Well, if you compare events to this budget to the rest of the Serie A budget, they're double the wage salary, they're double the amount of spending... Because of bad off-field. They're paying their manager $9 million a year.
00:46:03
Speaker
and because... People still want to defend him on a 9 million year. You pay him 9 million a year, you expect big results. You could pay Allegri six gajillion euros a minute and he wouldn't win anything with this squad. It's not about... No, I'm sorry, I'm not defending him. No, it's not about defending him. You need to contextualise, that's what I'm saying. Compare what Allegri has done at Juventus in 18 months to what Spoletti's done at Napoli in 18 months. Because Spoletti has better players at every single level than you ever have.
00:46:33
Speaker
I think that's obvious. But they have different styles. I mean, this is your notion. You're basically thinking, you're saying there's only one correct way of playing football and anyone who deviates from that is doing it wrong.
00:46:52
Speaker
I disagree. No, I'm just talking about basic player development. Name me a Juventus player that's developed in whatever style of football, whether it's Allegri style of football, or whether it's Spelletti style of football. Name me a player that has developed under... Danilo's done better than he's ever done at EUO, right? Danilo's done better than he's ever done at EUO, and Alexander as well. I mean, again, look... Really? So Danilo and Alexander as examples? No, I'm not using
00:47:15
Speaker
them as examples. That's the point, isn't it? No, it's not the point. I'm basically saying that there is no right and wrong way to play football. You can have your preferences. I have my preferences. You have your preferences. But at the end of the day, it's about winning. And if you look at long-term, you have won so much for over a decade. Now it's three years that they're not competing for the Serie A title. And Allegri has come in, and they're basically in transition. And I think it's ridiculous to say that he's out dealing with that. How long has this transitioned in the last year? You said it was a transition.
00:47:45
Speaker
Yes, I'll tell you how long it can take. It can take a long time. It can take four or five years. They've gone the first time in 30 years since Juventus conceded five in a game, in a season where Juventus had the worst performance in their entire history. When Lipi took over, when Lipi took over. They've got the worst record in their history against big team. How long was it when Lipi took over the first time around and they won the Champions League and the Serie A and all that?
00:48:13
Speaker
There was like, what, nine, eight years, six years, seven years that you ever hadn't won any of the Serie A title? Like, this is exactly what I mean. It takes time to build towards something. And that came off of the back of the glorious Trappatoni era where they won everything. That was during a golden era of Italian football where every single team was world class. Yeah, but it doesn't matter because Italian football is in the con... You can't just pick nitpick.
00:48:37
Speaker
because back then Juventus didn't have five times the budget of every single team that they did. Everyone was equal nowadays. They do, but compared to Premier League clubs, they're broke. We're not comparing them to Premier League clubs. We're not comparing them. We're looking at them, their performance in Serie A, which is fourth place, fourth place. And the reason why you're so disgusted by it is because you think that you're entitled to winning the Serie A title every year. And I'm sorry, those nine years are an anomaly.
00:49:06
Speaker
This isn't the Scottish league with Rangers and Celtic going on 10-year runs. This is Serie A, and the fact that Juventus, yes, are the most successful domestically in Italy, everyone knows that, but you're still coming off of the back. It's not been five, half a decade. It's not been six, seven years. I agree with you that there's an urgency in the matter that unless you start acting, a winning mentality, a winning culture can easily disappear and it takes time to bring it back. Just look at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson, right?
00:49:35
Speaker
It takes time if you're not on top of it. I'm saying, I think that there's a transition here. We don't even have a new UVA directors, board, CEO, sporting director. We have nothing there. Once they're in place, then we can start saying, okay, what is going to happen from now on? What's happening? Moving forward. I think it's unfair to just compare and say, well, we're not Tottenham. Well, congratulations. You want the not the Tottenham trophy? It doesn't make sense to me.
00:50:05
Speaker
This is, you're coming off the back of a historic, glorious era where you've won titles for a decade, over a decade, and now you're two, three years into a transition after making disastrous mistakes on and off the pitch, and you're trying to recover from that.
00:50:21
Speaker
I think you're trying to recover for it. Allegri is the wrong person because he's not a builder of teams, he doesn't develop players. And everything that we've seen in these 18 months has suggested that again. People want to talk about an eight game winning run. Well, Allegri is also, again, historically bad results this season. First time in 30 years they can see the five goals. The worst Champions League
00:50:44
Speaker
group stage in history, including losing to Makabi Haifa, three points from six games. Historically, bad record in his big teams. They've got two wins in 21 games against big teams since returning to U.N.C.E. He's done worse than PLO, so if you want to talk about transition, PLO had 78 points. Allegri had 17 his first season. He's on track for 78 this season, which is the same as PLO, which was already described as a total disaster.
00:51:09
Speaker
You know, so again, I mean, I could go on and on and on. I mean, it's just, you know, I'm just saying the same thing all the time. Anyway, we have to move on because we've done almost the whole show on you've been so snappily. Let's say me, lad.
Milan's Tactical Issues
00:51:25
Speaker
a miserable week for Milan, miserable six days. They drew 2-2 with Roma, then they were knocked out of the Coppitalia by 10-man Torino. And then they drew 2-2 with Lecce in a game in which they were absolutely horrific in the first half, although they did really, really well to come back in the second. But ultimately, they still dropped two points, which means they're nine points behind Napoli now. Milan are really struggling, aren't they? They're really on bad form at the moment.
00:51:55
Speaker
Those first 22 minutes that Milan played away against Lecce, and I want to give credit to Lecce, but first focus on Milan. Those opening 22 minutes against Lecce were the worst 20 minutes I've seen Milan play since they lost to Spezia when Inter won the title that season away to Spezia. Milan were not there. There was no defence, there was nothing. And if Lecce had been somewhat clinical, they should have been 4-0 up at half time.
00:52:25
Speaker
They missed two sitters and one clear-cut chance. This is what happens. When you dominate like they did against Roma, two late goals, insecurity creeps in.
00:52:40
Speaker
I think Pioli, I understand why Pioli did what he did against Torino, because I think if you're going to play Antonio Conte's Spurs, there's no better dress rehearsal to prepare for that game than to play Ivan Joric's Torino. I understand tactically, he played the three, five, one, one, three, four, however you want to play with the numbers. I get that, but that was not the moment to do it. He was adapting too much to Torino and it ended up costing them.
00:53:06
Speaker
and Torino, nothing away from Torino, they were brilliant. Then you go into the Lecha game with a confused group of players who are a little bit insecure, and they were lucky to get a point. I mean, they were great in the second half, but that first half was absolutely unwatchable. Unwatchable.
00:53:31
Speaker
I think they looked tired. They looked tired and lacking in energy right now. They were really distraught in the transitions by Lecce. But even in extra time against Torino, they looked second best at times against 10 men. Torino went down to 10 men in that game. I don't know. I think one of my listeners tweeted at me, Michael Leacy tweeted at me saying, look, I'm not saying purely out.
00:53:52
Speaker
but it feels like it's looking a bit stale. And I understand his point. I do agree. I'm not saying purely out either, but it's starting to look a bit stale, and I think purely understands that, and that's why he's trying to change formations and come up with something new to address that. And I think that's a little bit what it is as well. It's not the group of players that are young, you know, barring Shirov, they're all very young, so it's not like they're all burnt out and aren't interested anymore. No, I think that most teams have got Milan's number now.
00:54:21
Speaker
And I think you need to adapt to that. And I think that's where Milan are a little bit in this project. Well, I think you stop their left hand side and you really do stop most of Milan. You stop most of Milan. I mean, that's what I said last season when they won. That's what I said last season. It's it's Liao and Inshallah. And it won them the Serie A title. I'm not taking anything away, but he needs to develop this group of players. And I think, you know, he I think he knows it as well because he is an intelligent guy purely.
00:54:48
Speaker
footballing wise. Also Milan's depth, Milan definitely have a lack of depth in their team. We're talking about Napoli's depth, but I mean, you know, as soon as you, I mean, you take out as you're rude, who else have they got? There's a striker that can play, no slant down, or Ricky's been a disaster.
00:55:06
Speaker
He'd take out Liao, who'd you play? And then right wing, man. I mean, how long do we have to talk about this situation, about the right wing? It's becoming ridiculous. Everyone can see it. It's like Lazio and the central defenders for half a decade. Everyone could see it, except the people measuring the decisions. I mean, Patrick and Johnny, I mean, Jesus. The Patrick and Johnny show.
00:55:25
Speaker
I'm also worried for Giroud as well, because he's been so overplayed because of his lack of depth. And that has to be a concern. He's still doing pretty well, but he's 36. And I do worry that these last few months of the season, that he could easily end up being another Gekko from last season, where Gekko was totally overplayed the first half. Burned him out. He completely burned out in the last few months. And I'm not saying that will happen. We'll see Giroud so far. It's been incredible how he's managed to maintain it. He played the World Cup, got to the final in the World Cup.
00:55:54
Speaker
But that's because I don't think he's ever looked better physically. I honestly can't. He is better physical shape now than he's ever been in and it's truly remarkable. I think Tonali is also indispensable. He missed this game and the midfield, there was just no, again, when I was saying about the lack of intensity and the tightness and Tonali is just everywhere, isn't he? So press resistant too. The other thing is just again, repeating what we said last week after the Roma game,
00:56:22
Speaker
Milana defending badly. It's now one clean sheet, I think, in 10. And again, as I said last week, that was the backbone of the Scudetto win last season, especially in the running. And they've only got four clean sheets all season. They've conceded 20 in 18 games, which is not a huge amount, but it's too many. And I think only entering Fiorentina have conceded more in the top half, which I think as a full-time on Saturday's game, I made this stat.
00:56:47
Speaker
that was the case, and also they continued to concede offset pieces. I was critical last week of Tomori about him on set pieces and crosses. This week it was Kalulu who made the mistake, and the marking was awful. Again, on Lecture's second goal, it was a short corner and the investigato totally unmarked. Milana defending really badly specifically offset pieces, and you cannot
00:57:12
Speaker
every team that wins the title has to defend well on set pieces. Oh they do and just on you know before nice segue to Lece, Basquiroto, I mean he's such an interesting character isn't he? I mean his family own a farm which he works on, literally a farmer scored on Mila.
00:57:35
Speaker
Honestly, no, but he is literally a farmer. His family owned a general. They've had farm in Veneto in general for generations. He works on it. He's a farm boy. And look, they were lecture. They are so difficult to play against at home. We saw that against that in the first game. And since then, they've been I mean, if I'm not mistaken, you are the pretty much the only top side of being them away this season after a dream goal.
00:58:05
Speaker
from Fagioli, I think it was. But they are really, really good and they are difficult to play against and with the crowd with them as well, I think what they did this season was that they really slashed the season ticket prices and so they sold lots of season tickets. They're in great form as well, unbeaten in six games, which I think was the longest unbeaten run for them in a decade in this area.
00:58:31
Speaker
It's incredible. I really, really like this team. I think they deserve to be where they are. Yeah, I'll have to single out Strifeza. He was brilliant and I really, really enjoyed watching this player. I mean, he destroyed Teo in the first half. Teo came off at half time and I think he can play for a much bigger club. He's a small nippy. It reminds me, I was trying to think of a player he reminds me of and the one that I came up with was Ludovic, Julie.
00:58:57
Speaker
Oh, the Monaco guy. Yeah, and Roma, Barcelona, you know, really, really small, but, you know, really kind of short and stocky, but nippy goes both ways. I just got to say on Strvitza, the Dazon, Italian Dazon, did an interview with him, a one-on-one with him ahead of this game broadcast, which I was watching. And the interview begins with the interviewer holding like a yardstick to measure how tall he is.
00:59:25
Speaker
because he's not that tall. Speaking of things that only happen in Italian football, but he's an interesting player for sure.
00:59:38
Speaker
And Ulamand, Ulamand, that's a player that lots of players have been linked with. Yeah, he was man of the match in this game, he got given man of the match. Umtiti is a great story as well, I thought he played well. Gonzalez is high rated. Colombo, we've spoken about it, he wasn't great in this game. And even Di Francesco I thought was good, he's having a good season. Just to wrap up on Milan literature game with Colombo. Milan, take this guy back. Take this back, reintegrate him into your squad next season.
01:00:07
Speaker
Just quickly on Inter then, Inter beat Verona, 1-0, not really much to talk about, it wasn't a great game, but Lautaro again, any lessons from this game? It wasn't a great game.
01:00:19
Speaker
No, it wasn't a great game. Inter, Lautaro is a patchy goal scorer, scored for the third match
Inter's Defensive Focus
01:00:26
Speaker
in a row, should have had a brace incorrectly. Fabri had a shocker. But no, Inter did the job. Inter fans were on edge.
01:00:39
Speaker
But if we're perfectly honest, Hellas didn't really create that much. It was one of those games where Inter again showed this baffling difference in how solid and calm they are at home and how shaky and nervous they are away. Bastani said after the game that our goal was to not concede. We want to go back to being a team that doesn't concede as much. We want to be stable. We want to be solid at the back.
01:01:07
Speaker
And for me, I thought, you know, Lautaro and Scrinyar were men of the match. I thought Scrinyar was outstanding, a leader. I mean, this is a guy whose contract is expiring and he's putting in men of the match type performances. And it's just a testament to the professional he is. I hope he stays. I think most of the fans hope he stays, but I think that's a lost cause. But we'll see. We'll see. But yeah, look, I mean, talking about the transfer market,
01:01:33
Speaker
Deppi, Memphis Deppi has been linked with a swap move for Yo Queen Correa and Frank Cessier has been linked with a swap move
01:01:44
Speaker
for Marcello Brosovits, so Barcelona Inter, possible double swap. First of all, is there anything solid in this? And if so, is there something that Inter should be looking at? Well, look, there are fine. The Depai Correa thing and Kesea Broso, it is a thing in the sense that it is being discussed. Inter are just not too keen on the Kesea Broso thing. They're reflecting over that. They've not said anything as such.
01:02:14
Speaker
The De Pi Correa thing, look, there are financial problems with this deal for Inter because De Pi's contract expires this coming June. Joaquin Correa has a contract until 2024, if I'm not mistaken. And in terms of on the balance sheet,
01:02:34
Speaker
It's going to be difficult. And also, De Pi's wages inter-can't use the decreta crecitta. No one can use the decreta crecitta unless the growth decree, unless the person is in Italy for at least two years. Otherwise, there's no tax break you get on that. And De Pi, that means they have to sign De Pi for at least two years if they want to use that tax rebate on his wages because he earns quite a bit.
01:03:01
Speaker
So, there are problems to be resolved, but I wonder if... Look, in terms of a good swap for Inter, because I don't care about Barcelona, I think Depai would be an improvement on Joaquin Correa, no doubt. You'd have to be crazy not to see that. And this is coming from someone who's not a big fan of Memphis Depai.
01:03:23
Speaker
But because of the fact that I don't think he's got the mentality to play in a big club, he's flopped miserably at United, didn't exactly set the world alight at Barcelona, did well at Lyon, which I think is maybe the type of level of club with all due respect to Lyon that he should be at. But for him to come in to this Inter next to Lautaro and Jekyll, I think he has a role to play. Yes, I do think so. I think he could do something there. As for the kissy Abrozzo swap,
01:03:53
Speaker
I don't know what I think about this because I respect... Look, let's be honest. Marcelo Brozovic, when he's at his best, is one of the best central deep-lying playmakers in the world. But he's over 30. We know the smoking and drinking and all that stuff, and he relies a lot on running, on his covering distance. And after 30, when you have that kind of a lifestyle, you can't maintain that with playing at a high level, no matter how much of a...
01:04:20
Speaker
cool guy and character and natural fitness you have, you will start to deteriorate. Father time undefeated.
01:04:30
Speaker
Kessier is a few years younger, barely playing at Barcelona, knows the Serie A. He has a physicality that enters midfield lack. Inter have Chalanoglu and Aslany. Chalanoglu is without standing as a central defensive midfield playmaker this season. Aslany is coming up through the ranks. So I think they should consider it. I'm personally, I don't know, I'm on the fence here.
01:04:57
Speaker
But yeah, I'm really on the fence here. I don't know what to make of that deal to be honest.
01:05:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on the fence with that as well. As for Depe Correa, again, I just think that I've never been a big fan of Depe. I've never thought he's at the level of a top club and that's been shown at Man United, it's been shown at Barcelona. It's even been shown at the World Cup as well where there are major tournaments with Holland. When it's come to the really big matches, big tournaments, big competitions, he's not really been at a level.
01:05:28
Speaker
You know, I think he could maybe do a job at Inter, but I do think that, you know, I think that Inter need, they need some pace in attack. And I know Correa, Correa offers that on paper, but obviously doesn't offer anything else. You know, I would like to see Correa replace, when they do replace him, with an attacker that has pace in his game.
01:05:54
Speaker
And we know Taram would have brought that obviously. He would have brought everything. That's not going to happen now. So that's what I want from that. But can he do a job this season? I'm sure he can do more than Correa. Let's put it that way. Well, I think you and I would do more than Correa Arinta at this point.
01:06:14
Speaker
one that certainly would have done more than Korea and someone that could have moved to Inter this summer before they decided to go for Lukaku instead is Paolo Di Bala.
Roma's Consistency and Challenges
01:06:24
Speaker
It was the Paolo Di Bala show against Fiorentina on Sunday evening. It was the Paolo Di Bala show last week actually. Two goals against Fiorentina, three in the week because he also scored a brilliant winner against Genoa and then on the Sunday evening game he scored both goals for Roman and Tuna winning against Fiorentina. The first was
01:06:44
Speaker
was a volley which was deflective but with the technique on it was absolutely beautiful. The build-up to that as well, I mean Abraham and him two assists now for Tammy Abraham, but the build-up to that was stunning.
01:06:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the ball is, he's, he's doing great. I mean, he's, his form is I think eight in the last 10 games and his record this season, he's now in double figures, uh, only 13 starts. You know, he's, he's, he's, he has carried the Roma attack this season. Roman went on that bad run when he was out injured. And really, I can't think, I mean, if, if DiBala wasn't at this Roma team this season, I mean, I can't think how they, how they would be doing it. He really has been in that indispensable for them.
01:07:26
Speaker
No, they do. Absolutely. He's been absolutely unplayable and he showed that Inter again got it wrong. They should have gone after Di Bala and not after Lukaku. It's not harder than that. But now I want to talk about Inter, I want to focus on Roma. I think it was important for Roma to get this win and to have this week after the problems they've had and also the rumours of Mourinho being pissed off with the ownership and they're not investing enough and so on and so forth.
01:07:53
Speaker
Look, as I said before the season, and I think Mourinho and Lisseroma are doing exactly what you can ask of them. They're not overperforming, they're not underperforming. They're performing exactly on par with what you can expect from them. Fifth, sixth, that's where they are, and that's where I had them. I had them fifth.
01:08:12
Speaker
I think, and there are only three points behind fourth, so they're not, you know, miles behind. So I don't think we can criticize them too much, but it's because this squad has glaring holes in it. I think if, aside from Chris Smalling, they don't have a defender that is worthy of Roma, Gianluca Mangini is out of his mind. You know, he just doesn't have the mental strength to play Roma or any club bigger than Atalanta, with all due respect to Atalanta.
01:08:40
Speaker
And we know the goalkeeping problems, they're well-documented. And of course, Romaz Midfield, Tahirovic, is now a key player, which is great for him. Well, Bob started in the game against Fiorencina. He started to play youngsters. I'll give Mourinho credit for that. He's given the youngsters a chance. But Di Bala, yeah, Di Bala is a joy to watch. But it's really nice to watch Di Bala and Tammy Abrams' partnership finally developing and that they're finding understanding each other.
01:09:10
Speaker
But I think the Roma are going to have an exciting second half of the season. Yeah, and they play Napoli next week. That game is going to be so enticing to watch. Yeah, it surely is. Lazio won as well. They had their bad run of form and they played Milan next, although in marble they got injured. That would be a huge blow. At Atlanta,
01:09:38
Speaker
goal crazy Atalanta. We questioned whether they were, you know, every single time you think, is it the end of Atalanta? And then they do something to make you think, maybe it's not the end of Atalanta. He won last week. And now they put eight goals past past Silele Tana. The most interesting story from from Atlanta in the last last weeks has been Bogger, because he's been on the verge of leaving. Everything had been such a disaster since moving there.
01:10:02
Speaker
And he's been absolutely brilliant the last two games. He's got a golden assist in this one. So Bog has been really interesting. And also, and I'm going to take a lap of honor for this one, Hoyland, is starting to break out. And we got a question on our Q&A episode, I think the week before last, where we were asked for who's going to be our breakout stars of 2023. And I kind of hesitantly said, Hoyland, because I said, I'm sure this guy is going to become a star.
01:10:27
Speaker
But I wasn't sure whether at the age of 19, whether it would happen instantly, immediately. Well, he's now two games in a row that he's been fantastic in. And he scored again in this one. And he looks big, great left foot. And yeah, I really like
Atalanta and Other Serie A Highlights
01:10:43
Speaker
him. I really, really like him. He was great in this game. Lukman, another two goals. And Kukmai is brilliant again. And he's suspended. He will miss the game. It's another big game against Juve.
01:10:55
Speaker
So yeah, Atalanta, we're back. Great to watch. Davide Nicola, Saturday. I think it's so stupid. So stupid. Yes, it's a bad result. But I mean, this is such a reactionary thing to do, unless, you know, he's lost the dressing room, but I don't think he has.
01:11:15
Speaker
They have been ridiculously open and leaky in 2023. Ridiculous. I've watched all of Selena Turner's games in 2023. And honestly, watching their defence, I mean, it's actually been embarrassing. Ochoa has been mad at the match in every single game. Pretty much with them. He saved them from losing like 15-0 in every game. I mean, that's how bad it is. I don't know what's going on with their defence at the moment.
01:11:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it feels a little bit unfair on him after what he did last season. I think it's ridiculous. And maybe they'll bring him back again. I wouldn't rule it out. The Italian merry-go-round. Just before we finish off,
01:11:56
Speaker
Oh wait, the other the other Serie A weekend fixtures that just before I finish off on the top four, Cremonetti 2, Monda 3. That was an absolutely crazy game. Monda was 3-0 up. Yeah, but Monda was 3-0 up. Caprari scored a brace and then Cremonetti scored two. I mean, it was really, really... Yeah, your kind of game. Yeah. Alvini sacked.
01:12:16
Speaker
Alvini sapped, I mean no choice really. Habemus Balardini. He's back. He's back with his shades, his Swedish wife. I mean what is the point? I mean what is the point? They're not going to stay up unless they invest. And Balardini, if he does this, let me just be clear, Balardini manages to pull this great escape. I think it's great, it'll be right up there with Mazzari, after doing with Regina, after they had like minus points after Calcio Poli, or Davida Nicola last season with Sala Nutana.
01:12:43
Speaker
So it's one of the greatest escapes ever, if Bala Dini pulls this off. But I don't think he will. I don't think he
Serie A Marketing Missteps
01:12:51
Speaker
will. Houdenese won Bologna 2. I don't know what the hell has happened to Sottil. We were singing his praises about how great he was at the start of the season and Houdenese is just on such a bad run. Look, he's a good coach. Like I said, they were overperforming and now they've regressed.
01:13:10
Speaker
But it is very, very concerning. There's over 10 games now without a win. I mean, yeah, it's worrying. They need to take that. The other game, I want to make a point on this. Torino nil, Speccia one. Not much to say on the pitch. Torino awful. Unzola, I have to give him a shout out. He's having a fantastic season. He scored again, albeit this was a penalty. But part of me is glad that Torino lost because
01:13:35
Speaker
We have the, and we shouldn't laugh here because it's no laughing matter. It's no laughing matter. It's so bizarre. It's a disgrace. Kevin Spacey, the US actor, was invited to the stadium by Urban Al-Qaeda, paraded basically proudly to the whole world.
01:13:50
Speaker
plastered all over social media. Look who's here. Look who presenting a Torino shirt with Kevin Spacey's name on the back. I mean, I just think it's disgraceful. We're talking about somebody that is facing 12 sex events charges at the moment. It goes on trial this summer. He's got allegations from a 14-year-old. He's got links to Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, it's disgusting.
01:14:11
Speaker
This is the thing that I don't get about this. I believe in innocent until proven guilty. And we have to also say that Kevin Spacey hasn't been convicted of anything in previous things as well. But here's the thing. He's going to stand trial in the UK in 2023 in June. That's the latest when it's supposed to be scheduled, to stand trial for criminal offenses for sexual assault. This is madness by Cairo to bring him on. There's no reason to do this.
01:14:40
Speaker
I mean, why do this now? This is such a PRO goal. At least wait till after the trial, if you're going to do it at all, until and see what happens. This is such a stupid thing to do by Caidón. And again, the cluelessness of it.
01:14:56
Speaker
This is what drives me mad. I mean, away from the whole serious angle from this, but just if we're just looking at this selfishly from a football point of view, from our love of Serie A and wanting the Serie A to grow. I mean, what hope is there? I mean, really what hope is there? I mean, this just takes it to another level. When we've been banging on about it for years about how clueless Italians are in general when it comes to marketing,
01:15:21
Speaker
including Serie A clubs and the league and everything. But this just takes it to another level. How clueless do you really have to be that you parade at somebody that's facing 12 sexual sex offence charges? What hope is there? Should we just give up now? Carlos resigning.
01:15:46
Speaker
I mean, I am just resigned to just never having any hope of us ever being able to build this league up and promote the league when you've got idiots like Cairo doing stuff like this. It's like the thing is, there's no need for it. And it literally is just the most boomer reason as well. Oh, he's a big famous actor, you know, Hollywood. Oh, I'm, you know, let's bring him on and parade him with a Torino show. Like there's no, why? I think he even likes football. I bet he doesn't even probably doesn't even know the rules, you know.
01:16:11
Speaker
I don't know if he does or not, but it's just, it's so tone deaf and so unnecessary. It's like, it's so, and they all do it. The Serie A does this time and time and time again. Like the Juventus statement when CR Cristiano Ronaldo, the alleged things that it's like a rape that he was, you know, was going on about, or that, you know, that he was under a suspicion of. He trains well. He trains well and a super athlete and a model professional. It's like,
01:16:39
Speaker
I don't, there's no current, like stop, stop talking. Like it's stuff like this or the monkey anti-racism campaign with the chimps. I'm laughing because it's like, it's like a parody. I couldn't make, if I were to write a parody of how not to do things.
01:16:55
Speaker
I just do what the Serie A does. I don't need to write it. I just need to show you what's Legas Calcio and the Serie A, the boomer presidents in charge of Berlusconi the other week about his joke that they put on social media, that leaked on social media about driving a bus full of dirty halls. And that's a direct quote, by the way, to the dressing room, if they were to win against one of the big sides. I mean, it's like, how is this...
01:17:22
Speaker
It's just, oh my God. I mean, we're laughing because it's so bizarre. I don't know what to say. I know. I know. I know. But I mean, there's things that are harmful and then there's things that are really harmful. And this is this is really hard for me. But it's going to you can just kind of be no, you can't. Because if you know his sexual misconduct history is no better than, you know, let's be honest.
01:17:44
Speaker
No, but again, this is not just Bareless Corner. This is the boomer mentality. These are the people that are in charge of the Serie A, and you see it all throughout their communication. These completely nonsensical, bizarre statistics, word salad statistics, that they keep pushing out during broadcast and on social media,
01:18:06
Speaker
It's no one. You can't just you can't just say it's just down to the to the older generation because you know, I see the people I know the people that run, you know, like the zone, for example, you know, they're, they're, they're our age, you know, these people, they
01:18:22
Speaker
Who appointed them, Carlo? Who appointed them is my point. Who named these people to put them where they are? This is what I mean. It's the older generation. It's an Italian problem in general. It's an Italian problem across the board. But anyway, race for the top four, really, really tight. We're not going to have time to discuss this. Maybe we'll do it on the next show. Milan in second on 38, Juventus on 37, third into fourth with 37, Atalanta fifth, Lazio six, Roma seven, all those three on 34.
Serie A Top Four Race
01:18:50
Speaker
It's incredibly tight.
01:18:51
Speaker
Next match goes Uve, Atalanta, Latsu and Milan. So, we'll discuss that later in the week, but yeah, really, really tight for top four. It's going to be really exciting. Emply plays Amadoria tonight. Let's finish off though now with Badjo and Pempo to the week.
01:19:06
Speaker
Okay. Bad Joe, I mean Napoli. I mean all of them, they go for outside. I also want to single out. They didn't have a great time in City of B at the weekend, but Buffon's performance and just appearance in general at the age of nearly 45 for Parma in the Coppa Italia against
01:19:27
Speaker
Inter in midweek last week, and he was seconds away, or minutes away, from Parnal getting a famous victory. They scored in the 89th minute, and, you know, clean sheet. And, you know, he made his debut 28 years ago. I think it was his 50th game at San Siro or something like that. He also made some brilliant saves, one from Checo in particular. It was fantastic. No, it's also a little tiny badger to Spall.
01:19:56
Speaker
for winning their game against Regina, away 1-0 in a dramatic game. So important for them to win that. De Rossi was on fire. But yeah, you have to give it to Napoli duo, Quara and Osseman. They were unplayable. And Prim Face of the Week? It can't be anyone but Chelsea.
Chelsea's Tumultuous Week
01:20:18
Speaker
Like, I'm sorry.
01:20:20
Speaker
I mean, that entire Jean Felix thing, from the signing, which is odd, to the presentation, which is Ola in Spanish misspelled when they put it out. And of course, he gets sent off. I mean, it really feels like just, you know, curb your enthusiasm the entire week. Like that song should just be the entire week of Jean Felix Chelsea transfer from start to finish should just be
01:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, whatever you think about Chelsea and Todd Boney as well. Did you see Todd Boney was on a Chelsea space? Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, he was on a Chelsea space getting transferred. Yeah, and I saw he was on there was listening, but he didn't say anything. So we'll never know. Yeah.
01:21:04
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that is a crazy club. Okay, right. That's all we have time for today. So we will be back on Tuesday for our Q&A episode with our patrons. That's for patrons only. And then we'll be back later in the week for, again, we're trying to get another transfer expert onto the show. So we will definitely have something for you either on that or on a pre-weekend show. But we will, yeah, we'll see what comes out on that.
01:21:32
Speaker
Okay, right, until next time, ciao ciao.