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Edoardo Bove Health Scare, Juventus Crisis, McTominay Mania, Reijnders Explodes & Much More (Ep. 476)
2k Plays9 days ago
From Edoardo Bove medical emergency during Fiorentina Vs Inter Milan, Scott McTominay continues to score important goals for Napoli, Torino in relegation form, Juventus crisis deep dive dissecting goal drought to injury situation, Tijjani Reijnders stars again for AC Milan, to Lazio stumble against Parma after dreamgoals, and Patrick Viera off to a flyer in charge of Genoa as well as Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week, plus much, much more when Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from Match Day 14 of the 2024/2025 Serie A season.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all. To NEVER miss an episode of The Italian Football Podcast (and support the show), go to Patreon.com/TIFP or Spotify to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Eduardo Bove's Collapse and Response
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast, the official podcast of Football Italia. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Savali. On today's show, we will react to the Serie A weekend action, starting off with the quite terrifying scenes in Florence as Eduardo Barbe collapsed and was rushed to hospital early on in the in the Fiorentina versus Inter game the game was was abandoned but all that anyone could could think about of course was the was that ah the Eduardo Bove was was okay ah and he yeah he is in hospital and Fiorentina put out a statement on late on on during the Sunday evening
00:00:53
Speaker
And it seems hopefully, fingers crossed, things are going to be all right. But obviously this is a developing.
Serie A Highlights: Napoli's Lead and Juventus' Struggles
00:01:00
Speaker
story so we'll talk a bit little bit about that and we'll talk about Napoli who stay top of Serie A as ah they win again 1-0 Scott McTominay continuing his great starts the season against Torino. Juventus though are in crisis on the pitch and on the treatment table of ah another really really bad performance drawing 1-1 at Lecce and now they are really starting to fall out of the
00:01:26
Speaker
of the race at the top of the table. Milan complete a ah good week of results after a convincing win over Empoli. Tijani Reinde is the star of the show again. Lazio's brilliant runner form ends as Parma earn another big scalp and we'll have our our usual Baggio prem face and Sadia asks of The Week. For all our first-time listeners, this is our free weekly episode that we do every Monday, reviewing the weekend's area action and all the biggest talking points in Italian football.
Supporting the Podcast: Patreon Benefits
00:01:56
Speaker
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 and&A episode every Tuesday where we answer all of the questions from our patrons, plus the weekly Thursday midweek review show, plus interviews, post-match reaction, and much, much more, then go to patreon dot.com slash TIP and become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month.
00:02:15
Speaker
Plus VAT. You can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify. We'll provide the link in the description.
Bove's Condition and Medical Response
00:02:21
Speaker
It's the same price and terms. And for all of you that do listen and on Spotify, Apple and iTunes podcasts, we'd really appreciate if you do give us a five star rating and also do subscribe to us on YouTube and as well. All of that really helps us to to grow and do more content for you guys.
00:02:39
Speaker
Okay, let's get into today's show. So, um of course, we have to start off with the the incident with Eduardo Bove during a Fiorentina against Inter. For those of you who haven't seen it, 17th minute of the game during a break in play, Bove was crouching down.
00:03:02
Speaker
um Then he he got up, but he didn't quite look right. He started to stumble and then he collapsed. The players closest to him, Denzel Dunfries and others, like immediately waved for the medics. and It was you know quite a panicked reaction. Everybody could see straight away how serious it was. um and the medics came along and and eventually he was he was rushed to so hospital. um it was It was really quite terrifying scenes, um kind of reminiscent to some some other incidents we've seen, probably Kristian Erickson, one of the first ones that comes to mind. and
00:03:42
Speaker
Fiorentina and Inter players who did actually form a circle around Valve while he was getting treatment on the pitch. they were you know Some of them in tears. um Eventually the you know the game was suspended. Eventually it was abandoned. and But as news started to come through about Valve's condition, um you know it it was it was ah understood that that he was he was breathing on his own.
00:04:08
Speaker
and but unconscious on the way to the hospital, then he regained consciousness at the hospital.
Speculation on Bove's Collapse Cause
00:04:14
Speaker
um All kinds of kind of reports of like what it could be. What we do know now is that Fiorentina put out a statement during the evening that confirming that Bove was in intensive care, but that the test that they had done had that had it excluded serious cardiological or neurological ah damage, which you know I think, you know I'm no medical expert, but I think that is positive. and So obviously, and this is a developing story and and we're recording this on ah Monday morning. I'm sure more news will come out during the course of ah Monday by the time you guys have listened to this part.
00:04:53
Speaker
and they will understand a little bit more about exactly what what happened to Barbe and you know but what you know what lies ahead for for for him. and But so what we can say right now is that I think that sounds quite positive and and yeah we we we we wish him all the best and a full recovery and and yeah just hope everything's okay.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was um it was quite the horrific scenes. um It was it just it looked really, really bad. And um when after that goal was disallowed or they were discussing it after the score and he just fell to the floor. And there's been some report saying that he'd he'd received a hit somewhere to the to the abdomen.
00:05:48
Speaker
And he was complaining about that. And then, you know, some, we don't know exactly what happened. Obviously the, he's in the hospital now doing
Importance of Emergency Preparedness
00:05:59
Speaker
tests. He's going to be reevaluated. He was taken to the ICU. um So it was very, very horrible. It was, you know, you.
00:06:10
Speaker
There's this for a fraction of a second the camera went and you could see him on the floor and it was truly, truly horrific. um And um you just saw how quickly though, one thing you have to say, how quickly everyone reacted.
00:06:28
Speaker
from Fiorentina to Int, everyone who was there, all the players, every everyone just within seconds, milliseconds, reacted to that. And then they there was medical personnel there immediately, um which which which is ah which is good, um because I think that kind of saved his life, didn't it? um Because the way that they reacted so quickly, he was rushed in the ambulance, like within minutes, this was taken
Fiorentina's Medical Emergency History
00:06:57
Speaker
care of in seconds. and it was It was truly, truly shocking scenes and and horrible scenes. yeah I would definitely would have praised the reaction of the players. um i think it's how Within one millisecond milliseconds. like You can see all of them within a fraction of a second. yeah just
00:07:14
Speaker
what what What Cataldi did, I think, definitely deserves praise. you know yeah he he yeah He stopped reports, say he stopped Bob, he swallowed his tongue, he put me in the recovery position, so he knew, obviously, like basic first aid, what to do, which is so important. Which I think is something they should teach at schools, if I'm honest with you. I think when it comes to like these... we We were taught it when we were kids. I don't remember it now. It was 30 years ago.
00:07:42
Speaker
but 35 years ago, but yeah, this this first, a like this first like you know putting people on the side, teaching them how to do you know CPR, like stuff like that is is is very, very important. Not just school, I think they should do it.
00:07:55
Speaker
it should be throughout school but it should also be there should be some way that they do it you know after school do just because i was taught basic at first aid when i was at school when i was probably about seven eight years old but so long ago i can't remember it i can't remember any of it now and you know this kind of stuff i mean in a way you know what happened to bove yesterday is probably the best place for something like that to happen because you know, people are around you, there are medics. On the pitch, there's medics on the call. Yeah, there's medics there. You know, this happens. I mean, we don't know. Listen, and it seems he didn't have it. They're saying there's no serious cardiological damage. We don't know what happened if it was some kind of minor cardiac arrest or if it was, we don't know. But assuming it was a cardiac arrest, you know, like with Ericsson, for example, if that happens on the street, you know, the chances are, you you know, unless you've got somebody that's really trained and you can get the equipment, can get you to hospital straight away.
00:08:49
Speaker
you know that's why most people when when they suffer like cardiac arrest or these kind of serious things you know they they die because there's because it's you've got seconds minutes to so to to deal with them um and so in a way this is the best place for it to happen but i mean it was yeah it was it was horrific at 22 years old we just hope it yeah it isn't anything um it's obviously serious but we hope it's not something that that's uh you know we hope it's something that you can recover from fully Yeah, but they they will definitely like look at what happened I mean there could be a million million reasons things saying some people I saw one report saying that it was a epilasiazure yeah Epileptic seizure which which caused a cardiac arrest.
Game Abandonment Debate: Player Safety Focus
00:09:36
Speaker
We don't know it's unconfirmed but regardless You know, it's ah they're definitely gonna have to check all I'm gonna say is that if he's recovered
00:09:47
Speaker
without, as as a statement from Fiorentina said, whether any um serious without any serious Uh, just pulling up the statement, they said he's got, um, the, the, the, he arrived without any cardiological or new well, it's ruled out any acute cardiological and neurological damage to the central nervous system and the cardiorespiratory system. Now that, that is just, that is, wow, thank God he was lucky, but that is lucky. Um, because if he's, if he's avoided that, then poof, you know,
00:10:29
Speaker
but it and But like you said, it's also because there were people around him. um There were medical professionals on call. And so they reacted within seconds um and they resolved it. And thank God, it seems.
00:10:43
Speaker
it seems he will be he will be okay at least for now and and hopefully we can see him on the pitch because he was having a really good season. And we have to, I mean, what this this is like after, um what's his name, Astori, like Fiorentina or, you know, again, Fiorentina players seizure or cardiac arrest. It's, you know, he's... But on as well. Yeah, yeah.
00:11:07
Speaker
Exactly. Joe Barone. You're really starting to feel bad for them. and Like well what is, what are they cursed or something? It's like, it's, it's, it's, it's not, it's not a nice situation, but we, I, I hopefully look into, you know, was this one of those things that you can't print? Like, you know, life happens. Sometimes these things happen. yeah but We have to wait. We just have to wait and see like what it is first before we can, you know, what was the cause and and all that kind of obviously, you know,
00:11:35
Speaker
is there's no secret is we've seen a a massive rise in the last few years over these kind of things on the pitch but we don't know exactly what it was it maybe it was an epilepsy seizure maybe it was you know maybe it was just that and it wasn't related to the heart um we don't know it probably was if it was i mean one does not exclude the other yeah of course but but it it could be but i'm just saying until we know what it was it probably wrong to to kind of look at something wider but you know We have seen it a lot in the last few years. that's that We can't hide away from that. um and you know This is another example of that and it was horrible to see. It really was truly horrible to see.
Napoli's Consistent Performance Under Conte
00:12:13
Speaker
It was it was very very like it was truly, truly horrific scenes. and
00:12:19
Speaker
I think it was the complete right decision to abandon the game. um I remember when this happened to Christian Erickson, I was really annoyed that they continued playing that game. um um So I think it was the right decision. I understand that they're not going to play this game until February, fine, whatever. I think it would have been a complete travesty had they forced the players to continue.
00:12:41
Speaker
Well yeah, you could see their word in any mind too. i mean Some of the players were in tears. i mean And when you don't know, you know yeah when you don't know i mean David De Gea tweeted as soon as he came off the pitch, you know please God. you know you know So these players, can you imagine having to play when you don't know the you don't You don't know the condition of your of your your teammate that's just got that you've seen that happen to. but it's yeah There's just no way you can you can play play that game. It's impossible. But so but yeah, that's that's all there is to say. there's there's There's nothing else to really talk about on that game, nothing else that that matters other than Bob is health. um If we do move on though, to
00:13:21
Speaker
Torino against Napoli, Napoli win again, 1-0 against Torino, um I thought a very good performance from Napoli controlled the game from start to finish, they created um more than enough chances, should have won the game by certainly by more than one goal, Torino created virtually nothing. um If it wasn't for Milinkovic Savage and the Torino goal, who by the way, I think is ready for a bigger club now. Yeah, I was just about to say that some of those saves were out of this world. he Outstanding, isn't he? He's got that aura and presence and that kind of, you know, he just got that
00:14:04
Speaker
some unbeatable quality about him sometimes. He looks bigger in the goal, doesn't he? Do you know what I mean? Some goalkeepers, they look bigger in the goal. They've got this intimidating presence and his reactions are just unbelievable. Even when he gets a hand to it, it's always powerful. He claws it away.
00:14:23
Speaker
Um, and, and now he was, he was, some of those things were insane. Well, he's six for eight. He's huge. He's massive. He's absolutely huge. Um, but we have to say, look, okay, they didn't create that much, but so what's cause miss is.
00:14:43
Speaker
I don't think, you know, Roberto guy gave Roberto Galliardini a run for his money for the miss of the decade. I mean, that was, how do you miss an open goal like that? It's just, whoa. um So yeah, it was it was truly, look, it's, um
00:15:04
Speaker
And now also this Inter game postponed, Milan game postponed when they're going to play Napoli. It's starting to feel like Antonio Conte's here. Let's just say it out loud. let It's more and more things are happening. He's playing once a week. He keeps winning 1-0. You see teams missing chances, open goals. like it's just is It really is. It's coming together for them. Although I haven't said that, regardless of that, Napoli were were They were well-deserved winners in this game. They deserved to win this by at least a couple of goals. They they they were very, very dominant. and i were very I was impressed by them. I was very impressed with them. and They looked like a team that can win the title. um we've got Tom and I, the hero, scored the winning goal. Great goal to, I thought, brilliant goal. Very underrated goal. The way that he took that, it was only a half chance.
00:15:55
Speaker
very, you know, not much space, the way that he managed to turn so quickly on his left foot in a position that wasn't, you know, not an easy position to take a shot in, but there wasn't much space to play with. He wasn't, his balance wasn't quite right when he when he received that ball. Very difficult, very difficult skill to, and and he managed to get, I thought it was brilliant. I thought it was a fantastic goal ah from, from McTominade. Showed how complete McTominade is as a goal scorer in midfielder. Like he can score goals.
00:16:25
Speaker
in so many different ways, with his right foot, with his left foot, outside the box, inside the box, you know, opportunities, opportunist goals, goals from set pieces, goals from crosses, headers, you know, he reacts in first before players, reading, reading where the ball is going to
Napoli's Title Aspirations and Fixture List
00:16:42
Speaker
drop. I mean, I think he's, he's he really is a your your typical kind of goalscore midfielder and so bulls he's doing really really well. When he plays for Antonio Conte, like that's the thing. This is what Conte does when when he he's got his system and he finds players that aren't
00:17:03
Speaker
It's too sexy, basically, in terms of names and technical ability, and then he puts them in the system and they look absolutely unbelievable. He shouldn't come as too much of a surprise because he scored 10 goals last season for Man United. That's the point. If he is put in the right conditions, like Conte is,
00:17:19
Speaker
he has got you know he yeah He has got those attributes and the goals in his game so to really contribute so much for Napoli and and yeah he was the difference here. and I thought that yeah he was again the main man. and I thought Collada was good, he got the assist. The defence was you know apart from that chance pretty rock solid again. Nine clean sheets now for Napoli. I think this was the fourth or fifth 1-0 win.
00:17:44
Speaker
yeah Napoli had this season in the Serie A. It's really coming together for Antonio Conte's fourth 1-0 win. It's really coming together for Antonio Conte and they they they're going to be thereabouts. you know He plays once a week, they've 14 games into the season, they've got 10 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses, 21 goals scored, 9 conceded, 9 clean sheets.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's looking and and, you know, he's done it without things really kicking into gear. It's not, you know, if you look at when Antonio Conte's football works, it looks much more fluid. This still isn't that fluid. There's still some kinks to iron out and that's very, very positive for Napoli.
00:18:27
Speaker
because that means that there's, you know, there's still much more to look forward to. I mean, if you win when you don't play well, um that's a sign of strength. But Napoli barely can see anything. It's so organized. yeah And no, it was a...
00:18:45
Speaker
Grind out result kind of win. They should have probably won by more. As we said, we didn't call it savage, making some absolutely crazy saves. But we also have to concede that Coco's miss it might be one of the worst we've seen this year in Europe. It was truly unbelievably poor. ah You can't miss that. Like it's just I don't understand how he managed to to get his body and and and feet tangled up like that. It just you can't miss a sitter like that.
00:19:13
Speaker
So, yeah, Napoli, and Napoli, live you know, are now four points clear, of course, you know, Inter have a game in hand, Fiorentina have a game in hand.
Torino's Form and Relegation Concerns
00:19:23
Speaker
Milan. Yeah, Atalanta playing tonight against Roma. So, yeah, it's the four points that you don't want to give to Antonio Conte at this time of year has been granted to Antonio Conte because unless Atalanta managed to beat Roma tonight.
00:19:39
Speaker
Well, yeah. um And Napoli have, well, they have, they have double-header against Lazio now. and this This week, Coppertalia away, and then, and then Lazio at home in Serie A. But then after that.
00:19:52
Speaker
you know if they managed to beat Lazio, their run of games before the new year is is Udenezer, Genoa, Venezia. So, you know, they could go into the new year looking pretty, pretty, pretty, let's say. Pretty, pretty, pretty. Yeah, it's kta's it's um it's it's a Merry Christmas for Tony C from Letcher. He's going to he's going to enjoy himself. um No, but look, you look at those games and you've got The double-header against Lazio, I mean, he's going to rotate so much in the cockpit. He doesn't give a damn about that. um and And then you've got, like you said, Lazio at home, Udeniese at home.
00:20:35
Speaker
You know, and then you have to remember, Inter Milan Juva Atalanta, all four go to Saudi Arabia for the Super Cup. Yeah, there you go. and And then you've got, he's got ah Verona when they're away, Fiorentina and Verona. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go. That's what we mean. Like the little things are. ah It's all coming together. Coming together. Yeah. But just just a quick note on Sereno. One point in five.
00:21:02
Speaker
eight defeats in the last 10 games, after that great start, it's relegation form. there'ss There's no other way to but to say it. and and And I said it at the time, when they went on that, they had that fantastic start to the season, to reno and and everybody was you know was praising them.
00:21:23
Speaker
um i did a little I had a little look at the underlying stats and it showed that they were massively over-performing in terms of their you know expected goals and expected goals against and and expected points. and you know that that Those underlying stats always over over time, they they always even themselves out eventually over time and what we're seeing is we're seeing that play out now in the in those early weeks of the season.
00:21:50
Speaker
they were they you know they were they were over performing their their actual performances and Milankovitch Savage in particular I remember he had the best stats in Europe in those first weeks of the season like the number of saves number of goals he was saving um so really if it wasn't for Milankovitch Savage they probably would actually be in the relegation zone now so they have to be careful because they're not that far above the relegation zone if if they continue this form they are going to drop to it to towards the the relegation zone
00:22:21
Speaker
um I think they should be okay, but I do worry for the manager.
Juventus' Crisis: Injuries and Lack of Creativity
00:22:25
Speaker
I think they they might have to make a change. if if this goes I remember saying that I was worried about Torino getting relegated before the start of the season. And I did say that I'm not a big fan of Van Ollie. Yeah, well, told you. What do you want me to say? Like, it's, it's, he's not, ah you know, the Urich effect has worn off and now it's Van Ollie ball. and And what you got is seven defeats out of the last nine.
00:22:47
Speaker
But in their defense, they have played Juve, they have played Roma, they have played Inter, they have played Napoli and Lazio. So it's Fiorentina. So they did have all the top sides. But their only win, of they lost against Caliari, of course, which again, they should have absolutely won. um But and and they drew against Monza and they beat Como. But yeah, I'm not I'm not surprised. I don't I've never rated Van Ollie. I don't think they did enough in the summer.
00:23:16
Speaker
i think but then that was clear lives was the transfer market was yeah and I think they to the mean now. I think they, like you said, they overperformed a little bit in the beginning of the season. To be fair, they did play um Venezia, Verona, Lece, you know,
00:23:36
Speaker
those are the ones they won but they of course the impressive win that was you know the 2-2 draw against Milan away and the win against Atalanta at home but other in in the beginning of the season but I'm not too impressed. I think the loss of Duban Zapata really killed them for sure because I look at their attack and I just think well where the goal is going to come from. Sainabria, Shay Adams,
00:23:59
Speaker
and then a bunch of players I've not even heard of. you is yeah i'm a little bit worried I'm a little bit worried for them, but then I'm worried for a lot of teams. I think there's a lot of teams at the bottom I'm worried for. so i think yeah they they just They've got a good run of pictures now. they need to They need to to stem the tide and and just yeah yeah hopefully start the new year and in in a better position. um Let's move on to to to another team in Turin that's struggling right now, and that is Juventus. I think we can probably call it a crisis now. It's certainly a crisis when you add everything together, when you add
00:24:44
Speaker
the the absolutely outrageous situation with the injuries, together with with the the the results, which aren't losses, but are draws, um and the problems that Juventus are having with creating chances, even against the weakest of opposition, like Lecce, and I think we can call it a crisis. I think we can.
00:25:04
Speaker
I think we can call it a crisis. um It's not over-exaggerating to call it a crisis. I'm sorry, but when your expected goals, including Turram's shocking open goal miss, which is the post, is 1.3 away against a lecture who have struggled a lot this season. I mean i don't know what else to tell you. This this is not the the I mean, Lechov conceded 21 goals before they played Juva in 13 games. OK, they've had a managerial change. Gianpaolo's come in and he's actually doing pretty well. This was an important, you know, point and and decent performance for them. ah they They won their game against Venezia, but it's still.
00:25:53
Speaker
This is just simply not good enough. But I want to start before I get to what I said last week, that you can talk about injuries all you want, but this has been going on all season. Barring Cornwall game and Empoli game, or it's not Empoli, they drew that, nor goalless. But barring those opening games in the season, Juventus are completely impotent going forward. um And That's just a fact. Well, i ah um you mentioned that the Taram, the XG overall in the game. If you move if you remove that Taram chance, which is a 0.88 XG, Juventus in the first half had an XG of 0.1 if you remove that Taram chance.
00:26:38
Speaker
And the second half, the second half in total is a 0.25 XG. I mean, so that they had a lower XG than Lecce in this game, even included even including the Taram, the Taram chance. And yeah, one goal in the last three games. And that goal was, let's be honest, it's a complete fluke from Campieso. He's taken a long shot.
00:27:02
Speaker
it's it's it's not if it's not gonna threaten the goalkeeper if it's even on that even if it was on target and it takes a massive deflection of of gas bar and goes in that's the only way that you've enters were probably going to score and it's gonna hit the post twice but you know i've read out that the the xg but they're not creating enough no one can tell me that they create enough and and that's the problem they're not they're not creating enough chances they ah These things, like we said, the the the early season bounce enthusiasm, it wears off. Now we're 14 games into the Serie A and they have the most clean sheets. They have 10 clean sheets in Serie A. It's an outstanding record.
00:27:43
Speaker
And that's great. The defence is not the issue. The issue is they're barely creating anything going forward. And this is how it's been under Thiago Motta since he came to you. regardless of The possession in this game, and and in general, is is it's the build-up was i mean eventss were very, very flat. um The possession is so sterile, just too slow. Not enough vertical direct passes in this game, and in general. Everything I'm going to say here is generally true as a whole. But ah you know i'll I'll talk just for this game. but too slow, too too many sideways passes, making it way too easy for Leche to set up their team into position and trying to score you know the perfect goal. You've got to be more direct sometimes. mean Look how you then scored the goal. It was a shot
00:28:28
Speaker
from from outside the area that took a deflection went in sometimes you've got to be direct sometimes just smash a ball across the box sometimes just whip a ball in first time sometimes put a ball in the channel put the defenders under pressure win it back you know I mean sometimes you've got to be a little bit ugly um you know, yes, you've got to have an identity. And I love the idea that you guys have an identity now, and they're trying to build something that I think that's great. And we have to give it time. But sometimes you've got to also bit have a little bit, you you can't just have one way of playing it to be this sterile. I thought that the team was really lacking pace and intensity. and That is also which will come to is also I think down to the fact that and motto said this in the game, team is
00:29:11
Speaker
is exhausted because they haven't been able to rotate. It's the same players playing. He's got no players to rotate. Yeah, exactly. got ah got nows He's got players who sound like regen names. like it's I'm sorry, but I've been looking at the event. No, the guy that came on yesterday, his name was Punio, which means punch. yeah Listen, Diego Punio.
00:29:34
Speaker
um Alfonso Montero, Paolo Montero's son, Filippo Panuco, Augusto Ovuso, Christos Papadopoulos. These are just, you know, it's it's number 43, 45, 46, 42, 44.
00:29:48
Speaker
like it's just They've taken over from Verona last season, wasn't it? Verona were Regen FC last season. and theyre play You went to Regen FC this season. like These names sound like when you're on season 23 on Football Manager and and and the computer just makes up names. um It's like when you play on Football Manager, you know like when sometimes like you play in Europe and you haven't you haven't downloaded the large database and you're using a small database to try and make the game run quicker and you go into Europe and you play against the team in Europe, even some of the bigger teams in Europe.
00:30:17
Speaker
and they haven't got all their real names so they have like those grayed out regions and they're not very good and that is, I think that's Juventus' bench. It probably explains why Juventus, I mean Juventus is, you know what, you're talking about Juventus not scoring a goal. I was having a look at Juventus' next gen team and they're like, I think they're like bottom or second from bottom in Celiaci and when I checked like last week, I don't know how they got on at the weekend,
00:30:41
Speaker
They yeah they'd scored, I think, one goal in in seven games or one goal in eight games. So it's like, this isn't just the Juventus, like everything, like the injury situation. This isn't just the Juventus senior problem. This is the Juventus next year. problem So the idea that you can have Juventus players on the bench and think that they're going to do anything, can score, or they can't even score in instead of your cheese. Well, yeah, not not not going to happen. But I mean, I do think the lack of energy and intensity that that's also down to the to I don't want to put that on Mota, but it is a team that is very, very much labouring in more ways than one, very, very much struggling and um and just too easy to set up against and defend.
Juventus' Tactical Problems and January Plans
00:31:21
Speaker
It's just so easy to just set your team up to defend against them and and they're not going to create. um I think that that is obviously, we've said it so many times, I think that is a a weakness of Mota. I think what the difference between this team and the Bologna team is that um
00:31:37
Speaker
They had Riccardo Cadafuri, who is a press-breaking, overloading machine from the fence that comes into the midfield, creates that extra man, breaks the line, creates overloads, bombards even into the final third. And he was so, so important for Bologna in the build-up, in this kind of motto build-up, in that he would create that extra man um man and then it would just, you know,
00:32:02
Speaker
the dominoes would fall from there and they would create and score. Juventus don't have that. i mean Motta uses Cambiaso to do that and I think Cambiaso has had a great season although I want to come on to him in a second.
00:32:13
Speaker
um but you know it's one it's cumbbiaso and and everything is coming through cambiuso it's like he's all the playmaking is through cambiuso and i think teams have come on to that they've caught on to that and it's becoming predictable it's all the it's like he's the playmaker of the team it's always cambiuso he comes in field and it's it's just become all too predictable really um and um yeah i think tactically teams are starting to find out how to stop how to stop the Juventus. You double up on Conseil Sal, which Lecce were doing. You follow Cambiaso, because he's the deep, deep-line playmaker. And everything else is sideways and slow and sterile, and it's become too, too predictable. I didn't like Monte's changes either yesterday. I understand that he's got nothing on the bench. I was going to say, I can't criticise him for that. Well, we took off the audience and con se sal for youth players. Um, Bangula. Okay. Did all right. The start of the season, but Punio and you've entered. So you've entered has finished the game with, with waya. Um, Bangula and Punio in the last kind of like 15 to 20 minutes. And yeah, okay. I get, he doesn't have any options and he said they were exhausted and yes, you blasting. You want is another injury. So I guess I don't want to be too critical, but he really did invite pressure from this lecture to him. I would have just kept them on.
00:33:40
Speaker
If you get an injury, you then you go to Johnson and you say, look, this is your fault. But, you know, I think he just invited that pressure from Lecce and, you know, eventually they got the equalizer. ah But, yeah, it's it's it's not good. I have to say, though, I'm so angry it can be us, say though.
00:33:57
Speaker
That is just unforgivable. What he did is unforgivable. You just cannot do that. you're You've got two minutes left of the game. And he did it twice. Before Lecce scored, he got the ball in the right back position. He tried to dribble his man. He half-slipped, lost it. The cross came in. Christovich did a great header. And Perrin pulled off a miracle save. I think it was offside.
00:34:22
Speaker
But you know that was the warning for Cambia. So you've got two minutes left. Why the hell are you playing around with it trying to dribble your man in your own third? And what does he do? Like 30 seconds later, he gets the ball in the right back position. He goes on this mental run through the middle of the pitch, so not even out wide.
00:34:38
Speaker
he tries to dribble past three players, he gets tackled, let's say equalise, they let's say get ah win the ball, they pass it to the the left back, ah the left wing area, the right back area where Cambiaso is vacated, the cross comes in from Cambiaso's position, they they tap it in, they score, it's all Cambiaso's fault, unforgivable that from Cambiaso and if if if ah if Motto He was asked about it. he He's diplomatic. He doesn't hang his players out to dry. He deserves hanging up for that, Cambia. That is that is scrap that unforgivable that you that you that you do that in this 90-second minute. ah Unforgivable. He has two points there on his own. Unforgivable.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's yeah that was um I agree with everything you said. I just think that it's he he is kind of, you know, let's remember he's you know he's not exactly a senator himself, but he's kind of been given that role at U of N. I think you're going to see him make these mistakes until he learns. for any I think he will learn from them. I'm not too worried about that.
00:35:43
Speaker
I'd rather he make these mistakes now than maybe next season when you were supposed to actually fly off and mount a serious title challenge, which they still can do. I mean, again, paregentos, as we can call them, after eight draws, are are still there. they haven't they They still haven't lost a game. um Okay, there are six points off. ah napolis but you know six wins eight draws eight conceded and ten cling sheets but they're falling away and and if this continues you know if if I tweeted at the end of the game if they if two things continue as they are Juventus are going to struggle for top four I still think they'll be okay but
00:36:25
Speaker
if If these two things continue, which you know all Juventus fans will hope that they don't, if they these two things continue, which I'm about to say, Juventus are going to struggle to to get in the top four. And that is number one, this chance creation, which we've already gone, lack of chance creation, which we've gone through, which needs to be solved. And that includes, I think,
00:36:44
Speaker
signing a, they need to sign a striker in in January. There's no doubt about it. They need to sign a number nine. Weijer was horrific, but he's not a nine. You can't be too critical. Just like you couldn't be critical of Mckenny throwing in a stinker at number nine against Milan. He's not a number nine, but even like Vlalvic Juventus need a striker, a reference point, like a Lukaku who hasn't even been in great form, but a Lukaku who can just hold it up, can just bring others into play, just be the wall, be the man. Which Vlovich cannot. Which Vlovich can't do, so it's not going to improve Vlovich. I let you try to teach him for the many years he was there and he just refuses to get it.
00:37:21
Speaker
look I think we can capable I think it's not just well that's that's the thing then I said then I don't if he's not capable of that then he's not a top-level striker it's as simple as that if you're a top-level striker you have to know how to play with your back against the goal you have to be able to put others into play you have to be able to link up you can't be a tap-in match it playing for a for a top side that wants to win the league, ah especially in the Serie A, especially when when teams defend deep against you, when when you have to create your own space, you have to create space for others. He's a provincial striker.
00:37:53
Speaker
noon juntali is also to blame for leaving Oh for sure, I said it last week. Believing Juventus in a situation where they don't have a striker um and they're having to play these games. and Again, this i'm not you know I'm not and we're not absolving blame of Mota. We've been pretty clear that that the Juventus are not creating enough chances and you can't put that all on you know just not having a number nine. But when you don't have a number nine, it's not easy because everything- Well, it doesn't make you easier, no. If you took Lukaku out the Napoli team, it would be a lot you'd be very, very difficult for- Yes, but the difference is that Napoli have a clear and clear identity and structure of how they want to attack. And like I said last week, ah just go back and listen to what I said. I just want to echo everything. Juventus play really well and look really good in the build up phase until they reach the opposition's box.
00:38:44
Speaker
they they flatline they're attacking identity flatlines they don't know what to do they have no idea what they're going to do they spam crosses hoping something happens um but they look completely lost that's on mortar now the squad overall and this injury situation and that the squad isn't constructed properly, that's all on Jumtoli. But then again, it was it was there were mistakes made in the summer, they did as much as they could. The injury situation, okay the ACLs, I can't really blame on on the medical staff,
00:39:21
Speaker
But because that's not something you can, you know. Well, that's that's open for debate as well. Like not the medical staff, but but, you know, the whole we don't know. We don't know. We don't know. No, we don't know what the training is like. Is it too intense? Are they over training the players and tiring the players out, which do cause ACLs? We know that as the number one factor over playing, over training, overloading, overloading, lack of rest.
00:39:49
Speaker
you know that because we don't know whether whether ah you know where we don't know what the what what mutters training is like and and what the preseason was like and and we we're not sure you know but also two of those are for the for the for the for the next gen their next gen play two of those acls but but still two acls is too many but yeah yeah but the acls i i don't want to you know it's it's fine you that's great but at the same time the issue is that they have, what, 13 outfield players in the first team? Well, you could even say 12. I mean, Bangula wasn't even supposed to be a senior player this year. He's been ah the reason why Bangula was brought into the first team squad in the first place was because but lack of a lack of numbers. And then he's just kind of stayed there because there's no one there. Now people are calling because people are called him a senior player. You could really say 12, to be honest with you.
00:40:45
Speaker
i mean it's I mean, it's absurd. that It's a scandal. um It's a scandal. And um I think, you know, I think someone, I think heads should roll for this. It's a scandal. We're talking about the biggest club in Italy.
00:40:59
Speaker
you know, we're talking about one of the biggest clubs in Europe and and what? they've got They've got all these injuries, all this money that's in the club. and All this money that they spent, all this ah all this money that they do spend on medical staff, on on you know on on research and the facilities, 12-13 first team players available in early December,
00:41:23
Speaker
a new coach who's attacking identity flat lines when it reaches the opposition. people ongoing though ni a Number nine striker who doesn't know how to play as a number nine striker in a big team, plays like a provincial striker. um Yeah, I'd say he needs to roll. Yeah, well, yeah, I want to just focus just on the injury situation. Heads need to roll with in terms of who is to, but there needs to be a ah proper investigation, who is to blame for this, what is causing this and whoever is to blame, and these heads some of those heads need to roll because this cannot be allowed to be acceptable and it's ongoing as well. This isn't something that's just a, you know, this has been happening pre-date in this season and what is worse for me is
00:42:09
Speaker
what i find incredible is the recoveries how long the recoveries are taken that is a jay medical problem um you know some of these things are not jay medical you know um because obviously you know we're talking about injuries happening it's like you know it's like blaming the the hospital for you get for you having a heart attack do you know what i mean sometimes you can't you can't just blame jay medical for everything but but you know the recoveries you can because that's in jay medical's hands um the recoveries you know we're getting players with supposedly minor muscular injuries like Nico Gonzalez, who was only supposed to be out for a few weeks. He's been out for two months. He's still not back. What the hell is going on there? Why is he taking so long? you know Then you've got players that are taken out for precaution precautionary reasons before a game like Douglas Louise was before a Champions League game. he was He wasn't even injured. He was taken out as a precaution. Was how long ago was that? That was like a month ago. He's still not back.
00:43:03
Speaker
So what the hell is going on there? Then you've got players that that have no injury at all, like Vlawovic, they miss two games. Now, OK, there might be a reason for some some of these. There might be a reason that for Vlawovic being out for two games. What I'm saying is, there's too many of these players in total that are supposed to be minor injuries, and their recoveries are taking way, way longer than they usually should take.
00:43:26
Speaker
And that is that that for me, I find this astonishing because most a lot of these players that ah that are out on this long injury list, they should have been back at ages ago. And they're not back because their their recoveries are taking a lot longer than they are. So what the hell is going on there?
00:43:41
Speaker
So from from the injuries, to the recoveries, to the ACLs, is it's a scandal what is going on with Juventus' injury situation. And this is and this is having a this is ah exacerbating the crisis that Juventus, the struggles that matters have him with the chance creation. And the because the players are now exhausted, which is making that more difficult, you know the same players having to play every single game. They've got no one to bring on.
00:44:09
Speaker
And we're in the the such a busy part of the season now as well. So what do you think is going to happen? Juventus are going to go into the next game. They're going to be exhausted. They're going to put in another flat performance. They're probably going to drop more points. and it's just and And then people are going to just blame Motta for but lack of chance creation when the players are all exhausted because he's got no one to pick from.
00:44:28
Speaker
So, you know, is is ah that's why at the start I said it's a crisis. It's a crisis in totality between everything. and and yeah so yeah the those are the two thats what Coming back to my initial point, the two things that need to be sorted out, otherwise Juventus are going to risk top four are the chance creation and the injuries. If they don't get there they these injury situation continues and then connected to that, the chance creation, then Juventus are going to struggle for top four.
00:44:57
Speaker
no i don't think they're going to struggle for top four because i'm saying if yeah but even now but regardless of that because i don't expect Fiorentina and Lazio to to continue um down there and i think we saw um i will get you but what i'm saying is if they continue the rest of the season with 12 fit players you ventures are not going to get to perform you can't they can't like it's it's just not but Of course Jun Tolle has the addresses in January. otherwise they That's what i big I mean. Why is he there? like Is he on holiday? That's the other thing there. Sorry to to go on and on about your answers, but they don't have any budget in January either. so so again you know If somebody wants to buy Vlaovic in January, I'd sell him if he can get the right money for him. I've i've given up now. I think you know it's well it's not working. All I say is good luck.
00:45:46
Speaker
That's what I was going to say. Good luck.
Milan's Form and Key Players
00:45:50
Speaker
Let's move on to Milan and now. um Good week for Milan in terms of results um and a better performance in this game. We were very critical of their performance against Slobman Bratislava. I thought it was very, very, very worrying. This game was good, though. A few standout performances, i thought maatta has now scored in two of his last three games, so he's improving, they need they need him to so to continue that. um But the star of the show definitely rained as two goals, the second goal, kind of trademarked that that kind of burst into space, and which I think he's so good at.
00:46:25
Speaker
and He's such a, so his movement with the ball, when he drives the ball from midfield, it's so silky, isn't it? It looks so natural. He glides. Yeah, he glides. He really does. it's it's It's got this lovely flow and movement when he runs with the ball at his feet from midfield and he, this is really his... um I've always compared him to Kovacic. He's always reminded me of Kovacic, but he's now just starting to have more goals in his game than Kovacic. Kovacic, that's always been his weakness. He's never had,
00:46:55
Speaker
He's never had any goals in his game, I'd say. co chich But Reinders, yeah, he's got six goals now this season, three assists. That's really, really impressive. I mean, if he continues like this, he's going to end the season in double figures for goals, which I actually think is quite impressive for the position that he plays in, you know, double pivot.
00:47:14
Speaker
ah ah did Yeah, he's really, really good. Really good. and we're seeing We're seeing big clubs. The biggest clubs in Europe want to sign him. and Oh, for sure. I think Mila need to watch out because he's very important for them. and If they need to watch out because I think when you when you have a midfielder that is that silky, that scores that much, is also a fantastic passer, chance creator. There's, you know, people, scouts watch that. And one thing that I think is rather interesting though, ah which it doesn't feel like this at all, looking at Mila,
00:47:54
Speaker
But they've got six clean sheets in the Serie A this season. And when you look at how Milan have looked defensively, it feels surreal that they've got that. Well, one of them is against Juventus, so it doesn't really count, but yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker
No, but if you it's it's it's so, you know, and and if you look at, yeah, it it's just it does not feel like when you look at how Milan defended how awful they've been defensively and you're like, you because they got six clean sheets already. Same as Inter in the league. Of course, you know, and they have the same amount of games, obviously, because both of their games were postponed. But it's it's a weird one.
00:48:35
Speaker
Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into it considering having watched them play against Slava and Bratislava. Yeah, but it's not just that. They have been poor defensive. There's no doubt about that, but it's still, it's an interesting start. Well, I think it's an interesting quirk, but I think that certainly more to read into the fact that in four of the last five games, they've scored three goals in, they're definitely, you know,
00:48:57
Speaker
unlike Juventus to compare them. They definitely haven't got problem scoring goals and they've got a lot of attacking options. They do and they are good in attack and Morata exactly like we said in our Preseria preview was going to be a very useful player for this Milan under Fonseca and he's doing it really really well. I thought Pulisic was good but I mean what I wanted to raise was is there an argument to say that Reinders and Pulisic
00:49:25
Speaker
but is there an argument to say that Reinders and Pudasich in particular are becoming Milan's talisman now, a head of, well, outfield talisman, a head of Liao and Théo, because generally it's always, when you think of Milan, who are the kind of the main men? Yeah, it's Liao, Théo, and then maybe you stick in Mignon as well. Those three are kind of like, they're your big name.
00:49:48
Speaker
big main players, aren't they?
Parma vs. Lazio: Young Talents and Transfers
00:49:50
Speaker
Now, this season, it feels like kind of Reinders and Pudasic are the ones that are kind of carry and carrying the thing. For sure, for sure. I think especially, yeah, i I'd agree with that. I think they, you know, Liao's struggles have been, you know, very disgusted at a great length on this part through the season. and But I think, you know, he's kind of coming back to it now. He's trying to find, he's finding his place in this system. And and no, I think that's a fair shout.
00:50:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a first shout. And it's also nice to see Camarda being used more and more by by Milan. um and And he's now part of the first team and he, you know, he gets his 10 minutes and six minutes here and there. And I really like that. ah Yeah, that's good. Yeah, let's praise that. way where We just give praise where it's due that he's actually getting some some opportunities.
00:50:41
Speaker
but definite the other the ah The only other player I want to ah single out is Gabia. I thought he was excellent again and he signed a new contract and there were some interesting quotes from Alessandro ah Costa-Curta who's obviously Milan legend, you know one of the greatest defenders Italy and and Milan have had and he said at the end of the game something which I've said already um that he's the best defender Milan have and he's the but Well, I think I said he's the best team defender Milan had, but they should really be one in the same thing, really, shouldn't they? Because if you're a defender, you should be a team defender. You should be able to defend in a unit. And I've always said that Milan lap those kind of defenders. They're all individualist defenders, Teo, Tomori.
00:51:27
Speaker
ah you know Pavlovic, maybe not Emerson, maybe Emerson, you can call a team defender, but yeah I don't particularly rate him, but you know whereas Gabbier is a team defender, he plays in the unit, he's always well positioned, he's you know he he leads by example, and Costa-Curta even added that he should be Milan's new captain and as well, um you know because obviously Calabria is the the official captain of the club, but you know he's probably this is probably his last season at Milan, that Gabbier should be the next captain. and yeah i think i think he's I don't know if he should be the new captain, but I definitely think he should be the first name on Milan's centre-back team sheet. He's the only one that I would always play right now. I think he's steady, you know what you're going to get from him.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, no, not much to that. I think when when you have a and he's defensive issue yeah when you have defensive structural issues and you have a defender that actually works as in a team defend, like as you said, let's show you the same thing, but they're not.
00:52:33
Speaker
um You go with him and also he's a Milan guy, you know, it's born and bred Milanista No, I thought this is a no-brainer and I think it's good for Milan after the turbulence start to this new Fonseca era and it has been turbulent and they kind of you know, now they're on, theyre they're actually on par to finish in the top eight in the Champions League, which is huge. And its things are kind of coming together for them as well in the Serie A. They're now on 22 points with a game in hand. ah You know, they're not too far off those top four places.
00:53:11
Speaker
um So it's it's kind of landing now a little bit and I think they they they they i think they must be happy about that because it's been it's been a difficult start to the season for Mila. Yeah for sure and they've closed on Juventus as well and and also closed on Lazio who's finally slipped up after the this brilliant run they've been on, 11 wins in 12 before the Europa League ah in midweek last week. Then they drew with Ludogarets after one of the worst referee decisions I think we've ever seen. Listen, that is, I will never in a million years understand what the hell that was. How do you have a video? You go and look at the video screen and you still get it wrong. Look, listen, that got that ch Croatian referee, and this isn't the first time either, he completely destroyed a conference league game ah with Polish team last season. I saw lots of Polish journalists and and and
00:54:10
Speaker
fans were like, oh, it's that guy. um It's it was truly shocking, truly, truly shocking. I still can't get over it. It's been a week now. And I every time I look at that, it breaks my brain. I don't understand how you can look at the screen. Do you struck on is the name of the of the referee? I have never he's I'm going to say it he was either bribed He was either bribed, or he's he he's if he is that incompetent, he has no business. What's his name again? Do eruka do you think he should be struck off? Yes, he should. He shouldn't be near. I mean, i've never um it still it has broken my brain. I don't understand how you how how you can't give up. like It's the most blatant penalty. I have spoken to referees at all levels, all the way up to people referees that do Champions League games.
00:55:09
Speaker
they they none of them believe they don't understand what the hell is he doing it is a hundred percent penalty chance i've never seen anything like it i'm gonna be honest and i'm not making polemica here watching that And watching him going to look at the screen and not giving a penalty gave me the exact same feeling of watching the Serie A during Luciano Moji in the 90s. It felt rigged. It felt rigged. I'm just going to say it. That decision did not. It just completely broke my brain. I've never seen anything like it. I don't understand how you can look at a situation like that. It is the clearest penalty in the history of football.
00:55:48
Speaker
It's just unbelievable. Never seen anything like it. It just, ah it's it really pisses me off. It's a Monday morning. I'm already annoyed. It's just, ah ah I will never let that go. it's It's unbelievable. And the fact that he goes and looks over at the screen and still gets it wrong. What did you make of the Ravela disallowed goal?
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah, that that's so unfair. Like, what are you going to do? It it is a clear obstruction, but that's the negative side of VAR, isn't it? Because and then you kind of feel bad for Ravella. Wonder goal gets taken off, and then he's he's so he's to blame for the opening goal, the Panama score. I mean, what are you going to do? it's just he he Sometimes, you know, life just... But again, he has to learn from it. If he wants to be the top player that Lotsio fans hope that everyone hopes that he can become because he's had a great start to the season. He can't have these collapses and if it happens he has to learn from them. Yes, it was a wonder goal that he scored.
00:56:46
Speaker
It was the VAR was applied correctly. it's it's I understand the criticism that people are critical who are critical against VAR say this ruins a part of football and I agree with them, but I think the price is worth paying given what you get from it when you have a competent referee, not do you still count.
00:57:04
Speaker
but who uses VAR but then you see him do that mistake for Parma's opening goal and it's like yikes he can't do it and he has to learn from that but They had their chances let's in this game and but um you know it'ss they had their chances um they they had a higher x g quite a much higher actually actually than palmer in this game, but record against the big teams this season, they've beaten Milan, beaten Lazio, drawn with Juventus, they were beaten Napoli till the 92nd minute and and and then eventually lost that game.
00:57:42
Speaker
um they they They seem to always turn up against the big teams, Palma, and I think that's because they they really do have some amazing young talents. I mean, man, who scored good one of the goals here, but you know, but Bonnie, Bernabe, who didn't play in this game, and and you know so many other so many other players. They've got 17-year-old Leoni at centre-back, Suzuki and goal. There's other players as well who who who they have, young players.
00:58:10
Speaker
um they they They have so many talents that I think will but join bigger clubs. and They're just very, very inconsistent. And defensively, they'rere they're not very good. They can see too many chances. That's probably probably on Pekya more than anything else. um And they even here, they can see there are a lot of chances, but they're... Panama rock and roll. They they are. They're great teams to watch.
00:58:37
Speaker
No, but like under Pekya, it's just, you know, we we attack and we concede. Pekya's De Francesco. He's another De Francesco. Yeah, it's very entertaining to watch. um But I have to say, Hajj Muhammad's goal, wow. yeah You talk about youngsters doing do, you know, great, you know, yeah you know yeah young players coming on and doing um doing their debut. What a goal that is.
00:59:08
Speaker
It's it's truly is for me. It's the goal for me. That was the goal of the week. Nineteen year old Tunisian lad plays for the national team he was born in Kieti.
Lazio's Season Overview
00:59:19
Speaker
um But yeah, it's it's ah yeah, it's it's a stunning goal, stunning goal. Now, this game was the it was the most entertainment game, entertaining game of the weekend, in my opinion. um and And I wonder.
00:59:33
Speaker
Going into January, you were talking about Juventus signing, and I said this before the season started, like the most expected rumour to start. Dennis Mante, Milan or Juve in January already? Well, Juventus can't afford him, that's for sure. so And they're probably not the kind of player, they they need they need a striker and defenders.
00:59:54
Speaker
and but But yeah, he's he's one of many that definitely is... But just just as a thing to Lazio before you leave him or not, they did create quite a lot of chances. They had 72% of ball position, they had an XG of 2.6, they had five big chances. So I wouldn't worry too much if I was a Laziale, I think. No, they just have to forget about it, move on. yeah and And also, it's kind of like Lazio, they're a good side, and but only done a good job.
01:00:21
Speaker
But they have been over performing in my opinion. I think that they're not as good as they as the league standings and results have shown them to be. I think this was bound. They deserve to be there. this looks No, I'm not saying they don't deserve to be there. I think it's just been a little bit of a performance. I think they're going, you know, oh, yeah, nobody expected this. That's for sure. Yeah. and and And I think this is kind of normal that they kind of have these kind of issues as well. But to hand it to them, look Barone's done an unbelievable job, because he's exceeded all expectations and especially in Europe where he's rotating as well and they were stolen of of a historic ah fifth consecutive win in in Europe, um which which they should have had. Yeah, for sure.
01:01:02
Speaker
so Okay, the rest of the the weekend Serie A results are Cagliari beat ah Hellas, 1-0, Colmo drew 1-1 with Monza, Bologna, 3-0 against Venezia, two goals for Dan and Doi, and then ah a first win for Patrick Vieiro, he's had ah and a nice little new manager bounce there for for Genoa, ah winning 2-0 at 10-man Udeneza, and the the final game of the match day is Roma against Atalanta, massive game there.
01:01:31
Speaker
um at at the study of Olimpico that's on Monday evening with Atalanta trying to get one point behind Napoli again and Roma trying to build on the ah excellent performance I thought and against Tottenham in the Europa League where they drew 2-2 and they created so many chances in that game so I think that was a positive for Roma so we'll see how they can get on at home to Atalanta.
01:01:59
Speaker
And hellas are sinking without a trace, aren't they?
Serie A Match Highlights and Relegation Battle
01:02:03
Speaker
um Three losses in a row. um Paolo Zanetti, I wonder if he makes it to Christmas. Yeah. And you got Caliari 1, Leccia took a point, so Como uh como drew um so no it's um the the relegation battle is definitely yeah it's good that that will be tight the whole season i'm pretty sure it's definitely spicy yeah um and and you saw bologna finally win down in door like you said scored a brace the general diness again like that red card my god it was so clumsy by torrey yeah
01:02:47
Speaker
why Why are you up there with your hands and arms? and like I understand that he's trying to block him and he's allowed to do that, but you don't get to shove him in. There's been a lot of brainless defending from Serie A players in the last week or so. You had, you had to what's his name? Poberga, brainless. Then you had Cambiaso, completely brainless. And then you had this as well. So, yeah.
01:03:16
Speaker
Yeah. Players losing their brains. Exactly. Like syntax error in their brains. Yeah. Right. Let's finish off with Bad Joe, Prim Face and Celia Ass of the Week. So Bad Joe of the Week. I just want to give a shout out to all the players um that reacted so fast during the harrowing scenes with Bovet. And in particular, Cataldi. I want to single out ah for his reactions.
01:03:43
Speaker
um in yeah the first aid response, ah you know but those those kind of actions save players' lives and maybe maybe help save Bobby's life and as well. So I definitely want to give a shout out to all but all of the players, not just Cataldi, but DeMarco for chasing down the ambulance and and not like not that they came onto the pitch, but but so you know it was that urgency that that certainly helped yeah ah help to save Bobby.
01:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, nothing to add to that other than um like but agree with your one. I just want to add Anas Hajj Mohammed's goal for Palma was what a debut goal that is. It's just absolutely stunning.
01:04:47
Speaker
it's like this how can they keep doing this he's been an inter for three yeah for three and a half seasons now and he's played in a Champions League all the time and he was in the Champions League with Lazio before that it's not people he's arguing like stop it yeah all the same all the fucking same it' just Like, what are you? Like, stop it! Like, it literally makes me want to scream. Like, okay, in the beginning, I get it. If you're not following Sari, fine, it happens. But it's, it's, we're like seven years into his
01:05:23
Speaker
top level career in the Champions League. Do you know what I mean? like Yeah, exactly. Brothers is definitely in the 90s. They always used to mix up the bad Joes. No, they scored a bad job. You think they know who Eddie Bad Joe is? No chance.
Humorous Football Commentary Errors
01:05:40
Speaker
Dino Badjo and Roberto Badjo. They used to... They used to call them brothers all the time. They used to drive them down. And also they used to mix up Dino... This was even worse, they used to mix up Dino Badjo and Di Biaggio. They used to do that. And they used to call them Di Badjo as well. That one. Luigi Di Badjo. Oh, that used to drive me there. Going back in the day. Finally, Sarayas of the Week.
01:06:07
Speaker
Couple and I've got here. I'll let you do the second one because I know you'll make it a lot funnier than mine ah The production festival the production quality of Milan versus emply just horrendous, but you couldn't even see the game so so bad um again, I mean we're talking about just the commercial value of the league and markets in the league and Who is going to want to watch that game when you can't even you can't even see anything? it's it's It's so bad. And then you you add that to the already existing, pre-existing problems of just the way that Serie A games are filmed and the camera angles. and
01:06:46
Speaker
the ah stadium's not being full and and you know just how it it looks like a you know its this it's like Hollywood film in versus like Premier League is like Hollywood film too versus 1970s you know US country drama or something yeah yeah you know it's like and then you I mean it's just that's just unforgivable it really is Yeah, but they can't do anything because the stadium's too old and you need to have certain... You know, but I'm talking about, like, did you see how blurry and, like, it was... Yeah, but it was a fog, wasn't it? Wasn't that, the like, because of the Milan fog, the famous Milan fog? I don't know what it was, but it was just embarrassing. You couldn't see a thing. it was Yeah, you couldn't see a thing. No, I've been in San Siro when you're sitting there and you can't see anything and you're there, let alone when you're on the like we arere at home watching. is it's It's a Milan thing. It's a thing like, you just...
01:07:39
Speaker
And you're wondering, how do the players see each other? But you understand that there's levels, isn't it? Like the fog is at a certain height. The players below can see each other. They're fine. It's just this is this thing where the fog or the whatever it is stands just at that height where the camera can't see anything. You're sitting there going, what was happening? It's all very misty. It's Milan things. The second one is the Roma psychologist. You want to take this one? Tim Coates arrived at Roma.
01:08:08
Speaker
And Roma broke him in 20 days. like it just it's we're not I'm laughing, not because he had a mental, like he he had a breakdown, but he came on a trial period. Quite possibly dead, to be honest with you. Well, yeah, he came with on a trial period um and he was they were going to sign him until 2026. And then, you know, they brought him in to change the tide ah when Yurich was there.
01:08:37
Speaker
But he he apparently had a he couldn't deal with the pressure. like Roma broke him in 20 days, I suppose. which is when we so When I say that you know certain of these certain clubs, certain piazza are special and difficult, it's not easy being in Rome. It's not Roma, Napoli, they're crazy. It's it's a lot of pressure. it's It's a lot to take in. And if you come from a different culture, a different country,
01:09:05
Speaker
I'm not surprised um that that this happened, especially when when you have a crisis. you know, in those clubs, everything is more intense. Life is more intense, whether it's happiness or joy, and whether it's happiness, joy or or misery. and And when things are miserable in Rome or Roma, and it's 10 times worse than anywhere else. And it's, I hope he's all right. I hope he, you know, he he recovers and and and and has a wonderful, you know, and and and has a great career somewhere else, but it is kind of,
01:09:41
Speaker
it's It's like, what what's funny about it is very, I don't know how to describe it, but you bring in a psychologist to help you get through a, court you know, cross a rough patch and you end up breaking the psychologist. So he leaves after 20 days. It's just, I don't know, if that's not serial ass, then I don't know what to tell you. I'm just trying to think of a comparison from ah from a film where that psychologist got broken. I'm thinking,
01:10:07
Speaker
I don't know, Tony Soprano and and the psychologist in Sopranos, or what about the one with, what's his name, Billy Crystal? Analyse this with Robert De Niro. and Yeah, no, it's it's um it's crazy.
01:10:28
Speaker
and yeah it's you know but ah The more I think about it, it really was such a wise decision to bring Claudio Ranieri there because everybody, if anything, they're all on my knees right now, it's a bit of calm.
01:10:42
Speaker
and Claudio Ranieri, I think he was actually, I had him down there. Yeah, they don't need a psychologist. Let's have him as the psychologist. Just have Claudio there because Uncle Claudio, no, no Claudio coming in there.
Podcast Wrap Up and Upcoming Content
01:10:54
Speaker
And he has been on form, on good form. Have you seen his press conferences? He's the best. He knows how to defuse with attention, doesn't he? He really does. And he's a lovely, lovely man.
01:11:05
Speaker
and You just see him there and he's when he sits there in press conferences and starts talking about his career and using examples from 25 years ago when he arrived at Valencia or you know 28 years ago when he was there and it's like Everyone loves him and and and it's it's um he is you know yeah He was actually one of my badgers of the week Ranieri, you know Emperor Claudius coming in there and and and bringing everyone together and calm diffusing tensions and bringing and You know, calming Rome, the the the the crazy pressure cooker that is Roma and and and relieving the tension is is got to be... yeah yeah
01:11:44
Speaker
Emperor Claudius. Long live Hail, Hail, Hail Emperor Claudius. There we go. Now you're using the the Roman analogies after after making fun of me. Let's leave it at that, guys. We have to go. and Thank you everyone for listening. We will be back with the Q and&A um this week. and We'll catch up with the ones from last questions from last week. um so Have a great week, everyone, and we'll see you next time. Ciao, ciao.