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Free Weekly Episode - Osimhen’s Record Breaking Napoli, Inter Finally Beat Direct Rival, Allegri’s Juventus On A Roll & Much More (Ep. 274)
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From Napoli continuing to break club records in the Serie A, Inter finally beat a direct rival, Mourinho's Roma meltdown, AC Milan lucky but win to Allegri's Juventus on a roll after 6th straight win Nima and Carlo break down all the talking points from another eventful Serie A weekend.
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
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast with John Solano, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tuvali.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, joined as always by Nima Savali.
Pre-World Cup Matchday Results Discussion
00:00:34
Speaker
So there we have it, the last Serie A match day before the World Cup break is done. Another thrilling weekend of action, three huge matches, Atalanta versus Inter.
00:00:46
Speaker
Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, Lazio and also a record-breaking Napoli. Lots and lots to talk about today. For all our first time listeners though, this is our weekly episode which we do every Monday
00:01:03
Speaker
Reviewing the weekend study, our action and all of the biggest talking points in Italian football. If you want to support the Italian football podcast and receive all of our content throughout the week, including a weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday where we answer all the questions sent in from our patrons.
00:01:21
Speaker
plus the weekly Thursday midweek review show, 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 plus VAT. That's patreon.com slash T-I-F-P.
Napoli's Winning Streak and Key Players
00:01:42
Speaker
Okay, let's get straight into all the weekend action right now.
00:01:49
Speaker
Okay, we'll start off with the Serie A leaders, Napoli, who finished the year with yet another win. 11 wins in a row now. They beat Udenez at 3-2, a lot closer in the end than it seemed like it was going to be. They raced into a three goal lead and it seemed like it was all over, but Udenez made it a little bit of a nervy finish with
00:02:15
Speaker
two quick fire goals with around 10 minutes or so to go. But yeah Napoli they just keep on going. They now have the all-time record, Serie A record in their sights which was Inter's 17 match winning run under Roberto Mancini. Napoli are only six away now from that and they're now
00:02:42
Speaker
eight points clear or still eight points clear over Milan. It could have been more, actually. And they just they just keep going. Victor Osseman, sensational, sensational again. Headed home the opener. Wonderful back kill for a brilliant team move for for Zielinski's goal. Third goal from Elmas, who's who's come in fantastically on the left wing in the in the absence of Kvart at Skater. They won their last three games without Kvart at Skater.
00:03:13
Speaker
What a position Napoli find themselves in, with the World Cup break now here. Oh, it's unbelievable.
Comparing Napoli's Current and Past Teams
00:03:21
Speaker
I mean, it's a new club record, 11 Serie A wins in a row. That puts them, I mean, obviously, Inter 17 Mancini, then Juventus on 15. Oh, actually, no, Napoli have 13 consecutive wins over seasons.
00:03:38
Speaker
uh in 2016-17 over to 2017-18 they have they've won 13 games in a row but in one season 11 wins in a row is is a new record um but yeah regardless it's it's astonishing um but i wonder how much longer they can go because they i mean first of all it's the break but then you also have
00:04:01
Speaker
Interimmediately afterwards and they play Juve and Roma and all that but we're gonna get to all that as well But you know, it's it is an astonishing record. I mean you when you win 11 win 11 games in a row And your top of the city are eight points clear you win your Champions League group by mopping the floor with Liverpool It's you're a good side you really are a good side and I think the reason one of the main reasons for that is is also because he has
00:04:28
Speaker
players who individually are outstanding, but also work perfectly in the system, such as Victor Orseman. He is, without a doubt, the best number nine in the Serie A right now, isn't he? I mean, we've said it, I know I've said it that I think his talent is, talents-wise, he's the best in the Serie A for a few seasons. But now he's also starting to play like it. Another sensational gain.
00:04:54
Speaker
And the goals they score, they can score in so many different ways. Whether it's the individual brilliance, Elmas of course, the squad players calling one of the most brilliant goals of the season.
00:05:11
Speaker
Zielinski's second goal and, you know, Osseman, he's just a constant pain in the neck of every defender who he goes up against. It's so impressive. But then we have to say that Udinesse weren't very good, even though they scored twice, making it a bit more of a contest. But I was not impressed by Udinesse, who I think are kind of regressing to the mean.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, we've said a lot about Ossimian. I mean, top scorer in Serie A this season. But I do want to single out Zielinski because his second goal was absolutely brilliant. I mean, that's barely even a quarter chance. And he just cuts inside, whips around a curler into the top corner. His numbers this season are amazing. He has the same number of goal contributions, 13 already this season. We're in the middle of November.
00:06:01
Speaker
that he had for the entirety of last season. Six goals, seven assists. He's, he's, because everybody speaks about La Boca and Anguisa and their explosion and how they've just, the way that they've developed over the last year or so.
00:06:17
Speaker
But Zelinski is probably out of the three in midfield, isn't spoken about so much because he's kind of been there at Napoli for quite a while and he's almost taken for granted, isn't he? But even he has moved on to an even higher level. And I've never seen Zelinski play as well or as consistently well as he has this season. And some of the things that he's doing like that goal, that second goal against Udinese. I mean, that's just top world class.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's world class. I was going to say, that's world class. I mean, can't we say that of so many of exactly what you just said, copy paste when you're talking about Anguisa, when you're talking about Lobotka, when you're talking about Elmas, when you're talking, I mean, you can go on and on
Spalletti's Tactical Ingenuity
00:07:02
Speaker
and on and on. Even Juan Jesus is playing
00:07:05
Speaker
better than he's ever done in his career. No, for sure. I mean, if you're picking if you're picking the Serie A team this season and we're going to have an episode and come in specifically where we are going to do our let's say mid-season awards and that's 15 games. We're still three, four games short of the mid-season, but you know, it's the mid-season break now. We are going to do that. I mean, you could all you could quite easily pick an entire Napoli team pretty much. I mean,
00:07:31
Speaker
That's how good almost every single outfield player has been, that good. Even the goalkeeper's been pretty good for the odd one or two games where he was shaky. They've all been brilliant and the players that have come in, Clio Skate has been out for the last three games.
00:07:47
Speaker
And Elmas, I mean, who would have thought, and this is where Spelletti as well, the coach, everything that he has touched has turned to gold this season. I mean, who would have thought to replace Kurt Scadia, a winger who stays very, very wide, and replace him with Elmas, who is more of an attacker midfielder, more of a central attacker midfielder naturally, I would say, and plays him in the left as a left winger,
00:08:10
Speaker
more of an inverted left winger who comes in and cuts in. But nevertheless, who would have thought, you know, of all the plays, you'd have thought, well, maybe you play Raspadori there, maybe you, you know, do you know what I mean? And he plays almost. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Or even me move
00:08:28
Speaker
Glozano over to the other side, but you know, he plays Elmas there and he scored, didn't he, the winner against Atalanta, which was crucial. And then again, in this game, he was brilliant. Again, he got the assists for the first goal with a brilliant cross for Ossemen.
00:08:45
Speaker
And then he scored another goal, the third goal here as well. And again, it's just another example of Spelletti's record of not only rehabilitating players, but also reinventing players. And there was an interview that went about last week, I think it was Borja Valero, former Inter player, who said that Spelletti was the first person to make Cancello into a left-back at Inter and Cancello refused to play there. And now we see Cancello becoming one of the best left-backs
00:09:13
Speaker
in the world at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, but Spelletti was the first person to see that he could reinvent Cancello into a left back. So again, it's just another example of Spelletti and what an incredible job that he's doing, that everything that he's doing is working out this season.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, and again, he is one of the most criminally underrated and disrespected managers together with Maurizio Sarri. I think he even saw more Spalletti because I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves for the number of players that he's reinvented and rehabilitated and how he develops players. I don't think he gets that
00:09:57
Speaker
is he gets the recognition he deserves, and I'm so happy for him. But I mean, you know, if we're going to be a little bit negative, Kim Min Jae was not good in this game. He had a really he caused one goal. You know, it's it's you could say that Spaletti did say that I was a wake up call. We need to stay humble. And I think that's his job from now on. I think he's got the play, the group behind him. They listen to him. They adapt to him tactically. All of that. He's got complete faith from of the squad in him.
00:10:26
Speaker
that in terms of that. And they've also had a lot of experience. What he needs to do is he has to be able to handle the expectation and keep these players on the ground. That's his job now from now until the end of the season. Keep them grounded, keep them focused so they don't think that they're already champions.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, for sure. That is maybe the tricky thing. But they have had a lot of lessons this season. And I think they will have learned from
Milan's Narrow Victory and VAR Controversy
00:10:53
Speaker
a lot of tricky experiences where they've gone behind in games. They've proved that they can come behind in games. They've had times where they've been ahead, and then the teams have pegged them back. And then they've still gone on to win the game. They've had games where, like this game, where they were free up, and then all of a sudden, two quick-fire goals with 10 minutes to go. Could they possibly collapse in this game? They saw it out.
00:11:16
Speaker
You know, they've had their first loss of the season against Liverpool. They come back and they've won every game since, since losing to Liverpool. You know, they've had one of their first choice centre backs out for, you know, what, a month now or so. But Mani, they've coped without him, despite probably the depth that centre back or the depth in defence being the weakest area of the pitch. You know, they've kind of scaled it out.
00:11:41
Speaker
for three games, they've proved themselves there. So they keep answering. They had Osteemen out for so long. They've proved themselves without Osteemen. They've had a lot of experience, difficult experiences that they've come through. And I think that will definitely serve them well as well.
00:11:56
Speaker
What I do want to ask, though, is De Laurentiis, Aurelio De Laurentiis, the Napoli president, he tweeted after the game that this is Napoli's best team ever under him. Best team since he bought the club in, was it 2004 when he bought them? When they were in Bankrupt? Yeah, and he brought them up through the divisions and he says this is the greatest ever Napoli team.
00:12:24
Speaker
Let's have a look then. I've picked out a few teams, a few great Napoli teams from the past. I'll start with 2011-2012. This was the team that nearly knocked out the eventual winners of the Champions League, Chelsea. In the last 16 of the Champions League, they've beaten 3-1 in
00:12:43
Speaker
in Naples. It should have been more. I remember Ashley Cole clearing a shot off the line to make it 4-1, which would have probably ended the tie. In the second leg, it went to extra time. I was at that game actually at Stamford Bridge and they had chances in that game to see it off. And then Chelsea won, I think, 4-1 after extra time. They won it in extra time. Raoul Millelic scored a wonder goal.
00:13:07
Speaker
That's right, yeah, with the crazy Mohawk hairstyle, yeah. So Cavani scored 33 goals in all comps that season. They had Cavani in Levetsi, which was an incredible partner, strike partnership, and then they both went to PSG. He had Inla, Hamstick in midfield, Maggio was Italy's right back, had a great Euros that year season, Zuniga, Gargano, they had a great team. They only finished fifth in Serie A, so while they had a lot of great talent and they were an exciting team, and they also had Matt Sarri as coach,
00:13:36
Speaker
I don't think we can put agree we can't put that above that above this Napoli team I don't think then we've got 2017 2018 they
Juventus' Winning Streak Analysis
00:13:46
Speaker
finished sorry let me let me let me rewind of it 2015 2016 first.
00:13:52
Speaker
this was the season Higuain's last season this is when Higuain scored the 36 goals I think it was that season Napoli led the league for much of that season then they fell away at the end the last few months the season after they lost a game to Juventus when Simone Zaza scored in the 88th minute and then after that Napoli fell away and Juventus clawed it back they were miles behind at the start of that season they're really bad starts the season Juventus
00:14:18
Speaker
Now, that Napoli team was a really great team. They had Rainer in goal, Hisai, Albiol, Koulibaly, Goulam, before his injury, Goulam, when he was really great, left back, Giorgino, Alain, and Hamsyk, which was a fantastic central midfield, and then Kaleon, Higuain, and Insinia up front, with
00:14:35
Speaker
with Mertens as the player that could come in. So he had that team and they eventually finished second. Then the next season, which was a pretty much similar team, but Mertens became a false nine and he replaced Higuain. He went to Juventus and that season they finished five points off the top of the table that season to Juventus.
00:14:55
Speaker
And in the 2017, 2018 season, when they also finished second again, and they set a club record of 91 points, they beat Juventus, remember 1-0 in Sarin, that famous Coulee Valley late header that looked like it was going to take Napoli to the title. And then they lost that game to Fiorentina 3-0, the same weekend that Juventus turned it around against Inter with two late goals by Higuain, or a late goal by Higuain.
00:15:20
Speaker
and that cost them the title and that was a great team and they were all kind of similar teams to the one I read out from 2015-16. So is this Napoli team better than all of those teams?
00:15:33
Speaker
I think as a team collectively, I think this team is better than all of those other teams. But I don't think, I think individually there are players in the, for example, Cavani, Higuain, Georgiño, Hamshik, Lavezzi, who up until now are better than this Napoli team. But I think as a team, if we're looking at this as a
00:16:00
Speaker
as a collective unit and what players
Juventus' Season Overview and Expectations
00:16:04
Speaker
are in this unit and how well their traits are adapted to the kind of football the manager wants to play, I think De Laurentiis is right. I think this is the best team
00:16:14
Speaker
in every essence of the word that Napoli have ever had. But I think individually, Giorginio, Higuain, Cavani, Lavizzi, Hamshik, when they were at their best, they were well cast. More individual difference makers in some of those past teams, maybe.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like the ceiling, the ceiling of those players when they were at their best was absolute well-class, like every single one of those that I mentioned. I don't think we're there yet, although, you know, there's no doubt, like we said, every single one of them was, you could argue that at least six, seven players in Napoli have been, if not well-classed and world-class adjacent.
00:16:54
Speaker
So it's, but I do think as a unit, as a team, I think this is his masterpiece. This is his Mona Lisa. And I think he knows it.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think also this team, there's definitely more depth in this team, definitely more depth in this squad than those past teams. I mean, if you take the 2011, 2012, I mean, I remember some of the players that they would have in that team, like on the bench, just way off the level needed, you know, players like, I remember like Sabatore Aronika, who was an absolute animal, you know, players of that kind of level that would come, Paulo Canavaro was, I think, even starting, you know, they had weaknesses.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah, they had clear weak links in the team. And, you know, even on the bench, some Yeah, yeah. And even like that, that society's team, I mean, I remember, like, they used to have so many small players, and they weren't very good at set pieces, they was just so many short players in their team. And when they had obviously Cully Valley, I would be all that were great in the air. But apart from that, you know, that I mean,
00:17:57
Speaker
after Higuain left, they had three really tiny forwards. And when you had Jorginho and Alain, two tiny guys in midfield, you're already, and then Mario Rui after Goulan's injury, you're looking at over half your team are players that are never going to win a header. So there were weaknesses. Whereas this team, you look at this Napoli team and you think, where are the weaknesses in this team? It's not obvious, is it?
00:18:24
Speaker
It's not there's no obvious. I mean, there are we every team has weaknesses, but there's no obvious weaknesses. It's not that we've seen so far anyway. I think defensively, I think defensively, there are questions still to ask. And I think the weakest link would be based out because they play so attacking football, though. Is that because they're exactly.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's precisely it because of the fact that the way they play, they will expose themselves more. I think merit has been good so far, but I do still think that he is their weakest link. That doesn't mean that he is a weakness as such, but he is their weakest link. No doubt about that. I mean, had they brought in Kaylor Navas, they wouldn't have had any weaknesses at all, I think.
00:19:05
Speaker
But I mean, they decided, I kind of, again, I said it in our review, Mercato review earlier in the season, I understand why they went after, went with Mehret, because it was now or never with Mehret. Either you give him a chance or you don't. It's a bit of a risk and gamble, but so far it's paid off, so you can't really say anything.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Okay, let's move on from Napoli. As I said, eight points clear at the top of the table from Milan, but it very, very nearly was 10 points because it took another injury time goal the second weekend in a row for Milan to score deep into injury time, a very fortuitous goal, let's be honest.
00:19:45
Speaker
Shokka once again from Terraciano in goal, Milenkovic not too much better, Milenkovic got the own goal, so Milan 1-2-1. Terraciano, this is the second time in a row at the San Siro, the second season in a row, where he gifts Milan a goal. I mean, he did the same thing when he assisted Rafael Liao a couple of months ago when the game was scoreless.
00:20:10
Speaker
He assisted him. He hits the ball out and passes him to him. He now scores. And then whatever the hell he was doing yesterday, it was shocking. It was genuinely shocking. I don't understand what he's doing. I really don't. And I don't understand how he dared complain that he wanted a free kick for it.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, that was, I think that was just desperation. That was desperation. But I mean, Milan, Milan did get a little bit lucky, though, didn't they? Let's be honest in this game, because I thought after, I mean, if you take away that, that the goal that Milan scored, the goal from Rafael Liao, Fiorentina were totally dominated the first half. I mean, Milan couldn't even get out of their half for long periods of that first half. And Fiorentina did everything that, that
00:21:00
Speaker
that the Censo Italiano teams do so well and which is why you know I really want to see Italiano at a bigger club because the way that he presses teams and doesn't let them out and the way that he gets his teams keeping the ball and even teams you know a team at the level of Fiorentina who I think have got lots and lots of weaknesses
00:21:21
Speaker
You know, I think it was just incredible what they were doing. Obviously, they're playing with confidence. They've been on a good run. They've won five in a row. But, you know, I thought Milan was so was so off it.
00:21:34
Speaker
They did improve in the second half, they created chances, but ultimately, very lucky to win this game. And I'm sorry, and I can't believe not more people are talking about it. I thought that the Tamori foul on Ikani was almost scandalous. That wasn't giving us a penalty. I mean, for me, it's absolute stonewall penalty. He got the player first, watch it.
00:21:56
Speaker
You took the player's knee out. He takes the player's knee out, then got the ball after taking the player's knee out. I mean, for me, it's absolutely comprehensive. There's an angle where they show that from the front. And you see that. You see that, at the very least, it's simultaneous, which makes it a foul. I find it hilarious that there's been all these debates, and let's not get into what we think we had our own debate about.
00:22:26
Speaker
penalty when the player or the goalkeeper, as has been the case recently, takes the ball first, then takes out the man afterwards. There's been all this debate over that and I'm thinking for crying out loud,
00:22:41
Speaker
You take the, surely when you take the man first and then take the ball afterwards, there's not even a debate there. There shouldn't even be a debate. Do you know what I mean? At least you could debate overtaking the ball than the man because there's a little bit of nuance to it, as me and you had our debate about. There's some nuance to that. There's surely no nuance here. You take the man out, then take the ball.
00:23:02
Speaker
Surely. Yeah, no. There's nothing much to say. And I don't understand why they do. Because the angle that the city has official YouTube channel is the one that's from behind the players, which doesn't show, which to me is just...
00:23:20
Speaker
Like, did they not have the angle? You're saying that's the reason why this wasn't given, because they didn't see the one that we saw on TV. The one on TV was clear. Yeah, I mean, that's the only thing I think could be the reason, because the one that you saw on TV from the front is not even a debate, which again comes back to this notion of lack of transparency and coherence of the VAR and the images they use and everything about them.
00:23:47
Speaker
I'm sorry, seriously, what the hell is going on with the images they use? I mean, this is a getting a joke. I don't know. I honestly don't know. They didn't have that image. Like with the event of Saleni Tana. If you haven't even got the images, what the hell is going on? Because someone tell me of all this money that's been put. I don't know what the contract is, who's got the contract, how much money they're paid. I don't know, but this is a joke.
00:24:11
Speaker
It really is. It is. It is. It really is. And it's down to, it's again, the VAR and again, how these institutions are run. Because I think that they do have access to these images now.
00:24:31
Speaker
But the fact that they showed it on their YouTube channel in their highlights package suggests to me that they didn't have the one that we all saw, which is a joke. It's a joke. It's a simple joke. So you're saying on their official highlights, they didn't show that? No, if you go and look on YouTube, because I watched their highlights to see what their one is, because that was a huge talking point.
00:24:54
Speaker
I would say that's also deliberate. I'm saying it's very, very suspicious. I'm saying they deliberately cut that out of the YouTube highlights in order to... But the images are out there. The images are out there. I know, I know. I'm just saying, when this official Serie A YouTube account does the highlights of the match, they will deliberately try to leave out controversy. If there's a camera angle that shows that they've got a decision horribly wrong, they'll leave it out.
00:25:24
Speaker
Well, usually they just don't approach and they just don't touch that something. They just pretend like it's raining. But it is what it is. But my point is simply, I mean, again, it's a weird decision. It's a strange decision and it's the wrong decision. It keeps Milan in the title race. It really does. But yeah, I think the break has come at the right time for Milan. But we've got to say that Tomori had a goal line save. That was brilliant.
00:25:51
Speaker
was absolutely brilliant. So he did have a good game. He was lucky. He didn't concede a penalty, but he had a fantastic game. And I thought Serginio Dest was good when he came on as well.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah, he actually had a good substitution. Showed a bit of energy. Milan and Tyre, they looked flat. Giroud was like a walk-in mummy for most of that game. Although he did have another lovely acrobatic. Suddenly the mummy awoke right at the end with this incredible bicycle kick that went just wide just before they got the winner. And that's, yeah, I think on Liao's miss, I mean, that's a shocking miss. I thought he had put these kinds of misses behind him.
00:26:31
Speaker
Because that's the kind of thing he used to do before last season, when he had this like, you know, salto di qualita, the raise, raising the level of quality that he's taken, the step. But that was shocking. Absolutely shocking. Yeah, no, I was watching it with my dad, actually. And when he did that, because he had a bet on Milan winning, he just went berserk. He goes, who is this donkey? And I go, well, sorry, I played a year last season.
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, okay, let's move on to Juventus Lazio, so Juventus make it six wins in a row, two nil, sorry, correction, three nil win over Lazio, probably Juventus' most emphatic performance of the season, I would say.
00:27:24
Speaker
So, Allegri was a dead man walking just a couple of weeks ago, really. What has changed for Allegri, Nimr?
00:27:36
Speaker
I think it's a number of things. First of all, he's playing with the same structure and the same lineup, and he's got the balance right. The 3-5-2 with the cross stitch on that left wing. A strong central line. Fagioli's been an absolute revelation.
00:27:57
Speaker
Rabio, I think, is the symbol of this Allegri 2.0 Jueva. And everything is just clicked. It's all come together. And everyone is taking responsibilities when the big names haven't been there. When the dimarias, the vlawiches, the pogbas, all these paredes, etc., when they're not there, everyone else is taking responsibility. And it's all just come together. And it's so impressive.
00:28:26
Speaker
They feel like it feels like you could have played that game for four hours and Lazi would never have scored a goal. Yes, Lazio were without Zakani, were without Chirimobile and so on, but still, they were a good side and Juve just dismissed them, just brushed them off. This looked like this had this ruthless Allegri Juve air about them, that when his teams just go in there and win,
00:28:56
Speaker
and just ruthlessly win and just dominate teams by the ruthlessness and just break teams mentally. I think the first goal was of course Iqhala by Providel.
00:29:13
Speaker
But yeah, Moise Ken looks happy as well. He looks like he's really coming to his own. He's scored three goals now, or four goals so far this season. He's scored a brace. But no, it's all coming together. And as I said, I've said consistently, if Juva are out of the top four when the World Cup break comes, then I think Allegri will resign.
00:29:41
Speaker
Well, they're not out of the top four. They're comfortably in third, a point ahead of Inter, two points behind Milan. They're very much in the top four race. And I think the top four race is becoming the top four that we all predicted would be there. It's Napoli, Inter, Milan, Juve. And that's where they are. And I think Costitch, above all, the fact that they're getting as much out of him as they can by playing him as a wing back.
00:30:05
Speaker
just shows everything. He's been their most impressive player, I think, during all of these D6 wins. Yeah, a few things to say here. First of all, I agree with you. I think that the top four is now developing a little bit into the top four that we would expect it to be before the start of the season. No, we all said it. As I just said, we all tipped it to be that top four.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, there are obviously big positives from this game. But first of all, Juventus created, conceded virtually nothing in this game. And they they created, I wouldn't say they created loads and loads of chances, but they created enough big chances to win the game. But, you know, it probably deserved to win this game by a couple of goals, maybe not three nil. That was maybe a little bit harsh, as Sadie said himself. But I think Juventus were two goals better than Lazio and they didn't concede
00:31:02
Speaker
anything at all. The positives also are from an individual point of view that Moisukein, five goals in five games. I think he spoke after the game how he's been on a stripped diet, lost a lot of weight. Ned Ved's prediction of him scoring 25 to 30 goals a season might not be as crazy as it once sounded. But yeah, I mean, I'm still not sure about him, to be honest, but I mean, he's on good form.
00:31:27
Speaker
I thought Kostich was great, like you said. Everything that Kostich does has substance. That's what I like about him. He's a one-dimensional player. There's no doubt about it. He runs in straight lines, but he's direct. He gets the ball. He puts a cross in. He delivers well. And he's concrete.
00:31:45
Speaker
He's concrete. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's exactly what I mean. Everything that he does, he does it with the view to having an end product. It's quite a minimalist player, to be honest. But it's all with a view to get an end result, an end product. And the same with that shot. He just smashed that in.
00:32:02
Speaker
OK, Provedel made an error, but, you know, he hit it in with such pace that that is likely sometimes those kind of things happen, you know. So, you know, Juventus have put themselves in a position now where, you know, they can get Chiesa, Di Maria and Pogba back in the year and fully fit. Then all of a sudden, you know, they should get the top four. They always should get the top four. I don't want people to start. I don't want people to start. Yeah. What I would say about this is this, right? Yes.
00:32:32
Speaker
You know, it's good. They've won six games in a row. I think they're definitely fighting for each other now that they're playing for each other. There was all lots of question marks about had he lost the dressing room and everything. And maybe, you know, maybe there was a lot of people doubting him, but now they are playing for each other right now. It's not good football. It's not the kind of football that I like seeing. It's counter-attacking football. You know, Lazio had, I think, 61 percent of possession in the first half. You know, I don't like to see that football. I don't think it's sustainable at a high level. You know, if we're talking Champions League, that
00:33:02
Speaker
as you say, you tweeted it yesterday, I have high standards, and I don't think it's fitting of a big club to play that way. And you know, to compete at Champions League. But you know, it's a start, they now need to maintain it, they have to maintain it now, you know, it's a good, they've gone on a good run of form. But let's not, you know, get all these prison of the moments, and these elected disciples are all of a sudden saying that,
00:33:28
Speaker
everybody that's been criticising Allegri, and that includes yourself, Nima, not just me, are all of a sudden... I have been criticising Allegri, but you've been saying that he's finished and he's a dinosaur. I've never said that. Yes. Well, I have. Well, I stand by that. At the top highest level, I say he's finished. But, you know, people are using this six game winning run as a kind of to make a point that everybody that's been doubtful and criticise Allegri, all of a sudden wrong.
00:33:57
Speaker
Well, all they've done is they've just gone on a good run of form. They haven't achieved anything. The league table doesn't lie, does it? I mean, it doesn't lie. Exactly. That's what I mean. Exactly. That's the whole point. They're 10 points off Napoli. And if you're assessing the season as a whole, it's been an incredibly negative season so far, for many reasons, from results, to performances, to injuries, to finances. And only some of this is Allegri's fault. It's not all Allegri's fault.
00:34:22
Speaker
But let's not all suddenly paint like this UVA of suddenly just because they've gone a good run, but suddenly everything is OK. Everybody that criticized Allegri is wrong. Everything that's happened this season is forgotten. The fact that Juventus had their worst season in history in the Champions League and took three points from a group, you know, all of a sudden, all of that is forgotten. It's been so far. It's been an incredibly negative season. They're on a good run. Great. Fantastic. They have to continue. They're going to see.
00:34:48
Speaker
I think Yuva's season is very reminiscent of Inter so far, and that is that they've had their crises, and they've been at times absolutely dreadful. But they're still 30-31 points. They're in the top four.
00:35:03
Speaker
Inter had a great Champions League group stage. Juventus did not. I'd say that's where the differences are between them. They're both in contention for top four. I still think that Scudetto run might be a little bit out of both of their hands, but you never know because, as we said, you go into January, you Inter host Napoli, two games a week or so afterwards, you will play Napoli and then Napoli play Roma.
00:35:33
Speaker
So, you know, it's crunch time now. It's squeaky bum time. And it's time for Napoli to show what their mettle is, because the scudetto is not one in November or January or anything like that. It's one in May.
00:35:50
Speaker
as Allegri likes to point out. It was a good game. For me it was Juventus' best performance of the season. Even though I put a big but in terms of the season as a whole, I can't really put that much of a but on this game. I thought Juventus, if we look at it, the hard, cold, hard facts, Juventus created
00:36:13
Speaker
plenty enough chances to win this game and they conceded nothing at all defensively. Whether you appreciate how they brought that about is another thing altogether but the cold hard facts is that
00:36:28
Speaker
Juventus created lots and conceded nothing. And if they do that every game, you cannot, you can't complain. That's what I'm going to say. The difference is that if you watch Juventus, you know, in midweek, they were awful and they won one nil against Verona. They were also, I say it again, lucky to be Inter.
00:36:45
Speaker
last week, you know, they were brilliant in the game against Emily, but you know, this during this six game run, probably half of the games they've played well in and deserved to win and the other half, they've just been, they've been a little bit fortunate, you know, so this game in particular, they, they, they were, they were deserved winners, but you know, it was a bad day for Lazio, it was a bad day for Lazio, you know, but they still have, you know, again, if we look at the season as a whole, they're still in the top four, they've overachieved, Sarri's done an incredible job, okay,
00:37:13
Speaker
Europa League aside, which was, which was, which was poor, which was bad. But you know, even in this game, I thought that their top players performed bad. I think SMS was taken out of the game completely. And Provedel, who we've praised so much in this pod, made two bad mistakes for both goals. Absolutely. For two of them, especially the opening goal, he was, he was, he was just shocking what he was doing.
00:37:37
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no, I mean, Sergey Minkovic-Savage, again, against Juve, he always seems to disappear against, I mean, not always, but most games, uh, he seems to disappear. And, uh, especially against Allegri's Juve, he seems to really struggle. Um, but you know, it's, it's, uh, it's like, I think Lazio, you know, I think fifth, sixth is where there should be. And I think that's where there will be at the end of the season. I think the top four are our head and shoulders above everyone else. And then who finishes where among the top four?
00:38:07
Speaker
You can make an argument for every single one. I think the difference now, 15 games in, to my pre-season prediction is that I had Inter and Milan as even favourites to win the Scoretto and Napoli as the dark horse. No, I would revise that. I would say that Napoli are, by virtue of their form and their results and how they've played,
00:38:29
Speaker
their favorites now to win. And I think that's something Napoli will just have to accept. And as I said previously, that's Paletti's biggest job now, to maintain concentration and not, you know, fly off into space. Okay, let's move on to Atalanta against Inter. A massive win for Inter. Oh, yes. It's a thrilling game, another thrilling game. Edin Geko scores again.
00:38:56
Speaker
I'm sorry, but he gets way too much criticism. No, he doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't. Not if you listen to the criticism. I mean, it depends on what the criticism is. The criticism I aim at him is he plays in slow motion. That's an objective fact. And it's not his fault. He's 37. He is slow. He can't link up. Although he's linked up with Lautaro, it only took them 18 months to fix that. But, you know, great, they did.
00:39:23
Speaker
What he is, is a player who once was world class and he still knows how to sniff he can read the game and knows how to sniff sniff chances and where goals are but he still misses sitters.
00:39:39
Speaker
his linker play still leaves a lot to desire and he's too slow. Again, it's not his fault that he's the starting number nine at Inter and I'm, as an Inter fan, eternally grateful to him for everything he's done. I think he's been, in terms of pound for pound, how much Inter have invested in him. He's been a fantastic signing. He's been a complete success.
00:39:59
Speaker
But we can't discard the fact that he shouldn't be starting and that the mistakes he makes is because he's no longer, his body can't play at the speed required at this level. That's the only thing I'm saying. And, of course, the missing of sitters, which is an illness he does seem to develop at the moment.
00:40:21
Speaker
He's on course to score 25 goals this season. We've seen this last season as well. How many goals did he score before Christmas break and then he completely collapsed in the second half of the season. It is what it is. Again, he's been fantastic for Inter.
00:40:39
Speaker
And above all, what I want to praise him for is his leadership off the pitch, the way that he elevates everyone else, the way that he leads this team. He's one of those kind of silent, non-official leaders. He's 100% committed to the cause. He gives everything he has and then some. He leads by example. He's the first to track back and help out in defense.
00:41:02
Speaker
Look, the attitude and commitment and professionalism is not up to debate. And even Marotta today just literally highlighted those facts, calling him a model professional. And I think that's why they'll probably extend his contract by a year if he accepts to reduce his wages, which I think is great, because if he as a backup player, then absolutely. But
00:41:27
Speaker
You know, it's it's it's Inter have to address that striker position because Romelu Lukaku has been an unmitigated disaster so far. He's not played less than Di Bala. Inter did not play well against Atalanta. It was dreadful, a horrid performance. But the most important thing is that they won. That's the only thing I take away from that game from an inter perspective. And I don't think I don't think they were they were awful. I think they were amazing. For 25 minutes, they were absolutely unwatchable in the first half.
00:41:57
Speaker
But look, Andre Ohnana is mine. I think a draw would have been a fair result, to be fair. I don't think Inter deserve to lose this game. So I think, again, you've got high standards like me. That's great. That's a sign of a winner.
00:42:12
Speaker
That's the sign of a winner. That's the sign of winner, but I don't think they were awful. Objectively, as a neutral, I don't think they were awful. I think they struggled. They struggled early on. But Atalanta, this is the difference between this Atalanta, is they don't seem to be able to maintain a high level for an entire game anymore. They used to be able to do that when they were at their pump under the Gasparini two seasons ago.
00:42:34
Speaker
look at the players they've lost. You watch them for the first 20-25 minutes against insulin, you think, gosh, this team, it can really compete. Yeah, but look at the players that they've lost. Look at the players that they've lost in these two, three, four years, and you can see where that experience and quality has gone. I think what Atalante are doing are fantastic. I think Asperini has proven me wrong because I thought maybe that the
00:42:57
Speaker
that the magic had kind of gone sour and it was time for him to leave but he's managed to he's rebuilt it it's it's Gasparini 2.0 at Atalanta and he's building from the back there's three defeats in their last four they're now out of the top four they've lost three home games in a row first time in 25 years the defense which we were praising for barely conceding at the start of the season and we said that defense was probably overachieving they've now gone back they're reverting to the meaning but they've now gone back to being pretty shaky and they've they've got one clean
00:43:29
Speaker
one clean sheet, I think in eight, if I've written, if I've written this down, right, seven goals conceded in, in, in, in, in three games. So it's, it's back and he, and he's acting chaos. So
00:43:44
Speaker
Yes, but listen, what I said all along when both Udenese and Atalanta were riding high is that I think they're overachieving and I think we'll see them regress to the mean and that's what we're seeing now. I don't think it means that Gasparini is not doing a good job. I think he's getting absolutely maximum out of this squad in this moment in time.
00:44:01
Speaker
I don't think you can ask more of Atalanta. I understand Atalanta fans are disappointed and as a fan you're always disappointed when you lose three games in a row. But objectively, if you look at this team and if you look at how young they are and where they are in their development and where they are as a whole in this project, this new Gasparini 2.0 project, Atalanta fans can't be disappointed. This is where they are. They're not better. I mean, you can't ask more of this.
00:44:26
Speaker
And I think that we're seeing more, you know, we're seeing everything kind of level down and we're seeing more an accurate reflection of the strength and balance of strength and balance of power in the city.
00:44:37
Speaker
Okay, we have to move on. Roma Torino, one will draw, but I think the big talking point about this is Mourinho. Mourinho is on a complete meltdown at the moment because he was sent off against Torino in the closing stages before they got the equaliser.
00:44:57
Speaker
Then he obviously, we've had this whole Karlsdorf controversy, he's called out Rick Karlsdorf in public in midweek last week, told him to find a new club, said that he betrayed, did a Ronaldo, before Ronaldo, and said that he betrayed him and the club.
00:45:20
Speaker
and then as a result of that Torino, he wasn't called up Cardstock for the Torino game. Cardstock has now left Rome. He did an Instagram post with a crying emoji and he's basically looking for a new club.
00:45:34
Speaker
just after he slagged off Tami Abraham in public, Mourinho. And then obviously the results are now going against him now too. He's got three without a win in Serie A, one winning five. They obviously lost that derby deservedly really bad in the derby.
00:45:49
Speaker
very, very close to losing three games at home in a row with no goals scored. That was just avoided on Sunday. And the goals have just dried up so much. I mean, we're now here at this midway stage with the break for the World Cup. It's scored 18 goals in 15 games this season. And six of the last nine games, they failed to score more than one goal in. And all of the forwards are performing really badly, to be honest with the exception of
00:46:16
Speaker
Paolo Di Bala. The difference between Roma against Torino before and after a half-fit Di Bala came in was it was light in day. The turnaround was unbelievable. Roma went from being an absolutely horrifically disjointed team that were creating nothing, that had no idea, to all of a sudden, Di Bala
00:46:40
Speaker
just totally changed the game. He almost scored straight after he won the penalty. He hit the bar before Matt did equalise it. He was involved in everything. I mean, he made such a difference when he came on. But I mean, what I mean, is this is this just same old Mourinho that we've seen the beginning of the end? No, I understand. No, I understand why he's upset because
00:47:03
Speaker
if you look at the stats and if you look at the chances they create and they simply can't score well if you don't convert sooner you're gonna drop points you're gonna lose games and he's pissed off because he looks at that and goes well this is down to individual incompetence like Bellotti missing a penalty and and Tammy Abraham
00:47:27
Speaker
being the champion of missed chances. He's built around these players and the confidence he's put in them is not paying off. I don't think I can criticise him for anything except
00:47:41
Speaker
criticise them for any of these defeats, except for the Derby game where I thought they were dreadful. But other than that, they are creating. They're creating chances. I think that was the case at the start of a season, but not in the last month or so.
00:48:00
Speaker
not since Di Barla got injured. Yeah, I see your point. I think Di Barla got injured. I mean, if you look at them in the Derby, they created absolutely nothing. They were dreadful. Against Sassuolo last week, they barely created anything. The Verona game, they won comfortably, but that was compromised, obviously, by the red card. Against Napoli, they created nothing at all.
00:48:24
Speaker
And, you know, the, so, you know, since Di Barlo got injured, since it's kind of like the middle of October, they've been bad. They haven't been, they've stopped creating, the beginning of the season, they've been creating lots and they were underscoring their XG and Tammy Abraham was missing open goals and, you know, Zagnolo has been bad all throughout the season. But I think that, yeah, they have, they haven't been good in the last month. And I think that that has, Mourinho has been getting to Mourinho. He's frustrated and, you know, that's what I meant.
00:48:52
Speaker
They were looking good for the top four and now they're, you know, they face a fight if they want to try that top four.
00:49:02
Speaker
No, they're not going to finish in the top four. And I said it before this season, because I don't think they're qualitatively good enough compared to the other teams who are in the top four, which is Napoli, Milan, Inter and Juva. But look, it's it's I understand his frustration because, as I said, barring excluding the Lazio game where they were dreadful and I agree with you, it's been kind of the effect has been wearing off because they've not been rewarded for the chances they've created. But I think it's more down to individual error.
00:49:31
Speaker
I don't know what the hell Bellotti is doing. He's been absolutely unwatchable since joining Rama. That's that's one of the worst penalties I've ever seen. And and they keep hitting the woodwork and all this stuff. And it's like I get that he's pissed off. I get that he's frustrated. I get that he's annoyed and he's every right to be annoyed. But this is not the way to go about it. He's taking I mean, he's taking a nuclear bomb to his own house.
00:49:57
Speaker
That's what he's doing. And last time, last season, when he started doing these things, he got a reaction out of them. I wonder if he will now. Luckily for him, there's a two month break and then they will have to invest in the summer.
00:50:14
Speaker
He doesn't have to see Karl Storpe again. We have to move on. I'll just go through the rest of the Serie A matches. Empoli 2, Clemonès and Niel, Sampdoria and Niel, Lecce 2. That might be the end of it, for Stankovic already. Bologna 3, Sassuolo, Niel, Armao 2.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, on El Tovitch again, Verona one, Spezia two, that may also be the end of Boquetti, a really horrible injury in that for Drakowski broke his ankle.
00:50:48
Speaker
out of the Poland World Cup squad, so that's a shame for him. And then Monza, three, Salerni, Tana, Neil, and ridiculously, again, we're seeing rumours that Nicole... I don't understand what Jervolino is thinking. Davida Nicola has... I mean, it's stupid. What were they expecting? Did he think he was going to compete for a Champions League spot? Like, what are you expecting to do? It's so... It annoys me what these rumours really does. Well, no, me too. Okay.
00:51:16
Speaker
just just a quick, quick word. It's not really Serie A related, but it's all anyone's talking about right now. So I just want to get your comment on this. So Ronaldo PS Morgan interview. What is your what's your reaction to what we saw? I mean, Cristiano Ronaldo wants to make wants to make headlines and said that he does. He essentially has made himself persona non grata United.
00:51:43
Speaker
I think that is without a doubt. There's no return back for him to unite it after that interview, after saying those things. His daughter being ill and people not caring about it, and the club being at a worse off when it was when he left, and Sir Alex Ferguson understands it, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yikes. Yikes. I mean, that's it. Is he the biggest narcissist in the history of football? No. I think he has to be.
00:52:12
Speaker
No, no, I don't think so. I think he loves himself. Name me a bigger narcissist than Ronaldo in the history of football. I can't name one. I cannot name one than Ronaldo.
00:52:25
Speaker
It's all about him. Everything is about him. You can argue that Zlatan is a narcissist as well. I mean, you can argue that Zidane was a narcissist as well. I mean, you can argue Lothar Mateus was a narcissist. I mean, they all have egos. You don't reach this level of football, this level without having a big ego.
00:52:44
Speaker
I just think that the reason why he did what he did is he knows what he's doing. He wants out of United and he wanted to be honest about it and safe face.
00:52:55
Speaker
And so he decided to go off and he decided to go off and burn the house down and not just burn the bridge with United, nuke it, nuke it back into oblivion. There's no coming back from this. I've read quotes of it and it's just like, I mean, wow. And he decides to do it with Pierce Morgan, knowing full well, because Pierce Morgan is basically a fanboy, a Ronaldo fanboy. So he's not going to be getting pushed back.
00:53:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's a psychophantic interview that I think I've ever seen. I think Piers Morgan needed it because he needed it to save his channel because his channel is like getting... I mean, we get more listeners than Piers Morgan. I'm being serious. That's how few...
00:53:48
Speaker
It's not just that, it's also the fact that the sycophantic side of it is particularly pointedly interesting because Piss Morgan is a fanboy of Ronaldo. We know that. The previous interview I saw with him, Piss Morgan was praising how beautiful abs Cristiano Ronaldo had and so on. So it is what it is. But
00:54:16
Speaker
It's quite interesting going into the World Cup that he decides to do that. I think this is because he knows that this is his last big stage hurrah, and he's going out with a bang. I don't think it's very good for United, but I've seen that some United fans are on his side and think he did the right thing because he confirmed everything that they've been saying is wrong with the club. Other United fans said, well, look, there's a different way to handle that.
00:54:40
Speaker
And he's just doing it to save save his face. I think both points are valid and I think both are true Okay, right just before we finish off with Badger and prim face of the week just Italy squad obviously We will have as we said before we'll have a proper World Cup preview on Thursday previewing that the World Cup tournament but also many Italy related issues and dealing with that and
00:55:05
Speaker
and Serie A because there's a lot of Serie A players at the World Cup. But Italy are playing twice this week in friendlies against Albania and against Austria as a kind of a last test before the European Championship qualifiers start.
00:55:21
Speaker
in March against England, the first one, isn't it, I think. So this is their squad. Donaruma, Merritt, Ivan Providel, Vicario, goalkeepers, defenders, Achebe, Bastoni, Bonucci, Di Lorenzo, Di Marco, Gatti, Mazoki, Scalvini, and Fabiano Parisi is a late call-up for the injury to Touloy. Barela, Cristante, Fagioli, Fratizzi, Miretti, Pacina, Ricci, Tonali, Virati, midfielders, and forwards, Chiesa is back,
00:55:49
Speaker
Nionto, Griffo, Pafundi, a young 16-year-old, hasn't even played with Inezio this year, Politano, Raspadori, Schimaka, and Zaniolo. So, I mean, I think it's good that there's a few youngsters in here that he can take a look at, which I think is good. I like that he's called up the likes of Scalvini, Parisi, Fagioli, Fratzezi, Miretti, Ricci, Nionto,
00:56:18
Speaker
Even Pafundi, just to take a look at him, I think that's good. We've seen more youngsters this time than we saw last time, and I think that's a good thing. I'm a bit disappointed that he's called up Chiesa. I'd rather him not being called up, but hopefully, at most, he'll get just like a sub-appearance, or maybe one sub-appearance or something, maybe, at most. But what's your quick view on this? Are you pleased with this call-up?
00:56:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's nice to see Kieza back, of course. Vincenzo Grifo scored a hat-trick on the weekend. That's going to be interesting. It's nice to see... No, I think everyone that should be there is there. Since it's a friendly, I don't want him to start any of the starters. I want him to play maybe Vicario. I want him to start... I want him to play Mazzocchi. I really want him to rotate here. I want him to give...
00:57:14
Speaker
Nianto again, play Grifo, Nianto, Pafundi, do you know what I mean? Like all these players, because you know, there's no Parisi, like I'd rather he do that because he knows, you know, Bastogne, Acherbi and Di Lorenzo, we know what they do. Like, do you know what I mean? Like we, I'd rather see Miretti, Ritchie, you know, these are the players I would play because this is a meaningless game. These are friendlies. Who cares how they go? You know, test the waters a little bit.
00:57:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, agreed. Okay, right, to finish off with then, Badgio and Prem Face of the Week. Okay, do you have a Badgio? For me, Elmas, his goal against Houdinesse was stunning. And Edding Jeko's goal against Bologna, midweek, Zidane goal was just, since last we recorded last Monday, that's worthy of Badgio's.
00:58:09
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to go Jeko. I'm going to go Jeko, I think. He scored in both games and yeah, absolutely fantastic goal. Prem face of the week, not really a Prem face. Jamie Carragher, I'm sorry. Jamie Carragher has to be. Well, I sent it to you if you remember five days ago on Twitter. Someone said,
00:58:29
Speaker
He published his England World Cup squad on Twitter. He didn't have Tomori. Someone replied to him, you know that lad playing at center back in the Champions League knockout stages, Italian champions? Yeah, bin him off with some yard dog from St. Helens. To which Jamie Carragher replies, the same fella, not fellow, fella, who was all over the place against Chelsea twice. Yeah, I'm not taking him.
00:58:58
Speaker
Right. The most disgusting thing I've seen come out of Jamie Carragher's mouth since he spat at that little kid. I can't believe I didn't know about that until you told me and I saw it. I can't believe that. I still can't believe it.
00:59:18
Speaker
No. Okay, right. That's all we have time for today. Yeah, we have to mention the premise of the chief prosecutor of the Italian FA, who's been arrested together with another 40, 50, 60 people to have been part of a drug smuggling ring, bringing marijuana and hashish into Milan.
00:59:46
Speaker
It literally is one of the most Italian football things ever. One of the main directors in Italian football, for the Italian refereeing association, is named in a drug smuggling ring. It explains a lot, Nima. Let's just say that.
01:00:07
Speaker
It's just absolutely bizarre and pure comedy. I'm sorry, but it is. It's beyond comedy. No, it is. But let me remember. Yeah, but let's remember, Innocent, Unproven, Guilty and all that stuff. So he's not been convicted. But when I saw that, I was like, all righty then.
01:00:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You can join Biden on Moreno in jail, or maybe Biden or Biden is out of jail now. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Biden and Moreno can go and visit him. All right. Okay. That's all we have time for today. Thank you everyone for for tuning in. We will be back on Tuesday for our Q&A episode where we take questions, answer questions from all of our Patreons. And then on Thursday, we will have our
01:00:57
Speaker
a special World Cup preview episode, plus a lot more review in Italy's midweek game as well. So play against Albania on Wednesday evening. And yeah, plenty, plenty, plenty more to come. We're going to be very busy during the World Cup. We've got lots of shows. We've already booked up a couple of big interviews as well during the break, which I'm sure you will love. So plenty, plenty to come. We're not stopping during, even though Italy are not in the World Cup. We will still be very, very active.
01:01:25
Speaker
Okay, thank you again. We'll see you next time. Ciao ciao.