Transcript
Speaker: The following is a clip from this week's Italian football podcast. Listen to the full show and all other episodes by going to Patreon .com slash T -I -F -P and become a member for only $2 .99 per month. Okay, so Milan slip up again, draw at Cremonese. They're now eight points behind Napoli. Can we say, Nima, that Milan's summer transfer market has been a failure?
Speaker: I think it depends on your perspective. If your perspective was that these players that you signed, like the Kettler and that you brought back like ugly, were supposed to hit the ground running, well then and have an impact this season, then yes, they've been failures. But I don't think when it comes to those two, then that was the plan. I think the plan was to
Speaker: give them the Tonali treatment. If you remember, Tonali was dreadful this first season at Milan because he needed a season to get used to things and then hit the ground running last season from the start. And this season has been extraordinary. I think the same can be said. I think that's the strategy when it comes to De Kettler. As for Origi, I think he's been dreadful. He's not been good enough. And the stats prove that as well.
Speaker: But Napoli, if we're talking stats, they are outstanding. 10 wins in a row now. Will they collapse as they've done previously when having won 10 games in a row? Time will tell, but I think they've got so much going in their favour this season that maybe they didn't have in past seasons. The World Cup's coming up and they don't have many players at the World Cup. They have far fewer players than their rivals.
Speaker: They have so much depth in their squad. Spoletti has been rotating his squad brilliantly so far this season. When you add that to the World Cup, I think they're going to be fresher. Also, yes, they're in the Champions League knockout rounds and that will take something out of them, but so are their rivals, so are Milan, so are Inter. Juventus, they're in the Europa League.
Speaker: So they're going to get tired from that. Also, you look at who they've played so far this season. They've played Milan, Atalanta, Roma, Lazio away. They'll play Interaway in the first game of 2023. So the second half of the season, all the big teams that they will play, they will play at home. They've got so much going for them and they've got a huge gap at the lead at the top of the table.
