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Serie A Match Week #8 Review (Episode #26)
46 Plays5 months ago
Ciao amici, welcome back to Calcio Culture! This week, Vos, Motts, and Logs are breaking down the action from match week 8.
They kick things off with Quick Shouts, giving a well-deserved shoutout to the New York Yankees and Inter Miami for their recent achievements. They also discuss Giuntoli's comments on Paul Pogba and the latest controversy surrounding the Serie A referees. The crew also reflect on this past weekends miserable Culpi di Luna.
Moving into Match Reviews, they dissect the results from key games; Udinese @ Milan (0-1), Lazio @ Juventus (0-1), Inter @ Roma (1-0) and Napoli @ Empoli (1-0). They also touch on the other fixtures from this past weekend, including Bologna’s draw with Genoa, Parma and Como sharing points, and Atalanta maintaining their momentum with a 2-0 victory over Venezia. Fiorentina put on a show with a dominant 6-0 win against Lecce, thanks to Colpani’s brace. Cagliari’s comeback against Torino is labeled the game of the weekend, showcasing their resilience, while Nesta celebrated his first win with Monza against a struggling Verona side.
Finally, they take a peek at upcoming European matches, with clubs like AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan, and Atalanta gearing up for Champions League action, along with Europa and Conference League fixtures on the horizon.
Join Vos, Motts, and Logs for in-depth analysis, bold predictions, and fresh insights on the Italian top flight. Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts with us @calcioculturefc!
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Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome back to cultural culture match week number eight done today with an absolute blowout, but we'll get into that in a little bit. This is Vos, got the whole crew to here, Loges and Matz. Matz, you had an interesting stat for us at the start of the day, so I'm throwing it off to you. Quick, quick stat of the day here. First match week.
00:00:28
Speaker
We have the same leader two weeks in a row. Napoli protected their lead as number one. First time in Serie A this year. We have a leader two weeks in a row. Wanted to now pass it over to Logues. Let us know how those two dates went. Logues last week.
00:00:46
Speaker
Days went swell, thanks for asking, Moths and Vos, thanks for also wondering. i Doing well guys, one game a week, won't see you Wednesday, so happy to be here. Other stat of the week, Mateo Rategi, officially the sole Golden Boot leader for the league. Vos is looking good in the Golden Boot section.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a Taylor check. He looks really good. And we're going to talk about it later, but he looked, he looks very good. But today we're back into our normal, more normal run of things. We're going to be giving you quick shouts as always. We got matching reviews and we got some European competitions this weekend, this whole week. They're going to be taking a look at there's a ton of games this week. It's actually kind of insane, but with that, I'm handing it off to logs for quick shouts as always is here one game a week. So he's got to say something dumb.
00:01:34
Speaker
Some have been calling me the King of the Quick Shouts, and I will happily take that title. Cool, cool. Self-proclaimed? The Paisans. I haven't heard one. The Paisans know. The Paisans know. I haven't heard one. In any case, off to the Quick Shouts, off to the land, the Quick Shouts. We're starting it off non-footy today. Start spreading the news.
00:02:00
Speaker
Congrats to the New York Yankees making the World Series first time since 08-09. It's kind of sweet. The city's buzzing. Vos wouldn't know, but me and Mats, we can feel the buzz. Congrats to the Yanks Electric Series. Unfortunately, no Subway Series. Mets couldn't get it done. We'll see you Dodgers in the Bronx.
00:02:25
Speaker
Keeping it in America but going back to footy. Congratulations like to another team. Inter Miami sets the MLS record for most points in a season. Who would have thought that when you put four Barcelona graduates onto an MLS team that you would set the record for most points in a season. Not I. I couldn't have called that. But congrats to them. They beat it out by a point beating the previous record holder, New England Revolution. They had 74 points this season. And for whatever reason, they're the first MLS team to be invited to the FIFA World Cup, Club Cup. Club World Cup. Club World Cup.
00:03:07
Speaker
That's, they just should not have gotten invited. That's a waste of an invite right there. there' nothing invited that That tournament's not even real. i I think, I don't believe this. I think it's rigged. The club world cup. No, the MLS. I don't, I don't believe that this is real, that that this is happening. It's too like simple and Nessie like owns half the MLS now and Apple, apparently.
00:03:32
Speaker
I mean, they're too old, like, they're too old to like, for all everybody to allow this to happen. and I mean, when you do watch the team, of which I have a good amount, they're just simply way better. I mean, it's just not even close. But Messi had a hat trick in like 10 minutes. Yeah, I saw that. Suarez had a brace. Jordi Alba had to assist. I mean, like six goals. Yeah, yeah it's it's just it's ridiculous at this point. So congrats to that. Set a record, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:04:00
Speaker
Well, something interesting. I, my old apartment in New York, this girl lives on but down the hall for me and we like hung out with them every now and then. And her brother, younger brother went to Virginia for soccer and got drafted by Inter Miami and like scored a goal for them. And he just practices with Messi, Suarez, Busquets and Jorja, but how crazy is that? That is kind of nuts. That is insane. That's pretty cool though. It is. But in any case,
00:04:30
Speaker
More quick shouts to be had. And Victor Ozziman is still making headlines all the way from Turkey. His goal was absolutely insane. World-class, worldy, different gravy. I don't even know what to say. I'm just hoping he comes back to Syria at this point. like he He's going to be on another team in January. It's probably... i You would think it's the Premier League, because that's where he wants to go. But I don't really see a team that is going to want, the only team that really I i could see this happening with was Chelsea. And now Nicholas Jackson's playing very well. So I don't think that one's going to happen. And I don't even think they would pick him up, Aussieman up, because they're very similar players in what they do. And the more I'm thinking about this, the the more I think it's possible that UVA actually can can do this, if they really wanted to.
00:05:23
Speaker
UVA, there's UVA in the mix. There's PSG, but PSG could have done it in the summer, but he was a little bit more money than maybe Arsenal. Who knows? There's still pretty long ways away till December or January, and we don't even know if he's going to get moved in January. So we'll see, but the saga is definitely not over, but great goal by Oseman.
00:05:47
Speaker
Well, another saga that continues to live on throughout the years, even when he's not playing Motz, what is Juve saying about their newly unsuspended midfielder?
00:05:58
Speaker
paul labelbel pogba I think this is going to conclude the saga here because Juntoly has spoken. He's put the hammer down. He said Pogue was a great player, is a great player, but the Juventus team is set and Pogue will not be playing for Juventus, which is kind of funny because then you also hear Juntoly interested in center backs and strikers and not everybody for January, but he says that the team is set.
00:06:25
Speaker
So I'm sure Pogba will continue to try to push his way into the event, his team. But I doubt that he ends up playing unless he's significantly, significantly decreases his salary. I could see June just pushing him out. You should go to Como. i but commo because sweet What I would actually like to see happen with him. And I i don't, I don't think you they would do this because I'm assuming they, they have to literally sell them at this point. Right. Like I don't think there's an option like to terminate his contract or anything really.
00:06:55
Speaker
I mean, I guess they probably could, but I think what would actually make a lot of sense, and this is only if Pogba is still feeling like very competitive, is going to Napoli. I actually think it would be a very good fit to play as that cam, like when McTominay, like that McTominay kind of role. And I think he would elevate them in those games where they're going to have a lot of ball.
00:07:18
Speaker
But I don't know how realistic that is. I don't see Pogo wanting to do that. Yeah. And in the interview, he played for Conte before when he was younger, but in the interview years ago, any legs still in anyways, in the interview, they didn't ask him about Napoli. They asked him if he played for Milan. He said, no, I'm a uventini. Obviously it's different when the sporting director says you're not a uventini. Like you're not on the team. So.
00:07:45
Speaker
Anything could happen. I could just see Pogba going to fuck off in Saudi and collecting a major bag. But also in the interview, he said, like, I'm motivated. I'm ready to go. So we'll see. But what i do the last of Pogba for a little bit is what was before before we move on from poker. This is going to be one of my two rants today because I was thinking about this this weekend when I saw the June to Lee thing. The whole story of Paul Pogba is forever going to be what could have been like really. And he he won a World Cup.
00:08:14
Speaker
He won a Euros, he won the Scudetto, and it's still like what could have been, like if he had stayed at UVA, if he had literally done anything but gone to man U, like this, it's the same thing with Neymar, like he made the wrong decision and he's going to be forgotten for a large, for a large jury. I think Pogba is going to be mostly forgotten, regardless of what he's done, because everybody's going to look back at what he did wrong.
00:08:37
Speaker
and just your number kill careers kill her i mean I do kind of feel like on ah on like a human level I feel bad for Pogba because like again like these guys we talk about them on here but like he so clearly has been wanting to like like held the man you think so deep that he felt like I had to go back there to like prove myself and then he went back to UVA to kind of like regain what he was and he dropped the ball there and I was like I still want to stay and the management is like we don't want you and he's just it's like a very it's just a tough situation like I feel bad for him because I think we all love polka I mean Mats bought a polka jersey like how long ago
00:09:13
Speaker
Pogba's jersey's been the the black one hanging up behind me. Yeah, I mean, he was, Pogba for Juventus, what Pogba, I mean, what he gave to UVA was just, I think nothing but great things, right? We won multiple Scudetos, two champion league finals with Pogba, then we got him for free, sold him for 100 million, then he came back to us for free. So, I mean, he really just helped UVA win trophies, gave him a ton of money, and then came back to him for free. So, I like Pogba, I know some UVA fans,
00:09:44
Speaker
aren't the biggest fans of him anymore but he sacrificed a lot for Juventus and has said nothing but glowing things about Juventus in the interview and since he left and since he came back so I really like him I appreciate him feel bad for him But that's what happens when you go to Manchester United and I think players should learn like, Hey, listen, sure Manchester United might be, might be the sexy play, but it not always works out. Look at Zurich say, look at Hoyland, even other players that go to other Premier League teams, right? That is not always the best, smartest move going to make a little bit more money, but then you kind of your career derails. Career over money. Any day of the week for me. I don't care.
00:10:27
Speaker
move thats on because if That's also because if I was making anywhere near what soccer players make, I wouldn't be mad at all. Yeah, that's true. But moving on, this is going to be a tangent that all three of us want to talk about. the Refs performance in match week 8 was nothing short of abysmal. Terrible. No consistency between any of the games with any of the fouls. There was red cards given that shouldn't have been given. There was red cards not given that should have been given. There was VAR checks that nobody knew what was being checked.
00:11:03
Speaker
And then there was VAR checks that should have been checked, but didn't get checked. We'll go into all these details while we break down the games, but the refs, I mean, we talked, I think it was match week six. We were talking about how good the refs have been seven and eight. oh Talk about a terrible, terrible job. Yeah. What I think happened was.
00:11:24
Speaker
Cause match week seven is when it started being bad. And I think Matt, me and you were on here, we were talking about, okay. They got a set, like they got to come together and say, this is what we're going to stick by. Like this is a foul, like this is a penalty. And what seems to have happened is every ref was like, Oh.
00:11:40
Speaker
This was the confusion. They were like, okay, this is now the new level of what penalties are. This is what VAR reviews are. And then on the other side of things, some refs were like, Oh, I don't want to be the guy that's like giving out a red card to change the game. And it just turned into nobody was doing anything correct. and It just derailed everything. And I think you hit it on the head with just consistency, right? You got to get, you got to get the refs together, get him in a room, go over. This is what we're giving as a foul. This is what we're not giving as a foul.
00:12:10
Speaker
Do we want, do you want to decide a game on a PK, whether it's a red card or not? Do you want to call it Tiki tack fell in the box or not? You got to get on the same page and organize because you can't call it in one game and then not call it in the other because these are, these points matter and.
00:12:27
Speaker
Before you know it, like because of what happened this week, Napoli could jump out to a five, six point lead after next week because you've been interplay each other. Right. And I would say Napoli benefit from a very, very soft PK to win that game against Emily, where.
00:12:43
Speaker
Roma maybe didn't, or not Roma, enter, didn't benefit from a file that probably should have been given as a PK. So it it goes to show like the that's these calls or no calls affect how the table will look in the long run. So you got to get on the same page and call consistently.
00:13:01
Speaker
Yeah, and i the other piece of this is VAR because I think that's a whole a whole separate kind of conversation. And when we when we talk about a specific game, I think we'll get into it a little bit more. But we're kind of at the point where the problem with VAR is now that it's been implemented, it's like cats out of the bag. It's really hard to now like kind of walk it back from where it is. But it's it's very much affecting the excitement of the game. And this weekend, it was really bad. Yeah, some rules somewhere needs to be rewritten around this because it's it's ridiculous at this point. They're also in soccer has always been a game that's supposed to favor the attacker. Like why are we now like going off of centimeters? It's just frustrating, really.
00:13:47
Speaker
I mean, my biggest problem with VAR is the fact that the the idea of it is supposed to make it so that it's 100% objective. It's supposed to just be fact. It's robotic. So the fact that these reviews go on for two minutes game like two two minutes of game time Then they pause it, then they bring on, they bring over the center, the center ref to look at it like the center ref should not be looking at VAR. It should just be called by the refs upstairs because again, it's supposed to be objective. It should not just be opinionated based on one given person for that day. And I think that that's where the inconsistency comes from.
00:14:25
Speaker
Because on any given day, as we've seen it without VAR, refs don't know how to rep to call the same files from game to game. And so from my perspective, the way to fix this is just let the refs upstairs make the VAR calls and leave it to them. But they have to make them quicker because it's ridiculous how you go, they don't, the the the middle ref does not make the call.
00:14:51
Speaker
And you go, lets and let's use a PK for an example. They don't make the call for a PK or a handball in the box. And you play for another three minutes and you don't, you're not stopping the game. You're just allowing it to go on. And then all of a sudden you're going to back and revisiting something that happened three minutes ago. So it just breaks up the game. It looks terrible. It's like, no one is actually really playing because they're all pleading for the penalty or the handball to be reviewed. Everyone's like, what is going on?
00:15:18
Speaker
the game's in limbo. So there's gotta be quicker decisions, more consistent decisions. It's just not good. On on like the length of time to like to that gets us to the decision, I think that's a really good representation of where we're at because the the bar for VAR was clear and obvious, right? And if you can't look at something for 15, 20 seconds, then it's not clear and obvious. like it should it If it takes 15 seconds to review something, that's all you need to make the decision. And if you can't,
00:15:47
Speaker
like there's not a clear and obvious error, move on. I would like to see that implemented for offsides. I don't like the the drawing the lines kind of thing. I would like to be at, we have like the view of the line. I look at it for 15 seconds. If I can't see the guys offside, he's onsides. Like onsides in soccer isn't meant to be like in hockey where it's like this narrow margin or like another sport. It's supposed to just keep the the pace of the game where it's supposed to be. It's not supposed to stop you from scoring off of inches. it's Like, it's just ridiculous. It's ridiculous. But they they even fixed it. I mean, not to get on a tangent about another sport, but they even fixed it in hockey. And they we've talked about this before, whether it be offline or on the pod. It just needs to be one body part. Like, the the idea is that you're not cherry picking. That's the whole idea of offsides, really. And so if you're not clearly and obliviously behind the defensive line, it shouldn't matter. Like, that that's there's no clear advantage from that. And that's what the point of the foul, like a penalty slash foul is.
00:16:47
Speaker
And again, it goes back to cleared yeah clear and obvious. I want to wrap up this conversation so we don't bring it up when we get to Milan right now, because this is what really bothered me on the weekend. And this is the one I just want to talk about quick because we're here. milla In the Milan game, Udenese had like a 90th minute equalizer. It was very late in the game. It may have not been. fairly like It was something insane.
00:17:09
Speaker
and The goal got reviewed, and I think me and Matt were watching the game, and we were like, what what is even being reviewed? like What's going on? They didn't show us anything that was happening. they did it I don't think the commentators knew what was going on. And then all of a sudden, they just called off the goal and started playing. And like two to three minutes later, we get the image of what was offsides. And it was like a skin cell of the toe was offsides, essentially. like It's actually insane how how narrow this margin was. And that is ruining the integrity of the game.
00:17:40
Speaker
It is. It ruins the celebration that Udenessa had. It stopped the game. We had to wait around for and another another five minutes and Udenessa is not going to go get that time back on the clock and stop its time. It's they got to do just they got to figure something out because I get the whole point of the AR and of those lines. But it's ruining the game and it's making it terrible. And it's also ruining the Colby because that had a direct effect on the Colby because I lost my leg because Milan got a red card and then so on and so forth. But it's ruining Colpis, it's ruining the game. but As we transition this into the Colpy check-in of last week, what a shit show. of we're We're just as bad as the refs when it comes to picking games. No, I'm blaming this on international break. A lot of these teams didn't look great coming out of the international break. We didn't look good on the Colpy coming out of the international break. I like that. We came in a little slow.
00:18:38
Speaker
Mine was terrible, terrible. And we'll talk about it. I had Monza or Verona Moneyline at home against Monza did not come even close at any point my way. Yeah, I think Verona's fake news at this point, considering I'm leaning that way as well now. Well, when in our power rankings, lows when you missed that week, we talked about how Verona looked good, but can never actually get the result that they need in a lot of games. And that hurts them. And it happened again today. But that sounds like fake news. My leg.
00:19:07
Speaker
would an essay at Milan over two and a half looked good at the start Milan scored off the bat then the red card happened I thought for sure it and this is gonna least get one didn't get one I haven't hit a leg since August then it's been tough for me ah so hopefully we can bounce back but hit my event is hundred-dollar bet so That's all. And that was the paisan leg. Yuve Moneyline was the paisan leg. Yeah, the paisan leg is kind of blowing us out. Not going to lie. But they get multiple shots at it. And we picked the best one. So that's better than that. Good point. Good point. I was due for a loss, so I'm OK with it. I should have hit. I was one, one and a half. I just needed one the second half, and no one wanted to score goals. So I'll take mine and win. Sure could have would have, but didn't.
00:19:49
Speaker
but We're not playing horseshoes and hand grenades. And last quick shout of the day, Vos, you had something that you were very passionate about that you wanted to talk, talk to the Paisanos about. I was really mad about this and I, I'm happy that we weren't talking yesterday about it because I think I wouldn't have been articulated it well enough.
00:20:10
Speaker
And I hope somebody from Paramount does see this. Like I genuinely mean this. I hope, I hope somebody important sees this because this, this really bothered me for a number of reasons. And I'm going to, I'm literally going to articulate all of these reasons right now because I was saying, please do tell. So I was watching, I got up early and as we do, we get up early to watch these games because like, we care about them. I was watching calorie, Torino, like.
00:20:34
Speaker
The people that are tuning in to Callery Torino are people that love Seria. Like they're getting up early to watch this game because they care about the league of care about what's going on. There wasn't a pregame. Halftime was watching Poppy Miller and Grella play bocce with some Tiktokers and no dis... I legitimately don't mean disrespect to anybody on the show or the people that were brought on because I actually like everybody.
00:20:57
Speaker
And then they got into the inter game and there was a problem with paramount. Like I couldn't watch the pregame apparently log saw some of it, but they just didn't talk about soccer all that much. And for me, my big issue with this is if we're, they are the representatives of the league in the United States.
00:21:15
Speaker
And for a lot of people, that Syria is new to to the United States, and some people are tuning in for the first time, and this is this is what they're seeing. like This would never happen on NBC if for a Premier League weekend. like The Premier League weekend is, we're going through everything that's going on, we're going through the news, we're going through every game or going through every goal. And some people that tune into this, this is all the Syria news that they get is this, this like couple minutes that these guys need to talk about the game. And I just thought it was so disrespectful to Syria fans and just not taking the league seriously.
00:21:50
Speaker
And I just think it's insane that we come on here twice a week and we can talk about it for two, three hours. And we cut our conversation short. And these guys who are getting paid to do this can't even do it for like 45 minutes at the most for a weekend. And it's it's just stunting the growth of the league. And it's just insane to me that we don't get paid to do this. We just come on here because we love it and we love the league. And yet the people that are getting paid to represent it can't even motivate, I guess, to do that. And it just bothered me so much. I couldn't believe it.
00:22:21
Speaker
but I mean, ah like to your point, we talk about it but for hours and hours on end. And they ran out of topics. You ran out of storylines. You ran out of interviews. You have, you have the most intimate look into the league of almost anyone in the world from a US perspective. And you couldn't figure out an interview to bring on.
00:22:46
Speaker
ah Somebody and anybody else besides playing bocce, which is bocce even italian bocce is definitely italian Yeah, bocce is definitely italian All right, at least they're playing some kind of a talented sport But I mean I do agree though. So it I think the best the best thing you just said was that it is honestly disrespectful It's such a poor representation of what the league could be in the u.s You said it a couple of seconds ago. You'd never see it on mbc. NBC does a great job what I will say is I think that they They're trying to emulate something that can't be emulated. And that's the Champions League crew. You don't need to emulate that. You don't need to emulate that. you I don't think they need to. I'm just saying, that I think that's what they're trying to do and they you can't. Who is? Who's trying to do that?
00:23:33
Speaker
NBC, I'm saying they're trying to like add in a little bit of light, light, airiness that the Champions League crew has. Mike, you know, but where there they went wrong or that's not the case is they weren't even talking about they were just playing bachi like the champions, the the champion z crew talks about stuff. And then at the end of the game, they'll start guessing players and having fun with it. But they're getting players to interview with and then poking fun and joking with the players as well. like they weren't doing that at all and it's such an easy layout for Paramount to follow I mean look at any other sport in America and it's clear it's clear you have two guys doing the broadcast you have four to three to four during the postgame and pregame you're asking questions 15 20 minutes is not doesn't take that long how can you not find more bodies to cover it whether or not like maybe
00:24:29
Speaker
Maybe they're looking at the viewership of that Calgary Torino game and streaming news and not many people are watching it. Whether that's the case or not, like you can find somebody for cheaper than to have them come in and cover it. Us, we will do that because it, it let's say you're a new fan and that's the game you stumble on because that's the game that's going. Not having that at halftime.
00:24:55
Speaker
One, doesn't educate the new fan and two shows them like this is a joke. Why would I continue to watch that? that And that was going to be my last point about this is when I was living with Logues, like he didn't really follow like soccer as much as he does now. And like I would get up early and just like have the games on. And like then that's how we started watching it because like we were watching Premier League mostly and it was like a really good quality halftime. like it was It educated you and then like because you're educated, then you get involved. like People in the US don't have a connection to any of these teams really. and it's There's not even a community here for people to like talk about it. like We have a small group of... friends That's why we do this podcast. We're literally like the only three people that we know that are dedicated and watch Syria. yeah and Again, like this is such a disrespect and embarrassment to people that are Syria fans because
00:25:40
Speaker
If you're watching this and you're like, oh, you guys should come and like watch this game with me. And then this is what they're doing at halftime. Like somebody's going to be people already in the U S like cut, like to disrespect soccer. And then this is what you're showing to people. It just, it's insane to me and it's embarrassing. And that's why I hope somebody at Paramount sees this because it's just unacceptable in my opinion. These are people that are getting paid to spread the sport in the United States. it's It's just ridiculous. And that that's my second rant for the day. So I'll be done now.
00:26:07
Speaker
Well said, well articulated. We can appreciate that. I think at this point though, we need to put the money, our money where our mouth is and actually talk about before that happens. match reviews number one match review uinese at ac milan one to nothing Milan win as we said Fonseca is very happy with some decisions that went his way East Milan went up early then got a red card then at the end of the game Uden as a did tie it got called back because the skin cell was offsides
00:26:40
Speaker
For me, the story of this is Milan got bailed out. I think the Chuck Wesay goal was also kind of lucky. I thought the goalie, the goalie got a hand on it. I thought it could have been saved. That was a big moment for Chuck Wesay because we've been slamming him on how bad he's been since he joined AC really. So I will say good for him. I do still think it could have gotten saved. And then the other big storyline of this game was no Tomori in the starting lineup and no Rafael Liao in the starting lineup, which I think we had all been calling out for for a little bit.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah, this game, you know, really shaky, unfortunate that this was the comeback game after the Fiorentina loss. You would hope to have had a stronger showing from them.
00:27:21
Speaker
I like that we were able to pull together and obviously that that offside should have should have never been called, but at least we came up with the dub after playing, what, 70 minutes, 10 men. the other The other pattern that I hate to be seeing is that we're, I guess that we just took on the Parma, the Parma job of having a red card every game. Last year's Serie A games, we've gotten a red card. I know Teos was technically after the final whistle, but in any case, we're still without him for a couple of games.
00:27:49
Speaker
Again, we are, I have not much to say other than we are absolutely the luckiest team in the league to be in fourth right now. There's no reason based on how we played, how we look, what our outlook is that we should be in fourth. Just happy to be involved at this point and happy to not be in a relegation battle. Yeah. I mean, for me, there was a lot to take away and a lot of different story lines. For one, loved Fonseca dropping Tamori and Liao. They haven't been playing good. Stop playing them. But then, and also, I ask, how come Milan keep getting red cards? Where's the discipline there? like Is that on Fonseca? Who's that on? Why do you keep getting red cards? But then, I go to, before the red card, they looked very good. They looked like they were going to get three goals. They were they were firing on all cylinders. After the red card, great adjustment.
00:28:45
Speaker
down 10 men for 70 minutes and you did not let it go up until the 94th, 95th minute, that obviously got called back. I don't necessarily agree with it being called back, but Milan were still compact and still creating opportunities, even down 10 men. If Tammy Abraham has a brain, he puts that rebound in and Milan are up to nothing and then can probably see the game out. So I thought Fonseca did a great job starting the lineup with new players, new faces that some of those staples of the lineup that didn't deserve it. He took out, right? I thought he did a great job in game adjusting with 10 men for 70 minutes. But it just asks, I just, the only question I have with him is like, why do you guys keep getting red cards? There's a little bit of like defiance per se in Milan. And that could very well be because Leo and Tio are your leaders. Definitely. That's a very good point. It could, it could be that.
00:29:43
Speaker
On the whole fun second thing, at this point, do you guys kind of agree? We have to go a little bit foot off the gas on mashing him because last five games, four wins, one loss. Like at the end of the day, you can't argue results and that it doesn't really get much better than that. I don't know. I don't, I don' just don't.
00:30:06
Speaker
You need the manager to really set the tone. Yes. On the field layout, Teo had been the leaders of the past. I think Pulisic has actually stepped up quite a bit in that, in that space, just because he's one had the opportunity and two can back it up. But it really needs to come from the top. And it's unfortunate that if we don't have that figure anymore. I mean, again, I go back to how often I hate it on Pioli, but at least the players respected him and listened to what he was trying to do. And and they had a culture going.
00:30:37
Speaker
My foot's definitely not off the gas. I need to see results that we don't just get lucky from. We'll see how we, I think, I know we're going to talk about it in a little bit. I really do think this club bridge game is extremely important and I do have a good feeling about it. I think that we're going to look great, but we'll talk about that a little bit. I think foot's off the gas. I like what he's doing. He's trying to show the team, like, listen, i I don't care if you're Rafael Liao, you're going to get benched if you're not playing well.
00:31:06
Speaker
Tio got benched as well. He's had some, I just think that maybe the the guys in the locker room don't necessarily give him the type of respect he deserves because of all those defiant issues and people taking the penalty when Polisic is the guy that they named and they're taking it away from him. They're doing the water cooler break. And that low key could come back to Zlatan, right? We don't know. I'm sure Zlatan is a very tough guy to work with being that he is that alpha personality and thinks he's got the biggest cock in the room at all times. And I'm sure he undercuts Fonseca a good amount. And I'm sure that having him do that thinks has the players think they can do that as well, right? And if you're ah Ibra's giving special treatment to Liao or undercutting whatever Fonseca's saying, it's like, hey, I can do whatever I want with, you know what I mean? it There's no repercussions, because it's Ibra's word, not Fonseca. So it could be a little bit of that.
00:32:05
Speaker
I have no idea, I just completely speculating that. But and to answer the question, my foot is off the gas because I think he's done a very good job managing a lot of a lot of chaos within Milan and getting you guys to fourth place right now. Can't argue with fourth place. Yeah, you can't, you really can't argue with that. with that On Udenese side of things, on the wrong side of and some unfortunate calls, but I also think when you're up a man for that long,
00:32:31
Speaker
They did not create enough opportunities. They should have created a lot more opportunities than they did. And even then they kind of conceded a lot of opportunities, which was kind of alarming for me as good as it and as they have been. it That was it was weird. And honest this is going to be the theme of the weekend. A lot of weird tactics all weekend. Yeah. I mean, if you're up a man for 70 minutes, you you got at least get one. And I know you I know they did get one, but like you got to get one that actually counts.
00:32:57
Speaker
And I'll have a similar take on that on my favorite team. When we get to them, you got to get more than one. But listen, at the end of the day, this is the team that we're talking about last season. I think we're two points away from relegation from last season and this season, it's night and day, how much better they've been. Milan is a tough team. It's in the San Siro. You got it. You probably should have gotten the point. I think they played well enough to get the point. I think the point was taken away from them.
00:33:26
Speaker
So it looks a little bit worse for them, but you can see that they have a belief in what they're doing. They're playing well. They're much better than last year. Don't let this affect you. Keep rolling. You should have got a tie, but you didn't now move on to the next one.
00:33:40
Speaker
can i Not to belabor the point, and I know Vos hates when I go back on things, but I just saw the replay of Reiner's red card. That's not a fucking red card. That's accidental, but it's justifiable, I think. it's He's the last man on the fence. He hits the guy's leg. It's definitely like not it's definitely accidental, but you got to give that red. I mean, if he touches that ball. Shaw's pretty even with him. I can see a yellow, but there's no there's zero and 10. I mean, yeah but zero and 10 is in. Shaw's right there.
00:34:07
Speaker
That's why cha not there it's accidental, but it's a red. He is the last, in any case, in my opinion, my unbiased opinion, they got the, we got a makeup call on the offsides. So I'll take that. All right. We're going to another game that had a red card. Lazio at Juventus, UVA squeaked this one out months. They were up a man for almost the whole game.
00:34:32
Speaker
And it really, it came down to an own goal. That was a very bad on goal. I will also say Juan Cabal whipped in a cross. I think it was Marusic who had tried to clear it at the front post just whipped. If he had just let it go, it was going straight to the goalie. Absolutely fucked it up and just knocked it into the net. And outside of that, you did not have a ton of chances. I don't think they did not. And as I just mentioned, I'll say it again. You're up.
00:34:59
Speaker
one man with 70 minutes left and I'll add the layer that you are Juventus and you have the players of the caliber that you have. You need to score more than one goal and you need to score that goal cannot be a goal. You need to have at least two. Yes, I get it. You got a lot of guys that were banged up, but the players that you had out there were better than Lazio's players and you did not get the job done.
00:35:24
Speaker
What event is this issue was, in my opinion, in this game is their lack of, I don't want to say intensity, but just like the pushing the ball up, like every time they were about to start a counter, they would just stop, hold up and allow Lazio to get back in their, in their shape and Lazio.
00:35:43
Speaker
We're very compact and played very strong defensively, which I think is the first time we saw that under Baroni, or Baroni, right? but So that was good by Lazio, but Juventus, you got to realize, hey, you're up a man. We got to get them on the counter attack. We got to get them when they're not in their shell. and I thought that the person that did it a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot was Locatelli would get it. instead of but Instead of pushing it out wide to the to the next guy, hold it up and allow Lazio to sit back. And yes, you're up a man, but if you're gonna allow a team to sit back in their shell, they're goingnna it's gonna be tough to break them down even though you're up a man. Well, you kind of touched on the two questions that I had. Number one was, this theme of UVA
00:36:29
Speaker
I don't even know what the word is like lacks a days ago in possession kind of thing. What is the mentality of the seam right now? Because they have the ball a ton and I get that they're not conceding, but There's such a small desire to go and get the goal. And I don't know if that's because they're relatively young and they're kind of like thinking they're like the shit and are just going to out like skill teams a little bit. That might be it. Like, what do you think it is that they, they're not like, I'm going to pick up the ball and we're going to go score. Kiesa would do it. That's what I will say. It's tough to say. I mean, going back to.
00:37:02
Speaker
mata I know that Bologna last season had a very low expected goal systems or expected goal on the season. So I think maybe this modest system that he has isn't necessarily the high pace. Let's go try to score as much as we can. It's more, let's try to possess it and defend ah strongly. And then hopefully we do break some some teams down and score. But i I don't know what it is because they clearly stop when they have an opponent on the back foot they stop and allow them to get in their low block and it just makes it harder for them to break them down right like you only have like combiasso when he gets he looks to push yield is when he gets he looks to push but yield is his issue is he dribbles too much and then he gets muscled off the ball when he's dribbles too much
00:37:54
Speaker
Koop Miners is a guy who looks to push it, but he's been he was out. Douglas Louise, we've talked about, he's been struggling, so I just think there's things that need to be ironed out on the Juventus side in terms of when they're in possession and how to break ah that the low block down. Yeah, and the other thing that you touched on that I do want to talk about, and I think Loge has kind of been saying this for a while.
00:38:17
Speaker
Is Locatelli good enough to even be considered for the 11 with the players that these guys have? Like after this game, that was one of my big takeaways is I don't think he is close to the level of these other midfielders who would be like your number one group in my mind at this point. My problem with Locatelli is How I've always seen him is as a holding six defensive midfielder. From everything that I talked to Amat's about, about how Locatelli wants to play and how he, how he operates in his brain is that he's an attacking midfielder. And so that to me.
00:38:52
Speaker
screams that he's just kind of lost in translation he doesn't have a spot on the field which then you're like okay so he's an eight but how much ground does he really cover right and so he's he's really just lost in and it's insane because you have three different really like distinct archetypes of a midfielder when you have a three-man midfielder you have the 10 You have the box to box eight, and you have a six, and you can really find different middle grounds between all of them. But his skill set and from what I perceive him to be strongest that he doesn't want to utilize he doesn't want to play with. And so that's me just that mismatch makes him so ineffective where he could actually be better.
00:39:32
Speaker
they he just just He just decides to ignore what he's strongest at, in my opinion. I think he's better at being higher up the field than playing as an 8. But I agree, he doesn't cover that much ground. But when he was at his best, at Cessvolo, he was closer to the box. When he was at his best, when Italy won the Euros, he scored two goals because he was closer to the box. Then Max Allegri got him, put him all the way closer to our box.
00:39:58
Speaker
And I think since then, he just cannot really find that old form. He's too slow playing as a Rajista. Like, when Fajoli came in, Fajoli got the ball, moved, passed it wide, dribbled it by his guy. Locatelli, and also Fajoli makes himself available to the center backs to transition it. Locatelli hides and just, if you watch him, and just point he just points to go pass it out wide and doesn't make himself available to then transition to break the lines. Fajoli does that.
00:40:28
Speaker
And I think that's why Locatelli is struggling. And we have Koop Miners now who's going to be playing higher up and closer to the box. And so, yeah, I think that's that's why. like you go ahead yeah my latin Last two points on this game that I forgot to mention, my intro to this game. We had Captain Kambiaso, which was fucking sick to see.
00:40:52
Speaker
Quick shot on Kambiaso. He was in an interview. He's been getting interest from Real Madrid. That's a good quote. This is great. This is a quote that would come directly out of my mouth. So I fucking i fucking love this. He said, i' I'm flattered to have interest from Real Madrid, but I just signed my contract till 2029. I want to stay on Juventus. Juventus is my Real Madrid.
00:41:12
Speaker
And I want to get them to hopefully win the Champions League or as much as we can, like the old Juventus. But having one of your bright stars say Juventus is my Real Madrid is is what you want out of every player on the team. You want every player on the team to look at that badge as it's the best club, the biggest club in the world, and they don't want to go anywhere.
00:41:33
Speaker
I just hope that that that feeling sticks with more Italians. we want We want them to stay in the league. We don't want them pulling Skamaka. So it's good to see Kambiaso out there doing that. And that's definitely why I got the band. Yeah. And I said this weekend, I think he's my favorite player in the league. I love Kambiaso. He's he's ah again, I'm going to keep saying it. I think he's going to be one of the best players in the world very soon. And and last point on this one.
00:41:55
Speaker
Douglas Louise, another not great performance and also should have probably received a ready kind of elbow somebody in the back off the ball. I don't know why it didn't even go to VAR. Yeah, it definitely was like, I don't want to say punch. It was probably like a stab like a little to the guy's back, but he was making the punch motion.
00:42:16
Speaker
V that's what VAR is there for to like review that and give him he should have got a red card. ah A hundred percent regardless of ah whether it was like a very hard punch or just the action itself. Action itself. Exactly. And and if that was the case, he would have been off of three games in a row. One P.K. given from a handball, one P.K. given to tie the game against Calgary and then a red card that would have been awful.
00:42:43
Speaker
Listen, his performance in this game, this was the first time he played the full 90. I thought it was better. He had two opportunities to score. One of them I thought he could have put in. Another one was a little bit tougher. The first header was what i should I thought he should have put in. But I did like what I saw from him. He was at least looking to break the lines, trying to make a pass, trying to pick out that pass to get Juventus to goal. But he's still not there. Hopefully, it just grew more growing pains and it can continue. but i mean Now you're just making bonehead decisions on the pitch, punching a guy in the back, tackling a guy in in the 18 for a PK, putting your hand up to protect your face. like Those are just stupid decisions. Yeah, before we move, I don't want to talk about this, but I just want to mention it. Juan Cabal played very well. he He was a left back slash left wing back. It was nice to see him in the team. Flipping the script to Lazio, I don't want to talk about them too much, just because like when you're down a man, the whole game
00:43:37
Speaker
Not much like the you can do, right? You're kind of just stuck in there. They defended very well. And I think they can keep their heads up after after this game and actually use it as, Oh, we're really good at defending too. We probably should have gotten a point out of this game. Yeah, I think they could they should, they played and well enough to get a point, whether they're down or or not.
00:43:59
Speaker
I think what they need to do now is take this game, use that when they're, when they, after they go on their spurts of two goals in a row and maybe they're up two to one or two, nothing. Hey, we don't need to necessarily go on the front foot and try to get a third.
00:44:11
Speaker
We can now sit back in a low back, low block, be compact, and see this game out and then hit on the counter if needed. This was a really good game by Lazio, their best defensive game I've seen them this season. So I think, yes, it sucks that you led in that own goal, but there are a lot of positives for them to take away and continue to have overachieved this season and what we all thought that they could do.
00:44:35
Speaker
The other point I do want to talk about on Lazio for one second is Nuno Chavarez is insanely good. he He was literally carving up Juve by himself to the point where every time he touched the ball, they just fouled him. It got to that point. like He was getting the ball deep and just driving it into Juve's half. Regardless if if he had any help going forward and was taking everybody on, Juve should have gotten more yellow cards than they did. I will also say it was,
00:45:04
Speaker
Like I know we didn't do anything, but this was the game that was like, oh my God, Nuno Tavares is really, really good. He outmuscled and outran Taram one time. Taram got a yellow on him, basically tackled him. If Nuno keeps playing this way, I think Latito's going to have Inter, Juve, Milan, maybe some Premier League teams knocking on his door, and then Latito's going to do the classic 100 mil. You want him 100 mil? Classic Latito. And then he's going to go off to Saudi, right? Yeah. Inevitably. Yeah, this is a way.
00:45:38
Speaker
It's unfortunate that the red card happened, but what are you gonna do? It was a red card. It was a terrible tackle from Romagnoli. Shouldn't have done that. Great. Also, last point, we'll move on to Interoma. Great recognition from Kalulu, who's kind of the new Ricardo Califiori role of the Moda System going up there and attacking the ball and and probably would have scored. He said he would have scored if he didn't get fouled, but great recognition at least. And he's definitely, Kalulu's been a beast all season. That's why he's on the way to the right.
00:46:14
Speaker
Go ahead, Lux. Am I going to go, or are you going to go? You can go. You want to go? You want to go? Moving on, anyways, to the Inter Roma game. Folks, you want to set this one up here? Yeah, we were talking about this game, impossible game to really analyze. It ended up being very odd, really back and forth. Inter did win one to nothing very early on in the game. Marcus Taram was basically 1v1 with the goalie.
00:46:39
Speaker
In our opinion, I think collectively, it was a foul, probably a red card offense. Would have been 1v1. No VAR review. No no foul called. I don't know what the fuck was going on. And more or less what happened to this game was Inter was just playing on the counter-attack, the whole game. They didn't want the ball. And ultimately, at one point, Lutaro Martinez had a volley. It was a good hit. It was a good counter-attack. Went off of Jibala, actually, and that's why it went in. It kind of got deflected.
00:47:07
Speaker
And that was the story of the game. They went up one nothing and just sat off in the shell and that was it. They were done and dusted there. They were happy with what was going on. The other important thing to note is Roma ultra's boycotting again, didn't come in for the first 15 minutes. It kind of just shows the state of this club right now. I know logs is very much on this clubs and disarray. It's kind of panic mode. So it's another game that I, from both sides, I thought it was very weak. It was a weak performance from both sides.
00:47:37
Speaker
And let's start with Inter Milan, because for me, this is what they've been doing all year. They, they don't really bring the game to anybody and they're kind of just playing on that counter attack. And I think that's why Taram has had so many goals is they're so reliant on him to just run those channels and get the ball to him on the counter. And I, I need to see more from them in my opinion, for them to be able to compete in the Scudetto and then compete at a European level, because I just don't think that this is going to last
00:48:09
Speaker
it it it was weak for me well the the problem is that they're still pulling out results with these with these performances so they kind of need a shock to the system i think to really get going here But I think that that's really a storyline for a lot of good teams. They need to get the sense knocked into them. It's better to lose early than to lose late. And I think that this team, out of a lot of other teams, would do well with with a loss, with a big loss, to get smacked in the in the nuts. Because they really, I mean, again, and this game should have been a draw. There was no way, I mean, they just got lucky. Lutaro, great hit. I mean, Sveolar was man of the match, so that just goes to show you know what was happening on the field.
00:48:50
Speaker
Inter just need to get smacked in the face, I think, to wake up here, to get everyone going, to get the juices flowing. They're still there're still top you know top of the table, top three. There's no reason for them to wake up. That's the problem. They played well in the Champions League. They're playing deep they're getting results in in Syria. So for them to to really turn it up and to turn it on, I think that that's what needs to happen.
00:49:12
Speaker
I think that they did get somewhat smacked in the face against Milan, and then they did wake up a little bit in terms of getting results, right? they Ever since that Milan game, they've won three in a row, but they're not doing it in the way that they were doing it last year with the beautiful Calcho, winning every game 3-0, shutting every team out. Although they did finally shut out Roma this game, it's not hard to shut out Roma because they don't know what to do on offense.
00:49:37
Speaker
But I think Inter are slightly at least getting it back on page, but just in a very different way than last season where it was we're going to possess it. We're going to be everyone's just going to be all over the field. You're going to have no idea how to defend us and no idea how to break us down. They're not doing that. They did get they are like they're they're just kind of sewing them together somehow. It's not in a pretty way, which I don't think will will Uh, they, they're not going to keep grinding out these results. I think it will catch up to them if they don't figure it out. i don't know if they go ahead Well, especially now with a cherubee went down with a muscle injury and Hakan went down with a groin injury. And have one I would say is that one guy where it's like, Oh shit, we don't have another Hakan.
00:50:27
Speaker
And I think that's the the big storyline for enter. This game is that because in the first 10 minutes, we did see some of that like beautiful play where they were going long. Bestoni was phenomenal again in this game, like defended. Well, it was very effective offensively. He laid the ball. Oh, my God. Undressed him undressed him. And then what happens is a con goes down and Burella drops into that role and completely gone. They cannot play the way they wanted to play, I guess, at the beginning of the game.
00:50:57
Speaker
And Barello just, he clearly just doesn't understand that role or, and I also don't think he has a skill set to play that role. Like he's not a long passer. He's not a pacer. He doesn't understand what to do. And that's a scary one now for enter, because if you don't have a guy that can control the game and you need to control the game, if you're going to win the Scudetto at points and they didn't look like they could at all, it it was very discombobulated once the calm was out.
00:51:22
Speaker
It might end up being Bastoni going forward and playing like that. No, you're ready. They're going to have to look Bastoni to center, center back. Or like a chirby's out too, so. DeVry played well, though, when he came in. DeVry did play well when he came in.
00:51:37
Speaker
I don't know, I think, I mean, I think the injuries will give some guys a little bit of an opportunity to show themselves. Obviously, for Tezi, we'll get more time. Zalewski will get more time. Jan Visik will obviously get a little bit more time. But another thing that I wanted to touch on, just because I've been noticing a lot this season, is manager's inability to sub correctly, and just making odd changes during the game. Lataro coming out in the 70th minute, you're only up 1-0. I don't know if that says more about in Zaki's inability to manage the game or if that just says a lot more about Taram that he's like, I'm fine with him staying out there. But I did think that was just odd that you're taking out Lutaro, the goal scorer, the 70th minute, you're only at 1-0. What happens if Roma scores? Then you're back on the attack. Then you need you need him out there. Joaquin Crea is good. I'm not knocking Joaquin. I think he's a good player. I just think it's a weird move to take out your goal scorer in that kind of a matchup. I was okay with it because i he I think he recognized that they were kind of getting their teeth kicked in a little bit and just wanted more legs to chase. And Taram does, I don't know how he does run out of energy. So I think that's what it was. So I was okay with it. Like they really weren't attacking all that much near the end other than dumb freeze when he came on. That was a great sub. yeah I still think he should have started the game, but I was okay with that. I think it's more going forward. I don't know who's going to play that role, the Hakan role. I really don't know.
00:53:02
Speaker
No, they do. I'm also, I got, I know it's a and much more inferior opponent on a coming up, but they got the champions as well. So they're probably just trying to get him rest where he can for Lutaro sub, but plus they got you bay next weekend yes. Uh, and they didn't want him going down as well with the tribune Hakano, but switching it over to the other side in Rome, Roma.
00:53:26
Speaker
Roma are in absolute shambles. I mean, they can't figure anything out in Rome. The second you think, hey, maybe, nope, they don't have anything figured out. like It's like, my biggest takeaway from this game was, why hire Ivan Urich, who plays a 3-5-2 if you have Davala, Sule, and Pellegrini? Where do you play those three guys in a 3-5-2?
00:53:54
Speaker
Soule, you saw what Soule played in the 3-5-2 under Allegri. He was a wing back. You can kind of play Dabala as a second striker, but then that totally, you're no longer having Soule on the field because he's going to want to shift over. Pellegrini, we talked about his form. If you're playing Dabala as a second striker, are you playing Pellegrini in the three midfielders and having him push up? Then your 3-5-2 is more like a Three, three, two, one. I don't even know what the formation is. like it's It was a weird bunch of weird buys that didn't make sense and a but and and a weird hire with Yurich where it doesn't make sense with who you bought. And they're and now their owning ownership is going to buy Everton. How committed are they to the Serie A and this Roman roman project? A lot, a lot, a lot to figure out in Rome.
00:54:48
Speaker
It's a ton to figure out. And it's, it's, it was the same problems that Dorossi had. Like they're still defensively like decent enough. Like I thought Ndika was phenomenal in this game. I thought he did a great job defending Taram. Like you really can't ask for much more. That was an insane physical battle. And that was a really hard piece. So the defense still isn't the issue. They had the ball for most of the game and created nothing again. And that is continuing to be the problem. And I don't think there's ever going to be a way where you figure out Diabala and Sulei.
00:55:18
Speaker
I really don't. they They want to occupy the same space. We talked about this match. Like if there was a game where you would play them both, this would be the one. Like that's where Inter's weakness kind of is, is behind DeMarco in between the space with Bastoni, with Makutarian on that side. Like that is clearly where you would attack. That wasn't really exploited at all. And I don't think Yurich is in a position now because of where the club is at, where the fans are at.
00:55:46
Speaker
to make a big decision and drops drop somebody like Pellegrini. I think they would go ballistic if he did that. like The fans would be like, you can't drop Pellegrini like he's our captain. I thought Mancini wasn't very good in this game either. He deserved to be dropped. There was a lot of players that they They just, they almost need to just rotate the squad and take guys out. I still don't like Pitsili playing so much. I don't really understand that. He fell on that goal on that counter. He fell to the allow enter to counter, which also the counter was like a halfway decent counter, but I wouldn't say that pass was very good at all. And Celleck just fucking stumbled and allowed, like put the ball right back in the middle, right to Lataro, who smashed at home. Terrible defending by Celleck. I listen, it's a,
00:56:31
Speaker
freak accident, but you can't fall in that area as well because you're screwed. But going back to Yurich, like Yurich is not a coach who's going to scheme up offensively. Like you know what he wants to do. He's just crossed the ball and he, at Torino, they scored 36 goals last season. Like he's not that type of coach who's going to somehow magically implement some, some amazing offensive tactics to figure out this conundrum that they have up top. So that's one, another reason why, why are you hiring Yurich and why did you,
00:57:02
Speaker
quickly abandoned to Rosie. There's a lot going on in Rome. And it's what, to the point now where I'm going to ask, like, I'm going to ask you guys two questions. Number one, have they already, are they already out of the top four race? Is it realistic for Roma to finish top four? And I forgot the second question. So we'll just, we'll just do that one. Think about it. Think about it. I mean, from my, no, they're not, they're not out of the top four.
00:57:28
Speaker
They're four points behind top four right now. It's still early. I mean, we talked about it a lot already. The season doesn't really start until week 11. A lot of time to turn it around. My whole thing, though, is it just goes to show that I think that this de Rossi firing was made made everything that was going on way, way, way, way worse. And the fans agree.
00:57:51
Speaker
I don't think they're out of top for yet. I think what's scary is everybody above them is playing much better than them. I mean, they don't look like they're capable of winning a game. They're very capable of not losing games, but there's nobody on the field that's going to go and get a goal. Period. Diabolo played well in this game, but it was more defensively. He tracked back well. He didn't. it was There's nobody on the field that looks like they care besides the baller like the ball. You could see the frustration on his face, but nobody else to me really was like, oh, wow, we lost. Like no one was kind of like I didn't see that from anybody on the field, not even just going to get a goal, like go get a result or go win, like have some pride for the badge, which we we know that the rosy had such pride for the badge and was able to relay that to his team. These guys don't even look like they have any pride.
00:58:48
Speaker
No, they don't. that They really don't. And is that a Roma problem, though? I mean, Roma have two Skudetos in their entire history. I don't i mean, roman's the the fans are so passionate. It's one of the things in Italy. They're at the capital of Italy. Like, I don't think it's a Roma problem. Like, it's there. I think it's an ownership issue, not not having an idea of what the project is. It's a sporting director issue by not being on the same page as the manager with who we're bringing in. right you finally This is the first time in what, four, or five, six years, because Roma splashed the cash because due to fight their financial fair play, but they splashed the cash. They made no sense who they're splashing the cash for. theyre There wasn't a clear-cut idea, and this I forgot which one of you guys
00:59:38
Speaker
is, has the opinion of don't go with the manager's idea. Because if you sacked, you're screwed. This kind of goes to show me where it's like, lean towards what the manager is saying. Because if you're going to make decisions that don't make sense, you're going to be screwed with whoever you bring in. I agree. i I know your point. And I agree, the recruitment, they have kind of gotten wrong, but it just goes back to like, squad building, like,
01:00:03
Speaker
Your two best players kind of are supposed to be Sule and Diabala, the exact same player. And that's just poor squad building at its core. And I i think what's not helping is Zalewski has been terrible every time he plays. And that's really like your bright spot off the left. So like... Well, Zalewski and Pellegrini, and they're both terrible off the left, right? El Sharawe has been the best left-sided player of the whole season. like It's just crazy. And i I don't see this. I don't know what's going to make this better is the problem. Because Dovbit can't even do anything. like We're not even getting to talk about him because he touches the ball like four times a game. I think at 40 minutes of the game, it was the first time Diabali even touched the ball in the offensive half. like i don't even you have to just hit It's almost like you have to tear down everything you've created so far and start again because it isn't working.
01:01:01
Speaker
Well, that's what happens when you buy mid guys, I guess. ah I think the one thing that i'll that I'll say that's a bright spot for Roma, as I'd like to look ahead, is their schedule for the next six or six odd games is actually pretty promising. They have Europa League this week in Dynamo Kiev. Fine. They have Fiorentina. It's a tough game next week. I think they're at Fiorentina. They are. That's okay so you're so you're that's not fun.
01:01:31
Speaker
But then you go on a streak of Torino, Verona, Union Saint Galoi, God knows where that is, and then Bologna, who's been terribly out of form. So they have a really long stretch here before they have to play in Napoli, where they can really ride the ship, they can get this going. I think they have to look deep inside. I really think that Pellegrini's got to figure his shit out. He's obviously the heart and soul.
01:01:57
Speaker
whether he's talented, that talented or not, I know we're high on him, but he's certainly the heart and soul. They need these guys, man, she need to come out and really like, they need, almost need like a players only meeting at this point is what I would say. And really turn, and really get them on the right page. Again, big win this Thursday would be huge for them. You go in, you're going to get your not your socks knocked off if you aren't Tina, if they continue to play that the way that they're playing. But if they can give, if they can get a couple of wins string, strung together before Napoli November,
01:02:26
Speaker
We may be having a different conversation. We might, but Bologna has been, yeah, they don't, they've been tough to beat. Like you can't, they usually get a tie. Torino is also a tough opponent as well. I know they just lost Zapata, but I don't, you know, just put up six goals. So like, yeah, you got it. And, and they almost lost to Venezia. They've tied Monza. Like they've had, they tied Genoa, they've had games where they should have won in having.
01:02:55
Speaker
So why would, what is to say that they're going to find, finally find their form, especially with Yurich as your coach who doesn't create that much offensively. So Roma are in shambles. I would say they're very, very close to crisis mode. I don't think necessarily sacking Yurich is going to solve their issue though. So I'm not calling for his head, but I genuinely don't know what will solve their issue.
01:03:20
Speaker
i I agree. I agree. And let let's go on to a team that is rolling. Two teams that I would say are still rolling. Napoli went to Empoli and squeaked out a one-nothing win on a penalty kick that maybe shouldn't have been rewarded. I know Moths, you didn't think it was a penalty. I did not. I thought it was a soft penalty. i've I did. I think that that maybe gets called outside the box but when you're inside the box it needs to be a clear step on or egregious foul I thought that did he leave his foot out like a little bit but Polly Tano dove the second that he saw the opportunity which I just hate seeing I hate seeing guys being coached up to dive to get that PK and
01:04:03
Speaker
I just feel bad for Emily because, and I'm an, Napoli is my gumar, right? I have them winning the league. Emily, Emily deserved to tie this game. They, they deserve to get a point in having the referee decide the game, giving Napoli a PK just kind of grinds my gears on a soft one like that. If it's egregious, it is what it is. You shouldn't have done that. I didn't think that was egregious. And on this game, I only have two questions because this was actually a great one nothing game. I thought Emily brought it to Napoli, which I did not expect to happen. They, they they play better They had a lot of chances. And like, I'll start with them. I thought this was a flip of the script kind of game for Empoli. They just hosted Napoli at a home and brought the game to them, which I did not expect at all. Like, how good are Empoli? Like, realistically, we were talking about, oh, they're not really as good as maybe Torino or Udenese. After this game, they might be the best of the rest.
01:04:57
Speaker
The roster is definitely good. they have Their individual players are actually a lot better than what people think. Their winners are phenomenal. Giasse, Bazzella have had a great season, and I think they cause so much trouble for outside backs. there's a lot there's not The depth of outside back in this league, I think, has gone down, especially just given the age of of most of the players. And when you look at Napoli, I think that's the biggest the best example being Di Lorenzo and Spinazzola.
01:05:21
Speaker
This employee team, that back three, having it together, dangerous on the outsides. And if they're, if they're nines can get going, then yes, a hundred percent going to be a dangerous team going forward. I mean, if they, if they are able to implement this kind of aggressive attack in other games against, against teams that aren't on the top of the table, I think they're going to get a lot more success than there's the one no loss. What I love from Emily is like.
01:05:46
Speaker
They're taking a slightly different approach than most Italian teams do. And they are actually playing young Italians and giving them a chance where most Syria teams do not do that. And they're showing that, hey, you can play young Italians and get results. You don't need to go out and get old veterans to try to get results. Give the young guys a try.
01:06:07
Speaker
And I know Spelletti was at this game, obviously, I mean, he's a Napoli guy, so, um but maybe he was out looking at some of those young Italians that Loews just mentioned. But also Kante does, Kante's system is like one to sit back. I think that you can't allow, you're going against Emboli, you can't sit that deep as they did. Like, Napoli had one shot on target to Emboli's four. Like, that's not okay if you're Kante and you're Napoli in my opinion. Yeah. And at the same time though, my other question is about an Napoli because this is four wins in the last five and the in the one other result was a draw.
01:06:42
Speaker
Six wins, one draw, one loss, top of the table, two points clear of enter, three points clear of UVA. In my opinion, they're significantly better than everybody else, even with this result. Well, take this result. I mean, this is, and I i talked about it earlier, take this result. Napoli have leche at home and you have UVA at enter. Let's say that UVA and enter is a draw, right?
01:07:08
Speaker
which is very well, could be like, that's not a crazy Napoli win. And now they got a game and a point ahead of everybody. Like they're going to start making this opening, this lead and with the defense so solidified, they've allowed two goals in the last seven games and they have Kavada Lukaku started to like kind of dip down and form a little bit got subbed out in the 60th minute. But I, I don't see that carrying on for too much longer under Kante. So they're finding their form and their stride.
01:07:38
Speaker
One game a week. Yeah. One game a week is getting scary. That lead is going to get stretched very quickly. But to run through the rest of the score lines here, Bologna did with Bologna Duke. They went to Genoa and tied the game two to two. More of the same from Italiano. When they scored, they concede. When they don't score, they don't concede. Disappointing. Yeah. More of the same, but that's what I'm saying. They don't, they get ties. They get ties. They're still a hard game. They just are fucking idiots at the time.
01:08:05
Speaker
Parma went to Como. This game was actually at the lake, I will say. It was at the lake. This was a one-to-one game. Very entertaining game, though. I really enjoyed it. Nico Paz scored another one. Boli scored a phenomenal back heel goal. It was very good. Classic Parma counterattack off the right. So that was a good game. Atalanta went to Venezia, a game that we've been saying is very hard. They won that game 2-0.
01:08:31
Speaker
Rategi looked like the most complete striker he's been so far since I've seen him. Look man, look great again. CDK almost scored. Atalanta just is finding their groove now. That's two in a row. I hope it continues. We'll see. Mats, you had a question though? Yeah, Rategi's chip was beautiful, but My question is, Rotegi, in the form he's in now, two questions. One, do we think it can continue? Two, do we think when Skamaka comes back, it's still Rotegi's spot at at Atlanta and even at the international level? Oh my god, yeah. It's not even a question. No, Rotegi is really, really good. He's going to continue to be really, really good. And the reason being is, he's not asked to do a ton.
01:09:19
Speaker
And he's really good at doing what he's asked of. he He's just getting the job done that he signed up for. When he looked on LinkedIn and Atalanta had an opening for a striker that just needs to finish, he's like, I think I can do that. He applied, quick apply, got the resume out there, $25 million dollars done deal. And he's doing exactly what the bullet points asked of him. All he has to do is finish. And he's doing a little bit more than that in the holdup play and whatnot. He's the most confident man of all time. I talked about it the last time I was on here.
01:09:48
Speaker
Striker is one of the most important positions to have momentum next to goalkeeper, and he just has the most confidence, the most momentum of anybody in Syria right now, and hence he's Golden Boot. I think you did him a little bit of a disservice there. He is doing a lot of things well, and I think he is already more of a complete striker than Skamaka ever was at any point.
01:10:13
Speaker
I think he's even hitting like an athleticism level that I didn't really know he had. He has like this explosive first step now, which I really didn't see. And I saw a lot of it in this game. I do think he can keep this up. And my main reason for that is the amount of service that Atalanta provide him. Like he he is going to continue to get opportunities. And he's maybe going to get more opportunities in Taram even, like the way that Inter are playing. It's kind of these sporadic chances that just kind of fall around.
01:10:40
Speaker
Adelantas are much more kind of calculated and it's just getting it into the box. And one of the things that I love about Rotegi that he's been doing is allowing CDK to play off of him and kind of do the the work that CDK wants to do. And we're seeing Brescia Nini come back and he's doing the work that he wants to do and Rotegi is finding a way to play around all these players, which is something that Skamaka was not very much capable of regardless of how good he was last year.
01:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, that don't let don't let my comments be a disservice. That's not my intention. i think what I think what I want to now translate it to is he's being adaptive to where he's letting the other players around him be the creative player, create the chances of which he's gotten a ton of service, and he's just finishing it off. that's That's what I'm trying to get at. But he's doing the best job of all time, putting the balls in the net, which is what his job description is.
01:11:30
Speaker
Come on, so you think they'll place Kamako over him when he gets back? I do not. No, I don't. I do not. I just wanted to know. I mean, him what if what if his form dies down? You never know. I don't think it will. Moving on, Laveola, Fiorentina, went to Leche, beat the fucking piss out of them, 6-0. We had two guys with a brace. One thing we were really happy about, Copani, finally off the line with the brace, but there was some negative news for Fiorentina.
01:11:59
Speaker
Well, before we get to the negative news, this is what you're supposed to do when you're upper a man for 45 minutes. You're supposed to beat the piss out of a team and Juventus and Oudanessa should take notes on this. That's all I have to say. Yeah, much better bad for sure, which helps. But the bad news is that Moisei Keane and Gudmundsson picked up a knock in this game. I haven't seen anything about the timeline just yet. I think Moisei Keane was getting some more tests done. That's a little bit scary.
01:12:26
Speaker
You can't really lose both those guys with how this season has gone so far. Yeah, that's gonna be hard, tough to bounce back, but we don't, let's, well let's wait to talk about that until we find out how long those injuries are. Definitely. Another game. I have so much to say about this, but I'm going to dumb it down. This was my game of the weekend. Torino out Calgary. We had three lead changes. This was an amazing game. Calgary battled back. Tony Sinabria had the best performance I think I've ever seen. He was dropping into the midfield to pick up the ball. He netted a goal, really picking up the slack from Duvan Zapata.
01:12:59
Speaker
What I didn't like from the Sereno perspective is getting away from what they were doing all season, which was being ball dominant. I thought this was a very immature performance from them. And on the flip side of things, very mature performance from calorie battling back, kind of showing that experience that a lot of these players do have. And the other interesting thing about this, I think there was three goals from or four goals from set pieces. So that that was interesting. And last game that busted my Colby leg, Monza.
01:13:25
Speaker
on the fucking board with a three nothing win at Verona. Great result no matter how you cut this for Nesta. They definitely needed it. But a great result regardless of when this would have been in the season. Did you see two of their goals? It was literally a goal kick launch it 75 yards to the center back or the the striker. He headed it on and then went like over the hell's Verona's defenders. And then it was just a one-on-one with the goalie two times. It was crazy. Yeah, but that that's what we've been saying about Verona. They just like, they can't put it together every game. I don't understand it. More teams to try to do that. It was real effective. He's got like a 6-8 striker.
01:14:12
Speaker
Head him the ball and then flick it onto the, that what I want to say is Jurec is a very good player. I actually really like him. The, the Monza striker is a big boy, very good. And I, Baldini and him part, Maldini didn't play in this game, but that should be a good partnership. If now that they have a win, maybe they keep wrong. I don't fucking know. It's Monza. But Danny Mata, he had maybe goal of the week. And then yeah he had, he had the second one as well. That was off the, this, the, so maybe Danny Mata and him have a nice partnership as well.
01:14:41
Speaker
Yeah. Very good. The Danny duo that wraps up match week eight. We do got European games this weekend. So just to run you through those club, Bruce going to AC Milan as Loges called it already. Milan are going to win game. Not so sure. Stuttgart going to UVA. You may have been phenomenal in Europe. So they should not another one at home here, right? I hope so. They're at home. They're a little banged up, but We are a better opponent and at home. I think Ube should snag three points out of this. Real quick, before you even continue, I really like like four of these Serie A teams. Maybe a little Serie A parlay in the Champions League here. You're going to single man Colpy here? Could be doing it. No, you you can't.
01:15:28
Speaker
Keep breaking the games down. I mean, who, who, the one I don't like is the last one. Yeah. but We're going through them. We're going through them right now. young boy come for Going to Milan to play inter shout out Dylan brand for young boys, but they're going to get fucking mashed by enter. This is an inter three, nothing when running right with the kind of game. Yeah. Shadow Dylan brand. Those are, those were our jerseys for EA FC 24.
01:15:52
Speaker
Yeah, young boys. Celtic going to Bergamo to play Adelanta. Celtic have been very bad a lot of this year. So I expect Adelanta to run away with them. Adelanta have also just been very good in Europe to start the year. And then Bologna going to Villa. Aston Villa for those of you who don't know who the villains are. Bad game, Bologna. Aston Villa are very good. The villains mate.
01:16:16
Speaker
Maybe Bologna can can do what they do and get a tie. I don't have no i have du the are so hot right now. It's ridiculous. Yeah. Bologna is the opposite of hot. Yeah. Going to the Europa league. Dynamo Kiev is going to Rome to play Roma another game. I, I have no confidence of Roma to win games anymore. So I'm not even going to say that they should win this. you gotta get I don't know anything about have to get that game.
01:16:43
Speaker
Well, they have to roam or just, they're came and get results at home. ah Man. ah we We were so high on this team coming into the season. I know we're a bunch of bombs are putting them at three, no team but a team that we were not high on that is just dominating is Latzio, the other team in Rome.
01:17:03
Speaker
Who are they playing? 20? How do you pronounce this? I think it's 20. I don't know. I don't know. I think they're French. They're going there. I i think lots of you are going to win. Lots of alexander lets you have given us no reason to think that they're going to lose this game before the game at Juventus. They had 12 goals in the last three games against Nice. They put four away in a pitch that was underwater and they just showed everybody that they can also defend. I think Lancio win this game for sure.
01:17:29
Speaker
If we did a power rankings right now, I think Lotzio would be at my top four. I think they're that. We just did one a week ago. and yeah went on four or Yeah. Oh, good. they might break up higher than that i i didn were even on the po I don't know. I just feel so good about them against anybody they play. They, they, especially after the UVA game, they're just very, very good. They could go far in this competition is my point. I agree. I'm in agreement.
01:17:53
Speaker
And then going to the conference league, Fiorentina is going to say, I think it's Gallen. I think this is a- Let me tell you something. I now understand why Fiorentina is always in the conference league finals because what the fuck are these teams they play every week? Every week we got this team that we've never heard of that they're going up against. Yeah, but this one's weird because they're not going to, I presume they're not going to have some of their star players in Gominson and Keene who have been scoring a lot of goals.
01:18:22
Speaker
I mean, based on the teams that these guys have been playing, they can drop some points. We didn't even get a chance to do this though. Shout out Paladino. Good results here. Like big, big moments. We were hot. We have been questioning him big couple of weeks for him. And I'm i'm really happy that it's going this way. Cause I do love this viewer and Gina team. And I'm happy that we have a coach in Paladino who's really doing something different and it's it's nice. Agreed. Agreed. Paladino and a boy.
01:18:52
Speaker
I would just be careful, St. Gallen, one of the of those Western European teams out of Switzerland, if you can't even count Switzerland as Western European, in the middle of God knows where, those fans get rowdy. I'd be saying it, I said that about, what was it, Elford? that That Roma lost that game. I'd be careful. ti I'd be careful to Elford. Yeah.
01:19:16
Speaker
Well, that's not a good result. But he'd be saying it. of that you snake i mean say we the guys We'll be back on Wednesday breaking down what happened in some of the European games, and we'll be back to giving you the preview. And the Colpy will be back. We maybe should scrap it with how it's gone, especially Monce. You should just say, you made a money line. I don't even know who they're playing yet. They're playing Enter. I can't game this on 0. I already looked at their plus 3.10. Imagine I throw 100 on that.
01:19:43
Speaker
Well, you have you've been ah signing off the logs. Tell everybody what the hell is going on here. My Zons, it's been a pleasure. I will not be seeing you Wednesday, but my Colby leg will be featured. I will be seeing you next week. But in the meantime, you know where to find us on all the socials, X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and live on all your favorite streaming services, Apple pods and the Spotify. So with that, off to next week. Matz, one second. Matz, we should do YouTube live for interview day this weekend.
01:20:20
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry. It's on it. It's on at one o'clock on Sunday. So the issue with that is like, I'll probably have people in my apartment then. But we come yeah, but you'll have people at your apartment, too. I'll give you an update on Wednesday. I just thought about it. I want to put it on people's radar. But I want to give a quick check in on on the stats of the Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. How many subscribers on YouTube are we at now, Vos?
01:20:49
Speaker
Was it 63 subs? I think we're at 63 subs and almost 200 views on our last one, whatever it was two weeks ago. And 97, five stars on Spotify. ninety yeah And then 24, I believe we're 23 on Apple music. So we need to get the Apple, our Apple podcast. Sorry. We need to get the Apple podcasts up more, but we really appreciate the subscribes and the the five stars. Please continue to like comment on YouTube, especially because it really allows us to grow. We really appreciate it and do not be exposed and force a culture culture.