Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Free Weekly Episode - Romelu Lukaku & Inter Flop, Danilo’s Juve In Scudetto Race, Milan Collapse & Punished By Tammy Abraham’s Roma & Much More (Ep. 286)
1.6k Plays3 years ago
From Milan's defensive collapse against Tammy Abraham's Roma, Romelu Lukaku disasterclass in Inter stinker, Osimhen and Elmas star when Napoli win to Danilo's Juve in the Scudetto race to Gianluca Vialli's tragic passing and much more, Nima and Carlo break down an action-packed weekend of Italian football.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all. To listen to all full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & New Year Greetings
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. I'm Carlo Garganese, the first Monday episode of 2023. This is for all our listeners, Patreons and non-subscribers. So happy new year once again to everyone. I'm joined as always by Nima Tavalli. It's been
Serie A Weekend Recap
00:00:25
Speaker
a thrilling first week back in Serie A after the World Cup break and the Scletto race is really hot enough.
00:00:33
Speaker
We had some more thrilling and dramatic games at the top over the weekend, some incredible comeback, some crucial late goals in the race at the top. So what we're going to do is review all the weekend action and we're also going to do a special tribute to the
00:00:52
Speaker
to the amazing
Tribute to Gianluca Vialli
00:00:53
Speaker
Gianluca Vialli after his tragic passing on Friday. So yeah, lots to talk about today, but we're going to start off with the review of the weekend Serie A action. So let's get straight into it. Okay, right. So we're
Milan's Draw With Roma
00:01:10
Speaker
going to start off with Milan versus Roma Sunday evening game.
00:01:17
Speaker
Unbelievable ending to the match. Milan throwing it away again. 2-0 ahead, 2-0 up. Cruising, completely cruising. There was nothing to suggest that Milan were going to... It was 87 minutes. Milan had completely dominated. They didn't create maybe as many chances as their dominant spells suggested that they did. But there was nothing to suggest that Roma were going to get a 2-2 goal draw.
00:01:45
Speaker
were going to score twice in five or six minutes and get a draw. It was purely must be absolutely livid, because he prepared this game as well as he could, and he got them to execute it. And then due to dreadful individual defending,
00:02:03
Speaker
individual defensive errors by putting two set pieces and also to even concede that free kick was stupid. I can't believe it. I'm really stunned. I cannot understand what happened there.
00:02:20
Speaker
Roma had their first shot on goal in the 87th minute with Ibanez's header, but it's absolutely gutted for Milan to concede those two late goals, to drop two points. If we're asking the question,
00:02:37
Speaker
How did Milan throw this away? I mean, I think the big takeaway from Milan's point of view is they need to sort out their defence because if they can concede two goals in a game in which Roma didn't create anything until those close in a few minutes, if they can concede two goals in a game like that, then that's saying a lot, isn't it? And we've got to look at Milan's
00:03:04
Speaker
recent defensive record. They've got one clean sheet now in the last eight games. And if you look at what was the backbone to, I mean, they usually say defenses win you titles, win you championships. Historically, that's what it's been. I would say that's less the case now than it has been in the past because football's changed and it's become more offensive. But still, generally, having a strong defense
00:03:32
Speaker
and being solid defensively over the course of a 38 game season is absolutely paramount if you're going to go and win a league title. And we saw
Milan's Defensive Issues
00:03:43
Speaker
that when Milan
00:03:45
Speaker
during the run-in last season it was their defense that was I mean you just have a look go back and have a look and then have the stats on me but go back and have a look at how many goals Milan conceded in in the last few months of the season last season and they you know they were absolutely impenetrable basically you know and that this season like I said they conceded
00:04:05
Speaker
They're conceding too many goals. They've only got four clean sheets this season in Serie A. And while they haven't conceded a huge amount of goals, they are consistently conceding goals. And this is an issue that they need to solve if they are going to claw it back against Napoli in this good race. And we saw again in this game, I mean, two goals conceded off set pieces.
00:04:29
Speaker
you can't win titles if you're conceding goals offset pieces regularly like this and I have to single out I have to single out Tamoori because we give him enough praise all the time and I have said I've said it on this pod before you know I think I said it maybe during the Chelsea game after the Chelsea game in the group that Tamoori has a weakness he has a weakness and I can see why Gareth Southgate
00:04:54
Speaker
the reason behind Gareth Southgate not taking him to the World Cup is probably this, I would assume, and that is that he needs to improve his aerial game. I actually think he's good in the air. I think he's good in the air in the sense that he's got a good leap on him, he wins challenges in the air.
00:05:12
Speaker
The problem he has early is often he gets caught out position. He gets caught under the bull or he loses his man when a cross comes in or when there's a set piece or a corner. I've seen this quite a few too many times and we saw it again
00:05:28
Speaker
You might call it nitpicking on the corner, but again, he got caught under the ball on the corner, and then Ibanez came in and powered it in. I've seen that a lot. And then again, the second goal, again, very, very poor defending, naive defending from the youngster of ranks, giving away the free kick. And then again,
00:05:46
Speaker
Free man mass message wasn't it this the second header and then Abraham free again on the rebound. So Yeah, you've got to defend better on set pieces and in general Milan have to anyway
00:06:00
Speaker
Yes, they do need to defend better on set pieces, but the thing that gets me the most is the fact that it's such a milanari young side, and they show their inexperience at times. For example, Roma didn't create anything from open play at all throughout this game. They get a goal from a corner,
00:06:18
Speaker
And so you know and you know that me that they are good at set pieces so why ranks in that situation so ridiculously aggressive and tomorrow did as well he was also in the middle of the pitch is not a dangerous area the pitch you just need to give away free kicks like that and get booked and ranks gives away the stupid free kick which.
00:06:38
Speaker
Pellegrini mishits, but then all of a sudden, bounces off someone's back of someone's head, and it just creates complete calamity in the defence, and they just throw away two points. Again, this is a game that Milan completely dominated.
00:06:54
Speaker
Milan looked so in control, so in cruise control. I tweeted it out. I know our good friend Patrick Kendrick even said on commentary that that has to be the win when Milan scored their second goal. There was nothing to suggest that Roma were going to come back. That's how in control Milan were, and they just completely throw this out the window.
00:07:16
Speaker
throw these two points out the window. It's, again, Pioli's got to be absolutely fuming because you cannot throw away points like this.
Serie A Title Race Impact
00:07:27
Speaker
And again, I bring it down to, yes, what you said about Tomori, I think spot on. I think that's also part of the reason why maybe Southgate is a little bit, you know, iffy. Yeah, because I think with England, England are
00:07:38
Speaker
the way that England play is that they rely heavily on their ability to defend aerial balls, because they counter attack and because they defend a bit deeper, they're going to concede balls into the box and crosses into the box. I don't agree with that style of play, especially with the talent that England have got, but whatever, this is how Southgate plays.
00:08:02
Speaker
I can kind of, I mean, I'm assuming we don't know if this is the reason, but I think that that is why I think he's noticed. I think he's noticed the weakness.
00:08:10
Speaker
in Tamori from an aerial point of view and he thought you know what the way that I play the way that England plays you know I don't trust him and you can kind of understand why. You can understand why and also if you look at how he plays with a back three with Harry Maguire as one of those and all three of them are good in the air so that's completely consistent with that but for me it was more than that more than that as well it's the lack of
00:08:32
Speaker
experience that Milan showed in this game and they are a young side and they have to learn but it was to me this is this is it's almost unforgivable you don't you can't throw away points like this uh if you if you're going to win the title and and yeah it is huge two points dropped you know now you know seven points clear of both Juve and Milan and they play Juve at the Maradona next week so
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we'll come on to Inter. We'll come on to Inter after, but I do think there are similarities. Both teams will be really, really frustrated in the sense that Napoli dropped those three points during midweek. And they couldn't cut the line. And, you know, Milan, like Inter,
00:09:11
Speaker
you know, I mean, Milan would have been minus five with me minus five on Napoli, with Napoli possibly dropping points to Juventus, they might win that game, but there's a good chance. There's a good possibility more than there is so in most other games, but Napoli to drop points again, and then that minus five could go down to minus three could even go down to minus two. And then they're wow, they're bang, they're right here, you know, Napoli are under pressure and
00:09:35
Speaker
So Napoli can even afford to, it just takes the pressure off Napoli because Napoli could even potentially afford to draw with Juventus, maintain their healthy lead over Juventus, maintain their healthy lead over Inter, even if Inter were to draw, even if Inter were to win their next game, which they should do.
Napoli's Performance & Title Lead
00:09:53
Speaker
you know, and then they're, and then they're, you know, they're, they're, they're five, they're still five points over Milan, they still got a nice little, you know, decent little lead there. So it takes the pressure off, off, off that plane, it's unforgivable, you can't, you can't throw away two points when you're tuning it up with
00:10:10
Speaker
with three minutes to go. And when you've dominated the way you did. But speaking of defense, one defender, what a success story, though, Kalulu. I mean, this is a guy that they just brought in to fill up the numbers pretty much. And he's turning out to be a French international. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah.
00:10:28
Speaker
Yeah, he did very well. He scored a goal. He also did one really great goal-saving block from across. So we have to give him praise. And also the fact that he can play as a right as a full back as well as a central defender. Yeah, I'm not a fan of him a full back to be honest with you, but I think that he's very useful as a
00:10:46
Speaker
in this Milan system in as well. But you know, if they want to go to a back three, you know, he can, he can, he can manage that is the right side is sent back definitely agree. But, but yeah, I mean, yeah, I also want to give, I want to give some praise to Pobego as well. I think he's very, very, I think he's very, very underrated. I've seen some people being critical of purely saying that, you know, Milan lost control by taking Benacer off and that
00:11:11
Speaker
you know they shouldn't have taken
Roma's Resilience Against Big Teams
00:11:12
Speaker
him off because he's on a yellow which I kind of agree conceptually that you shouldn't just take a player off because they're on a yellow card unless they really are at risk of
00:11:20
Speaker
of, you know, of getting sent off. But I don't think he really was at risk of getting sent off. But, you know, I thought Pobega did well when he came up with Milan to maintain their control after Pobega came on. He obviously got the second goal. I just think that they just defended two set pieces badly. It was simple as that. It wasn't that Roma were pinning them back and that they were pepper in the goal. They weren't doing anything. They just got two set pieces. They got a corner and a free kick and they crossed it in the box and they scored from it. It was nothing.
00:11:48
Speaker
There was nothing tactically that changed about the game. I kind of disagree with that a little bit. I think you are right. But I do think that when Tahirovic came on for Roma, and after Milan scored the second goal, the attitude changed at Roma. They started pushing up. They were more aggressive. They started pushing higher up.
00:12:07
Speaker
It was like they were playing with the breaks in for 86, 87 minutes or for 80 something minutes and they kind of let that go afterwards. They didn't create anything of substance if we're perfectly honest, but there was a different approach, a different mentality and a different aggression from Roma. But yeah, and there's no doubt about that. I think Roma will definitely feel they smash and grabbed to a point for sure. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, from the Roma point of view,
00:12:36
Speaker
I mean, again, I've no idea how they got a tour out of this. You know, it's going to be spun. Mourinho, of course, I know he wasn't on the bench, but he's going to spin it in such a way that, you know, this showed a great reaction from his team. This shows the Mourinho mentality that he's brought to this team. And, you know, it wasn't there. You know, I mean, I don't know whether that how much of this is down to him changing the mentality and how much of this was just down to
00:13:00
Speaker
a bit of fortune, a bit of bad defending from Milan, you know, maybe there's a bit of both there. One thing we can probably praise Roma, and there's definitely, they have moved forward, is that, you know, this season they've got results against Milan, Inter and Juventus, all of the big three. When was the last time that that's happened? I mean, they've become a joke, didn't it, Roma, how they could never get against big games, they can never get any results. Well, this season they've beaten Inter,
00:13:29
Speaker
away, and they've drawn Milan away, and they've drawn Juvo away. They drew with Juventus away. Yes, a three away matches. I mean, that's good. You've got to give them credit for that. And the game against Napoli was really decided on individual brilliance by Oceman. I mean, that's right. Yeah. And it was a late goal as well. They are performing in big games. Yeah, they're doing better in the big games. At least they're competitive in the big games. And you know what? Even to be honest with you, even in this game, even though Roma didn't create anything,
00:13:57
Speaker
Actually, Milan didn't create much either. If we're really honest, they didn't create much. I'm looking at the XG now. I'm looking at the XG. The XG was... So Roma actually had a higher XG than Milan. 1.09 to 1.11. And Milan's goals, what did they come off? One was a... Kaluli was off a corner, right? And so they scored up a set piece as well. And the second one was, I guess, okay, Roma were pushing forward and they caught him on the counter.
00:14:22
Speaker
I would read too much into that XG thing simply because of the fact that the Darmian chance that he squandered against Napoli was only 10.16 XG. That to me is like the way they calculate that is a bit flawed. But I do think it's a useful tool to show
00:14:37
Speaker
how many chances. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, go through it. I mean, tell me what were the big chances Milan had in this game. That's what I'm glad you brought that up because that's something I wanted to discuss. And that is the fact that Rafael Liao is so wasteful in decisive challenge, in the decisive moments, not just in terms of his finishing on goal, but also crosses. And it's, it's like,
00:14:59
Speaker
That is so inconsistent in the final third, and that's crazy given that he made another assist and he's one of the top goals and assists and points producers in attacking the Serie A that I'm saying this. But if you look at the sheer number of chances and the sheer number of
00:15:16
Speaker
attacks that Milan have that go through him, and how many he squanders a game, you can't do that when you're a top player. And I do consider Liao to be a top player, a potential world-class top three Krem de la Krem player. And he needs to cut that out, and he needs to get that out of his game.
00:15:36
Speaker
When you think that he's ironing out the inconsistencies with his final ball and his final finish, they kind of creep back into his game. You've seen that this season. You think they're starting to be ironed out and that he's becoming that world-class player, which the world-class players don't have those inconsistencies.
00:15:55
Speaker
That's the difference between the very, very top players and just the top players. But he's still got an assist. We've got to give him credit for that. Let's remember, I don't think Liao is the finished product. He is definitely still a diamond in the rough in many regards. And this is one of those aspects, isn't it?
00:16:12
Speaker
I would say Milan also maybe tired a little bit at the end. I think all the teams are tired and this is where the squads are going to come into it. And Milan right now, although they have all their first choice players played, they do have a lot of injuries to the squad members. And that can play its part when you're playing so regularly, which is going to happen now, because we're not even halfway in the state in the season yet. We're not even starting to knock out the Champions League. We're not even starting the Coppa Italia at all for the big teams. So the squads are going to come into it. Milan do need to get some of their
00:16:40
Speaker
One plays back, but from Roma's point of view, from Roma's point of view,
00:16:45
Speaker
Can I just say one point I want to make about Roma? The point about the attack that we've raised that time and time against, there's no point going over that. But Roma need to buy a new goalkeeper. They need to buy a new goalkeeper. Rui Patricio is a disaster. And that first goal, he should have saved. It was a simple save, really, for a Serie A level goalkeeper. Well, it's also the defenders, Roger Ibanez, again, I'm sorry. He's just not good enough for a team that wants to challenge for the top four. I think it's a goalkeeping issue.
00:17:15
Speaker
I think it's a defender issue. I do think that they need to consider the Zagnolo because he was dreadful again. He's clearly not, it's not working for him. What do they do there? I do. Patricio, but Rui Patricio, last season he did well. I thought he was, I thought he was pretty good.
00:17:32
Speaker
showed all of his experience. This season he's been a disaster. I looked up at the stats before this game. The updated stats hadn't come by at the end of the game. But his expected goals against before this game was 10 and he conceded
00:17:51
Speaker
He
Goalkeeping & Defense: Milan vs Roma
00:17:52
Speaker
has the lowest number of big saves in Serie A this season out of all the regular goalkeepers.
00:18:09
Speaker
14th for shot save percentage. Shot save percentage is not always the best barometer for goalkeepers because it depends on how many saves you get. But certainly that low number, the lowest number of big saves is very telling and the fact that Roma are conceding way over
00:18:26
Speaker
their expected goals against. And again, we saw in this game, you know, that that first goal should have should have saved it. He should have saved it. And that was at a time when up until that point, there had not even been a single chance in the game. So, you know, this is what these are the things that condition games as a Roma. So does. So does. Let's be honest. Tata Rusano, God bless. I mean, yikes. Yeah, but I don't think I don't think you can blame him. You can't blame him on any of the goals. But I think the first goal is he looks like he's
00:18:54
Speaker
hanging, as we say in Swedish, looks like he's hanging laundry. Like he's just out there walking around. Yeah, but you're not saving that. That was an absolute bully. Yeah. You're not saving that. No goldkeeper in the world is saving that. I think the only thing I would say is that with Mike Manion, maybe he organizes defense, maybe he thinks the more calm to defend, you know, the commands of the defense.
00:19:12
Speaker
So there's that and that makes more of a difference. You don't have that presence and it intimidates the opposition as well. Just one final point on Roma and of course Daniela being poor.
Tammy Abraham & Mourinho's Future
00:19:24
Speaker
Tammy Abraham, I mean he has struggled and he is struggling but these last two games he saved a certain goal to win the game against Bologna and now he scores an all-important
00:19:35
Speaker
2-2 for Roma. I mean, this is important. And he's a young player. He's still developing. He's not the finished product. I still think that he will leave in the summer. I think something will have to happen because I don't think... either... Mourinho will demand something in the summer. I think he will be like, look, you need to invest if you want me here to win something and to make the top four. And whether or not, you know, Tammy stays,
00:20:04
Speaker
I'm not so sure. I think there's a lot of question marks at Rome. I mean, I'm not even sure of Mourinho's days. Let's remember he signed a three-year contract. He'll be two-thirds out of that, into that, this summer. And Mourinho will... The next months will determine Mourinho's future. At least we know he's not going to Portugal now, because it's going to Roberto Martínez.
00:20:24
Speaker
If we're talking...
Roberto Martinez's Portugal Role
00:20:26
Speaker
He really is the Harry Maguire of football management, isn't he? I mean, it's like he really is failing upwards all the time. I don't understand who, how does this guy keep getting these hyped ones? Must have the same agent as Paredes.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy. It's my conspiracy theory. Pareles and Roberto Martinez careers in coaching and as players, it's a money laundering scheme. One day it will come out. Yeah, it will. OK, let's move on from one Milanese team throwing it all away to another another team, another Milanese team throwing it all away. And that is, of course,
Inter's Struggles & Lukaku's Form
00:21:08
Speaker
Inter, who were seconds away from a
00:21:11
Speaker
from a vital if probably undeserved win against Monza 2-1 up and then they concede right at the end to draw 2-2 and as I just said before the same as Milan you know this you know having I mean it's so frustrating must be so frustrating as an Interfan Nima that you beat Napoli you get it down to seven points
00:21:35
Speaker
you know you're playing before Napoli play their game as well you have the chance to get it down to four points and put yourselves right in the Scudetta race with Napoli playing against Juventus this coming Friday and then you throw it all away and now you're back to 10 points I mean
00:21:50
Speaker
Look, the Monza game for me showed many things. I think it's... Inter were dreadful throughout. This was one of the... I said after the Napoli game and I stand by that, that was one of the best games, that was the best performance under Inzagi. This was one of the worst.
00:22:10
Speaker
the team was completely not there. There wasn't a tactical issue. This was a team that every single player was just off their game. They looked tired. Chala Nogla and Barilla came off, complained, asked to be brought off because of an injury. Edin Jeko looked cooked. Francesco Acherbi looked cooked.
00:22:30
Speaker
Mikitarian had his worst performance in an inter-game and I think he's been really good and consistent, but this was dreadful. He looked exhausted as well. Lautaro, Darmián and Bastoni, Onana, they're the most positive ones, but they were also not very good. Maybe Darmián and Bastoni and Onana, really.
00:22:49
Speaker
But I would be more annoyed if I were a Milan fan, because Milan dominated Roma for 87 minutes. Inter were dreadful. And Monta deserved their draw. Yes, there's no doubt about that. That was an absolute refereeing scandal on par with what happened to Milan Spezia. That goal should have stood. Gianluca Saki, Juan Lucas Saki, embarrassed him, so it was dreadful refereeing. But it doesn't matter, because Inter were dreadful for 90 minutes plus at a time. Absolutely unwatchable.
00:23:19
Speaker
And to me, what's really worrying is that it didn't matter what Nzagi did. He brought on Romelu Lukaku, who managed in 35 minutes to pull up the worst performance in the last decade and a half of any inter striker. And I'm including Marco Livaya, Thomas Rocky, you know, the banter. He was he looked like a retired footballer.
00:23:46
Speaker
Belfodil, exactly. Romelu Lukaku. That was way, way earlier than that. But Darko Pancho was a quality plane, just didn't do well at Inter, won the European Cup. But look,
00:23:59
Speaker
Romelu Lukaku looked like a retired footballer of 10 years, who was playing an exhibition match, trying to raise funds for challenge. We'll come on to Lukaku, that we've got a second one. We'll leave Lukaku alone. No, I'm going to leave him alone for now. But every single one he brought on, and every single player he brought on did not improve it. Galiardini is not good enough. Aslani is not the finished product.
00:24:23
Speaker
But the thing that pisses me off is how the experienced players let Inter down. Mikitarian, I mean, doing a sombrero in the 93rd minute in midfield, losing possession, which led to the equalizer, is so stupid. It wasn't necessarily as Mikitarian doing the sombrero. And then you've got Denzel Dunfries, who, I mean, he's becoming a meme now.
00:24:50
Speaker
that Luca Calderola, former interplayer, not a very good central defender, or has not had a very great career, had some few decent years in the site of Bundesliga and the Bundesliga as well. Now, that cross was telegraphed in last week's gazeta that it was going to come.
00:25:08
Speaker
Denzel Dumfries, if you look at that, he waits and waits and waits until Calderola is firmly up in the air, then decides to jump into his chest, Calderola botches the header, it bounces off of Dumfries and then goes into the corner where Anana can't save it. I mean, again, the experienced players, the players that are supposed to deliver now and lead this inter, every single one of them let inter down. It wasn't a tactical issue because
00:25:37
Speaker
tactically, I can't point to, well, if you've done this differently. No, this was just one of those days where Intel's lack of quality showed. I'm sorry, but it's 2023 and your key players are Francesco Acherbi, Mikitarian, Edin Jeko,
00:25:58
Speaker
and Denzel Dumfries and Romelu Lukaku. How do you explain going from that performance against Napoli? Because that's what inconsistent mediocre teams do. They can pull off something fantastic and beat the league leaders convincingly, but they can't maintain that consistency. And that's what Inter are. I'm sorry, but the table doesn't lie. You know, it's 17 games, five losses, one defeat,
00:26:25
Speaker
In what galaxy is this team going to win the Serie A? It's just on papers. Yes, on paper I had Inter before the season started winning the Serie A. But games aren't played on paper. They're played on the pitch. And evidently, Inter are not good enough to win the Serie A. It's as simple as that. And evidently, Inter have five quality players, if you ask me, top-class players. Lautaro, Brozovic, Scrinyar, Barrella,
00:26:53
Speaker
Lautaro, Scrinyard, Brozovic, Barella, and Bastoni. These are the five players that interact that are top class. They have a few players like Charlanoglou, Onana, and DiMarco, who are good, high quality level, but they're not world class, top class yet. The rest of them are either poor or way past it.
00:27:15
Speaker
And you can't count on them to be your starting key players in 2023 in a team that supposedly wants to win the Serie A. I'm sorry, but that goes back to the management. And I want to come back to that as well. It comes back to this. Again, there are three latest marquee signings, Correa, Gossens, Lukaku, in a situation where they have no money to spend either.
00:27:36
Speaker
is unacceptable from top to bottom, unacceptable. The Sooning Inter project is dead. Let's not kid ourselves. Let's be honest what we're seeing here. What we're doing now is damage control. It's damage control and you don't win titles with damage control.
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. OK, well, listen, if I can if I can narrow this down away from the bigger picture of it into this game and I look at what went wrong for Intel, there's two things I want to raise to try and explain it. First of all, I think Intel looked tired in the second half, especially they they looked out on their feet. I mean, they were they were they had no energy, no intensity. You know, Monza were first to every single ball. Monza wanted it more than them. I think that probably playing three days earlier,
00:28:24
Speaker
in such an intense game against Napoli.
00:28:29
Speaker
as well
00:28:59
Speaker
You know, Jeko, we hailed him for his fantastic performance against Napoli and winning them the game. He's 37 in two months. You can't play these kind of players twice in three days. You need to rotate, you need to rest these players and play them once a week. I would add, not to... A Cherby. A Cherby was absolutely magnificent against Napoli. But he's 35 now, I think. He's about to turn 35.
00:29:29
Speaker
Again, you know, you're playing plays like a chirby, you know, in an intense game against Napoli, then you're playing again, three days later, you know, that's exactly the point as well. You know, that's exactly my point. That's what players are. These are your key players in 2023. Yeah. So so I think that tiredness came into it. But the other the other point that I would raise is
00:29:50
Speaker
are Inter becoming too counter-attack. He was trying to be more
00:30:06
Speaker
you know, trying to be a little bit more, you know, modernise their game and being a little bit more of a high press earlier on in the season. It wasn't working until we're losing a lot of games. Then he's pulled the defensive line back a little bit more, kind of like Antonio Conte did during the Scudetto winning season. And it started yielding some good results. It started to, you know, it's obviously got a fantastic, brilliant win, kind of using this tactic against Napoli and Barcelona.
00:30:30
Speaker
and Barcelona as well, but you know, if we're going back three days and we're trying to explain the difference between winning and then to Napoli and then somehow not being able to speak Monza, you know, I think that, you know, the counterattacking, this kind of counterattacking system, it isn't going to work as well. I think it is going to work. It's against small teams, no. No, it is going to work. The issue was not a tactical one. Well, it didn't work because when you've got 11 players who don't perform, you're not going to win football games, doesn't matter who you are. But it's not a tactical issue here.
00:31:00
Speaker
I think in this game, you look at the second half, they interconceded way too much possession. They were pegged back by Monza. You know, you shouldn't be getting pegged back. This is the kind of thing that I will. You should be creating. This is the kind of stuff that I criticize Allegri for, playing like a small, having a small team mentality against small teams. You know, I want you to take
00:31:20
Speaker
boss the game against these kind of levels. In order to do that, the 11 players on the pitch Inter had at best nine. Romelu Lukaku was at best a passenger. I don't know what he was. He was an old age pensioner who had suffered from dementia, had wandered onto the pitch and didn't know what he was doing. I mean, what is he supposed to do?
00:31:39
Speaker
We're talking about the mentality of the team. It's not a mentality problem. When your marquee signings, two of them, one of them is known for just pretending to do assados. The other one is a German who's been complaining about not getting playing time and not being good enough and he's being benched by DeMarco. I want Inter to dominate possession against Monday.
00:31:59
Speaker
I don't care about that. Max Allegri's won eight games in a row, winning 1-0, 1-0, and he's not conceded anything, and he's second in the league. I don't care about these things. They got knocked out at the Champions League with three points from six games.
00:32:14
Speaker
Congratulations. It's about winning trophies. I'd rather get knocked out in the group stages of the Champions League and win trophies. We'll see if he wins trophies. I'm raising a question. I think counter-attacking, this kind of counter-attacking football against small teams doesn't work as well. That's a fact.
00:32:34
Speaker
Depends on your personnel. Do you have the right players for it? And on paper, Inter have the personnel. This squad is built to play that kind of football. The problem is that the players that he's got are simply not good enough at this moment. The key players are too old or out of form and not delivering.
00:32:53
Speaker
And what I mean by that is the key players, through no fault of their own, are Francesco Acherbi, because Stefan Defray is completely burnt out, as Inter fans on Twitter call him, Defrayed. Like, that's how bad he is. And then you've got Romelu Lukaku, if Defrayed is fried, I don't know what to call Romelu Lukaku. Or Joaquin Correa, who is a meme. Well, let's move on to Romelu Lukaku now, because this, I mean,
00:33:21
Speaker
He's had many, many meme-worthy moments during his career, Romelu Lukaku. But I think there was one moment in this game, it was in the 91st minute. Interrelating 2-1, Gosens picks up, has a throw-in by the left corner flag, the Monza corner flag, in the Monza penalty area.
00:33:43
Speaker
He throws it to Lukaku, simple control, and he thinks he comes off his knee and goes straight out of play. I mean... I think Jeko's laughing. The camera goes to Jeko, who's on the interbench, and he's absolutely pissing himself. And that's the second time that happened this week, because Cholito Simeone, that happened against Napo, and Cholito Simeone was broken on the floor.
00:34:05
Speaker
It's embarrassing. I mean, if there's any one moment that could sum up like the worst of Lukaku's career, it was that moment. And if there was any one game that could sum up all the bad things of Lukaku's career, it was this game. And we were chatting after the game, was it? And I raised the question, was this the worst performance by Lukaku in his entire career? And I think potentially it was.
00:34:30
Speaker
Yes, I think he was. I've never seen him. I mean, 35 minutes where he... Again, I don't care about the first touch. That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about not winning a single ball, not being able to hold up the ball. Won no duels, had no shots on goal, didn't create a single chance.
00:34:53
Speaker
The body language on the pitch, jogging around, running into Lautaro Martinez's way a couple of times, it was comedic. It should have been the intro to Curb Your Enthusiasm. That's what you should have been playing. Those 35 minutes should just be on loop, Curb Your Enthusiasm outro. That's how it was. It was embarrassing. It was an absolute embarrassment.
00:35:14
Speaker
and the thing that drives me up the walls is how everyone enters, running interference and protecting this guy, saying that he works so hard in training, he'll get it to go. I don't care how hard he works in training. It's clearly not working. Whatever he's doing is not enough. I'm sorry, but I've come to the conclusion, and I hope I'm wrong. I'll gladly raise my hand up and say I'm wrong. I was wrong.
00:35:38
Speaker
I think he's finished at the top level. I think it's obvious that he's finished at the top level. If you look at how young he was when he first burst onto the scene, and if you look at his career, he's always scored goals, but he's only ever been a top-class striker, a world-class striker for two seasons when he had a drill sergeant in Antonio Conte who told him when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat, when to shit, when to piss, when to breathe, when to inhale, when to exhale.
00:36:08
Speaker
But Simonian Zag is not going to do that. And no one else is either.
00:36:13
Speaker
And he would have missed the toilet if he went for a shit after his game. Exactly. It's embarrassing. It's absolutely embarrassing. And now, again, we wake up to the news that against Napoli, he complained of an inflammation of a tendon. And he's got an inflammation in his knee, according to Di Marzio. He's going to miss the game against Parma. Look, his body is clearly not working. And I think what Jacques Talbot said when he was on our show last week, we were all a bit taken aback.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yes, I think Saudi Arabia and the MLS is on the cards here, because unless something dramatic, drastic changes over the next two, three months, and I've got to be honest with you, I don't see it. I just don't see it. I see a player that is so... It's like...
00:36:58
Speaker
He's peaked. I think it's again, it's another hand down of its situation. It's another defrai situation. It's a big step. It's a big, big statement to make that, you know, he's finished. He's finished. I mean, yes, I'm saying he's finished as a work. He will never, ever be a world class number nine. Was he ever a world class number? Under Antonio Conte he was. Under Antonio Conte, those two seasons, he was one of the best number nine. I didn't say he was the best. He was one of the best in the world. And that's why Chelsea paid almost 100 million pounds for him.
00:37:28
Speaker
But after that, I'm sorry. For me, I just don't see it. I don't think it's a mental issue, or it could be that as well. I mean, he doesn't seem that interested either. I think he is interested. I think he does want it. I just think that maybe, I mean, I raised this question at the beginning of the season, didn't I? I said, remember I said it.
00:37:52
Speaker
Do you remember when I said it at the start of the season and I said, is his body breaking down? I asked that question and I said, well, the next few months we'll answer that question. So far, yeah, everything that we've seen from August till January, you know, it does seem like his body is breaking down. And, you know, you look at the number of injuries, I think he's had 355 minutes of football this season. He's only scored two goals. One of them is only one in Serie A, one was
00:38:19
Speaker
in the Champions League in a threat, they were already, was it three or four goals up against Victoria Peltson? Yeah, Victoria Peltson, yeah. And then he got injured immediately afterwards. Yeah, so he really has offered nothing but he's getting so many injuries and the problem with Lukaku is, and we've seen this throughout his career, is that he always needs four or five games of 90 minutes in a row.
00:38:46
Speaker
to build up his form because he's such a big guy and he's so big built. You can't just put him in after a period of inactivity and he just gets straight back to his best. It just doesn't work with him. And the problem is he can't get a run of games. He can't get a run of even two, three games in a row because he just keeps getting another little injury, another little injury.
00:39:11
Speaker
And now he's got this, so he's now got another injury now. That's going to set him back even further. It's going to take another four or five games. And it's just, you know, it's just, it's just, it's just a never ending loop really fully. It is an ending loop and, and it's putting inter again.
00:39:27
Speaker
they keep consistently making big losing bets. They placed a big losing bet on Correa, they've placed a big losing bet on Lukaku so far, and Gossens as well, although I think we'll see what happens there.
00:39:44
Speaker
But because I think he's been useful this season when he's played, even though it's a peripheral role. But still, these are the big money, big marquee signings, and they've all pretty much been flops. It's 0 for 3. And that's unacceptable when you're in Inter's financial situation, when you have that predicament to miss, go 0 for 3. The family Lukaku right now looks short in every single area of the game. He looks horribly short technically, as bad technically. I mean, he's always been
00:40:10
Speaker
mocked throughout his career for his poor first such a set for a
00:40:14
Speaker
a period under Conte, where Conte seemed to almost cure him of that for a while, where he was actually receiving the ball, he was back to goal. Because he was controlling him. Which was a miracle, really, from Conte. But then as soon as he went back to Chelsea, he kind of went back to his old ways. And then now we've seen even back at Inter, I mean, his touch this season, but his touch in this game, wow, 15 touches in this game, 35 minutes, lost it 10 times. And, you know, there was one moment where he missed control.
00:40:43
Speaker
Have you ever seen an elephant turn on like BBC World, like BBC Earth? That's how it looked like. Every single time he received the ball, have you ever seen an elephant try to turn around? That's how it looked. That's how slow he looked. That's how smooth he was. It's unbelievable.
00:41:02
Speaker
It's not just technically, it's physically. I'm not talking about technically. It's everything. Technically, physically, and mentally as well. Mentally as well, because mentally, you say he wants it. Yeah, I'm sure he wants it. I mean, he wants it the same way I want a six pack, but I'm not working for it. If he didn't want things, but he also got to do something for it, and he's not doing it.
00:41:22
Speaker
Well, I suppose you should mention that actually about not having a six-pack because in the game against Napoli, he actually looked, I thought he did all right against Napoli actually, but against Napoli, he looked as ripped as I've ever seen him. He looked like he'd lost a lot of weight. He didn't look heavy, which he has done earlier on in the season. He looked like it obviously over Christmas, he'd been working really, really hard to lose weight.
00:41:47
Speaker
Then I see him three days later in the space of three days. He's like put on half a stone. I was like, what is going on? I know that some people have got fast metabolism, some have got slow metabolism, but Lukaku, I mean, what is going on? What did he do in the space of three days?
00:42:04
Speaker
He looked bloated and he looked slow and it was horrible. It's like honey I blew up the kids. It really was like one of the... I love these 80s and 90s. I don't want a fat shame. It's not fat. We're not saying fat. We're talking about professional football here. It's getting paid a hell of a lot of money.
00:42:27
Speaker
and you cannot, I'm sorry, you cannot go from looking as ripped as hell against Napoli to three days later looking overweight. I mean, it doesn't, for me, it doesn't make any sense.
00:42:41
Speaker
Gosh, let's move on. We don't want to know any more about that. OK, so the big winners, obviously, from Milan and from Inter, throwing it away at the end, was of course Napoli, who responded to that Inter defeat with a comfortable win.
Napoli's Recovery & Key Players
00:43:00
Speaker
Not too much to say about this game other than, I mean, I want to single out two players.
00:43:05
Speaker
Victor Osseman, I mean, he's becoming the leader, if not the leader of Napoli now. And, you know, he got Napoli out of a, you know, what could have been a tricky situation after they missed that early penalty? It could have been mentally really a big blow for them.
00:43:23
Speaker
you know he got that goal and he you know he was he wants it so badly he's such a pain in the ass for the fenders he's on you all the time uh great goal got Rincon sense off as well so i mean he was the key man in this game and also when i single out maria we've got the assist for that first goal and he's got seven assists this season um only milinkovich savage has more assists than seria he's become quite the offensive weapon it's so funny because he was like
00:43:48
Speaker
everyone was thinking, you know, I remember we were all talking about it, Napoli fans, everyone watching Napoli were like saying, okay, well then they need to, they really need to strengthen that. Yeah, they had a full back and they did with Oliveira. And then instead Ruiz just upped his game and been really, really good this season. It's really, it's really interesting to see. But for me, Elmas again, like this guy, what, I mean, again, with the Spaletti and developing players,
00:44:11
Speaker
Well, he's done with Labotka and and so versatile because he's playing as a left-winger and he can play anywhere pretty much. He can make midfield as well. And it's like he he's that's where he started. He's played instead of Zielinski, didn't he? Originally.
00:44:27
Speaker
He's become useful. He's become a useful weapon because Kvadat's scaler, if we're going to talk about a negative Kvadat's scaler, he's not at it yet. He's not quite at it yet. He was completely taken out of the game against Inter and in this game, he was just... He's not informed.
00:44:44
Speaker
I think it's impossible. He wasn't awful. He's not quite asset. He's not quite there right now. There's a bit left. He's a little bit out of form. And I think he's still a young player. We need to remember that. And this is his first big season at one of the top five clubs. So top five leagues in an Napoli leading the Serie A. So I'm willing to cut him some slack there. But for me, what I found important for Napoli
00:45:14
Speaker
is that they were able to handle a tricky situation. That was not an easy ground to go to, raining, heavy pitch, miss a penalty. Those are the kinds of games where Napoli before used to drop points. An emotional occasion as well. Yeah, an emotional occasion. Stuff before the game was beautiful, by the way. Yeah, it really was. So there's a side note. But yeah, it wasn't an easy game. But once they got going, once they got the goal, they were in complete control. A little bit wasteful in front of goal, to be honest with you. They need to improve that.
00:45:42
Speaker
The only other point we want to make is the penalties. They need to pick a bloody penalty taker. What's going on this season? Every single game they change the penalty. I think go with Oseman, even if he misses, go with Oseman. Or if Elmas is on the pitch, then he takes them. Do something like that, because it's this rotating nonsense. Why does Kavada take it? Surely Kavada just would be the obvious one, wouldn't he?
00:46:09
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe we haven't seen somebody can train in. I don't know. They need to pick a penalty penalty table. They must have had about five or six penalty tables this season, and they've missed probably half of them. And that is going to cost them. It could cost them in the Champions League, for example, in the Champions League.
00:46:27
Speaker
If it goes, they might get a penalty shoot in a Champions League. They need to bloody sort out their penalty takers. What is going on is it seems to be a bit chaotic at the moment. The only other thing to take away from a Sampdoria point of view, I thought Sampdoria
Sampdoria's Relegation Battle
00:46:41
Speaker
This was not the game they're supposed to pick up points in. They did win midweek, and that was important for them. I thought this was a decent, given that it's a top side against the bottom side, I thought it was a decent performance. I think that Rincon sending off sent killed the game off effectively. To me, that is a clear red card. I don't understand.
00:47:07
Speaker
what the supposed controversy is even about. It's equally a dog-so as it is like it's dangerous play.
00:47:17
Speaker
I think because it was on the angle, there was more debate on the doxo, as you call it. I love that name, by the way. But as for the, I mean, it was dangerous play, to be honest. I thought the first penalty was clear. I thought the first penalty was clear.
00:47:38
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, just stamped on him clearly. I mean, so, you know, I thought that the last one was a little bit was a little bit unlucky, unlucky, maybe the word not necessarily correct. It comes down again to and I want to debate this later. There's a little bit again, it comes down to the debate I make about, you know,
00:47:59
Speaker
penalties. There's too many penalties that are given nowadays, for incidents that are not going to lead to chances or goals. So that's another debate to have. I didn't really discuss that. I can't remember when we did, about the penalty box and all that.
00:48:13
Speaker
Yeah, but I want to come to that late because there was in another game, there was a penalty incident. No, but look, I think Sampdoria, I think they can get relegated for sure, but this was not the game they needed to win. And again, 17 games in, we're not even halfway through. There is time. Six points is not impossible. No, but they do need to find goals somewhere. Eight goals in 17 games. I mean, they're just going down.
00:48:40
Speaker
They're not staying up, so they have to find someone. They need to buy someone a goalscorer or two in January or find some kind of miracle coach to bring the goals out of the current players. Let's move on to Juventus now. Eight
Juventus' Late Goals & Title Strategy
00:48:55
Speaker
wins in a row now against Udinese. Eight clean sheets in a row.
00:49:00
Speaker
When I was saying to a friend, when I was growing up, there used to be a chart, one nil to the Arsenal, one nil to the Arsenal. George Graham's Arsenal. Yeah, the George Graham Arsenal. There needs to be a new chart for one nil to the UBay.
00:49:16
Speaker
is five of those eight wins have been have been one nil and it's um yeah it's just going on and on i mean i actually thought this was a much better performance than the creminese one against creminese against creminese uh they were absolutely dreadful and just purely lucky to win that game um this game i think they deserve to win it i know they scored the late goal
00:49:35
Speaker
um and they didn't create loads but they they i think they created enough to to deserve to win this game and um but you know they're it just i don't know at the moment with Juventus it's even without playing well of course it just everything just seems quite inevitable with with you they're scoring so many late goals and there's one thing you know i know i like it's classic UVA
00:49:56
Speaker
I know I like to put it so it's allegory, but allegory has certainly strengthened the mentality of this team. And that is shown by late goals. Because if you score in late goals, then that is a mentality thing. You can't just always call it like, I know that the UVA haters, the same as with the Man United haters back in the Fergie time days, would always say, oh, Man United, Juventus are so lucky. They always score late goals. That does come down to mentality thing. And, you know, if you look at their recent run, 85th minute winner versus Udinezi, 90th minute winner versus Cremonese,
00:50:26
Speaker
seventy-third minute winner vs Lecce, seventy-fourth minute winner vs Torino. Eight of Juventus' fourteen goals during this eight-game run have come in the last twenty minutes. That's classic Juve. All I'm hearing is Juve going back to being Juve under
00:50:42
Speaker
Allegri, who knows what that means and has been there before and is instilling it in a young squad whilst getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. I mean, the fact that they barely concede any goals, they don't score many, but they win 1-0. And that's all that matters. And that is the UVA way. This notion, I mean, every club has its identity in DNA.
00:51:05
Speaker
Milan have always been the entertainers of champagne football. You have never played champagne football in my lifetime. The only thing that matters is to win. That's the only thing that matters. Full stop. And he's instilling that in this team and in these players. And he's getting it. And people are upset because it's not beautiful and blah, blah, blah.
00:51:28
Speaker
But still, look, these seven points off Napoli in second place shared, you know, third because they, you know, they lost to Mila.
00:51:38
Speaker
Or did they list in Milan? They did list in Milan. They drew. They drew, didn't they? Yeah, I was going to say, yeah. Now, they're on the same points with Milan. They're off by seven points. And he could... They're three points above Inter. Yeah. And they could beat... I mean, they've jumped from the top four. They've jumped from the top four now. And they're looking solid for top four. No, and if they beat Napoli away, which is not impossible... That's the key. Listen, this is the key. This is the key because, you know, Napoli is...
00:52:05
Speaker
you know, is the big one. Napoli is the big one, is the big one. I mean, I think that Napoli have a bit of the pressure taken off now because of Milan and Intel's results. I think if Milan were five points behind them and they went into this game, then I think that puts more pressure on because then they're kind of stuck between, do we really go for it?
00:52:26
Speaker
and try and win this game to maintain that five-point gap. Whereas now, they can be a little bit more relaxed knowing, we can go and play our game against Juventus, but if we get a draw, it's not the end of the world. Do you know what I mean? We'll maintain a seven-point gap over Juventus. So I think that's a good thing for Napoli.
00:52:46
Speaker
But from the event's point of view, I mean, yeah, they put themselves in a position now where, you know, they can win this game. They're in it. And then they're right in it because, or more so because I think that Napoli, the pressure will really get on Napoli. And it's Juve as well. This isn't good on Milan chasing them, it's Juve chasing them. And it's like,
00:53:07
Speaker
There's a mental aspect to that. Also with Juventus not being the Champions League and being in the Europa, that's obviously going to help as well because they can just play their reserves in the Europa. So yeah, this is going to be an absolutely fascinating game. I think you still have to favour it for Napoli because they're a better team, they play better football. But you can't deny Juventus' eight-game winning run.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be it's going to be absolutely great game on Friday. Absolutely. The miserable run continues, nine Serie A games in a row without winning 10 in all competitions, including the Coppa Italia. And that was after starting the season so well, winning six of the first eight. So, yeah, it's not going well. They were
00:53:49
Speaker
blunt in this game, but we can obviously put a lot of that down also to Juventus having a good defense. Having a fantastic defense. He was playing Mckenny as a right wing back. He really is a Bond villain, isn't he? I love it.
00:54:12
Speaker
Well, listen, let's, let's, let's pick up one big positive though, from this game, Federico Chiesa is back. And this is why we love him. This is why we love Federico Chiesa. Everybody loves Federico Chiesa. He came on for the final 30 minutes. And, you know, he wasn't really doing much.
00:54:29
Speaker
until he made the assist for the goal, for Danilo's goal. I mean, I don't blame him. I mean, fucking Allegri, excuse my language, Allegri stuck him out of right wing back. See how it triggers me, stuck him out of right wing back. But then he decided to put him on the left wing. And I mean, that's magical. That's well classed. To do that in one movement, to actually have to give credit to Paredes because it was a great, as much as we like to rip Paredes,
00:54:55
Speaker
It was a great lofted free pass over the defence, but the way that Chiesa took it in one motion off the chest, almost half rolled down his chest and his leg and then volleyed it into the path of Danilo. I mean, that is magic. That's well-classed. Orsolini could never.
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean that moment showed why he's so important for Juventus and for Italy and why we need him back, why Italian football needs him back, why the Azuri needs him back, why Mancini needs him back, you know, this is why we just need to pray that
00:55:33
Speaker
you know that he you know that he he gets back to his best but you know those kind of moments um all i would say is just please please allegory just we can't have him playing it as a right wing back not like yet so please no more of that stick him out we know that allegory doesn't see him as a right wing but he sees him more as a striker and and one of the two up front i mean he said so he said something he thinks that
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah, I don't like him as that. I've seen nothing. I know you think he can maybe become that at some point, but we've seen nothing in his career to suggest so far that he should be playing there. I want him on the wing. As a winger, he's up there with the best in the world when he's obviously fit and on form and everything.
00:56:10
Speaker
I just, I would say one thing though, you know, Legri's defense, you know, Zagnolo, you know, and we've said a lot about Zagnolo, about how horribly mismanaged he was by Roma. And even if we've been critical by Mancini and they rushed him back off of the first ACL, played him, overplayed him, playing too much, then he did the other ACL. I'm going to say that actually a Legri in a weird kind of way, even though I don't think a Legri is good with technical and young players,
00:56:36
Speaker
I actually don't mind Allegri being around for him coming back because I know he's going to ease him back. He's going to be conservative with him. He's given him five sub appearances since he's come back. He hasn't started him. They've all been between 20 and 30 odd minutes. I'm happy about that. I'm glad about that because I don't want him to be rushed and overloaded. That's fine. I'm fine with that.
00:56:57
Speaker
Okay, he's not going to use Kiese and he's going to drive me mad playing him as a wingback and that isn't going to help develop him, but the most important thing now for Kiese is... Slowly integrated. Slowly integrated, gets minutes in his legs, gets more confidence, strengthens his legs, he doesn't get injured. That's the most important thing. I almost don't care if the second half of this season, Kiese just as plays as a sub and just comes on. I'm fine with that. Next season,
00:57:22
Speaker
He can get back on it. I just don't want another injury. So, you know, I'm happy with the leg. Long-term, I'm really not sure leg is the right coach for Gazer. But for now, for now, I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. I love how you can turn an eight match win streak 1-0 and Kiers are coming on and being important for the win into an Allegri bitch fest. It's just amazing. It's the palace people.
00:57:44
Speaker
just being honest mate, just being honest.
Lazio's Defensive Lapses
00:57:47
Speaker
Okay finally, just before we get into a John Luke of the early tribute, the rest of the Serie A calendar, so Lazio, they throw it away again as well, gets emply 2-0 dominant, pretty similar to Milan, actually...
00:57:59
Speaker
more in fact they had loads of chances. They could see two goals in the last seven minutes. They've dropped 13 points this season from winning positions. That's bad. Which is really bad. Two wins and seven games now, four defeats and also the other thing that's going is they had such a good defensive record at the beginning of the season and now they've let seven in in the last three games which
00:58:23
Speaker
Yeah, it doesn't surprise me, really, to be honest with you. I didn't think it was sustainable. No, it wasn't sustainable, but the fact that their defensive record, seven goals and three games, given how good it was first, that is a bit of a surprise for me. That is a bit of a surprise. And Sadie's defenses are actually usually rather good in his team. So that is a bit of a surprise for me.
00:58:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, okay. If you haven't seen the two Sasualo one, yes, this is where I wanted to make the point that I made about, you know, I said, you know, as we were saying earlier about how we need to rethink how we give penalties because the reward is too big for the crime. The punishment
Controversial Penalty Rules
00:59:05
Speaker
is too big for the crime. This was a perfect example of that. So it's one all, 91st minute. Now,
00:59:12
Speaker
a Fiorentina player, I can't remember who it was, blasted it from point black range at the hand of Ruan, I think it was, the Brazilian defender, right, for Sassuolo. And the penalty is given. Now, whether it's a penalty or not a penalty, I mean, that's up for debate, right? That's not the point I'm making it. The point is that if you actually look at the shot, the shot from the Fiorentina play is going off horizontally,
00:59:37
Speaker
for a throw-in, not even hitting the corner flag, it's going off for a throw-in like way, it's going miles, it's hilarious, you really watch it, right? It's got a 0.00 XG, right? There's no chance of it becoming, now that suddenly turns from that, from being blasted at point black range at his hand with his 0.00 XG, the VAR checks it for three minutes before giving it, so it's obviously debatable as well, and that turns from that into a penalty with a 0.8 XG.
01:00:07
Speaker
You know, and again, I, I, I repeat what I said the other week during the World Cup.
01:00:15
Speaker
these penalties, there's too much reward for penalties to go from that. It's just not fair. And as a result, Fiorentina win the game from an incident where they were never going to score from. So that's the only thing I would say from that. And then the
Serie A Match Results Summary
01:00:31
Speaker
other two games are Selena Turner 1, Torino 1, that was a game of two halves. Torino, chance after chance, the first half in Selena Turner, with a better team in the second half, and then Speccia nil, Lecce nil.
01:00:43
Speaker
Tonight we have, we're recording this on Monday afternoon, we have Verona versus Clemonese and Bologna versus Atalanta. Okay, right, just to finish off with, before we get to Promface of the Week,
Gianluca Vialli Tribute
01:00:58
Speaker
I want to do a tribute to Gianluca Vialli, who sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 58. Very, very sad. Five-year battle with pancreatic cancer, horrible cancer. It's one of those that, yeah, we know with pancreatic cancer, it's a very difficult one to treat. We're going to remember today a truly special human being.
01:01:26
Speaker
and just a legendary footballer. So this is a tribute to Luca. First of all, I want to remember Vialli the human. So I want to talk about him as a person first before we talk about him as a footballer. And what a special human being he was. He really was. He was very kind.
01:01:51
Speaker
Um, he, uh, I mean, he, you know, usually when this, the thing we do as people, don't we, this notion that, you know, when someone dies, we try to, we almost, you know, we remember them in somewhat dishonest light. Oh, he was so fantastic in this and that, but with reality, he was genuinely very kind.
01:02:10
Speaker
He truly was a very good person. He was very thoughtful and nice. Anyone who's ever met him will attest to this. I've not met a single person who's had a single bad thing to say about him, not a single person. Not just a bad thing to say about him. Only good things. Everybody had a story about Vialli being nice to them, about how he went out of his way to help people. All the stories of the teammates,
01:02:38
Speaker
Plate people that work with him, you know down from teammates to just the tea lady and the kit man and how we treated everyone like with such respect and You know, I think a nice we did one out on Friday a personal story of mine how two years ago before before the euros actually and you know, we I tried to set up an interview with with the alley on the Italian football podcast and I contacted the alleys agent and
01:03:06
Speaker
and said I would like to do an interview, is it possible please? And then she called me one day and she goes are you free right now, have you got a moment? I said yeah, I'm available. She goes I'm just gonna put you through and I was like,
01:03:22
Speaker
I wasn't sure what she meant. The next thing I know, it was Gianluca Vialli on the phone. He was like, Ciao Carlo, how are you? I was like, wow. I wasn't expecting to speak to you. He was just like, no, I just think it's better to speak to people in person. How are you? How's everything? How's life? It was really nice to ask me how my career was, how my family was. We'd never met before. We didn't know each other personally.
01:03:51
Speaker
I don't even know if he knew who I was. He probably didn't even know who I was, you know. He wanted to speak to me. And the reason why he wanted to speak to me is he wanted to tell me in person that he couldn't do the interview. Instead of just leaving it to his agent and the agent saying to me, I know General Lucas is not available, General Lucas can't do it, or as often happens, anybody that's ever tried to get interviews often, you don't even get a reply. Most of the time, I would say about 70% or 80% of the requests you make,
01:04:19
Speaker
you don't even get a reply from the person you ask, whether it's you ask them directly or whether you go through an agency or an agent, you won't even get a reply. Jan Luca went out of his way to call back a stranger just to tell them
01:04:35
Speaker
so that you know tell them directly i can't do the interview and he said the way that he said it at the time was he said no at the moment i'm not doing any interviews i just i just don't feel i don't feel up to it at the moment those were the words that he used when he said that i kind of the first thing i thought in my mind was i was a little bit worried because at the time he was. He was cancer free you had cancer richly i think it's in two thousand seventy then he got the all clear i think.
01:05:01
Speaker
maybe 2019 ish maybe or 2020 and then this was kind of I think beginning of 2021 some point in 2012 and when I heard that I kind of I mean I don't know when he got re-diagnosed but at the time I remember thinking oh you know I was really I was really worried I thought really I really hope it hasn't come back or
01:05:19
Speaker
you know, maybe it hasn't, maybe he just you know, he just wasn't feeling wet that well, because you know, he has, he has suffered a lot in these last five years. But I just thought and I said to him straight away, the first thing I said to him, as soon as I said that, you know, watch and Luca, I have more respect for you doing this than than if you would have accepted to do the interview, because for him to tell me directly
01:05:40
Speaker
he couldn't do the interview. I just thought that is the most respectful thing that I think anybody's ever done in the media industry. And he was saying no to me. And I just thought, wow, just amazing. And so many people have got little, I mean, that's only a little story, but so many people have got stories like that about Jan Luca, about how he helped people and just what a kind hearted person he was. And that's why, I mean, I shed a tear for him when he died because I just, you know, he was just such a lovely person, really was.
01:06:09
Speaker
He really, really was. He really, really was. He did a lot for charity, raising money for research into ALS.
01:06:20
Speaker
Lou Gehrig's disease, which is a really horrible disease. It's affected a lot of sports people. I mean, it's a degenerative disease that affects the motor neurons. We've seen a lot of sportsmen that have suffered from this after their career. There's definitely something that's going on during their career, I think, that's causing this.
01:06:40
Speaker
The former Fiorentina players, probably the most famous example, played alongside Bad Joe. Vialli raised an incredible amount of money into this. And then later went with the cancer as well. And just this whole human story was really fascinating because he came from a really rich family. I don't know how many people know this, but he grew up in a 30-room mansion in a multi-millionaire family. Yeah.
01:07:08
Speaker
he was so determined to, he didn't need to work a day in his life, yet he was so determined, had so much determination to make it as a footballer, but to do it on an equal level with everyone else. He didn't have anyone open indoors for him. He made his own way and he treated everyone with respect. And what you can often get with people that come from upper class backgrounds or middle class backgrounds or even lower middle class backgrounds is that there is that kind of,
01:07:36
Speaker
They haven't lived in the real world. Even if it's not deliberate, there can be that kind of...
01:07:44
Speaker
the working class people or the ordinary people were just almost beneath them. Vialli treated everyone with respect. He was always smiling. You know, there's some great stories. Graham Suness told some fantastic stories about them, practical jokes. He was a bit of a practical joker. Vialli, some of the jokes that he played on Suness, Suness pushed him into a lake before a game. And Vialli, to get his,
01:08:13
Speaker
to get revenge on Sunnis. He did various things during the spell. He sprayed shaving foam into Sunnis' shoes. He cut the legs off Sunnis' Armani suits, which cost a lot of money. There's a great story about how Vialli put Parmesan cheese into the handkerchief of Arrigo Saki when he was Italy's coach. And then Saki then put the handkerchief into his top pocket and ruined his suit. I'd like to ruin his face, Vialli.
01:08:41
Speaker
and that actually played a role in Vialy being dropped by Vialy because those two didn't actually get on and he didn't go to Italian 90 and didn't play again after that. So he was just a great person to be around, just a perfect person to have as your friend and be around that brings joy.
01:08:58
Speaker
laughter, but also kindness, you know, he was such a very empathetic person. And I mean, that's the perfect person, isn't it? That's what you want from a person, isn't it? You've got everything, you've got all sides of it, we've got all sides of it that you want from a person. And obviously, the human role that he played in Italy winning the Euros, you can see why he played such an important role in Italy winning the Euros, because he brought all of that to the table, as well as that image of him and Mancini crying in each other's arms, given how close they were childhood friends who
01:09:28
Speaker
grew up together and for them to, you know, Mancini was a synonymous to Vialli's career as Vialli was to his and to see them kind of come full circle and win the Euros together. And the fact that, you know, Vialli coming up, turning up late to Italy's first group stage game, which they won convincingly. And then after that, Italians being superstitious. That's something they had to do. Everyone had to go on the bus.
01:09:52
Speaker
and wait for Vialli to come running on before they left. I loved also the scene of him with the water bottle when he turned his back to superstition. The speeches, the books, the quotes that he read to the team ahead of the
01:10:11
Speaker
That one great story, wasn't it? That you read out. I mean, wow. No, he was he was he was truly a great, great person. And I can't help but to think, of course, of his family, immediate family and friends. But also, above all, I do want to send a thought to Roberto Mancini, who, in the space of a few weeks, has lost two of his closest friends in football in Sini Semyalovic and Jallukovic. He's two closest friends. They were his two friends, two best friends in football. Yeah.
01:10:40
Speaker
is very, very so sad. It's so sad. It really is so sad because he was he really I know people always say this about when someone dies, you know, the alley really was the nicest person in the world. And it's just it's 58. It's no, it's no ways to go for anyone. But for someone like that, I mean, yeah, so it's so sad. I want to talk about the valley, the footballer, and
01:11:05
Speaker
You were on the BBC the other day and you spoke about this, so we'll start with you on this. He is one of Italy's greatest forwards of all time, isn't he? He was complete. He really did have everything. He ushered in. In Italian football, he was the first of that kind of footballer, the striker. The fact that he was big, he was a strong, big guy, but he was also incredibly gifted technically and had fantastic creativity and vision.
01:11:35
Speaker
He was great in the air, and again, the tactical versatility. He could play in any role, he even played in midfield at times. He played as a winger, he played as a striker, played as a number 10, played as a second striker. I mean, he did everything.
01:11:48
Speaker
and a team worker as well. And no, it's for me, him and Manchini, Gemeli Delgol, the Gemeli Delgol, the gold twins at Sampdoria. That was... But he didn't have any weaknesses at all. I was looking back and I was watching some of his old
01:12:06
Speaker
footage and games and best goals and everything he lit he really was the complete there was no weaknesses in his game and i didn't really i guess i never really thought about it i didn't really realize it until i try i mean i always do this with every football i try and pick out a weakness about the player i couldn't find one with him i really could not find one of him like you said i mean he was both footed he had a great shot on on both feet he was brilliant in the air
01:12:32
Speaker
He was, like you said so well, tactically versatile. He could play in any role or formation in attack. He could play as a first or second striker. He could play in a three-man attack, a lone striker. He started his career as a winger. He played as a winger at the 1986 World Cup for Italy.
01:12:48
Speaker
He worked incredibly hard, he chased back, he pressed from the front, which was not that common at the time. There was a lot of lazy forwards during that time. He was so smart tactically, linked up with his teammates, including obviously like you said, Mancini, no better than Mancini.
01:13:03
Speaker
And for me, and this is this is my big example, for me, he's probably the best volleyer of a ball I've ever seen. I've never seen a better volleyer in history than the Vialy of both feet. I mean, some of the incredible volleyed goals that he scored in his career. Check out that. I mean, the most famous one's probably the one against Palmer in the UEFA Cup final in the Cup minutes, the UEFA Cup final, I think it was.
01:13:28
Speaker
But also the one that he scored against Napoli, and it was quite ironic seeing as they played they played yesterday. We recorded this on Monday, 1991 Scudetto winning season, incredible one. And he was
01:13:43
Speaker
it was kind of his trademark to his volleys into the roof the near post roof of the net that was his trademark like which is a really kind of low xg goal actually you know most people go across the goal into the far corner vialy used to smash him right foot or left foot into the the near post top top of the roof of the net used to scored so many of those kind of goals in his career was brilliant but also
01:14:06
Speaker
as well as Valier, he's also one of the greatest of all time at bicycle kicks. He's scored so many incredible bicycle kicks. And again, kind of ironic seeing as Juventus played Kremenese in the middle of last week, a couple of days before Vialy died. Now, whenever Juventus play gets Kremenese, the first thing that I think of is
01:14:30
Speaker
is when Juventus and Biali won the Scudetto in 95 because Biali scored not one, but he scored two brilliant bicycle kicks against Cremenese in that season. So again, sad irony that Biali, in the week that he died, Juventus played against Cremenese. But he was, yeah, just the most incredible, incredible, complete attacker. And yeah, I mean, that thought
01:14:56
Speaker
that winning the Scudetto with Sampdorian 91, he was top scorer in Serie A that season, and like you said, that partnership with Mancini was one of the best friendships ever, isn't it? Yeah, that is the one that I think that is probably, they were fantastic footballers, but that is what I think is their greatest achievement, that team, and to do it the way they did.
01:15:18
Speaker
Now it was fantastic, they played some wonderful... It was a wonderful team as well, wasn't it? I mean, those two up front, and then you had Viecco at the back, Pallyuko, Selezo, the veteran Brazilian from the legendary 1982 Brazil team. He was still playing at like 36, 37, I think. And Bosco, Bosco of the coach. Yeah, Bosco of the Catanet. Srecco Catanet, yeah. He was a brilliant player as well. I mean, they had...
01:15:48
Speaker
had a fantastic team and they were so close to winning that European Cup a year after. I mean they made it to three European Cup finals, I mean they lost a cup when it's a cup, they won one and then they of course the famous one. And we at least scored the two goals in the Cup Winners Cup Final that they won in 1990 in Gothenburg. In Gothenburg, yeah.
01:16:08
Speaker
yeah against Andalette and that was that year was the year that the Serie A won all three of the European Cups that year they were totally dominant they won the Eurovision Song Contest that year as well
01:16:23
Speaker
Oh no. It was in Siena, I think. And then Italy, like I've said many times before, Italy, I think they should have won the World Cup as well. It was in Italy. But that game against Barcelona, we speak before about games that
01:16:40
Speaker
we have regrets and we think, how did they not win that game? And obviously Euro 2005, and we always say, I always talk about Italian 90, I feel they should have won that one, but Sampdori in that final, they were the best team. They had the better chances and it still, it still pisses me off that that was never a free kick. It wasn't a free kick, it wasn't even close to being a free kick. And they gave him and then Ronald Koeman scored from that free kick. And I remember Vialli,
01:17:04
Speaker
in tears after the game with Mancini, both of them. And they both said it, haven't they? It felt like destiny that 29 years later that they would, you know, almost 30 years later, they would win at Wembley together, Euros together. It just felt, and it was almost felt like a final goodbye, didn't it? Obviously, it was always going to be difficult for the alley. Pancreatic cancer is always, it's a horrible one. It's the most horrible
01:17:29
Speaker
Well, one of the most horrible cancers to come back from. You know, it almost felt like a final goodbye, but, you know, fantastic for Satoria and then Juventus as well. I mean, crucial for Juventus winning the Scudetto in 1995. Juventus hadn't won the Scudetto for nine years, which is for Juventus. Let me tell you for Juventus, that is a lifetime. And in the Champions League in 96, they're first in 11 years and the last one
01:17:58
Speaker
Well, the last one probably ever. The last one probably ever. And he was the Juventus captain. He lifted that, he lifted that trophy. And you can see how much it meant to him as well. And he lifted, he lifted that title. Yeah. And then obviously his Italy career, two World Cups in a Euro.
01:18:18
Speaker
He mentioned he did play together at Euro 88 as the only tournament they actually like win the lineup together. They did both go to Italianite and he scored a famous winner against Spain in that Euro 88. It was a great young up and coming Italy team in 88. Italianite, he had some injury problems he still got to assist. And then his career kind of came to a premature end due to the relationship with Saki, which was which was a shame, which was a shame because he had a lot more to give to Italy.
01:18:47
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, incredible playing career, but even as a, you know, even this after career, as a coach, you know, you still had a lot of success as a player manager, which has won five different cups. Cup winner's cup, Ross Sunday in Stockholm, which is John, John, John Franco's all I scored the winner. Yeah. Remember? Yeah. Yeah. No, no, it wasn't latio on the last sorry, latio on the last couple of the second from last one. Yeah.
01:19:12
Speaker
Yeah, I always remember him playing in the snow. Do you remember that in Tromsø? Yeah. Do you remember that run? And it was full of snow. The pitch completely covered in snow and the VR Leafs would have... I think he's got a great goal in it if I remember. Yeah, he was...
01:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, magical. And then he moved on into punditry. I thought he was one of the best pundits around always very level headed spoke with so much insight and sense and, you know, wonderful. And then obviously, yeah, October 2019, he was appointed as the the new delegation chief of the Italy national team under obviously Manchini. And, you know, what a role he played. And like you said, the image of him
01:19:53
Speaker
Mancini hugging and crying after winning the Euros. I mean, that's one of the most beautiful football images ever, isn't it? You're not going to get many more beautiful images. I mean, that's an iconic image. It really is. And even though he's died, I mean, you know, we're all going to die. Obviously, it's incredibly sad that he's died. So, you know, at the age of 58, it's no age, but his legend is going to live forever. I mean, he is eternal for Italian football and
01:20:22
Speaker
You know, it's just, yeah, it's so sad. I mean, me personally, to tell you a personal story, the first game I ever watched live in my life was Arsenal versus Sampdoria. It was in 1991. I was very, very young, I think like five years old, and six years old. And he,
01:20:43
Speaker
the Makita Cup, it was a pre-season tournament, it's like basically the what is the Emirates Cup now, they used to be called the Makita Cup and they used to invite, I think like four teams, they would play a semi-final and a final and it was Sampdoria, Arsenal, Panafinaikos and somebody else. Anyway, Arsenal played against Sampdoria.
01:21:03
Speaker
in the final. Arsenal went 1-0 up through Merson. Paul Merson scored. And then in the second half, Vialli scored the equaliser with just go on YouTube. I actually tweeted it out the other day. Cross came in from the right and he did this kind of like scissor kick, bicycle kick, half bicycle kick volley. And it was just wow. Just one of the most brilliant goal you've probably never seen because it was from a friendly game.
01:21:33
Speaker
And that was the first game, the first game I ever went to see was reality school in the garden. And I fell in love with him ever since then. And he was one of my heroes, childhood heroes. So I feel, for me, I feel, he doesn't want to make it that me, but I feel even more sad. Because when your childhood hero starts to go, it does, yeah, it makes you extra sad. Certainly does, certainly does.
01:22:01
Speaker
Okay, right. So, let's finish off with Bad Joe and Primplate of the Week. Okay, Bad Joe, Bad Joe of the Week. Well, aside obviously from Vialli and all the beautiful tributes to Vialli and Mihailovic as well, I thought they were really, really beautiful. There's one thing that Italy... They can, they know how to praise their heroes. They know how to remember their heroes and they know how to...
01:22:25
Speaker
praise their heroes in Italy. It's nice for Italy. Nobody does respect for their heroes and for people that deserve respect, like the Italians. That's one thing you can say a lot about Italy and things that are wrong. But that they know how to do. I mean, just the totti goodbye.
Adriana Galliani's Personality
01:22:46
Speaker
Zanetti's goodbye. I mean, look, they know how to pay tribute to their heroes in that country, that's what I'm sure.
01:22:53
Speaker
No, they do. There's one other bad joke. You're not going to like it. But Adriana Galliani's celebration at the end. I'm sorry. It was, I mean, Galliani, he's just hilarious. I mean, my favorite part with that is his, I mean, he's such a, when he smiles, do you remember the movie Goodfellas when Henry is a kid and he's taken to court for the first time and his lawyer is that?
01:23:21
Speaker
Yes, I know it's what you mean. It's a smile. He's such a mobster, such a muffy also. And he's standing there and he's smiling. And the thing is... I love her, please. She loves your first cherry.
01:23:38
Speaker
Yeah. The comment as well is like, because he was criticized, like, well, are you Monza CEO? What's going on? This thing about Intel. This is a direct quote, right? He says, my joy was that of a child who 70 years ago used to go to Monza with his mother to watch Monza play.
01:23:59
Speaker
It's like, I mean, it's just this guy, him and Berlusconi, they're not, are they real people? Like, are they human? Seriously? Like, are they action? Are they, they're like characters from a- Well, there's a reason why he's called Uncle, his nickname's Uncle Fester, isn't there? It's like, these guys, they're like, it's like they're characters from a Mario Puzo novel. Like, they're not real people. It's just, it's just- Well, I think Berlusconi literally isn't a real person.
01:24:25
Speaker
70% plastic, I think. He probably is, or made up of younger humans. Yeah, drinking with a human blood, yeah. But I mean, yeah, Galliani. I mean, you can ride with the 2007 Champions League final celebration, which is up there with that as well, when they exactly scored the second goal and he went ballistic in the box, yeah. I mean, just the movements, the expressions he makes in his face, just hilarious.
01:24:50
Speaker
Premface, I don't know what this is. I just see the words Tony Adams and I'm going to read it. This is insane. Like this is one of the greatest premises I have ever heard.
Tony Adams on Bukayo Saka
01:25:04
Speaker
He's on, he's on Siemens says podcast and I'm going to quote, I'm going to read.
01:25:09
Speaker
Yes, Seaman says podcast. This is the quote. I think Player of the Season is Bukai Osaka. The kid is just phenomenal. I had a bit of a go at Gareth Southgate during the World Cup for taking him off.
01:25:24
Speaker
He's every bit as good as Lionel Messi. Messi is obviously at the end of his career, even when you question him and he missed his penalty at the Euros and he's come back. Every time I see him, he makes goals and scores goals. He's a phenomenal footballer, the best player for England and the best player for Arsenal.
01:25:43
Speaker
uh like and the thing is i like buccayo saka that's the thing i really like saka i think he is he is probably right now i think he's he is england's best player i'm i'm i'm absolutely happy in saying i think him and foden played a different he was him and bellingham at the world cup yeah with the best players and i think you know the three of them foden bellingham saka but saka does it at club level and so was foden as well but i think the three of them are just
01:26:08
Speaker
you know, they're world-class players. Potentially, specifically Bellingham, potential world-class players. But Messi? Like, no! Stop with these ridiculous comparisons! It's like, stop it! No, he is not like me. That's up there with Sterling Pellett. Yeah, yeah. That is mental. And Mount Neymar. Mount Neymar. God. Yeah, yeah. He said it three days ago, three, four days ago, on Seaman Says podcast. Yeah.
01:26:46
Speaker
That's it. Let's see, there's a Copa Italia midweek around the last 16. Interparma, Atalanta Spezia, and the winner of those two games play each other. And the winner of that clash plays the winner of Lazio Vibolonia and Juventus Monza. And then the other half, you've got Napoli Cremonese and Roma Genoa, those face off. And the winner of that
01:27:00
Speaker
I don't know what podcast that is because I haven't listened to it.
01:27:10
Speaker
plays Fiorentina Santoria or Milan Torino, the winner of that. So based on this, I'm thinking Juve are winning the Copa Italia because I think Inter will be Parma.
01:27:22
Speaker
I think they might go out against Atalanta. I think Lazio Juve in the quarter-final. I think Juve are winning the Cup 8 final. Depends, there are so many games, it really depends on what kind of stroke line-ups. Juve Napoli or Juve Milan, Copitalia final and Juve.
01:27:44
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see. I mean, we'll see. See who goes through them with Europe. If teams go out in Europe, they might play stronger teams. I think that could play. Of course, of course. It's hard. It's very hard. I don't think you will give a damn about the Europa League.
01:27:58
Speaker
Yeah, he knows. I mean, they might want to win something in Europe. It's been a long time. I mean, OK, before we go to all our first time listeners, this is the weekly free episode that we do every Monday. And if you want to support and subscribe and get everything, including the Q&A episode that we do every Tuesday.
01:28:16
Speaker
which is a Q&A episode that our patrons send in to us, plus the Thursday midweek review show and interviews, post-match reaction, et cetera. Go to patreon.com slash TIFP and subscribe for $2.99 a month, excluding VAT.
01:28:31
Speaker
Yeah, please do. Okay, be back on Tuesday for that Q&A episode, then back later in the week for another episode. We are trying to get a transfer expert on to do a little January transfer window episode, but we will definitely have something for you for sure. So yeah, until then, ciao ciao.