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 - AC Milan Win Derby, Lazio's Wrath After Napoli Loss, Juve Hammered After Draw With Fiorentina & Much More (Ep. 253)
1.5k Plays3 years ago
From AC Milan emphatic derby win, Inter's Samir Handanovic problem, Lazio furious with referees, Napoli back on track, Allegri hammered for Juventus performance against Fiorentina to Roma fall flat on face against Udinese and much more Carlo, John and Nima break down another action packed weekend in Serie A.
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
Emotional Episode Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast with John Solano, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tuvali.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Italian Football Podcast. This one's going to be especially exciting because there's potentially tears from all three of us today. Reasons for all of us to be crying. All of us are recording this in the corner of rooms in the fetal position with coffee, other beverages filled with alcohol and...
00:00:52
Speaker
Nima might have some extra stuff I don't want to know about, but all of us are at least, all of us are being held up and propped up by foreign substances because for all three of us respectively, that was very rough. Very rough indeed.
Match Day Controversies
00:01:13
Speaker
A lot to get to, a lot of tears, a lot of interesting results. We are already, well, not already, fifth match day. We are in the middle of a full all out war against the referees already. Very exciting.
00:01:30
Speaker
So I can't wait this if there's ever been an episode I've been just dying to record. It's this one. So let's Let's get this over with I suppose and we will start with the Derby. So let's get to that now
Inter vs Milan Derby Analysis
00:01:49
Speaker
All right, you're up first for the tears, Nima. Inter, they lose 3-2 to Milan in the Derby. Telemato Niina, and I think it was just about as fair of a result as you can get, right? I don't think anybody's going to complain. Well, I'm sure you're going to complain, just not about the result.
00:02:14
Speaker
Samir Handanovic, I'm sure we have a lot of good stuff to talk about with him. We have Rafael Liao, who started the season particularly slow, who just explodes against Inter. So where do we want to start? Let's start with Milan, because I think they deserve it. I think they did deserve it. That was a very deserved result.
00:02:35
Speaker
They played brilliantly. Stefano Pioli after the game, I think, said it. He pulled one over Simone, and tactically, as he said himself, he said that Inter were expecting us to press them higher up pitch from the start, and they didn't. Milan didn't. Milan were in low blocks, exactly what Sarri did against Simone and Zaghi.
00:03:00
Speaker
a pretty very similar approach and it worked to a tee because as soon as Inter scored that first goal, after then it was all Milan. Milan won the ball higher up and they just completely ran over Inter. They
00:03:18
Speaker
They won every single challenge. They look hungrier. They look more fired up. They look more up for it. And Inter just were unable to respond. Rafael Liao, look, he's fantastic. And I don't want to take anything away from him. We're going to talk about Inter's deficiencies.
00:03:39
Speaker
He doesn't need help and inter-helped him with two goals, and they helped Giroud with one goal. But that doesn't take anything away from how fantastic Rafael Liao was. He is unplayable. That lovely little drop of the shoulder and acceleration, the little elastico with his foot,
00:04:00
Speaker
and then starts placing the balls. It literally is V. It's Henri. I don't know how many times. It's not even similar to Henri. It looks exactly like a carbon copy of Thierry Henri now, when he was at his best. As long as Milan gets to keep him, because there is a contract situation,
00:04:23
Speaker
I hope for the Serie A's sake that they get to keep Rafael Liao, but they will have to break their wage structure for him. And I think it's worth doing it because he is just absolutely unplayable right now.
00:04:39
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I wasn't too concerned when he started slow to begin the season. I didn't think there was a lot to worry about because it was clearly still the focal point of the attack. He just wasn't finding the back of the net and sometimes that happens.
00:04:57
Speaker
Carlo, what did you make of them?
Milan's Key Players Shine
00:05:00
Speaker
I mean, our primary concern, or at least mine, was, hey, listen, can we realistically expect Milan to mount some sort of Scudetto challenge with two geriatric number nines? And after five match days, the very clear answer is yes.
00:05:20
Speaker
Well, there's one thing that you can always guarantee from Olivier Giroud, and that's when the big games come along. He seems to perform. He did it again. He scored again in another big game. And people forget that for long periods of last season, until the Scudetto running, Giroud went on this long period without scoring, where he was just way off it. And it was the fact that a lot of people were describing him as something of a flop, actually.
00:05:46
Speaker
And then when the business end of the season came, those big games come along, obviously starting with the Derby in, was it February, Nimmer, the one where he scored the two late goals. We turned Defray. Yeah. And then you had obviously the Napoli game he scored in, and then you had obviously the final game of the season as well, where he
00:06:10
Speaker
You know, he's got the key goal to get the ball rolling against Sasualo. You know, he always seems to turn up and, you know, he did it again. And him and Liao, as you said, you know, Inter couldn't handle them.
00:06:25
Speaker
in this game. So yeah, Giroud is going to be 36 this month and he's still doing well. He looks fitter than he's ever done, don't you reckon? I think he looks in better form than he's ever been in. I've never seen him in such a physically fit. He looks like he's in the Derby again. And also this season, he just looks fitter than ever before, in my opinion at least.
00:06:53
Speaker
No, no, yeah, he's in great shape. He's in great shape at the moment, especially when you consider that he played three games in a week, which was pretty impressive for someone who's almost 36. You know, usually they might play well in the first game, the second game, which to be fair, he wasn't great in. But, you know, usually by the third game in a week, player at that age, you're not expecting them to perform as well as he did. So, yeah, I mean, just shows the conditioning of the other guy.
00:07:18
Speaker
But I also want to shout out for Mike Mignon, because even though Milan did deserve to win this game, and at 3-1, it looked like they probably were going to run away with it. Inter did, if we can give them any praise for this game, they did show a really good reaction, I thought, at 3-1. And after making it 3-2, if it was any other goalkeeper in Serie A, it probably would have been 3-3. He made a fantastic save from the header.
00:07:45
Speaker
down low to Lautaro. And then that's the one handed, the acrobatics and athleticism to tip that over. You know, Mike Emmanuel is, you know, for me, he's world-class. He's the one player in the Milan team that you can say he is a world-class player now. There's lots of Milan players with world-class potential, but he is world-class now. And he is the complete goalkeeper. There are no weaknesses in his game technically.
00:08:14
Speaker
mentally. He's a leader as well. He's an incredible shot stopper. He commands his box. He's brilliant from crosses. He takes the pressure off his defence. How many times late in the game went into throwing balls into the box and he came out and he took it. That is so big for defence when you have a goalkeeper that can come out and take the ball. How he is not France's number one for the World Cup that's coming up. I just find that astounding and a huge, huge mistake among many mistakes that Didier Deschamps makes.
00:08:44
Speaker
nowadays with such a talented France squad in terms of team selection to not play. I mean, he's head and shoulders above Hugo Louris. It's not even close. He's better than him in every single department. So yeah, he you have to
Inter's Defensive and Midfield Issues
00:08:56
Speaker
give a shout out for him. I thought Milan's midfield was also was also
00:08:59
Speaker
dominant, I thought, Ben-Ersaire and Sonali really dominate and control most of it. Milan lost their way, I think, in the last 15, 20 minutes. They were a little bit too open. I think Pioli maybe should have brought on an extra midfielder and tightened it up. But we're talking about details here. But on the whole, I thought those two were excellent. I thought Milan's energy caused them trouble, which I think is a little bit concerning for Inter, I think. The fact that they just didn't seem to be able to live with the intensity of Milan, I thought, for a long period of this game.
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, hats off to Milan. They turned up and it was a great spectacle for the neutral as well in a full stadium.
00:09:38
Speaker
All right. Well, somebody we have to go to your your man. So I'm sure somebody that you are going to assert did not show up. And I think anybody with a set of working eyes would assert did not show up. Sameer Hantanovich, one of it. Listen, there's a few things people argue about. OK, is the earth flat? Did the moon landing really happen? A mere Hantanovich suck.
00:10:07
Speaker
It was direct because you have one side that will say. Yeah, well, you have one side that says we'll look at the clean sheets, look at the look at everything is one. And then you have the other side. They will just show last night or what happened in the Darby loop. And it's just this clash of I won't say titans because I think everybody loses in this argument, but. Oof.
00:10:37
Speaker
For those who say he sucks, this was a checkmate, at least for round one. Well, before we get to the problem at Inter overall, and I'm glad that you spoke about, that you raised this issue first, because I do want to talk about Samir Hamdanovic's situation, because it's a situation that has, you know, incredibly almost become politicized in how it's become polarized. And I mean,
00:11:04
Speaker
But hang on, real quick, before you get deep into it, the good thing is you already have a solution. Well, listen, I'm going to get to that. I'm going to get to all of that. Almost, I mean, it's become politicized because there is, because as a result, the discussion is incredibly shallow. And I use this term seriously, incredibly stupid.
00:11:24
Speaker
Samir Handanovic joined Inter in 2012, and for about 7-8 years he was together with Mauro Icardi, the only shining light during what was the club's darkest decade in its modern history. But equally as true, he is a burden and a huge liability today, and he is ruining his legacy at the club by extension. And I can't blame him for that.
00:11:49
Speaker
and I'll get to why. Now, I mean up until and including the 2018-2019 season where he was named both the best goalkeeper by the Italian Footballers Association as well as the Serie A itself, he was one of the best goalkeepers in Italy and Europe.
00:12:04
Speaker
And even back then, when he was at his peak, there were some wannabe celebrities on Twitter posing as journalists who created as a gimmick and marketing PR tool for themselves to push this agenda that, oh, Handanovic doesn't even try to save the shots and he doesn't move. And that's just a little ludicrously silly because it only showcases a deep lack of understanding of the game in general and goalkeeping in particular because Samir Handanovic's biggest strength has always been his reflexes, his ability to react.
00:12:33
Speaker
whilst his biggest weakness has always been his positioning. Now after the 1819 season where he peaked he's been on a slow and yet steady decline which exponentially has gotten worse with every single season. Now what does that mean? It means that his reflexes and ability to react that were really good have gone from good to bad
00:12:52
Speaker
and his positioning has gone, if not from bad to worse, it certainly hasn't improved. And now we have this incredibly untenable situation where every weakness that he has is exposed. When Handanovic was signed by Inter in 2012, in the summer of 2012 from Udineze, he replaced Julio Cesar who had peaked in 2010 during the treble season. And he in turn was brought in once to replace Francesco Toldo before his
00:13:20
Speaker
inevitable decline to avoid the situation we're in. So therefore, this notion that Handanovich has always been mediocre by measuring him at the twilight of his career now and ignoring what he actually has achieved at the highest level, which he consistently played at for about five to seven years, is frankly at best unnecessarily reactionary. And maybe it was dishonest and populist, and it's just aimed to get interactions on social media.
00:13:44
Speaker
Because, look, the same situation is now being repeated with Stefan Defray. He peaked during Antonio Conte's first season, when he was named Seriaz best defender, 2019-2020. The following season, when Inter won the scoreto, you saw signs of a slow decline. And last season, when this podcast was still behind a paywall, those of you who were patrons and listened will remember that I warned that this could be another hand-down of its situation.
00:14:10
Speaker
And now I don't think we can deny that this is the case, because for a defender it's highly unusual for someone like Defry's age, he only turned 30 last February, and it's usually at this age when defenders peak. Now I'm not entirely comfortable or convinced to say that it's a mental thing or if it's a genuine physical decline that's causing it, but it's been going on long enough
00:14:32
Speaker
He's never been quick, though, to fry him. That's the weird thing. Yeah, but it's been going on long enough so that we can't turn a blind eye to the fact that whatever it is, just like Handanovic, it's not a matter of being out of form. And I think his father time is undefeated. So with Handanovic and with a Handanovic thing, I don't blame him for any of the goals as such against Milan on Saturday. But the difference is exactly what you said, Carlo.
00:14:59
Speaker
Mike Manion makes those saves. Samir Handanovic is no longer able to make those saves. And that is not Samir Handanovic's fault. That is Inter's fault for not having addressed the situation like they did with Julio Cesar, like they did with Handanovic himself.
00:15:17
Speaker
And here we are. But like John said, the answer is on the bench and his name is Andre Onana and they have to integrate him into the starting lineup immediately. No one, we cannot keep watching this.
00:15:32
Speaker
And the problem is, though, just like you said, Carlo, with Mike Manion and France, Hugo Louris is the captain of the French national team. Samina Nanovich is the captain of Inter. So it's just a giant shitstorm that Inter have created. And they're repeating with Stephane Defray.
00:15:50
Speaker
De Broglie, they did plan to replace him though, didn't they? I think. And I think you hinted it as well, that actually Bremme was going to potentially was going to come in and replace. They wouldn't just be maybe Scrinnia that would have left if De Broglie... None.
00:16:06
Speaker
but they may have came in and essentially they may have actually got rid of DeVry as well and then brought in say somebody like Milenko or someone like that to be the other centre back. So it is a possibility that they have seen this because his decline is obvious but also at the same time I find it kind of strange because he's 30 years old this year and he's always, he's never been quick, he's always been slow so he shouldn't necessarily be a physical thing really.
00:16:37
Speaker
No, it's not. No, but it's it's not just that. I mean, you saw the second goal for both. I mean, the first goal, people, you know, I myself also blame Chalanoglu, because when you look at first glance, I think Chalanoglu should look up before he hits that pass. But that is all on Stefan Defray. You should you should meet the ball. He runs away from it and and Correa as well. But it's Defray again. The second goal
00:17:00
Speaker
Look, for the love of God, why Bastoni and De Frei are looking at Giroud? There's four of them, five of them in the box, two Milan players with Giroud, and no one's marking him. They're ball-watching. Same thing for Liao's second goal, Milan's third goal. Bastoni and De Frei standing on their heels, ball-watching. Why?
00:17:21
Speaker
What is going on? Bastoni was basically walking after Liao. The only explanation I can have for Bastoni on that is that he left Liao to DeVry. He thought DeVry was slightly closer to him than Bastoni was and he left it to him and that's why he didn't chase after him because he basically walked over to him and DeVry barely made an attempt himself.
00:17:47
Speaker
It was so easy. It was a great bit of skill, don't get me wrong, but it was so easy for Liao to go past me. He barely had to do anything to open up his body. He didn't really do much. Again, I don't want to take anything away from him. It was a wonderful goal, but it was such bad defending. It was just so simple for him to just stroll through and then pick his spot after it.
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah it's about i mean my bigger concern is best on me i mean what is going on with best on me at the moment i mean this guy you know it's the same about it technically no one doubts technically what incredible players on the ball you know
00:18:26
Speaker
breaking the lines with a pass or bringing it out and those crossfield passes. But defensively, I have some concerns now. No, I wouldn't have concerns because I think it's important to remember that Bastoni isn't exactly the oldest player in the world. And I think a lot of his defensive deficiencies were high by the Antonio Conte system, but also above all last season by an Ivan Perisic who just never stopped running back up and down that left flank.
00:18:55
Speaker
I don't see it's a problem. I think it's more a development and crescita, as they say in Italy. I think it's about growing for him and learning, because he's still, again, I said he's not very old. So I'm not too worried. I think it's more about learning to develop and improve and keep working hard, because I don't think he is the finished product
00:19:19
Speaker
in terms of, as defenders go, he's only 23 and he's won everything in Italy domestically. He's won euros. I mean, it's gone really, really quick for him. So he's still on that path where he's growing. With Barilla,
00:19:35
Speaker
I think it's more a mental thing and I think it's energy as well. I think against Cremonieza, we saw last week, I said it's too soon to make to say whether he's back, but it was signs of improvement. And then you go into the Derby and he just pulls out the worst performance of his career.
00:19:51
Speaker
It was absolutely unwatchable. He was nowhere where he was supposed to be. And him and Denzil Dumfries didn't realize until the 38th, 39th minute that maybe they should track back and help me, L'Anscherignal, so that he's not exposed for space alone one-on-one with Raphael Liao. Now all of these things that I've mentioned, when it comes to these things, when it comes to these two things,
00:20:12
Speaker
with Bastoni and Barella and Inter's defence in midfield. That's down to Simoni and Zaghi and it kind of ties together what we spoke about a little bit earlier about the fry in Bremmer as well. Simoni and Zaghi prepared a pre-season for Bremmer and Milenkoic and to play with a higher defensive line. That's what he did all pre-season.
00:20:32
Speaker
None of them arrived. And last week I said he should lower the defensive line. Yeah, and he's done that. The problem is the midfield hasn't received that memo because there's acres of space. The iceberg that hit the Titanic could fit between Intel's defensive line and its midfield right now.
00:20:51
Speaker
It's just ridiculous. And as soon as you lose the ball, you're alone with Inter's defenders, six on three. I can't allow a titanic reference to be made without transitioning over to Allegri, because I don't know. Allowing that to just sit out there without anyone pouncing is criminal. I mean, you want to talk about not growing Allegri.
00:21:19
Speaker
If he was around during the earlier part of the 20th century, I am convinced this football would have been written into the Geneva Convention because there has to be some sort of penalty against playing like this so consistently.
00:21:44
Speaker
I mean, I would, you know how in airports all over the world, I have generally found CNN international to be the go to channel that is on displayed in just about every
Critique of Allegri's Tactics at Juventus
00:21:58
Speaker
airport. I mean, they had it in Zurich, you know, for fucks sake. If they truly wanted people to tune out and not watch, throw on
00:22:07
Speaker
never ending loops of Lagerie football. And I mean, you wouldn't have to worry about a higher TV bill because nobody would be watching that. No, no, John, no, no, there's definitely been improvement. There's definitely been improvement. There's been an embryo. There's an embryo there. There is an embryo. I don't understand the thing that gets me and for for the for the life of me, I cannot understand it. And
00:22:37
Speaker
Maybe you feel this way too, Carlo, but for what? The second or third match in a row. This kind of reflected how Juve played against Roma. You get a very early lead, okay, by one goal. Why are you resting on your laurels? Why are you not going to chase a second and then a third? I just... He...
00:22:57
Speaker
It's almost like at nine minutes he thinks, oh, okay. Well, we can, because you have to be able to defend that. Okay. John, you have to be able to, to attack. Yeah. You have to be able to, to, to, to create a team with no functioning knees score to go within 10 minutes though.
00:23:13
Speaker
I mean, a guy who has more plastic in his knee than a barbie. He didn't kick it. He just did it. And the fact it was even near the goal line is in of itself. Well, you went to the Sunday shot and goal the entire game. I mean, I don't know what to say anymore, John. For me, it's the second half. People that listen to me, people that listen to this pod and have listened to this pod,
00:23:43
Speaker
since the leg we returned over a year ago, know that I just repeat myself every single week. You guys who are probably sick of me repeating the same things, you know, is, is I thought that the only positives from this game was it was a decent result. A draw away to Fiorentina is a decent result. Perrin was brilliant. I think he's got to be the best number two in Serie A. Well, him or Anana. That's, you know, maybe shouldn't be the number two.
00:24:08
Speaker
But Danilo Bremet I thought were excellent again as a partnership apart from I don't know what happened with Furent seeing a goal that the whole defensive set took you this long to get to our boy in the middle. Yeah, we'll get there. Don't worry. You know, that's that's the positives.
00:24:25
Speaker
everything else is negative. I mean, we saw what we saw from Juventus as an attacking force, as constructively embarrassing. One shot on goal gave the mythic chest four shots in total to 17, 40% possession, two corners to 10. I mean, those stats
00:24:47
Speaker
tell the story. The second half, as Nima said brilliantly on the post-match podcast, the second half for a team like Juventus to just put 10 men in their own third and just defend and not even attempt to cross the halfway line.
00:25:02
Speaker
just defend their lead. Let me be fair, they comfortably defended it. Fiorentina never looked like scoring, but just to defend and not even try and win, I mean that just is not acceptable. For a team like Juventus, for such a super club, for such a giant club, that is not how Juventus plays. That is how a provincial team plays. They put 10 men behind the ball, they pack their box and they just try and
00:25:28
Speaker
get lucky with a counter-attack. That is not how Juventus play. That is not how a nine million a year manager, Allegri, one of the best things, sixth best paid manager in the world, that is not how you set up your team. And I'm sorry about that. If I told you that they had an XG of over two only once so far this season,
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah, well, even against Roma, which is one of their better games, they had a 0.7 XG, you know, the two goals they scored against Roma were miracle goals. They were 0.1 XGs and they do not constructively as an attacking force. They are a disgrace, Juventus. They are a disgrace. It is abysmal. What Allegri is doing in attacking sense with Juventus is there is just
00:26:10
Speaker
It is awful. They've had one shot on goal against Sampdoria all game. They had one shot on goal all game against Fiorentina. They had zero shots on goal in the second half against Roma, and that was a game in which they played well in the first half for them. I mean, that's just embarrassing. This is Juventus. The attack is that, especially for me.
00:26:33
Speaker
I think the attacking part against a second half in Fiorentina, that was unacceptable to me because that was clearly allegedly telling them not to attack and I mean I don't have a problem with the rotations, I don't have a problem with playing Weston McKenney who
00:26:49
Speaker
I know Carlo's adamant is simply not good enough to play for you, but I'm kind of leaning towards that. But I have a question mark. No, but I mean, I just have a question. And it's so obvious that he's just not in match. He's just not match fit. He's not in match form, whilst Miretti is. And I don't understand why he and why not Rabio? I mean, do you know, I mean, like, I don't understand why he played Mckenny for so long as he did. Other than that, I thought Kostitch on left wing was good. I think Milik has a backup to Vlau which works.
00:27:18
Speaker
I did a thing. Kostich is not a left-winger. He's not. He's not a left-winger. He's never played there in his entire career. Why are you playing Kostich on the left wing of a 4-3-3? He's a wingback. Why are you playing him there? It's pointless. He's not going to create. He can't beat his man. He's not going to dribble past his player.
00:27:37
Speaker
Gladys Galia is going to do or Raphael is going to do. Like you expect from a top winger at a top club, you expect them to eliminate, take on their man. He's not going to do that. All he can do is just cross the ball, just cross it, put a cross in. He's got a great cross in it. He needs to play a winger. You can't play him as a winger. I mean, 4-4-2, let him play in that favor 4-4-2 of yours. No, no, you should play a three. I mean, this Juva was made to play a 3-5-2 and the sooner Allegri understands that, the better off
00:28:05
Speaker
Juve and Allegri will be, but my issue is, I mean, especially with Danilo and Bremmer playing so well together in the middle of the fence, I think, you know, just put them in a back three and then you put Gatti or Alexander as a left back and you're sorted. I mean, coming to Mckenney, just because you brought up Mckenney.
00:28:24
Speaker
Everybody knows my opinion on mckennie i've been hammering the guy for it for two years since we since we started this part two years ago i've been having mckennie i said it from the start when everyone was ready to get excited like a lot of fans generally when a new signing comes in they'd like to get excited before they've even seen the player better play games you know.
00:28:43
Speaker
I've said within a couple of games, this guy's not Juventus quality. I've been getting hammered by it for ages, you know, and now I think everybody, most 95% of Juventus fans now accept that McKinney is way off the Juventus level. But, you know, that's not the point. You know, I can say the same about Moisakine as well. He was also just unwatchable. But it's got to the point now where I'm not even going to sit and criticise them for being for being, you know, bad footballers, because, you know, I mean,
00:29:13
Speaker
look at what Allegri has done to Locatelli. Locatelli is playing close to Mckenny's level at the moment. He's closer to Mckenny's level than he was
00:29:25
Speaker
the player that joined Juve from after that great Euros that he had for Italy where he was one of the best midfielders in the Euros. It's got to the point now where, like I said, I don't think it actually matters who plays for Juve. This is what we're going to expect from Juventus. This is how they're going to play now. They're not improving. They're not going to improve as a team. If they're not improved in 15 months that Allegri's been there with two pre-seasons, with all these new signings,
00:29:52
Speaker
including Paredes, who was supposed to help structurally, okay, maybe you can say it's too soon, it's only one game, he hasn't played much for PSG, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, if they're not gonna improve now, they're not gonna improve. This is the kind of football that we're gonna expect from Juventus now. A Juventus team that has no structure, no team play, no patterns of play, no cohesion, no fluidity, you know, can't string two or three passes together, can't create anything, can't attack. Just relying on a low block,
00:30:21
Speaker
counter-attacking and just relying on the moment of magic from one of their better players. This is what we're going to expect now. It doesn't matter who plays. Yes, of course. When Pogba's back from injury, hopefully that chronic meniscus problem doesn't hamper in this season. When Di Maria is back from injury, and that's a little bit of a concern, how many injuries he's been getting already this season. He's back and then he gets injured again, then he's back and now he's injured again.
00:30:47
Speaker
You know, that's a bit when those two are back when Kiezer is hopefully back and he's been delayed now He probably is not gonna be back till January But when he's back, hopefully, you know, of course Juventus are gonna be better because these are top players The Juventus are gonna be better but it's gonna have nothing to do with Allegri Nothing at all. The team are not gonna play any better It's just gonna be you know, these guys might you know resolve a few games for Juventus just through their own brilliance Not through Juventus playing as a team because it's quite clear now that it doesn't matter who plays for Juventus They're not going to play as a progressive team
00:31:19
Speaker
I hope I'm prepared. No, I think they will. I just think the only thing I didn't like was the second half attitude. But look, it's PSG next. And I think the comments he made I know would piss you off and piss a lot of people off.
00:31:35
Speaker
But he is an old-school Italian manager. He is the last of the Trappatoni, Capello kind of guys. And those guys would say stuff like, oh, no, we don't have a chance against PSG. We're focusing on Benfica. And he's doing that too. It's an old-school tried and tested way to get players to fire up for the game.
00:32:02
Speaker
I don't see the logic. I like to think of myself when it comes to psychology to be annoying my stuff a little bit. But I don't see how that can fire up and get the best out of your players by basically telling them it doesn't matter if they lose to the PSG. The PSG game doesn't even matter because it's going to be the Benfica game. I don't see it at all, especially when... He's trying to get them to be angry. He's trying to hurt their pride.
00:32:30
Speaker
Like that's, he's trying to piss them off. This is the same manager that basically praises them. Every single, every single game is playing a good game when they, when they haven't, they've been abysmal, you know, saying he was happy against Nandoria. Yeah, because that's the old school. But isn't this the problem with Allegri that he is?
00:32:47
Speaker
His communication and his training methods are definitely not modern. I would never accuse him of that. I would never have. And if some people were praising him as the best communicator in Italian football, which made me laugh so hard, I almost... I may or may have... Well, I used to really admire him.
00:33:02
Speaker
for his communication in his first belt event. I used to think the way that he was handled the press, he never used to get rattled. He was always controlling them. He was always in control of the debates in the press. Now he's become a parody. He rattles off the same things every single time. It's all about being defensively playing well defensively than it is about attacking. Beautiful football, I don't want to care about beautiful football. It's about winning, even though his teams aren't winning.
00:33:31
Speaker
you know, all these kind of things about having a strong mentality, we've got to be better, stronger mentally.
Fan Frustration with Juventus
00:33:36
Speaker
You know, it's always it's always it's never about praising someone for their what they did attacking wise, someone like Marietti, it's about criticising them for what they've done defensively. Now he's become a parody now. And I just
00:33:47
Speaker
No, I think he knows what he's doing. I think the communication is old school and this is who he is. He's always been old school. The difference was that he had the results were going his way and he was more relaxed and now he's not relaxed because this is Yulvan and there's an expectation.
00:34:08
Speaker
I mean, I said at the beginning of the season, if there's one thing I want to see from Allegri before anything else, is I want him to start treating Juventus like a big team, like a super club. And that means that you attack the opposition, that you're the masters on the pitch, you're the bosses on the pitch. If that means, okay, you sit off a little bit, if you play a little bit like Antonio Conte, I'm not saying you have to play Pep Guardiola football, I'm saying that you make your mark on the game and you're the bosses on the pitch.
00:34:35
Speaker
They're not. Playing as a low block, just 10 men behind the ball and just trying to launch counter attacks, that is not the fitting of a top club. And Fabio Capello said that himself. Juventus are playing like a provincial club. That is how Allegri has been setting up his team ever since he rejoined. And it hasn't changed. And people say, I know you seem to think there has been
00:34:57
Speaker
I don't see them. I just see the same style of play from the start. The Fiorentina game confirmed that. Then he's saying that basically writing off the PSG game, which a big club should never write off a game. Even if you think deep down you're going to lose, and I think most people expect them to lose to PSG, you don't write off a game.
00:35:22
Speaker
doesn't make any sense because he's writing off the game yet why is he resting Vlawovic? Why is he resting players? Well that's exactly what I'm saying makes perfect sense because he's saying stuff like that just to piss them off to rile them up and again I'm not saying this is not how I would communicate if I were in shoes I'm just explaining that this is how he does I understand the line of reasoning it's really really old school whether or not it works remains to be seen but I do I think for me the the lack of
00:35:52
Speaker
of trying to win the game for 45 minutes against Fiorentina, that surprised me. And I think that is unacceptable. I'll tell you what also is unacceptable is that fans are fed up of watching this crap. I mean, Allegri can say what he wants about, oh, it doesn't matter about the entertainment. I don't care. It's all about the winning. First of all, as I said, they're not winning. They're not being a successful team since he's returned. So that is just a stupid thing to say. If they were winning, that's fine. You can say that, but they're not winning.
00:36:22
Speaker
Number two is in modern football generally in the last few years we have seen that playing progressive football is generally what is translating into success. Generally you get exceptions but generally it is what is translating into success. That's number two but
00:36:37
Speaker
Number three, fans want to, you know, Juventus fans, they watch the game, you know, football for everyone. It's like an escape from life. That's what's the beauty about it. It is for me. I'm sure it is for both of you guys, right? When you watch a game of football, you watch your team play. You want it, okay, you want them to win, but you also, you want to enjoy it. You want to look forward to watching your team play.
00:36:55
Speaker
Now, can you, for Juventus fans now, they don't want, it's just, it's actually a chore watching Juventus now. It's actually punishment watching Juventus. And it's the same for neutrals. Neutrals don't want to watch them. Right now, Juventus are, there's no doubt about it. I watch football from other leagues. I cover other leagues. Juventus are the most boring team in Europe, by a mile. It's not even close. They are the worst team to watch in Europe. You pick out anyone from the big volumes. I mean, I've Pletko Madrid, they're not great under Simeone. They have a certain style of play.
00:37:24
Speaker
I asked a few friends Preston, apparently from the championship, they've only scored two goals and conceded one in eight games this season, which is, I think even Allegri would be proud of that. West Ham under Moyes, I'm not a fan of him, of the way they play. There's a few other ones as well that are not great, but no one comes close to Juventus. Can you guys name a team that are more boring to watch?
00:37:48
Speaker
than you've entered. I mean I'm sure if I've entered into Seria B I could come up with a name. Don't shit on Seria B. Leave Seria B alone. He disagrees. You've entered into the most boring thing. I'm just going to say what Saint Santo Max says. He says if you want to be entertained go watch the circus.
00:38:11
Speaker
Excuse me if I want to move on from Uventini being able to lament. I know it's been a very difficult past decade. Exactly, thank you. Let's go to two teams who have plenty of reason to cry. Lazio Napoli and then we'll get to Utenese Roma and then we will get into Champions
Napoli's Triumph Over Lazio
00:38:32
Speaker
League stuff.
00:38:32
Speaker
Lazio Napoli, it had just about everything that I love about Serie A. So we had taking absolute dumps on the referee. We had Lazio in the post match actually releasing a statement from... The new thing now with Serie A clubs is they have like refereeing consultants. Roma has one.
00:38:59
Speaker
Lots you'll have one. I'm fairly certain not to have one. This is like the new thing now with VAR. We have to hire a consultant, which everybody knows who works. Anybody in the business world knows. Consultant basically means nothing. Anybody who has seen the movie Office Space will be able to relate to this one.
00:39:22
Speaker
It was, I believe Latia will still have it up, the statement they released. They made it seem like they were wrongfully convicted of murder, the way the statement read. I mean, my goodness, talk about an overreaction. Napoli, in my opinion, I think they deserved that win. You also have
00:39:39
Speaker
the continued breakout, Nima, of this guy that you really like. And we talked about him briefly a couple of weeks ago, but I think that he deserves a bit more discussion because he really has been a shining light. And let's be clear. Okay. Unexpected. Very unexpected. Well, that's the thing, though. I mean, he's been amongst
00:40:02
Speaker
Kvičakvallatjelya has been on the radar for quite some time as being a huge talent. I remember in 2018, the Guardian named him amongst the 60 best young players worldwide. For me, I really noticed him when he killed Sweden's World Cup hopes by scoring twice in Georgia when they beat Sweden 2-0. And I mean, this guy is
00:40:31
Speaker
We think that he came through the youth system at Dinamo Tbilisi and he was 16 years old when he began his senior career there and he moved on a year later. And then in 2019, he turned to the Russian Premier League. He played for local motif Moscow on loan.
00:40:51
Speaker
you know, and they were disappointed. I remember, you know, Lokomotiv Moscow manager Yuri Semyon was very angry at the time that they couldn't sign him. And especially when he went to Rubinkazan, where he signed a five-year deal at the age of 18. And obviously, after the war in Ukraine, he was able to suspend his contracts and he went to
00:41:14
Speaker
He joined Dinamo Batumi in Georgia. And then obviously, throughout all of this, Napoli, throughout all these years, because let's be clear, this is a guy who's been tracked by both Manchester United, Manchester City, the biggest clubs in Europe have wanted him. And throughout all of this, Napoli, Juntoly, have been in contact. They've used actually a tube form of Milan players, Caladze, but above all, Cristian Zaccardo.
00:41:42
Speaker
who advises Chichac, and they've kept contact with him and showed that they really wanted him, and they couldn't afford him before. But when there was an offer on the table, when the price was 10-12 million euros, then they pounced and they did right in doing so. I mean, the guy is
00:42:06
Speaker
You know, he has literally everything. I mean, he's fairly ambidextrous. He's good in the air. He's good at doing his man. He doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. And I mean, obviously, you know, I think it doesn't exactly hurt him that he comes, that his father is Badri Calatrelia, who
00:42:24
Speaker
who used to play for the Azerbaijani national team, is also a footballer. So, no, he really does have pretty much everything. And that shot we saw against Napoli, which, excuse me, which hit the post. That was unbelievable. I mean, the technique it does to do that, and he does it time and time again. Well, no, it followed up with Zidanta, the famous Zinedine Zidanta, where he does one foot on the ball and then turns with the other foot and does it kind of almost like a pirouette kind of.
00:42:55
Speaker
And that was unbelievable. And then with one step forward, he then unleashes this missile, which hits the post. I mean, that's a goal of the season contender straight away. I love watching the guy. Sometimes players come along who
00:43:14
Speaker
just instantly, you know, within minutes of watching them, that you can tell that this is a special talent that's gonna, you know, it's gonna make it all the way to the top. And that is the impression that you got from this guy.
00:43:26
Speaker
within minutes of watching him in Napoli's first game of the season against Verona, wasn't it? And he was already, I mean, he's fearless as well. But from a mental point of view for a 21 year old, he wants the ball all the time. He's not scared to try tricks. He, you know, and he's got a lot of them as well. He's very, he's not predictable. He can go inside, he can go outside.
00:43:48
Speaker
He, you know, right foot, left foot, both footed, shoot with both feet, even scored a goal with his head against Verona as well. And, you know, Sierra in pace. He's already scored four goals already this season.
00:44:02
Speaker
and you know ahead of the Liverpool game in the Champions League I think that you know against Trent Alexander Arnold who obviously is a wonderful player going forward but he is dodgy defensively I really think he can get him in Naples I think that is where
00:44:20
Speaker
he can really cause problems against Liverpool. His name in Megrelian, which is a sister language of Georgian, which is spoken in the western part of Georgia, means, in that language, the word hvicha means shiny or brilliant, and he absolutely is. He shines like a star so far, and I think his future is shiny as well.
00:44:44
Speaker
No doubt he was the man of the match against Lazio. No doubt about it. But there were also a lot of impressive performance in that game. I thought Napoli were great. Have to give a shout out for the sentiment fielders. Lebokka and Anguisa I thought were superb. They really, they run the show in the sentiment field. Lebokka, what a lovely player he is. What a beautiful player. They're my kind of sentiment fielders.
00:45:08
Speaker
Javi, Marco Verratti, Pierre Lobot, more like Javi and Verratti. He's out of their place. This is Spalletti, but this is Spalletti. Look, Lobotka, this is what he does. Luciano Spalletti gets so much slack for not winning titles and he doesn't get the respect he deserves for developing and improving players.
00:45:26
Speaker
This is again, once again, Luciano Spalletti. People talk about Marcelo Brozovic today as if he's always been fantastic. No, he wasn't. He was very inconsistent until Luciano Spalletti got his hands on him and turned him into this world-class player that we see now. And we've seen that he's done it countless times at Roma, he's done it throughout his career. This is what he does. And now he's done it with Lobotka. And I have to say, even Zelinski,
00:45:51
Speaker
I mean, I really like this guy. He's so underrated. No, Napoli, look, I think Napoli's biggest, you know, they're going to finish top four. And I have them as my dark horse to win the Serie A because if the star is a line for them,
00:46:07
Speaker
I know it's a young and inexperienced team, but I do think they have what it takes to win this league. I really do. If everything is perfect. If everything falls to place. They're not the favorites, that's Milan Inter. And I even have Juve ahead of them as far as favorites go. But when it works, this team is an absolutely wonderful team to watch.
00:46:27
Speaker
Hm. Well, apparently another team... You're not going to spend a lot of time on this. This isn't school where you keep your head down and we won't call you. It's your turn to suffer.
Roma's Missed Opportunities
00:46:40
Speaker
Here's the thing is Roma, in my opinion, and this is probably the unpopular take on this,
00:46:51
Speaker
It's not as if Utenese played brilliant and Roma played that bad. Roma, if you look through the first five match days, the amount of goal scoring chances that they have missed.
00:47:05
Speaker
this match was going to happen. It could have been Juve, it could have been Inte, it could have been Udenaze. This was going to happen. This was always coming. This was going to happen regardless of who the opponent was, in my opinion, because they have wasted so many chances. It doesn't matter if you create 1,000 chances and the opponent only misses four. It's all about who takes advantage of them. And that's what Udenaze did yesterday.
00:47:31
Speaker
Well, I don't know what their XG was. I assume it was it was higher than the Romans, but I can't imagine it was over, too. I mean, they they had three or four goals, scoring opportunities, and they scored all four of them. Half of them. The first comes from Rick Carsdorp going full a galaxy brain and doing an absolute
00:47:56
Speaker
limp dick, chested down ball to Luis Patricio and our man. If there is one person on Nudineze that we can all get behind, it's the gentleman that made an appearance on our podcast.
00:48:14
Speaker
I mean, he slams it into the back of the net. Carr's door looking like an absolute moron. Five minutes later, Paolo Di Bala threw on goal, doesn't even hit the target. I know Carlo's going to
00:48:29
Speaker
probably smirking at this. This is what Roma did last season. They could have a world-class goal, but I was more impressed at ways they managed to not score goals. Somebody could score on a half volley from the halfway line, and I wouldn't care. I wouldn't be that impressed. I'd be more impressed by the fact that Roma can score from
00:48:51
Speaker
a half a yard in front of the goal without any defender by them. The second half, they were completely unbalanced because Jose Mourinho was going for it. I'm not too concerned about the changes. Zeki Chelec threw on goal, nobody around him.
00:49:12
Speaker
He slows down a little bit, looks for a penalty. I thought it was a penalty, but whatever. I'm not going to complain. For me, Mariska was... No, Mariska was... I mean, I'm surprised Mourinho didn't go harder. He was dreadful in this game.
00:49:30
Speaker
He made, I mean, did you see, I mean, he made those things that it's just like the, I just think, I just hear Antonio Conte's voice. And you can understand why, because the guy is just a pain in the neck. He's completely incompetent. He shouldn't be doing, he shouldn't be in charge of any, and, and, and, and I mean, speaking on the, on the,
00:49:49
Speaker
refereeing thing. I agree with Lazio. When I watched, when I first watched it, I didn't see it, but I'm surprised that VAR didn't call a penalty on Ladzari being that, because your arm's not supposed to be there. We saw lots of things like that. It kind of reminds me what they are saying.
00:50:12
Speaker
The thing that bothers me, and I know this is something we have touched upon, and it's only five match days in, just mentally.
VAR Inconsistencies in Serie A
00:50:20
Speaker
I don't have the strength to do this for the next eight months, so I'm going to avoid it. But in all seriousness, the application of the VAR is still completely broken. All summer, I had to hear about, oh, we know where we have to improve from AYA. They were saying, okay, we have to improve this. We're going to
00:50:37
Speaker
improve communications with the teams. We're going to consider having the referee meet with the media after the match to explain their decisions, which they still haven't, they're not doing yet. We will see if that eventually happens. But all summer I had to hear
00:50:55
Speaker
from Gianluca Rochi that, okay, we know what is wrong. We're going to fix it in this upcoming season. They don't have a clue. They don't have a clue. It's easy to... You know, as a Roma supporter, of course, anytime I came in front of Lazio, I'll try and have a go. But they do have a point with... They absolutely have. The thing with Cielc yesterday, okay, so I thought it was a very clear penalty. I thought it was too. We can debate that.
00:51:21
Speaker
But but but why are we not having a review of it no why are why is he not going over to the monitor that is the thing but the thing is like this is the thing though i mean it's because of the way that the va are structured it wasn't like this when it first began. When when they when they when they introduced a clear and obvious error.
00:51:39
Speaker
Part and also if the referee has seen it then it cannot be reviewed. So they talked and what did you see? And if he says that what he saw and that's accurate, you know Is is is also cone, you know accurately describes what they can see on the screens They cannot tell him to to to review it and and that's because they're trying to limit the AR to remove the worst Injustices, but I think that's cowardly and stupid way to treat it I mean everyone was whinging about the AR taking long time. Well, congratulations now you have this
00:52:09
Speaker
situation where where you know the Where where you have these you know these these abhorrent mistakes and everyone is wondering from the Premier League to the right the Syria Everyone's wondering what's the point of the AR then? I mean, it's it's ridiculous use the technology to eliminate mistakes stop faffing about and if it takes a minute or two Then let it take a minute or two It's better than that than having this this non never-ending debate about is the re is the league rigged. Is it not rigged? Why is something? Why is this standard allowed in this situation?
00:52:39
Speaker
We can't do that magic. It doesn't matter how long they take. It doesn't matter how long they take. They'll get the decisions wrong. It doesn't matter how long they take. No, but that's why. Unless you, I mean, we'll then put in people who have a functioning pair of eyeballs and are cognitive and are, you know, have an IQ above that of a sentient potato and you teach them. That won't happen though. And apply that. That won't happen, unfortunately. It will never happen though. You know that. Unfortunately, this is what the world is like, you know, in every industry.
00:53:07
Speaker
Yeah, I know, but it's changed. Gen Z, I blame all of you. That's why. Just to say on the Roma thing, I thought Roma were really bad at all game, but I did think that Mourinho- Oh, that's harsh.
00:53:22
Speaker
I thought they were bad old game, but I thought Mourinho completely threw away the game with his halftime subs. He playing Abraham and Bellotti together. I just don't, I don't see those two working together. I have to say, I think they're too, they're too similar. I don't see them working. I don't, we can't criticize, don't go for it. Allegri for not, for not going for it. And then he almost got on the, the, the, the score sheet too. He was a quarter of a step.
00:53:50
Speaker
It's how you do it. They could have drawn a level of that penalty have been awarded. You can't be happy with Roma's second half performance. They lost their shape completely in the second half. They were hollow in the middle of the pick. I mean, I'm unhappy. Yeah, but it wasn't working. What did they create in the second half? They had a header off a corner and that was basically it in the second half. No, they also had a header.
00:54:15
Speaker
I think yesterday was the hands or the chickens coming home to roost. You can't waste chances like this. And they were made to pay because they have been so wasteful through five match days. Paulo de Bala should have five or six goals. He should be that type of the scoring charts through the first two match days.
00:54:40
Speaker
I think he alone should have been at three or four. The only hope is that this kind of just turns itself around because you would just think by the law of large numbers that if they continue to create like this,
00:54:56
Speaker
they will eventually find the back of the net. But it is Roma. I mean, they've defined logic, physics, basic geometry. This is what I meant a little bit.
Udinese and Verona's Surprising Performances
00:55:06
Speaker
I also wanted to say, I don't want to like rub it in, but this is also why when I said that I don't think Roma have a chance to win the scoretto, this is partly it. I don't think that defense and that midfield holds up.
00:55:18
Speaker
to win the Scudetto. And I don't think anybody would love the Scudetto at all. No, but you know what I mean? I thought it was up for a match. Cristante and Matich as a central midfield duo. Oh, terrible fit. Terrible fit. Terrible fit. It's not, yeah. They're not... I mean, that would make a negative watch of being a too quick. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. But we have to talk about it. Yeah, that's right. We do. Yeah, we do. Yeah. Hey, listen, we do have to talk about it.
00:55:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there are so much to like about them. Listen, I did not expect this from them. They were one of the clubs who made a managerial change that... But it was a fantastic change. I mean... Okay, it was. But in my opinion, initially, it was not the prudent thing to do. I thought stick, much like I thought with Spezia, with Tiago Mota,
00:56:10
Speaker
stick with the cohesion, do the prudent thing, continue on with what you've built. But I mean, this just goes to show you why, no matter if you're in the media, you know nothing eventually. No, but I mean, if we look at Udines, look, I guess the thing that I just have to say very quickly is that, you know, with Udines, I don't know about you guys, maybe it's just if you ever been to Friuli in general, it's just not a whole lot going on. And that seems to
00:56:40
Speaker
Well, it goes down to the team. They've always been so bored. John ripping the towns and the cities the clubs are from. No, we're going to do it for the ones that I like the most. Because I actually just booked my tickets to Liguria and I can't wait to go back because I have a beautiful time. Listen, look, for me, for me, this is one exciting. They play exciting football and that's it. That's all I have to say. But look, this is for me again, the Pier Paolo Marino from from Beccao, who he discovered to Pereira, who was fantastic yesterday.
00:57:10
Speaker
Beto, Makengo, Samardzic, De Olofeo. I mean, this is, you know, and also Sotil. Andrea Sotil was the coach who was excellent in Ascoli. I mean, he gets these things right. He always does this. He's done his entire career. And he... He overweights Stanley Tucci, man. He is...
00:57:30
Speaker
So somebody said that on Twitter and now I can't stop seeing that unmudding, you know, no, but just Google it. You'll understand what I mean. Yeah, he's a fantastic director of 10 to 15 years ago. We discussed this last season when we when we had Udoji on the on the on Delafeyo in the pod, one of the two, I can't remember. We asked them and they said that, yeah, this was their model. Now this is what they're returning to. And you're seeing that they're bringing out these little gems, these more unknown players that we don't know. And they also pay a very
00:57:57
Speaker
you know, progressive type of football, modern type of football. They're a modern run club. They showed lots of energy against roaming. They have their own stadium for crying out loud, just that. I mean, they have a new stadium which they own and run. Even when the stadium's not full, it looks good, actually. I love how they have the coloured seats. It kind of almost looks like the illusion of looking like it looks good. It looks attractive when there's no fans in there. But I have to say, though,
00:58:24
Speaker
some I'd said she scored the goal that really patricio did a did a booboo on how I thought that he was very good and and he's somebody that I know because I spoke to people about him a couple of years ago was really highly rated when he joined Leipzig and but he's only 20 and I didn't realize he was still that young and so he definitely looks like nice left foot he looks like someone to watch uh Delafeyo great to watch there was one moment when Delafeyo did a cross with his shoulder I don't know if you guys saw that he
00:58:49
Speaker
Yes, okay shoulder the incident I love watching him. He's a real entertainer. Yeah He was fantastic guy. I thought and we I think Nima you and I said it I I thought not every single big club all the top four in the Serie A Could have used him. Yeah
00:59:10
Speaker
Oh my god, I mean you want to talk about just tactical versatility, I mean you could put him in any formation and find space for him. No, but I mean above all Napoli, I mean they wanted him, but they couldn't offload Politano, so they had to stay and I think that was a- I'd have taken him at UVA for sure, I think Roman had taken him as well, you know, because he didn't play that many of the systems.
00:59:31
Speaker
No, I would have, I'd rather have their affair at the Joaquin Correa, I'll tell you that much. But just finally, I have to say one thing. I have to say one thing. Udoji, I mean, we've spoken about him a lot. He's our guy, you know, I like to say that I discovered him. But, you know, we had him on our pod and, you know, I think he's going to have a great career. But, you know, Italy are playing in the Nations League, coming up at the end of this month against England and against Hungary. Not too much pressure on it, on those games.
01:00:01
Speaker
For me, start him as left back. I know he's been playing as a left wing back. I know he's been playing as a left wing back for Udenezer. It's different playing for three or four. I would have him. I mean, do you know his last 10 games for Udenezer between the start of this season and last season, last 10 games, a doggy has five goals and three assists from the left wing back. Those are insane numbers. Can you just imagine what he will turn into once Antonio Conte gets his hands on this guy?
01:00:29
Speaker
Oh, he's not nice. I mean, he was built. He was like, I think Koulousevski, but so is the Udoji and Koulousevski were built, born to play for Antonio Conte. What were they doing to his very guys? No, he's just going to he's just going to turn him. He's going to train him and teach him time goes back to Conte or Inte somehow. It's unbelievable.
01:00:55
Speaker
What I say is great about Udoji is he gives and goes. If you see, he plays it into like a forwards feet or somebody that's a little bit more advanced in him, and then he just sprints into the space to take the second pass or to take the one-two. And he's just devastating. And he makes great runs into the box. We're talking about players that make late runs in the box, like Frank Lampard-style runs in the box. Obviously, he's coming from a wide position, but he is.
01:01:23
Speaker
as good as anyone and making those late runs he's always a threat you know and when you talk about teams that have a goal threat in their team and you look and you think right apart from the forwards who's going to score goals in this team you know are there any sentiment fielders that are going to score are there any wide midfielders are the wing bats going to score he's your player that you know if he's in your team he's going to get you five to ten goals a season guaranteed because he's got goals in him and over the course of a league season that is you know that's a huge weapon to have in the squad
01:01:49
Speaker
Speaking of goals having in him, Bologna and Mihailovic are lucky to have Marco Arnautovic, who is now the top goal scorer in the Serie A. He's quick and looks better than he's ever done.
01:02:05
Speaker
he scored two good goals against Pizzia, and now he's the top goalscore in the Serie A. And I remember Manchester United fans trying to cancel him effectively for things that... Unsubstantiated claims, yeah. Whilst having Cristiano Ronaldo, which they welcomed with open arms just 12 months earlier, the less said about that, the better. But the hypocrisy there is hilarious. But I mean, he's really, he's 33 years of age, he's really having a
01:02:35
Speaker
He's having the best time of his career and he's single-handedly keeping Sini Sami Haylovic in his job. We love Mihal, but... No, we don't tactically. This guy is the reason...
01:02:51
Speaker
No, he is like the there's that, you know, there's a popular meme of the person like in the group project who doesn't do anything but still gets the credit that I mean, obviously, we wish him the best what he's going through.
01:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, of course. Just a wonderful, wonderful, just a wonderful character for us. He is a wonderful character. But as far as a manager goes, you know, he always, you know, I've been very outspoken. Yeah. I mean, he needs a lot to be desired. But he really is the guy in the group project who is doing either nothing or doing a crap job. And he is being held afloat by the, by the noise. There's been a lot, there's been a lot of them places I've worked.
01:03:35
Speaker
Yeah. It's usually the other way around, to be honest. I always say that in this world, there's usually 10% or even 5% that do all the work and have all the talent and then the rest of the 90% just feed off it, basically. Yeah, exactly. That's my experience in this world. Someone who, speaking of work done and feed off and good work, Verona, I am so impressed.
01:04:05
Speaker
that game against Sampdoria who are dreadful, but this Doug Koig, this Scottish wingback, watch out for him.
01:04:15
Speaker
He was good. He was good for Verona. Santoria are the most directionless club in Serie A. No, they are. But I mean, they're just basically, I mean, we know why that is. They're basically waiting for a new owner to take over. They look pretty good against Juventus. Yeah. And we're all right. But they're good at home. They are good at home and they make life difficult for you. But Caputo scored a lovely goal. Verona, Thomas Henry will do a job for them and he's strong in the end.
01:04:42
Speaker
Before we move on to Champions League, because we have to move on now, I have to just say, the Serie A is the most competitive league in the world. I tweeted this last week. Obviously, there's still two games to play tonight. Monza, Atalanta, I was like three games, Selena, Tana, Empoli, and Sino, Ouellette. But two points separate the top seven in Serie A. If Atalanta don't win tonight, which is possible. They're winning tonight, but we need to talk about very quickly. We all have to do, who's going to Monza? Part of me thinks they're going to pluck somebody off of the island. I just have
01:05:12
Speaker
I have it in my bones. They have to. They have to take this every month. I don't understand. Stropa needs to go. He's not good enough. He's so bad. I mean, the months I have a decent squad, the sooner months are sack. This is, this is last year. He'll get sacked. If they lose to Atlanta, he'll get sacked. No, but look, this, this is, this is the, the situation we had last year when Hellas Verona pointed to Xavier De Francesco.
01:05:33
Speaker
The sooner they sacked him, things went well. The sooner Monza sacked Stropa and bringing Dzirbe, life will go really well for Monza because they have a decent squad and they can play the football Dzirbe wants. Get him out of there.
01:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, if I can just introduce this, John, because we knew to discuss this a little bit a couple of weeks ago, but once the Champions League draw was done, once the transfer window closed last Thursday, we saw the spending, the ridiculous difference in spending between the Premier League
01:06:09
Speaker
and everyone else, then we saw the FFP punishment and stuff, it triggered me a little bit. I put a poll out on my Twitter, I did a poll asking whether the Serie A should quit the Champions League and the results were overwhelmingly, I mean, there's a lot of people voted that the results were overwhelmingly
01:06:33
Speaker
in favor of quitting. The Champions League, 66% of voters said that Serie A clubs should quit the Champions League and create their own, let's just call it a Brexit. That's my only condition. They're not allowed to create anything. No.
01:06:50
Speaker
No, I don't want that. Let everybody else do the creation. Thank you, that's what I was saying. Please don't get your hands on it. You're not allowed to touch it. I don't want Gravina and these guys touching anything. Look, it's no secret. I was in favor of the European Super League. And I think as soon as the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, issues its verdict on the legality of the existence of the European Super League, once that is done and out, then I think they will quit the UEFA's competition. When will that happen?
01:07:20
Speaker
We don't know when the verdict can come at any point.
01:07:22
Speaker
from what I understand. I heard September, but you never know with these Supreme Courts, these judges take the time they need. But once that comes out, then I think the legal hurdles will be unless something, and I expect that to be a full vindication of the European Super League project because they really, really drew up an airtight contract when they put it up. I mean, legally, they're completely safe. Legal argument, yeah.
01:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and it would be very difficult to see how the EU's highest court basically throws out the founding constitution of the EU, which is freedom to contract. And that's pretty much what this is. The next spend this summer, EPL minus 1.33 billion. La Liga in second place with minus 64 million.
01:08:14
Speaker
Then you've got Serie A on a positive balance of plus nine million net spent. They actually made a profit. Liga also made a profit, 41 million. And Bundesliga also made a profit, 45 million. I mean, what is the point anymore, seriously? I mean, what's the point of the Champions League? No, but there is no point of the Champions League. The Champions League is, look, the reason why UEFA likes the Champions League is because
01:08:39
Speaker
That's their tournament that they own and they get to have the Premier League clubs play in it for free, essentially, and they make money off of it. And that's why the UEFA is protecting the Premier League club. It's not a conspiracy. It's just about money. Follow the money, stupid. That's what it is. So it's not a conspiracy. It's just people do what's good in their own self-interest. And it's in UEFA self-interest to protect the Champions League with all the EPL clubs in it.
01:09:06
Speaker
But you know what I think about this. I think that they should quit UEFA's tournaments once the verdict has been issued. I think they should create a European Super League without any Premier League clubs, with Celtic and Rangers,
01:09:23
Speaker
but invite every country in the EU plus Scotland, except for the English Premier League, let them join a few years later down the line. People who criticize it say, well, the only thing that will happen is that the Premier League clubs already make lots of money, will have more money.
01:09:43
Speaker
Yeah, they will. I think the other argument... Listen, let me just say, let me just say, yeah, but the other side of that is that so will Inter Juve Milan and all the other clubs, which means that they don't need to sell their players to survive. Well, actually, the argument is to play Demos Urfica is that if the Serie A clubs, for example, quit the Champions League, they're going to lose all that money from the Champions League, which is a huge, hugely important to their revenue. No, but you go to the European Super League.
01:10:10
Speaker
But you need to have a super league. That's what I'm saying. My point is simply this, that they will not quit the Champions League until the European Super League is up and running, which could happen once the European Court of Justice issues. But then they try and use La Liga to stop Barcelona and Real Madrid from
01:10:31
Speaker
from quitting, from joining the Super League, because they say, if you join the Super League, we won't allow you to be in La Liga. There's no way that's going to happen, because a La Liga without Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, just like a Serie A without Milan, Inter, Juve, Roma, Napoli and all these clubs. Look, it's not going to be the same European Super League it was then. That project is dead. The new European Super League is not going to be a closed off league. It's going to be open. And these clubs will bring in the Romas, the Napolis, the
01:10:59
Speaker
these other clubs. Look, once the legality of the issue is resolved, then they can't stop it. La Liga and Serie A can't stop these clubs. That's why it's so important for this decision to be made. And Black on White, it's the highest court in the EU zone. They're allowed to do it.
01:11:18
Speaker
run with it, right? And once that is done, I think the Bundesliga clubs and the league and clubs will jump at it once because it's free money. I mean, why would they stay with UEFA if it's designed to be... Providing the money on offer is more than what the Champions League is offering now. It's going to be more than that.
01:11:37
Speaker
But remember that was based on the Premier League teams being in that competition, remember that. And that is what brought the back in. Not entirely, not only. Only, of course. Of course not only, but that's the big question mark for me. Will they be able to generate the same kind of money? I mean, they're obviously not going to generate the amount they made last time.
01:11:59
Speaker
Can they make enough? I think they will. I think they will because people need to remember that the Premier League, they're the biggest league and they're the best marketed league, but Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atérico Madrid, Inter Milan, Juva, all these other clubs have a massive following globally as well.
01:12:15
Speaker
if they're done, if they're promoted properly, which they haven't been, if they utilize that, what they've got. But they will do that. And I think all we're waiting for now is for the European Court of Justice to issue its ruling. And once that is done, then there's nothing stopping them. Then they can do it. If we can't do anything. We need to do it because I don't know about you guys, but of course, our final segment now is going to be just a quick preview of the Champions League. But I'll be honest with you, it's like,
01:12:41
Speaker
Yes, of course. I'm going to watch the games. I'm going to support the Italian clubs. I want all the Italian teams to do well. I support them massively, but I know deep down that there's no chance any of them are going to win it. We might have a good run. It's going to be the same five clubs for the next decade. If we stick on as continuing.
01:13:01
Speaker
But I mean, those two are the famous ones. And that's why I'm saying that once the European Super League is, you know, once the legal status of it has been clarified, Bayern Munich will jump at that shit in half a second. Let's remember the Bayern Munich with Ruhmene Ge and
01:13:20
Speaker
and Hernes and Beckenbauer were the ones who even introduced the concept of a super league some 20-30 years ago. So they're being smart here. Once the legal challenges are all over, they will full steam ahead and
01:13:36
Speaker
I know they will allow the Premier League clubs to join because there are clubs in the Premier League who wanted to join this and are unhappy about what happened and they will push internally in the FA to be allowed to join because otherwise they'll be left behind. But we'll have to wait and see. First things first, the ECJ decision, what the new ESL looks like, what backing it has, but it has to happen. It just has to happen. It cannot continue like this.
01:14:04
Speaker
OK, well, yikes. Ending this on a positive note, I suppose. Yes. All right. But the champion's like, OK, so we have Napoli. Just to remind everybody, they're in the group with Ajax, Liverpool Rangers, Inc. Dead. They are in the group with Bayern, Barcelona, Zoya, Pilsen. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:14:36
Speaker
I mean I don't even know.
01:14:47
Speaker
by Napoli. They should get through. Milan should get through. You should get through. Okay, but let's start with matchday one. So you have Salzburg and Milan. What do we think? I think it's important for Milan to get to a good start because I think Milan actually, after Napoli, have a good chance to win their group.
European Competitions Preview
01:15:08
Speaker
So it's important that Milan takes this seriously. They need to get a positive result. When they need to win.
01:15:15
Speaker
They need to win, I think. I would say a draw wouldn't be the end of the world. As long as they're getting four points from the two games against Salzburg, they deal with Dynamo Zagreb home and away, they should be fine. Salzburg are not pushover. They've got that Benjamin Sesko. What I've seen him in, he looks like an incredible talent. He does.
01:15:32
Speaker
really does. So they've got to stop him and they always produce great young players, salt specks, they could always be dangerous. But yeah, I think Milan obviously should be confident, shouldn't they? After winning the Derby. No, they should. I do think though that, I mean, obviously Napoli and Inter both got really hard games.
01:15:50
Speaker
I think if Ossemane is fit, because I've seen some reports that he might not make the game, which is a big, big shame, because I think if he's fit, him and Kvada Czelya, I really think that Napoli could shock Liverpool in this game. Liverpool are not in good shape. They've got a lot of midfield injuries. They're not playing well. They're really poor. What I saw of them against Everton, I watched most of that game really, really poor in that game.
01:16:15
Speaker
They lost to Man United the other week. They're in bad form. They're in bed. They got lucky in midweek. They got cheated, basically cheated. Who was it? They played Newcastle. Newcastle. Yeah, it's a Napoli. They could spring a shot. They got a good record against Liverpool, but if Aussie men's out, that's obviously, that's a massive, massive blow. No, for sure.
01:16:36
Speaker
Look, this is why I have Napoli as the best as a team, as the Italian team with the best chance to win their group. And I think are the team that I have going the furthest in the Champions League. I think for every reason you said, I think they have everything in place to and the football they play, I think suits Europe as well.
01:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, and you've entered. I was about to say, I'm sure you can't wait. Yeah, I think everybody expects them to lose this game. And I think DeMaria is out now as well. So no DeMaria, no Pogba, no Kieser, you know, they're gonna... Yeah. Go, let's draw. Go, let's draw. He's gonna park the bus at the park of France and he's gonna bore everyone to death.
01:17:15
Speaker
And he could maybe even nick it away the same way that he did against Chelsea last year. Oh my gosh. He didn't get to go away against Chelsea. No way, but nick it. I mean, at home. But no, I think he could. I mean, of course, PSG are massive favourites, but I think he'll use all his jihadi techniques to stop PSG and you'll be lamenting and everyone will be angry.
01:17:41
Speaker
saying that he should be you know he's a dinosaur and he belongs in another dimension and blah blah blah but he'll do that he'll do all the tricks and it wouldn't surprise me if you play with a back three in this game like he just just ahead of this game like he I know I mean he changes the formation enough to confuse all these players play 3-5-2 I think this is 3-5-2 is how you ever should play and I think he might do it again so now I think a draw there I expect Milan to win and I think you will have a good chance to draw
01:18:07
Speaker
and Napoli for the same reason as you said I think they should win and Inter don't stand its no balls chance in hell against Bayern. So we can just move on from that. Alright Europa League Roma Lazio they will be in action. They should win those groups right? Yeah they both should finish on top. Lazio are facing Fey Norden.
01:18:26
Speaker
Roma they go away to ludagorets those should be fairly straightforward and then Fiorentina They are in conference league as a reminder. They are in a group with hearts, but Sakhshir. I don't even know who they're playing Fiorentina. It sounds like a like a
01:18:41
Speaker
Sounds like one of those made up auto generated teeny or something. Yeah. Okay.
Criticism of Journalistic Practices
01:18:51
Speaker
Well, all right. Let's, let's move on. Bajo and prim face of the week. And then we will wrap things up. So let's get to those now.
01:19:02
Speaker
Okay. Bajio of the week. We've already talked about him at length, Rafael Liao. Fantastic performance in the Derby. We don't need to rehash. He was, again, returning to goal scoring form, even though he was performing well at previous weeks. I'm just waiting. I'm just here for Nima's prem face. That's all I'm here for. Yeah. So let's go to prem face. Go ahead, Nima. No, listen. Look, I guess I should give him credit for
01:19:29
Speaker
for deleting the tweet that was a complete lie. I mean, everyone can make a mistake. But this notion, this thing that people do, journalists do on social media that really, really annoys me, every human being can make a mistake. Every human being can, you know, it's human to air, right? Everyone can make a mistake, but at least own it and apologize and delete it.
01:19:52
Speaker
Don't leave a tweet up that you know is not true, which you yourself admit and own is you were mistaken. And don't delete it because it was getting good traction. That's just incredibly dishonest. And that's what Tariq Panja did in the New York Times for about two hours, despite everyone going at him saying that, sorry, your tweet about Roma and Inter not being allowed to buy players as sanctioned by UEFA is simply factually, empirically incorrect.
01:20:19
Speaker
I tweeted at him, everyone else tweeted at him, and he just left it up. He puts out a tweet saying I was wrong, but he leaves the incorrect tweet up because it was doing numbers, because it's a shocking thing to say. A lot of people were surprised to say that there was a transfer ban effectively on Interanroma. To me, that's just so dishonest, and it's so typical legacy media. I don't want to harp on too much about it, but it's
01:20:45
Speaker
It's just incredibly disappointing. And well, to be fair, after two hours of being hammered, he deleted it. Well, yeah, not just me, but it wasn't just me, a lot of people. But I mean, again, everyone can do mistakes. Everyone can instigate it by you. No, I don't think it was. Maybe it was. I don't know. The ringleader. Oh, please. Just another Victor. You have such a fantastical way of man.
01:21:15
Speaker
What did I do? You will wear people down. You will archail them until... I mean, it is a trial by execution via 1000 cuts. Eventually you will have your way.
01:21:33
Speaker
No but listen here's the thing every like i said everyone can make a mistake i make a million like everyone does but i own them and i stand by them and i hold my hand up i say i'm sorry yeah no but i hold my hand up i own them i own my own mistakes and i say i did it and i delete the tweet but this notion that you just leave it up there and and
01:21:51
Speaker
When you work for a reputable New York, when you work for a journalistic organization, you have a responsibility. It happens a lot. It's because you delete the tweet, you lose the engagement. But that's disgusting. That is absolutely crucial, especially when you're making money off platforms as well. That's disgusting. You delete the post, not just on Twitter. It's the reason why you get certain naming names, you get certain
01:22:18
Speaker
journalists, let's call if you can call them that, who, you know, instead of just retweeting or sharing a post from another person, a story, they'll put they'll put it in their own, they'll make a tweet in their own and then just say, if they're lucky, if, you know, if they're feeling generous, they'll actually credit the other person in the tweet or maybe or often as what often happens, they put it in a tweet underneath because that gets no engagement. If you do a follow up tweet,
01:22:45
Speaker
it never does any engagement if you do a reply to your own tweet. So instead of just retweeting it, they do it because they know that's what gets them the engagement. And that's what will get them followers just retweeting someone doesn't get you any followers or engagement that goes to goes to the original person. So you see that a lot as well. But unfortunately, that's just what the mean. This was just what's happened now. But it's wrong. It's wrong.
01:23:05
Speaker
You're not if you're a journalist, like I said, everyone can make a mistake. You're allowed to make mistakes, but at least have the have the backbone to stand up for it, delete it and don't let it leave. It's not journalism. No, it's a business. It's not exactly. It's it's a business. It's a business. Well, this is this is exactly it. It's not journalism anymore. They're they're they're influencers.
01:23:26
Speaker
That's great. If influencing is your thing and you want to go do that, but at least when you're doing journalism, do it properly and own it and stop this nonsense. It shouldn't take you two hours, especially when you 10 minutes later say, I was wrong, and you leave the wrong tweet up. Why are you doing that? Because like Carlos said, it's obvious because you want the interactions. Well, that's incredibly intellectually dishonest and it ruins your credibility
Conclusion and Patreon Promotion
01:23:51
Speaker
if you care about it, at least for me anyway.
01:23:57
Speaker
Okay. Well, no better way to win. All right. We'll be back tomorrow. Yes. Yes. We'll be back. As you all know, this is a weekly free episode. If you want to gain access to the questions episode and then the Thursday episode, you can go to patreon.com slash T I F P two 99.
01:24:21
Speaker
excluding VAT per month. And again, multiple stuff per week. You also get our reaction podcast. You can listen to Nima do this immediately after a match. So if you didn't get enough today,
01:24:37
Speaker
just wait until we did one didn't we after the three games yeah we'll just wait until ink del lose again and you can hear some of this stuff uh immediately uh after the result it's well worth well worth the 299 so again we will end it there for patrons we will be back tomorrow and thursday we will chat with you all soon until next time bye bye