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Everything You Need to Know About Inter Milan in 2025/2026
79 Plays16 days ago
The Calcio Culture crew is back with a deep dive into Inter Milan’s 2025-2026 Serie A campaign. After a disappointing 2024-2025 , can newly appointed Cristian Chivu bring the team back to their title aspirations? We break down Inter’s summer transfer window, key signings and departures, tactical expectations, and the squad’s Champions League ambitions.
We analyze new arrivals like Ange Bonny, the impact of potential lineup changes, and what the future holds for stars like Lautaro Martínez and Nicolò Barella. Will Inter’s depth be enough to challenge on all fronts? Is this the year they reclaim glory?
Whether you're a die-hard Nerazzurri fan or just love Serie A, this episode has everything you need to gear up for Inter's 2025/26 season — from transfer grades and tactical previews to Champions League outlook and players to watch.
Subscribe and follow Calcio Culture for weekly episodes on all things Italian football.
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Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Ciao, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Cultural Culture. On today's episode, we are kicking off our 2025-2026 season previews, and we're talking about runners-up Inter Milan.
00:00:18
Speaker
um This going to be the first one in the series where we go through kind of the top teams in the league, give you a breakdown of what you can expect from this season, set what their goals are, and what we would define as a successful season. But before we get into that, we do have to give somebody a special shout-out, so I'm going to hand it off to Logs for that.
00:00:34
Speaker
Ciao, Paizans. Good to be back. I'm a little under the weather, so if I do cough in your face, I do apologize. But huge shout-out to one in particular, Paizan, this week, Alex-C3K5I, the boy on YouTube, came out showing love.
00:00:49
Speaker
He's the perfect example. of why the three of us do exactly what we do with cultural culture to grow the game. Alex shared with us an incredible article that he wrote based on some data analytics that he's been doing as a part of his side job, looking at XG per shot, goals per shot, seeing who's the most efficient finishers in the league, seeing who gives up the most opportunities in the league. And may I say...
00:01:17
Speaker
The results of the data were apparent for those of you who have been watching all season. The likes of Kola Mawani, the likes of Lorenzo Luca, great finishers out there.
00:01:30
Speaker
And then the other side of it, you have obviously Dusan Blahavich. Unfortunately, Nico Paz is also in the bottom of the table in terms of goals per shot and XG per shot. But again, Alex-C3KAI.
00:01:46
Speaker
You demand, paisans, grow the game, share with your friends, write articles about it, do some data analytics, put some math together, two plus two equals four. We'd love to hear about it. This is what it's all about, going into season number two here. Keep it going.
00:02:00
Speaker
I'd also say just grow the channel. Thank you for the comment. Thank you for the like. Continue to like, comment, subscribe. And if you do want us to talk about a specific topic, comment on it.
00:02:13
Speaker
Comment on what your thoughts are on the conversations we've had. Very appreciative to Alex. And if you did listen to this podcast for the entire season, The results that he got were pretty spot on with what we have been saying all year, especially Vlaovic being bad at the game soccer and and me saying Colin Mwani is the best player on the pitch for Juventus every time he steps out there. So kind of says that we kind of know what we're talking about here, boys.
00:02:39
Speaker
We'll bet. we right ah We're setting ourselves up for failure though. because we're not, we're about to talk about inter Milan. Well, we can expect from them, but yeah, shout out Alex. You should post that somewhere. Also. You kind of sent it to us privately, but that was a really good article. So you should just get it out there somewhere.
00:02:53
Speaker
Um, but let's get, let's get into it. Inter Milan. We'll start with what happened last year. Kind of a mixed bag, kind of a good season, kind of a bad season. Like we said, runners-up in the Serie A, Champions League runner-up, although that game went very poorly against PSG in the Champions League final.
00:03:11
Speaker
Coppa Italia semifinalists, where they got played off the pitch in the second leg by AC Milan. And then Supercoppa in Saudi Arabia, the game was held, lost to AC Milan again in the final.
00:03:23
Speaker
So kind of second place across the board. What we talked about at the end of last season was kind of what what's going on with the club. Where are they? We talked about where are they with Simone and Zaghi, who was their manager last year.
00:03:36
Speaker
He made the decision for them. he has gone to Saudi Arabia. So they have one of the best managers in the world, one of the most touted managers in the world. He has left the club. Some other important things that happened this summer. Joaquin Correa went out. Marco Onatovic liked the rotator strikers last year. Not the most important guys, but guys that did come up with some big goals, logged some big minutes last year.
00:03:55
Speaker
So in total, they've raised $25 million dollars from sales. Going into what has happened in terms of who they brought in, the first one, managers Christian Kivu, who we're going to talk about and just in just a second, because that brings a lot of things with that appointment.
00:04:08
Speaker
They've also signed Boney from Parma for 23 million euros. Luis Enrique from Marseille for 23 million euros. Peter Suchic for 14 million euros from the Croatian League, I believe that one was.
00:04:20
Speaker
And then they took Zalewski from Roma for 6.3 million euros in total, 66 million spent. And that kind of sets the stage for our immediate discussion here, guys, because I think it's been of ah a mixed bag of a summer.
00:04:32
Speaker
I think on the Kivu appointment, there's some question marks. And then also some question marks are, have they made the right moves though, so far? The other thing is there is one kind of big pending move that I think we need to talk about as well.
00:04:43
Speaker
But with those moves, where are we at with Inter going into the season? Well, when you look back at the last season, if you were to ask an Inter fan if it was a success or not, they would say absolutely not.
00:04:53
Speaker
If you were to ask a Milan fan, it was an incredible season. Absolutely loved to see it. Don't turn this into Milan. Across the board. PSG, absolutely giving it to them every which way. Great season from my perspective. But...
00:05:08
Speaker
From what's happened this summer, they have not gotten even a little bit better. I think the only thing that they've solved from an issue perspective last season, and for whatever reason, and as I'm thinking back on it, we talked a lot about the depth of Inter last season.
00:05:25
Speaker
I don't think they were that deep. When you go back and you look at the roster and you look at the players that they had and that they yeah like actually utilized. What they've solved this season within in the summer is that they've addressed that depth problem.
00:05:37
Speaker
They now have a viable third striker in Boney coming in between behind Taram and behind Lotharo. They have Luis Enrique, who and is a little bit of a versatile player and can certainly play in the wide spaces, which I think so definitely helps them from an offensive perspective. Peter Suchich, I think, is going to be the best signing of the summer for them by far.
00:05:57
Speaker
He's finally a player that can fill in behind Hakann, whereas Lonnie would come in and just be a completely different type of midfielder. not as ah not even remotely as effective as Hakann.
00:06:07
Speaker
I think Peter Suchic can finally fill in there and be a guy that will be able to hold that back line, be able to facilitate and be a little bit more of a destroyer from defensive perspective in front of that back three.
00:06:18
Speaker
And then bringing ah finally bringing in Zalewski, who I think for them was a complete Swiss Army knife, which was a surprise to me at least, is going to be a great addition as a full-time player, getting ah a full season under his belt with a new team.
00:06:32
Speaker
But from the coaching standpoint and the outlook standpoint, this team is in a little bit of ah of ah a dumpster fire from my perspective. Again, they have a great, talented front starting 11, a little bit old in that back line like we've talked about all last season. So I'm like um um' wondering to see if they do go out and they do solve that in the next couple of weeks before the season or even before the transfer window ends.
00:06:55
Speaker
But this inter-squad is not the same squad with the same expectations from a regular fan's perspective going into the 2025-2026 Serie season, in my perspective.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they definitely, I don't think you can look at them as the clear cut favorite going into this coming campaign, just based off of who Nzaghi leaving.
00:07:18
Speaker
um But to to your point, Logs, in terms of the depth that they've added, I think they've added it in the wrong positions. like the To Remy, where he didn't have a great season last year, they still had a backup striker in him.
00:07:35
Speaker
Luis Enrique plays left wing back. They have DeMarco and Carlos Augusto who plays there as well. The only area where I think... And now Zalewski can kind of play both on the left and the right.
00:07:46
Speaker
So they're just bolstering their best positions almost. To me, they needed to... address their back line for sure. And Acherby's extremely old.
00:07:57
Speaker
Pavard has as a streaky player. um Bissek, we saw his potential last year, but we also saw him give up 15 handballs and a lot of bad tackles to cost them games.
00:08:09
Speaker
So I think they needed to address other positions before they went out and addressed the ones that they did. The one area that I think was smart of them addressing that you mentioned is Suchich. They needed to address that area they did.
00:08:22
Speaker
That's good. So now they can actually possess the ball and pass ball without Hakann and stop playing Zalewski kind of not in his correct position. But yeah, for me, it was kind of center back and goalie.
00:08:34
Speaker
I know that last summer they did sign a goalie, but they didn't really play him that much. He's still not proven. I would have summer just just another year older. And we've saw summer have a lot. He when he was good, he was amazing like that Barcelona game. But we saw him make a lot of mistakes and constantly in the Serie A. He lost them some games in the league. that If it goes the other way, they win the league.
00:08:58
Speaker
Correct. That's my point. And we also saw them have a ton of mental lapses. yeah Whether that be defensively or as a team, they had mental lapses time and time again in the 80th minute plus. So I think they bolstered the wrong areas.
00:09:13
Speaker
And then I also think the disappointment in Chivu is you don't know what you're going to get with this guy. He's never managed three competitions. He's never managed for a club nearly as big as as Inter.
00:09:24
Speaker
He's never managed personalities as the ones that you have when it comes to guys on Inter. with e He's never managed a team with expectations like Inter has. they're They are in win now, Champions League, Serie A, or bust.
00:09:40
Speaker
And he i don't we don't know what he's going to do. We saw Juventus. appoint somebody last season who never managed three competitions and he crashed out and he at least had the experience of a player playing in those competitions. So I'm question marks all over the feet the pitch for me, or not the pitch, question marks all over these transfer moves and appointments for Inter.
00:10:04
Speaker
And then you have the whole discussion of the Chibu's formation and how that's going to look.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, Matson, the Kivu point is really where I think we need to start the discussion about what we can expect from this team this year, because I think the transfers kind of set up what the team might start to look like, and we'll kind of tie that into the squad in a little bit.
00:10:26
Speaker
But Kivu was really the big news of the summer, regardless of who they signed. Little background on him. He got appointed by Parma in, I think it was February. And that was his first senior managerial experience. So we basically got four months of first team manager football.
00:10:44
Speaker
They were okay. I mean, they didn't get relegated. Didn't really see anything for me that said, this guy is ready to take the next step. I think a lot of people were probably in that same boat.
00:10:55
Speaker
What did go into this decision was that Inter kind of were forced into making a choice at manager. And kind of the whole discussion around Inzaghi, if you do fire him, who do you replace him with? Nobody was really out there.
00:11:07
Speaker
Kivu is a former player, so I think that did also feed into it and kind of a ah safe appointment in a way. he He was in the league, he played for the club, had success with the club. So I think it was a safe appointment for them.
00:11:18
Speaker
But in terms of how they play Mots, what have you seen in the preseason? Kind of what you expect this formation to look like? Because that's really going to drive the conversation of who's going to play? What is our eleven Yeah, there's going to be, or it looks to be, based on the Club World Cup ah games and just Twitter news, that Kibu's looking to bring in a slight change in formation from to a 3-4-2-1.
00:11:45
Speaker
to a three four two one So it's going to be... Inter's going to look slightly different from last year to this year in terms of Taram will be playing behind Letaro, and they'll be losing a midfielder, which to me is going to be huge because...
00:12:04
Speaker
Inter have a lot of very talented midfielders, and we saw what they looked like without Hakann on the pitch. And so losing that third midfielder, I think, is going to be maybe a struggle early on for them. We'll have to wait and see. But that's basically what he's going to be switching the formation to. He's going to go from a 3-5-2 under Inzaghi to 3-4-2-1 for this coming season.
00:12:25
Speaker
and for this coming season Yeah, and kind of from a principles of play perspective, what we can expect from Kibu, and this is what we did see at Parma, quick counterattacking and then high pressing.
00:12:36
Speaker
And I think in a way, the best Inter on Inzaghi was that counterattacking Inter Milan team. I think the big difference in Mots, you really pointed this out. What set Inter apart under Inzaghi and what made people say he could be one of the best coaches in the world is that fluidity.
00:12:50
Speaker
We saw the left center back or the right center back at Stryker sometimes. Sometimes it was a Cherubi at Stryker. We saw that in the Champions League. players were allowed to go wherever they need to go on the field. And I have question marks if Kibu's going to allow that. And even in that, can you even afford to do that playing with the two-man midfield? I would say no.
00:13:08
Speaker
Because if you lose a midfielder, all of a sudden there's one guy in the middle of the field. And if your center back's out of position, you're dead. So lot of question marks for me on this one. I think not very high ceiling and I think very low floor, but we're going to see what he does this year. Because again, it's going to be a 3-4-2-1 most likely.
00:13:26
Speaker
But in my mind, he's going to have to change things up throughout the year. I don't see this going well initially. And this could be big setbacks from the beginning of the season. We could have a Roma situation where five games in, maybe they don't have any wins. That wouldn't be all that surprising to me, especially with how they started last year, which was best team in the league and really were struggling to get wins. They had a lot of draws against lesser teams.
00:13:49
Speaker
So I don't have a ton confidence with this appointment. What about you, Lokes? Well, this appointment to me, Actually, the confidence that I have in this is that I do think that this was very intentional by Inter in that Kiva was the fall guy.
00:14:04
Speaker
No one in the world was going to come into this inter-squad and be able to follow up what Vinzaghi has done over the last some odd years. And so they're thinking, okay, who can we bring in that the fans are going to respect at least the decision, respect the decision to bring him in?
00:14:21
Speaker
Okay, past player. Who's coaching in Serie A right now, past player? Kivu. Let's bring in Kivu. He's going to absolutely be a disaster. There's no way this is going to work out.
00:14:33
Speaker
Let him be the fall guy. Let him be a little bit of ah of a buffer for whoever the real long-term guy is going to be. And the reason I also think that that that I'm so convicted in this is because look at what this transfer window has brought in.
00:14:46
Speaker
When in the entire last six seasons of Inter have you seen a window where Inter brings in two 21-year-olds two 23-year-olds? When have they ever looked to bring in the younger generation and looked to develop them?
00:15:01
Speaker
We talked about it at length. That was not in Zaghi's strength. So they go out. They bring in the next gen. They bring in the next fleet of players to come through this squad.
00:15:11
Speaker
And they use a buffer guy, a fall guy like Kivu to set up the next guy to have zero expectations, zero pressure to start building out whatever he can do in a season and a half, call it 18 months thereafter with a new generation of players at Inter.
00:15:27
Speaker
I have a lot that I disagree with with what you just said. I don't disagree with him being the fall guy. The first thing I disagree with is who can't who can come in and replicate what Nzaghi did.
00:15:39
Speaker
But in a style of play aspect, okay, I agree there. In a results aspect, I don't agree there. they They underachieved. And I think most has been kind of saying that for the last two or three years now that they have underachieved with Nzaghi. So in terms of a result,
00:15:55
Speaker
who can come in, a lot of people can do what Inzaghi did with this team. Then, in terms of a development, he took Taram and made Taram an $80 million dollar player who came in on a free. Bastoni, you didn't know who Bastoni was. He made Bastoni one of the best centerbacks in the world. Bastoni came in when he was like 19. Yeah, i agree.
00:16:15
Speaker
and and And Dumfries as well came in cheap. Hakimi might have been under Conte, but Nzaghi's been known for, give me free players that you don't spend money on and I'll make them very good players.
00:16:28
Speaker
Then the reason why they're bringing in younger players is because they're the oldest team in the league by like five years, four years. They are so old so they've understood understand that they need to get younger in some positions um so I think that actually is a good part of what they did in the summer is they did get a little bit younger um but It's like Nzagi was very good at developing players.
00:16:55
Speaker
I don't think Kiba will get the style of play. But from a results standpoint, I think he can kind of replicate what Nzagi did. But if he doesn't, I agree. He can definitely be a fall guy, the scapegoat.
00:17:08
Speaker
This is why we got we aren't doing good. He doesn't know what he's doing. And then they can hit the panic button, figure it out in December, January, and then try to try to figure out what they could do then if that happens.
00:17:22
Speaker
The other thing that's really working against him that I think is worth mentioning is he's got to compete in three competitions at least. And he's coming from Parma where the only objective was to not be relegated.
00:17:34
Speaker
Now you're expected to get deep runs in the Champions League. You're expected a deep in the Copa Italia. And realistically, you're expected to win the lead. So, I mean, he's never managed that. What I think will work in his favor, and maybe they do want to go this route,
00:17:47
Speaker
He's probably more apt to play younger players than Inzaghi was. We talked about that with Fertesi a lot last year. Like, what where's Fertesi? Where's Fertesi? Where's Fertesi? At Parma, he had younger players, so he probably has more trust in them than Inzaghi did have.
00:18:00
Speaker
And maybe he has that vision. may be more of the board being able to control him. Be like, hey, you have to develop some players. So ah if there was a positive for him, that's what I would say it was. Yeah, and I know we're about to get into the formation and who we think is going to play, but just off the Fertesi point, him changing to a two-man midfield, Barella is a midfielder every single time, and they're stacked in the midfield. So how many games can he play all these guys and balance it if he does end up going with the 3-4-2-1, which let's get into that formation line by line now, but it's going to be questions every time he runs out of formation or a player's out there, I think.
00:18:40
Speaker
Definitely. So let's get into it. I think this is probably the best way of previewing the team. We're going to go line by line, goalkeeper, defense, midfield, forwards. We gave you guys the transfers that kind of happened just to set the scene because I think that's important for the discussion.
00:18:51
Speaker
But to start with goalkeepers, Mott's made a really good point on this one. So I'll let him chime in. Then Logue, I know you had a point here too, so you can just follow up. Yeah, I mean, the two goalies, they haven't hasn't changed from last season.
00:19:03
Speaker
It's Sommer and Martinez. Last season, Sommer did start most of the games. As I mentioned, he came up huge in a lot of games, specifically in the Champions League. But as Vo said, in the Serie A, he did blow a lot of them.
00:19:15
Speaker
They did not give Martinez a lot of burn last year at all to see what he has. I know he showed a lot of promise when he came in the season he was on Genoa from when he came last summer. But to me, you needed to use him more.
00:19:27
Speaker
So I don't know what you're going to get from him in terms of this season. So that's a little bit of a gamble. And I think that you know what you're going get from summer. And it's going to be very sporadic or very shake, not consistent football and bad on the ball.
00:19:42
Speaker
So how much does... how much out of playing out of the back does Keefe want to do is going to play a factor in Sommer playing, I think.
00:19:51
Speaker
I agree with that, Martz. If they want to play out of the back, they've got to play Sommer, and I don't think you can take anything away from what Jan did. Sommer's bad on the ball. I think we both agree he's not great on the ball. I mean, I think he's okay, but he definitely there's no way you watch the Champions League final game and think he's good on the ball. agree with that, but that press was insane.
00:20:08
Speaker
I think the thing goalies here is you can't take away what Sommer did over his career one, but number two, but and most certainly two seasons ago in his first season in Serie A, he was absolutely stupendous.
00:20:19
Speaker
Last season, definitely gave up a lot of games for Inter here. And I will say when Martinez played, which he did, I told you guys I'm playing hurt. When he showed up in Serie A,
00:20:31
Speaker
He played really well. He's a great shot stopper. So I'm not surprised to see them not go after a new goalie this season, especially given the debt the lack of depth that they had elsewhere.
00:20:42
Speaker
Day one, who's your guy? ah For me, it you've got to turn the page on Jan Sommer. I don't think it's worth it in terms of like the risk-reward because I think to your point, Luggs, kind of like the floor on Josep Martinez is like he was good he's been good in the league. like he He's not going to be terrible.
00:20:58
Speaker
But on Jan Sommer, it's like, What more value are we eking out of him versus taking away the opportunity from the younger guy? So for me, it would be Joseph Martinez day one. I think that's what Givu is going to do as well.
00:21:10
Speaker
What do you guys think? No, I think that's the right call. i'd I'd rather get off the sinking ship before it sinks than ride it to the but the sea bottom. And given the trajectory that Selmer's been on, I guess, in the last 12 months, you definitely want to get out earlier rather than later.
00:21:27
Speaker
And to be honest, this guy's old. He's 34 years old. He's probably happy to ride the pine, and get his contract and watch the other guy take the lead here. so I thought Selmer was older than that. 36. 36, yeah. i think I think I would agree that the right, correct play is to bench Sommer, but I think because he has the experience and Keebo's a new manager, he's going to pick Sommer to start.
00:21:52
Speaker
i think I think that's actually a good take. It's a safer play for him. Like, why would my first crazy managerial thing be Benchari experience? that's That's fair. That's fair. But with that, let's move on to next line. Back three. So we're going to talk about the three center backs for this one.
00:22:04
Speaker
Mott said earlier, question marks around who is going to be playing, question marks around do they need to bring in somebody else to bring you guys through the group of defenders. We have Bastoni, Bissek, Pavard, DeVry, DeVry.
00:22:16
Speaker
ah share we And we can kind of throw Darmian in there at times, kind of question mark Carlos Augusto kind of tucks in sometimes occasionally too. But it we'll see what he, if he's willing to do that kind of thing. Let's talk about who is going to start, why they're going to start.
00:22:29
Speaker
Let's just go left center back, center center back, right center back. Left center back. Is there any question that it's Bastoni? Is it anybody else? No. I think that's the i think that's the the only area where there's no question. The other two, I think there are large question marks.
00:22:48
Speaker
yeah and the reason behind that is Alessandro Bastoni has very quickly become maybe the best center back in the world in the last 12 months. I think if there is a discussion about it, it's where does he fall in the top five? Like, and he very well could be the number one.
00:23:01
Speaker
So if you haven't watched him before, this is it's like a guy that you should tune in to actually watch. He's extremely progressive. You're going to see him all over the field, even though he's a center back. So it's a guy to have on your radar whenever you're watching Inter Milan game, if you haven't seen him.
00:23:14
Speaker
But getting into the other two areas then. Center center back in right center back. In the past with this Inter Milan team, we've seen, particularly with Nzaghi and Antonio Conte at times, use a right center back who is capable of carrying the ball forward.
00:23:28
Speaker
Now we're at a place where maybe we're not going to see that. And a lot of the season last year, it was Benjamin Pavard and Bissek as their right center back. going into this season, how do you think Keeva's looking at this?
00:23:41
Speaker
Because for me, day one, your three best centerbacks are Bastoni, Bissek in the middle, Pavard off the right. And we never saw that at any point last year. And the center centerback last year was DeVry or a Cheruby mainly. And it was a Cheruby when he was healthy for 90% the season.
00:24:02
Speaker
I wouldn't do that this year. I would be looking to make the next move. And I think the product that we've seen from Bissek and for people that haven't seen him, he is gigantic. He's athletic. He is a little chaotic on the ball, which is why I would put him in the middle of the three.
00:24:16
Speaker
Just kind of like a big Titan, going to cover some ground. And then you have Benjamin Pavard, who has historically been a right back, a right wing back, extremely good on the ball, pocketed some really good players last year, including Rafael Leao.
00:24:29
Speaker
So that's why I would go down that route. But curious to see what you guys are thinking. The problem you have with Bissek in the middle is that he has to be on the ball a lot, and he's not very... You just said he's not very good on the ball. What I will say is when you do watch him, and it's very... It's almost a surprise is that he does like to get forward when he does get the ball, which is why he's good on that right center back role.
00:24:47
Speaker
You never really expect it, but he does he does like to streak forward. But in my mind, it's like, yes, you're right. The best three are best Sony, Bissek, Pavard. If you put Pavard you put Bissek together, like that's the perfect center-center back in this model, but...
00:25:00
Speaker
Bavard's a little bit undersized to be playing the center and Bistock's a little bit too not too chaotic on the ball, like you said. So it's really tough. And that's exactly why Cherubin DeVry still have minutes in this line, right? Because they're big, sturdy guys.
00:25:14
Speaker
Obviously, the experience comes in handy as well, but they're really good when they're on the ball. I would i would say especially DeVry. um But if Bissek can at least be serviceable and not freak out when he gets the ball, when he they're circ when they're cycling around, and maybe it's Hakann's job to drop in and just be that center-center back from ah from a distribution person perspective, like that could solve the problem. But then you if you're playing a two-man midfield, you can't just take Hakann out of the midfield and drop in the back line.
00:25:45
Speaker
So that's where this formation comes into issue and you have, and that's why they really need to find another center back. And really from a, so from a window perspective, they should be searching far and wide. And I think there's a there's a, a very,
00:26:00
Speaker
I think, obvious name here in Leone that they should be buying with a left footed left center back. Because what that allows you to do is put Bastoni in the middle where he's ah unbelievable on the ball. And what I think his biggest progression last year was his long read passing.
00:26:14
Speaker
We all know that he was phenomenal driving the ball forward in a Calafiore type style, which it's hard to say who started it, whether it was Calafiore Bastoni. but Bastoni really picked up a really unbelievable range of passing.
00:26:28
Speaker
And to your point, Vos, and for those that really haven't watched Serie A, I'm just getting into it now, if Bastoni was playing in the Prem, he would be up there with Van Dyke and with Saliba. It'd be no question he'd be right next to them, if not better.
00:26:41
Speaker
So he's come a long way, and I think that if Inter are going to fix this back line, they have that right side really figured out. If they can shift Bastoni to the middle, and bring in another left-footed, left-center back, I think that really solves their backline issue. Because then, if you do need to bring in some depth, you just push Bastoni out to the left, and you can play a Cheruby and DeVry in the middle when you need to, but it shouldn't be your first choice.
00:27:04
Speaker
Quick correction there. Leone is a right-footed, so that right. right, so don't bring Leone in because he's not left-footed. But just to, Ian Motz, I'll kick it to you in a second. When we talk about left-footed, left-center back in a back three,
00:27:15
Speaker
The reason you want a left-footed, left-sided center back is it just creates a different passing angle. If you have a right-footed center back on the left side of the field, basically his dominant foot kicks the ball like through the center of the field when he's when he's progressing play.
00:27:30
Speaker
When you have a left-footed guy, you're basically going around more players by kicking it to the outside naturally. And back to you, Monson. I agree a lot with what both of you guys said. I don't want to reiterate both of your points.
00:27:42
Speaker
They're missing, and I said it earlier on, they're missing a center back. They need to buy another one. i would You got to move on from a Cherubi. DeVry, I think, makes where he's good on the ball, he's easy to run past. He's not very mobile.
00:27:56
Speaker
And putting that in the center center back is tough So you have very good right center backs in Bissek and Pavard. You have the best center back in the league, maybe the world, in Bastoni, but you're missing one.
00:28:09
Speaker
And to Logs' point, it's go get one more guy, move Bastoni to the middle, and then you can use Acherby and DeVry when you need to in rotational games. But they need another guy. and i And in terms of whom I would play, i would play Bastoni, Bissek, and Pavard, like you said, both.
00:28:28
Speaker
So my question for you guys, because you both actually said it, you think the best move is to move Bestoni to the center center back? Because I pretty adamantly disagree with that.
00:28:39
Speaker
yeah mean We're going to bring in another player.
00:28:44
Speaker
It depends on who they bring in, right? Like if if you bring in Leone, then maybe he could play a center-center-back spot. With Bastoni, love center-back. Bastoni does so well go getting further up the pitch, but I think to Logue's point, playing, it happened against Juventus, watching them with under Tudor, playing the two-man midfield, if you drop the midfielder,
00:29:05
Speaker
closer to the center backs, that one midfielder that you left gets overran, right? It happened time and time again on Juventus when Locatelli would drop in. It would be Taram against three guys, and there's no chance there. So if Hakann is dropping in because they have a Cherubi out there, then that there's nobody else in the midfield unless Bastoni does go up.
00:29:25
Speaker
Yeah, that would he that would be my point. Like, my counterpoint would be Bastoni's best trait is is, like, his ability to contribute offensively either on the ball or with his movement. So I just feel like you'd be limiting him. Like, best parts about him are that. So I don't think you're limiting him because he did that for Italy, and we saw how good he still was both – on the ball, making passes, and defending. He was player of the match for most of the games for Italy at the center-center back role, and he's still going to get forward, and I think he would just be getting forward in a different way or adding to the attack in a different way than maybe scoring goals and crossing, whereas this would be playing long balls like a Bonucci would do. Maybe like that libero kind of role. Who's to say he can't join the midfield as the third midfielder? Exactly. Yeah, that's true.
00:30:15
Speaker
that's true I agree with you guys. I think they need another center back for sure. They don't have like another guy. So I think that's, that's what we were alluding to with that transfer kind of section before, but that wraps up the center center, the center back area, wing back area, a little bit less dramatic. I would say their kind of group is Denzel Dumfries is presumably their number one right wing back.
00:30:36
Speaker
I don't think there's any discussion about that. Number one left wingback is presumably Federico DeMarco and then kind of backups behind them. Carlos D'Agosto off the left side. Luis Enrique, who is a new signing for Merseille, can presumably play both sides.
00:30:51
Speaker
And then Nikola Zalewski also can play kind of both sides also in the midfield. With the midfield group they have, I see him more being a wingback just because that that group is so clogged.
00:31:02
Speaker
But in this, are there really any question marks here for you guys? Or is it if the number one guy is healthy, he's going to play particularly ah maybe somebody to talk a little bit about Denzel Dumfries and what he brings, because we talked about how insane of a season he had last year.
00:31:17
Speaker
I mean, again, this they don't they haven't lost a step here at wingback. I think DeMarco had a little bit of a step back last season, but that's only because he had he's his two seasons ago was just stupid good.
00:31:30
Speaker
But what they have here in their wingbacks is... A player like DeMarco, who can play the best peaches in all the game from the left side into anywhere in the box, pinpoint passing, high energy, little bit undersized, but it doesn't matter.
00:31:45
Speaker
The guy has incredibly high soccer IQ and can get into the box when needed, scores phenomenal goals. I think when you know we saw it with Tenali's unbelievable assist to him off the volley, that was you know he's got absolute screamers in his back pocket.
00:32:00
Speaker
then you go to the other side and you have Denzel Dumfries, who's an absolute favorite of mine from La Range, Dutchman at heart, the flying Dutchman. This guy has the biggest engine in all the league, aside from maybe our boy up e and at Atlanta.
00:32:15
Speaker
What this guy brings to the right side of the pitch is unbelievable. Covers the entire, how many yards is the soccer pitch? 110 yards. It's really fucking far, covers the entire pitch.
00:32:28
Speaker
But what he what he really brings is the best combination of defense and offense from that wingback position that we haven't seen in any other player, I think, in the world. And so certainly not taking any steps back from there.
00:32:40
Speaker
Nice to see that they bring in a little bit of a backup with Luis Enrique and Carlos Augusto has been there already. And we've seen what kind of talents that he has. From my perspective, this is this only pushes Zalewski out of that position. And if they are going to go to that 3-4-2-1,
00:32:52
Speaker
three four two one and we'll touch on in a second with Fritezi, that if they go to a 210 behind the striker, I could see Zalewski playing that second 10 with a Fritezi on the right and Lataro or Taram or Boney up top.
00:33:06
Speaker
That's a good shout. I think while I was looking at the names, a potential that that we could see and I think would make sense is you can move Bastoni to the center center back and Carlos Augusto can play left center back. And then you still have Zalewski and Luis Enrique to be and Darmian as your potential backup wingbacks when needed we'll see if he goes that route but there's some flexibility there i still don't think that it is going to be the full solution it can be a makeshift solution there but that's a potential and then just going back to the wingbacks really quick i don't know how dumfries was not bought for 25 million he had a release clause the whole month of july all you had to do was pay 25 million and you got denzel dumfries and
00:33:55
Speaker
If you play a wingback position, I don't know how you don't just spend the $25 million and get him because he is an absolute beast in every sense of the word. If he can score any type of goal, header, bicycle kick, did it in the Champions League, power shot, finesse shot, can cross it, can defend, is great in the air. he is one of the best, if not the best, wingbacks in the world.
00:34:19
Speaker
And so I don't know how he wasn't bought. Yeah, between DeMarco and Dumfries last year, 11 goals, 9 assists. Like from your wingback position, you can't really ask more than that. my kind of Just in the league, right? Just in the league. Yeah, this is just in Syria.
00:34:33
Speaker
My kind of question around this is, so last year it was like a 3-5-2 with a holding midfielder and two kind of eighth in the midfield. This year, if we're looking at more of like an advanced front three,
00:34:44
Speaker
Do you maybe need to change this a little bit? Because we always talk about DeMarco. What is DeMarco's biggest weakness? His defensive defense. Exposed on Italy, exposed in the league, exposed in the Champions League.
00:34:56
Speaker
And then Dumfries, on the other hand, his two best things are, yes, he's great at defense and covers ton of ground. but he's also your right winger because he's able to get so far forward. And if you play that front three, if it is a front three, to your point looks, might be ah two strikers and a number 10 behind them.
00:35:11
Speaker
If you do a front three, if you have somebody that wants to drift out wide to the right, you're hindering Dumfries because he owns that space and is so lethal out there. So it is a little bit of a, what are we going to do with Kibu, especially with some of the new players they're linked to?
00:35:27
Speaker
I would be surprised if it's a natural front three, personally. just because DeMarco and Dumfries want to occupy the wide areas. And it might look more like that two strikers and a number 10.
00:35:38
Speaker
But I think there is something to think about because as good as DeMarco was offensively, he was so bad defensively so many times. and kind of even got it masked because Bastoni was there to fill bail him out so many times. And that's one thing, one reason why ah late in the champion later on in the Champions League, we saw DeMarco coming off in the 50th minute for Carlos Augusto. Like he was the first sub, and not only because he does have some fitness ah stamina and fitness issues, but just because his defense, he he lacks defensively. So that is a good point.
00:36:11
Speaker
and the last thing I just want to talk about one second. Really important guy to just be aware of, and we talked about him as maybe playing as left center back, is Carlos Augusto. We talked about him last year. We talked about him all season long.
00:36:24
Speaker
He is good enough to be a number one wingback on most teams in Serie A. So if you do watch some games and you see him come off the bench or he is starting games, Just take note of him. He isn't just some random guy that's playing.
00:36:35
Speaker
He is a phenomenal player. And I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to force his way out of here at some point if he doesn't become the number one, because he's definitely good enough to be the number one left back, left wing back, left center back and a back three on other teams in the league.
00:36:48
Speaker
So just another point there. but And to to that point, I will just say, when you do watch, he does go a little bit understated because he's not as flashy in the offensive end, but his defensive skills are second to none on the wing in the wingback spot here.
00:37:03
Speaker
And again, he' if he plays left center back, he's a little bit undersized, which is perfect for why he's a left wingback. High engine, great defensive skills, very low ceiling on the offense, but can still work the ball around, which is helpful.
00:37:15
Speaker
So do take notice. That's a great shot, Boz. Yeah, so it's going to be interesting. We kind of know who the number ones are, though, day one in Dumfries and DeMarco. Going out to the midfield, this is a bigger discussion, especially when they go to back two. When it was a back three, or I'm sorry, a midfield two. When it was a midfield three, it was a little bit more clear-cut, less competition because there was that extra spot.
00:37:36
Speaker
In a two tonic competition now and going through the players that they do have hot count, Sean, little glue for TZ, Peter, such as the new signing, Nicola, Barella, Zalinski, Aslani, who may be leaving along with the lengthy. There's a little bit of discussion there.
00:37:51
Speaker
Henrikh Makasarian. And then we talk about maybe Zalewski in this mix, I think less so maybe looking at further up the pitch. Interesting puzzle for Kivu, because if you play a midfield two, you're kind of hamstrung in the types of players you need.
00:38:05
Speaker
And I say that because you need a very balanced two, because it's their sole job to cover the whole field. When you have a third guy, you can kind of cover up some different areas. But when it's a two, part of the thing with the two is you need guys with an engine. And when I say that, you need guys that can get up and down the field and can contribute offensively and defensively.
00:38:26
Speaker
So it kind of hamstrings you with who you can play. And this is a big puzzle for Kivu because he has a lot of different archetypes of players here. He can go a lot of different ways. Maybe he has a different lineup for every game.
00:38:38
Speaker
But how would you go about setting up this two-man midfield? Presumably, that's what he does, we think. I mean, there's one part of it that's easy for him, right? And it's Barella.
00:38:49
Speaker
And Barella can cover the whole pitch, has the engine. And so now it's just, who do you match next to Barella? Can just expand on that a little bit, Mott? Why is it Barella? Because, yes, for us that have been watching Serie watch Italy, Nicola Barella is one of the best midfielders in the world. But why is he such a lock?
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah, Barella is one of the best midfielders in the world. It's kind of the same scenario with Bestoni. If he's in the Premier League, he's talked about as probably a top five player or a top five midfielder in the world.
00:39:16
Speaker
He can defend, he can pick a pass, he can score a goal, he can dribble by your man. He is never tired. He runs up and down the pitch. um So there's nothing that he cannot do on the pitch.
00:39:28
Speaker
And he is a Sherlock, whether it's on the national team, on inter, he's a Sherlock playing at the right center mid position. um Whether it's a two-man midfield, four-man midfield, three-man midfield, he's in. It's who you partner next to him.
00:39:40
Speaker
And Typically, ah you would think that would be Hakan because of the level of play the level of play that Inter has, how it drops when Hakan is not on the pitch.
00:39:52
Speaker
However, being at that it's a two-man midfield and you need legs, we know Hakan, whereas he can cover ground, he doesn't have a ton of legs in him. We have seen him drop into the center-center back role as Nzaghi does in the system, but he doesn't have great defending in him.
00:40:10
Speaker
So it's going to be, can Hakann be the perfect match to Barella, in my opinion, to see if it will work. The one thing I will say with the guys that you listed, and to Lowe's point earlier, I thought it was a very good point, is there are a lot of versatile players in this midfield group that can play behind the striker in the 10 role.
00:40:32
Speaker
So he can mix and match where he plays guys like we've seen for Tezi play that spot position for Italy behind the striker as the 10 role. We think Zalewski can definitely do that.
00:40:44
Speaker
Zalinski can definitely do that, right? So he has a lot of versatility in this group. But I think the big question mark is, can Hakann be the engine next to Barella or will it be a great compliment? Because another part that you have to take into account is Hakan doesn't really cover that much ground or have great defensive abilities.
00:41:03
Speaker
The guy to the left of him is going to be DeMarco. He covers ground, but doesn't have a much, that much defensive capabilities as well. So you're looking at a pretty gaping hole or pretty bad defenders on the left side. And then you have Bestoni there, which can kind of clean up the everybody, but that's ah another question mark there.
00:41:22
Speaker
The way that this midfield is is, the way that the strengths of this midfield are, and presumably that this is the the formation that they want to go with, it doesn't play into the second best midfielder's strengths in Hakann being able to kind of mosey around the field and pick his spots and facilitate.
00:41:41
Speaker
So I actually think that the way this works is you do go to mid midfield and you have Barella who has a tendency to stay more forward than stay back. I think you can all agree that he really wants to be on the offensive when he can, which then begs the question, of okay, who's going to stay back and plug that hole with a Hakan?
00:42:00
Speaker
And the way that I see this playing out and to your point about Bastoni and getting him into the best positions for himself This is not going to be a counterattacking team or it shouldn't be. The way that this needs to be is a possession strong team where they set up, they get up the field and Bastoni is able to then set settle in next to Hakann and create more of like a two four 3-2 when they're in possession in the front third, similar to how Man City used to play, where they would bring in John Stones or bring Rico Lewis in from the back line and set him next to either a Gundogan or Kovacic and create that wall a little bit in front of the two center backs to hold that ball and to keep the ball in the front end of the pitch. And should I think that that's where this could really work well because you get Bastoni in the ball, you let Hakann still be
00:42:49
Speaker
the facilitator and not have to run around the pitch. The guy's a bag, so he's old, his legs are there, and you let him just kind of mosey around. You let Barella get forward, join that front line with two 10s sitting behind a striker or two strikers with another 10. So you have Barella sit next to that 10.
00:43:06
Speaker
And then you have Dumfries and DeMarco running up and down the sides as they've done in the past anyway. So to me, that's where this team actually could pivot nicely is into that possession heavy team and play to the strengths that they already have. Don't get fancy with it and don't get too strong headed by trying to be that counterattacking team that you were years ago when you actually had young guys.
00:43:29
Speaker
That to me makes a a perfect difference. pairing, because otherwise you're playing Barella and Fertesi, who both like to get up, even though they they have a bunch of legs, but they both like to get forward.
00:43:40
Speaker
Suchich remains to be seen, but definitely a young guy has the legs, and I think he likes to stay back. But again, in my mind, having Barella, who's for sure going to be that other midfielder, To me, he likes to get forward too much. he's not He's never been known to be able to stay back and hold that spot.
00:43:56
Speaker
And you really need that in that two-man midfield to plug the gap there. And Vosa, you may disagree, but to me, that's where I think Barella has a little bit of a drawback in this formation. I don't know I mean, Barella has played with a back three for years and years and years, and we've seen him drop into the back line seamlessly when he needs to and kind of like that pivot.
00:44:15
Speaker
The other thing where I will push back on you guys a little bit is I was actually pretty impressed with Hakan's defensive prowess last year. I think it was more so fitness. He couldn't really get up to speed.
00:44:26
Speaker
So I do think that Hakan and Barella would work, and it would be more of like a pivot than we've seen in the past where one goes forward, one kind of stays back. The other thing is... If you're still, and I don't think they're going to play a possession game.
00:44:38
Speaker
I think it's going to be counterattacking. I don't think they have the technical players too to go and hold the ball for long periods of time and break down a team and get 1v1s and beat people one v one So that's why I think it's going to remain counterattacking.
00:44:50
Speaker
I think where that benefits you in Hakan and Barella is that Barella is your explosive guy that's going to get forward. Hakan has played in counterattacking teams, and he has always been the guy that delivers that first long pass.
00:45:03
Speaker
And with that mix, you don't need him to run all that much if your primary stance is kind of solidity defensively. And kind of their first look when they do win possession back is, let's get the ball to Hakan so he can go deliver a ball.
00:45:16
Speaker
So I think that that could work. When we look at the rest of the team as a whole, though, it's how does somebody else get into the team? Because Barella is, like we said, that right center mid. What is the path to that left center mid spot? Because for me, I think Fertesi is Barella's backup.
00:45:31
Speaker
I don't really see a position ah and it any time where they play together, really. And we had said, oh, and Zagy, you should play the two of them together. Very different situation where you're playing with the number six behind them.
00:45:43
Speaker
So that's what I think there. I think it's Peter Sutrich we have to really look at as maybe that next guy that is competing for that number one spot. And what he does have is more of like a box-to-box number eight kind of guy and a little bit more defensive bite.
00:45:56
Speaker
But for me, day one, safe thing is Barella-Hakon for me. Yeah, I think that's safe. And to the Fertesi point, you're not going to see them a lot haired in the midfield too.
00:46:06
Speaker
You might see Fertesi play in front of Barella together on the pitch. But what I'd say to you, Vos, about the them not being the possession team and the count they want to be the counterattacking team, that's great in the Champions League when you're playing teams of your caliber.
00:46:23
Speaker
You're not about to let Parma... have 60% possession and you're in a low block. Like you got to go, you're, you're into, you're going to possess the ball. and um And then with, even though with, and when you have the ball, it can still play a factor that a con can fit because they have the ball.
00:46:42
Speaker
So it's not going to be a whole lot of running, but then they might be just a little bit more open to counterattacks. But to your point, if they're going to sit in a low block, it's great to have Hakann because they he can ping him ping any pass on the pitch.
00:46:56
Speaker
Same with Bastoni, same with Barella, same with DeMarco. And then if they're going to have the ball, Hakann can have it at his feet a lot and be the pacer that's needed. So um they can play in both styles. It's just they will be more open to counterattacks with that midfield too and being overran in the midfield against smaller or even better teams.
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think the the biggest takeaway for me in terms of the other four four guys here, three or four guys, is that Hank's the biggest loser. Marketerian's the biggest loser of this summer window. He should have been benched. No, he was good last year.
00:47:33
Speaker
I'm not going to have him. I think that he performed. I do think that that's going to come to an end, and I don't think he sees the pitch that much at all this season, unless it's against yeah know the likes of Kiza or... or Kremen SA.
00:47:45
Speaker
I mean, but in any case, i do I do think that Hank is the biggest loser here and you will not be seeing a lot of minutes out of him. Once again, though, this is another guy that can clearly play in the 10 spot. So they got three of these midfielders that we talked about. Zielinski,
00:47:59
Speaker
Mkhitaryan, Fertesi can all play behind the the one striker. And then they still have a decent amount of strikers that can also play in the 10 spot behind the striker and then as a striker as well.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah. So let's let's go into that forward line then, because I think there's the right way of talking about it is it is presumably going to be a front three. The question mark is, are they playing with two wingers and a striker?
00:48:23
Speaker
Are they going to play with two strikers and a number 10? Or two 10s and a striker. Yeah, two tens and a striker, kind of like winger still. But that group of strictly like the we're going to say they these guys are their forwards.
00:48:35
Speaker
Marcus Turam, Lataro Martinez, their new signing Boney from Parma, and Mehdi Taremi. That's kind of everybody that's left as in terms of number one strikers. The other guy they're linked to is Ademalo Lookman from Atalanta, who is one of the best players in the league.
00:48:51
Speaker
has played as like a number nine on Atalanta in that two strikers and a number 10 behind them, loves to drift out to the left wing, is kind of what he does, get 1v1 and extremely effective there. This group screams to me two strikers and a number 10 behind them.
00:49:07
Speaker
Realistically, I don't really see a winger or really 10s being the best way to get your best players on the field. Because for me, Lettaro Martinez is your captain, has to be playing.
00:49:19
Speaker
Marcus Taram has been one of the best strikers in the league for the last two years. He has to be playing. His best position is not really a winger. Latara's best position is not really a winger.
00:49:30
Speaker
And what let's talk market well Marcus Taram does well is kind of run in behind and get into those wide channels to progress play and then either get into the box to get on the end of a cross or then get the ball back to Latara Martinez.
00:49:42
Speaker
And Lotaro Martinez is only going to play in the middle of the field. That is what he's best at. He's a lethal finisher, good at link-up play. So it's how do you add somebody around them is the way that I would be looking at this.
00:49:54
Speaker
I just don't know if, while I do agree that Lutaro, Taram should be out there, that's their most most lethal front two, unless you are playing for Tezzy or Moketarian to come in and fill in that gap, this is going some ugly football by them because you're only playing long balls over the top on the counter.
00:50:13
Speaker
I don't know who comes in and is able to slot in to be able to progress play between the midfield two and those strikers. Even if they do bring in Luckman, that's going to be fully long ball because I don't know who's going to take the ball from just behind their half and bring progressive forward. Barella? Yeah, Barella maybe drives forward or Bastoni, but my point being is that Taram is not a back-to-goal, come-and-get-the-ball and hold it for a No, that's the taro.
00:50:40
Speaker
I don't think Latar drops in that deep either, though. Yeah, he does. think it will, yeah. I think that's what that's where he's got a slight advantage in playing kind of like a two one is that, like, this is the only area on the pitch where there'll be a little bit of fluidness.
00:50:57
Speaker
And it being only with... Taram and Lattaro and it's because they've had such a great partnership already under Inzaghi where they Taram or Lattaro can drop deep but and Taram can run in behind or Taram can float out to the left or float it to the right input and put in a cross where I think it gets a little tricky and maybe not so pretty is this Lookman situation and if they bring Lookman in because Lookman is not a unselfish player.
00:51:25
Speaker
Lookman is a selfish player. I want the ball at my feet. I want to take on my man. I want to beat my man. I want to shoot the ball. I want to score the ball. I want to score goals. He is not part of like Taram and Lataro where they are. They want to score goals.
00:51:40
Speaker
For the most part, they are very unselfish. They do dirty work. They do what they have to do to score. Lookman, he does dirty work. He's going to get that ball and he's not going to want to pass it. And so whereas Taram and Lataro can drop in and interplay off each other,
00:51:55
Speaker
I don't know where Luckman can fit in here, which is why I don't necessarily love the link for Inter, but I do because they i don't see it working.
00:52:08
Speaker
But then again, Luckman is a very good finisher. So I think like a 1-2 with a Litaro up top to Rom and a Fratezi or a Zalewski or a Mkhitaryan, that is where it gets very good because then you can have a 10, you can have You can have him running in behind and have Litaro drop in. It can be very, very fluid and a lot of good chemistry and a lot of good Lincoln play.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah. And and with Taram and Litaro, they had 33 goal contributions last year. So like you have to play those guys. And I think just to talk of a little bit about like archetype, what you get with them. Litaro Martinez is like relatively undersized guy, but very good in the air, very technical player. And like, you can ping a ball into him. He's going to bring it down. It's going to link up play.
00:52:51
Speaker
He's really his number one trait, one touch finishing. And then Marcus from six to extremely fit, extremely fast, physical presence. um Also a good finisher in his own right. Good in the air.
00:53:04
Speaker
So it's kind of like, how do we help them? And I think the worry about look, man. Is that you don't really want to move to run to the right side of the field because he did all his damage running down that left side of the field.
00:53:15
Speaker
And look, man, doesn't really strike me as a guy that says, I'm going to go to the right side of the field to let it around or in the middle on the left. Yeah. And you're then kind of forced into playing him as a 10, which I don't really think is going to work out either.
00:53:27
Speaker
What I think there may be thinking is that we have Ange Boney here, who is very much our Marcus Taram understudy, does all the same things that Taram does, very similar build, like they finally have a Taram rotator that is going to play the same way.
00:53:43
Speaker
They might think Lookman is like their Lutaro too, which he is not. He's built similarly, but they are not alike whatsoever. and He's also not about to be go be on the bench. that's for And Inter's not about to pay the $50 million that Analanza's requesting because they did just get a $40 million three or 46 plus three million dollar bid rejected he's still it's still rumored that they're gonna make the bid to get to 50 or 49 and he's basically forcing his way out now because he deleted everything he doesn't show up to practice anymore but he's not about to to be playing on the bench and um inter's not gonna spend 60 million for a guy that's just a rotational piece
00:54:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I do agree. i think the biggest thing here is, Vos, I agree with what you're saying about Terram moving to the right, which is the biggest worry about Luckman. We've already seen Terram can do off the right, and it's not pretty. he put When he plays for France because he goes to the right because Mbappe's off the left, he's simply not that effective.
00:54:38
Speaker
And you would hate to see that be the same thing here, which is why it's a little confusing as to enter why Inter's pushing so hard for Luckman at this point. Because I do think that there are better options out there in terms of, yeah, maybe they do go get a 10 or they just get another guy that can play off the right.
00:54:53
Speaker
But talk a little bit more about what Boney did for Parma ah last season why he was such a ah touted name and and why Inter actually made this pretty quick business of getting him.
00:55:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, one of the things we were crying about all last year is when they rotated Lataro out of the team or Taram out of the team, they never had somebody that does similar things to Taram. So you kind of needed to change the way you play if Taram was ever out of the team because they he stretches play and he makes those runs in behind that. Maybe he doesn't get the ball every time, but he's still stretching play.
00:55:24
Speaker
And Boney, coming from Parra, played it in a very counterattacking system, was a lone striker and basically did all those things. He'll run into wide areas when he needs to. He can play back to basket and is actually pretty good in link up play, which is probably better than Taram at that.
00:55:39
Speaker
um Has maybe some room to grow on actually being like that lethal finisher. But he puts in those hard miles. He makes those runs. And he's he's a physical specimen, just like Taram. And he's somebody when you watch the game, you're just going to see him because he's running everywhere.
00:55:53
Speaker
He's getting in positions to receive the ball, which is really good. So I would expect him to get big minutes this year, to be honest with you. This guy, he was linked to a lot of places. I'm i'm a little bit surprised that he did um end up going to enter because he's going to be second.
00:56:06
Speaker
um But I see him as a number two striker at the end of the day. He's not starting 11 for them. And it's really finding who's going to be that number 10 or that right winger. Because Luchman is, I guess, a right winger.
00:56:17
Speaker
I would be very nervous about playing him under Lutaro and Taram as like a 10. The way Lutaro plays, he can kind of be like a false nine if you let Luchman and Taram get ahead of them. But then he still runs the same situation of they want to play in the same area.
00:56:32
Speaker
And you also then take away from DeMarco if you play Lookman, because Lookman likes to play very wide when he gets on the ball, as to Taram not really as much. So think it's worth that discussion of who's the number 10 then.
00:56:44
Speaker
If we think that the best formation is two strikers in Lutaro, and Marcus Tram, which I think we all agree on, right? And then you put a number 10 behind him. Who for you guys is that number 10? Because there's a call there's a lot of guys here. And Zielinski, it looks like, might be out the door.
00:56:59
Speaker
He is a Serie veteran. He's been around. Couldn't really get into the team last year. Did have some injury issues. They tried him at the number six, but he's traditionally more of like an eight or a 10. We talked about Fratezzi, Italian national.
00:57:11
Speaker
Loves to get into the box to score goals. Not the most creative player in terms of technical ability, but kind of knows for goals kind of guy. And then you Mokotarian, who's kind of like a mix of both. And it's more of like a, oh you would see as like a guy that plays wing and can play as a 10. Very creative.
00:57:27
Speaker
My first reaction is for Tezzy, but he's not very progressive. that's not his That's not what he's known for. Again, like you said, he likes to get in the box, and he is a good finisher for being just a midfielder. So part of my concern there is you're just going to get and you're just going to have another hole in the middle of the field.
00:57:43
Speaker
So then that that really leaves Zalewski, and that leaves— forgot about Zalewski. That's a good shot, though. And that leaves Markatarian. And I don't trust Markatarian to put in too many minutes again, even with with three competitions, even at even just youre letting him play one competition being Supercopa for four games.
00:57:59
Speaker
So I think to me, and it sounds crazy, but from a little bit of what we saw, those couple of minutes, that one game that Zalewski played as a 10 that came in, I think Zalewski could really be an average value add.
00:58:12
Speaker
But it's going to be for, yeah it should be for Tezzy. You get such bad tunnel vision and just focus on things. I got tunnel vision from that game because it was so pretty. He played well, but like he's not going to start there at all. You're saying that he's their best number 10?
00:58:26
Speaker
No, think it's for Tezzy. I'm just worried about it. Do you think it's for Tezzy? I think Fertesi can do it because maybe Letaro and Taram can do the creativeness and he can be the nose for goal with them as well.
00:58:40
Speaker
or he lacks him and i kind of thing but yeah Where he lacks in the creativeness. um But I really think their best bet, even though I said I don't think it's going to work, is and I think it might take away from Letaro being closer to the pitch in his one-time finishes, which he's very good at.
00:58:56
Speaker
um But... is having him play as kind of like a false niner and then having Taram and Lookman play off him. And you have to just have Taram get adjusted to like more so off of the right than the left because Lookman's not going to give up that position. I think that's their best bet. Get the best players that you have on the pitch.
00:59:16
Speaker
And then Boney, I think, would be very good at the false nine because yeah like on Parma, they were hammering balls into his feet and he would release Dennis Mann and on the counter attack.
00:59:27
Speaker
And then he can get in the box for the the last cross. But I think that's their best bet. And then with they have a lot of flexibility with what they have. If they want to play two guys behind him one, you know, they have a lot of flexibility to do that.
00:59:41
Speaker
what if they don't What if they don't get Lookman though? Because that's a real possibility. Then they should actually go out and look for an actual number 10. I would hate for this to happen, but a good player that I think that would be that they are linked with that I think would be a very good fit. And I really don't want it to happen because I really like this player.
00:59:59
Speaker
I would be happy to watch him play in the league, but I'd be happy. I'd be pissed to see him in an inter color in Jersey is in Kunku. He's a great number 10. He's That's a really good shout. That makes a lot sense.
01:00:11
Speaker
Taram and Lataro and Kuku can play all in the same, all in different positions. He's a little selfish like Luckman, but he's known for assists. He can score.
01:00:21
Speaker
He doesn't always press that much, but I don't know if how much they're going pressing Inter. So I think that would be a great fit for them, but I hope they don't do that. I mean, that's that's a great shout. That's where he was playing his best ball when he wass at Leipzig. So I can see that working out really well.
01:00:36
Speaker
I mean, for me, Motz, I would agree with you that if they bring in Luckman, I would just figure out a way to get those three guys on the field. They're your three best forwards. You have like three of the best. I don't know, like top six forwards in the league. Right.
01:00:51
Speaker
Yeah. Hard to say that none of those guys are in that conversation. For me, if they don't bring in Luckman, and you guys are going to hate this, I think it's Mokotarian without any question. 30 starts last year. You got to move away from him. He was always the furthest guy forward when he was playing as his eights.
01:01:06
Speaker
He loves to play in that area. I think for for me, what I would be expecting from him is... In training, oh, Kivu wants to play with the number 10. This has my name written all over it. The best parts of my game are in the final third.
01:01:19
Speaker
I'm extremely creative. I'm 1v1 dribbler. I think you would get a ton out of him in there. um He is older, so there could be a drop-off, but I would think that makes the most sense. And you had one more point you wanted to make, though. Me? I was just going to say ah we could use, shout out Alex's ah article, right? Lattaro was actually one of the one of the guys who's an inefficient finisher. However, I think that was just a down year from Lattaro because the season before was one of the most efficient finishers I've ever seen.
01:01:48
Speaker
But Lookman was a very efficient finisher. So having Lattaro play as a false nine and create for Lookman to be ah one of those efficient finishers would be beneficial as well. But I did like your shout. that is Those are Mkhitaryan's best aspects of his game. But to me, you got to move on from the oldie. He's old.
01:02:06
Speaker
Move on. Yeah, i mean, before I make my final point, I will say I'm being an absolute hypocrite because i'm I can't wait to watch 39-year-old Luka Modric play for Milan and Mkhitaryan's only 36.
01:02:18
Speaker
I mean, those are two different class of players. yeah I know. and I mean, i mean ah obviously, but I'm just saying need like the legs are probably in the same state. My only thing here is that out of all the position groups, I think that this front three is going to be the easiest one to just have itself figured out. Like, it'll just be a couple of different iterations for the first couple of games.
01:02:40
Speaker
And whatever works the best, they're just going to stick with. But it's not going to be any decision of Kivo. It's just going to be Let's just try this one game, try that one game, and whatever works the best is going to work the best because he's not going to be a tactician with that front three.
01:02:53
Speaker
That front three is just going to work off of each other as much as they want, and that'll just figure itself out. So I think that's going least of their worries. I think that's fair. um But that brings us to the squad, guys. And if you've been with us since day one last year, you know how we end these episodes.
01:03:08
Speaker
We define what it would be to be a first successful season for the club. And I think for inter, there's gotta be some pretty high standards. So what would you guys define as success for this team?
01:03:21
Speaker
Even though I don't agree with the manager and I don't think it's possible for them, they have... We we went through the lines. They have some of the best players in the league. Letaro, Taram, Barella, Bastoni.
01:03:34
Speaker
They're in win now. They just made Champions League final. they They stumbled a lot, but they were... couple games away from a treble. I don't think that Chivo can come anywhere close to that, but they, the two trophies are bust for them to Scudetto, the Coppa Italia, the Supercopa or the Champions League. They got to win two or in my opinion, not a good season, but I think if you win one in that one is a Serie A, you can spin it as, all right, we'll take it.
01:04:02
Speaker
But yeah yeah this is such, this is such a good team. I would say, yeah, I guess so. I guess. But I think they got to win two. got to win two trophies. When Juventus was in in their reign, it was every year they were winning two trophies minimum.
01:04:17
Speaker
I think Inter's got to win two trophies. I don't think they do that. I don't think they come close to the Scudetto. I think it's a bad season for Inter, but that would be a successful season for me for them. where quick i agree with ma What question for you? Sorry, because I think on your point, maz this is important to talk about.
01:04:32
Speaker
You mentioned Juventus is a reign. They were winningcuudatto winning. Scudetto's winning. Scudetto's. Can we say that Inter have had a reign? They've won. I mean, they this should be their reign, but you're right. They don't.
01:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, but they already missed the boat on that, I think. So, yes, you're right at this point. Yeah, but if you go, an Inter fan would tell you that this is, they are the current best team in the Serie A, and they're the best team in the league doing things in Europe.
01:04:55
Speaker
So this is like their cycle of reigning. But you're right. They've totally missed the boat in there. They have done an awful job in reigning the Serie because they haven't.
01:05:07
Speaker
There's not good Raiders. All right, so for UMOTS, it's two trophies, but they'd be okay with winning just the Serie A. that Yeah, but like if they win the Copa, like I don't think that's a successful season. Okay.
01:05:20
Speaker
I mean, from management point of view and an inter-fan point of view, no one's left. It's the same team for last year. mean, Nzaki did leave. Hold on, hold on.
01:05:31
Speaker
But Nzaki's not passing the ball around, and he's not shooting. It's the same squad out on the pitch, and they but it's been the same squad for a very long time. If at a very minimum, they know how to play together, they need to be able to figure it out on the pitch themselves.
01:05:46
Speaker
And so I think I i totally agree with Mott. A successful season from that standpoint is two trophies. You should be, you should, Mott, go ahead. But like Milan had two trophies and it wasn't successful. So it cannot be the Copa and the Supercopa as the two.
01:06:03
Speaker
Well, that was a great season for Milan. So we'll move on from there. Milan got one trophy. They lost in the home. They got trophy. they lost. My bad. You to Bologna. Correct. But if they did get two, we were talking about if it was successful or not successful. No, it was a dog shit season. So anyways, moving on from that blemish of my career.
01:06:21
Speaker
Yes, I agree that that they need to make a run at two trophies and finish it off, not runner-ups, not semifinals. They need to get hardware in the building in at least two competitions, primarily a Scudetto. I mean, and ah at the end of the day, every one of these Serie A teams needs to be thinking that the Scudetto is the number one trophy and that is final. There's no other, there's nothing else to be said about that.
01:06:43
Speaker
But having the experience that this Inter team has, they need to be going deep again in the Champions League. They already did it. Whether they were lucky or not and whether they should have deserved to have been in the final, they need to go deep in the Champions League. I don't think that they make it to the semifinals. I think a quarterfinals finish is probably the right target there.
01:07:02
Speaker
But also then a Coppa Italia, they should be certainly in the semifinals, getting to the final and fighting for it. So from Inter and managerial perspective, or management point of view, two trophies is the target.
01:07:14
Speaker
From my perspective, it's they're going to struggle. They're goingnna struggle all season long. And I don't think that they that this is going to turn into a season that they're could be able to. They've they've been able to show the last couple of seasons.
01:07:27
Speaker
Here we go, Vos. I disagree. I like disagree. I do disagree a little bit. I think that. After what happened last season and not even just last season, we had three years of Nzaghi.
01:07:41
Speaker
We have one Scudetto, two Champions League finals.
01:07:46
Speaker
Losing in Zaghi, you definitely downgraded in manager. Your squad hasn't really changed. You got a little bit older and then you added some depth kind of players more or less. For me, they're looking at this as top four is success.
01:08:01
Speaker
They're not the best team in the league anymore. I think most people would agree with that. So how can your number one player Like you can't keep the goal the same thing as it was. Like you're just not the same team. No, but you can't be the super club that Inter is and have top four as your only goal. They've won.
01:08:18
Speaker
Yes. They've won this. What do you mean? Is Napoli a super club? At this point, have to for top four. You have to reset your expectation because you also have a different manager. Different manager, yes, have there' also not be saying that they're just goingnna go for top four you can't like ah you also also you have to reset your pride your patient because you also have a different manager so like different manager yes but you still have by a pretty healthy margin, the most wage bill across the league. So you can't be paying all these players the most amount of money and then say, oh, but we're going for top four.
01:08:55
Speaker
Whether you have a a good manager or a new manager or not, you're paying the most for your players. You need to win... As much as you can.
01:09:05
Speaker
like you can't agree with that. I think they they would like to win the league. But I think success for this team right now is finishing top four. I don't think it's winning. That's soft. that is such That's such soft thinking.
01:09:17
Speaker
And if an Inter fan says that, i'm not letting it i'm not that's not happening. Because every like you you can't say, oh top four is successful season for us. We just made the Champions League final. You fumbled.
01:09:29
Speaker
You could have won the treble. ah Last season, you were three games, four games away from the treble. Now we go to top four because we lose a manager. No, you have the best, some of the best players in the world and the best positions.
01:09:42
Speaker
You have the most expensive wage bill. You need to go win the Scudetto. Whether you aren't made it. They decided to appoint that loser manager. All right. So I, my opinion on this, I'm not even going to say it's not helpful, but what I will say is to wrap this, wrap this spot up.
01:10:01
Speaker
I do want to say one thing that I actually don't think we talked about, which is really worrying going into the season. And we are going to do a prediction of the full table in, in a couple of weeks. So I don't want to get into that too much.
01:10:13
Speaker
Last year, you mentioned this very early on in this episode of months. ton of mental lapses for this team across at the beginning of the season, in the middle of the season, at the end of the season.
01:10:25
Speaker
I expect that to continue and to get worse. I don't expect in any way that's going to get better. They've come so far, but then like they've fallen so far every time.
01:10:36
Speaker
And I think that weighs on the club. And I think it weighs on the players. And I feel this team is good, yes, but I think the vibes around the club are very bad, which is what's putting this in my head of top four is successful.
01:10:51
Speaker
Because realistically, they should be the second best team in the league, if not the best off of pure roster spots. But the vibe around it just doesn't tell me that. Can I answer this first, actually?
01:11:03
Speaker
I had this thought the beginning episode, it was a fleeting thought, but it just came back to me, and this is my hot take on enter the season, and I would hate for this to be the case, but I think it might be. This enter team might have a chip on their shoulder.
01:11:17
Speaker
They might be coming into the season, and it i don't think this is the case, but don't count it out. This team might have a chip on their shoulder where they're like, we got to so many finals, we just couldn't and finish it.
01:11:30
Speaker
You mental midgets, can we just figure it out? Can we just get there? And they're in that locker room screaming at each other, saying, let's figure this shit out this season. and And part of me thinks that they've got that going on in the locker room. Yeah, but don't, I'm not saying it's true, but don't be surprised if that's the case. They come out firing on all cylinders this season because everyone counted them out with and without Nzaghi and they came so close last year and they just need to get across the finish line.
01:11:57
Speaker
And now they want to get. Such hot take, Luggs.
01:12:01
Speaker
So hot. what what A very good team with the very good players comes out very good. But what I will say is, folks, where I'm going to push back on you is the best possible example of where we saw that actual thing happen.
01:12:15
Speaker
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. They were second, second, and they got it done eventually. But do you have that belief in this club? Like at Liverpool, like they it was Klopp. And there was like, they're going to get there. They're going to get there. They're going to get there.
01:12:28
Speaker
I don't feel that way about Inter at all. I don't think the mental fortitude that Klopp instilled at Liverpool, it was so ingrained in those players and in the club.
01:12:39
Speaker
And at Inter, it's not there because there's those mental lapses. And the manager's gone. Like, it it isn't there. And that's what's worrying to me. No, I agree with that, but I'm also biased.
01:12:49
Speaker
So I'm not going to, it's hard for me to comment on my own take there. I'm biased. Mott, to wrap us up here? We've been going a while.
01:12:59
Speaker
I think Inter going to struggle. They're going struggle. Simple. Right. so We'll see what we think they're actually going to finish when we do our table preview and prediction, which we're going to track better this year.
01:13:10
Speaker
um But this was our first season preview episode, guys. If you have any thoughts, anything that we missed covering, shoot us a note, comment on YouTube. Give us a like, give us a subscribe on whatever you're listening on.
01:13:21
Speaker
That really helps us. We're really looking forward to the season. We're getting back in our groove here. This is what we do best. i know you guys want the content. We want to hop on here to give you that content. And we're really looking forward to the season at the end of the day.
01:13:36
Speaker
So like you said, comment, like, subscribe, follow all the socials. You know where to find us at
01:13:48
Speaker
Don't get it wrong. Instagram, YouTube especially, X-HickTalk. And you know where to listen all of your favorite podcast streaming sites, Apple Pods and Spotify.
01:14:00
Speaker
Mots, take us away. One second. Never do that spelling thing again. And now, why the sign is all? Paisanos, do not be a gagoot, and Forza, Calcio, culture.
01:14:53
Speaker
Bye.