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 - Wild Opening Weekend To The Serie A Season (Ep. 247)
504 Plays3 years ago
From AC Milan, Inter, Roma and Atalanta all winning to refereeing controversies, Memphis Depay close to Juventus, last chance saloon for Tanguy Ndombele at Napoli to DAZN broadcasting disaster Carlo, John and Nima break down a wild opening weekend to the Serie A season.
Every Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free for all. To listen to all full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Serie A Opening Weekend
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. We hope you are doing very, very well. Obviously, so much to get to an action packed opening weekend in Syria, a little bit of VAR, a little bit of
00:00:44
Speaker
penalty kick and refereeing controversy and debate so back to business as usual before we get started one last reminder that moving forward as you all know the monday review episode will be free
Refereeing Controversies and VAR Issues
00:00:59
Speaker
to
00:00:59
Speaker
everybody if you would like to gain access to all of our content that includes our Q&A episode, our interview episodes, our written work, our match post-match reaction podcast you can go to patreon.com slash T-I-F-P again that's patreon.com slash T-I-F-P
00:01:20
Speaker
P299 per month. It gets you everything. Again patreon.com slash D I F P. Let's get started.
00:01:32
Speaker
Okay, so we're jumping right into it, and business as usual, starting off right in a place where we're used to. We have some questionable penalties, some VAR controversies, some referring problems. For my fellow Italians, if you had the unfortunate circumstance of having to watch on the zone,
00:01:58
Speaker
you saw the reloading or the buffering circle of death which led to the zone trending number one in the entire country and rightfully so.
DAZN Streaming Issues and Piracy Blame Game
00:02:10
Speaker
I would have been better off you know using what we did back in the day like some pirated Somalian site that I probably would have
00:02:19
Speaker
gotten a much more or I would have enjoyed it much more than I did with the zone. It is astonishing that for a top flight league, suppose one of the biggest leagues in the world, this is what we and many. No, no, no, no, no, John, no piracy is what's killing Syria. Not an incompetent broadcaster, not crumbling stadiums, not an incompetent FA, not an incompetent refereeing association. No, no, no, it's piracy.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah We have to get somebody on because I don't know if you guys saw this but have you seen that the zone has Partnered and I say it with air quotes partnered with sky spot moving forward for the season. Well, I wonder why that is because they have to I
00:03:11
Speaker
I mean it's like I can't remember who it was who said it who said that removing the seria from sky sport who was working it was working perfectly everything was working brilliantly the service was fine in terms of technical the technical side of it everyone who wanted to watch it could pay and watch it
00:03:29
Speaker
Why remove it from Sky? I mean, it's just- Come on, man. You are quoting the famous, come on, Calenda, one of my favorite or one of the best tweeting politicians in all of the country. But again, we can save that for another day. Yeah. No, I mean, it's true. It was working.
00:03:45
Speaker
It is. The secrets that I have about the zone from my time working there, I could get the place shut down in five seconds, the information I have on them. But obviously, I'm not that stupid to come out and do that, knowing the people that are backing it. But yeah, it doesn't surprise me anymore, having worked. Pathetics.
00:04:05
Speaker
I mean, absolutely disgraceful disgrace of an organization. Anybody that works there treats this employees disgustingly, and it's got no respect for its consumers. So, you know, this is what happens. Yeah, I mean, you know, encourage people to go out and buy a dodgy box rather than give you all that's exactly what going to
00:04:26
Speaker
Before we, before I fly back to America today, I'm in Vicenza. My uncle and I, we were going to go buy an antenna and I'm going to go up on the roof of our flat and I just hope there's no lighting. Well, actually I do and I, you know, I won't have to worry about it. I can be sent into the ether never having to worry about why I'm forced to pay 40 euro to basically get the equivalent of
Milan's Performance Highlights
00:04:56
Speaker
Do you remember in the 90s when we had the old dial-up and it would make that god-awful sound where it seemed like your computer was trying to connect to, you know, like NASA satellites or something? Correct. Or the KETO or something. Yeah, I'm better off using that. Dial-up modem.
00:05:18
Speaker
No, we will do a full episode on that because I'm disgraceful. Everyone in Italy is pissed off and it was just so... Again, it's the Serie A. They say that the Dazon offered more money and that was more important to them, but at the same time,
00:05:33
Speaker
in terms of foreign TV rights, they took the lesser off. Money that does own, oh, by the way, they own more money than Barcelona. I mean, it's just- Yeah, just Google it. No, it's public knowledge. I mean, we know. No, it's just- It was exacerbated by their statement. They put it out in Italian. I'm sure anybody, you can just translate it, but they said some users are experiencing technical, some users- Everybody wants. Yeah, yeah. Some users, as in anybody trying to,
00:06:20
Speaker
It's been every single year that it happens at the start of every single season. It's not just in Italy, by the way. They took over the city about a year, exactly a year ago, and it's not worked since. And I think let's just take it away from them.
00:06:24
Speaker
to watch the football match.
00:06:37
Speaker
No, it's been longer than a year. They've had the Serie A rights for longer than a year. I think it's about two or three years now that they've had the Serie A rights. It's been a while now. It's graceful and it doesn't work. And I feel bad for the journalists working at the zone, who are the ones who get
00:06:58
Speaker
the hate, it's not their fault, they work there. People working as reporters for them aren't exactly responsible for that. Well, it is some of their fault. I mean, some of the people that work there. No, I'm talking about the reporters. I'm talking about people... Oh yeah, some of their fault as well, but yeah.
00:07:14
Speaker
I don't see how it's their fault that the technology doesn't work. That's my point. It's not their fault. I mean, whoever I can blame, I'll blame. At this point, it is pitchforks time. I know it is. It's 2022 for crying out loud. Streaming doesn't belong to the George Jetson generation. I mean, it's ridiculous.
00:07:37
Speaker
No, it's positive it starts the Serie A season. Yeah. No, no. Yeah. Well, it is. It's the Serie A and they do it to themselves and especially their piracy kills Serie A campaign when they're the ones killing the Serie A. Well, it's frustrating to I mean, 40 euros for this package that they charge every month. I mean, monthly it's disgraceful. I mean, it'd be one thing if it was a few euros, you know, you get what you pay for. But in this case, I'm not even getting, you know, even if this were free, I would be frustrated.
Serie A Refereeing Discussion
00:08:05
Speaker
So.
00:08:06
Speaker
Let's leave that for another day. Okay. Milan. Wow. Wow. I think offensively, in terms of their attack, they were so good. They were just as free flowing and inventive and had so much energy as we've seen them in preseason. I thought their attack, especially. Defensively, there are issues, but I was really impressed. I really enjoyed
00:08:36
Speaker
Brian Diaz to me was just, for me, he was the man of the match. I know Rebic scored a brace, but he was the man of the match. He was, he looked so much more mature and ready than he did throughout all last season. I thought he was good. We know he started last season really well, but he didn't have this kind of that, that felt more like, you know, he was just, you know, in good form, but he didn't look as mature and composed and he's, he looks so much ready now than he's ever done before. And he was outstanding for me.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, Graham Diaz was excellent. He got a goal. He got an assist. He had the shot that led to the penalty. He had a hockey assist for the Rebertsch's first goal. And you got to remember, this guy hasn't scored for 11 months since his last goal was back in September of 2021. And, you know, he couldn't have started the new season better, especially with
00:09:25
Speaker
signing of the kettle air who I thought was quite quite lively when he come on he had some nice touches but obviously you know the pressure is on Ibrahim Diaz now because you know he's got someone who probably is going to take his place you know so it's brought almost brought the best out of him and I thought Rebic also obviously scored two goals we asked questions actually in our preview show
00:09:50
Speaker
about what could be one of the weaknesses in Milan's team. Obviously, the right wing position is one of them, but the other one was kind of like their striker position because, you know, Giroud's 36, turning 36, Zlatan's out for half the season, and it's kind of, you know, we were asking, well, do they have the striker, do they have the goals from their striker position? Well, Rebic played as a kind of
00:10:10
Speaker
almost a typical kind of striker and he scored two goals and you know you add Giroud coming on you know Zlatan when he's back Origi will see I mean actually they've got them they've definitely got the numbers there in terms of players. Liao was a little bit quiet he had one one nice moment defensively like you said yeah a little bit shaky
00:10:33
Speaker
definitely they didn't defend crosses very well that we saw the two girls coming from crosses and they'll need to tighten up that because that is basically what won the league last season that string of clean sheets at the end but all in all I thought yeah it was a positive positive game for Milan they won they won they start the season off on the right foot and you know they looked like yeah they looked like they they're they're gonna have another good season as we predicted
00:10:59
Speaker
No, for sure. They did. And I think Kalulu defensively just keeps impressing. Yeah, I mean, he just keeps impressing me so much. I mean, what a fine, what an absolute jewel this guy was. This has turned out to be so mature, so intelligent, so quick, reads the game so well. And he just looked, I mean, he just looked, he looked like
00:11:24
Speaker
like he was the star more than Tomori did and Tomori was good. Kallulu just continues to impress and if he's going to keep this this level, well, you know, like we said, I mean, like I've been saying, not signing Svembotman was a blessing in disguise for Milan, not because of him as a bad player, but because Kallulu is just so damn good. Everybody look at my Twitter from Sunday, Sunday morning, I retweeted
00:11:50
Speaker
a thread from Simone Cristal, who's the director of Radio Rosonera, and he put together some screenshots of the defending from Calulu in one moment in the first half, when I think Milan the two went up, and Delafeyo had a two on one, Delafeyo and Isaac's success,
00:12:17
Speaker
the whole space of the Milan half to run into and.
00:12:21
Speaker
and Kaluli was all alone. And just look at that. You have to see the pictures and I mean, it's an Italian, but you can put it through translate, but see how he defended that situation and go back and watch it on video. And that was pure, that was world-class defending the way that you see how he didn't go straight to Delafeyo, because if you'd have gone straight to Delafeyo, he'd have allowed the passing lane, left the passing lane open for a simple
00:12:47
Speaker
fall across to success to have a clean, basically an open goal. He first of all went to success, so he made the decision for Delafeyo to run into the open space. All the while, he's cutting off the passing lane, so Delafeyo can't pass the ball, he has to run with it himself. Then at the last minute, he
00:13:06
Speaker
he charges towards Delafoe again while cutting off the parsonade and then blocks him and tackles him. And it was just brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant. You can't teach that something like that. It was well-class defending and no one could have done it better. So that was a real highlight of the match that was.
00:13:31
Speaker
I agreed his entire performance, but we have to talk about this and I'm sure we're going to get talk about this throughout this season because we, I mean, the season was barely 20 minutes old and already we saw two of the most disgraceful decisions.
00:13:46
Speaker
in the Serie A this season. The first one with Caputo's goal in Natalanta Santoria being chalked off for reasons that... It's very harrowing when you say so far this season. Well, it's disgraceful. I'm sorry, but it's absolutely disgraceful. Caputo's goal being disallowed in Natalanta Santoria was
00:14:04
Speaker
that was disgraceful it's absolutely disgraceful and this was just as disgraceful because for a no i do know and i'll tell you why because you everybody knows that for a penalty to be given it has to be a movement from the defender towards the attacker calabria barges into sopi
00:14:24
Speaker
It's absolutely mind-boggling how Mazzolini can sit there and he invented it. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. Mazzolini invented a penalty at San Siro. It's an invention. It's not an interpretation, it's an invention. And it's just unbelievable how he does that on the same week when you have to listen to the usual nonsense
00:14:47
Speaker
from the italian referees association talking about this season we're not gonna give away soft penalties this season we're gonna we're gonna be as like they are in the premier league we're gonna have a higher bar
00:15:01
Speaker
20 minutes in, and you got an invention of a penalty. I mean, Marino was justifiably foaming at the mouth. And this is a calm man, the Uranus technical director. He's not a person who's known for exploding, but he was fuming. And I understand, because at that moment, they just completely gave the initiative back to Milan. And Milan are good enough. They don't need that help.
00:15:24
Speaker
And it's just, it was disgraceful. I'm with you on the Atalanta one. The Atalanta one was disgraceful. I mean, he barely touches him. It was, who was it on Mailer? It was, remind me of the player that supposedly committed the offence on Mailer.
00:15:40
Speaker
for the first goal by Sampdoria. I mean, he barely touched him at all. So, I mean... There was barely any contact. Literally, the video is there. I don't understand what they're doing. Larisse. No, Sabiri. It was Sabiri. I think it was Sabiri. Anyway, he was barely touched, Meida, at all. I mean, that was shocking. The fact that he wasn't given and then they went back to the VAR and deemed that a foul. I mean, that was...
00:16:10
Speaker
That's as bad as you'll see all season. There's no doubt about that. And they went on and they lost the game because of that. As for the Milan one, at first, when I first saw the replay, I thought it was a Stonewall penalty because Calabria gets the ball first. There's no doubt about that. So some people say, oh, but the Udinese play got the ball. No, Calabria gets the ball first. That's number one. There's no doubt about that. And then Socky slides in and takes him out. But then when I watched it again and I saw some people using the argument that
00:16:38
Speaker
you know, Calabria slid in and he almost slips a little bit. So he kind of slips into him. So that the initial contact from Soppy, it's kind of like he's gone into Soppy's space.
00:16:54
Speaker
So people doesn't move, you can see it. It's the same argument that I used when we were having that big argument over the event, a sensor one, but I don't want to get into that now. That was the same argument I was using because it annoys me, it does annoy me when... I can't believe we're doing this nice thing on.
00:17:10
Speaker
No, no, it's because because it's there. It's the Italian referees association. It annoys me when it's run by the clown that it is. Let me finish. Let me finish. We know they're a clown. So it annoys me when it annoys me when, you know, if a defender makes contact on an attacker, it's a foul.
00:17:31
Speaker
if an attacker makes contact on the defender, it's still a penalty. Do you know what I mean? It's kind of like... But that's the thing, it's not, because this is the thing. Like, this is how they've communicated in their directives, that if for there to be a penalty, the defending player has to move into the attacking player. Soppy doesn't move. The Juventus situation was different because the Dumfries did not barge into
00:18:00
Speaker
Or which whatever, whichever situation is an interesting one in Turin. I mean, I'm talking about the same. Yeah, well, I mean, it can be anyone, because in your opinion, there has never gotten a real a real penalty in Cuba. So that one's exactly the same. If you know, it's really not the same. It's really not the same. It's really not the same. Because you're talking about not moving into space.
00:18:17
Speaker
I'm talking about not moving into space. I'm talking about the defender going into the attacking player's space. Here, it's the attacking attacker going into. He's not moving. That situation, they were both moving. Soppy standing still. Calabria slides into him. That is not a penalty. It's just not, it doesn't exist. If anything, it's a free kick for Rudinece, but it's not. It's just a normal... Just to add the caveat though, to add the caveat to it though,
00:18:46
Speaker
Soppy does come in afterwards with his trading leg and slide and take Calabria out afterwards. So it's whether or not you're, I mean, there's no doubt about that. Watch the replay after it. He's standing still. Calabria comes into him. No, no. The trading leg of Soppy takes out the left leg. The left leg is towards the left. That's after Calabria, that's again, it's how you interpret it. Because that's after Calabria had gone into his space first.
00:19:10
Speaker
That's exactly what I mean. It's not that there was no contact, because Soppy does, with his tray and leg, slide and take him out. So the interpretation comes as to whether Calabria has committed a foul on Soppy. If he hasn't committed a foul on Soppy, which might be how you interpret it, you might say there's not enough of a foul there. He's slid in, he's won the ball, then he's gone into it. Maybe that isn't a foul. Then it's a penalty.
00:19:34
Speaker
because that is definitely an offense from Soppi. He slid in with his trailing leg and he took out Calabria. So for me, it's not black and white. It can't be interpreted by white. If you look at the situation, Soppi's got standing still. Calabria slides into him. There's no foul by Soppi on Calabria. There's no foul by any.
00:19:55
Speaker
after Calabria goes into him. That's the whole point. The timeline is Calabria slides into Soppi. That's the question. Is it a foul from Calabria? Well, it's definitely more of a foul than Soppi did on Calabria. No, I disagree. Neither of them are a foul, but this is the most ridiculous thing of this.
00:20:14
Speaker
in order to give a penalty, there has to be a movement of the defender towards the attacker in that situation. Soppi standing still, Calabria slides into him. It's absurd. It's absolutely absurd. And again, this week, we've had to listen to this nonsense from the Italian referees association talking about we're going to be like the Premier League. We're going to have a higher bar. We're not going to give soft penalties. And then they start with that, an invention.
00:20:38
Speaker
Die. Die. Come on. It's better to shut the F up and not talk, instead of saying shit like this. It's the same principle, whether it's with the piracy or whether it's whatever. These people, like we say in Swedish,
00:20:55
Speaker
swallow elephants and and filter out mosquitoes. That's what they do. They want to talk all big. They talk all so loud about being so high level, but they can't even do this basics right. It's embarrassing. OK, well, you know, you can't say for patrons that you're two ninety nine.
Inter's Tactical Adjustments and Resilience
00:21:14
Speaker
You do not get your value because where else are you going to find such
00:21:20
Speaker
I mean, you guys are like the angry married couple. It's unbelievable. Okay, let's move on because I swear. Come on, let's do this and I'll die.
00:21:33
Speaker
Hey, very quickly, I have to bring this up. Hold on. This guy Lecce, okay. When I was stuck in Switzerland a couple of months ago, some of you may recall on my way to Roma's conference league final match.
00:21:52
Speaker
What's that wasn't in Albania? No The match was in Albania. I was was not in Albania. No, you didn't get there. I remember I was talking Switzerland as many of you know somebody somebody caught sight of caught sight of My backpack it has
00:22:13
Speaker
Roma press on it. But anyway, they were talking to me about this one guy who was in talks with a couple of Italian sides from OK, from Zurich. And he is the one I said, he said he was the one who scored yesterday against Inter. All I'm going to say is just watch, just watch out for him. This was one of those sneaky under the radar total, you know,
00:22:42
Speaker
Pellegated Italian side just swooping or I guess I should say, you know, stealthily getting a guy who I think could make a really big difference. Pantaleo Corvino does Pantaleo Corvino things. This is, I mean, look at this man's career. I mean, this is what he's done at Leche, if you're in Tina, he's a master. And I have so much respect for him as a sporting director and as a
00:23:06
Speaker
as a person of football, a director of football, that I'm so happy to see that he gets to, you know, return to his lecture and he gets to bring up lecture to the Sirian and have one last dance because he's kind of getting on a bit. But no, he does. But yeah, no, he is. I don't know this guy's exact total though. Of course, I should have cooled it before, but I know he had like
00:23:31
Speaker
19 or 20 legal, something like that. I mean, for Leche, I mean, we're so used to seeing them going up and down, up and down, up and down. I'm tired of it because, I don't know, they kind of bring that added novelty in a sense to Serian because you have to travel all the way.
00:23:48
Speaker
I'll spare everyone some of the more unpleasant details. And eat horse meat. That's a delicacy where they're from in Lecce. It's actually a delicacy. No, you're laughing, but it is. You eat horse meat in Lecce. I know. It's a long journey to get there.
00:24:06
Speaker
So I like the fact that they add a bit of geographical balance to the city. Yeah, but same with Sala and Tana. I mean, you know, I always like that the more the more geographical spread in the city we have, the better it is for the League itself, because there's some, you know, it's such a diverse country in terms of the north to the south and that.
00:24:28
Speaker
But if we talk about the game, I mean, first of all, it would have been nice if the game was played on a football pitch and on a potato farm. And I'm genuinely thinking how many injuries, how many serious injuries are we going to see?
00:24:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Piracy is more important. In 2022, we can't have a football pitch in August that resembles a football pitch. Come on, man. It's Fed Agosto. They're away on their holidays through the ground. Oh my gosh. That reminds me of the tweet. I have to find the guy because he used to write for one of the websites that we all know relatively well.
00:25:10
Speaker
Napoli had gotten knocked out of champions like preliminaries. You must not know much about Italian. And granted, this was when I was living still in Veneto. He said, it's Fedegosto.
00:25:26
Speaker
You think that Napoli is going to win? They were too concentrated on the holiday. And every time during this time of year, I'm brought back to that tweet. Somebody please find it for me because I know. I know everybody knows which tweet I'm speaking of. Somebody please tell me there's a screenshot of it. Classic. No, look, I thought Lech showed why they were so difficult to deal with and break down last year in the Serie B.
00:25:54
Speaker
They were good, they defended well. And I thought Inter started the game well. You think? It's been like 20 seconds, it seems, right? Yeah, no, but the first 10, 15 minutes, Inter looked well, but it was very hot. You could see that. It was very, very hot.
00:26:12
Speaker
and it took a long time. It's Veragosto and it's at the very south of Italy. It's very hot. You're not very far off the equator. It's the hottest period of the year. Even though they played it at night, it's still very, very hot and you can see the humidity there. That's the one of the worst places on earth. It took a lot out of the players and
00:26:33
Speaker
And, but yeah, no, I thought Inter were all right. I thought Falcone, their goalkeeper, was absolutely fantastic. But I mean, I'm where, you know, Inter fans are used to mediocre goalkeeping, goalkeepers turning into like the love child of Oliver Khan and Lev Yashin and Buffon against them. So it's nothing, nothing new under the sun. But the thing that, you know, I think what I like this, there's a couple of things I really like before I talk, I got to mention the refereeing again because it was disgraceful.
00:27:00
Speaker
This guy does not do this area ever again because he could have cost Lautaro Martinez his season. You do not lunge like that into a tackle with studs showing and he gets a yellow card. That was just unbelievable. What I liked the most about Inter was the fact that
00:27:19
Speaker
I like the fact that now Simone Inzagi has options. I like the fact that he can tinker with formations. He tried. In the 70th minute, when it wasn't working, he changed to 3-4-3 by bringing Jeko on. And we know that Jeko likes to drop in deep and build. That together with Mikitarion, who replaced the Brozovich, that was out of sorts. That allowed Inter to dominate the game again when Lechia had taken it to them and nullified them and was hurting them on the counter.
00:27:46
Speaker
And then when he was really going for it, he brings on Correa and he switches to a 4-2-4. And that made Inter even more attacking and even more chocolat on Lecce. And also his post-match comments.
00:28:03
Speaker
Everybody knows how much I've been a fan of Simon Inzagi, but I've been missing him in terms of character-wise. Can he cut it at a big club? Well, now we know he can. This is his inter. He's not the guy who replaced Antonio Conte anymore. The way he talked, the way he
00:28:22
Speaker
defended his team, himself, the way he speaks, the way he acts. He's a company man still, but he's not a doormat. He's not going to just take it from anyone. His postmaster comments were outstanding. I loved him talking about my Inter, my players.
00:28:39
Speaker
you know, the way he talked about the media saying, you guys are selling all our players and every other day, every day that every other team in the city is buying players, you're saying we're the favorites to win. And he may, and that's kind of also a very clear message to Suning that you're not selling our players. And even the pre-match press conference, he was saying, no one's leaving. We're only signing one player. And that is a backup to Defry, a replacement for Anok. I mean, that's,
00:29:04
Speaker
very, very clear of where he stands and he's not going to put up with things. And I think that's really important and refreshing, but he did it in a much more respectful way and in a much more calm, controlled, cool way. And Handanovic was even talking about it before the game, about how we have to keep this group together, which again,
00:29:24
Speaker
is both good and bad because it goes to show that there is a split starting to show between the playing squad, the coach on one side, and the ownership on the other. And then you have Marotta and Auzilio in the middle. I mean Marotta coming out before the game saying, yeah, I understand why Inzaghi said what he did, but we have to, you know, we have to maintain financial sustainability. That can't be good if this split
00:29:47
Speaker
continues and if they go into the last few weeks and start selling skidding out in Dumfries, I wouldn't be surprised if Simonin Zaghi walks and if he did that would be the end of the Sooning project because that would rip this club apart.
00:30:02
Speaker
It's both good to see him defending his players and they're united, but it's also a little bit worrying to see this kind of an open disagreement, which it is. I mean, you have the player and the coach saying, we're not selling anyone. The CEO saying, I understand why the coach says what he does, but I have to follow, we have to follow financial sustainability. And then the owner who doesn't say anything except just it's, you know, travels from, it just drives around in his, whether it's McLaren or his Ferrari or whatever he's driving on the day.
00:30:30
Speaker
and doesn't say anything to anyone and just, you know, tells them to hit the numbers. I mean, it's just, you know, it's not a good situation and it just continuously just shows what I said last week that I think Suning have done a fantastic job up until this point, but Inter have hit a ceiling with them and it's not tenable and it's not working and they need to. And now Pina Monti's gone. That's great. Di Gregorio, Pierola. Now they're looking to cash in on Casade. But it's this is not tenable. This can't continue.
00:30:59
Speaker
And that's not good for Inter. But this season, they should be fine. And they were fine. And the way that Inter won at the death, I mean, the Italian press are calling it already Inzaghi time. It was the 10th time that Inter scored a goal from the 85th minute onwards. And all good teams have that. All good teams score at the death. I mean, Fergie time had several meanings, but one of those was how his Manchester United always scored at the death.
00:31:28
Speaker
And there you go, everyone. They must suggest in the interget extra minutes at the end of the game. No, no, they don't. If anything, they should have had eight minutes. They only give them four. So they got they try to screw into over again. But unfortunately, a cooling break in four substitutions and you had three minutes, three, four minutes on it should have been six, seven minutes. But whatever the the Vinovo, the instructions from Vinovo must have not reached lecture that day. The check must have bounced.
00:31:58
Speaker
They would have just carried on playing until they scored anyway. It would have been like applied on Moreno a year after the 2002 World Cup when he was an Ecuador and he played 13 minutes extra time. Can you blame that his watch was broken or something?
00:32:13
Speaker
Oh, something like that. I don't know. I think so. I remember shortly after they found like five million pounds in his bank account. The only thing I would add to that on Inter is as well as that great stats said there about late goals. Again, Inter on set pieces and corners just unbelievable. How many goals did Inter score from from corners, off corners and off crosses and from free kicks last season? I mean, just
00:32:41
Speaker
Unreal, the number. And again, they do. I mean, they're so dangerous. It's almost like having a penalty, for instance, sometimes. They're from corners. And they're the delivery from Chalanoglu, from DiMarco. I mean, it's unbelievable. DiMarco obviously put the cross in. DiMarco. DiMarco was... From the first goal. The first goal was DiMarco's cross as well. DiMarco throughout that game showed. I mean, this is something that Simon, I understand why he plays him as a left-center back, but I want him to stop doing that.
00:33:08
Speaker
Frederico DiMarco should play as a left wing back.
Roma's Victory and Tactical Analysis
00:33:11
Speaker
He was outstanding and one of the changes he did was to bring in Bastoni, move up DiMarco, bring in Dumfries and that just made Inter, they couldn't deal with Inter because what Dumfries does, which goes since it doesn't really do yet, is that he's fast and he can do his man but he's also really good in the air and he becomes like an extra striker up front and he can hold up the ball and link up and he got Lukaku doing that as well.
00:33:35
Speaker
No, for me, the man of the match was DiMarco, without a doubt. I thought it was outstanding. Yeah. Well, let's move on. Roma. Roma. They win. It was only one to zero, but it was incredibly comfortable at no point were they ever really threatened. Paulo Di Bala should have had at least a brace. Tammy Abraham should have had one as well.
00:34:05
Speaker
I mean, this should have been three or four years. And then how many should Sanjolo have had? I mean, it's just. Yeah, I mean, even if you didn't watch the match, the expected goals, the extra, you really it does speak quite clearly, clearly and speaks on its own. I mean, Roma, they dominated this match. Now, in fairness, Alernitada, they were missing quite a few guys. They welcomed a few new players as well this week, so it's going to take some time. I still have no idea what Sampdoria are doing by selling Candreva to them.
00:34:35
Speaker
I mean, you want to talk about a team where I just feel like there's nothing there, Sampdoria, they are up there. Yeah, I agree. But anyway, yeah, I thought it was really interesting to see the way they played, the way, I mean, it's very clear the way Jose Mourinho is going to use the quartet of Pellegrini, Zagnolo, Tammy Abraham and Di Bala, I thought,
00:35:02
Speaker
Pellegrini would be the one to see most of the ball, but he actually allowed Di Bala quite a bit of time on the ball. There was a lot of rotation between he and Zagnolo. I thought it would actually benefit Paulo Di Bala the most as far as goal scoring opportunities, which it obviously did, but I actually think
00:35:21
Speaker
Tammy Abraham is going to benefit incredibly, probably the most from this, because I just think he's going to have space that he just wasn't afforded last season. So, I mean, I thought they played well. Listen, if you just... I gotta ask you though, I wanted to ask you both though, in the 67th minute, when Maria takes off Tammy Abraham and brings off Nemanja Matic,
00:35:43
Speaker
This is football heritage. I love that. I love that. Because I knew all the Mourinho haters would be off on one, but it didn't affect them. And I thought my teacher was good. He did that for a reason though. He explained why he did that. He did that to send a message to the club, to the board, to go out and buy Belotti to close it up.
00:36:08
Speaker
he wants to send a message that they don't have enough time. He mentioned one of the first things he mentioned as he stepped to the microphone was about the spending in the market. He was very quick to point out Roma have only had a net
00:36:26
Speaker
net positive spend of 7 million euros, which I can appreciate Jose's accounting in that regard. While Roma are still at the moment publicly traded, they won't be for much longer. But maybe Jose did that because he knows we won't be given full access now to the books, or at least we won't need to be given full access to the books.
00:36:55
Speaker
Jose, I'd like to see the commissions on that Obama deal before we talk about only 7 million net spend. And he also used that figure to take a dig at Lazio, saying they've spent more than... Sarri, Sarri. He was in Sarri then retorted. I'm really looking forward to Mourinho versus Sarri this season. I mean, it's going to be very, very entertaining.
00:37:19
Speaker
um the way that they and they already started last season when when was it in the semi-final or quarter-final when Mourinho said that we're here in the middle of the week playing in Europe while Lazio's players are at home with Sarri smoking a cigarette it's just Mourinho at his absolute best now that that is going to be entertaining for sure to watch Sarri yeah listen you're 200 Jose Mourinho um and after having won the trophy I hate using
00:37:45
Speaker
you know, like a Gen Generation Z type of phrase. But the big dick energy. Yeah, it's back. BDE for sure. I mean, it's BDE. It's BDE. And he's happy as well. And you can tell the club is around him. The squad is with him. This is Mourinho when he's at his best. Everyone is behind him. He feels like the king. He's the leader of the pack and and he's loving life right now.
00:38:12
Speaker
I was impressed. Obviously, it's not the best opposition, but Milan and Inter weren't playing the best opposition either. So, Selene Turner and I thought the interchanging attack between Zanyol and Di Bala and Abraham, especially Zanyol and Di Bala, I thought was really, really great to watch.
00:38:37
Speaker
Wonderful and you know i think ones on the other went on a few of these his runs that we haven't seen him do for a while there was one where he the one we set up the ball is chance in the first time where he picked up the board in his own heart think of a throw in any weather slalom run straight through the middle than you put the bottle through.
00:38:55
Speaker
He was, yeah, was fantastic. I mean, Zanyo, like you said, he should have scored a hat trick in the first 20, 25 minutes. He had another shot that just went wide. You know, Dybala, a few lovely touches. He should have scored twice. And, you know, Roma were really good, corrected lots of chances, conceded virtually nothing. They were just, just the only bad thing was they were, they were, they were wasteful. They were wasteful in front of goal. So they just need to improve their finishing.
00:39:23
Speaker
Just one thing, two things. I mean, I remember in our previous show, I said, I want Jaluka Mancini to show that he's worthy of the job and task that Roma have assigned to him. And I thought he was great. Yeah, you've earned your attention to Ibanez now for some reason. Yeah. I mean, what on God? Get out of here. No, no, no, no. I don't know if you like him because his name is Roger or because he's got a left foot. But that guy, what is he doing? What is he doing at Roma? Like, he's not good enough.
00:39:53
Speaker
Like, seriously, he's just not good enough. Oh man, you better tell half of Premier League and half of... Rihanna did wanted him, come on. Yeah, well then they can have him because he's not good enough. I don't understand why Kumbula isn't playing. I really don't. If you're playing with a back three as well and you're playing with someone who's used to playing in a back three and can play to the left despite being right footed, Kumbula should be starting soon, man. Like, seriously. Oh gosh, oh no. No, I'm not a fan of what you've done.
00:40:25
Speaker
Well, I mean, we want to talk about big dick energy. I would have come out swinging today. I guess probably a good thing for everybody. Well, I think that I think that Mourinho's got him in a good position. I thought he's giving him freedom. He had freedom. Yeah, I mean,
00:40:45
Speaker
him and Zanyola were switching positions. They were both roaming around. They both they both were given freedom, but from Mourinho. And, you know, it was kind of like three, four, two, one, they were the two behind Tammy Abraham. And, you know, I do think, though, that against better opposition, I don't know whether Roma can go with a three, four, two, one in which one of the two central midfielders is Pellegrini. And you've got two attacking midfielders, Zanyola and Antebala, who
00:41:13
Speaker
I mean, I'm not sure about Zagnolo how much he how much he contributes defensively. You'll know better, John, but Di Bala is certainly having watched him every game for Juventus is not going to give you anything from a defensive point of view. I guess Saloni Tarnat neither of them gave much. Well, no, and it didn't matter because it was Saloni Tarnat and, you know, Roma were just too good for them. They had too much quality for them. And so I do think that, you know, against better teams, he might have to lose one of them, maybe.
00:41:38
Speaker
I do think that. But we'll see. We'll see. Because we've seen with... And I think Matic will probably play against those better teams.
00:41:47
Speaker
I don't know. He's been horrific for Man United for years and I think his legs have gone. But he might do a job like he did yesterday just to come on for the last 20 minutes or so and see a game out. That's fine. But I'm not convinced he can play a major role from the start. I might be wrong. Wijnaldum, though, I do have hope for him to go back to his best, hopefully.
Monza's Struggles and Torino's Strength
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, well I think you bring in Vainaldum, you bring in, or you still have Christante, you have Matych. I think that was done more so, so they have more options from a tactical point of view. You bring in Belotti, you will have far more options. You can play 4-2-3-1, you can go to the 3-4-2-1.
00:42:31
Speaker
I just think the depth that they're adding this summer, it gives them the tactical flexibility. Speaking of teams that were busy in the summer, I mean Monza, I have to tell you very rarely do I ever find myself relatively excited to see a team just promoted from from Serie B.
00:42:54
Speaker
um man excitement they managed to curb that in all of five minutes when i saw the manner in which they decided to play wolf um i i mean i i i listen stropa um he's going to play the way he plays this is for those of you who don't remember his exhilarating and incredibly entertaining football when uh when he was with cortone
00:43:24
Speaker
I wasn't expecting much, but man, after the summer you had just anything but that. They were brutal to watch. I agree with you and I wonder how much patience Berlusconi and Galliani have. Is he the first coach that gets sacked because he didn't look good at all and they've invested a lot. They have good players and it didn't look good. It really didn't.
00:43:49
Speaker
But Torino, who, on the other hand, have had a dreadful summer, they actually played well and they deserved to win. And Sanabria's acrobatic scissor goal kick from like 10 centimeters outside the goal was a bit overkill, but it was still pretty cool. No, I liked what Torino did. I like that Yuric is now, you know, they're kind of giving him the players he wants.
00:44:16
Speaker
And I hope once I can bounce back and start delivering, start playing better because they were not good, I guess, Torino. It was a great acrobatic goal by Sinabria. We have to give a...
00:44:30
Speaker
We have to give a shout out for that goal. Debut goal for Miranciuk as well. Debut goal for Lukman in the Atalanta game as well. Good start for Atalanta. We questioned them after that. I mean, I actually thought they were pretty dominant against St. Doria after that. No, they were. That's a stressful decision, you know, which, you know, could have changed. Well, it did change the game. You go 1-0 up and it did completely change it. But thereafter, they were the much better team. Agreed. And then in Fiorencina as well, we had Jovic scoring at Debut goals. It was a good, it was a good
00:45:00
Speaker
It was a good day for a lot of debutants, I think. Except for Maximiliano. And also Radu, the goalkeeper. It was as if Maximiliano said, I'm going to have one of the worst debutants in football. And Radu said, I'm going to eclipse your mistakes you're sending off by
00:45:22
Speaker
by doing by the next the game after the last game I played was that horrific game against Bologna where he made the most the biggest blunder goalkeeping blunder and enters I feel sorry for your history I have no no no no I don't feel sorry for him at all nobody he he has an agent Damiani
00:45:41
Speaker
who's friends with everyone, and that's the reason why he finds new clubs for this guy. He's just not good enough. Radu's just not good enough. He has no mentality. Yeah, that's the key, isn't it? He's mentally, he's just not up for it at this level of the game. He just can't do it. It was like carriers. You remind me of Laurie's carriers. It was worse than that. I've never seen carriers walk in with a ball, holding the ball and walking into the net with it. Well, he kind of did in a Champions League final. Yes, we've seen.
00:46:07
Speaker
Yeah, no, yeah, fair enough. But but but then also the the second goal as well, when he's out, when he's like a week late to the situation. And I mean, now this guy Radu is just sweet Jesus. But I mean, you know, we're talking about bad debt, worst debuts that that those are up there with the worst debuts ever or Matsumiyano to get sent off after how many minutes was it? He was sent off the last three or four was it was right at the start of the game. And I just got me thinking of the worst ever debuts. I remember
00:46:35
Speaker
because Arsenal were my English team when I was growing up. I remember a young stuff for Arsenal, for Jason Crow, I think his name was, he got sent off after like 30 seconds in a cup game for Arsenal. Come on, sent off straight away. And I'm not sure if he even ever played for Arsenal again after that. And I always remember also Jonathan Woodgate, for Real Madrid. Do you remember that? He's his debut for Madrid. Yeah, Owen Cohen, red card.
Juventus and Napoli's Transfer Market Moves
00:46:58
Speaker
Owen Cohen, red card. He's done his debut. Yeah, which was quite amusing.
00:47:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, but Spezia Empoli was interesting in that it was a controlled win for Spezia. And Gotti, who's the manager that we've praised a lot because of what he did with Uranus, and he didn't even want to be their manager. He looks much more comfortable now being a manager.
00:47:21
Speaker
Empoli, I'm worried about Empoli. I didn't like what I saw at all. And no, I'm worried. I think they're... Them and some point... Your boy Destro missed a few chances, eh? Yeah. I mean, he shouldn't even be playing at this point. Let's move on to the transfer market now. Depai. Depai to Juventus. So, Juventus are playing this evening, so that's why obviously we've got no...
00:47:46
Speaker
We're recording this on Monday early afternoon. That's why we're not, you know, there's no obviously match coverage on the event. But they are in negotiations in the transfer market. They've signed Costitch last week. Paredes, they're in negotiations to sign in for the midfield. And they're also in negotiations to sign Memphis Depay from Barcelona, possibly on a free transfer on a contract, probably a two year contract looking at maybe five to seven
00:48:14
Speaker
million euros per season. Yeah, I'm kind of, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm going to come out and say it. I'm not a fan of Memphis the pie, but okay. If he's going to be a backup role, fine. I think he'll do well. I don't think he will be. I think, unfortunately, it looks like Allegri is going to be going for a two man attack. It's looking like
00:48:40
Speaker
We'll see. It's looking like it could be a 4-4-2 in the first game of the season. But it will be now. He's playing a 4-4-2. I swear to God.
00:48:55
Speaker
Yes, I know, I know. I've already been joking with some of my friends that I don't know whether to support Sassuolo just to get Allegri out quicker. But yeah, 4-4-2. I mean, it looks like a two-man attack is going to be a strong part of Allegri's, you know, what Allegri does this season. So you're not going to sign Depay and have him as a backup. He's going to start
00:49:21
Speaker
And I've always considered him as a big fish in a small pond, really, that kind of player. I think a team like Lyon, or a team from when he was in the Dutch League, a kind of PSV, was that over the start? I think that's his level. I don't think his level is what he's shown. It's not his level. Managed United, he just wasn't good enough. OK, he was still quite young then. And then obviously Barcelona,
00:49:49
Speaker
okay you can say it's a bit of a shambolic we run club last season anyway but he showed that he's not Barcelona level either Juventus I like to think because you know I have high standards for Juventus I'm not one of these Juventus fans who's who who thinks that Western McKinney is the Juventus level and get angry when you criticize you know I have high standards for Juventus and I you know so I look for players who I think are of their level I don't think Deppi is really
00:50:16
Speaker
a classic traditional Juventus level player, but at the same time, you know, I think that he will definitely be an upgrade on what they've got. You know, they've only got Blavic as an attacker, as a striker, as an attacker. They haven't got no one else. They've only got Moisakine, who now we know is for sale. We know he's for sale. And so they need someone desperate. I would argue, especially if they're going for a two-man attack, they need to bring in two forwards, I would argue.
00:50:40
Speaker
So Deppi, I think, will be an upgrade. He can play in a front two. He can also play in a three. If Allegra does go to a front three, he can play from the left. He does have a good scoring record. He's actually got an excellent scoring record for Holland. So he can score goals. I know he scores a lot of penalties. He can take set pieces. And also when I look at the alternatives that are being put out there,
00:51:02
Speaker
I don't think he's really necessarily any worse than the alternatives. You've got Murata, you've got Muriel, you've got Martial, as we said, two goals in 18 months. You've got Simeone, who I like, but I'm not sure whether he's, again, I'm not sure whether he's at this level, Simeone. He's a backup, as a backup player for you, and I'm fine with him.
00:51:22
Speaker
So I'm looking at these alternatives. I'm thinking Deppi, free transfer, you just pay your salary, 28 years old. Given what they can get, it might be the best option for them, potentially.
00:51:35
Speaker
Well, like you said, they can play in a three, you've got Di Maria, you've got Kiesa, it gives a likely options and he needs options. Yeah. Yeah. So it might not be the worst deal in the world. Again, I don't think it's a black and white. I don't think it's a black and white. I don't think it's going to be, I don't think it's a great sign. I don't think it's a terrible sign. I think it's someone that maybe he can help them. And I think he's, he'll compliment Vlauvić. Like that's what I think. Cause I mean, for me, Vlauvić is the number nine. He's the one who's supposed to score.
00:52:02
Speaker
And I think he will he will do a job and help Blauwitsch. But but I agree with everything else you said. Yeah. Yeah. He's somebody that definitely, you know, he divides the critics. And I think another player that does that is Undumbele for Tottenham, who Napoli are in negotiations. They're selling Fabio and Ruiz to PSG.
00:52:25
Speaker
and they are in negotiations. Well, we know they need a central midfielder. I said it in the last part in the preview, but this is someone they have to bring in a new central midfielder. So they're in negotiations for them. I don't know what you think of him, but I would just say from my point of view,
00:52:41
Speaker
I think he's a huge talent. I remember Juventus were interested in him before Tottenham bought him and I was kind of, I was almost like Egan Juventus and I wanted them to get him because I know this guy has got such great press breaking ability and I've always loved players who can break the line of the press and he can do that like few others. I think he's a great talent but unfortunately
00:53:03
Speaker
He's just got an awful attitude. His work rate is abysmal. And that's why him and Antonio Conte obviously never worked together, but also didn't work with him on the previous manager either. So there's got to be some concern there for that reason. There has to be something that, you know, we only see what we see on TV on, you know, if we go to stadiums, we'll see it. But we don't see what goes on behind closed doors and training, what goes on in the dressing room. There's obviously something there that
00:53:32
Speaker
that, you know, is a problem. I think that's the issue for me. If Spalletti can't fix him, then this is his last chance, I think, because if Spalletti, if he doesn't give it all for Spalletti and if Spalletti can't fix it, then I think that's his then I think that's it for him at this level. I think he'll play in mid table teams in France and Germany for the rest of his career, because I agree with everything you say. I think the talent is the talent, the raw talent is there.
00:54:02
Speaker
But his attitude just looks wrong. It just doesn't, he doesn't seem to have the head or it doesn't seem to have the right mentality and right be in the right head space to do what needs to be done. But the talent is, I agree. I agree with you. And if Spaletti can unleash him and what he's done with, do with him, what he did with Anguissa in Lobotka. Well, you know, congratulations Napoli, you might have a world beater there.
00:54:29
Speaker
No, absolutely. And then that's that's the kind of sign in that can change, you know, change the season. And with Raspadori and Simeone coming in as well. No. Yeah. Yeah. So it is definitely going
Conte vs. Tuchel Rivalry
00:54:42
Speaker
to be interesting. It's going to be it's going to be interesting to see what happens.
00:54:46
Speaker
Okay. Tell you what was really interesting. Oh, this was brilliant. I love this. I love this. I was working on this game. What is going on? What is going on? What is this about? And then the taunting afterwards. I have to say I have to put our hands up. We have to put our hands up. We caused this. This was us. We caused this. We caused this beef between content issues. How did we do
00:55:09
Speaker
It was the Italian football podcast because the beef started when we had our friend Nizar Kinsella on the podcast and he told the story and we were discussing about, it was actually you that you were on it, I wasn't on it, it was you. We were talking about Romelu Lukaku's return to Inter and you asked the question about was there anything specific that happened between Tukul and Lukaku
00:55:36
Speaker
And he just, you know, and Naz went on, you know, explain that it was many things, not just one thing, but of course there was also this incident.
00:55:45
Speaker
where they were having a meeting and talking tactically and the TV was on and Spurs were playing and it was Antonio Conte, it's after Antonio Conte joined and Tuchul jokes to Romelu Lukaku and says that, you know, oh look, there's your daddy. And that was not appreciated by Romelu Lukaku. But is that where the beef has started?
00:56:09
Speaker
is where the beef was started, where there was no beef before that. And so I can only, I can only assume that that's what's caused the beef. Yeah, because they weren't viral every news, every, every, every major. Yeah, every since then, those two have been at loggerheads with each other. You know, so since then, I don't, I've never seen anything before that. I might be mistaken, somebody tells you, you can tell me, but that is, you know, that
00:56:34
Speaker
We caused this. Bloody hell. But afterwards the taunting on social media when Konta shares on his stories that a photo of Tuchel running after Chelsea scores and he said, you're lucky I didn't see you because I would have tricked you. I mean, and it would have been funny. I mean, what is going on? It's just Jesus. Yeah, I'm not sure about that, but it's still funny, though. I mean, I love that. I love that. I mean, I love that when managers do that. It's like kind of Sunday League.
00:57:03
Speaker
Sunday league football, when you get that, when you get the two managers fighting on the touchline, I just wish no one had broken them up. I wanted to see them. I wanted to see them go at it. Yeah. Yeah, there was, I mean, it was, I do think, though, that, that, that too cool was the instigator with the hands, with the handshake, because he held hold of, I don't understand why he did that. Yeah.
00:57:25
Speaker
It was because then he was saying you look in my eyes or whatever. I mean, it was just unnecessary. But Conte doesn't forget this stuff. Like this is the thing he doesn't he doesn't understand what he's created here. No. Yeah. Conte holds grudges like Mourinho. Like they never like they will never forget this ever, ever. He will never forget this. He will he will use this. I mean, Tuchl might have just been angry and felt disrespected at that moment. But he has no idea what he's created. He's created a mortal enemy out of Antonio Conte now. And it's like,
00:57:55
Speaker
Not a good move, dude. Like, can you handle this? Like, you know?
00:58:01
Speaker
Yeah, he shouldn't have done that. It reminded me also of Claudio Gentile. He used to have this technique when he was in games, and when he used to usually after fouling a player, he would offer his hand up to help them up off the ground. He'd put his hand out, they would take the hand, and then he would dig his nails into the other player's hands.
European Super League Debate
00:58:24
Speaker
And obviously, no one could see that, the ref couldn't see that. In fact, he'd probably still get away with it today, because I don't even think the cameras would pick up something like that.
00:58:31
Speaker
Yeah, it was too cool definitely to cause that with holding on there. You could see Conte, he was like, he was telling him to let go of his hand and then he was like, what do you want? What do you want? Anyways, right, let's move on to final segment before we get to Badger and Prem Face of the Week. So I picked up on these quotes from Galiani, Adriana Galiani, former Milan CEO, now the chief at Monza,
00:58:56
Speaker
His quotes about the European Super League says, Monza get 33 million euros from TV rights. We must give 3 million of that to Serie B. A newly promoted team in England gets 160 million. How can we compete with Nottingham Forest? How can I stop this tendency of the world economy? There should be a Brexit in football.
00:59:15
Speaker
Who makes the British do it to drop four billion a year plus the ever full stadiums? It would therefore be a real European championship without the English. So Galiani, Galiani is calling for a European Super League without the English. Now I saw you tweeting about this lap in the sack. Which is what I said when it happened. If you remember, if you remember at the time, I said this is something they should have done without the Premier League clubs and the Premier League clubs should have been should have joined afterwards. But I mean, they made many mistakes when they rolled out.
00:59:44
Speaker
the European Super League. So, no, it's not. I think I think Alain is onto something here. I think there should be. And I think there will be. I'm just waiting on the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the EU to decide on the legality of the existence of the Super League. And once that's done, we all expect it to be to to for it to uphold that the European Super League didn't violate anything in terms of EU law. And once that's done, then it's all the EU countries can do it. And obviously,
01:00:14
Speaker
the UK is no longer in the EU. So they'll probably not be allowed in it, which means the Champions League will essentially be the Premier League clubs plus the greats from Moldova, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark. Have fun, guys. Have fun.
01:00:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know how that will work out. But I mean, what we what we do know is that seven of the top 10 spending clubs in Europe this summer are English. That's that's only the winner of the Serie A. Look, when Culture and Financi came out with who you get 18 million euros for winning the Serie A, you get 99 million pounds for promotion to the Premier League. I mean, what are we even discussing here?
01:01:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I'm not blaming the Premier League clubs. Again, they're operating in a free market economy. They're allowed to do the deals they've done. They did a fantastic job. The English football was in a disastrous place domestically in the 80s and 90s with the problems they had. They've done whatever they needed to do. They marketed it brilliantly. All of that is true. But the opposite is also true. That means that the others are also allowed to do deals
01:01:24
Speaker
and do whatever they need to do to protect their financial interests. I have no problem with that. I think it's great that the Premier League has shown that you can do it at this level, but then the other clubs should be able to do what they need to do to counter that, if that makes sense.
01:01:41
Speaker
No, no, no, it totally makes sense. I just, you know, I don't have anything against the Premier League. I think if anything, you know, watch how they've done it and learn from it, you know? No, it just becomes a fast when, you know, not in forests, no disrespect to not in forests, but.
01:01:58
Speaker
you know, they're in the Premier League for the first time since 1999, first time this century, this millennium. And, you know, they're the fifth, third, fourth, fifth biggest spenders in Europe. They've signed 15 players, they're signing players like Froyla from Atlanta. And you're just thinking, I mean, come on. I mean, I mean, if anything tells you why,
01:02:21
Speaker
Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the other nine Premier League big clubs from around Europe, other than PSG and Bayern, you know, want a Super League. I mean, that kind of sums it up, doesn't it? And, you know, as I said before, seven of the ten biggest spenders in Europe this summer are English. You then got, you know, Liverpool 14th, Wolves 16th, Man United 18th, Newcastle 20th, Fulham, Southampton, Aston Villa next, and Brentford in the 20s.
01:02:51
Speaker
you know then you got italian clubs the only Italian clubs there are Juventus and 11th, Atalanta 19th, Napoli 21st, Juventus and Napoli's net spend is two to three million i mean it's just it's just insane i mean it can't it's just you know it's it it's i mean it's it's impossible to compete it's impossible
01:03:09
Speaker
No, it's not going to work. Everybody knows that, and therefore this... What's the point? I mean, there's no point of even watching the Champions League anymore. I mean, we're trying to say that. I don't want to say this on our podcast because, you know, I want to promote Serie A and I want to promote the interests of the Italian clubs in the Champions League, but we just have to be honest.
01:03:25
Speaker
It is impossible for Italian clubs to compete in the Champions League. The Champions League is just a pointless competition. Real Madrid won the Champions League. I'm sorry how to say it, but they won it by luck last season. They got battered by the English clubs in all of their free knockout games. You look at the stats in those games.
01:03:40
Speaker
Look at the games against Intel. Intel were better. For a non-premier league team to win the Champions League now, they literally need their goalkeeper to be man of the match every single game, which is what he was in the final. That's what it takes now to win. And it's just impossible now. And that's Real Madrid. The Italian team's a mild off Real Madrid in terms of making revenue making. So yeah, something has to be done. I think it just needs
01:04:10
Speaker
It needs someone brave to take the lead and then it needs everyone to be brave enough to follow. It's like anything in the world, isn't it? When there's injustice, you need someone. The system works because no one is brave enough to rebel. And that's what it's going to need. It's going to need some kind of, it's going to need a rebellion and everyone to follow for it to happen. But it needs to be set up better than it was
01:04:33
Speaker
two years ago now, one in a year and a half ago now, which was just a complete shambles. Well, that was embarrassing. I mean, the way they did it and it was a closed league and all that, it's not going to be that way. You can't have a closed league. No, no, no. It's not going to happen. No one wants that. No, but nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Not even the Italian clubs want that. Nobody wants that. They've realized that. Well, I mean, they've realized they've moved away from that. And I think, I hope no, I'm sure they have. There's not going to you can't have a closed league like that. But they will.
01:05:03
Speaker
They will find a way to go through that, because they know that they realise now that they need to win the propaganda war as well. And the propaganda war, most people didn't have a problem with the European Super League, except for the part that it was a close chop. That's the part that everyone had a problem with. And that's all they need to address. There are obviously legal ways of rigging that.
01:05:25
Speaker
with historical places and blah, blah, blah. Well, that's what the Champions League is doing anyway. Exactly. The Champions League is now given historical places for the highest coefficient, isn't it? Which is basically another word for... Exactly. And I think they will. And what has been lost in all of this is that the European Super League wanted UEFA involved in the European Super League. They wanted UEFA to basically just be the admin body, which is what they should be anyway.
01:05:53
Speaker
There's no need for UEFA to sit on the riches that the football clubs and the football players produce. They're the middleman. They're the admins. Do the administrating. Do the admin jobs then. There's no need for them to sit in Switzerland not paying any tax and just hoarding all the money.
01:06:10
Speaker
And I think they've learned that lesson and all we're waiting now, honestly, is to have legal certainty because we have financial stability in terms of the project because the biggest investment banks in the world have guaranteed it. The only thing for me, the issue for me though is if they do try and do some kind of super league, European super league, my concern is that
01:06:34
Speaker
you know how much money will be put behind it compared to say the Premier League because then you risk the fact the risk you risk an actual proper NBA Premier League which which all the players the best players then go to the Premier League clubs because it becomes this but they want to do that anyway yeah of course they all do that anyway
01:06:53
Speaker
So I mean, that's bound to happen. The only way you can counter the hegemony of the Premier League is to do a European Super League, which where all the money goes to the clubs and the UEFA is just the admin board and make the Champions League just
01:07:11
Speaker
just a joke let let let let liverpool play they need to get that they have to get the backing of the friends of the french and and german yeah but the german clubs look once once yeah but that's exactly it because the the german clubs they they're a little bit more smart smarter look buying munichs
01:07:30
Speaker
Beckenbauer, Hernes, Römenige were the ones who even spoke of an idea 20-30 years ago of a European super league. So this nonsense that they're against super league is not known is they're not. They just knew the timing was wrong. And the way that this was rolled out was just cartoonish. What they're waiting on is the legal clarity. And once they have the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court saying there's nothing wrong with it, you can do what you want.
01:07:57
Speaker
the German clubs, especially the non Bayern clubs, but also Bayern Munich, will race towards it, as will the French clubs. PSG and the Premier League clubs plus the greats from Denmark and Norway and Sweden and Lithuania and Estonia can play in the Champions League and everyone else plays in the European Super League. I have no problems with that whatsoever until and then we'll see who wins.
01:08:22
Speaker
you know who who gets the most who who has the most viewers who is the one that you know is it i mean it's it has to it has to come to this because the premier league has become such a big bloated monster that no one can compete with it so the others have to do something and the only way they can do it is to come together and create this league where they take all the money uefa is just a middleman it's not a closed league
01:08:43
Speaker
and they capitalize it and capitalize on it and then go ahead. No, no, I agree with you. The issue is though that their product needs to be good. It needs to have top players. If all the top players are playing in the Premier League and none of them are playing for Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and all these other clubs, then no one's going to want to watch it. No one's going to want to pay. I understand that.
01:09:05
Speaker
I understand that. And what I'm saying is that given how much the backing, they were guaranteeing three, 400 million euros to each club. Will the Premier League teams being in it? Will that still be the case with no Premier League teams? I think so. I'm not sure because I know the interest and which clubs generate interest around the world. And unfortunately,
01:09:29
Speaker
globally outside of the Premier League. It's only Barcelona and Real Madrid who are really driving significant interest that drives revenue. So that's my concern without the Premier League. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. They need to do something anyway. We know
Resurgence of Fan Support in Serie A
01:09:44
Speaker
that. Let's move on to Badgeo and Prem Face of the Week.
01:09:50
Speaker
OK, let's start off with Badge. What do you have? Well, for me, it was the crowds back. I mean, the packed stadiums in Italy, it was like the 90s all over again, especially Salernitana's crowd, Lecce via del Mare. They've done something really interesting, Lecce this season. They've really slashed prices for four season tickets and tickets to the stadium and just to attract people. And it worked and it was amazing, the atmosphere.
01:10:19
Speaker
Lazio's home game was fantastic. Tonight, we're going to see Juve and Napoli and all these guys. For me, it was the crowds being back. I haven't seen any stats yet, but I'm going to look into it and see if I wonder if that was not one of the best. And also Milan packed San Siro. I wonder if that was not one of the most popular in terms of spectators in the first round of the Serie A in a very, very long time. The average attendance was really, really high.
01:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, simple one, isn't it? Serie A is back. Prem face, there's a lot of competition. Yes, there is this week. A lot of competition from Dazzone to... Well, I've had so many people send me suggestions, but there's only one that can possibly win it.
Man United's Transfer Rumors and Chaos
01:11:05
Speaker
And that is Lou McCarry on Man United TV. Former player,
01:11:11
Speaker
Oh gosh, so they're discussing Adrian Rabia. Just put this in Google this and watch the video because you can't describe it, you have to really watch it. So the interviewer asks him what his thoughts are on Rabia and he starts off with the number one
01:11:30
Speaker
stereotype for all prem faces. And that is, I've never even heard of him. He said, he said that he can't be any good and never even heard of him. But he said it in a Scottish accent. But anyway, so yeah, he yeah, he says, he says he's never heard of him. Then he said, his fault is that that's the best part, like him not having heard of someone is apparently the player's fault.
01:11:54
Speaker
Yeah, because he hadn't heard of him, that automatically meant that he's not a good player. Yeah, of course. Then then he said that Monaco are not a football team. They're just they're just they're just it's just a place where you take your money. That's what he said. What's that got to do with monoling? Yeah, so he didn't know anything about he didn't know anything about Monaco, the football team either. It's another another stereotype of the prim face. Then you've got he was proud of not knowing who who Rabio or Monaco is, you know, that kind of, you know,
01:12:22
Speaker
proud to be the famous Chris Rock. The Chris lot proud to be ignorant. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that shit. Yeah. Real real dumb. Yeah. So you got that. It basically he ticked off he ticked off all the premise premise stereotypes. He also said that rabbit he looked at rabbios numbers goal scoring numbers. And you know, because he didn't score any goals that automatically meant he was a bad midfielder.
01:12:47
Speaker
It was it was just it was a work of art. That's a work of art. I was going to say that that might go like that. That might be in like the whole, you know, the Hall of Shame of the Primface, the Primface Hall of Shame. Cops then, I think. It's definitely top ten. He only gets away. He'll get away with it more because genuinely, you know, Rabio isn't the greatest blower in the world.
01:13:08
Speaker
So, it's just more the fact that he doesn't even know who he is, he doesn't. Monaco is, you know, he's so proud about it. But what's Monaco got to do with Adrian Rabio? I don't understand. Why was he on about that? It was because he'd been linked to Monaco. He'd been linked to Monaco as well. He goes, well, he'd been linked to Monaco, so that tells you all you need to know about... Which I guess is a point, because sometimes if a player is linked to a smaller club, sometimes that does tell you, you know, what their level is.
01:13:38
Speaker
You know, you shouldn't you should know about who had you in rabbit. Yes, you should. I mean, yes, you should. Yeah. So it was the funny thing is this was on MUTV, which is Man United's official TV station. And I mean,
01:13:53
Speaker
any official TV station of a club, you know, they're not allowed to criticize anything to do with the club at all. It's just this talk about access journalism of people that work in the mainstream media. I mean, this takes that to a completely another level. But literally everything is just PR and propaganda towards the club. And it's, it's, yeah, he was, I think, yeah, he went off script, I think, and he'll probably get in trouble. He'll get in trouble for that.
01:14:19
Speaker
I'd love it. Look, I can't wait for Veronique to see this clip once his son Adrian Adrian signs for Man United and she has a go at him. And now that they're being linked in French media as well to Mauro Icardi. Oh, that was brilliant.
01:14:36
Speaker
It was so funny because I was working at football transfers last week with a colleague of mine, Daniel Edwards, who's an Argentine football journalist. You know who he is. And I was like, we need to do something called Man United about their search for a striker. What can we do? And I go, just write something about Icardi, about how it's the transfer everybody wants to see. I said to him,
01:14:57
Speaker
And he goes, yeah, but he hasn't been linked. And I was like, well, yeah, ideally, he would have been linked. But but, you know, just do it anyway, because and just just write it in a way that, you know, this is the transfer that everybody wants to see. So yes, everyone. And then literally a day later, the Argentine media is linking the link in the club to him. And then the Daily Mirrors link in the cardi term. And I'm just thinking, oh, please. No, no, look, it's I mean, Juan Dita and Morito and
01:15:24
Speaker
Adrienne and Veronique and Cristiano and his wife and George Mendes and the Glazers are the only person I feel bad for is Christian Ericsson, who's thinking, why did I do this? What have I rushed into? He got given a hospital pass the other day, didn't he, by David De Gea. Did you see that? The 4-0 to Brett? Oh, my God. That club is a mess, an absolute mess.
01:15:52
Speaker
Anyways, right. Okay. So yeah, that's all we've got time for today. And we will be back on Thursday, though, where we will review the two Monday night matches, Verona against Napoli, Juventus against Sasualo and also anything that happens.
01:16:11
Speaker
between Monday and Thursday in the transfer market and also previewing the matches that are coming this weekend. We've already got one huge game coming up there to Atlanta against Milan on Sunday. Until then, ciao ciao.