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Free Weekly Episode - Has Allegri Hate Gone Too Far?, 10 In A Row For Inter, Atalanta Hold Milan, Napoli Crisis Goes On, Bologna On Fire & Much More (Ep. 399)
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From Rafael Leao wondergoal when AC Milan dominate but draw at home to Atalanta after Teun Koopmeiners penalty, Thiago Motta's Bologna look a shoe-in for Champions League football next season after winning 5th game on the trot, Napoli's nightmare season continues after awful defending away to Cagliari sees them drop points, to Lautaro Martinez celebrates 100 goals in Serie A for Inter Milan in Lecce demolition job, and Juventus break negative trend after beating Frosinone at the death, as well as Baggio, Premface and Serie Ass of the week and much, much more when Nima and Carlo break down all the main talking points from an action-packed weekend in Italian football.
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Transcript
Welcome Back & Health Update
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Hello everybody and welcome to the Italian football podcast. I'm Carle Garganese joined as always by Nima Tavalli. We're back properly this week. I'm back from illness. Thanks to everyone for all your wishes over the last week. Had a rough, rough few days last week. Had food poisoning, really bad food poisoning, but I'm
00:00:30
Speaker
I'm almost fully recovered now. I don't want to say fully, fully recovered because I'll probably jinx it. But yeah, I'm back.
Serie A Weekend Highlights
00:00:37
Speaker
So we're back with the Monday show. And on today's show, we will react to the weekend Serie action second string into make it 10 wins in a row as they destroy Lecce. Juventus end their crisis with a thrilling injury time win over Flossinone.
00:00:55
Speaker
but all the criticism for Max Allegri goes on. Atalanta and Milan played out a somewhat controversial 1-1 draw on Sunday evening.
00:01:06
Speaker
The race for the top four is getting very, very interesting. Bologna make it five wins in a row. They're on fire to strengthen their push for a Champions League place. Napoli's fortunes fail to improve under new coach, Francesco Calzona, as they concede a disastrous injury to our equaliser at Calgary.
Podcast Subscription Details
00:01:24
Speaker
And we'll also review all the other games as Alessandro Dionisius sat at Sasuola. And we'll also have our usual Badgio prem face and Serie A's of the week.
00:01:34
Speaker
For all our first time listeners, this is our free weekly episode that we do every Monday, reviewing the weekend Seri action and all the biggest talking point in Italian football. If you want to support the Italian football podcast, receive all of our content that we do throughout the week, including a weekly Q&A episode every Tuesday, where we answer all of the questions from our Patreons, plus the weekly Thursday with the review show, plus interviews, post-match reaction and much, much more. Then go to patreon.com slash TIP and become a subscriber for just $2.99 a month.
00:02:01
Speaker
Plus VAT, and you can also sign up to be a paid subscriber on Spotify. We'll provide the link on the description. Same price, same terms. And for all of you who listen on Spotify, Apple, and iTunes Podcast, we'd really appreciate it. If you give us a five-star rating, give us a follow and a like. We're also on YouTube. It really helps us grow and do more quality content for you guys.
Milan vs Atalanta Analysis
00:02:22
Speaker
Okay let's get into today's show. So we'll start off with the with the Sunday evening game Milan against Atalanta it finishes 1-1 it was quite a tactical game and I thought that Milan were the better team and probably deserved to win the game I think by by goal I would say they had the better play they had the better moments and the better chances
00:02:43
Speaker
And really, Atalanta created nothing, I think, apart from the penalty. But at the same time, I think that Atalanta also showed a new side to them that they can play badly and still look pretty solid and organized defensively themselves. So it was a tactical game. It was a tactical game. There isn't too much to talk about. I think there's two big incidents that I want to talk about in this game. First of all,
00:03:08
Speaker
We have to take our hats off to Rafael Nimr because we've spoken a lot about him recently and he did an excellent little segment on him not last week but a week before about how he's trying to become a more complete player and how his goal tally this season which hasn't been good enough and his shot tally in particular when we last spoke
00:03:30
Speaker
He hadn't even had double figures for shots on target this season. Since then he's now scored in successive games both fantastic goals and this goal in particular was absolutely magnificent to break the deadlock in this game. I was stunning. World-class goal by a world-class talent and that's what
Rafael Leao's Rising Star
00:03:51
Speaker
he is. He is a world-class talent. He's still a diamond in the rough but at times
00:03:56
Speaker
you see he shows what he can do when that gives a glimpse of what that polished diamond finished product will look like and it is a truly truly unbelievable finished product. He has a natural swagger and stop quality about him on the pitch where the way that it looks it's like as if he's decided well today I'm gonna
00:04:21
Speaker
Today I'm gonna be outstanding and today I'm gonna score a Worldie and so I do. That's the feeling you get when you watch him, that he's got it in him and he just needs to kind of be able to express that all the time. Going past those two players, I mean nutmegging one and then placing it into the top corner past the goalkeeper,
00:04:45
Speaker
Karnaseki was a ridiculous goal. I thought it was good throughout this game. The segment I did was basically that
00:04:59
Speaker
I mean, I recommend people go listen to it. We're going to share it as an independent clip on this week as well is basically that this was a deliberate decision by purely in him to work on his overall game to make him a better footballer. And that's why he's been far away from goal.
00:05:16
Speaker
more involved in the build-up play and more involved in getting the other Milan players via secondary passes and movements into dangerous goal scoring positions and this clear statistical data of that to back that up.
00:05:32
Speaker
but that the old end goal was to make him a better footballer and then once again move him closer to goal so that he's much more complete and then he'll be able to score more and be more lethal. I think in the last week or so we've seen glimpses of that. I thought it was going to wait until, I think they were going to wait until next season to really unleash him. But I think they've kind of started doing that already because probably purely feels he's ready to take that step. And it's been a really interesting journey to follow this season with him.
00:06:01
Speaker
But still, at the same time though, he scored two fantastic goals in the last game, the individual goal from the half-way line against Ren, he carried it. And from the half-way line, past three men, including the goalkeeper, in a little bit of luck with the way that it came off the goalkeeper, Mandanda, into his path and he tapped it in. But two amazing goals, but even in that Ren game still, he missed easy chances. His finishing was really bad. I think in that sense, this is
00:06:29
Speaker
still kind of what we expect from Lial in that he can produce the spectacular, you know, these kind of like low, low percentage goals, which they both were. And because that's what he's got in his locker. These are world class moments. And the talent is the talent is Ballon d'Or. We've always said that there's no discussion about that. He is unique. He the the Henri similarities that you were one of the first people to draw.
00:06:57
Speaker
are there. I mean, that was an Henry goal. Henry used to do stuff like that. The difference is, of course, that Henry did it consistently throughout his career. And that's the problem here with, or problem, quote unquote, with Leo. He's not the finished product. It's still a work in progress. And he, you know, at times what that finished product can be comes shining out and it's beautiful when it does.
00:07:23
Speaker
But he's unbelievable. Yeah, he is. The other big talking point, of course, is the penalty
Controversial Penalty Debate
00:07:28
Speaker
incident, which Milan are very, very angry about. The Giroud, so it's 1-0 to Milan and Giroud challenges for the ball on home.
00:07:39
Speaker
What's your view on the penalty? My view is that people need to chill the hell out and learn the laws of the game. You can't kick. When you go into that situation, a footballer is always responsible for their feet. Always, always, always. When the ball is hit, Holm is first into the situation. Giroux risks it by going in with his foot really high up and it hits Holm in the chest. That's a foul.
00:08:05
Speaker
That's a foul, period. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, although there were completely different situations, Simon Keir was heading downwards and got kicked in the head, and Milan got a penalty, if I remember correctly. And the reason for that is, as we had explained to us, is because you're responsible for your feet. The way that IFAB and FIFA tell referees that, regardless, a kick to the head should never be allowed. It's like an ice hockey, you're always responsible for your stick. Here,
00:08:35
Speaker
Holm is first into the situation, Giroud risks it, misses completely and hits Holm. It doesn't matter how hard the impact of the kick is, it's a high kick, it hits the player in the chest, that's a foul. It's that simple. I mean, I'm looking at the image now.
00:08:52
Speaker
I don't even understand. The only thing that I saw Christina Unkel say, which I thought was interesting, was about whether or not the protocol of VAR was correct or not, because it doesn't qualify as a clear and obvious error. Well, the response to that, which came from our friend Alessandro, who
00:09:15
Speaker
who knows Christina, they're really good friends, and they had a really interesting exchange about that. And he said, well, if Orsato doesn't even see the situation, which given his position is impossible that he did, then it becomes a clear and obvious error because he didn't see it,
Impact of Rule Changes on Football
00:09:31
Speaker
and it warrants an on-field review.
00:09:33
Speaker
But look, I can understand. Milan obviously didn't think it was a penalty. Pioli was very angry about it. The TV stations all didn't think it was a penalty. Luca Morelli, I saw, he said it was borderline, but by law is probably the correct decision by law. My issue again with this is
00:09:54
Speaker
It's it's just nonsense that this in modern football can be given as a penalty I mean that the contact is so it's it's so there's hardly any contact at all. There's just very dangerous call very little I don't think it's dangerous. You can't kick that high This is again, you can it's it's maybe it's maybe clumsy in naive but I mean the contact is barely any contact at all and it just comes back to the same bollocks law that we have today everything benefits attackers. I mean, yeah that it's
00:10:23
Speaker
That's true. They decided that. They decided that. Penalties are barely any contact at all. I mean, you can't even touch players. I mean, we always talk about on this podcast all the time that a penalty shouldn't be a penalty just because there's contact. No, but it depends on the situation. I think the fact that home touches his face is kind of irrelevant, but also proves the point that there's barely any contact because if there's actually really any contact, he goes down and holds where he's kicked. He doesn't hold his face.
00:10:53
Speaker
It depends on the situation. Contact feet to feet is a different thing than contact feet to chest or head because that's how IFAB want referees to look at it. They want to curtail those kinds of challenges and so they're very very harsher on those situations.
00:11:13
Speaker
And again, Emil Holm is, you know, if Giroux is first into that situation and he doesn't kick his head, like very hypothetically, he takes the ball and Holm runs into his foot, then that's a different situation entirely. But here it's not like there's no contact with the ball whatsoever, it's just the player and it's pretty high up because it hits him in the shoulder and the chest and that's a high kick.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. So I think, you know, my view on this, I think it's nonsense. I think that everything in the in football is just benefiting attackers. And we're not 100% true. And it's advice last week or the week before, you know, when we had the argument about the offsides, I mean, you know, you can't tackle anymore. I mean, I mean, it's a joke. I mean, I mean, let's just let's just ban, let's just ban defending now. I mean, it's that much of a joke now you
00:12:03
Speaker
But defending has been lost. The art of defending has been lost in these many, many rule changes when trying to make football more appeasing and pleasing to the round. There was an incident in the Real Madrid game also that was to do with the offside where a ball came into the box, Modric scored, right? Ball come into the box.
00:12:25
Speaker
Severe defender headed it away and it went to Modricz and Modricz scored a fantastic goal. The only reason the severe defender went for the header was because there was a Real Madrid player who was in an offside position that forced the severe player to go and make that header because of the Real Madrid player was in your side position.
00:12:46
Speaker
Now, if he hadn't have made that header, the ball wouldn't have gone to Modricz and Modricz, wouldn't have scored the goal, and that ended up being the winner in a crucial goal in the title race last night. Now, this is just, again, just another example of everything benefiting the tackle. I was saying about the offside law a couple of weeks ago. It's just a joke. There's no doubt that the law changes and the updated interpretations of the laws of the game.
00:13:11
Speaker
are towards that end to benefit more goals being scored. There's no doubt about that, and it has been. I actually interviewed a referee, Keith Hackett, who was an English referee in the 80s and 90s, one of the top ones in the world.
00:13:27
Speaker
And he actually said those very words. He said that after the 1990 World Cup, IFAB made his decision to try and make there be more goals in football. So they wanted to change the laws to make more goals in football. Yeah, I mean, it's clear that they have done that. There's no discussion about that. The problem is, and I think it's fine if you want to do that, but at the same time, there needs to be some moderation.
00:13:53
Speaker
because I feel defending is almost become extinct. The art of defending has become extinct and that's not good. They basically outlawed defending without outlaw defending.
00:14:08
Speaker
make as we've seen this past week this this prim face obsession with Paolo Maldini and comparing. Oh, we'll get to that. Don't worry, don't worry. Save your save your save your save your save your powder for that. Just just just carried on on the Atalanta line. I mean, this is a good result for Atalanta. They keep up the unbeaten 2024. I mean, their sixth game winning run comes to an end. But it's gonna be very interesting. They've
Atalanta's Tough Schedule
00:14:32
Speaker
got a crazy run of fixtures, tough runner fixtures and really
00:14:36
Speaker
Full fixture this I mean they Milan away which they play inter away on Wednesday Bologna This weekend so Milan in simple on you in seven days then they have sporting in the first leg of the Roman sports and are absolutely flying at the moment and Then they've got Juventus then they got sports in again and then they got Fiorentina then they got Napoli then they've got they've got the the semi-finals of the
00:15:00
Speaker
of the the the Copritalia coming up so I mean it's and this is every three every three or four days that they are but I mean they're an amazing run but they are going to be really tested now at Atlanta so this is where we really see what at Atlanta are
00:15:15
Speaker
are made of now. I thought that Kanaseki, I want to give a word of praise to Kanaseki, obviously he couldn't do anything about the goal and didn't make any amazing saves in this game but I really really like Kanaseki's development over the last few months since he pushed out Musou. I think that he's now, I want to say the real deal but I think he's
00:15:35
Speaker
Italy have a great batch of goalkeepers, Donnarumma, Vicario, of course Provodel has really come on. I think Kana Secchi and Diirke Giorgio, I think we can add definitely we can add Kana Secchi now to a bunch of Italian goalkeepers that we've got a really good generation of. Oh, with that Kana Secchi already in Cremonese when Serie B was just ridiculous.
00:15:57
Speaker
Showed that he's he's a classic Italian goalkeeper in the sense that in terms of like this is shot stopping ability reaction reflexes command of the like command of his defense and areas is Vin I think it's like a man that the area is really improved because that was my question mark on him last season like just sort of like coming out for cross ears and being the boss and given that calming influences I'm seeing more and more of that and he has the presence as well as well. So what I like about him is
00:16:24
Speaker
Well, he's a classic Italian goalkeeper. I still have my doubts with his ability with a ball at his feet and his passing range and creativity and all that stuff like that, that has now become very important for world-class goalkeepers in the modern age. But he's a very, very good classic Italian goalkeeper, and I'm really impressed by him.
Atalanta's Goalkeeper Spotlight
00:16:44
Speaker
And it's good to see him doing well for Atalanta. Atalanta have struggled with the goalkeeping position for a few years now.
00:16:50
Speaker
Juan Uso was supposed to address that issue and did not address that issue. But look, I think what we saw, I think it was a year, last season we saw when Gasperini started laying the groundwork for this atalanta, this new atalanta, and they were playing very solid defensively. And I think we're bearing the fruits of that now, that now they can just flick on a switch and every player knows how to be defensively really solid in this new Gasperini 2.0 atalanta project.
00:17:16
Speaker
whilst also developing their attacking side and reinventing themselves. We're talking about the attacking side. Although I've just got to say, they had nothing like you said in this game. I think Milan deserved to win this game. Let's not beat around the bush. No, they did. They didn't create chances of the chance, but they controlled the game. They created enough chances to win it.
00:17:36
Speaker
and we take away that penalty. At Atlanta I think had a non penalty XG of about 0.25, which is nothing. So that kind of shows. And from a Atlanta point of view, I think that we have to praise them for
00:17:52
Speaker
they're defending because we've been very critical defending. Well, they can see it. And obviously the last two games, they can see the three to Ren and then four to Monza. So seven and two. They were really, really good defensively in this game, not just the defense, but I thought Adley was really was like Adley. My criticism of Adley has been this season, like, you know,
00:18:15
Speaker
he is obviously isn't naturally defensive midfielder and and he you know plugging in the gaps filling in those holes making the challenges i i actually think in this game it's only one game i actually think he was actually very good in this game uh in that in that in that aspect so that was a big positive i think for milan um i thought that yeah i thought that they were i thought that they were good in in this game i want to say outstanding but they were they were good i thought we were good they were mature they were mature
00:18:40
Speaker
mature. Yes, it was a mature, mature performance. And let's remember, it's a young Milan team, it's still work in progress. And they're improving. I tell you, who wasn't mature, though, Nima, this has become a real, really, really big concern now. And that is generally Kuskamaka, he didn't start, I mean, he's now we can say for certain that he's, he's now a sub.
00:19:01
Speaker
for Pratolante. He's a sub player. He doesn't start anymore. He's not a first-team player. Even when he's fully fit, he's not first-team player now. In this game, De Keterle and Amiranchuk started in this match. And he came on as a sub in the second half. And no exaggeration, he lost everything. He lost every single ball. And if you want anything to sum up where Schumacher is now in his career,
00:19:26
Speaker
have a look around about the 89th, 90th minute, the ball gets played out, rare attack from Atalanta where they actually have like a two on two. And he gets the ball on the right, he's one on one with the Milan defender on the last Milan defender on this, just to the right. I can't remember which Milan defender it was, but the way that he was just brushed, he just lost the ball, brushed off the ball, showed no pace, didn't even run after it. He looked like a 55 year old.
00:19:56
Speaker
He looks confused. He looks out of form. He looks confused. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He looks unfit, which is also a concern. I think it was a mistake when he went to Atalanta and I think so far I've been vindicated in that opinion. I think it was the wrong decision. It was the wrong move for him.
00:20:14
Speaker
And I think he should, you know, you know, is the jury still out? You don't want to say too much. But for me, it's, he shouldn't have gone there. He really shouldn't have gone there. And because I don't think that the way the Gasparini plays. But if Gasparini can't get, can't make Skimaka, we know what Skimaka's issues is. I've been saying them for a long time. You know, he doesn't have
00:20:36
Speaker
that he doesn't move. His movement's not good enough for modern football and he doesn't run. Well, then don't buy him in that system. It's a dumb transfer. Well, I think that if you can't do that, you're not going to make it in modern football. I'm sorry, you're not. You don't make it. Well, Shillia Giroux is doing a pretty good job in Milan and he's not exactly running around
00:20:55
Speaker
like moving too much. But Giroud is intelligent and Shkamaka doesn't have game intelligence either. And I think that is an issue. That is a big issue as well. He doesn't have game intelligence. He doesn't know where to move. Yes, he doesn't have that intensity when they're running, which neither Giroud has at his age. But he has game intelligence. He knows where to move, what positions to get the ball, where to get into so he can lay it off and then get into the box, make his runs. He knows how to make runs into the box. He knows where to be.
00:21:24
Speaker
Schemaka's game intelligence is he has no game intelligence. I think he does have game intelligence. I just don't think I think his he's made so many bad career choices now, but that is I'd say his off-field intelligence is the biggest issue going to West Ham and being I think when he gets the ball at his feet, he has intelligence.
Gianluca Skamaka's Struggles
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's like with the bullets, but he doesn't have any position. He has no positional intelligence. That's what I mean. No. But I think he has it. I just think he's confused because after being abused by David Moyse in East London for a year, which is a stupid career decision. Well, that was that was in returning and then returning to Italy with Gasparini. Another stupid career decision is is what's hurting him. And it's a point. It's a moment in his career where he needs to be in a system where he can express
00:22:13
Speaker
The his his strengths and develop them because he's not the finished product again He's not the finished develop player But he does have some really really interesting tools in his kit but a toolbox to to that are unique for him And I think he should leave a talent. I really hope he leaves a talent takes you know who the hell would say I think Milan are looking for a number now really and if Milan are going to get money for the kettle air and
00:22:37
Speaker
you know, you can work something out there with a plus valenza deal that makes everyone happy. And do you take him as your as your as your do you do you bet on John Lucas Jamaica with whatever you think we've seen in the last two seasons? I think so. I think the way that Milan have with can he do what Giroud does at Milan in hold up play and link up play? Yes, I do think he can.
00:22:59
Speaker
Is he as good aerial as Giroud? Of course he's not. I just think it's a big gamble for Milan to try and bank on Giroud as the replacement successor to Giroud after everything we've seen in the last two years. I think it's a huge gamble. It is a gamble. There's no doubt about it. I don't think Milan gamble like that.
00:23:18
Speaker
The euros are coming up. I mean, Spaletti has to name his squad soon, like in the next week or so, two weeks for the March friendlies. I mean, do you call up Skamaka? Right now you don't. Right now you don't. And I love Skamaka, but right now you don't. It's as simple as that, you don't. But if you want to play a 3-5-2 and also have the option of playing a 4-3-3,
00:23:43
Speaker
There is no other striker that is more suitable to both of those formations than Skamaka, tactically, with bad form or not. And I think you're forced to deal. It's a short tournament. If Antonio Conte can make Graziano Pele work, I'm sure Spaletti can make Gianluca Skamaka work.
00:24:04
Speaker
but right now on form he doesn't get anywhere near the Italy squad. I'll tell you one strike that Italy would love to have is Joshua Zirksi who helps Bologna win a fifth game in a row, 2-0 against Verona. Bologna are now fourth and it's now looking
Bologna's Winning Streak
00:24:25
Speaker
more and more likely they're going to be in the Champions League next season, isn't it? Yeah, they are. They are. I think they are. To bounce back after that dip in form with five wins in a row. And one thing that they haven't done this season is score a lot. They've conceded very little. They're one of the best teams in the Serie A, for goals conceded. They're actually the best, well, only are the best home team in the Serie A for results for wins and draws and points.
00:24:51
Speaker
But now it's like he's kind of unleashing their attacking ability and the central part, the central person of the attack is Joshua Zirksi, whose first touch should be framed and hung in the Louvre next to the Mona Lisa.
00:25:12
Speaker
the way that he moves his body, shifts his weight, the ball dies on his foot when, no matter how hard it's kicked at him, his passing, his link up, his vision, his ability to cover the ball. It reminds me of a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic that the way that he holds up the ball, links up
00:25:37
Speaker
the way that the technical ability he has, his first touch, these dribbles, he's got ballerina feet. I mean, physically, of course, he's more stocky and not as big as Latano as a tall, lanky guy, but the way they move on the pitch and the way that they're used and the way that they express their talents in the final third, in the build-up phase, he really reminds me of a young Ibra.
00:26:05
Speaker
It's truly, truly unbelievable what he does. He makes the players around him better too. Yeah, absolutely. He actually does the way that he brings everyone else in. He ties everything together. Yeah, he does. He makes his teammates better. And they are scoring goals now. That was my concern. I think I said it maybe a month or so ago, two months ago, that, you know,
00:26:31
Speaker
whether Bologna could keep this up for a Champions League person. I didn't think that they had enough of a goal-scoring threat, that they would be games that they would draw 0-0, that they would drop points that way. And now here they are, they've scored 16 goals in the last six games.
00:26:47
Speaker
I mean, they're scoring for fun, and they are in a position now, they're in fourth, and they are seven points ahead of, well, they're seven points ahead of sixth place, because the way that, as I just explained in my reaction pod on Friday to the Europa League game, so go back and listen to that, I'll explain how next season it's looking increasingly like it, and again, I don't wanna jinx it, it's looking increasingly likely that Serie A is gonna get fifth spot.
00:27:16
Speaker
90% certain now statistically that Serie A will get their fifth spot. It's looking, yeah, I don't want to jinx it. It's looking increasingly likely, you know, that we're going to get that fifth spot. So that means five Champions League spots in Serie A get the Champions League plays.
00:27:33
Speaker
And they are seven points ahead of Roma in six. Roma do have a game in hand, but we're actually recording this on Monday. It's actually a very tough game against Torino. There's a very fun story which has made it to the Serie A of the week segment about that.
00:27:48
Speaker
Yeah, we'll get to that. Yeah, we will get to that. Brilliant. Yeah, it's a brilliant story. But yeah, so it's looking good for Bologna. I think that we will know after the next two games, I think, whether Bologna are going to get a Champions League as well. Because their next two games are Atalanta away and then Inter at home. If Bologna come out of those two games with, let's say, four points, then I think it's a guarantee. Because then they have a nice run of fixtures against teams more towards the bottom.
00:28:17
Speaker
and then we're pushing on towards the last games of the season. I think we'll know in the next two or three weeks whether Boulogne are going to get a Champions League spot.
00:28:28
Speaker
But yeah, they were great. Giovanni Fabian, I want to give a shout out to him. He was fantastic in this game. He got a goal and an assist, and he's having a really good 2024. And he's yet another player that Thiago Monto is doing great things with. Thiago Monto is developing so many fantastic young players at Bologna. Four goals, two assists in the Serie A in 17 games.
00:28:51
Speaker
and he's only had eight starts Fabian so it's a breakthrough season and and that's the thing about Bologna they have so many players young players who are having breakthrough seasons and that's what's so impressive with what Thiago Mota has done if you look at those players and
00:29:08
Speaker
you know Sartori has built, I mean he is just unbelievable as a sporting director to you know first what he did with Atalanta and now what he's doing in Polonia and just putting these players together with a shoestring budget and then of course
00:29:24
Speaker
Tiago Mota developing these talents and getting them to take that next step. And they still, you know, it's so funny because Jesper Carlsson was supposed to be their big marquee signing in summers. And he's not getting a kick because the others are just so much better. I mean, wait until he starts kicking into gear, because that's a crazy potential there as well. So he existed. Yeah, no, it's crazy. I mean, it's like,
00:29:50
Speaker
You know, Joshua Zixiel last season had his Gavetta year, if you want. And now it seems that it's Jesper Karlsson's year in Bologna. I really hope, I really hope, if Bologna make it to the Champions League, I really hope with that kind of money and the prize money will increase.
00:30:08
Speaker
that it allows Bologna not to have to make a big sale in the summer, that they can keep Joshua Zirkser, that they can keep Thiago Motta as well. I want to see what this Bologna can do. The only thing I want them to do in the summer is to sign an actual proper top-class goalkeeper or someone talented enough to take over from Skorupski, who is just a liability at times in the air. And we saw that against Hellas Verona as well.
00:30:35
Speaker
because it would be very interesting to see that's the next step for Tiago Mota. How does he handle playing three games a week and how does he do so whilst playing in the Champions League? So I hope they can keep all of these guys together because it is one of the most exciting youth projects in all of Europe.
00:30:54
Speaker
and coaching careers as well. It's exciting. Motta needs to stay as well because I think... That's what I mean. That's for everyone. Keep everyone. Keep everyone. Please, please keep everyone. We're talking about the... which means to kind of break through or to rise, doesn't it? Napoli are definitely not... They're definitely not rising at the moment.
00:31:16
Speaker
I mean, it's a disastrous season, which is going from bad to worse. And we thought that, well, we hope that it's still
Napoli's Continued Struggles
00:31:25
Speaker
early. I mean, he's hardly had any time with him. But Francesco Calazona came in as a caretaker manager until the end of the season when Walter Mazzari was sacked on the eve of the Barcelona game last week. And Monapoli drew 1-1 in that game in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on
00:31:43
Speaker
on Tuesday, was it Tuesday or Wednesday? I can't even remember what day it was now, but in the midweek, Wednesday. And then they played, he had his debut in the Serie A away at Caliari and Napoli can see the 94th minute equalised, the most shocking defending, pub league, Sunday league defending from, well the whole defence, but Juan Jesus, just a long ball, misjudges the bounce and then Levumbu gets in front of him and
00:32:09
Speaker
and equalises, and the game finishes 1-1, and it's not been an ideal start, has it, for Katsoun? I think it's probably occurring to him just how much of a job he has on his hands here.
00:32:26
Speaker
I just hope Napoli can get through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. That's the only thing Napoli have left to play for. This season is a write-off. Osseman is going to leave in the summer, we know that. They need to bring in a proper sporting director and build from scratch. You need to bring a sports director in. Yes, that would be nice. Instead of the guy who's there right now, his name eludes me, who is not... Meluso, I think his name is, he's not very doing very well.
00:32:56
Speaker
But, or he isn't, he's just basically doing what he's told by our dell'arentes. They need to do that. Me tuso. No, me luso, I think. I know, I know, I'm joking. But yeah, no, it's...
00:33:11
Speaker
I know the goal wouldn't have stood because it was offside, but Osterman missing that sitter from two yards out hitting the post. That's just Napoli right now for me. They just look like a complete shambolic, confused, disjointed, and it's not Calzone's fault, it's Aurelio de la Rente's fault. If you gave me, as a university essay exercise here,
00:33:40
Speaker
If you've given to me in May, 2023, after this corretto was won, I want you to screw up Napoli as much as you can. Here's two weeks, 2,000-word essay, what would you do? I don't think I would have, even if I tried, be able to mess things up as badly as De Laurentiis has done these eight, nine months. It has just been one catastrophic decision after another, one big catastrophic decision after another.
00:34:06
Speaker
to lead to this point. Now, we know that Naples is a special place in the sense that if you win in Naples, you're as close to what a human being can be a deity and a god on this earth as it is humanly possible. That Scudetto party is still going on. That's just a neighbor of Naples. It's the city that never does anything in moderation in a country that doesn't do anything in moderation, both good and bad.
00:34:34
Speaker
So it's
00:34:37
Speaker
That was always going to happen. There was always going to be a drop-off because that's just the nature of Napoli and Naples. But this is something else. It's now historically the worst title defence in Serie A history in the entirety of Serie A. And they had everything there to not be able to actually avoid this and finish comfortably in the drop-off. It's the biggest drop-off in points between one season and the next ever.
00:35:07
Speaker
is mad. It's absolutely mad. And I wonder now it's just looking, it's just looking like the season's over. I mean, they're in ninth position and they are 11 points off fourth place.
00:35:22
Speaker
And if we assume there's going to be five Champions League places, there's still nine points off Atalanta having played the same number of games in fifth and there's 13 games left. I mean, it's just not going to happen. It's not going to happen.
00:35:38
Speaker
You're not making that number of points. Napoli would have to win every game, basically. And the others slip up, and they're not going to play. No, it's not going to happen. And I think in this situation, our patron, Art Morelli, and I were talking on Twitter and Spaces, and he was like, look, we're not going to reach the Champions League because he's an Napoli fan. So, punt the league, because I'd rather not play in Europe altogether
00:36:01
Speaker
than to play in the Europa League, or worse, the conference league, in a season we're trying to... a foundation year season. And I agree with that. I think not playing in the conference league was not a punishment on Juve. It was a gift. It was a fantastic gift they got.
00:36:19
Speaker
So, I think Napoli should probably look to avoid Europe altogether, and then start making some really, really difficult decisions and choices, but do what they did when they built this incredible dynasty under De Laurentiis, and that is
00:36:36
Speaker
make these, put something in place, a structure in place to be able to build long-term and sustainable model going forward, which they were outstanding in doing. I think they need to get back to basics. Napoli as a club need to get back to basics. And I hope that those basics do not include Vincenzo Italiano. It would be this obsession that Valenti seems to have with Vincenzo Italiano is unhealthy for him, but more importantly, it's unhealthy for Napoli.
00:37:03
Speaker
I mean, if there's anything we can take from this game is that an aptly dominated possession, I think they had over 70%, three times the number of passes that Calgary had. So it's clearly Cozzone is trying to do a move back towards Spaletti, Saudi football, who Cozzone worked with in terms of
00:37:20
Speaker
kind of control of the play and the philosophy. They didn't create that much, though, other than the Osseman goal. And also, there was a couple of 90th minute chances on the break, Poloton and Simeone, which they should have killed the game. And obviously, those also proved costly. But I mean, if you look at the game over a hole, yeah, I thought it was a better Napoli, but you also got to look at the level of the opposition and Caliariara,
00:37:49
Speaker
No offense that they're in abysmal team and who have who offer virtually no threat at all There's never almost never any threat that really gonna create anything unless you do something like you do at the end where you just you can't even defend a high ball from from a punt up the pitch and
00:38:06
Speaker
I mean, it was just unbelievable the defending at the end. They come out of nowhere as well. So, yeah, it's frustrating if you're a Napoli fan. It's very frustrating because we're in February now and there's nothing to play for. I mean, yes, okay. There's the second leg of the championship.
00:38:23
Speaker
I mean, I don't give them much chance of going through, but, you know, you never know. You never know. The problem is though, if they do go through, I think they're going to go out the next round straight away. So they're not going to win at the Champions League, put it that way. So it's like there is nothing to play for now. But at the same time, Napoli's history, they've only once before been in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and that would be a huge boost for them.
00:38:47
Speaker
And I think that needs to happen. And I don't think Barcelona are a very good side either. I think they're a mess defensively and we saw that in the first leg and we've seen it all through the season and I think there are holes to take advantage of. Yeah, we'll see what Calzone can do in the next sport night. Remember he can get them improving.
00:39:07
Speaker
And if that's possible, they do that, then that is possible because Barcelona are very beatable. But I just think that this Napoli team is so, so bad. It's hard to see them getting the result against anyone. They can't get results against even teams like Callery or Verona right now.
00:39:24
Speaker
Talking about the UVA next, don't they at home? They do. Yeah, they do. They do. Yeah. OK, so let's move to the top of the table now. Lecce, Inter, 4-0 to Inter. And they rest virtually their entire team.
Inter's Winning Streak
00:39:40
Speaker
They only had three first-teamers starting. It didn't matter. They win 4-0. 10 wins in a row, not dropped a point, single point in 2024. They're the best-performing team in Europe by a mile.
00:39:53
Speaker
12 goals in the last three Serie A games, seven clean sheets in the last day. I mean, both ends of the field, they are insane. They've scored the most in Serie A by a mile. They've conceded the least by a mile, seven less than the second best defence in Serie A. Lautaro now has 100 Serie A goals, two goals. I mean, Inter can do no wrong, Nima, right now.
00:40:17
Speaker
equaling Juventus' record of the best start by an Italian team to the calendar year, 10 wins in a row across three competitions, seven clean sheets in the last eight. Simon Inzagi has built a machina di guerra and it's just now
00:40:40
Speaker
I think we can say that now. It's the end of February. A war machine. Yeah, a war machine. I mean, we can say that now. It's the end of February. Inter's annual winter depression was canceled this year. It was depressed. The winter depression was depressed. There's no... It doesn't exist because when it matters the most, this is when you lay the groundwork to win the Serie A, and that's in January, February, and Inter put in an extra gear. And that's what I think the biggest difference this year is to other years with an underings Zaghi, is that that maturity.
00:41:09
Speaker
to behave like a big team. Both the manager, the players, they have an extra gear to put in. You saw that against Letcher as well. In the first half, very scrappy game. There wasn't any rhythm. It was an annoying game to watch. And those kinds of games usually benefits the weakest side. Now,
00:41:28
Speaker
What is interesting with Inter is that when you don't punish them, like Lecha had a fantastic chance in the beginning of the second half, where the first five minutes of the second half, Inter weren't on the pitch, they were daydreaming, sleepwalking. And Lecha missed that chance. Two minutes later, Inter doubled their lead, and then a few minutes after that, it's 3-0, good night. And that is the hallmark of a great team, that if you don't punish them, they ruthlessly punish you and pull the rug under your feet.
00:41:57
Speaker
And they do this time and time and time again. They've only trailed in the Serie A so far this season. The number of minutes they've been chasing a game numerically is 38 minutes.
00:42:15
Speaker
I mean, what is that in, in, in tight? That's combined that the whole season, like all the minutes, the whole game, total number of minutes that into have been chasing a game or just in the Serie A that is just in the Serie A 38 minutes. They've been down by a goal.
00:42:30
Speaker
We're on match day 25. They've won 21 out of 25 games. It's becoming one of those incredible... How many minutes in that game were you down by? Well, they lost it, didn't they? I'm trying to remember when the goals went in in that game. But yeah, that's an insane stat that is.
00:42:49
Speaker
mental Sky Sport put it out yesterday. They are just unbelievable. And there's the other mad stat where they haven't conceded in the last 20 minutes of a game or something like that? Yeah, the last 15 minutes in the city, they haven't conceded a goal in the last 15 minutes. And that's the business end of the game. Again, the maturity of a big team. What Nzagi's done is truly... They are all on the same page. This is truly his masterclass by him.
00:43:19
Speaker
he, you know, he's being now the the the EPL tacticals on Twitter have discovered him and are, we'll get to that later. That's a good thing. It's a bad thing because it annoys me because he's only I don't like I want him to give him a proper contract extension.
00:43:41
Speaker
enough of this nonsense of one year, one year, one year. Give him in the summer a two-year contract extension on top of the year he's got left, that's three more years, and then let him have these six years. Afterwards, six years is a lot in football. If the results continue to go well, let him finish the project and then part ways with him after six years because that's a long time in football. But they need to do that because the football he plays,
00:44:10
Speaker
You know what I've said about him for many years, I think of all the Italian coaches out there, I think he's the most adapted to doing well in the Premier League, even more so than Zermi, because he can, his football is is solid on both ends of the pitch. And it's a possession style base. It's not
00:44:28
Speaker
Now he can play in different ways as well, but he's definitely grown in Zaki because
Simone Inzaghi's Tactical Evolution
00:44:33
Speaker
you know me, I love watching the patterns of play in games and seeing how teams build and how they get out and their positional play on the pitch. I find that fascinating. That's one thing I love about Tiago Motta at Polonia.
00:44:48
Speaker
that this is one area that Inzagi has developed so much. Some of the patterns of play that Inter are putting together under Inzagi to get out of, just to play out of defense. We started playing from from goal kicks, playing from playing out from the corner of the pitch when teams are pressing them and just the way that they position their players and where they move and where and how players
00:45:12
Speaker
move, total football type of play in terms of traditional changes, swapping with other positions, Barela moving to the right back row. I saw one move a few games ago where a Cherby was moving into centre midfield, a Cherby
00:45:30
Speaker
out of all the players. Stefan De Frei found himself against Lece in the Francesco Totti role. He did, yeah. I mean, this is what I mean about where people talk about D'Zerbe being a tactical genius and this guy being a tactical genius and the other. No, but that's exactly where he is a genius, D'Zerbe. He does these kind of things, but I'm seeing in Zaggy. Oh, Zaggy's been doing it for two seasons.
00:45:52
Speaker
Well, not to deserve his level, but I'm seeing Zaggy do things like that. This season, I've seen a huge growth in that area of things. I think he's been doing it for two seasons. He's taken it to another level now. The thing is, the players are executing it. Football is organic. You need everyone to enjoy and be happy in that environment and in the tactics of it as well.
00:46:16
Speaker
Last season it was glitching. This season it's not glitching at all. And that's the difference, that it's actually working. There's a psychological and maturity element to it as well. But go look at his Lazio side.
00:46:31
Speaker
he would do these things as well. It's just that he's been overlooked for many, many years. I don't think Tiago Motta has that in his locker at all. I don't think he's shown Apollonia. I think he's shown something else. I think for me, he's been more of a
00:46:49
Speaker
big club manager in the sense that grinding out results and... I disagree with that completely. I've been watching Bologna and their positional play, the way that they position their players to play out, I think is fantastic. It's good, but it is good. Well, he's not going to be like himself because he hasn't got the players to do what Inter do in that sense, but their positional play, Mota, for me, that's...
00:47:11
Speaker
I think it's revolutionary football at all. I mean, it's not like this kind of, you know, Stefan de Frei in the Totti position. That's something new. I've not seen anyone do that or the way that they interpret it. I don't see Thiago Mota doing that. But what I have seen with Thiago Mota do is that he, you know, he builds a foundation, a safe structure, and also he's also a coach that they're kind of to a certain extent
00:47:35
Speaker
Well, Zag is further along in his career, but Tiago Motta is still kind of in the build-up phase of his career, isn't he? I mean, he's had, like, what, eight really fantastic months on top of a good season last season. So I think we need to wait and see, but I haven't seen anything like genius revolutionary from Motta. I can understand if you say that about Dzirbi, because that's just that mental, some of the movement patterns. It's really crazy.
00:48:00
Speaker
But but inside he's been doing it for many many years since latzio go watch his latzio side in 2017 89, you know what? That game against saris yuva when they win Just just go watch how how latzio take on that game He is unbelievable and and he has been for a long time. It's just a couple of a points on on I honestly think if inter just to finish on the inside you think
00:48:25
Speaker
He needs, they need to extend because he will, he is, I know he doesn't speak English and he doesn't want to leave Italy. It doesn't seem like it. Thank God.
00:48:32
Speaker
But I honestly think his football, of all the Italian managers out there, I think he's the most adapted to the Premier League in this era than any of them. And if I just, as an interista, I do know that that's what scares me. Give him a proper contract extension, make sure he's happy so that he stays. My nightmare is Liverpool fumble on Deserbe and Chabi Alonso and go after this guy. Like that would scare the crap out of me.
00:48:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, they should definitely tie him down because he's very special. Two other just quick points on Inter. First of all, Fratesi, goal and assist, showed kind of how good he is with his late runs on both, actually, on both those incidents. And also, Lautaro, two goals,
00:49:18
Speaker
I want to see this level, I mean the first goal was a lethal finish, I want to see this level of finishing in the Champions League now because he missed two sitters against Atletico Madrid which we hope won't end up being, I mean I thought his all-round performance against Atletico Madrid was brilliant but his finishing, his finishing, in fact there was three chances really but two of them at least were sitters and this is this is where you know we talk about Lautaro being
00:49:42
Speaker
you know, one of the best in the world. This is the only thing that is still missing. That's the final step. It's the final step is being having that lethal nature in the Champions League. It's still lacking in the Champions League. Yeah, you cannot miss those chances that he missed against Athletica. They can come back to bite you. They really can.
00:50:04
Speaker
And he has got it. I think it's a mental issue. I think it's a mental issue that it's like, this is a Champions League game. I've got to put it away. And then we saw with the panic first finish, which was an awful finish where he kind of scuffed it. It wasn't even going in before the block came in. That's what he used to do in the Serie A, but that's all gone now. He needs to go in with the same mentality into the Champions League that he does in the Serie A.
00:50:26
Speaker
The relaxed you know relax his body relaxes his his his his mental state and go into those chances and look Salah Nittana political Madrid same thing like that's the attitude in style. I mean it's.
00:50:41
Speaker
But that's the final step because that's the only thing he's missing. Once he starts doing that in the Champions League and he continues to play like that, well, he's going to be a Ballon d'Or contender. Ballon d'Or contender, yeah. There's no doubt about that. He's had the best scoring season now of his career, I believe, and we're still in February.
00:50:58
Speaker
I mean, yeah, just the Champions League left now, but for Lautaro. Right, let's move on to Juventus now. I've got a lot to say today. Oh, yes, I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. Because I missed the last show, obviously, because I was ill and I had a lot to say. So you're going to make up for the Allegri painting? I'm going to make up. I'm going to make up for it. There's going to be two sessions of Allegri painting in one. If I won't get one free, is it? Yeah.
00:51:24
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to get your value for this. Like Allegri gets his value for his 9 million a year salary. Well, anyway, let's start off with the positives. This was a must-win game for Juventus and they win 3-2, 95th minute.
00:51:46
Speaker
from Lugani to barely deserve to win, really. But it was crucial. It's absolutely crucial. If we look at the bottom line, Juventus are in crisis. They're plummeting. I mean, Udenezer, Empoli, Verona, they've only taken two points from that, obviously lost into terrible, terrible run of form. You then don't win this game as well.
00:52:11
Speaker
And with Bologna in Atalanta in such fantastic form, and a really hard run of games coming up that Juventus have now. Napoli away, Atalanta, Genoa, Lazio away, Fiorentina, Torino away. The fixtures are much, much more difficult now coming up for Juventus compared to what should have been a really easy run of fixtures, the inter-gamer side. These are games that Juventus should have been
00:52:40
Speaker
winning and being still in a title race and they've completely been a disaster. So if they didn't win this game, then they are, it's not an exaggeration to say, Juventus are looking over their shoulder, even at a Champions League place, because they are plummeting. They are plummeting. So it was vital that they won this game and they did. So that's the positive.
00:53:04
Speaker
The other positive, I guess, Dusan Vladivit scored too. The positive is Allegri woke up and he didn't burn his breakfast. That's the level you're going on with, is
Juventus & Allegri's Criticism
00:53:15
Speaker
it? The level that we're going on is, I missed last week's show. Let's look at this over this period of bad form.
00:53:26
Speaker
The myth has been destroyed that Juventus are progressing this season during this period. The idea that Juventus were really building something, that they were progressing, the idea that if not this season, that they could win or challenge him for the Scolletto, which was laughable, and which I've always laughed at throughout it, that they certainly were building something to challenge for next season under Allegri.
00:53:52
Speaker
I mean, that's all been shown to be completely laughable that there is no progress in how Juventus are playing still. And even the results come the end of the season, the total points tally is not going to be much advanced, if at all, even of the PLO season, the way that the
00:54:12
Speaker
because of these bad results in the last week. I'm not even convinced right now that Juventus are going to pass 80 points. They're currently on 57 with 12 games left. The last three seasons, Juventus got 78 points.
00:54:28
Speaker
under PLO. They got 78 under PLO. Allegri's first season Juventus got 70 points. Allegri's second season Juventus got 72 points. That was before the 10-point seduction which took it down to 62 but on the pitch they got 72 points.
00:54:44
Speaker
And this season, I'm not convinced that they're even going to, you know, the way that Juventus are now playing again, and given this run of form, and given that there's a much tougher run of fixtures coming up now, because they've had their easy run of games now, now it gets tougher. I'm not convinced that Juventus are even going to beat 80 points, and they may not even beat that hero season. So the myth has been destroyed that Juventus are progressing this season, and this is all whilst playing once a week.
00:55:12
Speaker
I mean, I mean, it's just, yeah, I mean, it's been it's been bad. It's been really, really bad the last weeks for me. They're out of form. They, like I said, for me, the loss against Inter was they ran out of steam after that. You could see signs of them not being mentally ready to handle before the Inter game when they dropped points. But it's it was starting to show. But I think, look,
00:55:42
Speaker
depends on your expectation. My expectation was that Juventus were going to try to, were going to challenge for this Corretto for a period of time this season. And they did. They were what? They were top of the league with after game match day 20. That's by definition, that's challenging for this Corretto. They just ran out of steam. I don't think, I think this play, these players are not
00:56:04
Speaker
players who have won, who are used to winning a lot. I think it's a foundation year for Juva as a club altogether. And I think it's what he's done is provide a stability, a foundation from which others can build on. Because as I've said all along, I think this is his last year. I think he will leave in the summer. I don't see Juventus giving him a contract extension at those wages. I don't think they can afford to.
00:56:31
Speaker
And I don't think that Giuntoli will want to either. I think they will just basically at the end of the season say thank you and move on and Allegri will either step up into the boardroom or go somewhere else because I still think they're going to win the Copa Italia. I still think they're going to finish second or third comfortably.
00:56:54
Speaker
Pierlo's points tally notwithstanding. I think somewhere around between 75 and 80 is where they will end up. And I think that's enough to finish comfortably in the top three. And I think that's what you can ask of this Uwe. Now, whether or not, you know, what you're saying in terms of the progress... For me, that's progression. That is a step in the right direction. Is it enough?
00:57:20
Speaker
can have different opinions on that, if it's enough. You don't think that it is, and fine, that's fair enough. I think if you look at what Juventus have gone through the last four or five years, where they were in terms of the makeup of the squad financially, off the pitch antics, and cleaning up the mess that Paratici left, was always going to take time. And if Juve are back in the Champions League,
00:57:46
Speaker
with a new coach and putting things in place with younger players, which you seem to be doing, they're building around youth, that has to be able to take time. It has to be able to take the time it needs for them to return. My thing is, the question I want to ask is, do they continue to do so with Federico Chiesa or not? I think that is the main question. For me, it's almost certain that Allegri will leave.
00:58:16
Speaker
Well, I want to come on occasion a bit, just to continue on the allegory. Hating on allegory a little bit more. Well, actually, I am going to talk about allegory hate because I want to ask you, as an allegory disciple, has the allegory hate gone too far? Now, over the last weeks, especially after when we didn't do the show last Monday, but the hate was on social media.
00:58:42
Speaker
It was very, very strong. I mean, a fortnight ago, some fans even paid to put a video message on Times Square in New York City, calling for Max Allegri to be set. And there was real vitriol towards Allegri on social media. I even saw the director of Tutu, Tutu Sport, calling it disgusting, that some of the level of the
00:59:06
Speaker
of the hate towards Allegroite with the event. And we know that the vast, vast majority of the event's fans want Allegroite gone. But has it gone too far? Because we've seen, if you take Roy Hodgson, I mean, I think that was a lot down to Chris, but if you see with Roy Hodgson,
00:59:24
Speaker
I'm not saying that's what put him in hospital, but we've seen with Crystal Palace fans the hate towards Hodgson and Crystal Palace that they wanted him out so badly all season. I know Allegri can handle it, because I know that there's one thing about Allegri, he's very strong, he's very good with the media, he doesn't care at all. But if we're just talking about this just in terms of, you know, just in general,
00:59:50
Speaker
like the way that fans express themselves towards, you know, when they don't want a manager, when they want a manager gone. Like, are Juventus fans expressing themselves in the right way? Like, has the hate gone too far? Like, what's your thoughts on that? Depends on which Juventus fans you're asking. The Curva supports him. It's the, I mean, there's a clear split in the Juventus fan base that I've noticed that the Ultras like Allegri, but other sections of the stadium does not.
01:00:20
Speaker
And a lot of it is also social media noise. People who online behind anonymous nicknames share all sorts of stuff. Some of it is banter and funny. Some of it goes over the line at times. And that's up to people how they want to, you know, it's not my place to
01:00:42
Speaker
I don't value the ultras at all when it comes to when it comes because they have their support is political and it has an agenda. 100% it does, but there is... But if you take the rest of the event as a fan, they could barely even feel that at the state. I know there was political reasons for that as well, but fans didn't want to... No, what I'm saying is that there is a clear disconnect. There is a divide in the event as fan base.
01:01:09
Speaker
uh, those who like him and those who hate him. Um, and I think he would love that as well. I think the very idea that he divides people is something that he absolutely loves. Um, because he, well, he's also the kind of guy who likes when the focus is on him and not the team. I mean, he, he knows how he prefers doing that. There are different ways of doing that. Mourinho does it to a certain extent as well. Uh, he protects his players that way. Um, but it's, um,
01:01:36
Speaker
I don't, I mean, has it gone too far or not? I mean, look, I didn't, I wasn't that shocked by the video message on Times Square in New York. I laughed when I saw that. I thought it was a bit ridiculous. And it was up for like a second as well. I thought it was a little bit hysterical. I thought it was hysterical and very, very, it was a bit exaggerated, very exaggerated and childish, but that's OK. It doesn't need to be mature and like it's OK. Whatever. They just said, I like it out. And I thought it was funny and it was a bit of a
01:02:05
Speaker
I wasn't offended by it or thought it was over the top, but I do think that the criticism towards him generally, and you can even see it amongst the Italian punditry, like Daniel Adani, for example, would, like I said, if Max Allegri invented the cure for cancer, Adani would come out and criticize him for not inventing the cure for HIV. That's the level, and I find that really reductive and pointless.
01:02:29
Speaker
to have that kind of agendas. It's pointless. It's ridiculous. It's childish and meaningless. For me, when people have that kind of approach, you don't need to like certain football. I, for example, despise Pep Guardiola's football. That's personal taste. I hate it. But I would be an idiot, and if I could not acknowledge
01:02:56
Speaker
what he has meant to world football, how he has developed football, and there is a football before and after Guardiola tactically. Taste is one thing and then objective facts are another. Allegri is one of the greatest Italian coaches of all time. His CV merits it, he's shown that he does it, he's incredibly underrated, he is a legend of Italian football.
01:03:20
Speaker
And whether you like his style of football or not, or whether or not, you know, when we do here, we discuss the actual facts and ask different aspects of it, that's one thing. And you can be as critical as you like me if you can back it up. But I think this notion of...
01:03:34
Speaker
I think Juventus fans need to cope with reality, and the reality is that they do not have a squad that is good enough to fight for the Serie A. They just don't. They pay for a squad that's good enough in terms of wages to win the Serie A, but the quality on the pitch is just not there.
01:03:53
Speaker
when your regista is Western McKinney, don't come whinging to me about winning the Spoleto. Well, he's not the regista, but yeah. No, but you know what I mean. Like, come on, can we please have some... Listen, you know, I think that anybody right now after seeing
01:04:10
Speaker
I mean, I've said it all season, it's unsustainable for Juventus to keep you playing the way they were playing and getting results. And that's what's happened. We've seen now, like we saw last season when some fans and some pundits thought that Juventus could actually challenge for the Scudetto last season before they got smashed 5-1 by Napoli.
01:04:31
Speaker
You know, people try and, you know, rewrite history, but that's what a lot of people were saying. The Juventus could challenge, there was a Scudetto game. I remember people saying it. I remember people saying it. Yeah, but that was bullshit. It wasn't. This is what happens. People say, oh, Allegri, you know, they're going to fight for the Scudetto now. This is a Scudetto. My disappointment with last season was that they weren't even involved. I was expecting what we've seen this year already last year. But then, of course, there were mitigating factors for that that we know now.
01:04:59
Speaker
I just listen, if anybody that still thinks Allegri is the right man for Juventus and has thought that throughout these three years, stuck in 2016, 2017, you can praise Allegri for being a legend of the club.
01:05:14
Speaker
for being one of the greatest managers in Juventus history, for being a fantastic world-class manager during his first spell, Juventus, which is all the things which I've always said all along. And you can also hold the same opinion that he's been an unmitigated disaster in his third spell, and that he is the wrong man for Juventus. And if you believe that those, I mean, I don't think there's many of them, but those that believe that he's the right man for Juventus are stuck
01:05:41
Speaker
I don't think anybody that uses the uses the allegories run the greatest of all time as it as an as a as evidence that he's the right man for you enters are stuck literally. I don't think that's true. I don't think it's, I think it's evident that Juventus are moving away from Allegri. I think it's just it's obvious to me
01:05:59
Speaker
We'll see. I mean, it's not at the moment for people that I've spoken to, it's unclear right now from all sides whether what does Allegri want, does he want to stay or not? Does he not want to stay? Does he want a new contract? Does he not? From Juventus' side, do they want to stick with Allegri for another year at least or do they want to give him a new contract?
01:06:19
Speaker
It's unclear. Let's say it's unclear. I don't want to say what I want. Everybody knows what I want. I'm just saying from a what I know and what is out there from the people I'm speaking to, it's unclear. It's unclear. I think that's a mistake. I think that we're now at the end of February. We're coming into March.
01:06:40
Speaker
top four champions league play should be secure, especially now that we're talking probably five Champions League places. But Juventus are in a strong enough position now that they should be planning for next season and they should be planning their next coach. And I think that this run of games right now has shown what Juventus' level is under Allegri and that we're not really seeing any progress on the pitch in terms of the play under Allegri. And it should make the decision for them that, look,
01:07:08
Speaker
Thanks, Max. Thanks for everything. You're a legend, everything you've done in your first spell. But let's move on. And that gives us both sides time to build for what they're going to do next season, the club and Allegri for his next spell. And I think Allegri's done enough this season to get another top job as well. So from that side, he comes out of it quite well as well. That's what I think they should be doing now. Rather than waiting until May, then you're left late.
01:07:36
Speaker
who's going to be the manager and it's too late. I can't imagine in a million years that they will leave it to me. I think right now it's unclear because now it's February, it's only February, March. I think there are indications to suggest that they will try to find an amicable solution to that. I think it depends on what happens with Konta. I mean, I know that Romeo said there's no chance of Konta going to Yuba.
01:08:04
Speaker
I'm not quite, I'm not as convinced because I think it depends on what happens with a Bayern Munich job. If that, who gets that job? I think Konten and Mourinho are eyeing that pretty hard. And also there's going to be a merry go round in this summer as well, you know, with all sorts of questions. I think that's what's holding. It's very unclear on the big, you know, Klopp is leaving, Chavi's leaving, Tuchel's leaving.
01:08:29
Speaker
You know where we're expecting Milan to part ways with purely there's so much I think what's his name at United will leave as well with a new and I could leave Napoli will definitely have a new coach I mean there's so many things Roma. Yeah, Roma as well. Probably, you know, so there's there's so many spaces vacant spaces Yeah
01:08:50
Speaker
There's so much going on. Just to finish off on Allegri though, one thing I think for sure, just to finish off on the whole Allegri hate kind of thing and is it too far? I think that what this all does show that, and it is very comparable to Managed United, is that
01:09:06
Speaker
The fans are, I mean, I don't know how divided they are, to be honest, because I think that the vast majority are allegory out. But let's just say that the situation is so toxic now towards allegory that Juventus can't move forward as one until allegory goes. And there's too much opposition to him. It's too toxic.
01:09:24
Speaker
like the Glazers at Man United where the club can never build anything while the Glazers are there because there's just so much toxicity and so much hate. Now you might agree with that. You might think it's unfair. You might think that Allegri doesn't deserve as much blame as he's getting. And then to some extent, you're probably correct with some of the other things that have gone on at the club in the last few years. But I think that to create a unity and to try and to take a step forward and actually create a new chapter of success,
01:09:53
Speaker
Juventus have to get rid of Allegri. It's just too toxic. We can't be dealing with this. And I know I'm probably as much to blame for it because I drum it up. But that's because I'm against Allegri. But we can't move forward while Allegri is there. Juventus cannot move forward with this kind of toxicity all the time every week. It's exhausting. And it's just impossible to go on. So I think for that reason, more than anything,
01:10:17
Speaker
Alegri has to go and Juventus have to make the decision to get rid of him and to move on, just to move on from Alegri. But just to finish off though, just as we're recording this inter-released, just a breaking news that he suffered a muscle strain, a chalanoglu on his right thigh. You can say goodbye to the Champions League there, right in there and there.
01:10:41
Speaker
How many weeks are we talking about here? Well, a strain on his right thigh. What grade is it? They say Leggero recentimento, so I guess it's a slight... Oh, that's a minor. He might be all right then. He might be okay. I don't see him. I mean, these things are coming with Turam as well. Recentimento's minor is a minor, very minor. So he might be okay. He might be okay.
01:11:04
Speaker
When's the game? Is it two weeks? Next week's the Lazio game and it's two weeks. Yeah, it might come too soon. It's probably a three-week thing. But who knows? We can keep our fingers crossed that he's ready. Just to finish off on the Juventus, Kieza, who you brought up there,
01:11:25
Speaker
It's, I mean, I have, I have some inside information on, on Kiesa. I had it last, last year, last, in last summer, which I said on the pod from his entourage that Kiesa doesn't like Allegri. Uh, I'm not talking personally as a person. I'm talking about, he doesn't like him professionally. He doesn't, he believes he's bad for him. He, he doesn't, you know, he doesn't like his style of football and where he plays him. He doesn't want to play as a sensor forward. He wants to play as a winger and that he.
01:11:55
Speaker
Wanted ideally to leave you then to us last summer if a leg restated which he did but the reason why they didn't make the transfer was a was a decision from and I actually think in a way it was a right decision in the sense that he was coming back from an ACL and It was very risky making a move
01:12:14
Speaker
straight after an ACL and also there wasn't going to be much interest in him also after straight after an ACL injury. So they decided to stay and after, despite a bright start to the season first five games, it's been another really, really miserable season for Chiesa. I think we can go as far as say, disastrous season for Chiesa. And so, yeah, I think it's, listen, I think it's crystal clear now. Well, I know it is at the end of it in this summer. It's
01:12:45
Speaker
If Allegri stays 100%, there's no Chiesa next season. That is 100%. But even if Allegri leaves, I don't think there's a guarantee that Chiesa stays either because of the fact that his contract runs out.
Federico Kieza's Position Issues
01:13:00
Speaker
Will Juventus give him it? What we discussed a few weeks ago, will they give him a new contract, Juventus? Is he worth the new contract because he's getting too many injuries?
01:13:09
Speaker
You know, so there's lots of doubts over Kiesa's future, but what is for sure? And we saw how he was really angry yesterday, and especially when he got taken off by Allegri. If Allegri stays, Kiesa's gone in the summer. Yeah, no, I think it's probably like that. I think it was the week before we spoke about Kiesa. My thing is,
01:13:37
Speaker
Federico Chiesa needs to understand that he's not the player he once was, pre or ECL. It's as simple as that. I don't think Chiesa will ever be that player ever again, and that's why
01:13:50
Speaker
I think him being a winger is insanity. I don't think he's got it in him anymore to do those things that he did pre ACL. I think he needs to, I think there is a place for him in football still. I think he can still be a fantastic player, play at the highest level, but it's not as a winger. He just doesn't have that in him anymore. I think the ACL ruined too much and ACLs generally do ruin careers like that. Players need to change who they are and how they play after them.
01:14:22
Speaker
And Kiesa, as a central forward, I think is the most natural role for him. It's not a winger. I don't see him being a winger in the top side, unless he wants to play a winger for a Fiorentina or a Lazio or Roma. But I don't think he is. That's where he sees himself. I think he sees him as a team that is not just winning scorettos, but also fighting for Champions League trophies.
01:14:41
Speaker
And if he wants to do that, he can't play as a winger. He just does not have it physically in him after that ACL. And it's sad and it's horrible and it's disgusting and I'm pissed off because two generational talents in Zagnolo and Kiesa have been ruined.
01:14:56
Speaker
via ridiculous injuries. It would be nice if Italy could for once have a bit of luck when it comes to these players, because whenever we produce a fantastic player, it seems that ACLs ruin it. Well, the injury issue is a big concern. That does concern me. And I also
01:15:13
Speaker
you know, he doesn't have that, he doesn't have that surge away from his man, one on one, in any area of the pitch, whether it's in the centre or on the wing that he had before the injury. That is clear. I can kind of hope blindly that it can come back. I know usually it takes two years before you fully recover from an AC, when I say fully recover, as in
01:15:40
Speaker
I don't know if you ever really fully recovered from an ACL, but you know what I mean. They say that it takes two years before kind of like the direct effects of the ACL injury kind of go away. I do have my concerns. What I would say though is that, and there's no doubt about this, is that I want to see Kiaza put in a team, and I do want to see him on the wing.
01:16:01
Speaker
in a team under a manager that can get the best out of him. And obviously Allegri is the wrong, completely the wrong manager for, I mean, Kiesa believes that himself is completely the wrong manager for a talent like Kiesa. I want to see him under a coach, a more attacking coach, a more proactive coach, a more
01:16:27
Speaker
a coach that just attacks more and Allegri's not that man. I think that with the exception, aside from the ACL, I think that Kiesa is a case study of how not to use someone like him and to use such a world-class talent the way that Allegri has over the last three seasons has been terrible. Even before the ACL, the first half a season,
01:16:53
Speaker
Allegri was using him as a second right back. He was playing him wide midfield in a 4-4-2 and wing back. That was straight after the Euros, when Chiesa was one of the best players in the world. That is a case study of how not to use a talent. When he's come back,
01:17:14
Speaker
He's used him as a center forward, which I don't believe. I've said it all along. I don't believe he has. He is a center forward. He can play in a center forward. He doesn't want to play there. He always moves over to the left all the time. And that's actually why there was those reports yesterday on Sky that Allegri was angry and shouting at Kiesa because he kept moving wide during the game against Barcelona.
01:17:37
Speaker
I can actually understand Allegri there, to an extent. He wants you to play in the centre, and he keeps playing out wide, then you're not doing the role properly. I'm not going to criticise Allegri there for that. He's probably spot on there. But again, that comes down to Kiesa.
01:17:53
Speaker
you know, not being able to play the role, also to an extent, not wanting to play the role. I think it's both and there's a bit of both. He doesn't really understand that. Again, a bit like what I was saying with Scamata, there's positional understanding of the role. And, and this positional understanding of the role. I don't think Kiezer positionally understands the center forward role. You can talk about his attributes all we want about how he's going to work.
01:18:16
Speaker
I don't even think it's something he doesn't
Juventus' Management Challenges
01:18:21
Speaker
understand. I think he doesn't want to. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force the son of a bitch to drink. And if he doesn't want to drink, he's not going to. The horse isn't just going to stand there and be like a stubborn mule. And that's what Keirza is doing right now. He's being stubborn. He doesn't want to do it. So the situation... And he's watching that, which is terrible as well. Yeah, it's horrible. But it is what it is. But look, Juventus, another...
01:18:45
Speaker
whoever takes over from Allegri, if Allegri leaves, is going to have to address the Kia's issue. Yeah, it's a club issue as well, though, isn't it? Because of the contract. Exactly. It's the club and the manager. And of course, we, you know, this week about Pogba as well. Don't let that mess as well. These things matter. I mean, if two of your, you know, every club has a certain amount of money, unless they play in the Premier League,
01:19:16
Speaker
or a man's city where they can do what they want. When two stars, when two of your highest paid stars are not even on the pitch for various reasons... No, it's going to affect you. Yeah, of course it is. It's going to affect how you perform. And the Pogba thing was a disaster. I'd like to say that's probably the worst return to a club in football history. I can't think... No, no, it has to be.
01:19:45
Speaker
like, no, I think I actually wrote an article that exact headline. I think I could use that exact headline. The worst, the worst return in football history. I mean, it's just it's unbelievable what an unmitigated disaster it's been. And you were right all along when you said that it was going to be a disaster. But and it turned out to be that. So Juventus need to really
01:20:09
Speaker
start, you know, keep going on this path that Allegri started in the sense of young and something new. I think the groundwork of something has been laid by Allegri. I don't think there's any point of him continuing that, given
01:20:27
Speaker
the atmosphere around you. I don't think you can say he laid the ground. I think that's a club thing with the next gen and they've just signed another Argentine wonder kid this week as well. The bomb praise I can give Allegri is that he at least he
Emerging Young Talents in Serie A
01:20:43
Speaker
has
01:20:43
Speaker
play he has been playing young more younger players this this season for sure this season you know like cambiaso um like um and yieldis has now come in as well you know i can give some some some praise for that whether or not you know how much he's done in developing
01:21:01
Speaker
younger younger players in general i mean obviously you know my opinion on that but um you know we're talking about one younger player just to finish on this game. I really like this guy i really really like this guy i don't know what you think of him he's got a great goal in this game he had another really good effort
01:21:18
Speaker
I like him, former Milan youth player, he's powerful, he's direct, he's got a really good left foot. He's been getting linked to Juventus actually in some of the bigger clubs in Serie A and yeah, he's somebody I want to keep an eye on.
01:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely frozen on. I have a few couple of youngsters that are really interesting. Now, now more and more reports coming out that challenge should be out for about 10, 10 days to two weeks. It's touching. Go for it. Yeah, that's good. No, but I still think it's good by UCLA. You need a match fit to Ramy. You need a match fit channel group to play away against them. Atletico at the one that metropolitano for goodness sakes. It would be a miracle thing to pull that off.
01:22:01
Speaker
Well, no, I think, listen, his sentimental, I know, is one that's definitely, that they can definitely get him back. They can definitely get him back. I just don't want him injured further more, Jeremy. I don't want to risk it. I just don't want to risk it. Yeah. But look, just to end off, Lavovich is looking good, we have to say. He's scoring again. Yeah, he's scoring again. He's got seven this year in 2024. Yeah, he's on 15 in the Seriana. Yeah. And that's good. Look, I think he's going to reach
Serie A Relegation Battle
01:22:29
Speaker
20. And if he reaches 20,
01:22:31
Speaker
then you can say that is progression. I mean, he should be doing that anyway, but it's where we see where he's come from. I mean, yeah, that's, that's good for you. That is something that we could, the events can try and build. That's what we, that's what we need from us. We need things that we could say, right. They can build around this. They can build around that. And then Blauwitsch,
01:23:03
Speaker
two things from this. First of all, Davide Nicole is not another miracle. Three wins. They've now got a gap over the over the relegation zone. It's miraculous. But it isn't miraculous for Dionisi who is now sat and it's about time, isn't it? Finally, like they are they like, I don't understand what they've been waiting for.
01:23:14
Speaker
a score in Valovic, that number of goals, that's something they can build around. Right, okay, we're pushing on now, so let's just round out the rest of the Serie A results.
01:23:27
Speaker
It's been obvious for a long time now with the Onissi that it's not working, it's us all. I don't understand. Yeah. I hope they haven't left it too late. I mean, there's still time, I guess. But as I will show in a minute, it's very tight at the bottom. Selenetana nil, Monza 2, Maldini and Pacina, and in Genoa 2, Denez and nil, a lovely bicycle kick from Retegui. And that means the bottom of the table is very, very tight. I mean, Selenetana are gone. They've got 13 points bottom.
01:23:57
Speaker
But then we've got Callery, Verona, Sassuola, all on 20 points. So three teams on 20 points. Then we have Frostinone and Udenezer on 23. Lecce on 24, and then even Emply on 25.
Upcoming Key Matches
01:24:12
Speaker
So everyone from 13th to 19th is in the relegation race, yeah. It's crazy. Seven teams for two spots, yeah. It's mental. It's going to be very tight.
01:24:26
Speaker
Okay, Wednesday we have two games. Well, we have two games on Monday. We were recording this before Roma Torino and Fiorentino Lazio. And then on Wednesday we have Sasualo Napoli and Inter Atalanta. Let's finish off with Badjo, Prem Face and Celias of the Week. Right. Badjo. Badjo of the Week.
01:24:50
Speaker
uh well someone from winter i mean yeah and then they win four nil yeah um it's probably not one play in zaki i think let's go with let's go with in zaki i think no i mean yeah joshua xelix's uh general form about what he did against helas the linker play and these touches are just ridiculous in zagi's football
01:25:14
Speaker
where central defenders are playing, number 10 role.
Critiques on EBL's Analysis
01:25:18
Speaker
Midfielders are dropping into central defense. Attackers are, I mean, it's just, it's a dance. It's a controlled, beautiful dance of positional changes. And David de Nicola, let's throw him down as well for creating another miracle. Yeah. And Helas Verona being thereabouts as well is just crazy.
01:25:39
Speaker
And of course that is bicycle kick is a good shot. I am face prim face of the week we've got some. We got some shockers this week haven't we what is this is a new there's a new kid on the block for prim face three. Everybody check out this account the account is called EBL.
01:26:02
Speaker
EBL at EBL 2017. Apparently worked for a football club. Somehow he's got 158,000 followers. I would imagine about 90% of them are bought for certain, but he claims to be a first team analysis in the EFL.
01:26:24
Speaker
And he has a Patreon page. He also has written down that he's got a degree in his Twitter bio as well, which probably says a lot. He has come up with some ridiculous prom facery in the last week. So after
01:26:42
Speaker
No, first class Masters in Performance Analysis, 2-1 BA in Master of Science in Performance Analysis, a first class honor, 2-1 BA, a second class honors Bachelor in Psychology. Yeah.
01:26:58
Speaker
I didn't read a lot into his psychology. That's for sure. So let me read out. He's got two. So first of all, this came last week off the Porto beat Arsenal. Sean Dyke one. Yeah. Yeah. So he's he's said that Sergio con say Sal has taken inspiration from Dykes Everton to be asked. Yeah.
01:27:19
Speaker
Yes, of course. Same approach from Porto tonight as Dyke, except with more technical quality and longer bull striking in the build-up, track and play over. Conseil Sal has taken inspiration from Van Dyke, we'll get to him in a minute, to Sean Dyke. So this is EBL Twitter account. So there you go. So Conseil Sal learned everything he knew from Sean Dyke. Yeah.
01:27:49
Speaker
And I think speaking of Virgil van Dyck is this kind of mental, like, there is a mental block that these prem faces have with turning Virgil van Dyck into Paolo Maldini. I don't know what it is. No, not into Paolo Maldini.
01:28:08
Speaker
No, they want to turn him into some sort of an advanced version of how he's better than Paolo. So this EBL Twitter account, he's not the only one. He proclaimed that Virgil van Dyck was the greatest defender of all time after he scored a header to win the
01:28:26
Speaker
the Carlin Cup Final in one of the worst finals in the Carabao Cup Final, was it called? Yeah, it's the Carabao Cup, and it's truly one of the worst finals at any level I've seen in my life. That game is atrocious. And in that game, Virgil van Dijk made a defensive howler that I don't know, you know, it was it was embarrassing. But this guy believes he is the, quote, greatest ever defender to ever live.
01:28:52
Speaker
He's not the only one. He's not the only one. This has been rife among prem faces in the last 24 hours. So many people. Someone else with a lot of followers called van Dyck the greatest Dutchman of all time. And to which Rojas replied, he's not even the best Dutch player with the name van in his name.
01:29:15
Speaker
which I thought was a fantastic touch by Roberto. Look, this notion of, he also said, this EBL guy replied to someone said, could Maldini lead the last line aerially? Not fantastic English. Could Maldini lead the last line aerially like Van Dyck or even come close to it? No, he could not. Ramos, however, could, but he was too easily bypassed in ground duels.
01:29:43
Speaker
I just want to refer to one of our listeners, Christian Aquino, who about in 2019 sent out a tweet when this mental psychosis that they have about hang up they have on Paolo Maldini and turning Virgil van Dyck into Maldini and better than Maldini. It's been going on for a good five years now.
01:30:03
Speaker
And Christian tweeted out back then, Maldini at 27, 416 appearances from Milan, captain of Italy, four Serie A titles, three Champions League, four Supercoppa, three European Supercups, one continental cup, World Soccer Player 94, World Cup All-Star 1990 and 1994. Maldini achieved all of this while Virgil van Dijk was playing for Southampton at 27. Hope this helps.
01:30:30
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, Virgil van Dyck is one of the greatest defenders of his generation. There is no doubt about that. But comparing him to Paolo Maldini for the heights that Maldini reached for 20 years. Seriously?
01:30:45
Speaker
Just get over it. You don't have Paolo Maldini in, well, there's only one Paolo Maldini. Franco Baresi, these are generational defenders. They don't exist anymore because football has changed. So can we stop with this? Van Dijk's been around since, at the top level, since he joined Liverpool in 2018. So we're talking six years.
01:31:08
Speaker
of those six years, he was out for almost a year for one of them with an ACL. He then was a disaster for a year after coming back where he couldn't get back to his best level. So he's basically had four years at the very top. He has been, I think,
01:31:26
Speaker
the best defender in the world for certainly before his injury. I think he was the best center back in the world and he was at a fantastic level. But the idea that he's even close to being one of the greatest of all time is so laughable that I don't even want to
01:31:49
Speaker
I don't even want to debate it. It's just a joke. If you believe that Van Dyke is the greatest offender of all time, you're either a biased Liverpool fan or you are a 19 year old, 20 year old kid who started watching football about two or three years ago.
01:32:09
Speaker
Or you just simply don't understand football. Simple as that. That's the only thing I could say, really. When going into stuff like this, I blame all of this tactical nonsense, these Twitter tacticals, with a ridiculously stupid lingo that they've invented.
Wenger's 'Technical Empathy' Concept
01:32:30
Speaker
That doesn't mean anything. It's just word salad.
01:32:34
Speaker
I blame the patient zero of this. They're the Frankenstein monster, and Dr. Frankenstein is Arsene Wenger, who came up. I've listened to the nonsense in this quote from his book, My Life and Lessons in Red and White. Passing the ball is communicating with another person. It's being in the service of another person. It's crucial. For the past to be a good one, the player has to put himself in the position of the person who's going to receive it.
01:33:02
Speaker
It's an act of intelligence and generosity, what I call technical empathy. Do one, Arsen. I mean, the Van Dyke still hangers me a lot more than that. It pisses me off. It's a word salad. It doesn't mean anything. It's the art of saying something without actually saying anything. Did you say that this week?
01:33:24
Speaker
No, it's an old quote, but these tacticals, he's the reason for this. He cultivated this culture because he came to, when he came to England and revolutionized football, because he was very tactically prepared in a
Commentary on Football Knowledge
01:33:38
Speaker
league. I just think with the Van Dyke stuff, it's just stupid young kids who haven't watched any football, who are prem faces, who haven't watched any football outside of their own country. They think that the Premier League is the only thing that exists. Premier League
01:33:51
Speaker
The football was born in 1992 when the Premier League was born and that's it. When you see these people who they compare Van Dyke to, it's usually Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, maybe Sergio Ramos, and then they'll throw in Paolo Maldini because they've heard his name.
01:34:10
Speaker
And that's it. That's it. That's the comparison. So who is the greatest defender of all time? I mean, forget about, you know, forget about Franz Beckenbauer and Gotano Schiré and Franco Berezi. And, you know, these guys, forget about them. I mean, they weren't even heard of those names.
01:34:29
Speaker
So, yeah, he just it's not even it's not even doesn't even warrant debate. It's just a joke. He's childish. But we have to give a shout out to Jerry Armstrong, a commentator in Ireland who called Olivier Giroux Didier Giroux twice in Milan Ren. Yeah. And Jermaine Defoe saying which player in world football he would pay to watch reply with Cole Palmer. And of course, our good friend Jamie Carragher, who who has to who can't just leave it alone and was talking about Virgil van Dyck saying it's not always about the money, is it?
01:34:59
Speaker
Virgil van Dijk cost Liverpool 75 million euros. The most expensive centre back ever. It's just, oh my days. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's never a dull moment. And I'm sure this is going to continue, Virgil van Dijk versus Paolo Maldini debate, something that only exists in their heads. And it's very, very funny to see this, to be honest. Yeah. Okay. Right. Sarias of the week to finish off.
Social Media Missteps in Football
01:35:28
Speaker
I have one of the Napoli, official Napoli Twitter account. So they put out a post on Sunday. This was ahead of the game against Callery and it has three Napoli players who are wearing suit jackets and jean shirts. They are simiani
01:35:54
Speaker
Ostigard and I think it's Lindstrom in the middle. And they put as the post, as the caption, Peaky Blinders.
01:36:07
Speaker
Now, I've watched Peaky Blinders, fantastic show. It's a great show. I'm sure most people listening have watched Peaky Blinders. I don't understand why they've written Peaky Blinders as the caption. It's three guys wearing the enormous suit and jeans shirt, suit jacket and jeans shirt, and they've got Peaky Blinders. Anybody listening, can somebody explain why this is Peaky Blinders?
01:36:33
Speaker
I don't know. One does not question Aurelio de la Rentaix and his media communication. I mean, you know, they're not wearing that. If they were wearing a Peaky Blinder, you know, the hats that the Peaky Blinders used to wear, maybe I could understand it, but I don't understand it.
01:36:54
Speaker
My Serias of the week is Ivan Yurich, one of Ivan Yurich's backroom staff, Michaela Orecchio, who was arrested and thrown out by the police, spying on Roma in their training session.
Spying in Football
01:37:12
Speaker
He was removed by the police. And it's not the first time that he's done it, too. It's last April.
01:37:22
Speaker
Corriero de los Sportes is reporting that he was using high-end technology to spy on Mourinho's Roma when they had a closed practice, and Nuno Santos was pissed off.
01:37:42
Speaker
and threw him out. I think it's so hilarious. This is not the first time that spying on the training grounds happened. Do you remember Marcello Bielsa? I love Marcello Bielsa. That was hilarious. He got drones. My favorite part of Marcello Bielsa is the reaction to that when he was defending himself. He apologized for it when he was in Leeds. I think they were in the championship and the following
01:38:10
Speaker
the following press conference, he held a lecture with his notes on how he studies football to show that he, although this was bad and the spying was not good, you know, he understands football and that he knows, he follows the data and he tracks it and blah, blah, blah. And it was hilarious, complete comedy, gave a lecture on players and how on various stats that he'd collected himself.
01:38:38
Speaker
and handed it out to the journalists sitting there during the press conference. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It was. Okay right, let's leave it at that long show for you today and we will be back on Tuesday for the Q&A and then late this week either on Wednesday or Thursday we have a special interview that we will be airing which I think you're all like with
Campo Basso FC Ownership Story
01:39:02
Speaker
with the co-owners of Campo Basso FC, Matt Rosetta and Mark Consuelos. Mark Consuelos, this is his first time on the pod, who's a famous actor in the United States, being in All My Children, Riverdale, Queen of the South, and also his co-host, along with his wife, Kelly Reaper, of one of the biggest talk shows in America.
01:39:31
Speaker
live with Kelly and Mark, and Matt and Mark are the co-owners of Campo Basso FC, who have been described as the rexum of Serie A. They've bought them in the 5th Division.
01:39:47
Speaker
of Italian football and they're trying to work their way through the divisions. They got promoted last season. They're now on course to get promoted again this season as well. It's a fantastic kind of Cinderella-like story, great, great story. So both of them come onto the pod and we talk about that. I think everybody will really, really like it. We talk also about Mark and his love for Italian football. And I think you'll all really, really enjoy it. So check that out. That will be out probably Wednesday or Thursday this week.
01:40:17
Speaker
Okay, right. Have a great week everyone. We'll see you next time on Tuesday. Ciao ciao.