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Sarri Struggling at Chelsea, Fiorentina Draw Napoli, Roma's Champions League Clash (Ep. 3)
147 Plays7 years ago
The Serie A Show's Chloe Beresford, John Solano, and Nima Tavalley discuss this past weekend's results as well as Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, who appears to be getting closer to the sack.
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Transcript
Introduction and Inter's Unexpected Victory
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the CD-ass show. Hello again. We are back for the third installment of the CD-ass show. Chloe, Nima, how are you two doing? Fine, thank you. I'm an Interfan, so I love everything that comes in three.
00:00:31
Speaker
Well, you know what? We were initially going to start with Fyodor and Tina first, but hey, let's start there. Wow. They pulled that one out of their ass. And lo and behold, their victory came courtesy of Yuri Kuchka. I don't know what he was thinking there. But it's very telling that they score there. Nima, honestly, they didn't look like, they looked like that match could have been played for five hours and then
00:01:00
Speaker
they still wouldn't have scored a goal. But in the end, they do get the crucial goal. The first half was awful. It was a continuation. It was terrible. It was a continuation of everything we saw. And I did not see them. And Gervinho, when he cuts in there and hits the bar, I mean, I don't know what will happen. But I mean, think about it. I mean, that could have been Spalepi's job right there. I mean, he was one
Support for Spalletti and Dressing Room Dynamics
00:01:24
Speaker
one shot in the upright away from getting sacked pretty much and one gervinho shot of getting sacked hitting the crossbar but in the second half I mean he what I mean as I said last week I wanted to see Inter
00:01:39
Speaker
show that they are still behind Spalletti and I think in that second half they really did show that because Inter dominated that second half. They looked well in how they build that play but then the crossing is just, oh my god, it's just unbearable to watch the quality of the poor deliveries but then when Lautaro Martinez came on
00:02:05
Speaker
It's really interesting to see how well he really is that missing jigsaw in some games because he likes to drop in deep and with Ikari who does nothing except mark the opponent's defenders,
00:02:18
Speaker
90 minutes and try to score tap-ins, you need to have that player that links up between the midfield and the attack. And you saw that with Lottaro, the assist he made for Vasino, who missed an open goal. No, he looked like he's hungry, he looked like he wanted to play, like he wanted to play football, like he was happy. And that is
00:02:45
Speaker
that was pretty, I was really happy to see that second half, especially Raja playing somewhat looking like the player Inter thought they had signed and his comments afterwards I found really funny that he's changed his lifestyle, he's realized that after 30
00:03:06
Speaker
you know you can't go drinking as often or as much or whatever it was he was trying to refer to I don't know it was it was but but that all of that kind of felt in the shadows because Spalletti then Spalletti then threw a curve ball at the interdirectors and basically said that you know uh inter have um they haven't they have an issue there there's a there's a there's a problem with equality and they need to resolve resolve that as soon as possible it seems strange to me that he would
00:03:36
Speaker
make those comments towards somebody who has the power to sack him. You think you'd be nice to that to that person? But the thing is with Spoletti, it is defense
Inter's Critical Win and Team Dynamics
00:03:50
Speaker
here and I am playing devil's advocate here a little bit and I think what he was trying to do is that I mean it's clear that the dressing room and most of that dressing room is behind Icardi
00:04:03
Speaker
And when that dressing room shows up for him, the way they did in that second half, I think that's his way of kind of showing solidarity that if you, you know, you help me, I help you. And that he was backing up the players because at the end of the day, whether he gets sacked or not, it's not Marotta and Steven Zhang on the pitch, it's that dressing room that have to do it for him. So I think that's why he aligned himself with him. But I mean, as you said, the logic is,
00:04:30
Speaker
yeah i'm playing devil's advocate here and i think that's it's um it's bloody logic that's what it is it's bloody logic indeed indeed and it was a big sorry cloy i mean it was a massive three points um roma had won milan had won and again we mentioned it um in the previous week but
00:04:52
Speaker
Had they lost or had they dropped points, even if they had gotten the draw, I mean, they were in serious trouble of again, pulling themselves into this race with Milan and Roma. Yeah. And in that, it was, I don't think we can underestimate what an important win.
00:05:10
Speaker
or like overestimate how important those three points were because it completely turns the narrative around. And it does so on so many levels in terms of like you see Raja playing well, the team looking like they're still behind Spalletti and all the, if you notice, all the nonsense about losing the dressing room stuff has just disappeared because it was very clear. I got
Wanda and Icardi Drama
00:05:34
Speaker
exactly what I wanted. I wanted to see them,
00:05:39
Speaker
I wanted to see them show that the same way that Roma showed that they were behind Francesco. I wanted Inter to show that they were behind Spalletti and they did that. The players really did that. Now whether or not Raja Naingolan or his performance was just a flash in the pan or the beginning of something
00:05:57
Speaker
something more permanent, we'll just have to wait and see. But I think the more pressing issue is with Inter right now is a woman named Wanda who decided after the game to go on a TV show late last night, the day after the game, and say something that is just completely
00:06:20
Speaker
It's as if this woman does not want peace and quiet at Inter, because if you sit on a TV show and say that, you know, I want Inter to protect Mauro much more, there's a lot of lies that have come out about him, such as him getting a fine, or that he watched the Boca River Copa Libertadores final with Aussilio and Zanetti, which he didn't.
00:06:42
Speaker
Now why that is a horrible lie that everyone needs to care about is beyond me. I think she's the kind of person that's completely addicted to drama. I think the willing theme to her personal life, she just loves it. And I think, you know, probably a player like Icardi could do without that in his career, but that's the choice he's made.
00:07:09
Speaker
But I think it's both of them because then she ends it with saying that not me or not we. She actually says very, very words this very carefully. One doesn't know if these malicious stories come from inside or outside the club. I mean...
00:07:30
Speaker
What is wrong with you? That is my first reaction. The thing is, in all honesty, I think we all know what this is about. And this is basically that ever since Beppe Marocha came in, he's been trying to change Inter. He's got this crazy notion that the football club, in a football club, comes first. Not the captain or the players. And he's trying to impose that. And the Icardis,
00:07:58
Speaker
or as I like to call them, the Argentinian Kardashians, are not big fans of this. But this is a war that they're going to lose, because Steven Zhang and Suning and Beppe Marotta are in completely on the same wavelength in terms of everything. And if she continues this, if it's not already too late, it will be too late, because this is a war she won't win, because you can't sack
00:08:28
Speaker
Like, they can't get a better director. I mean, after Sabatini's been there, there's been so many people in and out of that, they can't get a better director than Marotta right now in the stage that they are in. And I don't see them doing that either. So I think that either she, you know, like you said, either Miss Drama, you know, gets her kicks by, you know, hanging, you know, by fighting with her ex-husband, Maxi,
00:08:53
Speaker
or she
Inter's Continued Challenges
00:08:55
Speaker
and her current husband are going to have to leave the club because this is not working anymore.
00:09:01
Speaker
A lot of people have played it. I think going back to the the weekend and the result, I think the most important thing was that Inter have played badly and lost so many times that to play not brilliantly and win wasn't really important to show that they could do it. They did have the tenacity to pull it off even though it was a struggle, it was difficult. Things didn't flow beautifully as they might have hoped but
00:09:30
Speaker
I think from there they can use it as a platform to try and improve their performances. They've got the win, they've eased the pressure and now they can have a look at starting to play better. For me, one of the problems seems to be that Nangolan and Gao Mario naturally wanted to play in the same area of the pitch and they were getting in each other's way.
00:09:54
Speaker
And things like that, they can probably iron out. They're probably not too huge a problem. And it's just a little building block, I think, to stop the rock before it's got ridiculously out of hand. And I think that was just more important for them. Because they needed that.
00:10:13
Speaker
With the drama that was happening, if they would have found themselves essentially dragged down into this race with Roman Milan, I mean, who knows what else could spiral out of control? Oh, definitely. I mean, Inter aren't a normal club either, because it's like dog years. One human year is seven to 14 dog years. One human year is about 25 inter years.
00:10:41
Speaker
So there's a lot that can happen between in just a few days. And Marotta went out today again and said that I've spoken to Spaletti to clarify the situation. I just think this is basically, this football club has always been like this, but I like the direction they're going. And Marotta and Suning are trying to change
00:11:03
Speaker
this craziness that the Internet has always been known for and trying to level the ship and keep it like normal and not in the media and talk to each other like that. But whether they succeed or not, you know, we'll see. But Marotta, he
Fiorentina vs Napoli: Missed Opportunities
00:11:19
Speaker
certainly looks like he's aged 35 years in the two months you've been there. I mean, soon I feel like it's not been an easy start for him.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, and while that match was close, we had a lot of lopsided results. Roma, Hammer, Kievo, Juve, Hammer, Sasuolo. In a match that I sort of half-heartedly joked about it, Berardi, I feel like that was the first time he played against Juve in his entire career. He always seems to be injured when they come up against each other. Milan,
00:11:53
Speaker
They hammered Caggette 3-0. Chloe, your Fiorentina I thought were without question the most unlucky side of the weekend. I thought they deserved that against Napoli.
00:12:06
Speaker
I think so. I've read a lot of people said they thought it was pretty even, but I thought they deserved it, but maybe I was thinking that was my bias. And you got your wish fulfilled, a one Brian Dabo. Yes.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yes, I did. He wasn't actually in his normal position, just a disclaimer for anybody who thought that that was the best that he could give. He was brought in as a sort of a makeshift right back. So it wasn't a position that I wanted to see him in, just in front of the defence.
00:12:44
Speaker
But he did give a very good account of himself, I thought, especially as he was out of position, like actually quite a few of them were with problems, injuries and so forth in defence. Yeah, I mean, that defence was entirely makeshift. It really was. That's worth noting.
00:13:00
Speaker
yeah and then right at the end when Petzella got injured and we'd already made three subs and you know he was clearly hurt but he went to the touch line and he told Pioli that he didn't want to go off because he knew that would mean the side were down to 10 men and he played up front and Dabo went in at centre back so it was a really gutsy and a heroic performance
00:13:27
Speaker
against a strong team like Napoli and not only to keep a clean sheet, but to have chances to score and win the match. I think they did ever so well. I don't think Napoli are working quite as they should. I think they're going through a bit of a difficult patch with Ancelotti. But nonetheless, Fiorentina showed their fighting spirit. And that's great to see for a team that are so young.
00:13:56
Speaker
that they will go out and do battle and do what's necessary when things aren't really going their way. And Nima, I know you said you like this guy and Chloe, you mentioned you like him as well. But as you mentioned, the formation was a bit different. There were some injuries at the back. But one thing I found interesting was he opted, Peole opted for Muriel as the striker.
00:14:25
Speaker
with Jason Quiesa alongside of him. What do you make of Simeone? Because I just find it fascinating what they're going to do with him. Personally, I kind of liked when they put Muriel a bit more out wide. He always seems to do well in that wide forward position. But I'm curious, what do you think they need to do with him? What should I do with him? He's a problem at the moment.
00:14:52
Speaker
In his first season, his main strong
Napoli's Struggles with Ancelotti's System
00:14:57
Speaker
point I thought was that he was so bullish. He didn't seem to have a care in the world. He scored 14 goals.
00:15:10
Speaker
which isn't the highest tally, but it was still a good return in his first year. And there were games where he was strong, he scored with powerful headers, he just had this confidence about him. But this season, since he's not really been scoring, he's been drained of all this confidence. And I don't know
00:15:35
Speaker
I don't know, I mean obviously he scored two goals against Roma but that was a kind of a different situation because the game was already won. But he, I don't know what Pioli is going to do to bring the old semione back.
00:15:53
Speaker
And now we have Muriel, it's hard, you know, they can't drop Muriel, he's playing so well, the same with Keyos. Yeah, so it's going to be an interesting one to see if they cut their losses in Selim at the end of the season, or if they try and revive him. At the moment, he's not going to be his top value because he's just not playing well enough.
00:16:15
Speaker
I think in my opinion, I honestly think that Simeone, his style is this kind of tenacious defensive midfielder. He runs a lot, he fights a lot, but he's out of form right now and he's a young player, but I honestly think that against Napoli,
00:16:36
Speaker
who play a 4-4-2, who have fantastic wide players. I think it's a clever decision not to play Muriel on the wing, but instead kind of use him more centrally as they did, I think from a tactical point of view, you know, disregarding irrespective of if Simone is in form or not. But I think Kieza, Muriel on the wings and then Simeone up front is a really, really good
00:16:59
Speaker
is how I think they will play. And I think because it gives them so much movement, it gives them so much, it's such a fluid attack. And then you have the skill, just the skill of Muriel and Chieza, which is genuinely fantastic to watch.
00:17:17
Speaker
I was a bit surprised by the amount of goals missed by both teams. Fiorentina played
Serie A Recap and Sarri's Challenges at Chelsea
00:17:24
Speaker
well, played better than Napoli, but Napoli missed far more chances than Fiorentina did. It was a weird game. I did not expect these teams to miss so many sitters, especially Napoli.
00:17:38
Speaker
The nil-nil was so deceptive because it was so entertaining even though it was ended without a goal. The nil-nil does not really reflect what happened, but so many chances, and Milik and Insinie especially just completely missing so many sitters. I'm not a big fan of this 442 that
00:17:59
Speaker
that he's playing. I don't think Napoli come to their right, because given the amount of central midfield talent they have, I honestly don't like it.
00:18:18
Speaker
I mean, Ancelotti, you know, after Sarri, I think, you know, you have to, you know, develop in one way or one direction or another. And Ancelotti has chosen this. But I think one interesting thing is that he is rotating now. I remember last season, everyone was, you know, attacking Sarri about, why don't you rotate? Why don't you rotate? Well, Ancelotti is rotating now and they have eight less points than they did at this point last season. And they're out of the Coppa Italia on the Champions League.
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, and well, since there weren't many great matches this past weekend, I mean, Lazio squeezed one out against Empoli, obviously. We just discussed Fiorentina Napoli, Bologna, Genoa, that was, I don't know why I subjected myself to that. Atlanta barely beat Spal, Torino 1-0 against Utanese. I think we have to discuss,
00:19:12
Speaker
I mean, I know this is a Syria show, but I would love to discuss Maurizio Sarri. What a weird situation he is in.
00:19:26
Speaker
I'm a little puzzled because you would have thought that most Chelsea supporters and just, you know, Premier League fans in general would have understood that. I mean, I think it's common sense that his football takes some time. And I think there's a lot of players there who don't fit what he likes to do, particularly an attack. What do you two make of his situation? Because I just find it bizarre. So I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks that maybe you two disagree.
00:19:55
Speaker
No, I was expecting this to be honest. I mean, if you look at how, I mean, I don't, if you look at the net spend that Chelsea did this season, and I don't count the Pulisic signing because he has not, you know, he was in January and he's not going to come to the team until next season. So that is another 60, 70 million euros gone. So it's 150 million spent
00:20:16
Speaker
But if you look at the net spent, they've only spent 100 million euros net. And 80 million was a forced signing of Kepa, the goalkeeper, because of the Courtois situation. So the only player they actually really went big for to play Sari football was Jorginho. The man who's been hammered more than anybody I've ever seen before from Premier League Twitter.
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, but that to me is just, you know, you know how in the city our fans make, you know, make fun of Premier League fans, calling them prem faces and how they just don't. But.
00:20:51
Speaker
And they're kind of like, I think, validating that prejudice against them because Giorginio is a very good footballer. The problem is that, you know, it's like you need to have the other ingredients in the soup to make this. The sari soup needs a lot of, you know, need specific ingredients. You can't just have one of those ingredients as an expected to work.
00:21:13
Speaker
And that is the issue here. They only gave him Giorginio and expected Fabregas and all the others to work. I mean, if you look at the kind of football, again, the managers they've had, the three last managers, Benitez, Mourinho, Conte and Sarri,
00:21:32
Speaker
You mind telling me what exactly those three have in common in terms of football ideology? Because I don't see him. Absolutely, I mean the thing, I don't think. So I mean, and the only player they've given him to play that kind of football is Giorginio, which is important, absolutely. But the rest isn't there. And he's not a magician. And then again, people hammer on about him not playing
00:21:57
Speaker
as in as if what's his name of the young player, the English young player? Hudson Adoy. Yeah as if he's yeah as if he's yeah play him as if he's going to be some sort of messiah shifting things around if you read if you read if you if you listen to what
00:22:14
Speaker
Chelsea fans won't. I mean, what? It's just not going to happen. David Luis, Marco Salonso, you know, these players, you know, he doesn't have a Coulee Bali. He doesn't have a Caixon in Simeo Mertes. I mean, look, now he finally has Higuain on loan. They brought Higuain and Kovacic on loan. But still, that takes time. And we all know, you know, that players on loan
00:22:38
Speaker
The fact that they're there not permanently could have an impact on how they perform and how much they take in what the manager wants them to do. There's no Hamshik, there's no Alain, there's so many of these character players that he needs that aren't there.
00:22:58
Speaker
And if he compared to, for example, and I think the coach that is most similar to him in terms of how he wants to play and needs his, those ingredients to play that, is Pep Guardiola. But then you have a completely different situation there. He's gotten everything he's wanted. Yeah, and let's not forget that he struggled massively in his first season at Manchester City.
00:23:20
Speaker
It's first season, exactly, remember? Yeah, the style of play takes time. It doesn't just magically happen, otherwise everybody would be doing it. It seems ridiculous to me. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. And I continue to see several tweets about Giorgio. Well, he doesn't get any assists. And then I just, I pound my head in my hand and I just...
00:23:45
Speaker
like i i just i i don't even know what to say you don't even have to have watched just google it just i i mean just google it this guy has never had more than four assists in his entire career in a season so you're not going to get a bundle of assists
00:24:00
Speaker
I think even Rio Ferdinand said the same thing that he doesn't give any SS. So even somebody who is supposed to be in the know about the game, that he doesn't understand the basic position of register. And that's not, that's not what that role is set up for.
00:24:21
Speaker
Are we surprised that Rio Ferdinand does not understand the reduce their role? Some of the other things he said is that it has been okay in the past, I thought, but that just completely baffled me. Yeah, no, I understand what you mean. But in all seriousness, he...
00:24:39
Speaker
I think if you make a comparison you have to do a fair comparison and compare with Guardiola during his first season because they play the similar kind of football and then look at what he was given in terms of net spend and the players he wanted and also the players he got. Higuain came in January
00:25:02
Speaker
He had Aguero already there. David Silva was already there. There's so much, if you want to play, like you said, without quoting Mourinho too much, but when he says football heritage, I think it's really, really, really, it's true in this case. If you want to play that kind of football, you have to have those kinds of players. And they don't, Chelsea. And the fact that it got off to such a good start in the beginning is surprising more than anything.
00:25:31
Speaker
No, I was just going to say that when the initial rumours came out, when he was still at Napoli, that Chelsea wanted him. A fact that I write for that just talks about managers asked me to write about Sarri and what Chelsea could expect from him.
00:25:47
Speaker
So I wrote this article and I said if they bring in Mauricio Sarri they will have to be aware that A, he will need time to implement his football because it's a very specific system, it needs very specific players and without those things it won't work. And the second thing I said was that they have to expect that
00:26:07
Speaker
he's cantankerous. He's not media friendly like Pep Guardiola is. He's not got this some disposition and everybody at the end of the match yesterday, he's like, oh no, he didn't shake Pep's hand. No, that's Maurizio Sarri. That's just how he is.
00:26:28
Speaker
The lack of understanding of who Maurizio Sarri is, it really annoys me that people are saying, oh well, it was bound to not work out because Serie A is so much weaker than the Premier League, it's fine to be against Serie A, but it couldn't come to the Premier League. It's a lack of basic understanding that
00:26:54
Speaker
It's not the same thing at all. That's just not an argument because Sarri had everything he needed at Napoli. He built it over a while. And it's Chelsea that have raised these expectations. People are seeing clips of Sarismo, Sarri football on Twitter and like, oh, this is what we're going to get at Chelsea. No, you're not. Not straight away. Not unless you're prepared to have patience. And Chelsea just do not have that.
00:27:23
Speaker
No, no, they don't. And what they don't seem to have is a coherent plan of what they want to do at their football club and what they want to do. I mean, now they've had, you've had Antonio Conte, who's a world-class manager. Then, you know, before that you had Mourinho, who plays a completely different kind of football. Then you have Benitez before that, who plays another kind of football.
00:27:40
Speaker
and then you bring the saree into this and you just expect everything to work and on top of that you have an owner who doesn't want to who wants the club to be self-sufficient and not not spend money i mean you know what do you what is the recipe for disaster it really is yeah i mean it's like what do you expect him to do i mean i mean you have to understand it a simple google search will tell you that marizio saree is cranky he's not a very nice character when he gets angry he can say precisely everything i mean he called
00:28:07
Speaker
the current manager of the Italian Council of Humans, an effing fag for crying out loud during a game. I mean, he apologized for it after all, but that's the character you've got. As he said, do research into who you're bringing in. You know, you can't bring in this guy and expect him, you know, you can't expect an elephant to be a giraffe, you know, it's just
00:28:33
Speaker
He is who he is. And the media, the media love to, the English media in particular, love a scapegoat. So that scapegoat, and everybody who reads it buys into it completely. They love, like Sari and Georgina, that it's their fault, you know, and they're not looking at the bigger picture of what's going on.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the amount of Saudi fraud tweets I've seen over the last few days are just absolutely absurd. And it's funny that you have Pep Guardiola after the match saying that these things take time. It's unrealistic for him to come in and play his kind of football immediately. You would think that would resonate louder than
00:29:13
Speaker
you know, most other things people are saying, but I don't know. It seems to have fallen on deaf ears, unfortunately, because I mean, I do think he's a very good manager. I don't know how anybody who'd watched Napoli over these last few seasons could argue otherwise.
00:29:31
Speaker
Well, that
Roma's Lineup Challenges and Internal Drama
00:29:32
Speaker
doesn't happen by accident. That's that he's created. He created that Napoli like nobody else had done that before him. You know, that was his his work and his creation. And and, you know, he did great work before that employee. But to expect somebody so precise to work well in different circumstances is just ridiculous. So now we will move to Roma with an eye towards the Champions League where
00:29:59
Speaker
The odds of me being happy remain to be seen. It's either going to be a 7-1 or something similar to what we've seen against Barcelona. So there's no middle ground. So again, they hammered Chievo at the weekend. I have no idea what to expect. As we're recording this, it was just announced that Rick Karsdorp is going to miss the match. That means my good friend, Alessandro Florenzi, will be starting it right back.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yikes. Following John is just the Florenzi tweets are worth it. You know, it is the level like, it's like the level of the gallows humor when he's playing it right back. It's brilliant. People think I do this as if I hate the guy or something. This is, it's not personal whatsoever. In fact, I've met Florenzi twice.
00:30:54
Speaker
A fantastic guy, but as a footballer, he's somehow not rated by people yet overrated at the same time. It's the most curious thing. I don't know what to make of him, so he's going to start it right back. I don't think he's right back. I don't think he's an attacker. I don't know if he's a midfielder either. I don't even know what he is, but he will be there. Patrick Sheik was lost to injury as well against Kievo Soroma.
00:31:22
Speaker
Like Fiorentina at the weekend, they're probably going to have some sort of makeshift attack because they're missing so many names. What are you guys expecting from them? Because again, maybe it's because I support them that I have no idea what to expect.
00:31:37
Speaker
I think it's the same for me. It's like you need a crystal ball really because they seem to lurch from one thing to another, from disaster to being good. I'm not sure that there's much middle ground at the moment. The win at the weekend could be a good sign.
00:31:56
Speaker
But you just, at the moment, it's just too difficult to tell. One thing I did see today and that I really, really liked was that Daniele de Rossi came out in support of Alexander Kolorov and said that he
00:32:12
Speaker
he would like the fans to follow his example and forgive Kolorov and move on because you know Kolorov is a great guy and he's a consummate professional and you know I'm paraphrasing but that was along the lines of what he said and I thought that was really good and really important from a captain to come out and say something like that and promote some unity when you know this team really needs some kind of stability at the moment and yeah I just think that was really important.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, there was a bit of a, I wouldn't say a scuffle, but Manolas Coladov, they sort of got into it with a couple of fans at the train station before the matching against Teotatina. And as we all saw, that went brilliantly.
00:33:01
Speaker
actions completely justified. But nonetheless, he's been ever since then, he's been in a bit of a row with the Roma supporters and some didn't take too kindly after he scored against Kieva at the weekend. He took a bow in front of the away section and he didn't know whether that was sarcastic or if he was being sincere. He took a bit of abuse for doing that. But nonetheless, yeah, I agree with you, Chloe. He had his house defeated as well, did he not?
00:33:31
Speaker
He did. And also, there was a not so nice spray paint, spray painted message from one of the ultra groups that called him a Croatian. Oh, dear. Yeah, I mean, it's never it's it's never a dull moment in Italian football. And the beauty
Roma's Sporting Director Situation
00:33:56
Speaker
of this is,
00:33:58
Speaker
And correct me if I'm wrong, Chloe, but I don't see like these spray painted like messages in any other country. I don't see it in England. I don't see it in France. I mean, only in Italy do we have these things where a spray painted message from a fan can somehow turn into a newspaper headline. This near the stadium in Florence, there's some big public recycling bins.
00:34:29
Speaker
and I've spray painted on one of them which really amused me was Kazza de Gobi so basically for those who speak Italian it's a house for the Gobi which is a nickname for Juve. The derogatory term like hoodie yeah because they used to wear it wasn't it didn't that come from like the classic
00:34:52
Speaker
Juve training like they had like a really like training like lying from I think it was I think it was the Adora back then who released like this training training kit where they had like these hoodies on and people started calling them I think Gobi di Merda and stuff like that. Yeah I think there's a few stories there's one about them being hunchbacked because they go to the Fiat factory
00:35:19
Speaker
Yeah, something like that. I don't really know where it comes from. But yeah, they say that, you know, how House of Juventus is in the bin, which is nice. Yeah. Wow. Okay.
00:35:37
Speaker
never at all moment. I mean, we could have stories like this for forever. I just remember, gosh, this was seven years ago. When Roma lost the Coppitalia final to Lazio, I was in Rome at the time and there was a nice message left outside the home of Pablo Esvaldo, the now famed musician.
00:36:04
Speaker
I don't know the name of his band, but he seems to be doing well. Every time I come across one of those, it's always fun to see how supporters tend to air their grievances. Nima, you came up with an interesting talking point for today. You wanted to discuss, and this is interesting, the various sporting directors in the city.
00:36:30
Speaker
What, what were we going to do? Were we going to rank them? Well, I mean, the thing is like, basically, Nicolas Skira, who works for Gazeta de los Porte, came out with a kind of a semi-exclusive that Monchi is not working out too well at Roma. Oh, I wonder what made him think that. Yeah, no. No, but he basically came out that there seems to be something like, he's not happy with what he's done and he's not happy with the two years.
00:36:59
Speaker
he's open to leaving and the club aren't going to stand in his way. So it's not a sacking or something like that, but it's more like if he wants to leave and he feels that maybe it's time to leave or something. Along those lines, it's a nod and a wink situation. Nothing has been decided yet, but he came out with that story that might happen and that Roma this time around have a short list of sporting directors that they want to
00:37:28
Speaker
they want to sign, they want to replace Munchi with. And one and one of them was Inters Piero-Celio, another one was Mirabeli, another one was Valta Sabatini making a return. John must be quaking in the boots with all these names. I didn't mean with terrifying me. But there was one that I think was more terrifying for you, Chloe, and that is Pantalucarino.
00:37:56
Speaker
because that is what i wanted to discuss because i i mean for me mirabeli would be talk about from the you know jumping into a fire from the ashes i mean that would be just insane and i don't but now silio i do rate him but i don't think roma is the right piazza for him
00:38:11
Speaker
And a Sabatini return is just no. I mean, I like Sabatini, but not at all, not again. Don't go back. We've already established why. But Pantaleo Corvino is someone I think would do absolutely phenomenally well at Fiorentina.
00:38:32
Speaker
Because I think that if Chelsea were to lose their minds on SAC Maurizio Sarri, I can see a connection there. I can see a Sarri Corvino Roma. And I'm kind of curious. I wanted to talk a little bit about this with both of you guys and hear what you guys think about it. What do you make of that? First of all, if Monty were to leave, what are your thoughts on Corvino, John? I'm very split on him. Chloe probably has a
00:39:01
Speaker
much higher opinion of him than maybe I do. I'm just assuming I could be wrong. But I don't know because it did not go well at Bologna. It was terrible, frankly. They did not leave unamicable terms. Now, the problem that people have with Monchi is it's not finding talent. I mean, I think we could all agree he could find talent, but it's building a team.
00:39:28
Speaker
And that's sort of the knock that Walter Sabatini had. He replaced, Chloe, you know him well, Prade. And while I, see, I was waiting for that, exasperated.
00:39:45
Speaker
is I will have look my fury forever for um Sergei Morinkovich Savitch was inside Fiorentina Stadium ready to sign that contract and Prada messed it up.
00:40:00
Speaker
and then we went to Lazio. So thanks very much for that. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. That sounds nothing like him because this is a guy who said he wanted to work in the Premier League for a club like Spurs and is now at Udinese.
00:40:15
Speaker
Fifth different club In the same number of years, but anyway, I think they need a guy who can build a team I'm not worried about unearthing gems. That was a problem with Sabatini That was and is the problem with mochi. They need someone who can build a team now Corvino Looks like he can do that But
00:40:38
Speaker
I have some trepidations. I don't know. Part of me thinks that they have to look, perhaps, outside of Italy. I don't know who that would be. I don't know who would fit the bill. Because I do think that Monchi has, frankly, surprised, I think, by the amount of abuse that he's taken. Now, I do think a lot of it is rather unfair.
00:41:02
Speaker
But given the resources that he has, I think he's he should have done a much better job by this point, especially this past summer. I thought this past summer was not anywhere near what it should have been. So I don't know. I mean, if Covino were to arrive, I wouldn't be upset. But
00:41:18
Speaker
I think he would upset people in Rome. I think, you know, he's very, I guess he's a bit like Maurizio Sarri in the fact that don't expect him to make friends. He's cantankerous and he's bad tempered in that way. And, you know, the
00:41:39
Speaker
Dela Valle is the owner of Fiorentina, I love him because he doesn't care about being the bad guy, he doesn't care to tell Fiorentina fans, we're selling all the fan favourites because they're too old and they're on too much money.
00:41:57
Speaker
Things have been handled very badly in that way and Corvino has been happy to be the bearer of bad news. Although he absolutely can't fault him in the players that he's brought in and the team that he's built for Fiorentina, he
00:42:12
Speaker
he's not personable in his manner at all. I think that is exactly what Roma need. I mean if you look at Roma, I think if there's anything that I think the totti debacle towards those last few years kind of taught us is the fact that no one wants to play the bad guy and it ends up blowing up. Yeah, everyone's a bit too nice I guess.
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah, no, because they're afraid of what the repercussions will have. Pantaleo Corvino is, if Sarvi is an elephant, then Corvino is a mammoth on, I don't know, like a hundred, 3,000 times the biggest man to ever live on the Earth. He just does not care. He has his ideas, he knows what he wants, and he gets it done, and he does not care if it makes him look bad. But to John's point, if there's anyone who can build a team,
00:43:05
Speaker
it is that man. Well he's proved it out there and they sold pretty much everybody. There were probably only five first teamers left at the club something like that and probably some of them have even gone now and he built the new team full of all young players so you know he's proven that he's done it.
00:43:26
Speaker
And he's done it twice at Fiorentina, but I think the most important, what I find is probably his greatest masterpiece is his sporting director job for seven years at Lecce. When he built that team with, I mean, the players he bought there, the Berbatovs, the Ledesmas, the Wuchenich, the Shevantons, the Bozhinovs,
00:43:50
Speaker
I mean, no, he didn't sign Berbatol. It was very close. But what I'm saying, he can build teams with very limited resources and he can do it with getting the right man and the right coach in there.
00:44:07
Speaker
If we look at Prandeli, if we look at the coaches he's had, he does like, I mean, Saray to me would be, that would be a match in heaven, wouldn't it? I mean, the only problem would be if a big elephant and a giant mammoth could work together. That would be, that's the only worry there. But I think in terms of football ideology,
00:44:27
Speaker
and in terms of how they would fit together on paper, I think they are imaginative. Yeah, I agree, because Sari's got such a clear idea of what he wants.
00:44:39
Speaker
And Corvino could find the players that he wants. But maybe, this is just a completely hypothetical idea, but maybe if Monty did stay and Sarri suddenly became available and Roma did take him, maybe that would help Monty out because
00:45:00
Speaker
If De Francesco is inexperienced and he's not quite sure of the kind of players that he wants, it might have been a bit more difficult. But Sarri does know and he has a clear system and he has a clear idea of the players that he'd need. And that might give Monty a hand in turning things around and signing the right kinds of players. Yeah, I mean, part of me still thinks that if there is one
00:45:28
Speaker
sporting director in the city are currently like if I just had a rank who's most likely I still think Danielle de Fagiano at Panama would be one of the names that Palo Alto would look at but a lot of this is you're coming into a club that and this is going to sound
00:45:49
Speaker
probably a bit harsh, is essentially a bit of a play thing for Palota. One of his good friends, Alex Zeka, he oversees all of the sporting at Roma. He has no football experience. He is a hedge fund guy. So you have to be working with him. And I don't know how that sits with some of your typical
00:46:11
Speaker
you know, Italian sporting director. So I don't know. But I mean, if you think about it nowadays, Corvino isn't even the sporting director, he's the director of football. So you could
Branca's Poor Management at Inter
00:46:21
Speaker
maybe have a situation where you would have, he would be the director of football, like have a much more, like have a higher position, higher up and then completely run the club and let Palota just be the flamboyant crazy little guy that comes and
00:46:37
Speaker
you know, that tries to build a stadium that never gets built. I mean, no, but you know what I mean? Like that kind of a... And jumps in the fountain. And you know, like what I mean, like that kind of a character, that he can be more kind of like that. A bit more like Ferrero at Santoria, where Ostil runs everything. And you have Ferrero there kind of like as a showman, pretty much.
00:47:03
Speaker
Well, Nima, in the last five years, there's been a name that has terrified me every time he's been linked to an open sporting director job at Roma. And I've seen it at least three to five times over the last handful of years. And I sometimes I wake up in the night with like a sweat because I get so nervous of this happening. And I think you may know who I'm talking about. Marco Branca. Oh, you've said the name.
00:47:30
Speaker
Look, Marco Branca, if he has money, he's good. But then again, who is not good when the sporting director, when you have money? But I mean, I think his weaknesses is best exemplified by when Marco Branca, after the treble in the 2011-2012 season, I think it was, when things have really gone pear-shaped, when Gasparini was there, and you have
00:48:00
Speaker
And you have this guy go up against my favorite sporting director of the past 20, 30 years, Pierpaolo Marino, who's at Atalanta.
00:48:09
Speaker
I mean talk about taking the cow to the market and coming back with three magic beans. He sells Livia and I think eight million for half and gets half of the rights to Skeloto. I mean talk about having someone run around you, like run circles around you. No, Marco Branca would be, I mean Roma are in trouble.
00:48:32
Speaker
It would be a disaster without, I mean, I can understand why you wake up in the middle of the night with scared witless when that name is connected to Roma, because I think that would be an unmitigated disaster of biblical proportions. I mean, those transfer market sessions that he had from the treble
00:48:52
Speaker
So when he left in 2014, it's almost like a comedy show. We don't need jokes. We just need to look at the list. He's the only sporting director that I have ever, ever known. When you want to get rid of Cassano, that was a special situation. But his way of counting was that, look,
00:49:15
Speaker
That swap deal he made with Parma for Belfodil, I think it was, who else was it? It was Ishak Belfodil and some other players where he gave them Cassano pretty much. Like, please just take him, take him, have him. Have that, have the couch, have the car, have the keys to mine. You know what I mean? And he got like absolutely nothing for it. He really is bad. He really is bad. And he doesn't work well under pressure.
00:49:43
Speaker
as he showed at Inter, it was just a complete disaster. But he was a good friend of Angel Mario Morati, the son of Massimo Morati. And I think he was severely criticized for that, as well, that, you know, you've only got this job because you're friends with the Morati family. And he was sacked after the debacle by Eric Tohir during the debacle with Freddy Guarin.
00:50:10
Speaker
uh where Freddie Guarin um it was where somebody came up with it with the I mean to this day though to to Branca's defense no one no one has admitted who who is behind it but basically um someone at Inter came up with the with a genius idea to swap Freddie Guarin who was then the only player Inter had was worth some money
00:50:30
Speaker
Oh, this was a brilliant story. We could talk about this one for half an hour. Yeah, it was a pretty interesting day for me because I was the one who broke that story. That was a really crazy day. But yeah, basically what happened was that Guarin was going to Juventus. Someone came up with a brilliant idea that they should send the player that Inter can actually get the most money for to Juventus in exchange for Mikobuchenes. The man, the myth, the legend.
00:50:57
Speaker
who was so deep in Antonio Comte's freezer that he hadn't seen the pitch for months.
00:51:06
Speaker
And when this came out, when this leaked in the media that they wanted to do this, Inter fans all went, like that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The backlash and the abuse that Inter took that day, that never happened before. And then Eric Tahir, the story that I broke was that, you know, when everyone was reporting that it was done, I broke the story that it wasn't done, that Eric Tahir actually backed down.
00:51:34
Speaker
and instead he pulled the plug on that deal. I mean Guarin, you have to understand, Guarin was in Juventus HQ in Turin, ready to sign a contract and Vucinic was in Milan, in Inter's headquarters, ready to sign his contract. And wasn't Guarin so set on this move? Didn't he lock himself?
00:51:58
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah he was and it was a complete totally normal complete shit show um where where where where like and but that ended ended speaking up because i mean that was he just become the president and owner to hear them and messing with uventus because uventus completely lost the plot there and and and they were really really angry at this at this situation but that not only made inter fans like eric togia because
00:52:22
Speaker
When you annoy Juventus to the point where they lose their marbles, that only speaks to your favour, it doesn't matter what you do. As long as you spite Juventus and piss them off, you're okay, you're fine. And then
Upcoming Matches and Team Performances
00:52:36
Speaker
he went off and bought Hernandez instead of Regina England, which is just pretty much his opinion.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, which says everything you want to know about that man and the knowledge that he has about football. So, but no, but Marco Branca was sacrificed that day as the person behind all of this, which I mean, I'm sure he was, but I think that was just, you know, that was just a way to get rid of the Marathi influence by Toria as well.
00:53:08
Speaker
veering back to present day, the match is this weekend again. We've got a much better slate than this past weekend. So, you've frozen on it. No, thank you. Calieri, Parma. No, thank you. But Atalanta Milan. Wow. Wow. Does that one have many, many, many implications? What are we expecting?
00:53:31
Speaker
I think this is the real test for Mila, if they are the good thing, because they've looked so well. Ever since Paqueta and Pianta could come in, they have these lines and these movements, and their attack looks so natural and easygoing. But I think this is a test. And they're at home as well, so... They look like they are the finished product. This is the prime... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:53:59
Speaker
Yeah, so for me, it's an early test for Gatuzos Mila to see if they are ready to challenge for that fourth spot. But if Atalanta do what they did against Juventus and what they did against Inter, what they can do at home, this could be ugly for Mila. And then Nima, we've got Samp in your club, but
00:54:38
Speaker
hide thing that they can beat Napoli at home and destroy them and then they lose to Fosinone at home. But then again you never really know, Sampdoria can turn up, I mean last season into until the 67th minute ran riot and then two quick goals and all of a sudden it was a game again.
00:54:40
Speaker
I don't know if any, but this was a very sneaky result.
00:54:53
Speaker
Gabi Adini always does well against Inter. He has a record of scoring against Inter. I had a thought about something about Gabi Adini that actually they've already got a player in Sapanara who is a little bit mentally
00:55:09
Speaker
week and a little bit up and down. He has good days and bad days, some days he's brilliant, some days he's not. And then I saw that against Fresno, they started him with Gabi Adini, who is another player that struggles with consistency the same. And, you know, if they both have a bad day at the same time, then I don't know, I'm just not overly sure that Gabi Adini and Sapanara are a good combination.
00:55:38
Speaker
No, they're not. And I think that's the thing. It is the consistency thing and that is the problem. But then again, you don't know because you don't really know who's turning up.
00:55:52
Speaker
Is Quagliarella going to have one of those Quagliarella days or is he going to have one of his poorer days? I mean, he looked really poor against Frosinone. Is he going to have a good day? I mean, it really depends. Santoria is just such an enigma to me. It's just impossible. I mean, it's basically the two teams that are
00:56:13
Speaker
Known to be dr. Jekyll's and mr. Hyde's that are facing off at the San Siro and inter you know You have to understand on Thursday interplay a rapid Veen Vienna away in the Europa League as well so This I say and you know the game we eat there have might have gone a little bit of respite after winning against Parma But a poor result against rapid Veen away and hello, mr. Crisis, you know, it's yeah, it's
00:56:39
Speaker
They're just such an interesting side because and oddly
Serie A Relegation Battle and Goalkeeper Performances
00:56:43
Speaker
enough that that victory for frozen on a I mean now Frankly, I thought they were dead and buried. They were for sure going to make the drop But I mean if you look at the table now, they are right in the thick
00:56:55
Speaker
of that battle for relegation. Obviously, Kievo, far at the bottom, but you have Frosinone at 16, Empoli at 18, Bologna at 18, Uteneze at 19, and then Calieri at 21. So what looked like two teams for short making the drop, Frosinone gets a massive win, and now they're right there again. Yeah, they really are.
00:57:20
Speaker
And Frosinone, they seem to be like, they really are the ugly duckling of this Serie A, aren't they? It's nobody wants them, nobody, like, you know, nobody, everyone counts them out, but then they keep surprising over and over and over again. And it's going to be interesting to see. I mean, now, obviously, this weekend, they're playing away against Juventus at the Juventus Stadium, who, you know, the only thing that speaks for them is the fact that you've played the Champions League the following week.
00:57:50
Speaker
So the game is already going to be played on a Friday, but I just don't see anything else other than Juve controllingly winning this game on the Friday. And it was interesting, Chloe, Marco Sportiello, the goalkeeper of, formerly Fiorentina at Alanta, had a phenomenal performance. And I've got to say, I was shocked Fiorentina didn't buy him permanently.
00:58:16
Speaker
Me too. It's a difficult one. They had this chance to get Alban Lafont and he, you know, is this promising youngster, the person they've called the French Don Rummer. And, you know, Fiorentina have got a chance to get him before everybody else decides they want him.
00:58:39
Speaker
And I think they couldn't afford to pay him and Sportiello, but it was really, really sad. I didn't want Sportiello to go. He was a really good keeper. And he certainly is better than a club like Frozzanoni with no disrespect to them. I think he could play for a club much higher up the table than that. And as it proved with Fiorentina, there was a game against Roma, in fact, when he played out of his mind.
00:59:08
Speaker
uh last season I seem to remember um yeah and he's you know it was a real shame to see him go but I think he was just a victim of circumstance but LaFont I gotta say he was I think he was the man of the match against uh Napoli Shore sure you know Shore sure Napoli missed a lot of cities but LaFont saved some of them were just
00:59:30
Speaker
Unbelievable. I think he was probably his best game so far. He's learning in front with everybody's eyes on him. He's straight into the first team and he's still only so young and he has made mistakes. There's definitely been mistakes this season, but he's proven that he has got the talent and he will keep on improving, I think. Corvino, ladies and gentlemen, Corvino.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think it will serve us well in the long term, to be honest, that we got him. But I think that's
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:00:02
Speaker
where we'll leave it. We'll be back next week. Again, thank you to everyone who's been listening. If you could do the same thing as we've asked in the previous two episodes, like, rate, subscribe, all that good stuff that on all the various platforms that you're listening to us on, we would greatly, greatly appreciate it. And until next week, we will talk to you then.