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Full Episode - Serie A Returns: Pirlo's Quick Start, Napoli Shine, and more (Ep. 54)
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast with John Solano, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tuvali.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello everybody, welcome back. It's another episode of the Italian football podcast. Very excited as the first match day of the city is in the books.
Patronage and Episode Access
00:00:35
Speaker
Again, a reminder, before we get into everything, you can become a patron over at Patreon by going to www.patreon.com.
00:00:44
Speaker
And as another reminder, all of our episodes for the month of September will be free. And then starting next month, you will have to become a patron to access all of the episodes of the Italian football podcast. But we will be doing one episode per month free. So again, patreon.com slash T-I-F-P. All right, Nima, Carlo, how are you two doing?
Juventus' Victory and Key Players
00:01:10
Speaker
Doing great. Juventus had a fantastic win in their first game under Pirlo. Couldn't have gone any better. So, yeah, I'm happy today. And we know Nima's excited because Blast from the past, 2015. Arturo Vidal is on his way. He has arrived. Antonio Oconte Nima is reloading again, as we said last time. A FIFA save from 2015, yeah.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, this is great. So I know you're very excited. Yeah, no, he's I mean, I'm good. But for me, the exciting thing was, you know, obviously being Swedish is the Kulessevsky debut yesterday. It was fantastic to watch. It was it was really interesting to watch all the Swedish media do the you know, everyone who remembers when Zlatan did the same thing for some 16 years ago. It was very sentimental evening for a lot of us.
00:01:56
Speaker
Fair enough. All right, well, let's not waste any more time. Let's jump into it. Let's jump into Juve. We'll get to Napoli and we'll get to Fiorentina. All right, here we go. Well, it was a dream debut for Pierlo. You had a very poor Sam Thorty aside, to be fair. Claudio Ranieri was pretty clear about that in the post-match. But Carlo, let's just get right into what you thought about the debut of Pierlo as the manager of Juventus. So what did you think? What stood out to you?
Pirlo's Tactical Approach
00:02:24
Speaker
Well, there are a number of things. I mean, tactically, I think was the Juventus, I mean, Piola went back to a 3-5-2 formation. But in an offensive phase, it was virtually a 3-2-5.
00:02:40
Speaker
and you know it was very very progressive football very attacking pressing high up the pitch getting lots of men into the box lots of intensity lots of energy all the things that we didn't see under under Maurizio Sarri last season where Juventus kind of plodded through matches and there was no real excitement
00:03:02
Speaker
And it was very, very encouraging. I mean, we shouldn't go overboard. You know, this San Pedro team, it's not a good team. They had no new summer signings in the team. But on a tactical level, it was very, very, very promising for Juventus and PLO, especially as, you know, there were so many question marks going into the game about PLO, someone that's, you know, had no coaching experience, hadn't even got his coaching badges when he when he took over at Juventus.
00:03:29
Speaker
You know, Juventus looked a very aging, declining team last season. And you know, all that, he brought a lot of enthusiasm. And yeah, Nima mentioned Kolesevski, fantastic debut, scored a beautiful goal.
00:03:44
Speaker
Western McKinney who I know someone we're going to talk about later in the show. He was fantastic again in Midfield. Very good. Really, really impressive. Won loads of Bulls and was great. Aaron Ramsey had probably his best ever game in the Juventus shirt.
00:04:02
Speaker
It was, you know, Juventus were playing really, really impressive modern football. So I'm very excited to see how they get on against Roma in the next game and then against Napoli, because I think then we can really see for sure whether PLO is onto something.
00:04:18
Speaker
Okay, now, Pierlo did address this in the post-match, and I'm curious to hear from both of you. Nima, let's start with you. He was asked about, once Dibala comes back, how you adapt the team to him returning. Because you just mentioned Kuliszewski. There is no doubting his ability, his class, his skill, scores on his debut. Ronaldo being Ronaldo, that's obvious. So, very curious to hear from both of you. How do you...
00:04:46
Speaker
What does this team look like when Di Bala comes back? Because it is really, you're the victim of having too many good options. Well, you see, I don't see that as an issue because I think it's quite obvious to me that, as I said last week, I didn't have that many doubts about Andrea Pirlo turning out to be a good tactician.
00:05:07
Speaker
or a person who understands the game. I think his career is a testament to understanding the game. So for me, based on yesterday, which is kind of all we've got to go on, he strikes me as a person who has very clear ideas how he wants to attack, but the way to get there, he's very pragmatic about. So where Allegri was a complete pragmatic coach, and Maurizio Sarri and Antonio Conte are complete ideologues,
00:05:37
Speaker
Andrea Pirlo is a pragmatic ideologue. And the way he will form this team will depend entirely on who they're playing and what needs to be done to be able to do certain things, such as having those five players swarm the penalty area when Juventus have the ball like they did yesterday. Koulousevski was played out of position yesterday. But with Dibala coming in, I absolutely have no problem seeing this team play a 4-3-3.
00:06:06
Speaker
a 4-2-3-1, or like yesterday a 3-4-1-2. No problem seeing that. I think that is what we will see Pirlo's Uwe do. It will be very very fluid. It will have clear ideas and identity on how to play, but the formation, that will be very very fluid. Do you agree with that, Carlo?
00:06:26
Speaker
I think it's going to be very interesting to see what happens not only when Di Barla comes back, but also if Juventus sign this traditional old-fashioned number nine that they've been trying to sign. Obviously, Jeko or Suarez was the main target. We're going to have to wait and see.
Juventus' Tactical Needs
00:06:44
Speaker
Suarez is definitely not going to arrive anymore.
00:06:47
Speaker
Alvaro Morata has now come back into the mix, although he's not a number nine either. So if Juventus bring in more of a, let's say, a goal scoring striker, then, you know, what does PLO do with that player as well? I think, like Nima said, PLO has a vision of the game, which is definitely based on the match against San Pedroia.
00:07:12
Speaker
is a modern vision of football in which the formation doesn't really matter. It's more about space on the pitch. The spaces that the players occupy on the pitch is really what matters and in that sense
00:07:30
Speaker
As Nima said, Kudosevsky played out of position yesterday in a 3-5-2, played as a central forward, which he isn't. The same can be said of Ronaldo. Ronaldo has been well documented, hates playing as a central forward, he wants to play from the left.
00:07:45
Speaker
Ronaldo played fantastically, missed a lot of chances but you know he could have scored six or seven goals against Samp and he looked really dangerous and he seemed to enjoy the role and that is because yes on paper he started as a centre forward but actually he was coming mainly from the left which he likes to do so it was all about again all about the space Aaron Ramsey another example he played basically in the hole which again is a position Aaron Ramsey hates playing he's been very
00:08:14
Speaker
very vocal about it. He wants to play in a three-man sentiment field. He doesn't want to play basically as a number 10, which he kind of was against Samp. So again, if Pielo does change the formation to bring in a Di Bala,
00:08:29
Speaker
I guess it probably doesn't matter if PLO keeps that same vision about space, about intensity. So yeah, it's going to be very, very interesting to see what happens as more players become available. I think we should just give a shout out to left-back Gianluca Frabotta, who was fantastic. You stole the words out of my mouth. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I mean, it was... No, I agree. I'm blown away. I agree, because when that team shit came out, what was the first thing everybody turned to? It was the left-back role, no?
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was. Wow. Everyone Googled Googled him. Come on. Hold on real quick, though, in all seriousness, because I was going to bring this up. What is it? Did Luca Pellegrini, did he insult Parati Chi? Did he bump into Ned Vets car at the training center? What are they thinking? I cannot believe that they are going to allow him to go to Genoa. And meanwhile, the other option is the Shilio with Alexandre Al. Come on.
00:09:25
Speaker
Can we all agree on that? It's weird. It's very weird. It's very weird. It's very weird. And you know, I like Pellegrini. I thought it was excellent in Caliari last season. And I think if he goes to Genoa, Genoa are very strengthened by that because just watching them yesterday, the way they played. Oh, they look great. They look awesome. And I think Mattia Destro is going to be this season's Chico Caputo.
00:09:50
Speaker
You know what I mean? Every season, we have this Italian player who scores a lot of goals and over-performs a little bit. And Caputo was last season. I think this season's Caputo is... Or, you know, this season's... It is without an Amatia Destro. That's my hunch. You don't like Destro?
00:10:06
Speaker
Come on, you know, this is a guy I know. I mean, I like him a lot, especially as a person. I've met him quite a few times. He's a lovely, lovely guy. It's just... But he looked good. That move to Roma was like the best and the worst thing that ever happened to him. He had that one season, 2013, 2014, he does great. And then ever since then, he falls off a cliff. But would it surprise me? No, because there's absolutely unequivocally a player in there.
00:10:33
Speaker
I'm backed by Goran Pandev as well, who looked amazing in Zappa Costa. I mean, not Genoa, Genoa are looking good. The Benjamin Button of Serie A. Yeah. That guy will never die. Love Pandevinho. And Piazza as well. Don't
Controversial Handball Rules
00:10:45
Speaker
forget Marco Piazza coming up tonight. Absolutely. He is a player. There is a great player in there. And Milan Bardelli as well. No, they've got good players now. They really do. Yeah, I agree. Hey, real quick though, we have to talk about this hand, this handed ball rule. Nima, I know this is your, this is like the bane of your existence. Yes.
00:11:01
Speaker
So, of course, first match day in the Serie A. Of course, we cannot get through a single match day without some sort of controversy. So, go ahead. The floor is yours. No, I mean, I cannot stand Nicola Rizzoli. I couldn't stand him when he was a referee because I thought he was incompetent. And so naturally, they made him the chief referee designator and the person to run the Italian refereeing association, because that's what you do. I mean, just listen to the interview he gave two days ago together at the Los Porte.
00:11:32
Speaker
I'm not making this up to see these are actual quotes. We will no longer see goals disallowed like Zlatan Ibrahimovic's in Florence. The rules have changed, so now immediacy does matter. An example would be Jordan Vera too in Roma Sampdoria, as that would still be disallowed because there's no gap between the Carlos Perez handball and his shot. Ibras would be allowed.
00:11:52
Speaker
Some penalties were too soft. There's contact and then there's contact. Above all, in a contact sport like football, I would, for example, not want to see a penalty given, again, for Martin de Roon's handballing event as Atalanta. It was too soft. There are situations that are to be evaluated on the pitch as part of a match scenario, but we can't take away the instinct of a defender's movement. If the arm could not be retracted, it cannot be punishable with a penalty.
00:12:15
Speaker
The objective is allowing defenders to play football without having their arms clamped to their side like penguins. I hope there will be fewer penalties this season so that we interpret contact more accurately. At the same time, I hope players realize that not every contact equals a penalty. If I were to take what is wrong with Italy into one human being and one statement, it would be that.
00:12:41
Speaker
Dear Ritsoli, here's a crazy idea. What about, stay with me here, what about whenever it is a penalty, it is a penalty regardless of how many they are and when it's not a penalty we don't give it regardless of how many should have been given or should not have been given. What is wrong with you? Why are you making this so damn hard? I mean the rules
00:13:04
Speaker
When you make rule changes such as the handball rule, it takes time to adapt to it. Sure, there were irregularities or inconsistencies last season, but this pendulum swinging of everything is a penalty to now nothing is a penalty is so quintessentially Italian football and so incredibly stupid.
00:13:22
Speaker
And I don't understand, because already now against Sampdoria Uwe, we have a situation that would have been a penalty next season. You know what's going to happen. A couple of rounds into the Serie A, no penalties will be given. Presidents will be having meltdowns.
00:13:39
Speaker
Then they'll change the rules again. And then middle of the season, they'll change how to judge these situations. And again, you have the inconsistencies. And again, the whole discussion is up and running again. I'm astounded at the level of inconsistency. Was it a penalty, though?
00:13:58
Speaker
Which one? The Panucci one. Yes. If you look at the rules, it says what should matter. The rules say make your body unnaturally larger. And there are mitigating factors to that as well.
00:14:13
Speaker
you know such as distance and that but to me that that's a penalty if that's not a penalty then when when when is it a penalty you know what i mean like this is what i mean and again with the inconsistencies i'm not saying that you know i'm not saying that you have paid off the refs or anything like that it's no let's be serious here
00:14:29
Speaker
No, I'm saying that the person in charge of this is incompetent and is as clear as mud when he speaks to the media and to the referees and therefore you have this mess and add that to the already incompetence of someone like Rosario Abiso and you have a perfect storm brewing.
00:14:50
Speaker
That's my point. There's a crisis regarding the handball rule in all leagues, not trying to defend the Ritzer League. We've seen chaos. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. We've seen chaos in the Premier League this week, last weekend as well, with regards to the handball rule. With the Benucci incident specifically, I mean, I've struggled. I've been trying to find more than one angle on the incident and I've struggled to find it. It always looks worse in slow-mo. I will definitely say that. Slow-mo does look damning.
00:15:19
Speaker
But, you know, there's the distance. I mean, my view of the handball rule is simple. You need common sense from referees. It's as simple as that. And the problem is that most referees lack common sense because a lot of them have never really played the game. I'm not saying a referee has to have played the game, but it's a difficult one. I don't think there's any clear answer to the handball rule anywhere.
00:15:43
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think... The problem is, it's so subjective now. That's the problem with all of these new rules. That's what I mean. Thank you. It has gone from an objective rule to completely subjective. But it's IFAB. It's IFAB's fault. The way they've worded that, the way they've worded that, it's horrible because the contradictory in the rule itself. You know what the problem is? The problem is that the IFAB and the rule makers in the sport, they have to justify their own existence. Yes.
00:16:13
Speaker
their own funding by changing the rules all the time. And this is what drives me crazy because I would say that in the 1990s, you know, we'd almost reached the point where the rules in football were perfect. But IFEP have to, you know, and they have to keep changing the rules all the time to justify the existence. And that's why we see ridiculous new offside rules, new handball rules, new penalty rules.
00:16:35
Speaker
you know we see all these changes being made and occasionally yes you do need the odd change here and there and there have been some good rule changes you know the back pass rule for example if we're going back a long long time where you know the teams used to be able to um pass back to their own goalkeeper who could pick it up you know changing it to ban that that was a great rule change there's been a lot of rule changes i mean i would go far to say the passive offside rule where you know which
00:17:00
Speaker
you know as allowed strikers to really take advantage of that way you're not offside in the first phase and then you're you're on side and you know for the second second phase um you know has really damaged football as well and i think the handball rule was just chaotic now yeah i think this whole thing is a mess it's an absolute mess and again the subjectivity around it it just it just makes it a complete nightmare it's awful i think
00:17:23
Speaker
I just think the fact that some of the changes are good. Like if your arm is above elbow, then that's automatically making your body bigger and unnatural and that's not allowed. Or when a player is going to tackle and he uses his arm to shield, you know, to balance his body on the ground, that's not a penalty. Like, those are common sense things. I can understand that. I thought the Bonucci one was common sense. I thought that was abundantly obvious.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, no, that was. But I mean, the rule changes as a whole that they've imposed. I think some of those are good. But this now, where Rizzoli comes out and says, I'm not happy with the number of penalties. What? It's not like they're not handing out sweets, where there's a certain number of sweets to hand out, and we can't hand out too many. No, that's not how it works. If it's a penalty, it's a penalty. Pull stop.
00:18:15
Speaker
until the players learn not to do those those fouls. I mean, I don't get this notion of that there's a certain amount of penalties we have to give. And if we go more than that, then, you know, that's bad. What? No. Apply the rules consistently. This really shouldn't be that hard. And they make it that hard.
00:18:33
Speaker
All right, no more penalty talk, okay? No, please. We're done. Okay, now let's get into Napoli and then we'll talk a bit about Fiorentina and Federico Chiesa. So, Napoli. We see this sort of new look, Napoli. It's the first preseason where they have Gattuso to work with him.
00:18:49
Speaker
What did we think? They looked good in
Napoli's Championship Potential
00:18:51
Speaker
my opinion. They beat Parma 2-0. For me, I thought Napoli did look good, but I thought that match seemed more of an indictment on Parma because I would not be surprised if we see them lagging near the very bottom of the table because they were my team who I predicted to have the biggest falloff of anybody. They looked so bad. They could have played that match for 150,000 more minutes, and I don't know if Parma would have scored a goal. They looked so bad. So disjointed.
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah, so terribly disjointed, especially attacked, just awful. God. Oh, they're terrible, but... Napoli were good, though. Napoli were good, though. Napoli were good, but it wasn't... I wasn't able to tell if that was more of a good Napoli or a really bad part of a...
00:19:32
Speaker
I think it was a bit of both. Yeah, probably. Palma didn't threaten at all. Oh, they were terrible. They didn't create a single chance in the whole game. But I was very impressed with Napoli. I mean, they dominated the whole game possession-wise and territorially. They didn't create too much until Victor Osseman come on. As soon as he come on, he really made a difference in the final third. It's only one game, but he looked really, really good.
00:20:00
Speaker
He added pace and he's so quick. There was one moment where he made up about five metres on a defender. It was incredible. He showed some really nice touches, some good link-up play with Insinia. One moment where Insinia hit the post.
00:20:18
Speaker
You know a box threat and and you can tell that the ossie men is really highly rated in Napoli because you can see how how all the players Behave around him and the way that they were talking about him, but you know after the game as well That's always a clear sign. We saw this that was the same kolosevsky all the eventous players have been raving about kolosevsky in training and the Napoli players have been doing the same with ossie men so you can tell that
00:20:41
Speaker
that he's, you know, he's a real talent. And and Gattuso again, I think Gattuso shown himself to be more than just a motivator for sure. He's a he's a tactician as well, because for sure, he switched from a 4-3-3, which he started the game in. And then when Aussie men came on, he switched to a 4-2-3-1 for the last 30 minutes. And that's a formation he's been testing in preseason. So Gattuso Gattuso shown himself a lot. And I think as we said on the show, in our preview show last week,
00:21:08
Speaker
I think we all agreed that Napoli are a dangerous team this season. There's lots of quality in the squad and for me, assuming that they keep Kouli Bali and time is running out for City to do that deal, I think that at the very least that their Champions League qualifies and who knows, even potential challengers for the Scudetto. I'm not saying they'll win it.
00:21:29
Speaker
For me, for me, they're without a doubt a challenger to this Correto. I think I look at that squad and I look at the way they want to play. And I see two, three options, good options in every position. And I'm glad you brought the defense up because I thought Manolas and Cooley Valley for the first time. Manolas joined. I thought they looked good. They looked awesome. They looked, they understood each other. They look like a cohesive unit. They, they read each other. They,
00:21:53
Speaker
They complimented each other really, really well. And again, you've got to give it to Napoli's ability to scout players. This Demme and, I mean, Zielinski, Demme, these players and Lobotka even, no one knew who these players were really. And again, they look so good. Now I'm really, really, really impressed by this Napoli team. And as I said, they are, for me right now, I mean, again, I don't like to make predictions until the Mercato closes, but to me, they are the number one challenger right now to Juventus for the Scudetto.
00:22:23
Speaker
And first half versus second half, as you alluded to, Carlo, it was like two different teams. So, you know, it'd be difficult for me to envision Gattuso continuing with that 4-3-3. But my biggest question is sort of something you just touched on, Nima. If they do keep that 4-2-3-1,
Kiesa's Positioning and Future
00:22:40
Speaker
I just don't know if they have the two midfielders that fit that role other than Ruiz because Zielinski, come on, that's not him, that's not his role. I think they would have to bring in another name. They've been linked to Roma's Verretu. I don't think Roma will sell him. That would be unfair. Yeah, that would be unbelievable. The way those two would compliment each other would be just incredible. Congratulations on giving them the Scurretto, because Verretu would be fantastic. He would fit right in. He would fit right in.
00:23:07
Speaker
All right, I want to get to another subject now with Fiorentina, which Carlo, I know this one is near and dear to your heart. So, okay, Fiorentina, they decide for some reason or another to keep Pepe Yaquini. They give him a pretty talented team. And okay, so they beat Torino. Torino Gianpaolo, terrible. I thought they were absolutely awful. Simone Zaza, how this guy is still a professional footballer is beyond me.
00:23:37
Speaker
I'm 39 fat and have two right feet and the fact that he gets paid to play in the Serie A gives me hope that I can play in the Serie A. That simple. Oh, he's terrible. Gianpaolo. He does not have the pieces of that. But that's a hair as well. Yes, yeah. Well, you know.
00:23:55
Speaker
But seriously, I have him. Okay, so Yakini, he puts Kiesa in this 3-5-2, he puts him at wing back now. In fairness, I thought Kiesa did relatively well. I didn't think he was that bad. In fact, I say he attacked his face incredibly well. I think nearly everybody was watching this because it was the first match of the round. It was the debut match of the Serie A this season.
00:24:19
Speaker
So, first off, I think before we even get into this conversation, we can all agree that Pepe Yaquini, the decision to keep him by Rocco Comizo is probably the first very bad decision that he has made since arriving. For the life of me, I can't understand it because there are a number of managers available. I'm looking at you Spaletti.
00:24:37
Speaker
who could easily transform that team into, what do we think they are? Top seven, maybe top eight? Top seven without a doubt. Okay, top seven. I think if you bring in a top top manager like Luciano Spaletti, I think he transforms them into a team who does not have the financial backing or the financial power of Inter Milan Uvenapoli Roma, but he can have them certainly punching above their weight, close to their level.
00:25:06
Speaker
Yakini is one of those guys. We know who he is. He looks like an absolute fool with a hat. It's like, okay, we're over this thing now. So, Carlo, you got Kiesa, in my opinion, albeit he had a good match, being wasted as a wingback. And it just seems like he's going to be one of those guys that he's so highly rated for so long. And then he just stays at Fiorentina and he becomes so stagnant. That's what I fear for him. Perfect word, perfect word, stagnant.
00:25:35
Speaker
Let's hear what you have to say about this, because I know you have very strong feelings about Kiesa being played as a wingback. Very strong. Yeah, I mean, I see Kiesa as an unbelievable talent. I think he's got every single attribute there to become a top player. I mean, he's both footed, he's lightning quick, he can dribble past players.
00:25:58
Speaker
He's got a great shot. He's got vision. He can cross. He's got creativity. He's got everything there. Obviously, there's weaknesses in his game. He's inconsistent. His final ball is not always the best. He has his head down sometimes. But he's 22 years old and that's natural. You're going to be inconsistent and you're going to be unpolished at 22 years old.
00:26:25
Speaker
And he's never had a decent coach, let's be honest. Well, that's the point. That's what I was coming. That's exactly what I was coming to. The problem is, is that with any young players, it doesn't matter how good they are and how talented they are, they need to be managed well. And Kiese has been mismanaged so badly by Fiorentine in the last couple of years. You know, he's like Nimr said there, he hasn't had a top coach.
00:26:47
Speaker
he's been shifted around from position to position and you know recently this year we've seen him playing at right wingback which is just ridiculous I mean it's like playing killing Mbappe at right wingback you know you've got such a talent there and you're putting him in a position where you know he's you're limiting his ability to show what he's got and like you said John
00:27:11
Speaker
he's becoming stagnant. And I think he stagnated over the last year, year and a half because of how badly managed he's been. Occasionally, yes, he will show his quality like he did for the Fiorentina go. He destroyed and Saudi on a one on one and then put the ball in for Castro Vitti to score.
00:27:30
Speaker
So, yeah, for me, if Yakini is going to stay as the coach of Fiorentina, I would like to see, I'm sorry, Fiorentina fans, I would like to see Kiesa leave because he's such a good talent and it will be such a shame if his career gets wasted because of bad management. And Nima, I want to hear from you, Nima, though, because the thing is, Kiesa has made it clear he does not want to leave the Serie A. So obviously, you take your list of suitors, you whittle it down a little more.
00:27:58
Speaker
Now, from the teams within the Serie A, you have A, who can afford him, and B, who needs him. For me, that list is maybe two or three teams. I saw Milan and Roma, and that's it. Napoli don't need him. Juve don't need him. Inter, they don't need him. Well, we need him, but we've got someone else there wanting to play a 3-5-2 and play wingbacks instead. And so, you know, it is what it is.
00:28:25
Speaker
For me, it's Mila and Roma. Beyond those two, I can't see another fifth for him. I really can't. I mean, I think you even need him as well. I mean, if they were played a 4-3-3 as well. But having said that, I think the best thing, objectively speaking, the best thing for Italian football and Federico Chiesa is if he goes to AC Mila. Because there he would be given space. He would be played in his proper position. He'd have good players around him.
00:28:51
Speaker
and he'd be given everything to fulfill that limitless potential, that unlimited potential that I think he has, and I've thought this and I've said this in different platforms when I've been asked about him. To me, when it comes to pure talent and ability and his potential, to me, there is no limit to his potential and ability. His talent alone is
00:29:20
Speaker
Ballon d'Or winning quality. I'm not saying he's going to win the Ballon d'Or. There's a lot left and a lot left for him to develop and grow and all that. But in terms of talent and potential alone, I see him up there. I really do. And I think he's being wasted at Fiorentina. And I think
00:29:36
Speaker
for objectively speaking, for Milan, I think this would be good for Milan, it would be good for Querza, it would be good for the national team, it would be good for all of Italian football if he went to Milan. It would be brilliant for everyone involved.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, again, I just have to reiterate, I think there's only a couple teams who A can afford him and B need him. And as you just said, Milan, Roma, I think those are the only two, in my opinion, that are that are fit. And I kind of agree with you guys. I just feel like he needs this move and.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yakini this whole thing is just so it's so bizarre and I think a little bit of that is we view Kiesa as a winger and I think maybe just by way of that Yakini thinks oh okay well he could play wide let me put him at wingback which is stupid because I think he said he's just a versatile forward he can he can play as a central forward he can play behind the striker he can play on the wing
00:30:33
Speaker
I think that's a benefit of having him in your team. He could play anywhere, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, whatever it is. I think that's a benefit of having Kieso within your side. I just think Yakini and Yakini, Mantella, I mean, come on. I feel bad for showmen because I think they've got a good squad and I think they've got a squad to play a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.
00:30:54
Speaker
Well, which makes the decision to keep you even weirder. Even weirder. And the thing is, I feel sorry for Chiesa because I, and it drives me crazy. I see so many of the, so much of the culture community just hammering him every single time. Within five minutes of Fiorentina playing, I see the same people on Twitter. They're just hammering him, ah, you know, Chiesa, he's overrated, he's a fraud, you know. And I just, and I just think. And compare him to Orsolini.
00:31:21
Speaker
I love that one. Nothing gets me laughing as much as when people say Orsolini is better than Chiesa. Madness. It's madness. It's like, okay. No, that's, although admittedly I do like Orsolini. I like him too. Nowhere near Chiesa right now. Thank you. Nowhere near him. Thank you. Okay. All right. We'll end it there. All right. Let's go into our next segment now, which is a new one that we're introducing.
00:31:44
Speaker
Okay, everyone, welcome to this new segment that we're doing, okay? We're going to call it Boggio of the Week. So we know everybody has their team of the week, their winners of the week, their most valuable team of the week, whatever word you may come up with. But you know, we're being a little different. We are calling it Boggio of the Week. So whether it was a team, a manager, a player, member of the club staff, whoever,
00:32:09
Speaker
We're going to get creative with this and we're going to say who we think our Baggio or winner of the week was. So, Carlo, let's start out with you. Who is your Baggio of the week? I'm going to go for Weston McKenney of Juventus because, you know, he joined Juventus and there was quite a lot of skepticism, to be honest. I think outside of the United States, no one was expecting too much of this guy.
00:32:37
Speaker
You know, there's been a lot said about how bad Juventus' midfield has been for the last few years. And Mckenny, you know, coming from Schalke, no one was really expecting him to make a difference. And he's been fantastic so far. OK, good choice, Nima. Who is your bajo of the week? It's a former teammate, you could say, or actually, yeah, a former teammate or Roberto Bajo Ebrecia, Andrea Pirlo, who I think
00:33:07
Speaker
The pontification surrounding his appointment as coach of Juve has been quite, quite ludicrous. Yes, he doesn't have coaching badges. Yes, he doesn't have any coaching experience, but we're not talking about some guy off the street. It's Andrea Pirlo. His thesis was published and I read that and it was everything.
00:33:28
Speaker
It was so pure. I mean, it was, it was, uh, it's Pirlo. It's everything he was on the pitch. The guy is smart as hell. He understands the game in a way that only, you know, that he demonstrated throughout his illustrious and glorious career. Um, and, and I'm, I'm not surprised that the way that he
00:33:50
Speaker
you know, the way he outclassed Sampdoria's Claudio Ranieri yesterday. And this is Pirlo, this is the birth of an exciting new career, Italian coaching career, which I think can go really far. Because Pirlo, and he suits Juventus so damn well as well. I mean, we know he's going to coach Milan at some point. There's no doubt in my mind that he will.
00:34:14
Speaker
probably after Juve, depending on how long this adventure is. I think he's a fantastic, I mean, to me, it was what a debut. It wasn't just that they won, it was the brand of football they played and the way they played. It was so, like Carlos said, it was modern and it was new and it was, I was really impressed by the things that, by what was on display and by Ille Genio.
00:34:41
Speaker
My baggio of the week is trash Italian television because Massimiliano Allegri, he was on Palando con la Stella dancing with the stars. And he made a, the dance coach made a very sort of joking quip about, oh, you're coming to Roma, yes?
00:34:59
Speaker
And he just said, oh, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. Well, since he said that within the last like 30 hours, it has been nonstop, legri, turoma, allegri, turoma, and allegri, turoma. So because of dancing with the stars, max allegri. And actually, I can't confirm this that, um.
00:35:17
Speaker
Roma have reached out to him because I think the owners are disappointed maybe? We could say with Paolo Fonseca, not just because obviously you draw to Verona, but I just think in general. I hope Pellegri does better with Raima than his dancing is. I mean, I don't know if you saw it. I've never seen a stiffer human being on a dance floor than that. Oh, yeah. First off, it was funny. It was as wooden as his Juventus team in the last months of his time. All right, so we have our baggio of the week, everybody. Now,
00:35:47
Speaker
for our loser section. This is what we're going to aptly call the ventura of the week. This was Carlos' choice for, we had to come up with a name that everybody around the world of Calcio despises. Somebody that nobody likes, whether you're a uventino, whether you are a Romanista, interista, somebody that nobody likes. Well,
00:36:12
Speaker
Ventura. Does anybody like him? No. So, that is what we are going to be naming our Loser section of the week. And for that one this week, in my opinion, there's really only one.
Transfer Market Intrigues
00:36:24
Speaker
This isn't a player or individual person. It's more of a transfer saga. And the Losers of the week are Ed and Jekko and Ark Millik.
00:36:35
Speaker
This transfer thing, as we sit here at this very moment, it is just after 3 p.m. Italian time. We've been dealing with this for the last five days. Milik, his contract is up next summer with Napoli. They could lose him for free in January.
00:36:55
Speaker
So obviously they don't want to lose him for free, but Napoli are making it a bit difficult for him to go and the reason they're making it difficult for him to go is we all know and love Napoli's president, Alerio dell'Orentis, for many reasons. There's a reason why this guy is
00:37:13
Speaker
one of the characters that is so loved throughout the city. We always talk about the characters in the city, the presidents, how how we love the drama created by them. And this one, if you if you were looking for something that was more Adelio de Laurentiis, this would be like if you if you had a de Laurentiis bingo card, this hits every single one of them.
00:37:34
Speaker
He is not willing to let Milik go at this very moment because there are unpaid fines that the club levied against Milik last November, and this is the best part, because they fined him for unauthorized publicity. What was that publicity you ask? Milik, he owns a restaurant in Poland. He's the owner of it. Nobody else. He paid money for it. He runs it. He owns it. Milik.
00:38:02
Speaker
advertised did an advertisement of himself for his restaurant that he paid for and owns and De Laurentiis obviously found that in violation of his contract I don't know what the verbiage in his contract says
00:38:21
Speaker
word for word, but guys, we all know about the image rights and Napoli, right? We don't have, I'm sure we can go into that in greater detail at some other time, but Napoli, they're sort of different in the sense that when a player joins the club, they have to sign over 100% of their image rights to the club.
00:38:37
Speaker
So Milik going and doing this publicity for his restaurant was obviously in violation of that. And Napoli, they want upwards of 1 million euros in damages because of that. And that is holding things up.
00:38:53
Speaker
At this very moment and because of the delays the Roma in a very weird I guess response they asked for a discount on the player and then there were rumors that Milik did not pass his medical exams that were that were taken in Switzerland not Austria and
00:39:11
Speaker
which is false, but those whispers sort of came about and they were saying, oh, Roma, they have worries about Milik and his knee, which they don't. So Roma put out this very bizarre statement saying they've never commented on the physical fitness or the physical health of a player they never have, they never will. And this just isn't true. This is a player they respect. So they didn't deny negotiations, but they said, oh, we'll never leak anything out about a player's health.
00:39:40
Speaker
So it's a very bizarre situation. Milik is a loser because he has no new team and he may be wasted for the entire season on the bench. Meanwhile, Ed and Jekko cannot go to Juve until Milik arrives at Roma. This guy, he has talked with Bonucci. They've been trading techs back and forth for the last two to three weeks.
00:40:02
Speaker
Jekyll essentially feels like a player of Juve. He's spoken to Pirlo a number of times. I've spoken with his agent a number of times. They thought it was going to be done by this Saturday. But this nonsense with Napoli and Millik is holding everything up. So guess who loses in all of this? Everybody loses. Napoli would lose because they could potentially lose Millik for free. Roma lose because they either A, get Millik very much delayed at a later point than they initially thought.
00:40:29
Speaker
And then Jekyll loses because he potentially loses out, I'm moving to Juve. Alright, so we got our winners, we have our losers, we have our Baggio of the week, we have our Ventura of the week. Now though, we are going to play a small segment from our upcoming interview episode this Thursday with former Roma executive, former Bologna executive, former Venezia president,
00:40:50
Speaker
Joe Takopina, who is currently engaged in talks to acquire Setia Chi side Katanya. So here is a brief clip from our interview with Joe. And again, if you want to get all of the episodes starting next month in October, you go to patreon.com slash T I F P. So here is a brief clip from Joe now.
Catania Acquisition Talks
00:41:14
Speaker
Basically, it's been reported that you're, you know, you left on Etsy, you sold it in February, if I'm not mistaken, and that you're in talks to acquire Katanya, a team that has gone through a lot of financial difficulties, but has a rich history. What can you say about these negotiations? I mean, first of all, can you confirm the talks are going on? And what is the status there? Yeah, I will confirm talks are going on. I forgot a statement, you know, in
00:41:37
Speaker
Sicily and Lesson Field, the other publications out there, because there was so much speculation. I went down and first of all, when I left the Etsy after five years present there and having some great success and some great fun and winning three trophies in total there, it was really an amazing experience. But I was sort of sitting back. I have a whole lot of practice that keeps me very busy in the United States.
00:42:06
Speaker
Funny enough, I was reading in the newspaper every day, I was buying Zandoria, I was buying Perino, I was buying Rubeneci, I was buying Sienna, I was buying like Novara, I mean, things I've never even heard of, like, you know, and then Katanya. And I swear to you, other than one of those teams, one of the Serie A teams in there mentioned, I hadn't had any discussions with anyone about anything.
00:42:30
Speaker
But then what happens with Katanya, you know, these facilities are very passionate people. My mother was born there. And so, you know, I started getting calls first from Salvo Arana, my lawyer, who was the lawyer for me in Bologna. He was Rocco Camisco's lawyer in Fiorentina. And, you know, he called me and said, you're buying Katanya? I said, why don't you call me? I said, Salvo.
00:42:52
Speaker
because you were in the newspaper, you think that's true. I have no idea what they're talking about. I, you know, honestly, I mean, it's a lot of guitar. Where are they? What, what the stereo are? I didn't even know where they were.
00:43:03
Speaker
You know, and they said, no, you understand, it's a great project with great potential. Then I got a call from another individual who, who is from Katana, he's a friend of mine. And he works with one of the biggest sports agencies, player agents in the country in Europe, quite frankly, and told me the same thing. And then, you know, I got a very touching email from an employee of Katana, one of the managers there.
00:43:31
Speaker
who really poured his heart out to me and said, we would love to have you here. You could do so much of this project and be our savior. And the way he wrote it just got to me to the point where I said, I'm going to take a look then. I got a call from Walter Zenga, my former coach, who coached there. Both of him, Jezo Mantella and Fabio Canavaro. Mantella and Zenga obviously were coaches at the time. And they said, by far and away, it was the greatest experiences in their football careers. The kind of experience was phenomenal, the quality of life, the place, the location, the training facility, obviously.
00:44:01
Speaker
Televaro brings his team from China, the train there, okay, in the abroad team from China, the train there and toward the Griffo. I said, you know what? Everyone seems to be excited about this. Let me do a little research. I was looking at it. I was blown away by what I saw.
00:44:18
Speaker
All right, that was Joe Takopina. Again, if you want the full episode, that will be out on Thursday. And if you want to get all of the interview episodes, go to Patreon.com slash T-I-F-P. All right, guys, let's get into our user questions. Let's start with you, Nima. Stefania Gallo on Patreon asks,
00:44:36
Speaker
which intended midfielder do you think drops out of the team with the arrival of Arturo Vidal? Oh, that's easy. Christian Eriksen. Because we know that Roberto Galliardini will never, will always feature because that's one of the hangups Antonio Conte has right now. So Galliardini will always play and then we'll have to, we'll be treated to either Barilla or Vidal
00:44:57
Speaker
next to him and sensei when he's fit those three games a season he is fit or Marcelo Brozovic so yeah Christian Ericsson has a season to look forward to sitting on the bench in the freezer because Antonio Conte doesn't seem to trust him and prefers Roberto Galiadini and people tell me that there was no room for Sandro Tonali having said that so yeah that's Christian Ericsson
00:45:25
Speaker
won't be playing, unfortunately, which is mad, but, you know, it's content. All right, this one is for me. John Piero Nero asks via email, does Jeko make Roma's greatest team of all time? This is going to be the shortest answer I probably will ever give. Yes. All right, Carlo, this one is for you. John Caranante asks on email, would Alvaro Morata be a good signing for Juve?
00:45:52
Speaker
I'm not sure, I mean he had an excellent first spell at the club and you know he was crucial in in UVA getting to the final of the Champions League in in 2015 but you know since then since he left Juventus that first spell he hasn't really reached those heights again at Madrid, at Chelsea and now at Atletico. Pielo likes him a lot, I mean he definitely has the attributes for the kind of style of play that we saw in the match against San Pedroia
00:46:21
Speaker
But, you know, he's not a natural, traditional number nine that you've been looking for. He can't do what, say, an Edin Jeko could do. And I think more importantly, he's expensive. I mean, he's going to cost, you know, we're looking at probably something like a 10 million loan and then an option or an obligation. I mean, once you pay a 10 million loan, it's going to become an obligation pretty much anyway.
00:46:45
Speaker
of you know we're looking at kind of 40 to 45 million euros it's a lot it's a lot of money um i think so yeah i mean you probably would do quite well but um i'm not sure if it's if it's worth the money all right at nick cooper's wine asks twitter nima who do you think will be two new potential stars to make italy's euro 2021 team next summer
00:47:08
Speaker
I don't know, it's difficult to say stars who will be stars because I think Italy's got a golden generation coming through the ranks. They're mostly very young players who aren't household names yet. But I think Niccolò Barella is more and more people are waking up to what a tutto campista he is, as they say in Italy.
00:47:29
Speaker
And I think Federico Chiesa, Sandro Tonali are players that, and also Manuel Locatelli in Sassuolo, I think are players that are going to have breakout, are players that are going to soon become, maybe not household names, all of them, but we're moving towards that direction. So no, Italy has a fantastic young generation, a golden generation coming through.
00:47:54
Speaker
And finally, after the Graziano Peles and Jacarines, we're finally treated to some talent. All right. Finally, Carlo, Michael Graham asks on email, what did you make of the insulting betting banners at the Shamrock Rovers versus Milan Europa League match? Great question. Well, just to remind everyone, before the Europa League tie between Shamrock Rovers and Milan,
00:48:21
Speaker
last week, the betting company Paddy Power, who are infamous for their publicity stunts, they erected banners across the stadium poking fun at Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Milan and
00:48:36
Speaker
at the Italian people in general. And three of the banners were, one was, do you want to transfer Zlatan? The square a-hiring, the square it's a nearby shopping center. A second banner said, go home to your sexy cars. And a third banner said, we put pineapple on our pizza. So yeah, I mean, this caused a big furor before the game. One cringe and funny, in my opinion.
00:49:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, personally, I wasn't offended. I mean, one thing I would say... It's childish, isn't it? It's childish, yeah. I mean, for the PC Brigade, I can understand those that say, you know, why is it okay to stereotype against Italians, you know, when, you know, it's not acceptable, you know, for other nations or races. And, you know, I kind of understand that to an extent.
00:49:28
Speaker
I wasn't offended. The only thing I would say, though, is that anyone who thinks it's acceptable to put pineapple on their pizza, I mean, they should have. They should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. No trial, no nothing. Amino Miranda warning, no three strikes, nothing. Into Guantanamo, you go until the end of time.
00:49:51
Speaker
It reminds me of school. I remember when I was at school and some of the things I used to see. I mean, oh my God. I used to see people putting ketchup on their pizza. Eating spaghetti with a knife and fork. And mayonnaise, mayonnaise. This British obsession with mayonnaise. It's like a national sport. Let's put mayonnaise on everything. Okay, okay. Enough of this talk. I'm starting to feel sick. Let's get into the transfer market update.
00:50:19
Speaker
Okay, and just to finish off here, the transfer market, the Mercato update in the Serie A. We're going to each get to one topic here. The first one goes to you, Carlo. Moisequin. Is he going to return to Juve? Difficult one. I mean, Juventus... PLO has made it clear that in addition to this traditional number nine strike that we've been talking about, that Juventus want, you know, a Jeko, for example,
00:50:46
Speaker
He also wants a backup striker. He wants what he calls a fourth striker. Moisakine has been, for the last few weeks, the preferred option. And because he would potentially be cheap, they would look to get him from Everton on a loan deal with an option to buy. Whether it happens, though, I'm not sure, because Everton don't want to get rid of him unless it's on a permanent deal. They'd want the money back that they paid for him, which was, I think, around about 30 million euros.
00:51:16
Speaker
I don't think Juventus would want to commit to that. Kean wants to return to Juve. I mean, he's actually rejected interest from Borussia Dortmund. So I guess we have to wait and see what happens. Juventus' first priority, obviously, is bringing in this Jeko or Maratta or who knows what's going to happen there. That's their priority. Nima, this one is for you. What's the situation at Inter regarding Dormian and Candreva?
00:51:44
Speaker
In 2020, Candreva is a kingmaker, this weird reality we're living in, because Inter have to sell before they buy, and Antonio Conte has identified that Antonio Candreva is not going to play much. And so Inter want to cash in on him because his contract expires in June 2021. So they're looking to sell him to Sampdoria for about three, four million euros.
00:52:12
Speaker
And once that's done, they will replace him with Mateo Dalmian on a four-year contract. Don't ask me why, because no one knows.
00:52:21
Speaker
The final one is for me and this is in regards to Paul Lopez at Roma. Why is he no longer the number one choice at Roma? And to that I would say I'm sure there's a YouTube highlight package out there of his post lock now performance and his and his airs that he made throughout last season fought like after December.
00:52:45
Speaker
That's why, um, he even had a terrible hair against Coyote in the preseason. This guy, just the mentality on him. It's not, it's not an ability thing. Not even remotely close. He's great with the ball at his feet. Reactions are okay. Um, penalties he's one of the worst I've ever seen on. He doesn't have a chance at ever stopping a penalty shot, but
00:53:07
Speaker
Still, beyond that, I don't think he's that bad. This all has to do with mental with him. This is all in his head. He's making the silliest mistakes that even a Serie A G goalkeeper would never make in their entire life. So it doesn't surprise me that Roma, they picked Antonio Mirantes to go and start against Verona. I think at some point we will see Paolo Pezback because even if Roma don't want to keep him, if they do want to get rid of him,
00:53:33
Speaker
you're not going to retain the 25, 28 million euros that you paid for him by having him sit on the bench. It's just a waste for everybody. So I do think we will see Paul Lopez back at some point. I just think this is a chance for him to sort of get his mind right, get his mentality in the right frame of mind, I guess we would say, but
00:53:55
Speaker
Yeah, for me, the ability for him is there. The there's no doubting that we've seen it from him in a number on a number of occasions, particularly last season, early in the season when he saved Roma on a number of occasions. So I think this is just Paulo Fonseca saying, OK, you know, you're going to have a seat for a little bit. We're going to allow you to get right. We'll play Mirante, but you'll get your chance again. So I don't think this is permanent by any means at all. All right. So that was our transfer market update.
00:54:25
Speaker
OK, everybody, that is where we are going to end it for this episode. Thank you so, so much for joining us again. The episodes for the month of September will be free. If you would like to become a patron over at Patreon, you can go to patreon.com slash T I F P. So we will be back on Thursday with that full interview with former Roma Bologna and Venezia executive Joe Taco Pina. So we will leave it there for now and until later in the week. Bye bye.