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The AC Milan Report: Fonseca's Return to Italy (Episode #4)
54 Plays8 months ago
In this episode of Calcio Culture, Vos, Motts and Logs offer a comprehensive preview of AC Milan's 2024 season.
The episode kicks off with a look at AC Milan’s recent successes and current trajectory, including their impressive victory over Manchester City and their ongoing improvements under new management. The crew then delve into the tactical approach of Paulo Fonseca, examining his expected formations—whether it will be a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3—and how his style emphasizes quick transitions and high pressing. They discuss how Fonseca plans to implement a beautiful style of play with high outside backs and inverted wingers, focusing on maintaining possession and transitioning rapidly into attack.
Next, the hosts conduct a comprehensive review of AC Milan’s squad, breaking down each position group. They start with the goalkeepers, highlighting Mike Maignan’s top-tier status and potential backup Marco Sportiello. In defense, they analyze the central defenders like Tomori and Kalulu, as well as potential new addition Pavlovic. They discuss the right and left backs, including Calabria, Florenzi, and the impressive Filippo Terraciano, along with the crucial role of Theo Hernandez.
In midfield, they cover key players such as Ismael Bennacer, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Tijani Reijnders, along with the contributions of Tommaso Pobega, Yunas Musah, Yacine Adli, and Youssef Fofana. Forwards are discussed next, with a focus on wingers like Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao, and strikers including Alvaro Morata and Noah Okafor. They also touch on the status of players like Luka Jovic and Lorenzo Colombo.
Vos, Motts and Logs then define what would constitute a successful season for AC Milan, covering their ambitions in Serie A, the Copa Italia, and the Champions League.
The episode wraps up with a Mercato Moves update, featuring the latest Serie A transfer rumors, including the confirmed moves of Soule to Roma and Huijsen to the Premier League, as well as updates on Artem Dovbyk, Che Adams, and Keylor Navas, among others.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Agenda
00:00:04
Speaker
Ciao, everybody. Welcome back to Calcho Culture. I am Vost, and I'm joined by both my co-hosts today after Logh's little break there. We got Motz and Logh's on the horn today. We're going to continue our club previews ahead of the 2024 Serie A season, and we're going to be discussing the Rossoneri AC Milan, followed by another Mercado Moves update, and we're going to finish the episode off with the latest transfer news.
Welcoming Remarks and Initial Thoughts
00:00:27
Speaker
Gentlemen, welcome back to the pod. Happy Monday. How are we doing today? Happy Monday, Michi. How are we all doing? Ciao, Tutti. Ciao, Paisan Army. We're doing well. Love Mondays, we attack Mondays. Paisan Army, you're gonna get to Love Mondays.
00:00:42
Speaker
because of us. I hate Monday, other than cultural culture, I have to say. But with that, we're getting straight into it. Quick shouts today. We had to really dig deep. It's been a quiet week since we last spoke last Wednesday. Not a whole bunch of new news, but we do have some great hit drops coming out of
New Kit Reviews for Top Football Clubs
00:01:00
Speaker
Italy. We saw some new ones from Roma, Napoli, AC Milan debuted both their kits against Man City in New York the other day. UVA bringing back the classic black and white stripes. no messing about. I'm loving them so far. It looks like Syria is taking themselves more seriously, which I like to say.
00:01:19
Speaker
Can't really bring back something that you've never left. You've always been black and white. Yeah, but they had the weird zebra bullshit last year. And this was like- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They had the, like, the fur. The fur. Yeah. Yeah. That was ugly. That was bad. Classic shirts. Napoli's kits. Super nice. Clean. Clean. Parents are in Napoli right now. Might have to tell them to snag me a jersey, because those are some nice jerseys. I'll pay for it. Yeah, I'll pay for it. I owe you one. I'll vendor them. They're gonna get like a market jersey, but roma Roma's also really nice jerseys as well. Love the the stripes that they've added. And ac just AC has great jerseys every year. AC is never messes up a jersey, I don't think. We've had a couple of rough ones over the years, but this one's... definite I mean, the combo this year, definitely sweet. ah I kind of mean, I know a lot of people don't fuck with collars. I kind of like our collar. Not gonna lie.
00:02:17
Speaker
Looks nice. one One team that I don't think I've gotten a jersey right in a little bit is Inter. They got one side is striped, one side zigzags, kind of makes me like dizzy when I look at it. I mean, that's the idea. They're trying to daze and confuse the other team. Yeah, like like the Liverpool jersey, like that, that like, ah what was it, two seasons ago, they had the white with like the hypnot hypnosis look. Doesn't work. It's just ugly. Yeah, it is ugly. I agree. But as you guys can see, there's not
Chiellini's Transition to Media Role
00:02:45
Speaker
a ton of quick shots. And with the the next one, Giorgio Chiellini finishing playing football. He's on Fox Sports. He's bringing out trophies, the title games. What else is he doing? He's graduating, getting his MBA today. Shout out Giorgio, Italian legend, Juventus legend. Love to see this guy retiring and making more out of his life. I think we're going to see him all over the place all the time now. That's what he strikes me as.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think he's rumored to actually come back to you. I know his brother's there. His brother's running the the primavera squad, like the underage kids. He's doing a great job there. I think you are killing it would be back in UVA running some part of upper management or in the front office ah eventually, but love to see it from from killing me. Yeah, it is good to see and keeping it on the Juventus wagon here. Mott's we had some interesting news that a lot of people are going to like, I guess, and a lot of people are going to hate.
Juventus' Transfer Speculations and Player Performance
00:03:36
Speaker
what What do you got for us here? I think a lot of people are not gonna like this. Tiago Mata.
00:03:42
Speaker
rudely, abruptly, the whole case ah to his face. He's not part of the project. And then in a press conference after told everybody in the press, again, cases for sale. If you want them, come buy them. That's, I mean, if you're cases, you just like, that makes you probably not even want to prove yourself to this coach. chago mana Like this is one of the best players in Italy, one of the best Italian players. And Also Jun to Lee like I get it you guys want your own players build your own squad but you got to take what you have what you're given as well in case it is not a bad player I feel like that was poorly handled but he he he let case to know like you're probably not on the squad next or coming into the season but case it also doesn't really have suitors tough nobody really wants them so it'll be interesting to see what happens but toggle lay down the law
00:04:32
Speaker
Tough price tag for that guy. I don't know. and That's the only reason why he's stuck. Some would call it the cool Bali conundrum. He's moving in on that. With this one, I think this probably didn't help. I probably made it so teams are going to want to spend less money because this it just clearly says in a year he's not going to re resign. So we can just get him for free if we wait a year. It's not that important to us. And I'm sure there he's going to have a long list of people. If he's on a free, there's going to be a long list of people that want him. Even if he just takes a year to build up that leg, that's probably still like not a hundred percent where it was from the the ACL injury. So, I mean, this is just needs to end and he needs to play games really. Maybe, yeah, maybe he ends up playing under Mata and he ends up balling and then.
00:05:17
Speaker
Juve is like, we'll sign you, we'll give you your raise that you're asking for. We'll see, but if somebody comes for 25, 30 mil, he's gone, unfortunately. I will be sad if he leaves. At this point, I'll be happy. I was team, let's keep Kiesa on Juve, but how he's been treated as one of the best Italian players in the world, this is just the point of ridiculousness. And most clubs in the world would welcome Kiesa with open arms if they had a chance to get him. Send him back to Fiorentina. Babbie. That's another thing, though, is that so he he should have went to Roma because Roma plays an attacking style football. De Rossi is kind of turning changing them around. He said no to them because he wants to play in the Champions League consistently. The suitors in the the prem that are are going after him are like Tottenham, Chelsea, United teams that don't always make the the top four in Champions League. So.
00:06:10
Speaker
It's really interesting. I get the
Inter Milan's Preseason Success
00:06:11
Speaker
prems that hold different beasts. So he probably just wants to go to the prime, get that wage increase and so on and so forth. But it's interesting this, this saga here. Yeah, it is. And they did play their first friendly game the other day. It didn't go great, Motz. And one of the guys we had highlighted on our UVA preview here, Dusan Vlahovic, Mr. Hot and Cold, missed a penalty. I know it's preseason, but this kind of thing, especially with penalties, it can kind of start to snowball. Like you missed a penalty. That was your chance to get off the mark for the year. Like where is confidence at?
00:06:43
Speaker
back and I'm not reading too much into this loss. Yeah, I was 3-0 to ah so not a very strong competition there in the the second league of the Bundesliga. However, it was a lot of the younger the younger players playing. The one thing I will say I'll take from this is Dusan just straight up shouldn't take our PKs anymore. He's better at free kicks than PKs. He missed like three or four last year. I think he's less than 50% conversion rate. Just don't allow him to take the PKs anymore. But there were some glimpses of Madabal. I liked what I saw in some areas. I'm not reading too much into it. It's going to take a little bit to learn his system. Just take Dusan off the PKs.
00:07:23
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't even be too mad about this. I think losing early on in this, this little chemistry formula test run for them. I think it's going to be good for them. I think it'll force Mona to, to really adapt and and not just try to implement exactly what he did at Bologna. Cause again, it's not going to be the same exact team. So I think, you know, having a couple losses up front, waking them up, I think it'll be good for them. and And flipping it over to a team that's been absolutely rolling in preseason. Inter Milan, they got another win. Toremi, another goal. We're getting to the point now. He's just banging him in. He's hot. He's not. Depending on how everybody's performing in practice, which we we don't fully know, right? But with how we easier has been knocking him in, you might have a legitimate shout to start over to Ram day one. No? What do you think, Logs?
00:08:13
Speaker
I definitely think so. I mean, if, if Taram has anything to do with the same form that he had in the euros, I think Teremi for sure has a shout. The only problem is I don't think that Teremi accents Lotharo better than Taram. So I think that that's going to be interesting to see. I really do think that Teremi's main purpose here is going to be 65 minute plus and on for him, but he's going to be the guy that's scoring between the 85th and the 90th minute consistently. Yeah, Teremi's been, he's been playing well. I mean, we do also remember like he's taken the PKs for them and I think he scored two or three in preseason from PKs. So yes, it's great that he's converting his PKs on like Doosan, but take it with the grain of salt. What, what he does is he does kind of alcohol.
00:08:57
Speaker
ah Okay, anyways, what he does, what he does very well is kind of, is like a hybrid Taram Letaro-esque player, meaning he can do a little bit of Linko play, a little bit of finishing. ah So he'll be a great, a great sub in addition for them, but a lot of his goals are PKs. So let's, let's pump the ah breaks on him for right now, but he's looking good. Yeah, what I do like about it though is Lutaro had a really good season when he was playing with Ed and Jekko and he's more Ed and Jekko than anybody they've had of recent. Like Lukaku I guess was like a big guy but did not play like that. Ed and Jekko just like intelligent mover guy. So it'll be interesting. I hope he plays a good amount of games this year and they give him time with Lutaro because I think it could be interesting.
00:09:43
Speaker
And then the other, the other preseason game, AC Milan played Manchester city in England.
AC Milan's Friendly Match Highlights
00:09:48
Speaker
They won three too. So AC Milan officially best team in the world as of things right now. Fair point. We'll take that. Also great shout. Love to see it was not my bingo card for 2024, but huge post Christian Pulisic, Yous Moussa, Jackie Grealish, and the one and only Rihanna post for a picture after. He loved to see it. I don't know who she was there for specifically. I think she was an AC Milan fan, but she was definitely looking for that Jackie Grillo's action. Yeah, AC Milan, they played well. good Good start to the season on that friendly. But I did see that they were all at a bar, Logan, in New York. We should have like tried to stalk them and figure out what bar they were at. And then we could have just like said, like follow cultural culture. Just like the Python army does in Raiders Five Stars.
00:10:36
Speaker
yeah and our bestation of all Perfect segue here into kind of stalking, kind of just bothering people. CBS has renewed the rights to see her and we really need your help guys. We have a really big idea.
Audience Engagement and CBS B-Team Campaign
00:10:48
Speaker
Pizon Army, we need you to get behind us here. Motz has been saying this. Motz, with the Pizon Army, we know what we're trying to get down here. Yeah, so CBS tends to the big Serie A games, they'll have the A team on for halftime, which is, which is understandable, obviously, right? You're going to, you want a good halftime report for the big games, but like the lower level games, even maybe like a Milan Genoa or a Milan Como or a UVA, Empoli, they just won't have a halftime report. Me, Logues, Vos, we're down to do the halftime report. We got to get a following.
00:11:23
Speaker
we'll we'll We'll do it for cheap CVS to start, but Pizon Army, the only way we're gonna be able to do that is with you guys, so please subscribe on YouTube, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, at Calisto Culture FC, rate us five stars on Apple Music and Spotify. ah You guys, we're up to 71 on Spotify. Thank you so much, continue to do that. We love you guys. You keep growing. ah the The more you subscribe, the more you comment, the more you like, the more you rate, the more cultural lovers will find us and we can continue to grow. So thank you guys. The goal here is obviously to continue to grow and then become CBS's B-Team halftime team. So let's go.
00:12:01
Speaker
Not even a big ass B team, halftime team. When there's literally not even 18 halftime team, there's literally nobody we'll do it for free. If anybody from CBS is listening, maybe Marco scouting us, Marco Messina from the competition here. We're here, Marco. We'll step up to the plate. We don't want to take your spot. We'll just we'll just be the backups. Yeah, exactly. We're good to go. In Paisan Army, you guys are our last quick shout. We appreciate everything you're doing for us. Tell a friend, and then keep telling friends. We want to get bigger. We want you guys to get involved. Tell a friend to tell a friend. And with that, we're going
AC Milan Managerial Change and Tactical Analysis
00:12:35
Speaker
to take a quick break, guys. And when we get back, we're going to get into breaking down AC Milan and what we can expect from them this season.
00:12:41
Speaker
And we're back from the great guys to discuss the Rossoneri, who in tragic fashion last year lost to Inter Milan in the Scudetto clinching game. it's been a It's been a busy couple of months for AC Milan. A lot of new changes. Stefano Pioli out. Paulo Fonseca in, we've kind of been at squad that's been almost in like a transition for four or five years, somehow got a Scudetto mixed in there, a Champions League semi-final run. There was a takeover of the ownership group. and it's Things are starting to look up for the for the club here. It seems like they're building a deeper squad, becoming a bigger force in Europe, becoming a bigger global presence, kind of like Juventus did many years ago and being able to appeal to a lot of different people.
00:13:29
Speaker
For me, AC Milan was my first love in Italy and what really got me into the league. So I'm very excited about what we're going to see this season. For people that didn't watch them over the last couple of years, Stefano Pioli was a a stout 4-2-3-1 coach who wasn't overly tactical in his movement and kind of just threw out the same squad. And he had he had relative success. Champions League appearances, again, winning a Scudetto. But the club ultimately came to the decision that they needed a different guy to take the next level. And that's what they see in Paulo Fonseca Logan.
00:14:05
Speaker
A hundred percent. I mean you're putting it lightly that Peole didn't have any tactics. He was horrible to watch. You kind of go back to the allegory ball. I think allegory had more tactics than Peole though. Paul, dude, you guys lined up with the 4-2-3-1 but Teo never was playing defense. Allegory couldn't even do that. Allegory came to get a left back to go up with him. That wasn't a tactic. That wasn't a tactic. That's just Teo just being Teo. That's a tactic. I don't think you line up on paper as a 4-back and then you play as a 3-back. Allegory couldn't do that. In any case, it was really tough to watch. The only time that it was ever fun was when Liao was hot, when Teo was hot, it was all individual performances. I love what we're doing here. We're finally coming out of the dark days of the 2010s. We've had a couple of bad transfer targets over the years. We had a couple of really bad misses in the transfer market. I think we're finally becoming a destination where players want to gum, they want to grow.
00:14:59
Speaker
They want to be a part of what we're building here. Really great that we had a like-minded private equity coming in by us. I think that that's been a really, it it was a difficult transition at the beginning, but now you're seeing, you know, old players, a lot of times now in the back office with us. um So I think there's a lot more synergy going on between the front office and the and the pitch, which is really great to see. And again, a fresh face at the manager position is exactly what we needed. Thank you, Peoli, for the Scudetto win. But it was definitely certainly time to move on. I think it was time to move on. But being that you guys watched him every week, I think you guys are hating on him a little too much. Like he did take Loftus Cheek to a 10 goal guy, realized Pulisic maybe should be on a flank rather than in the middle had Pulisic a 10 and 10 guy. Like he got a lot out of these players. So I think Peoli did did well for what he was given. And it was just it was just his time to move on, which is good. But I think that it wasn't a bad spell for Peoli by any means.
00:15:58
Speaker
I mean, the the integration of the new players this season was definitely the best since since Pioli's been involved. But I have to think that that's a lot of that's due to the the talent level. I mean, we definitely just got more so more like definitely solidly better players rather than, you know, we brought in CDK the season before and he just what he he didn't really know what to do with him. and Obviously, like before our star players were already bona fide star players, we had Teo, we had layout, we had to not like Ben Oster was healthy. Tamori had one great season and all of a sudden fell off. So like what happened there? So again, I don't... Shouts to Pioli. We'll give him a couple of flowers, not too many. One scudetta wind will take, but I'm happy to see Fonseca in place. Yeah, to wrap on Pioli here, what I will say is, and this is a star, a big change from two Fonseca, is Pioli was more of a man manager. In the Scudetto winning season, every player loved playing for Pioli, and that's really what drove everybody to that next level. It wasn't that he was overly tactical in being able to create overloads in areas or have a distinct style of play that won new games. It was more so everybody got on the same page. It was high energy when it needed to be. It was slow when it needed to be.
00:17:09
Speaker
And the other thing that he did he did do well, and i will I will credit him on this, is he did bring a lot of players through that are now household names that we think of, like Tonali, guys like that. He built them up and gave them the opportunity to even do that. Rafa Liao was another great example of that. Even Teo Hernandez. Teo Hernandez was nothing before Pioli turned him into a ah literal goal scoring threat. And he also was the head coach in a Scudetto winning season where we conceded nine goals or 12 goals, whatever it was, which is a ridiculous record. But flipping things to Fonseca and why this was ultimately the decision is we're getting a more modern coat. It's not going to be about man management necessarily in terms of
00:17:50
Speaker
rallying guys around the idea of playing for the club. It's going to be more, we have strict ways we want to play. We know we're going to define that, we're going to recruit around that, and that we're not even necessarily play our best players. We're going to play the people that fit this style of the best, which is a very big difference from Pioli. Pioli was best players, go do your thing every time. Fonseca is not that. He's a 4-2-3-1, maybe a 4-3-3 kind of guy. There's still a lot out there. And we haven't seen, obviously, any league matches under him. But the the expectation is a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. In the midfield, we're expecting either a double pivot or maybe a flat three, which is a a big subject now because of the midfielders that are on AC Milan. But within this system, whatever it ends up being,
00:18:37
Speaker
You can expect to add a ball dominant AC Milan team, a team that is more than happy to play and transition, move the ball from back to front very quickly. And then once we're in the final third, if we lose the ball, pressing high to win it back. This is very different from Pioli. Pioli did not have this set. This is what we're going to do every time we lose the ball, we're going to press, we're going to counter press. So this is exciting. And it should be good. My only hesitancy here is Fonseca has never had a insane season with the team. At Roma, he finished in 5th and 7th. With Leo, he finished in 4th and 5th. That sounds a lot like what Pioli could have done with those teams is my only hesitation here. I mean, I'm really excited. I'm really excited for this season. I think that my only my one really big concern here is
00:19:27
Speaker
Because he's so system oriented, there's going to be a lot of guys that really need to adapt. And I don't think I've ever been forced to adapt to anything outside of just go out, play your play your own game. You know, you look at, you look at their front three and they want their winners to invert. Liao's never inverted in his entire life unless he's had the ball and it was just on a on a breakaway or a dribble towards the net. They want their outside backs to really push up, play the wing spot, which Teo I think is going to struggle with even though he likes getting forward. It's always been inverted. Yeah, but I love i would say just a quick point on that is Teo did a really good job on France as the wide kind of wide playmaker. So i that'll be an interesting one for sure, but I think he can do it well.
00:20:10
Speaker
They also could just switch roles. Obviously not Liao plays left back, but Liao could stay wider and Tio can invert because he likes to do that. So it's slightly different to the system. Yeah, what I do like to see is that we are going to have hopefully have a midfielder drop between the center backs, which I always like. I'm not sure who that's going to be either. But again, it's going to there's going to be a lot of growing pains here, especially trying to put a system in place. It might take a whole season. Who knows? You can't just revamp an entire roster in one window and certainly not with the budget that we typically run with. Well, I think we're making the right strides. I think we got the right players in place. I think Fonseca is the right guy for this job, and I think he brings an old school feel with a new school strategy.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. He, he, that's a really good way of thinking about it. He's kind of the guy that's bridging the gap between old school methodology and then one of those new school guys like deserby or somebody like that. Right. They're not, he's not quite that he's somewhere. That's a really good point. And from, from somebody that hasn't watched AC Milan yeah as much as me and lugs have as kind of age, AC Milan fans. moz What are your optics on AC Milan right now? Like, where do you see them as more of a dominant team in the league? What you think this manager appointment is doing for them as kind of a third party?
00:21:22
Speaker
Well, so what I think is that the way that modern football is trending is that you prefer systems over maybe uber talents, right? So, and then you, you assess the players that fit in the system. And just like Logan said, it's not going to be overnight. It's going to take a year. So hopefully Milan gives him the the the time that he needs to kind of implement his system. But when you when you have a system that works and you get the players that fit in that system that can excel, it brings out their their strengths. It makes them even better because the they're they're they're good in the system. So I think that AC Milan so sees that, right? Like Pep's got a system, Deserve has got a system. I'd say the only person that really doesn't have a system is Ancelotti. He's kind of like Bose mentioned, a man manager. I have great players. Let's just go out and let them do their thing.
00:22:13
Speaker
where everybody else has a system and it's proven over time it will work and it will, that's how you got to play in the modern football. So I like the appointing because it's it's a system coach. You just got to give him his his time to implement his system and get the guys that fit in his system. And I i think on top of that, again, like you said, we're moving towards a, a on a global scale, more systematic styles of play. that one guy can't just take over games anymore. It's very rare that you're seeing one person really affect a game like that. Obviously, Messi does it for Argentina, less so. Inter-Miami is not the real soccer, so it's fine. But, I mean, Mbappe doesn't usually take over games anymore. you really It's really now much more
00:22:56
Speaker
What are the some of your parts rather than who's your best player? You can't just rally behind one guy. You really need you need to make sure that you have no weak points. And if you do, you that you have to solve for those weak points in another position. 100%. It's also teaching ah your players what outlets to to go to and what outlets you have in your system in specific situations. So they know where to go. They know how to counter-attack. They know how to build triangles and break a press and and build up a passage of play. It's 100% like learning a new language these days. I mean, you have to come in there, break everyone down to the bare bones and just, they got to come right down to like what they learned in kindergarten kickers and then build them back up in the way that you need them to. Because if not, if not everyone's on the same page and not looking for the same pass or making the right run, everything's going to break down.
00:23:46
Speaker
Really good discussion there, guys. um But on Fonseca, as a whole, we don't have too much for here here for you guys just because we don't even know necessarily what we're going to see and what the intricacies and who's kind of filling what spaces, whether it be Teo coming inside, staying wide, like the guys mentioned, if Calabria is going to be there or it's going to be another winger who's staying wide. And there there's a lot of different things being thrown around. So this should be one we'll have a lot of updates for you as the season goes. I expect Fonseca to continue to make changes. Like we said, this is going to take at least a year to get where he wants it to be. And within the system, we are 100% going to see failed variations, good variations, and everything in between.
00:24:27
Speaker
But with that, let's get straight into the squad that he's going to be using because that has a huge effect on how they're even going to be able to play.
Mike Munyon's Role and Goalkeeping Challenges
00:24:34
Speaker
Starting from the back, we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Euro 2024, team of the tournament, and that's Mike Munyon. um One of the best shot stoppers, one of the best goalies in the world with his feet. His only knock has been he's been very injury prone in Syria. And it's been a major, major issue for AC Milan as a club. As a result of that, we've had to roll back up keepers that really weren't even good enough to be playing in Syria as a number two really at points where we were losing games because we had the wrong goalkeeper in net. I don't really have a lot of time, a ton else to say. I mean, if you watch, if you've seen him at all, you should know how good he is.
00:25:12
Speaker
He never has mistakes. We talked about some other high level goalies, even Donna Ruma, Kirchwa, some of the best in the world. They'll have random flute games. Mike Mignon does not have that. He is on 10 out of 10 every time. One of the most consistent goalkeepers in the world, and that's huge for us, especially coming off of having Don Aruma who is a shoo-in for one stupid move every single game. But the one thing the last thing I'll say about our goalies is, let's not forget about Tataroshanu. We have to thank him for his time on the team. He was horrendous almost all the time, but at least he stood in there and he he he felt he filled it up for us.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, and the guy we got really as a result of the Tatsu Roshana situation, and Tatsu Roshana wasn't terrible. Like, he just wasn't good enough to be playing week in and week out, period. Simply not. And we got Sportiello from Atlanta. He's played a good amount of Serie A games enough where if we throw him in, we don't have to be worried that the goalie is going to cost us the game. So that's the only note there. You might see him some this year, just a solid keeper. but As long as Mike Mignon's healthy, he's going to be playing, doesn't matter the competition, he will be in net. What i but I just like to add is Mignon is one of, if not the quickest reflexes I've ever seen. He he can stop shots from inside the six. like He's got such a quick reflex to him. And then, what like you said, when you would sub out, when he would be injured and have a different player, Mignon would win you games. These guys would lose you games. So it was such it was such a big change of pace when Mignon wasn't in.
00:26:44
Speaker
Yeah. And I always kind of try to preach this is to win a Scudetto, to win any tournament, anything. You need a goalie that's going to steal a goal away from the other team. There's always a game where it happens. It doesn't matter who it is. It could be the worst team in the league. And it just happens. And you have a goalie just steals one. Don Aruma did it a lot ah during the Scudetto winning season. He had his bonehead moves, but then he would pull those out of nowhere. It was crazy. But that's Mike Mignon on the reflexes. i love I love that little inflection point there.
AC Milan's Defensive Lineup and Player Performance
00:27:11
Speaker
um But moving it on, going right in front of Mikey Bunyan, our center back group, again, we're expecting a back four. So we two center backs. This is an area of the team that was probably our strongest place during the Scudetto winning season only a couple of years ago.
00:27:26
Speaker
And since then, it has turned into one of our weakest points. I'm taking you guys through the couple of centerbacks we have here. Fakayo Tamori, English center back, Pierre Kalulu, Mateo Gabbia, Malik Shaw, and then our new signing from RB Salzburg Pavlovic, Serbian. We love our Serbs here. Serbs is an exciting one. But just on this group, guys, Fakayo Tomori probably should have won Defender of the Year, the year Bremer won it when AC Milan won the Scudetto. He was the the starting center back in almost every single game and we conceded the least amount of goals in the league. So, Matsu, I'm sure is going to have an argument, so we're just going to ignore that one. And he looked like he was going to go on to be one of the best center backs in Europe just because of his athletic ability, his ability to get beat and then chase a guy down and have like these insane sliding tackles. And he just couldn't put a foot wrong.
00:28:19
Speaker
His partner during that season was Simon Kie, who again, who had broken out. He had been phenomenal. He has had a major fall from grace, no longer going to be playing any games anywhere, essentially. And then you bring in Pavlovic, who is now going to look like the starting left center back. Again, just a defensive machine kind of guy, the kind of similar to the way Tamori is, although Tamori is more the athletic build. But that would be the two that were expecting their day one logs. It depends. I mean, I think it really depends on how well Tamori practices because Shaw had a great season last year, whether, you know, whether you think so, whether Fun Second thinks so or not. Shaw had a great season, especially for his first one really coming on the scene.
00:29:00
Speaker
But I do think that if Pavlovich is what I see from the highlights, because I do not watch a ton of Salzburg, he will be starting day one. Having a left footed center back out there is a huge, huge help for us, especially if we're dropping a midfield in between. um I would love to see Tamora come back to form that he had during the Scudetto winning season. We spent 28 million to get him. off loan from Chelsea which was a pretty decently large investment for us at the time and so would love to see him get back to that. Had a couple unlucky breaks last year especially with the red card against Mason Mount um in Champions League but in any case I'm excited to see this center back pairing wherever it may be come back to form under a new system because that it I mean nine goals was insane to go through for a second half of the season.
00:29:47
Speaker
Yeah. And just on that, on that other point about Pavlovich being a left footed left center back with this automatically knock on effect. And as tomorrow is no longer playing left center back as a right footed guy, he's for in his traditional role as a right center back. And one of the things that we always talk about with tomorrow is he's not great with the ball at his feet. So this should help that a little bit. Although neither of these guys are really the ball carrying kind of guys. Somebody else that's kind of come through the team was a really big factor was Pierre Kalulu. He had some injury issues um when he was playing right back and playing right center back and kind of just got phased out of the squad. When he was playing a lot, I was a huge fan of this guy. He he added a lot of athletic ability and a little bit more offense from the back that we didn't really see through anybody else. And under Pioli, he just never got back into the team.
00:30:37
Speaker
Under Fonseca, this is a chance to do that. I don't know if it's going to happen. I haven't read a whole lot about it, but I would hope that this guy gets another look at some point, whether it be the Tamori backup or the Pavlovic backup, right back, second option, maybe even first option, depending on what happens here. So and another one to look out for if he does play guys, he's a really good player. He might not get a lot of time, but he's a really good player. Solid player, young player, still has a lot of juice in him, obviously had some injury injury problems. But when you look at the film of him playing both at the right center back and as an outside back, I mean, he definitely had some promising skill sets there. And one thing I will say is, eh.
00:31:19
Speaker
Not necessarily for AC, but when you watch his highlights when he played for the younger France teams, he would actually get pretty far up as a right back and play some beautiful crosses in. So I would be interested to see if that fits well into fun second system and if he doesn't win that starting job from the start. And the last guy on this list, Malik Shaw, we can just spend a little bit of time on on him. logs kind of What you were alluded to again, he had a good season last year. What hurt him was his end run in the season was very bad. And he had had a run of a lot of bad games. So the new manager is kind of bringing that on. But he's a young player, definitely has a high ceiling. He's very good on the ball, has a lot to learn.
00:31:57
Speaker
what are you What are your thoughts on him as things stands? and The last couple weeks we saw a couple bids from the Premier League, West Ham and Newcastle. Both have been rejected, which probably tells us he is in the plans. All of that, they were rejected almost immediately. i I'm happy that we didn't even entertain these. We definitely need him unless we were buying another center back, which for the price tag, are we going to get somebody who's that good? Probably not. I mean, 30 mil, if that's what it ended up being, would have been nice, but I think that the town though ah prospect of him coming in.
00:32:30
Speaker
is too much to give up right now he's a big bodied center back not amazing on the ball but confident when on it and if you do set him out there to lock down one person i think the best the best example of this was his game against hoyland before he went to manu but he was still in etalanta absolutely shut him down i mean this was when hoyland was on a tear It was one of the hottest strikers in the league and Shaw went out there and that guy barely touched the ball. And when he did, he lost it almost immediately. So I love the physicality out of him. I don't love his ineptitude on the ball, but we'll see if he can pair with one of the other guys that can do a little bit better there. Well, I need to see a big step up from him. And I think the rest of the world does as well, because as of right now, that value is completely derived off his potential. And I think this year is one of the years where it's like, okay, are you real or are you not?
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah. And a lot of these guys are like that. This is a group that we don't know what we're going to get. We saw Tamori as the one of the best in Europe at one point. We don't know that Pavlovic has never played for a major club. We don't know what he's going to be like. And as an AC Milan fan, Matt, it's kind of, this is scary, right? Like the defense is your core to your team, especially when you're playing a back four and all of your center backs are kind of questioned as to what their capabilities are. Yeah, and I think that that ah plays a major or that played a major factor in when you guys won the Scudetto. You guys had a set three at the defense every single game, game in and game out. It was Kalulu, Tamori, and Tio. It was like those guys are playing every single game. And since then, you haven't had that. It's kind of been a ah revolving door. It's it's been Tio and Tamori usually there in the spots, but Tamori hasn't found his form.
00:34:09
Speaker
So it'll be interesting to see if you guys can, oransecco or if Inseko or ACMime can find a consistent starting four that's his go-to guys. Obviously, Tio is going to be the left-back, so it's going to be the other three that are up for grabs. Tamori is probably going to be starting as well, but he's he hasn't found his form since that season, so he could maybe lose his spot as well if Kalulu can kind of find his Scudetto winning form. Yeah. And to just piggyback off of your Teo Hernandez comment there, Teo Hernandez is one of the biggest names in Syria at this point, one of the biggest names in world football. As much as mentioned there, Teo Hernandez is the starting left back every single game until he is hurt. His fitness doesn't matter. Like he can be tired. He's still going to go out there and play. He's one of those guys that you will not bench. I'm assuming he's in the block room saying you're not benching me. I'm playing no matter what. You're taking me out.
00:35:00
Speaker
If you guys don't know Teo Hernandez, Mats, give us a quick run-through of how he plays, what you can expect from him, and why as a left-back, he's such a major force and has become a household name. Yeah, I mentioned it a little bit earlier. You can just expect him to be attacking 24-7, but when needed to defend, he is a great defender. He's going to get the ball on the left-hand side, play one-twos with Liao. They have great chemistry. He's also always looking to drive it forward, gets in the box as great with crossing it on the ground. So when Tio is on the field, just know that he's most likely not going to be in the left back position. He's more likely going to be left wing and and inverting or or staying out wide and and crossing the ball in and just looking to attack and looking to get the ball in dangerous areas.
00:35:46
Speaker
My take on Teo is it's just crazy how differently he plays for AC than he does play for France. I don't know if it's a coaching thing or if it's a player style, but the fact that he can do both and turn it on, turn it off whenever he wants is pretty phenomenal for us. I hope that Fonseca can and take him and get the most out of him because it's simply a waste if you don't. I mean, the guy's uber, uber, uber talented, but again, he plays every single game. I'm hoping that we go pretty deep in all the tournaments this year, obviously Scudetto. We'd like to see Copa Italia win, maybe. We'll see. But we definitely need, I think we definitely need somebody to step in and and give him a couple of couple of games rest. I think we bought somebody from Real Madrid, Alex Jimenez, on the cheap. So hopefully he gets a little bit of burn in some and some easier games, but it's going to be Teo for the most part.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah, a hundred percent. Teo is kind of the guy. And if he gets hurt, we are fucked at left back, as we've seen it in the past with Ballotore, who is no longer on the team. Flipping it over to the other side of the pitch, the other fullbacks, the right side. This is a little more dramatic. The group here is Davide Calabria, who was the captain slash maybe is the captain. I am unsure at this point. Florenzi, who was an old, old man at this point, he got, I saw him on crutches today, so I don't know his status. And Filippo Terraciano, who i'm her I'm hearing, they are very hot on. This was a January signing from Hellas Verona. He was linked to Fiorentina and Juventus at the time. AC Milan managed to get a signature, did not play a whole bunch last year when he did. He was bad, but everything I'm seeing in training is that he's been very impressive.
00:37:30
Speaker
and has a shout maybe to get it into this team. This is clearly a position that Fonseca has identified as needing a change. Anybody that has watched AC Milan for more than two years knows that as well. Davide Calabria cannot be the starter forever.
00:37:49
Speaker
Dire straights sat right back. I'm so outspoken about this. I'm so sick and tired of watching Calabria play. He's a shoo-in for taking a 40-yard screamer, 30 yards outside the net. I'm sick of it. He cannot play in the system. I don't think he has the legs. I don't think he has the capabilities. He's done well. He's given us a great couple of years. He's shut down Kaveradona every time we played him, but I just, I cannot go another season. watching number two walk out there on the right side and just giving us a bum performance. So i'm I'm excited to see there's a couple of names that we've been linked to. Emerson Royale, not my favorite, but certainly fits the system that Fonseca wants to employ.
00:38:32
Speaker
Super attacking outside back, almost more so a wingback than a traditional right back, but certainly can play both. I don't know if this name is still linked, but if it happens, I'm immediately buying the kit and it won't even be a, it'll be a split second decision. If Maddie Cash is bought by AC Milan, I will be the happiest man on the planet. That guy balls out for Aston Villa. He's an unbelievably talented offensive right back. a little bit soft on the defensive skill set but it would it would make my day if we ever got him on te
00:39:03
Speaker
yeah and on daade calab yeah when logs talks about he had a couple of good season and all that Calabria is a guy that doesn't do a whole lot good, but he doesn't do a whole lot bad. So if you watch him one game, you're okay. He was just the right back. If you watch him for three years, you a little bit soft on get three years of a guy that just stands there and the defensive skill set, once but in a while it kicks would make my day if we the ever got him on the team. ball forward. And as a team that's making the next leap, he's been a guy that's been fine for the previous years. Same thing with Pioli, which got us to a point. He is no longer the guy to bring us to that next level. And AC Milan is a club that's going to that next level. A hundred percent. Don't even question it. That's what they are trying to do here. That's the reasoning for this upgrade. Emerson Rael would be great. They definitely need help here. It can't just be Calabria, Florencia, and Tiraciano here.
00:39:56
Speaker
So I hope they get this one done before the window begins, but that it remains to be found. And that wraps up our defensive group going into the midfield. There are a lot of guys here for only a couple positions. And we're finally stacked though. Finally. kind of it And this is something that's you'll you'll see throughout the squad here.
AC Milan Midfield Review and Player Potential
00:40:17
Speaker
You can say stacked, but the entire team is riddled with players that you don't really know their ceiling and you don't really know their floor. And there's some guys coming back into the team from and injury. Um, namely Ismael Ben Oster, who was a, one of the best players on the team for the last couple of years. She just had injuries and to take you through the rest of the names here at Ruben Loftus cheek, who had a phenomenal season last year.
00:40:40
Speaker
Dajani Reinders another one great season last year great euros this year for the Netherlands a couple Americans Eunice Musa Christian Pulisic has been talked about maybe playing as a 10 French guys Yasin Adley Yousif Fofana and to round it out the one Italian guy Tommaso Pobega Look who are your high school who your highlights here and what are you kind of expecting the three to be? My highlights are certainly the two best performers from last season coming back. They were great buys in the summer of last year. You look at Ruben Loftus Cheek, who I wasn't actually hot on when we did buy him, but was pleasantly surprised to see his performance, especially morphing into our or makeshift 10 for the season. And then obviously Reinders, a huge buy out of AZ Alkmaar, out of Eredivisse, had a great, great euros, probably was the, was easily the best midfielder for the Netherlands the entire tournament. So happy to see those guys come back.
00:41:36
Speaker
Obviously, Ben Oster has been the one guy that's been obviously consistent through the years. was Tenali's running mate in the pivot for a while. Definitely can pace the game. It has a great passing range. Has a bit of bite, but is a little too small too to really do anything with it. and So I'm happy to see if he comes back, although we do have a pretty big price tag coming out of Saudi for him. I believe these people are talking about 40 million, which at this point, I will take that in a heartbeat. I do love it. I love Ben Oster, but certainly will take 40 million for him. And then I mean, you can't you can't talk about our midfield without talking about Fofana.
00:42:11
Speaker
Great buy. I think he's got an enormous amount of talent, has been stuck in Ligun for quite some time now. I've been a a great piece for Monaco, but happy to see him coming over for for AC. I don't know what. I don't know where he fits into the system, per se, obviously as a D mid, but not sure how that morphs into the three different midfielders that Fonseca is going to want to use. A couple of names that really need to to show out this season, Yasin Adly, Eunice Musa. We've talked about Adly, you and I, Vos at length. We were so, so hot in him coming out of Leun. He has a ton of potential, a ton of talent, but almost seemed lackadaisical, lazy.
00:42:55
Speaker
Just wasn't all there. Definitely has the skill set. I mean, one of the one of actually might be one of our best technical players on the roster. But when you do watch him, it does kind of just seem like big birds walking around on on the field. I'm not sure that that's going to really translate into a fun second system. Yudas Musa, super, super young American. I think he's still only 20. In my mind, he's been traditionally a right mid, but we've he's been playing for center mid for the US. He plays center mid for AC. He can even play right back. So definitely a utility player. And I think he's got a lot of room to grow. I want to so i think this is a perfect project for Fonseca to show that he can develop young players. And then a name on here that' that's probably on the outs, and it's really sad because he's the only Italian in the group. Paddy Souch, Tomaso Pobega,
00:43:43
Speaker
brute force, kind of like a Clydesdale kind of stomps around the field, not agile at all, and really only plays minutes and extra time. I wouldn't prepare to see him play too much, especially with the other names on the bench. There's a great breakdown. My thing is that after after you broke all that broke those players down, you don't I don't see a pacer on this team. like You're missing that 1-6 holding midfield. You guys got a lot of defensive mids, but like box to box guys like Fafana and Reinders, but who's going to pace the game?
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, so this is this is the the piece that I wanted to pull out of this because Logs is saying we would take 40 mil for Ben Aser. Ben Aser is our pacer. And what worries me, and I had alluded to this when we talked about the Mercado update, Yusuf Afana, which isn't official technically yet, but all indications are this guy is going to be coming to AC Milan. This is a signing that you would expect to be playing. And along with that, the other guys that have earned a spot on this starting 11 are Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijani Reinders. So if you're playing those three, you do not have a Pacer and you have a bunch of guys that are kind of just high energy. And that tells us a lot about what I'm expecting from FunSaka, which is we're going to play quickly and we're going to play fast and we're going to press.
00:45:02
Speaker
Where you run into the issue, to Mats's point here, is the only pace are on the entire lineup is Ben Aser. So if you lose him, I don't even know what you're doing in a game where you're just ball dominant and a team is sitting in. That is something that people forget how difficult it is to break a team down like that. We've seen Tijani Reinders playing a pivot for AC Milan last year. We've seen him play in a pivot for the Netherlands. And we have seen time and time again, he is much less effective there. So my issue is that if you're playing kind of dual eights and rinders and Loftus Chi, again, who's your guy that's actually picking up this pass? Fafana is not that player. Fafana is a destroyer. He can kind of lay a ball off to the right guy to then make the pass. So getting the midfield balance right here is a big task for Fonseca. And with the signing for Fafana, I'm a little bit worried he's going to get it wrong. And if you get a midfield balance wrong, we saw this on Juventus for a while, it really hurts your team.
00:46:03
Speaker
hundred percent I think Adly can play that position. I think he's got it in him. It's obviously – we haven't yet to see it, but i would I would venture to say that he could do it. Obviously, I do agree. Ben Oster is the only guy that that has done it and has proven to do it. He did it for years with Tenali. He's done it – he did it last year when he wasn't hurt. And you're right. Reinders, it's not his forte, but he can do it. But I think to your point, Fonseca is not really worried about it. We're not going to be playing a ton of football in the middle of the field. We're either going to be we're either be tracking back because they they broke our press or we're going to be keeping them in and we're going to keep the ball. We're going to have five across the top. We have two midfielders keeping them in. So I don't think that we're going to need a pacer per se if it comes in handy, sure. But I don't i just don't know if it's goingnna that's the way we're going to play, especially how much money we're spending on Fofana to force a hit in the lineup too.
00:46:55
Speaker
I just think that it's it's needed to to, like you can't play every game like that. Like when you roll up against the Juventus' or the Milan or the Inter Milan's or the Champions League, when you're you're playing teams that might have more talent than you, you might need a pace or when you have the ball because you can't just go, go, go and transition every single time and defend. I'm so it could come back to bite them in the ass but I mean Without without like your box-to-box players are phenomenal like the the list you guys have are you these players are Very very good players that are gonna be running up and down in the field working Winning the ball back high press like he wants to have like he wants to implement
00:47:36
Speaker
So I just think that that's the one the one spot that you guys can improve on. And I'd also like to see what Ruben Loftus-Cheek does vi this season because he had a great year last year. Is he going to be deployed in that same so and that same position where he was kind of like the 10, where he was involved in a lot of offense? Is he going to slot Polisic in there? I'd like to see what happens there because it'd be interesting if Loftus-Cheek can kind of repeat his form last year. You guys have a very good attacking midfield.
00:48:09
Speaker
Yeah, and what Loftus Sheik did very well last year was playing in transition, being the guy that picked the ball up and then drove it 34 yards and then laid off a pass. It was always kind of the right decision, which a lot of players don't actually end up doing well, even if they're a good ball carrier. So yes, it is again, high ceiling here, but we don't know the floor. And that's really what's scary about it. And it'll be interesting to see. We're going to give you guys updates throughout the season, how this midfield is meshing and how Fonseca is deploying them. But moving on into the wingers group, before we get fully into it, let's just talk about Christian Pulisic possibly playing as the 10.
Pulisic's Position Debate and Wing Competition
00:48:46
Speaker
This is something I really don't like. We've seen him do it for the US. We saw it a little bit at Chelsea once in a while. I thought he was extremely ineffective at this role, kind of like a Brahim Diaz, and he just got overrun very quickly. And I always point to play a player where their traits make the most sense.
00:49:07
Speaker
Christian Pulisic is a counterattacking winger really in his best mold, right? Like can can run with the ball at speed, takes on one man and then moves it around. He's not a receive the ball back to goal, kind of bump around and then deliver a ball somewhere, which is really what a 10 is good at. So I don't like this. And I've seen him fail here a lot of times. And I would just hate to see him moved into the wrong place, lose all his confidence after coming off a phenomenal season just playing right wing. which in a 4-2-3-1. So I would like to see him out there. What are your guest thoughts here? I don't know why you would do that because like I just i just finished saying it. Loftus Cheek had 10 goals. Pulisic also had 10 goals. They were playing in the same formation. Why would you be like, hey, I'm smarter than Pioli here. like like Let me move Loftus Cheek down and Pulisic into the 10 when it worked so well last year.
00:49:57
Speaker
and So that would make little sense to me. And Pulisic just said before in an interview that the reason why he played so well under Pioli is because when he talked to him before he came to Milan, he was like, I'm going to play you as a winger. I'm going to play as a winger every single time. And he did that. He didn't lie to him. He played him in the spot that he told him. And that let Pulisic, Pulisic flourish. You also have to remember that his, Pulisic's first position would be left wing. So he's already technically playing out of position on the right side, but he's he's better on the flanks than in the middle. So it would make little sense to me, especially based on last year, how good Loftus Cheek did in this spot and Pulisic did and in the right way.
00:50:37
Speaker
It would just be silly. It would certainly just be silly for this man to come in and after watching all the tape that he's had over the past couple years to play somebody like Pool of Six at the 10. I think number one, we had Rahim Diaz trying to play the 10 for years and years and years and I don't i don't know if I think about this enough or not. or not But Pulisic is not big. he's not a He's not a very large player. He's not very physical. He's obviously uber fast, lightning fast, but he's not big. And I think you've seen this a lot in Syria, where if your midfielder is not dominant on the ball and can't hold people off, it's not going to work out for you.
00:51:13
Speaker
So I do not want to see Pulisic in the teeth of of team's defenses just getting eaten up. it's gonna That's what happened with Brian Diaz. You watch when Brian Diaz went back to Real and obviously playing with Real is a whole different story, but he was ah he was a ah winger. He was an outside player. He did not play through the middle and he was phenomenal when he did. And so I do not want to see Christian shift to the middle. I think that would be a mistake. do we have another pure 10? No, but certainly Ruben loves to see show that he can do it from last year. To Johnny Reinders is absolutely a pure 10. If you need him to play there, he absolutely can do that. He plays as an eight just given the squads that he's on. But at his core, he's a creative attacking midfielder completely.
00:51:54
Speaker
But he yeah he's also box to box, so he's not a pure 10. What other pure are box to box? He definitely can play the 10, but also, when again, when you look at the film, why are you going to fight the film? Ruben Loftus-Cheek played really well there last year. I think you'd do it again, at least at the start. Yeah. I mean, my point on that was that pull us stitches or at best, the third best attacking midfielder option. And I don't know why at the start of the season, Bonseca is coming out and saying that he's going to play the 10 at some point.
00:52:26
Speaker
So I don't love that one on on turning this over to the winger side of things. We don't need to talk about Christian Polisich any more than he is. United States National had a phenomenal transition to Syria last year. We hope he's playing off the right. A couple of guys he's competing with out there. Samwell Chukweze, Nigerian from Villa Real had a rocky season last year. He's a very tricky winger. He's really good at progressing the ball into the final third. His issue is more once he gets there. He kind of does one too many things, he won't deliver the cross, and he he isn't secure on the ball once they get to the final third.
00:53:02
Speaker
The other guy coming back into the squad was on loan from but at Bologna last year, Alexis Salomakers. He was a very big part of the Scudetto winning team, was more of a rotator piece a lot of the time. But this is a guy that had a great season last year at Bologna, has now come back in the team. It was looking like he may be sold and Paulo Fonseca has said he is going to be a big part of this team. This is an interesting one to me. This is a guy I've been hot on. I really did not want AC Milan to sell him. I'm really back. He's coming back into the fold. How do you guys feel about Solomon? Because I think he could have a big impact on the squad this year. He's somebody that brings a lot of energy and a lot of technical ability.
00:53:44
Speaker
Matz, I'd love to hear your take because I have a very different outlook. I think, hey man, he got the Tiago Mata blessing. He's a system player. He plays well in systems once he learns them. So if Francesca can just teach him the system, he can excel. He's in form and he's got that Tiago Mata blessing. So I think as a rotational piece, great piece to have. I think Polisic is going to have some a lot of competition and in his in that right wing spot with Salamakers and even Chuka Waze because I've seen on on on the AC Milan Twitter that Fronseca is really working with him and AC Milan Twitter is saying that he's gonna this is his breakout year.
00:54:25
Speaker
I am always on the fence about saumakers. The great thing about him, which I'll start with, he can play across all three of the midfielders in a 4-2-3-1. He's super two-footed, really, really comfortable in the ball. I think he can see the field quite well. high energy, really, really good fitness, but for something just doesn't put it together. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's his finishing. Maybe it's the it's the final pass. But when he was playing for us and and I will give him the benefit of the Dow purely literally would set a lineup and set a strategy and just erase the right the right man. He wouldn't even think about it. He would just completely ignore that side of the field. But.
00:55:12
Speaker
From my point of view, I don't think that he will ever start on this squad. I think if they use Pulisic right, he will be the starter on the right. Solid markers will be great as a rotation player. He can play the middle in a pinch. He can certainly play off the left you know behind Liao. i just i'm not and i'm not I'm never
Leao's Development and Milan's Forward Options
00:55:30
Speaker
blown away by his performances. We'll see. I'm really hot on him. I think we're going to be blown away by his performances this year. Flipping it over to the left wing spot that is solidified. This is another guy. Big name in world football, not just in Syria. Rafael Liao. Phenomenal player. Big boy. Really fast. Because Beats People 1v1 deletes ground. Basically is unstoppable when he's on his day.
00:55:59
Speaker
I say when he's on his day because this is a guy like we talk about with a lot of the Juventus players that will disappear for large periods of time not in games for weeks at a time and then he'll just come out explode score a couple goals and everybody's like this guy's going around majority is going to Barcelona he can play for any club in the world this is another one big season for him new manager. He has a large price tag. People are trying to get him. He needs to step up if he wants to stay in this light of you can be one of the best players in the world because we did not see it for a lot of last season and we did not see it during the Euros. Yeah, but he'll disappear like you said and you you even said you didn't we didn't see it for a lot last season.
00:56:38
Speaker
I'm pretty sure he was up there in goals and assists for contributions in the Syria. He might've been second or third. So like, that's how good this guy is. He can have an off year and still be second or third in goal contributions. His problem, like you said, is just his consistency. He doesn't do it game in and game out. If he was doing it game in and game out. he might not be on Milan, he might be at Madrid or Barcelona or City or something like that. So I love Liao, I know you guys aren't as high on him because he's not consistent, but the the highlights I see from him, if you guys have never seen Liao, go back and watch.
00:57:12
Speaker
the Napoli AC Milan game. He took the ball from almost AC Milan's 18-yard box and dribbled it all the way down into Napoli's 18-yard box and just put a nice little ah FIFA sweat pass to Giroud to an open net goal. And that was during Napoli's Scudetto winning year. He single-handedly beat Napoli. As you said, deletes ground. It's just so very, very fun to watch. I love Liao. again super inconsistent but when he on his day one of the best footballers in the world can tend to be a one-trick pony with the with the inside cut when he gets into the box but when you put him 1v1 on any outside back in Syria he will take one touch past them and
00:57:57
Speaker
Delete ground that's the that was the best way to put it both deletes ground It doesn't even look like he's sprinting, but he just gets so far past each defender within a millisecond His strides are so long His strides are unreal again would the best thing I've seen out of him in terms of his his Advancement as a player has certainly been his decision-making I think when you look at it three, you know, even almost two years ago If when he that final third he had no idea what to do the ball, he would get there. You get there with ease and then not really know what to do with it. I think he's finally come into a little bit bit more of a playmaker style where you actually can make that final pass. It still needs a little bit of work, um but if we're going to be good this season, we certainly need layout to be honest his on his game.
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's a major player for AC Milan, one of the best players in Syria, if arguably the best, some would say. But the big hole, one of the guys that they were playing with, who was a massive piece to this team, Olivier Giroud, has departed, has gone to LA FC, legend, all-time leading France goal scorer. This was a big hole that needed to be replaced. And they think they found the right player in Alvaro Morata as a replacement. Just won the euros for Spain. Very good player, experienced player. What are you doing, Logs?
00:59:17
Speaker
He's got his Giroud jersey that he's going to pull put up. A few guys are watching it. Logan's breaking out of the Giroud jersey. For all you need to watch is Giroud. We're going to miss him. we're We're certainly going to miss him. Yeah. And also, Liao, he played very well off Liao and helped Liao. So it'll be interesting to see. i think but ah Alvaro Murata, who you guys replaced him with, helped Nico Williams and Lumini Mall play off him very well in the Euro, so I'd like to see what happens. But Giroud was a big part in Liao's success, so it'll be interesting to see. But Murata knows the league, not going to give you 20 goals. We know what he he's going to give. It's going to be a 10 to 14. Also give you maybe six to nine assists. um Give you 65, 70 minutes every game. Likes Italy. We'll be at home here.
01:00:03
Speaker
So solid player ah to kind of usher out Giroud and usher in Marat is a very similar player as well. They got him at the perfect time, it seems as well, coming off of the Euros, because he's going to be playing with two similar wingers that are going to come in to score goals. And whatever Maratha does really well is understand space. We talk about, like he again, people that this stigma around Maratha is he's a bad finisher. like He doesn't do a whole lot well. What he does do well is create space behind him so his inverted wingers can run into it.
01:00:38
Speaker
And he's good at just dragging people out of position, which should help lay out, take that next step, pull a switch, continue to be on the run that he's been on. What he lacks at Olivier Giroud did really well, was one-two passing fancy flicks at the very top of the box, when you're in really tight spaces and need to unlock unlock the defense, is the right way of saying it. where you see a lot with him too. And again, this goes back to the stigma around him. He gets 1v1 against the goalie a lot. He just misses a lot. And that goes back again. He misses the final ball as well with Liao. Pirlas has put it in. He misses a final ball a lot too, which Giroud didn't do a lot. Giroud was good at in the air, great finishing. So Liao could get frustrated with him a little bit.
01:01:19
Speaker
For sure. And Giroud's biggest thing was lethal finisher, very good first touch in terms of one-touch passing, I would say. Moranta's first touch is very good in that he can bring a ball down. And he's also very good at running in behind, which Giroud didn't bring. And Moranta's not the fastest guy in the world, but I go back to this. He understands space so well. So you'll see him getting behind a couple times again. And again, he's not going to bury every chance, but he's just playing in a different way. And it should be a way that complements the guys that are going to be running around him. So I'm very excited about this one. I think he brings a little bit more energy than Giroud ever did, even at the beginning of his AC Milan stint. So I'm really excited for that. It was a little frustrating when Giroud would just pop up in the box, but otherwise it was pretty non-existent. But again, I think everything that you guys said was just totally on point. Hold up plays on his key. He can get behind. He needs to work on the finishing, but has great talent around him that he can be able to service.
01:02:14
Speaker
And so I think that that's really going to help us this year. And again, perfect timing coming off the the back of Giroud's kind of Giroud walks so Maratha can run type of deal here. What I am a little concerned about is what happens after he comes off the field. We don't have a true replacement just yet. I think, you know, we brought in Noah Okafor also from Salzburg, I believe last year, so that there's starting to be a pipeline there, but really never solidified himself in any one position, played the nine a little bit, played off the left a little bit. For some reason, always came up in like a 90 minute goal, always put him, I think he had five or six goals and a lot of them came in an extra time, but not really sure where he fits into the team nor the system.
01:02:57
Speaker
Definitely a good young talent, made the Swiss team this year for the Euros, but didn't play much if he did at all. um So definitely a little concerned as to what is to come after, after Morata comes off the field. Although there's one name on this list that I've been trying to keep on the squad for a couple of years. He showed out on Saturday against City. We've loaned him and loaned him and loaned him and loan him away, but Lorenzo Colombo. has now played three or four great seasons in Syria and for whatever reason, we just do not want to keep him on the squad. He is a phenomenal player, great finisher, high energy, but for whatever reason we thought, okay, we just don't need him. He is a great fit on the bench and I'll be surprised if we loan him out again after after the performances we've seen.
01:03:45
Speaker
Given the squad and the depth we don't have, I would be surprised if he is loaned out. A lot of the time when you when you see guys on the preseason tour playing a lot, they usually end up saying, so I think Colombo will say, well, what I will say, come from what yours you just preached there, that he had great seasons, I wouldn't say they were great. He's been a serviceable guy at best on the teams he's played on and in the opportunities he's gotten. So I'm not going to sit here and say this guy should be starting games even. No, I think he had four goals last year. It was I don't think he had a good season last year. Also, definitely not just a young Italian. So if you're a young Italian in Syria and you're on a big club, they don't want to play you for some reason. So he's going to get loaned out.
01:04:31
Speaker
I mean, definitely not, should not be starting, but I definitely want him on the bench. I mean, he's, he's knows the league, he can score goals. I'd be surprised if we let him go. Yeah, he just seems like he's more of finished the opportunities he gets, which is all you can ask for with the the guys coming off the bench. And Mats, did you have something quick to say here? Yeah, I don't want to spend too much time on this. I want to move on to you guys' best lineups. But what about
AC Milan's Ideal Starting Lineup and Season Expectations
01:04:53
Speaker
Luka Jovic? I mean, he had a lot of late goals last season for you guys as well. Was like the one player to score on Serbia in the Euros. He would be a great sub, and he's like a finisher in the air. Can't do the Giroud flicks, but can finish the the final ball a little bit better than Morata. Change your pace, guy.
01:05:10
Speaker
However, I now I'm just remembering that if you get Nicholas full crew, maybe that would also be a good guy as well. Yeah, that one has it seemed cooled off and Jovic was kind of linked away. And I think with the full crew one kind of falling through Jovic is maybe staying now. And in terms of a direct replacement to Morata, Jovic is the best one, I would say, in terms of a guy that has a lot of experience. If you just throw him in a game, you more or less know what you're going to get. In Serie A, he's been solid. He had his issues at Madrid.
01:05:41
Speaker
But this is a forward group that is going to ride Murata a lot. We rode Giroux a lot, and Giroux was old and did not have a lot in the tank. So it expected to be similar, where Murata is probably starting almost every game, not finishing most games, though. So we're going to be reliant on all three of these guys off the bench to produce something. It'll be interesting to see who becomes the guy, because last year was no Oko 4 for a lot of it. Yovic did have a stance where he was coming in and scoring goals. But that brings us on to what our best 11 is. Logs, what do you have here? And let's assume it's a 4-2-3-1. And yeah, I think that's most likely. So let's go off of that. What's your best 11 here? And Jan, first and foremost, just have to say it.
01:06:28
Speaker
starting with left back, obviously Tayo, when we finalize Pavlovic, hopefully tomorrow, it'll be Pavlovic, Tomori off the right, in the right center back, literally anybody but Calabria at right back. Then when you move to the mid, what we're, I'm going to call the midfield three, even though two, three, one, I guess the pivot is going to be Fofana and I think I know I just said I would sell them, but I think Ben Oster, you kind of need them there. And then Reinders at CAM. Although I also just said that Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a fucking Unreal season. So I think it's got to be RLC.
01:07:01
Speaker
So who what's what's your midfield three, then just on a forbet you name the floor because I just want to play a diamond. I just want everyone to play. were not play now they number two three one So who do you got now? I just want, I want four midfielders. So I have, I have, uh, then I'll say Phil Fauna. Once he gets finalized and Ruben Loftus cheek riders coming off the bench hurts, but you have to do it. Pulisic off the right lay off the left and right up top. Yeah, the only question mark there is, is the midfield three. And I, I agree with you that that's our best 11, but I do not expect Venezuela to start. I'm expecting Fofana come in a hundred percent play with Reinders and Loftus Cheek.
01:07:42
Speaker
which I am going to be a little bit scared when it does happen. But this is a pretty solid squad and they're playing in Syria, ah the Copa Italia and the Champions League this year. What would you define as a successful season for this team, moz especially as somebody who's looking at this new coach, they're kind of building off of a good year last year. What do you have for us?
01:08:03
Speaker
For me, for AC Milan, new coach, I think successful season is top four. ah Make it out of the the group stage of the champ, or not the group stage, the league table of the Champions League. Try to get to the quarterfinal. And then I think that every single like heavyweight team, those being Juventus, Milan and Inter need to, their goal every season needs to be to win the Copa Italia because it's a winnable trophy. So for them, win the Copa Italia. get a trophy in the first season, top four in the Serie A, and then go somewhat far in the Champions League. Get to the knockout stage stages. I know we're we're building out a team to play three competitions. I don't think we're there just yet, so it I'm afraid to say we should be going for all three tournaments. Definitely get out of the group stage, or yeah the table now, the group stage for Champions League, certainly. Oh, my God, top four.
01:08:58
Speaker
in Syria and then I really don't, I don't care what happens in Copa Italia. If we get to the semifinals, great. If we don't, I don't really, that's not my focus this year. I'd rather just make sure that we, we solidify the team this year, solidify a system, regroup for next year. If we don't win a trophy and if we do, that's just the cherry on top. I completely disagree with you. I think right there. right is the difference between an AC Milan fan and the Juventus DNA right there. Trophies matter at the end of the day. Well, here we go. This is what I have to say. You're completely wrong, I think, because Pioli got far in all three competitions. So if you're sacking Pioli and bringing a higher caliber manager, your expectation is to then go on to the next level. And when Fonseca took this job, it was year one, you have to go far in every competition. Because why wouldn't we just keep Pioli then?
01:09:49
Speaker
He got us we' meet in place. He got us to the semi-final of the Champions League. He got us to the latter stages of the Copa Italia. So um i I'm pretty confident that the management staff said, we're going to hire you, but you have to go far in every competition or you're going to be done at the end of the season. He's going to have a short leash. I'm usually managers. getting their time, but that's ordinarily the case when there's a very elaborate system or a specific identity of play. And I don't see that with Fonseca being a guy that you need two, three, four years to build a foundation to build and then create upon that. Fonseca hasn't proven anybody to anybody as far as I'm concerned. And he is going to have one year to prove that he's the guy and that is going to be getting far in every competition because they're going to point to it and say, you have a stronger squad than Pioli, how couldn't you do this?
01:10:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, good luck. Good luck. I
Club Strategies: Juventus vs. Milan
01:10:45
Speaker
really do think that he's going to have more than one year purely. I think we got us to what the quarter finals of Copa last year. We didn't get, we didn't make it out of the group states for champions league and we settled into what third, second or third. in Syria okay but then take take another season he won a scudetto and then I don't know if it was in the same season or a different one got you guys to the semifinals of the Champions League final as well so I mean you guys he and the bones and the structure of the team like the the backbone of the team is pretty much the same last year's different year when you know you're gonna be leaving this is your last year things can go wrong you things don't go your way um but yeah I just like to say that's the difference between AC Milan fans and Juventus fans boys
01:11:29
Speaker
And with that, guys, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we're going to give you another Mercato Moves update to wrap it up. And we're back guys for the Mercato update here. Coming near the end of the window, we got about a month left. and Team's trying to get their business done. Juventus really in the news here. Mats, what do you got? ah Sold, suleed aroma, 26 mil, 2 mil and bonuses that are easy to reach, 2 mil and bonuses that aren't that easy to reach. So the total could be up to 30 with a 10% sell on fee. Kind of underselling I think here ah for Juventus.
01:12:07
Speaker
They had to accept Roma's bid because Sulei didn't want to go to the prem. They were getting bigger offers from the prem, but he rejected it. Great buy by Roma. Sulei in a year or two years from now could be worth 60, 50, 60 mil. I think he's going to be great on Roma. Great buy. Yeah. Also, Dean Hoisin was sold as well, 18 mil to the prem. Once again, thought that they could have got a little bit more, kind of didn't really have concrete interest from everybody. Everyone was somewhat interested in him, but didn't want to come to the table with a real offer. Juventus wanted about 25 to 30, ended up getting 18 mil after bonuses, 15 up front.
01:12:48
Speaker
He's a raw, raw guy. He might be really good. Mourinho thinks he's going to be an amazing player. He also might be really bad. Time will tell. But Juventus had to sacrifice these two players because they were the only real guys getting interest. And now they're going to go try to get Coop and Todibos. So we'll see how that goes. That was my only comment here is it they're just trying to push guys out to get Coop and then Todiebo across the line, which is this really is. It's a little bit sad to see them go because they they're going to have good careers is more or less the consensus. But to get in the guys you want, you got to do what you got to do at the end of the day, right? like lay especially If you identify players that you need in your system, it doesn't matter how much they cost. It doesn't matter who you need to kill to get there. You got to go get them. That's what top teams really do. But continuing on Roma, they signed a guy from La Liga that Daniel De Rossi was very hot on.
01:13:40
Speaker
Yeah, this guy was the leading scorer in La Liga, was linked to Athletico Madrid. DeRosi ended up convincing him to come to the Roma project, which seems like he's been able to convince a lot of people like Soule, convince Soule as well. Roma's on a spending spree. They're giving DeRosi the roi players to kind of go and try to finish top four. um We'll get into that more when we do a Roma deep dive, but Roma are looking pretty promising for this coming Scudetto. Yeah, I think that's going to be on Wednesday to give you guys a little sneak preview there.
Transfer News and Player Moves
01:14:12
Speaker
But we had a little move from the Premier League that I think it kind of went under the radar. as a little It was a weird one. I'm not sure how he's going to do, but it is interesting at the worst lugs. Shay Adams to Torino coming off a couple of years in Southampton was kind of a golden boy candidate for a little while, obviously being English and in working English or is he Welsh? He's Scottish.
01:14:36
Speaker
One of the four coming through the system, though, was promising, obviously didn't pan out, played for a bunch of really bad teams in the prem. So I'm interested to see what he does going to a Torino team who has historically had a bunch of good nines. Yeah, it'll be a nice one to track. He could fail miserably or he could be solid. I don't I don't see him blowing the doors off of anything, but but I think it's a solid. I'm another interesting one. Kaler, novice, Costa Rican, legend, maybe legend of the game at this point. I'm signed for Monza, the replacement to Decergorio. That's a good one. guys it's Great goalie. it It'll make Mons a little bit interesting, um kind of having like a legend of the game. And that doesn't really make them much better, I would say. Just a solid shot stopper who's been around the block.
01:15:21
Speaker
And as for our weekly update for Napoli, the Ozzyman saga continues. The Lukaku deal is not quite done. And the latest update as of today was that there is now a swap deal on the table. Ozzyman to Chelsea, Lukaku to Napoli. I would really not like that because I think that's kind of like a bad situation for Ozzyman to go into. But again, ah we're now trending towards he's leaving. yeah I don't know what's going to happen. i'm I'm ready for this to be done for them to have a striker and Ozzie meant to be wherever he's going to be.
01:15:53
Speaker
Not a straight up swap. Chelsea would have to pay additional fee for Osman as well. Osman is going to leave. He's not on the team in the friendlies. He's like, he keeps saying, I want to leave. We're working on a way out. This also just reminded me, we forgot about it in the quick shouts. Napoli had their friendly one, three, nothing. Cavada scored a great goal. Looked really good under Kante. They didn't play a great team, but looked good. But Osman, I think for sure is gone. Just a matter of who. Yeah, I just hope he goes into a good situation.
AS Roma Season Preview
01:16:22
Speaker
But with that one, guys, we are done. We're going to be back here. We're going to give you another episode on Friday. We're talking about a s aroma, a club that I absolutely love. I'm excited about that one. It should be an interesting season for them. Syria, we're continuing to take down here. We got under a month at this point, just a couple of weeks ahead of us. ah But thank you guys for tuning in. Logs, what
Closing Remarks and Social Media Call-to-Action
01:16:43
Speaker
do you got for the Python Army?
01:16:45
Speaker
Follow us on all of our socials, X, Instagram, TikTok, at KaltrowCultureFC, and you can stream us on your favorite streaming websites, Spotify and Apple Music. Matz, take it away. Paisan Army, Don't be a Gaguts, and Forza, Kaltrow Culture.
01:17:39
Speaker
you