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Match Week #10 Round-Up and Match Week #11 Review (Episode #30)
36 Plays5 months ago
Great to have you back with us on Calcio Culture! Vos, Motts, and Logs are here to dive into all the latest from Italian football, rounding up the action from match week 10 and and 11.
We start with Quick Shouts, where the guys throw out some surprises and big moments from the calcio world. The team gives an early shoutout to their potential team of the season listeners, naming them our Paisans of the Month. There’s some love for David Beckham’s newly minted Adidas cleats, Balotelli’s dramatic debut and Baroni’s well-earned Manager of the Month award. The guys also break down Fiorentina’s phenomenal October, with four big wins, including a statement victory over Milan, a dominant showing against Roma, and a 14-goal haul that has everyone talking. Next, Vos addresses his mid tier match week 10 Culpi picks.
They also take a quick look at the Serie A table, noting that the top teams have been in beast mode recently, with only eight points dropped from a possible 75 in their last five games
.In the Match Week 10 Round-Up, Vos, Motts, and Logs take a look at the games that took place Thursday; Fiorentina's narrow 1-0 win over Genoa, Roma’s hard-fought 1-0 victory at Torino, and Lazio’s total domination of Como with a 5-1 scoreline are all up for discussion.
Then, the crew dives into Matchweek 11, starting with Atalanta’s impressive 3-0 victory over Napoli. The game was technically 3-0, but it was really a 2-0 game until a late goal from Retegui sealed the deal. The guys highlight key performances from Atalanta, and wonder how Atalanta managed to pull off such a performance despite not starting severl key players. Over in Milan, the Rossoneri scraped past Monza 1-0, and the crew discusses how Milan continue to perform without Leao. In Roma’s 3-2 loss to Verona, Vos, Motts, and Logs debate the status of the club and whether Roma should consider re-instating Danielle De Rossi. There’s plenty more action to break down, including Lecce’s 0-1 defeat to Bologna, Juve’s solid 2-0 win over Udinese, and Inter’s 1-0 victory over Venezia.
The hosts also preview the upcoming European fixtures, including Milan’s tough Champions League match against Real Madrid, Juventus’ trip to Lille, and Roma’s clash with Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League. Don’t miss Fiorentina’s Conference League tie with APOEL either !Join Vos, Motts, and Logs for insightful analysis, fiery debates, and all the latest calcio news. Be sure to subscribe and share your thoughts with us on social media @calcioculturefc!
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Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Ciao Paisanos, welcome back to Caltro Culture. This is your host, Vos, and we actually have the whole crew here today. We got Logs and Mots. It has been quite a while. I was literally stranded on an island last week having to fend for myself.
00:00:22
Speaker
But everybody's back. Logs watched some soccer this weekend, so he's ready to go. Indeed, in the what's going on in play zones, a lot of footy was watched this weekend. There was a bit of a change in my personal schedule, they'd probably for the better. and And we were back at it. We got some beautiful analysis.
00:00:42
Speaker
Child Paisanos, we're ready to attack another episode, as always, on this beautiful, beautiful Monday. is being just for every Just for everyone listening, as you can tell, we are still trying to figure out what's wrong with Mott's tonight, so maybe we'll get to the bottom of that before the end of the episode. Mott's is lit being a little bit quiet today. I don't know why. and That's how he said the lady's trouble. Something's wrong. No, there's no troubles here. and Nothing is wrong with Mott's. Nothing is wrong.
00:01:10
Speaker
ah So today, guys, we're talking the couple of games we missed in match week number 10. There was three that on the tail end of the week that we didn't get to talk about. So we're going to be check taking a look at those. Fucking match week 11 reviews, and then some European competitions. We got Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League this week. Fought with Logues back in the mix. There's a lot of dumb stuff to talk about, so he's got some quick shots.
00:01:37
Speaker
Some quick shouts today, favorite part of the episode. It will start off real hot. Quick show for our boy, Vos, way to hold the Dero solo last week. Took a lot of balls, took a lot of guts, and it came out well. So i appreciate you holding the Dero for us while we were at MIA. I agree. Great episode. You did a great job.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yes, sir. Pizarans, if yours shout them out, you know where to find us on all the socials. Give them a quick shout. Give them out your own quick shout on the old socials, huh? Comedy's dead. Oh, somebody did do that. And that specific person and his known brother on this way too early team of the season, Pizarans edition,
00:02:23
Speaker
Shout out to the Frasco brothers as the pysons of October shouts for you guys. Thank you always for doing the job. of The pysons always connecting with us, commenting, liking, supporting, giving commentary. We really do appreciate it.
00:02:38
Speaker
Very much appreciated. Also appreciate the feedback, the text messages, the consistent viewership. But when we missed, I think a couple weeks ago, we missed ah two episodes in a row and they held us accountable. They're like, where's where the where the episode at? So there they are very good paisanos in the army and we are very appreciative of them.
00:03:01
Speaker
Thank you, lads. In any case, into some footy news and a quick, quick shout here, won't harp on it, but a little bit of recency bias. Just two hours ago upon this recording, Harry Wilson played all of 15 minutes for Fulham at the cottage and he scored two absolute beauts to win 2-1 up in London. Shouts to Harry Wilson.
00:03:28
Speaker
bring this to a another Englishman, though. Ordered proud owner of the team of which I have season tickets to. If anybody needs to go, hit me up into Miami's owner. David Beckham has finally released after a two year R and&D sesh.
00:03:45
Speaker
Some absolute heaters of some cleats. They are beautiful. If you haven't seen them, take a look. There's something just nostalgic about a tongue that covers the laces and has a little rubber band that goes over the bottom. I mean, these things are just phenomenal.
00:04:05
Speaker
I think that you take every opportunity that you can to tell everybody or let everybody know that you're a season ticket holder of Enter Miami. I think you've shouted that out. but Proud season ticket holder. I think you've shouted that out at least five or seven times on this podcast. And I will continue to shout it out because we are in a playoff battle right now. We got game three at latera at home, I think it was Friday. Now, do I agree with the MLS playoff structure? Absolutely fucking not.
00:04:35
Speaker
But in any case, we got a game to play, so we'll play. um to cook The Clutes are nice, though. They are nice. we We'll post a little feature later. But in any case, we are going to Italia now, and our boy, Valadelli, made his official debut. Love, Siri.
00:04:55
Speaker
It didn't go all that well. It did not. yeah i know Genoa were winning this game one to nothing. Valetelli came on and in five minutes got a yellow card. like This is just vintage Valetelli and ethics. This is what he does. It would have been way more Valetelli to get a red card in this situation. It wouldn't have been surprising whatsoever.
00:05:18
Speaker
I think this was, this was exactly what we expected out of a melatelli show. But yeah, but go for general and bring him on. At least he's a player coach. He's a player. He's definitely not a player coach. He's a general. He's a general out there. He's not a general either. Well, the thing that bothers me about this is Like, right in this game, Pinamonti scored, where I've been saying, like, this is Genoa's nine. Like, they don't, this isn't really the guy they need. Like, Pinamonti's been great all year. It's not really been his fault that Genoa has sucked. Like, I just hate it. I just hate that Bob Velley is playing, and he's gonna steal time away from other people that have a career ahead of them.
00:05:59
Speaker
Don't look now, but he might be in the Italy squad come next summer. I was so mad. People are excited. I was so mad. What happened here? I missed last. There's some rumblings throughout the league that Spelletti is open to any player. They're never written off. And that was in response to if Balotelli has a shot to make the Italian national team a treasure.
00:06:20
Speaker
Well, also to add something on top of that, Marco Messina on his podcast said if Balotelli scores eight goals, he should be called up. He should not be called up. Balotelli is a horrible team. It's been, it's been over for a very long time. And there are, sure Italy is kind of thin at number nines, but there are plenty of young guys that I'd rather see get some tries than trying to make Balotelli be an an international type player again. do that experiment has been over for years now. Well I'm thinking it's like now like the number nine like it it's like Rategi and then like yes there's a big drop-off but now we have Pinamonti and you have oh god I just completely spaced out on his name. I'm always like keen now flying like there are real guys that can effectively play that position now like and Cole Pawney started to play well and I actually think
00:07:15
Speaker
He could be a good second striker. I i know that's and that's a conversation for another day, but I think he could play like that Denny Maldini or respiratory role actually pretty well. great God, please don't let me see Balotelian in this area anytime soon. Oh my God, that'd be terrible. in In any case, we have a final shout for today. Manager of the month of October, Lazios Barone.
00:07:44
Speaker
I have qualms with this. I have qualms. How is Paladino not manager of the month after Fiorentina's performances in October? Some quick stats, and I think we've already covered this, but just to remind all you all. Four wins in Syria. They beat Muern after a bunch of red cards, 2-1. They fucked on Roma, 5-1.
00:08:11
Speaker
Leche six feet deep, murdered them six nil, and then just pulled out a win on Thursday against Genoa 1-0. Fourteen goals scored, two conceded across the entire month. I do not know how Paladito was not managing alone. Yeah, I agree. i It definitely should have been Paladito. What I think this was, but Varoni's Lazio kind of got going mid-September, slash late September.
00:08:40
Speaker
And I think that they're like, okay, Badroni deserves something here. And he's been going for a while. Lazio's October was realistically just as good as Fiorentina's. Fiorentina just scored more goals and conceded less, and did have some big sig results. But Lazio, the only reason that Badroni didn't get it already is because like they started late in September. like And like tactically, they have been better all year, Lazio, than Fiorentina.
00:09:08
Speaker
Latzio also dropped points though. He did, but I don't think there's a wrong answer. like I think Baroni definitely deserved it. I think Paladino deserved it. It could have gone either way. This one went Baroni's way. I think like it's justifiable to give it to Baroni. It would have been justifiable to give it to Paladino. Latzio have been on fire too. They're one of the best teams to watch in the Serie A. In Europe, I'd say honestly, they're they're so exciting.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, Fiorentina, I think they found it in the last like four games that they started, they started October is somewhat slow and then really found their fault, obviously. But they're both, they're both playing really well. They're both coaching very well and they both deserved it. And I don't, I don't, I'm not mad at it going to Peroni over Paladino and I wouldn't have been mad if it went to Paladino over Peroni.
00:09:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I guess in the heat of the moment, I don't want to take away from what Lazio's been doing and how they've been playing. So, certainly, I ah can agree that he was in the mix. I just wish, I i think the Viola were way better in this month. In any case, that's your quick shots for today. Thanks, Bizones. And kicking it back to Vos, I did a solo Colpi, and it did not go great. I wouldn't go- They never do. No, like ah coming into this, I was very hot. I think I'd hit my last three legs coming into this.
00:10:27
Speaker
And the Napoli one, I got so wrong. i And we're going to talk about it. But Napoli lost 3-0 to Atalanta. Did you guys see that coming? I certainly did not. I was fully expecting a Napoli win. I was very confident about it. and i mind That on Napoli Money Land as well. that was I woke up at halftime and was certainly surprised to see 2-0 on the border.
00:10:51
Speaker
And then Parma lost to Geno at home. i I don't know how that happened either. That just doesn't really make sense to me. I felt really good about that leg, less good than Napoli's leg. And then the Milan game kind of did go my way. I got that one right. So at least I got on the board because sometimes none of us hit a leg. So I got three chances, kind of had to. Yeah, that's what I was just going to say. Like, one yeah like clearly, Kelly Cho we've talked about it before is unpredictable. It's really hard to hit three legs. So.
00:11:19
Speaker
You did your best and you did hit a leg, right? So... We tried. We tried. I wouldn't have done better. now you you No, have. We got to go. I hit my Eventus $100 Moneyline bet. Come on now, baby. you That's dollars. That's dollars right there.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, but that's the Colby checking. Logs threw a note on here, so I think he wants to talk about something about the the current table, so I'm just going to let him take over. Oh, quick table check. Quick table check. It's certainly interesting. I mean, if you compare it to how we thought the season was going to go, it's certainly not not looking like any of our and of our takes pre-season. That's chittable. That's debatable. there's some We have some right here. We have some wrong.
00:12:03
Speaker
Well, we all had Inter at one, so I mean, you know, and I didn't want. No, no, I think I had no, I had Napoli at two, but i I couldn't put Napoli one, but I said they are a contender. But Bose also said Atalanta was going to be high on this table throughout the year. They're right. They're right there. I think the real blunder that we all did was how we all had Roma pretty high and that's not the case.
00:12:27
Speaker
That's what happens when you sack a manager that shouldn't have been sacked. But in any case, top five teams, Napoli 1, Inter 2, Atalanta 3, the Viola, Fiorentina at 4, and Lazio at 5, Juve coming in at 6, Milan at 7, Quagno and Roma sitting at 12, and the little lads at the lake. Stiff teams.
00:12:48
Speaker
There are currently six teams that I would deem in the relegation battle, although Roma is only four points off of what I'm deeming in the relegation battle. But we have six teams sitting at eight, seven teams sitting at eight points or nine. So with the season officially underway at the 11 game mark, as Mats has proudly said, some of these teams are in trouble. Some of these teams are in trouble. But the staff of the day here last five games for the top five teams. That's The five games, 25 games. third Three points per game, 75 points total to be had in the last last five games for each. Only eight points dropped. the every Some of these tea oh and these top five are on the cedars right now.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this is what you expect from like your your big clubs, your big name clubs to kind of get into form at this point in the season and start kicking on. And we saw that kind of, I would say Fiorentina is probably the best example of that. They started slow and things are moving in the right direction now, which again, you expect with teams like this. Even Bologna would kind of put in that, in that, that bucket. They've kind of gotten it going now two wins in a row and just kind of doing the things they were doing wrong, now doing them right.
00:14:08
Speaker
And really the only people that I can look at this and say, haven't really sorted anything out is Inter. And somehow they're in second place. like They haven't really solved any of the issues they've they've seen. And it was Marcus Taram at the beginning of the year. And now it's like for Tezi and Makataria and kind of just putting the load on and just taking it. like i don't I don't know.
00:14:32
Speaker
Inter's just a weird situation, so I don't want to get too far into it, but it is it is really cool now that everybody's ramping up. And on your point on the low side of the table, it's super tight down there, and teams are pulling points off of each other. Like, you're not getting a lot of nil-nillers or one-to-ones when these teams are facing each other, like the Parma Genoa game today, massive result for Genoa. And you go through and, like, games like... Benetze almost got a result against Inter, like, it's crazy.
00:14:59
Speaker
ah we we We have noted that before that as opposed to other leagues, I think Syria certainly has the bottom of the table, they go after it. It's not like they don't they don't hustle, it they're not in you know they're not inherently dropping points. These guys are really going at it. You're seeing results here and there. I mean, the bottom 16 was each have a win in the last five, so they're getting they're getting results here and there, but it'll be a tight, tight race from here on out.
00:15:25
Speaker
Honestly, when I look at the bottom, like this relegation candidate teams, the only team that I would look at this as somebody else and be like, oh, I'm not really worried about this game is Lecce. Lecce has put up a great fight in a bunch of games this year. like But they're the only thing that I don't think is very good. But like, Venezia is always tough. Monza is getting better. Genoa has some good players. And like, you we can just go out through the whole table and it's like that all the way up.
00:15:51
Speaker
ah little lads at the lake are not getting relegated i'll tell you that new Yeah, but then to go back up to the top of the table Logan did say that only eight points have been dropped out of those five or those top five teams But like Juventus and Milan are not out of it by any stretch of the imagination Milan's eight points out of first which it's a gap. Yes, but it's not a a gap that they can't make up through through this long season. So we're going to have a tight race for the relegation battle and also a tight race for the scurrito, which I think we all thought that coming in that it was going to be tight because this Lee has had the most parity in any top five European leagues over the last five years. And this year is staying the same.
00:16:38
Speaker
Long to see it. Long to see it. Well, with that, we're going to get into what actually has happened since we last spoke match week 10, round it up. If you guys want to jump in any comments, just go for it. We saw if Pio and Tina go to Genoa win that game one to nothing off of him. Always a keen late goal, missed a little gritty from him. It's not actually kind of it's pretty bad. I don't like it.
00:16:57
Speaker
It was a horrible grid.
00:17:00
Speaker
um Torino went to Roma for the Ivan Yurich Derby. Roma squeaked out a win with a ah one-nothing win. Squeaked. Off of a dope, big PK, so don't read too much into that one. And then Lazio won a thriller at the lake, five to one, two red cars in that game. Lazio just rolling, come out not so much.
00:17:21
Speaker
Not so much, but Red Cards galore. That's the other storyline of the season. It's getting insane. There's two more today. There's three today, I think. There was two in the same moment for the same team today. Yeah. It's a ref storyline through and through, and it's getting a little out of hand, but who's to say?
00:17:41
Speaker
Kicking it onto the weekend, we're gonna go into our deep match reviews here. The first one, obvious game of the weekend. This may have been the biggest surprise result for me of the entire season, honestly, in just how the game played out. Adelanta went to Naples and won three to nothing against Napoli who were top of the table. For all the big clubs, everybody was rooting for Adelanta in this game. like some This was a game that they needed to pull points off of Napoli.
00:18:10
Speaker
And they went in and did it. And honestly, this wasn't really an Atlanta typical game where they create a million chances. They had like a 1.15 XG and ended up netting three goals, which is obviously unheard of this season for Atlanta. Their whole thing has been creating a million opportunities and like needing that many opportunities to convert them.
00:18:32
Speaker
And they just did a really good job of not allowing Napoli to counter them hard. They really took Kavirat Skellia and Lukaku out of the game. And they took their opportunities when they had them. Everybody's playing well, the wingback play is back. Like, Rugeri, Zepikosta, Belanova, everybody that has been playing in this game, it was Rugeri and Zepikosta.
00:18:52
Speaker
phenomenal. Those guys are so key to this team. And then the other thing is Lookman now, literally can't stop scoring. Like if you give him any look at goal, he just puts it away. No, this was this was a crazy good win for Atlanta crazy good win for the rest of the league.
00:19:10
Speaker
in I think the two most important points here. One, Attaway had to have started this game with no Rotegi, no no Brescinini, and no Belanova. Four other for sure top players, and they still came out with this win. Flowers for Lookman, naturally two goals in the first half. But the other player that I think really needs to be talked about here,
00:19:32
Speaker
was Hien. Hien, Hien, their center-center back, absolute brute, locked Lukaku down. Lukaku did not have a good game at all by any means, and Hien by himself did what Pavlovich and what Shaw couldn't do together.
00:19:50
Speaker
So shouts to him, really good performance out of him. Well, Gary looked great. Again, wing backs are back. But this Atalanta team is is certainly flying. Really good, really good win for them. And the ah on the flip side, just a quick note on Napoli. It's so apparent that they need to buy a backup nine. I thought it was January window. I thought your boy Diego Simeone was their backup nine.
00:20:15
Speaker
The egosiniani coaches for Atlético are Gio. Gio is absolute dog shit. He hasn't scored since 2020, so he certainly cannot be playing as our backup man going forward. So you're throwing in the towel on Raspadori then.
00:20:30
Speaker
Raspidor is not a nine. Yep, but he is. He's the nine for this team because he's also not a winger. Personally, I think he's best as a winger, like a Palo Dabala player. that's That's who he is. He is Dabala. He's not a true nine. He's a poor man, is Dabala. I just don't think Raspidor just isn't that good. like That's the issue that we're going to keep going back to. You want him to be what he is, and he's just not a very good player. He's okay.
00:20:56
Speaker
But he's not good enough to start for a Scudetto winning team, I don't think. No, but he's also just not a backup nut, and that's what I'm trying to say. he does't He's not... They need a a and a guy who's a through, like, out-and-out spore. Raspidories can be creative on his best day, more of an assist, play wide. They need somebody that can come in and just be a little bit less good than Lukaku. They just don't have that. Like, Gio is not good. Gio should be playing in Serie B.
00:21:23
Speaker
No, she's playing for fucking Genoa. So so he they need to go out and find a nine that's happy to ride a little bit of little bit of pine. When they do have two games a week, he can come in and start and give Lukaku a bit of a break. But clearly, they're down to him now. Lukaku comes off and they don't really have another point man to go up there. They took Kavara and Lukaku off in the 65th-ish, 70th minute, yeah and they had nothing going thereafter.
00:21:51
Speaker
I think that for me, what I took away was like, and I said this before, where De Lorenzo is having a good year because he's scoring goals. I think we saw his biggest weakness in the Euros when he has to defend like fast players that can take you one on one and can get by their man.
00:22:11
Speaker
And we all know that Lookman is a player who can get by anybody. he's and He will take anybody on. He's very direct. And when you put DeLaRienzo on an island, he's going to get cooked by a player like Lookman. And so if teams can somehow isolate DeLaRienzo and exploit that, na that's where Napoli's defense is very weak. And I think Lookman having two goals really showed that and the teams playing Napoli need to that's how they need to attack Napoli because I mean even though they let in three goals Bonjourno and Out of there I still had a good game on their side, which I think is is just classic Bonjourno, right? He's just a very solid defender that you're not going to that's not really gonna put up a stinker but that right side of their defense is where they're weak and Lookman and the Gasparini exposed them and
00:23:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, both of Lookman's goals came directly off off of that side. GeoDeal runs are fucked up ahead of clearance, and that's where Lookman's first goal. And then the second one was not closing down. It's exactly what Kavera and Skelly did to Momahonton like the week before. And for me, I don't think Napoli are going to read too much into this. I think this is just a bad day at the shop kind of thing.
00:23:22
Speaker
because i I do think that the goals came down to not having the tenacity and like the the mental fortitude to be ready for this game and like go and win those 50-50 balls, go and dive in front of the shots, block them. And sometimes you need a game like this to like switch you back into gear like Napoli.
00:23:41
Speaker
regardless of what Matza said, and they have been great, are probably a little bit ahead of where they had expected. Like, they they have been so good that this was bound to happen, right? Like, they had to draw points somewhere in a game like this, because the last time this happened was the first game of the season at at Verona.
00:23:57
Speaker
And Bonjourno came out and said it after the game. The the the attitude that you can just clearly say, because Bonjourno said, after we beat Milan, Conte was like, don't get too much on your high horse. And then after this game, it was don't get too down on yourselves. And it's that like level headed, be together kind of team that's going to will them on and they're going to be just trouble this entire Scudetto race.
00:24:22
Speaker
that's That's really why I don't have too much to rate into this. I just don't think they were up for it in this game. In Atalanta, this was their first like big game that they were able to win. like They always get psyched up for big games. like They lost to Madrid at the beginning of the season. They're like, oh, this is the one they're going to win. They had another big loss. I forget who it was. But and they are always wanting these results and like can't quite get them a lot of the time. And this is one where they got it.
00:24:44
Speaker
And it showed, because the last thing I do want to say is Rachegi came on, and scored a fucking screamer, put it 3-0, 90 second minute, and then what does he do? Pops the tarp off, takes the yellow card. Like, you can just see how much it means. Like, they wanted this game, and took it off the top team of the league.
00:25:01
Speaker
Yeah. And we, we talked about this stretch for Napoli and it's going to be a very hard stretch of the game. So maybe that the, this is kind of a wake up call for them in these coming games to be like, Hey, listen, yeah, we've had a great run of form.
00:25:16
Speaker
But at any point in time in this league, we can be beaten by any by any team. So it's a good wake up call right at the start of that very hard stretch that they have. And now you have to bounce back against Inter, which is going to be another very tough game next week. But because this kind of thrashing three nothing happened, you can probably expect Napoli to be very much ready for next week against Inter. And that's going to be a great game because of that.
00:25:46
Speaker
I mean, all signs are pointing to that Napoli will be ready, especially with Inter going to having to having to play Arsenal. So, Inter's not looking ahead to Napoli at all. They were focused on midweek, and I think that really plays well into Napoli's game plans here. Yeah, definitely. This was this was an interesting game. this Again, this was the craziest result of the year for me so far, and I'm happy that it happened, because if Napoli had won this one,
00:26:14
Speaker
And then also go and beat enter next week, it would be a little bit like, okay, Scudetto race is getting a little bit thatt like Natalie might run away with it. And this kind of reigns them in. So it is good to see another team that's, I mean, I guess we can call them in form AC Milan this weekend. They went to Monza and won the game one nothing. I know you're shaking her head looks, but three wins out of the last five is in, isn't bad, but this is one, you had a lot of things you wanted to mention.
00:26:43
Speaker
Well, it's just a lot more the same from a lot in that the commentator, which, again, I don't know why for any of the top teams they have, Paramount goes one commentator, but so be it.
00:26:55
Speaker
He even said, like, just such an unconvincing win from a lot. And that's exactly what it was. It's more the same. Not sure what the the offensive goal is when they have the ball. Pretty shaky on defense. Quick shout for Daniel Maldini. I have been the biggest hater of Daniel Maldini, but he actually had a really, really, really good game. Really unfortunate, unlucky that he didn't score.
00:27:19
Speaker
He had two pristine opportunities in the first half, I think. One went off the crossbar, and one he absolutely diddled Pavlovich, and he just missed the goal. I mean, i'm unfortunate finishing, but Maldini does look good out there. That's a really bright and big bright spot for Monza. But to bring it back to AC, again, just not just no game plan. no Not sure what they're trying to do out there at any point in the game. They squeaked to this one out.
00:27:46
Speaker
Couple of bright spots from my end. I think Teo's still showing that he's one of the best players in the world, although he's lifeless. He just looks lifeless out there. I mean, he had a couple of good sprints up the field in the first half, was making some offense happen, which is always a luxury for us. But he just looks lifeless, and it's tough to see that coming out of the captain. Vos, you mentioned this, and I totally agree. Leoni's a star.
00:28:11
Speaker
There's a no, no reason that layout should be on the bench to start any of these games. He's got, if it's been rest, he's been well rested and no one's playing that much better than to keep him off the pitch. Yeah, so that she my point was that with this was that Did he deserve to get ventured when it happened? I think we were all in agreement, yes, right? like The attitude wasn't there, the performance wasn't there, and like very clearly like he was kind of a plague on the team at that point.
00:28:45
Speaker
But I feel like where it's been long enough now where, okay, fun second, like you've made your point, now get off their high horse because there is nobody in the team apart from Pulisic and Reinders, which is a completely different position, that should be dislodging layout from the team. Because it's Lukaku and Shukweze essentially are your two guys that you're now playing over layout. And I can't imagine that he is so much for- Oh, Kefoor. Oh, Kefoor. Well, who do that for? Lukaku.
00:29:12
Speaker
ah yeah couple i thought what didn't we about you deep i but old before yeah I can't imagine he's so much of a plague in the locker room where like it's it's to the point where we can't play him anymore and I think this is fun second just using layout as like a tool to exert his power over the team at this point And again, like with the way Logues had just said it, nobody's playing good enough where it justifies leaving way out. If Chuck Wesze or Okafor were fucking flying, it would be one thing. But the only time Okafor has been effective is when he's come off the bench and played like 20 minutes. And granted, he's been very, very good at that. But when he does start, he just, he isn't, he's like a street baller is kind of the way I think about him.
00:29:56
Speaker
He doesn't really tactically get into the game. He's just like very fast. And when you bring him on late, it helps a ton. I had a little different take. I mean, I thought Milan, yes, it was only one nothing, but I thought they could have had a lot more. They had a 2.54 XG, you know, six big chances created. i I didn't think that it was like as unconvincing as as you did logs.
00:30:20
Speaker
But in terms of the Liao thing, I like it. I like how Fonseca is benching him because and he doesn't show me anything when I watch him. He doesn't have any fight, any desire, any grinka. He gets pissed off. What I would do is I would now police are just playing out of his mind. I would put him in his normal spot, the left wing.
00:30:40
Speaker
Throw rinders at the 10, throw Loftus cheek or somebody else next to Fafana and then keep Chiquiese. So why not put Polisic in his most natural position because we know how good he is.
00:30:53
Speaker
He obviously hasn't done that. um Maybe Fonseca will hear this, ah me giving the suggestion and he'll try it out because we know that he does listen to Calcho Culture. But I would continue to do it until I play Liao and I see him pressing with the team and trying to work hard and a sacrifice for the badge.
00:31:12
Speaker
Another person that I like that he's been benching is Tamori. Tamori to me has done nothing. He's only shown that he should be benched. When he plays, he plays with his head cut off. He just runs around. he's the I've never seen a defender like try to block as many shots and have it go right through his legs, which as a defender is like the biggest thing that you cannot allow have to have happen is let that ball go through your legs because then the the goal is going to have to react super quickly. It's going to be it's tough for the goalie to to see it coming. So I like how he's been benching both of them and I would continue to do it until they show reasons to not. And I know this is my point and so
00:31:54
Speaker
Chuck is so you're saying you think Chuck was a has been good enough to justify continuing to not play well because I don't I I don't know it i agree I don't think i I don't think he has but I think Leo when you play Leo it's like you're playing with nine men on the field. right like like He's not doing what the team needs you to do and the goalie is obviously not pressing either. so it's like There is a clear way to go and attack Milan because Liao is not going to do what is needed of him when they're playing defense or when they're pressing.
00:32:31
Speaker
so Let me play check what check was a who maybe he doesn't bring that offensive firepower but will at least listen to what we need to have have happened when we're in a defensive shell when we're pressing when we're trying to build up when we're you know, like that's what I and yeah, he doesn't have the splash that Liao does but he has he listens he's coachable and I think Fonseca is valuing that over Liao just basically doing whatever he wants every That's actually a good point. And, Lokes, my question for you is then, because we talked about, like, tactically, like, how are we creating offense? Like, we don't know week to week. What I have kind of thought that he is trying to do is we're going to be a counter-attacking team. And I actually think Truc Weses might be a better player to have when you're going to have a ton of the ball.
00:33:19
Speaker
Do you think maybe we'll see layout and like maybe a bigger game where Milan is not going to have the ball? Because I think that might actually make sense from a tactical standpoint. we We certainly will see him in the bigger games. I think that that's going to this this whole thing is going to come to an end pretty quickly. I'm not sure what AC schedule is coming up, but that will be a time that a layout will shine. It's been a little weird the past couple of games because AC has been so ball-dominant. But even in this game, the one goal came off of a beautiful counter-attack. um And shout-outs to Reiner for getting forward. But that's layout is kind of like in that
00:33:58
Speaker
but the slump of the nine stage right now where he just needs to get a goal. I think once he gets a goal and he and he and he feels that and the team celebrates with him and he kind of brings that joy back into his game, I think that's when he's really going to turn it on. Yeah, fair. I mean, the the whole fun second, like we want to counter-check the guy just strongly disagree with bringing in a manager that wants to implement that for such a big club. Like I guess it's beyond the point. Do you guys agree, disagree? as in colleague Isn't Kote doing that, Renu?
00:34:30
Speaker
I can't clue, clearly better, way better at it, but I don't think, I don't think that that's the wrong decision. I just think that it's not, it's it hasn't been implemented correctly, nor did we build for that specifically. We brought in a center back who's been absolutely terrible in Pavlovich. Shaw has fallen off, so our defense has been the least solid defense I've seen across the league.
00:34:54
Speaker
Emerson Royale has already been benched. Tereshawno started right back this game, which I actually love. Even though Tereshawno's been iffy, but he's certainly better than he collaborates with Tereshawno. I think Tereshawno's the best outside back on Milan this year, which is insane. It's not hard though.
00:35:09
Speaker
i wanted to know I don't want to defend Pavlovich though. I thought Pavlovich had a good start to these. He's not consistent. He either puts a great game in or a stinker. That's the same thing were with all of them. They're all like that. That's like Shaw, like what sometimes be like, Oh, this guy's going to go to Manchester City in three years. And then like for Kyle Tamore should have won defender of the year. And like,
00:35:33
Speaker
Gabbie, I guess, is the only guy that isn't like that and he got hurt. But what what I want to say about our defense is, and I guess this is a ah little bit of support of our center backs. Matz did a great analysis earlier in the season about how many times D.C. gets beat on the back post. It's the same thing. You go up the left side, we did way you across the ball, and Chaw have a pitcher whoever's playing at center back has marked their guys, and there's one extra guy in the back. That happened consistently again with Monza, and Monza should have scored. Mignon made a great save, but our left back, whether it's been Teo or Teroshano, whoever's playing there,
00:36:08
Speaker
and mostly Teo. Does not man Mark. They just fall asleep as soon as the ball is on the other side of the pitch and it's been deadly against us. Again, Monza should have scored as a great save by Mignon, but Teo, as good as he is going forward, it just turns off when he's on defense and that's really been a huge hole because specifically in this game,
00:36:31
Speaker
Pavilich and Choff, they man-marked, they had their guys. It's that extra guy in the back post that kills us every time. So if we can't figure out that coverage from a off-ball side, it's going to be a very long season there. So the the one thing I do and we need from the front side to fix everything is Murata needs to finish.
00:36:53
Speaker
i've been I've been supporting him. that's what you guys That's what you're getting when you buy Maratas. He's not a guy that's going to finish every opportunity. he's the The most frustrating part about it is he's always in the right spot. He has a lot of great chances. That's why our XG was two and a half. i mean he had ah He had a couple of headers and a nice volley from the from the box that he just couldn't finish.
00:37:16
Speaker
and There's only so far you can give him credit for if he's not putting the ball in the back of the net. That's um one job. Meanwhile, he's he's coming back and playing as a sex picky on the ball moving forward. That's really great, but why are you not putting the ball in the net? That's wet what that's that's like buying...
00:37:34
Speaker
a car and expecting it to be a truck. Murata is who he is. like yeah like He is that player. like You knew he's been that his whole entire career. He's been that on Juventus. He's very good at progressing the ball forward, but he misses sitters and goals that maybe an out-and-out nine would normally score. But he's much better at other things than an out-and-out nine, like Dovbik,
00:38:02
Speaker
ah can't do the link-up or the hold-up play as good as Murata, but Dovahk's probably more of a ruthless finisher. So you can't expect him to just all of a sudden become a ruthless finisher, and you should have known that coming in. Like, that's who he is. And this brings the spotlight more onto, like, Divrah than, like, the board, because what did Zlatan say when they hired Fonseca?
00:38:24
Speaker
We get in higher content because we wanted a coach and not a manager. And now we're seeing poor squad building, which is what we kind of talked about at the beginning of the year. Like if you're going to hire a counter tech and coach and you're going to have that be your identity.
00:38:40
Speaker
do need a number nine that fits that. Like Maratha doesn't really fit that. That's like that's why we see Maratha be so, so good for Spain. And then like you have him do something like this and edge it doesn't make sense. Like why are you having him do something he doesn't want to do?
00:38:54
Speaker
And I don't know, there's there for the big difference in my mind between Milan, Juventus, like Inter is, Inter, Juventus, I see where the ship is going. Milan, we don't know where the ship is going and it's maybe they're getting more results now.
00:39:14
Speaker
but I have no idea where it's still going to be week to week. And like they're just riding the highs and trying to get through the lows right now versus building towards something, which is a very scary because it kind of reminds me of like the Jose Mourinho United, where it's like, this is kind of not going well, but it's going well enough where we're going to keep you. And there isn't really like, you know what I mean? Like that kind of thing.
00:39:38
Speaker
Well, that's why I was shaking my head when you opened up this game. you know Yes, we've gotten three wins the last three games, but it's no questions are being answered. It's the same question marks game after game after game and nothing's changing. So it's tough to be this far in the season with so many question marks. We're lucky to be in and seven. We're getting a couple results, but none of it none of it's convincing. And so i'm I'm unconvinced as of right now and it will be for the foreseeable future.
00:40:07
Speaker
Two bright spots to Johnny Reinders and Fofana, both really good. Finally solidified those two spots. Fofana has come to form. He's a phenomenal player. I mean, I can't say enough good things about Reinders, man. He gets forward when he needs to. It's great for him to be in the spot for the goal. I actually thought he should have gotten the ball initially on that attack, but in any case, it was a great ball from Pulisic and to Morata.
00:40:32
Speaker
But he knows when to get forward. He is always an option when we're building out of the back. He covers for Teo when he needs to cover for Teo. He creates outside the box. I mean, he he does it all. He's the out and out eight. He can be a 10. He can be a six. It's exactly what he was showing last season. Now bringing it into this one.
00:40:52
Speaker
And but I couldn't, that's the only guy that I can say, m and Mignon, but Mignon's always hurt. Reiner's and Pulisic are the only two guys that you can really be happy about this team, game in and game out. And it's it's beautiful to see. and forfaa I think the weather has been so good. that Like, this is why I understand now why Fonseca was like, I need Fafana because his job is just to clean up all the shit. Like, he covers so much goddamn ground. I think he's actually attacking more than Fonseca wants him to, but he has to because nobody else is doing it right. I think Reinders. And like, Fafana is constantly, like, getting making runs into the box, which I don't think is really his role.
00:41:33
Speaker
But he he is a very good player, and I was unsure about this signing, and I was completely wrong. No, I mean, we absolutely need him. Those the two are two midfielders holding the like those are. Finally, we have that solidified. It's not a rotation. We know exactly who's going to be there. And so I guess that's one question mark that we've answered, and I'm still waiting on the other ones.
00:41:56
Speaker
Alright, that wraps up Milan Monza. A lot of talk for a 1-0 win on the Milan side. But that moves us on to Roma. Roma went to Verona and laid an absolute stinker, lost this game 3-2, and conceded a bunch of terrible goals and it looked like nobody was trying to win this game.
00:42:18
Speaker
This was the result, the worst result in my mind for Roma this season. This is one they needed to win. Also coming off of a win at home, going to Verona who had, who had lost her previous three. This is one they needed to get done. And I don't think enough blame is being shown to the players at this point. Like everything is, I would need a new manager. We need a new manager.
00:42:42
Speaker
You kind of need to take everybody out of the team because everybody's playing bad, other than Manu Kona. Like, this was really embarrassing. Zalewski had one of the worst giveaways I've ever seen. Mancini and Adika had some of the worst defending I'd ever seen. And just all around, the mentality is gone. My confidence is literally gone. They don't look like they're capable of winning a game.
00:43:05
Speaker
that' what I mean, you're 100% right. This was certainly a game that they needed to win. Verona being a way less talented side as well as being out of four. I mean, great win for Verona, but they've they've been terrible last couple of games after after they're a very hot starter.
00:43:20
Speaker
So this Roma side is in shambles. We've said it before. Not sure where they're gonna get this to turn around. The only thing I'll say on a brighter side is that Dobrik is finally getting going. I mean, obviously a penalty is is a penalty, but sometimes the nines need that. He scores again in this game. um there they were They were resilient for most of the game. They they were behind twice. They came back. But a league goal like that, you just it's unacceptable. They like it. They gave Dobrik the goal? They did, yeah. That was bullshit. That was an own goal.
00:43:51
Speaker
there was not a dos that go all When you look at on the stat sheet, you look at his numbers from the season, which are really important for nines. I think it's more so than any other position. He's going to feel good about it. So we'll give it to him. I do like dope. I hope he he comes to form more so that he has at the beginning of the season. But yeah, this is ah this is tough. So I also scored his first goal for ro on this game. Notable good. Sorry, I don't know. I don't know at this point what what writes the ship for Roma, right? Because.
00:44:21
Speaker
like I generally don't know because whoever whatever manager you bring in he's still got these players who cannot play of a proper formation because they all do the same thing which we were praising that coming into the season but no manager has been able to figure out how to make them work together And that like you said about the Milan goes to their front office and their their team building and they didn't really build a team they didn't know and I've said this beating up a ah ah drum about this. They didn't know how to build a team they didn't get players that work well together and we're seeing that and we're also seeing that.
00:45:00
Speaker
No manager that gets these guys can figure it out because we saw DeRosa play 4-3-2-1. We've seen him play 4-2-3-1. We've seen Yurich play the 3-5-2. We've seen Yurich play the 3-4-2-1. Nothing works. so While Donzi and Priscilla were playing as wingers, like they it is literally nothing working.
00:45:23
Speaker
And this like it's not like they're not trying new stuff. They are trying new stuff. They're not just throwing the same 11 out. As you mentioned, they're they're playing guys out of position. They're playing guys in position and nothing works. There's no clear way to attack. There's no clear passages of plays ever. They're just wasted possession because they they tend to do win the possession battle typically, but they just cannot figure it out for whatever reason.
00:45:50
Speaker
I mean, this is a legitimate question now that I i've thought of when we were planning the episode. Is their best solution actually to sack Yurich and bring Dorossi back because they fight because the CEO stepped down, which was a big part of the issue with the Dorossi thing?
00:46:09
Speaker
And the the the reason I think this might be better, and I actually do still think yours is a good coach, but this situation has gotten so out of control that the Ralsei did have a preseason with this entire team. Like he knows all of them and they were working together at one point and had a plan together. Like it would be insane if it happened, but I legitimately think it might write the shit.
00:46:34
Speaker
I think what they do is they sack Yurich, they cut their losses here, and then they have a Friday night and bout between De Rossi and Brian Cristante. And if De Rossi knocks out Cristante, they cut Cristante, they bring in De Rossi, and otherwise Cristante gets to pick the next manager. I think that would write the show. Cristante is not that type of player for Roma. He's not that good of a player at all to have that much of a say on who or what they did with the manager. I don't think That fight that or whatever happened in the locker room played that big of a factor into the durosie firing Because Brian Christante is not the end-all be-all when it comes to Roma and he's shown that he's he has had a bad couple of Parable in terms of like what they do now. I think
00:47:21
Speaker
Firing Durosy when that happened was the wrong move. I know it was taking him longer than they expected. Hiring Yurich after firing Durosy is also not a good move because Yurich, we know what Yurich is. He's not going to give you offensive firepower that Durosy, that we saw Durosy do. He's much more of a Mourinho coach, where it's, I'm going to solidify the defense and not allow goals. That's not happening. They're allowing goals. They allowed three goals in this game.
00:47:48
Speaker
So that appointment was also bad. It was Roma essentially firing Drosia I think that took two steps back and then hiring Yurich took two more steps back and then if you fire him After five seven ten games you're gonna take two more steps back to then Hopefully hire the right manager who there's not that many guys out there. I know there's kind of links with Lampard um who Hated what is land yeah like who is out there to kind of right the ship and the guy would be durosy but i like he's gonna do the the same thing as yurich he's going to no but you're not gonna have any style of play he's gonna play a three five two that does not fit these guys players
00:48:34
Speaker
positions like they Roma is not a team with the the players that they have at the disposal that can play a 3 5 2 or 3 4 2 1 they just they need to be in like a 4 3 3 or a 4 2 3 1 and they're not but they don't They like their ah offense needs to be 3-1 right like they need to have suleil de bala Pellegrini in and Dobe but then their defense needs to be a three back so they can't do either one and So that goes back to the players the no manager in my opinion is gonna be able to figure this out and I do agree with what you said earlier votes a lot of it's on the players sometimes you got to have a player only meeting and be like we are Roma and We're all very good players. What the fuck is going on? like let's We gotta fight for the badge and have some fucking pride. There's no pride out there for anybody. And I i would assume it starts with Pellegrini, the captain, because he doesn't look like he's interested in winning games either. and As bad as he's been, there are guys that play bad but still try really hard to win, and like that's a good captain. And with Pellegrini, we haven't seen that, which is very alarming.
00:49:45
Speaker
Like De Rossi is a great example. De Rossi was a captain, was never a great player, but just cared so much about winning that it made him a legendary player and a legend in Rome.
00:49:56
Speaker
You know who you know they might need to bring? Who I don't know would be, I don't think has any managing experience at all, but it's kind of the same. He's in. Yes, I am. Let him play too. Let him do every fuck he wants. Maybe toy and Toddy can turn it around. i I don't know with this squad. And then it's very, very frustrating because This offseason was very obviously active for Roma, bringing in those 10, 11 guys. So you figured there would be growing pains, but you didn't figure they'd be this bad. And and this goes back to, they keep dropping points. And I proposed this question, I think three or four episodes ago. Do we think that they can even finish top four? Now it's like, are they going to get into European spot? I know they're only four points out of seven, but they can't win a game.
00:50:45
Speaker
I don't think they're gonna get into the European spot. Unless there's a mate massive turnaround, the teams that are ahead of them for the European spot are Empoli, Torino, Bologna, Udinese, and Milan. Udinese is the only team I think they can beat, and that's because they beat them 3-0, and they' are very they have been shaky recently. But I don't see Roma beating Empoli. I don't see Roma beating Torino. They did beat Torino 1-0 on a fucking penalty.
00:51:12
Speaker
but like They're not good. like Very simply, they're not good. And that's why I'm wearing this. This Roma shirt I got on because this is rock bottom. We just hit it. And I forgot to break out the second Italian horn, the big one. I'm going to bring it out ahead of the game this weekend. Things are going to turn around because they can't get worse at this point.
00:51:33
Speaker
not they kid Well, I think if they do fire Yurish, they could go a little bit lower. There's just so much turmoil and so much turnover that I think bringing in a new guy right now is not the right move. That's why I think like if they if they literally can't fire him unless they rehire Jorosi, because they they don't have another option.
00:51:50
Speaker
There's literally no other option. But that option is a terrible option. Like, I love DeRosa, but you would look terrible as a coach or as a club doing that, like firing a guy and then rehiring him seven games later. They already there you look like dog shoots. If it can't get worse, and this is your only other option, and this guy had a full preseason with this team,
00:52:17
Speaker
I mean, I think that we've seen last year in Napoli's debacle that it could always get worse. Like Napoli just kept firing and hiring and firing and hiring. And it they thought, hey, one, because if you hire a new guy and he gets a good result first two couple of games, like Yurich did with the Uden essay, when?
00:52:37
Speaker
Uh, then it's like, Hey, he's going to write the ship. And then three, four games later, he started shopping points. And now you're in the same boat. And that's what happened with Napoli when they hired and fired three different managers, one or two games, they'd look good. And then it would be the same dropping points. And once again, I think that goes back to the players. Like you can put any guy in there.
00:52:59
Speaker
But the players gotta have some grinka, have some grinka. Show me something. They don't show you anything. Manchester United Syndrome. It's the players. like They gotta get their shit together. You have to want to win games, and nobody wants to win. Show like show it. like the Other than both Donzi and Pizzilli, who I will say are originally young. why they wired yeah or your Young players are hungry.
00:53:23
Speaker
I think I see it in Dabala because he knows, I've seen it in his face how frustrated he gets. But Dabala's not about to go start pressing the shit out of a team because he's older in his career. Sule is almost like, he but his attitude is almost, I'm too cool for this. I'm the big signing, the big summer signing, me and Dovahbik, like, get me the ball, I'm too good for this team, but you're not because you haven't done anything. It's just a lot a lot of turmoil there that they can't figure it out.
00:53:51
Speaker
It's just a little scary, because this and not just because of the Lampard links, but this does remind me of the season at Chelsea when Potter got dumped. They're going to run through three coaches in the same year. They just came off with huge summer signings and they're just not, they're never going to figure it out. Then Chelsea's just now, figuring it out. And this is now two seasons later. So I don't know. They need to look at the playbook and see if they can accelerate what Chelsea did, but this is looking a lot reminiscently like that. And it could be a long time before they did do rate the ship, especially with all the, with all the money they just spent.
00:54:26
Speaker
Yeah, the difference is Chelsea spends 200 million every summer. Roland I are not going to do that. Roland was not doing that. They are stuck with this squad now. like This is the squad whoever comes in next is going to have. there I don't even... I literally don't know what the next move is. like They're just going to have to ride out Yurich. It's crazy.
00:54:46
Speaker
Time will tell. Time will tell. That wraps up our big reviews to run you through the other games that happened. Leche went to Bologna. Bologna finally did it. They won two games in a row. Things are moving in the right direction through Italiano. Like when Italiano ball is working,
00:55:05
Speaker
These are the type of games you get. 1-0, 2-0, kills the game, not overly entertaining, but can get it done. So I'm happy that happened. Juve went to Udineze, won that game 2-0. Mox, big performance from Savona. Savona's a beast, but also big performance for my wallet. I've had $100 on them. They won as well. um So love to see that. Taram.
00:55:27
Speaker
Had a sick play in the box as well. Nutmeg the guy then hit the post. Got lucky it hit the goalie in the back. But Taram is starting to show why he was a very um big move for Juventus in that midfield. And yeah, Juventus are trending in the right direction. But obviously there are some growing pains with them still. But yeah, good game for Juventus, I thought.
00:55:53
Speaker
Fiorentina, went to Torino, kept it rolling, one-nothing, Moyse-Keene, getting it done, absolutely flying. and I know you have to correct myself. Last week, Robin Gozen had the late goal. Now, Moyse-Keene. So there was no Grady last week, only this week.
00:56:07
Speaker
Fiorentino is a wagon right now. Yeah Fiorentino is an absolute wagon. Moise Bean has I think eight or nine goals on the season. He had I think four in the last two years under Allegri with Juventus. That just goes to show you like how bad Allegri is as a coach and like being able to make guys better because Joaquin was on PSG, scored like 16 goals, comes back to Juve, it goes down to seven, then goes down to four, then goes down to zero, then a good coach who can put his players in good spots and can kind of scheme up ah goal scoring opportunities rather than just relying on the player's talents shows you that, look, if you are not, if you're telling him why Joaquin are helping him or coaching him, you can get a lot out of this player. Whereas on Juventus, he got nothing.
00:56:58
Speaker
And the other thing with King that's like very positive, I think, is that he isn't just scoring tap-ins. And he's doing a lot more for the team than just scoring goals. He looks like a real true nine right now. And Fiorentina looked like they got the bargain of the year, buying him for 13 mil. He's got eight goals already.
00:57:19
Speaker
100%, I mean, this Fiorentina, I think a quick shout to the the management of Fiorentina too. I mean, this the construction of this team over the summer is turning out to be absolutely phenomenal. Yeah, and shout out to Paladino. Yeah, that's what I was going to say too. The the hiring of Paladino as well. he You saw what he was doing with Monza. Monza are in ra relegation battle right now. He had them consistently at that 10 spot.
00:57:45
Speaker
Uh, and now he's got better players. You see how good of a coach she is and he's kind of making Italiano be like, look what I can do with the pretty similar team that you had. And you went to go to a Champions League team that you're not, you're, I'm outperforming you. So at a boy paladino.
00:58:01
Speaker
It is crazy to think about like the manager carousel that happened this summer. Like all the great coaches, like we're talking Palladino, Italiano, Conte, Fonseca. Now we have Vinoli coming in for Torino, Zanetti coming in for Verona. Like there's so many exciting managers in this league. mt abergga Not even including Thiago Matza who got hired like insane amount of talent.
00:58:24
Speaker
But to keep it rolling, my beloved Parma lost at home to Genoa. Tough result. Really tough result for Parma. You got to get a result in that game. Venezia went to interim aan and Inter Inter won one, nothing. and This one was scary. Yann Sommer made three or four insane saves in this game. And on the same side, Venezia's Keeper made a ton of saves. This could have been a one-one, this could have been a nil-no. It was, yeah we again, shaky enter. I don't know what's going on, I don't know if it's gonna be fixed, but more of the same here. Como went to Empoli, lost that game one to nothing. Little bit of a slip for the little lads by the lake. Four losses out of the last five is very bad.
00:59:08
Speaker
really really bad form certainly but it's always fun you have to remember though these guys are a newly promoted team yes they've been fun to watch they've had they've gotten some good results but they're going to slip up every now and then just like parma parma haven't won a game in What five six games they draw every single time or lose so we like them They're fun to watch but we have to remember these guys are newly promoted and they're not about to go finish top ten um but they're they're Always Parma and Koma are gonna be hard games to win, which is what you want in the league But this going this goes back to my issue with why I'm scared for Koma is the difference last five Parma have four draws and a loss and Yeah, and they're still tied with them at nine. We're still tied with them at nine right now. Yeah, fair. mean the The one thing I'll say about Como here is like, this is a game that you really need to go out and win.
01:00:03
Speaker
and they didn't start Nico Paz, they didn't start Catrona and they didn't start Verde. So three of your best players were on the bench to start this game. I mean, you need to come out firing all cylinders right from the start. So I think that's something that any fabricist needs to think about for the next the next couple of features is we need to win these games. Like these are the games that we need to win. You can't take the foot off the pedal against the really bad team.
01:00:26
Speaker
i arouse im We're talking Empoli as a really bad team. I think this is a game that Colmo should go into thinking we need to just get a draw. Like we're at Empoli. Empoli have been the surprise of the entire season and almost nobody can beat them. Like this is not a game I think that Colmo should have approached as we need to win. This should have been, let's take some points out of this, because Empoli are the worst team to play against in the league.
01:00:52
Speaker
Well, let me take you out of my fucking throat before you jump back down it. Yeah, Emily's good. I i want to rephrase that. But they're a mid-table team. We've already decided that. It's been decided that their mid-table team, Kamo, needs to win these games. I'm saying that they're not fucking playing Atlanta or Inter or Uven. Like, those are the games that made, like, surely, even with your best 11, you're not even going to be coming close to winning. That's true against Lazio.
01:01:17
Speaker
So don't take your foot off the pedal against a team that you can get points off of. I'd rather you rest them against a team that you know you're gonna get fucking and murdered by. They beat Atlanta. I think, I think Faber-Guess is just resting them for the Champions League game they got this week.
01:01:32
Speaker
points of it hearing then the clubs were car yeah im fucking and their All right, little lads at the lake. I don't know what's going on. And last game that happened, Cal Urie went to Lazio and Lazio did what they've been doing all season and won two to one.
01:01:50
Speaker
Lazzio's fucking awesome to watch. I don't know what else to say. Lazzio's a good team to watch. Also, Latito, and I don't know if we covered this last episode, but he came out and said, I'm not selling Nuno for 70 million. Like, this is what I'm talking about. It's not the Coolabali conundrum. It's just dumb Italian owners who they get a player, he starts playing well, and then they just request absurd amount of money.
01:02:16
Speaker
But that's also looking like one of the buys of the year because they got him for five mil or less than that. And he gets an assist every single game and it's just electric down that left hand flank. Most assists in Europe.
01:02:31
Speaker
period. That's if they're all, they're all just flying. I mean, Lazio, the, every single, every single player is just at elite form right now. But now that you said them out, can we, can we get a pulse check on Koolabale? Is he still playing? He's in. He's on. He's playing with Malink of his Savage on the same team. You should try to get him in January. No, you can't. Once you're in the Koolabale. No, once you're in the Saudi league, you're not going to leave it because you're getting like 15, 20 million a year. And if you go back to Syria, you're going to get like six. So they're not leaving them until their contract expires. Yeah, fair enough.
01:03:11
Speaker
But that wraps up week 11 reviews. We got a couple of things this week. They're going to be happening midweek. So we're going to talk about them right now. We got Champions League. Oh, I didn't even look up when these are happening. Is this tomorrow? We start tomorrow, right? Well, I know that the event is that the Ventus at Lille is Tuesday. So we got Milan at Real Madrid tomorrow at one.
01:03:34
Speaker
That's not going to go well. and she would dread madri i't been The Madrid haven't looked good either. They can't seem to figure it out. bob a and defenseson And they're at the burnout. They shouldn't televise this because it's going to be a it's gonna be a crime. What Real Madrid is going to do to AC? I have a vinicious or vinicious. I'm just putting it out there like this is going to be a murder scene at the 90th minute. Unless Alvaro Morazzo pulls it off.
01:03:58
Speaker
Maybe made more out the puts in a fucking goal. How about that? People forget he's played around with Jordan and Atletico. I said that thinking he played for Atletico, but the offensive's played for... He's played for every team ever. there You made two. Twice. quite your favorite lady voice the other game going on tomorrow is ah there's two more you've a is going to leal leal's actually been pretty good in the champions like so this will be a tough tough battle what I'll also say is that every or inter AC Milan not so much as mom more intern Juventus
01:04:29
Speaker
But a lot of teams are linked to Jonathan David because his contract is expiring this season. He's having a pretty good season. Uh, so interested to watch him because I know he's on Jun Taliz list. I know enters interested. So would love to see him and how he's doing. And also Timothy waya came out and said that Jonathan David is his best friend and they chat a lot. So could be recruiting him to come to Juventus.
01:04:54
Speaker
I take it we need any type of backup nine. I know Voz isn't his biggest fan, but at this point, just give me a backup nine or a different option from Dusan Blavitch. Yeah, I do hate that show. That was going to be my my point. I'm not a big fan.
01:05:10
Speaker
No, but I don't hate that show. I mean, for the right price, so you can't be buying a backup knife for 50, 60. No, you'd be free. That's why he's on the list. Well, he's not free in January. We wouldn't get him in January. like a contract would renew it or would The contract would expire in February, technically, and you can you can offer him in February or for the next season.
01:05:29
Speaker
Yeah, you know not to belabor this one, but I don't think Jonathan David moves in January if unless they they cut his price in half. ah He's been the same price for four years and no one's no one's tried to get him. Yeah, but no, if he's going to be free in the summer, they they' they'll probably drop his price in January. If they were smarter. I think somebody... It'll probably be a Premier League team. If i'm you eventually so I'm not buying him, I'm only getting him if his contract runs out.
01:05:55
Speaker
I still think you guys should try to pull. Cirque, say 100%. Tony Sinabria off it. No, no, no, no, no. No, they're not going to let Sinabria go. i let them just her do vos out there they need him I don't want to get them either, so leave that guy off for a squat. All right, next up, though. Who else do we have coming up? Monaco going to Bologna. I don't have a lot of confidence in Bologna, period. In the Champions League, Monaco has been very good. Any very good any qualms, sir? No qualms. Bologna sucks.
01:06:23
Speaker
This is probably a Serie A game of the the Champions League Arsenal going to Inter. This is a tough game for both teams. I would be surprised if Arsenal go into this one thinking this is going to be a walk in the park.
01:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, you know what, though? I will say Arsenal's kind of been in a similar boat this season as Inter. Like, Arsenal came off that great year last year. They fumbled the bag like they do. And this season, they've kind of been dropping points where you wouldn't expect them to. And same with Inter as well. So this would definitely be a great game. Hopefully, Inter can beat them just because we love Serie A. I don't call it the glory place. I was just saying, call her. I'm not sure if he's still hurt or not.
01:07:05
Speaker
That'd be sick if you played in this game. A Calistheory Best Stony matchup is unreal. That'd be cool. They want to come near each other. It's really cool. It's just cool to look at the sheep. Yeah, for sure. Last game, we got Adelanta at Stuttgart, who's been very, very, very good. We saw them against Juve. They were terrible team play against. I don't see a way that Adelanta allows Stuttgart to play the way that they did against Juventus, though. Adelanta simply will not let you do that to them. They will squirm and they will fight, and you're not going to contain them.
01:07:37
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Also, Gasparini loves the Champions League, so I expect Adelanta to beat them. Juventus just allowed Stuttgart to do whatever they wanted. They didn't try to attack. I think their first shot was in the 81st minute. Kind of looked like it was very much like Max Allegri ball that game, which Gasparini is just the total opposites. We're going to punch them in the mouth. We want to score goals. We're going to just score it more than them. And I think that will happen for this game.
01:08:05
Speaker
Moving on, got we got Europa League action. Roma is going to a team that I cannot pronounce. I think it's Union Saint. I'm not even gonna try. They're playing somebody in the Europa League, Ramayas. You know, in Saint-Glois. I think they're French. I think they might be right, yeah. Roma might lose this one. I have no idea who this ticket is. But I don't have confidence in Roma to go somewhere and win a game, genuinely.
01:08:29
Speaker
They've already dropped points and they're all passed out. I don't have confidence in Roma to win a game in their home. So going away is probably going to be just as tough or tougher. So, yeah.
01:08:43
Speaker
The other Europa League game, we got another Roman team, Porto going to Lazio. This is an interesting one. Porto is always a scary team. I don't think they've been great this year though. I haven't, I haven't seen a ton of them, but I think they're having kind of an off year. Um, so this is another one, a good one for Lazio to play against like another kind of world famous club, but continue to make a name for yourself. Baroni make a name for yourself and start making some progress in a European competition. This would be big statement game for Lazio, I think.
01:09:11
Speaker
I'm really happy. I didn't say what I was about to say. Porto is 9-0-1 in the Portuguese League. This is definitely going to be a tough game for Lazio, especially because Porto, whether it's the Champions League or the Europa League, always seem to have success in European tournaments. Also, Porto is known for just very strong defensive team. Lazio kind of loose and more open.
01:09:36
Speaker
ah Less organized so I think it'll be tough, but Lazio seemed to put four goals on anybody that they play every single week They just score goals, so this would be a good good game to watch Yeah, they're also insured. They're gonna look behind either. They got mountains the next week So they can at least they can actually focus on this one and they're not too far as product of Ben Chica So I'll probably want to show up for this one Or it's a big rival. One more game going on, Conference League. Fiorentina going to Cyprus to play APOL, I think they're called. You pronounce it that? APOL. They're actually spelled with the pi symbol. And I would love to see Fiorentina continue to just bully the teams that they're better than. They are better than this team. Keep rolling. Win the Conference League, period. Paladino getting in finishing top five, winning the Conference League would be a phenomenal season for Fiorentina.
01:10:28
Speaker
I mean, the last two years, they were in the conference league finals, so I think the Fjorn Florence fans are expecting them to go far in this tournament and hopefully win it. But I said it before, I'll say it again, no wonder why they're going far in these tournaments. Who the fuck are these teams that they play every single week, man?
01:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the only other team that they have to be afraid of, and I don't see a way how this isn't the final unless they meet in a knockout, is Chelsea. That's it. Yeah, I mean, if it's not... I'm going to take Fiorentina over Chelsea right now. I would, too. I think we'll see her, and I'm honest, but... What was the final... Last year, it was Fiorentina Olympica... Olympi... Olympiakas. But it was also Fiorentina. It was in Athens, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then two years ago, it was Fiorentina West Ham, right?
01:11:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I didn't roll with it two years ago Cuz we're you in person Roma wanted no Roma wanted no long as the conference league been around no Roma wanted three years ago when they had This is a yellow. I know and then Roma Varino's Roma lost in the Europa League final lasted two years ago. Two years ago. Because then last year it was De Rossi that they lost to Leverkusen in the semis or quarters. Yeah. But that's just a quick little quick history of the Europa and conference league for you guys there.
01:12:00
Speaker
But yeah, the conversation league is crazy. No no wonder why it's George Jimmy Goodman so far every year. His teams are fucking like, who are them? But in any case, at least it's another European tournament that Italian teams go far in. And that's what we want. We want us going on far in European tournaments.
01:12:20
Speaker
try to get that fifth Champions League spot again. That's key for the Italian teams because we all know that we do not have the money that the prem has because we're not good at marketing and he allows one announcer per game and the CVS stuff and it would be the dead drama. was there We are very much falling into the Serie A stereotype because we are terrible at marketing.
01:12:46
Speaker
That is true. well but odds it They have the bodies to do it. we With us, it's three bodies. We all have our own jobs as well. We all also want to have a life outside our own jobs and this. They have they have people whose jobs it is solely to market. like That is what their nine to five is, is marketing and they can't do it. And on that note, log where can people find us on social media?
01:13:15
Speaker
You can find all of our marketing on our social medias. Guys, you know where to find us, X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, at Couch Culture FC. It had been a while since we heard a Motz rant about how poor the Syria League is, so I'm happy we got that in there. But with that, Motz, take his wife.
01:13:37
Speaker
I'm always down to rant about how poorly they their structure is. But as always, another great episode from the lads. Glad that we had all three of us in this one. Bose, great job holding it down last Wednesday, doing the solo episode. Great episode. For all you Paisanos out there, do not be a Gaguts and Forza Calcho Culture.