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Napoli Win the Coppa Italia, Juve's Struggles, Milan Impressive (Ep. 47)
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Transcript
Napoli's Transformation Under Gattuso
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Seria show!
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello, everybody. The city is back. We have a winner in the Copa Italia. Lots to get to today. As always, thank you for joining us. Nima Chloe. Let's start with the Copa Italia. We all liked what Gattuso has done at Napoli.
00:00:32
Speaker
And look at what he's done. He arrives. They looked like a team dead in the water. Their president, Aurelio de Laurenti, is suing the team earlier in the season. It looked like nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.
Buffon's Performance in the Copa Italia Final
00:00:50
Speaker
And here we are. They are the winners of the Copa Italia now. Yes, they wanted penalties.
00:01:00
Speaker
Let me know if either of you agree with this, but Buffon saved Juve at the end. I think Napoli should have won that in full in regular time. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I think, but I got to say.
00:01:14
Speaker
Gigi Buffon. That was the best game I've seen from Gigi Buffon in maybe five years. Yeah. In a couple of years at least. I mean, even his last, before he went to PSG, certainly one of his better performances. I mean, he was absolutely sensational. He was stunning. I mean, it was, those two world class, those two saves were just, it was, it was vintage Buffon. It really, it really brought the years back in. And, uh, you know, it was, it was, it was genuinely nice to see, but I mean, if we're taught, I don't mean this to rub it in, but think about
00:01:44
Speaker
where we were about in September, October, how, you know, or November it was when whenever De Laurentiis and the Ancelotti project ended in the way it did.
Napoli vs. Roma: A Season of Contrasts
00:01:55
Speaker
Then Roma were the team that were doing well.
00:01:58
Speaker
and Napoli looked like in free fall. Now look at what happened. It's complete reversed. Roma are in chaos and Napoli are winning titles and are building to Mount Escudetto challenge the season. It's madness. If somebody had said when we were discussing that back in September, October, November, if somebody said,
00:02:20
Speaker
Yeah, Napoli looked like they're in a massive, massive crisis.
Gattuso's Leadership Style
00:02:26
Speaker
But don't worry, there's going to be a deadly virus. And we're not going to we're going to not play for three months. And then don't worry, because in June, Gennaro Gautuzo is going to win the Coppa Italia with Napoli. I thought you were crazy.
00:02:41
Speaker
And throw in the renewal of Mertens in there. I mean, he looked like a sure fire departure. I mean, he was linked to Chelsea. He was linked to Inter. I mean, it looked like there was no chance he was going to remain. We were all saying Napoli season over. Blow it up.
00:02:59
Speaker
and who knows what this means now and the interesting thing or the thing i find most interesting is is we have said this repeatedly i i know it's going to sound like we're you know we're just uh copying things we said in previous episodes but
00:03:14
Speaker
Chloe, it's not like this guy is a tactical genius. In fact, I would say they're playing pretty just basic run of the mill football, but it's the attitude. It literally has nothing to do with formation and it has nothing to do with tactics. It has nothing to do with that. It's all about attitude.
00:03:34
Speaker
Absolutely and that just shows how much of a difference it makes to have the right motivation, a good leader in charge that the players all want to play for that even though they've got this crazy chairman who does these most outrageous things and I tweeted about
Challenges at Juventus: Sarri's Tactics and Team Dynamics
00:03:59
Speaker
Aurelio Di Laurentiis muscling Lorenzo and Signia out of the trophy. Gattuso was nowhere near, and he was trying to take the trophy off him when they got it presented. I mean, he's just an egomaniac. But despite all that, he's a cinema guy. Come on, all of them are.
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah. But, you know, despite all that, Gattuzo has drowned out all that external noise that was that was causing them such a problem. And he's got tough with them. He's not afraid. He chucked, chucked, chucky, Lozano out of training. Chucky. Yeah.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, he expelled him because he wasn't showing enough effort. So he set the container, he set the rules, you know, you try your best or you're out. And I think that with a squad that was so fragmented and look so demotivated, I think that he was just the perfect person.
00:04:56
Speaker
I couldn't agree more. And it's funny because it really is this match. It's so funny just how different things can happen with just one result. I mean, Nima, now what do we have? Juve Luz? And it just seems like chaos. It seems like I'm reading things about Allegri returning. I mean, what in the hell is happening there now?
00:05:23
Speaker
It's not going well. We were all, I remember us when Sadi was a pointer, we were all a bit, he's so not Uwe. Maybe the style of football he plays is the kind of football Uwe liked to play in the way that it's very, it's a beautiful brand of football, passing football. But him as a person, it's just not work. He's clashed a lot and he's not getting them, they're not understanding him and he's not understanding them. They didn't really give him any players that he asked for in the summer.
00:05:54
Speaker
last summer, to be perfectly honest, they just took a Legri squad and say, hey, now let's play Saribol. Oh, that midfield is, I just have to interrupt you. That midfield is horrific. I mean, it's not built for, I mean, it's, it's no wonder he started all the time with Mato Idi and Kidira and, and Pianic, because those are the only players he has that can resemble playing the midfield trio roles that he needs to play his game.
00:06:19
Speaker
And so getting rid of, and Piamic, I honestly thought it would work, him playing in that register role, but it would really... He was finished. He looks completely dead in the water. He has no energy in him left.
00:06:32
Speaker
And now he's going to Barcelona, which I guess, I mean, you know, I, I don't know what's going on, but I mean, Arturo to me seems like much more of a, the kind of player that they need and they want. Okay. He like, you know, okay. He likes to party a little bit, but I mean, isn't this in a little bit of an overreaction? I mean, it's just, I don't know, but this is, you know, it's Barcelona's, you know, it's you as gain, you know, that's all I can say. I mean, getting.
00:06:59
Speaker
getting him is, I mean, the issue was to get either him or Jorginho.
00:07:06
Speaker
Now that seems dead in the water. So okay, but it's not even okay. So you move up. Yeah. Yeah. But look at that rest of that midfield. Okay. My God. Uh, Rabio, we could go down the line. I mean, it just looks like disaster after disaster. Uh, Kadira, I mean, Kadira is this poor guy. I mean, I mean,
00:07:34
Speaker
I mean, to me, the Juve is... I'm not as worried about Juve as everyone wants to make it out to be. I mean, it's not... They're still gonna win the Serie A. They're still good enough to win the Serie A. I don't think they're... I don't think they're good enough to win the Champions League, which is their game, with their goal. But, you know, well, what are you gonna do? I mean, at the end of the day, with Aaron Ramsey and Rabio and Matoidee and these players that don't suit, you brought in an ideologue and you've not given him any of the stuff he needs to express himself.
00:08:03
Speaker
and that this is a disaster. But to me, it seems at least that they are addressing this. Koulousevski is a Sarri player. Piotr is a Sarri player. If they bring Pogba, most definitely a Sarri kind of player. So I'm not too worried. I honestly think that Juve will see, will win the Scudetto. They'll probably go out in the quarters. If they go past Leon, but we'll see. Okay, we've talked about the midfield, but Chloe, Ronaldo too, unwatchable.
00:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think, I don't think it's necessarily him. I think that the whole
00:08:42
Speaker
whole sari system is just it's not bringing the best out of anybody and he is obviously he's trying but things aren't working. If you think back to Napoli, how important Georgina was, how much they relied on him, so much so that sari took him with him when he went to Chelsea, he's that
00:09:06
Speaker
he's that important to his system and without that lynch pin that you know midfield metronome that keeps his play ticking and going none of the other pieces in that sari puzzle work so i think that if sari gets a bit longer which
00:09:26
Speaker
To me, if they're bringing in the kind of players that he needs and wants, it seems to me like they might stick with him for next season. If he gets more time, then if they bring in a decent midfielder that suits how he wants to play, then we could see a huge leap forward in terms of what he's trying to do. And that could very well include Ronaldo. I mean, to me, you guys know I've been
00:09:56
Speaker
where I've been on this, I've always seen Sarri as the main course is Guardiola and this is the starter. Sarri is the starter to the main course Guardiola, which is, I'm completely convinced that it's happening, not this season, not next season, not the season after that. Wait a minute, let me do the math on that. I think I came up with 2022. Is that what I got to? No, not this season now, because obviously Sarri there, but not next season because
00:10:25
Speaker
Guardiola's obviously staying at City over the next season, I think he's been very clear on that. But after that, for sure. I mean, I've always been convinced that Guardiola is who they want, and this is only working up to that.
00:10:37
Speaker
um and uh you know artur is is is is a penny he's he's a buguardiola player as well so no i mean i'm not i'm not again if you look at his like building on what chloe said giorginio is the quarterback to use the nfl lingo here it is he's the most important player in that puzzle he doesn't have that he has that now in artur uh at napoli he had hamshik and ala uh now he you know if he get you know he's got kolusevsky who can play on the wings and he never stops running
00:11:05
Speaker
And he can play centrally, he likes playing centrally as well. He works, he got bentankour, he works. Pogba is the missing puzzle and they need two winners as well, so that I can play that kind of fluid football that he wants. And you know, if we say that Ronaldo was unwatchable, I'd say Mr. Dibala was very watchable.
00:11:25
Speaker
I mean, he is the best thing going on at UVA right now. Oh, and to think that they were even contemplating a sale last summer to me is... Yeah, it's mad. It's mad, isn't it? That's one good thing that Sarri has actually done is that he's brought back the DiBala that first arrived at UVA that had got so disheartened, stagnant, stale, whichever you, however you want to describe it, under Maxa Leggri. Absolutely. I mean, it's terrible.
00:11:54
Speaker
Just think of just think of they they bring in if they just sign federico kierza kierza or doggla and keep dog las costa I mean just those three are for the movement. Well, did you see what costa wrote on twitter today? Did anybody? No, no, I missed. What did he say? What did he do now? Um, somebody got mad at him for making a tick tock Uh, and he used Some not so nice terms. I think we'll just leave it at that
00:12:19
Speaker
Can we call that the Juan Jesus syndrome? Oh, boy. Social media, I'll tell you what, it's alarming. Some people should not be allowed on social media. Put down the phone. There should be an intelligence test to possess a phone or just have general access to the internet. If that was the case, there'd be like three or four less songs about me.
00:12:42
Speaker
um i mean i think no i we no i see that would mean make me make me sad because i love those songs and i think a part of you loves those as well yeah but can we talk about yes because you brought up kulisevsky i was going to go into uh the matches but but before yeah
00:13:03
Speaker
Before we get into that, Juan Jesus, everybody knows Roma's having financial problems and somebody gave him some stick on Instagram because he made a comment to Roma's official account.
00:13:19
Speaker
They were doing a countdown of days until the season resumes. He says, oh, I guess I'm not. They put a picture of five and they put some of the players in the picture. He wasn't in the picture. And he goes, oh, I guess you guys must really trust me then. Somebody said, well, you can you can piss off because you're earning. It's just over two million euros. So he is grand theft in the highest sense of the word is what he is committing out of Roma.
00:13:46
Speaker
Um, and he basically said, well, if you took away my salary, that wouldn't fix the club's budget. I'm not sure if you skipped math lessons. So I love the bitchiness of that.
00:14:05
Speaker
I love the bitchiness of that. I absolutely love the bitchiness in that. It's just so funny. And the fact that he feels all like he feels so like insulted because let's be honest. I mean, to be honest, I don't want to criticize Roma too much for this because I don't think there was any intent on their part. They had this countdown and
00:14:25
Speaker
every number of days left, they had a player or something with Roma. And I don't think it was any, I mean, they had nine for Jekko, but he's the captain Rous, now the Florence season there. So, you know, you can't be too upset. And then
Roma's Financial and Management Issues
00:14:37
Speaker
when it came to five, they had five players and it wasn't him. And then he goes full on, loses his shit online on the fans. And he did that at Inter as well. I know a guy who he attacked for no reason.
00:14:52
Speaker
on Instagram for accusing the guy I know for always talking crap about him. When he hadn't, he mixed him up with someone else. Totally. He's one of those guys. It's quite interesting.
00:15:10
Speaker
Social media is funny. And it's the same thing with Torino and their... Okay, hold on. So that's a perfect segue because Torino, they faced Parma. It ended 1-1. We got a little bit of everything. Kulesevsky I thought was the only one who did anything for Parma.
00:15:29
Speaker
Jervino, again, you either get very high highs with him or extremely low lows with him. It was an extremely low low with him. A poor guy looked awful out there. Kuleseski for me, the only one who did anything for Padma. Gigi Seppe too, very good. Very good.
00:15:46
Speaker
For me, yeah, the talking point is not the match. Although we could talk about Zaza again. No, I'd rather not. I'd rather not. 2020 and this guy is still being played from the very first minute by actually serious football club. As I tweeted out, I'm 39 years old. I'm overweight. I have two left feet. But watching Simone Zaza play for Torino in the Serie A gives me hope that I can still one day play in the Serie A. Oh, he's terrible. Terrible.
00:16:13
Speaker
It's an embarrassment. And the fact that every time he's linked with Inter, because his big daddy, Antonio Conte, is in charge of Inter, it literally shaves a couple of years of my life, because I can actually see that happening. Like, it would kill me to see him in an Inter shirt. But no, the talking point is
00:16:34
Speaker
is, who was it that it was the it was the so Kulesevsky part of it. But the talking point was what Torino's English account tweeted out after the match. Okay, so for anyone, you know, if you didn't watch any of the matches, obviously, Black Lives Matter is the movement that is taking front and center now, not only in the city up but throughout Europe, the world, the world, the world. Yeah, you can't even call this
00:17:03
Speaker
embarrassing because it goes beyond embarrassing so in stunning in a stunningly negative fashion um torino's english account tweets out black lives matter and they show the photo of torino defender uh nicholas and kulu kneeled down
00:17:24
Speaker
and fist in the air and bellotti standing right in front of him so it looks the whitest man in that squad as well it looks as if and kulu is kneeling before
00:17:42
Speaker
Belotti like paying homage to him or something. Oh my god It's just the optics is just so bad of this and and the thing is that Belotti is trying to maintain the respect and allowing him to do that So he's like two meters away. It's not hard to crop Belotti out of that photo Not even that hold on. So the thing I like about Twitter is
00:18:03
Speaker
As you can usually get a good temperature gauge as to how bad or how good its wheat was by the quote unquote ratio. This thing has been ratioed out of the atmosphere. I mean, it's passed all the planets. It's gone past Jupiter, Uranus, past Pluto. It is no longer in this atmosphere. Last time I looked, it was like 20,000 comments.
00:18:26
Speaker
So here's the thing, here's the advice that I love to give as a general rule of thumb, okay? We saw this with Napoli's English account. If you don't know how to speak, understand, context, it's not only about the actual language. Context means everything. If you don't know how to do it, do not open an English account. Please stop.
00:18:56
Speaker
I mean, for the first four months, Napoli's English account, it wasn't even Borat. Borat would have loved to have spoken the way they tweeted. Torino's account, my God. Read the room, everybody. Read the room. That's the thing. That's the thing that really bugs me is that, you know, even if you have
00:19:14
Speaker
like Romelu Lukaku tweeted out when he scored. He took a knee and he had a fist as well. And he tweeted out because the caption was all screwed up. He wrote, this one is for all the people who are fighting for injustice. Now, obviously, we know that's a blooper. He means against injustice. He's not advocating segregation against black people or oppression of black people. Everybody can misspeak. That's not the issue here. So that's fine. It becomes a little laugh, you know, you ha ha, you move on.
00:19:44
Speaker
But Torin, that's the thing. It's the optics and Seria is notoriously bad at optics. Remember the anti-racism campaign? It wasn't that long ago. You know, the monkeys and the remember that. I mean, that was this season. My God. That was this season like this. You know, this is this is it. They are notoriously awful at optics. Remember the Black Friday headline and the front page like again, again, it's
00:20:13
Speaker
It's not, they can't, they're very bad at the optics thing and it's just, that's why they do these.
00:20:20
Speaker
these own goals. That's not an old goal. That's an unforced error. That's playing Russian Roulette with a full chamber. That is very dumb. It's an unforced error and it's so unnecessary. There's no need for it. But seriously, out of all of this, it's 72 hours later. How is that tweet still even up? That's the thing.
00:20:46
Speaker
Why don't they just quickly delete it and just say, you know, in this in this whole in this whole thing, you know, a lot of people are saying, you know, it's OK to make a mistake. It's OK to say the wrong thing. But the most important thing is about listening and learning and rectifying mistakes. And if they're not if they're not doing that, then they're just
00:21:14
Speaker
Basically saying you've told us it's wrong and we don't care. It's wrong exactly Again the optics again the optics of this and they don't get the optics. Okay, really don't just awful awful Everything is awful about it. All right now Speaking of I mean crazy. I mean we might as well get this out of the way before we go into the games on that
00:21:36
Speaker
What the F is going on at Roma? This is my Nirvana, okay? This is great. I know, but you have to explain to me. So hold on, for anybody who missed it, Juan Jesús, that's not even front page news. Nothing. Roma sporting director. That's not even back page. Yeah, so for anybody who missed it, Roma sporting director Gianluca Betraque, suspended, which is only a suspension in title, he's gone, finished.
00:22:04
Speaker
Less than 365 days. Why is he suspended though? What's going on? First off, can I just say something? Roma gave up two Primavera prospects to bring Petraki to Roma because they were going to get sued to the moon.
00:22:23
Speaker
by Cairo the president of Torino because Petraki 100% was working for Roma when he had a contract with Torino and we we know that because I intercepted him at Fiumicino airport the idiot going to meet Fonseca in Madrid in the summer last summer but anyway uh so James Palota he gave an interview
00:22:48
Speaker
to the club's official website. They asked where it was more or less. He was talking about Paolo Fonseca. And one of the questions was, you know, what do you think about Fonseca staying here for a long time? He said, I hope he stays for forever. He said he gets along very well with the club's management, including Guido Finga, who's the CEO, and Zuby Zira, who's another director. I think he's like a vice president or something. But he left out Pitsdaki.
00:23:17
Speaker
OK, so Pichaki got very mad that Palata didn't name him by name in this interview. And I had the lead of Kwanjazu. Exactly. They're all acting like high school girls. I love it. So Pichaki got very mad and sent a very long message on what's app to Palata in Italian. Now, for anyone who doesn't know, Palata doesn't speak Italian at all.
00:23:47
Speaker
I think so and I have it on very good authority okay not a very good authority on sensational authority that this message included many expletives questioned his role as a president how he's not good at managing people
00:24:04
Speaker
how he likes to stick his nose in too much. And this is coming from somebody directly who works with Palota. It was not a very nice message. So for the next 48 to 72 hours, Palota is basically stewing on what to do and arrives at last, the suspension of Petraki.
00:24:26
Speaker
which again is great because you brought this guy first off he's the highest paid sporting director in all of the city ah which is sad in and of itself and you gave up to not great but pretty well respected prima vada players for him
00:24:42
Speaker
And this is all less than 365 days ago. So again, the Roma, they are the living, they're like the meme where it says, this is fine, where the dog's sitting there and the house is on fire. That's basically the Roma. So Patraki suspended, but he's going to be gone. Morgan de Sactis is the new sporting director. But really, the sporting director is
00:25:06
Speaker
The man, the myth, the legend who all comes down to Baldini. It all comes down to Baldini. So all roads lead to Baldini. All roads lead to Baldini for anybody who doesn't know about. He's been a quote unquote advisor for Roma since he left the club in 2013 for Spurs. He left Spurs after like three or four years, I believe, and since then he's been an advisor for Roma, but he's been running their entire transfer market.
00:25:32
Speaker
Why he's still an advisor? Because he likes to go to his flat in South Africa on the weekends and he doesn't want the stress of the official title. Which is great, which is basically what everybody under 35 who plays football manager does. That's basically what Franco Baldini does. Lovely guy, by the way, though. So Morgan DeSantis, it doesn't matter who the sporting director is. Baldini is the man. He's running everything.
00:25:58
Speaker
So, all is good Roma. Tomorrow they'll face Sampdoria. But hold on, let's go to the matches that were played. We already talked about... So last week Dan was quote-unquote pissed. This week James is quote-unquote pissed. And Juan is quote-unquote pissed. Everybody's pissed at Roma. It just spells out. No matter who is right or wrong. These petty arguments in place of a WhatsApp.
00:26:25
Speaker
I love the bitchiness. This is supposed to be one of Europe's top football clubs. It's embarrassing. It's indicative of dysfunction and the chaos and the unprofessional way it's being run. If that can, if one petty argument over
00:26:45
Speaker
what's up and can just tip the whole boat over it's just crazy oh
Verona's Surprising Season
00:26:51
Speaker
it's embarrassing it's unworthy of roma to be perfect and we laugh and all that and all the madness in the city but it's unworthy of roma it is but it puts the pressure it puts the pressure on palata to self thankfully yeah yeah all right so other than torino parma we had verona caliri
00:27:09
Speaker
Agreed.
00:27:25
Speaker
I can't believe what he's done and part of me still believes that they're doing it in spite of him because I just refuse to believe that he's improved this much as a manager because if you didn't follow reading my mind
00:27:40
Speaker
I just don't get it. You're reading my mind. You're reading my mind. And I think I think Chloe will be happy because I have a theory about why it's going so well. And one of them spells Amrabad, who's owned by Fiorentina. What a player he is. Well, hold on. In fairness, they face the Cagiri who has the manager that to this day, how he keeps getting jobs. There will be no Valterzinga bashing in front of me ever.
00:28:07
Speaker
I will follow this man until the ends of earth. I don't care. I will defend them. Nobody will ever question him as a player, as a goalkeeper, sensational manager without question. One of the worst I've ever seen.
00:28:21
Speaker
Well, yeah, but I won't, I'm still like, I don't, I've always said that if he takes over Inter and Inter lose every single game and get relegated to Lega Pro, I will still never demand his resignation because he's Valte Zenga. Okay, talk about Verona because somehow Joric has made Marco Davide Farioni Inter legend
00:28:42
Speaker
And he hopped all around England. He's made him a good player somehow. I still, for the life of me, cannot understand how they're doing. It's a good team. I mean, Kumbula is a fantastic player, but Amrabad. I want to talk about Amrabad and I'm so happy for Fiorentina that they haven't. Cause I think together with Castro really, he can turn what next season. I mean, if there ever was a time to bring in Luciano Spalletti, it is now. I mean, those players are just, wow, what he can do with that team, with that midfield.
00:29:11
Speaker
I know him being insane is kind of a downer for you, Chloe. But seriously, he knows how to coach a team. And Amrabbat is just what a player he is and what he can do for Fiorentina. And it's so exciting. If they manage to hang on to Kiezan, he's happy and all of that. And we've got Ribery. And now Fiorentina are looking so exciting already, just by the virtue that Amrabbat is coming to Florence.
00:29:39
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. They nearly killed me last night.
Fiorentina's Struggles with Consistency
00:29:41
Speaker
I was just gonna say, let's go to that 1-1 draw that they had against Brescia. Seriously, it was a little crazy mat I've never seen. Like, they...
00:29:51
Speaker
Like, how Brescia got a point is the most one-sided match I've witnessed, but they just, they missed all their chances, they had two goals disallowed, one of which I wasn't entirely sure was correct, because they said that Kieza had taken the ball out of play, but I'm not sure that he did. But regardless of all that, it was a good performance, and I just don't know how they didn't win.
00:30:21
Speaker
Isn't that what we've been saying all this season about Fiorentina? That they play well. I mean, under Montella, they play really, really well, but they don't win. It's so weird. No, but seriously, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, Fiorentina has been played well, but they can't seem to get the points. And I don't know at what point you realize is bad luck. Is it just the fact that things haven't settled yet? So, you know, I don't,
00:30:47
Speaker
I still understand that it's frustrating as a Fiorentina fan, but I'm not too worried about that. I think that project is one of those projects that is doing the best in the city. It's definitely on the right track. I think they need some more proven quality in there.
00:31:06
Speaker
you know, a proven goal scorer that can finish these chances that are being created would really, really make a difference. Not relying on youth all the time, not relying on somebody who's past their best, you know, somebody proven and in their prime, you know, even just one player like that would really, really make the difference, I think. Well, I know Roma have a Patrick Chic they love to sell Fiorentino.
00:31:34
Speaker
I know that, look, I'm, you know, when I read that this, when DiMaccio reported that Ragnic wants to bring Schick with him to Milan. I'll take him to Milan. I almost fell off my chair. I was like, that is the last thing Milan need. Absolutely. Some kind of erratic underperforming player like that.
00:31:57
Speaker
it's just i mean no no no no you need if you need stability patrick if you know patrick chick is not your guy although he's been i mean i think he's done really well in the bundle so yeah let's be honest let's not yeah he's been really well and it's not dory i mean yeah looking like a world beater when he was that maybe maybe honestly maybe maybe he's just the kind of guy that you know he doesn't do well at the big piazzas he needs a medium-sized piazza and i think florence and spalletti you know why not nima no okay
00:32:26
Speaker
I'm not trolling you. All right, hold on, hold on. Let's go to the match, though, because I felt kind of trolled during this match for selfish reasons. I thought Sasuolo would actually do something against Atalanta. I mean, these guys did not miss a beat.
Atalanta's Post-Lockdown Dominance
00:32:43
Speaker
What? It was like nothing had ever happened. What? I have no explanation. Without Illicic, without Muriel, I mean, it's just I'm going to put it this way. Honestly,
00:32:54
Speaker
If the, you know, given that the Champions League is being played in one-off games, I, Atalanta can win the Champions League. I just want to pull it up. No, I've had the same conversation and I completely agree. Honestly, I don't advocate betting. I don't do bets normally at all, but I've put a small bet on Atalanta to win the Champions League because they've changed for. One-off games, yeah.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, and the circumstances surrounding adversity and them coming through it. Like, I just think it totally suits them and especially with everything that Bergamo has been through. I just really fancy them. It's one-off games in neutral game, in neutral venues behind closed doors. I, you know, I honestly think, why not? I mean, it is that kind of, I mean, I don't think, it is a crazy situation. If they go through that game,
00:33:49
Speaker
That's the return leg and then it's only one-off games and they're playing it like within a week or a week and a half. Why not?
00:33:56
Speaker
I honestly don't see why not. I'm not saying they're favorites, but I'm saying the chances of them actually winning it are for me, they're no longer asked, you know, out there in the, you know, it's it's not, it's not cloud cuckoo land anymore. I actually, the storyline like they, the first ever season in the Champions League, they lost their first three group stage matches and look completely dead and buried. But then they go against
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, pulled off a result against Manchester City to get you through to the knockouts. Well, not even that. I mean, this weekend, they took the wonder boy to Zadabi. They took him out back and they spanked him like a child in a matter of four minutes. I mean, that match was done.
00:34:38
Speaker
I've not seen, since the restart, I've not seen any other team play as well as Atalanta did. No, I agreed. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter the league, the country. I was floored. Well, John, you don't think that they can win the Champions League? No, I don't. No, I don't. With the way they play, no. I think they leave themselves too exposed. Not even one-off games? No.
00:35:01
Speaker
No. Well, every time we've written them off on this show, they've proved us wrong. I know, but still. The thing that and it wasn't even necessarily the play that impressed me, it was the fitness. I mean, these guys look like they're they're completely fine. Like they just didn't take two months off. I don't understand. Three months off more than that. It just. And now they sign Pasha leads permanently from Chelsea, who's been looked like a completely new player, like very good player.
00:35:29
Speaker
a fantastic play. I mean, no, it's just, I mean, no, this, this is a good team. I mean, for the way they play Muriel, I have selfishly wanted him at Roma for forever. I can understand that. Oh my God. And I mean, Cal Dara is looking like a fantastic player. We could probably do an episode just about that. I mean, I don't know if that says more about him or it says more about Mila, but it says something about somebody. I just don't know.
00:35:56
Speaker
No, it's it's so weird. I mean, it's it's really interesting. I mean, Atlanta are probably the best. I mean, we're probably together with you right now. The most the best well run club in the best run club in the in Italy. Didn't call data. Wasn't he like injured for like the entire season? And then he goes to Atlanta and he's starting right away. I just need getting assists and getting it. I need somebody to explain that to me because it makes no sense. All right, Nima, go enter their back. Gave you a heart attack at the end.
Inter's Unnecessary Struggles
00:36:27
Speaker
No, it's, it's just half an hour. They made it harder than they need it to be. Yeah. You can't disagree with that. That's in the club's DNA. That's, that's what they do. It's like that is the motto. That's the unofficial motto, you know, torturing, torturing people since 1909 1908. I mean, it's just, it's just, you know, why are we doing this to ourselves? You know, it's just, I, uh,
00:36:51
Speaker
No, and you know, this is something that Suning and Konta have to understand is that, you know, they said that they want to get the paths out of interview. You can't do that. It's just not going to work.
00:37:01
Speaker
How Inter were not four or five mil up in the first half have to completely asphalt in Sampdoria the way they did. Yeah, Sampdoria looked terrible. They looked... Unwatchable. Completely unwatchable. I feel terrible for Dan Yeri because, oh my god, he has nothing to work with there. Nothing. No, really. And he also said that obviously a lot of their players had COVID.
00:37:26
Speaker
and that, you know, some of the fitness levels have been affected and he's going to have to switch the squad out every few days because they get more tired and, you know,
00:37:36
Speaker
So they've been affected that way as well. I knew it was bad when they signed Bertolacci on a free. Once I saw that happen, I go, oh, OK, not good. But you know who was good?
Milan's Resilience and Comeback
00:37:50
Speaker
Milan, particularly that last half an hour. Fantastic. What a comeback. Immediately after Let's Just Score that equalizer, they scored two in a couple of minutes and they look really, really well. Ibra is not there, but
00:38:05
Speaker
Rebic looks good. But I mean, Tura has always been good. No wonder Milan fans love him. Chalan Ogil looked really well. Liao came on and scored. Now Milan are looking well. They have a young, I think they've got the youngest squad in the Serie A. They've got some really interesting players. It's looking good for them. No, I was just going to say, I have a theory about why it is. Let's hear. Well,
00:38:32
Speaker
knowing purely, as I do, not personally, but you know, he is very, very good at bringing togetherness after a crisis. He, after a story died, you know, you'd think that Fiorentina would have just
00:38:53
Speaker
gone to pieces and thought well what's the point of the rest of the season you know something much bigger than this has happened and why does football matter but actually he brought them together he galvanised them and for the end of that season they were excellent I mean the next season is a different story but I think because of this Covid crisis that's kept football away for three months
00:39:20
Speaker
I read an article that to say that one of the players may have been Kessie, I can't remember, said that he'd been in contact with each player every single day throughout the stop. And that's the kind of guy that he is. He cares about the players. He's very, very good at team spirit, togetherness. That is a strong point. And the fact that they've come out after this period
00:39:44
Speaker
all guns blazing. It doesn't surprise me because it's that aspect of bringing players together when there's been a period of difficulty that he is good at. I mean I don't think tactically he's a good coach, I don't think he's very astute in that sense but that is his strong point and I honestly think that is why that Milan suddenly seemed to have clicked a little bit.
00:40:05
Speaker
the purely high as we named it here didn't we exactly well it's a shame too because this whole thing with ranyak the way it's happened what a mess um i mean in the press they're talking about like he's sorry to interrupt but it really annoys me that they're talking about him like he's already been appointed who is ranyak gonna bring in and it's like excuse me hello milan have a manager already it's just
00:40:30
Speaker
He's just so disrespectful. Well, and what about, and it's not like your sporting director is just some guy off the streets. I mean, you're giving, you're not sporting director, but technical director, whatever. I mean, you're, you're essentially giving him the one finger salute during the middle of the season. Yeah. And it's, again, it's unworthy. It's unworthy of Milan and it's definitely not worthy of Maldini who is Maldini. It's Paolo Maldini for crying out loud.
00:40:58
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's just you don't do that. I'm good people there. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The sporting director, a guy I like to soft spoken, but again, a guy I like. So I just don't like how that has happened there. And then we had you've had the people on yet just to end it here two to zero other than Penaldo. What is it really to say about that?
Juventus' Individual Brilliance vs. Bologna
00:41:22
Speaker
No, Di Bala. Di Bala again. La Jolla. La Jolla. I mean, it's just... Hey, Bernhardeshi had a good performance too. Yes. Which is, you can count those that he's had at Juve on like three fingers. Yeah, absolutely. And no, it's definitely interesting. For me, you know, of all the games, Atalanta and Di Bala and Erics and Christian Erics and all those, those are the things that stand out on the pitch, off the pitch.
00:41:51
Speaker
All sorts of mayhem is going on. It's the serie. Yeah, but um now they'll stand up but going I mean think of this now I think um, it's tomorrow is it wednesday whenever we know we're recording this on a tuesday? Jesus. Oh, I can't wait for that. I cannot wait for that And that's exciting but also to complete your uve bingo another injury
00:42:16
Speaker
Oh my god. That poor guy. What the hell? Every other week it seems like. It's incredible. I think he's, I read that he's had nine muscular injuries since he joined UWE. That's a lot. That's quite a lot. That's your body saying maybe you should do something else like, you know. Yeah, it's such a shame for him but he just can't stay fit.
00:42:40
Speaker
It's incredible. Well, as we're recording this, Verona is facing Napoli and Spal, Calieri. Yikes. I don't think I'll be tuning it for that one, fortunately. And then we also have later today Torino, Utenese, Genoa, Parma. And then tomorrow we have Inter, Sassuolo, Atalante Lazio, Roma, Sampdoria.
00:43:05
Speaker
So a good host of matches coming up here. We will be back next week to digest this because we have to get used to this every 72 hours thing. I'm just hoping that this is not a case of quantity over quality.
Football's Post-Lockdown Challenges
00:43:19
Speaker
Are you too worried about that at all based on the early performances? I think it's too soon to say right now, to be honest.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, I have to say I don't I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy the lack of crowd noise at all. You know, I think, you know, I think that does take something away from it. You know, football is meant to be played in front of fans.
00:43:41
Speaker
But I think the quality is getting a little bit better. It wasn't great at first, but you can't really expect too much after that long away. You know, this is almost like pre-season, isn't it, after such a big break? And we're also treated to Antonio Conte's swearing. I was just going to say very clearly too, by the way. It's not as if his voice
00:44:06
Speaker
No, and his voice and his dialect makes it unmistakable as to who is doing the cussing. And he did some quality cussing on the sidelines there. And I was giggling like a child. Because he's funny. We'll just say pig God. That's all we'll say. Oh well, yeah, can you pass that off for that blast for me and say how come Concho didn't?
00:44:29
Speaker
Well, he didn't say, he said, he didn't, he said something about prostitutes, not God. I was going to say, didn't Mandragora get fined earlier this year for saying something that started with the word portca? Yeah. I don't know. But no, I just know that. Yeah.
00:44:46
Speaker
I think so. I mean, I know blasphemy is not right, but the content wouldn't blaspheme because he's very religious. OK, we're this is this is really starting to get off the rails. I think we heard what he said. He just said something that's really that's something you don't you don't say unless around children.
00:45:04
Speaker
And it wasn't blasphemously with something about prostitutes. That's all we can say. All right. We'll leave it at that. We'll be back after this latest host of matches. We'll break it all down. We're excited to be back. If you could continue to subscribe, leave us reviews, all that good stuff. We would greatly, greatly appreciate it. So we will be back next week, everybody. Thank you for listening. Bye-bye.