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Milan Struggles, Bologna Rise & Napoli Frustrate Inter (Episode #44)
30 Plays1 month ago
Vos, Motts, and Logs are back to break down a chaotic week in Serie A.
Inter and Napoli share the points in a 1-1 draw, but who really benefits? Napoli looked the most aggressive they’ve been all season, but wins continue to evade them. Meanwhile, Milan’s slump deepens with back-to-back losses against Bologna and Lazio—what’s behind this sudden collapse? Elsewhere, Fiorentina grind out a result without their top attackers, Atalanta somehow fail to score despite endless chances, and Torino quietly gain steam. Plus, we check in on Juventus, who keep stacking wins, and discuss Como’s entertaining style despite their struggles.
On the European stage, Inter face Feyenoord in the Champions League, while Roma, Lazio, and Fiorentina prepare for tough matchups in the Europa and Conference League. Can they keep Italy’s continental hopes alive?
We wrap up with a look ahead to Matchday 28 and the latest Culpi di Luna picks . Tune in to Calcio Culture and join the conversation on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @calcioculturefc. The season is heating up—don’t miss it!
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Transcript
Introduction and Milan's woes
00:00:06
Speaker
Faisanos, welcome back to another episode of Calcio Culture, your one-stop shop for all things Syriot and Italian football. This is your host, Vos, joined by both my co-hosts today, Logs and Matz. Logs has got his sunglasses on. I think he's hiding maybe some tears that were shed this weekend over some poor performances from AC Milan, is my guess.
00:00:28
Speaker
ah He did miss last week, so he's god he's got a lot to say this week, we hope. Going on, Paizans. Yeah, i just didn't want anybody to see my puffy red eyes. I'm still still trying to fix that after a tough weekend here.
00:00:39
Speaker
But happy to be back. Was on the West Coast out too but to see the debut of the MLS's brand new team in San Diego. And what a time it was. to nail over the reigning champs, LA Galaxy. We love to see it.
00:00:52
Speaker
But um at least one team's doing well over another. I'm also here with all brand new equipment. So we'll see how this
MLS and sponsorship humor
00:01:01
Speaker
goes. But new Mike bought a new Mike re-bought the beats because I lost those.
00:01:08
Speaker
And then I also bought a new office chair, which hasn't came in yet, which I'm excited for. So hopefully this episode goes well with this new Mike, but hello. pianno Are you getting all of our sponsorship money? Cause I haven't seen any of that. What's up with the shopping spree?
00:01:23
Speaker
I don't know. Just feeling it. You know, got to sometimes ball out when you break your heart and they lose in the Coppa Italia in the second leg to a C team Empoli, you know, a little retail therapy.
00:01:35
Speaker
Spend money, know, spend money to make money. That's it. They're just investments. Exactly. They're investments. I forgot that Copa Italian thing happened. and that That seems like so long. There's so much happened
Inter vs Napoli: Match Analysis
00:01:46
Speaker
this weekend. But let's just go ahead and get into it here.
00:01:49
Speaker
Match day 27 this past weekend. On thursday but Thursday of last week, yeah, we got a match week nine replay of Milan versus Bologna. um So we're talking that today and then we'll give you a little bit of a preview of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League that will going on this during the week this week.
00:02:06
Speaker
ah But to kick things off, there's really only only one place to start. It was battle against number one and number two. Inter at Napoli, thriller of a game. I think this was the best atmosphere I've seen out of any game this season outside of maybe one of the the Milan derbies.
00:02:21
Speaker
It was absolute pandemonium in Naples. This one ended one-to-one. We saw an absolute screamer from Federico DiMarco from a free kick. Made it look so easy. Like, actually, and it made soccer look like it wasn't hard to play. He hit it so well, I couldn't believe it.
00:02:37
Speaker
And then I think it was in the 86th minute. absolute war up until that point. Philip Billing comes off the bench and kind of just drives through play to level it at 1-1 and the Maradona absolutely erupts.
00:02:50
Speaker
I think every player on Napoli was on the field and every coach was on the field as well to celebrate. It was really one of the better... What's the word I'm looking for here? Commercials, info things for Serie that I think we've seen this season.
00:03:04
Speaker
Like the amount of passion and emotion that was in this game was evident all from the from the first minute to the 90th minute. The tackles were great. It was it was a really fiercely competitive game, lot of physicality.
00:03:16
Speaker
And the refs did a really good job of letting that go, which we hardly ever see in this league. So it's really good to see that. And it was just kind of the battle you look for for number one and number two.
Napoli's Scudetto hopes and Inter's struggles
00:03:27
Speaker
Ultimately, the question I want to lead with for you guys is, who is this a win for?
00:03:31
Speaker
Because realistically, going for me, my initial thought was, oh, this is a win for Napoli getting the result because you know what like they are vastly depleted when when you compare them to Inter Milan. But at the same time, Inter went into this game in first place and Napoli was in second place. So this is all they needed to do, really, to...
00:03:49
Speaker
It would have been helpful to get a win, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. would Antonio Conte would have taken a draw if he was Inter is the way I was looking at it. And kind of how Inter Milan played, I thought Inzaghi maybe overthought it a little bit and being like, oh, Antonio Conte wins Scudettos by winning games 1-0 or getting draws in games that are hard games, so going to do that.
00:04:10
Speaker
But just interested to get your thoughts there, and we can start with that. This would have been a win for Napoli if Napoli was still in first. Obviously, Inzaghi may have overthought it, played a little bit conservatively, although it was end-to-end action the entire time.
00:04:26
Speaker
But when you look at it from what Napoli need out of this, they needed to be top of the table. This is an opportunity to take direct points from Inter, and so they needed to win. This isn't a win for them. They they got out unscathed here.
00:04:38
Speaker
Philip a Billing coming through, a Bournemouth legend. Also just love to see that he he's becoming a little bit more European after Brexit. He has Philip on the back of his jersey. It's no longer Billing.
00:04:50
Speaker
ah So good to see him get a little Mediterranean, a little maybe South American with it. But Napoli needed to win this game. They're at home. Unreal atmosphere. Don't know why this wasn't CBS Game of the Week. This should have been all over primetime television here in the U.S. It wasn't.
00:05:03
Speaker
But Inter got what they needed to get out of this game. Napoli needed to secure three points again just because directly from Inter this would have been huge for this good as a race.
00:05:15
Speaker
I have um a different opinion and and to be honest with you Napoli proved me wrong. I thought that they were out of the race. This is Inter's race to lose and watching that game.
00:05:29
Speaker
It was embarrassing by Inter. They fully just basically not rolled over because they did at one point, but the way in which they played, this was not an inter-game. This is the worst I've seen them play and to two two years, maybe.
00:05:45
Speaker
So in in their perspective, in inter-perspective, yeah, sure, they they got the draw and they were away, but the way in which they got the draw, I think actually...
00:05:57
Speaker
allows Napoli to take some momentum from this build on it and possibly actually go win the Scudetto. If Napoli have, if Napoli replaced Cavada or they have Cavada, they win this game 3-1, maybe 4-1. They were chance after chance after chance.
00:06:11
Speaker
Inter did nothing the whole game besides hold on to their, by their skin of their teeth and have DeMarco have an absolute insanely nice free kick. I think Inter even got a little lucky. There wasn't a PK Dumfries, his, that ball hit him in his hand in the box.
00:06:29
Speaker
I think that should have been a PK given, um but Napoli just had chance after chance after chance. And I think that this shows a couple of different things. One, I don't know what is going on with Inter or what they're missing. i I really don't know because it's the same team as last year that one away ran away with the Scudetto, just deeper and more players.
00:06:51
Speaker
And they they they haven't beat Juventus this year. They haven't beat Milan this year. And now they haven't beat Napoli. So they can't win the big games. um And then on the flip side of it, it shows me that like, dude, this is just a masterclass Antonio Conte. He rallied the troops.
00:07:05
Speaker
Everybody believed the passion, all that on Napoli side. So I'm here to say that it is a race and Napoli can win it. um I just don't know if they have the quality to do so, but they definitely have the passion, the desire and the want to win it.
00:07:21
Speaker
And so I think it's a win for Napoli more than Inter. I think that's... Go ahead, Lux. Yeah. No, I want to talk more about Napoli because I think this game, I think the storyline here is that this should have been Napoli win. They were playing like they wanted all three points, but I do want to touch on something that Matiu kind of noted on.
00:07:39
Speaker
This inter-team, yes, it's the same as last year, but are their legs catching up to them? we the big The big theme that we've noted down here and that we've been talking about for the majority of the season is that they don't close out games.
00:07:50
Speaker
they're not They're not running away with games, and they're not running away at the season. And so I wonder, we're now in the back back quarter. this This is the final quarter of the season. having the legs Are their legs catching up with them at this point? are are they Is their age showing? Are they are they slowing down? Would they slow down in games? Are they slowing down in the season? And it may be that that might be the storyline heading in to the end of the of the race here, that Inter just don't have the energy nor the legs, and they're just too old so to continue.
00:08:21
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're older, but where I'm going to push back on um the legs aspect of it is at the beginning of the season, it was the same thing. And everybody was super fresh. They had 100% fitness. Everybody was good to go.
00:08:33
Speaker
And it's been the same theme all season long. Like you just said, they get a lead and then they go into a shell. And what I'm going to point to is more in Zagy than the squad, right? Because Past Inter would have killed this game death by a thousand passes. Mott's kind of like coined that term this year.
00:08:49
Speaker
Last season, when they ran around the Scudetto, they didn't just win go up one nothing and pack it in. They went up three nothing and then continued to try to score. And that's more of the winning recipe that that's in this league now. It's really hard to hold on to those one nothing leads, even two to one leads. Like we saw Napoli kind of squeak those out a lot this year.
00:09:09
Speaker
So I think this might be in Zagy in an attempted evolution about how he wants his team to play. Like we said up a million times this year, we called him out. If you're going to be a legendary coach in this league, you're going to, this is going to be the season for you.
00:09:22
Speaker
And again, I said it, this, Antonio Conte won leagues countless times doing this kind of thing. And maybe Inzaghi just said, you know, we couldn't couldn't really get it done two years ago. Like maybe I have to change something up and go into this defensive shell. And it's not the way of doing it very clearly we're seeing. And then the other aspect that I think every team in the league has done really well against Inter, and I think especially Napoli in this game.
00:09:50
Speaker
Last year when they ran away with the Scudetto, they were lethal on counterattacks. absolutely lethal. Everybody got forward and they would finish off moves nonstop.
00:10:02
Speaker
Teams smartened up now and have kind of stopped that from happening as much because Inter wanted to make every game as open as possible so they could just drive the ball down the middle of field, kick it out to the wingbacks. And most teams have done a really good job of stopping that and making Inter beat them in other ways, which we see them struggle.
00:10:18
Speaker
Marcus Taram has really slowed down. Lotharo Martinez hasn't really done much this year at all. And it's because they haven't had those areas to play in that they have last year. Yeah, um they definitely, I mean, this game, they didn't counterattack at all. Instead of counterattacking like they used to, they would just clear the ball and allow Napoli to come back in and and um sit deep, which was just stupid, I thought. But to answer your question, Logan, I do think it's a little bit of both uh bose's answer and zaggi but i i do think it's a little bit of legs because number one they're playing game after game they have three competitions they're still in they're still in the copa tires they're still in the champions league they've gone far relatively far in the champions league the last two games and yes they were fresh to start the season but how fresh are inter players because we do know that
00:11:08
Speaker
90% of them are on their international teams. So, and we know that there's the the World Cup this past summer. So they really didn't have a whole lot of time to rest.
00:11:20
Speaker
And they are the oldest or the second oldest team in the Serie A. Both of these teams are the first and second. I forgot which one is which in terms of average age. So I do think some of their legs are um slowing down because of the amount of games. And it's only going They're still in all three competitions, so it's only going to get harder for them.
00:11:38
Speaker
And then I think it's a little bit of Nzagi just... He doesn't know. he can't figure it out. like He doesn't know how to rotate the guys and and sometimes potentially how to motivate them or how to allow them to stay concentrated for a full 90.
00:11:51
Speaker
So I think that's what we need to see from Nzaghi for him to take the next step because we know his system is beautiful. right he plays great Calcio. But that's, I think, what his next step is, and we'll see it in these next moments.
00:12:05
Speaker
couple of weeks and months if he can make that step or potentially maybe Inter need to move on to somebody who can manage these competitions better because there's no reason why Inter should be stumbling as many times as they have this year in this in the league um and then we'll see what they do in the Champions League as well.
00:12:24
Speaker
One other thing on Nzagi that Mats, you've said a million times before. Questionable player selection, number one, and then questionable substitutions. And he took out Bastoni, and I think IFTB tweeted this.
00:12:37
Speaker
Every time Bastoni comes out, basically they end up conceding a goal. And it just doesn't, like, why are you taking out one of your centerbacks who probably hasn't really run that much? Didn't really bomb forward like the way we think about Bastoni in this game.
00:12:50
Speaker
And was probably having his best performance of the year and is arguably the best defender in the league. Why are you taking... Bastoni balled. What is the point of taking off your best defender when you're sitting deep?
00:13:02
Speaker
I think that it's because of the amount of top decisions. You see like when he got taken off the pitch, was like... Why am I coming off? You could see it on his face. I think it's because of the amount of competitions. They got the Champions League next nexta or this middle of the week.
00:13:17
Speaker
But, I mean, Bastoni, I don't know why. He was balling. He saved a goal from Lukaku in the first half. He played tremendously well. And i don't want to flip it to the other side, but so did Bongiorno. So it was great to see two Italian center backs just absolutely ball and save a lot of goals. But...
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know why he subbed off Bastoni, and he's been doing that a lot recently. He gets Bastoni off in like the 70th-ish minute, which I guess it's because carlo Carlos Augusto can slot in there, but it's definitely a drop-off in terms of quality for sure.
00:13:51
Speaker
I still think the storyline here is Napoli. Yeah, let's let's flip into Napoli. I'm good with that. i want to talk I want to talk about Napoli quite a bit here. One, the Maradona was phenomenal.
00:14:03
Speaker
Vos nailed it. That atmosphere was second to none this season. i don't I don't remember ever seeing an atmosphere like that there. Usually when I watch a Napoli home games, I'm kind of bummed about it because a lot of times the stadium kind of sucks and it's quiet.
00:14:16
Speaker
and then network You must have not watched them when they won the Scudetto. They would go crazy. That is true. Well, the the difference with this with that season, though, is they ran they ran away with the Scudetto. I think they they locked it up with like six or seven games left. So it was pretty clear that they were going to win the Scudetto. This one, they're in literally a deadlock with Inter. So this was one of the biggest games that we've seen in quite some time.
00:14:38
Speaker
But I don't know where this play style came from. This wasn't your typical Conte style, but they should be playing like this all the time. If they played like this, especially in the se in the first half, with the amount of chances that they got the amount of aggression that they were playing in the front third, this was a scary Napoli team, even without Kveriskelia.
00:14:57
Speaker
I mean, you you even saw Labaka getting forward. It was in like they had numbers on numbers on numbers getting forward. Scott McTominay was hammering missiles and into the box. Scott McTominay had the hardest shot i've ever seen in my life, I think. That was an insane save. Yeah, a couple ones at the end, too, that could have went in that Inter players got their legs in front of, but Logs, there, I agree with you. Like, i this was a crazy way for Napoli to play. You don't see this a lot.
00:15:24
Speaker
You cannot. I don't care if you're on one game a week. You cannot play with this type of intensity and, like, mentality every single game. Your guys will be worn out by the end of the season. Like, they were go-go. They were on into the entire game, which it would be great to play like that every single game, but it's just not sustainable.
00:15:44
Speaker
Right, but if you play like this, even first the half, against especially against the bottom half of the table, you're up 2-3-0 the first half, and you can coast in the second. But this one this was an absolute performance. 62% possession against the Inter squad.
00:15:58
Speaker
and That's not an aptly play style, and I'm glad that they they switched it up a bit there because they should they easily should have had one or two goals in the first half. That would have been a whole different game. I mean, it's just harder to motivate players when you're playing...
00:16:11
Speaker
18th place Emily, right? Like it's obviously all those players knew what this game is and what it could have been and what it means. Like they're all going be like, that's not as hard to motivate them unless and like as it is if you're going to play a Monza or somebody.
00:16:26
Speaker
And that's just the reality. Like I agree with you, like in an ideal world, all your players are this have this mindset every single game. But that just doesn't happen because of different levels and games mean different things.
00:16:37
Speaker
All right, you want some motivation for every single game for the rest of season, Mots? Here's your motivation. You are one point shy of the Scudetto. Both your top players, one in the summer and one of the winter window, told you to go fuck yourself, and you need to be top of the table so that you can tell them to go shove it.
00:16:52
Speaker
How's that for motivation? These guys are playing top-tier soccer in one of the best leagues in the world, or even the best, and they should be motivated to play every single game at the top level that they can. And if this is the top level, this should be the game that they come out with every single time.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm just letting you know it's tougher to motivate guys, but I agree. This was a masterclass by Conte. I just motivated myself. I'm i'm like riled up now. Yes. Milan players. Okay, we'll talk about it. We'll get there.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yes, I agree. Masterclass on Conte. Offensive onslaught for Inter. agree. would say that Conte was kind of forced into doing something that he hasn't done this year and playing LaBotka and Billy Gilmore at the same time.
00:17:33
Speaker
With really, really changes up what you have to do because ordinarily that Billy Gilmore position is one of, or it is Zombo who was not available or would have been billing in this case.
00:17:44
Speaker
When you pray bring on Billy Gilmore there, bill Billy Gilmore is much more similar to LaBotka and don't give the ball away, keep the ball no matter what. And we saw that they had 68% possession or something insane like that, where they were just able to keep the ball.
00:17:57
Speaker
and And yeah, those two guys are just so good at that. It does give, he maybe stumbled upon something that will work against those lower teams now that he didn't expect. And it's also a very different way of playing than Conte has ever really wanted to even do play with kind of two regista guys.
00:18:12
Speaker
Mats, what are you trying to jump in here? Also, in the second half, Inter subbed off Akhan, who was their kind of ball. I want the ball. Let's dominate ball possession. So with Napoli having two Regista players and Inter having to sub off their main one, I do think that it definitely tilted it way more than what it actually would have been if Akhan was healthy and and playing the whole game.
00:18:35
Speaker
That's fair. But I agree with what you're saying. He might have stumbled upon something with Billy and Labaka. And then the the other thing that I want to point out that i that is very important. This is Paulitano's best game I think I've seen in three years.
00:18:48
Speaker
He was electric off of that side. And without that in this game, if he was regular form Paulitano that he's been all season, they do not get the point out of this game. Because Raspidori was essentially useless. Every chance that he got, he fucked up.
00:19:03
Speaker
And that's what frustrated Garas Padori another tangent. He's really good at getting into the right positions and he does the right movement, but he's not top quality to get any of it done. So I think the Paul Atano thing is a big one. And da without David Neres, Paul Atano is going to have to be that if they want to stay in the race.
00:19:20
Speaker
And then the last guy i do want to talk about is Romelu Lukaku. I thought he played really well, very well, even though he didn't have a ton of opportunities and he didn't score. and It's tough because on a different team, I think we would have been talking about Lukaku as one of the best players of the season because he is more of a right now. This is new school. Lukaku is a like a focal point of the offense, but he's not really a goal scorer anymore. Right. Like we always thought about Lukaku is having like the shitty touch. He can't pass.
00:19:51
Speaker
And then he's just pulling this out. Like you could hammer a ball into him. He was receiving it, playing one touch layoffs. And if they had somebody and it would be Raspidori that could play off of that, it could be lethal because nobody can match Lukaku's physicality.
Lukaku's new role at Inter
00:20:06
Speaker
And the fact that he's been able to morph his game into like this hold up little like bit in piece kind of guy is just really interesting to me. And I think he does deserve his flowers because everybody's saying, where are the goals? Where the goals? And this is something that he's adding that we've never seen in this game.
00:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he's he's definitely more back to goal now, which is a change up from his younger years. Obviously, he's gotten much older. um And I think you even saw that there is Roma time that he's slowed down, but he's adapted so well to this this lack of of speed, I would say.
00:20:36
Speaker
And just just his presence on the field. is something to be aware of. And his positioning, I think, during this intergame was phenomenal. But that's that's one thing that they need to capitalize on, and they don't have it. like i I noted Raspidori is really bad still.
00:20:51
Speaker
Again, you've got to write his... but his He makes great opportunities. He's in the right spot, but he bottled so many chances. I mean, he got the ball stuck under his feet. I don't know how many times in this game, which you just you just can't you can't take any opportunity lightly in a match like this. And so it was tough to see that the other guys out there, Politano, Lukaku, creating opportunities, creating chances, and then watching Raspidori just absolutely fumble the bag is really frustrating. It needs to change to go forward to to get more points here.
00:21:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think that Raspardori definitely should have had that. He should have scored a goal. He rounded the goal. He did everything well, got by the goalie, and then took way too big a touch and went out of bounds instead of passing it in the net, which obviously sucks for Napoli because they could have easily won this game with the amount of chances they had. But, I mean, I know we already talked about what happened in the game, but if you really just look at the stats of this game, they sometimes stats don't accurately.
00:21:44
Speaker
They absolutely fucked them. Sometimes stats don't accurately reflect the game. Inter were never in this game at all. There was no point that and it even looked like Inter wanted to win this game. And the entire time it was Napoli all wanted to win. I wrote down. i literally wrote this down.
00:22:02
Speaker
For Napoli. Desire. Any any quotes. Desire, hustle, passion, energy, and then quality with a question mark because they don't have the quality. They have everything else, and that's Antonio Conte.
00:22:15
Speaker
um And the like I said, when i start when we started talking, he totally proved me wrong. They can definitely go win this. They just have a tougher... Oh, no, they have a... I think they have the more favorable schedule coming up than Inter. Well, in terms of ah the games that they play are slightly more difficult, but they have less games. So that's what I mean when I say they have a um easier schedule coming up.
00:22:38
Speaker
Last thing on Napoli, I just want to point out, Alessandro Bongiorno's tackle slash black blocked shot, think it was on Marcus Thuram, we might look back at is if they end winning Scudetto, like that could actually be the reason, like that he saved a goal basically.
00:22:53
Speaker
So we still got to shout him out because he I had called him out a couple times the last couple weeks. He played it out of his goddamn mind. I thought Rachmani played good again, not as good as we've seen. And the other guy that I was really, really impressed with is Spinazzola. he's been really good all year. And without him, I don't think they'd be in this position either.
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah. And to piggyback off Bongiorno, I know i little so I said little something about him, but he also blocked DeMarco's shot as well. That was a one-on-one with the goalie. Yeah. So he saved two goals.
00:23:21
Speaker
Anything else on Napoli? Inter? You guys good? Because that was a good one. I just want this game every week. I'd rather watch that. According to lots, they're back in the mix. It's official.
00:23:34
Speaker
It's official. It's a official. um But moving it on to, there were two games we got to talk about with this team. This is going to be a long conversation. Let me just... um We can make it really short.
00:23:45
Speaker
No, we got to preface this. that This is going to be a long conversation. AC Milan played two games over the past week. They played Bologna on Thursday, which was the makeup game for Mad Freak number nine.
00:23:56
Speaker
They lost that game two to one. Then and that game was in Bologna, I will say. Then on Sunday, they hosted Lazio, also lost that game two to one.
00:24:07
Speaker
And I would say there are a lot of similarities in terms of what happened in these two games. And this is really bad for Milan. That's three losses in a row in the league, which you really don't expect from a team like this. Slogan was just on last or two weeks ago saying things are going to finish in fourth place. I don't really see that being possible now.
00:24:27
Speaker
But this is, these are two. ah This is a weird one. Cause like on paper, like you lose to Bologna, you lose to Lazio. It's like, they're, they are hard teams. Like you want a result out of one of these, but the on pitch,
00:24:42
Speaker
What we saw was so bad in both of these games that I don't even know who to point
AC Milan's decline and management decisions
00:24:49
Speaker
the finger at. Like, is it the coach? Is it the players? Is it everybody?
00:24:54
Speaker
Before Loges goes, I just want to say, since Loges' bold prediction of Napoli top four, three straight L's. I was wrong.
00:25:05
Speaker
i was wrong about the top four prediction. yeah Yeah, listen, I after these three straight to one losses, I have lost all confidence in this team.
00:25:16
Speaker
Part of me thinks that maybe I finally hit rock bottom. I thought I hit rock bottom with Fonseca. Apparently not. This is this is kind of it. I'm almost done with the season. To come out, to get eliminated from the Champions League, you're out you're out of the Copa Italia. No, we have one more Copa Italia game that we're probably going lose.
00:25:34
Speaker
But to lose a big competition like that, that especially the board was really rooting for, and to have a 2-1 loss to Torino. You come into your makeup game against Bologna, which you're tied neck and neck with, absolutely need to get three points out of it, and you get a 2-1 loss there after being up.
00:25:52
Speaker
Against a Bologna team that I still don't think is that strong, We'll talk about them in a second, but still struggled at home again this past weekend. And then all that said and done.
00:26:04
Speaker
Okay, fine. Two losses in a row. Let's bounce back. We're at home. We're against Lazio, who I also called out for not being that good. And you put out that kind of performance.
00:26:15
Speaker
the entire game is just pitiful. It's pitiful stuff. And the most frustrating thing about this, and I'm just going to talk high level because, i mean, you guys can get into the tactics of these two things, but I'm just looking at this more long-term, is...
00:26:29
Speaker
At every single position, aside from our center backs, I guess I would say, you could sell our starters for 30 plus 40 plus million each. I mean, it's not like we don't have quality. We have guys at every single position that if you just pluck them and put it in a different team, they're immediately adding value.
00:26:46
Speaker
And to see us go out and put on performances that are individually and as a team effort so incomplete, it just boggles my mind. And then on top of that, Constant Sao comes out this past past couple days and has some bullshit response about how it's hard to prepare for these games.
00:27:07
Speaker
he I think he quoted and he said, it's hard to prepare when every single three days you have another huge tilt. When you're at this level, yes, you want every three days to be there, a huge tilt. That's what you play for.
00:27:20
Speaker
That's what you come all this way to do. And to blame it on the fact that you have this this rancid schedule is beyond me. The guy came in to this job and with 24 hours to prepare, beat Juve and inter in consecutive games.
00:27:34
Speaker
So that should be no excuse. And just to see the lack of interest, the lack of pride, the lack of want in these last couple of games is just, it just boggles my mind.
00:27:47
Speaker
And we are in the spot in a table where we had opportunities to absolutely blow clear. We should, ah in my opinion, based on our talent level, we should have gone nine for nine in these three games. And that would have put us in fifth right behind Juve.
00:28:01
Speaker
think about how Think about that positioning now. We might as well just drop below an essay. For Reno is is on a tear. We might as well drop below them. Are we just Napoli last year?
00:28:12
Speaker
Maybe. But the big problem is, and again, you guys can go into the games themselves, but I'm just going keep it high level here. We have no opportunity to bring in funds this summer. And I do not know if we have the outlook to keep the players on the squad.
00:28:26
Speaker
I know Reinders just went in and renewed today, but the amount of interest that he's going to have over the summer is going to be immense. Tao should be leaving. Leal's probably out the door. Santi has no choice but to stay. He just got bought. and So our outlook for next year is pitiful.
00:28:41
Speaker
pitiful and again the the only positivity that i'm going to take out of this is that i'm so low on it on milan and i'm so wrong all the time that we may just have a we might go undefeated for the rest of the season but the way it looks is that we are dreadful we're back to the mid 2010s and this is going to be a long rebuild process especially with no manager in sight and mass before you start i i just want to wrap to just set the stage a little bit more than i did um in terms of what kind of win, what played out in this game.
00:29:11
Speaker
In the Milan-Bologna game, Milan went up 1-0 in the first half and basically like a fluke long ball that ended up at Leao's feet. um Ultimately, but Bologna battled back, scored two goals, won that game.
00:29:22
Speaker
Milan, 2-1. This is going to be the theme. loss made Milan look good in this game. They got, I think they they lost the XG battle by like two points. Go to Sunday.
00:29:33
Speaker
Lazio Milan, same thing. 2-1 made Milan look unbelievable. They should have been down 2-0 in the first seven minutes of this game. ah They were not. and And I think it was in the 70th minute. Pavlovich gets a straight red card.
00:29:46
Speaker
Milan did battle back. Chuck Wese scored in the 85th minute. And then in the 94th minute, there was a controversial penalty, I would call it, ah that was called Pedro steps up, buries the opportunity to win it in the 94th minute. That sets the stage.
00:30:00
Speaker
Do you guys want to talk about the penalty for a second or no? i mean, I talked about it a lot today in the office just by chance. And. okay he made contact. I get it Isiksen pushed the ball 40 miles away from himself with no attempt to to keep possession, no attempt to make a move thereafter. And I'm not sure, and no nowhere in the past, there's no precedent for the fact that that makes any difference.
00:30:28
Speaker
But it wasn't like Mignon was out of control. If Isiksen made any type of attempt to control the ball thereafter, if he had any attempt to keep the ball, Mignon would have been able to make a play on the ball. But Isiksen literally kicked it straight into the stands.
00:30:42
Speaker
And so Mignon, his momentum is obviously in his path. There's nothing for him to do there. Did he make contact? Yes. Is that a penalty every other day of the week? Yeah. i just think I just think it's something to think about, the fact that Isiksen had zero intention of keeping possession there.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, i think that it matters. what the player did, like what happened to the ball after he hit it. Like if that's controlled penalty, he didn't control that in the slightest. It wasn't in a real chance.
00:31:12
Speaker
Did Mignon hit him? Sure. But like if, ah if it's a race to the ball and it doesn't matter what happens afterwards, I think that that doesn't really make much sense because he had, I mean, if Mignon doesn't go, Mignon doesn't,
00:31:26
Speaker
fully slide and pulls back and is at that ball goes out of bounds. Like, I don't think that changes Isikson's route or the way that he went to go for the ball. And then Mignon hit him after. So I don't think it was a penalty at all.
00:31:40
Speaker
And i I didn't like that to be given. What do you think, folks? I think it's tough because the precedent is penalty there, right?
00:31:51
Speaker
Like Logue said, I think that gets called every day of the week. On Mignon, you also need to be aware of that. like You know that's exactly what Isikson's going to try to do there. So you it was idiotic on Mignon. Is it harsh? I would say yeah, because of how far Isikson kicked it away.
00:32:07
Speaker
But at the end of the day, that is always going to be called a penalty. If you do that at the middle of the field, if you kick a ball away and somebody tackles you late, It's a penalty. like It's a foul. And that's essentially what did happen. like It's weird because the ball goes out of bounds.
00:32:21
Speaker
But I think Banyan needs to be aware of that's what the player is trying to do. so I'm okay with it. I don't think really anybody's going to be all that pissed because Lazio deserved to win this game anyway.
00:32:32
Speaker
They should have absolutely destroyed them and they didn't. But that's not the penalty. don't want to spend too much time on it. No, I mean, let's let's talk about – well, yeah. All right. I don't think – I agree with Vose. We shouldn't talk more about the penalty. We should talk about – What I want to talk about is what led up to that penalty and why that penalty doesn't matter.
00:32:50
Speaker
Because Lazio should have been up 4-1, 4-0 that whole game. They outplayed, they bullied, they made Milan look like a Siri B team, Siri G team.
00:33:01
Speaker
And the fact that that ball was ever even in our box at that point in time, which I know Matsu you pointed out and Vosu pointed out today. what where's our what What are we doing on defense in the last couple minutes of this game?
00:33:15
Speaker
There was no strategy. we were We were like chickens with our head cut off. We had played zero defense leading up to that that penalty. So if that's what brought them the opportunity to get even to even into a dangerous position like that, then so be it. They earned it. We should have been but we shouldve lost that game mild hours before that.
00:33:33
Speaker
So you can't even I can't point to that, and I can't even point to the red card as a reason as to why we lost this game. I mean, the red card definitely didn't help. But one thing, like, so going back to what you said wait on on the earlier earlier in your rant, is it on the players or is it on the coach?
00:33:49
Speaker
It's on, I think, and I've talked about this before, and I thought that Concei Sal was kind of correcting it. I think it's on it's on every single level. You have... Zlatan might not be able to get this done from a front office position, right? He's just an all-time player, but that's obviously way different than constructing a team.
00:34:10
Speaker
I think to even higher that, I don't know who, even higher than the Zlatan level, I don't know who fired Maldini, but that was that was the start of the downfall of of Milan because he is Milan, right?
00:34:24
Speaker
and you just fired him because you didn't give a good player more than one year to to see what he was. Right, so there's that. And then now there's lot of time. And then lower than that, Konsei Sao, he's not the manager for these players because, and I say it time and time again, but you have Tao and Liao don't want to do the the things that Konsei Sao believes in, and that's defend for most of the game.
00:34:51
Speaker
They want to counterattack, but they don't want to sit deep and and be disciplined. and And then those are your two leaders that, don't do want to do that. Everybody else doesn't want to do that.
00:35:02
Speaker
But then I also think Conce Sao doesn't know what he's doing because the one thing that I think didn't need to be changed was your guys' midfield pairing in Fafana and Rinders.
00:35:15
Speaker
And he went ahead and changed that and plays Moussa every single game. and subbed Musa off in the Lazio game in like the 30th minute because it wasn't right. So he went in and and I think overthought that because that was the one thing that was working for Milan.
00:35:30
Speaker
And then obviously you have the players and their consistency like Pavlovich will play good one game. He'll get a dumb red card the next game. Pulisic has kind of been a shell of himself.
00:35:43
Speaker
Jao Felix is this very similar boat as Liao and Teo it in terms of consistency and leadership. I see a lot of similarities to Milan and Juventus in terms of no leadership on the field. or and And so I think it's at all levels. And I don't know when or how this is going to, you guys are going to write the ship at Milan.
00:36:06
Speaker
I think it's so clear what would write the ship. that that's That's the thing. like if you have a manager that's like Antonio Conte at the helm, this kind of thing does not happen.
00:36:19
Speaker
Like, period. but The thing that Lokes was alluding to before, in the 85th minute after Chuck Wese scored, the game got really open. Both teams were basically trying to win it. And Lazio were just constantly counterattacking with like five or six guys in Milan, but had like four guys back on defense. It just didn't make any sense. Like everybody stopped trying to like defend.
00:36:42
Speaker
It was bizarre to watch. I couldn't believe what I was seeing that... Lazio's center back had a shot near the end of the game and ran like 80 yards to hit it. And meanwhile, the midfield isn't tracking back. The forwards aren't tracking back.
00:36:56
Speaker
The defenders aren't tracking back. The entire thing, it's literally just down to mentality. yeah they have The coach of Sal is 100% to blame for that. Yes, it's the players, but how are players not scared enough of the coach to be like, oh, we we don't need to run at the end of the game. It's one to one.
00:37:11
Speaker
Wow. I don't think that's Conceição because like he had that built in Porto. Porto were defending at all times. it's It's like if you see a player of Liao's stature turn the ball over and he doesn't... he Okay, so we played together on a team when we were in high school.
00:37:27
Speaker
If Logan turned the ball over, we didn't... oh my God, Logan sucks. It was like, right, we need to now work harder for that to get the ball back. Not picking on Logan, I'm just saying. I never turned the ball over. There were players on the team that they did turn it over be that's classic, and then we don't care.
00:37:44
Speaker
But then that that's why we we lost a lot of games because we didn't we weren't all on the same page. And have and Milan looks like it's it's one Like it's a let one V one V one V one.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. times of love and know And then, and then the other team is just one, like they just have one and they have a common goal and it's every game. Milan look like it is 11 individuals on the pitch rather than just one.
00:38:10
Speaker
And that I don't, i I agree that it can come down to the manager because you need to make that not happen. But when you see it time and time again, from every single player, besides like three, it just going to be contagious and you're going to get it from everybody.
00:38:26
Speaker
And you can say that Conce Sao has to write that. I thought he tried doing that with the Calabria, like what he did there and screaming at everybody after the game. But they if they don't it doesn't if they don't listen, they're not listening. Like what else can he do?
00:38:41
Speaker
A couple of things to build off with Monster Six. I think that you just laid the foundation really well. ah But one, just to preface this all, I just want to say that Calabria came on after Bologna scored their final goal. So Calabria didn't have anything to do with their win. So he didn't actually beat us in any case.
00:38:56
Speaker
To his replacement, and I'm bring it full circle in just a second here. But if you notice who wasn't playing for the last three games... His name was Kyle Walker. Kyle Walker has been hurt. I know what you're going say. and i was I was screaming out to say it.
00:39:11
Speaker
And he he was he has not been playing. And I think that that goes to what our successes were towards the beginning Cones of South era, right? Team play, someone out there to gel everyone.
00:39:24
Speaker
I think you saw it also with Santi Jimenez's first couple of performances. He's coming from a team, Feyenoord, who had to play together to be successful. That was his style. Jao Felix, even a a little bit towards the beginning, he's obviously trailed off and he's terrible right now, was trying to play that team ball.
00:39:41
Speaker
But again, i think that Kyle Walker mentality had been starting to flow through the team. Right. you wrote Then you remove him and look what happens. And to Mata's point, he's been saying episode after episode is that that one V one V one V one mentality is derived entirely from Leão and Teo entirely. I wouldn't say entirely, but that's that's that's where our successes had come from previously. And so everyone else is now under the but thought that, OK, we just need to be our one guy. One V one like Leão does like Teo does to be successful.
00:40:15
Speaker
That wasn't what was working a couple of games ago. Again, when Kyle Walker was playing towards the beginning of this, the second half of the season, Sante Jimenez came in. Now it's everyone playing for themselves. And it's so obvious when they're, when you're watching Milan, we'd have zero tactics.
00:40:32
Speaker
Less than when we had Pioli, which was my qualm the whole time. We everything is so random and you have no idea if we have momentum, if we're about to score a goal, if we're about to concede, there's no pattern whatsoever.
00:40:48
Speaker
And so there's there's nothing to build off of. That's that's I guess I try to write a blog post. Everyone, we're making a website. We have some blog posts. I tried to write one up and it was kind of the core of this was. we We get momentum because we squeak out wins here or there, but there's nothing to build off of because there's no there's no pattern. There's nothing to point to in film that's like, oh, that worked.
00:41:08
Speaker
No, it was some random occurrence. Even even the Waze, they go great header, by the way. But it was just we eventually got the ball a little bit further up the field and layout plays a great ball back post and we get a goal. But that's not that wasn't a pattern. That's not something that we usually do.
00:41:23
Speaker
And layout layout. Just erratic. So it's not even like everyone else knows that he's going to do that. This is what I decided on layout and tail. Same exact boat. Watching them.
00:41:34
Speaker
inefficient that is what sticks in my brain with them inefficient lay out all the time gets into great positions to score but he is incapable of shooting the ball outside of the six yard box so he's basically useless when he creates this and then number two hey oh all he does is get the ball on the sideline and run like kind of straight towards the center of the field and then does nothing with the ball just loses it at the top of the box But but it's it's worst case scenario when the broken clock of the inefficiency of Teo and Leo is right twice a day because then they hang their hat on that. And it's like Leo just made that that cross to allow us to have a goal. And that's why we need him on the pitch.
00:42:18
Speaker
Teo can do an amazing 18 to 18 yard run. run once every three, four games. And it's like, we need to have him on the pitch because that that's what they can do. But it's like taking them off the pitch is probably going to benefit Milan in the long run because they won't have constant play. Like if you watch Liao, any time he thinks he should get the ball and he doesn't get it, he puts his head up, he throws his hands in the air, he turns around and walks back.
00:42:45
Speaker
If you see that time and time and time again, and you are... A young player, yeah're that's you're going to take after that because that is a player who is making the most money on Milan or one of the most my most highest paid player on the team. So it's like, if he can do it, I can do it. Why can't I do it?
00:43:03
Speaker
So that's what it goes down to. um Mots, I have to give you your flowers. That was one of the most beautifully said points I've ever heard come out of your mouth. And to come against Milan, it hurts, but that was so true.
00:43:16
Speaker
It is the worst case scenario if this clock is is right twice a day because that's what keeps them on the pitch. I totally agree. For me at this point, Coach Sal needs to scrap everything they've done and go Diego Simeone style 4-4-2.
00:43:30
Speaker
i would put Reinders at left mid because I i actually think Musa was the best player on the pitch. Musa's been balling. Musa's been balling. A massive margin. And this is honestly what I would do. I would do Reinders, Fofana, Musa, Pulisic, Santi Jimenez, and Tammy Abraham up top and just only put runners out there.
00:43:48
Speaker
Like you got to run and that's it. I don't I would also not play Teo I I can't even think of a reason to play Teo anymore like literally you gotta play Jimenez and Jimenez has shown all three games that he he's a liability out there he's a worse Teo like that I was watching the game Nuno was new know for Ryan and in my head I'm like he is literally like he's a worse Teo number one but he's he's also just like a slightly better Emerson Royale it's like you replace the same player with a slightly more enhanced version. Like you saw it didn't work and then you went out and just got someone who did this, does the same thing, but just slightly better, but not at the level you need.
00:44:28
Speaker
He came off in the 45th because Nuno was absolutely frying him. I will, I will say, In defense of Jimenez, because I actually think he's a great, he's a good player. He's also 19.
00:44:39
Speaker
He is a lefty. So we've been placing him on the right just because Kyle Walker hasn't been fit. So he is playing a little bit out of position. That does make a big difference for outside backs when you're off and on your your wrong foot, except for our boy at Napoli, Sunitzola.
00:44:52
Speaker
But in his defense, he's really good. And that's the only reason that he was in the position to be the backup on the right is because he's been playing so well. Off the left, I think it's a different story. So remains to be seen. But he was an absolute liability off that right side.
00:45:06
Speaker
And then that, I guess we can point that to Conte Sal. Where I think it's on Conte Sal is the selections he makes. And I don't necessarily think it's him not like the attitude of Milan. Like that's what their attitude has been. I think he's done a good job of bettering their attitude at the very least. But for me, his selections.
00:45:28
Speaker
I think it's gotten worse. I think it's gotten way worse since he took over. i don't know. I mean, it was being bad. If you are listening and you haven't seen it, just watch the last 10 minutes of the game.
00:45:41
Speaker
It was inexcusable. it was They were doing that with under Vonseca too, though. It was embarrassing. Embarrassing. horrible thing I don't think Fonseca could get some of the results that Constancio has gotten, but I do think that he could have gotten results out of some of these other games that Constancio has looked like an absolute idiot in. which Not to change the subjects, but Fonseca's in France and he got sent off with the red. He was like spitting in the ref's face. yeah he had heart right he had a meltdown.
00:46:09
Speaker
yeah to To move on here, we got to move on from Milan. We got to talk Lazio, right? Because... Lazio played great. They should have scored way, way more goals. I don't think I can point to a player on the field that played poorly.
00:46:22
Speaker
Nuno Tavares was an absolute monster apart from not marking Chuck Wese on the Milan goal. The Kanye... Killed Alex the entire game.
00:46:33
Speaker
He should have had more than one goal. Isiksen was an absolute menace on offense and defense. He was he was and breaking play up, making it happen. I think the only player I didn't notice is Marucic, and that's because he was just playing as a traditional right back.
00:46:48
Speaker
But Ravella and Gunduzi, another masterclass. Ravella chased down Leão at one point. That was insane, like over 70 yards. Well, yeah even Maricic, he's the one that had the initial shot on this county goal.
00:47:00
Speaker
Yeah, true. He was up and down the pitch. I mean, that was horrible defending through and through. But he was there to me to make that run and get by Teo, who absolutely fell asleep. And then his partner on the other side, Alex Jimenez, also fell asleep.
00:47:12
Speaker
Because no one has any any type of emotion there. And he was like, Mignon's got it. And then Zikani was like, nope, I'm going to pay attention the whole time. going put this in the back of the net. But in any case, you're right. Lazio, through and through. Great game.
00:47:24
Speaker
And Izzikin, good player. Great player. Lazio had a great game. The issue that they're running into right now and why they're kind of stumbling this part of the season, i think is pretty clear.
00:47:38
Speaker
and it's because Tati Castellanos is injured and they just don't have somebody who can score. Diaz should have had a couple
Lazio's dominance and Atalanta's struggles
00:47:46
Speaker
of goals in this game that he did not put away. He did score one that was called back for offsides.
00:47:52
Speaker
But they need him to come back soon. And I think he's still missing. I think he's out for another two, three weeks. and So Lazio have to figure out how they can score um if they want to continue to potentially make this Champions League run.
00:48:06
Speaker
But they had a great game. they From first guy on the field to the the last sub, everybody played pretty well for Lazio overall. And lastly, I want to give more and I have been all season more flowers to Browning.
00:48:19
Speaker
I mean, they yeah play in so many different ways. They're such a malleable team. Like they they sat in a 4-4-2 block for most of this game and Milan could not create anything against them.
00:48:31
Speaker
And they created a million opportunities and against other teams, there'll be a ball dominant team where they keep it the whole game and they'll win that way. And this is a really, really good team. And this is without their, like you said, their goal scoring guy.
00:48:47
Speaker
And they are so hard to play against. i I genuinely think this is one of the hardest compet one of the hardest teams to play against in the league. They're right up there, I think, with Atalanta in Inter.
00:48:59
Speaker
they They're just so hard to beat because of how they play. Look, you're not talking about Lazio. No, i mean it was just a massacre. It hurts to think about Lazio, but we can also talk about the other team that we lost to in Bologna, who I still don't think is that good.
00:49:15
Speaker
I will say it. I still don't think they're that good. Really important that we preface this with right before this game, Logue made a point to say Simone Castro is not that guy, to which me and Matt said he is that guy, to which Simone Castro said, I am going to score Bologna.
00:49:31
Speaker
against Milan because fuck Luggs. Bologna, I could have i clearly scored the goal that Castro scored. So let's just put that out there. However, he is a sneaky little fuck that guy. He's actually only 19. I didn't realize that. No, he's really, really young.
00:49:45
Speaker
And he's going be a talent. He might not be in the Serie A in the next couple of years. I just think he's like a little shithead. So I don't particularly like him. But I also just don't love this Bologna team. I just don't think that good. when you I mean, I know.
00:49:56
Speaker
Well, it it pisses me off because We have guys out there that I know are not that good. I've seen them play firsthand. Tommaso Pobega is not good. They brought in David Calabria, who's not good.
00:50:07
Speaker
And all of a sudden they put in, they get three points out of every goddamn game. And I'm just sitting here with nothing, nothing. I don't know, dude, you need to start respecting the badge. You just have a bad attitude towards some of the badges in this league, I think.
00:50:22
Speaker
There are so many good players on the scene. Roman Froiler has been one of the best midfielders the entire season. Lewis Ferguson is one of the best midfielders in the league.
00:50:32
Speaker
Like he's extremely good and can play as a six, as an eight or as a 10. We didn't even talk about Dan and Doy yet, who are the game winner, who is, I don't know how he's on this team still.
00:50:43
Speaker
I don't how he's the last hit through the summer. Cause he, he would be the best winger on basically every team in the league, I think. There are very few players in the league better than him on the wing.
00:50:55
Speaker
Orselini, same thing there. Very few players better than him on the wing. He scored two goals to win them the game. Also, what about this little stat for you, Logs? They have more points this season, Bologna, than they did at this point last year under Thiago Mata and with their Califiori and Zerxe and no Champions League.
00:51:15
Speaker
So... goes to show that they if they can continue to keep these players or if they can't keep them, continue to refuel with this young talent, Bologna might be here for a long time because they had the same amount of competitions as Milan did this year and way less of a wage bill. And look who's doing better than Milan in the season. and the season Granted, yeah, sure, Milan did better than them in the Champions League, but not by much. They got made it one round further.
00:51:48
Speaker
I mean, is this is this a manager thing? Is Italiano that guy? i think he is. Does this team not remind you of Fjornatina? I mean, it it has to. Fjornatina has. I mean, grinding out games. grind Yeah, but I also, like, I still very much see old Thiago Mata, Bologna in this team.
00:52:07
Speaker
They just have the ball a little bit more than then they did last year. But, I mean, we always knew Italiano was good. though The problem is he just doesn't always win the games. They don't always score goals. They just usually have the ball.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's going to be the question mark. How do they get better? ah the They definitely could add better players, right? Like, I'm not saying this is the best squad in the league, but the pieces are there of a very, very, very competitive team to the point of, I mean, how much better is Napoli's first team than this?
00:52:34
Speaker
a little bit, not by much. And if they add the right pieces to an Italiano team, which the Italiano system, we know what it's capable of. They're going extremely difficult to be. They're going to be in that same conversation as Lazio. I don't think they're they're quite there yet.
00:52:49
Speaker
um But i I love this team, but we can keep it rolling, right? um Bologna did play again at the weekend. So unfortunate out there. They beat Calgary at home two to one. That's a big one. ah The other game we want to talk about, we talked about Roma a little bit last week and Como actually last week. They played each other in Rome.
00:53:06
Speaker
Roma won this one two to one. This was a really good game. and Important to note that there was a red card. I forget when this was. Sorry. I've lost my head thing up here. I lost it. Early second in like the 60th ish minute around.
00:53:22
Speaker
But it was so even up until then. it was such an even game. Como was playing such beautiful soccer throughout, which they do week in and week out. I still think this is one of the better teams to watch.
00:53:32
Speaker
I wouldn't even say it was even. I would say Como was dominating. and Not dominating, but they were much better in the first half. And I give it credit to Ranieri. He saw things not working and he was like, Pellegrini, dude, I'm giving you chances to kind of get out of your funk. But if you're going to keep playing this bad, I will yank you in the 45th minute.
00:53:54
Speaker
um And he did the same thing with their striker as well. Just yanked them both right at halftime. And Sule, I think I yanked at halftime. No, Sule got taken out in like the 50th minute or so. They gave him like five or so.
00:54:07
Speaker
But he was he wasn't playing Sule in the right spot at that right wing back spot. and And then Salamakas came in and scored right away to tie it up. And then Roma's... An absolute beauty. Yeah, Roma's second goal was also a very, very...
00:54:21
Speaker
pretty uh goal from play and a great finish by dobick but i mean i think that this is a master class from ranieri and you've really seen what he's been able to do and why you've been able to right the ship because he just and you you asked the question last week most and like what is he doing he's really just making football simple and like you said it too like they had any alien at the left center back he looked at it was like Why are we have a 5'5 guy at center back? Let's put him to wing but like where he's supposed to be.
00:54:52
Speaker
and then And then he just allows his players more. free like He's like, Dybala, go be Dybala. let's play Let's play Hummels, who was in the Champions League final, but we just can't play him every game.
00:55:04
Speaker
like you know He's just making it the simple, smart decision. Pellegrini, is he a good player? Does he have the big name? Yes. Is he playing bad? Let's take him out. like It's like, if you think about it, he just simplified the game or or the decisions. and And also the players are all for it because the substitutes, two substitutes scored and Cristante was the one that kind of made or started the second goal to happen, who was also a substitute.
00:55:34
Speaker
And then they they subbed in this right back. Divine wrench, baby. So good. Balled out. Balled out. with he' played inla room He played for 25, 30 minutes, and I thought he was player of the game. He balled out.
00:55:50
Speaker
Well, that this one, the Ranieri thing, which Flowers, to me, I said it was a great hire when they brought him in. I know that some of us were not happy about changing the manager again there. However...
00:56:02
Speaker
It makes me think in other leagues, you can point to a lot of managers who have made a huge difference purely off of tactics. And I think the premise is probably the biggest example. But when you look at the Syria, look how many managers are just purely good because they just put the guys in the right spot.
00:56:20
Speaker
Like, that seems to be the biggest difference the difference maker, especially since we've seen so much turnover over the last season or so. And I'll let Mott shower himself in flowers as well.
00:56:32
Speaker
But I do think that this this league is not so much tactics, but just putting the guys in the right spot and making sure that everyone's on the same page. And Mott has said that.
00:56:43
Speaker
No, no, no. It's not about me. i don't want to i want to continue talking about Roma. I'm just going to say, you know who was pretty good at that last year? Pioli? Or two years ago for Milan?
00:56:54
Speaker
So that's what I think you were so thrilled to move on from him. But Pioli was good at man-managing. I didn't know what I had, Mats. I didn't know what I had. No, I agree.
00:57:05
Speaker
I had greatness. yeah Keep it on Roma. Apart from that, this isn't... this is It's the same thing we talked about last week, Mats. I don't think anybody... Nothing has changed. The only... I would say the two things that are still a little bit scary for me are...
00:57:19
Speaker
You cannot play Sule and Dybala together because Sule is useless when Dybala is playing. And I thought it was night and day performance for when Sule was on the field to win. So when Salamaker took that position night and day, mean, we saw it. Salamaker scored like 10 minutes after coming onto the field.
00:57:36
Speaker
um That made a big difference. And then number two, which Lowe explains out at the beginning beginning of the season, the Mancini defending on the first goal was embarrassing. It was so bad.
00:57:48
Speaker
He didn't even know where the ball was, don't think. He just turned around and started running. Yeah, no Mancini hasn't had the best season, that's for sure. But I listened, I was watching the post, the pregame interview and there was, they interviewed Dybala who he just, he, when he is healthy and playing, he is so fun to watch. He draws fouls, he creates, you cannot stop him. He's inevitable when he's healthy. His problem has always been that he's healthy.
00:58:18
Speaker
yeah I was watching that game and i was just like, oh, I remember these days when he was on back on Juve doing this stuff. He drew like 11 yellow cards. He's so good here. Quick tangent while you bring up Dybala.
00:58:31
Speaker
If you bring up Ramon, you're getting axed. Okay. Paramount. I was talking about this pregame as well. Is Dybala a legend? You have legend for sure. i mean, didn't he win? Is he a Serie A? Yeah. Didn't he win three Serie A player of the season's?
00:58:47
Speaker
I think. I don't know how many Serie A players. Maybe. He's won five. but Four or five Scudettos, three Coppa Italias, two Super Cups, two Champions League finals. Dude, we were beating Barcelona with Dybala.
00:59:00
Speaker
Not in the final ever, but we would beat those teams to get to the final. um Like... He is for me, he's a legend. He's he would probably be like one of my top five favorite players if it wasn't for the fact that he just got injured so much and to the point where it frustrated me because how good he was.
00:59:21
Speaker
But he was just never healthy. Even beyond that, he he would be just regarded as one of the best players of all time. If he was healthy, he was. And we see he this is what you said. ah His problem is it's never been consistency. It's never been formed.
00:59:34
Speaker
It's been being unable to be on the field because whenever he's on the field, he does the exact same thing and dominates games. Yeah, honestly, the fact that they brought that up now is actually little disrespectful with that resume that Mats just pointed out.
00:59:49
Speaker
That is little nuts. He's for sure a legend. Yeah, that's yeah he's so fun to watch. and and And that's why Roma is having lot of success with Dybala.
01:00:00
Speaker
Ranieri's writing everything. They're simplifying it. Dovbic's starting to score goals. You have... ah competition within the squad in terms of Sule, Salamakers, Paredes looks good. Like they do have experienced guys who have been there, done that, can lead the team.
01:00:16
Speaker
And then they have young guys that are hungry. it's it's It's all starting to trend upwards at the perfect time for Roma because they're very realistically in a European spot. Like they're right there. They're only...
01:00:33
Speaker
four points away from Bologna. And we this was the worst start. i was I think Marco, after the game, said this is the Roma's worst start in the three-point era.
01:00:45
Speaker
And they are very realistically have a real shot of finishing at some European spot and are ahead of Milan at this point. So insane turnaround. And this is when you want to get hot at the end of the season when the games matter the most.
01:01:00
Speaker
And the other team that played in this with Como, who were superb up until the red card, I i thought they won the first half. i'm I'm assuming you guys would agree. Well, they did. They they were literally up 1-0.
01:01:11
Speaker
But even in the first even beyond that, they they were out playing Roma, I thought, pretty heavily. I was kind of like, oh, wait a minute. Is this the Roma that we were used to watching all of a sudden? Because Como made them look kind of bad.
01:01:23
Speaker
um i think it's on Diaz. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, they made him look bad, but that's I think it's more so Como's just good. Como is a good team. These guys play really well together, and they play pretty football, and they play, I think, you know, I think Czech Fabregas is clearly rubbing off on them in the best way possible.
01:01:40
Speaker
And so i I don't know that Roma looked bad. i think Como just played really, really well in that first half. Yeah, they did. and I think a lot of that has to do with, I mean, Asandiano had another goal that was called offsides. He, he, all the I think he, he was off. They were off. He was offsides. I mean, he wasn't offsides. The guy who passed it was offsides. I forgot who passed it, but it was offsides by a mile.
01:01:59
Speaker
But he, if they can just keep this team together and add pieces, they are so goddamn dangerous. Oh, that's definitely going to be tough. But even if they can't, we have to remember this team is not a newly promoted team with the ownership they have. They have said multiple times, we want to compete. We're going to make investments. So even if they don't so necessarily keep Nico Paz or Dia, which I think they have a chance to potentially,
01:02:24
Speaker
they will reload and find other players or find aging veterans as well to balance that out. I think what Ranieri said it before the game, Como's like going to the dentist without anesthesia.
01:02:37
Speaker
So just pain all over the place. And he's not wrong. Like they they play great soccer. Like they play, they have great principles. Fabregas has great ideas. They all buy into the system.
01:02:50
Speaker
And I think what they need to worry about is keeping Fabregas. Yeah. Come next season. I think what they do have that a lot of the teams we go. ah i'm sorry to bring them back out, but Milan.
01:03:02
Speaker
The difference between these guys is these guys play with freedom in expression, but like discipline and heart, like all in one.
01:03:12
Speaker
They do everything like this is not the most skilled team in the league. They have very bright players, but even their best players work as hard as their worst players. And that's what's getting them to that point. Trevets is a great example of that. I don't think he's had a great season, but he puts in the hard the hard miles every single game. He runs up and down the field.
01:03:31
Speaker
He tries to be creative when he does have the ball. And they're, Rondieri said it, they are dangerous. If everybody on the team can score, and that's that's such a weird place to be in, especially when everybody has the freedom to move around.
01:03:44
Speaker
What I would really still love to see if they can do it. I don't think Nico Paz's best position is down the middle as a striker or number nine. I think if they can get somebody beat beyond him and then have him play in like that 10 role, that's that's really dangerous.
01:03:58
Speaker
Well, when Cotrone's in, he certainly plays a little deeper, and Nico, and he plays a little bit more free room. Cotrone, I think sucks. ah also I know, what he's just he's a but he's a point person. He can at least play the position, and I know that he could his positioning is good.
01:04:12
Speaker
I don't think that he's great with the ball, but he's good at being the nine. And that allows Neagle to be much more creative at the 10 spot because he has a lot more freedom. You'll watch. If you watch Neagle pause throughout the whole game, that guy floats everywhere.
01:04:25
Speaker
But not not just mindlessly. He floats into positions that is an outlet or that creates play. he's a little. He's like a little. He reminds me of Jabalow, honestly, is kind of how he plays.
01:04:36
Speaker
A little bit. I think he's a little bit more swaggy than Jabalow. I'll be honest. But. i yeah he's a little He's got some swag, dude. He's swaggy. Well, Nico Pazzo's my boy, so I'll say that all day long.
01:04:48
Speaker
But your point is, Trevetsa has not had a phenomenal season, but just given the fact that what he did for Lecce last year and where Lecce ended up He had a team of the season ah performance all last year.
01:05:00
Speaker
They brought him into another newly promoted side. I wouldn't be surprised to see Strafeza go to another newly promoted side next year. I'm just given the fact that he's not that great. They don't need to keep him.
01:05:10
Speaker
But now he's been on two straight newly promoted sides who have done extremely well. The lads by the lake, boys. Don't sleep. I'm just saying it Keep it rolling. Fiorentina hosted Leche and squeaked out a 1-0 win, courtesy of Robin Gozen to the ninth minute.
01:05:26
Speaker
I think we all agree it's a pretty massive win for Fiorentina. We were kind of saying this is the spell of the season without all of their good attackers. Everybody's hurt. So a 1-0 game, I think they'll take. I didn't think they were going to get a result out of this. I thought this was going to be a 0-0 or Leche win.
01:05:39
Speaker
So you'll definitely take that. Atalanta hosted Venezia Oh my god, stumbled yeah Didn't score a goal, nil-nil Story of Atalanta season, creating a bazillion opportunities and just sometimes not putting any of them away.
01:05:56
Speaker
And that's ultimately what's going to cost them in this race. They're still in it. but But I mean, I don't know how. with the i think it's more I'm thinking about is the games they've dropped three points and are like inexcusable, like missed penalties, missed wide open chances. And if they win even one of those, like they're so much closer to having actual Scudetto in their fucking hands.
01:06:20
Speaker
I mean, that a that I think is... you can You can say that about almost every single team in this top four race. Maybe even Lats, if want to say top five. like I don't think that Juventus is in the race at all. But if they don't stumble...
01:06:36
Speaker
in three games like and you get nine points, you're now first. Atalanta, same thing. Napoli, and same thing for all
Atalanta's challenges and Juventus' frustrations
01:06:44
Speaker
of them. So it's it's like that's kind of been the theme of the this season in the Serie is like weird losses and drop points at weird times to not have a bigger cushion.
01:06:57
Speaker
But yeah, this is this is not good by Atalanta at all, especially knowing that you only have one competition to play for now. And I think it can somewhat go back to what we talked about last year last week, like how good and how much chemistry right now is in the locker room.
01:07:14
Speaker
Lookman did play very well, so I don't think it affected him too much what they talked about. But how much is Gasparini? One foot in the door, one foot out the door. He's been linked with Roma now. Now also I'm seeing Juve as well. Rattegi, same thing, linked with Arsenal. He didn't play very well this game.
01:07:31
Speaker
So there's going to be a lot of noise now in Bergamo that they're going to have to kind of zone out and make sure that they can win games but they're next two against juventus and inter so yes it would be massive if they can win those but probably not going to get two wins out of that depending on what happens like they could very much be in fourth or maybe even fifth pending if they lose both those games so big big stretch for atlanta coming down uh the final 11 games Part of me, and it's a majority of me, yes, this game is inexcusable. Venezia, who's getting, who's for sure it could be relegated. and you' It's a nil-nil on paper, in real life, live, after the game, inexcusable, especially where Atalanta sits in the table.
01:08:17
Speaker
But even if they have two of these chances go, this is a completely different outlook, and they were not remotely far off from having at least two go. In the first half, Venezia could have won this game.
01:08:29
Speaker
I disagree. i I disagree. Venezia should not have any business winning this game. But that was looks that the only reason. Hold on. What's your point? I just want to bring it back to what Mats was saying. Mats was saying, like oh, if any teams didn't go on these stretches.
01:08:44
Speaker
But like I think that's the difference. The games that Atalanta have dropped points in, they've had these kind of chances where it's like, how did you guys not put that away? and it's It's always more than one of those in these games. like It's several, and i I don't understand how it keeps happening.
01:09:01
Speaker
they were They were cursed. This was a cursed game. because and as I'm going to bring some moments out from this matchup. Two headers in the first half. Rategi by himself just missed.
01:09:14
Speaker
He usually buries those. He's one of the better players in the year in Serie Those should be going. Then in the second half, he's gotten this ball a million times across the ground at the PK spot. Slots at home.
01:09:25
Speaker
He misses on that. Or goes straight at the goalie. Lookman. is on the goal line by himself. They made a beautiful move off of a spot free kick or maybe it was a corner.
01:09:36
Speaker
It gets by his defender on the goal line and puts it miles over the bar. Absolute moonshot. Absolute moonshot. Don't know how he missed that. But aside from that, Luckman also just played really, really good. Still playing really prideful soccer, even after the comments from Gasparidi, which I can, I really commend Luckman on.
01:09:55
Speaker
Again, it's inexcusable. I'm not going to say that this is a Scudetto winning moment for them, but I don't, I wouldn't be too down. They just need to put those away. I mean, again, it was cursed. It's like maybe two or three chances like that may not go your way, but this was like 10 chances that like usually are surefire goals.
01:10:14
Speaker
And so to that point, I still think that Atalanta have the quality to make a run here. And that, ah that as long as they can just, maybe not have a witchcraft go on during the week, that they they'll be fine.
01:10:25
Speaker
Okay, but Lowe's, you want me to read you who their games are in their next five, six games? youre But hold before you even start, you're just going to tell me that they're playing top top of the table teams.
01:10:37
Speaker
Atalanta is a one of the best teams in this league. that It doesn't matter. It does matter. They should be beating every single team if they're going to win the Scudettes. Well, Inter, we know they're going to lose too. So that one, like you just count as a loss.
01:10:52
Speaker
Because the system. my point My point being is this late in the season, I i i actually think I brought it up against Roma. Maybe maybe I'm just going to tell myself that I'm an idiot three weeks ago. But at this point in the season, it doesn't matter who you play, in my opinion. I think it does. it I mean, I agree. You're a top team. You need to win all the games that you have.
01:11:12
Speaker
But if your schedule is Juventus, Inter, Inter. Fiorentina, Lazio, Bologna, Milan, and then you have a team like Juventus, who's two points behind you, and I don't know their schedule off the top of my head, but they're playing, let's call it a Parma, Lecce, Genoa, Torino, there's obviously an easier schedule there than what Atalanta has. So yes, every game has to be winnable, but you would put your money that Juventus is probably going to get more points out of those four than what Atalanta has because of the toughness of the opponent.
01:11:48
Speaker
So I agree with what you're saying. like its Every game is a must win, especially at this point, but the schedule, the ease of schedule does play a factor, obviously. Fair enough. Keeping rolling.
01:11:59
Speaker
Udinese got it done at home against Parma. Won that one, won nothing. Parma, that's scary, scary times. One point out of relegation zone right now. Torino went to Monza. Won that one, two to nothing. Torino's really rolling right now.
01:12:11
Speaker
That's a really good team. And kind what we've been saying all year, there are very few teams in this league that you go into a game, regardless of who you are, feeling like super confident you can win.
01:12:22
Speaker
And Torino is really showing that they they brought it to Milan. They've been bringing it to everybody recently, so they're really good. Empoli in general played to a 1-1 draw. We know both those teams are really good defensively, and that's kind of what played out.
01:12:35
Speaker
And then we finished the weekend with Verona going to Torino and Juve pulling out a 2-0 win in that one. Well, before we even get into the game or like higher level conversations, the fans of Turin are not happy with Juventus because as I talked about prior to us getting into the games, Juventus obviously got knocked out of the Coppa Italia by an Empoli team who is in relegation zone and literally said, we don't give a shit about the Coppa.
01:13:04
Speaker
We are going to play our C and D players. And if we lose, we lose. But they didn't lose. They actually beat Juventus. They looked better in every sense of the word. And the cheering on top of this was that Juventus played their A players. They played all their starters. So it wasn't even like they played their next gen and lost.
01:13:22
Speaker
It was we fully went to go try to win and lost and lost in PKs. But it very well should have been a four to one game Empoli. So terrible showing, especially coming off the fact that two games ago we lost to PSV in another awful showing.
01:13:38
Speaker
So the Juventini are not happy. They were protesting. The management is a ghost. The coach is terrible. Fire the coach outside Tecumawa's hotel.
01:13:49
Speaker
Not obviously the best, right? I always say, like, I agree that Mata hasn't had a great year, but I want to see more than just one year or else it'd be another... What? what had a in this When I saw this, I hated it.
01:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't like it. They're in fourth place. like you need to but Once again, Juventus expects to win, and they are they got rid of Allegri, and they invested $130 million, $150 million in the summer, and now we're having a worse season than we did under Allegri because we did at least win the Copa, and we did come in fourth. We might not. I mean, Lazio's only two points behind us.
01:14:29
Speaker
So it's not like we're guaranteed Champions League football. So I understand why they're upset, but they just Italian fans just go about things so poorly every time. Very reactionary.
01:14:41
Speaker
Yeah. Very emotional. Like, what do you guys expect is going to happen for a new manager in the first year? Like he has to teach that. I agree. and needs to be better.
01:14:51
Speaker
What we need to have seen is needs to be much better, especially with like the leadership and the desire. But you can't make change in a year. You need more than that. Right. So it it's this like we we did it with Pure Low. We did it with Sorry.
01:15:06
Speaker
we We didn't do it with Allegri because we were like, we just did it twice. We can't do it again. Now you want to do it again. It's like it's the there's no it doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense. So I didn't love to see that, but I did love to see this reaction from Juventus today.
01:15:22
Speaker
They won 2-0, to nothing and it what it took a while to get the first goal in the 72nd minute, but they they were on the front foot. They were like, we need to win this game. They understood they needed to win this game, and they dominated the entire game.
01:15:38
Speaker
making sure that they were pressing high, keeping the ball, generating chances that there was a style of play. and They were trying to continually do a pattern of play and eventually finally broke the low block of Hellas Verona.
01:15:54
Speaker
And then where they ended up getting a second goal, which was a pretty lucky goal for Coop Miners. But at least he got on the score sheet. You saw how much it meant to the teammates of Coop Miners, which you know that means they see him struggling.
01:16:06
Speaker
So maybe this can start to project Coop Miners in his Juventus career because we know it's been a pretty big disappointment. But I would just... From this game, obviously, you need to win. It was two nothing Could it have went 1-0 or potentially 1-1 because they had that goal called back? Yes, but I like the mentality.
01:16:24
Speaker
I like the mindset. I like the tactical approach. And I liked what I saw out of Juventus in this game. The shot map is hilarious. I don't know if you guys have taken a look at it, but it is an absolute dot fest. 27 shots. I think they had seven or eight on net, which is definitely a ton. nine two x Nine. on Nine on target.
01:16:43
Speaker
Two XG for Juve is actually really good. we were attacking We were attacking this entire game. My favorite should, though. You're playing Verona. i agree. I agree. It's not like this isn't like, oh, my goodness.
01:16:54
Speaker
I agree. This is what we need to play like. But what I was texting you guys when i was watching was, How are we going to react when it's 1-0? Are we going to go sit back? And did we take our foot off the gas a little bit? Yes, but we didn't do it as much as we've seen us do before in the past, especially like in the game against Cagliari. We totally took our foot off the gas and just held on.
01:17:15
Speaker
This game, we were like, let's go try to at least score a second, and we did. so just like the mindset and mentality more. You have to build on it. This is four wins in a row now in the league, which is huge.
01:17:25
Speaker
We are... we have no chance of winning the Scudetto. So I don't want anyone to think that I think Juventus is going to win the Scudetto. We're six points off of Inter, which is not like, it's realistic that we possibly could. We have no chance of doing that. It's not going to happen, but being six points away and having this, like you're, you're protesting to fire your manager and you're six points off of first place. Like,
01:17:47
Speaker
And I agree, once again, it's not because of anything Juventus has done. It's because what everyone has done a outside of Juventus in terms of losing. But you're right there. You're starting to string things together.
01:18:00
Speaker
Let's build on this momentum. My favorite part about this game was Kefran Taram, who is my Juventus player of the season so far, scored a goal and was a dominant player of the entire game.
01:18:13
Speaker
right Mata, I don't know how it doesn't play every game, the entire game. He's been that good. But the part that I really loved is when Coop Miner scored, he was way happier than when he scored. And he he wouldn't leave Coop Miner alone. Miner is just trying to get back to midfield and Kefran Taram couldn't play grabbing it or making it celebrate.
01:18:31
Speaker
like That's the kind of thing. That's the final of Phoenix. Kephra Taram is that guy already. great He's got it. Agreed. he i don't know if you saw his goal against Empoli. World-class goal.
01:18:45
Speaker
So now Taram scored two goals in two games in a row. He's totally taken that next step from last season to this season. He should be playing every single game in the press season.
01:18:56
Speaker
but gets mad at Mata that he doesn't. And they actually asked him before the game today, why do you not play Teron Moore? And he basically said, like, I'm not like, I know what I'm doing.
01:19:06
Speaker
Shut up. That's basically what he responded to the press. But Taram is proving him that he needs to be in every lineup. The issue is he doesn't know who to take out. like Weston has to play because he's like our most creative midfielder, which stinks, but it's true.
01:19:21
Speaker
Coop Miners has to play because that's his son. It's like the Di Lorenzo Spoletti thing going on with Diago Mata and Coop Miners. And then he likes to play Locatelli without Vega there because Gatti and Kelly and Kalulu don't progress to play ah from the center back. So it's tough to fit him in the spot. But I agree. Taram needs to play every game.
01:19:41
Speaker
ah One thing that I just, I forgot that I hated this so much and it was happening so much. Cambiasso playing as like the left center back in possession. i I cannot hate it more than I hate it. And just want to point that out.
01:19:52
Speaker
I don't need talk about it too much, but and I don't like that. Well, you're, I mean, he's good on the wing, but you just think he's a winger. You don't think he should be in the defensive line anyway. So that's that's not surprising that you think that that you have that mentality about it. I mean, he you got a player of match based on ratings, so it couldn't have been that bad.
01:20:10
Speaker
I guess my question here is, Mots, and I guess I just feel it because of the way that my season's going and clearly a whole different bracket being that you've been in fourth. You've gone six games, 18 out of 18 points in lead play.
01:20:24
Speaker
Sure, you've had a couple of stumbles, PSV and Empoli and Copitalia. What is the main... the main tactic, the main thing that Juve is doing when they get into these Serie A games, that they're a completely different team and they do look like they, as of the last six games, look like they could be in the Scudetto race. what is that and What is that missing piece that not that's not there when they played PSV, when they played Empoli?
01:20:51
Speaker
Well, I don't necessarily agree that we've looked good in these games. Calgary, we should we should have drawn. That should have been a draw. like That should have been 1-1. We were holding on for dear life. The inter game, you take away Kola Moani's master class 0-0 draw.
01:21:06
Speaker
um The Como game, once again, it was strictly Kola Moani. You can argue that they got lucky or we got lucky that they didn't get a handball and we got a penalty to end the game. and then But what I'll just tell you is the same thing. It's leadership. We have no leader on the field.
01:21:20
Speaker
Mott is not the greatest leader. We don't know who to turn to. I think we really miss Bremer. He could have been that guy for us this season. We really genuinely just have no real physical leader and someone to lead and kind of grab the game by the balls. Locatelli tries to. I don't know if he knows how to do it yet.
01:21:37
Speaker
We're also just young. Like we are a young team. Our average age is like 23. Sometimes we are definitely scared of the moment. I think that's on the players and Mata. I think sometimes Mata can't, doesn't,
01:21:51
Speaker
relay to the teams how important a game is like the employee game you need to relay to the players we cannot lose this game and he did not do that he did that today like you saw from the players we cannot lose this game yeah i think and i said last episode every single game from here on out is a must win for juventus and they lost the next game and you saw what happened that the fans protested they want mana out they hate the management they hate everything so I think that's what it is. But you need to you need to give him more time. This is his first time doing three games week.
01:22:23
Speaker
It's a big jump, right? Bologna, it was great what he did, but there's no stress. There's no Bologna. It's just all gravy. You you don't have to win. If you do win, it's awesome. If not, we get it. We're Bologna.
01:22:34
Speaker
Juventus, you have to win. It's way more pressure. And you need to adjust to that. And I think you need to give him time. But, I mean, now you got the press coming out that we got Conte in the works. De Zerbe, possibly, Mourinho.
01:22:46
Speaker
Gasparini even. It's just like, give the guy a break. I fucking
Upcoming fixtures and predictions
01:22:50
Speaker
hate the Italian media with how often they write articles and shit. It's like, relax. Honestly, the reaction of the Juve fans is what should be coming out of Milan. I know you said that the fans protested the game. It didn't seem like they were out of the stands in that first half. Dude, you didn't have the game on in the first minute.
01:23:10
Speaker
the The San Siro was fucking, and I think there was 400 people in the stands. i was My mind was blown. I was like, holy, this game is empty. It's like think a COVID game.
01:23:23
Speaker
No, but that's the response I want out of Milan. So at least you get some kind of pride and fire. And you're back to Milan, obviously. Hey, listen, listen. Moving on, moving on, moving and on. there We got to be done.
01:23:34
Speaker
Games going on this week. Quick, quick spotlight for you. Champions League, we've got Inter going to Feyenoord. In the Europa League, we've got Bilbao going to Roma. And Lazio going to, again, I'm going to butcher them again, Victoria Pelsen.
01:23:46
Speaker
And in the Conference League, we have Fiorentina taking a trip to Greece to play Panathinakos. Always tough place to play Greece. I know that much. then we got Match Week 28 at the weekend. Genoa at Cagliari.
01:23:57
Speaker
Venezia at Como. Torino at Parma. Milan at Lecce. Monza at Inter. Bologna at Verona. Fiorentina at Napoli. Wow, Napoli's getting that game at a good time. Holy shit. You can just Fiorentina with everybody injured.
01:24:10
Speaker
ah Roma at Empoli. Atalanta at Juve. That's a good game. And then Udinese at Lazio. That's a tricky one for both parties involved there. And that brings us to... Colpi di Luna.
01:24:24
Speaker
Copa de Luna. What happened last week with Copi? Hand up. What happened last week with Copi? Well, listen, honestly, I was right there, dude, with the amount of fucking chances Napoli created.
01:24:35
Speaker
why don't you just get some quality there? Replace Cavada. The bet hits. I did. said I sweated out the one and a half you made today. They very yeah they they tried really hard not to cover.
01:24:48
Speaker
We could have. I was going to say. With the amount of Colby hits that we've had this season, we could have sent some money over to De Laurentiis. We could have replaced him. All right, let's get into it. You'll leave it off. All right, listen.
01:25:02
Speaker
Listen, I think this one's pretty obvious. Both teams playing with a ton on the line. Juve, Atalanta, over two and a half. I wouldn't be surprised to see four goals in this game, but we got over two and a half at minus 115. You take the value.
01:25:17
Speaker
You take the hit. That's leading us off. And I'm hot still. I wouldn't be surprised if that game is It could be 0-0. I'm taking Lazio at home against Udinese.
01:25:29
Speaker
I don't think Udinese is good when they compete against like the top-level teams. They just do a really good job of competing against the teams that are worse than them. And like I've said all season, I love Lazio. I think there's a little bit of value here at minus 145. So I'm just going to follow it and hopefully we get a hit here.
01:25:47
Speaker
Well, I officially hope that our Colby doesn't hit because I want Lazio to lose so Juventus can increase the lead in terms of points.
01:25:58
Speaker
So hopefully this Colby, make sure you you bet each leg individually because we want this to lose. But my pick is going to be Bologna Moneyline.
01:26:10
Speaker
And I'm forgetting who they're playing. Oh, Hellas Verona at Hellas Verona. Bologna is hot right now. They're scoring goals. Verona allows like 36 goals or 37 goals this season in the beginning of the first half or the start of in the first half.
01:26:25
Speaker
Bologna score in the first half. I think that they win the game. Don't know the odds on that because Monson are running down, but we do know this one one 40. No, I think I don't know.
01:26:36
Speaker
mo It's a conservative Colby this week. We will say that. We haven't hit it bit, but we're not going to hit It's probably plus 500 range. You know what to do, guys. It doesn't matter. You bet the Colby, you bet all three legs, and you watch a bunch of Serie A footy.
01:26:50
Speaker
That's the formula for
Community engagement and sign-off
01:26:51
Speaker
success every single weekend, and you don't fray. That's it. Minus 130. Nice, dude. All right. And that's it for us, guys. um John, I'm Nate. Love the comments on YouTube. Keep on commenting. love the points, love the things you're bringing up. So keep those coming.
01:27:05
Speaker
Everybody else, keep commenting. Like us, follow us, subscribe us, rate us five stars if you can. we really but We cling to that. We don't know if it helps us. We think it does. But rate us five stars if you see us.
01:27:18
Speaker
Lokes, where does everybody follow us again? ah First and foremost, shout out Scotty. It was his birthday yesterday. Big six zero. Happy birthday, Scotty. And happy birthday. You can give Scotty a shout out everywhere you go on the socials. We're on X. We're on TikTok. We're on Instagram, YouTube. Follow us on YouTube. We need a couple more followers there.
01:27:36
Speaker
At Couchal Culture FC. And you know where to listen to us right here on Apple Pods and Spotify. Before I give it to Motz, I hope I'm wrong on Milan.
01:27:48
Speaker
Motz, take us away. ah Great episode, boys. Let's see how my new mic did with the new equipment. But to all the paisanos still listening, do not be a gaguz in Forza, Calcio, Culture.
01:28:43
Speaker
you