107: The Halfway Point (Full Matchday 19 Coverage)

Goodmundsson curls it in and he goes all the way through and Genua have taken the lead on 20 minutes with the first goal of the new year and it's scored by Albert Goodmundsson direct from a free kick. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Seria R Spotlight, this is episode 107 and we are hosts Matt and Jake here to discuss matchday 19 which means exactly the half way point of the Seria R campaign.

And it's been absolutely mental so far this weekend specifically the top two teams barely won against the bottom two teams. A lot of controversy as well man, a lot of VAR decisions, a lot of goal line technology being utilized as well, a lot of drama and a lot of controversy this week. And a lot of shithousery as well. You have for example Debala stepping up to take his penalty and Coupe Miners moving the ball onto the spot for him.

Debala converts the penalty, gets the ball, runs up to Coupe Miners, tosses it at him. Love to see that stuff. Yeah, Mancini taking down CDK. The most aggressive man in the league absolutely choking out of the most timid boy in the league. 100% in the hilarious. And those games were incredible though, the Juve and Inter games were unbelievable. Yeah, yeah, but drama until the very end man. Our goal of the week was Albert Gudmensen, his opener that was the first goal of 2024 in Seria.

Yeah, it was the opening goal in the Bologna Genoa game. Free kick angled for Cross, however who went for goal with a low curling strike, kind of like an inbound and in swinging cross shot. He played it very well to duck under the ball, voliaccio, distract the keeper and it went into the far corner. Honorable mentions are Pellegrini who surprised everyone by stepping up to take that free kick. Especially the commentator. Especially the commentator. Reliance to the attack. Brilliant goal. Right.

Pellegrini. I love that commentator. I love it too. He got so confused. He got so jaded by that. He was really expecting Rovela. Yeah, and you know Pellegrini hasn't been starting many games. It's typically Maricic and Lazare, but suddenly they've got this left footer bending it like Beckham. Vecino's winner was a juicy one, a lot of technique to score that goal. Vecino, it seems like he only scores winners. Yeah, he's about that life. Big game player. Big game player.

Quite a forgettable player to be honest. Vecino, and it's not a big moment in my opinion. That doesn't come from me. I know I just clotted him for no reason. But you know what? He never stands out to me as a great player. But then in these big moments he comes out massive. That's what you need. Recently I was watching that, I knew I was going to mention it on the podcast. I almost challenged myself to not mention it in the first 10 minutes. The Netflix show, man, the captain of the world.

It is incredible. Because he's Uruguay, innit? Yeah, he's Uruguay. But he's Uruguay. He's not in it. However, I'm just saying that there are certain personalities and certain players that always perform on the big stage. So Sarah mentioned to me, she's watching it with me. And she was like, it's crazy. I've heard all these names before. And there's a reason you've heard all these names before. Because these are the names. These are the people.

If you've heard the name of the player, he must be very good. He must be very hungry. He must be so hungry that he has made his name so massive that you've heard it. And you're not interested in football. The World Cup and these tournaments, Champions League, this is where these players step up. And I feel like having Vecino in your team, man, is actually quite useful for lots of players. You never know, man, when they're going to need them, imagine against fucking Bayern Munich, man. Who knows?

Who knows? You know who used to be a player like that, a player of only big moments, Giroud. Giroud used to be that player. Even in the Premier League and for France, even in the beginning at Milan, he was captain clutch as well. We used to call him captain clutch. Absolutely. For Milan. But now he's found a little bit more consistency. Okay, he just had a drought, which is now broken. But he is a bit more of that consistent figure. He's more of a domestic hitter nowadays.

He wasn't always that basically. Exactly. We've had the Coppa Italia since we last spoke. Okay, I know we mentioned Milan's victory over Caliari, the 4-1, where they had four youngsters starting. But the only update we have since then is that Juve beat Salernitana, six goals to one. He goes, a yield is where the goals were meant to be. Yildes is an animal, bro. Yildes is a fucking monster.

And in a couple of seasons time or next season, Juve are going to have, when Kiaz inevitably gets injured, they're going to have Yildes on one side and Sole on the other and sign me up, bro. Sign me up. I'm going to be watching them. But Juve won 6-1, which means they've advanced to the next stage. They're playing this Thursday and they're facing Froz and Aune.

I believe that game is at 9pm as we record this, which is Tuesday 9th January and around an hour's time, we're going to be seeing Fiorentina facing off against Bologna in what is, well, in this area, a battle for fourth spot and a battle for Champions League and yeah, a derby naturally. The day after on Wednesday at six, there's the Derby della Capitale between Roma and Lazio.

And then followed by another derby in Milan, Atalanta, that obviously the region of Lombardy can be, and the history of the clubs, can be viewed as a derby as well. So this really is the stage now in Serie A and in football in general, where now the Champions League is going to be round of 16 and onwards, same as the Europa League, we have the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, Serie A more than halfway through, it's in full swing now. This is when you're at the edge of your seat, you know?

Absolutely, man. If you look at the table, it's tight, like you look at Lazio, who had been practically written off from the top four. You realize how early it is in the season, how everything is still there for the taking. Yeah, Frazzanone, who are off to a flying start, you see how dangerously close they still are to relegation. Yeah, absolutely. If you look at the table right now, for example, let's open it up here. And you've got the fourth spot you broke.

So you always win yourself some time when you're opening the table. Like in ninth place, you've got Napoli with 28 points. In fourth place, you've got Fiorentino with 33. Crazy. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like 11th place, Monza with 25 points are technically still in the running for a fifth place finish, which could get you Champions League in theory. Yeah. And you know, you can still get relegated for all we know who the fuck knows, you know? You know what I think?

I think and I will bet you five Euro on air. I'm not going to bet a kit because I won't keep your promise. Yeah, because I used to bet kids willy-nilly. Yeah, apparently better kid. You listened in season one, you'd know that. That's fair on. Today always me two kids. Yeah, I said that. I owe you a kit of if Saswala finish ahead of Verona this season. This is the classic battling 49 spot, those two back then. I bet you this bet is actually about Verona.

I bet you Verona will get relegated this year, finishing dead last. I'll take that better. Dead last. I don't think they'll finish dead last. You don't think they'll finish that last. I think they will. I think my rationale behind this is that obviously they're going bankrupt. They have a serious, serious problem financially and they're going to start off loading players. They're a channel to Milan is a done deal for nothing bro. One million euros. One million was it?

I believe it was one million. Fact check while I while I keep explaining my rationale. Now Milan are flirting with the idea of in Gondj and I just feel like whatever chance they can get to make a quick buck, they're going to take even if it means they go down to Serie B and they're the last Verona team standing. I believe that they'll do it man. It's five million by the way. It's four million up front and one million in bonuses. Verona have 10% resale.

I must have just seen the one million bonus. Yes, their owner is going bankrupt but the club's falling into hedge fund or into whatever the secondary owner or beneficiary that takes over or whatever. I don't know if they'll finish dead loss. I certainly think they'll be getting relegated but dead loss I don't know. I'll gladly put five euros on it. Why not? Five euros. I've written it down so we shan't forget and if we do please remind us guys.

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Those are crazy man. Those are crazy to prefer. But I love all of these guys, Man and Gels. I love them all. They're so funny. They bring such good energy to the chat. Again guys, you could be part of that. It's very, very fun and who doesn't want to talk Seria all day, every day. Especially if you're friends like the Premier League. Bro, you can't say that word in the studio. Haram. Yeah. We've got a giveaway live at the moment.

Guys, if you want to win an all black Seria spotlight embroidered sweater, now is your chance to do so. Head over to our Instagram page, follow the steps and you will be in the chance to win that. You could be anywhere in the world and you'll enter the chance of winning. So thank you once again to the talented embroidered Malta who put together these sweaters for us. They look cool. You could wear them in. You could wear them out.

Just head on over to our Instagram, follow the steps and enter the giveaway. Yes, please. We're going to be doing it by Paul. We're going to be filming the result of the giveaway. Basically, I'm posting it on social media and that could be you. So please do join. Now Matthew's got his fast paced action packed famous rundown ready for us. Famous rundown. Famous. It's famous, bro. I think it's very famous. But here we go. We're going to start off with Roma one at Atlanta one.

That was our staple match of the week followed by Inter two, Hellas one, a lot of controversy post the 90th minute, which ended with fratresi celebrating with his ass out in front of the Curve Nord Salernitana one, you ve two, yes, Salernitana and you ve did face each other twice in a row on both occasions. Salernitana opened the scoring but on both occasions, you ve got away with a victory. And Paulineel Milan three, another clean victory for Milan.

That's their third victory in a row as they look to recover from their previous form. As opposed to now Pauli who lost three nil at the hands of Torino, a brilliant display for Torino, but now shouts for Madzocchi to be sacked. Madzari, I apologize. But Madzocchi should probably be sacked. Getting a red card on his opening match for Pauli. But not six minutes in. Around six minutes in, yeah man. That's some debut. Udinese one, Lazio two.

Udinese are showing again that they are a tough draw for most of these teams, but they have recorded just their sixth loss of the season to be fair. And Lazio got away with a 2-1 win over there with two great goals. Bologna one, Genoa one. Bologna once again failing to get all three points for the second match in a row. Another stellar performance by Genoa, particularly Albert Goodman. Ssok, ssok, ssok, Saswolo one.

Fiorentina nil, Saswolo scored in the ninth minute and kept a clean sheet for the entirety of the match. Not without its drama. That is Saswolo s first clean sheet of the season. Crazy crazy stuff. As soon as we're calling for Dionisi sacking. Frozzinone two, Monza three. Frozzinone almost got a comeback over there. But Monza were too strong for them. And to end things off the relegation battle between Lecce and Caliari which ended 1-1. Classic vintage, yeah right here. What a week.

Let's jump into it bro. The first one we have, yes sir. Is Roma one. Atalanta one. And Roma have only beaten Atalanta at the Olympic once since 2015 by the way. Jesus. This was interestingly enough a battle between the two teams who have struck the woodwork the most this season. And they've each struck the woodwork ten times. Okay. So just to set you up for the game, Roma of course have signed Dean Hoysen on loan from Muwe.

He's an 18 year old Dutch defender who is hailed to be one of Muwe next to Gen's most promising talents. Of course the deal is a dry loan so there is no option to buy. He's got 71 appearances across various youth levels for Juventus and he actually made his Serie A debut against Milan. Oh. Yeah. He was on the way to Frozzinone and he was about to go there.

Literally everything was confirmed until Mourinho saw something in him clearly and called him and convinced him to go to Roma for the rest of the season and he will be wearing the number three over there. Or he is wearing the number three over there. That's some jump. I know, right? Yeah. Gasperini for this game deployed a mobile attack leaving Scamacca on the bench and focusing on Coup Miners, Miran Csuk and CDK.

Well Pellegrini started for Roma as Paredes picked up a lost minute injury and they started with the formidable Lukaku de Bala partnership up front. Clearly Gasperini here. Like we mentioned last week about Roma's approach against Juventus and how they could have added more creatives. Gasperini did all he could to add creatives to this team starting Miran, Csuk, Coup Miners and having the KTelare up front.

Clearly he is going to have a lot of the ball so he is going to need his most creative players. Exactly. Absolutely. If Roma are a patient that's unconscious, Atalanta are a surgeon in this situation. And that's what they tried to do. Slice through the Roma defence using their intelligence and creativity. But yes, the game started off with Atalanta dominating initially. The silky Russian Alexei Miran Csuk showed up pretty early on and really left his mark on the game where he dribbled Laurenti.

Absolutely wonderfully. I don't even know what he was doing with his legs there. He tricked him. It was fantastic before whipping in the perfect ball to Coup Miners. The Dutch Jack of all trades towered over Kristensen and Karsdorp to head it in. And funnily enough no team has scored more headed goals this season than Roma. Actually, they were tied with Ferentina. But Atalanta have now made it 7 so they are capturing up when it comes to headers.

They have their own mini-game going on here who scores the most headers. No, who hits the post the most. Exactly. CDK failed to capitalise on a Cristante area that saw him one on one with Rui Patricio rushing out and making himself as big as possible. It was Yashinescu. He managed to stop him. The Spoyda. The Spoyda. And he managed to save the ball fantastically. Roma had three gold scoring chances at the end of the first half.

The ball, I couldn't connect with the ball to tap it into an empty net. BoVem is from point blank range. And they were just very, very wasteful in the first half. Towards the end of the first half they flipped the switch even further. Roma. A long ball over the top so Karanisecci bravely or stupidly rushing out to the edge of the area and punching the ball away from Lukaku. However, it only fell as far as Zalewski who tried to chip Karanisecci off his line.

Karanisecci parried the ball upwards and this time it fell to Korsdorp who tried to slot it into an empty net but Jim City was there to clear it off the line. It looked like Atalanta were… In the clear. Were in the clear, yes, but then it went to Var and out of nowhere, now Ruggieri had nothing to do with anything. He was nothing involved in the slightest. His only contribution to this was charging through and kicking studs up Korsdorp in the leg basically.

He I think he jumped up to like head the ball and with his the bottom of his studs he essentially grazed Korsdorp. Initially, in fact, Korsdorp went down and the commentator said that looks like a horrific injury because he went down by himself. Trying to find out through a slow replay that there was contact, it was minimal but it studs contact on a high area above the knee inside of the box so he avoided a penalty.

Absolutely, penalty, yellow card, the ball sent Karanisecci the wrong way, grabbed the ball, ran up to Kube Miners and threw it at him. Of course because Kube Miners tried to put the ball in the centre of the spot where the ball had originally placed it on the edge of the spot. Karanisecci made two great saves in the second half, one on Huysin who almost scored on his debut for Roma wearing the number three being personally called by Jose Mourinho.

The other on Debala, Skamakka scored after an acrobatic Debala bicycle kick but it was called off due to a foul on Zalewski that appeared to be very soft to me. Lukaku skied a clear chance in front of Karanisecci and butchered that spin at Zola for supposedly playing the ball behind him when he clearly should have done better. Honestly, it was slightly behind him but you hit the target, you take a step back.

If your Lautaro Martinez is there, you wait and you take a step back before the ball even comes to you. You look at the space, that was the only place that the ball could have actually been played. As a world class striker or as a great striker even, you're expected to score whenever the ball is in or around the area and you're positioned there. The ball does not need to be placed on a plate for you to be able to score.

I hate it when players complain for things like that when they should clearly be doing better. Absolutely, but yes, remember that the game is played by many, many sore losers, many egos, many… Lukaku is definitely up there as one of those things. Let's not specify. In the 94th minute, of course, you're not going to let it end 1-1 and more annoyance in the center of attention. So he was right though. He was right. In the 94th minute, Hien was clearly pulling Lukaku's shirt.

He deserved a yellow card. He didn't give it to him. Hien would have played for me on my Fanta culture and I wouldn't have been a man down. It would have been incredible. But that wasn't the case. He didn't get a second yellow card. He didn't get a yellow card. However, Morinio got a second yellow card. After the game, he imposed a media silence on all his players. So right now the Roma players aren't actually allowed to talk to the media.

Funnily enough, Morinio got his first yellow card by shouting, book me, book me to the referee. This guy, by the way, Morinio can literally do what he wants on the page. He got sent off. He was walking off and the fans started going, Jose Morina. How many times has he been sent off this season? I don't know. This must be his fourth time, third time, fourth time this season.

And remember, he was suspended for the first three, four games of the season because of that fucking monstrosity that he had in the Europa League final where he fucking waited outside to beat up the referee. Give me a break, man. Give me outside, give me outside. For me, the best players for Roma this game are Bove, Dabala and Huysin. Huysin, I thought, put a better shift in than Lorenta did the whole game. Roma are trying to offload Spinazzola, interestingly enough.

And they're also trying to offload Sanctus, but they're struggling to find suitors and that's what happens when you, of course, sign players on a free and give them such large contracts. Yeah, that's it. That's it. And he's a burden on Roma's pockets at the moment. And Spinazzola is still deployable. He can still put in a shift. As we saw this game, he was probably, he should have deserved an assist. However, his overall game is a bit shaky and I think they can do better in that department.

I think it's, he hasn't been the same since he came back from injury man, Spinazzola. I don't think he's finished by all means, but I don't think he's tidy enough to be a left back at a four in the back. And I don't think he's fit enough to be a wing back and a three at the back. I don't think he tracks forward and back efficiently and powerfully enough as a left wing back. And as a left back, I don't think he's tidy enough, man. Fair enough. I don't, I never quite got the hype.

I thought that the euros, that it's true he did well at the euros. However. Not even before. He's good at breaking into the box. He's got quick feats. He's always had this consistency streak about him, this inconsistency, you know. Never quite, he never quite took that next step. And he was interrupted by injury as well, which sucks for him. Yeah, when it comes to shots, Roma outshot Atlanta with six shots on goal to two. Rui Patricio was good here. Karnasecki was fucking good here.

These goalkeepers actually played very well. And it's not of every day I say that Rui Patricio played well. Yeah. But Karnasecki in particular had a great game and he had so many saves. You know, that one moment, okay, granted, the penalty is probably his fault because of the way he rushed out initially. And then just the comical sequence of events that happened afterwards. But yeah, that's pretty much it. I have a few quotes, bro, from the managers.

Okay. Gasperini said, the point we got tonight is precious, but we have a lot to complain about. I am very skeptical about Skamaka's disallowed goal. For me, it absolutely wasn't a foul. The opponent fell first. Some decisions went in their favor. I don't make comparisons, I only look at facts. We ended up with six yellow cards when Roma only received one. I do not condemn the referee as it was like being at a bullfighting ring today.

And it was almost impossible for the referee to officiate the game calmly. Well, I think this week is a bit of a theme when it comes to, you know, they deserve the yellow card for this and then why did we get a yellow card for this? And why did they get a penalty for that? But we didn't get a penalty for this. This week is just full of these comments from fans, from managers, clearly, so on, so forth. And I think Gasperini is right in the sense that it was soft to call off Skamaka's goal.

It was very soft. You'll see goes at given around the world at the same date and time. I do think he has every reason to be upset over there. The yellow card situation. Gasperini is this your first time playing against a Mourinho team? That is exactly what they do. They get you booked, they do worse than you and they don't get booked. That is just the art of a Jose Mourinho team. And he soaks up all the referee's attention and takes it away from his players. Exactly. Exactly. Clever.

He's nuts now. The fact that Mancini didn't get a yellow this game was crazy to be. He's fucking ballistic. If you were the national team coach Spalletti, would you call up Mancini? Absolutely. For sure. Come on, it turns into a scrap you bring on Mancini. Absolutely. And temperamentally, he's smarter nowadays. He's calmed down. He's good. He's not as, yes, yes, but he's not as actually yellow card prone as he used to be. No, he's not a psychopath. He's still a psychopath.

It's just, you know, how to contain it, I feel. No, I think he's got militia in him, you know? Malice. Who's militia, bro? Why are you shelling him? Who is this? I think he's got malice in him, but I don't think he loses his mind. Like I don't think he's gonna fucking get a red card in the space of 10 minutes like he used to do in the past. You know what I mean? He's more controlled. He's more mature nowadays.

Roma currently find themselves in eighth place with 29 points while Atalanta are above them in seventh with 30 points, which just shows what a KG affair this actually was. There was only one point separating the teams coming into this and coming out of this one point still separates these guys. And I would say that that is probably the deserved result because you look at, on one hand, Roma seemed to have the better opportunities. On the other hand, Atalanta had a goal disallowed.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So there's kind of a balance there. It's interesting when you look at the expected goals. I don't typically like to look at it, but it's just interesting over here. Roma had an XG of 2.07, whilst Atalantas was 0.74. Absolutely. Which is very, very interesting. But then they had that disallowed goal, which balances it out. So I would say it's a fair result. I don't think that any team really deserves to go home with all three points here. Yeah, I agree.

So have you guys thought that that was controversy in that game? That I don't know. The next one, it's Inter, two, Hellas Verona, one. Now Lautaro was back in the starting lineup for Inter and DeMarco was at least fit enough to make the bench and come on later on in the match. Some free-started that of Darmian and Pavard ahead of Bissec. Business as usual for Hellas, who only had her stitch out injured. These sides entered their first match of 2024 in very different positions, to say the least.

Inter, despite dropping points in their last outing of 2023 in Genoa, were in top spot two points over Juve. Verona on the other hand ended the year with a loss to bottom play Salerno and Atalana and continued to flirt with the idea of relegation. Now on the 12th minute, Inter opened the scoring through the now fit Lautaro Martinez, who finished very cleverly with his outstep after some good hold-up play by Turam and an excellent pass by Miquetarian.

They continued to push for a second after the half-time break and thought they doubled their lead through Captain Lautaro, but his goal was chalked off after an offside from Acherry in the build-up. Inter continued to dominate possession and they continued trying to find a second goal, however in the 73rd minute Baroni, the Hellas Verona manager, brought on Henri to replace Jurich up front, probably for some more legs.

One minute later in the 74th minute Henri scored with his first touch of the game after only needing a touch with his thigh to beat Jansommer after a brilliant cross to the near post by Duda. It was Coppola who won the ball off of Arnavatovic to start the counter-attack. He just came on one touch with his thigh and got the equalizer over there for Verona.

I want to speak about how Coppola won the ball off of Arnavatovic because the difference in how Hellas really brought the game to Inter in this was they were playing with such a high line and Coppola in particular, first he was really man-marking Turam and then when Arnavatovic came on, he was really man-marking Arnavatovic, was constantly up their asses and over there he did super well and he really contributed to that goal.

In the 78th Inter almost took the lead after the Marcos vicious cross shot free kick was mistakenly cleared off the line by his own teammate in Arnavatovic, another nightmare in the office for Arnavatovic. In the 91st minute Inter once again had the opportunity to take the lead, a chair be looped the ball over an oncoming Montepo and all he needed was his striker to get a touch, however Arnavatovic's header struck fresh air and the ball went wide.

The defender did very well to zone him out, it was Coppola actually so he got a very good game, amazing game, super game. However Arnavatovic you know you've got size over him, you need to do better there man, you scored, come on you scored. The way he carries himself man, Arnavatovic, I can't stand it. What do you mean? I don't even know how to explain the way he moves, this is what I wish that we failed this podcast.

I can't explain the way this guy moves, like he's got this almost bad boy swag about him, like you're 30 fucking four years old. Relax. Actually like and one thing he really did at Bologna, I don't think he's had the confidence to do it yet at Inter but rule those shorts down, where are they going? Now he hasn't done it quite yet at Inter, at fucking Bologna, it looks like he was playing in tighty whiteies, honestly it looked like he was playing in tighty whiteies.

But enough slander for now, the 93rd minute Inter finally took the lead, it was Bastoni's volley from just inside the air that smashed the crossbar and landed to Barrella outside the air, he won the first time volley which was spilled by Montipol and tapped him by Fratese who celebrated with his ass out in front of the Curva Nord. If you think I'm kidding, fucking go watch it man because Bro celebrated with his ass out.

Now this goal was controversial as Bastoni can be seen maliciously, don't ask me if it was elbow or shoulder, I think there were both, I think he went to barge him, he leaded with his elbow but the contact was more from the shoulder but he could be seen maliciously charging into Duda off the ball just before he struck the bar with his volley. Absolutely, it was a clear foul.

Now Lazovic was sent off for snapping at the referee right after thinking the goal should be chalked off, you're saying you think the goal should have been chalked off? I think it's warranted a bar review at least. At least of course. That looked to me like a fucking, as you said man, a malicious elbow off the ball. Now I've obviously read a few opinions about this, a lot of people saying it's not a clear and obvious error, it's malicious. He brought a player down out of pure malice.

He knocked him down to the ground and it led to a goal. Now maybe there's an argument that had enough time passed from... God bless you, it was right after man. It was right fucking right after, he's on the floor while they're scoring, like in the box right next to him, the ball fell to Bastoni who struck the crossbar, another shot, third rebound it was Frattese who scored. Inter fans you could say, what about what you've added or what Milan did?

Gutty has had moments where he should have also been booked and he wasn't. We're here to discuss moment by moment what we think, you think what you want and if you think that this is a leaderboard of who gets the most decisions in their favor, doesn't deserve to win the league etc. I just think that this was a bad call by the referee. If you disagree then ask yourself why was the fire team demoted to Serie B and the refereeing team were all suspended.

Ask yourself that question and see whether or not we're right to think that this goal should have been chopped off. I'm terribly, terribly sorry but how can Barrella after the referee whistles pick the ball up and launch it and he's booted outside of Sun Zero and he doesn't even get the yellow card. How can he do that? I don't understand that.

Now I'm not here obviously saying that Inter are corrupt and all that obviously we try to be more objective and we try to focus on the game and we try to actually not talk about refereeing decisions. But there are certain moments that make me question if some players are protected maybe you know like Barrella is one of the best Italian talents so maybe he gets away with doing more just as for example we say that Zlatan can talk back to the referee and get away with it for example.

But this is interesting to see. Guess who has the most yellow cards this season in the league? A team, not player. Who has the most yellow cards? The most yellow cards? The most. They have 50. Oh wow. 50 yellow cards. Who is it? It's Juve. Guess who has the fewest with 24? I have an argument though there. Definitely Inter. Because the second they get a yellow they get subbed off. Exactly. It's as simple as that. They're not allowed to get a yellow card.

But you know what's interesting is well 24 yellow cards and three of them were for celebrating by taking off their shirts. But that's a very good point actually. I mean Zaggy hates yellow cards so he discourages his players from actually getting them and the second they get one they're punished by being subbed off. I think there's certainly a spotlight on Inter and Juve and for the decisions because they have a history even if we go back to Calcioppoli.

Calcioppoli was them pointing the finger at each other saying bad bad bad. Exactly. Turns out Juve got relegated and they were the bad guys but Juve had their guys as part of the board and of Serie A. It's this whole thing we're not going to get into it. This moment in particular I believe the goal should have been chalked off. I think Bastoni whether it was an elbow, whether it was a shoulder he charged them off the ball brought them to the ground and they scored right off there.

It led to the goal. But whatever. We didn't. There's more. The break. There's more. The break away. The two players on an empty net was Sanchez and Barella. I'm getting to absolutely everything. In the 96th minute Verona had Montepa up for a corner kick which was cleared away by Inter who had Barella and Alexis approaching an empty net. There were two men, one on the ball, running up to an empty net. Barella released the pass far far too late.

I don't know what the fuck he was doing and it was a soft pass as well and Jaya Calon was back and managed to intercept the pass. However, VAR intervened and found that in Verona's initial corner Darmean kicked the absolute fuck out of Maniani who was attempting to clear the ball and so a last second penalty was awarded to Verona. Now Inter fans are coming back and saying, so that was a foul on Duda. This shouldn't have been a foul. In that case this shouldn't have been a foul on Maniani.

Bullshit. Bullshit. He missed the ball, swung his foot and hit the player. Did the player take a step and then fall down? I don't know my FTV. That's what I'm going for. Did the player take a step before falling down? Yes, yes, but the player kicked him in the box, significant kick, he swung his foot and it was a foul. There's no debate over there. Clear foul. That's a penalty. It's a clear fucking foul.

Okay, doesn't matter if he takes one step, two steps, three steps, foul because the contact was significant. Absolutely. It's not like he touched him only, significant contact. So Verona have the opportunity in the last minute to equalize. Who steps up? It's fucking Thomas Henry. The guy that came on scored one minute into entering the pitch with his first touch with his tie. He steps up with the clock nearing the 100th minute. He looks worried. He looks petrified. He looks petrified.

But he does a little step-by-step, said somewhere the wrong way because he pauses himself, fumbles his shot where kind of he hits the ball from too high up. Like the contact was, it didn't hit the center of the ball, but at the top of the ball, the ball kind of took a bubble and bounced and it hit the post. Follerounshaw came into the head in the rebound and I don't know where he sent it like, but not on target and that was the last kick in inverted commas of the game.

Inter celebrate and they get away with three points. So first of all, wow, what a game. Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. I couldn't get my eyes off it. If you had to shit, bad. I feel sorry for you. For me, first of all, Verona played a really good game. I was very impressed by them. They were very organized. I really liked what Soslov and Duda had to offer in the middle. For sure. Very good for the Slovakian. Slovakian. Slovakian. Slovak. They're Slovakian, yes, Slovak, I believe it is.

Yes, they are both Slovak. Slovak Djokovic. I really liked what they had to offer. I liked their approach over here. I still think that Inter are struggling without DeMarco and when he came on, he looked really rusty. It doesn't quite tick as well without him and they really struggle to transition into attack without DeMarco quite right. I do think there's an air of complacency when it comes to Inter at times. We could see this game in particular with Barella being in that situation.

You're one goal up and all right, granted, you're trying to give a goal to your teammate who hasn't scored all season, that's nice and had he managed to successfully play the ball and went in and everything counted, he would have been labeled a hero and a gentle man. But you need to score, man. That was an easy chance. That was a fucking free goal for you three. One, you sealed the deal. Imagine what a nightmare had only converted that. Barella would be awake every night.

I agree with you that they seem a bit more static without DeMarco. Their flow and their creativity really takes a dip when DeMarco isn't on the pitch. I do believe that with Lautaro it's a bit of fresh air that he's back in the team, naturally, because that front two was far too static, especially without the service of DeMarco before. They really struggled to find breakthroughs, but now they can find those breakthroughs.

To me, there was one issue with Inter, and this is where I really applaud Verona, because Inter, when they are pressed and they are pressed adequately, and when you do it the right way, because if you don't commit to the press against Inter, but you've got a high defensive line, for example, they're going to take the piss out of you. They're going to play the ball around you, they're going to attract you outwards, and then they're going to break through.

That's how they killed Milan, Milan didn't commit to the press against Inter, but they committed to a high line, and it was strange to say the least. Verona committed. Verona had a high defensive line, and Verona pressed the fuck out of Inter. And you know what we say about their midfield?

It's great, it's not press resistant, and I think we started to see Inter in this game getting those smooth combinations just a little bit off, just a little bit off because they didn't have time and space to pull these off. They didn't have the positions and the gaps in the fence to play those balls through.

I think Verona did a great job of pressing them, putting pressure on them, and I do think that's why Inter spent the majority of the game getting those tiny details wrong in the build up to their attacks. Yeah, absolutely, I agree with you. The high line was a brave approach by Verona, but they nailed it, and it was only when Juan Cabal came on that they actually lowered their line. It was about the 73rd minute I believe. A special shout out goes to Coppola because he was marking the target man.

And the target man isn't Lautaro, the target man is either Turram or Nautovic, whoever's playing alongside Lautaro, the big boy. And he was particularly not allowing the ball to get to that big boy because that's where the danger comes within there. The second it hits Turram, it's going to bounce off him and go to Lautaro. Second comes Nautovic, it's going to bounce off him and go to Lautaro, one of the midfielders for example.

And Coppola did not allow them to do that, and he was directly involved in the equalizer for that reason. I also wanted to highlight the performance of Jackson Chachua, who was absolutely fantastic, bombing up and down that right hand side, 22 year old Cameroonian. Yeah, he had a very good game, a very, very fast man. Yeah, and it's not the first time he's had a good game, but it's starting to become a theme now. Yeah, he started seven games this season.

Also, his name sounds like you're taking a photo. That's why my thing is why do Inter dip in January, February? Because it's cold, man. Do you think? I have no idea, it's a season. It's a season, I think. We would like to hear what you guys think, because I'm honestly stumped. I don't know what it could be. That two seasons ago, I remember I was in Valletta, Queen Vic, and I was hanging out with, not gonna say names, but Key's best friends, group of friends, and I got obliterated.

I told them for every some book I wore, they're not gonna chug too. I don't know what the... It was more, he said three for each one, no? Was it three, man? I'm gonna need to ask Key. I got fucked up because Saswal were kicking the shit out of Inter throughout the entire season, I think they beat them 2-1, 3-1, I think it was a couple of seasons ago, but that was February, you know what I mean? January, February, Inter take a little dip, as we'll see, it's the 9th of January.

But yeah, let us know what you think and why that is. Inter are still first, just two points above you there with 48 points, while Sveron are in 18th, now in the relegation zone, on 14 points. And you know what? Just one point ahead of Empoli in 19th and just two points ahead of Salernitana in 20th. Yeah, Salernitana took on Juventus at home after the trashing in the Coppa Italia by Juve 6-1.

And this time Allegri made it very clear before the game that it was going to be a different side that they were going to be facing than the one that they smashed just three days prior and oh how right he was as Juve managed to edge it at the death with the score of 2-1 away from home. Of course, now it was a 4-4-2 system for Salernitana, very clever approach by Pippo and Zaghi, in my opinion. I really liked the way that Simi played this game. Simi, man, I take my heart off to him.

I shot on him recently in the last few episodes saying that he hasn't really been doing anything and everything he touches turns to shit. It's true on the ball he hasn't been exactly great, but he has shot out the machine that is Juve on his own. He stood in front of Nicolusi all game and didn't let him do anything. Nope. Nothing. Didn't even give him a breath of air. They ended up taking him out and then they took out Nicolusi and they brought on, I believe they brought on a forward there.

Milik. There you go. And then shortly after it was Simi starting to go off and then they conceded the winner. For, yeah, so it was Chawna and Simi up front and then, sorry, it wasn't a 4-4-2, my bad, it's a 3-5-2 of course, 3-5-2 with Costil, Danilo Lugge, Gombar and Fazio at the back. Yeah, literally, Gombar for man here, Salernitana. Yeah, literally, literally, literally, Man for Man marking. I'm Kondjeva playing in that midfield roll and brother starting out wide.

For Juve it was also a 3-5-2 of course with Yildiz and Vlaovic up front, Nicolusi in the middle, Weah this time started on the right and Costil on the left, other than that, business as you do. Now, in the 39th minute Majora curled the ball into the far top corner of the net from the edge of the area. His first ever goal for Salernitana and that pretty much ended the first half. Let's play a game of guess the ex-G. What do you think Juve's ex-G was at the end of the first half?

I think really low. It must have been low, no? Yeah, yeah. 0.0. No, no, no. 0.2. 0.29, yes, very, very, very low. So Juve pretty much couldn't do anything in the first half and Salernitana were way to work and I just for them. The second half started with McKenney failing to hit the target from point blank range and then the 54th minute Majora got his second yellow. He could be seen crying in the tunnel. It was such a reckless and stupid foul charging into Rubio the way he did in the opening.

Come on, like you're on a yellow card, you charge it, you lunge in like that. I get it, he was gas after his goal. He was probably fueled on a genuine and feeling invincible at the time, you know, but that was so reckless and inexperienced and as the commentator said, Majora, you are not a young player anymore. You were the captain of Spetsia, you have a lot of petty green, you need to do better in situations like this because you cost your team. That was the turning point.

Exactly, from hero to zero, unfortunately. And we've had a few of those on re as well. And the 65th minute from zero to hero, of course, we have Samuel Elling Jr. Remember him? He came on playing in midfield and he equalized for Juve after Vlaovic, scuffed shot ended up being an accidental assist. That was funny. That's what it was. He hit that shot with so much might. Like Lenny from The Simpsons playing tennis. That was hilarious.

But yeah, an accidental assist for Vlaovic, who really plays by the way with his heart on his sleeve. Yes, bro. Yes, yes, yes. And he makes you... He didn't have that last season, no? He looks hungrier this year. And there's this team... Smells like team spirit, bro. Yeah. At you where I found it. Fucking right. It fucking... They're doing... They have this certain passion and camaraderie about them. That's really infectious, man. And I think of Vlaovic is spearheading that to be honest.

And even though he was playing quite poorly, he doesn't seem to let it get to him. He celebrates as hard as he possibly can. He fucking tries and tries and tries. He's really an inspiration. And there was this one game in particular, like where he missed an easy chance, someone scored the rebound and he celebrated his head off. You'd see so many players being disappointed that they didn't finish out of themselves.

Absolutely. In the 91st minute, Danilo, one of the unsung heroes of Juventus, won the ball out wide and urgently whipped the ball into Vlaovic. It was a perfect cross, didn't you? You have much time to tee it up. He won the ball back, whipped it in and Vlaovic slotted the ball into the back of the net with his head and went on to remove two layers of clothing. Yes. Which is the only right way to take your top off. It's the only right way. If you're wearing an undershirt, that has to go off too.

Yep. Or else you're getting a yellow card for nothing. Exactly. You know what's funny as well? If you get subbed off and after your number goes up, you take off your t-shirt, you don't get a yellow card. Of course not, bro, come on. But you know, taking your shirt off after your score and taking your shirt off after your substitute are obviously different. But isn't the whole point of it public indecency? It's the fact that you're wearing a uniform? To be honest, I don't know why exactly.

I think it's because they are playing the match and they're fucking removing their kit while they're playing. And I think there's also public indecency while they're on the pitch. But if you get subbed off and you take off your shirt so publicly indecent, it doesn't matter if you're fucking playing or if you're walking off the bench. I think you're fishing a bit. Do you remember Mirko Vucinic? Yes, of course I remember. He used to take off his shorts when he scored or he did it once, right?

I think he had done it Vucinic. Yeah, absolutely amazing. Now, for me, Salernitana got their goal by exploiting the space behind Juve's defence bro. They set up defensively, Salernitana, they were compact but they launched counterattacks through quick transitions. Manjaro's goal is a perfect example of this where you really see Salernitana exploiting the space on the counter.

Juve pressed and attacked off the red card, it became really complicated for Salernitana and Juve just managed to exploit the wings and push higher up the pitch. Only three shots on target for Juve this game and that brings us to the Corto Muzo point, which I don't think we've ever actually mentioned on this podcast. Allegri has this famous interview where he talks about horse racing and he says that the fastest horse wins and they never, like it all counts from the muzzle.

It never actually, no one comes and says, you won't buy three centimetres or you won't buy 30 centimetres. What matters is that you win. Yeah. And that's the comparison that he likes to draw. There was an AI version of that interview where they translated it to English using Allegri's voice and it's just so funny. I love Allegri's voice. Huh? Congratulations. Well, you did great. In horse racing, it's enough to have the nose in front. There's no need to win by 100.

Nose in front, the muzzle, photograph, short muzzle, simple, what you lose by a short muzzle, comes in second, what you win by a short muzzle first. And it's not like they ride I won by 30. First short snout, then 84. If Napoli doesn't win them all, it's enough and more. Does he have like a toothpick in his mouth, a cigarette in his hands and he's calling me pal? He's just the coolest, bro. He's just the coolest, you know.

So, bro, let's talk a little bit about how you've had seven players on the bench and two of them were keepers. It's crazy, especially when you consider that they're only playing the two competitions and they're this narrow as a squad. Obviously, they've got Chiesa, Keen, Cambias, Sandro, Deschilio out injured and Locatelli was suspended for this game. And obviously they've also got Pogba and Fajoli who are finished and Fajoli is finished at least for the rest of the season.

So, I guess that explains it, but have they not got one of the best youth systems in the world? Where are the youths on the bench? They're around, right? That's a fair point, where we're at today on the bench. I mean, I must have thought that this would be enough to get them over the line against Salernitana. A last-minute injury, of course, for Chiesa, not very good for him, man. He's really struggling with injuries, man. He is, man.

Is he going to live up to his potential, is the question, because if he keeps fucking getting these injuries, not having a single full season, man, it's going to be tough. Absolutely. And he has competition now, it's all like before. There's Soleir coming back, there's Yildiz nowadays.

Yeah. He definitely needs to just re-evaluate the way he trains and the way he plays, because the more you hold the ball, the more you run with the ball, the more the fucking faster you run with the ball, the harder you get it. He's the hardest worker, eh, on that pitch. And then his playstyle just invites flying challenges to get kicked, you know, and it's not going to end well for him at this rate.

But yeah, on a positive note for Juventus, Danilo, I mentioned he's one of the most underrated players, he had the most touches, the most key passes and the best pass rate. However, he has looked a little bit shaky defensively at times, but his importance is, eh, it can't be understated. Yeah, absolutely, man. He's one hell of a leader. He's grown a lot defensively. Eh, I know you mentioned inconsistencies, but I do feel like he's brushed up on a lot of those.

Eh, yeah, great, great defender, their captain, and fantastic assistant this game, helping out offensively. Mjöv currently find themselves in second with 46 points, just two points off of top of the table inter, while Salernathana are all the way in 20th with 12 points. So next up is Empolli nil Milan 3.

Now following the injury of Tomori, the Rossoneri left the returning Matteo Gabbia on the bench, starting Teoharnandes in central defence alongside Simone Kier with Florenzi at left back, at least stepped in for Ben Nasser who is at Afcon. They had L'Operto at left back due to Cacacce's ban following an accumulation of yellow cards. Milan were coming off a dominant midweek display in the Coppa Italia vs Calieri where they won 4-1 featuring a great number of youngsters.

Milan dominated from the get go and opened the scoring in the 11th minute after Laiaud did Laiaud things before squaring it to Ruben Loftuschci who hit the back of the net with a cool, calm and composed finish. In the 29th minute, the referee was summoned by VAR to spot a clumsy handball by Malais inside his own area where his hands were in the air like he was fucking tonight. Girous smashed the penalty in of the crossbar just the way Jake likes his penalties with zero bullshit.

In the 35th minute, Florenzi went off injured and was replaced by the young bright Jimenez. Scans have revealed that there is no muscle injury and that Florenzi will only be out for the Coppa so he should be back soon for Milan. Theo had two splendid last-ditch blocks to the Nicaambiaghi and Caputo as Empoli started to pick up momentum however, Milan got their third in the 87th minute through Ciacca Traore who finished very cleanly after Pulsic did one derceaning defence into attack.

That's his second goal of the week, his first goal in the Coppa Italia and his first goal in Serie A. What a week it's been for Ciacca Traore. During the week and prior to this he had only had three appearances in the top flight for Parma of course at the age of 16 years old. I was like what two years ago now? Two years ago? Yeah, around I think three years ago because he's now 19. He's showing good progress man and it has to be said I like the way Milan set up this game.

I like the way Leão played. This is where that first goal is a prime example of how Leão should be deployed. Yeah and he's up against Abuehi. Abuehi is very physical and he's a quick player as well but Leão made quick work of him with that sudden change of pace knocking the ball forward. In that position, the halfway line with space, he can't take on anyone in the world because he has the skill set to do so, he has the physicality and he has the raw power.

He almost seems like a different species to the others out there when he's charging like that. We need to see Leão charging, taking the ball to the byline, maybe cutting inside last second and kind of just playing it into the area or maybe just teeing himself up for a shot on goal. But none of this long-range shooting, that's not his game at all. No, no, this is where Leão is effective and he did a good job sticking to that in this game. I think Loftus Cic was back to his best in this game.

I think a large part of that has to do with the way that he was deployed in this game and the space in which Jiru in particular was creating for him to be that second man running into the box. That chose perfectly in the first goal, I mean when Leão plays that ball back. It's not always a calculated pass, a lot of the time after you take on a man like that to the byline and you're moving at that pace, there's not always time to look up and pick out the right pass.

But if you knock it into that area and you know that Ruben Loftus Cic is the last man running into the box, then there's a bloody good chance that that's going to be a goal. And Loftus Cic had many of those moments in this game. He had many moments where he was running at the defence, passed the midfield, so between the midfield at the defence and he's charging at them. These are the areas where he is most dangerous.

We know that Milan don't have many defensive players in midfield, but in this case I do believe that although Loftus Cic is the most physical midfielder that Milan have, he's best closer to goal and he's best charging forward like the absolute fucking horse that he is. Yeah, I really liked Milan's midfield this game. I thought Reinders was incredible. I don't think he put a foot wrong this game. Adley just has a very attractive playstyle.

He's such a fun player to watch and I don't know man, he reminds me a lot of Pirro. It has to be said. I have a point here that says I doubt anyone has ever needed to tell Adley to relax ever in his life. He's so conned. That's what you mean by the very generous period of comparison. The balls over the top. I haven't seen a midfielder with that playstyle in a very long time. He's always looking up, he's direct, he's willing to play down to any flank and his long balls are very accurate as well.

I don't think he missed any of them this game. No, I don't think so. It was absolutely fantastic in this game, Adley. I do think that he is the answer for when Ben Nasir is out at Afgan. It's not Kronich. I believe that the best balance Milan have is when he's on the pitch and obviously when Ben Nasir isn't there. Because Moussa, he's a bit more of a box-to-box. He loves going forward. Moussa. I do believe that this is the best balance that Milan have. Milan were two-nil up at half-time.

They brought on youngsters. They not only went on to win the game but one of the youngsters actually scored. It's a great start to 2024 for Milan. And these are the opportunities that the Coppa Italia gives you. Because obviously Florenzi went off injured and suddenly Milan are like, okay, we are now confident that we have him in us that can step in. Take Leaowoff to rest him with Coppa Italia coming up against Atalanta midweek.

We are now confident that Ciacatraore can play and he can put in a shift. And now know that they have these players to their arsenal. Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes. Very good point. The players showed that they're ready. Milan have young reinforcements in pretty much every department as it stands. Camardo obviously showed he wasn't quite up for it. He's still only 15 years old. But when it comes to Ciacatraore, Jimenez, Simic, they look amazing. They look amazing.

And with this whole growth decreasing, with teams being unable to bring in high profile players from overseas, development is going to be very important. And this is a very promising sign for Milan. Absolutely. I do think that there's a sense of community within those young players as well. You look at Simic, you look at Jimenez, you look at Ciacatraore, you look at all these guys. It seems like they're hyping each other up as well.

They're hanging out before and after the game, sharing hands, shakes, hugging. Leao seems like a bit of a big brother slash father figure to them. There's a sense of unity, which I think Milan had lost in the earlier stages of the season when Piori was naturally falling out of favor. But yeah, I do think that next season we'll still see Piori out. But it does seem like Milan have a bit more consistency. I know they haven't faced the strongest opponents.

Not keeping two clean sheets in a row, scoring four goals in the Coppa Italia. It's good signs for the second half of the season. And the team's only going to get better because this is a very depleted Milan side. So yeah, the squad's going to be quite deep going into the remaining season. Theo Hernandez at centre-back. I thought he was fucking good in this game. I thought he was fantastic. Those two blocks that he had and just his tackling and his maturity at the back. And the viewers, man.

He won most of them. He's adding five years to his career by being able to play centre-back. Because there's no way he could keep that up as I left back for his career. But honestly, I do see a future for him, particularly as a left centre-back or as a centre-back in general. And obviously, while he's in his prime, play him on the wing because he's far too dangerous to drop in that area.

But hey, when a situation like this comes about, it's good to know that you could rely on him as a centre-back. Yes, and to think that people thought that the natural progression for Theo Hernandez was to play on the wing. When in reality he transitioned to centre-back when Milan needed him the most. Super player.

I honestly was surprised by his willingness to help the team and I have been surprised by his loyalty and his professionalism because I don't know, maybe this is why you should never judge a book by its cover. But he just seems like he wouldn't be that type of person. You know what I mean? He seems like because he's a troublemaker, he seems arrogant, but he totally is. He's a team player, he's a professional and he's a great example for young players. Yeah, man.

Keep in mind, he joined just post-Banter era. Really the second it was ending, Theo Hernandez was brought in. He's one of the massive reasons Milan are out of it and so far he seems loyal. I do think that him and his needs to change his bio on Instagram, Fogador, Real Madrid, Onalono, AC Milan, Milan player.

Milan are now linked, well, Milan have completed the signing of Terraciano, a very versatile young Italian player that can play at right back, he can play at central midfield as well and you know, Fiorentina wanted him and a couple other teams wanted him, I'm not too sure who. Milan are now closing in on Popovic, a young Serbian forward, a talent that was also wanted by Real or Man City, I can't remember. I think Man City. Yeah, I believe it was Man City.

Naturally he'd be that third choice striker that Milan so desperately need at the moment. Milan also looking obviously to bring more defenders in with Dragosin being mentioned as Milan attempt to hijack his move to Tottenham but it doesn't look very likely, it looks like literally as we speak he's on the plane on the way there.

Bon Giorno as a name that's being mentioned as you guys would know people that listen to Seria spotlight, these are two players that I rate, I couldn't rate higher as a center box as a young center box. Milan also interested and inquiring about Ngongj, not quite sure why Milan would need Ngongj.

I guess they're just testing the waters, they're probably aware of the situation, Atelas Varona, they inquired what Rajaonod made that happened and they asked about Ngongj at the time simply because he's a good talent and for a fair price he might be worth it, he might be a coup, you know. Yeah, I think so. Milan find themselves in third place on 39.7 behind Juve, 9 behind Inter whilst Empoli are in 19th place on 13 points, one above Salernitana and one below Verona.

So last weekend Torino faced Napoli and the previous five matches between Torino and Napoli resulted in Napoli winning all five of them and Torino scoring only one goal. Last weekend Torino smashed Napoli 3-0 at home. Zapatta performance by Torino. Fantastic performance by Torino, they were by far the better team, you would have thought that they were the defending champions this game.

For Torino it was a 3-4-1-2 formation with Sanabria and Zapata up front with Vlasic playing behind them, Lazaro out on the left and the ever impressive Raul Bellanova playing out on the right with Ricci and Illich playing as a really good double pivot man, super double pivot. And Ricardo Rodriguez, Gigi and Bonjorno at the back. For Napoli it was a 4-3-3 with Juan Fezouz San Rahmani at the back, Mario Ruir turns at left back, Caillou's test start in the midfield alongside Lobotka and Ziellinski.

Gvaret Scaliar, Raspadorian, Poletano were up front of course, Anguissa and Ozymen are away at Afgón. Yeah. Golini was also in goal, the goalkeeper, full-time goalkeeper, part-time rapper. Yeah. Golini. Who's been injured. Yes, if you haven't seen Golini's music videos you should look them up on YouTube, they're quite entertaining. Bro, he has one on the spare stadium roof. He's on top. Can you imagine him asking for that? He's like, listen guys, I have this thing, I don't.

I do rap, okay, I'm a rapper. Can I borrow the stadium? How do you make that work? I don't think it sounds like that considering he's a rapper, he'd probably start the conversation. Yo. Yo. Yo, Mr. Gaffer man. Listen up, yo. So yes, the first half, Torino were solid, they were testing Napoli's defence early on, particularly through Zapata, an early shot that was saved by Golini. Vlasic missed a goal, an opportunity shooting high in front of an open goal.

Referee Mariani in the first half missed a potential penalty call after Lobotka seemed to foul Vlasic inside the box. Napoli struggled to break through Torino's defence, Raspadori had a few attempts, which included a save shot by Emilinkovic Savic and later an attempt wide. Sanabria eventually broke the deadlock for Torino in the 43rd minute, slotting in a goal from Zapata's assist. In the second half, the new arrival by Napoli was introduced.

Yeah. Pasquale Mazzocchi came on for Piotr Zilinski, Mazzocchi arriving from Salernitana. I'm sure if you have a Twitter account or if you're active on social media, you read all the stories that Mazzocchi was a lifelong Napoli fan. He was a kid born in Naples and he always supported Napoli and this was a move and a dream come true for him.

But his dream come true quickly became a nightmare as literally just four minutes into his debut, he received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Lazaro, studs up and introduced Napoli to 10 men. The most horrible part of all this is it happened on the other side of the pitch so he had to do the whole walk of shame down the middle of the pitch. I found that change interesting to start with Zilinski. When Napoli needed a goal, they took out Zilinski, they brought on Mazzocchi.

I could only imagine that they must have changed what he had the back formation with Rui as a left winger. Yes, I think so and that's what Mazzocchi knows best. So he probably, it's so desperate right now in the situation on Napoli that he's reverting to what he knows best because the team clearly isn't showing that they have the muscle memory to play a 4-3-3 because they haven't scored a single goal and what now, four games in Napoli? It's madness.

Torino capitalized of course on the numerical advantage, they are very organized side and Vlasic scored a goal after receiving quite a lot of space on the edge of the box and he slotted it in. Buongiorno headed in a goal from a corner and the match was briefly interrupted later on due to Napoli fans throwing rockets and fireworks onto the pitch in frustration.

So yes, Torino approached the game defensively, they set up defensively, they remained compact and organized, they allowed Napoli very minimal space to create chances. Their compactness and midfield disrupted Napoli's rhythm and build-up play. Napoli of course they struggled to find rhythm, their attempts to break the resilient Torino side were thwarted which resulted to basically very very few attempts on goal, they only had three attempts on goal to Torino's nine. Now what do you think Bro?

What did you make of this? Usually Torino, we talk about them being a low scoring side. But you know, they beat Atalanta 3-0 not too long ago and now they beat the defending champions Napoli 3-0 as well. I think this team, Torino, as a team they are capable of a lot. They are capable of challenging some of the best teams in the league because they're very organized and hey, if they show that they can attack in this manner, then kudos to them.

I think they, like you said, they prioritized the approach where hey, let's not concede. But the second they were breaking down Napoli's play so well and they created space for themselves through the counter-attacks, through set plays as well, through Zapata's very clever knockdowns in the area as well, out-muscling the very shaky defense of Rahmani and Juan Jesus. And I think Torino exposed the fuck out of everything Napoli have that's going wrong with them at the moment.

One question I want to ask you about Napoli, do you think they, I know the answer, do you think they hit the panic button and brought in Madzuki for Rudy Garcia? Madzari. Mike, my god, I keep saying that, they brought on Madzari in place for Rudy Garcia but prematurely.

Oh, yes, yes, I mean, if you employ a coach, you know, and it's not going exactly the plan, you need to, I think, I think the Laurentiis needed to really, really, really see what his priorities were and his expectations were for Rudy Garcia because if he expected Rudy Garcia to challenge for the title again, then that might have been a little bit naive because of course, Spalletti was a leader at the team. We talked about this before.

Were they premature to let them go without an adequate replacement? I would say yes. I don't think that's a very good idea. They settled for Madzari because the idea was that he would bring defensive solidarity and it seemed to be the case but now it's just completely collapses, baptism of fire seems to completely demotivate the players. There's a psychological block in the players at Napoli right now.

The two of their key players are away at Afgorn, Raspadori is being relied on to get the goals and he's never actually been the guy to get the main goal. He's usually been the guy to enter and get you a goal or the guy who's playing, you know, that's a swallowhead Berardi for example, who was the main guy, he's always been a support player. And he's never been prioritised as the starting striker.

Sometimes he plays off the left, sometimes he plays behind the striker, that's the way that at least Spalletti like to utilise him. Absolutely. Yes, I think as it stands right now, De Laurent is granted, he's taken the blame for what's happening at Napoli. I mean, of course, you didn't really have to say that everyone knew. I don't know what they should do now, honestly. I think that De Laurent is in a pickle. I think that right now the fans have every right to protest. Should he suck Mazzarri?

What the hell do you do now? That's what the fans want. The fans want Mazzarri out now. What the hell do you need? They were going to bring in two-door, but they couldn't quite agree. They even spoke to Motta, but they couldn't guarantee him that he'd have full control of the transfer market. Yeah, exactly. Last summer they could have brought him in. It seems that he still wants to be the main guy, De Laurent is, and that's obviously, he needs a yes man, a Mazzarri, and that's what he got.

Look what the yes man gives you. Yeah, exactly. Torino on the other hand, brother, 3-4-1-2. This is a nice little system for them. They've got Zapata and Sanabria starting with Vlasic behind them. That to me is the way, I didn't originally think that this was the way they should be playing necessarily, but it's safe to say that Eurydice has definitely figured out his goal-scoring problems, right? Torino's goal-scoring problems.

Yeah, it seems, I mean, when you have a player as creative as Vlasic behind Sanabria, that is quite an all-rounder up front. We always said, exactly, we said he's a striker with the movement of an attacking midfielder. That's exactly what he's creative, and he's one hell of a finisher as well, Sanabria.

Alongside Duvan Zapata, that just gives them that target man and that outlet that can really create space for Sanabria and who could really hold up play and knock it down to someone who's got a shot on him, whether it's Illich, whether it's Richie, whether it's Vlasic, these are all capable players of having a strike from distance. Their approach in this game was brilliant, Torino.

If they keep playing the way in which they're playing, which is a bit more fearless when going forward and being that bit more direct, then I think they could do a very good job this season, and he could turn that frown upside down. You beautifully said that. He was crying, Richie. A few weeks ago he was crying. Now Atalanta and Napoli, three nil, both of them. One month and football is the equivalent to a year in any other career or profession. Napoli, let's say Napoli are shit.

I mean, they're ninth Torino beat them three nil. Let's say Napoli are shit. What are Atalanta? Think Atalanta was an easy game for Torino? No, he's definitely figured it out over here. I think he has a really nice team. All around, their players are ticking. Village and Jiggy are really nice midfield duo, two very smart signings by Torino to get them nice and young. Two, one from Hellas Verona, the other one from Empoli, just bringing them in.

And all of a sudden you've got this exciting double pivot. You've got Belanova, who was another exciting coupe for them. You see Inter don't want this guy. Inter brought him in. He must have something. He's a Milan youth product, this guy. He left Milan. He went to France, came back to Italy, didn't quite cut it. I believe he was playing. Was it Calliari? I don't know, he was playing at another lowly team before. Yeah, he was on loan at Calliari.

I believe he was also on loan at Atalanta and then Pescara as well. Another smart signing by them and he's been pivotal for them. He's been the horse down the flank, just attacking and charging tirelessly all game. But yeah, Torino in my opinion deserved all three points by far the better team over here. The Napoli players need to start looking at themselves and say, we need to do better as well because it's not just the fucking manager. No. That should be getting all the blame.

We're out there and we're getting embarrassed. Matsuki needs to put this behind him and try to get over it because what happened to him there is traumatic and he needs to talk about it in therapy. Other than that, of course, Napoli find themselves in ninth with 28 points while Torino in tenth with 27 points. Still alive in the race for Europe. As we mentioned, these are early days and then it can happen. Time could pass and Torino could replace Bologna up there in that fifth spot. Who knows?

Yeah, I mean, we said Torino are missionary. Missionary works. I think what they've done here, they raised one of the legs, bro. Now they could raise the other leg and they can really plow. And finish top four. And finish top four. Yes. That's it, man. That's it. Brilliant. That was poetic. Missionary is one of the most famous positions, right? Oh, we've got a missionary advocate over here. Jake Fennick, ladies and gentlemen, loves a good mission. Congratulations, bro.

You're going to miss your mission, obviously. Next up, bro, Odinéza 1, Lazio 2. Odinéza again. They are also turning the tide slightly and showing us that they can score goals. The Acquillé ended 2023 with back-to-back wins over Empoli and Frozano, but we're still missing Ciro Mopile and Luis Alberto with Manuel Lazari returning from a two-match ban. Isaacson started ahead of Anderson, the other Strikie Anderson, and Pellegrini started that left back with Maricic at right back.

I do have to re-emphasise Ciro Mopile and Luis Alberto we're still missing for this game. Ufri Ulani left out Samardic ahead of his likely transfer to Napoli, along with the usual massive injury list including Bijol, Ebosse, Zamora, Brenner, Pafundi and Delafé. They concluded 2023 with a shock 3 in the victory over Bologna, only their second victory of the whole season. Once again, Odinéza opted to start Odeye ahead of Sylvesterie in goal.

The 12th minute, Lazio opened the scoring thanks to a sneaky low left-footed 3k by Pellegrini into the keeper's bottom corner on his side. It looked like Rovilla was stepping off to go over the wall, only to deceive the defending team and the commentator. In the 59th minute, Odinéza found themselves in equaliser as Love Ridge played his free kick low into a busy area and Wallace managed to get a touch into the back of the net amidst all the bodies that were positioned over there.

I swear to God if you look at that goal you wouldn't know who scored it but Wallace claimed it and every platform gave it to Wallace. It looked like no one touched it but at the same time everyone touched it. Hey, hey, hey, it's like everyone struck out a leg but it didn't really change much. In the 75th Lazio regain, the lead as substitute Vecino finished very well after good work by Castellanios and Anderson linking up.

Vecino, the guy that only scores winners, got another winner over here as Lazio. They're in themselves with a better position nowadays, it's a long season but they were in the bottom half for a while, they're shooting, they've shot up now to 7th and their level on points with Atalanta. And we need to praise Sardi because his in-game management has been great man, honestly.

This is another substitution that worked for him, the winner, not to mention a free kick routine, got them the first goal as well, that's all from the coach. I think that Sardi is, once again, he's a forgotten coach. People forget the style that all of Europe was raving about a few years ago and everyone's talking about Deserby. Let's not remember that a few years ago, Sardi was Deserby. Sardi Wall. Sardi Wall, exactly.

So it's nice to see that he's finally got these guys ticking and honestly they should be strong, especially if they exit from the Champions League, they're going to be a threatened team. Yeah, and keep in mind this team that finished second last season and on their day they were spectacular, they killed Milan last year, they killed a couple of teams, they beat Napoli, I believe they were the first team last year to beat Napoli in January and it was a casino goal.

They beat Inter a few times, so I think they beat Inter a couple of times in the past few seasons, all three ones. I have an interesting fact about that free kick goal, by Pellegrini. The last time a Lazio defender scored a direct free kick was back in 2006 and it was Massimo Oddo. Massimo Oddo. That's good, the guy that whenever you read whatever was written on the shirt, it was 44. Here is, oh! That font, right? It just looked like four rows. Oh!

I have a memory of what does scoring a penalty against Milan in the later point of his career and celebrating like a madman. Really? Yeah, I don't remember it quite clearly. I don't remember that. I don't know who he was with, I believe could it be Lecce? I believe he must have had the spell at Lecce. Check that while you get to the next point. When you think about the starting 11 of Lazio, they have seven players who have their debut season at Lazio this year.

There's Gila who started this game as Romanio, at least still finding his fitness. Pele Grini, Guendouzi, Rovela, Camada, which is their entire midfield. Isaacson and Tati Castellanio, seven new players. It's no wonder they were off to a slow start. Of course. And they've got Ciro, they've got Alberto out and obviously they also lost Sergei.

I believe this resurgence of Lazio is not really a resurgence, but rather they just needed their time to work Ciro system, which is a tough system to get used to. Yes, yes, for sure. And the league is a difficult one to adapt to. And many of these guys came from different leagues. Camada, Isaacson, Castellanio, Guendouzi, Pele Grini, Gila, they all came from different leagues. So there was quite the adaptation period. It's great. And winning away from home at Udineza is no easy feat.

We've seen what Udineza are capable of doing. They've got like record amount of draws this season. It's crazy. So yeah, we should respect the Sarri and respect Lazio. Also by the way, on the Massimo Oddo point, I googled it, in 2012, Oddo left Milan and went to Bayern Munich where he was loaned to Bayern Munich. Oh, I remember that. That I remember.

And then there was, and then he was loaned out again to Lecce where he had 27 appearances on one goal and that one goal must have been the penalty scored against Milan and celebrated like a madman. My God, he must have disliked that move. One day he's off to Bayern Munich and the other day he's off to Lecce. So yeah, maybe I would have celebrated like a madman. But he only had 56 appearances for Milan, Massimo Oddo. I feel like he had more. 135 appearances for Lazio, topical.

Yeah, people like sharing Milan and Lazio. There's Nesta, there's Romagnoli, there's Oddo. Romagnolo, no, he was even at Monza in 1996. Jesus Christ. Man's been around. I think Odinez has showed glimpses of promise in this game. They still struggle to get the ball into the back of the net, man. I do believe that that is where their main struggle comes because they are a compact unit. They are tight, that midfield, Paggiere, O'Wallis and Lovreic. You know, they're very compact.

They're a bacteria of Christensen, new impheres and João Ferreira. Very compact and very efficient at defending. They make every single time someone plays with Dinez, it's rare that you see them be to Dinez, a four-nil and totally blow them out of the park. It's always a battle. And we always talk about them being a very physical side. There was that stat that over the past few years, they were on average the tallest side in Serie A as well.

It's always a tough outing, but Lodz showed it very well to hold their own and get the victory over it. And to neutralise Lorenzo Lucca as well by pressing him and cutting his passing lanes. If you look at Lucca, granted, he had his aerial duels won, his ground duels mostly won as well. The possession loss was only 10, which isn't too bad, but he only had 18 touches.

So if you have 18 touches, you lose possession 10 times and 36% of your passes are actually completed, that's a striker's shutdown. It's stopping him from getting the ball. Stopping him from holding up play as well. Exactly. And just one question before we move on. Guendouzi, Rovella, Camada in midfield, three new faces. Kill Maryfuck. Sure, bro. That's not. But you can and the M-ers. What did you make of their performances and this balance that they have going on?

I mean, we've said that Camada has kind of struggled and that he's been more of a bystander in these games. And I don't think he stood out this game at all. He wasn't very involved to me, in my opinion. Rovella, however, I think looks mature beyond his years. I thought that he was very involved as the metronome. He took a few risky passes, which he managed as well. He lost possession a few times, but overall I would say that it's quite a promising performance by him.

And Guendouzi, I'm just impressed by. I like the way Guendouzi settled into the slots, you said. And I think of all the signings, he's the one who's hit the ground running best. Yeah, I think so. Well, it's easy to notice his work ethic, his tackling and the box-to-box nature. And it's willingness to learn and to adapt. Yeah, absolutely. As for the league standings, I'm pulling a bit of a jake over here. Lots, you are in seventh on 30 points. Why so Daneze in 16th on 17 points?

Yes, Bologna drew 1-1 to Gianna Vard. Dropping points again, Bologna. Bologna dropped points again, yes. And it's not an easy place for them to play in their own stadium against Gujanoa. As they lost five home matches against Gujanoa, I have not seen a Bologna victory. Jesus. They had three draws and two losses. Christ, that was a bad man. But then you know what it is, man. They had a season in Serie B, Gujanoa. So you're like, is it the same Gujanoa? But history is never wrong, man.

Ravalia was in gold this game for Bologna once again. Kosh, Lukumi, Kalofjör, and Diko Giannis were at the back. The double pivot was more on Froyler. And then of course it was also Lini Fabian Urbanski and Xerxesi up front with Urbanski getting the nod this time. For Gianna, it was a 3-5-2 formation with Ekuban and Goodminton up front. Of course, Messias was out on the left and Sabelli was out on the right. Voliaccio, Dragucin and Vazquez were at the back with Midfield 3 as usual.

Frendrup, Badel and Malinovsky now. So Bologna sought to recover from a recent defeat, of course, and they initiated the game with high intensity and high pressing. Or Solini's shot early in the game, signaled Bologna's attacking intent, but Martinez is saved, denied them an early lead, and Martinez went on to have a fantastic game, the Gujanoa goalkeeper. Despite Bologna's possession dominance, they failed and struggled to find openings to penetrate Gujanoa's defence.

Against the run of play, Gujanoa took the lead via Goodminton's free kick that found the net. Voliaccio ducked out of the way to block the goalkeeper's view and then suddenly ducked out of nowhere, balls flying at the goalkeeper. And on the bounce, keep in mind it has been raining. Yeah, it changed speed. On the bounce over there, it just flew and then might have picked up so much speed. Yeah, it was a great goal.

This is trippy because we're speaking about Bologna and we're watching Bologna for your antenna. Or Solini just hit the post, by the way. Bologna, of course, reacted sluggishly to going behind. They found it challenging to muster a swift response. Xerxes tried and tried, but his attempts were thwarted and the team couldn't create any clear chances, except for one weak shot, if I remember correctly, that was handled comfortably by Martinez.

In the second half, of course, Bologna upped their attacking impetus a little bit. He made a triple substitution, bringing in Salamacus, Christensen and Arbusher for Urbanski, Moro and Nico Johns. I must say that I really like the way Salamacus has been playing for Bologna lately. I like the way he passes the ball into space, but kind of casually and it looks as if he's going to hold the ball and just launches it into space like a meter or two in front of him. He's playing very intelligently.

One thing I thought about when watching this game was, because obviously one team has Salamacus and the other team has Messias. I'm like, look at these guys with Serie A champions in their team. That makes a difference, bro. It does, of course. It makes a difference. Yeah. In fact, it was Salamacus who tried to push down the left flank, he delivered many crosses into the box, however some of them did lack a little bit of precision. Yeah, of course.

In the 75th minute, Calafiore headed the ball into the back of the net, but it was disallowed, adding to Bologna's frustration. Genoa introduced Retegui, but they did not actually attempt to attack anymore. They adopted defensive stance, they sat deep and they defended in their own half with Retegui pressing as the spearhead. Calafiore shot from long range, it was all Calafiore, man. They were sitting so deep, Genoa, that he kept getting the ball from out of the box and having it.

He's got a shot, huh? He does, man. Don't get it twisted, Calafiore can't hit it from range. And this shot particularly towards the end of the game forced Martinez into a fine save. He also had a great save on Xerxes towards the end as well. Yep. Bologna's persistence eventually paid off when a corner was delivered. De Silvestri went to head it, but it only, he missed it. It came as far as Salamacus who squared it cleverly to De Silvestri who launched the ball into the back of the net.

A player I really like, De Silvestri, a very powerful and just a strong, dangerous player back in the day. He was so dominant on the flank when he was younger. Nowadays he's kind of moved on to be behind the scenes leader, but it's nice to see that when he's introduced he can make the difference, but he can still contribute to the team. I love the way he's celebrated. I love how, I love what a beast he is, quite frankly. This is his second goal of the season though, De Silvestri.

I believe it might be. He definitely scored one last season against all odds, but it might be his second goal of the season as well. I'm not too sure. What I do wonder is who would win in a fight between him and Basquerato. Between De Silvestri and Basquerato? I think Basquerato's got size over him, but De Silvestri's got that dog. He got that dog. He's a beast. He's a beast.

That wasn't all, by the way, for the game, because at the end Goodman had a free kick towards the end of the game, probably the last action. He struck it and basically hit the crossbar. I wasn't sure if the goalkeeper had saved it, but I think he got a fingertip and hit the crossbar, or he just hit the crossbar one of the way. He got very, very, very close to scoring a winner, which would have been crazy. By the way, confirm this is De Silvestri's second goal of the season.

Wow. That's more than some strikers. Yeah, two great sides over here, in my opinion. Two sides who play very intelligent football, two sides who adapt to their opponents, so it was a chess match throughout the whole game, both teams shifting and trying to adapt and trying to dissect each other. I thought it was great. Mantiago Motta and Alberto Gilardino, I took my hat to you guys. Yes, beautiful. Beautiful.

That's what you get when you've got two young progressive managers at very different teams. When I say that, I mean that Bologna are somewhat of an established team in Serie A, and they just keep attempting to get better and better and better. Genoa, on the other hand, a newly promoted team with a bunch of new players in their system, and they want to survive. That is what Genoa wants this season.

When I see you commenting in your car, whoever the fuck you are, I write, yes, Bologna are a more established side and say, yeah, nowadays we know Genoa's history. We know all that. Come on. Come on. I love what we called them out today and say shit. They were texting. They picked up their phone and everything. I can tell you, I can guarantee it. Don't text and drive.

This was the result of two young progressive managers, one with a Genoa team that wants to stay up, and the other one with a Bologna team who they're testing their limits at the moment. Is it Champions League? Is it Europa League? Is it Conference League? What is it? And this was the result of a beautiful encounter. Genoa shocked us by taking that lead through Goodman's sin. The stats, bro. Can I actually give you the stats very quickly?

So Genoa, 29% ball possession, two shots, one shot on target. Exeggio of 0.08 and they drew the game. Bologna looked really happy at the end, obviously, because they scored the late equaliser, but it should be Genoa who were happy with this because this was literally a Katanaccio master class. Are we from home as well, bro? Yeah, absolutely. And that actually takes them up to Twith with 21 points. They're doing very well in their first season back, Genoa. They have a nice project.

Of course, American owners, I'm curious to see what they're going to do this January and the next year's market as well. And I'm curious to see what their ceiling is. On the other hand, Bologna have now fallen to fifth with 32 points. Sa Swolo 1, Fiorentino nil. What the heck? So many bizarre results, this match, actually.

The Viola were fourth in Serie A, preparing for a packed fixture list, including the Coppa Italia quarterfinal with Bologna, which is taking place today, and the Super Coppa Italiana final four. Christian Cuame was at the African Cup of Nations with Nico Gonzalez, Sottel, Castrovilli and Dodo injured. Brecalo started on the right and Insola started up top after refusing to join Angola at the African Cup of Nations and potentially facing sanctions. Why? We'll discuss that later.

And to be honest, I don't have too much information, I believe he knows he hasn't quite hit the ground running at Fiorentino and he wants to stay there and train and then fall into a... Yeah, he probably doesn't want to lose his spot to Beltran on contest. Because that's what's going to happen if he goes to Afgan. The hosts crashed out of the Coppa with a 3-1 defeat to Atalanta midweek, while Defrel, Alvarez, Vignia, Objang and Ratchic were on the treatment table.

In the 9th minute, Sasvolo got their one and only goal, nice and early through Pina Monti who finished well after receiving a cutback from Pedersen who was in a great position following a very intelligent pass by Henrique, just releasing that pass at the perfect moment to create a lot of space for Pedersen down that left hand side.

Towards Vett, double Sasvolo's lead in the 48th after pouncing on a loose ball following a corner, however the referee cancelled the goal after a VAR check as Henrique was off side and interfering with play. In the 62nd minute, Fiorentina were awarded a penalty due to a Ferrari handball on Melinkovic's header, is it a Sasvolo game if they don't give away a penalty? Bonaventura stepped up only to be denied by Concilie who pulled off a great save, great save yet not a great hit by Jack either.

In the 68th minute, Fiorentina had the ball in the back of the net through Martina's quarter who finished off their dunk and deflected volley struck the woodwork, once again this goal was chalked off after Cuarta being spotted in an offside position in the build up.

In the 69th minute, Ferrari cleared Beltran's acrobatic strike off the line after Concilie came off his line and failed to deal with the ball adequately, then Concilie brilliantly saved Melinkovic's header on the resulting corner with Inzola scuffing the rebound wide. In the 92nd minute, a corner strike from a distance flashed just wide of Concilie's far post to allow Sasvolo to walk away with a 1-0 victory over fourth place Fiorentina and get a clean sheet as well.

Their first clean sheet of the season, Sasvolo, and they hadn't won since November. Yeah, this team is just crazy man. I can't quite put my finger on it.

But Fiorentina intrigued me in this game because their recent run of form which consisted of them grinding out results by scoring early and then maintaining that 1-0 advantage, kind of bit them in the ass through Sasvolo, kind of flipping that and mirroring it, they managed to get that early goal in the ninth minute while Fiorentina were trying to defend and then they really struggled trying to find that goal because keep in mind Fiorentina

are struggling significantly when it comes to going forward. That is why they're taking this approach and over here I do feel like they were exposed in that sense. So they let them have the ball essentially. Sasvolo just gave up possession. We never see that. As you said, absolutely. So that early goal probably fucked up all of Fiorentina's plans.

Yeah, in fact if you look at the stats, Sasvolo had 33% ball position, okay they had 7 shots, 1 on target as opposed to Fiorentina's 9 and 3 on target. Now for a team that conceded early and spent the entirety of the match trying to equalize and find a goal, how do you only have 9 shots as your output? One of them being a penalty dog. Yeah. What are they being a penalty that you missed? I think that I've criticized Insola heavily and it's not exactly his fault.

I just think that the scouting department had a shocker because it doesn't fit the identity, it doesn't fit the approach that Italiano has basically. He's a counter attacking powerhouse. That's what he is. He's good to hold up plays, good to wait for his teammates. He's not that reference point up front and an offensive team in my opinion. Giordano and Brecol are two good players, two tricky players but they're very similar and they're not exactly good against a low block.

They're much better when they have space. In fact Brecol are really struggled in this match. Bonaventura has an off day, it's not exactly pretty. We know what that's like and we saw him a lot at Milan, we've seen him at Fiorentina. He's a very good player on his day but when he has an off day, he's one of those players that his off days are terrible. And not everything seems to come off at all for him.

Let's see if this was one of those games statistically at least 73% accurate passes, 47 touches, he wasn't that involved at all. Despite winning most of his ground he was because then that's what he has Bonaventura, he's going to fight till he dies. Exactly. With that being said clearly they're struggling with like you said those two that they have up front, now it's January. Should they be making acquisitions up front?

I think they could get a player in that 10 position to help Jack Bonaventura, reveal them a bit of his duties. I think that if an opportunity comes to get a striker in, I think they should. I know they've got Jovic on the books still, so it's very unlikely that they do. They've got Nzala, they've got Beltran. However, that's the department that's lacking for them right now. You look at the defence apart from some centre back depth, that could be improved.

It's fine, Kylo, this great, Broggy, solid, Milenkovich and Martinez-Quart are good. They have Yerimina who hasn't quite hit the ground running at all, struggled with injuries, but he has been featuring a little bit. But it's that offensive department that something's missing. They need a creative player. Funnily enough, and I know I'm a meme for always mentioning him, but that's what Saponara provided. Saponara gave them a different dynamic to the game.

When you add a splash of IQ to this fucking team, they somehow managed to pierce through defences that they wouldn't have managed otherwise, because right now they're all about trickery and pace, but there's hardly any player that can play that. Saponara gets you the ball in the box, which is what Fiorentina are struggling to do. Nine shots in a game where you were 1-0 down in the ninth minute. That's what Saponara had good. Also, by the way, where you see, like, he hasn't been on the bench.

It's bullshit. He started a game and then he disappeared three games. Don't worry, we said. No, it's free to start a football club in Malta. Yeah, just fucking bring him in. I think they need a striker. Definitely. They definitely need a third. It's a complicated thing, though, for them to bring in a striker. Why? Because they've got Jovovich on the books still and they've just brought in two. They loan one in. That's not a... I mean, they do something.

I would have even tried for Colombo or something, you know, a fucking loan loan. They have now, as well. Like you said, they definitely need a vice for Jack that could play as a number 10. But also, you remember we just talked about this depth that Fiorentina have on the wings. So Nikko and Sotilla are injured and what are we left with? Who are the wingers? Tell me. It's Joorco and Brea, Colombo. Give me a break. Yeah, yeah, it's not good enough. As in the steam is fourth. Don't get me wrong.

They're not doing a terrible job, but because their defense is so fucking on point and their midfield is so on point. If I have to look at this performance and point out three great players for Fiorentina in this game, I'll go Milenkovic as that towering fucking center back of theirs. He's a beast. Milenkovic, he's really found his form again after a shaky season last season. Duncan, I did not know he was that good with the ball at his feet. His passing, his looping balls over the top.

Even with a bit of prowess in front of goal, as well. And Terraciano, who keeps making these miracle saves for Fiorentina. Otherwise, anyone in the more attacking region, okay, now Saasvolo took that low block that, for example, Milan always stuck against and Milan have got Leo, Polisic, Juru and they stuck against the low block. So naturally, this team is going to struggle against the low block as well, but they didn't manage to create anything in this game against Saasvolo's defense.

Yeah, that's it man. No creativity. If Bonaventura had enough, there's no one is there who's capable of playing a clever through ball. I mean, props to Saasvolo as well. Yes. Because they shut up shop and they didn't allow Fiorentina the slightest of chances. They had a penalty, Fiorentina, they missed it. Saasvolo had a disallowed goal, they could have gone to nail up. Fiorentina, okay, had a disallowed goal as well. A lot of var controversy and drama this week.

But Saasvolo, right after we said that Dionysius should be getting the sack, they managed to pull this off their first clean sheet of the season. But they lose Tullian and Berardi in the process, a through injury. So quite a tax for that victory over there. Robin Hood. There we go. There we are. Saasvolo are in 14th on 19 points. They are 5 points over Verona in 18th place.

While Fiorentina maintained their fourth spot after Bologna failed to win, on 33 points there's 6 behind Milan and 1 ahead of Bologna. Frazzinone looked to be getting smashed by Monza Bro, 3-0. Frazzinone at home. Monza 3-0 comfortably. Berardi was in goal for Frazzinone, which explains why maybe 3 goals were put past him. He's not been on a great season.

Poor guy. Luzuardi, Ocoglia, Montereyzi at the back with Lirola out on the right, Gelli out on the left, Berence and Harui in the middle with Shedira up front, Reiner has come back, he's playing on the left and Suleyre was playing on the right. Suleyre had a very mixed bag of a performance. To say the least. Di Gregorio was in goal for Monza for most of the game, but he did go off injured and he will be out for a month.

Calderola, Galiadini and D'Ambrosio were at the back of course, Monza having to utilise two non-center backs at centre back to deal with their crisis. Pereira out on the left, Turi out on the right, Bondo and Pesina in the middle with Colpani and Carboni playing behind Mota. Carboni by the way, Valentin Carboni. I'm a big fan. The match saw early threats from Monza, of course they were jubling, they were shooting, they were doing what Monza was doing. The Barclay and Jubli scoring.

In the sixth minute, Colpani almost scored and in the 18th minute, Mota managed to capitalise on a Valentin Carboni assist penetrating through the defence and easily beating Tarati to put Monza up 1-0. Yeah, the layout of Villain's celebration. The clown. Yeah. That's a great start. No, no, no, no, no. I pass by some of the way. Totally. Not as annoying as Jean-Dres' celebration this week by the way. I still need to bring that up, don't you worry. Okay, you have something prepared I assume.

Yes. For us it's known, they had a chance to equalise in the 24th minute through Cedirahedder of a Gali cross but it sailed high, albeit there were suspicions of offside but the flag did stay down and it was quite a massive miss over there for Cedirahedder. Technical issues interrupted the Var system temporarily, causing a halt in the match. Classic. Frazzone came closer levelling the score with Sulaise free kick brilliantly parried away by Di Gregorio at the half hour mark.

He was substituted Di Gregorio after a collision with Haroui in the 41st minute. Just before half time, Monza doubled their lead. This time it was Mota returning the favour to Valentin Carboani who managed to score, making it too nil to Frazzone. Too Monza, sorry. Di Gregorio wanted to stay on, I don't know what this has stayed on for a bit and I was like fuck it I need to get the hell out of here. It's a warrior, like gladiator.

Man, I remember the first time I ever watched Di Gregorio play football. I thought you were going to say the first time you ever went to gladiator. I was like what the hell. I'm not a big fan of gladiator. I'm joking I just haven't seen it. Yes the first time I watched Di Gregorio I was dog sitting at Dan's bro, I was sat at his kitchen table. I remember. Dan and Sarah's brother. I remember. You added like one.

And the game on it was a Serie B. It was a Serie A playoff from Serie B. The time that Monza didn't make it through. So it was two years ago. Ah, I remember. And I thought to myself this guy in goal, I'm going to be honest, I thought to myself this ginger guy in goal for Monza is incredible. Incredible. In fact when he benched Cranio you weren't too surprised I remember.

Because I remember it being so disappointed that Monza brought in Cranio because I'm like they have a great goalkeeper already and I'm like there's no chance that Cranio doesn't bench this guy. But he didn't and Di Gregorio has improved and improved. Wow, that's Serie B. Monza was out. Kevin Prince boating. Exactly. Padotelli up front. Crazy. Crazy. And the second half Di Francesco made tactical substitutions for Frasinone. He brought in Caso and Mazzatelli for Reiner and Liralla respectively.

Suley moved to a deeper midfield position. An unfortunate own goal by Suley in the 56th minute extended Monza's lead to 3-0. Meaning that two of the goals that Frasinone conceded were actually thanks to Suley. Crazy own goal by Suley. From outside the box man. He slid to intercept a pass. To Raati, obviously when the ball moves he runs with the ball like he always is with boy who was out of position and the ball rolled into the back of the net.

Harui narrowed the scoreline a minute later with an excellent finish. The match got even more intense as Caputio awarded Frasinone a penalty in the 74th minute for D'Ambrosio's challenge on Caso. Would you believe that my defence on FantaCulture or Consis of D'Ambrosio, Madzocchi and who else was there? I can't remember right now but three guys made massive mistakes for me giving away penalties or getting sent off. That's because you spent one credit on your defenders.

Yes, it didn't quite work out this year. Usually it works out nicely. Suley converted the penalty to make it 3-2. There were 15 minutes left but Monza shut up shop perfectly and Frasinone couldn't quite penetrate them and the match ended 3-2. That's what you get when you make too many mistakes. That's what you get when you have too many youth players. That's what you get man. Yeah, not Frasinone, I never down and out. That's like the tale of the tape here.

Their defence as we know leaves a lot to be desired. They're not a very organised side defensively. Because they are so offensive and Monza took advantage of that. They were 3-0 up by the 55th minute. I believe, yeah, by the 55th minute they were 3-0 up. But Frasinone are never down and out. They keep attacking to the very, very last second. There was a second that I thought they were going to find that equaliser.

Yes, I've mentioned this before on the poll of course but I'm going to say it again because it's so impressive that it deserves to be mentioned. When Monza were bought by Silvio Berlusconi, two players that are currently on the squad were already there. These players are Danny Motta and what's his name? Machine. Machine. These guys were playing in Serie A. Now they're in Serie A. They both featured Danny Motta more obviously than Machine.

But Danny Motta doesn't look like a player who was playing in Serie A three seasons ago, four seasons ago. He was struggling in the opening stages of the season, he hadn't scored in ages but now he's picked up again. But he's not really a prolific goal scorer. He's more of a tricky player. But he does have the technique to make a difference in this league. He's doing very well and respect him because he managed to work hard and to climb with his team.

Most people would have said, oh shit, the club's been taken over. I no longer have a role here. So respect them. Monza currently stand in 11th with 25 points while Frosten on 15th with 19 points. Let's move on to the last game bro. Lecture 1, Caliari 1. The Salentini were relatively comfortable mid-table but sliding down after back-to-back defeats to Inter and Atalanta while the Sardinians remained in the bottom three.

Hamza, Raffia, Tuba, Banda and Lovumbo were at the Africa Cup of Nations plus Sonso on a der mark who Youngto, Lapadoula, Capradossi, Shumorodov and Rogue out injured. Who are bros? Captains, Trefetza, Nandes shook hands and had it not been for Nandes' Viking beard I would have thought that these were the captains of the under-12 teams with their combined height of 4 feet and 6 inches. Udon hit the post from distance in the 14th minute with what seemed to be a mishit.

Jean-Jé headed in and Udon cornered in the 31st minute and did my favourite celebration of the season so far. I don't quite know how to describe it. Crash Bandicoot. Was it Crash Bandicoot? I don't think it was but it gave me those vibes. It gave me crazy frog vibes. Or like thriller. Thriller as well. I don't know what the hell that was. But some way to celebrate your first goal. Made me a little bit uncomfortable. Imagine never scoring in Seiya for the first time and doing that. I like it man.

I like it. Good celebration, Jean-Jé. I like it but a very interesting person because I would lose my mind. After seeing that he's officially Gendry. He's no longer Jean-Jé because Jean-Jé wouldn't have done that. Using Jean-Jé celebrates like that. You know Jean-Jé hits the greedy maybe every now and then. Gendry, that's all he does. Kirstovic had the opportunity to score with an open net in the 37th minute following another electric corner but instead his strike went out for a throw in.

I don't know how he managed that bro. It's like I cursed this guy. It's like I cursed him man my god. That was such a terrible miss. He's changed as a player. Man his confidence has been shot. In the 67th minute Orestanio got to the end of an inch perfect in swinging free kick by Nicolas Viola. And for a second it looked like Falco Ana kept the unxest half volley out with a tremendous save but goal line technology indicated that the ball had crossed the line.

In the 70th minute Falco Ana, the main character, did extremely well to deny Prati strike from distance with a one handed diving stop. So it was a good game. I think when watching this game I thought that Lecce probably deserved to get more out of the game. But Caliari did a good job to get that one point that they were seeking. When you look at the stats of the game, I mean Lecce had 15 shots to one target and Caliari had 14 shots to one target.

So when you look at it from that basic perspective it was a very even game. However I do feel like that Lecce were controlling the tempo more and they were more dangerous when it came to free kick scenarios, corner scenarios. The more organised side. Funnily enough, because this is our own Neary team we're talking about, but the quality is and say your experience is less on that Caliari side. I was impressed with Petania's performance.

I thought he held up play well and knocked the ball down very well. I thought Viola was okay as well. Oris Stanyo, I did not expect to get on the end of that free kick. Very happy for him to get his golden man on loan from Inter. And Neyta Nandes had a pretty good game, managed to get some crosses on target. Neyta Nandes had a very good game. I was very happy with Nandes' performance rolling back the years over there. And then he ended up on the left at some point, did a good job over there.

It's interesting because I said Lecce are typically the team that dominate when it comes to the set play scenarios. But it was Caliari that actually managed to get the goal through a set play over there. Almost denied by Falcone but wasn't quite enough. Lecce, they find themselves in 13th on 21 points. Who are you getting impatient with me trying to win sometime? I know we have what, three minutes left? Caliari in 17th on 15 points.

So if you've made it this far guys, thank you very very much for listening. We've been Seria Spotlight, we'll be back next week. Don't forget to check out our socials, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. We've got our giveaway live at the moment. And we have got quite a great piece of content coming out in the next few weeks as well. Stay tuned.