Hello and welcome back to another episode of Say Our Spotlight, we are host Jake and Matt and Milan have won the league. What a roller coaster man, what a roller coaster this season was, who would have thought in the beginning of the year that Milan were going to be crowned champions after they you know.
No one would have thought that, we didn't film, we didn't record a preseason prediction episode actually so I wish we actually had done that because we would have had our predictions and we predicted after match day one right. Yeah, yeah I remember. But I had Milan finishing fourth, I don't know about you. Mine was third actually, I had Milan in third, I remember going into the season I thought Juve were going to win the league. Yeah because they had Ronaldo still right.
Yeah exactly I thought Atalanta were going to come in second, I thought Milan would come in third, Inter fourth and I thought that Napoli would miss out on Champions League football. But I had Napoli in my top four, I had Juve, Atalanta, Milan and Napoli in my top four, I didn't have Inter, I had Inter fifth. I slept on them. You're nuts. Yeah I've been a bit naive, I got too ahead of myself there, I saw Lukaku and all those guys leaving, Hakimi and of course replacements were not too standard.
But anyway Milan, Milan, Milan. Milan, champions of Italy, so in this episode basically guys we're not going to go into too much detail about the happenings of matchday 38 but rather we're going to be overlooking the entire season of Serie A 2021-2022 and giving our takes, talking about how the season went exactly and all this while we have the conference league final on the TV where Roma are winning 1-0 with the second half just under way.
Matthew has hemorrhoids and has bet 159 euro on Roma to win this within 90 minutes. Okay I have one hemorrhoid and I bet 139 euro that Roma are going to win this in 90 minutes. What's the return? 318 euro. Which you're going to use to remove your hemorrhoid. I'm actually going to use it to buy you all those kits that I owe you genuinely like.
Guys those who have been following the podcast are very much aware that we made three bets, we had the prediction series which I have officially won with a total of 12-10 because we didn't start it from the beginning. We had the Verona and Sassuolo one where I bet that Verona would finish ahead of Sassuolo. And we had that I said that Immobile would be top score and you said that Vlaović would be top score.
And I've won all three and of course you must get me three kits and drive me 20 euros from Fanta. And that ends right there, he's livid. But yes obviously I put that bet over there bro so that I can start buying you kits slowly slowly. Nice bro. Just be patient with me obviously. So are you going to surprise me with who you'll get at the back of the kits or do I have a say? No I think I should surprise you just for the sake of it.
I mean the kits that you want you're going to buy yourself anyway one day so let me get you a couple of funky ones. Sure I'm in for that. Just don't buy any kits in the meantime because we don't want to get the big ones. So bro what did you make of the celebrations before we get into our tops, our flops, our dream team of the season you know? What did you make of the final game Milan against Sassuolo? It was done and dusted within 30 something minutes bro the game.
Yeah I mean as Milan fans we're both shitting ourselves going into it because we know what Sassuolo are like. We know they're essentially every top team's dark horses and it ended up I mean Concilio was essentially Spider-Man between the sticks and it just seemed instant like we're going to run away with it. So much so that it almost seemed a bit anticlimactic by half time. The second half was just like okay. Everyone was waiting for Milan to win the league in the second half.
Exactly and the acceptance had already kind of kicked in which removed some of the animosity that fans normally have when waiting too. Yeah that's totally true bro. In fact let me tell you I wouldn't have had it any other way. No 100% I enjoyed celebrating. Watching the second half relax is not something I thought that would happen. I thought we're going in for a 2-2. Exactly and at the end of the day it still went down to the final match day. I mean it barely happens.
It happened in Serie A and it happened in the Premier League this year out of the top leagues otherwise they were walkovers. The celebrations obviously as a Milan fan I'm a massive fan of them. I haven't stopped watching them bro. I love the shit housing. There's Theo screaming, Chala no glue. There's Zlatan saying what do we think about Hakann? There's a bra being thrown at Giroud. There's Giroud being way too drunk and Florenzi saving a ladybird from the flag.
Everyone is so human it's brilliant. There's Zlatan coming out with a cigar, Kalulu with a bottle of champagne. Calabria laughing his ass off the entire time. Just fanboying. It's amazing bro. There's Leo crying with his family. All these scenes. This is the happiest I've been football wise since 2011. 100% since the live Atalanta game up until this very moment. Up until the celebrations in Hamroon. The game finished.
Jake and I got a bottle of champagne and we went to Hamroon which is a red and black village in Malta. There's the Milan Football Club there established in 1979 and we went to party with a bunch of animals. We thought we were the biggest Milan fans in Malta. A couple of fucking die hard fans over there. Definitely shout out Hamroon baby. Shall we read the scores of how it went so then we can kick back and just... Sure. So the matchday started off on Friday between Torino and Roma.
Roma dismantled them 3 goals to nil thanks to 2 goals by Tammy Abraham and 1 by Pellegrini. There was Genoa nil Bologna 1 on Saturday afternoon thanks to a goal by Moussa Baro. Shortly after that there was Atalanta against Empoli and shockingly Empoli won away from home through a Stula goal in the 79th and a Bayrami assist making it 1-0. Fiorentina beat Juve 2-0 which was fucking crazy. And obviously Fiorentina as a result got conference league from that.
It was a goal by Duncan and a last minute penalty by Nico Gonzalez. What a season he's had. It was Lazio 3-0 Verona 3 shortly after. Four of the more entertaining games this weekend thanks to goals by Cabral, Anderson and Pedro and on the other side it was Simeone, Lasagna and Hongla. It was Spezia nil Napoli 3. Napoli love a good 3-0. It was goals by Poletano, Zielinski and Demme. A rare assist by Petania. Very funny there.
Inter also won 3-0 against Sampdoria but didn't even celebrate a single goal because Milan were also winning 3-0 at this point. Goals by Perisic and two by Correa. Then the biggest one Milan 3, Sassuolo nil at the Mappé. Two goals by Olivier Giroud and one by Frank Kessy for a beautiful send off and three assists by the league's MVP Rafa Leal. It was Salernitana nil Udinese 4. That wasn't enough to sink the Salernitana faithful.
It was goals by De La Feo, Nesterovski, Udodji, Pereira and again a doppietta by Pereira. Venezia drew to Caliari which means that Caliari also got relegated. It was a nil-nil so no goals over there. Absolutely crazy finale bro. The one thing I wanted to point out while you were reading those, there was Salernitana losing 4-0 bro and then celebrating wildly. I've never seen a team lose 4-0, I just run off in celebration doing laps around the stadium but to be honest they do deserve it.
They do deserve it and let me tell you what man, Caliari do not deserve to sniff the Serie A for the next couple of seasons. I mean what a bunch of losers. I mean obviously I don't think they're losers, they're all doing much better than I am but from a Serie A context, from a competitive context in the biggest league in Italy, the team just did absolutely nothing to improve throughout the entire season and I think that draw against Venezia is a perfect showcase of that.
Power to Salernitana for doing something to actually improve the team. I even show more power to Genoa who got blessed and they were actually on a streak and they improved the team. Caliari did none of that and they're just all defensive in the media now. That's what you're looking up right now. In fact Giuliani, the famous Italian TV host, was interviewing Carressa.
Carressa is the president of Caliari and Giuliani basically asked him a question and Carressa said like I don't want to answer because you've spread falsities about me saying that I'm going to sell the club and all that stuff. They got into a heated argument where basically Giuliani told them like maybe your mentality is outdated, maybe having three coaches in one season isn't the way to go. Basically Carressa took off his headpiece, slammed it on the floor and stormed out.
You know, Caliari are going to have to make some changes if they want to see Serie A soon. Again, they're fucked because now they have to sell their best players at a heavily discounted price. That includes João Pedro, Bela Nova as well. Most likely, Nandez Marin, even Pavalecchi will probably leave. Craniot for sure. Even Lovato won't stay there. But yeah, absolutely crazy seeing Salernitana surviving. We rode them off ages ago. Remember that episode where like Salernitana is out there.
Our weekly goodbye to Salernitana is what we had said. What a beautiful league, man. But I think it's time we let the viewers, nor the listeners know rather, exactly what has gone down in the context of the league table. So obviously, league winners Milan, against all odds the youngest team to ever win Serie A. It was an 11-year wait as well.
They drew level with Inter with 19 Scudetti a piece, obviously both a fair bit away from Juve, but both getting there, both teams are growing significantly. Inter, Napoli and Juve then form the rest of the top four. Lazio and Roma got Europa League in 5th and 6th with Lazio one point ahead of their local rivals. Fiorentina did just enough to get Conference League three points ahead of Atalanta.
Like we said, Salernitana narrowly avoid relegation through one point, while Scaliari, Genoa and Venezia go down. So talk to me a bit about what a great achievement it is for Milan. So first of all, Milan fans and followers of the Serie A and followers of world football in general. Well, followers of world football in general have forgotten about Milan. The younger generation just wouldn't talk about Milan. I mean, there was no reason to.
They're probably following the Premier League, Spain, La Liga and Milan hadn't been in Europe for a while. In the past eight years, I don't think Milan have been deemed a big club at any stage. There was a 10th spot finish. I mean, it's been pretty bad. There was Berlusconi holding on for too long, players coming in on free-aging players, no ambition at all. Then Milan were sold to the Chinese frauds, Yonghong Li and Han Li, those guys who couldn't basically keep up.
And the club fell to Elliott, which were a big American hedge fund. And everyone was saying like, oh, Elliott are just going to do some minimal work to turn over the club for a profit. Little did they know the power of Elliott, man. Holy shit, the project they brought on Maldini, they brought on Gazidis, Massara, they brought on Pioli, they brought Zlatan back. All this shit was the turning point. The five nil loss to Atalanta was the turning point. It started the cycle.
We saw it almost happened, second place last season, a good Champions League run, like a good Champions League run, meaning performance-wise, not results-wise. It had Milan fans believing, but then of course Milan fans are so used to losing and being disappointed that it's almost like, ah, this is normal. So then eventually when it goes down to the last day of the season, you're against Soswalo at draw, you start to believe and finally, boom, it happens. This is massive for Milan, the 19th.
Scudetto, of course, fucking crazy. And the youngest side to ever win it. I like how you described what Elliott have done for the club. Obviously, Milan went through a couple of weird stages. At one point, they were a retirement home for Premier League players. Then there were players like Mena Zantarapte, who were aesthetically pleasing, but how much could they contribute to a top four side? Nothing is the correct answer.
I mean, there was then that period with the new ownership where Luis Adriano, André Silva... And the financial fair play, you rip ban, I forgot to mention. My God. There were so many different stages that Milan went through. I remember at a point, I mean, Bonaventura was the key player of Milan for a number of years as well. Suso, relying on Suso. Relying on Suso for far too long. At a point it was Cotrone, who was the puntaccia, Alonoglu playing out wide. There have been many weird things.
And every happy moment ended in sadness. Now, I know that sounds extremely depressing, but like Higuain arriving with Caldera, everyone freaking out, both of them. Higuain was never happy to begin with, Caldera flopped. Bonaventura coming in, like, hey, fuck you, yeah. And then all of a sudden, this guy leaves. He's wearing the cap, he leaves within a season. I mean, Piontek comes in, this red hot striker, boom, boom, boom, all that stuff. And then all of a sudden he stops scoring.
We have this generation goalkeeper between the sticks, this amazing talent who's going to be a Milan legend, overtake Buffon in legacy, leaves the PSG for free. Shalanoglu goes straight to Inter, like, starting Czechoslovakia off to Inter for free. You know, there have been many disappointing things. Kessy's leaving for free as well after saying he's the president, you know. So it's hard to be optimistic as a Milan fan, but this victory will start to make Milan fans dream again.
For sure. And I mean, Milan went through every stage a team goes to when they're improving. I think we started being a bit hopeful, not that Milan would win the league, but that Milan would at least be competitive during the reign of Gattuso. I think we should show a lot of love and appreciation to what Gattuso did for the team because at least he instilled a bit of a team mentality. I feel like he did. It's true. Under Gattuso, Milan became a team again.
It was then purely that refined the team. He brought the sauce. He brought the fucking sauce. So it's safe to say, bro, as Milan fans right now, we are freed from desire. Our mind and senses have been purified. I'm so relaxed, man. Exactly. I'm so relaxed. I don't have a worry on my mind at the moment. Thank you very much, Milan. But no one would have thought that this was remotely possible apart from Nigel de Jong. But it was possible.
Inter fell short in second, Napoli in third, Juve in fourth. How predictable was that top four? I mean, first place is a total surprise. Inter being there, I guess level-headed people, not myself, perhaps at the beginning of the season, would have put them there, I believe. Napoli, there are people who know Spalletti well, would have put them there. And Juve being fourth might be a surprise because people would have expected them to be higher. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah. But other than that, bro, I wouldn't say... Not in the beginning of the season, though. Not in the beginning of the season. Yeah. No, you're right. At the beginning of the season, they actually dipped. Some people were saying they'd miss out on Champions League. I mean, Allegri was saying that they're battling relegation. You know what I mean? Look, the surprise might be some people believed that Mourinho could do it with Roma, get them top four.
I personally thought it was too much of an ask in your first season. And then there's, of course, Atalanta who dipped. And to me, that's a surprise, them dipping out of top four because there were no signs leading to this. It happened so suddenly. The injuries, Gossens leaving, all these things hit them really hard randomly.
Yeah. And what was so charming about Atalanta was the very thing that killed them at the end of it, because even in the beginning of this podcast, we're talking about how versatile they are and how they can afford to make 10 changes going into a matchday because they've essentially got fucking two starting 11s. And that was the thing that bit them in the ass. There was no continuity in the team and they just seemed to be lost in possession.
I can't pinpoint a player that would have underperformed, but rather it was a whole shambolic performance by management, I would say. Totally bro, totally. It was a series of errors. Not a series of individual errors. It was a series of errors when it came to a management point of view, as you said, like again, like the whole Gossens thing, letting him go so easily to a direct rival in the middle of a season. What are you fucking crazy? Even bringing in Jeremy Boga was weird.
It almost went it it contradicted the Atalanta way. The Atalanta way is to splash small amounts on players who are unproven but show great promise and will fit the system like coupe miners. Coupe miners is a proper Atalanta find. Boga isn't. Boga was a big signing. In fact, I thought that since they're splashing so much, they must really believe in him.
But in reality, anyone who observes the way they play would know that Jeremy Boga as a left winger primarily is not going to work in a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-1-2. He's not going to fit. And we've seen that. He seems so like he's either playing out wide on the left and he's got or else in the middle and he's kind of obstructing his own players. It's weird. You know, granted he might need time, but they really missed out the season because of that risk.
Yeah. And how do you think the top four perform in Europe next year? Obviously there is a history. Well recent history showing that Italian teams don't really perform well in Europe. I know we're seeing Roma in the conference league final right now, but it's the conference league. Let's be real. Milan, Inter, Napoli and Juve, do they have what it takes to, I don't know, reach a quarter final? I mean on their day they do, bro.
I think Juve need some work, but judging by the rumors, you know, the fact that they might bring in Pogba and Di Maria, for example, you know, those two candidates alone can definitely get them out of the group stages, you know. Yeah, look what they did for United. Fair enough. You look at Napoli, Spalletti's done it. No, he has, in Europe Spalletti isn't that... No, no, no. He's not in the category, right? I don't recall. I don't recall. It was De Francesco that got Roma to the semis.
So Napoli as well would be a tough ask. They don't quite have it in them. You know, the thing is Inter and Inter lately have been doing, they have been gaining Champions League experience. So I wouldn't be surprised if they actually go for next season. Then I look at Enzaki maybe and that's what puts me off. You know, however, however, I do have high hopes for Inter next year, both domestically and both in Europe, at least if things remain similar to how they are now.
I think a second consecutive season under Simone Enzaki, who had such an instant impact on Inter. And ending a season with 84 points and 52 in goal difference, it's a good start for Simone Enzaki. And I think for his second season, things can really kick off. And we saw them play good football against Liverpool in the Champions League. And so did Milan, to be fair.
So we could potentially see Italian teams start to compete, especially since, you know, Napoli brought Spalletti on and now it's the second consecutive season with them and he did well, but they were very unlucky and at times wasteful. Juve with Allegri, he's gotten them to a final before, you know what I mean? And I believe, no, I don't think he got them to a semi and then it was just the final.
But continuity, now that there's continuity, I believe that Italian teams could potentially do better in Europe. I think so too. If you look at the Roman clubs, if Roma do win the Conference League by the end of this episode, they'll probably be announcing whether they have it or not. They might, you know, with Mourinho, he's done it before. Then you look at, for example, Lazio who have Sarri, and Sarri has actually won the Europa League before.
Then you look at Fiorentina, who can potentially be a dark horse in the Conference League with Italiano. We haven't seen Italiano in a knockout competition before and a proper European one, you know? So it's very, very exciting next season. I already can't wait. The season's ended already and I'm already kind of, thank God there's the Milan victory hyping me up because I'd be kind of lost without you.
But let's move to those two Roman clubs that you mentioned because they qualified for the Europa League. Now this to me is a good finish for Lazio and Roma. I think finishing in fifth and in sixth, I think Roma would just be pissed off that they didn't finish ahead of Lazio. I think that would have been their secondary goal. I think Europe was their primary goal being in the Europa League and then it's like, okay, we can't fucking get past Lazio.
And they beat them in the derby, they beat them three goals and they still didn't manage to get ahead of them. How much of a kick in the ass is that for Roma, do you think? So I think Roma knew what they were getting into when they brought in Mourinho because Mourinho said in an interview to begin with, this is a project. This is a three-year project minimum. And you look at Lazio, they brought in Sarri. Sarri's system needs some time to be understood by the players.
So I think that just achieving a European spot will help them continue with some serenity and actually enable the coaches to make some changes that are needed to really achieve their style. It's a good finish for them. It is a good finish. I agree. I agree. And Lazio particularly at a couple of periods, even more than Roma, I would say, they seemed to struggle when it came to getting things going.
They were always good in front of goals, so they always got goals, but then recovering, taking shape, it seemed like they were struggling. But towards the end of the season, although they lost to Milan, for example, who fucking lifted the trophy, so it's not that embarrassing, Lazio improved greatly towards the end of the season. And I'm so pumped for next season because the top seven has now, because of this, become the top eight.
I don't believe I've seen in recent history in Serie A, eight teams that can perform at the level that they do, eight teams that are a scare for everyone. Now I know you could say that, for example, Atalanta were being walked over and then by Milan beating them 2-0, for example, and losing by Empoli as well. And we saw some teams maybe not being that competitive, but it's still a very, very, very competitive top eight. I don't know who's going to get the trophy next year.
Atalanta have new owners. They do. So we might see some serious investments over there. So at the end of the day, these eight teams in reality could all have a shout to finish top four next season. I agree. I agree. Best league in the world, baby. Best league in the world. No, I genuinely think so this season. Definitely Serie A takes the cake. I'm trying to think in an open-minded way.
Probably the Premier League has obviously the best quality in the world at the moment, Liverpool and City essentially being the two best teams in the world and both in the prem, battling it out season by season, club versus Guardiola, that's insane. But when it comes to competition from first to fucking 10th, Serie A takes the cake. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. The relegation battle till the very end. We didn't even know who was going to be relegated.
Venetia were only relegated with three games to go, I believe. And then the other, the last team took till the last day and Genoa till the penultimate day. Bro, how big is this for Roma? The conference league finals. It's massive. 1-0 against Piano or the December 3rd. Oh my god, Olivier just had it from like fucking... And it's something very, very to be honest.
This would be massive for them, you know, just for the morale boost, just to keep their faith in Mourinho, to keep their faith in their players, you know, this would be massive for them. Even the fact that they'll actually have something in their dusty bonsai room. It's true. A trophy, be it whatever trophy it is, is big for Roma at the moment, just like it would have been for Milan in the past 10 years. You know what I mean? So good on Roma and I'm excited to see them next year.
Man, a summer under Mourinho, god knows who the fuck he's going to bring in. The lord knows the... He's the best when it comes to transfer market. Mourinho's the fucking best. He brings in some dudes, some serious mentalities. He originally started, in my opinion, at least I know Di Maria was performing and he was going to be picked up from Benfica, but he got him to Real, for example. He got Ozil to Real as well. The man is nuts when it comes to the transfer market, so I'm excited to see that.
And Lazio, it'll be interesting if we will see them. Jesus, sorry. It'll be interesting if we see Lazio. Hang on to Maurizio, sorry. I think they will, to be honest with you. I think they'll splash in on Sergei Mlinkovic-Savic. They'll make some money, they'll reinforce other areas, particularly the defence, which is shambolic. Serious addressing Lazio's defence. I think it needs two signings at least. It does, yes. Perhaps even three defensive signings.
But yeah, they could even get a keeper, because you know, Strakosha hasn't been the best. Strakosha, he's in a top seven team, but he doesn't make my top seven goalkeepers. Yeah, and then he definitely... Probably not even my top ten. Bro, bro, bro, I heard Vicario to Fiorentina. That would be so nice, bro. I want to see Vicario at a top level. I would like to see him competing with the bigger teams. He's fantastic. We'll get to talk about Vicario, however, later on.
But you mentioned Fiorentina. Fiorentina finished seventh ahead of Atalanta. What a massive season for Atalanta. Now I know there was a point for Fiorentina, sorry. I know there was a point that we're talking about Fiorentina on top four. We always said it's unrealistic, but they were fucking there and they ended up in seventh rather than, you know, Europa League. But still, what a massive, massive achievement with all the odds against them in the final day.
The foundation was kind of laid a while back signings-wise. The manager, as I've mentioned a million times on this podcast, you know, Commissar keeping Iacchini and standing by him was a mistake in my opinion. It was very clear that Iacchini was a relegation dogfight manager, a mid-table manager at best. So like it was quite unambitious to keep him on.
But you know, they brought on Italiano, they have those players, you know, like Jacopo Naventura, they have a few like seasoned players out there. They brought in a few hot talents like Icona and Nico Gonzalez. They essentially had four wingers playing 50-50 every single game. And with the tools they had and the manager they had, he managed to express himself and to express his style. They were fancy, they were fun to watch and they actually finished in a respectable position.
And obviously for the first six months they had fucking Vlachovic up front. That fucking helped them a lot. I was taking a look at Fiorentina's past fixtures today to see who they did well against, who they didn't do well against. And I was seeing the goals scored by them in every fixture and every fixture is just one goal of Vlachovic, two goals of Vlachovic, one goal of Vlachovic. Crazy man, he had such an epic season at Fiorentina.
Now obviously let's not go into how he's doing at Juve right now because we'll get stuck in another rut. Obviously disappointing for Atalanta to come in eighth, but shall we shift our focus to the relegation battle? Sure. So we've already talked about Salernitana and Caleri briefly. Massive achievement for Salernitana of course to survive. We had them down and out. Our weekly goodbye to Salernitana, all that. What's he gonna do Nicola? He has to walk from Salerno to Rome.
Jesus fucking Christ. To the Vatican I believe. Lalla Madonna. You know what you're saying man. He's gonna walk it to the Vatican from like where he lives. By the time he arrives he's gonna be a corpse. Me that will be champions of Europe by the time he arrives. He's not gonna make it in time for pre-season. You know what? Walk Davide. Fucking walk brother. Walk. Walk. He deserves every second of it man. But like what the fuck do they do now?
Do they keep him on for another season or is it like that's what we got him for and now he's off? You have to keep the guy on. Granted he'll be gone by halfway through the next season. He's a cheat code when a team's battling relegation. This was even more impressive than his crotone feat. So hard to call crotone and not cutrone. Sometimes this comes out. It's true. It's true. We spoke about Cali are being fucking losers and I think we can keep it at that to be honest.
They're gonna get raised, they're gonna get fucked and they're probably gonna get sold. You think so? Well it was already brought up to them. It comes as no surprise. It depends on his pride now we'll see because of that public fallout he might actually hang on. How could you have bro, João Pedro up front? João Pedro, goals this season, how many goals does João Pedro have this season? How could you have a striker that gets you 13 goals and god knows how many assists?
One of the best strikers in the league who could play for the top 7, okay he'll probably be second fiddle but he can be there and he can be competitive over there. How could you have that and you still get relegated? I mean it's not only the fact that they have João Pedro, I mean it's the players around them who are actually... They have Cranio between the sticks, they have Nandez, Marion Roggue. Altair isn't even a bad defender.
Teo Lazbeen good, Bela Nova. Exactly, they have Dulbert, they have good tools, they have seasoned Serie A players, not to mention Nandez even though he was out for quite a while, they have Keita Baldebro. They have enough to finish just outside the relegation pool. For sure, for sure. They can finish ahead of Spezia, I mean they could be battling out for tempo. Spezia are much worse individually, look at Spezia, they are way worse, way worse in every position.
So like Caliari, I'm the least upset of the lot to see them go probably out of the bottom 3, I'm the least upset to see Caliari go down. Fair enough, project wise they're one of the worst, it's true, so good riddance, hopefully they get an overall. Genoa were close? Genoa came close. What I predicted would happen almost happened when Blassine came in and they started racking up those draws, but unfortunately draws were not enough, some of those should have been wins.
You look at Salernitana, they got fewer results than Genoa, but they were wins so they actually counted, they actually climbed, they took significant leaps in the table and overtook 3 teams, 4 teams essentially, 3 teams, 3 teams. But anyway, Genoa have new owners and a decent coach who's staying. They're going to have continuity until next season, I think you mentioned to me that Blassine is going to stay on. He is, I believe he is.
That would be brilliant for them, that would be really good, obviously they improved a lot on their Blassine. It takes just implementing something a bit modern and something a bit different to Genoasga. I think their weird decisions in the beginning and midway through the season is what fucked them, not having, what's his name, the new manager, Blassine.
Not this period where they had Blassine, but the two periods before that, I mean when they got Shevchenko, it was such a risk and was it worth taking when you're that low, you're fighting relegation, you signed Shevchenko. But you look at what he did with Ukraine, Shevchenko, it might have been, if it worked off it would have been called a monster stroke. 100 million percent, you're right, you're right.
But we all know how risky it is when someone doesn't really have club experience in the top level but managing an international club in Ukraine, where he was. I mean he was out of his depth quite frankly and it was evident. And they didn't give him any time either. They didn't get a single win, did they even get a point with fucking Shevchenko? I think they scored one goal on his last game or something like that. Because he hadn't scored. Tragic, tragic.
Shevchenko of the greatest strikers of all time. Bro I am dying to get to our tops and flops, shall we talk about Venezia quickly and get to them? 100%, 100%. Venezia sad to see them go because they're such a cool team. They're such a cool team. They came in, they were cool, everyone was like damn they're fucking cool. But you know what's not cool man, how fucking incapable they are of getting a point, they're just incapable of getting points.
They're that really cool guy in sixth form who repeats. Literally. Literally the guy that starts smoking cigs a bit too early. You know but unfortunately that guy doesn't improve for him, doesn't end well for him. So we'll see with Venezia, hopefully it ends a bit better than that guy. Tops and flops bro. Tops and flops are that beautiful insight of fucking Venezia. So we'll start with Milan. So I hope you know for tops I'm going to mention like 5 players for each team.
Okay try keeping it down to one. Yes bro we'll do. Matthew is 3 minutes plus stoppage time away from winning 300 euros. And Tammy Abraham was down holding his knee and he's clearly wasting time. He looks at Mourinho and he winks bro. Mourinho is just looking on like a proud father. But Mourinho creates champions. He does. He creates champions. Let's get to our tops and flops but yes I'm minutes away and I'm getting really anxious now so I'm trying to earth myself. Milan, who was your top?
So top, I know there are people saying Manon was meant to be the MVP of the season. Look Manon was incredible. But at the end of the day for me the catalyst was clear. There was one player who you could safely say that he won Milan the Scudetto. Because he made moments out of nothing. You look at the game against Fiorentina, you look at the game against even the last one against Asola it was all him. You know it's Rafael Leão. For me the top is easily Rafael Leão. The Serie A MVP by the way.
I agree 100%. I was shouting for Manon as well but that was in context to it's his first season he just came in and for how impressive it is. But for someone that contributed to the team and got the team to where they are today and really put the team on the map. I agree it's Leão. He created goals from nothing. He was insane. Still at times we see his age but we saw what like Vinicius Jr. has come to for example and we will see that with Leão as well. Give him more than 4 million.
Give him more than 4 million. Give the guy 7-8 million. Literally. The guy is unplayable. He is. I was seeing Kyle Walker talking he was saying I don't think there's no players that can get past me. Rafael Leão would fuck you in the ass. Honestly. Shut the fuck up. He's good. He's very good. But Leão has the ability to make the defender look like an amateur. It's the way he knocks the ball with the perfect amount of weight. He just out muscles you. He speeds past you. He's double as far.
He's twice as fast as you are. No matter who you are he's twice your speed. Literally. And it's his long strides. He can really knock a ball forward. And with one step he places himself in front of the striker. So the striker has nowhere to go but into Leão's back. So he's either losing a penalty and potentially getting a red card or he's conceding. The defender is off balance. He has veins popping out of his head. He's frowning.
His eyes are cross-eyed like on the floor getting up to recover and Leão's smiling like a gazelle just fucking. Honestly just squeezing past him. And having him and Teo Hernandez on the same side they're just exhausting right backs and right wingers constantly. It must have been so overwhelming. So top Leão who's your flop? Now flop there are the obvious ones. There's Baratura, there's Baccaioco but of course we're going to talk about people who had a certain amount of expectations to them.
Now you could say Baccaioco had expectations. In fact he's my primary flop. But if you had to look at someone who contributed. The player who actually played the most minutes for Milan I believe this season or the player who had the most appearances in general this season. Salah Makars from his flop because he was so good towards the end of last season and this year he had many people questioning his ability and I feel like he had games where he was just losing the ball very often.
It was very frustrating to watch. He has had good moments but I think he'd be the flop from the starting eleven. Like your answer almost wants to make me change my mind because I agree with you I think he really underperformed and I know that there were never really high expectations but he gave us glimpses of hope because he was so good towards the end of last season for example and in the beginning in this season he was actually really good.
Like commentators were talking about him in the Champions League. Him Diaz and Lea Walves. Oh my god how close final it just got. Oh my god bro you almost lost it there. Jesus Christ. But ah yours almost makes me want to change mine. Mine is Roman Ioli. Roman Ioli that's a good answer bro.
That's a good answer because he had moments to step up and he just didn't and he got benched by Kalulu who granted is a fucking specimen on the half but you know the captain of Milan shouldn't be benched by a youth player. He shouldn't be fourth choice. That's a good shot. He'd be fifth when Kier comes back. Yeah Roman Ioli I mean I would be very surprised if he stayed at this point. But anyway people would be like what about Ibrahim Diaz? Fuck you like listen to me.
Ibrahim Diaz at least he's second choice. He was given second choice. Second choice is fine Ibrahim Diaz. He should have never been a starter to begin with. You know what I mean. Like it was obvious this guy has never played the full season before and you're gonna throw him in the helm like you're gonna throw him in the fucking starting eleven. Like it was too much for him to begin with. Even though he's won the Premier League La Liga and the Serie A. I mean he never really played.
He has pictures with all the trophies bro. When he won. I know they're good for his CBA. Oh my god. They're keepers in the box. We're gonna stop. We're gonna stop and we're gonna talk about this. They got really close to equalizing again and Roma have won it. Roma have won the conference league ladies and gentlemen. And Matt has won it. And Matt has won. How much money bro? This helps me greatly with buying gear kits. Yes it does. 318 euro from 110. You heard that loser. Why aren't you gambling?
Ah 118 or something like that. Good gambler make money man. Look at that. Look at that. You know what you motherfuckers need to work for that. Mela. Inter. Inter. My top. Brazo. 100%. No one comes close. The metronome. There's obviously Perisic which is another option. Mela had a relatively good season in general. He had a dry spell at one point. A long dry spell. A long dry spell. And that's where they lost a lot of points. True true. But Brozovic for sure.
The metronome they're useless without. For sure. Brozovic. Who would you say your flop is? Dev Rai. Oh my god. Same. Same. Just because of the expectations. Last season he was one of the best defenders in the league. This season he was a shadow of his former self. He's the most experienced out of them. And you'd think he'd be the one pulling up his socks and having the better performances. But out of the lot he's probably the worst at starting play from the back. I would easily say so.
And we've seen mistakes come from his head. But his strengths were elsewhere and he really didn't demonstrate that this season. But anyway. I would say when it comes to flops for Inter there weren't many players who fucked up in the league. It's a tough time. There's always the person who lost in the league. Radu. Radu was literally their flop. Undeniable. He had one appearance and he fucking lost in the league. With a bit more thought I would have given it to Radu.
I would have definitely given it to Radu with a bit more thought. Shall we conclude this Radu? Let's say that Brozovic to Radu. Yeah let's say Radu. He literally fucked their entire season. Napoli was a tough one for me. Yep. Same. Top. Ozymen. Ozymen was out for a while. I still put him as my top. It was between him and Fabian. Fabian is always great but I think... He had a good season. Fabian had a very good season but I don't think anyone replaces Ozymen. That's the thing man.
It's not only his goals but it's the attitude he brings to the team. He has a bit of that Zlatan about him, about his personality. He's a bit of a shit house on the pitch. He's incredibly quick. Like Napoli can really play down the middle now. One thing we saw especially after Sarri's time and during Sarri's time, a lot of Napoli's play came from the early crosses, from the wing play. That's how they were mainly utilised in the 4-3-3 of Sarri.
But nowadays we could really see them dart down the middle thanks to Ozymen. And then they can play it from out wide as well thanks to Ozymen. So he changed their entire play just by being a real all-round striker and an energetic fucking nightmare for any defender. Bro after Rafael Leao, there's one player who can solo carry an entire attack and that's Ozymen in the league. I would say when Vlavich was at quarantine I would say Vlavich as well.
True but Vlavich always had the team working for him. When it comes to Ozymen and Leao, they do a lot of the work themselves. You know granted they won two flick-offs with teammates and shit like that but they have the potential to carry the ball from midfield to the box and just fucking shoot themselves. Like without any assistance. And that's very unique. I think Chiro deserves a shout as well when it comes to strikers that can carry front three.
For sure but again he thrives off service unlike the other two. I guess he's quite active outside the area which is obviously… But it's always in link up play like it's not just him charging literally. But anyway my flop is Lorenzo Insinio. Same. And I mean it really doesn't take a lot to figure this one out because obviously he wasn't terrible. He still contributed to the team greatly but in comparison to last season, nothing. He was the best player in the league last season in my opinion.
Easily. He was one of them. Easily. This season nothing, nowhere near that level. He hardly scored from open play man. He scored one or two from open play. He signed for another team halfway through the season. That was my second point. He was the captain. Exactly. So I'm not questioning Insinio's decision. I'm sure he had his reasons but just when it comes to the outcome that that had on the team it wasn't positive.
Sure maybe it put Mertens on a nice little spell because people started appreciating him more but Insinio was their legend, their captain. Even though of course Mertens has god status in Naples. Bro man the fans are just singing Roma. Roma Ibanez is crying his heart out. You look at the players, they're all teary eyed. It's insane scenes right now in Tirana. Where the fuck is Tirana? Albania bro. Shout out to our Albanian women in the world. All our female Albanian listeners.
Thank you very much for listening. We love you. Daddy loves you. That was terrible. That was the worst moment we've had on this podcast. I'm sorry I think we've lost listeners. So bro let's move on to Juve. My top is Quadrado. Now my top because of the entire season not because of his time at Juve is Vlaović. Does that count? No for Juve. For Juve so only servicing the team. We do against categorically by team because of what they contribute to the team. And you said Quadrado. I said Quadrado.
But if it's not Vlaović for the whole season I'd say Debala. It could be Debala as well. Quadrado I chose him more because it's like again Quadrado really stepping up and being a pivotal part of the team. Like again it always seems like they're looking to replace him or they're looking to improve that area and again he always just keeps outperforming. He's always the best option there no matter what happens. Exactly he had a Perisic-esque feel to him.
But you could say Debala I think for a guy that really turned it up and got them goals and made them exciting to watch. Debala even when Vlaović came along Debala was leading him. Debala was good. I'd say Debala in fact. Let's change it to Debala. Cool. Flop. Alexandro. Okay I disagree. Because Alexandro already started dipping last season so the expectations for him to perform weren't that high, the expectations for Delict to perform were high and he had a pretty poor season overall.
He picked up man. He did pick up. He did pick up. He picked up in moments but then always had like a foul. He gave away a foul. I think Juve had a tough season. Or he got fucking destroyed randomly. They did have a tough season and he really struggled man. Delict in my opinion. I think for Juve in that case I would say like individually most players struggled. But Delict has a level of expectations. That's the thing. I mean it's easy to pick Rabio.
But no I wouldn't even say Rabio is their flop because he doesn't have expectations. I'd say they deployed him where he needed to be deployed. Alexandro in my opinion the season didn't have high expectations. People already knew what he's become. Delict on the other hand people are saying come on maybe he's matured and coming off another full season. I see what you mean about Sandro.
But for me it seems that because he's been there for so long and he has performed that alone they take him a couple of games to get back to being a real regular for the team because he has that foundation with them. We should post these on Twitter bro. We did last time when they performed really well. I'll put like Jake's, Matt's and then like people can interact. Juve has an interesting one to debate because again they had a tough season. Shall we move on to Lazio? Yep who's your top?
Now it's hard to not say Trierow Móbela. I have the exact same dilemma as you for sure. He's the top scorer of the season right? But I feel like many of Trierow's goals come in the same games you know what I mean in comfortable victories for Lazio. I wouldn't I wouldn't exactly say that. I wouldn't take anything away from him Móbela. An observation that I've made is that he likes to score when Lazio are demolishing.
When it comes to those very narrow victories it tends to be Sergei Mlinkovic Savic who makes the difference and he's my top. He's my top as well. I think the team ticks around him. Móbela wouldn't be the same without having him there and as a goal scoring midfielder that also contributes so much in the physical department and the breakdown of players. He's a real engine, he's a workhorse and apart from that he has a serious eye for a goal and technically he's insane.
One of the best in the league technically. The most all-rounded midfielder in the league and the best midfielder in the league. He takes it for me. I just hope he can achieve legend status somewhere with the mustache bro. I agree. Can you imagine him alongside Tonali? Oh my god. Let's move on. My flop from Latvia is a cherubi 100%. I don't think that warrants attention. Fell out with the fans. He had poor displays all season. He had attitude problems. Smiling during a loss I believe at a point.
I know they frame it that way as well but just with everything else that has gone on. He's the clear flop. Roma. Now, top again was a difficult one for me. I'm gonna go for the person who's had the best debut season with Roma ever. Tammy Abraham. I don't see who you could be debated with. I'd say Tammy by a landslide. That was for me between Tammy and Lorenzo Pellegrini because Pellegrini is always insane bro and if he isn't scoring free kicks he's fucking setting up goals.
If he isn't he's scoring backheeled flick-ons like on the end of crosses. He's incredible. He's incredible. He's an attacking midfielder man who really attacks the defence, he can play people through, he can take a long shot from set plays, he's amazing. He probably is among the best in the league when it comes to set pieces. Overall set pieces. It's not just free kicks. Free kicks, corners. He's up there. There's like Trella Muglu, him. Who else like? Yeah true.
Tony Ali can whip in a mean free kick or corner. Occasionally. More often than not. There's Luis Alberto as well who's fantastic in that area. But, aha, literally. But what about your flop for Roma? It was hard in my opinion to pick one. I think many of them were victims to maybe harsh criticism by Mourinho early on. You know what I mean? There was Kumballa for example who was a shout. But he really improved.
In my opinion one guy who had high expectations to perform under Mourinho and simply couldn't and half the time Tammy was playing as the only option up front to be honest because of this is Eldor show Mourinho. Okay. I don't know. I think I'll stick to mine. I said Olivera. I think he was brilliant for the first three games that he came in for and then it was like ehh. Yeah fair enough. Fair enough. But in reality he wasn't there for half the season.
Half the time he was there he was decent and then he flopped a bit towards the end. I think it's for the whole season to declare him a flop. That might be a bit harsh. I guess. I guess. I mean Shumorodov and then on the other hand what I think is that he couldn't have been given many opportunities with Tammy. He has 90 minutes in him. They were playing in three competitions man. You know you have two strikers playing in a one.
And fair enough because Zaniolo took the attacking spot as a winger essentially so he had that opportunity. That should have been Shumorodov. It was there for him. But I don't think he had those expectations. So it's a debate. I would say it's a debate between those two. Let us know your thoughts. Fiorentino. I enjoyed this one but I'm not sure of my answers man. I would say their top is Torreira but I was really close to choosing Nico Gonzalez. What? We said we're Vlava just is never an option.
You're right. You're right. Fiorentino's obvious top when he was there man. You're right. Let's say okay but let's change the top. What do you think for the full season and then off. Nico Gonzalez. Nico Gonzalez. Fair enough. And you think Torreira. It was so tight between them. But I think when it comes to grit mentality, performance and just a leader's mentality I would say Torreira was super effective.
I think in those areas in right wing left wing, which is very versatile as well Nico Gonzalez, and there's a lot of competition which means that maybe if he were gone he wouldn't be missed as much as someone. I don't know. Fair enough. But at the same time no one compares to him and then out of the other options. Yeah that's true. What about your flop bro? My flop then was Milenkovic. I put Milenkovic as a flop but I also put Iconi man.
I wasn't sure between Iconi and Milenkovic because Iconi was an animal with Lil and when he came to Fiorentino he couldn't cement that starting spot. It was never his alone. He was always sharing it with Nico Gonzalez, there was Saponara playing on the other side coming on. So yeah I would say Iconi kind of flopped in his first season. I expected more from him. No you're right. I mean he came in with high expectations, obviously we saw what he was capable of as well like you said.
So he could be in the discussion of flop. That's always hard to say in their first season. I know I'm being hypocritical because I just said Olivera but Olivera literally showed it to us for a period where he was actually really good. Iconi hasn't kicked off yet and he hasn't been given many opportunities to kick off. While Milenkovic has had fantastic seasons in Serie A so it is kind of weird seeing him performing at the level he is performing right now. Agreed. Adalena. Adalena top, Pasalic.
This was probably the easiest one. Pasalic you said? For Atalanta? Yeah that's a good shout. You know who I said bro? I said Kup Miners man. Like when it comes to someone who shocked us Kup Miners for sure what a dangerous season. But I just think that when it came no matter what game perhaps maybe the only poor game Kup Miners had this season like obviously poor game was against Milan because he got a yellow card early on and they kind of focused on him.
But other than that he was flawless bro no matter where he played. If they played him behind the strikers he was good. If they played him in that holding mid area he was good. He was the constant. Closer to the striker as well. Exactly. Fantastic player overall. I think he's my man of the season, the player of the season for Atalanta this year. Interesting. I would still say Pasalic because I'm hard headed. But you're right about Kup Miners what a fucking season he's had man.
Flop Gasperini ha ha ha ha ha. But like literally because I don't think there was a fucking player that I would point at and say like they really disappointed me. I think it was just a failed system. For the majority of the season the flop was Muriel but then at the end he picked up and he went on a run. For me the flop is Juan Musso. He thinks so. I think he played better when he was at Udinese. Probably probably but like he was on the end of a lot of pressure.
I know it's always controversial to choose a goalkeeper for both. But you know you have for example many goalkeepers having moments where they save their team. Musso didn't have as many as I typically see him have. He's had some good games though. He's had some really good games. He's had amazing games but not to the extent that others in his position have had elsewhere. Like you look at Vicario for example. You look at Manon. You know these guys man had incredible moments.
By the way for Inter's flop speaking of goalkeepers it reminded me I'm going to segue completely off. We should have talked about Handanovic as well. We could have but I think he's done. He's had decent enough moments to kind of steer him a bit clear of that position. As a flop for Atalanta I couldn't think of anyone else but like Petzella and it's really harsh because he was forced into that position. It's obviously an opportunity for him.
But I think in comparison to what they had in Gost and seeing Petzella taking that role obviously you're going to be disappointed and it's unfortunate for him but that's what I can see and that's what I understand. What about Jeremy Bogat? Again I didn't choose him because he's just arrived there and it's not his fault. That's why. That's my reasoning. What could easily be when you think of people who didn't play well? Expectations wise you look at Bogat he's a flop you know.
Same logic, Muriel same logic, Mossomane. These players with high expectations didn't quite perform at the highest level and then you think so many people aren't performing and there's something going on internally. I'd definitely say it's within that front line though their flops. Hellas Verona top I think was an easy one. You put Simeone? No I put Caprari. I put Caprari as well. A man of contract. Same logic, Simeone had that run, Caprari was there for the entirety of the season.
Caprari was more consistent and I know that when Simeone is on a good run of form he scores a hat trick and he scores from like four against lots. But for someone that performed in my opinion almost every single game just creating, creating, creating, dribbling, terrorizing I would say Caprari for sure. Caprari the little terrorist. Who do you say their flop is? Kalinic. I put Kalinic but I also put Cecherini. Cecherini had a bit of a poor season as well. I'd also put Lazovic.
Had a couple of tough moments. Aha you could put Lazovic as well. Lazovic has games where I'm like knife. But that's it, it's never more than that. Like up against Calabria. No but I think overall definitely 100% Kalinic. Kalinic 100%. To the point that they terminated his contract. Exactly. Torino top Bremer. Definitely. He won the defender of the year as well, defender of the season. Would you say your flop is Bellotti? I would say my flop is Bellotti. Why?
Because again you look at Torino have finally secured a top coach right. I mean why it's an obvious answer. He normally contributes double figures. They've brought in Juric. Everyone thought with a stable system this guy would be back at his best and quite simply he wasn't granted. He struggled with injuries once again. But he should have had a better season I think man overall. Looking at it right now he had service, he had Pobega, Brekel, a single on the wing. There were players to serve him.
Like you said alright he was injured for a while. But you think for someone who's been in the league for that long, who's been with the team for so long that maybe you'd expect the bounce back to be a little bit cleaner, a little bit quicker. And I know then he was better towards the end of the season but like too late your team were performing without you for a while before you came back. It is just the season.
He's still obviously a great asset to have for them even though they're fucking losing him. They're losing him yeah. Sasualo top Domenico Berardi. Yep I agree. Obviously double figure statistics and goals and assists. I think he's clear of everyone but the closest that gets to him is Skamaka. Skamaka or even because of some very nice moments Hamad Traur.
Hamad Traur as well but towards the end as well as well but when you look at the figures of Berardi and of Skamaka you can't really compare anyone else to that. You can't even compare Skamaka to Berardi. Exactly Berardi is in a close of his own over there. But anyway flop. Kirikas. Kirikas. Fuck you Kirikas. I'm going to go fuck. I hope you don't listen bro. Odineze who's your top? Deo Lefeo. I put Deo Lefeo but I also put Molina. Bro I put Molina. Remember Deo Lefeo exists.
Thought I was an idiot. Removed Molina. Put Deo Lefeo. But I put Molina because expectations then were low. Well not low but everyone thought alright they have a good right wing back. But no one expected him to be this good. Exactly. But yeah bro two very good shouts of course. It's difficult I think for me. Still Deo Lefeo probably. Deo Lefeo takes the cake. Molina has a cool shot. I agree. And your flop.
No man I couldn't really identify a weakness per se but I think considering last year he had a pretty good season. I think I know what you're going to say and I think I said the same thing. This year he was a bit shaky. No you think? Same. It's really look. Bram. Big dick Bram. That's the wildest assumption. He is looking lean. He is. He's looking lean. He looks in really good shape. He's been cutting.
Bolonja. Big Bram. Bolonja their top I went a bit cultural rather than just saying Arnautovic and I said Skorupski. Skorupski had a great season. Hickey had a great season but the top for me is Arnautovic. They haven't had a striker in ages. They got one and he scored what 13, 14 goals. Something like that. And the same argument you had about Chiron. The same argument I had about Simeone. I feel like he scores a lot in the same matches. I could get a brace here and a brace there.
I don't think decisively. I'm wrong because he's done it. He has definitely done it but I just really want to give the benefit of the doubt to Skorupski because he was unbelievable at times. He was seriously unbelievable but he had a shaky start. Yeah true. I'm just going to stick to Warny though. Flop. Flop for Bolonja. Jesus I lost where I was. This was tough. I had such a difficult time coming up with the flop. I ended up putting Sansone. Sansone, it's not a bad option. I put Orsalini man.
Orsalini didn't. I think he shows it a little bit when it comes on. He's off the bench and he does score, it's true, but he didn't cement his starting spot again. This guy's getting in here. It's true. Nor did Soriano. Soriano's a good shout for flop man. Soriano's probably the flop. They both lost their places to Schouten and who was the other guy? De Silvestro starting over Orsalini. They were playing a 3-5-2. I guess the formation doesn't favour Orsalini at all.
And that's why I was slightly reluctant to put Orsalini to be honest. I'd say Soriano's more of a shout over him. But I don't know, Sansone, it always seems to me like he's slightly overrated. He's always been kind of a solid player to have. You look at him back in his Sasuolo days, back in his Villarreal days. He was always a player who would score every now and then. He was never quite pivotal in my opinion. So I don't know, he hasn't been as good with Bologna. Like 84 appearances, 8 goals.
Those aren't great. No, they're not great stats. And to be honest, he left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth because in the later stages he seemed hungry, he seemed really keen to get his numbers up and that made him slightly greedy at times. True. The whole Bologna effect. Yeah, literally. So would we stick to mine or would we go for yours, do you think? I think we should go for… Soriano is a good… I think Soriano is the best shout because high expectations again. I would agree. Empoli?
Pinamonte top. Vicario. Oh, you bitch. That's a good shout. That's a good shout, of course. Yours is probably fairer than mine. Pinamonte, he had his first starting season in Serie A, he got double digits, he nailed it. He was a good striker, successful season, top player, top season. 100%. And then on the other end, between the sticks, just making miracles at times. But then also fucking up occasionally as well. You see his inexperience, but his raw talent is unbelievable.
If he brushes up on his distribution and how he comes out for crosses and stuff, he'll be fucking insane one day. Flop Cutrone? I agree, bro. If Cutrone is 24 years old and he still hasn't caught the break that he needs. You look at, for example, Pinamonte on the other hand, let's see, he's 23 years old, a year younger, and he's had his breakout season. Granted, Cutrone did have a season with Milan where he really broke onto the scene, but he hasn't managed to replicate that since.
And I fear his ability to currently play for a team that isn't in the relegation pool in this area. Cutrone is a very average player when it comes to his ability, but he is a beast mentally and that's what has given him good spells. He can't rely on his technical ability to get him anywhere. So it's all about the confidence that he's building. It's the rhythm he's in. It's his fight. I'm not listening to you. I'm watching a video of Salerno Tane getting promoted. Let's keep it together.
Where were we, bro? You really threw me off. We were talking about Cutrone being shit. That's one way to put it. Sampdoria. Next. Sampdoria. My top is Candreva. Candreva seemed to slow down when it comes to his contributions, but his numbers are still fucking crazy. They are. Look, it was between him and Caputo. Caputo then grew into the season. They had reverse seasons.
Exactly. So I put Caputo and Candreva in that order because growing into the season to me is more important than slipping up and being really good in the beginning. Fair enough. I think Candreva really contributed to some very important points that they got early on. That's true. That would have saved them from relegation. Flop. Giovinco. I put Giovinco slash Qualiarella. So Giovinco for sure.
Why the fuck were we remotely excited to see him back in the league if he wasn't going to get to the upper 20s? Well, he did. He played a bit. And he was rubbish. Yeah, he looked like a fucking fish out of water. Qualiarella then, I mean, a bit of a flop because we saw what he's capable of at an old age, but it's showing now. His age is really showing. Yeah, I put for the vast majority of the season, Audaro, but he had his moments as well.
But he came back and then he fought back to earn his spot back. So that's why I would say Giovinco over him. Same. Spezia, top, Providen. Ooh, a good shout. A very good shout. I put Verde. Yeah, Verde was my second option. Whenever he comes on or whenever he's playing, there's just some life to Spezia. He played very boring football at times. Technically, he's their best player for sure. I agree. And then there's Bastoni, who is always a good shout.
He wasn't as influential this season because he had more problems than usual, you know, injury wise. So yeah, I would say I would say Providen was the best player for Spezia. Fair enough. Fair enough. Your flop? Okay. I put Nzola. Nzola is a good shout as well. Nzola, you know, after the end of last season where he kind of… No, he exploded right before the winter Mercato last season. Everyone bought him on fantasy football and he didn't score a single goal ever again.
Like, I think he scored maybe since then, he scored one or two. But yeah, he's definitely a flop. It's time to go. I put Manay because Manay plays more and he honestly looks terrible half the time he plays. He's a Barcelona youth product, Manay. You know, he should be playing better than he is. Perhaps. Still fucking better than Nzola. Manay plays. That's what's not fair. That's true. That's true. I get where you're coming from, bro. Salernitana, top, Bonazzoli.
And then there's Verdi since he's come in. Yeah. He's been really good. I put him there. Flop Ribery, easy. Yes, actually, Ribery, I forgot about him. I put Di Takio. But I guess he had no expectations. After Ribery, I put Perotti. That's a good shout. Well, he didn't contribute, but he actually played well out on the left side. He was holding up the ball well. He'd come on in the last few moments, helped create a bit. He had good moments.
He missed the penalty, a very important penalty for them. But I wouldn't call him essentially a flop. Ribery is more of a flop. Yeah, Ribery 100%. 100%. Kaleri. Top, Joao. Joao Pedro, top. Joao Pedro, easy. Flop. Nandez, still, I had him in January and I have him now. I would say not Nandez because he was injured for too long. I'd say Pavoletti, man, because sometimes they look like they're a man down with him playing. And even Keita Balde, man, not managing to cement his spot in this.
It's true. Granted, they're a good team, but he could have easily found a starting spot in this game. Knowing his quality. Keita on the CV, just because of that, typically. Literally. And when a team is struggling, like, you have to step up. It's as simple as that. If you step up, you're going to get minutes. Save your boys. Exactly. Next is Genoa. Top, this was a real struggle for me. Genoa. For me, I picked a player that's impressed me. It was between two players who have impressed me.
It was between Cambiasso, who's impressed me, but I wouldn't say enough to be a top. But a very solid player for them throughout the entire season was Vasquez, and I put him as my top. Okay, good shout. Good shout. I struggled way, way, way too much with this one. Obviously, there's the debate of Destra, because he's their top goal scorer. There's the option of Van Hoysden, that when it comes to a player that came out of nowhere and showed that he was good, really good, Van Hoysden.
And then there's Cirigo as well, who at times where they were terrible, he really kept them in it. But Vasquez is a great shout as well. So who's your official lancer? I think I'll stick to Cirigo. Cirigo is a good shout, man. He had a few amazing saves, rolling back the years. Flop. Ekoban. He didn't exactly have an easy time, bro. Ekoban, right? What do you mean? He didn't have an easy time this season. He wasn't good at all.
No, I thought you were going to talk about some injury that I was unaware of. No, no. He had a very tough time. I would say the flop would be the man they brought in to try to actually save the show. Piccoli. Piccoli came in from Atalanta and like, again, struggled a bit with injuries, granted, but didn't even score, man. It's true, it's true. Piccoli, to be honest, I didn't even think of Piccoli. It could be Piccoli, to be completely honest. And Atalanta made a mistake getting rid of him.
It's true, because then they ended up playing with Mahal up front. Exactly. But anyway, Venecia. Top, Aramu. Aramu, yep. It was between Aramu, Kareke. Shout out to Ampadu, Okareke. The most dynamic player in the league. The most dynamic player in the league. The most dynamic player in the league. The most dynamic player in the league. The most dynamic player in the league. Flop is Lennani. Lennani, or Kuisance, I would say, but Lennani mostly. Kuisance, really?
I mean, Bayern Munich player, you know, high expectations. Again, wasn't insane, you know. Lennani, though, takes the cake by far. I mean, expectations were so high, and he fucking did nothing. That's true. That's true. So let us know, guys, what you agree with and disagree with on Twitter or Instagram, if you think anything was fucking catastrophic or disastrous as a statement. Just message us that we're stupid, please. We'd love to hear from you. Shall we move on to the team of the season?
Yes. Oh, this is my favorite part, I think. But I'm so excited for this. I don't have it written, I have it memorized in my noggin. Yes. So we're going 3-5-2. 3-5-2. Are we going, for example, before we start, players in the 3-5-2, how strict to their position do they have to be? Like, for example, if you put them as a fullback, like as a wingback in a 3-5-2, do they have to be defensively aware?
Do they have to contribute defensively, or is it just they play on the left, so I'm going to pop them there? Let's cross those bridges when we get to them. We can make some exceptions here and there in that case. So keeper, shall we do it in turns, who goes first? So first you go first, then me. I'd like to say Mike Mannyan because he had an astronomical season. He's a fantastic goalkeeper and a great leader. He's just overall what a steal. Paolo Maldini bringing him in, fantastic.
Vicario, I'm joking. Mannyan is one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world at the moment. The saves he produces and his distribution and the way he leads the defence and the fact that he's 26 years old, he's so athletic as well. We saw him make one mistake, one slash two mistakes in the Salah el-Nitana game, but otherwise flawless. One of the best goalkeepers in the world this season. Love him, love him. Now shall we do defender by defender or the three defenders? I think centre-back.
Sorry, we're going to debate centre-back by centre-back. I'll go first. No, it's my turn now. Sure, go for it. Bremer, Tomori, Skriniar. Very good. Bremer, Tomori and… Kalulu's a shout. Koulibaly's a shout. Koulibaly's a shout but he missed a lot. You have to say Skriniar, I say Skriniar. Tomori Bremer, Skriniar. I think it's disrespectful and really biased if we don't put him there. Now let's go for the wing backs. You say the wing backs.
I'm going to put on the left, this is the debate, I'm going to put layout bro, I'm going to put layout as a wing back and a 3-5-2. I guess it's cheating. We're not thinking about balance and it is cheating but the idea lay in that position that for sure would be per usage but the fact that layout's contribution is actually one meal on the league, he's made history. You know what, fuck it, we're not looking to… He won MVP in Serie A, I have put him there. We're not looking to… Field this team.
Field this team and fuck you, layout is the left winger. We've told our listeners, no before we told Kirikas, okay we're fine, this is the second time, you just told our listeners to go fuck themselves bro. No, no, it's bands, they get it. So I would say layout, then in that case you put Berardi on the right. Exactly, layout on the left, Berardi on the right. Oh I had a really cultured choice in how I really cultured decision. No, I had Molina. Oh, very nice.
It would have been a really nice shout but if we're doing it like this we'd fuck it to be honest, it should be. We should make a hipster 11 after. That's true. We should have done like an under 23 one or something like that. That's a good one for the next episode maybe. Nice. Center midfielders, we need three. Now my three are… Mine, mine, mine. Okay sure, go for it. Milinkovic Savic, Tonali and Brozovic. We're so boring man, I have the exact same three. I have the exact same three bro.
But I mean the only one that's debatable that you can take out if you're looking at contributions, if you're looking to be that guy, it's Tonali. Exactly. But Tonali had moments where he won Milan de Ligue. Exactly, exactly. His goal. If you watch football you choose Tonali for that position. Same with Brozovic to be honest, doesn't have much contribution to him but if you watch fucking football then you choose Brozovic.
Now the competitors for Tonali in this position for me were Cialanoglu and Pellegrini. Yes. I would say that Tonali overall his season was better obviously, who's happier right now? I agree, I agree. I saw this post by this Inter fan page saying that Cialanoglu won with the move because he won two trophies and Milan won one. I mean you can't really help this person eh. Fair enough. Strikers is the easiest in the fucking world. It isn't and I have a feeling we're going to disagree.
Do I have to say am I first now or am I jumping the gun yet again? Bro, we decided that we're going to take it in terms. I know and I can't keep up. God knows which is which. Now it's you. Okay, now it's me. One striker is a mobile of course and the other strikers between two people and almost one excludes the other. Okay, I'm going to go for literally output. Vlaović, fuck it. 100% bro. Who are you?
Because if I look in terms of quality, in terms of talent and in terms of pure ability, I think Ozzyman takes the cake over Vlaović bro. I'm sorry that's just it's something I strongly believe. I think Ozzyman is a better striker than Vlaović. I disagree. I disagree. Is it what? Is it because of the uve spell? No bro, no it's not. It's just the fact. He's unplayable Vlaović. Vlaović can be zoned out of games and we've seen it. I don't think so. With uve we've seen it so many times.
No, but that's because he's not exploited in his position. He's not deployed as a fucking goal scoring striker. We've discussed this. I think, I think. He's put in positions, granted he doesn't get, exactly he doesn't get the service. That's the problem because he's put in the position to score bro. He's in the box all the time. He's always on the defensive line. You're going to compare the chances he used to get in an Italiano system and the chances that he gets now in an Almeida system.
Of course, but that's my point entirely. If Napoli are shitting the bed, Ozymen single-handedly solo charges the entire attack. And I don't see Vlaović doing that. I think Ozymen as a player has the potential to be unplayable. I'm talking about a 100 million euro player. Vlaović can hit free kicks. He can hit it from distance. He can play a guy in as well. He's good in the air as well. I think he's better in the air than Ozymen.
They both bring something bro, but I think Vlaović has proven that he is a better striker than Ozymen. I know that Ozymen had his injuries, two bad injuries. He has many injuries, but that's the thing. He always overcomes it. Next season we'll find out who's better. That's what we said last season for this one. He got injured again, so now we'll see. True, true. And coach of the season. Piole. Piole's on fire, baby. Piole. Okay, let's do our top three. So we make this a bit more exciting.
I would say my top three would be in this order. I would say Piole, Nicola, Italiano. Piole, Nicola, Inzaghi, and then Italiano. Okay. Because, you know, Inzaghi, it would be very... There's Juric and Tudor, which are great three. Not of three though. I'm gonna fucking... Is it crazy if I put Tudor, man, for the way he turned things around? I mean, it wouldn't be crazy, bro. He had an impressive... What he did is impressive.
Ah, but Italiano. Italiano changed. Italiano as well, bro, but Italiano lost games 4-0. I guess. You know what I mean? That's what puts me off. Inzaghi got a weekend inter and kept them as title contenders till the very last day. You know what I mean? Great season. I guess you can't have title contenders like inter and their coach doesn't get top three praise when he falls down to the last game. Exactly.
His first season with the team who are going through, not a reef shuffle, but they lost Hakimi and Lukaku. Fuck it. You're right. Inzaghi's in third. I'm safe to say again, same thing about Spalletti, for example. But anyway. That's true. Welcome back to our question segment. You can find us on Instagram or Twitter at, say, Spotlight. Drop your questions or your hot takes. We will react to anything over here. We'll go nuts. Shall we? We shall.
The first question comes from Adam underscore Doublay on Instagram. Is that how you pronounce that last name? I guess. I guess. I think so. Thank you very much for listening and for dropping a question. Thank you, brother. He says, rank the top five league champions in order. That's a very good question. That's a good one. Oh, it starts off weird. So let's go through the top five league champions. So there's Bayern, there's PSG, there's Real, there's City and there's Milan.
Obviously, Real beat City in dramatic fashion in the Champions League semi-finals, which typically would make people put Real ahead of City. However, I think what City show in the Premier League week in, week out, 90 something points, doing crazy numbers, getting the better of Liverpool throughout. I would put City first. I think Real just are demonic when it comes to Champions League football. Yeah, in fact, that's the reason I put Real in Madrid.
They won the league and they are in the Champions League final in a season where they've been written off. You know, they're a team that's relentless. They're a team that's never dead. They could be 3-0 down their back. They have the ability. Real, they have the ability to beat teams that are better than them. They don't need to be the better team. But they will always be the Galacticos, bro. They are the epitome of a godly footballing club. So I guess they're the elite for me.
In my eyes, anyway, they're always the elite. And every time I flick on the Champions League, they're there. Every time I read news about Champions League, they're there. When was the last time they got knocked out in the quarterfinals? They got knocked out against Ajax recently, but that was kind of bizarre. They did have a bit of a shitty spell in the last year or maybe even two. But still, their trophies would beg to differ in those cases as well. So let's go Real first.
No, you can read yours. We don't need to agree. Okay, cool. Well, you've convinced me. So Real City, I have so far. And then PSG. And then I have Bayern. You have Bayern ahead of PSG. I would put PSG ahead of Bayern. I think that individually PSG have a better team than Bayern. But when it comes to the way the clubs run, the way the team plays, the structure, the system, Bayern are my... I hate PSG. I hate PSG.
And like you're saying, Bayern definitely have better management, but you can't deny the talent that PSG have. Individual, yes, but this is the key word here is team. I would still say PSG. I think PSG get the better of Bayern at the moment. A couple of seasons ago, it was different. Bayern were better than PSG, but they played against each other in the final when Bayern won back in 2020. And then the next season, they played again in the Champions League and PSG got the better of them.
And they've just seemed a bit better than them since that. Yeah. I would even go as far as saying is that team-wise as a collective, PSG might be the worst of the lot in the top five. But of course, I'm going to be a bit more level-headed over here and say that, of course, the new boys to the screw are the worst of the lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Milan are obviously in fifth, right? For sure. They have holes in their starting 11, while the other teams have superstars on the bench.
Milan are under good management. They have a financial takeover. They could very much get that in the future. In the next five years, we could see Milan being there a bit more. They're an attractive place to go right now. There are a few positions like the right wing and the camp position. People are fucking... And striker as well. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Players are looking at them being like, I can be the guy for this team, for the historic Milan team that's just won a Scudetto.
I can be the main guy. Literally. So yeah, it's very exciting. Yep. I would say City, Real, PSG, Bayern, Milan. Yeah, and I would say Real Madrid City, Bayern, PSG, Milan. Fantastic. Fantastic. The next question comes from our boy Steve Collero. Steve758 on Instagram. Add him. He's fucking sick. He says, Leos lost three games. Mamma mia. It's not a question. It's just like, holy shit. I agree, bro. I agree as fuck. I agree. Like, we've shown him enough praise in this episode.
Like he could beat any right back in the world in a one on one. He's one of the most dangerous left wingers in the world at the moment, man. Hands down. It's true. It's true. But anyway, man, that was a fun episode. That was. I love these types of episodes, man. We can just kick back, you know, go easy on the prep. I feel like we prepare for every episode weekly and we spend hours preparing. This, it felt like the entire season's worth of preparation has led to this moment. It's true.
It was a way more laid back one, very much more like opinion based rather than statistics and all that. Yeah. To be honest, I want to have more episodes like this, man. They're just way more fun to me. It's fun also being informative, man. You know, giving people the numbers, you know, what actually happened. That's true. Fantastic. What let us know, guys, what you prefer?
Whether you want to hear us kick back, having a nice little chat, or if you want us to bring all the information forward so you guys won't miss a thing. Yeah. But that concludes it. Wow. It's been an entire 38 matches of football that we've covered, a few specials here and there. 40 episodes. Wow. Something we've actually done. It's pretty nuts. Yeah. Nice, bro. High five. I'm sorry. I'm clammy. That's fine. You're really wet, bro. I am really wet. Thank you guys for being here for the ride.
We have a couple of specials coming up. I know we want to do a Roma special, want to do another Milan special, want to bring some special guests on. So stay tuned, follow us, rate us, and love you all. Bye bye.