58: The Return of Serie A

And let's get ready to count together. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! We did it! Whilst we wish you all all the happiness and health in the world for 2023, which is just two days away now, we'd also like to wish a farewell to Pelé, widely recognized as the greatest of all time, scoring 732 goals in 792 games and picking up three World Cup trophies in the process for Brazil. Another Serie A spotlight episode and another intro about death. Fantastic.

We're here today in great anticipation of the 4th of January which brings the return of Serie A. We're joined by our good friend Luuk Mintov, who you all know by now to go through where we left off, and the fixture list for the return of Serie A. It's a pleasure to be back, as always. Welcome back brother. Thank you fine gentlemen. Two hours late. Two hours late. I am very late today. Half 11 and I have work tomorrow Mintov. Oh you have work tomorrow? Yes. So you really must hate me.

Yeah. I really hope the milkshake will make your morning very good. I don't mind that you were late. What do you mind? The biggest problem was that you disappeared. I was watching a play. So I mean, which was... Send me a text. I was watching a play. I don't know what was playing and texts but... Bro, Mintov, I want to hear your opinion. Is Pele the goat? You know it's really hard for me to give opinions about these really old players.

I really struggle to say who's the best because it can be off so many things. And then where do you stop? Who's the cut-off point? Who are you comparing Pele with? Where's let's say the classic three. Pele, Maradona, Messi. Ronaldo. And Ronaldo. Who puts Ronaldo on there? But then there's the other Ronaldo. But the other Ronaldo doesn't have the numbers. And then there's Zidane, there's Ronaldo Minto. That's why I said to get confused. It's true. I don't really like these debates.

But Pele, many people argue that he played in a... In a... Farmer's league. Yeah, in a Farmer's league essentially. And they scored so many goals. Exactly. But the Brazilian league back then was top. The Brazil team that won three World Cups was all... It consisted of players from Brazil. They all played in Brazil. Santos was the place to play. They were beating European teams back then. So and to win three World Cups is crazy. Yeah, and anti-debut. I'm gonna go ahead and say Messi.

Yeah. Okay. It's a very fair shout. I mean, yes. Everyone agrees with you now. It sounds really agreeable because he just won the World Cup. But I think that this reinforces the answer. Because he's won so many Champions Leagues. So has Ronaldo. Yeah. Fair. But I'm biased though. It's really difficult. I mean, he's a player we watch. I like seeing him play. I like seeing his ungratefulness. And I just like his stoic attitude. Definitely. So it's so difficult for me to... Like I adore Messi.

I think he's definitely in the debate. As I think Maradona's in the debate. I think Ronaldo is somewhere in that debate. And he can be given the benefit of the doubt on certain occasions. I think Pelé remains the greatest of all time. As in he won three World Cups. You know what I mean? If we're gonna talk about the competition in Brazil, which clearly as you mentioned, Jake was the best league to play in at that time. Plus he played in America as well.

Three World Cups. And he debuted for Brazil at the age of 16. And I think he introduced so much to the game with all the skill moves that he brought to the game, with the mentality that he brought into the game. I think for back then, he reinvented the game. And he's everyone's idol. Everyone gets everything from him. I think it favors him that he was there in the 60s, 70s and 50s. But I think I'll give the go to debate to Pelé. You? Yes, I'm torn between all three of them to be honest.

I mean, you know, when it comes to raw, just ability and passion and the whole package for me, it's Maradona. You know, he was a demon. Like I was a rabid dog. Like he was. He also scored some of the best goals compared to the others. Yes. Messi scored loads of goals. So was Ronaldo. But the quality of Maradona's goals is insane. He scored some naughty goals, you know? I don't know. I can't pick. I'm just happy we got to enjoy one of those two.

We're a bit too young to have enjoyed Maradona and Pelé to the max. You want to hear a fun fact? Please. It's the only time I would say that my dad's been an Osh in his life. An Osh is a vagina for everyone. And a vagina for more of an idiotic sense, not a scaredy cat. An idiotic vagina. Exactly. My dad's not a scaredy cat. But in this occasion, he basically met Pelé. He came to Malta once. He had like a like a meet and greet in Malta. Did they play like Hummelspaten? I don't know.

I don't know whether they played something. But they either played it friendly or he was just here greeting fans. My dad went, met him, got an autograph, got it signed, shook his hand, spoke to him. And years later, he left his mother's house, of course. And basically, long story short, he lost this autograph. Oh my God. We lost the ones of the entire Milan team when they went to the Radisson. We had Kankas, Seydorfs, everyone's bro, Dida, Kaladze.

We had everyone's bro, except for, we had Maldini's. Kosta Kurta was the cunt. Kosta Kurta was the cunt. Kaladze was the best one. The only problem was Italy had just won the World Cup, so we didn't meet Gattuso. We didn't meet Nesta. We didn't meet Pirlo. We didn't meet Gjelardino. We met Maldini because he had retired from the national team back then. But we didn't meet the Inzaghi. We didn't meet Ma. So we missed out on that. You had like half a group of legends.

They were still pretty impressive. Seydorfs back in front of you. It's crazy. And we're telling Dida, wow, you're tall. And saying, no. Wow, you're short. So shall we get into it? I think the big question is after the World Cup, as much as we were all in tune and watching, say, yeah, we're a bit lost after we stopped for around a month and a half to two months. So where we left off, guys, is basically Napoli on top by eight points above Milan. Then is Juve and Lazio forming that top four.

Inter and Atalanta aren't far off both on 30 points, one point. No, excuse me. Lazio and Inter are on 30 points and then Atalanta are on 27. Tied with Roma on 27. So that's the top seven in that case. The relegation battle is Verona last on five points. Sampdoria won before the last on six points. Cremonese on seven points. And then Spezia on 13. Lecce on 15. So on and so forth. And Mendoza Sassuolo on 16. So that's kind of where things stand right now. I mean, Napoli at the top.

You know, as a Milan fan, I would obviously like to see Milan there. But Argentina winning the World Cup and Napoli winning this area would be quite a joy for the late Maradona. I know. Speaking of... I think he would be very happy with that. He would be very happy. I think that would have been. There are certain things that would have made him much happier, I think, considering his lifestyle. Probably not having too much coke in his bloodstream. But anyway.

So what we're going to do, guys, is we're going to go through every single matchup. We're going to talk about the friendlies that they played. We're going to talk about their last three games. Just to remind you of how they left off. We're also going to look at interesting matchups to look out for in these fixtures. Exactly.

The games that we're going to be looking at that are basically all taking place on January 4th from midday all the way up to the evening is Salernitana in 12th against Milan, who are in second. Sassuolo against Sampdoria, that's 15th against 19th. Torino, who's in 9th against last placed Verona. Spezia against Atalanta. Roma facing Bologna, that is quite a juicy one, considering Roma's form. Does form even matter? That's a question we'll get into.

Form reset. Lecce against Lazio, Fiorentina against Monza. That's a nice one. A lot of weapons in both those sides. Cromonaise Juventus, we could see them both in Serie A. But next season, Udinese Empoli and obviously the final one, Inter Napoli, which I'm sure will get quite a few watches. If you want to come over to watch that, mid-January 4th. He's not going to be here. He's going to be back in Germany. I would love to be. I'd love to be here watching with you.

Andiamo Berlino Veppe. Andiamo Berlino Veppe. That's obviously needless to say, the fixture that we're all excited for. It's Napoli and first-place Inter at fifth. Inter have been struggling, but since we've seen them pick it up a bit, they're back to fluid football. Obviously there's the debate of are they going to be as dangerous because of Lukaku and Lautaro's form? Is Lautaro going to suffer from the form that he had in the World Cup?

Or is he going to be on a high from winning the World Cup? So there's a lot of interesting factors to look into that game as well. I think Lautaro, before we go into it, I think he'd have understood that he was going to be a catalyst in that team. There are too many players, man. I don't know, I think looking at the other strikers around him, he's the most prolific. He is, but again, there are big names around him. There are, no, in the team, sure.

I mean, he could have easily been taken the role as a support striker. And to be honest, he did that quite well. The problem is when he got his chances, he fumbled them. I think the problem, so we'll get into it. In Inter though, he hasn't been fumbling them. That's it. The thing is, at Inter, we always say how good he is playing in a two up front. That's when he has Lukaku and he has Dzeko. In this case, he had to be the sole striker.

Not the sole striker because there was Messi to his side, but Messi drops back. Messi carries the ball forward. So he had to be just a finisher. And maybe that's not the role he was destined to play. Let's put it that way. Fair point. It's Shadows of Higuain now with the national team. Another great domestic striker who flopped with Argentina. All he needs to do is get a bit overweight now and it'll be an exact replica of him. I think we can get into it though.

We can start with Salernitana against Milan. So Salernitana, they've kind of showed us that they're not the same side that kind of sat in last for the majority of last season. And they kind of picked up that momentum that Davide Nicola brought them at the end of last campaign. They stuck with it, but they have recently struggled a little bit. So in their previous three, they've drawn at home to Cremona, but some of the best sides have drawn to Cremona this season.

They've lost a way against Fiorentina, a struggling Fiorentina, two goals to one. And then they got absolutely obliterated by Monza, three goals to nil. Since then, obviously, they had those two friendlies. They conceded three goals in each of them. They lost three nil to Fenerbahce and they lost three one to Alanya Spor. So they're not exactly going through the best periods right now. Milan, on the other hand, obviously, the champions, they're only two points off where they were last season.

But obviously Napoli are Napoli. They haven't lost a single game, so they're kind of running away with it right now. And Milan are eight points from that position. Form-wise, Milan have also kind of fallen off of it a little bit. We're seeing a lot of last minute goals, a lot of that, you know, 70th minute and it's still draw, 80th minute and it's still draw, that kind of cycle that Milan fans go through consistently.

There was that 2-1 victory against Spezia thanks to Oli G. There was then the very disappointing nil-nil draw to Cremona. And then that 2-1 victory against Fiorentina, which also had a last minute goal. Interesting match-up. Obviously, we don't know how things are going to go because of the World Cup and the long break and does form really matter? Let's start off with that. Do you guys think that form matters at all? So I think that it's been so long that it probably doesn't.

I feel like teams have had plenty of time to reset now, both physically and mentally. And some of these teams, like Salernitano, who did not have many players featuring at the World Cup, will have had more time to get their shit together, basically. I think this is a blank slate and everyone's starting fresh, personally. I totally agree with that and I feel like basically, it's the start of the season but the players aren't in pre-season mode.

They're all geared up but you've just basically pushed off the car and you've been giving it a break. But the car, as soon as you push it back on, the cars need time to gear up again. It's ready to go from the get-go. So, fortunately, because people have still been training, all the work at the World Cup has been going on, but also because there have been friendlies going on as well. And I think that this will help the smaller clubs much more than anything else.

Because, of course, they have less players going to the World Cup and the whole team is there from the get-go and they can build this, build up the momentum and the morale again from scratch. Of course, players coming and going from bigger teams, like Malpini, Inter, whatever, and so on, you're going to have half a team and then other players are coming back and it takes time to like regel again. This might be a good time to bet on upsets.

I would definitely agree with that because there might be a whole lot of underestimation going on. There might be a whole load of tactics that might not be completely spot on again because you've had a bit of time away and other teams in this period might have been trying new things or experimenting with their team. Like Empoli would have been fucking training their asses off this entire time. They were a full team. They had no one at the World Cup. They've recently been on decent form.

They would have been training this entire time at the Friesiun. Same with the likes of Hellas Verona. Hellas Verona only played one friendly and they lost. It was against Bologna. Really interesting how they didn't like fill up their time a little bit better. But that's Verona for you. So what are your predictions for Salernitana Milan? Personally, I was leaning towards a draw from the get-go because Salernitana, as we discussed, have been together. They've been united.

They are a very organized team that's very capable of causing an upset. But after some thought, I do think that Milan will come out motivated and we think that Milan want to push to close the gap with Napoli as much as possible. And I think Milan are aware right now that Napoli might actually drop some points against Inter and now is the time to actually capitalize, to get going, to get them on the front foot. I would mirror that pretty much. I think that Milan are going to come in.

So obviously Salernitana are going to come in and they're still going to be a pain in the ass to play against. They're still going to play with high intensity. They're going to drop to the low block when Milan are attacking. They're going to be a fucking nightmare for Milan to face. And I think this match could get a little bit heated.

We could see a bit of yellow cards here and there, the likes of Benassere and Tonali getting booked and getting frustrated, especially with those midfield duels, man, being outnumbered by Salernitana's numbers in midfield with Radovanovich, Villana, Colibali. But yeah, I think Milan are obviously more than capable of getting it done. I think they see an opportunity. I think players like Léa are going to come back super motivated after the tournament, getting two goals in the World Cup.

I think Giroud had such a good feat at the World Cup. He must have heaps of confidence around him, so on and so forth. I think Milan get it done around two goals to one. I would say it won't be easy, but I think they will. I'm going to go and even though we just said that smaller teams can have upset at the moment, I'm going to say that Milan are going to win this one.

Purely because I think that Milan's team in the form it's in and with the players coming back who have all had good World Cups, I feel it will be too much for Salernitana. I still think Salernitana will have a good season, actually, but I think this is going to be a bit of a route, in my opinion. I don't know why I'm seeing like a 3-1 or 4-1 from my side. Purely because I think that most of Milan's team is fit, barring two, albeit important players.

But one is important, one was planned to be important. Origi? Yes, sir. Or as you call him, Shetigui. I do call him Shetigui. And so far... You've been fucking right. It's like Liverpool knew something. I just fuck Liverpool, in my opinion. They're just shady and I think that's why they let go of him without any issues. He passed his medicals and everything. I don't know, he's been injured. I'm sure they made sure they gave him some fucking good old meds before he moved along.

Is Giroud even going to play? Giroud might not play. Apparently Rebic or Deketelari are rumoured to start in the striker position. Rebic at the moment has the upper hand. Very weird players, weird in the sense that they've both been struggling. I mean, Rebic has been struggling with fitness because he's been injured. But when he's on, he's on. I've never seen, genuinely, I love Rebic, I love his villain arc and everything.

The only thing I dislike is he must be one of the worst passers when he's off. The fact that he manages to give the ball away with every pass that he gives when he's off is super frustrating. One thing I like is that against such a static defence, against Fasio, Danilo Lich, and I'm going to exclude Lovato from this because he's quite mobile, Rebic is great on the turn. He's great with his back towards goal. He turns, pivots and he gets the shot away bottom corner.

So I think that's somewhere where he'll really do well. I don't like the idea of having Brahim Diaz attacking midfield and then Dicay Tellare up front. I think that's fucking weird. Why? Very weird. So I don't think Dicay Tellare is a punta. I don't think he's a forward that sits in the box. But he played a lot with Club Brugia as a force nine. Force nine, yes, but this is a punta striker role. He's a player with a lot of confidence in that position, man.

And that's not a guy you want to put up there. He's off form and he's not confident at all. And no, I think the media is getting to him. Yes, man. At first it seemed like he was ignoring it, but now it's clearly about him. He's 20 years fucking old. I mean, I had reservations about people saying he's going to be the next best thing. I mean, I don't like tooting my own horn because maybe next year he can be fucking insane. I don't want to say he's shit and be super stupid.

But he's not lived up to the expectation. And I don't think you should put a player like that as a number nine. Not because he doesn't have the skill set, but you run the risk of just making a way worse situation. Imagine he doesn't have a good game. And then you try it again. And it's just crippling him further. But imagine you toss him in and he fucking scores, bro. It could turn his whole fucking thing around. It works both ways. I mean, Decay Telaire wasn't brought in as a quick fix.

He was brought in as a 35 million euro man who is most... It's almost guaranteed that he's going to be an appreciating asset because he could flop for three years and do well in three years time. And you can get something out of him. That's true. He's an investment. That type of deal, the kind of deal that Gazidis kind of brought in. I know when he joined Milan's philosophy, signing philosophy changed. And Milan were... You know, Milan don't really spend big, but they spent big on him.

And so far we've seen very good things from the way Milan signed players. Like you could say what you want about Shetigi, but the fact of the matter is he was brought in on a free. You know what I mean? Okay, his wages aren't... They're quite handsome. I think we'll see better of him. But maybe starting him out of position when he's out of form is a little bit dodgy. But we're seeing Calabria back in the team after he was out for so long. Do you think he'll fit right back in?

I think he's the type of player who, you know, plug him in, he'll play well. He should be against an editor, huh? Exactly. I mean, yeah. Matchups, guys, for you. For me personally, I have a strange one, perhaps. Mine is more strange, so don't worry. Okay, that's great. I've got Salah Makars against Brotheridge and Fazio. I think Salah Makars has looked quite decent. He scored two against Salernitana last season, I believe. He scored two exactly against Salernitana last season.

He played well in the Friendlies, even scored against Liverpool. He dribbled Robertson. Wow. It was quite good. And I think Brotheridge is pretty good, so I look forward to seeing how Salah Makars fairs up against them. But Fazio, as you mentioned before, is quite a static defender. He's quite slow on the turn. He's experienced. He's very experienced with his positioning, but I feel like Salah Makars can spin him. Salah Makars has one move that he does, and I feel like it might destroy him.

Possibly. I love it when Salah Makars is confident. You could tell in his play and how he's playing that he's feeling fucking confident. You know, because he hits you with the step over. He does that. He starts shouting at him. Exactly. He's off form when his crosses are way too early and they have no whip to them. It's very easy to tell. For me, I said Tomori against Dia. I think Dia has been on form. That's interesting. That's a good one. I like that one.

I think Salernitana will attack in this game. It's not going to be complete domination by Milan. Oh, yeah. No, no. We always see them attack. Absolutely. Dia had a decent World Cup. He's had a very good season so far. I think he'll be confident. Tomori, we know how good he is. We know how capable he is. We also saw that he's human this season. So it's going to be a good little matchup between them, I think. And they'll whip balls in. That's how they play.

Crosses are going to come in and we know that Tomori and Kalulu can get quite flustered in the air. Yeah. You want to know mine? What's yours, bro? Ochoa versus Tatserasan. Oh, no. Yes, you went for the keeper. I went for the keeper. It might be Mirante starting, by the way. Apparently, Mirante had a... I would be fucked on Fanta if that happens. Irrespective of who's starting him for the Mirante, it is the goalkeepers from both sides.

And although if Mirante does play, the bit I've written about Tatserasan will be kind of disregarded. But let's say that Tatserasan plays. They're both keepers who have big boots to fill. Of course, everyone knows the praise of Magic Mike, so we're not going to go into that. He's definitely top two keepers in Italy. At least the most consistent for sure. I don't know whether he's the best, but most consistent. Most consistently injured, though. That's a problem.

Anyway, he's a great keeper and he saved Milan on countless of occasions. And I think that, of course, Tatserasan has improved. His start to Milan was horrendous. But gradually he managed to improve to a point where he's playable. He's still shaking. He's a good shot stopper. I think anything other than a shot stopper, he really struggles with the ball at his feet, with the ball in the air. He's the worst at claiming the ball. I command the area. Because he's blind.

Because he's actually blind, though. He had an operation in his eyes. His eyes are terrible. He has the same thing. He's got an astigmatism. He has an astigmatism, man. Well, you shouldn't be a keeper. Because he got surgery now at the tender age of what? 38. Very tender. But he plays his part. He does. He does. He does. And he has improved. Especially this season, there have been games where when he played, he's actually done something and saved some games as well. So was Sepe. Sepe is super.

In my opinion, now, now, now, he's not one of the best keepers in Italy, but this season, he is top five consistent keepers. He's really good at that. This season. This season. So now, I mean, I mean, no disrespect towards, you know, Mare or Marjane or Cesny or Handanovic or any of them. They're all great keepers. But this season in particular, the start, Sepe has been phenomenal. He has been. The things he's done, the penalty saves he's done. He's kept Salernetana in it. He's won them games.

He's done some crazy saves. He has some of the most saves this season. Obviously, Salernetana would concede way more shots than Cesny and Juve, for example. But it's still very impressive. I think the best keeper so far this season, just a bit of a hot take has been Vicario. That's why he's been fucking astronomical. I have someone else, but he's been very good. He's been a top keeper this year. Melenkovic Savic. Not a bad shot. One mistake against me. Well, you know, you're a keeper, man.

You're going to make mistakes. But apart from that, he's done some crazy stuff. He's so much fun to watch as well. He is. He's a bit of a beast. Big, tall beast screaming at you. He's always screaming. So basically, to round off my point about these two keepers, they've shown, well, we have no idea. But we know his experience. We know he's a good keeper. He's played all over the world. So they have the experience with them.

And I think that for both of these teams, they're going to play an integral part of this game. And I think there'll be a catalyst whether they win or lose. Good point. The keepers are going to be very involved in this, I feel. Now watch the game have a total of four shots on target. Definitely not. But this does seem like quite a shootout. Yes. Quite a shootout. Shall we move on to the next game? We can move on to the next game. So it's your Sasuolo.

I meant it's Sasuolo against Sampdoria, who have really, really, really been struggling. So Sasuolo, I feel like the issue is obvious in the sense that they've been feeling the weight of Raspadoria and Skamaka's departures. Berardi has been out for such a long time. Frattesi has been one of Sasuolo's best players and it seems like he's on his way. He's been the best. Exactly. He's been the best. It seems like he's on his way out to Rome.

And now apparently Milano are trying to hijack it in January. And they started off Sasuolo with this great defensive record, but their most recent fixtures are 3-0 loss to Bologna. And we've since seen that record kind of slide a little bit. They're on four wins, four draws and seven losses. Their previous three is a 1-0 defeat against Empoli, a 1-1 draw to Roma and then a 3-0 loss against Bologna. They've been very active in preseason. They've beaten Marseille 3-2 and Marseille just won 5-1.

They're against Toulouse, like to win. They lost 2-1 at home to PSV. They lost to Empoli, 2-1. And they're playing Inter tonight, I believe. They played. They played? They played, they finished. Did they play? If you can pull out that result whilst I go through Sampdoria, I'd appreciate it. I will. Samp obviously are, they're the worst, man, Sampdoria. They won Inter 1-1-0. Inter 1-1-0, okay, so that's a... And a lot of shots from both teams, 10-1 versus Waller, 15-5 for Inter. Wow, okay.

So it was an active game. Yeah, and then losing 1-0 to Inter. It's okay. It's okay. Sampdoria, to go back to my point, I think they're the fucking worst personally. I think they're the most beatable team in the league by a landslide. They're very slow. They have no creativity. They have a lack of identity since they've replaced Daver Saoudstankovic. And it seems like they're in this rut and they've been on the decline for the past few years.

No decent recruitment in place, but yeah, that's where they are. They're on 1-1 win, 3 draws and 11 losses. 15 matches have been played and they lost 11 times, man. Holy shit. So their previous three is a tunnel home loss to Fiorentina, tunnel away loss against Torino and a tunnel home loss against Lettuce. So I mean, come on. They like losing 2-0. They do. And then in the friendlies, they beat TS Galaxy five goals to one away. They held Adena Demirspour 2-2 away from home.

They held Dynamo Dresden away from home 2-2 and then they beat Kaiser Kizilorda three goals to nil at home. Play someone from Syria. I think there was a Turkish tour going on. Salahedetana, Samdoria, they all went to Turkey. There must have been. Let's keep an eye out. Maybe we see a few new hairlines in those. There are definitely some players that need it. I think Gabiadini maybe could use a bit of some male pattern going on there.

But this game, I mean, I was going to say this game is going to be interesting. Do you think it's going to be interesting or is it as one sided as I myself am making it out to be? I see Sassual right now as a team who have recovered many players. They did very well in their friendlies. They seem to have pretty much a full team for the first time this season. And I think it's all uphill from here.

And that's the only trajectory I see for them, to be honest, with Berardi back in the team, a leader of his caliber. Lauriente on the other side, who's interesting as fuck. Like Pena Monty up front with a lot to prove. You have Frattesi in midfield ground that he might be a bit distracted by the rumors. But he's still a quality player. Torres Ved looks good. I mean, I think they're back. I do think Samdoria will... Torres Ved scored two goals in the friendlies by the way.

Yes. OK. That's interesting. I do think Samdoria will improve slightly, but I think this game will go to Sassual. I fully agree with you. What's the score going to be? I'm not really sure. But I do see Sassuala winning this. As you say, it's like the first time this team is fully fit for the first time. And there are some ways that Sassuala lose this game. And I just want to see them play the attacking football that they're known for. And they need to go get that from the beginning.

But as you say, Berardi is back. Pena Monty and Laurenti, I think is a deadly attack to play against any team in Serie A. If they want to play that game. They can cause trouble to anyone. I would go so far as to say that OK, Raspadoori and Skamaka were lost. I feel like the biggest hole that Sassuala had was Mimmo personally. Skamaka and Raspadoori, fantastic players. And they took Sassuala to a different level. But Mimmo, he can turn a game around by himself.

I compare him to how Insinia was at Napoli when Napoli were in the Titans, that they were towards the end of his tenure. He orchestrates the game from out wide. He drifts into the middle. He creates pockets of space for his teammates. He's fantastic, man. You know what? You know what I want to see? I want to finally see Mimmo and Laurenti play together.

Because Laurenti, I think for the first time since I've enjoyed watching Sassuala, they have a left winger who's on the same caliber, who's on a similar caliber to Mimmo. They both need to be double marked. Because it causes so many more question marks for teams now. Because Laurenti, he can finish, he can dribble, he can run down the line. He can give a good, strong pass into the middle for an attacker to swoop in and score it. And I feel like they could be passing across from each other.

So... Pinamonte between them. Yes, I think now that Pinamonte has two players like that on each side... He has no excuse. He has no excuse anymore. So if he starts bitching again, then he knows all the rest is to start playing. And then I'm going to have to send him a message saying what the fuck is happening. He's breathing down his neck, Alvarez. And then to me, we always talk about the front three of Sassuala. They've consistently had a very good front three.

But to me, that midfield, I love the balance in Sassuala's midfield. Man, Fratesi and Thorsved bring so much to them going forward. I always forget the name of the regista. Maxime Loup. He's injured. I keep thinking Maxi Loup. Montur Toulon. What? Montur Toulon. Oh, wow. He's good, man. So Obia has to step it up. He's fit. He's finally... After a whole year of heart problems, he's finally fit again. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. I'm worried about that, to be honest.

I'm worried about the defense, bro, looking at it. I mean... It's very usual. It's the usual defense. It's the usual. There's Ehrlich who's lit, but that's it. Consigli is back, wanking in the showers. He played a big part in Croatia's team. He did. And I think going forward, the years to come, he should stay there. I think he will be good. But you know, Sassuolo and defense is a whole... You could do a podcast on that. But I don't think they'll have anything to worry about from the opponents.

I mean, it seems like from the predicted lineups that Gabbi Addini is going to be starting up front with Sabiri behind him. Now, obviously, Sabiri would be on quite a high after Morocco's tenure. A player we've been touting for a while, by the way. You guys have been mentioning him. Definitely. We've called out some good ones. We have created some talent. You've scoured the internet. Amrabat as well. Amrabat. It was all us, bro. It was us. Berezinski, apparently... Is off to Napoli.

Is off to Napoli. That's a weird one. As a vice. Vice for De Lorenzo. I'd fucking take it, man. It's a good move by Napoli. I think it's similar to Inter's move for Bellanova. You know what I mean? As an advice. Advice of a direct vice. They get an experienced player. I compare it to the Strinic. What was his name? Strinic, the guy Milan had got the full back, the left back back in the day. They just got him as a backup and he's never played. I'm not sure.

Strinic, that's probably case in point because I don't even remember his name. Berezinski is weird. He's had a very average career, I would say, domestically. He's always played with mid-table teams. With the national team, he managed to assert himself for a long spell of time. I think he would be a good figure to have in the Napoli dressing room simply because of his experience and his status on the national team and his domestic experience. I think Berezinski's best moment was assisting.

One of the craziest goals I've seen of Kweli Arella. Berezinski back heel. Oh my goodness. That Kweli Arella when he scored against Napoli for Sampdoria, the back heel, he scored a hat-trick. We watched that goal on Magic Mushrooms. We sat down on Magic Mushrooms and we just watched Kweli Arella goals, bro. What the fuck? They went for a walk. So colors and smiles. It was fucking unreal. I told my barber that story. He couldn't fucking stop laughing. Barbers love crazy stories.

Who is the matchup for you? I have to change mine because I have Laurente Berezinski. Berezinski probably won't be there. I've got Berardi against Augello. Berardi is back. I'm going to have to agree with that now. He's going to be the guy trying to pull the strings for Sassuolo while Augello is a very, very good player at Sampdoria. He's going to be tasked with the responsibility of keeping Berardi quiet. We'll see if he manages. Mint? I have Penamonti and Mr. Gabiodini.

This is a particularly interesting one because these are two really misfiring strikers, but for different reasons. Gabiodini had a really bad injury. It physically ruined the remainder of last season. He finally came back at the beginning of August. He got injured again and now he's back again. Gabiodini has always been that inconsistent, consistent striker. When he's hot, he's hot. Last season he was scoring goal after goal after goal for Sampdoria. His name is Gabiodini.

Southampton. When he went to Europe to buy a Lamborghini, instead he bought a striker. His name is Gabiodini. A class song. That is a fabulous song. Was it this current Sampdoria manager, Stankovic, who tried to play Gabiodini out wide? I think it was Daversa. I think it was Daversa. I'm not sure. No, I think it's Stankovic, bro. I think it was Stankovic. He played fucking Gabiodini out wide, bro, on the wing. How can you? That's weird. Really weird. That is very strange.

I don't even know what to say to that. Why would you put a man whose main strength is his size and his finishing, and you put him on the wing? Monzukic did this? Monzukic did this as a left winger, not as a fullback. This is a fullback in a 3-5-2. I couldn't even remember when we were like, because we hadn't watched the game and we had to prep for it, so we were watching the extended highlights. Apparently Gabiodini played. Where the fuck? We looked up the lineup. This has to be a mistake.

It has to be a mistake. We were going on who scored on one football, on flash score, on Forza, everything we checked, and every single one. Gabiodini right wing back. What the fuck is going on over here? He has no legs. It's as absurd as playing Quagliarella on that position. It's as absurd as that. What's the difference? It's true. I don't care. It's fucked. It is fucked. To finalize on Gabiodini, I think this is probably one of the best games for him to come back with a statement and score.

Because Sassuolo's defense is not too standard or anything to write home about. It's a good game for him. I'm sure he's going to come out with the intent to get a goal or two. On the other hand, Pena Monti starts signing for Sassuolo, hasn't had a good season. That is arguably obvious by now. You guys have spoken about it a number of times. I have sent in clips why I think that. So we're not going to go on a whole tangent about that. Humble pie. No, humble pie. He does.

I really hope for Christmas someone got him some humble pie. Humble mince pie. I was about to say humble mince pie. Kiss, kiss. Okay, if you want me to kiss Jake, I'll do it. And I think though, I think though he scored twice as well in the friendlies. I think that this could be the resurgence he needs against a team which has suffered, which isn't a very good decision like Matt very well explained.

So if he doesn't score here or he hasn't played a good game here, it really bodes to what's going to happen to him coming this season. So I think he's going to really be, he's going to be instrumental. I think we're going to see a different Pena Monti this game. I think like some honorable mentions on that note, seeing Pena Monti up against Colley for example, that's going to be a really nice one because Colley is no fucking walk over. No, Colley is a good defender. He's a very good defender.

Seeing Pena Monti being probably somewhat man-marked by Colley is going to be very interesting. And I'm also really interested in seeing how Ob-Young adapts his game to keep up with Sabiri because he's probably going to need to stay like between the midfield and the defense. That'll be his task and it'll probably be tasked with keeping Sabiri quiet. So that's going to be quite an interesting deal as well. If you were the Sampdoria manager and you're looking at Villar right now. Adrezin.

In a heartbeat. So let's say you were the Sampdoria manager, right? And you haven't resigned. And you haven't resigned. And you've got Villar in your team and he's in that, you know, he's in that role between the midfield and the defense. And you've got all these players and Maxime Lopez is out because like typically it put a player like Villar, you might tell him like press Maxime. You might tell that the ring can't like press Maxime, one of them is pressing Maxime for sure.

But Maxime is out, right? So who are you going to put Villar on? Who is Villar's main responsibility over here? Fratresi I guess. Fratresi. It's interesting because there's no orchestrator of the game over here. Normally the orchestrator would be Maxime in the sense that he's like, let me say. I suppose because Torzett does like getting the ball from he's a little bit similar, a little bit similar to Maxime. And he says he likes to get the ball and then like push it forward.

Either to drive, either driving himself or passing the ball, which is similar to what Maxime does. So I can maybe see Villar trying to mark him. But Torzett is not bad one versus one. I see Rincon double marking Barardi without Jello. I see that happening for sure. I think on the topic of Villar, I think he's still going directly for Aubiang.

Because Aubiang is probably the guy that's going to, like I said, sit between the midfield and the defense and look to really start the game off over there. And Villar is going to need to attack that person, the creator of this. Now, probably in half time we'll get a different instruction because they'll realize maybe Aubiang isn't orchestrating the game. Maybe isn't controlling the tempo. Maybe Torzett is sitting deeper, Frattesi is sitting deeper.

I think his main task would be to keep the shape and to stay organized and not to allow some player to get walked over like that. So special attention to the orchestrator of the game. But main focus would be to keep the midfield together, keep the defense together, because that's where they've been struggling quite a lot as well, I think. Perhaps Torino Verona. Torino Verona is a nice one. I keep whenever I see the term Verona, I'm like, how exciting, I love Verona.

But then I remember they're a shadow of what they've been in previous years. I'll get into that in just a second. So Torino are in ninth. They've won six games. They drew three and they lost six. A very bang on average season, no? They literally won as many as they lost and then they drew three games. Their previous three fixtures have ended in a 2-1 defeat to Bologna. But at the moment, everyone seems to be losing to Bologna except for Inter.

They beat Samp 2-0, obviously, and then they held Roma away from home 1-1. And keep in mind that the game before these three was the victory against Milan 2-1. So that's also a massive one. Torino are incredibly impressive in the sense that they've stayed probably where they were last year, if not maybe a little bit better. And they're minus Bremer and minus Bellotti. And they're still there. However, you can tell that they're lacking a number nine.

But to be fair, they were lacking a number nine last year as well because Bellotti was out injured for the majority. Yeah, he was injured quite a few. They also, they, sorry? No, no, no, no. I mean, all I wanted to say was yes, they lost Bremer and they lost Bellotti, but they did... They got Mirancho. Yeah, I was just saying they made adequate... Vlasic. Vlasic has been... Radonis has been so good for Vlasic. Vlasic has been the least good of them all three. Vlasic has been the best, man.

Mirancho was out injured. Vlasic has been insane. Mirancho has been unlucky again with injuries, but he's been good. But he played, he played again lately. And he hasn't been bad at all. He's really clever. These Atalanta fucking players, if you go to Atalanta, you're going to come back with a big brain, bro. Come back smart, man. Last season, I used to prefer, you know how much I love Pessina and how much I love Madonna. How much I love, I don't even know his name. Malinowski.

I try to love those guys. These guys are all fucking... But when he used to come on, this guy, his dribbling, he used to turn people inside out. His lateral runs outside the box used to drive everyone crazy. I love his style of play, man. I adore it. And he's been doing well, but like you said, he's been injured quite a lot. Torino beat Espanyol away from home. They held Almeria away from home. They drew to Cremonaise, 0-0 at home.

And they either played Monza today or they're going to play Monza. I don't know if someone can judge on that. Verón, on the other hand, they only played one friendly and they lost at home against Bologna. Their previous three in Serie A, there's no shock over here that they're all defeats. They lost away to Monza, 2-0. They lost at home against Juve, 1-0. And they lost at home to Spezia, 2 goals to one. That's a game they should be fucking fighting till the final whistle for. Torino won 4-1.

Okay. Nice. Against Monza. That's a great result, man. I'm just going to check who scored, but you can go on. Verón obviously, we spoke about Sassuolo in the sense that they haven't recovered from the players that they dropped. But I mean, the list goes on and on, gents. I mean, there's Amrabbat, Zakanje, Simeone, Caprari. Who else, man? There were multiple more. Di Marco was another one. Rahmani, you said Rahmani. No, I didn't say Rahmani. Rahmani is another one.

He also had Lovato, even though he doesn't make the list of the ones that upgraded in that sense, because he's at Salernitana. But really, really struggling, I think. You mentioned on the last podcast that... Vlasic double. Vlasic double. And then Vojvodina. Look at us, we were right. Again. Serial spotlight slipped. Oh my God, I forgot about that. Yeah, we have to put a bet. I'm not going to discuss this stuff. I'm going to throw up. Yeah, so you made a point.

And before we get into our opinions, we're going to hand over the mic metaphorically to a listen of ours, Mattias, who gave us his take on Verona. The point is basically, Jake said that he anticipates that in the second half of the season, Verona are going to improve. So we'll get Mattias' opinion on that, and then we'll jump in, react to what he said, and basically outline everything. Okay, happy holidays, guys. This is Mattias here, sending some season greetings from Sweden.

I'm really pumped for the return of Serie A next week and hoping to see some good football again after this World Cup, which I didn't watch too much, but at least saw the final games. And one of the things which I'm intrigued looking into is following a thought you had on your last podcast regarding Hellas Verona.

And one of you said that you were expecting them to pick up quite soon after the return of Serie A. And I've been thinking a little bit about this because it's quite interesting that they are performing so badly, especially point-wise. And I was sort of wondering if there was any specific factors related to this. They started last season pretty bad as well, but then they picked up quite quickly after a coaching change. They have now done sort of the similar thing once again.

And one thing which I find to be sort of the key of the problems of this team is the absence of Ivan Ilic. And this is not a particularly hot or controversial take since that is clearly their best players and one of their most valuable assets in general. But it's notable to say that they have actually failed to gather any points since Ilic was injured in mid-September, actually. So they are really missing him, to say the least.

And I think the absence of Ilic sort of highlights the two narratives surrounding Hellas Verona. And the one is the obvious one, which I know you and I've talked to you. You've talked about it a couple of times on the podcast. And I've talked a little bit to you about it as well. And it's the fact that they're selling all their good players, that they are basically just not just selling, but selling players for a lot less value than they should be able to get for them.

And that is, of course, obviously a problem. But I think this relates to the bigger issue with Hellas Verona, and it's the fact that they are really lacking. They're really feeling the legacy of their old coach, Ivan Juric.

Because for the second season in a row, I feel that they have started the season trying to stabilize and become more standardized as a Serie A squad, playing a little bit less of the sort of 3-4-3 high pressure man marking system, trying to become more of a 3-5-2 grinding it out kind of team. And both times it has failed. And they have gone back to more of a Juric type system.

Last year with the recruitment of Ivan Tudor, who basically just told the players to keep on playing as they had been during Juric. And this time they have gone back to Bochetti, who's similar to Juric, is a player who grew up and became really marked and minted by the coaching of Gasperini. And Bochetti actually played for Juric. I think he played with, he both played for Juric when Juric was a coach at Hellas Verona.

But he also played with Juric, one of the Juric last seasons when he was one of the key midfielders in Gasperini's Genoa side in the late notties. And one of the most important thing when you're trying to play this 3-4-3 system, which you're always sort of returning to, is that you need quality in the midfield. And you don't need just any kind of quality, but you need this kind of intensity and ferociousness and also the quality to perform and do good things in high tempo football.

And doing this is no easy task. And we have seen that the teams which are succeeding with this system, such as Gasperini's Atalanta and Juric in Torino now, they have really been able to do so by utilizing really good midfielders such as Frohjler, Deron, Kubminers. And in Torino we have Lukic and Samuel Erici, who I believe is going to be a top class Serie A midfielder soon.

And the player who can help Verona accomplish this is Ivan Ilic, of course. They cannot find any better midfielder on the market than him in January. And they are solely, they have been, I believe that when they played Spezia at home just before the break, they would have won that game if they had Ilic on the pitch. Because they have some decent midfielders. They have Veloso, another ex-Genoa player who have been both playing for Gasperini and Juric.

And then they mostly have like complement midfielders, Tamese, Hongla and a couple of young guys who I don't think are really up to the task of carrying this team, but perhaps playing a second fiddle to a player like Ilic. And it was interesting that Ilic wasn't in the squad against Spezia, because they actually seem to have been resting Ilic the last two games prior to the World Cup break so that he wouldn't be risked at being injured again before the World Cup.

So obviously they were prioritizing him making it to the World Cup. And he actually played, I think, 60 minutes in a friendly for Serbia prior to the World Cup. So he was obviously kind of fit or well enough to do so, even if he wasn't in match fitness. But then at the World Cup, I only think he played like 30 minutes in the first game against Brazil and then he was on the bench for the rest of the time.

So it was a bit of a gamble for Verona, who I believe wanted the World Cup to be like a place where Ilic could show off and perhaps they could get more money for him in January or in the summer. But now I believe that they really need him, because if he doesn't hit the ground running, there is no way this team makes it back to outside of relegation.

Ilic is all for this team. He has sort of the youth and both youth and the quality and also sort of the conditioning to actually perform for this team. So if he doesn't hit the ground running, it's going to be really tough for them. Therefore, I am declaring all games for Verona in January and February as like Ilic watch. What he does on the pitch and how he performs for this team is going to be absolutely crucial and totally decisive for how this this campaign turns out for them.

And the thing is, and the problem is that if he doesn't perform good and Verona just gets relegated to Serie B, they will probably just sell him in the summer. And then I actually expect them to kind of become like a feeder club to Lazio, because they already are to some degree, since they have sold so many of their good young players to Lazio lately.

And also we know that Lazio used to have Salah and Itana in the Serie B where they loaned out like fringe players for the squad and hoped for them to become better. So perhaps Lutito can find a similar situation with Verona in Serie B if they don't make it. But I'm really hoping that they are not because I'm really a big fan of the club, but I think that it would be it would be good to see. I would really like for Bocchetti to perhaps build a new version of this Verona side.

OK, so that was my take, guys. Have a good one. And I'll talk to you soon. Mattias, thank you very much. Firstly, happy holidays to you as well, brother. Happy holidays to all our listeners, because I feel like it's something we really haven't addressed, man. We haven't even mentioned that it's Christmas. As you can tell, we love Christmas, so we really acknowledge it in our day to day when it's Christmas. The birth of our Lord and Saviour is the day of the Saviour.

Exactly. I always hate Christmas because I spent so much money in the beginning and I always get carried away. But then I always get really happy when I look at Rev and I see people that like sent me money for Christmas and friends that like bought me gifts and stuff. So and then I realized the beauty of Christmas at the end of Christmas when I'm like, all right, I think I think I just broke even. Mattias, you make a few good points over here. Many good points, to be honest.

We're going to highlight first and foremost Ivan Illich. He calls him Hellas Verona's best player and he highlights the fact that they have got practically no points since his injury. He also declares January and February to be Illich watch and I'm all in for that. I'm going to be watching Illich very closely. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have a close look at him. Obviously, he's very important to the team.

I think if you're talking about the team, then it's very concerning that they're that Illich reliable, that they rely that hard on Illich. At the same time, it's flattering on Illich's part. I know he mentioned he didn't play too much for Serbia, but neither did Vladović. No, he's a fantastic player. But the fact that Verona would rely on him kind of shows where they're at right now, I think. He makes a good point.

I mean, definitely, Illich is a good player and one of the best players at Verona, if not the best, but I'd argue that's Monte Paul right now. However, as good as Illich is, I just think it boils down to a really simple fact that their strikers suck. They're not just bad, they're just bad. I think they would be bored at all. I don't know why they started the team in Serie B, dude. I don't know why. The idea of Henry excites me, a big mobile striker, good in the air.

The idea of him excites me, but I've never watched him and said, wow, this guy. I've never had that moment for Henry. So does Tim, Lasagna is just no. K-Dog, Lazio. Juric, whatever his name is. Juric. Juric. He's my favorite of the lot. Probably, he's fun. He's fun. Fun gets you in Lasagna. Fun gets you in Lasagna. Fun gets you in the game. He's so the kind of striker that's in a relegated side. Why would they go for someone like Ocareke, man? Why let Criminese take him?

I don't think they would have anticipated. I think that's why they didn't sign so much. I don't think they would have anticipated that they'd be in this bad a situation, that this 11 in front of us, because it's really not bad, wouldn't be able to compete for mid table or just lower mid table since they lost some of their key players. A few questionable signings, it's true. But Henri is a striker from relegated side at the end of the day.

Then you have Vardy, who's literally been signed by bottom three sides for season after season now. He doesn't look bad. He doesn't look bad, but he's not the type of player that's going to fucking win you multiple games. He might win you two games in the last stretch of the season. That's enough to save you. You know what I mean? But he's not going to make the difference that often. He's a final hurrah signing. I could sell anything. Exactly. But you have Kerini Guntier and Davidovic.

To me, that's where the main problem is, boys, because clearly Verona can bring the game to anyone because they're quite fast. They go forward well. They utilize their wingers quite well as well. The problem is the striker. They don't concede that much. They don't score. They don't lose five zeros. It seems like every attack that they concede, there's a very good chance that they'll score. When you see when someone is about to dribble past, check Kerini, Guntier or Davidovic, you say it's done.

They're past them. There's no catching up. Montepo has been great. And then Montepo has been a highlight for them genuinely. You have three big guys at the back. OK, they're going to get turned. They're going to get outpaced. They have a very good keeper and up front, man, you have no... When the ball is in an opportunity to be scored, you just have no confidence. You're going to get the goal, man. All three of the strikers have been just bad. And there's no way to describe it.

Henri has been the best. He has the most goals from all the three. But he's not been good, man. No. At all. No. That's my opinion. It's simple and it just needs the fact that if they have some money left, they're the strikers. Yeah. I think as well going back to Illich, you mentioned that clubs are going to be looking at Illich. Yes. Illich is going to want to leave. He's going to want to look at everyone. I'd be depressed playing that.

Everyone on par with him, saying everyone on par with me has left for a big money move. He's going to want to be the next one. That's why he's a big money. That was one of Matthias's points as well. No, it wasn't big money for them. For him, he'd receive a better wage. Fair enough. That was, yes, a good point. Matthias made that they often cash in on their best players, but they don't get a big payday. Like Amr Abat, Rahmani, Simeone, Zakani. Could have got them more than they actually did.

Terrible negotiators. Negotiators. To be fair, Amr Abat left two seasons ago. But he was already very good. He was already good, but he wasn't incredible as he is right now. I think that with Verona, he was better than he was half his time with Fiorentina. Towards the end now with Fiorentina, he's really picked up. But I think at Hellas Verona, we saw a fucking fantastic version of Amr Abat. We did. But he was still up and coming. As a name, yes, he was new.

There wasn't that much hype and knowledge about him. He was very good at Verona. But I don't know whether he got sold too low. I think Fiorentina has found a really smart buy where they could spend on a low-risk player. Yes, a player who's going to obviously give you a shift because of the nature of his game. He's an industrious player. He was like... What's that guy? For Fiorentina, the shorty. Torreira. He was like his replacement. A more physical Torreira.

With a similar ability to play the ball around. Because his ball-playing ability is often undermined. That was the main kind of shock factor for me when I saw him late days at Verona after you pointed him out. His passing is very, very, very sharp and clean. And the thing is he transitions play really nicely from left to right and right to left. He always spots the space and he gets the good runs. And his forward passing as well. Mamma Mia doesn't just play the ball laterally.

He plays the ball forward, direct to the strikers, to the wingers. It's naughty, man. He also highlights Juric's legacy. Of course, we are no strangers to that. Juric is a fantastic coach who tends to do well without the appropriate facilities. He mentions the fun fact that Bochetti has played with and for Juric. Interesting. And the fact that Hellas Verona have essentially become a feeder club and they had no right to do so, to be honest with you.

It's not like they're getting these big money moves and it's not like they were desperate to sell. They were doing very well. Exactly. Lack of investment. I think had they... Obviously, this is a dream scenario. Had they stayed under Juric or under Tudor for that matter as well, with the same squad that they had for two or three seasons, we could have seen them push with that team. Because it's not just like, ah, on paper they had a really good team. They all played well.

They were a dangerous, dangerous team. They were up there. 7th, 8th. They were there, man. And we could have seen that, but they kept cashing in. And I wouldn't even call it cashing in because getting 20 million for the likes of Caprari and Zaccani. I think Zaccani went from 25, but something like that. Come on, 25. Bochetti's job right now. I think the main reason Bochetti was hired was because, first of all, he's a familiar face in the dressing room.

And right now, what Hellas of Rana are going to want to do is they're going to want to create that sense of unity. They're so disjointed compared to how they've been for the past three seasons, man. This is the most... Their main strength was their camaraderie, the fact that they were a unit. They all played for each other. You don't see that anymore. So I think Bochetti's job now would be literally to get the boys going, to rally the boys up for a push out of the relegation pool.

I really want to go on about Verona. There are a lot of talking points we have to discuss, so on and so forth. But I think we should move to Torino a little bit, give them some attention as well. So firstly, before we get into Torino too much, what is Torino's real strong point this year? Because we're seeing them in ninth place. They've been good, but what's their real strong point, man? I think their ability to control the tempo of a game. And big high-stake games as well against big teams.

They managed to do that. They did it against Juve for a while until they ended up... It's interesting that you mentioned that Verona have a terrible attack because Torino don't even have a fucking striker apart from Sanandria. So it's two teams without a fucking nine. I mean, Miranchuk is kind of a false nine. Sure, but what I'm talking about is that prolific goal scorer. They don't have a prolific goal scorer. Well, again, Miranchuk was injured for quite a while.

And when he started at the beginning of the season, he had grabbed the goal and he was looking nippy. Sanandria was never that kind of player. So I think Miranchuk was basically the replacement for Balotty. But he got injured and that basically fucked him from the start of the season. So I don't know. I think Pelé was a backup for Miranchuk. I think you need a case in point is a striker that plays as striker. Just a staple in the team, even if he doesn't grab too many goals.

The importance of having someone up there that knows what he is doing is... To Empoli, by the way. I know. Yes, yes, yes. He's probably trying to get through. It's most likely happening. Oh my God, Empoli do not need another old striker. But they're selling. They're going to sell a couple, I think. OK, interesting. We'll get into that. But the short-term is leaving. Probably. They all have one goal, those three.

But yeah, my point is you just need someone that's capable of being in the right position consistently, laying the ball down when he needs to lay the ball down, attack when he needs to attack, drop back when he needs to drop back, just an experienced striker in the team that knows what he's doing. And that way everyone around him will play better, man. Yes. Match-ups. Ah, yes, the match-ups of this. I put Miranchuk against Miguel Veloso. And I think Miranchuk will get the best of Miguel Veloso.

He's going to be responsible for marking him. And I think that Miranchuk is going to give him a hard time. It's going to be fun to watch that. Yeah, I think Miguel Veloso is no stranger to a red card as well. So I think maybe that's a route that is possible for all your betting men and women. I have Lukic versus Tamez. But I think it's more of an entire midfield thing because when you think about it, there's Tamez and Veloso up against Ricci and Lukic.

So that's, I think, overall, the midfield is going to be a very interesting place to keep your eye out on. I agree with that one. I think that's going to be fun to watch for sure. And sorry, I was way too far from the fucking microphone. And Jake was like, trying to subtly tell me to wake the fuck up and get back to the mic. Mintov responded with deep-throating the microphone. I got super close. I have Mr. Menekepich Savage against Monte-Po. That's a good one.

I rate these two guys as probably the top keepers from lower teams. They've been catalysts at times for saving games or winning games. And I think they're going to be instrumental in this game. That's really what I have to say about that. It's interesting. The approach you took was going more direct comparisons between players in the same position. You guys took a whole different route. We took actual matches.

I don't know why, when he told me to do match-ups, I felt like it should be fair enough. You look at two teams and you go, player A against player B. At the end of the day, you mentioned, for example, Barra, in the Zassoul game, you said Barra ID against... I said Penawant against Gabrieli. That's interesting because both those guys are responsible for scoring goals. Seria, a fucking spotlight. That's what we give you. Different opinions, different viewpoints.

Not two very agreeable men who happen to be blood brothers. We're a nightmare. The next game, guys, is Spezia Atalanta. This, in my opinion, is only going one way, but let's get into both teams a little bit. So starting off with Spezia. They're on three wins, four draws, and eight losses. They sit in 17th place, so double-dabbling with the relegation zone. To me, it's almost like they struggled to adapt to Gotti's style, especially after they had managers like Italiano and Motta before,

that very much have their... Spezia always had identity when they had those managers. With Italiano, they played beautiful football and they were workhorses. And under Motta, all right, they weren't the strongest, but they were very, very capable of getting results. They made it a dogfight when they had to, and they played some good football as well, considering the players that they have. But they've really been struggling this season.

Eight losses again in 15 matches isn't ideal, and four draws. Their previous three is a 2-1 defeat to Milan at the San Siro, so not too bad. They held Udinese at home and they beat Verona away, so currently their form is pretty decent. But as we said, does that really matter? What do you guys think so far of Spezia? They're a bit of a weird one, because they always feel like they have the worst team in the league. But they're not in the last place. They're like flirting with that area.

It's been classic Spezia. It's been the Spezia, things are going to get relegated, but they're kind of proving you wrong at the same time. With Motta last season, they got a few points kind of like a quarter way through the season. They got a few points in a row, and that was enough for them to survive. And that's when I was shitting on them the hardest. Yes! You've just been wanting them relegated since they beat Milan 2-0 on Valentine's Day. Because you hated them.

I remember I had a date with Keir Atahatel, and I have the game on my phone. We concede one, and after we concede one, I'm like, I'm totally sure on what's going to happen right now. So I turned it off, and I put it down. The only time I flunked halfway through. Look, Spezia are a frustrating team because they give my favorite team a hassle. And then when they play the direct rivals of my favorite team, they bend over and they concede three. Doglang is the word.

But when it comes to them as a team, I must say I am impressed by their unity. They managed with a transfer ban, by the way. People forget that Spezia had a transfer ban for the two of their seasons. They couldn't hire anyone. They couldn't sign any players. They got a ban for recruiting minors from Africa, quite frankly. It's from Nigeria. It was a four window ban, and they served the full... That headline is horrific for them. By the way, it's not the most ideal.

Spezia hire minors from Africa. They've managed to hold their own, and they've managed to stay up against pretty much all odds. Will they do it again this season? I'm not too sure. But I do think they will lose against Atalanta. Yeah, I definitely think so. But they're capable of pulling a draw out of their own suspension. They are the ones that are capable out of those bottom teams. They're the ones that are capable of doing something like that. We've seen them do it before.

But before we segue to Atalanta, I just remember that I haven't read out the friendliest results yet. They actually had a good run. They beat Servette 3-0 at home. I have no idea who Servette are. They then lost 3-1 at home against Sparta Rotterdam. And then they beat Groningen 2-0 at home. So mixed results over there for Spezia. Moving on to Atalanta. Atalanta are in sixth. They have eight wins, three draws, and four losses. And most of them came recently.

They entered the season with this new approach where they were very, very defensive. They played calmly and they kept a wild back rather than being that team that just pressed to oblivion consistently. It worked very well for them. We saw that especially coming to play in their 1-1 draw against Milan early on. We couldn't even tell that they were at Atalanta. That really worked for them. But recently, like their Serie A previous three, they lost to Napoli 2-1 at home, which is fine, fair enough.

But then they lost against Lecce away 2-1. And then they lost against Inter 3-2 at home. And it was really close. The break came at a good time. The break came at a good time for them. They had tough fixtures, even Lecce, I mean, all right, they're Lecce, but they bring it. They always bring it. It's a dangerous game. Thoughts on Atalanta so far, guys? More good than bad? Yes, absolutely. Based on the team that they have, which is basically the fact that they've sold half a team.

Because we have a lot of players. But even the players they've brought in have done very well. They're very good at recruitment. Lookman, for example. Yeah, no, that's signing of the year, Tom. It is. No, no, tell me, better signing? You're probably... Kvara. Haha, got you. Got you. But I mean, Lookman's probably... I don't know, man. Lookman, it's not like Kvara is like... Yes, he's way better in my opinion. In my opinion, he's way better. Outfoot-wise, they're probably not even far off.

No, I think Kvara has better output, man. I really do think so. I don't think by much. Check, it's interesting. It's interesting. I think Kvara is way more naturally gifted in that sense. Of course. But we're talking about signings now. We're talking about people who are far too big for the team. Fair enough, fair enough. Not a direct comparison, but rather what they bring to the team. Lookman's got seven goals. Kvara's got six. But then Kvara has the same number in assists. Assists, let's go.

Kvara has five assists. So six and five, eleven. St. Martin's education, guys. Here we are. It's insane. Lookman's on one assist. Okay, so Kvara a bit more output. It's 11 to 8. But a top three signing nonetheless, bro. He is a top three signing nonetheless. Nice. Interestingly enough, in their friendlies, they drew 2-2 against Frankfurt at home. And then they went on a streak away from home winning 3-0. They beat Nice 3-0. They beat Betis 0-0.

Guys, going away to Betis and winning 3-0 is not easy, even if it's a friendly. Betis are very, very good. And it's a tough stadium to play in. Man, the supporters are wild. They pass you to death. Literally. Direct matchups. What do you guys have for this? Spezia against Atalanta. I have the midfield battle of Kuk Miners and Agudelo. I think the two players were very fun to watch. I think Kuk Miners is more like, you know, he's better educated tactically when it comes to the game.

Like, he has a better understanding of the game than Agudelo. But then Agudelo has this rawness about him and this kind of aggression that might overwhelm Kuk Miners on his day. But we'll see. I'm interested to see how that will play out in the midfield. Agreed. That's going to be a nice one to look out for. I'd rather have, to be honest, it's not a direct one. Because I have Pasalic against Spezia. That's the craziest catch-up I have ever heard in my entire life. Hear me out. Hear me out.

I'm going to explain. One player against the whole team. One player against a jillion other players. No, no. Hear me out. Hear me out. We know how Pasalic is. He's a guy that's always in a pocket of space. He almost plays the way Papo used to play in the sense that he follows the referee around. Pasalic is very intelligent in his positioning. And Spezia are going to settle quite low down to try to get one point. So they're going to be quite conservative with the low block, so on and so forth.

So it's more Pasalic against the midfield and the defense and just where he's going to slot in over there and how creative they're going to allow him to be. Because that's a big part of their play. Yeah. Keep your eyes out, guys. Whereas I have Bastoni against Mane. Ooh, that's a good one. Because the way I've worded it is basically an overperforming player on an underperforming team versus an underperforming player on an overperforming team. That's a good way of putting it.

Peter Jury, ladies and gentlemen. Yes. And I feel like Bastoni has been phenomenal this season. He's almost reached his record of goals. The most he's got is three in a season. He's got two already. And he just looks really motivated this season. He's so much so that he's been called up to the national team. Right, so. And he's been pretty decent. And on my other hand, he's just basically had a good first season at Atlanta. He looked dangerous. He looked like a real threat.

And this season, with a lack of confidence, he's not the same player. And it's like Hattabauer has come back again, like randomly. And he seems to be more of a threat down one of the flanks compared to Mane. And Mane used to be that guy last season. So I think it's interesting for both guys in that matchup and in that match to see who's going to perform. I keep on recognizing with Atalanta how before they were really known for their wing backs, man.

How they always had super, super wing backs back when they had Gossens, back when they had Zappa Costa, for example. Everyone used to know them for their left wing back and their right wing back. And they've downgraded significantly over there. Mane just hasn't played his part. Obviously, Gossens had his injury and he went to Inter. Sopi, you know what you're getting with Sopi. Sopi has a high ceiling. He's been good. To me, he's more attacking than he is defensive.

So I think if he could brush up in that region, it'll help, especially when Atalanta aren't an incredibly fast team on paper. So if they lose that duel, if someone gets in behind them, it could be quite dangerous. So it would help if Sopi can brush up in that department. Shall we move on to Roma-Bologna? Have you? Yeah. You've given us yours, right? Exactly. Melle against... This red, red organic wine from South Africa. Ladies and gentlemen. This is phenomenal. Really nice.

Phenomenal. The following game is Roma-Bologna. This one's nice, man. So Roma in seventh, Bologna in eleventh. Roma have eight wins, three draws, four losses. Bologna have five wins, four draws, six losses. So Roma have recently sucked in their last three games. So they lost at home to Lazio. And remember, Lazio didn't have Sergei and they didn't have Immobile. And they lost to them at home, in inverted commas. They drew 1-1 to Sosuolo away, and they drew 1-1 against Torino at home.

Now, sure, those aren't the easiest games to play in a row. The way I've summed it up is Mourinho's style of play, minus the finishing touch, leaves a very frustrating experience. What do you think? I think that's spot on. I think the break should have been enough for Abraham to get his mental focus back. I think that's what he needed right now, a bit of detachment.

The fixtures were coming in very aggressively, two games a week, and suddenly this guy is finding himself losing confidence, game in and game out. But there's a break now, and I think that it'll be good for both Abraham and Bellotti. At least one of them should start firing in my opinion. But yes, I do think that this game will go down to Mourinho against Motta. I think Mourinho obviously will... I think he has the edge over Motta, and I think he'll out-coach him, quite frankly.

I think Roma will go all the way this game. Thoughts, Mint? I don't really have anything else to add, but mostly agree with that. Bologna have... I didn't say Roma's friendly, so Roma were quite active actually. They drew 0-0 to Nagoya Grampos away from home. They drew 3-3 at home to the Yokohama Marinos. They lost 3-0 at home to Cadiz. To Cadiz, Cadiz. They beat Casa Pialisban 1-0, and they beat... Save me, Lord. Valvique 3-0. Valvique, Valvique, probably Valvique.

But yeah, obviously they had a bunch of players that were away at the World Cup, but still not ideal. Bologna. So Bologna have beaten Kapfenberger 9-0 in pre-season, guys. Before I mentioned their previous 3-0, yeah, pre-season they won 9-0. Okay, that's pretty fucking mental. Alongside that, they beat Mallorca 2-1 away from home, and they beat Verona 1-0 away from home, so they've been very good in their friendlies. In Serie A, they're coming off a victory against Torino 2-1 at home.

Then they lost against Inter 6-1 in a terrible display, rather a brilliant display by Inter. And then they beat Sassuolo 3-0, Bologna. I just think that Bologna have really fixed things around, well, not fixed things around. They've basically, they've just improved, really, and they've been a good side. Yes, they've had some shocking games like the Inter 1, but overall their team has probably overperformed for the most part, and some particular players have really overachieved as well.

So I feel like... Medell moving to midfield was a big move, and Medell kind of found his identity again over there, and the team is just playing better now, man. So Jarno hasn't scored, or I don't know whether he's assisted, but he still looked important. He's been instrumental in the team. And the young Revelation and Ferguson, both super. He's been very good as well. And what's his name as well? Schouten. Yeah, Schouten. Has been good as well, has been good as well.

Of course, then, the No-Bramer are not to be changed. Yeah, of course, definitely. So what about before we get into the matchups to look out for, how do you think this game will go? Because it is an interesting matchup. Like, Roma are obvious favorites, but Bologna, they're on good form, and they've been good under Mata, man. Yes, they have been good under Mata, but I look at this game, you know, and I see an old dog against a puppy, quite frankly.

It's the experience Mourinho against Mata, who is a new manager with new ideas, who sometimes gets it terribly wrong, as we saw in the intergame, for example. I think Mourinho will out-coach him. I think that this will be the comeback of Tammy Abraham. I can't help but feel like... I'm not sure about that one. I can't help but feel like he can't end the season like this. I'm not sure about that one. I think he'll have to cup, dude. It's tough to say, because he's looked awful.

And to the point where you look back at his highlights of last season and they're two completely different players, to me it's shocking that this man is the same man that, you know, he was last season. So seeing him be back there would obviously be great, but is he capable of doing it or does he need to kind of slowly start finding himself again? He needed the break and he got it. Now we'll see what he can do with the time he had off. His mental focus, his confidence.

Let's see if he manages to work on these things. So you think Roma will take it? I think Roma will take it. I think Roma takes it as well. I think it'll be closer than probably you guys are thinking, but I think Roma get it done. It's brilliant. Like it would be Roma win or draw kind of thing. Matchups, I have Pellegrini against Medell. I feel like Medell is going to be man-marking him quite a bit. And things can get interesting over there. Medell is rough and Pellegrini, he loves a scrap.

I have one out of which against Mancini because I feel like there's going to be quite a bit of violence this game. You're looking at two maniacs going head to head against each other. It's going to be a fun one to watch. Yeah. I, to be honest, I had those two as well. Really? I don't know if it was Mancini, but what could also be interesting as a secondary point or the secondary matchup would be just an out of which Tammy.

Now there's been a break, like, and I think on out of which will be, will still be good, is to be scoring. But now this is a real time for Tammy to start picking up some goals against clubs like this where you can't score, where they're known to leak. It's a good time to get a goal or two in and carry that confidence. Yeah, agreed. You guys comfortable to move to Lecce, Lazio? Let's do it. Nice. So Lecce are in 16th at the moment. They're on three wins, six draws and six losses.

They are a newly promoted side, however, and they have looked better than I thought they would. They seem like a team with quite a bit of flair, especially on the wings and they have quite the transitions in midfield are quite impressive as well. They can swap plays from those two wingers pretty fast. In their previous three, they've held Odinese away from home, 1-1. They beat Atalanta at home, 2-1, and they beat Sampdoria away, 2-0.

So they're also kind of, you know, they were doing well before that, but that really gave them a boost now in 16th place and there's quite a healthy gap between them on the bottom three. Friendlies, they only played one and they lost 2-0 against Odinese, but that to me is a smart friendly going up against Odinese, local team. Thoughts on Lecce so far, guys? They look good, man. I like how organised they are.

I like that they're a tight unit, they barely concede, and they're capable of scoring goals. They have a few nice offensive outlets as well in Strefeca, Colombo, Sise. Di Francesco, Banda. Yeah, Banda, of course, is a very technical player. Strefeca has been so good. Really good. But yeah, they're a nifty little team. I wouldn't be surprised if they say that. They're no joke, you can't just take it to a percent of them. And then there's Lazio, who are having a super fucking season.

They're on nine wins, three draws and three losses. Their previous three matches, they beat Roma in the derby away from home again, in inverted commas, 1-0. They beat Monza, 1-0, at home, and then they lost three in El Aue against Juventus. But a much, much stronger side than last season. They had very efficient transfers, in my opinion. They had faith in the manager system. And just that, plus the success they've had in their defence with the most clean sheets, I believe, in the league so far.

And then plus just having SMS, Chiro, Zakani, and just the players that they do, and in particular those three, they're very, very dangerous, man. They look so good this year, Lazio. They really do. I mean, they always start off well, and typically they dip. But this season gave them a break. We're going to see if this break benefits them or if it does the same thing that the Covid break did to them, and it destroys them and basically ends up costing them a league, quite frankly. Exactly.

I think this game, I think Lazio get it done. I think we'll be seeing Milinkovic, Savic and Móbala celebrating together. I think it'll be tight, but I think Lazio will squeeze through. Muntov? I don't know if it's going to be that tight. I think definitely Lazio take it. I think the first half will be tight, but then I do see Lazio slowly and surely running away with the game. So you're anticipating that Lazio are going to come out quite, like to get a result from the game?

I think they'll try, and then Lazio will score as they always do, like in the 30th minute or 35th minute, and then at one goal, you know, be two or three then. I think the amount of offensive outlets that Lazio have and the way that they're utilizing it, especially having Zuccani and Philip Anderson on form with the obvious Sergei and Chiro up front, and then how solid they've been defensively, I find it really hard to ever bet against Lazio at the moment. So I think they managed to get it done.

I think, like you said, Lettia give a battle to anyone, so I don't think Lazio will run away with it, but would it be a comfortable victory? I think it will be. I think so. I think Lettia will still remain tight and give them a game. I think it will be like a one goal margin type of game. When it comes to matchups, I think that Immobile against Umtiti is going to be a fun one. I mean, I look at Lettia backline on the rolling for a fucking good matchup.

These guys Gallo, Pongracciucci and Basquerotta rolling for a good game. But I think Umtiti in Mobile is going to be an interesting one because it's Immobile's first start since his injury. And Umtiti is going to be, he's the guy that they're depending on to kind of contain him. So we'll see how that goes. Yeah, agreed.

I think since probably Lazio take it in midfield, and obviously there's Sergei and Immobile who to me are unstoppable, I'm looking more at the wingers because if the left back and right back of Lettia manage to stop the wing outlets of Lazio, then they have quite a good chance. I'm looking at Strefetza against Marisic and Zaccani against Basquerotto. I think those are two really nice ones, man.

Basquerotto playing at right back again after he was starting as a center back out of position for so long. And we get to see him back at right back and his first assignment is Zaccani. So good luck, brother. I have Colombo and Romagnoli. Ooh, juicy one. Because I feel like Colombo could really cause Romagnoli some problems. And Romagnoli has been quite good this season. He's been good. He's been good. So I feel like Colombo plays for the shirt man, Romagnoli when he's at Lazio.

Both Milan players, ex Milan players. And Colombo is still... Colombo has a very mature take when it comes to going out on loan, by the way. He said he deems it necessary and he views it as a compliment from the club. It means that they have faith in him and they're investing in him, sending him out for a new experience. It's a very mature take. It is. He has probably my goal of the season so far this season. What a lovely goal that was, man. Fucking just counted it in.

Counted it. That's the fucking word. I don't think there's a better word to describe it. Please, Mendy, you were saying? To be honest, there's not too much about that. Basically, I just feel like two ex Milan, well, I keep saying ex Milan, two Milan players, one ex, one still with them. And I feel like Colombo could really give Romagnoli some issues. His strength and his sudden change of pace could really cause Romagnoli some slips, some misjudgments, a penalty, giving him too much space.

Romagnoli has a habit of giving players too much space. Yes. He lets them run at him, almost keeps pivoting backwards. But I think we're all in agreement about how the game is going to go, which is a lot of victory. I would be happy to see Letria get something out of it, though. Next up, this is one of my favorite ones. Fiorentina against Monza, 10th against 14th. Each team is on five victories. Fiorentina have four draws and six losses. Monza have one draw and nine losses.

Obviously, they had a very, very slow start. Monza. Fiorentina also had a very slow start. It's only very recently that we saw them start to get some points that they deserved to take. So they beat Sampdoria 2-0 away from home, which obviously not surprising. Then they beat Salernetana at home 2-1, which isn't an easy game. And then they played Milan away from home. They were very, very fucking good against Milan, but Milan managed to get away with a 2-1 victory with an own goal very late on.

Fiorentina didn't deserve to lose that game. What do you guys think of Fiorentina so far this season? I mean, they've had a lot to deal with. You know, Blahovic going, and I think that just changed the team. It's because he left and then he was left giving the team quite a big lump sum of cash. And some parts they spent it well, some parts they gambled, I think it's a bit too much. Where maybe they didn't need to with the money that they had. They could have gone for a certainty.

So it's hard to say whether Fiorentina are doing bad. They should probably be doing better. I think especially in comparison to last season, but like you're saying, you lose Blahovic. You lose such a player, you know. I mean, it's hard. It's hard even to change the team. Imagine these players like Biragi and Bonaventura and so on and so on. They used to fucking giving the ball to Blahovic. And now they're giving the ball to Jovovich, to Cabral. It's like, you know, there's a gap.

But also I see them struggling creatively as well. And I think that's the very reason they signed Barak. And I think the reason they signed Barak is because they literally, they have all the wingers in the world that are capable of getting the ball to the striker. But then they have no creative outlet in midfield, I feel. And that's the reason they went for Barak. He's doing very well now. They have no creative outlet. Amr Abat sits very, very deep for Fiorentina.

So he's not capable of getting those forward passes on that final touch, I think. In my opinion, Fiorentina are the type of team that like their philosophy, their whole tactical approach is overly complex at times. Exactly. You see them playing the ball way too much, taking too many touches, playing too many passes before actually attacking the space or playing the final ball, man. They hesitate so much. And I'm sure it's all a tactical idea. Italiano, you know, is a fucking good manager.

But I do feel like he overcomplicates at times with these guys. Give them more freedom. Let them be more direct. I think they'll benefit more out of it. And all the rotation as well in the team. Like I know he has a lot of players to keep happy, especially in the wing department. But you need to have your two staple starters in those areas. You need to have a fixed starting eleven, I feel, so people can compete with the starters. The starters know their place. Like is it Sotil or Kwame?

Or is it Saponara? Is it a corner? Is Sotil going to be on the right, for example? There's no structure, I feel, over there. And people say that Fiorentina don't have the depth to compete in three competitions, right? Because in the conference league, of course. I think they do. In certain positions, they don't. In defense, exactly, they don't, maybe. But I think it's more of a mental strength kind of problem. I don't think they're used to this many games. Like, it's as simple as that, you know.

And I feel like it's cost them in the league. I feel like without the conference league, it would be way better. Do they say yes if a Premier League team comes knocking and says, I have 50 million for Amr Abat? Do they listen? They say yes. These clubs sell, bro. Same mistake, though. They lost Torreira, which was the heartbeat of their team. Is it a mistake now? Now they found a new heartbeat. I mean, Torreira left on a free, so that was definitely a mistake.

Well, he returned his club and they didn't sign him. Amr Abat's an amazing player, right? But bro, this guy is 26? Oh, they're going to buy with 50 million, another winger, man. They need Amr Abat. Like, this is the best choice. Sure, bro. But this guy has just had a massive tournament and he's 26 years old. His price has inflated. Like, you know what I mean? Like, this is the time to sell him. Like, when he's so hyped.

I would love to see him stay at Ferentina and I would love to see him stay in the league because he's so much fun to watch and he's such a talent. But I can't help but feel like cashing in is a smart thing to do. Interesting. Wake up. Interesting. I mean, it is like you're saying the right time to do it. But I feel like if they do lose him, they have to settle for bottom 10 this season. Because there's no way that... Like, he's been their clear best outlet this year.

He's been their best player by a landslide. He's the only reason that they're doing something now. So they lose him. I think at the moment I would go as far as saying he's worth to the team more than 50 million would be worth to the team. Because with that money, you're going to need to sign a direct replacement for him anyway. Who's better than Amr Abat in that position? That'll go to Ferentina. I don't think there's someone. I mean, there are a few... Better than Amr Abat at the moment.

No. Probably there aren't, right? Attainable players at least. But you know, they could replace him. They could find a young alternative, loan out someone, maybe they get... It's not the same, of course. But they could strengthen other areas, you know. Basically, it's wise to sell because in his career, he might never be worth this much again. Probably not. Exactly. That's true. Ferentina's friendlies, before we move on to Monza. So they were very active.

They beat Arezzo away from home, four goals to one. They beat a team called Always Ready, 9-0. They weren't ready. I don't think they were, bro. Always Ready, except for that one time against Ferentina. They beat Rapid Bucaresti, 3-0 away from home. They beat SC Bastia away from home to one. They held Monaco at home, 1-1. And they beat FC Lugano at home, 6-1. So they did very well in their friendlies over there. Monza, a very, very fun team to watch.

In their previous three, they beat Verona 2-0. Then they lost 1-0 to Lazio. And then they beat Salernetan at 3-0. They're by far the strongest newly promoted team, especially after, obviously, the transfer market. They had their throwing cash everywhere. But apart from that, they showed faith in their assistant coach who took the helm now. So it wasn't just pure luck. They've really managed to make this team gel their ruthless, their offensive, they utilize their weapons.

Obviously, once you start beating Monza, then you can run away with it, I feel. But until you get there, they're going to give you a fucking battle, man. Yeah, I mean, definitely Monza have been the top team to get promoted. And they made some great signings. So I think overall, it's good to see them in that spot. Because you've actually invested money in players and stuff, and it's paying dividends. Yeah. Monza are a sad example of how money can actually buy you success.

It's still very entertaining to see Berlusconi and Gagliani take over. And they have built a fun little team over here that is very fun to watch. Personally, for me, Fiorentina Monza, ends in a draw. Okay, interesting, interesting. Wow, I was not expecting that. Very interesting. I see Monza getting something out of this, man. I think I'm going to agree with you, man. I think a 1-1 is on the cards over here. I think Monza, like I said, they're on good form.

And again, you just look at their team with Rovella alongside Pessina, in the middle with Carlos Augusto, Petania, Caprari. And then we know where Fiorentina have been struggling, especially like Milenkovic has been struggling a lot. So can he cope with Caprari and Petania? It's going to be interesting to see. Mintov, what do you think? I think Fiorentina get this one, to be honest with you. But I think it would be a very close game. A 1-0 kind of game. Monza also played in friendlies.

They lost against FC Lugano one nil away. They beat Lyon away from home to one. They played Torino at home, if someone can figure out the result of that. Torino 1-4-1. Oh, yeah, Torino 1-4-1. We've already been through that. Match-ups. Yes. Pessina and Rabat, dude. That's going to be fun. I'm going to be dead. Bro, I'm booking leave this day. You know how last week he suggested booking leave to watch the games on the fourth? I'm going to do it. I'm going to spend the whole day watching.

Because I can't be at work when they say... No, no, no, no. I think as I mentioned, it's at work last time. So that would be like if he takes leave, it's definitely torture. So what? See what I can do. That's my leave, it's true. Nice, okay. So I'll look into that. So once you mentioned Amrbat against Pessina, I thought of Amrbat against Ravella, just like the two kind of holding midfielders of both sides. But there's also Petania Milenkovic, since I know Milenkovic has been a bit off.

Petania is really looking to grow now. And he has Caprari alongside him. So I think he could do some damage. It's going to be interesting to see them up against each other. Most definitely, bro. Mintov's matchup. I have... I have... Sorry. It's alright. Where are you going? Oh yeah, I have Biragi against Birindelli. That's a good one. That is a good one. You've got a tough guy against a really quick small guy. And a quick small guy who's not had the best season, actually.

Not as good as I thought. You would expect more from Biragi this season. I don't know why. He's never been a star. He's also been rotated a bit every now and then. He has been rotated. He is like DeMarco-esque, kind of, I guess. A bit, yes. He'll reset peace prowess. Exactly. But then they put him on a pen and he missed it. I remember. I was like, I have him on Fanta. I'm always saying, give it to him. I'll nail it. And he actually nailed it. It's interesting to see Mari back in the team.

He's in the projected lineup. For Monza, for those of you that don't know, Mari was a victim of a mass stabbing in a shopping mall in Milan, I believe. And he saw a person pretty much die in front of him. He got shanked pretty hard himself. And he was out for a couple of months. He wasn't with his pram. He was pushing his pram. He was in a koss in the last game of Monza. But he's back. It's great to see him back, honestly. A very likable man and a good player.

On loan from Arsenal, for those who don't know. So the next game is Cremones Juventus. It's this game. And then two more for us, so Cremones are still the only side this season that haven't yet registered a victory. And it's quite surprising considering some of the performances that they have against the bigger teams. So their previous three, and I believe one of the managers pointed that out. It's like, I can't believe Cremones are doing so badly. It was their own manager, Alvini.

It was their own manager. It's not exactly surprising. In their previous three, they've managed to hold Salernitana and Milan. Salernitana away 2-2 and Milan at home 0-0. And then they lost to Empoli 2-0. Cremones, their thoughts on them so far? Obviously no victory is no good, no? I mean, yeah. Probably, definitely the most underwhelming of the teams that have come up. Yes, yeah. They're a team with decent pieces. Especially in the offensive department. They're quite good, you know.

And even now their midfield, they've brought in Mete. They have Ascassibar. Yeah, Ascassibar is good, man. Mete and Pickel in the middle, that's quite good. Valeri, I'm a big fan of him. Sernicola is okay. Okereke, Desserts up front, that's fine too. Yeah, we know what they're bringing. The thing is, this isn't far from a good Serie A team more than a Serie A team. Exactly, agreed. Thoughts on Cremones so far, Mint? They're just a Serie A team. You know, I'm sorry to say it.

They've made some additions, but they're just not good enough. And it's sad because they're not a spa where they play horrendous football. But it's just like, it's not enough, you know. There are too many players where you're like, yeah, this guy shouldn't... No, it would be like a guy, it would be like a couple of like Sernicola or... La Crosse Ville? There are some names I can't even pronounce. No, they're definitely the hardest. Henry, not Henry, Gendry. Gendry. Gendre.

Gendre is when he's feeling himself, otherwise it's Gendry. Aiwu. You know, there's a lot of these players where you're like, this could easily be replaced. They have a group of, I know you're going to jump on me on the second I say this, they have a group of good goalkeepers. They have Karnesekki, who's an Atalanta product, I believe he's one of the... Skorupski is the best keeper in this game. No, no, no, he's not the best. Second best. Sorry, sorry. That's too early to tell.

And Karnesekki, Karnesekki and Radu. And Radu, Radu, he's definitely the most mistake-prone goalkeeper, but otherwise, other than his mistakes, he's fucking solid, man. He's very solid. Kermaneze and their friendlies, they played against Torino and they held them nil-nil away from home. They also played against Ludenese and I don't know the results, so it's the same outcome. 3-1. 3-1 to Ludenese. 3-1 to Ludenese. There you go. Juve, on the other hand, very interesting.

They're in third, nine wins, four draws, two losses. It seemed like in the beginning it was a very slow start with all the draws. They kind of racked up against the bottom tier teams. Everyone was calling for Allegri to go out, calling him a terrorist of football, one of the worst coaches they've seen, blah, blah, blah. They stood by him. They had their injuries. And even with the injuries, they're now looking to break into top two. They're seriously looking at that.

At the same time, obviously, they have their scandal ongoing. We don't know whether this will result in a penalty this season or next season when it comes to... If, rather, it comes to a point deduction. But yeah, this season, they're in a good position so far. Just interesting to see what's going to happen. Their previous three in Serie A, they beat Inter 2-0. They beat Verona away from home 1-0. Then they beat Lazio 3-0 at home. So that just goes to show. They carried that on.

Their friendlies, they beat Arsenal 2-0. They beat Rijeka 1-0. Then they played standardly Asian. I don't know how much they came. But yeah, thoughts on Juve so far? You go on. When the going gets tough, particularly off the pitch, Juve get going. They become united and they almost fight the off-field battle on the pitch. And they get results. So they turn that into good performance. I think that's been the case for a while now. The second there's a scandal with Juve, they win.

They start winning. And I think that will be the case over here. And I think they'll comfortably beat Carmona. I agree with that as well. I don't really have much to add. Other than I just feel like the Allegri system is starting to finally kick in. Towards the end of the last month, December, I feel like here you can see that Allegri isn't winning nice, but he's winning again. Yeah, exactly. It's more in the old victories pretty much. They have Kieser back, which is nice. Huge for them.

Now they just need Vlaović back. They need Pogba to finally get a game for them. And they can be really, really naughty. Apparently they're looking at McAllister. Yeah, I've seen this. That would be a crazy one. Apparently he's given the go ahead. And if they replace him to anyone, they want to get rid of McKennie. And Juve fans really don't like McKennie. I was scrolling through Twitter last time. I don't know why. He's not their worst player by a long shot.

They call him a clown because of his hair. Pretty mean. Matchup for me is Kieser Valeri. I agree with you. I have the same thing actually. You have to pick Kieser. And Valeri is a good player. So it's going to be fun to watch this matchup. I think Kieser on his day destroys him. But we'll see. We'll see how Kieser returns, quite frankly. Yeah, also some nice little matchups. Other ones that are just worth a mention is like Meite against Rabiot, for example.

It's quite an interesting one in midfield, just to give our listeners something else to have an opinion on. The next game is Odinese against Empoli. We all know the start that Odinese had to the season. They beat some of the biggest teams in the league and they showed that they're a real dangerous side after appointing Sotil. And this is after they lost De Paul, after they lost Molina. And they're really showing that they still are forced to be reckoned with after that.

However, they've since fallen off. It seems like players often get frustrated with each other when the going gets tough and when shit isn't coming off. And that has turned into a spell of bad results. And in fact, their previous three, they drew 1-1 to Lecce, they drew away to Spezia 1-1, and then they lost to Napoli 3-1. That was probably their best performance out of all of them. In their friendlies, they lost to West Ham 3-1 at home. They lost to Atleti Bilbao 1-0 at home.

They beat Lecce 2-0 and today they played Cremonaise and we know that that was a 3-1 victory to Odinese. What are your thoughts on Odinese so far? Obviously, an incredibly strong start, but then it seemed to plateau. I think that they overachieved at the beginning and I think it just made sense that they'd naturally regress. However, when I had spoken to Jake a while ago about Odinese, he made this point that they often get frustrated with each other.

And that's something I didn't particularly notice at the beginning. I think that might boil down to the fact that the manager is still quite new. I think maybe his management skills aren't completely honed in yet. So I feel like that's causing that reaction. Again, I don't know the backroom story, so I don't know what exactly is going on. But that's definitely playing a part in their performance as of late. It's not helping for sure. No, not at all.

They have a few big characters there, a few big egos that often clash. Pereira, Deo Lefebvre, Lovridge, for example, and even Beto. These guys are guys who really believe in their ability. Udogji as well, for example, out wide. These guys really believe in themselves. And when one of them makes a mistake, the other one almost assumes that he deserves better. Exactly. And you see it. They often start shouting at each other in the middle of the game.

And that wasn't the case at the beginning of the season, but they seemed more humble. They seemed more grounded. They were more of a unit. It's interesting to see if the manager now, as Mintov said, might have been able to restore that unity in the group. The other team we're going to be covering is Empoli. They're in 13th place, facing Goudinezza, who are in 8th. So Empoli and then there are another side that just struggled to get goals, unfortunately, for them.

They do play very attractive football. However, they're a very fun team to watch. And recently they've been starting to get some better results, which as a few wins for Empoli puts them in a position that for them is safe. And right now they do fall under that area. They're in 13th and they're a good number of points away from the relegation zone. Their previous three, they beat Sasuolo 1-0. They lost to Napoli 2-0. Then they beat Cremonese 2-0. So they're winning the games that they should win.

And Sasuolo is a very tough game. And their friendlies, they beat Sturmgras away from home 2-1. They drew to Wolves 1-1 at home. They lost to Monaco at home 1-0. And then they beat Sasuolo again 2-1. So they had a very good spell as well in their friendlies. What are your thoughts on Empoli so far? We know where their struggles are pretty much. Empoli are a good unit that plays attractive football, but they struggle to get goals.

As you said, their strikers, Satriano and Lamers haven't really hit the ground running. They have Destro as well. Destro scored one fantastic goal. Now they've just signed Caputo and hopefully they can turn it around for them. Because all they need is a finish. They each have one goal. All these strikers. Destro, I'll give it to Destro, probably counts as two because it's not an overhead fucking kick. From out of the area. Satriano has been their best striker. You think so? Movement wise?

He brings the most energy for sure and they need energy. Yeah. Obviously Caputo plays really well with two attacking midfielders off his shoulders. Way better than he does with wingers in isolation. He's definitely the most experienced one as well. Baldanzi and Bayrami and Caputo might link up really well together. I look forward to seeing it. Agreed. What are your matchups, guys? For me, it's Udogi and Makengo against Baldanzi.

I really rate Baldanzi and I'm interested to see if he can get the better of these two beasts. Yeah, that's going to be a good one. I have the keepers in this case. I have Silvestri against Vicario. Vicario has been, like I said, honestly, even last season. Last season I was raving about him as well. He's been fantastic one of the top goalkeepers in this league. And apparently a big move might be on the cards as well.

Silvestri on the other hand, it's like I felt like he was always slightly overrated. Silvestri even when he was at Verona. I don't think he is. But recently he's been very good this season for Udinese. So it's going to be interesting to see who comes out on top. Fair enough. I mean, I wouldn't say that Silvestri's been playing better than he should be. Yeah, I think he's been at this level for a while. Yeah, he's been good for some time. And he's not young. But I have Parisi versus Pereira.

Oh, that's nice. That's a good one. I mean, it's a standard winger for right back. Both tireless. Yes, and Pereira can have a lot of tricks up his sleeve against a young Parisi. So I like to see how that pans out. Unless Parisi just fucking bolts past them, bro. Parisi's got pace now. He's good. He's good, man. The next and final game and the biggest game, guys, the best for last. It's Inter in fifth against Napoli. We all know who Napoli are at first.

Inter are on 10 wins, no draws and five losses. Quite a slow start to their season, but still 10 victories out of 15 matches isn't detrimental. It's just shocking considering that they were fighting for the league for two seasons in a row. Napoli, on the other hand, 13 wins, two draws and zero losses. We all know there's no reason to get into Napoli too much. For Inter, you know, they seem to pick it up a bit in their previous three matches. They beat Sampdoria 3-0.

They beat Atalanta 3-2 in a fucking very tight encounter with a goal at the end. But in between those two matches, they lost to Juve 2-0. Is that something bad for Inter or is it something that was understandable considering where Juve stand and where Inter stand? They lost to the team that's currently third, which is OK. The thing about even a league-winning team is that you can't drop points to the minnow side. You have to pick up fucking points where you should.

And if you're going to lose a game, it's one of these games. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to do everything I can for that. And Inter in general this season, there's one or two really places where I really see them struggling. So first and foremost, overall, it seems like the camp isn't as united as it was. And I think that Simone Enzak is slowly losing the locker room. I'm not sure I agree with that.

I think there's a lot of we were mentioning that Udinese kind of complained to each other, so on, so forth. I think Inter have that quite a bit as well. They have a lot of egos. They have a lot of players that stand out. And we've seen them clash a little bit on the pitch as well. Other than that, like their main weakness to me nowadays is getting the ball from not even from midfield to attack, because they get the ball.

Then it's up to their strikers, but getting the ball from defense to midfield at times. And that's probably because Brozovic was out for so long, man. Yeah, that doesn't help at all. And you know, you mentioned that the players get frustrated with each other, but this is a team that has won the league together. Yeah, this is a team that can reassemble and cause some problems. And I do think that they'll be better than they were at the start of the season. I think so as well.

I don't think that Linzak is losing the dressing room. I think that there are conflicts, but I think despite everything, despite putting their money and all in one basket, which was Lukaku, they haven't done that badly. Lukaku was their real hope to push them forward. And he's been out, man. He's been out for almost all of it. Could it be the case now that you mentioned it, that last season actually inter overperformed a little bit because going into last season, they obviously had lost Lukaku.

They lost Hakimi and they were going through financial turmoil and they still managed to have the season that they had last year. Did they overperform then or are they underperforming now? I think they're underperforming. Yeah, I think on paper this team should be doing better than they are. Cool. Napoli. One second, one second, because Inter played a Maltese team and I was about to forget their friendlies.

Thankfully, I was in Africa, so I couldn't go because Inter won 1-6-1 against Gzira United. Also in Malta, they played against RB Salzburg and they won 4-0. They drew 1-1 away to Betis. They beat Regine away from home 2-0 and today they played Sassuola and we know how much they came. How much was it? 1-0. 1-0 to Inter. So that's Inter for you. Napoli otherwise, guys, I mean, I barely wrote any notes on Napoli because at the moment it's... I have no notes to be honest.

Superlatives in every department for Napoli when it comes to their starters and their bench players. You look at the likes of Victorosim and Andriy Vrotskely who are just tearing it up up front. They have Lozano and Poletano who are putting in a shift basically week in, week out, just alternating between each other. Their midfield has been stacked. Zilinski has been very good. He's really stepped up the season. He has. Lobotka has filled in the shoes of Fabian Ruiz.

Zambo Anguissa has been revitalized and has looked like an amazing midfielder. Very elegant now. Mario Ruiz playing very well. Kim has been a revelation. Rahmani is solid. Dilorenzo is solid. Merritt has been pretty good. There have been so many good players on that team. So many good players, bro. Honestly, they have been by far the best team in the league. Their previous three have been a 2-1 victory away to Atalanta, a 2-0 home victory against Empoli, and a 3-2 home win against Odinese.

Now in the beginning, when Napoli were somewhat running away with it, we were saying, ah, but they haven't played the teams Milan have. They've played more difficult opponents than Milan have. They've played pretty much everyone but Inter, who they're playing now. And have they played Juve? I don't think they've played Juve, but otherwise they've played pretty much everyone there is to play, man. And they're in a certain position now. They're looking like Max Verstappen.

They can run away with it, not with ease, because we know that they have that whole butler thing about them. And injuries are a very real thing. They're going to be competing. Post-Christmas, right? Exactly. And they're going to be competing, actually competing in the Champions League. And they're going to want to go far over there. So stuff can still happen, but they're definitely the strongest side in the league by a landslide this season. How do you think this game goes? For me, it's a draw.

Really? I think that Napoli will go into this game not wanting to lose so that Milan don't close the gap. And I think Inter will want to fucking win desperately. And I think that will result in a draw. Perhaps it's oversimplified logic, but I feel like that's the way it's going to go, a draw. Maybe 1-1 or 2-2 if we're lucky. I think Napoli win. Me too. I have a big feeling about them. 2-1, 3-1 or 3-2 even. I think Inter might even score first.

They'll want to come out hungry and so on and so forth. It'll be like the Atalanta game, I feel. And then Napoli over 90 minutes, bro. Napoli over 90 minutes is just you get pressed, you get beaten, you get outpaced, you get outmuscled, you're exhausted. 15 minutes into playing this team, being on Guevara's side. Guevara has been, I know you mentioned... Luckmann. Luckmann earlier. Guevara has definitely been the... revelation. Like to lose in Signe, to get this guy for... 10 million.

I was going to say peanuts, but to get him for 10 million and he's having the performances that he's having, the layout comparisons aren't crazy. They aren't crazy out of question. This guy is unbelievable. He's surreal. He's unbelievable. It's a joke how good this guy is. Guevara Dona. For me, the matchup to look out for is Brozovic against Lobotka. I think whoever has the better game will be on the winning team. That's amazing. That's a beautiful, stylistic...

It's like when in the World Cup, I mentioned this already in the last episode, was Brozovic against Amrabat. I always like seeing these things where there's clearly one mastermind just orchestrating the play. They go up against each other. It's a beautiful sight. I have Ossimen Skriniar. Stylistically beautiful. And Skriniar has previously broken Ossimen's eye socket. So there's a bit of bad blood. Oh shit, that's a nice one. So it's juicy. Ossimen is going to want revenge.

Skriniar is going to be on him, bro. He's going to be fucking on him. But he's Ossimen. Look what I did to your face, motherfucker. You fucking asshole. Took your mask off. Mine's quite similar to yours, but it's the opposite. It's Lukaku against Kim. Oof, oof, two fucking beasts. I mean, all I say is that Lukaku must be so frustrated with the season he's having. With Belgium, it sucked. And you could see in a video clip he smashes a fucking glass door or glass window, whatever the fuck it was.

He might be pimped up, ready to get some goals for Inter again. So I wonder what Lukaku we're going to see now. I'm pretty certain you're going to be frustrated. Now, Lautaro isn't in the projected starting eleven. Probably the classic World Cup syndrome you play until the final and you probably take the first match off. But there's Dzeko alongside Lukaku. So quite a stationary duo up front. We know that Lukaku has stocked up, so he's not the quick pacey man we've seen before.

And Dzeko is old now and he's a striker inside the box. He's a target man. So they're really going to need Barela to get in behind. They're going to need Trela Noglu on the set pieces to be 10 on 10. They're going to need Di Marco and Dumfries to kind of get the ball in. If they manage to get the ball in, they can do something. But with the high pressure football that Napoli play and with how quick they are, I think they'll struggle with those two strikers.

Yeah, I think it'll be all about the set pieces for Inter. They've got Di Marco and Trela Noglu who can whip them in. They've got Barela and Brozovic who are also capable. They've got their defenders, Bastoni, Devri and Skriniar who all have a lot of aerial prowess about them. There's Lukaku and Dzeko as target men up front. Dumfries has quite a good size on him. So I think that will cause Napoli some problems. Yeah, very much good. Question segment. Let's do it.

So welcome back to our question segment. To drop us a question or a hot take, you can reach out to us at Serial Spotlight on Twitter or on Instagram. To start off, we're going to do this kind of rapid fire because it's half past two in the morning and I have work tomorrow morning. And take with the liquid as well. I went to liquid last night and I had yoga today and I'm knackered. The first question comes from Steve Collero, our boy. Hey Steve.

And he says, please discuss the Lautaro and Lukaku World Cup disaster classes. They were shocking. How will this affect Inter going forward? Let's start off by discussing that. Personally, I think that Lautaro and Lukaku. So performing at the World Cup is a do or die situation where you have five games and you have to play well in these five games or it comes off as terrible. I think they're in their comfort zone. I think they have more time.

They're aware that they have quite a few games left in the season, so they're playing without that added pressure. I think they'll be back to scoring. Yeah, I think the Lautaro, Lautaro and Lukaku bromance can be very good. And now that they've had this time off, they those two haven't, but they both had kind of disappointing seasons. I think that they might be the support that they need from each other. And I feel like both of them having off World Cups could now help them to prove a point.

This is an actually storm forward. It could be that this is demoralizing. It just keeps things worse. But I feel like they'll start linking up and getting those like what was intended to find their rhythm. I think we've seen Lautaro struggle before and come back from it. And I think he also has the confidence of actually winning the World Cup, scoring his penalty. So I think there is that. I don't think he'll be too disappointed.

He'll be overwhelmed with the success rather than be upset about how he performed. And I think he'll take that momentum, a champion's momentum, a world champion's momentum into the club. Lukaku on the other hand, just shambolic performances for Belgium. He was rushed back into the squad thinking he was going to be there saving grace, still a little bit injured. And he just had one of the most dreadful performances from a striker I've ever seen.

I think we could blame it a bit on the injuries, but I would rather blame it on his fitness as well. I think after his injury at Chelsea, he really hasn't fucking gotten back to full fitness ever since that, man. He looks stocky and slow. He does, he does. But if he goes to England, he just gets stocky and slow. It's stressful. It'll be interesting to see. I think a goal against Napoli for either of them will shoot their confidence sky high. We'll see if they manage to get that.

Our next question comes from Andrew Sanforini, our boy Santi. Hey Santi. Actually, Steve had a part two to his question. Sorry, something. He said updated top four predictions. His are in disorder. Napoli, Juve, Milan and Inter. Oh, Napoli, Juve, Milan and Inter. I fully agree with all of that. Oh, yeah? OK, you think Juve will finish out of Milan and Napoli will end the league? As things stand, I think so, yes. Fair enough. OK, my updated top four. I still believe, man. You still believe?

I still believe, Ostia. I don't know. The curse, the post-Christmas curse for Napoli is so much. It's so consistent. Granted, they look incredible. But we'll see what happens to them if they hit a bad spell or form. It seems like everyone is due a bad spell or form at some point. I think Milan, Napoli, Juve, Inter. Oh, man. Don't do this to me. Don't get me believing, man. Don't get me believing. What do you think? I'm going to say it's Napoli, Milan, Juve, Inter.

I think the only difference is that Inter will end up jumping. Lazio, not because Lazio will be bad by any way. But I think Inter will pick it up again and do that. OK. So, Andrew Santfornier, Santi Arbui, your best friend on the podcast. He's my other jubilani, man. Exactly, your other jubilani. He asks, will players who played at the World Cup have better seasons than those who stayed at home? That's an interesting one. That's a really nice question. I don't think so, particularly.

I think players who managed to stay at home maybe got to know their team a bit better, got to practice a few drills. I think they're better off, to be honest with you. It strictly depends on how they did at the World Cup. If they were overplayed in the World Cup. I think Amr Abat will come back and be fantastic for Fiorentina. He'll carry the momentum and all the high praise. He'll be super confident.

I think, and then on the other hand, there are certain players that will feel the weight of not performing well in the World Cup. Like we mentioned Lukaku, for example, and players who are fatigued from it as well. When Giroud comes back to Milan, there are two ways it can go. Either he's exhausted, which he never seems to be. God bless him. Or else the second option is that he just beat Henri's record and he's going to carry that momentum into the league. It depends on the player's situation.

What do you think, Mint? I kind of agree with Jake in the sense that he's not really certain of that and that the players staying home will have better seasons. It also depends on how they fare in the World Cup. Oh yeah, so you agree with me as well. Yeah, I do. I think, yes and no. I think it's just going to boil down to... You know why it's hard to describe? Because you have to go into the mentality of these players that come to the World Cup.

Even if they had bad World Cups, they'll have the mental fortitude to come back home and say, I'm going to fucking change it up. And maybe even they click better with their team in Italy rather than with their partners back home. Certain players might have a move on their mind already and they might be distracted like Amr Abat might be thinking about Liverpool right now. Especially apparently according to Goal, and I never really trust Goal.

Bellingham is off to Real apparently, so Liverpool have a slot available. They might go for Sufjan. Cool. Our next question comes from Jamie on Twitter at JamieO-R. He asks, if Napoli pursue Azzedine Unahi, how do they manage the midfield with so many players? Demme, Ndombele, Lobotka, Zambo-Anguissa, Elmas and Zielinski are all already present in this lineup. There are whispers of Demme and Zielinski leaving. Zielinski as well? Yeah. Where is he going to? The Premier League apparently.

There's just rumours right now. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. Again, now he's a very talented player. He's a good squad player, even stylistically you bring him on when you're looking for a certain something. He doesn't need to slot into the first three, he doesn't need to be a replacement for Demme or Ndombele or so on and so forth. I think it's good to have his quality and a different kind of player in midfield.

If they're fighting for the league, they need all the manpower they can get. If they're playing on three fronts, they want to compete in the Champions League as well. Injuries have become so common today. Exactly. So I think they'll all get a chance. Nice. Five subs as well. Mintov, agreed? He agrees. Amazing. He nodded, guys. I think Mintov's getting tired. I'm absolutely tired in this podcast. No, you're not. Apart from showing up two hours late, you're doing brilliant.

Our next question comes from our boy Andy. At footballandy9 on Twitter, he says, Hi guys, how much will the World Cup break mess with Napoli's momentum if at all in their title challenge? And I think it might, quite frankly. The break came at a bad time for Napoli. They had good momentum going on, five wins in a row and then all of a sudden they have to stop. So if anything, it's going to impact them negatively. Is it? I would say so. I think they just come back and keep doing it.

I definitely see your point, but I genuinely... There's nothing for them to... There's no big reason for them to start digressing. But complacency might have been built around the camp. You know, when you stop for an entire month and a half and you're looking at the table and every time you see that your eight points clear, you might take that for granted and forget how hard you worked to actually be there. Or you're overconfident and they have this bravado around you.

That could also be the case. I think Napoli are always the perfect kind of confident man where everything they try just comes off for them. But it'll be interesting. I think Napoli are definitely a team that probably impacted the worst because a lot of teams seemed like they needed a bit of a break. Probably Napoli and Fiorentina are the only teams and Bologna that would have benefited from not having the break and just continuing the league. And Juve, of course.

But I think the quality that they have and the coach they have and the squad that they have, I think they'll just go back to winning. And then, I don't know, we'll see if there's a post-Christmas meltdown for them. The next question is a statement and it comes from our boy Miegels. The next question is a statement. At finally Miegels, he pronounces it Meglas but we refuse. And he says, if Napoli beat Inter, it's over. He's a Milan fan. He thinks that Napoli beat Inter. Already?

I think 16 games in is too early. You can never say that. If you say that, you just... I'm sorry, Miegels. I can't agree with that. His name is Ben, if you want to make it more personal. Ben Miegels, I'm sorry. I get his point. Especially if you see, as a Milan fan especially, you see Napoli playing that well and you're like... Like I said before, they played most of the big teams. So you're like, maybe Inter? And remember, you lose one game, then your form suffers, your players suffer.

So you're most likely to lose after a loss. You know what I mean? So perhaps a loss or dropping points against Inter could bring them to a halt. I don't think it's the end if they beat Inter though. I think my sensitive side definitely wants to say that. But I think over the course of the remaining, what, 20 games, man. There's like 20 games left. There's definitely room for Napoli to drop some more points, man. Our next question comes from Mark Russo on Instagram, mr.usso.

He asks, how many years does Giroud have left in him? And I think injury-free, he's got three years scoring goals. Oh, wow. I think he has three years. He's 36. Yes. I think the type of player he is, the fact that he's kind of evolved into this poacher in the box. You can just cross it to him and he's just so smart that he get there before the defender. I think that he could do three years, unless he suffers a terrible injury. I say two, two good years. Something like that.

Like he could definitely be Milan's top scorer this year and the next. And I think after that, I think this year rather than it wouldn't be because he's slowing down so much. But I think Milan will be very wary of his age. And they want a replacement. Exactly. Find a replacement at the right time, not when he starts tanking. Divock, shit, EG. Any more questions? That's it, brother. That's it. It's done. Oh my God. The whole world has been complete. And a very average time, two hours, 21 minutes.

Sounds bang on for Serie A spotlight. Thank you very much for your questions, guys. We've got quite a few. Please DM us your questions for the next episode. We look forward to talking to you once the season has started. Thank you very much, Minto, for coming on. I apologize for being late. No worries. I hope you enjoy work tomorrow. I'll try my best and I might be alone in the office tomorrow. It's going to be fucking terrible. Okay. Don't forget, guys, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play.

If you can give us a rating, it's highly appreciated. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. I swear we post really fun content and we engage with you guys. So feel free to send us voice notes as well with your hot takes, predictions, your takes on teams. We've been Serie A Spotlight. Thank you very much. And we'll see you in 2023.