Hello and welcome back to another episode of Seria Spotlight, this is Season 2 Episode 26 and we are your hosts Matt and Drake, here to discuss another reshuffle in the fight for Europe as Napoli continue their perfect road to Seria our glory. So far so good for Napoli, a pretty much flawless one loss in the league so far and that came against Inter. Yeah, and they pretty much haven't dropped points since that.
Yeah, it's going very well for them even in the Champions League might I add, and we saw some Gvaradona excellence, that second goal against Frankfurt was incredible, you know to go out against Frankfurt they had one of the most intense atmospheres I've seen in a long time with all those flares and flags waving and for Napoli to eventually grow into the game so quickly and become so dominant like and it was after Frankfurt's red card
that Napoli just upped their tempo by so much like it's so much fun to watch an Italian side play such positive football to the point that pundits from the UK and you know all those experts are saying that Napoli are the antithesis of the typical Italian philosophy. Okay, that's a big word that I don't really understand. Does it mean that because I saw something today where a pundit said that Napoli don't play Italian football. Yeah, it's the opposite of it basically.
That's what antithesis means. Like antithesis. Ah, I see, I see, okay, that's a smart way to put it. They play their own game, Napoli, that's what they do. They're so confident and they could just, not to say that they don't prepare for their opponents but they're so skilled, they're so powerful, they're so diverse that just using their own weapons week in, week out is pretty much enough for them to compete with the world's best man.
Yeah, bro, honestly and at this point, you know, once again they're getting a lot of traction. Many pundits are talking, yesterday there was a guy, I don't know who it was, it was an English pundit and he was basically really praising Ossie Mann and just saying like, it's just another player that we're impatiently waiting for to join the Premier League. I hate that, I hate that so much. Get off your high horse, like, you know, hopefully he does not go anywhere near the Premier League.
Yeah, and this week he was actually our goal of the week. Yes he was, bro. He was an amazing goal from a very tight angle, granted Concealie could have probably done better but was definitely caught off guard over there. The type of goal that you'd see Roberto Carlos scoring.
Exactly, Roberto Carlos, Mike Kohn, that tight angle is, it's not only that he managed to score it but even just the confidence you need to have to attempt something like that and you know, he's just having it from every angle at the moment because he knows his capabilities, he knows his qualities, he's on top form and he has the confidence to do that and to pull it off.
Now, Cissé, Di Maria, Guevara, they could have all walked away with this prestigious goal of the week award on Serie A Spotlight. Even Soriano, dude, there were once again, we had bangers, no match recently, where there were only bangers. I think you mean Orsalini. Orsalini, even Soriano, Soriano was amazing, what's his name, Barrow just laid it off to him and he had it from outside the area and to the bottom corner.
Di Maria had a similar goal from outside, like not too much power, just perfect accuracy to the bottom corner. Exactly, kind of like Cissé's as well, he didn't have too much power, Guevara didn't put too much power into his finish, it is the element and the art of surprise and that is the theme of the goals that we've seen this week. All the great goals had that being common in them as a common theme.
Our bets bro, Serie A Spotlight slips, Serie A Spotlight got the fuck back up baby, our first win in five. We were struggling. Yes, we went through our Milan phase, a month without a victory, but here we are, we bet on a draw or Lazio win against Alentana away from home because we can't trust Lazio away from home to get the win, so we put draw or win. We're also increasingly unsure of our decision making, so that was needed.
And then we put Juve to beat Spezia because Juve are no joke and right now bookmakers seem to think that they're worse than they actually are, so you can take advantage of those odds. These two together took us to odds of two practically, it was like one nine five, something like that. So we doubled our money, that was very good. Exactly. Well done to us, round of applause for Serie A Spotlight. Serie A Spotlight slips. Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit. Mainly shit though. Mainly shit.
What's that, Jake, what are you doing? My friend is my soundboard, I'll have my trusty soundboard with me on the podcast from now on. Sometimes I might, you know. Today I feel gay. Sometimes I might just pull out a Berlusconi. Pullman Detroit. Pullman Detroit, I couldn't find a better one of that. I have the Pioli. Certo. Certo. Certo. Yeah, I've got quite a few, I'll save them for appropriate moments though.
And as we keep on having more and more iconic moments this season, the more that will grow. If you have any recommendations of quotes and stuff to add to our soundboard, feel free to send them along and we will give them a feature. And maybe one of your voice notes will feature, like I'd like to have one of Mintov or Cesko, bro, that would be fucking cool. That would be hilarious. I use the word horny through my life. That's one of the best quotes in history.
It's not Seiya related, it's Vangal with Manchester United, but it had to make the cut. Yeah. Brilliant. I wonder if Spalletti says the same thing to this boy. Don't forget to follow us guys. We're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. You can feel free to send us any voice notes on DM, send us your hot takes, send us any questions you might have and also rate us five stars wherever you're listening or four, you know, just be honest, but be a bit kind to us.
We're on Spotify, we're on Apple podcasts, Google play, anywhere you get your podcasts essentially. Very good. We've also been posting Twitter threads on Twitter, of course, 10 part threads. So far we've put one on the tragedy of El Grande Torino and the Qualiarella stalker story. So do check us out on Twitter if you want to learn more about these two depressing events. Yeah, and again, send us your recommendations and you might just get a 10 piece thread of what you're looking for.
So before we get into everything guys, just to run you through all the happenings of match day 23. So Napoli visited the Mape and went away with a 2-0 victory thanks to two fantastic strikes by Guevara and Ossimen. Inter beat Udinese, 3-1. Last time around Udinese had beaten Inter, 3-1. The Berlusconi derby ended with a 1-0 victory for Milan away from home, their third 1-0 victory in a row. Speaking of 1-0s, Roma beat Verona 1-0.
That was the only way they were going to beat Verona right now, scoring early and defending. Lecce have beaten Atalanta away from home with a score of 2-1. That is the second time Lecce have beaten Atalanta this year and they have gotten the double over Ladea. Salernitana lost to Lazio, 2 goals to nil at home. Juve also 1-0 away from home against Spezia.
An interesting little story about their managerial situation over there where Semplici, who has just signed a contract, didn't sign the contract in time, therefore they had to call upon their caretaker manager for this baptism of fire which is a game against Juventus. Sampdoria once again played well and got away with nothing as Bologna beat them 2-1 thanks to a last-minute goal by Orsolini.
Cremona really looked like they were going to get it done to get their first victory in Serie A but they drew 2-2 against Torino in Turin, whilst Fiorentina continue to be quite disappointing as they drew 1-1 to Empoli, who continue to be quite impressive. You might have noticed that it's that time of year again when players sport a smudge of lipstick on their cheek to remind the primitive chimpanzees out there not to beat their wives.
So that's what that was if you are wondering why everyone has a red line on their face this week. If you beat your wife, stop listening to our podcast. And stop beating your wife. And stop beating your wife, more importantly. Shall we get into it? Let's get into it, brother. Let's do it. So the first game we're going to be covering is Sassuolo 0-0 Napoli 2. The previous encounter was a 4-0 victory for Napoli. It was an Ossiman hat-trick and a Gvarac-Skelea goal.
In fact, Napoli have put six past Sassuolo this season and only two of their players have scored. That is crazy. Berardi was only fit enough to be an unused substitute as Sassuolo lined up in their 4-3-3 formation with concilien goal, a backline of Rogério, Rouan, Erlich and Zortéa, a midfield three of Henrique, Maxi Lopez. Maxime Lopez, Frattesi and a front three of Lauriente, Defrel and Bairami, obviously in place of Berardi.
For Napoli it was also a 4-3-3 formation with Marettengold and a backline of Di Lorenzo, Rachmani, Minje and Olivera, a midfield three of Anguissa, Lobotka and Elmas directly replacing Zielinski for this game, whilst the front three was Poletano, Ossiman and Gvarac, Poletano stepping in for Chucky Lozano. So in the twelfth minute, Gvarac Scalia opened the scoring for Napoli.
It was a solo stunner from the young Georgian as he carried the ball forward from the halfway line beating two players with ease before slotting a low-placed shot in Concigli's near bottom corner, leaving the keeper absolutely bamboozled and rooted to the spot. 1-0 and what a fucking goal that was by Gvaradona.
Shortly after, Sassuolo thought that they were going to get an equaliser as Lauriente beat Di Lorenzo before cutting into the box and hitting the near post with what would have been a fantastic equaliser but not this time. Sometimes it just seems like the team that is dominating gets all the luck in the world and that really did seem like it was going to be an equaliser for Sassuolo.
And then, still in the first half, a Rachmani long ball was captured by Ossiman who beat two players before entering the box but his attempted finish hit the post. It was the same combination moments later as Rachmani once again knocked it up front trusting that Victor Ossiman was going to get there in time.
He managed to get there, collected the ball and as he was shielding the ball from a defender at a very awkward angle, he turned and unleashed a very unexpected strike, beating Concigli at his near post. The keeper should have done better but once again the element of surprise was absolutely ruthless and that was our goal of the week and it will probably, because of the unique nature of the goal, make it into the top 10 goals of the season I would bet.
Well yes, top 10 isn't a stretch at all, it would most likely be there. I think so. I wonder how many of those goals will be Napoli goals at this rate. And yeah, Guevara and Ossiman in particular, Ossiman has had some brilliant ones this season man. Yeah, he really has. Still a couple of, I don't know if you're going to go to the talking points because there's still two highlights I'd like to bring up. Please go for it, go for it, yes, my points can wait.
Laurente netted thanks to a fratresi assist, however, Defrel was in an offside position and interfered as he made slight contact with Napoli defender Oliveira who ended up losing balance due to this. He therefore interfered with play and the referee cancelled the goal. Now the contact was incredibly minimal but it was enough to put Oliveira to the ground and I do think that that was an interference with play because the defender was grounded because of an offside player.
Now the commentator found it incredibly harsh but yeah, whatever. They tend to. Simeone thought he got another super sub goal to his name but his provider, Chucky Lozano, was in an offside position. Brother, sorry for cutting you off, you wanted to say something. No, it's fine.
All I wanted to do was bang my head against the same bell that we've been fucking banging it against all season about how Napoli can just blow anyone out of the water and you know, so Swolo did look like they could play to the level of Napoli at least when it came to chances created through Laurente who by the way is a serious, serious player. He was so unlucky not to score at the near post when he hit the post. He won't last long at Sassuolo, Laurente. Someone will pick him up.
I really see him with an Atalanta kind of team and I wouldn't be surprised if they pick him up. Yeah, the main thing, one of the most underrated things about the Napoli side, we talk about it often over here but it continues to be the case, is Stanislav Lobotka. That guy is incredible. Two incredible performances in the last week. We saw one against Sassuolo and another one in the Champions League. He is a metronome. The second the opposition gets the ball, Maxime Lopez gets the ball.
For example, look around, he's surrounded. There are three Lobotkas around him. You know what I mean? He's everywhere this guy. He's everywhere and no matter how much pressure you put on him, he calmly will find his teammates. He will find his teammates. He's one of the most cool, calm and composed player and matched with his work ethic. He reminds me a lot of Ben Nasser. Yes, yes. He's very, very similar. They're dribbling in tight spaces, they're capable of unleashing the ball under pressure.
They're just two very, very similar players. I do think that this season has been Lobotka's proper standout season and obviously Ruiz gave him that opportunity by moving to PSG. It's very clever of Napoli to show their faith in him rather than just buying a buzz name and just slotting him in that CDM role. But brilliant stuff by Stanislav Lobotka. To think he was benched by Gattuso. Yeah, yeah. That's crazy. But granted, I think he was a bit heavier back then. Lobotka.
He arrived a bit chunky, didn't he? He was a bit thick. He had like that hazard build. All ass. Exactly, all ass. Today I feel gay. That's the first one guys and it was brilliant. One thing that really struck me about Napoli is their ability to utilize Rahmani and Minje to play the ball out. Whether it's a long ball or whether it's to Lobotka, whether it's to the wingers, but that is how they start every single attack.
Rahmani and Minje were third and fourth respectively in top passes completed with 93 and 92. And of course Rahmani registered and assist as well just to add to that. That's the team that dominates the play, man. If your centre backs are playing those that many passes, they're just switching play constantly. Yeah, 100%.
And that brings me to the point of they had two very dangerous attacks that one ended with Ossimen hitting the post and the other ended in an Ossimen goal where Rahmani can and I can do this if I play for Napoli, I can hoof the ball upfield. In Maltese we say fejigigi. Not Torino's centre back. Wherever it lands, like it lands, it doesn't matter because Ossimen is going to get to it. Just find a space, ping it there and Ossimen will get there and he will create something out of nothing.
Yesterday in the game against Frankfurt, a ball was played to one of the Frankfurt defenders and he went to kick it away basically. And out of nowhere, Ossimen gets between the ball and the player and as the player goes to kick the ball, he just kicks Ossimen and Ossimen goes, ah! You want a penalty, you know? Yes, you're right. You can just hoof the ball upfield, Ossimen will get to it. He's Ossimental. Ossimental, there you go. There you go. Beautiful, beautiful episode title this time.
These are my favourite ones, just a little bit silly. Yeah, this is the sister episode of Gvarasexual. Yeah, literally, literally. Ossimen was obviously first in most attempts. He had nine and three of them were on target. Like I said, this guy is just shooting from everywhere and that is why he has 18 goals in Serie A this season and still a long, long, long way to go, bro. There are records that this guy is looking to break and keep in mind, he was out injured for a while as well, man.
Yeah, it's always the case with Ossimen, man. As we say, he puts his body on the line every game. But we could keep going on and on about Napoli. Let's look a bit at Sassuolo. They did have an undefeated run of four matches that came to an end. We can't be too harsh on them because that was against Napoli and to be fair to them, to be fair to them, they had a good game.
It was two moments of absolute brilliance that made them lose the game, but they hit the post, they scored offside, they really brought the game to Napoli and 4-3-3 against Napoli and on certain occasions they were even getting the better, man. Yeah, for sure, bro. They tend to play up to their opponents. The problem is when they face some of these smaller sides, they don't always show up.
Now we've discussed why the case may be and the fact that they don't really have much of a fan base, that you go to a stadium, you play your home games, you feel like you're away from home because the stadium is just packed with opposition fans. So they don't really have an advantage in any stadium. Exactly. And that could be why. It's a swallow where 20th in distance covered and in dribbling, but that doesn't really matter.
It's the distance covered that really gets me because whether you're on the ball or off the ball against Napoli, that requires movement, you would think. No? Yeah, it does. And it's not like they got totally dominated. I mean, they still had 40% ball position. They had eight shots, two on target. You know what I mean? They had a couple of free kicks in the injury. They should have run more. That's as simple as that. Would have been different if maybe they had captain Mimmo Berardi.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely would have been a different story. I'm just wondering at the moment as Sassuolo sit in 15th with 24 points, is Dionisi's job on the line? Do they have complete faith in him? They do, bro. They do. They do, right? Absolutely. It feels like they do. They've been through the worst part of their season. It's all up here for Sassuolo. They are getting better now. Like I said, they were an undefeated run of four games.
That included a victory against Milan and a victory over Atalanta. They let them go now. I'm sorry, guys, but it would be a really, really weird decision by Sassuolo. It's crazy, right? I mean, we look at Salernitano who are in 21 points, they've sacked their manager twice. You look at Sassuolo who are in 24 points, they've stuck with the same manager. Everyone's saying, sure, they've had a bit of a dreadful, a worse season than last season, but no one's really calling it dreadful.
They look at Fiorentina, for example, who just have one point more than Sassuolo and their season is being hailed to be dreadful. When you think of the demise of Fiorentina as well, because they are a conference league team. They have a solid team on paper, better than Sassuolo and much better than Sassuolo and Salernitano on paper. Yeah, 100%. So yeah, they are definitely underachieving. I mean, we'll get to those soon.
I think Sassuolo are in the period where they're turning things around and they are going to have, they still do have their mindset on a top 10 finish. When you think of Udinese in 10th, they're just six points ahead of them. And at the rate that Udinese are dropping points, I wouldn't be surprised to at some point in the season see Sassuolo have not get into the top 10 and get very close.
No one is going to get close to Napoli though, as they are first on 62 points, 15 points ahead of second placed Inter, while Sassuolo, like we said, in 15th on 24 points, they are seven points clear of relegation battlers Verona. Yes. Ozyman did go off injured in the game against Sassuolo, he came off holding his leg, he was limping off the field and the guy on Twitter wrote down literally Larry and the crown, I assume he's from Nigeria.
He wrote, Victor Ozyman came off holding his leg and limping off the field, dot, dot, dot. God abeg, any injury that will hold his leg, let it happen to Smalley instead. That's what this guy on Twitter said. And then Ozyman replied to him. You know how Ozyman is on Twitter. He just replies to anyone. You could have like four followers and reply to him. He said nothing like that, my brother, comma, I day, okay, 100 heart. What language is that?
Nigerians have this way of speaking English where you can understand 50% of it. You see that with people from the Philippines as well. They speak like how we have people, talpepe, talpepe is when you're from the posture regions of Malta and you add a lot of English to your Maltese sentences because English is for the upper class in Malta and Maltese is for the worker kind of thing. I disagree with that shit. We all disagree with that shit, but that's the way it is. And I think it's similar.
Like in the Philippines, it must be similar in Nigeria where they just throw in English phrases in their native sentences and then it's just hilarious to listen to. So the next game we're going to be covering is Inter 3 Udinese 1. So Inter lined up with their 3-5-2 formation, this time with Handanovic in goal. He makes his first start of the year. Onana was fit to play, but he opted for Handanovic for rotational purposes, probably the game against Porto.
In mind, he thought, why not have a competent goalkeeper here? I'll give him some minutes. Mastoni, Acerbi and Darmian played at the back. Di Marco was on the left with Dumfries on the right. Mkhitaryan, Brozovich and Barela were in the middle. Good to see Brozovich back over there. Dzeko and Lukaku partnered up front. For Udinese, it was a 3-5-2 formation, literally mirroring Inter over here. Silvestri was in goal. Rodrigo Bacau at the back with Bijole and Ebosse.
Ezebui on the right, Udodji on the left, Lovridge, Wallace and Pereira were in the middle with Beto and Thuvan up front. I believe this was Thuvan's first start. Now it all started when Dumfries fell victim to a wild tackle from Udinese midfielder Wallace. Now the referee initially thought that Wallace got the ball, but then he went to VAR and realized that in fact he had not. He gave a penalty to Inter. Proper Sunday League challenge by the way by Wallace.
The amount of force he went into that with he could have gotten the ball, it would have been a fucking foul because of the after-match. That's called a Brexit tackle. He gave the free kick basically and Lukaku shot low and weak. The penalty, yes. Kind of like low, weak, centrally, but slightly right. And Silvestri saved it. But the Udinese defender had entered the area prematurely and there was a retake as the defender managed to clear the ball. Like we saw last week, the exact same situation.
Sometimes I wonder why not just wait. Your goal is going to save the penalty. Just don't force a retake because you entered the area prematurely. It's so naive. He completely fucked it. I actually took a screenshot because it was so like everyone's just waiting and you could see the anticipation in their face. And this guy is just sprinting in like an imbecile man. Like what are you doing? But anyway, the retake, Lukaku was brave to shoot low and right again.
This time he aimed it towards the corner though. The goalkeeper guessed correctly against Silvestri, but it was too much for him. And 1-0, 1-0 for Inter. This is the 20th minute. In the 43rd minute Pereira played the perfect ball to Unleash Lovric, who finished over the head of Samir Handanovic. This time Samir was not Stan Danovic, but he went down instead. He just like ducked down and the ball went right over him. Probably could have done better over there considering how central the shot was.
The first half was definitely scrappy bro. Despite Inter's 60% possession, they just managed five shots, two of them on target versus Udinese's two attempts. Let's just say that this was no viewing spectacle. In the second half to change things up, Enzaghi brought on D'Ambrosio. That's the guy you bring on when you need a goal. But apparently it worked. In the 66th minute he made a double change as well. He brought on Lautaro Martinez and Shala Noglu.
It took till the 73rd minute for Inter to counter and score an amazing goal basically with some amazing passes through Mkhitaryan. It was DiMarco who got the assist on that one. In the 88th minute, Lautaro Martinez was one on one with the goalkeeper with Shala Noglu completely open to his side and he attempted to chip Silvestri, missing the target completely. Shala Noglu could not believe it, but to be honest, I don't blame him for not passing. Similarly to Lukaku.
Lukaku had another opportunity right after his penalty. Lautaro got another opportunity straight away in the 89th minute. He was one on one and this time he made no mistake. D'Ambrosio got the assist and Lautaro managed to bend it around the goalkeeper. You could see him think about it a little bit. You could really see it. But he ended up finishing with power into the top corner. It was a gorgeous finish by Lautaro. He's on such great form. No wonder he attempted to chip.
I believe that is his seventh goal in 2023. That's crazy. That's great. Yes. You know, Inter, I mean, you look at the last 10 games they had against Udinese before this, they lost to just one of those and it was in the reverse fixture. So to be honest, they do often get the better of this Udinese side. But today, wait, today actually proved to be the same. Exactly. No surprises there. A victory for Inter, especially with Udinese struggling so much at the moment. Yes, they've really dipped.
It's crazy how they've dipped and they look nowhere near as good as they were at the beginning of the season. You know, you see Inter dominating this one 60% ball possession with seven shots on goal compared to Udinese's one shot on goal, bro. Madonna. Madonna. So, bro, do you think Inter really are the best of the rest? No, I don't think it's tight. It's not a straight up no. It's between them and Roma at the moment. Milan obviously still coming off.
It's too early that they've come off that terrible run. So you can't have them anywhere in that debate. Inter are definitely the best team aside from Napoli when it comes to their chemistry when they're attacking their one touch play. And you see that with their first goal that was scored by Mkhitaryan. Was a wonderful team play. And you do see that succession of swift passing very often by Inter. When they're on, they're on and they're a joy to watch.
When it comes to a team that is just tough to beat and that pain in the fucking ass, Roma take the cake over there. And when you look at Roma's past games, Roma haven't lost a game in ages, bro. Roma have been excellent. Like OK, they squeeze one with victories, but they do what has to be done. I think it's between Inter and Roma. I would love to see those two go head to head today. And I have no idea what will happen in that game. What do you think between those two teams? Roma and Inter?
Who's home? No, as in like you asked who's the best of the rest. Yeah, I would say right now Inter are the best of the rest. Roma are very, very close, but then I don't think Roma look as dangerous as Inter. There are games where Roma will struggle to find the goal. Granted, same could be said about Inter, but I feel like Inter have that extra, that extra that Roma don't have, you know, that individual quality.
While Roma are quite reliant, Inter have many different avenues where they can get goals from. But then Roma are fucking bastards. They are bastards. It's a classic, you're saying they're fucking, you have to be a bastard and Roma are a bunch of bastards. They are a bunch of bastards. And that's incredibly important for them to get points against everyone. And they have that grit. They have that work ethic. They're a more in your team. That's its finest.
Like, well, not a more in your team at its finest because the finest more in your team is when the champions eat or whatever. In fact, I do think it's, it's harder to face Roma than Inter. I think so. That's, that's the point I'm making. Realistically, Roma are a tougher matchup for most. Because Inter, if you hit them in the right places, you can get something out of it. But Roma, what places can you hit them in? Yeah. Yes, you, you, you are right. But it's between them. It's very, very close.
I don't know who wins it. Like the main thing now is that Inter have Brozovic back and they're totally different to the Brozovic. Like you look at Inter the past month. They weren't as dominant at all. They looked quite flimsy at times like the game against Napoli, for example. And that was, that was because of the lack of their, their midfield maestro Brozovic. So in fact now probably with, with Brozovic back there, you know, you have the likes of Lautaro on hot form.
You have Dzeko up front who's always a demon on the flanks. You have Di Marco whose left foot is pornographic. You have Barela in the middle. Bastoni can play a long one. There are so many avenues to wreak havoc through. You're probably right. You're probably right. They're more of a squad. They have way more squad depth. The thing is right, right now I don't think Inter are at a hundred percent much like Milan, much like Lazio, much like Atalanta. They're not at a hundred percent.
And I really think that Roma are at a hundred percent. Udinese have fallen to tenth. Do you think they will finish in the top ten this season? That's such a good question. Let me have a look at the table. So we're looking at, okay, Udinese in tenth. The first behind them is Monza, Empoli, Lettre, Fiorentina, Sassuolo. So I think they will, man. They will. So let's look. So you have the top seven. That's pretty much set. Now you have the Monopolis, Inter, Roma. I'm regretting.
I'm regretting what I said. I don't think they finish in the top ten. I think Monza, Fiorentina, Sassuolo will overtake them. Yeah. I tend to agree with you over there. And I think it will be Monza, bro. I think it will be Monza. Oh, I have a feeling about Empoli. I really like the way they're playing. And same could be said about Lettre, to be honest. Lettre could easily finish the tenth. These newly promoted motherfuckers, man. Dude, dude, making the league so interesting. I love them.
I love them. But yes, basically, Inter sit in second, best of the rest with 47 points, while Udinese are currently in tenth as discussed with 30 points. The next game we're going to be covering is the Berlusconi Derby. As Monza faced Milan at home, Milan coming out the victors, one goal to nil. Not against Milan this season, however, as even in the reverse fixture, Milan dismantled Monza with the score of four goals to one.
Now the Rossoneri were coming off back to back, one nil wins over Torino and Spurs since shifting to a 3-4-3. And they welcomed back Ficaio Tomori, but were still missing Benassi, Calabria and Mannyan. This was obviously a very special night for Monza because of Berlusconi and Gagliani, who ran Milan for over 30 years and obviously had some incredible success. And they even said before the game, like, let's just get a draw and that no one will get hurt.
Yeah. Now, Monza were the only side that were unbeaten in 2023. Even Napoli had been beaten in 2023. However, the loss of Carlos Augusto was a big one. Monza lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation with Di Gregorio on goal and the back line of Itzo, Mari and Marlon. They had Curia out on the left and Birindelli out on the right and the double pivot of Pessina and Drovella. They had Mota as the left winger. They had Caprari as the right winger and Petania up front.
For Milan, once again, the 3-4-3 formation or 3-4-2-1 formation with Tatarossanu in goal and the back line of Calullo, Ciao and Tomori. They had Messias as the right wing back, Teo Hernandez as the left wing back and a double pivot of Kroenich and Tonali. They had Brahim out on the right, Leao out on the left and Divock Origi up front. Certo. Now, to start things off, Tatarossanu pulled off two great saves of Curia and Petania in the opening moments of the match.
They both happened at the near post. Consigli, please take notes and stop wanking in the shower. In the 18th minute, Leao's long-range curling strike hit the outside of the Gregorios post as Milan then started to get into the game as well. And then in the 31st minute, whilst Monza failed to deal with a Calullo cross, the ball ended up falling to Junior Messias who took a touch just inside the area and beat the Gregorio with a bullet strike although the keeper got a hand to it.
It was on the turn, wasn't it? It was on the turn and it was on the bounce. So he managed to generate a very decent amount of power behind the ball and that's the only reason the keeper couldn't keep it out really. Theo could have put Milan two goals ahead as his great work off the ball ended up putting him clean through on goal but his attempt to chip the Gregorio went wide and he really should have squared it to Leao. Some might argue that the channel was blocked.
I think he could have at least tried. Definitely could have tried there. It was not an open pass but it would have been the intelligent pass. And to be honest, I would have loved to see Theo grab a goal because of the form that he was on that he's still recovering from. However with that being said, leading 1-0 against Monza away from home isn't the time to try and grab a goal for yourself. It's trying to grab another goal, not for yourself. We saw many of these situations this match.
I can think of at least three of them. In the 72nd minute, Churia unleashed a low rocket on a half volley from outside the area which hit the post and nearly made its way in after ricocheting off the leg of an outstretched Tata Rossano. But luckily for the keeper, it hit the post again and went out. So hit the post, hit Tata, hit the post again and went out. And let me tell you what, thank god that didn't go in because Tata Rossano would have crumbled again.
And he's on good form right now and he's confident. But that was probably his last start. It was probably well. The return of Manon, right? You never know because Manon might just pick up another injury. So you know, I mean fingers crossed for Milan and for Mike that that doesn't happen. But look, say what you want about Tata. He obviously had a terrible spell this season and he was a protagonist in why Milan struggled so much. However, not his fault that Milan don't sign a better keeper.
Not his fault. There's one thing he gives, it was 100 percent and he saved Milan on a few occasions. He has, I would say overall his stint at Milan was way more positive than it was negative. Of course, he contributed to the title win last season and even this season he saved Lautaro's penalty last season. Bar that month where everyone was terrible this year. Tata Rossano has not been awful. The past three games he's kept a clean sheet and it wasn't only because of the defense.
He pulled off some good saves. Obviously I still don't rate him highly as a goalkeeper. I think he's flimsy and he's not confident enough to run his box, which is why he hasn't had a spectacular career. Leaving his line man, he really struggled. But again, it's not his fault that Milan didn't invest in a better goalkeeper. They used him, he did the best he could. Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit. Yes. No? Yeah. Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.
Okay, maybe we'll edit mine out later. Oh, just leave it in. Fuck it. In the 84th minute, Di Gregorio pulled off a save, a great save to deny Tonali. And then after that, Salamakker squared it to Decay Tilari who had an empty goal. But as he shot, Pesina cleared it off the line. He just can't score. And everyone's telling him nowadays, it's coming bro. You see Leo telling him like commenting on his post and there was literally footage of him saying it's coming bro, it's coming bro.
And everyone's saying, purely says the goal is coming. I told Decay Tilari he would score against Tottenham, you know, all this stuff. He is getting closer. These chances are coming in hot for him. Yes, yes. I feel like all it takes is one goal for him. That's the feeling I get. And that's how it normally is with teams and players. The second you get off the mark, and then you're confident, then you find your groove and then you make it.
Now it might not be the case, he might score and then dip again. But I really do get the feeling that he is, he, Milan signed him for 40 million. Maldini signed him for 40 million because he sees something in him. He is an incredible raw talent. He is a raw talent. His ceiling is so high. I think one day he becomes a very, very important player for Milan. Let's just be patient guys. Don't fucking boo him. Don't chat shit about him. Just give him time.
The thing is you can see there's been a mentality shift already. Granted, the goal hasn't come and the performances haven't improved by much, but you can tell from his body language, the way he plays, that he is feeling more confident. You know, the turning results must have affected him positively because you can tell the way he carries himself. He's not as down as he was when Milan were losing five, two, four, nil, three, nil.
And that has probably has to do something with the team spirit that there is right now with Milan being, you know, they've kept three consecutive clean sheets, winning one nil. Everyone's behind Piole again. Whereas earlier this year Milan had conceded 12 goals in three matches and he wasn't really getting minutes. He wasn't being utilized correctly. He was coming on for five minutes. Now there's a bit more unity. Now he's being given more minutes. He's been getting more opportunities.
He's playing against top teams as well. Like I really anticipate that we are going to see him play against Atalanta who are a very physical side. He will be key in that game against Atalanta. But I found it really hard to watch this match, bro, Monza Milan. You found it hard to watch? Why? Because the sky was fucking gorgeous, bro. The sunset. It was beautiful, man. It was pink, bro. It meant, you remember it. I remember it. I even retweeted it on Twitter. Did you? On our page, yes.
It was insane, bro. It was like something out of The Lion King. Really unbelievable. And obviously it was nerve wracking as a Milan fan because Piorre is a fucking monster. He kept getting close. Every time Petania was in the box, shielding off Tomori, Kalulu and Tshawa, I was like, oh my God, he's going to do it. But that leads me to the point. I mentioned Kalulu, Tshawa and Tomori. We mentioned the importance of care when it comes to implementing the three at the back.
And then perhaps when that system is cemented, you could put in the better defenders, so to say, the more prime defenders. The more physically capable at the moment. And it seemed good with those three, no? Yeah. They're calling them the black three. Kalulu, Tshawa and Tomori. It's an amazing nickname. They are all incredibly talented. Kalulu, Tshawa and Tomori. And I believe it was a combined cost of 29 million for Tomori, 5 million for Tshawa and 1 million for Kalulu. So that's 35 million.
Something like that. Yeah. And that's a crazy amount to spend on a back three. It's so low. Fantastic. Yes. It's incredible. I would like to see Milan do a bit more of what Inter do. So Kolarov, Darmian, Di Marco, these are all white players that were and can be utilized as centre backs. And I think in a team where Kier is obviously, he's very good, but he's nearing that end of his career. Gabia, I just don't see it. I don't see it with Gabia. I think he's okay.
I think Gabia is a very talented player. I think that his talent isn't obvious. He's not a standout, brilliant player, but he is solid and he gets the job done quite expertly. What he does have against him is his turn of pace. Exactly. Once he's turned, then he's a bit fucked. He has that trauma on the early thing. But he's clever positionally and he doesn't often get caught out.
To be honest with you, I think in a three at the back formation, he could be once again deployable and it'd be all right. I do think that now that Milan are utilizing most of their defenders in that centre back department, then they need to have some more depth over there. At the moment, it's fine because there is Kier and Gabia and like you said, they get the job done. But the point I was making about Inter is that how they create that opportunity, which Milan did with Kalulu, fair enough.
And that's how Kalulu got there. Milan aren't going to do it with Messias Salamakas. In fact, I have a last time I was talking to a Milan fan and I said the following. Calabria in a 3-5-2 isn't quite offensive enough and capable of marauding the flank up and down quick enough to be a right wing back. I would prefer Salamakas. I would prefer Florenzi. Even Dest, to be honest, is more capable as a right wing back. However, what Calabria does have is that he's quite defensively sound.
He's a pretty good tackler. Don't look at him recently because he has been carrying a bit of an injury still and that's obvious. We've seen him when he was fully fit and he looks way better than this. Right centre back. Calabria as a right centre back might work. I'm feeling horny for that. I would love to see Calabria as a right centre back. I'm hyped about it. Yeah, I mean, it's a theory so far. But you know, I do see it happen. You're looking at a player who is the captain, first of all.
You're looking at a player who's a leader. A player who is a boyhood member of this club. I love him so much. Who gives his all. You know, we're looking at a defence over here that the depth is lacking and he's switched to a three at the back. I see it happening. Yeah, I think so. I think so. And purely if you're listening, fucking do it. Like, obviously try it out. There you go. The big man himself. But let's switch the combo a bit.
There seems to be a lot more confidence and grit about this Milan side now, right? Players like Messias, Theo, Leão, Giroud, Tata, Tonali, Salamakas, Kalulu. They're looking twice the players that they looked like before. And again, I really think that confidence in football is so important and we say it week in, week out, man. And that is exactly what these players were lacking. Now they have it to their favour. And it was the formation change that has done that.
That has allowed Milan to be more defensively sound, which allows them to win games. And one man that stands out over there, the only addition was Malik Cao. And what an addition it was, man. He's honestly been remarkable. Six foot four, fucking solid. He plays like he's a veteran player. And this was only his second start at the time. You look at the game against Spurs. That was his third ever start for Milan, his first ever Champions League game. And he looked like he was at home over there.
He was up against Kulusevsky, Son and Kane and he held his own and more. And he was going to make mistakes at some point. He has to because that's how he's going to grow in that role. I almost can't wait for him to make them because that's when he'll solidify himself, not as a beginner's luck, good defender, because he has another two good defenders next to him. But when he truly himself becomes a fantastic defender, he needs to make those mistakes and he needs to learn from them.
Milan, now that they're on this good form, do you think they're capable to take on a team like Atalanta? I certainly think Milan are capable of taking on Atalanta. Milan are looking healthier. You know, the injuries are kind of fading away. We're approaching the return of Benassar. I feel like Benassar would complete everything, of course. Same as Lobotka, same as Brozovic. He is Milan's Lobotka. He is Milan's Brozovic. I think Atalanta will definitely make it hard for Milan.
I think for them it's a personal affair, right? Gasparini loves beating Milan. He does. Dancing at the 5-0. You know, Milan have bought so many players from Atalanta, the vast majority of them actually flopping. So they have those bragging rights. There's a bit of tension between these two teams. Plus the fact that they're from Bergamo, which is awfully fucking close. Stone throw away. And many Milan rejects actually join the Atalanta academy.
And the Atalanta academy is actually better than the Milan academy. For example, Conti. Yes. Caldara as well. Caldara, Conti, many, many players. How many players have Milan bought from Atalanta in the recent past? Kessy as well, who's bought from Atalanta. Kessy, Conti, Caldara. Milan, I believe, sold them Petania. That was an interesting one. Yes, correct. There's been a bit of activity. They're like the Dortmund and Bayern kind of thing. We'll yell them out halfway through the podcast.
There are obvious ones for sure that we're forgetting, but that's fine. Milan were second in matchday 23 for top dribbles completed with 17 behind Verona, who had the most by the way, with 18. Monza were fifth on 12. However, Monza did have 448 completed passes, eight key passes, and they had 34 minutes of possession. To me, that's 24 minutes. So still, I think Milan leave a lot to be desired and they don't control the games, but they're capable of getting the points, which is very, very good.
And in fact, due to that, they now find themselves in fourth spot on 44 points, level on points with Roma and two ahead of Lazio and three ahead of Atalanta. A real six pointer next Saturday night. Make sure you're tuned in and watching that guys cancel any bullshit plans that you have because that's going to be a real treat. It always is between Milan and Atalanta and it being a fight for Europe makes it all the more exciting. Monza and 11th on 29 points, just one point behind 10th place.
Two quick things to mention about Monza. Michele Di Gregorio had six amazing saves against Milan and Nicolo Ravella had 10 recoveries. Amazing. He's fantastic. He's fantastic. He will be a star in the U.S. future. For sure. Now, the next game we are going to be covering is Roma 1-Verona-0. Now this is a classic Mourinho game over here against a team that has proven to be quite a pain in the side of many teams in Hellas Verona. They've been way better.
For Roma, it was a 3-4-2-1 formation with Rui Patricio, Ngole Bani is smalling and Mancini at the back, Spinazzola out on the left, Karsdorp on the right. He's back. He's back. And good to see Spina back as well. Good to see Spina back. Good to see Karsdorp back after he fell out. Quite dramatically with Mourinho. But as we said, he'll probably call upon him again. My boy. My boy.
Bova and Crisanta were in the middle with Abraham leading the charge with El Sharawi and Saul Backen playing off the shoulders of Tammy Abraham. Saul Backen seems like a really nice guy. Saul Backen does seem like a nice guy. He is 24 years old. This was his first start for Roma and safe to say it went well. Saul Backen! Well done. Thank you very much. For Hellas Verona, it was Montepo in goal with Manjani, Heen and Davidovic at the back.
Pauly on the right and Stoic on the left with Duda and Tameze in the middle. This commentator is my favourite. Geish was playing up front with Lazovic playing behind him as well as Serial N'Gonj. I've seen that name pronounced so many different ways. N'Gong, N'Gongi, N'Gonj, N'Gonje. But this has to be the best one. Serial N'Gong! I have never heard of that Serial before. Serial N'esquik!
The goal came through some very intricate, slick link-up play between Cristante Bové and Spinazola to play the raw, explosive Norwegian talent Saul Backen in behind who converted well. More on your scores first, more on your wins. The goal came in the 45th minute. Technically it was Spinazola who played the assist but amazing play over here by Cristante Bové as well. This was the type of game. Once again, you look at the stats, they're very close. You have 51% percent ball possession for Roma.
You look at six shots for Roma to Hellas Verona's four. It was a lot of disrupting the tempo, you know, a lot of slowing the game down, a whole lot of that for Roma. Shots on goal, you have six for Roma and two for Hellas Verona. Do you think the Mourinho system is sustainable? Look, there are some times where obviously they're going to concede. But the fact that this is how they get the majority of their victories, I can't help but think that it is because they've mastered it essentially.
Now this is a game where Verona are very dangerous and they're on form. They have players like Lazovic and in Gange with Gaitse up front, with Deughe and De Pauli on the wings. They've been very, very dangerous. And the way that Roma could neutralize them. Now it's not that Verona didn't have attempts, but they didn't have clear cut attempts. Roma denied them that opportunity. It is defense over attack.
And the fact that Roma, okay, they struggle getting goals from open play, but they play for the fouls. They get the fouls, they get the set pieces and they score them essentially. This time they score from open play. But as much as it doesn't seem sustainable, maybe to someone that doesn't watch the games and they see the stats, they're like, fuck me. They had to work their asses off for a one nil victory against Hellas Verona. They didn't have to work their asses off.
They were in control the entire time. Exactly. So I would say it could be sustainable. They are fantastic at controlling the game of the ball. You look at, for example, Eduardo Bofe, he had an amazing game. He covered the most distance this match. You look at the likes of everyone on this team. They work their ass off for their teammates and for their coach. And they brought on this guy Sol back in to replace Debala, massive shoes to fill and he actually scored.
Good to see that these guys, this group of players are actually being molded into the bastards that Mourinho wants them to be. Exactly. I think in the beginning Mourinho has recently represented and worked for teams where he didn't really have the players that he wanted to. When he was at United, he didn't have the squad he wanted. When he went to Spurs, he didn't have the squad that he wanted at all.
And at Roma, in the first season that he had, he was saying, like, I don't have the players to compete. Like, I have two players, he used to say. I have three players. My substitutes are shit. I think now he has little to no excuse. Sure, it took a lot of work from his end to call upon players like Sol back in, Zalewski, Celik, to bring in players like Wijnaldum, Bove, you know, Tammy Abraham.
But I think he really has created a little squad over here that he can utilize with that big striker that he loves, that Didier Jogbao with the three big center backs, three very mobile center backs, two quick wing backs, controlling powerful, strong midfielders, good wingers. And I really think that Roma have a very bright future ahead of them, unless obviously Mourinho looks for a new venture. Because that's the thing, right?
When Mourinho signed for Roma, he said that this was a four or five year project, potentially even longer. But the rumors, now granted they're only rumors, are that he is hot property right now, Mourinho. PSG are considering him. So we'll see what happens there. There is De Zerbi, who apparently isn't too keen on staying with Brighton and might actually return to the Premier League.
So you know, the likes of Milan, for example, who've just had a bad spell, you know, they're keeping an eye out, I'm sure. You look at the likes of Inter, maybe as well, they might be keeping an eye out as well. De Zerbi is a very talented manager and I do see him coming back to Italy potentially next season. Yeah. I mean, you see what he's done with two underdog squads. I can't say much about what he's done for Shakhtar because I don't follow them.
But what he managed to do with Sassuolo, almost fighting for Europe with them and what he's been doing at Brighton. Whereas before everyone used to say Brighton are good because of Potter. If Potter go to Chelsea and doing nothing and De Zerbi going in and they're fucking better than they were. If I speak, I am in big trouble. But I'm going to speak anyway. Do you know that an English manager has never won the Premier League? An English manager has never won the Premier League?
Yes. And I can just name three Italians like this. Who won the Premier League? You have Conte, there's Ranieri and there's Ancelotti. Boom. There we go. Like, yeah. If I speak, I'm in big trouble. I prefer really not to speak. That's mad. That is mad. And has an English manager ever won Serie A? Yes, Leslie Levesley, something like that, won the league with Il Grande Torino in the 1948-1949 season. And Jesse Carver won the league in 1949 and 1950. So safe to say it's been a while. It has been.
When's the next time we will see one? I don't know. I really don't see a lot of like, it's even rare that you see English players in Serie A. Now we're seeing more of them with Tomori and Tammy Abraham, for example, and Harry Winks as well. But otherwise you really don't see that much. There was Beckham once, but not many at all. It's true. It's true. Nice to see the trend coming back though. It is good to see English players in Italy. The ones that are there at least are quite charming.
Roma are currently in third with 44 points, while Verona are in 18th with 17 points. Slowly creeping and creeping and creeping up the table. Spezia are in 17th with 19 points and Salah in the town are in 16th with 21 points. It's going to get messy down there. Very messy. Very messy. And it often does get messy down there. Am I right? The next game we're going to be covering is Atalanta 1-2 in what was the biggest upset this matchday.
So Lecce do the double over Atalanta as in their previous encounter. They beat Atalanta with the same score, 2-1, which had lost us our bet. At least we learned and we didn't bet on this. In the fixture before that, Atalanta beat Lecce away from home with the score of 7-2 back in 2020. So very, very random that Lecce managed to do what they did against Atalanta this season.
Now both sides were decimated going into this game as Martin De Rhone and Scalvini were suspended with Zapata, Pasalic and Hattabare injured. The visitors had Juan Gonzalez banned plus Samuel Umtiti, Castriot Dermacu and Pongracic on the treatment table. Streffetza was struggling with flu symptoms and only fit for the bench, but he did end up featuring. For Atalanta it was a 3-4-1-2 formation with Juan Musso on goal on the back line of Gymsity, Demiral and Toloi.
They had Mele out on the left and Zappa Kosta out on the right. All pivot of Kupeminer and Ederson in the middle with Boga just ahead of them and behind Lukman and Hoyland. For Lecce it was their 4-3-3 formation with Vladimir Falcone in goal on the back line of Gendre, Tuia, Basquerotto and Gallo. Blin Hjulmand and Malle formed the midfield tree with Di Francesco, Cissé and Banda forming the front three. Cissé starting ahead of Colombo which is something we hadn't seen in a while.
In the fourth minute he opened the scoring, Cissé with an absolute screamer. He held off two Atalanta players and unleashed a low strike from at least 35 yards out which went into the bottom corner and out of reach for Juan Musso who is no joke. Fantastic goal and a great start for Lecce in this game. Moments later Lukman thought he equalized, well not moments later because it was in the start of the second half but he was in an offside position and therefore the goal was cancelled.
In the 74th minute Blin made it too. It was a short corner to Strefezza who whooped it into Blin who headed in in a very very Basquerotto manner. Hoyland should've probably done better on the defensive front over there but you have to credit Blin for the way that he lost his marker. In the 87th minute it was Hoyland that managed to get one back for Atalanta.
Falcone took his time to clear the ball and Hoyland was able to block his attempted clearance on the slide and the ball flew into the back of the net, a rare error you'll see by Vladimir Falcone. And then in the 93rd minute Falcone pulled off a fantastic one handed save to deny Muriel as he made up for his previous error allowing Lecce to walk away with all three points.
Bro Lecce continue to impress me so much, they truly are an impressive side as in the second half of the season they have now earned a total of 8 points against the likes of Lazio, Milan, Roma and Atalanta. What do you make of them man? Bro Corvino, their sporting director has built this team into a beastly team with such a low budget man, you look at what they've done this season, they're giant killers man.
They've held Napoli, they've done the double over Atalanta, they've beaten Lazio, they've held Milan, they've beaten Roma, they are the giant killers and this was a cheap team to build. Truly, truly, truly an amazing project happening over there. Amazing man and Barone has really gotten them to play some excellent football man, you look at them and it looks like they're an experienced Serie A team.
You look at Lecce and Monza who have just gotten promoted and wow, you can't tell that they're newly promoted sides, it's really, really excellent stuff and especially Lecce who have attracted less high end talent than Monza have and I'll tell you what, they'll give them a run for their money right now man, they really, really will.
Yeah, for sure bro, you look at Lecce, they were done, the team was built very intelligently on a budget, sure Monza were also built intelligently but there was a lot more money to be thrown out of it. These guys came into the league with a bunch of unknowns, the only players we had known prior to the season were maybe Di Francesco, sure we knew about Di Francesco, Tuia, we've seen him with Benevento, Falcone was in Caliari. Sampdoria, Sampdoria where he had replaced Audera.
Oh yes, yes, sorry not Caliari, Sampdoria. Caldaoud, Malec from Fiorentina, Malec from Fiorentina, Di Francesco and Madonna, I was going to call him Caldar, Colombo, even though the world had not really known much about Colombo. Exactly and obviously Samuel Umtiti, the World Cup winner. Yeah, an amazing game, this was the most intense game of the matchday when it comes to distance covered. They are the two sides who have covered the most distance this matchday.
You also look at Falcone's saves, I think he ranked second when it comes to saves, no first, first with nine, second is Juves Perri with seven. That being said bro, when you look at the way Lecce lined up, obviously like I said earlier they had a lot of injuries. Who would you start, Sise or Colombo? Because that's a tough one man. I would start Colombo because of his ability to make something out of nothing and to score from extremely tight angles or from snapshots or from half chances.
And I do think that Sise is very effective coming off the bench because of how good he is on the break. So if you need a goal, maybe the opposition are still pushing you up naively, you bring on Sise, he's going to counter that, that's quite nice. I can't help but think that, I feel like the decision of starting Colombo ahead of Sise for so long happened a bit prematurely.
Sise was grabbing a couple of goals and then it seems like Colombo grabbed a few goals and he was there starting number nine. Now obviously I'm sure there's something in his contract from Milan that he gets more minutes. But I think Sise can be very good for them. He's a talented guy, he seems a bit clumsy sometimes but he does remind me of that striker that you really used to like. Simeon Wanquo. Simeon Wanquo, his stature reminds me a lot of him, not as tall.
Not quite as tall, more skillful but not as good a poacher as the Wanquos. Fucking Simeon Wanquo dude, what a player. I loved watching that guy, that season with Crotone, wow man. You mentioned that Lecce were first in top distance covered and that Alanta were second. What's interesting is that Lecce were first in top distance covered and then they were 20th in top passes completed, scoring chances and ball possession. Here we go, controlling the game off the ball.
We're just talking about this, it's a skill and you need a bloody good goalkeeper to do it as well. Exactly. Like nine saves aren't a joke. Exactly and we've said that a lot. Falcone has been great for them, obviously he had this one error in the game but then again Hoylan did an excellent job to even get there. This is gonna get old real quick, add a soundboard. You're not a fan? You're not a fan? It's great, I know it's just gonna get... like when I'm on the groove and it comes in.
Anytime you say his name it's coming on. Excellent, thanks for letting me know. We always say this about Lecce, they are one shape and one shape only. They never lose their shape. When they're defending they always keep their shape, when they're attacking they always keep their shape. They're so hard to catch on the break, they're so hard to attack against, they're so hard to defend against, they're just such a tight little unit man.
And you can see the football theory, like basic football theory being played out to an exceptional level, like the triangles on the pitch. Exactly. Just a bunch of triangles everywhere to pass from, you always have two options minimum, it's very very good to see. Atalanta were first in top ball possession, in fact they had 70% ball possession towards the end of the game, well in the game actually.
Second in distance covered as we said, second in top key passes, second in most scoring chances, as they had 13 shots, 7 of them were on target. They were third in top dribbles and third in top attempts. They gave it their absolute all and still didn't manage to get away with a single point against the newly promoted Lecce.
They now find themselves in sixth place on 41 points, 3 points behind our Champions League spot whilst Lecce are in 13th on 27 points and are just 3 points off of Odinese in the top 10. Salernitana nil Lazio 2, this was Susa's first game in charge at the helm for Salernitana and it ended on a loss. Lazio away from home have not been dominant but this time they got the job done.
For Salernitana it was Sepe in goal with Pirola, Danilulic and Bron at the back, Broderic on the left, Candrevo on the right, with Cernagui and Kulibaly in the middle. Piontek played up front with Vilena and Bonazzoli playing off his shoulder. Interesting to see a few changes already, right? Like Bonazzoli playing off the shoulder of Piontek over there, Cernagui starting, so he probably came in. Now it doesn't matter that Cernagui is new because the manager is also new.
So whoever is performing you play. Yeah, he's doing what Mota did, he's figuring his sighting 11 out. Granted that he has more pressure because that relegation zone is looming so he better get his right soon. Providel was in goal for Lazio as they ran their usual 4-3-3 formation. Hisai was out on the left with Marosic on the right, Patrik and Ciasale played as the centre-back. Parnership, I believe Romagnoli is out injured.
Vecino, Cataldi and Luis Alberto were in the midfield three, Felipe Anderson was on the right, Pedro on the left and the return of the king, Giro Mwabele, up front. I think Sergei is suspended. Sergei Mlinkovic-Savage is indeed suspended. Now the first goal came in the 60th minute. Caution, sorry ball alert.
There was some intricate build-up play by Lazio including a gluttonous dose of tricks and flicks leading to Marosic playing a beautiful pass to Mwabele who converted and this was his first goal in a while, in a long time to be honest. Shortly after, Sepe crunches Mwabele's leg while charging. It was a clear penalty. He literally had Mwabele's leg in between his legs and arm. He got entangled basically.
Mwabele took the longest penalty run up in the history of the sport and shot it bottom right corner, saved it, scored it, converted it. It was a great goal. It must be said that Sepe did track the penalty. Sepe is very good at penalties as well. Towards the end of the game, Braun was sent off for pulling Anderson down in the box. There was a penalty. Luis Alberto shot left Sepe, guessed correctly again but this time he actually managed to save it. The ball fell perfectly to Luis Alberto.
He had an open net right in front of him but the Spaniard decided to go for a weird standing volley kind of thing, like a scissor kick but standing and he ended up missing the target. It didn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things but of course it'd be disappointed on a personal level. Exactly. I have him on Fanta as well. I'm lucky that I still managed to get a victory this week. There we go. A well deserved victory for Lazio away from home. They had 66% ball possession.
They had 12 shots to Salernitana's 7, 6 shots on target to Salernitana's 3 and they just played them out of the park. Yeah, I believe Braun's red card so he first got a yellow then I think he told the ref to fuck his mum or something. Yeah, something like that. I think he got sent off for a descent. It's also interesting bro, we always talk about how many goals people are capable of getting against Salernitana. Immobilize on like 6 against Salernitana. Which is mad.
People go on these wild streaks against them. It's true, against random teams to be honest. Salernitana happened to be quite a hub for that. Do you know that Salernitana and Lazio have never drawn in their history? No. Wow. Interesting. And Salernitana since the beginning of November have collected the second fewest points in the league. So they've actually been on quite a bad run.
And they could be in trouble if Verona continue the streak that they're on and let's say they just keep winning and they climb up. It's between them and Spezia and I don't know who's worse right now bro. Probably Spezia. Spezia are probably worse right now. And they're both in the same kind of. It's exciting because they both got their new managers now. It's all about who settles quicker and that direct encounter is going to be a big one.
And I wonder if the decisions of Spezia and Salernitana affect the other's decision making when it comes to sacking managers for example. Because it's crazy that they both moved at a very similar time. They're probably thinking they're going for something new. Might as well go for something new ourselves. I think so man. I think it plays a big part. I think it does play a big part. I still think Davide and Nicola's system would have led to salvation.
Now I'm not sure who it's Sousa but we'll see what happens. I think he was the right man for the job. You can't blame them after you give him a second chance that he still doesn't manage to do anything basically and he keeps on losing games and doesn't put up a fight. It's unfortunate because I really do think he was the perfect candidate for that job and they got them playing football. I think they'll never play again for the next fucking decade. But now it's all about adapting.
They have a decent squad. They have some decent key pieces. How is he going to utilise them? We'll see and we'll see if he manages to get the best out of them. Yeah, that we will. A good game, fun one to watch. When lots of you tick they definitely are a joy to watch. And they are currently in fifth with 42 points while Salernitana sit in 16th with 21 points. The next game we're going to be covering is Spezia nil Juventu. The previous encounter was the exact same result.
The Bianconeri had to rotate the squad after their 1-1 Europa League draw with Nantes on Thursday and a crucial second leg coming up next week as Chiesa, Milleck, Miretti, Pogba, Caio George and Fagioli were out of action whilst Bremer also sat out a ban. Spezia sacked Luca Gotti on Wednesday and had new chief Leonardo Semplici lined up but had not yet signed the contract so Fabrizio Llorieri was on the bench as caretaker.
Esposito was banned for Spezia with Bastoni, Zurkowski, Sala, João Mutinho and Zouet injured but Ampadu and Caldara returned from suspension. Drangowski started in goal for Spezia as they lined up in their 4-2-3-1 formation. Reca was out on the left with Ammian out on the right and a back two of Nicolao and Ampadu took place with Egdal and Borabia in the double pivot and they had Giassi, Agudelo and Verde behind Shumoredov.
For Juve they played a 3-1-4-2 formation with Perin in goal and a back line of Danilo, Rugani and Sandro. They had Locatelli in the number 6 role with Quadrada out on the right, Kostich out on the left and Rabiot and Paredes in the double pivot with Moiskeen and Vlaović up front.
So it was the worst possible start for Manuel Locatelli who was booked after just 20 seconds for a late launch to stop a counter attack and he will therefore be suspended for the derby de la Moale against Torino which is coming up. It's going to be a nice weekend of football and guess what there is this weekend as well. Your birthday? My birthday baby, I'm a birthday boy. It's on Monday but I'm a birthday boy all weekend. I managed to take leave. Legend.
We go day drinking and we go to Cheeky Monkey because they show football there. Okay we do it. Cool. Let's do it. And I'm not going to football as well on Monday. Amazing. I'm all yours dude. You'll be too hungover anyway. Yes sir.
Spezia had a scare on 18 minutes when Bartolomei Drangowski fell clutching the top of his die after he gave a goal kick and he carried on for a few more minutes before having to make way for their third choice keeper Federico Marchetti because Zoet as I mentioned is injured. This was Marchetti's first start in Serie A sorry his first appearance in Serie A since May 2021. What a throwback. Jesus is back.
So this whole Marchetti thing has reminded me of an event that I think we've never actually discussed on the podcast. So recently when Genoa sacked Blassin and brought in Gjelardino, Blassin put up an Instagram post basically thanking Genoa and the people of Genoa for an amazing experience. Marchetti commented on that post from his official verified Instagram account and he spoke in English. He wrote everything in English because Blassin is known to not speak Italian properly.
Marchetti said I'm going to read it to you. It's quite long. You are the poorest, most fake and conceited manager I've had in my long career. You made fun of all the Genoans from day one. You relegated a team that could have saved itself with your ridiculous football ideas. Now that you're finally home, take a bath of humility and see what Davide Nicola and see Davide Nicola and try to learn from him how to manage a group to get results on the field. Not the chance from the fans like you did.
Good luck, go Genoa. Wow. Yeah, he fucking hates him. He sounds like a dickhead, but God knows what went on behind the scenes for him to say that. I don't know. It was probably something personal about how Marchetti was probably there and he never even gave him the light of day. The thing is that Marchetti was also on bad terms with Genoa fans. So Genoa fans were basically like your one to talk. It was a bit funny seeing this. It's not often you see people calling out people like this.
It's true, especially a fucking 40 year old professional. How long do you think it took him to write this paragraph? It's quite well worded. It is quite well worded. I think the direct translation of you made fun of them, like what you wanted to say is snake beyond kind of thing. Like you almost took them for granted, kind of, not took them for granted. You made a fool out of them. Exactly. Exactly. Like you did what you wanted and you thought you were fooling them kind of thing.
But anyway, let's get back to the game. In the 32nd minute, Keane opened the scoring. It was Shambolic defending by Spezia as, oh my God, I tried to write on my notes, Amian and it translated it to Asian. It autocorrected it to Asian. Shambolic defending by Spezia as Amian gave Kostich acres of space to deliver across and Ampadu was flat footed in the box, allowing Keane to knock the ball into the back of the net and nothing Marchetti could do about that.
It was then in the 66th minute after Di Maria was introduced into the fray. His long range attempt was perfectly placed into the bottom corner from some serious distance. It was anywhere between 25 to 30 yards out. What a goal by Di Maria. This guy is just, I mean, I'm done saying how good Di Maria is. It's obvious at this point, isn't it? Yeah. That goal was spectacular.
He can score in any manner and he's always contributing to this U of S side and he has a big reason as to why they are now up in seventh place, bro, after getting docked 15 points. They're going to make Europe. Yeah. They are going to. Europe for sure. At this point, the question is, are they more, are they consistent enough to even reach the top four, challenge for the top four at this point? They can. They lost to Monza recently, sure. But they can, bro. They can.
Let's not get carried away because they beat Spezia, but they made with this victory a serious stride in the right direction. They have the Derby de la Mole coming up. That's going to be an interesting one. How do you see it going? So because you know how Derbies are normally it's easy to say like a Juve win, but you know how Derbies play out. But I do think this one will be a Juve win. One nil. So something like that, as simple as that. Torino have been decent. They've been good.
Granted, they didn't win this week. They drew to Cremona. But you did praise the performance. I think Juve will still have too much for Torino to deal with. And now that Juve are seeing the teams ahead of them actually dropping points so frequently, like Lazio and Atalanta, they dropped points like that. They probably have realized that there's still hope for them. Had they never been docked 15 points, they would have more points than Milan at the moment. Probably more than Inter.
I don't think so. Dude, plus 15. Plus plus 15. 32, 45, 46, 47. The same amount of points as Inter. That's fucking wild, man. That is wild. Very unfortunate to be a Juve fan and very unfortunate to be a Juve player at the moment. I think Spezia put up a decent performance in this match, but once again, they struggled for goals with Lenzolla not being fully fit. And Shumoredov basically starting up front. He still needs to kind of find his feet over there.
Spezia were second in matchday 23 in chances created, man. So they did have opportunities. Yeah, Perrin was incredible. He was very good. He had one save at a point, bro, this reactionary save. He was well positioned already, which made it easier for him, but he got down so well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He saved it with his thigh, his inner thigh. Like, what was it, his hand? I think it was his hand. I think it was like his forearm, which was next to his thigh. But brilliant, man.
They have the best goalkeeping duo in the league. You know how we talk about goalkeeping duos? That's the best one. Perrin Shesny is the best goalkeeping duo in the league. That is good. I also really like Di Gregorio Cranio. But we don't see enough of Cranio. Well, that's the thing. Yeah, we don't. We don't see enough. And you look at these guys, they're doing it with a... Granted, okay, yes, it's a better team. And to be honest, it is harder to do with a smaller team.
But the fact that, again, we never see Cranio, it's just... Juve, these two keepers are so good that they have to play both of them. Exactly. Pretty much, pretty much. And Juve have a decent amount of squad depth with all the youngsters. They have as well at their arsenal.
When you look at the amount of injuries they have and where they are in the table despite being docked 15 points, it's actually pretty impressive because they had a ton of injuries and they still consistently struggle in that department. It's really interesting, man. You see a lot of injuries happening in Italy in particular, more than most leagues. Yeah, that's true. I wonder what it is.
Yeah. It would have been a baptism of fire for Semplitri playing against Juventus in your opening match, but obviously he hadn't signed his contract yet or in time. So they had to play this match with their caretaker manager in Loriere. How do you see Spezia performing on their Semplitri moving forward? I don't know if they will keep. So we've seen them swap from a three at the back formation to now a four at the back formation with Fabrizio Loriere.
Gotti is very good at deploying a three at the back formation. He's quite good at that system. But Semplitri has actually kept Caliari afloat when they were having a tough season back in the day and he mostly deployed a 4-4-2 formation. And I do see the potential for that to repeat itself over here because I do think Spezia will be very annoying with a 4-4-2 formation. Imagine playing against them with two rows of four between you and the goalkeeper. It would be very annoying.
And they have the personnel for it. You know what I mean? Joz, he can partner Shamorodov up front. You can look at Agudelo, he can play either up front or you can pop him in the middle. You can put Verde on the right. You can put even Jazi out wide as well if you want to. Egedal Borabia could play in the middle. You have the personnel for a 4-4-2 over here. And we'll see. Maybe they'll become one of those fucking super frustrating Catanaccio teams to play against.
And I think that's what they're going for by hiring someone like Semplitri. They know his system. It's like essentially you're employing Sam Deitch, for example, for any Prem heads that are listening to anyone that takes interest in the Premier League. It's something like that. It's a quick fix. Normally, you don't tend to see these managers stay on for an additional season. However, we saw it with Davide Nicola after a great run, after he helped Salahid Naitana survive miraculously.
So maybe, who knows? Never say never. Never, ever, bro. Good to see you, Van High Spirits. We saw them low. We saw many teams at their highest and at their lowest this season, haven't we? Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Milan, Juve, Inter. We saw Juve going on that nine game unbeaten streak where I don't think they conceded a single goal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like mental. And then right off the dock, 15 points playing without any courage or without any desire against Monza and losing over there.
The lowest of the low. We've seen Milan get destroyed. We've seen Milan beat Inter at the beginning of the season. We've seen the highs and the lows of these teams. It really has been a dramatic season on that front. Obviously, you see Napoli who are just having highs and they're absolutely running away with it. But otherwise, a lot of teams have gone through with the season and this will be a make or break season for a lot of teams. Juve are now on a three match winning streak.
It's no nine match, but they're definitely getting somewhere. In fact, they've climbed to seventh place despite their 15 point deduction. Where do you think they can end up? Where do you think they will end up rather at the end of the season? They are currently, like I said, in seventh and they are my god, my master. 13 points behind the Champions League spot. I think right now, so as it stands, Allegri to the media saying that mathematically Champions League is impossible.
That's what he's saying. Well, that's not true. It's not true. Of course, I do think that it's what they're eyeing. Now, once again, Lazio and Atalanta have shown that they can slip up. Milan have shown that they can slip up over there. Roma have gone through spells historically of poor form, granted, maybe not with Mourinho at the helm. So they must seriously be licking their lips and taking it one game at a time.
I'm sure that Europa League, Champions League, they can most certainly achieve that. I think they'll get a higher European position than Conference League. I think they'll go beyond that. I think Europa, to be honest. I still don't think they'll make top four, but Europa. I think Europa League, it'll be the first time they missed out on Champions League in fucking god knows how long. We'll see what that does to them financially. We'll see. Well, they get a lot of money from their stadium.
I don't think it will. Well, it'll affect them, but not as much as it'll affect other teams. But yes, guys, Spezia find themselves in 17th place. They're only two points ahead of Verona and Salernitana are two points ahead of them, whilst Juve are in seventh on 32 points level with Bologna and one ahead of Torino. The next game we're going to be covering is Sampdoria 1-Bologna 2. Sampdoria are just allergic to getting points, allergic to winning.
Yeah. You look at Sampdoria's lineup, it was a 3-4-1-2 formation with Audero in goal, Amione, Nuiteng, and Murillo at the back. Augelo on the left and Larius on the right with the midfield, De Wou of Cuisance and Harry Winx. Harry also wanks. Viricich was in the 3rd quarter position behind Gabbiadini and Lamers. Skorupski was in goal for Bologna under 4-2-3-1 formation. Posz was on the right. He's the highest goal scoring defender in the league this season alongside Carlos Augusto.
Cambiaso was on the left. Sosa and Lukumi were in the middle. Schouten and Dominguez were the midfield double pivot with Orsolini on the right, Soriano on the left and Ferguson playing behind Moussa Barrow. The first goal came in the 27th minute when Orsolini pinged a corner into the chest of Moussa Barrow who laid it off for Soriano who shot from a distance low and hard into the bottom corner.
In the 68th minute, Sabiri converted a penalty after there was a tussle between Gabbiadini and Lukumi that led to the referee giving that call. One minute later, Sabiri had another penalty. He had just come on this guy. All of a sudden he's coming on and he's taking two penalties. This was a handball on the slide. Skorupski managed to basically get a double save on Sabiri. This time Stankovic couldn't even watch. He was facing the other way.
But yes, unfortunately, Sabiri could not score twice and the score was still 1-1 at that point. Towards the end of the game, some day we're thinking, okay, at least we didn't lose. But then bang in the 89th minute, Orsolini went on one of his mental rampages on the right-hand side where he just cut in and fucking smacked it into the top corner. There was some VAR drama. It took forever to check. They thought there was an offside, but in reality there wasn't.
There were just technical issues with VAR and the communication with the referee. So that was very annoying to just be waiting there for five minutes and the goal still stood. Soriano is proving to be very important for them. Sorry, Orsolini. Orsolini. Well, even Soriano. But really those two in particular have been dropped from Bologna's team recently under Mihailović and over the caretaker manager they had whilst Mihailović was ill. They tend to drop Orsolini and Soriano.
Now they're staples in the team again and they're very, very important to them. That was a brilliant goal by Orsolini. One thing you didn't mention, bro, is, sure, Sabiri didn't score the second penalty, but it was a great double save. It was an amazing double save. By Skorupski. Skorupski, yeah. Your favorite goalkeeper? One of them. He's excellent. There's no denying that, man. He's one of the best goalkeepers in the league without a doubt, in my opinion. For sure. Really, really, really.
For sure. I'm telling you, man, there's no shortage of talent in the goalkeeping department. Literally. Even the second keepers are bloody good. But yes, this was a hard-fought game. You look at the statistics over here, you had 40% ball possession for Sampdoria, 60% for Bologna. Of course, you look at the shots on goal, Sampdoria had three, Bologna had five. Now you look at the first few minutes of the game, Gabiadini had an opportunity. He was one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
I think it was Lammers. Yeah, Lammers was wide open right next to him. Gabiadini just ignored him and tried to score himself. That's no surprise when you look at the statistic that Gabiadini has put about six goals past. Yeah, he scored six against Bologna. It's one of his favorite sides to score against. He scored more, I think around half of Sampdoria's goals this season. Yes, that makes perfect sense considering they really haven't been scoring that many.
You look at Orsolini, he was involved in five goals in the last five games. Wow. Yes, Orsolini, he's a crazy contribution over there. He's such a good talent. The only problem is that he's inconsistent, but his close ball control, his dribbling, the way he's so direct, Orsolini, he's a real joy to watch when he's on form. Yeah, he really is, bro. I love seeing a player who is a bit of a shithouse. He's a bit of a shithouse, Orsolini. Great character.
Yeah. It was interesting to see, bro, at the start of this game, the Sampdoria fans were singing so loudly. I think the inter draw and the recent performances have given the side some belief, but how much can these fans take? They got so close to another point over here and boom, at the end they got shafted. This team is getting relegated and I don't think there's any doubt about it. They're only on one victory this season and it was against Cremonaese. They're on 11 points.
They've only scored 11 goals and they've conceded 38. That's a minus 27. The worst in the league when it comes to goal difference, minus 27. That's even worse than Cremonaese who have minus 25 and Spezia who have minus 20. I wouldn't write them off just yet, though. I wouldn't say they're relegated just yet because you look at the way they play. There's still plenty to play for. It's max day 23. 15 games left. 15 games. Spezia and Salernitana play worse football than Sampdoria at the moment.
There could be a situation where Sampdoria start picking up points and Spezia and Salernitana continue to drop points and then all of a sudden you might have Veron and Sampdoria out of the relegation zone with Salernitana and Spezia sitting there instead. You never know man at the moment. You've learned from last season when we were shouting that certain teams were going to get relegated and they didn't. Our weekly bye-bye to Salernitana. I remember that.
Oh geez, no. I do think that and personally I wouldn't like to see them in Serie A because they literally, I know they've gotten better but still I really don't enjoy watching them play football, man, I'm afraid. It's that shithole of a stadium, Almis. I actually like the vibes of that stadium. And that would be the second team because Genoa got relegated last season as well so we literally won't see that stadium next year unless Genoa get promoted. With their boy Gilardino in the help.
And I want to watch that derby. I would love to watch that derby live, bro. I don't know which side I'd want to be on. Genoa or Sampdoria, I like Genoa a lot. Same, I think I'd want to go on Genoa's side. We'll have a Genoa kit, we'll have a Sampdoria kit as well. You can go as both, bro. Exactly, holding hands. You're hearing this for sure. This is the dog. This is Bully. You can see him on our close friends' We'll Put A Video. He's got like every problem known to dogs.
Well, I'm surprised when we take him to the vet, it's always really clean. I was like, ah, Bully's doing well. He's just, he's got everything an old dog has. So he's a bit deaf, he's a bit blind and his heart rate is a little bit all over the place. But otherwise, he's very anxious. And I think he brings out the anxiety in me as well when he starts whining like this. He just fell off the sofa. He's a 15-year-old Shoa, how old is he?
We got him in 2009 and he was two months old when we got him, or three months old. 2009, it's 2023. Fuck me, he's really old. That's 2023 minus 2009. I don't give a fuck, guys. I'm using a calculator. He's 14, bro. 14 for a Shoa was old, dude. This guy ain't got much longer left. Yes. But the good news is that he's not drowning. No. Because once we were in Gozo and this fucking waiter randomly told us, like, we had our dog with us and our dog was whining.
He does this thing where he starts going like... And this guy, this waiter, was like, your dog, he's drowning. He's got water in his lungs. My dog had the same thing. He died. And we're like, all right, thank you. This burger is lovely. And ever since then, every time he starts making that sound, I would get really fucking upset because I'm like, OK, my dog's, my dog's actually drowning, like he's in pain. But turns out he isn't. It's just he has an irregular heartbeat.
And sometimes he makes a couple of sounds because of that. But anyway, enough about the dog. This is what some Dorya makers do. That's how boring they are. But he does remind me of like Goran Pandev towards the end. Looks fucking terrible, unfit, but still so special. Yeah, yeah, he's very special. He's a very special dog. We'll make an episode specifically for Bully when he inevitably passes. Yes, yes. And request to follow us and our close friends to see footage of Bully.
We'll put up some videos. And Marley and Marley, one of Marley's. OK, so some Dorya currently sit in 19th with 11 points, while their opponents, the Smatch Day Bologna, sit in eighth with 32 points. Eighth Bologna, bro. Eighth. Just behind the big seven. They've really improved. Yeah, Luca must be thrilled. Luca must be so thrilled. Hey, Luca, how are you, man? Hope you well. But anyway, the next game we're going to be covering is Torino 2 Cremonaise 2.
In the previous encounter, Torino won away from home with the score of 2-1. So for Torino, it was a 3-4-3 formation, or 3-4-2-1. With Vanya on goal and the back line of Ricardo Rodriguez, Schuurs and Gigi. They had Vojvod out on the left and Olayin out on the right. And midfield two of Illich and Linetti, with Karamo and Miranchuk playing behind Sanabria. For Cremonaise, they played a 3-5-2 with Karneceky in goal and the back line of Ferrari, Bianchetti and Aiwou.
They had Ser Nicola out on the right and Valeri out on the left. And midfield three of Piquel, Mete and Benassi, with Oke Rieke and Sajou up front. So in the 41st minute, Sanabria converted a penalty. The penalty was awarded after Illich was tripped by Ser Nicola in the area, just in front of the referee. Up stepped Sanabria with a perfect penalty into the bottom corner, sending Karneceky the wrong way. And he did manage to get quite a bit of power behind that as well.
In the 54th minute, Sajou scored. The ball fell kindly to the 23-year-old inside the area, who unleashed a shot which went in off the post for his first ever Serie A goal. And he has just joined Cremonaise from Milan. Brother of mine. Yes, man. Don't worry. I've got it in my notes. I'm going to mention that you gave him a shout out last week. Don't you worry, bro. Don't you worry. In the 74th minute, Valeri scored a great goal.
The Italian's first time strike from just inside the area beat Vania for power at his near post, despite getting a strong hand to it, making it a 2-1 away lead for Cremonaise. In the 79th minute and then Singo equalised. It was some very unconvincing defending from Cremonaise as Singo was in acres of space inside the area and was found by Mirancuk. And the Ivorians sent Valeri back to Serie A with a simple pain before beating Karinasecki at the far post.
Seems like they're just not good enough, Cremonaise. No matter how close they get, they'll never get close. And they crumble. After they get an important goal, they concede immediately. They crumble, bro. They fall apart. Yeah. It's sad to see. Now, you mentioned Sajou, right? Last week. But before I give you some praise, I'm going to give me some praise. Because when I was watching this game in the first few minutes, I sent you a voice note. And this is what it said.
Bear in mind, it was Monday and I was drunk. And I just got home. It was nil nil. And I sent Drake this voice recording. Call me whatever you want to call me. I get the feeling that tonight will be Cremonaise's first victory. And it's away against ninth place Torino. I think Torino can lose a game like this, man, Ostia. I really think they can. They're so random. They're so random. And this is a game they can lose. They can lose it.
I think they will draw points, Ostia. They're capable of losing. Well, thank you for sharing those voice notes where you were wrong. You were wrong. This is their first victory. But to be fair, I did say they will drop points. OK, and then I said that they'll probably lose. But Cremonaise could have gotten it done, man. They could have got it done in this game. And I genuinely think that this was their one opportunity to win a Serie A game. They won't win a single game. No, as if. As if. As if.
They'll win a game? Yes, they'll win a game in Serie A this season. OK. You want to bet some cash? I'm not going to bet. OK. I'm not going to bet. No, they'll win a game for sure. It'd be tragic if they don't win a game. OK. They'll win a game. I really don't think they will. Now, let's move on to you, bro. Last week, you pointed out 23-year-old Milan youth product Sajoun, who has now scored his first Serie A goal for Cremonaise and had a good performance.
More of this to come and have Cremonaise found their talisman? So more of this to come? Most certainly. Have Cremonaise found their talisman? No, they have found a talisman. And I think he will be bouncing around at a few clubs. You know, he'll do the rounds. Newly promoted team comes up, maybe he'll go there. Unless, you know, the likes of like Mota at Bologna scout him and he's like, I want him as my striker. You know, or the likes of Torino. They're like, listen, we don't have a striker.
Why not bring in this guy for the future? It's a good investment. And he looks good, man. Sajou looks very good. I think he was the best player on the pitch for Cremonaise for me. Yeah, I think so, man. I think so. Like they did really have a good game in this game. I think Torino allowed them to play their game quite a bit. Torino tend to do that, man. Torino, you give them a good opportunity and sometimes they simply don't take it when they're off.
And in this game, I do think they were a bit off. Now, I know that Juric praised their performance in this game. I would praise their spirit and I would praise how they got back into the game. But I think at no point should they have found themselves at home down to one against Cremonaise. Yeah, no, they definitely shouldn't have. And this is the thing, right? You have two... This applies more to Italiano than to Juric.
My point is that you have two managers who at the same time kind of blew up, right? Italiano and Juric. Everyone talking about them, they were two hot managers at the time. Italiano has dipped way more than Juric has dipped, in my opinion, of course. I think Juric, what he has available at Torino has had a pretty good season, to be honest. Italiano, on the other hand, has dipped and he's not playing as impressively as he used to. No, no. You're absolutely right, man.
And Torino, however, despite obviously Juric still being a fantastic manager and having a good season, even though they lost players like Bellotti and they weren't replaced, they lost players like Bremer, who wasn't replaced either. And obviously there was that great falling out. We all thought Juric was leaving. I still think Juric will leave at some point because he hates lack of motivation coming from the board. Lack of ambition. And investment, exactly.
Do you think that this season Torino deserve to be fighting for that conference league spot because right now that's pretty much what they have their eyes on. They're only one point behind Juve, who are in that slot, and Bologna. I definitely think they'll keep up the fight. Juric believes in his men. They have a bit of depth. They found avenues for scoring. That was the biggest problem. They didn't have anyone to score. And nowadays, you know, Karamoh can get you the goal.
He's shown to be quite clinical. Sanabria is always good, especially coming off the bench. And even that guy, what's his name? The SEP? SEC? SEC. Denbasec. He's all right up front too. But they still need, I feel like they need a striker. A proper one. A proper one. You know what I mean? I do want to see Sanabria alongside Mirantchuk behind the striker. Because I think Sanabria is great over there. And Sanabria is good, man. Sanabria is very good. He's a nifty little player.
But Torino find themselves in ninth place on 31 points. Like I said, they're only one point behind Juve and Bologna, while Scrimmonella is still in last just on nine points. Is this the last game? This is the last game, sir. The last game we're going to be covering is a Tuscan derby between Fiorentina and Empoli, which ended 1-1. We're just talking about Italiano and how he's been a little bit disappointing this year.
Unfortunately, they cannot carry out their European form to Italy because they have been killing it in the conference league. Terracciano was in goal for Fiorentina with Terzic as left back, Venuti as right back, and Martinez Quarta and Milinkovic playing as a centre-back partnership. Mandragora, Amrabat and Barak were in the middle, with Saponara out on the left, Nico Gonzalez on the right, and Jovic up front. I did say Saponara would score this week. He did not.
Vicario played in goal for Empoli as they lined up their 4-3-1-2 formation, with Ebuhe on the right, Kakace on the left, Luperto on the smiley in the middle, with Akpa Akpro Maron and Bandinelli playing in the midfield three, Baldanzi playing behind Cambiaghi and Caputo. It all kicked off in the 28th minute when Amrabat lost possession very cheaply, and Baldanzi played a solid pass to Caputo who laid it off to Cambiaghi who smashed it home. Those three for Empoli have been very solid.
And it's crazy to see the likes of Destro over there, and you see Cambiaghi is the one who explodes. Exactly. He's not even getting a sniff at the moment, man. Not even a sniff. I think he might be injured, in fact. I'm not even sure. I haven't seen him in ages. Bandinelli later on had a goal line clearance. It was an amazing goal line clearance.
And then at the end of the game in the 85th minute, the guy who was brought on in the conference league and scored the brace, Arthur Cabral, managed to score after a dodo charge down the right-hand side, whipped in a cross. It came off the crossbar, and Cabral was there to head it home instinctively. Fiorentina got close to actually taking all three points as they created many an opportunity towards the end of the game. But once again, they just lack that final product.
They just struggle to get these shots off. And for me, it's simply because, bro, their play style is so predictable. Okay, so on the right, you have Nico Gonzalez and dodo and Venuti who are just going to go direct. And then on the left, you have Saponara who's going to cut inside. And no matter who you play from these wingers, it's always the same system. And they hardly ever... So all you have to do is block the left from shooting, block the right from crossing. It's as simple as that.
It's fair enough. It's fair enough. But easier said than done. There are certain players that have, for example, Insinia, Saponara. I think the prime example of this would be Alex Del Piero and Arjen Robben, who you know what they're going to do. And they still manage to do it because they're so fucking good at it. I'm not saying Saponara and Gonzalez are on Del Piero and Arjen Robben level, but they are very good at what they do.
Now the problem to me lies in that striker, because to me there is a lack of understanding between Jovic and those two players. Now I heard Thierry Henry speak recently. What a pundit, by the way. He's great. I love the way he speaks. Yes. One of the best. And he said that he, as a striker, the reason he was so good is because he understood his teammates and he adapted to his teammates, to which Jamie Carragher replied, okay. But don't your teammates have to adapt to you?
Prime example being Holland right now. They play for Holland and they just serve Holland and serve Holland. I think Jovic does essentially, I think Fiorentina and Jovic do none of those things. So I think Jovic hasn't gotten used to, through no fault of his own, but he still hasn't yet gotten used to Saponara, Gonzalez, Barak, Amr Abatman, Drago, anyone, anyone really. And I don't think that any of his teammates make any effort to play through his strengths.
I think Saponara does what Saponara does, Gonzalez does what Gonzalez does, and he's fucking constantly going for goal and he's super direct and he never ever helps Jovic in that department. And I think they're having a bit of an identity crisis for that reason. Last year they had Vladovic who everyone was playing for him. Everyone's like, no matter what, get the ball in the middle and play the ball to him. Play the ball slightly in front of him.
He has the pace, he has the power, he has the strength. He'll get there, he'll outpace everyone until finish, similar to Ossimen, kind of. Now they have an in the box, pure number nine in Jovic. Who's not even that strong or tall. He's not a poacher almost more than anything else. An opportunistic striker. And you look at the, he does have these clever players around him, as you mentioned, like Saponara, for example.
We all know Vladovic nicknamed him El Professore del Cultura because he was so good at reading the game and playing the ball exactly where you want it. So I do think that you're absolutely right. And maybe it's a case of Jovic not playing to the strength of his team. I currently think Cabral is better and deserves to be starting at the moment, at least. I think so. And Cabral in that sense, so Cabral and Piontek were in to replace Vladovic.
They rotated a lot and Piontek was getting more minutes than Cabral. Cabral had a couple of injuries as well. And then after Piontek was offloaded to Salernitana, they brought in Jovic. And Jovic instantly because of his name and because of his previous record, not even at Real, because he had a terrible record at Real, but before that at Frankfurt, he got the nod instantly. It doesn't matter how he's playing.
It doesn't matter how Cabral is playing, even though he comes in and he gives them that fucking fire up front that Jovic simply doesn't give them that work rate and that fucking that physicality, that pace as well. He actually has traits to him unlike Jovic. And it's weird to me, bro, that they show so much faith in Jovic. They must really have a lot of faith in him because when Saponara is not performing, they don't play him. He doesn't play him.
He doesn't play Aljano. When Gonzalez isn't performing, he doesn't play him. He is no stranger to dropping players, bro. No stranger. And for some reason, he doesn't do that with Jovic at all. He's always in that starting round. It must be the CV, right? Or bro, he sees something in training that makes him say one day he's just going to get a couple of goals and he's going to be the next Vladovic for us. Because then you have the red hot Cabral, man. He keeps benching him, right? You're right.
You're absolutely spot on, bro. But yeah, it definitely is interesting. So that is it for Fiorentina. Mostly shit. Mostly shit this season. We'll take a look at Empoli, who once again played a very good game. I think they'll be more than happy at the moment with the way their season has gone. At this point, what is Empoli's objective? I think Empoli's objective right now, which I don't think was their objective at the start of the season, is a top 10 finish. Now they're on 29 points.
They're one point behind Odinese and they certainly can do it, especially if they keep this form up. I think it is more than form. I think they're actually a very, very good team. There's no doubt that they're doing well this season and that they're safe this season. My fear is next year. And the reason I say that is I'm scared they're going to become a feeder club because the amount of talent that they have in their team, when you look at, for example, one second, I lost the lineup.
They have, for example, Marin, fantastic center midfielder, fantastic center midfielder. He could play for, for example, I don't know, Fiorentina. He could go there. If Amrubat leaves, Marin can take that spot easily. Marin can rotate at Lazio. He can rotate at Atalanta. He's a great, great player. Yeah, he's definitely better than Cattaldi. Exactly. They then have Baldanzi, Bandinelli. Baldanzi, one of the hottest Italian talents at the moment.
Exactly. Ebwehi, Cambiaghi, they have Vicarrio, of course, Vicarrio. They have Parisi. They have Luperto. And a lot of these people can get nicked. And I think they will get nicked. And I think we'll see Empoli start to struggle again. Yeah, maybe, maybe. I'm just surprised at the talent they managed to bring in and how well they seem to adapt to the systems. And it is really created a unit over here. Akpo has come in. I've never seen him play this well before. It's true. At all.
He's playing super football. Parisi, at this point, pushing up so much. Like, granted, there was potential, and I remember seeing him playing against Teo Hernandez. He was on the same wing as Teo Hernandez. And he gave him a very hard time. And this was like two years ago. He's a great goalkeeper as well. We saw that last week. Certo. But yes, you are right. They certainly have a lot of talent and the teams are going to be raiding them.
But let's see if they manage to continue to replace these people ever so adequately. We'll see about Amrabat, by the way, going. His form has dipped after the World Cup a little bit. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. He had a great World Cup. So they'll pay fucking 50 million for him, 40 million for him. The Thomas Rodriguez effect. Exactly. OK. I'm going to tell you where they stand. And then we're going to fuck off, bro. We can't watch the second half. We can't watch the second half.
We're in good time. I'm missing Love Island movie night. Movie night is always meant. And you know this, bro. You know it's meant. Look, I watched the Love Island last season. I enjoyed it. But to be honest, I'm never watching it again. Fair enough. You become a fucking sausage after watching it. Your brain becomes mush. Because firstly, we're hitting it off together and then he went and he was shatting up that leg. But we all deserve to let our brains rot sometimes.
It's not all about reading books and bettering ourselves. Sometimes we just need to watch shit, man. You know what I mean. So this whole time I've been looking for the league table. Empoli sit in 12th with 28 points while Fiorentina sit in 14th with 25 points. That's it for today, brother. That's it. Thank you very much for listening, everyone. Brother, it was a joy as always. I love having these chats with you.
I particularly I prefer recording on Tuesday, as we said, when the games are fresher, fresher to the brain. But this does give us the opportunity to actually watch the Champions League game that we wanted to watch. I mean, at the end of the day, we wanted to watch Napoli and the Champions League. Granted, the game to watch was Liverpool against Real. Like my God, Real are so stubborn. They don't give a fuck. They could be losing to Real. It's like, who cares? We're winning this.
I heard that Tony Kroos and Luca Modric, their contracts run out at the end of the season, but they both want to retire at Real. So they're both going to extend it. Now, with Kroos, it's a bit more interesting because Modric wants to keep playing. Kroos said, look, I want to retire at Real. I'm either going to play one more season at Real or I'll retire at the end of the season. I haven't decided yet. So watching Kroos retire is going to be quite sad. He's a very, very, very talented player.
I think he has been angling himself as a Real Madrid ambassador for a while. He's very big on Twitter. He always backs Florentino Peiris and he backs the club. He recently even went as far to say that the Super League is the way forward. It has to happen. So basically, you know, a piece of shit. Let's see what happens there. Definitely Valverde has the perfect mentors over there. He's going to be a fucking top player.
And Real, bro, since they lost Ramos, Marcelo, Kazia, Sabit earlier, Raul earlier, they have those three in Kroos, Modric and Benzema that are literally the three daddies of the team, the three veterans. They won all those Champions Leagues together. The three musketeers, the three leaders who would die for the club, man. It's nice. They're top. They're very good. It's nice. Maybe one day Calabria and Tonali will be like that. Thank you guys very much for listening. We've been Serious Spotlight.
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter if you want to stay up to date with the happenings of Serie A and give us a rating wherever you listen. We obviously tell you to give us five stars, but be honest and give us five stars. So thank you. We'll see you all next Wednesday.