76: Celebrations Delayed

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Serial Spotlight, this is Season 2 episode 36, we're hosts Matt and Jake. Back together after one month of me being in Australia. You think you could get rid of me, Luke Mintoff, the Rade Krunic of this fucking podcast, I'm here to stay, and I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving bitches. Yes after listening back to the episodes that were taking place without me, wasn't worried at all that Mintoff might get us cancelled, but Jake insists that he must stay.

And stay I shall. Stay he shall. And you have no choice in the matter. Zero. Vetoed, out of nowhere. Completely. Basically Mintoff is gonna be filling in for Jake today because Jake went all the way to Crete for an open bar, essentially, but he's back now and he's super hungover so he's just laying low while Mintoff is filling in for him. Yes, but I'll be in the background. You will be in the background. Yes, as usual. No, you're in my shadow the entire podcast.

Look at your face, look at your hair, the mustache, the tattoos, the style. Then Jake in his shorts, in his baggy top. That's it bro. Don't give Jake shit, Jake has the face for radio. It's a really good face for radio. The face for radio means you're ugly. Exactly. Hello. This is why I shouldn't be on today, I'm slow, I had like 13 brain cells left and I think I fucking killed them all. So you're just on the one? I'm on the one left. Okay, it's... They're pulling faces at each other.

They are, there we are I mean. Where's your brain cell? And I never had any. You can't see that. You can't see that indeed. So shall we crack on to what happened this week, my friend? Yes, I mean the main theme of this week is essentially Napoli bottling it just for one week. We've been doing that for much longer because they'll probably win the league by next week. But actually the goal that denied them winning the league this weekend was DIA. That's our goal of the week.

Some weird dimensions went to Duvan Zapata who got his first goal since February. It was a stunning strike by him. Last February. It has been five months since he scored the goal. His second goal in Serie A this season. There was Zappa Kostad in the near post. There was Gorsens's volley. There was Castrovilli's volley. There was Campiagui against Asuolo who dribbled the entire team. Verdi's volley. There was Berardi as well. Oh Berardi's goal. A bunch of great goals but I think DIA.

I think so as well. I think DIA takes the cake. Yeah it was just such a good solo effort. No one had a clue he was going to do that. Especially from the position he got the ball from. Which was down the right flank. And you're like okay he can cross the ball. He can dribble a man. Maybe try to get a penalty. No. I'm going to dribble a fucking player. I'm going to chop in and then I'm going to curl a fucking shot into the top corner.

Against arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the league this season. No thank you. With that being said we're talking about precision and an inch perfect strike. That Verdi volley. The way he bounced it. Beautiful. Looped over the keeper. Exactly into the top corner. Over the two defenders were jumping up to try to hit it away. But it was just out of reach for them. That was a perfect goal. All the volleys this week if you notice. The players taking the volleys had such composure.

You could see them really laying themselves up. Really timing. It's like when you have that sniper waiting for the brilliant shot. And they just all took it with such great applause. And Gorsens volley the way he flew in the air to get that. And then he got it. Poor guy. He can't catch a break. He can't get a break that's fucking glass cannon. There are like there's one match day a season where there are a bunch of volleys last season. Or was it this season? And a bunch of draws as well.

We had a yeah there are a lot of 1-1 draws. There was a match day this season where all the goals were just incredible. We had an episode care for a volley. I don't know if that was season one or season two. Two. I think season two. Yes because it's up there with our downloads. And season two is doing better than season one. There you go guys. Keep listening. I wonder why it's doing better. It was the you and Santi episode to get things going. I think it did. I think it did.

It laid the foundation. Exactly. It was going to be a messy one. Our betting segment did not exist. Unfortunately, this week guys, we totally totally forgot about it. I was jet lagged. I was sleeping for an entire day. Jake was going to Crete. So real breakdown of communication over there. And it didn't happen. But it's fine because we saved ourselves losing five euro. What was I going to say? We should be happy. You didn't lose it. Yeah. I mean, we take everything. Money in the bank.

Money in the bank. We break even. Fuck it. Nice. You can go buy us a bottle of wine. Yeah. Good. See. So sort of relining in life. Yeah. Exactly. Let me go through the main happenings of match day 32 before we get into the individual match day. So the way we're going to start things off is Roma won Milan one. That was a direct encounter for fourth spot. Both teams entering equal and leaving equal. Enter three. Lazio won another battle for top four.

It seems like whenever these two teams play, the score is three one and it can go either way. Bologna won Juve one. Could have been two for Juve, but Millech will get into what Millech did in this in this matchday. Napoli won Salernitana one. Diaz goals spoiling the party for Napoli. Torino won Atalanta two. A late strike there for Atalanta getting them the victory. Fiorentina put one past Sampdoria and then they put four like all at the same time.

It was just a competition of who's going to score more. Who's going to score their first goal for Fiorentina. Exactly. Dodo got one. Terzic got one. Terzic got one. Yeah. Duncan got one. Duncan got one. Wow. Wow. Everyone just. Everyone decided like, you know what time to impress Italiano. Exactly. Spezia nil Monza. Two, Spezia with Outenzola are a Serie A better team essentially. Sassuolo two. Empoli won a great goal by Cambiaghi in this matchday, but terrible defending by Sassuolo.

Lecce won Udinese nil. A massive leap for Lecce away from the relegation zone. And Cremona won. Verona won. Like guys, like one of you get three points at some point. It will really, really help you. But Verona are now level on points with Spezia, which makes things very interesting. Not only because it's either drawn points with Spezia, but there is Empoli also with 32 points, which are far from safe. Yeah. They're far from safe. And Lecce are also looming around that area as well.

I think they also have 32 points. I could be wrong about that. Lecce are on 31. There we go. So 32, 31, 27. It goes up to 14th place because Salernitana then are on 34. But there's a big difference between the level of Salernitana and then the ones below them, which is Empoli, Spezia, Lecce and so on. Actually, Salernitana are unbeaten in six matches. They have five draws. In nine matches, my friend. What? In nine matches, my buddy. That's mental. It's their best record ever.

You ruined my first point about Salernitana, but you can just cross it out. I fucked it up entirely as well. So next time, shut your bitch mouth. It's going to start. Sorry to all the bitches that are listening. I hope you didn't take offense to that. Yeah, mental. Why are you looking at me like that? Listen, I am the uncontrolled one. You are the uncontrolled one. So when you say something bad, it matters way more. I guess. I guess. But I apologized. So you did? Yeah, I did.

I said sorry to all the bitches that are listening. And then you could see Jake grimacing as though he got fouled in a football five-a-side in the last minute and he had to make some theatrics to get the penalty. Now listen to all you beautiful ladies out there. With foreshadowing and grief. Are there any ladies listening to that? We have like 3%. Oh, I mean, it's better than zero. Welcome, ladies. Welcome.

You may have noticed this week that every ball that hit the back of the net was collected by the referee, stored away and replaced. I was like, this is getting repetitive and this is getting weird. Why is this happening? Basically, this is an initiative with a third party called Socios that allows fans to place bids on scoring balls. Each ball is authenticated and validated on blockchain, giving proof of the ball's origin and ownership, making sure that they're the real deal.

So we actually have NFTs in Syria? Essentially you can own a scoring ball in Syria. What has the world come to? I mean, that's cool, man. I think it's extremely lame in my opinion. You guys. But that's my opinion. You guys, imagine owning the ball that, for example, Giroud scored in the derby or owning the ball that Kessy scored the penalty against Atalanta. It shouldn't be happening. Why? Because it's just weird, man. It's a ball. Sure, it's a ball. It's a ball, bro.

But look how we monetize everything in life, bro. I mean, yes. It's weird. To me, it's the limit. And these things are always in the... Because it's already a massive business. There's no need to take the ball away, put it in a fucking chamber, lock it up. What's a hurting anyone? Set it for 10K and then make... I don't know, man. I get your point, but it gives Syria heads who have money the opportunity to own something. I mean, this is done with shirts now. Yeah. And it's not hurting anyone.

I mean, it's a ball. It's a ball. So yeah, go socios. If you want to advertise on our platform, we can discuss rates. Nice. So shall we get into the matches? We shall. I'll start off with Roma 1, Milan 1. Okay, the most boring game of the match. Let's go. Oh, well, kind of. It's true. I mean, don't you dare tell me that was a fun game to watch. I mean, from 90 plus, it was excellent. No, from the 90th minute. Yes, definitely. That's the part that I missed because we were surrounded by mountains.

And we're on a bus. There you go. There we go. So the previous encounter was Milan 2, Roma 2. So absolute stalemates all around, which means that if these two teams do end up level at the end of the season, they're going to need to look at goal difference because they're absolutely tied on aggregate. A direct battle for fourth spot with both teams coming into this match with 56 points with Milan in fourth and Roma in fifth.

Naturally, there was also Inter against Lazio, which is also a pivotal fixture for top four. For Roma, there was Chris Smalling out injured, Karsdorp out injured and Wijnaldum out injured and the ball was only fit for the bench with his sprained ankle. For Rossoneri, Mr Alessandro Florenzi once again, Pobega, Zlatan once again, Batcaliabria returned from suspension and Giroud recovered from a knock.

For Roma, it was their 3-4-1-2 formation with Patricio on goal and their backline of Ibanez, Kumbulla and Mancini, Spinazzola out on the left, Celica out on the right and the midfield two of Matich and Cristante with Pellegrini just ahead of them and Tammy and Bellotti starting up front. For Milan, it was their 4-2-3-1 formation, although I am of the opinion that this is a 4-3-3. Mannyan in goal and the backline of Calabria, Kier, Tomori and Theo.

A midfield two of Krunic and Tonali with Benassir just ahead of them. Brahim Dias started out on the right, Rafael Lhaut on the left and Giroud up front. The reason I say I think this is a 4-3-3 is because Benassir does a lot of defending. He sits behind the midfield most of the time so I really do think this is a 4-3-3.

But, yeah, the hosts were already short on defenders as you heard by Smolling being out injured and actually lost Kumbulla after 15 minutes due to a bruised knee caused by an accidental coming together with Giroud so Cristante had to drop back into the back three and Bova came on and joined Matich in midfield.

There was a huge chance for Roma on 34 minutes as Spinazzola pulled back from the byline for Lorenzo Pellegrini to score from 6 yards but it was accidentally charged down by teammate Tammy Abraham. I initially thought it was a Mannyan save, I had people over and I was screaming, he's the best in the world, he's the best in the world and then the replay showed that Tammy Abraham kept the ball out. Tammy Abraham is the best in the world. He's the best in the world or the worst in the world.

Just after half time Tomori went off injured with a bruised thigh after a collision with Tammy in the first half but Milan fans will breathe a sigh of relief after finding out that it is no more serious than that. He will only miss the Cremonese match but that is due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Shouts for a red card on Roger Ibanez shortly after who butchered Salomakers with a studs up challenge but he received a yellow card instead.

Now I wasn't too comfortable giving my opinion on this because the camera angles were a little bit weak, you could see that the studs are showing but you can't see just how high up on the leg that was and how malicious it was so I'm not going to complain too much about that however I did see my Twitter page flood up with shouts for a red card but then again I do follow a bunch of Milan guys so I won't take their word as literature.

In the 59th minute it was a routine attack by Milan as a long ball by Tonali was headed by Giroud into the part of Léo who took the ball to the byline and crossed it to Salomakers but his half volley skimmed the crossbar that was probably the biggest chance of the match before the 90th minute. And then the K.Telare lost the ball at the half way line, Cielic carried the ball forward and found Tammy Abraham who finished into the bottom corner.

Absolute scenes as it seemed like Roma had won it at the death giving them top 4 and a 3 point advantage over Milan. Oh no no no, 3 minutes later Léo receives the ball out wide after a defensive header by Montrini and he provided an inch perfect in swinging cross to the far post for Salomakers to this time convert on the half volley with the ball creeping underneath Rui Patricio making the game 1-1. So you said this was a boring game, it was very nervy and very cagey. Very Roma game.

Yeah exactly, I mean that's essentially the whole tale of the tape, it was a classic Roma approach they allowed Milan a lot of the ball and they looked to counter. Milan moved the ball around well but struggled to get that final pass.

I think game management was on Roma's side in this game to be honest with you, I think that they had a better game plan going and I think they executed better than Milan did because I say that because I think Milan always like to boss the game in the way that they want to play, they never like playing how the opponent wants them to play and of course Mourinho said keep the ball, take it but you're not going to do shit with it and that really worked.

I still think that this is a better result for Roma than it is for Milan because of the fact that Milan have harder games to come and of course Roma also have Europa League but I don't think their priority is still the league over the Europa League for them, they want to win it for sure, they'll go in wanting to win but Champions League against Inter, there's no way Milan say hmm well priority is up to them.

It's funny because they're both in a very delicate position where they're on the cusp of doing something very special in Europe but then as a result of that and as a result of the tight fixtures that they have unlike the Lazio and the Atalanta it's affecting their performance in the league and that puts them in a situation now especially after Juve were handed their 15 points back where they're like shit okay so we might get to the final

and lose in the Champions League and we might lose out on top four over here so it's a really delicate situation that they're both in man.

I still think it's more delicate for Milan than it is for Roma purely because I believe that I'm going to repeat my point as such I still feel like Roma will prioritize the league when it comes to it because at the end of the day it's going to bring them more money and of course Mourinho is a winner and if you see I say that because sometimes Milan have been a bit weird like they have absolutely stellar performances against Napoli for example

in all the games they played against them and then because of that intense effort the next game in the league you can really see it's a different Milan. Like against Lecce it was shocking. Against Roma it wasn't shocking but you know they lacked a killer instinct.

But Milan playing Roma and Milan playing Napoli and this was a point I made to a friend of mine recently is the two most polar opposites in matches Milan can have because against Napoli Milan-Roma-Napoli in the sense that you can have the ball we're going to pile men back and then we're going to Rafa Leão and we're going to Theo Hernandez you and then we're going to get you on the counter and then against Roma Milan are like okay

now we're on the ball a lot so it's like we're playing Lecce for example where we have a lot of the ball they're piling men back but then on the counter way more effective than Lecce. So it's a totally different situation for Milan. Milan did seem a lot more disappointed than Roma at the final whistle despite getting a winner in the 96-97 so there I was like okay Milan expected a victory here. I think so. I really think I'm pretty sure they believe they could win.

You know I feel like they probably feel like they have the better players, overall they probably have the better form arguably but I really think that Roma even though they don't play the best football their form and the way they want to play football is probably the best in the league. Don't mistaken that for having the best team or playing the best football or having the second best team but the way they want to play football is exactly the way Moroni wants to play.

There's a point I made to Jake recently when he asked me who are the second best team in the league I said Roma because of the system that they have in place when it comes to when they need to get points they are so capable of getting those points. They do slip up. They do slip up. Then they have that one game which is super important for them, Atalanta where they just miss out. Exactly. Or sometimes that game plan doesn't work.

Against a physical team, Atalanta are kind of a physical team they're not the most physical in the league but they have physical players. Gasperini as their manager. They were savage there. So against those teams you need to have something else and I don't think Roma are the best team to adapt yet. My point of them being top two, no one's been perfect except for Napoli pretty much.

You compare them to Juve, you compare them to Lazio and at that point you're going to go okay who's had the least fuck ups out of these. Lazio are great. Lazio are great. They have been great. But there's a couple of good points to speak about when they get into it but yeah I agree with you overall. You mentioned that this was a boring game. Fun fact is the only two shots on target this match came at stoppage time and they were the two goals.

But against Roma that's what tends to happen to be honest with you. So no disrespect to Milan there, it's just the way Roma like to play football. And to carry on on the point that we made about Roma's system and how Milan adapted, Giroud was pretty much helpless up against Mancini, Van Duz and Cristante. While Ibrahim seemed invisible leaving Milan once again reliant on Liao. Liao had a great game, he was on fire. He was given a lot of space as well.

So I mean he was given the space to have a good game but he also stood up because there are many times Liao just decides that he's not going to play today. So he did step up, you're right. Over the past few games, before the league game against Napoli where Milan won 4-0, it was reported that Liao put himself in retiro. So going to bed early, waking up, only training, only training, only training, no rapping or any of this fucking bullshit that he does sometimes.

And it shows man when the guy puts in the work, he's one of the best players in the world, there's no doubt about it. And he's been really really good and he made Schelick's life absolute hell. Did you hear about the criticism Piole got, people essentially blaming him for the Keita Lare losing the ball? So apparently the Keita Lare went on and he wasn't really defending, he was lurking around and Piole is like, fucking wake up Charles, wake up!

And Charles got carried away, he went, collected the ball, lost it, Roma took the ball forward and scored. Oh my lord. Everyone's saying like, be careful Piole. Oh my lord. He's so bad. Keita Lare. I'm sorry he's so bad. I mean he hasn't had a great time since this season. I love how you and Jake can't admit that he's just been straight up bad. His performances have been bad but I still cannot say. He's still leaving his talent. Yeah I can't say he's a bad player.

Like Massar and Maldini have this system, wherever they're going to spend money the player has to be special. All I'm going to say is that Ibrahim, Benassir and Liao all looked bad when they started. No way did they look. We had this point last week, there's no way you can compare the first season of all those players to the first season of the Keita Lare. Tonali had a terrible first season bro. Not that bad. Tonali couldn't put a pass together. You can't compare.

You couldn't pass the ball Tonali. But this guy has done jack, this guy has literally done jack. The guy came in, people were calling him Pirlo and he couldn't make two passes in that game Tonali. Yeah. I mean. I still do a little jack. Exactly. In time, I think he'll get there but he has had a terrible season. There's no doubt about it. 35 million he comes in and his third choice in his position, it's not good. Just one more point before we move on. 64,000 Roma fans in attendance. Holy shit.

They were at the Olympico singing Roma, Roma, Roma in the beginning. Yet the Curvassoz chants echoed through the stadium for the entire match, even after Roma scored that 93rd minute goal. Do you think Milan have the best fans in Italy? They definitely do. I hate to admit it, but they definitely do. They have the best support and they're relentless and they just don't give up. They do not give up. And I mean, it is admirable. You cannot say otherwise.

I thought you were going to make the point and I was ready to argue you that you are going to say no Napoli. Napoli have savages, but sometimes they don't always. They don't always have, you know, they're a bit like, I was going to say city, but they're actually a little bit like United in the sense that they celebrate, they're happy when it's going well and then when it's not going well. Exactly. A bit like Tottenham as well. I know.

I think they'll be go, they'll be fucking celebrating and being cheerful. And then as soon as it goes wrong, the stadium is silent. The game against Salernitana that just happened and the game against Milan, second leg, they were the best support I've heard in the Champions League for 45 minutes and then Leao scored silence until the 92nd minute where Rossi Mangotti's goal and then they were crazy again. It's like you're there to support your team, you're not there for a party kind of thing.

But I think they get nervous. I think they're not used to winning. They're not used to winning. Genuinely. They're not used to having a team which can win. And I think, and I think maybe that's something we're not giving them the benefit of the doubt. So I think they get back into this mentality. Oh, we're going to bottle it. Oh, we're going to fuck up. We're going to lose again. Oh, we're going to come second again. Oh, you know, the witchcraft shit.

And the Cavani's and the fucking Higuain's who almost got them their wins, but they never managed to get through into the end. Avetse Hamsik. Avetse Hamsik. So, you know, in Senegal, I feel like they're really nervous. Yeah, I think so. It's when they get over the line and then they can finally have this new era of Napoli dominant football. Yeah. I mean, good for them. I'm very, very happy for Napoli. But it's just the way some of the fans have been sure, sure carrying themselves.

And this is a this isn't a generalisation. I'm saying a select group of their fan base haven't exactly been the classiest or the humblest in victory. And twice have just. Yeah. But yeah, but they deserve to party. It's been a long time. They deserve to party. They've been excellent. They've barely put a foot wrong. Get your cocks out. Milan are in fifth place on 57 points, leveled with Inter and Roma who sit in sixth. I see. I see where this is leading to.

And this is leading to Inter versus Lazio with a score of three to one. And coming into this game week or match day, we have Inter coming in with three wins, one draw and one loss. When we compare it with Lazio, who come in with four wins and a loss. The head to head between these two teams is pretty even. Inter winning four, Lazio winning four and them both drawing two games. As for notable differences in the starting lineup, there were not too many.

Lazio feel that basically they're starting 11. On the other side, Inter made a couple of modifications. We saw Dombroso coming in for De Vrij and we see Correa up front with Lukaku as opposed to Martinez up front instead. Otherwise, it's still a pretty standard formation for Inter as well. Of course, you'd expect that from both teams because they definitely needed a win in this game. I think again, a draw would not have been happy for either team here.

And a couple of points to mention before we get down to the game itself is that what I've noticed at least ever since Inter lost to Monza, things have drastically changed. They've derailed. When they hit that car crash with Monza, you could feel like Inter is going to get sacked, the team is done, the dumps are going to get knocked out of the Champions League somehow, even though they had a pretty good cushion 2-0 to Benfica.

And then they beat Benfica, then they come in and then Lukaku has an epic performance against Empoli and then they beat Juve in the Copa. Slowly you could see this resurgence back in Inter's team. And I feel like these three wins after each other have been such a catalyst for this team, so much so that I would say Milan got the worst draw possible to face in the semi-finals because Inter, in my opinion, could be a pain in your ass because they've beaten you a couple of times this season.

Not only that, but Lukaku, I feel like the fact that he's woken up finally and started to play football, and started to play for his team, it feels like everyone's understanding him as well. And the team has sort of... To assist again in this matchup. To assist to a goal in the game before, something has changed. Something has drastically changed in this team. Now it could just be Comedie Discurse, next game we see them play. It could be Lukaku misses four goals and all this shit happens again.

But I would like to argue that it's a bit different. And I feel like this could really be a pain in the ass for Milan coming up in the Champions League. Absolutely. The way I would describe this is, however, contrary to your point, Inter are a hemorrhoid whilst Real and City are colon cancer. That's the difference between them. They're a pain in the ass, sure, but Real, Madrid and Manchester City, and then Arona, I think another level to most Serie A teams at the moment. You know what?

I'll still argue that again. You know why? Because I feel like Milan are winners. That you can't argue against that. And they would face a winner in Real. But Real aren't having the best year this year. They're playing well. They're playing good. The Champions League is there. Sure, it's their thing. You know, they're always there. But it's Milan's thing as well. City have never won it. They've never gotten further than the semi-finals. So you have to keep that in mind.

Of course, we've seen City play absolutely destructive football this year. But you never know in the semi-final. You never bloody know. And Milan, you can see that they're street smart. Jake mentioned it last week. So that's why I really believe, especially since Inter have gotten the edge over Milan a couple of times this season. And it's always a feisty affair. Lukaku coming back. Martin has woken up. And he's no longer, he's playing a little bit less greedily.

I feel like it's going to be a very, very enjoyable match on the 13th. It's going to be fireworks. It's going to be fantastic. And I can't wait to watch it. Yeah, same here. I can't wait to watch it. And one final point. And that's not the final point actually. But there are a couple more. I feel like this is a theory. There's almost no facts behind this one, but I'll still say it. I feel like Nzaghi has worked a little bit on his man management.

I feel like in his post-match press conference and pre-match, he's been mentioning players a bit more. He's been talking about them a bit more. I feel like he's given them attention. I feel like there's been this thing missing, which Jake alluded to in the last few episodes. And I feel like there's something he's worked on. And I feel like the team is a little bit more coherent. There's no more moaning to each other anymore. There used to be a lot of moaning. It's a barella.

Barellas is just a baby in my opinion. If he was my friend, I'd punch him in the face. But then again, he's the best player. So I mean, maybe he's going to be like, he's just a little bitch in my opinion. He might have a small ass cock. I'm not sure about that. I think he's got a small ass dick, dude. He does give kind of small dick energy. I really see. But anyway. But I do agree with your point about Nzaghi.

I think either he's working on his management or just since they proceeded so much in the Champions League, the element of togetherness kind of seems to be getting stronger in this Inter team. Definitely there is. Yeah. And they're managing to come back as well. You know, sometimes when Inter concede that it's game over, you know, they concede against a Monza, they concede against whatever, a Lecce and so on. Or small teams, which they had a bad run.

Yeah. A couple of game weeks ago, let's say it's game over and they're not going to get out of that. Exactly. They're going to be playing and shooting. Now I feel like there's this, it's just very, it's hard to pin down, but there's an aura behind this team. Yeah. There's a lot of belief. And I feel like these wins, these wins they've gotten in the UCL and the Copa have really changed things. I think so. I think so. Yeah. It's interesting.

And one thing mentioned, one thing I want to mention, and this is going to be very important for this game as well. It's going to be a point I would like to discuss. Is a statistic I have here. Inter have conceded the fewest high turnovers to their opponents in Serie A this season with 1-5-7, whereas Lazio have conceded 294. Oh my God. More than any other team in the league and by 20 of those. So it really shows the careful approach of Enzaghi and the risky approach of Sarri there.

Yeah. It just shows the two teams which are faced up against each other. And with that being said, we can go up and show you the two teams which faced off and the starting lineups. We have Inter with their 3-5-2, their classic on and on in goal, D'Ambrosio, Atxerbi and Bastoni. At the back we have DiMarco, Miketarion, Brozovic, Barela and Darmian in midfield. Correan Lukaku finalizing the attack. Whereas we have Immobileza, Kanyan, Filipe, Anderson up front.

We have Luis Alberto, Cataldi and Milinkovic, Savic in midfield. Morizic, Casale, Romagnoli and Haisal in defense. Providel in goal. To kick off the game itself, we have a relatively quiet first half. One thing to point out was a VAR decision which wasn't given to Inter. It was basically a goal which Miketarion had tapped in. But Correa was slightly offside when the attack began and the VAR decision gave the goal as offside. We then see the first goal of the game.

1-0 in the 30th minute, Atxerbi receives the ball from Anana. He gets dispossessed by Immobileza and Filipe Anderson who then pass the ball to Luis Alberto in the middle of Inter's box. He then finds an unmarked Filipe Anderson who scores a cool finish. Really good pressing by Lazio there. Really well executed. 1-0 there. 1-1 came very late into the game in the 78th minute. We see Goossens win the ball high up the pitch. He plays a quick ball to Lukaku who holds off the ball really well.

He manages to then find a great pass to Martinez who makes a run into the box. He's 1-1. He has a still lot of pressure by the defenders behind him and scores brilliantly. 1-1 for Inter there. Five minutes later, Lukaku receives the ball on the edge of the Lazio box. He then plays a swooping cross all the way to the back post to find an unmarked Goossens who slots the ball home but also gets injured in the process. And then 3-1, 89th minute. Basically five minutes per goal for Inter here.

You could really see how that goal had changed the team. Vecino tries to place the ball back to Provodil. It's a weak pass. Martinez steals it on the break. He's 1-1 against Provodil and with some luck with the rebound he scores into an empty net. 3-1 the game ended. I think the best team won in that game. Apart from two chances and one which led to a goal, Lazio didn't have much going for them in this game.

You could see that their risky play really didn't pay off because I feel like Inter managed to suffocate them for the most part. The only reason that they scored, really and truly, was purely down to Atcherby having a bit of an hour of a game. I think that the emotions were the better of him playing against his old club. So other than that you can't really say Lazio deserved it. No Lazio didn't do enough at all in this game.

I think like you said it was a stroke of luck that they scored in the first place. They had another chance because Atcherby lost the ball in defence again and they almost capitalised over there. But the pressure that Inter put on Lazio in this game was unbelievable. Their high press. They didn't stop and this goes very well with your point that there's a certain element of belief. They conceded the goal but they stayed on Lazio and they knew what they had to do.

They didn't have the defeatism which they've had a couple of games ago. One point to mention before we crack on to the next game. Lazio have two losses in a row now. Two losses where they've arguably have been really poor. Probably their most poor performances this season to date. In my opinion at least. Now the theory could be either teams are learning to adapt against Lazio finally. They're finding ways to crack open this really tight shell of theirs. Or it's simply down to the game.

Inter had a really good game but I'd like to believe that this counter-attacking football and this very high press against Lazio basically suffocating them where it hurts. Which is their midfield. It's their midfield. It's those three playmakers. Those supporting players. If you cut them off there they've got nothing. Zabkani, Philippe and Imobili are not going to do layout-esque things. They're not going to dribble half the team and score.

They need those passes from the midfielders or defense before they can really get into the rhythm. So I really feel like this containment football that teams have totally did the exact same thing. The containment football and then striking when it matters. It really seems to work. It's the argument of quantity versus quality. I guess at the end of the day people are really picking and choosing their attacks. They understand.

Look Lazio are probably defensively with the exception of Milan and Napoli, they're one of the best teams. They concede that some of the fewest goals that they were in this league, one of the best ways you can penetrate those teams is catching them on the break. Always catching them on the break. And with a lot of bodies. Exactly. And that high press when you need it. You see Inter when they counter and when they're on their group they move the ball around.

When we were watching them live against Sasuolo. When De Marco, Zerco and I don't know who the last player was, I think it was Hakan, they all came on. Dude! Vidal! It was insane, you could see the difference. I was shocked. You could feel they were going to score. Then the fans are there pumping them up. Very good supporters. And then it was literally like a swarm which you can't run away from. Like locusts coming for you. Exactly. It's scary man.

I think it's not only that Inter were very good in this game, which they were, I think Lazio are a very streaky team in the sense that their positive streak went on a while. Longer this season. The main difference I see in Lazio this season to last season is contrary to what this game showed us is they've shown up against the top 7. Against the top 7 they've been spectacular, they won most of them. But their inconsistencies remain and they've been allocated elsewhere so to say.

So dropping points against Torino. Getting knocked out of the conference league super early on. So yeah. I mean super early on because you'd expect a team like Lazio to go to the finals. I mean, it's not like they got knocked out of the group stages but still. Anywho, to wrap up this game week we have Lazio sitting in second with 61 points, Inter climbing up to fourth, draw with Milan and Roma on 57 points. The next game we're going to be covering is Bologna 1-1 Juve.

The previous encounter between these two teams was a victory for Juve with the score of 3-0. Back then Bologna were doing terrible things and now things have changed under Mota. Oh they sure have. The Bianconeri were feeling the pressure after crashing out of the Coppa Italia semi-final midweek and losing three Serie A matches on the bounce. Di Maria and Moiskeen didn't make the trip with Dusan Vlaović only fit for the bench due to an ankle injury.

The hosts then missed Marco Arnautovic, Roberto Soriano and Nicola Sansone. For Bologna it was their classic 4-3-3 formation with Skorupski in goal and the backline of Kriakopolis, Lukumi, Sao Mauro and Posch, a midfield three of Dominguez, Schouten and Moro with Ferguson on the left, Orsalini on the right and Moussa Barrow up front. Juve also started off in a 4-3-3 formation with Cezne in goal and the backline of Quadrado, Gatti, Danilo and Sandro playing as a left back this time.

Fagioli, Locatelli and Rabiot formed the midfield three with Chiesa, Millek and Kostić forming the front three. In the eighth minute the referee decided against awarding a penalty to Bologna after Danilo brought down Orsalini in the area, however a VAR check changed his mind and the Italian stepped up to send Cezne the wrong way to make it 1-0 to Bologna very early on, putting the pressure on Juve.

In the 26th minute and then Juve got close but Skorupski pulled off a sensational double save on Fagioli to keep his side ahead, getting down well to deny his first strike and extending his leg beautifully for the second. Second best keeper in the league. Two minutes later, Lukumi's foul on Millek was deemed a free kick by the referee with his boot planted on the line of the box following the challenge.

After a review however the referee changed his mind once again and correctly awarded a penalty to Juve. Millek stepped up to take his first ever Serie A penalty and totally, totally fucked this whole Giorginho-esque attempt. He hopped way too early, like he had to step twice after he hopped.

Obviously because of those little strikes he couldn't get enough power behind the shot, he hit it quite centrally and Skorupski caught it, he dropped down to the ground and he caught it so it was embarrassing stuff for Millek over there, totally fucked Juve's chances of getting the equaliser before the break.

However, and then in the 60th minute in all fairness to the Polish man, he redeemed himself with a lethal snapshot inside the area after some great work by substitute Iling Jr. who is… Iling Jr. is fire to bring on in a game. When you're losing a game or when you need a point just fucking bring on Iling Jr. down the left.

Moments later, Bologna had an opportunity to take the lead after Orsalini pulled off a bicycle kick cross shot to Zerg Zay but Schesney did excellently to fingertip the cross shot out of reach for the Dutchman. My god Mintoff. Bologna had another opportunity through Arbisher after Gatti fumbled the ball in the box but his attempt skimmed wide. Thank god for you. Juve's player of the season.

In the 85th minute Skorupski was grounded after dealing with a cross and the ball fell to Sule who had an empty post but completely miss hit it and sent the ball high and wide and that was the last opportunity of the game and it was Bologna won, Juve won at the end. So once Juve conceded the first goal this is what I really want to discuss over here because the game went the way it went.

Bologna are good, they're obviously going to bring the pressure against a team like Juve, the stadium was absolutely sold out, fantastic scenes, motta system, they're always going to bring the firepower in this game. This is just the way that Juve handled themselves and carried themselves after the first goal was conceded after just eight minutes. So Allegri seemed to shift the 4-3-3 formation to a 3-5-2 after they conceded the first goal. He moved Chiesa up front alongside Milleke.

Now the 4-3-3 formation is the formation which gives Juve the most flair when you have Chiesa on one side, you have Kostic on the other side, you have Milleke up front and then basically you have the three midfielders who are all quite attacking in Locatelli, Rabio and Fagioli, especially Rabio and Fagioli.

Now it was strange to see him change to a more defensive approach when a goal was needed and a couple of Juve players, well an anonymous source within the Juve camp came out and said that the players are physically and mentally exhausted with the constant change of system that Allegri keeps carrying out, changing player positions, adapting new formations, etc. Do you think that perhaps is a constant pain for Juve and do you think that that's what lost them the game?

Let's be honest, if something's constantly changing in your environment, it's going to be frustrating because you never gain that consistency and you need, as a player, I think it's probably one of the most important, it is consistent, you need to grind those games, grind those wins, grind those losses, grind whatever it needs to be, it has to be grinded and you have to get through it.

You can't just flip-flop through, flip-flopping never works in the long term because then you're never going to have that thing to fall back on. And I mean, sure, they concede in the first 10 minutes, but do you have to change the formation after 10 minutes? There's absolutely no need for that. I mean, if you see after 30 minutes there hasn't been one decent opportunity, I'd be like, okay, things have to change. Then I might change the formation.

If there has been no glimmer of hope, it's been 10 minutes. Exactly. 10 minutes against a Bologna side which are really underrated this year in the sense that you don't want to play them at this rate. That away, there's a lot of things. It was a penalty as well. It was a penalty. It's not like they outplayed you there. Yeah, he hit the panic button too early in my opinion. He definitely did.

And it was against, it was with a player who in my opinion is the flop of the season, Quadra has been awful, or close to awful. So I mean, I really feel like you've put it brilliantly, the panic button was pressed way too quickly. And you said you made a good point about the consistency and how things are always changing. Aside from the situation that they have with Allegri that apparently Di Maria, Chies and Vlachovic in particular, they want him out.

They're not happy with Allegri because of this inconsistency. There's also the inconsistency of this whole political thing going around Juve. So I have the utmost of sympathy towards the players and the fans of Juve. It's not fair on them. Now there are the last four games, they lost three of them and they just drew to Bologna now. They got knocked out of the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, which was their real chance for silver. They have Sevilla against Valise.

They have Sevilla who just knocked out United. Exactly. So it's like, you know, things are, you know, there was this resurgence, me and Jake spoke about this resurgence when Juve came back and they got those points. But those points have seemed to be almost a detriment to them, you know, you'd expect the opposite. You'd be like, oh my God, this is going to leapfrog us to the end of the league and we're going to come second or something. Oh my God, the way they're playing, it's been awful.

They really aren't playing good football. And then you compare them and then to the team that they faced off against. So Thiago Motta in particular, I want to talk about this team. The coach that Jake thinks is the worst in the league. Yeah, the guy, Jake's least favorite team. Can we do a compilation of how many times Jake has shot on Motta? Especially last year. So many. He becomes such a Milan elitist when you name the, when you name the word Thiago Motta.

Jake's least favorite team in the past 10 years in Serie A is Thiago Motta Spezi. I think he absolutely, bro, he despised them. I think he would have, I was going to say something awful for the first time on this podcast, I'll actually hold back. But yes, he was hating on that club and that manager. Motta has completely transformed the side that was struggling and even flirting with relegation. I know it was too early, but that's where they were. So was the Swaratoopo. Exactly. So yeah.

Now, much like Allegri, he tried out so many different systems, but to find the right one. But you're a new manager. To find the right one. He found the right one and he fucking ran with it. And the right one isn't to adapt to the system that Motta played with Spezia and the system that he played with PSG's minors and all of that. He found the system that brings the best out of all his players and he took that and he ran with it.

And you see, I can't point my finger at one of the Bologna players and say, this guy's being played out of position. This guy isn't playing good football. It's like they all know what they have to do and they're all there to do that. And the only exception I can make is Kirja Koppel. This sometimes plays on the left wing and sometimes he plays as a left back, but he's used to that. But that's how he plays. This is the same as a player.

Exactly. And I think he's just a very offensive, he's a very offensive left back. And I mean, I know it works. And he's been very good in Bologna. Absolutely. I mean, listen, this guy was barely playing football, but that's a swallow. He went to Bologna. They were like, he might be a sub and he's a fucking starter now. Exactly. So it goes to show. This is bro, them playing without Arnautovic. Without Arnautovic up front.

Me and Jake spoke about this quite a few times and there is better without them. They do seem that way. I'm not going crazy. No, no, no. I told this to Jake. I mean, of course, Arnautovic was winning them games, but it was all up to him. Exactly. It was all up to him. Otherwise, they're nothing. Exactly. They're way less reliant on him now, of course, because they had to deal with that. They had to play without him for the last at least 15 game weeks and they look a better side.

Yeah. It's a shame that he came in so late, because had they had Mota from earlier on, they would be fighting for that conference league spot. But they're 10 points behind Atalanta, which it's mathematically possible, but what's the likelihood then at the end of the day? Because Atalanta are these fucking silent killers at the moment. No one's fucking talking about them and they're eating through cardboard. They are. They are eating through cardboard and they are eating their way up the league.

They're eating their way all the way to the top. To the top. I was going to say something else, but I caught your eyes and I was about to say it, but I felt a bit uncomfortable. It was a bit weird. I got this tingling kind of sense. Anyway, Juve are now still in third place and they're on 60 points, just one point behind Lazio and just three ahead of Milan in Tarantroma. It's crazy that the top four. The top four and the bottom four is literally bonkers. It's crazy. Crazy, crazy.

And Bologna are on 45 points, leveled with Fiorentina in eighth place. There we go. So, Napoli next, we have the team which celebrated way too early against the team which is never going to fucking give up, never going to let you down, never going to close your eyes and hurt you. I watched that song by Rick Ashley or Ashley or whatever his name. I've watched everything in this last two performances, but you guys get what I mean. Rick Ashley. Rick Ashley. Rick Ashley and Morty and don't give up.

Don't burn your heart out. One one, this game ended and Napoli came into this game with two wins, two draws and a loss. Whereas Salernitana came into this game with one win and four draws and having come into this game as well with their best unbeaten run in Syria, a football which was eight games in a row. I might add. Napoli came into this game with huge expectations. They were coming here to win the league.

Everyone was ready with their fireworks, with their condoms after the game to fuck their bitches on the street and to clean that Scudetto after such a long time. They had Maradona's son out as well. They did. I'm not surprised they didn't get Maradona's body and fucking paraded around. God knows the amount of cocaine going through Naples streets. Who the bloody hell knows, man. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure the blessed Maradona is watching with eager anticipation up there. Rest in peace, brother.

Rest up there and hopefully your team can actually do this. If they don't, then I mean, if Napoli can't win it this year, then holy moly. However, if Napoli would have won this game, they would have won the title the earliest it's ever been won. They don't like records at all. But yeah, it was not meant to be.

And I think Sonia Ritana came into this game with relative confidence, especially due to the fact that they've come in with such a big unbeaten run, with the strength and stamina to face up even against strong teams like Inter and the likes of other clubs around which they have still kept this unbeaten run going. And I surely believe that there is this real, again, belief, just like with Inter in the squad that Sousa has built.

The only notable change in the two formations was simply Matsuzaki coming back from his long term injury in replacement for Lovato. As for the game itself, it was a very nervous and quiet first 30 minutes. Ossimen coming close to scoring from two headed chances in the first 30 minutes. And other than that, it was a rather cagey and quiet affair. Keep in mind that this is a derby, the derby della Campania.

And I made the point in the last season that Salernitana come out to play four times a year and that's against Napoli. Not this year, they've come to play more than twice. But they definitely came to play in this game. However, the guys who came to play in this game were also Napoli, as they didn't get the first goal of the game in the 62nd minute.

Raspadores in the corner, Matias Olivera probably in an attempt to redeem himself after all the headed chances he missed against Milan in the Champions League, scored a curling header into the bottom left of the goal. There were fireworks going on, there were fans celebrating, the substitute players were on the pitch, it was scenes. Everybody thought that it was time to start partying, get those tequilas out and get your cocks out. But one person got his cock out and his name was Dia.

In the 83rd minute, he got the ball on the right hand flank, he dribbled past his man, he cut some space into the Napoli box and he curled in a beautiful curling shot in the top left corner. Napoli were absolutely silenced, I could have farted in the stadium and everyone would have heard it, 1-1, oh my lord. At the end of the game, he missed a beautiful chance to seal the deal for Napoli, but he didn't manage so and the game ended in a draw.

Did you hear that when Napoli scored, geologists felt an earthquake-like effect, it hit 12 on the Richter's Gate. Imagine everyone screaming in Napoli, in different positions in the city. The entire city would have jumped and celebrated that goal and screamed. It was almost, I almost didn't like it because it's like, do that at the end of the game, just because you get one goal it doesn't mean you've won. Can you blame the nice big three years, brother?

I mean, yes but be cool, you know what I mean? You're talking to people who live in the south of Italy and are a bit, how to say, rough? Rough around the edges. Yeah, rough, maybe. Rough around the edges. Yeah, that was Luke Mintoff. They've got some dirt between their fingernails but they're lovely people. I would kiss your mother, I love you all.

However, yeah, they did celebrate too early and I think it definitely cost them because I really believed that they thought that Salahedatana would not have the fight to come back and I mean there has been one person who has kept on defying the odds and it is Dia this year. He has kept on scoring last minute winners, last minute equalizers, important goals left and right and he did it yet again and it was with such a beautiful goal as well. But yeah, the game ended 1-1.

I have a theory, well not a theory actually, it's more of a point to mention that if the league wasn't so blown out, if Napoli didn't have such a big cushion with the way that they're playing, they would have bottled it 100%. They'd be in trouble. Because of the way that they're playing football and it's this really nervous, really lack of composure when it matters. I think especially after the Milan game, that 4-0 loss kind of… It's really screwed.

Well there's that to be honest, the fact that Milan got the better of them overall over three matches and the fact that they're so close, it's kind of like once you see the finish line you start getting nervous about getting there. It's psychological, it's great. They'll win the league hands down, it's guaranteed. Even if they keep losing, the other teams have to keep winning as well. Exactly, they can draw all the games that there are left to play.

What they have to do is draw one more game and I believe Napoli, sorry Lazio would have to draw and either of those teams below them would have to lose in any of the next five games and that'll be it. The probability is way in their favour. The point you mentioned is the fact that with that huge defeat to Milan and then another one in the Champions League, what's something I've really realised?

The second Napoli concede, there's a lot of moaning, a lot of emotions and not the good kinds of emotions and they're not able to resettle themselves. They're not used to it. They're not used to coming back from behind, they've never been that team.

They will overwhelm you in the first 10 minutes, chances are there'll be one or two goals ahead by the first 20 minutes and then that's that, the game is done, they're confident, they're trying, they're pulling off kind of thing but coming back from adversity is something we haven't really seen them do correctly. They haven't been challenged enough this season. Exactly. They haven't been challenged, for example, against Milan who destroyed them. It was their biggest challenge and they failed.

They utterly failed. Exactly. So yeah, it's a good point. Salernitana managed to increase their unbeaten record to nine, it's their best ever record to date. Susa has built such a good team with what tools he has in this shed of his and oh boy, the Salernitana team is hard to crack. They are. It's no joke. But we're speaking about the great fan bases in Italy, what a fan base Salernitana have. I mean, their support is… Sure, they love the game.

Yeah, they're absolutely crazy and it's good to see a team that it's so rare to see them in Serie A and they still have that loyal fan base. You see that compared to, for example, the likes of Sassuolo, no offense obviously, who have that kind of plastic fan background kind of thing, people from there supporting other teams. It's good to see that they're so loyal towards this team and that they show up, they match in match out to support this team.

And it's also good to see that another manager can do it at Salernitana because over the past two seasons, we've seen four or five managers for Salernitana. And the only one who really could do it was Nicola. Exactly. And now we're seeing Susa do it. Yes, I really hope that Susa can do this next year as well. I want to see consistency from Salernitana. I actually quite like the team overall. Of course, everyone knows my preferences, but they're a cool side.

They're nice to watch and they do play nice football from time to time. Sometimes they have those Roma-esque games where it's just very cagey. But overall, Susa has built an interesting side, a side ready to play football and ready to challenge anyone they face. And they feel very confident. They feel like the guy you should be worried about when you go out and you're with your girlfriend and that hot sack of meat is talking to your girl.

I'm like, you're going to stop talking to my girlfriend right now. That guy is Guillermo Ochoa. Ever since he's come in, it's been wow. It's the same thing as, for example, in my opinion, when Zlatan went back to Milan, he was effective, but more than anything, he was that presence, that experienced, confident presence to have around. And Ochoa made two, three… It's safe, it's fucking… My God, man. It ups the team. I was in Australia, as you know, and we were hanging out.

And we were hanging out with some friends of Key's mom, basically. And there was this guy, Adam, and he likes football. And he was calling it football in Australia, which is here because they know it as soccer. Their football team is called the Socceroos. And I was speaking to him about Serie A and he was really interested in it. So when there was Salernitana against Inter recently, he watched it. And he's like, there was this blue and black team playing against this red team.

And there was this goalkeeper who's really short. He has curly hair. And he pulled off the save where he was behind the line on the floor. And he like, Superman jumped and punched the ball off the line. So I've never seen anything like it. So everyone recognizes how great Ochoa is. He's a great goalkeeper, man. He's this worldwide thing. Fucking great Mexican guy. Yeah. A very acrobatic goalkeeper. He's not much about positioning and making himself big.

He's about being a flea and jumping all around. Jumping around, man. Exactly. He's a flea and it's from Mexico. I don't know whether that was an Indian word or... The flea. But anyway, to wrap up this game, Wiknopoly still sit in first place with 79 points. Salernitana sitting in 14th with 34. The next game we're going to be covering is Torino 1-Atalanta 2. The previous encounter was also a win for Atalanta with the score of 3-1 in Bergamo.

Now the Granata stunned Lazio last week and were seeking another upset, but they had Radonjic, Olaina, Zima and Viera on the treatment table. La Dea on the other hand missed Adamo Ola-Lukman, which is a massive loss for them, along with Ruggeri, Hattiber and Occoli. Torino lined up in their 3-4-2-1 formation with Milinkovic-Savic in goal and a back line of Bonjorno, Schuers and Gigi. They had Ricardo Rodriguez out on the left and Lazaro out on the right with Illich and Linetti in the middle.

Karamo and Mirancuk played behind Toni Sanabria. For Atalanta it was also a 3-4-2-1 formation, very identical. Sportie long goal and a back line of Toloi, Gym City and Scalvini. Meyler played on the right and Zappa Costa played on the left with De Rhone and Ederson in the middle. Koke Miners and Pasalic played behind Hoiland.

Now in the 34th minute Zappa Costa opened the scoring, the Italian cut into the box before skipping past Lazaro with a step over and squeezing the ball in from the byline past Vania. Zappa could have done much better but a sensational goal nonetheless reminded me of Maicon's goal in the World Cup from closer range. It took until the 74th minute for Torino to get the equaliser, it was Toni Sanabria.

A long range strike by Mirancuk took a slight deflection causing the keeper to parry the ball unconventionally to Sanabria who finished from a tight angle on the rebound through the keeper's legs. And then in the 87th minute Zappa decided to wake up from the dead. An absolute wonder strike by the Colombian to get Atalanta the win and his first goal in five months.

He dragged the ball into the box before cutting back skillfully from the byline causing Schuers to hit the deck before he smashed the ball into the back of the net with great power and precision to get them the victory. That could have easily been our goal of the week. It was very close, if they hadn't scored that I think that was definitely the goal of the week. Absolutely. There's also Verdi's which we'll speak about later. Every goal Verdi scores I want it to be the goal of the week.

Atalanta, the silent contenders for top four as I like to call them. No one is talking about them but Serie A is their only concern unlike Roma, Inter, Juventus and Milan. They're focusing on Serie A, they just got another win, they recently beat Roma as well. Can they do it? What's the likelihood? I know you and Drake spoke about this a couple of episodes ago but it's looking very possible. Well, I still am under the impression that they will not make it. But I can't be wrong.

However, I still do feel like Inter, Milan or Juventus will keep it up and continue to win and they are still winning. I just feel like this Atalanta resurgence is a little bit too late. This is a point I mentioned to Jake and I'm pretty sure that Inter have to play Atalanta soon and I do see Inter edging that one. However, of course, it's too far away to say yet. They're playing definitely better football than they were playing some time ago.

I feel like they need Lukman back just for the squad depth because I don't think, again, I could be wrong. I don't think Lukaku is going to start, not Lukaku, Zapata is going to start turning one, start scoring goals. Confidence is a crazy thing obviously and he got a goal, a spectacular one but we haven't seen Zapata play well or Atalanta really play well in two seasons now. To me the gut feeling that I get is that they won't make it. But it's super likely.

Their fixtures aren't bad and they're two points behind Milan and Terrandromo. But all they need is one loss to peg them back again and then they're back to this defeatist attitude. I'm interested to find out Atalanta's remaining fixtures. They have Inter for sure within those last five. They don't have Milan for sure. Yeah, they do have Inter. So they have Spezia on Wednesday, then they have Juve at home. That is a good fixture if you support Milan, Roma or Inter.

And then they play Salah and Netanah away, Vero on the home, then Inter away and then Monza home. This was my point with Jake. I said even though they were starting to turn on again, the fixtures they have are really bad. I would rather at this point play against Monza, Sassuolo or Torino than I would want to play against Spezia, Vero and Cremonez. Absolutely, because there are teams that have nothing to play for and teams that have something to play for. Precisely, man.

What do you think is missing for Atalanta? Because they've been a step behind. They lost a lot of players. That's no secret. They lost Gossens. They lost Papu. They lost whatever fast swingbacks they had. They lost Miranchuk. They lost Malinovski. They gained Bogah, who hasn't really made any serious waves for them. They have Lukman, who's out injured, but obviously they struggled throughout the season. What do you think they need? What do they lack? I think they lack a real playmaker.

They lack a Papu Gomez. I feel like probably they didn't anticipate the whole Malinovski thing happening or maybe didn't anticipate it happening this year. Gasparini said he wants an attacking midfielder to score over nine goals a season and his solution was to sell Miranchuk and Malinovski and not replace them. And play Pasalic. Exactly. Maybe, you could see the logic. He's a goal scorer.

But he hasn't really been playing Pasalic much because he's been playing with wingers, with Bogah and Lukman at times. Or Ederson or Kope Miners. Kope Miners obviously at times he's scoring two goals a game and other times he's not really, but he's always playing well. But I do agree with you. They need someone to give that final pass at Alanta. They do. Because often at times it's like the strikers having to do everything themselves. So I think they're looking for a Baldanzi or something.

Baldanzi would be nice for them. You know, a playmaker. What do you think, Jake? We're discussing what is needed for Atalanta to get to that level. We discussed their lack of a Papu Gomez and their lack of a playmaker. What do you think it is? I think it's precisely that. And the lack of continuity. I feel like it changes the team too often. Too frequently. Like we said about Juve as well. They're gelled. It feels like no one really knows who the starters are.

Gasparini, Udorg, you have 30 starters, which can be seen as a good thing. But you want your dependable guys. You look at Milan right now, it's all about Leao, it's all about Theo, Benassere, the guys who are pulling the strings. Atalanta don't really have those guys. Who are they? Yeah, I mean, Luckmann, but he's out injured at the moment. So yeah, I agree. I think we can agree on that. Torino in the race for top 10 alongside Udinese, Sasuola, Monza, Fiorentina and Bologna.

Because if you consider that something to play for top 10, then those teams would be battling it out fiercely. Do you think they'll make it Torino top 10? They're currently in 12th on 42, Sasuola 11th on 43, Monza 10th on 44. I think it will be very difficult, man. There's Udinese around that area. There is Bologna, Fiorentina, Monza and Sasuola. And then Saranettana can still make the top 10 with a couple more wins. So I don't know about Torino. It would be great.

However, I feel like Miranchuk has to step up a bit now. He has not really scored as many goals as they had been hoping for. And Lasich has very much calmed down as well. So I feel it will very much depend on these and this Radonjic if he's back from injury to very much depend on this on this front three. They can really, they can really rise up now and try and try and try grab some some important goals.

They need a striker desperately because they have Tony Sanabria that's scoring and that's being bullied that he's being effective. But yeah, not not good enough. You need you need a striker that plays as a striker. Yes, essentially. And that's something that they're lacking. Yep. But anyway, Atalanta are in seventh on 55 points, two from a European spot, well from a Europa League slash Champions League spot, whilst Torino are in 12th on 42 points.

Sure. And with that, we can now move on to surely my favorite game of the week. It's Suswolo and Empoli with Suswolo managing to score in literally the last action of the game, winning the game to one. Suswolo came into this game with two wins, one draw and two losses. Empoli came into this game with one win, one draw and three losses. The head to head fixtures between the two sides was Suswolo winning six of these encounters, Empoli winning three and drawing one.

So stats for you, Suswolo is Andrea Consigli. Jake has staunchly criticized him this season, but in any case, and he has deserved this critique, he is one game away from equaling Franco Barez's record of having been capped the 26th most capped player in the history of this competition. So yeah, Consigli is definitely a fucking statue and he's still playing and he's still hopefully with a few more seasons in him before he's signing up those old boots of his.

As well, Suswolo with 1456 and Empoli with 1471 are the two sides who have recovered the ball, recovered position, excuse me, the fewest number of times in Serie A this season. Indeed, they have done so in the middle of the pitch, fewer times than any other side as well. 638 for Suswolo and 615 for Empoli. It really shows you the way these two sides are very careful about their tackles and about them.

I feel like they're always trying to kind of push the other team to make a mistake rather than to tackle. They don't have the physical players to crunch and win a ball. That's true. So when you look at the two sides, you don't really look at the guy and say, yeah, that guy is a killer. Unless it's like Akprak pro who wasn't in this game because he likes a yellow card. Yeah, he does. He does. But in any case, some stats for you guys back at home.

As for some notable changes, we see Markitza coming back, coming into the team for Suswolo on left in the left back position. Jesus Christ. For Rogério, Erlich coming in for Ferrari, Harwiy coming in for Enrique. What is Enrique? Walucivic coming in for Ismael and Grassi coming in for Haas for Empoli.

As for the formations themselves, we see Suswolo with their classic 4-3-3, Consigli and Golemark, Kitsachar, Sol de Erlich, Antolian, bless you Jake, and defense, Harwiy, Lopez and Frattesi in midfield, Lorient, Defrel and Bayrami up front. Empoli with their 4-3-1-2, having Caputo and Kambiaghi up front as the two strikers. Baldanci as the attacking midfielder, Bandonele, Marin and Grassi in midfield, Iubehi, Luperto, Walucivic and Parisi in defense with Vicario back in goal.

The game didn't start off well for Suswolo. In the 11th minute, Lorienta gives the ball away in deep and Empoli's half. It's gathered by Kambiaghi, who starts to dance his way towards Suswolo's goal. Nobody dispossesses him, which is a key point at the beginning of this fixture, the fact that none of these teams like to dispossess the other team. He dribbles himself basically into the Suswolo box, he dribbles past Erlich between his legs and then sluts the ball into the back of the net 1-0.

Minutes before the break, Caputo hits the post with a solo effort after his shot from outside the box. In the 74th minute, Pinnamonti, after having his shirt pulled by Walucivic, shows his displeasure towards the referee, who then earns himself a straight red card. It was a bit confusing, but maybe Jake makes a good point, something we talked about before this game started.

He may be a very hard person player to referee and he may have a lot of bad mouthing, so it could be a key reason why that happened. And a key reason why Suswolo ended up getting three points. Yeah, and a key reason why Pinnamonti's a bitch. In the 82nd minute, 1-1, a long cross all the way to the right hand flank is played to none other than Berardi, he times himself well, he then accurately plays the volley into the back of the net.

Vicario could have done better in this one, I believe, but the ball did bounce a couple of times before it went into the back of the net, so it was a bit of a weird one to save as well. Really good goal by Mimmo, he was certainly happy with that, he loves a good goal.

And then in the last action of the game, in the 93rd and the 45th second, Berardi received the ball on the edge of the box, four minutes of extra time, he dribbles himself into the box, he then chops the ball in the opposite direction, Luperto brings him down, really silly challenge, penalty for Suswolo, last action of the game, everyone's intense, I'm sweating from my balls, Mimmo steps up, slots it home, DeSalvatore does it again, 2-1, the game ended.

Epic scenes here, usually the other way around where Suswolo bottled the game and they lose it in the last seconds.

However this season we have seen Suswolo start to edge games out in the opposite direction, to me they have started to lose their brand name of the butlers, at least in my opinion, unless they play Verona and Conceited gives them a free goal, but apart from that really noticeable howler, that hasn't really happened this season for Suswolo, and I like to see that, there has been more consistency in an arguably worse Suswolo side.

Absolutely, look at the players that they lost, it's been a ridiculous couple of transfer windows for them, they literally lost their best players, they still have Mimmo at least, however they are still terrible defensively and that was still inevitable in the goal that we saw.

But Berardi is the only reason I think that Suswolo got themselves back in this game, because when you get a red card in the 74th minute and you are one goal down, good luck getting back in the game, any hope that you had after the red card should have been gone essentially, but Berardi pulled off a fantastic volleyed goal, very good cross, still quite a tight angle bro.

Sure, no no no, it was all Berardi, but the cross was intended for the right person and with great accuracy, so let's also give credit to Berardi as well. Then he wins the penalty and he converts the penalty with the last kick of the game, he is a superhero.

He is the Hens Salvatore metaphor, he definitely saved their game week, he has been sorely missed many times this season and I would just love to see this squad with minor tweaks, a new centre back, a new striker and that's it, I don't want many things in life, I am not a jealous man, I am not a needy man, I just want a new fucking centre back and a new striker, get Pina Monti out of this team before I fucking bitch slap him across the room and that's it.

His attitude, like for him to get a straight red card for a descent when you are losing one in the 74th minute is just classless man, I hate that.

His first season for Sassuolo, his first season being inverted as a reliable starting striker, things haven't gone his way, it's okay because it's his first season being on that stage but you are not helping yourself brother and you made a good point in a mid-season episode that we had where you said he needs to eat some humble pie and I thought it was a bit of a funny comment and I kept thinking about it, you are absolutely right because fucking Defrel is starting ahead of him now.

But Defrel for all my hate towards him, he doesn't bitch at all, he just goes on the pitch and he tries. When Higuain joined Milan I was very excited because we knew what Higuain was capable of, he didn't stop flailing his fucking arms about, always flailing his fucking stupid arms about and it used to kill me man, stop complaining and fucking get on with it, be fucking professional. Like Barela does it, he flails his arms around constantly but then what does he do when he gets the ball?

He makes it happen, that's why I don't criticize him too much about it but someone like Pinnamonti who is constantly flailing his arms around then getting sent off in the 74th without getting a sniff, I don't know what they have to do, I really hope they reassess their situation so spoiler that is in the next transfer window but I really just want to see a couple new signings.

I don't want that, I must be saying sell Pinnamonti but bring another striker to make sure he has the real competition that is fighting for this place, is motivated. If he really wants to play football with Sal Swolo then better come and better come to training and make sure you're up for the task.

But anyways, one final point to go over, Empoli didn't come away with any points, they must be gutted, 5 games left to play, they're in a really really tricky situation here, survivability is now on the cards which 3 or 4 games weeks ago you thought they were relatively safe and oh boy they are not, they are looking vulnerable, I don't know, I would be very worried about them.

It's the second season in a row where they kind of got off to a good start and then the second half of the season they're just terrible and it's either a draw or a loss, they never really get away with 3 points. At first I thought it was maybe their manager last season but now they brought in Paolo Zanetti, they have this new brand of football and all that but they still have the same issue.

I don't know what it is, they play very attractive football, Empoli, but they don't play effective football and when you look at their starting line-up it already shows you enough.

You look at this team is very similarly set up in my opinion to how Sampdoria are set up, not a lot of pace, a lot of these intricate slash experienced players around the team and that's pretty much it, there's no flair, there's no danger, unless it's Kambiaghi or Baldanzi or Marin with a moment of brilliance then they're really not the kind of team that can counter you and score. They lack weapons. They do lack a few weapons.

And last season one of those weapons was Penamonti, so they are lacking a little bit up front. Which is hilarious because they have Caputo, Kambiaghi, Satriano, Piccoli, Destro. They have strikers. They have the most strikers in the league. They have a fifth of the strikers. They've done the right thing and bring in a couple of strikers. But they've all misfired. Exactly. They've all misfired.

So with that being said we can round up this match with Sassuolo finishing this game week in 11th with 43 points, Empoli finishing it with 32 points in 15th. The next game we're going to be covering is Spezianil Monza 2. The previous encounter was the exact same result, Monza 2, Spezianil. Now the situation was getting increasingly tense for Spezia who found themselves hovering one point clear of the relegation zone into week 32. Injuries also piled up.

Nzola, Maldini, Zurkowski, Holm, Moutinho and Beck were all out injured. Monza on the other hand were coming off back to back victories against the likes of Inter and Fiorentina, including a comeback from 2-0 down to beat the Viola, leaving them not entirely out of the race for Europe.

Spezia lined up in their 4-3-3 formation with Drangowski in goal and a back line of Baston, Jan Palu, Wisniewski and Ammian, that Kovalenko, Esposito and Ekdal in the midfield with Verde and Giassi on the wings and Shumoradov up front replacing Nzola. For Monza it was Di Gregorio in goal and a back line of Itzomari and Caldi Rola.

They had Giuria out on the right and Augusto out on the left, Pessina and Trovello playing in the double pivot, that Colpani as the right winger, Caprari as the left winger and Danny Mota up front. In the 18th minute Di Gregorio pulled off a great save from Kovalenko's point blank effort just in front of goal. The strike was however too low and too central considering no one was around him.

In the 20th minute, we forgot to mention this as a contender for Goal of the Week, Giuria, the former Spezia youth product unleashed a first time strike from outside the area, in off the post, he didn't celebrate, cos he's classy, well done Giuria, I'm telling you Monza have one of the best right wing backs and one of the best left wing backs in the league.

In the 92nd minute, speaking of one of the best left wing backs, Carlos Augusto, the Brazilian finished cleanly after a through ball by Maschinen down the wing, Drangowski committed himself off the line far too early and Augusto finished with no problem whatsoever, taking Monza win 2 goals to nil. Bro Spezia without N'Zola are like Luke Mintoff without the inappropriate comments. What do you think? I think that's brilliantly put. And I think that Spezia just look like a Serie B side.

Yeah, without N'Zola they're a Serie B side. I mean I feel like they just look like a coke you've left in the fridge, really flat for a couple of weeks and there's no gas left. It's canned so you couldn't close it. There's like the last bit. There's nothing left man. There's nothing left. Like a melted popsicle. There's really nothing good to say about them. I may be overly critical but without N'Zola there's nothing good to say.

When they've got, this is the funny thing, it's not like we're talking about N'Zola because they can't get goals kind of thing but having N'Zola on the pitch changes the way they play almost because they play high press nowadays. They weren't like that before but under the new management they've been really playing with that system. They really bring the games to their opponents.

N'Zola as that final man up front carrying the ball, making himself available, pushing the defenders away with that physicality, it changes the entire system. It gives them space to play then. And like when they're fighting for a draw or when they want to keep the result and you give N'Zola the ball up front, good luck taking the ball off him. He's shielding the ball, taking it to the corner flag and then you bring on Shumar Udov and it's a little bit different and they don't have that.

A little bit different. A little bit different. They don't have that outlet. It's like bringing your brave brother to play football with you. Exactly. He's good. Watch out for him. He barely got a whiff. And now Spezia are level on points with Verona, bro. They are in serious danger. It is really serious for them. It's scary but yeah. I mean... It's not looking good for them. It's not looking good. I would be very worried. Who would you rather? Not who do you predict.

Would you rather Spezia got relegated or Verona got relegated? Me and Drake spoke about this. I would rather see Spezia get relegated. Okay. But...Verona are a nice team to watch especially in the past three seasons, four seasons. Yeah. But Spezia sometimes...well not often actually. It is a bit weird man. They're like a team which is just really just scraping by. You can't put your finger on what's good about them. I really struggle personally.

Spezia are scraping by but hell as Verona have been worsening season after season and they deserve to be punished. That's what me and Drake are saying. I believe you're right but it's hard to say. I feel like...I feel like Verona may have a comeback in them if they survive this year. I just don't see Spezia surviving next year. I don't. And then what? You just lost two good teams then.

But Spezia have money to spend because they had the transfer ban and they've got around 45 million euros to spend. Then let's hope they survive then. But then there's the pull factor that they probably don't exactly have. But I believe that Verona because of the way they did business, they must get punished. They must see that this isn't a sustainable way of running a football club. That you have a football club. The priority should be to make the team succeed but they're too money hungry.

They just keep selling and selling and selling and selling and not replacing. And then they buy Alonri up front. They buy what's his name? Juric. Juric. Like what? You're just signing Seriaba players. Duda. They're getting ready for Seriaba. That's what they're doing. It could be man. That's all they're doing. You want to know someone who's getting ready for Seriaba? It's Sampdoria. Yeah it's Sampdoria. It's our next game on the agenda here. Damn my transitions are fire. Really good.

Can we just let everyone know the placement of these teams? Yes, Monza are in 10th on 44 points while Spezia are in 17th on 27 points leveled with Verona. Now the transition was so good that Mintov had to actually leave the house. So Jake is going to be stepping in for Mintov's last two games essentially hungover and exhausted. Yes, here I am. Just like Mintov did us a solid, Jake is doing us a solid now and we're back together. Bro this is nice. We are. It's been a long, long time.

It's been a very long time bro. Over a month now. I'd like to catch up. Yes. We're kind of in the middle of this now right now. Yes. So I think the formalities are due. Yes, you're absolutely right. You can go ahead with your match bro. So the match I have over here is Fiorentina against Sampdoria and this is a match where Fiorentina just went absolutely mad. Five goals to nil as they lined up with Cerefolini and goal grade star. Thank you so much. This is throw me in now.

Who the fuck bro is Cerefolini? I have absolutely no idea. He's 24 years old and he weighs 80 kilograms. Okay, there we go. The man who weighs 80 kilograms is in goal. Left back we have Biragi and then Milenkovich Andranieri as a center back partnership with Dodo as the right back. The midfield double pivot consisted of Duncan and Amrabat with Nico Gonzalez on the left wing. Augello on the right wing, Jovil chest striker with Castro Ville playing right behind him.

For Sampdoria it was Ravalje Angole with Gunther. My god. Oli Konumu and Amione at the back. Zanoli on the right, Augello on the left. Rincon and Winx were in the middle with Larius playing in that check-water stop position. Don't ask me why. Lammers and Gabbiadini were the attacking duo over here. That side doesn't even do too well in Serie A in my opinion man. Fiorentina have scored in each of their last 17 Serie A matches against Sampdoria.

It's already the Viola's longest streak of consecutive games scoring against a single opponent in the competition. Sampdoria are the only side yet to win a single match against opponents currently in the top half of the table in Serie A this term. Four draws and 12 defeats in such meetings so far. Despite the defeat against Monza last time out 3-2, only Lazio have won more points than Fiorentina over the last 8 matchdays in Serie A with Lazio winning 19 and Fiorentina 17.

Yes there were many goals. I'm just going to breeze through these. So the first goal, because I'm using Mintoff's prep and he doesn't have the goal descriptions. Or he does and I just can't read one of them. He can't read either. He's been going for like 5 minutes. His goal description is like bless him with the prep that he does but once he comes to reading them he pums the words so much. It's hilarious. Ole ole ole.

Kastrovilli scored the first goal late into the first half thanks to a Biragi assist. Dodo with his purple hair scored in the 62nd minute thanks to a Lukajovic assist. In the 66th it was Alfred Duncan's turn to score 3-0 76. Sofia Namra got an assist on Kristjusim Kwame and in the 88th minute to stop it all off Tercic scored. So literally everyone and their grandma scored. Literally, like Duncan, Dodo had never scored before, Tercic had never scored before.

Tercic after he scored in the 88th minute he took his shirt off because he scored on his debut. I'm not sure if it was his debut, sorry. But he scored his first goal. But it's like it's the fifth goal, kind of keep your shirt on. You know what I mean? Read the room. Read the room. Like the game was one brother. They've probably given up a bit. They've got one foot and say a bit. Wait or rub it in. No it's true. Fiorentina have been on quite good form recently.

Granted they had a bit of a slip up but overall their form since their return has been very very good while Sampdoria have been disappointing. They looked like they were getting it together at one point but just the minor, over the slightest inconvenience they crumbled. Mentally they're very fragile. You can tell they're affected probably by the bad results. First of all psychologically that can't be good. Just lose and lose and lose and lose.

I mean you look at the psychology of for example animals. There was a study. It said that in rats I believe it was that if one of the rats doesn't win, I think like it was a certain percent, 30% of the time or something or fucking 50% of the time, I can't quite remember, while they're play fighting because animals play fight apparently. The other one just refuses to play. It stops playing. So I guess the same thing can be applied to people. Yeah I guess. So these guys are getting demoralized.

Then there's the one about the lobsters and their serotonin that if they lose a battle then they're going to crumble down and if they win a battle they're going to stand up straight and basically they have a better sex life and they're more attractive because of the levels of serotonin. So what we're looking at here is probably quite a depressed bunch of men. Yeah exactly. A bunch of beta guys right. That's how you end up feeling.

And then you have the inspired people like Gabby Hadini, he probably doesn't feel like that. But he's playing with a bunch of people who do. So it can be very frustrating for them. Jovic got three assists this game. Nice to see him actually contributing in that way. He was quite selfish when he first arrived.

He said that this was a stepping stone for him in his career but he seems to have taken the slow start well and has been setting up his teammates at least in this game and that's much better. In the Europa League, no in the Conference League sorry when he came on, he looked abysmal. He looked terrible. Absolutely. I'm going to go see him and turn it around over here.

Yeah. He did great and it's good that everyone was getting involved because it gave him the opportunity to play the ball around a little bit more. Castro Villi just scored that great goal man. An absolutely fantastic goal. So yeah he had options. Everyone seemed to be scoring so he could have played it anyway and anyone would have grabbed the goal over there. Yeah that's true. Typically in the table Fiorentina sit in 9th with 45 points while Sampdoria sit dead last with 17 points.

Christ man you sound kind of sexy today. This is my hangover voice. Yesterday I drank for like 12 hours straight. Almost 24 bro from what you said. 10am to 3am. Yes it was mad. That's dangerous. Apologies guys if you're hearing a dog whining in the background. I know you don't typically because we have a certain software for that but well Bully is on the one today. The dog today yes he's bothered. He's an old dog. He is.

He's 13. Won't be a problem for much longer though with the plans of a studio coming in. That's going to take a couple of months though at least. But yeah eventually yes the dog won't be a problem anymore. Exactly. We're not putting him down or anything. We're getting a studio. The next game we're going to be covering is Lecce won Odinese 0. The previous encounter was a victory for Odinese with a score of 2-0.

So the Salentini were under increasing pressure after one point from eight rounds saw them drop dramatically close to the relegation zone prompting fan protests against the club. On the other hand Odinese were fresh from a 3-0 victory over Cremonaese and comfortably mid-tabled despite horrific form recently. The Olefo and the Abbosse are out injured for the season plus Isaac's success hurt and Beato with a back issue.

Lecce lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Falcone in goal and the backline of Gallo, Umtiti, Basquerotto and Jean-Drey. Odin, Hülmand and Blin formed the midfield tree with Di Francesco, Colombo and Streffetza playing up front. For Odinese it was the 3-5-1-1 formation with Silvestri in goal and the backline of Bekao, Bijal and Neu in Paris. Ezebue played out on the right and Dodoggia out on the left with Samaricic, Wallace and Lovric in the middle. Pereira then played behind Nesterovski.

Now in the 49th minute in the second half Di Francesco saw his excellent finish cancelled out as he was in an offside position. In the 61st and then Streffetza converted a penalty, coolly sending Silvestri the wrong way to seal a vital three points for Lecce. The penalty was awarded after VAR deemed Dodoggia's late tackle on Jean-Drey inside the box a foul.

This game was full of fantastic saves by Lecce's goalkeeper Falcone who denied Ezebue in the 70th minute with a last ditch save with his leg, that being the standout save but he did have a couple of really really good saves. Once again I really really rate this goalkeeper and I think Sampdoria made a very big mistake letting him go to Lecce and keeping out there but that's a discussion for another day I guess.

This is Lecce's first win since February putting them four points clear from the drop, at least a little bit of breathing space. Finally, finally and I want to highlight the importance of having experienced veteran players in a side like Lecce, you know, in a weak side or in a team in general. Now Hülmend is only 23 years old right?

He's not a veteran by definition but he's a leader man and you look at for example when there was that foul in the area, Hülmend ran straight up to the referee's face and demanded, he demanded him to check the mistake like he had to go to VAR. It turns out he was spot on, he had seen it, he took out the man completely but putting pressure like that really helps the young players around you like you have Colombo up front you know, you've got a few young players in this team.

So very good by Hülmend. Yeah absolutely and he was one of the, I wouldn't say a standout performer but he's one of the more consistent people in the team. His presence is always very very important for them. Udinese on the other hand, they're one of the most bizarre cases in Serie A that I've seen in a while.

They were relentless in the first half of the season and then shambolic in the second half but from one absolute extreme to another absolute extreme, I've seen teams dip but nowhere as hard as Udinese have dipped. Is this a player, manager or board kind of issue? I think, so first of all I think the board definitely has something to do with it. Yeah, Potsso, Watford. The whole thing, yes. Granted I think Udinese are getting a bit more love right now than Watford are.

But again selling a leader like Neutinck, Deo Lefebvre, I don't know what the fuck happened to Deo Lefebvre. He's been injured all season. But apart from those two points, you look at the players, they're the inconsistent ones. Like again there was a lot of flailing, a lot of sulking where things weren't going well. Now you look at these guys and they kind of don't look as driven as they once were. And it is a shame to see.

You look at some players like Pereira for example, Pereira always works but you can see he grows frustrated at times with his teammates. Beto, again flaky, he wasn't here at this game and I think that's a big loss for them. Nesterovski is okay coming off the bench but starting, he's 33 years old right now, his build and his play style don't really, they're not the type that's going to get better with age.

Yeah, I saw this point recently that said changing the manager is easier than changing all the players. And yeah I mean think about it, it's as simple as that really. Sometimes a new environment is always there. And that scares me a little bit about Odinese because I think Sotil is a very good manager. I really do think that he is.

And I think the players are more of an issue over here and if Odinese aren't lazy about this, I think the right decision would be to keep Sotil and to put some trust in him when it comes to rebuilding this team. It's simply going to be a longer project though. Putting some money and bringing in a name that people respect so you have someone on your side, someone by your side to assert some authority and to keep a certain standard of talent, of effort, of determination.

Yeah and normally there are those guys but he's been out injured. He did see him on his way out in January until he picked up the second injury and something tells me that, something tells me it's clear that after that long term injury he's going to be difficult to sell. So if they do hang on to him which is more likely because of that issue, I think he can kind of reinstill some kind of leadership into this team. He's super.

Something does tell me though that he'll take a new step in his career. I feel like he was very good at the start of the season and I feel like that might be enough for clubs to actually be interested in him and to try to lowball teams because of the injury. Maybe get a bit of a bargain. Yeah perhaps, perhaps. I want to highlight Falcone for his excellent performance.

I mean you can't win a game like this 1-0 unless you have a fantastic goalkeeper who pulls off fantastic saves and that's exactly what he did. Odinese had their chances, in fact they had 10 shots and 3 on target but again fantastic, fantastic performance by Falcone. Odinese in 13th on 42 points, level on points with Torino on 12th, Weissletze are in 16th on 31 points, 4 points from the drop.

The last game that we're going to be covering is Cremona Verona and that ended 1-1 as many of these encounters in the relegation pool tend to end with teams taking a very careful approach to these games. For Cremona it was Carnesecki in goal with Valeri on the left and Iwu on the right with Vazquez and Lacrosseville at the back, sorry if I've offended anyone, Castagnetti, Meite and Piquel were in the middle with Galdemez playing behind Cioffani and Ocarecke.

For Verona it was Monte-Poingole with Manniani, Heane and Davidovic at the back, Heane was fantastic as always. The Paoli on the right and Lazovic on the left with Abdelgaard and Tamez in the middle and Verdi and Calon played behind the tank Juric. Now Hellas Verona are on the longest winless away run of any of the Serie A sides at the moment, 16 games, 7 draws and 9 defeats for the Giallo Blue while they have failed to score 4 of their last 5 away league games.

Only Lecce have lower possession average than Hellas Verona this season at Cremona. Lecce have 41% while Hellas Verona have 41% as well and Cremona has 42%. Hellas Verona and Cremona have the lowest shooting accuracy in Serie A this season. A loose ball from the Paoli was stolen by Ocarecke who dribbled into the box, made space and finished into the bottom right corner. You have to love when this guy scores, he's always smiling, he's always full of glee. Mintov has a point over here.

I'm going to read it ok. You have to love when this guy scores, he's always smiling, he's always full of glee, maybe a little bit of calm as well. I thought those things wouldn't be planned and they'd come to him in the moment but he's malicious like. Everything comes fucking, he's well prepared with his jokes. Jaffarne nearly scored a second after a strong header was saved by Monte Po. Qualiata punched Davidovic in the chest and was sent off after a wide decision.

He was delivered for being sent off Qualiata, it's like come on man, you just decked him like. I thought this was a miracle. In the 75th minute, Mannyani's cross to the back post was met by Simone Verdi, who my god, my god what a goal he scored. I don't know what happens to him at this time of year. Put him in a relegation bound team. Oh my god how fired up he gets.

He volleyed it off the ground like a bounce shot and it just went perfectly into the, I haven't seen a good bounce shot volley I had in a while. That might be one of the top ones I've seen. You know who used to have really nice bounce volleys? Rud Van Nistelrode. Yeah, they had that style. Yes, a fantastic goal by Verdi who celebrates passionately as usual. He's a lovable character. This result was actually better for Verona of course and it was for Cremonezza. I'm sure Verona wouldn't mind.

They've almost made it out. Cremonezza are facing Milan, Juve and Lazio still in the last six matches. They are done for. My god yes absolutely. Verdi, Mintov has a good point over here, is a big game player. Is he the kind of player to strive under pressure? It's very hard to analyse he says. He does strive under pressure but then again his career is constantly under pressure because he has, he's inconsistent.

When you're inconsistent people criticise you and people don't put their trust in you. That's why he seems to be a bit of a journeyman. I think it's less that he thrives under pressure but more he lives up to occasions. I think when there's all to play for that's when he steps up. The atmosphere, the striving for a result, that's what gets him fired up.

On the other hand throughout an entire season I don't quite know what it is about him because he's very inconsistent but when the going gets tough Verdi gets going genuinely. Definitely, it's like Danger Zone be playing in his head on repeat. Danger Zone, that is Verdi for you. That is Verdi for you and this game ended in a draw, no one really managed to make the difference over here. Hellas Verona will take that.

They are currently on 27 points equal to Spezia they've caught up, Lecce are there with 31, Empoli are there with 32, Salernitano on 34 but they've got it figured out. This is getting juicy at the bottom. It seems that we don't quite know who the third team is that's going to be going down. It'll go to the last matchday, it really will. Some Cremoneses are still in 19th with 20 points. Thank you brother for stepping in and for giving me a hand over here.

It's good to be back and I missed this so much man. It's good, I missed you too. Mintov was fucking incredible honestly thank you, thank you so much for coming in. We'll have you on more like the listeners have grown to love you. I was a bit worried like I'm liking him too much. We get so many comments about him. So thank you very much for listening guys. Thank you very much, good to be back and we'll be back sooner. I think we're recording around Thursday, Friday. Yes. There's midweek fixtures.

Midweek mayhem. Yes baby. Are you ready?