95: Chaotic Energy (Full Matchday 8 Coverage)

Zirkzee is through here. He waits for the support of ndoye. Zirkzee sets himself and gets the equalizer. He just rolled it in, but he did so with so much composure. Hello, hello, you beautiful people, and welcome back to another episode of Seria Art Spotlight. This is episode 95, and we are hosts Matt and Jake. We've got a lot to talk about in matchday 8 of Seria Art. A significant matchday, a lot of happenings leading into this international break naturally.

Our goal of the week this week was Xerxes with a great finish on the cool head against Inter. He completely wiped out three defenders with his first touch and just casually rolled it into the bottom corner, leaving summer rooted to the spot from outside the area. All right guys, how didn't you choose Lautaro as your goal of the week? Spectacular goal, spectacular striker, 10 goals in his first eight matches of the season,

becoming the third Inter player to ever do that in history. However, you often see a player who shoots from distance and the shot is, it turns out to be a good shot, not taking away anything from the technique, but the technique which was showcased by Xerxes against Inter's three centre backs over there was beautiful that had me screaming man. Absolutely, we've seen the likes of Vincent Company score goals similar to Lautaro's. Have you ever seen Vincent Company score a goal similar

to that Xerxes goal? Very well put bro, perfectly put. Honourable mentions are of course Lautaro Martinez and Colpani. Colpani, bit of Messi here and there, how would that go? He's got it, he's a good player man. He scored most of Monsa's goals this season, it's crazy. If you look at like if they scored, let's say they scored eight goals, well let's say they scored six goals, he would have scored like four of them, which is mental. I don't have the actual stat guys, apologies for that,

but Colpani has scored the majority of Monsa's goals. I would say he's on three or four goals. Their all-time top scorer is Carlos Auguston, say last season he got six goals, so Colpani could totally become their all-time top scorer this season. If he keeps playing that way then he's gonna do that within the next five match days without a doubt man. Yeah definitely. Don't forget, sorry you were gonna say? No I was gonna do the exact same. Fantastic, we're in sync, we're supposed

to bounce off each other but instead we're turning into each other with this podcast. Don't forget to don't forget to follow us guys on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube where we post all of our fun content with short little snippets, entertaining snippets I would say and informative snippets from these episodes and give us a rating wherever you're listening on your favorite podcasting platforms. Again we're on 4.9 on Spotify and we would really like to get that number up to five.

We've also got Patreon if you'd like to support our content, so yeah you also get to join our Fanta League for next season if you do that. How did you do last week in Fanta? I was a man down brother, I have a defensive crisis with injuries, I was a man down at the back but fortunately I got enough goals and I came one-one against the renegades. The renegades are a team for those of you who do not know who led by Taco aka Lewis who drafted every single player for just one credit after the

auction was done and somehow managed with a decent team. He's got the likes of Soleil, he's got the likes of Chris Tante, Derune, a few random players like that who apparently have been playing very well. I in case you wanted to ask following my 6-1 dismantling of Lewis who you've just drawn to naturally, I've now dismantled Allen. Another day one, I'm just demolishing the day one from now,

it's upsetting but yeah 4-1 against Allen, yeah good good good performance. I'm in third, I've got the most points, naturally the accumulated points are not the points of victories and I'm two points behind Mintoff and Luca I believe. Yeah you're a tough tough cookie my brother, but there are some other tough cookies in the league. Who have a man down? Yes I was referring to myself, it was Bianconeri, Bruisers and Warm Benchers and unfortunately my defense is

Shambolic right now. This week in Serie A, Kanye West was in the stands watching Genoa Milan where there were two goalkeeping red cards, one of which led to Jiru having to step in goal and saving Milan through a spectacular save in the dying moments of the match on an onrushing Puskas. He was even picked as the goalkeeper of the week and his shirts were sold out, his goalkeeper shirts might add on the official website. So safe to say Milan made a made a bit of money from this

one. Bravo Simi bravo Simi. He's also included in FIFA's ultimate team, any of you will talk about that. Milan's website is listed down as a goalkeeper which is brilliant. Yeah I mean it's not every day you get something else, you might as well have fun with it. Fiorentina demolished champions, Napoli in front of their fans in a dominant display, this led to Rudy Garcia's job being

in New Jeopardy, leading to links such as Conte and Jean Paolo. However Conte has shut it down quickly on Instagram, he said that he wants to spend some more time with his family, so that leaves Jean Paolo as a likely candidate. It could be a pain in the ass behind closed doors. Yeah well we'll see, I don't see Conte and ADL being a sustainable relationship to be honest.

No. Yeah Jean Paolo is more of that yes man but that would be the end of Napoli, especially if he picks up from where he left off because after Milan you know I mean granted he got a bad name at Milan Jean Paolo but he did do well with some Doria prayer to that, he had a very very very good season with them but after that he never managed to recover from his poor stint at Milan. We also had Victor Rosimont stepping up to take a penalty and score following the entire saga that happened

last week. The Derby della Molle took place, Juve against Torino that was lovely and it didn't take till the last second of the game for that game to be decided. Bonaventura was called up to the Italian national team thanks to Luciano Spalletti who has compared him to Real Madrid's Jude Bellig saying that Bonaventura can be that guy to insert himself and to get them that that go that they need crazy comparison over there. Yeah but I just love Spalletti and I love Bonaventura

and I hope they do great things together. Yeah same man. Fagioli this is the latest. Fagioli has been caught red handed illegally betting. Yeah he might be banned for three years potentially that's Juve's golden boy over there absolutely heartbreaking for Juve fans. Yeah he's so young he doesn't need to be doing that shit he's got such a bright future ahead of him. No that's all

right I mean he makes way more than we do and we don't bet that much. Salernitana sacked coach Susa following a winless start in eight matches and they replaced him with Pip Poanzagi. Pip Poanzagi is the new Salernitana manager that's meant it's like they're almost trying to go all 38 games without the win. He's always done well in Serie B but has actually not done very well in Serie A. Milan have gone top of the table following Inter's draw to Bologna and that dramatic game

against Genoa. Yeah and I mean Deja Vu Milan go on top thanks to Inter dropping points against Bologna. Yeah fast forward to who was it Sansone and Radu right? That big Sansone scored and it was Radu's mistake. Yeah Radu's mistake that beautiful Scudetto best year of my life. So yeah I'll just do the rundown for all of you guys commuting that don't have time to listen to all of this or just want to get a quick catch up before we get into the details. So it was League leaders Napoli

that hosted Fiorentina absolutely blew Napoli out of the water with the score of 3-1. Lazio hosted Atalanta in another dramatic affair with Lazio getting away with a 3-2 victory so many big games in this matchday. Inter 2 Bologna 2 Inter started really quick they were 2-0 up within the

first 15 minutes however Bologna fought back with a decimated team full of injuries. Genoa Nil Milan won probably one of the craziest games I've watched in a fucking wild scene Giroud wearing Manjane's kit and Superman saving and that puskas strike was absolutely absolutely brilliant and the highlight of the season so far. Juve 2 Torino Nil in the Derby della Malle despite not having Kiesa and Vladovic in their team. Kaliari 1 Roma 4 the combination of Debala and

Lukaku is just ridiculous at this point they look so good together. Lecce 1 Sasvalo 1 and a rather rather tight affair over there. Monza 3 Salernitan Nil with a brilliant goal by Colpani which we mentioned earlier and the sacking of Sousa which we also mentioned earlier. Frozano 2 Verona 1 Frozano looking like such an attacking team and they've kept it up for eight matches now so they had an absolute masterpiece of a game over here and the last game was a Nil Nildra between Empoli

and Odinesa. What a fucking week bro what a week every game that we're gonna speak about right here is one to write home about like and I can't wait to get into everything. Yeah they were all bangers man I don't know how we're gonna do this in under two hours but we'll see. Oh man we should you know we should do what we do every time we really take our time in the beginning getting into all the details and then needing to rush behind a little bit for our poor poor listeners

I'm so sorry guys. The idea is that the puggers were talking like this. We're paused we've got 30 seconds to go on you like bro I bet I could read the line-ups in under 30 seconds I'll do it in five. But shall we brother? We shall we shall that's what we're here for guys this is what we love

doing and I am thrilled to start this episode off with Napoli one Fiorentina three. Napoli were coming off a four Nile away victory to Lecce and a midweek three to home loss to Real Madrid in what was another banger of a match with a banger of a goal by Valverde towards the end which ended up going down as a merit own goal. Fiorentina coming off a three Nile will took Al Jari and

a midweek two to home draw to Ferreng Varos in the conference league. Coming into this game Napoli had kept a clean sheet in four of their last six home matches against Fiorentina in Serie A safe to say it wasn't the same case over here and Fiorentina had only won one of their last six Serie A matches against Napoli both sides came into this match tied on 14 points. Amir Rahmani Juan Jesus and Pierre Luigi Gollini were still out of action while Oliver Christensen, Dodo Yerimina and

Castrovilli didn't make the trip and Nico Gonzalez was only fit for the bench. For Napoli and Giudi Garcia it was a 4-3-3 with Alex Merritt in goal and the back line of Oliveira, Natan Ostegard and Di Lorenzo, Ziellin's killer bot can d'Anguissa formed midfield three with Gvarracchia and Poletano flanking the formidable Victor Ossimen. It was a 4-2-3-1 for Italiano's Fiorentina with Terra Ciano in goal and the back line of Cagode, Martinez, Milenkovic and Parisi when I say Martinez

naturally I'm referring to Martina Squarta. Artur and Duncan in the double pivot over there with a con out on the right, Brecal out on the left and Bonaventura playing behind in Zola.

Now Napoli threatened in the fifth minute of the match but Terra Ciano denied Di Lorenzo's close range strike by tipping it over the bar and in the seventh minute Fiorentina opened the scoring and it was through Brecalo who slotted in through the legs of Merritt from an immensely tight angle with a slight touch from Di Lorenzo on the way in which must have helped it a little bit however

the goal was awarded to Brecalo. The ball fell to Brecalo after Martina Squarta struck the inside of the post with a half volley which I don't think he knew much about it seemed to hit him and then hit the post. It was an initial cross by Jack Bonaventura that started this dangerous situation.

This was Brecalo's first goal for Fiorentina, hopefully for him, first of many. In the 23rd minute Ossimen scored but it was disallowed due to an offside and in the 32nd minute Panic mode was on for Rudy Garcia as Anguissa was replaced by Raspadori removing a central midfielder to bring on an attacking player. In the 50th minute but still in the first half Ossimen netted from the spot he actually yes Victor Ossimen stepped up to take a penalty after that entire saga. He didn't

step up in the previous three which were allocated to Ziellinski and Poletano. It probably had something to do with him actually winning the penalty after he was brought down by Terra Ciano in the area following an incredibly risky move by Parisi where he attempted to chest the ball back to the keeper with Ossimen lurking around the area. Bit of a rookie mistake over there. The Nigerians smashed the penalty into the back of the net with no chance for Terra Ciano who tracked it down but couldn't

do much more than that. It was half time we're chilling on the sofa watching the game naturally and we receive a text from a friend and a patron of our podcast Alan who messaged us this quote. Hot take. Napoli and Garcia got lucky with that goal. Subbing in Raspadori instead of Kai you stored them was a mistake. There's too much space between the lines and Lobotka prefers short passes. It looked good for three to four minutes but when Viola was able to pressure them deep and Napoli

struggled to get out. Their build up play is suffering hard now and OsteGuard is probably the least useful person on the planet playing it out from the back. He said this and I quote I will laugh so hard if they sub out Politaano or something and bring Kaiouste in to get more balance. Ekona struck the post in the 58th minute following some great play by Onzola and in the 57th minute Politaano was subbed out for Kaiouste. That is the kind of ball knowledge you get on our group chat.

Fucking hell man. If you're a patron. Fantastic stuff by Alan over there. We lost our fucking mind when it actually happened. Oh my god he called it. They predicted the man he'd take out as well. The same profile coming on. He's right. I mean he left a massive hole in the middle. Alan I'm happy for you brother. I'm really happy

that you managed to call that. I wish it was me. But yeah moments later Fiorentina once again underestimated the sheer pace and determination of Victor Ossimen as this time Ekone or Jorko directed his throw in back to Milenkovic once again with Ossimen lurking. Obviously Ossimen managed to get there and ended up clean through on goal but Terra Cianostop the Nigerian in a one on one situation very convincingly. In the 63rd minute Fiorentina made the 2-1 through

Giacomo Bonaventura. It was tackled by Oliveira on Duncan which guided the balls straight to Bonaventura who ended up with just the goalkeeper to beat and a clear goal scoring opportunity. With the form the Italian veteran is in there was absolutely no missing. He started the ball neatly into the bottom corner leaving Alex Merritt rooted to the spot. Bonaventura's form has also

let him to get his national team call up. Jude Bellingham. There were substitutions for both sides and from between the 70th and 80th minute Fiorentina naturally looking to sit back and get some fresh legs on while Snopoli were looking to get more offensive. In the 93rd minute however it was Fiorentina that sealed the deal making it 3-1 through substitute Nico Gonzalez who has just returned from injury. Thranus is by Parisi who made the mistake earlier on when Ossimen

won the penalty. Bonaventura expertly found Parisi down the left wing who whipped in an early low cross to substitute Nico Gonzalez who knocked the ball in well. Bonaventura was involved everywhere over here. I think every goal I read out started with Bonaventura did this or Bonaventura did that. But it just seems that aside from Bonaventura the Fiorentina individuals are on such hot form at the moment. You look at Nico Gonzalez, you look at Bonaventura, you look at Martinez

Cuarta, you look at Raccano, you look at Arthur, you look at Duncan who's been really good. You look at Parisi played well as well. Parisi apart from that mistake that he made, Cahioide is playing really well. It's just everything is ticking for the Fiorentina team. They are playing such an offensive brand of football with such high pressure. What do you make of this game and what do you make of the Fiorentina side so far? So this was the best game we've seen in Serie A this season.

I think it was high octane, high velocity, high intensity. It was end to end. It was fantastic. I do think that Italiano outcoached Rudy Garcia. 100 million percent. That thing that Alan said as well of taking out Anguissa and then having to bring on Caio Stett to make up for your mistake that you made, that's like a rookie mistake. That's so obvious. That's such an obvious mistake. That's like a 12-year-old playing football manager without

being too harsh. I really liked the way Italiano set up last season. He was getting a bit found out and they were struggling to score and then transition was taking them a little bit long. But now it seems like Martinez Cuartas inserting himself in certain offensive transitions. He's never picked up. He's never picked up. Even in this game he found himself in the box. He shot, I think he hit the post. Yeah, he hit the post that led to the Breca Los Opener. Exactly.

Yeah. So they were just everywhere, man. They couldn't deal with them. You know, I'm Jack Bonovan to other form. He's like, wow, Caio, that looks bloody good as well. Once these guys, especially the youngsters, shake off the rust, you know, because Caio, the Emperor, he's the archive of rust. They're still making mistakes. And Ferentino overall are still making mistakes at the back. But once they find you in that, they can be top.

They're one of the best teams in Ligra. Oh, for sure. And I draw comparison to Milan and their style of play so far in the sense that they are so offensive and they press so high up the field that these holes that you mentioned in the defense because of the certain rusty players that have just come in, they don't get exposed that much because they're so high up the field. They're carrying so much position that it's their opponents that are constantly in defensive

situations and not Ferentino. In fact, maybe Napoli had two or three clear cut opportunities. They really didn't get many opportunities. Yeah, I mean, statistically Napoli had 16 shots, but only four of them were on target with one of them hitting the woodwork. That's compared to Ferentino's 12 shots with three of them on target. Yeah, obviously the nature of the shots and then if you were to watch this game and the quality of

the shots weren't anywhere close to Ferentino's. But you mentioned naturally Italian or outcoaching Garcia. So to me, Garcia has got a lot to learn about the league. I can't judge him too much because he does have a history that is rather successful, maybe in questionable areas of the world where football has played me with the quality over there is

questionable. But I'm sorry, his substitutions and his style of play just really doesn't seem up to scratch for a team that he has killed the enthusiasm and the play of a team that just convincingly won the Serie A by a landslide and he's coming in and seems like he's absolutely destroyed that style of play. And he's destroyed that formidable Napoli team that just constantly want to get forward. It doesn't seem like he knows how to utilize his players yet.

He's bringing on fuck knows who man every now and then just seems like everything he's doing is questionable. Do you think that sacking him so early on would be a good decision by Napoli? Hard to say. Sometimes I look at these situations and I wonder what the president was expecting.

Was De Laurentiis expecting Rudy Garcia to come in and just win every game? Was he expecting to pick up from where Spalletti left off because they're not the same profile and if he was a manager to come in and to just copy and paste what was left behind that's not how managers roll. That's not how high profile managers roll. It almost seems like that's what he tried to do. It's like he ignored any manager that doesn't play a 4-3-3 formation for example. He was looking

at someone who has a very similar profile to Spalletti. Yeah but it's totally different at the same time. We talk about Lobotka being the focal point of Spalletti's system whereas Rudy Garcia likes to play through the full backs. For example De Lorenzo had as many touches as Lobotka as many passes so he cannot touch us. But then you have Olivier on 45 for example. What's Olivier

doing for him? He's seeing the ball so much. And then these guys advance and then you have Vecone and Brea-Colo not to mention Bonaventura on the pocket attacking the space left behind from the full backs. That's a bit, I don't know, it's not perfect. No it seems like he's trying to do something that's very systematic that leaves little room for these players to be expressive. And there's one thing that got Napoli far last year. It was the individual quality and the confidence

that the squad grew together. It was this individual quality and players bringing out the best of each other and understanding each other. But through this really systematic, almost disciplined style that Garcia is utilizing, it's just killing the ability and almost the pace of the team. When was the last time we saw Napoli attacking down space? Because they're not creating space, they're not catching teams on the counter. They're killing the game, they're playing a boring

brand of football. Maybe I'm saying that because they haven't quite hit it off yet, but with their lack of success it almost comes across that way. I mean they gave Real Madrid a very, very good game in Europe. Perhaps they got a penalty that they didn't quite deserve Napoli. But that was still a very good game and I still think it's

unjust to sack a manager eight games in. Now granted, okay, it's a title, defense and all that, but I'm sorry, Mr. President, you sacked the coach because you refused to give him what he asked for to meet his demands and you brought this up on yourself. If you're going to replace him, you have to break the bank if you want to replace him adequately. So you're bringing a manager, okay, from Saudi Arabia who previously had managed Marseille. I believe he had done quite well and

Marseille is going quite far in Europe as well. But it's not the same type of caliber of manager. And now they're probably going to end up downgrading even further. So really Marseille is out for sure. He's made up his mind, De Laurentiis and if he's made up his mind there's no going back now. Contest said no and now apparently that leaves Gian Paolo. Now you're going to bring in Gian Paolo who's practically infamous at this point. Granted, okay, he had a brilliant team at Sampdoria

and granted they were fantastic. He made Qualiarella at the age of like 30, what was he, 37, 38? Yeah, something like that. He made Capocalmoniere ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. That was Gian Paolo. And now he's not quite the same. No, no, no. He's interested in bringing him into Napoli. I can't help but think that a manager who has the style of play that would really suit Napoli, but good luck getting him out of Germany is Shabi Alonso. Shabi Alonso?

You look at Leverkusen's Shabi Alonso and the brand of football that they play so positive and the enthusiasm that they have and the spirit that the team has just reminds me of Napoli last year, not as dominant, I guess, it's the early days for young Shabi Alonso. But I don't know, I get the feeling that that would work really well, but again, good luck getting him out from getting him out of Germany. Matias suggested, well suggested, he mentioned the idea that Napoli should probably go for a

Spanish coach. The style fits well. Yeah, Matias, that means a lot. Matias got great ball knowledge, so I'm pleased with that. Like what's his name? Lotegui? Lopetegui? Lopetegui. He was the Spain manager that had gotten sacked because he accepted the Real Madrid job just before the World Cup. And then he didn't do very well with Real Madrid, right? He got sacked instantly and I believe they brought until the end.

Let's just talk a bit about Fiorentina before we move on. Wow, wow, like what a team. Yeah. What a team. Their aggressive pressing really caused Napoli to struggle when it comes to build up play. They limited their options. Lobotka was never in space because they were just there pressing high up the field. Man, oh man, can Italiano organize a team and can Italiano get the best out of his players. What a team Fiorentina are. What do you think their ceiling is

for the season naturally without getting carried away after this victory? It would be a fantastic start. Only one loss against Inter. What can they do this year? I think they can aim for Champions League and achieve Europa League. Beautiful. Bro, I would love it if Fiorentina made Champions League. I love teams with history. I love teams with pedigree. I love teams with identity and Fiorentina. I don't necessarily think they'll qualify for the Champions League and I don't think they'll finish

top four, but they can most definitely aim to do so. If you aim to get Champions League, you're disappointed you fail, you have a Europa League. It's not that bad. They actually did better than they did last season if that's the case. The season is very long, but I'm seeing a Fiorentina side over here that has some serious depth and a coach that's got his team ticking and a team that's developed an identity. We saw the flashes of this Fiorentina side in previous

seasons. They've been good for a while now. For two seasons, they've been pretty good, but they've not been this good. Now it seems like they've got all those little problems sorted that they had earlier on. It's also nice seeing them introducing the youngsters against Napoli. They're almost rubbing salt in their wounds. They brought on Infantino, they brought on Komutsu over there. They brought those two youth players on and then boom, Niko

Gonzales. It's a beautiful man. They managed to do so well before Niko came on as well. We've been hailing Niko as the star of this team. I have to retract those words and say Bonaventura as the star of this team because he's been absolutely phenomenal for them, really rolling back the years over there. I don't think not even at Milan, can I remember Bonaventura being on such great form. But anyway, a late bloom, isn't he? Yeah, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he really has been.

Fiorentina guys are in fourth in Champions League, brother. After just eight matches, naturally on 17 points, level on points with Juventus actually, while Napoli three points behind them in fifth place on 14 points. The next game we're going to be discussing is Lazio 3-Atalanta 2. This was once again a high octane clash at the Olímpico, where Lazio managed to pull off a surprising win against Atalanta. I was not expecting Lazio to win this one.

Especially after their start. Yeah. They ended Atalanta's five game on beaten streak and Seira. Despite both teams playing their seventh game in three weeks, the match delivered intense action and several dramatic moments. Now for Lazio, it was their 4-3-3 formation at Providele in goal. Maurizio Ciasa, the Romaniole, and he said the back would go into Ziravella and

Luis Alberto in the middle. Felipe Anderson was out on the right. Zacani was out on the left, and Castellanos was in the middle, up front rather, replacing Immobile, who was not at his best. I believe he wasn't even at the game in Immobile. He was injured. Okay. Juan Musso was in goal for Atalanta in the 3-4-1-2 formation. Colassenac, Jim City, and Scalvini were at the back with Ruggieri and Davide Zappacosta as the wing backs, with Ederson and Derun working in a double pivot.

Pasa Leuch was playing in the hole with Scamaca and Decay Tellare up front. The game got off to a shocking start for Atalanta as an own goal by Giorgio Decay Tellare, deflected often from a Luis Alberto corner, handed Lazio an early lead within five minutes. Now, you can see, did you see the clip of Gasperini losing his nuts? Goal for Zirco, bro. He was so angry at him. Garden norms tend to get a short time. You would think, you'd think it'd be a bit more forgiving. More compassionate.

Yeah. Where it's a player who struggled with confidence. Of course. And who's only turned his career around now. You know, he was in the gutter after that spell at Milan. Yeah. You know, he's playing well for them and now it's because of one own goal. You know, granted he was flat footed. He should have been on his toes if he'd have been more alert. Borges hit him and ended up in the back of the net. But you hear Gasperini laugh and go over it.

Over and over again. I don't know. But yeah, Lazio continued to dominate with Philippe Anderson, racing down the right hand flank to deliver a precise cross that Tati Castellanias converted, doubling the lead at the 11th minute mark. Lazio's Guendouzi hit the crossbar soon after and it seemed like Atalanta wasn't for a tough day. However, Atalanta started to find the rhythm and Ederson's header of Matteo Ruggeri cross in the 33rd minute pulled one back for them.

And at half time it was two-one in favor of Lazio. The second half began with Atalanta pushing hard and Decay de laura had a chance to deliver the score early on. But Providil made a crucial save. There was a really cool turn here by Decay de laura. I don't know if you saw it. He spun so quickly. Yes. All the 360 angles shot it. Atalanta's pressure paid off in the 63rd minute when Saeed or Sead rather Colassenac headed in a two-tume Koopminers corner to make a two-two. Brother,

this wine is slapping me in the face. It's good man. It's good and it's strong. Yeah, it's called Koopminers. Tume. I've never heard you call him Tune in the older... His name is Teun. Tune. Tune, I think. Tune. Like when a good song comes on. Yeah, the heck. Tune, bro. Tune. Banger Koopminers. As the game entered its final stage, Mattias Vesino became Lazio's hero, volleying in a precise cross from Castellanios into the net

from close range in the 83rd minute, putting Lazio ahead three-two. This was the most Malinkovish-Savish-esque goal I've seen since he left that. That's true that I get exactly what you mean. You know, like what a goal over there. It's not normal for a player to have as many big moments as Vesino had. For a fringe player especially to have as many protagonist moments. I was gonna say last, I think it was last season we called him a big gameplayer. Yeah, he's totally a big

gameplayer. He continues to prove that, man. And you almost forget that he's got such finishes in his locker and to his arse. But he does, man. He does. And whether or not he's starting a game where he's coming on, he's a threat on the big stage, Vesino. Yeah, totally, bro. He's the type of player, man, that you can pretty much plug into any of those midfield positions. And he's not gonna be a superstar, but he'll get the job done. He's kind of like, you know, kind of like

Kronich. I was gonna say, Kronich. With even, like with goal prowess. That's it. And a bit more goal prowess, a bit less testosterone. But I don't know about that. Vesino is a hard man. Yeah. As hard as Kronich. Well, let's not get carried away over here. Atalanta's resilience

brother is something I would like to discuss over here. Now, lots of you look like they were going to run away with at the beginning when they were two in a lot within 11 minutes, you know, but they managed to find a goal at the long time, the first half to one and a half time, then as the second half kicked off, 13 minutes later, boom, it's two to it's not hard to come back from two nil down, bro. No, it's it's it's well, I think you mean it's not easy. I think it's not easy.

Vina, Vina. But yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think what happened here, well, basically was they managed to get a goal in the 33rd minute, which, you know, before half time. And then suddenly all they needed was one goal to get back into it. And there's one thing at a lot of and always have it's it's team spirit. And they always want to get back into the game. No matter what Atlanta, they're not often dead and out of the game. Are they they're constantly there

looking to get a goal? I think that's what you get with a manager like like Gasperini. And he's built a side over here where if I hear that Atlanta scored, I'll be like, okay, who scored? If not, what he scored, I bet my money on Ossiman, if Milan scored, I bet my money on Leao, if Inter scored, I bet my money on Lautaro, Atlanta are one of those teams that you don't know who's going to score because everyone is capable of it, whether it's probably not the

home. That's what I'd say. He's actually got quite a few. He's got enough you in the past. And Scamaca, Decay, Taylor, Pasalic, Ederson, even Zappa Costa, Scalvin, these guys are all capable of getting a goal. You never know who's going to get one for them. They're a team with thousands and thousands and thousands of combinations. Yes. Yes. That's it, man. They're always capable of scoring at Atlanta, no matter what, they're never down and out, man. And they

fought hard over here. Totally. And it's an absolute shame that Coupe Miners picked up an injury on international duty because he's an absolute gem over there. Yes. And the rotation saw him starting off the bench, but Pasalic started instead of him. Oh, by the way, brother, didn't look very good. So Pasalic, I didn't want to say that he regressed last season, man, because you can sometimes have a bad season, shockingly enough. But the start,

he's also gotten off this season, hasn't been too impressive. He hasn't really been finding himself in such opportunities that he used to find himself in in the past. And it seems like that started when Atlanta started taking a bit more of a pragmatic approach. It seems like when they were more of an expressive and offensive team, Pasalic would often find himself in gold scoring opportunities and we would hailed him as one of the smartest players in the league.

But ever since, they've seemed to take a bit more of a pragmatic approach with stop seeing him in those situations. It's weird. It is really weird. I think it might be also a question of confidence. Maybe the coach not believing in him as a starter has got to him and he feels the pressure now whenever he does play because he hasn't featured much at all this season. That's true. So now when he plays, he plays with this pressure that he has to make

something happen. And I believe when you try to force it, it doesn't quite come off well. But the tools that Gaspreen is disposing of, so when you take out Pasalic, you bring on Coop Miners, take out Skamaka, you bring on Lukman. Very good over there. But yeah, bro, Sarri got sent off in the 85th minute for this cent. What do you think he said? Probably the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. He's always got one of those in his locker.

He's like an old man that drinks too much when something doesn't go his way. You know what I mean? Have you ever heard of his interviews in the Premier League? This is what you hear. Bro, what's the least to stop? Should we go to the filters? Be cool. I'm a smoker and I don't like shove my fucking addiction in your face. But you're a casual compared to this guy. I heard

an interview with him. I forgot who it was, but someone basically had a long drive with Sarri and he told him, listen, Sarri, there's this Maurizio or listen, Moe, if they're tied like that. There's no smoking in my car. Right? So like, if you want a cigarette at any point, tell me, we'll pull over, you can have a cigarette. Apparently, bro, we spent the entire two hour ride just chain smoking cigarette. Like he wouldn't even finish a cigarette. He'd use

the cigarette to light another one. Man smoking them in the car. Man the entire way. I think you know, this is the podcast about cigarettes, but either was the enjoyment at least totally. It's like, I have a cigarette after recording or in a break from recording. And I'm like, yes, Jesus, this is wow. You know what I mean? But if he doesn't have a cigarette, he's going to punch you in the fucking throat. You know what I mean? He can't operate without them.

Smoking is bad for you and it makes you ugly. It's not cool at all. No. But I do want to say that both teams look good going forward, brother. However, they are both quite vulnerable at the back. Do you think this is a personnel problem? Do you think this is a systematic kind of problem? What do you think the problem is here? It's interesting because if you look at last season, both these sides didn't concede many goals, particularly. So Provedale had the most clean

sheets in Serie A while Statalanta. Naturally, they took that more pragmatic approach and they conceded way less goals. So it's really interesting seeing them struggling defensively this season. I doubt it's individuals. I mean, it's tough to say what the issue is. I don't think Roman Yoli or Chazale would be the issue as much as I don't think Scalvini or Jim City would be the

issue. If you look at Atlanta, they've got some new personnel, for example, Colasinac, that maybe still needs to find his footing, although he has gotten off to quite a good start. But I think it's more the brand of football that they are playing that leaves them vulnerable to certain situations rather than personnel. But I still can't put my finger on it because it's almost comical at times, particularly Lazio, the manner in which they concede goals.

Situations where you think they could never concede goals. Atalanta's goals both came from dead ball situations over here. So Lazio definitely have something to focus on over there. Bro, I've also been impressed by this substitute for Lazio, Izakzin. Yeah, Izakzin. He's good. He's not going to track back much. He's not going to do a lot of defensive dirty

work for you, but he's an interesting little profile going forward. And this is something I noticed about Lazio this season is that last season, who was challenging Philip Anderson for his spot, do you remember? It was Conchilleri. Oh, yeah, of course. And Conchilleri didn't really challenge him. Challenging is a strong word. He was there as a substitute. If he ever got injured, if he was ever really too tired to play. Now I feel like this guy can actually

rotate with Anderson a bit more. You know, they actually do have this depth now. There was no vice immobile last season. No, no, there wasn't. Now this guy came in goal and then assist immediately. I was super impressed by Tati Castellanios over here because dropping immobile, actually it is because of an injury. For the Atalanta game, you're starting this MLS guy. He's a killer. He's a killer in front of the goal.

He looked good. He looked good. I'm not going to get carried away, but he looked good. He honestly, and we said it, now you can only score where you play. He was in the MLS, scored quite a few goals. I'm prior to that, I believe he was in Spain with something like that. He still scored many goals there. But this game is proof that every match, and this is what Nannu Jo was saying, our granddad Jo. We've often mentioned him on this podcast for getting frustrated for not

remembering player names back from the 60s. And saying that Aleksandro joined Juventus and played as a trequartist. Maybe not. But styles make matches. And you look at a team like Lazio that have been struggling. You look at a team like Atalanta, I've been doing decently well. They go up against each other and Lazio managed to get away with a victory when Lazio found themselves coming into this game at around 15th place.

There's also a case of a bit of Robin Hood from Lazio because they've also beaten Napoli this season. And they beat Atalanta and they've pretty much struggled against everyone else. So there's definitely a case of rising to the occasion for the Lazio team. Yeah, that's absolutely true. Let's see how they settle it, to be honest. Because I do feel there's a positive vibe at the Lazio team. And I look at Luis Alberto, for example, who

the kind of player he is, usually you'd expect him to be a bit of a rebel, a bad man. A bit of a you know, I don't give a fuck. I get my salary, I play my ball, you know what else happens. He was fucking stood next to Sarri on the sideline, clapping his team on, shouting instructions out. Like I really don't think there's a lot of trouble for Lazio. I don't think Lazio are in trouble. Positive vibe right now. And I do see them actually doing quite well this season and

recovering from this rocky start. Atalanta, what do you think? Atalanta have many, many issues man. They keep losing players. They had the first they lost their new striker, El Bilal Ture. Then they lost Skamaka. Now they've lost Koopminers. You know, they can't really get it together right now because they're always playing without a missing piece. And the piece is always quite an important one. They have many new players who've come in and they're settling slowly, slowly.

Gaspirini seems to really appreciate Hon who was signed from Atalanta. He's playing quite well. Colassenage got his first goal man. He said he was signed from Atalanta. Sorry, from Spetsio. Yes. Colassenage is playing in defense and has been playing like, like he's been there for like 10 years, you know, he fit in like a glove. Backers is slowly, slowly, slowly reduced. Ederson looks like he's actually picked up from Lazio because I didn't quite like the way Ederson

played last season. No, but this year I'm liking him. Not because he scored two goals, but he's played well. He's got more of an active role here. Yeah, has a box-to-box midfielder there. But the fact that he's had to start with, for example, using Muriel again, you know, it's like, it was probably like, Gaspirini is probably like, I've got rid of Zapata finally. And then both your strikers getting ready, looking at Dresden Grove and it's the other

Colombian. Shit, I haven't shipped this one off. Nothing against Colombia. Of course, it's just a striker. I love Colombia. And you know what? We, Jake and I, had one of the messiest nights of our lives drinking Aguadriente. Colombian fire water. Water drink. Amazing. Atlanta sit in sixth with 13 points. While Lazio sit in 13th with 10 points. As you can see, it's early on in the season. So the point discrepancies really are in that deep right now.

Yeah. Yeah. And off we are to another banger of a game. Inter, two. Bologna, two. Inter were coming off a four in the way victory against Salerno and a midweek one in the Champions League over Benfica. Why is Bologna were coming off a three in the win over Empoli? I hope you guys enjoyed Luca's breakdown of Bologna. Last week, I listened back to that and I love Luca and we did just see fantastic feedback. So I hope you know, Luca, that people were sending us messages saying that

you nailed it. So well done, brother. Coming into this game, Inter had recorded three successive home victories against Bologna and Serie A, within each of their last two, six, one. Crazy. Yeah. The Nerazzurri had David Efratesi and Stefano Sensi back on the bench, but Arnautovic was out against his old club naturally with a long-term injury. Mottas side were on a strong unbeaten run conceding just four goals, but also had a decimated defense missing Stefan Posch,

Lukumi, Saumauro and Christian Sin. Inter, three, five, two. You know the drill. Summer in gold, back line of Bassoni, Archer, BM Pavard, who has looked good for Inter. So they mark out on the left, Dumfries out on the right, McIthari, Insalaamoglu and Barella in midfield with Turam and Lautar Omartinez up front. Four, two, three, one for Bologna, Skorupski in gold, back line of DeSylvestri,

Beukema, Califiori and Lico Giannis. Yes, decimated. Ferguson and Froyler in the double pivot, Orsolini out on the right, Endoy out on the left and Abesher playing just behind Zergze. In the fourth minute, Ferguson's first time strike flashed just wide of Summer's far post, however in the eleventh minute Inter opened the scoring through Archerbi. It was Hakans corner to the near post that was headed into the near corner by the veteran Archerbi, Abismel defending

by Bologna over here naturally with their decimated defense. They were clearly not prepared for the near post move, even Skorupski remain rooted to the spot in the center of the net, twice little men where not little men as in like short men, but few men rather were marking Archerbi at the near post. Brilliant. Just two minutes later Lautaro made a two-nil for Inter in the thirteenth minute.

Bologna, clearly shaken from conceding the early goal, gave the ball away at the back to Ramley the ball off to Lautaro who released a bullet strike from distance with the ball flying into the corner with no chance for Skorupski. What a goal, naturally a contender for our goal of the week. Six minutes later Bologna pulled one back through a penalty by Orsolini. It was a low corner that was delivered by Orsolini and Lautaro was caught wrestling Ferguson to the ground in a

really blatant manner. I'm denying him a good opportunity to strike at goal from inside the area. After a VAR review, I can't believe it was needed, the penalty was awarded which was converted by Orsolini, albeit almost saved by Summer with the ball just squeezing in. In the 52nd minute, Bologna found their equalizer through Zergze. It was Ferguson's long ball over the top two Zergze which led to three defenders closing down the Dutchman instantly. However, Zergze pulled the

ball back getting rid of two defenders instantly, you could just see them running off. He fainted a shot to create space which set Buster only tracking back and tracking back and tracking back and he had all the time and space in the world to place the ball low and slow into the bottom near corner with Summer routed to the spot, clearly expecting a far post bullet. A great example of the type of striker Zergze is and a nice showing of what he is capable of on a big stage.

Fantastic goal, excellent composure. Seven minutes later in the 59th Inter had a goal disallowed. It was Sanchez that found the net, however it was offside. Atrebia and Lautaro both got agonizingly close following corners which further proves Inter's threat from deadball situations and Bologna's decimated defence but that was the end of the game. 2-2 draw, do you think it was a fair result because Inter were getting quite close towards the end? Yes, I do think it was a fair

result. Once again we have a situation where a team takes the lead and smacks the opposing team with two goals in quick succession. In two minutes they put two pause and I was in the opening 13 minutes. Not very easy to come back from that, it can be very demoralising. Does that remind you of any game Inter participated in last year? That reminds me of the which way Inter participated

in last year. Yes, the Milan one. Champions League semi-final. Getting an early 2 in a lead both goals, just two minutes apart from each other, clearly taking advantage of our rattled defence. That's what Inter are good at, smelling blood man. Yes, that's it and being relentless. That's Atrebia goal, the way he squeezed the turn by the way. That header, I didn't expect it at all. When I saw the technique on the header, the way he flicked it in, I wasn't expecting to see

Atrebia celebrating either. And then just Lautaro being like, you know what, screw it, I'm just going to smack it from here and then score it from there. But Bologna showed a lot of character and I was quite disappointed when I saw Inter running away with it. I was like, oh no, they're blowing them out of the water. Could it be that Bologna's luck has run out? Could it be that it

was all a fluke like? Could it be that this is on their level? Nope, not at all. Because they managed to fight their way back into the game and they did so in style as well because that's Xerxes' role brother. Oh my god, what a striker he is. I'm in love with what Xerxes could become. Oh my, it's not even what he could become. It's what he is. Not many strikers, not many number nines have that level of technique, man. That technique he has is crazy. And you know what, it makes sense.

This isn't a nobody. This guy was a bio-menic. He's a bio-menic youth product. Do you remember watching him in the Serie A debut for Parma coming on? Yes, he came on for Parma and I remember us watching him and despite him not getting many opportunities in that game, we both agreed that his movement hold up play and the way he moved. I remember us saying Xerxes flows. Yes, he flows. And I remember, it's in last season episode,

I even bet you five Euro that he was going to score. Do you remember that I bet you five Euro that? No. I don't think that I ever gave you that five Euro. You know who's going to have to give the five Euro though? Fajolit. What is it about Inter against sides from Emilia Romagna, brother? It must be the air. It must be the air. That youthful university air of Emilia Romagna does something to winter and it's not good. It's funny. They do have a track record against

Osvala and Bologna. That is rather negative. It's funny because you look at their track record against any other team and it's quite positive. But those two in particular, both Emilia Romagna teams that they seem to struggle against, not really a talking point, just a fun little observation. Yeah, Lautaro, 10 goals in eight games, brother. Becoming Inter's third player in history to reach double figures in just eight matches. I mean, I don't want to go off too much about him because

it seems like we've been praising him from episode one of season three. But I think he deserves some praise over here. So go ahead, say what you want to say. Totally. I mean, he's formed a fantastic partnership with Marcus Turam and they seem to understand each other very, very well. Lautaro

has shoulder the responsibility of becoming a leader at this Inter team. Honestly, leading by example, you know, when you wear that captain's arm band and you're the one getting the goals, you fire your teammates up, you know, your teammates will play for you, they'll die for you, they're going to feed you the ball. Lautaro Martinez has developed nicely. And I said last episode, I can't see him having a dry spell anytime soon, like he usually does on a seasonal basis.

He's 26 years old, so he can only get better and it's very exciting to see what he can do. Crazy. I forget that he's a young guy. He's 26. Lautaro's my age dog. Yeah, like, how are you Lautaro's age? We thought about how Van Basten retired when he was your age. That's so crazy. I am nothing. I haven't done anything in my life like Van Basten retired at 28. I am 28 years old. By 28 Van Basten had achieved so much. Brother, you are the co-host of Serious Spotlight.

Yeah, and here I am. We are a bit too drunk. Same dog. I have to be up so early tomorrow. I was just taking our time. All right, let's calm down. I think to be honest, we can close this game off. There was a bit of a midfield battle going on and it's impressive to see what Mota and Vod Bolonia were capable of doing with such a decimated side. I'm loving this word, decimated. You've been using it, man. What's the word you've been using? High octane.

High octane. Yes, this is high octane. That's high octane. What is an octane? Who the fuck knows what an octane is? Inter are in second place on 19 points. Three, no, two points behind lead leaders. League leaders AC Milan, Vod Bolonia are in 11th place on 11 points. The moment you have all been waiting for. Yes. Genoa, nil, Milan won. This was an astonishing match which took place at the Marasi Milan secured a thrilling victory against Genoa with an 87th minute goal by Pulisic,

catapulting them to the top of the table. This win comes at the back of a goal. Let's draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and marks Milan's fourth consecutive league victory. The late drama didn't end there as Milan's goalkeeper Mike Manon received a red card in injury time, resulting in Olivier Giroux stepping up as an emergency goalkeeper to secure the victory.

In the lead up to the match, both teams showcased impressive performances with Milan boasting 18 points from six wins and one loss, marking their third best ever start after seven games in a Serie A season. Look at that. Look at Genoa. On the other hand, demonstrated their strength at home by securing a draw against Napoli and defeating Roma prior to this game. So this was not an easy game for Milan by any means. And those of you who have been watching Serie A closely, we're expecting this.

For Genoa, it was a 4-5-1 formation with Josep Martinez in goal, De Wynter, Barney, Dragousin and Vasquez at the back with Sabelli playing on the right and Haps playing on the left. Thors B, Frend Rupp and Malinovsky were in the middle with Goodman Sim playing as the lone striker. For Milan, it was a 4-3-3 formation which was heavily rotated. Manon was in goal with Theo Hernandez on the left and Florence on the right, Tomori and Malicciau were at the

back with Reinders, Adli and Musa in the middle. Kronich was unavailable as well for this one, so Ben Acer and Kronich were both out in midfield. Okafor even Ruben Loftus-Tric could pick up an injury and should be back after international break. No Okafor played on the left this time, Cioquese played on the right and Lukajov got his first start up front. Interesting. The match began with both teams eager to make an impact with Milan testing Genoa's goalkeeper Josep Martinez early

on thanks to Alessandro Florence and Tiani Reinders' efforts. Despite Milan's initial dominance, Genoa put up a resolute defence, making clear-cut opportunities rare for the visitors. In the second half, Milan coach Stefano Piorri made crucial substitutions, of course, bringing on Pulasik and Leao to bolster the attack. He basically gave up on the rotation over here and said it's time to bring on our A-team. Leao came close to scoring with a towering header,

only to be denied by a superb reaction save from Martinez. As the match progressed into the final save, Genoa posed a threat with Rado Dragosin's deflected effort, forcing Manjane into an incredible save. Amazing reflex save over there, like crawling, tapping it, and fingering it. He struck out an arm at the last second when the ball looked like it was heading in. Fantastic

save by Mike. In the 87th minute, Pulasik seized the opportunity, swivelling and delivering a left-footed strike into the bottom corner, controversially, as the ball did seem to come off the upper part of his arm. Now, I believe the rule states that if the images are not clear, you stick to the on-field decision. Now, the images that were available to the VAR team, like granted, they should have had better images, did show that the ball kind of hit his chest and

his arm equally. I don't know if you thought, I thought this was a handsball personally. So when I initially saw the goal, like first time live, I didn't think there was any infringement whatsoever. The first replay that was shown to me showed a clear handball, and it showed the inner bicep to forearm, really cushioning the ball down to set Pulasik up for

the strike, naturally, after Yunus Musa's cross. However, every single angle that came after that was either behind Pulasik to Pulasik's side, and it didn't show any clear contact, and it was looking like it struck that part between his upper arm and his chest, which is typically legal, and awarded in football. However, that one angle, I'm going to stick to that and say, I think that this goal should have been this allowed. Yeah, not to mention,

Gennu had shots for a penalty earlier on too. The drama continued late into the game as Manjan was shown a red card for a dangerous challenge in injury time, as he rushed out for a header and ended up kneeing Ekoban in the neck. Very dangerous over there, prompting Jiru to step

into the goalkeeper's role, as Milan had used all five of their substitutions. Jiru went on to make a great save on Puskas, after Ekoban backhealed the ball over the top to Puskas, what broken free from Calabria, and they found himself one on one with an unrushing Jiru, who was super man dived with his eyes closed, punched the ball awkwardly and grabbed and pounced onto it to grab it and claim it, as all his teammates gathered round him and smacked him on the head while everyone

was lost. Immensely brave in both occasions, the initial superman punch and then the way he claimed the ball from the Genoa players foot. He was about to strike the ball and he just dove in, in fact, you initially told me what a double save by Jiru, but it didn't seem that way. It's honestly, I mean, it did seem like a double save, he did have to get onto that second ball, he was on the floor Jiru. Wow, what a legend, apparently you know who wanted to go in goal

initially? A. Polisik and everyone was like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Too short. Shoot as high as they can. Yeah, yeah, there were like two shots on Jiru, apparently that was a logical choice, because he was the tallest Southfield player that wasn't a defender, Amila were of course defending the lead, therefore Olivier Jiru had to step into the net and apparently he's played

goalkeeper before in his childhood, so he has a bit of experience over there. But yeah, man, Genoa's Martinez was also sent off deep into stoppage time, Amila managed to hold on for the win, securing their place at the top. What was funny there is Martinez thought, he thought those substitutions were made already, but actually three had been made only. Yeah, he gave his kit to Dragosin, basically thought of me going in goal. Then Dragosin threw

the kit to someone and saying like, I'm not fucking going in goal. And then you see the board coming up and the players looking like, oh, we can make substitutions, that's just them because they're out of substitution. Yeah, well, it was after three subs and the rule up until two years ago was three subs in a game, so that could be it as well. Is Piori a top 10 Amila manager of all time? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, without a shadow of a doubt.

Top 10? Yes, I wouldn't say top five. You wouldn't say top five. Or Milan have had coaches who've won so much, bro. I think it'd be fifth. I think it'd be, he's not number one, he's not number two, he's not number three. You look at Cappello, Cappello, Angelotti, but they were blessed with sides. Even a leg, you want to leave with Milan. I mean, yes, but look at the team he had, got two, so Piori, Lossador. It's true, it's true. Look who, he wanted to quit fucking who in your messias, bro.

With Caluulu at centre. You're joking, man. It's true, and then Caluulu, Tomori defensive partnership with many clean sheets in the last nine games of the season, no, no granted. Piori has definitely overachieved this Milan team and definitely deserves to be in the top 10, in my opinion. Not top five? No, maybe not top five. I need to look a little bit more into it. There have been some crazy... That's a recent history. A recent history, he's the best.

In recent history, there haven't been many great coaches for Milan and many of them being ex-players. Obviously, it's more because of what he has been able to achieve rather than his current form. He does do certain things that like his in-game management is something that I have criticised in the past and I think still to this day, I'm not too confident in Piori's substitutions every now and again, even the way in which... I think he's handled...

It's not easy to handle getting nine new players and seeing how you're going to line up. I think he has to start in 11, which is great and he's really stuck with it. It's just the manner in which he's introducing some of these players, I'm not a massive fan of, particularly players like Czukowice, Jović. But what would you have done differently? He's given them a start now. So he's given them a start, yes. What he has done that I dislike over the course of the season is

basically... Okay, so you introduced Czukowice in the last 15 minutes of the game, you introduced Akufor in the last 15 minutes of the game, you give Jović 10 minutes, sure, it's important to introduce them slowly, I agree. But whenever he makes a substitution, you never see Jović, for example, let's use Jović as an example, you never see him playing with Leão on the left, Pulisic on the right. You never see Czukowice playing with Girou in the middle, Leão on the

left. You never see Akufor playing with Girou in the middle and Pulisic on the right. What I'm trying to say over here is he is testing these players and he's giving these players opportunities. Either they only get 10 to 15 minutes alongside new players, when defending Alid, or Reds, he brings them on like in a match against Inter and it's like, okay, now do or die. You

haven't gotten much choice, but this is your chance now, do or die. And then in this game, he just tosses the three and Czukowice, Jović and Akufor, totally new to each other, totally new to the system, together in the starting 11. What I would have done, which he shouldn't take advice from absolutely, is give these guys some opportunities with the best players in the team,

because that's how they're going to get used to the system. That's how Czukowice is going to compete with Pulisic, because Pulisic is playing with Girou in the middle, Leão on the left with Reinders, Loftus, Txik, so on and so forth. Czukowice is playing with Musa, Adli, Ović and Akufor. So how is he supposed to stand out as this player, when the players are around tomorrow and giving him the opportunity to? Yeah, I mean, probably in his mind, he's giving them all an

opportunity to kind of stand out. Like if Czukowice is playing and Leão is playing at the same time, you'd think that a lot of the play would be focused around Leão and there'd be a lot of pressure for Czukowice to maybe feed Leão. But if he's playing with other people who haven't quite made a name for themselves yet, maybe he gives them more of an opportunity to express themselves. I'm just super impressed that it paid off and there was a clean sheet as well.

Yes, yes. Now otherwise, like I said, I'm not being critical of Piorre. There are some things that that could be improved, but at the end of the day, I do have trust in him as a Milan fan. I was particularly impressed with Fendrup, Danish midfielder, who so far this season has already provided three assists. He's very good at winning duels and he's a vital part of

Jan Wasmittefield, very good player over there. Albert Gudmensen had a very good game under showing that he lives for these occasions and he's totally the type of player that should thrive over here with his, I believe, great grandfather being the first professional football player in Iceland. He comes from a generation of footballing excellence over there. But yeah, man, I couldn't look away from this game, bro. And you had a bit of a nightmare at this game because you left early.

I did. You left early and I called you and I was like, brother, you're losing goal and you're like, what? And you're like, yes, my husband's no, no, I called you. I'm like red card, bro. You're like, what? I'm like red card. I'm like money on the center of your shit. I'm like, you're who's going in. You're like, what do you mean? You're who's going in? I'm like, yep. You're who's going in. We're out of substitutions. You're like, oh my God, I got a freaking different

the crossbar brother on the rebound. I'm getting PTSD from it, bro. Honestly, you were in the car now driving to the cinema. Like, like I said, like, like I booked. I want to date night with my girlfriend. You know what I mean? I said, babe, can we please book the 1121 so that I can watch Milan? She struggles to stay asleep watching a movie at 6pm. So let alone at 1105 it was. I'm like, how did this circle with Jamilani bless her love her? She said, yes, sure, whatever. Naturally,

there was a significant amount of added time initially added as well. And I said, you know what? Like I'm just going to leave Milan got the lead through put a sick issue, drive the game out now. I'm off, which is something I never do guys, but but fuck it. And you call me I'm in the passenger seat and God, I wasn't fucking driving bad. I just like, there's been a red card to money on money on on Fanta as well. Is your losing gold and math it was mental and thank you

for commentating that that entire experience for me. It was scarier than so that experience. I was impressed by Adley. Impressed by Musa to however, I must say that Reinders has been a little bit too selfish for my liking recently. I think he he feels I think he needs a goal. Yeah, there's no he does not need a goal and it would be so much more impressive if he passed the ball.

I agree that finally third, passed the ball. There's a player open up. Demonstrate so much maturity, so much selflessness, so much skill by passing the ball in this situation, so much awareness, you know, game changing a level of awareness. Yeah, I agree. I like Reinders. I like the way he plays. However, I do feel like he needs to be more selfless in his role. And if they are Hernandez with a silly yellow card, so he'll be missing the UVA game money on will also be missing the

UVA game because of his card, but will be back for the Napoli game. Yeah. Yeah. Now Milan, now I don't know if there's anything you want to add before I leave. No, I mean, I just want to say that that I wasn't confident about Milan getting away with three points in this match because

we've seen how Genoa have been performing and we saw the way Milan lined up. My God, I mean, Musa, Adley Reinders in midfield, Trucquez, Aove, Chocco for I was telling you before this game of last season, we fast forward and said, this is how Milan are going to line up against Genoa next season. I'd have been like, what? Like in what world? But that was the reality of the situation. Milan went into this game with one, two, three, four, five, five players from last season. I'm

not counting Adley. Five players from last season. And one of them was Florian, who was out with an ACL for the majority of last season. This was a new team playing against Genoa, who beat fucking the shit out of Roma and to have beat the shit out of other teams. And they're looking at not readily held Napoli as well. Did they hold Napoli? They did hold Napoli. And they look

incredible. And I really wasn't confident in getting three points. But in order for Milan to hold their own and get that goal in the 87th minute, albeit with controversy around it, for them to still be finding themselves in those positions, so late on in the game, after Genoa gave them a game and a half, I thought was quite impressive of Milan away from home as well. Giroud going in goal and doing a bit showcasing great team spirit, put me where you want,

and I'm going to do the job. They all gave their 100%. And I'm looking at the team and I'm saying I'm proud of these boys. Milan are currently in first with 21 points, two points clear of Inter, while Genoa sit in 15th with four points of the drop. So over yet, we've got the Derby della Molle, Juve, two Torino Nile, Juve were coming off a Nile Nile away draw at Atalanta, while Torino were coming off a Nile Nile home draw to Verona. In all competitions Juventus are undefeated

in their last 18 Torino Derbies, where they won 14 and drew four. Since Massimiliano Legrige returned to the club, the Bianconeri have three wins and one draw in the Derby, scoring at least one goal in every game. The Bianconeri went into this clash without Federico Chiesa, Duzan Flavic, Aleksandro and Mattia Deschiglio, while Milleck was only fit for the bench and Poltpok was obviously still out due to the failed doping test. Toro weren't doing much better, missing

one journal, Voivo da Sopi, Gigi and Paopa, so two decimated sides over here. For Juve it was a 3-5-2, Cesney and Gould, backline of Danilo Bremmer and Gatti, Costucci on the left, Wea on the right,

Rabio, Locatelli and McKenney in midfield, Moisecchine and Miretti up front. Whilst Torino lined up in a 3-4-1 formation with Vania and Gould, a backline of Thames, Schoers and Rodriguez, Bellanova on the right, Lazaro on the left and the double pivot of Ricci and Illich, second Vlasic who were flanking

Zapata. Now it was a rather uneventful first half, typical Derby della Molle things, particularly with the way Juve have been lining up under Allegri and the way Torino typically tend to line up in this derby because they like to play it safe, like I said they haven't won this in around 18 matches. However in the 47th minute, Gatti that opened the scoring in the opening moments of the second half for Juve, Vania made an absolute mess of Costucci's scorer as he dove out to punch

the ball but totally missed it. The ball ricocheted off of Thames and landed to Moisecchine who had an empty net but also his back towards goal. So he had to over-kick the ball and he hit the post and Gatti was there for the rebound making sure the ball crossed the line even twice. The referee initially cancelled the goal due to an apparent offside but since the ball came off of a Torino defender the goal was awarded. In the 62nd minute Juve made a two through substitute

Arcadius Millic. Now fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Another Costucci corner, another missed Superman punch by Vania, another goal for Juve as Millic headed in. The keeper complained about Moisecchine's obstruction. Well, basketball is big in Serbia so maybe he got the rules confused but however Vania you are allowed to stand in someone's way in football you can't blame them for the way that you command your area. Now fool me three times and you should

get demoted to Serie A cheese. Would you believe that he made the same mistake in the 67th minute after he was the Costucci corner like Jesus Christ? He was a bit nervous. I think the first mistake got him and he never really recovered. This was a very interesting game so first of all it's interesting to note that when it comes to shots on targets Torino only had one so Torino did not play well at all this game and Juve pretty much had them figured out.

Nicely he got the scoring after his comical howler last week. That's a great recovery and he just goes to show that football is all about highs and lows. Football is a brilliant representation of life and you've got Gatti last week he was at his lowest this week he was scoring in the Derby and he's being celebrated and I'm sure he hasn't paid at the restaurant since. Fucking worried bro. So yeah, Costucci played a fantastic game. From the bad ball. He's such a good crosser of the

ball Costucci and that's what he's going to give you. He's perfected it. Cambio is always an interesting player. He's good but I don't think he's quite ready to bench Costucci. He is not in the prime of his career which Costucci finds himself in. But there were... I just... Costucci was almost out last season. Yeah, yeah nothing on Forest wanted him. All these guys wanted him. I just want to finish the play by play. Luckily for Vania and Torino it wasn't a third from that corner

because Gatti headed off target. Keen had a disallowed goal for offside at one point and at one point Keen might have accidentally kicked the moon while controlling a super high ball with his foot. It looked like a combination of Zlatan Zidane and Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. In reality he's moist Keen and he's kind of mid. Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. Yeah, he's a karate style fighter in the UFC. He can kick the sun. Damn. I didn't get that

reference. I apologize. Did you see the way he controlled that ball? I did bro. I did. It was Zlatan Eskri. Literally. Zlatan Zidane and Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. I must say Keen has a new lease of life this season. He's looking different. He's looking more complete as a striker. I think he's one of those strikers that isn't gonna grab many goals. However, if he has a more direct

striker next to him he could be a good partner for him. Unfortunately for him he had Maretti who probably played in a bit more of a free role over there as a secondary striker. But Fania had a terribly game over here which isn't like Fania because he's a very solid goalkeeper. He's formidable between the sticks. His size makes it super hard for anyone to get close to him

because he also has a pair of balls at a bull would be proud of. But in this case they seem to have shriveled up in the cold Tourine airman and I'm not quite sure what he tried to do because like I said I'm a full-me-one striker. I'm a full-me-twice striker. I'm a full-me-three times. I get demoted to Serie A 3. It's ridiculous that you make the same mistake three times in quick succession in the same half of the same game and he would have gotten a strong talking to from Yurich knowing him.

Probably. Yurich was extremely emotional after the game. Yurich was crying after the game. Oh, was he? Yeah, he was in tears. He said I've given it all but it's not working. I've been here for two and a half years and we've made good progress but it's not quite what I have wanted to achieve so far. There's something missing and it is true there is something missing. They do struggle to score goals. Stylistically they look good. They're clearly organized. They clearly have good ideas

in place but something really is missing. Let's hope that Yurich can get these guys clicking because he's a fantastic coach and three and a half come a long way from the relegation team that they were with it. They were a team that was just outside the relegation. Yeah, like obviously this game is very important for Torino because it's Derby. You know what I mean? But how important is Derby de Lamolle victory for Juve?

Because it's massive. I mean, but yes, because it's the Derby and it means a lot to the fans which is what makes it massive. But you look at this and it's not competitive at this point. Well, it hasn't been competitive properly. 18 matches. It's probably an opportunity that's there before Juve to raise their spirits and to be honored

for a game that's actually not that difficult to win. But however, on the other side, there's a situation that this game is a must win for Torino and a must perform. So Torino come in with less pressure than Juve because there are fewer expectations for them. So they can easily disrupt Juve with the pressure and the size of the occasion. I mean, I praise Juve because they had that weakened side naturally with Vladovic and Kiaz out.

However, with all these like to give Torino some credit, they too had a decimated side that Bonjourno. Bro, I can't anymore with this word. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But it's too good. Man, such a word. Bonjourno, Voivoda, Sopi, Gigi and Popa out for Torino led to Eurich making several tactic adjustments for this match, including adapting Tamiz as a centre back

and introducing Pelé, Gris and Sanabria in the late stages. These changes aimed to turn the tide of the game, but they ultimately fell short, highlighting the complexities of in-game management. Juve simply have a thicker squad with higher quality, which obviously makes it a bit of a mismatch. Of course, they've got superstars in their team, while Torino don't. What do you think of Meretti's striker? As a second-geest striker, I don't mind him. I don't mind him as a

second-geest striker. I would say he fitted into the role quite well, but in the first half, particularly you, who really struggled to create anything, and it did lead to Meretti actually being substituted in this game. I don't think it's his first position, but I think as he's a young man and he grows into roles more and more, I think he'll be fine over there in the future. I see him as more of a midfielder, maybe a mezzal or a kind of...

Ah, less close to goal, more of a... not exactly box-to-box. Mezzalise is perfect, drifting a bit more wide, so on and so forth. Just one more point on the set-piece dominance. When you have a game like this where it's tough to create chances, that is the kind of shit that could take you over the line. We look at Italy in the Euros of 2020, that took place in 2021, actually, as you all know what happened there. But that is what took them over the line,

I think from open play. Not an even affair, I think Juva were better, but closer than the score line might suggest and the outcome might suggest. And Juva played a different game, as in they picked up from where they started at the start of the season with this high-press. We don't often see that with Juva. Well, I'll agree. But this was very effective. This was Derbidella Molle, which saw Juva winning quite comfortably and not having to

leave it to a late-lock at a Luhner. Yeah, exactly. One point on Fagioli. Obviously, we have to address it since it's the Juva game. How much of a significant loss would he be for Juva? It could be an option of the bench that's gone and an option in rotation that's gone. He's a very good talent and I think there must be some more for the future than right now. But yeah, there aren't really many players with these characteristics on the bench for Juva right

now. Yeah, and I think it's the key stages of progression that he is in in his career right now, his late teens, early 20s. These are the times where getting significant minutes with the big boys is the most important time. And halting that progression because you're not getting in game minutes will be very effective to his career. But Juva find themselves in third guys on 17 points. There are actually four points behind Milan. Torino down in 14th, brother, on

just nine points in eight matches. Yeah, not a good start. Minus three goal difference for them. No wonder Yurich was in tears, poor guy. Yeah, yeah. Kalyari won Roma four. This was another action-packed clash. Roma convincingly decimated Kalyari, brother, for your favorite word. The match was marred by a concerning injury to Argentine forward Paolo de Balot who has since it was mad. It was mad. It was mad. Dorian Gray was a pun. Paolo de Balot was injured,

but turns out it's not serious. Okay, so it's fine. The fans were anxious about his condition, of course. This victory marked Roma's third consecutive win. And they lined up in a 352 formation with Rui Patricio and goal in Dica, Cristante and Montrini at the back with spinats all out on the left, cars drop out on the right, a war parade is on boven, the middle with Lukaku and de Balot starting up front. For Kalyari, it was a 352 formation with Skoufet coming in instead

of Radunovic. Now, Radunovic, according to Ranieri, has not been at his best this season in Serie A, but to which correct? He's got tough two games. He's lost two games or a tough one. Yeah. The only reason I see this substitution as justifiable is because Skoufet and Radunovic have a similar profile. They're both 27 years old. They're both decent goalkeepers. Skoufet started with Udineze,

if I'm not mistaken. And he debuted for them as a teenager. So he's been around for a while, and he's a pretty good goalkeeper, and it showed because he had a good save early on on the bottom. I'm not mistaken. He debuted against Milan years ago. Maybe. I'm not too sure. I'm quite certain of it. But what Ranieri did here is what some managers struggle to do, which is dropping a keeper's confidence and instilling a sense of competition between two goalkeepers, particularly

since, like you mentioned, they've got a similar profile. You see other managers that really stick by their guns. You see United with Onana, for example. You would have seen Inter with Handanovic for a number of years before Onana had gone in over there. But they had different managers, different styles. Ranieri's old school, you're not playing well. You're out of the team. Exactly. Yes. So it was Chatsidiacos, Viteska and Obert at the back for Calieri in their 352

formation with Nathan and is on the right flank. Atzi on the left flank, Sulemana, Prati and Makumbu in the middle with Oristano and Petanya up front. The game kicked off and Calieri, displayed energy and intensity, especially through Nandes' efforts on the right flank. However, with the difference in quality, that soon became apparent, the French midfielder, Hussam Awar, made his mark with a goal in the 19th minute, showing his prowess to get a second

goal in Italy. Roma's dominance was underlined by goals from Awar and then Romelu Lukaku, who scored after Karsdorp delivered a delicious cross into the box. And you can see how much it meant to Karsdorp over here as he celebrated that assist like it was his own goal and Lukaku took off pointing at him and smiling and praising him for his valiant efforts.

Karsdorp's been through it. He really has. Calieri struggled to find ideas in space. They faced an uphill battle and the match took a grim turn when Dabala sustained an injury and had to leave the field in tears. In the second half, Andrea Bellotti added to Calieri's woes with a spectacular goal making it 3-0, albeit after a Varchek. Brother, this was a goal of the week contender and we forgot about it. Yeah, we missed it. He absolutely tore the defence apart, fainting

and shimmying before executing the play perfectly. Yeah, prime goal though. I looked like. Prime goal and Prandalo Torino that was using the second half continued to favour Roma, Lukaku, with the second goal of the match took the score to 4-0 after Bellotti held the play up well, and then led it off to Paredes who found Lukaku in a pocket of space who finished cleanly. Now the game. Paredes to assist in 8 minutes. Yeah, yeah. He's been very good this season

when it comes to actually contributing to goals. In the 87th minute, Crisanti handled the ball in the box, Calieri wrote the penalty and Nantes slothed it home. Bro, it was many games boys are here. It was man and I had said this to you before we started recording the episode, which is Roma got going. They really got going. That signing of Lukaku was that like final piece to what they needed to turn things up and it seems like they're attacking with way more confidence. Bellotti got

off to a really good start this season. He had scored a hat-trick on the first day, but there were some disallowed goals over there. Yeah. I believe he ended up scoring two in that game, two legal goals. Yeah. And Bro is fucking yawning. Sorry man. But yeah, they look like a dangerous side. I'm not just talking about this game because this was

against Calieri who just don't look good, do they? Man, Calieri. They look like they're constantly wary that someone can catch them out on the break, but they're not doing too much about that. You know what I mean? Yeah. They don't move with confidence because they know they can get caught out, but in some way, shape or form, they're still getting caught out consistently.

Exactly. No, that's it. I think teams feel comfortable attacking Calieri as we mentioned in the last episode because they're not going to hit you on the break with pace. So if you attack them and you don't make the most out of your chance and they counter attack, you're not in danger unless Lovumbo is playing, of course. Then Lovumbo will tell you a new one.

But Lovumbo was on the bench this game and they actually came on in the 39th minute because Ranier realized like these guys are just attacking and attacking and attacking and we have nothing to say about it. So he actually had to make the substitution in the first half. Is there a reason that Lovumbo isn't starting? Is it fitness because it blows my mind? Oh man, I don't know to be honest. When you play once a week, you should totally be starting, but then you never know,

man. Lovumbo is the type of player who's because of his play style, he struggles a lot. He gets whacked, man. He gets kicked. He uses a lot of energy to drive forward and dribbling. You know, you know, exhausting dribbling isn't running into space. It's so tiring, man. Like, you know, one run from the halfway line to the box, your average man will be out of breath and like whistling, like wheezing, gasping for air. These guys are incredible. So yes, I think it's an issue with

fitness, to be honest with you. Potentially, yeah. Yeah, because it would be absurd. He's clearly the only player in their team that is capable of changing a match, turning the tide of the match. Chelsea have allegedly set their asking fee for Romelu Lukaku at 39 million thoughts. They don't afford them, Roma. They don't afford them, right? No one has the money to pay for this guy. He's a luxury signing for 39 million. At his age, no one's going to sign him for 39 million.

Yeah. You know, I feel like he's going to end up going from one club to the next. In Italy, you've afforded them. In Italy, it's you, Ver. I don't even think you've afforded them. Due to their assets. They don't have Champions League football or European football at all. They didn't get anything. They own their own stadium though and they've got plenty of assets. Sure. But they only afford them enough love, which kind of extremes. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, exactly. They're going to pay 39 million. It would have to be a man for man kind of deal like that for anyone to acquire. It's such a shame because I wish that this guy could just call Rome home because it's working for him there. It is so far. We'll fast forward. I can't wait to listen back to this episode in two years time and see what the man has done to screw his relationship with Morinio because that will happen. But sometimes Morinio just gets on with

players and meets their families and stuff when it's controversial. The guy is like, he can be the best. He can be the worst. Exactly. I must say Lukaku looks as powerful as ever. He's so hard to muscle off the ball right now and he seems unplayable. At the moment, he's totally on form and it turns out Morinio is the type of manager he needed. Yeah. He needs someone to be hard on him because it seems like the second you give him respect,

then he's capable of screwing their relationship up. But it's working so well for him at Roma. Did you see the moment between Morinio and that youth player? I believe it was Dalessio. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked about not letting the kids through the gates of training, right? That's beautiful. And Dalessio was one of the kids once and he told Morinio the story and then Morinio let them in. And they made the kids happy. And now Dalessio went from being one of

those kids shouting to be let into the training facilities to actually playing for Roma. So that's a beautiful story. Dalessio, you're living it, bro. Living the dream. You look so bashful, actually. It was like, Grazie, a mistake. You could see his lips doing that thing like when a kid's about to cry. The theory on it. The theory, literally, but in a sad way. Well, in a

very overwhelmed and grateful way. Yeah. Kallieri are still searching for their first say victory while Roma's free starting 11 seems to finally be ticking and they're playing some pretty good football. Granted, it was against possibly one of the worst sides in the league right now. But a win is a win and a 4-1 victory away from home will do anyone a whole lot of

confidence. Will give anyone a confidence boost. Yeah. Let's want to point out Paredes. Yes. I said when he signed for Roma and I said this during our Fanta auction and everyone called me stupid. I said, Paredes, we'll go down there, Morinio. And I think he's showing that I think he's been solid over the past few games. He's been getting minutes and both the Paredes are war despite like you looking at that tree and thinking it's not great. It has been working. I'd be interested

to see it against maybe one of the top seven teams, probably the other six. But so far it's looking, it's looking quite solid. There's some good balance over there. Yeah. This is the type of game and that can change your season because it's a type of game where you might have created new protagonists. It's a confidence boost for Karsdorp, a war. Spinozolo got an assist. Lukaku got two goals, but he got some goals. He got a great goal.

Mia, it's just going to make these guys believe even one of them. Yes. When it comes to the table, while I buy myself some time, Roma currently sit quite low down the table actually in 10th with 11 points while Kalyari sit in 20th with two points. 11. The next game we're going to be covering is Lecce won Sasvolo won Lecce were coming off a foreign home loss to Napoli. I saw Swallow were coming off a one-nil home loss to Monza. Lecce have lost each of their last seven

games against teams from Emilia Romagna by an aggregate of 9-18. The last Lecce win against these teams in the top flight was in February 2020, which was a 2-1 victory against Spal at Via Delmare. Lecce had the likes of Banda, Blyn and Cassio Dermaco out injured while Sasvolo had Alvarez and Henrique out. It was a 4-3-3 formation for Lecce with Falco and Engol and a backline of Gendry, Pongracic, Baskirotto and Gallo with Raffia, Ramadani and Kaaba in the midfield,

Strefets and Ancvest flanking, Christovic. There's a 4-2-3-1 for Sasvolo, Dionisi Sasvolo with Consigli Engol and the backline of Pedestin, Ehrlich, Ferrari and Vignia, Bologna and Racic were in the midfield, it's either Racic or Racic or Racic. Crem, Berardi out on the right, Lauriente out on the left, Castillejo as an attacking midfielder with Pinamonte up front. I was wondering if Dionisi has ever watched Castillejo play.

In the 12th minute, Strefets attempted a looping half volley from just outside the area, which was expertly saved by an outstretched Consigli. He'll be thinking of that one in the showers later as he is lightheaded following an intense left-handed showerwag as his right spared the tedious task of bringing the 36-year-old to climax, particularly after its involvement in that save. Okay, this one's for the OG listeners, bro, you're gonna have to explain this.

Yeah, we had a theory when Consigli was performing really well two, three years ago and he was never called up for the Italian national team and there were some questionable call-ups for Italy's goalkeepers and our theory is that Consigli must be weird in the dressing room and no one wants him there and we think he wanks in the showers. Matthew thinks he wanks in the showers. He wanks in the showers, looks the type

as well. So there you go. In the 17th minute, Pongracic got a crucial block to deny Ratchic's goal, which was a certain goal, but Pongracic really put himself in harm's way over there to deny that. In the 22nd minute, Berardi made that one nil for Sasvolo. Who else? And it was from the penalty spot this time. Berardi makes no mistake from the spot, sending Falco on the wrong way.

The penalty was awarded after a corner kick struck the arm of Basquerotto. It was a soft call, very short distance between the initial contact and the handball, which was very minimal. Don't think it would have been given in the Champions League, don't think it would have been given in the Prem, but so yeah, baby, made in Italy. In the 38th minute, Gallo delivered an inch-perfect cross to Kristović, who quite literally threw the defender to the ground

before smacking his header into the post. He should have done much better. It was a free header, although it might have gotten cancelled, had that gotten in because, wow, he literally threw him on the floor. He threw him. He threw him. There's no other explanation. On the stroke of half-time, Ankhvist fucked Vignia for a pace and got into a goal-scoring position, but his shot was denied well by the strong forearm of Concilie. In the 48th minute, Kristović got an equalizer for Lecce.

It was Trefetzas' corner that found Baskerotto, who headed into the path of Kristović, who was right in front of goal, controlling with his right and finishing off with his left. Baskerotto atones for giving away the penalty, but Kristović atones for his earlier miss. In the 73rd minute, Trefetzas' crossed free kick should have been nailed in by two-let-ger

players, particularly Pongaricic, who totally missed the ball. I won't give him too much stick, though, as he had a great moment earlier, blocking a variety strike, among other moments, and he's been a fantastic defender for Lecce over here. In fact, let's start off by that talking point, addressing Pongaricic and how he didn't get many an opportunity last year. He was out injured for a while, and there was a certain umtiti starting alongside Baskerotto,

who's a centre-back partnership. Pongaricic has come in and he showed us that he's a very modern centre-back and a very solid modern centre-back at that. I know you're a big fan of him, so I just want to get your opinion on him on air. I mean, another player from the youth system of Bayern Munich, he was a player with European experience, and he was brought in at the same time as umtiti. Now umtiti formed a formidable partnership with Baskerotto last season, and Pongaricic was struggling

with injuries, so we didn't see much of him. But he has since stepped up to fill the void that umtiti has left behind, and he's doing it brilliantly. I think he's a leader back there, he's a commander, he's still only 26 years old, and I think the future is so bright for Pongaricicic, and I think he's a coup for any of the big teams right now. Yeah, he's a horse as well. Yeah, he always thought he was like a normal person. Did you ever see that, that umtik talk of whose horse is that?

No, it's just a random horse somewhere, and there's dead silence, so the horse just chilling there, and it's clearly like an Irish person filming it for like 15 seconds without saying anything, and then he suddenly just goes, whose horse is that? By the way, I'm sorry, why has Pongaricic reminded you of this video, brother? Whose horse is that?

He's left his horse. My point is he really inserts himself, you could see him charging forward when he's attacking, and you really see him charging back when the geni to defend. My point is he's a very modern centre back, think of those attacking minded centre backs who charge forward and charge back. I really think Pongaricic inserts himself in defensive and offensive areas. Because he's also capable of playing as a right back or a left back,

so he's quite good on the ball, he's comfortable on the ball. Much like horses. Much like your odd horse. There's also Kristovic, which is quite a talking point, he's had great scoring form, and he's continued his impressive scoring form, netting his fourth goal in seven Serie A appearances. His ability to find the back of the net from close range highlighted his poachers, instinct and his positional awareness. How good do you think he is among the best strikers in Serie A

at the moment? I don't want to get too carried away about Kristovic, but he clearly has been, let's say he didn't have a solid striker last year, they had Colombo and Cisse, who were rotating with each other and both of them kind of failed to cement their starting spot over there. And finally they seem like they have their guy, and I think he's good. I think he's very good. He's not particularly large, he's six foot one, right Kristovic? He isn't particularly fast,

he is a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic poacher. And he's the type of player that you need to really be careful of your defender, and he's in the box around you because he knows where the space is, and he's going to attack it to perfection every time. And he's got a bit of fight in him, so he's not going to be afraid to, as you saw, be a bit aggressive with defenders, maybe stepping on them a little bit, pulling their shirts a little bit, that type of play. He's played seven

games this season so far and scored four goals. I think he's at the moment, he stands statistically as a top striker, do I think he's a top striker in Italy? Not right now, but at the age of 23, the future is very bright. And I just hope he doesn't make the jump too early on in his career. Exactly, be patient, Kristovic. They're already calling him Kristovic, Jesu Kristo, and fans have led you dressing up as Jesus Christ with the Kristovic kit.

It's actually quite funny. Football is brilliant. I would say that Streffetso is still the man for Lecce in this game. It was his creativity that really put Lecce in goal-scoring opportunities, both from dead-ball situations. Kind of reminds me of Insignia, both due to his size and the way he cuts inside and releases those early crosses, particularly to the far post, looking for someone to slide it and square the ball into the middle. He's still the guy for Lecce, would you

agree? He's very good. Funnily enough, though, as the guy, he doesn't feature as regularly as some of the others. I would say that the guy for Lecce would be Basquerato or Pongratius, right? To be honest with you. Basquerato has had a mixed season so far. I think he got sent off and gave away a penalty. He was sent off a couple of matchdays ago and he gave away a penalty in this match. However, you still can't fault a lot of his defending. You still can't fault the way he inserts

himself in those set-piece situations. When you're looking for a noggin to ping the ball to, he's always there and he's very dangerous over there. That's why I would have picked him up on Tantacalcio, for example. But that's covering Lecce a little bit. I do think that this game is quite a slow KG affair, looking at two very equal sides this season. Due to Lecce having a

good start, I would say it was quite two equal teams. Probably the second half was of a very, very, very high tempo end-to-end stuff in this game and a significant midfield battle. Lecce came out with this greater intensity and a sense of urgency, naturally, because they needed to get that equaliser. Evident in their quick equaliser, but both teams pushed for a winning goal in the later stages, resulting in a very exciting

end-to-end contest over here. I think this game was under the radar due to obviously all of these things that happened in this matchday, but this was a great game. Yeah, and I do think to a certain extent Lecce deserved it. He deserved to go away with it, because Sassuolo had only one shot on target and that was their goal. Lecce actually didn't have that crystal-ish clear-cut opportunity, for example, and some other nice passages of play as well.

Yeah, interesting again, just to see Castille Ho being played as an attacking midfielder. Does he have the physicality to the players? And like he's a player that needs space around him, because he isn't exactly blessed with close ball control, but he's rather someone that needs his space and he'll just try to knock the ball around you and go for a sprint or try to link up with a 1-2. He's not exactly a great passer, a great forward passer, not a very direct player.

It'll be, I can't imagine him succeeding. I have an issue with his vision in this position, because there was an instance where he entered the box and he had a player overlapping on his right and he didn't even look up and even notice. Just a ball watching the entire time and he went for a shot and then, yeah, you need to be very, very, very intelligent to play such a courtista. Yeah, but interesting stuff in this game. Like I said, stylistically, very, very interesting match

over here. Sassuolo currently find themselves in 12th place on 10 points, whilst Dettra find themselves in 9th on 12 points. The next game we're going to be covering is Monza 3 Salernitana nil. This win marked Monza's 5th consecutive positive result, while Salernitana, on the other hand, were led by Paulo Sossano's 100th series appearances. They lost 3 nil and he has since been sacked. He criticised Salernitana for missing too many chances, when in reality,

I think the defence seems to be quite problematic over here. But let's get into what happened this game. It was a 3-4-2-1-4 Monza with Di Gregorio and goal the ever impressive, incredible, underrated lion of a goalkeeper, Di Gregorio. D'Ambrosio, Mari and Calderola were at the back, with Shuri out on the right and Kea Coppolis out on the left, with Pessina and Gallardini as the midfield double pivot, seeing Samuel Vignato and Andrea Colpaani playing

behind Milan Loni, Lorenzo Colombo. For Salernitana, it was a 3-4-2-1 formation with Ochoa and goal Pirola, Giombra and Danilo Lice at the back, with Mazzocchi, Lagovski, Bohenin and Castanoss in midfield, with Cabral and Kandrieva playing behind Boulaye, Dia. The scoring action began early as Andrea Colpaani found the net in the ninth minute with his fourth goal of the season. He showcased his skills with a precise diagonal shot that left goalkeeper Ochoa with no chance

after twisting and turning around a few players. Monza continued to press and in the 18th minute, Samuel Vignato extended their lead by neatly finishing a play set up by Gallardini on his first ever start for Monza. The first half proceeded at a slow pace due to the heat, with Monza maintaining control, Salernitana struggled to mount the response and in the 21st minute, D'Gregorio made a crucial save on Kandrieva's diagonal rocket. The first half ended

with Salernitana's fans voicing their frustration as they whistled their team. Not like the Salernitana feed. The second half saw Sousa making three substitutions for Salernitana in an attempt to change the game's dynamic. Despite these changes, Salernitana remained an effective unable to challenge Monza's defense held firm. Salernitana did have an opportunity when Dia broke free, but his shot was saved by D'Gregorio onto the crossbar and the ball bounced on the line.

Thanks to goal line technology, it was concluded that it was not a goal. However, it was Monza who had several opportunities to extend their lead in the 73rd minute. Bondo's shot was saved by D'Gregorio and Kandrieva's rocket was slipped onto the crossbar. The match was ultimately put beyond doubt when a penalty was awarded to Monza in the 80th minute, which Matteo Pesina converted. Colombo's shot was saved by Ochoa and Galliardini's bicycle kick struck the crossbar at the end of

the game. Yeah, actually in fact I love this Monza side. They are fabulous. They are aggressive, they're stylish, they're tactically drilled, they're expressive in their play somewhere, a vignozo over here just driving and dribbling like with so much confidence. You can tell these guys play for Paladino. Paladino gives them so much confidence and I can't be happier for Lorenzo

Colombo. This is a great place for him to go out on loan. Colombo's been coached by some decent coaches over the years and has had successful loan spells in the past so it's good for him to be in a good environment to grow again. And you can see that this is a healthy side to be in because even the likes of Cario Coppola, who seemed to have plateaued in his career, has found a new lease of life and even Dan Brosio is playing very well. It's good because you typically see players going

out on loan in teams that haven't got their shit together. It seems like Letra last season who struggled in the latter stages for example and it was hard for Colombo to really insert himself because no one was inserting himself but in this side there's a system around it, there's a manager with a vision, there's a team with a goal, a project, an ambition and you're seeing him at the

heart of something great. You've got Pessina, Galliardini, you've got Vignato, you've got Colpani, you've got Turia, you've got DeGregorio and Gould, you've got a fantastic team to send a player out on loan too. There's an asset to them as well naturally. Definitely. Salernitano on the other hand, it is true to Sousa's point that they are very wasteful, however they do have certain gaps in defence that have not been addressed and they have been smashed too many times and a 3 in Los

de Monza is in fact unacceptable. Yeah, it's the cherry on top of the cake in the most negative sense possible. The straw that broke the camel's back. The straw that broke the camel's back, that's beautiful. But my thing is, so naturally after such a slow start, it's natural to see Salernitano acting quick and I say that especially because every time they've had a reaction two years ago bringing in Nicola, last year bringing in Sousa, we've always seen them get

better after they change their manager. The question is, is Pippon's arg the guy? I guess we'll have to fucking wait and see. I can't understand the logic behind it. I don't think Sousa was the problem over here but we'll have to wait and see how Pippon's arg does. Let's hope that finally he can have a good season in Serie A for Salernitano. They sit in 19th with three points while Monza

sit in 7th with 12 points. A manager is often scapegoated because you can't change your 11 players but you can't change the one manager and that's exactly what Salernitano did and can do over here. Next game we're going to be covering is Fresno and Verona. One, Fresno and Verona were coming off at 2 nil home loss. Sorry, away loss to Roma. Verona were coming off at nil away draw to Torino.

Coming into this game, Fresno and Verona had won four out of six previous encounters against Halas Verona in Serie A and Serie B. Both teams had a surprisingly good start to the season and sat at mid table but also had numerous absentees. The hosts missed Kyo George, Harui, Jelli and Kalaj but gave Ryanair his debut after a lone move from Real Madrid. Halas made the trip without

Hien, Doig, Kabal, Mboula and Braff while Davidovic was not fully fit either. The referee in this match was Maria Soleferre Caputi, Jesus what a name, who made her debut in Serie A, refereeing Saswolo vs Salernitano back in 2022, becoming the first female referee taking charge of a Serie A match. Lineups, Fresno lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Turati in goal and a backline of Marquizza, Occholi, Monterizzi and Oiono. A midfield three of Garretano, Berrincia and

Mazzatelli with Rainier and Sole, flanking Chedira to the 3-4-1-2. For Verona with Monte Paul in goal and a backline of Maniani, Coppola and Amione, Terraciano out on the right, Lazovic on the left, Duda and Foloruncio behind Soslov and Ingonj and Saponara up front. Saponara up front, I love it. The first half saw a great performance by Juventus Loni Sole who was running grandpint and made three chances out of nothing through his drive, jibbling and side of goal. He got close from a free kick

and even hit the post moments later. Our patron and friend Mattias, who you would have often heard discussing ampoli on our episodes, compared his style of play to Berardi and I couldn't agree more. In the 46th minute, still in the first half, Rainier opened the scoring. The Real Madrid Loni netted his first Serie A goal on his debut for the club as he slotted into an empty net following Chedira striking the near post. In the 52nd minute, Terraciano had a just

wide following and a delicious trademark cross by Ricci Saponara. In the 68th minute, Sole was once again denied by the post, this time following an incredible no-look pass from what I believe was Berrin Ciaz, it was hard to tell. I think Sole could have done better from there. In the 66th minute, Sole's moment finally came as he netted in a header following a markets across from out wide and in the 94th minute, Giuric pulled one back from Verona as he

headed in across by Chachua. Rainier opened the scoring, exciting stuff, Real Madrid Loni, the girls love him, I'm good to see him off the mark, not a very impressive goal, but he did have a good game. I mean he scored on his debut, great game for him, you know, and for Sonona, where incredibly they continued to impress, blowing another say, a big dog out of the water over here, and what more can I say then?

Exactly man, and they have such a youthful approach, their strategy of relying on young talents such as Rainier and Sole is really paying off, and they had three players born in the 2000s with at least one goal in Serie A, indicating a focus on youth development. Coach de Francesco's graduate integration of these talents without the pressure of immediate performance contributed

to their success. He's doing God's work, he's doing God's work, there isn't a single player in the starting 11 over the age of 30, my goodness, great goalkeepers, 22 years old, or 22, Monterey's a 21, Marquitsa 25, Matsuteli 27, Berentree a 22, Garretano 29, Keddi 25, Rainier 21, fantastic, they are so young and typically this is the type of team that finishes dead loss in the league and gets relegated and pun, they sit here and say, ah, it's because they don't have

enough experience, well what's your excuse for these guys doing so well then, how do you explain it man, they are well drilled and de Francesco has a new lease of life and he has been absolutely

fantastic with Frostenot, let's hope they can keep it up. Yes, they really made Verona struggle over here, they have struggled with scoring goals, they managed a late goal through a Jewish header, which was nothing to be impressed by because at that point you put Jewish in the middle and you cross to him as much as you can, Verona have taken a bit of a dip since their fantastic start, they now find themselves in 16th place on eight points, interesting that they've only conceded

eight goals, which puts them in the top five for these goals conceded this season, whilst Frostenot and find themselves in eighth place on 12 points, impressive stuff. The next game I'm going to briefly address over here as we're tied for time is Empoli Nyl Udinez Nyl, now Udinez lined up with Sylvester Yingo, Kristen Simbiol and Perez at the back with Kamara Pereira, Wallace Samardzic and Ebocele in midfield with Lorenzo Lucca and Thuvan up front.

Sylvester looks good with his haircut. Yes, for Empoli it was Berish Angola, Buahiz, Miley Luperto and Kakachi at the back with Marin Grasian Mali in the middle, Baldan Zianca, and Shiliri playing behind Caputo. Now this game basically in a nutshell to sum it all up was a sequence of missed Samardzic opportunities in the first half. He missed about

four opportunities over there, I swear to God. It was quite shambolic by him. He should have definitely done better when in the second half Empoli grew into the game and missed a few opportunities of their own. It was quite a wasteful game of football, to be honest with you. There was a Caputo eventually scored, but it was ruled offside. Jhazi came on and missed a few opportunities, as always, of course. Baldan Zianca had a few attempts, Kambi Aghi missed narrowly at the end.

I would say Empoli deserved to win this and they definitely look much better on their adjardzoli. And I must say that Sotel's job is in peril over here because if you look at the statistics of what Danez did this matchday in comparison to the other 19 teams in Serie A, they were dead lost in everything. Accurate passes, distance covered, everything, they were dead lost. So I don't know, there's something definitely wrong with them at the moment.

I think this game kind of highlights the problem of both sides, which is scoring goals. It's as simple as that. If you can't score goals, you can't win football matches and these two teams have a lot to learn when it comes to scoring goals. Perhaps some of their personnel doesn't help. Yeah, totally. One player that impressed me this game was Tyrone Ebuehi, who absolutely destroyed Kamara out on the right hand side. He had a very good game over there.

Thank you very much guys for tuning into another episode. Naturally, there's the international break next week, so we will be seeing you the week after. Thank you very much guys, we love you. Love you so much. Ah!