Hello and welcome to episode 98 of Serie a Spotlight. I'm your host Jake, I'm usually joined by my brother and co-host Matt but he is in Australia sorting out some personal issues. He should be back in about two weeks but until then you're stuck with me and I often wonder and think to myself what are the fans thinking right now? What are the listeners thinking right now? Oh we're stuck with this one, the weird one. Ah thank god it's this one and not
the other one. I wonder, let us know should Matthew stay in Australia? Comment
below. Selecting the goal of the week for this week was particularly difficult it was so difficult actually because you had Xerxes goal which took the cake at the end of the day where the first touch with his back heel, he was playable perfectly in front of him to give him space to beat his man then the faint to drop the keeper and just taps it in like he makes it look so easy but that's so hard to do you know like for me that's the goal of the week and then
you have Scamucca on the other hand who scored a back heel goal where he not make the goalkeeper absolutely crazy over there. Paulitano who headed the ball down past Pellegrino and Schimit passed another man and smacked it into the back of the net. Raspadori's amazing free kick, Solead dribbling the Sena and placing it into the back of the net. All incredible goals guys I'm gonna drop a poll below if you're on Spotify, if you're on YouTube please comment below
let us know which your favorite goal was and why. But yeah before we get into the action guys remember to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, check us out and drop a five star rating and if you really want to support what we do we have Patreon it's G99 a month to support our content we'll be using the money to
invest in our studio. I'm currently using the studio fun fact for the first time I'm recording here for the first time I had to actually duct tape a piece of cardboard to the door frame because we don't actually have any doors installed right now so the funny thing is the ceiling is soundproofed but we don't have any doors so it totally defeats the purpose but yeah this should be
adequate for now. Before I get into a detailed analysis of each game let's just quickly run down the scores so it all kicked off on Friday with Genoa Salernitana that's so Genoa defeating Salernitana with a score of 1-0.
Sasvolo Bologna to place on Saturday afternoon this is a derby in Reggio Emilia the score was 1-1 over there Lecce and Torino faced off Torino winning with a score of 1-0 while Juve struggled to get past Genoa with a score of 1-0 and they did not struggle because of a lack of quality they struggled because it seemed as though the entire world was against
them for this one. Sunday kicked off with a fantastic game and it's gonna be the main game the first game we're gonna be covering and I don't ever think and say a spotlight history we've started off with a minnow game and I'm not sure Matti would agree with this but thankfully he's 24 hours away so by the time he gets here he'll have calmed it down. Calieri 4, Frostinone 3 this will be
the first one I'll be covering in this episode. Monza 1 with Denezzar 1, Inter 1, Roma nil over there Roma absolutely boring and then a good ad for Serie A Napoli 2 Milan 2 but it did not stop there as on Monday it kicked off with Ampolli nil at Atlanta 3 and then a fantastic clash between Lazio and Ferentino which saw Lazio win with a score of 1-0 thanks to a goal at the
death by Ciro Immobile. In a weaker blaze with the thunderous clashes of Serie A giants where legends battled and the net quivered with the weight of their prowess one showdown sword above all an unparalleled spectacle of skill grit and redemption. Calieri 4, Frostinone nil this game saw Calieri become the first side in Serie A history to come back from 3-0 down past the 70th minute mark.
Yeah I wish I spoke like that all the time to be honest what a game what a game 1230 on a Sunday if you were doing anything else like if you were out for brunch I pity you because this was the place to be and it all kicked off with Frostinone absolutely annihilating Calieri but don't get it twisted Calieri did hold their own and they were always in it despite being down 3-0 it's just that luck was not on their side and that's why this game
particularly was a was a testimony of determination and willpower and just never giving up you know all the cliches and of course Essela Metti, Senna Pavoletti. Now let's get into the line-up before we get into what happened for Calieri it was a 4-3-2-1 formation with scuffe in goal Nathan Nandes as the right back out Jello as the left back a Golden Ega and Dossena at the back with Macumbu Prati and Deola and midfield Youngton Lovumbo playing behind
Manco Zoo. For Frostinone it was Turati in goal with Leroy La on the right Marquitza on the left from Manuelia Montereyzi as the center back duo with Brescia Nimi and Berencea midfield Suley out on the right Bayez out on the left
Reiner in the pocket and Czuny up front. It was a cagey start but Frostinone did start off on the front foot this game especially possession wise but in the 22nd minute the individual errors begun as Dossena who you'll hear a lot about this game gave the ball away cheaply in a dangerous position Reiner the exciting youth prospect on loan from Real Madrid played the Suley and the exciting youth prospect on loan from Juventus and of course he finished clinically what you
notice about this Frostinone team is they are young and most of them are on loan it's just crazy how selflessly they play same can't be said about many of the other lowly teams particularly with Daneza for example where every
week they show me how fucking selfish they are. Now in the 28th minute Suley accidentally handled the ball in the area from hero to zero Manco Zoo had to take the penalty he stepped up and he smacked it into the crossbar the ball fell to Youngtoe who couldn't hit the target so that was already one massive chance missed by Calieri who had the opportunity to
equalize but could not capitalize on it. In the 38th minute just 10 minutes later Suley went on a solo run twisted and turned Paas Dossena that's the second time mentioning him before slotting home calmly so it's redemption again of course two goals gave way a penalty granted but they failed to convert so he's living in dreamland at this point and the 43rd minute Lovumbo played a perfect cross to Manco Zoo whose header hit the woodwork this is
the second time he struck the bar this game after the penalty so you can tell you know Calieri hitting the post twice trailing to nil they were still in it they were still in it up until this point so now it's half time you can tell probably Ranieri was telling his boys come on you've been unlucky we can't do this don't concede another one we're still in this game let's go out let's get them 49th minute Brescianini opens the second half by beating Dossena
third time 1v1 and rolling the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-0 so at this point I thought to myself fuck the game's over and I'm just gonna have to watch Frosinone defend a 3-0 lead by Calieri fluff their chances but that was far from being the case Gabriel Alazapa attempted to hit the ball into the back of the net for Calieri after a corner but it was cleared of the line brilliantly by defense defender Montereyzi now this is
another massive opportunity squandered by Calieri luck was not on their side however they did not give up in the 72nd minute Paavoletti who had just come on played the ball to a Ristano who had just come on on loan from Inter he curled it in absolutely beautifully with his left foot this was another potential goal of the week contender there were quite a few this week last week I commented that there weren't many crazy goals apparently they were all saving
them for this week in this 76th minute shortly after Beringcia who is also on loan from Juventus playing for Frosinone gave the ball away clumsily well to be honest he played the ball in a tight space where where he really shouldn't have been risking it especially considering the fact that Calieri had just scored and they were driven he should have totally played the safer pass over there I just cleared the ball up but it was intercepted by
Mokumbu basically it took full advantage drove forward and he finished to make it 3-2 now all of a sudden Calieri are back into the game they need one goal to get an equalizer and there are 15 minutes plus at a time remaining the referee shortly after awarded a penalty to Calieri for a foul by goalkeeper Turatti on Pavoletti who basically Superman dived and punched the ball out of his feet upon a far review the penalty was overturned as Turatti had
clearly punched the ball first disappointment for Calieri but they did not give up in the 94th minute Nicolas Viola delivered a perfect corner to the head of Pavoletti who got the equalizer with a header of course Pavoletti if you know anything about Pavoletti he comes on in the second half and he scores late headers that's all he does in fact you know there was a s'e la metti senia Pavoletti which translates to if you put him on Pavoletti will score two minutes later a long ball was played
over the top it was flicked down by Dossena okay this is the fourth time we're mentioning him and it's the only positive okay massive contribution over here it flicked the ball down to Pavoletti who managed to get the ball over the line absolutely brilliant scenes s'e la metti senia Pavoletti now some of you might ask how the hell did this happen how did it happen that they were losing 3-0 and then all of a sudden they take out some of their best players in young toe and
Lumbo and Monco Zoo and they come back not only to equalize but to win and I would say that the substitutions that Ranieri made were very smart okay so bringing on the likes of Nicolas Viola, Oristano and Atsi gave you a nice mixture of like experience young flair in Oristano you know no one really knows what he's gonna do you know young and lone from Inter he comes on he's driven he's hungry and he was the catalyst in fact he was the one to score the first goal he was the one to give them hope
not to mention Atsi as well who's got a bit of experience under his belt as well not to mention that Frosinone are to blame as well you know they're victims of their own lack of composure because when the goals started coming in they panicked and they just kept coming in and then and then and then and then and four goals in 20 minutes is just mental to concede and I feel like the substitutes that had just come off were so shocked they couldn't even get into
the game like you see Borabia came on Oyoano came on Garretano Kedira they didn't even know what to do at one point the 88th minute he panicked he brought on a call he's like fuck it we need a defender over here nothing it was all in vain because Paveletti absolutely destroyed them at the end another factor of course is the determination by Kalliri okay the fact that they were never out of it do you know what the players did when they scored in the 93rd minute
the equalizer the 3-3 they ran to the ball they grabbed the ball they ran back to their half and they placed the ball on the halfway line ready to go score another one like that's crazy you just scored three to come back from 3-0 down to 3-3 you should be celebrating you know celebrating like it's a winner no no that was not enough for them they wanted to go all the way and boy did they now i'm sure this victory will help Kalliri
with their confidence you know they hadn't picked up a single victory all season there's a couple of draws here and there they currently sit in 19th with six points let's hope that this is a turning point for them they even have La Padula coming back and I can't wait to see him because he was absolutely bossing it in Serie B and he's a leader also you know they've got a few nice options up front not to mention Petania who hasn't even settled yet i'm curious to see if we can do
anything as for Frasinone this won't be the end of the world for them as they had quite a strong start to the season and they sit 12th with 12 points um yeah I don't think this will affect them too much hopefully they it will make them hungry and it'll teach them a brutal lesson in composure and focus speaking of a brutal lesson in composure and focus the next game we're going to be covering is Napoli 2 Milan 2 it unfolded as a spectacle to be honest it left both teams with mixed
emotions because Milan were totally devastated to throw their 2-0 lead away while Napoli also looked disappointed by the fact that they didn't manage to get three points
out of this one despite being 2-0 down. Rudy Garcia approached the game with a 4-3-3 formation with meretting goal and the Lorenzo as the right back Mario Rui as the left back and Natan and Rahmani as the center back duo in the midfield it was Elmas Lobotka and Zelinski with Gvaret Scalia out on the left Politano out on the right and Giacomo Raspadori playing as a
false 9. For Milan it was the exact same formation of 4-3-3 with Manjani and Goul Calabria as the right back Theo Hernandez as the left back with Tomori and Pierre Calulu as the center back duo Reindersk, Kronich and Musa with the midfield 3 with Rafael Leao out on the left, Pulisic out on the right and Olivier Giroux up front now the game started off with Milan on the front foot but they had bad news in the 19th minute as Pierre Calulu who was the third choice center back
or fourth choice arguably with you if you think that Kier is ahead of him in the pecking board I think it depends on the on the matchup he fell injured and he will be out till 2024 and Marco Pellegrino who has never played a Serie A game in his life had to step in and replace him for his debut and the Maradona talk about the baptism of fire absolutely fucking stressful for him stressful for everyone watching and he looked nervous and that's quite a shit way to start the game for Milan
unfortunately for them the the injury crisis does not hold up but but Milan started strongly and in the 22nd minute Pulisic played a great ball to Giroux who converted shortly after just 10 minutes later Davide Calabria as well played a perfect ball to Giroux who was on red hot form and he scored his second goal of the game and at this point we were wondering oh my god are Milan gonna fucking smash Napoli at the Maradona yet again after last season's
four-nil smacking of the champions quite frankly but yeah the first half ended with Milan up by two and at halftime Milan took out Christian Pulisic who was also injured apparently and brought on Luca Romero so all of a sudden you're playing with Pellegrino and Luca Romero who are two relatively inexperienced players of course Luca Romero having more experience playing with Lazio and featuring a few times with Milan as for Napoli they made three substitutions at the halfway
mark they brought on Ostigar to try to deal with Giroux a little bit better Simeone to partner Raspidoria up front so they can play with two up front and Mattias Oliveira to play on the wing instead of Mario Rui perhaps offering a little bit more defensive solidarity against Romero in this case it would have been Christian Pulisic but yes it took till the 50th minute for Marco Pellegrino to be exposed of course that's a little bit harsh but
Politano used his experience and his technique to absolutely destroy him when he went to head the loose ball and Politano just flicked it over him Simeone passed the Hernandez and smacked it into the back of the net absolutely brilliant goal by him and then later on in the 63rd minute Romero gave away a free kick just outside the area which Raspidoria took so brilliantly he shot it to Manian's near post Manian should have definitely done better he set up
a secondary wall to kind of cover the the second post but he sorry his near post but it proved to be redundant as all it did was block his view and Manian should never have been beaten over there quite frankly the game featured quite a few missed chances as well as in the first half Politano received a square ball right in front of the goal well at an awkward angle to be honest he shot and he failed to hit the target Calabria and when there was a flick on by
Jovvich later on failed to score as well and at the very end of the game Gvarratskelya should have scored the winner but he missed when he was one on one with the goalkeeper he was also squared the ball yeah a mixed bag a total mixed bag over here and I'm hearing shouts of purely out this has been a very very tough two weeks for Milan when you look at the uve game when you look at the PSG game when you look at this game now and purely is being criticized and not only by the fans
now it seems to be the players so we've already seen this season the players criticizing his decision to take out Loftus Schriek earlier on the season you could see Leao and Teo Hernandez basically telling purely why are you subbing him he's strong we need his physicality why are you taking him out but purely of course stuck with his guns this game you see Giroud absolutely fuming at the fact that he's being substituted when he had already scored two goals and
was in red hot form and usually I tend to say the opposite like for example when Milan were a man down against Juventus and purely decided to keep Giroud on I questioned that decision and I said do you really want to keep on a relatively a mobile player when you're a man down against Juventus and you want to attack I thought that was a little bit bizarre personally now in a game like this where you have a seasoned striker who's in the form of his life and you need goals and you look at your
alternative and your alternative is Jovic who hasn't scored a goal for you hasn't even settled yet it seems like the wrong decision to make however purely did say that if Jovic flick on to Calabria had found its way into the back of the net would have been hailing him to be a genius but unfortunately we can only talk about and discuss things that have happened purely and this is it this is what happened at the end of the day you took out one two your two top goal scorers okay so
Pulisic was off at the start of the half with an injury then he took off Leão and Giroud were the two other top scorers now Leão was visibly pissed off as well and he publicly said I need an explanation from the coach as to why I was substituted I can give him an explanation very easily he played like a moron he played stupidly he was selfish he was casual and apart from running to the byline he didn't really provide any form of threat
I do think that when it comes to stretching the game and beating men down the wing and taking the ball to the byline Leão is absolutely incredible he's one of the best in the world and that is what has earned him his reputation right his ability to to absolutely leave defenders in the mud as he takes off and knocks the ball forward and it takes advantage of the space in front of him however he seems to think that he's better than he is quite frankly because I've never seen him score a goal
from out of the box and he keeps trying them he keeps trying these long-range shots like what why play to your strengths it's prima donna-esque you know like it's so frustrating at times and then when you when you see him say I want an explanation the explanation should be that moment where you had Romero wide open and you attempted to trip the goalkeeper from out of the box when a goal was needed again he had the opportunity to empower a youngster he had the opportunity to
to play the ball to a player who's very smart smart beyond his ears like granted Romero is a youth player but he's he's known for his IQ you know he wouldn't have wasted that opportunity if you gave him the ball over there it's just very frustrating when it comes to Leão because he is clearly a freak of nature he's physically stronger than everyone else he's faster than everyone else he's he's skillful he's when it comes to dribbling
he's so smart he knows where to put the ball he knows where to faint he it comes naturally to him you know but sometimes I question his his decision-making I question his attitude at times as well and it's clear to see you know I mean everyone questions that you have to be blind to to stand for this because it's selfishness and unselfishness that's costing the team points at this point you know honestly if Chouquets and Poulesique were both fit let's say
start the next game with them on the wings but unfortunately everyone's in hospital so so yeah Leão obviously can't be benched and let's be real Leão was a player that you have to keep happy because he is a world-beater but the coach does need to fucking grab him by the neck and put him in his place I feel as for Napoli two fantastic goals two goal of the week contenders on say a spotlight I highly doubt they give a fuck about that but two fantastic goals and good substitutions by Garcia to keep
them in the game as well those three substitutions he made at halftime proved to be quite useful the decision to start must confuse me to be honest but yeah it all worked out in the end for them I would say a draw is the deserved result over here it was a game of two halves the usual cliche the first half was all Milan the second half was all Napoli and I could have gone any other way to be honest the margins were so fine towards the end with all the missed opportunities
Natan got sent off at the end of the game by the way 89 minutes so Milan actually had a few minutes playing a man up and Napoli actually got closer to scoring than Milan did at the end with that guard skelia miss but alas Milan find themselves in third with 22 points three points off inter in first which isn't bad it's not a bad start to the season at all Milan are definitely still in this the purely out crowd is back and I
feel like they've never really left how do I feel about the whole purely out movement I feel like tactically he can be a little bit stubborn at times I feel like he sometimes doesn't read the game as well especially when it comes to making substitutions his in-game management can be questionable and I always find myself wondering why the hell did he bring him on and not him why did he take him out you know what I mean the season is long however and sacking him now would be absolutely mental
because you're not going to get a replacement that's better and you risk this grumbling the dressing room I say unless there's a situation where Milan are like are about to miss out on top four there should be no reason for Piori to be sacked granted then at the end of the season assess go back to it and say okay there were these three there was a three in a loss over here a five one loss over there a loss over here a lead thrown over there do we want to continue with this guy
and at the end of the season if you decide that that's not what you want to do you sack him and you bring someone and you give him a full pre-season and you do it properly not sacking a coach halfway through the season when you're third and still relevant in the Champions League because let's breathe Milan aren't dead yet in the Champions League granted they don't have a victory they haven't scored a goal they've got three games remaining in the group of death and
with the way the other games have turned out the ball is still in Milan's court to a certain extent Napoli sit in fifth with 18 points as they kind of figure themselves out with their new identity I'm sure this result will give Napoli fans a little bit of faith in Garcia as a tactician perhaps not about the way he approached the game initially but the way he adapted to it and eventually prevented a humiliating loss some of you might argue that Diwali did that himself not Garcia but
but anyway let's let's remain positive over here the good news for Napoli is that Victor Ozzymen should be coming back in the near future and he's obviously a massive asset to them because playing without one of the best strikers in the world is obviously much harder than playing with one of the best strikers in the world the next game I'm going to be talking about is Inter one Roma nil and Roma over here really demonstrated
what a negative boring side they are and I'm being nice over here because Sasuo approach games against Inter with a positive mentality and they play their football and they try to score their goals while while Roma absolutely surrendered the ball and let Inter play and try to take advantage of slip-ups or of half chances and to be honest they did get close to getting something out of this with that with a Criston Tehider at some point but it's absolutely mind-boggling to me how a team like Roma
approaches a game like against Inter in this manner having the ball for merely 19 minutes in the entire game that's the least any club has held the ball this matchday the least 19 minutes they had the ball for now I know this is Mourinho's approach I know yes okay it almost worked it's just it's just so so boring to watch you know I love I love Mourinho nowadays didn't use to like him when he was when I was younger let's just say that but nowadays I've grown to appreciate him as a man as a
character and even historically for what he's done but but yeah the football is absolutely brutal to watch and Inter thankfully brought the spice over here so for Inter it was a 3-5-2 formation with Summer in goal Bastogna, Czerbian Pavard at the back with Di Marco on the left flank and the Dumfries on the right flank Miquitario Insha'Allah no gluambarella were in the middle with Lautaro Martinez and Thuram up front for Roma it was Rui Patriciongo,
Mancini, Lorente and Indica at the back with Cristante on the right, Zalewski on the left, Bofei Paredes and Cristante in the middle with Lukaku and Elshara we up front this was Lukaku's first time back at Sun Zero after he refused to renew his contract with Inter and not only that he actually I don't even think he was offered a contract with Inter because he was in talks with with other teams before the Champions League final had even been played so so the fans
Rosentum, the players Rosentum, Barella and Martinez were particularly cold towards him during the handshake at the beginning of the game fans had thousands of whistles at the stadium I believe was like 30,000 whistles or something plus they had apps on their phone for those who didn't have a whistle they could download a whistle app on their phone they could actually use that instead the sound was deafening from our TV so let alone what it
must have been like over there every time Lukaku touched the ball absolute carnage by the Inter fans but yes let's quickly run down how the game went the first action was Shala Noglu smacking the crossbar from a distance with have been a fantastic goal Rui Patricio had a one-on-one save on Turam Dimorko had a narrow miss with the outside of his foot Pavard they kept bombing into the box that was an interesting thing we observed and I think he actually had more touches in the
box than Lukaku did in the entire game more shots too actually Turam missed a golden opportunity with his head still quite wasteful Cristante headed the ball goal words and this was a very very good shot on target for Roma and it required a full stretch saved by Summer to
stop that from going in. Shala Noglu took another long range shot which deflected and almost found its way into the back of the net while Dimorko kept pelting in crosses obviously you know how relentless he can be eventually he delivered a low cross between the goalkeeper and the defense it took up until the 81st minute for this to to actually work where Turam was there to slot it in and he scored the winning goal Lukaku's replacement right in front of Lukaku in Lukaku's stadium
while he's being whistled and everyone's cheering for him it must have been absolutely horrible for Lukaku to watch that can you imagine and I'm sure he hated every second of it because he has demonstrated that he has a particularly large ego. Shortly after that Carlos Augusto struck the ball venomously from way out and rattled the crossbar and at the end of the game Cristante had the ball from outside the area and he had a miracle attempt where he shot from long range but failed to hit
the target he actually skied it. Yeah I mean I'm sure Inter have had tougher games than this they created many chances and they were actually quite wasteful if you look at the shooting stats over here
Inter had 19 shots to Roma's 3 and 63% ball position. When it comes to shots on target however Roma kept it tight so they actually didn't allow Inter many shots on target they only had three shots on target Inter while Roma's one shot on target was probably the closest opportunity in the game that anyone got who didn't score of course. Yeah that header by Cristante wow what a save by Jan Sommer.
I want to highlight quickly the importance of DiMarco who in my opinion is one of the best left wing backs in world football he is absolutely relentless he is a playmaker inter tick through DiMarco don't get it twisted it's all about DiMarco he links the defense to the attack he's the the catalyst in this team he's brilliant amazing player.
I also want to congratulate Simone Insaghi for trusting one of his players on a yellow card and not substituting him as Alessandro Bassoni with a yellow card in the 64th minute and that would usually mean that in the 78th minute it'd be subbed off but he actually left him on until the end of the game so congratulations Simone Insaghi in trusting your man something you are
not very used to to doing. When it comes to Roma I forgot to mention that Mourinho wasn't actually on the bench because he's serving a suspension as always it was the assistant manager who was there and it would have been entertaining to see Mourinho at Sun Zero even though he's usually well behaved over there because the Inter fans absolutely love him because he won the treble with them but yeah it is looking quite bleak for Roma and these big games they really don't turn up
and they currently sit in ninth with 14 points and I think obviously their European aspirations are alive and well and even a Champions League spot is up for contention for them but they are going through a little bit of an injury crisis and with their best players back hopefully we'll get to see them playing more expressive football not just pragmatic defensive counter attacking opportunistic football that
they're they're playing right now. Inter on the other hand sit comfortably in first with 25 points two points ahead of Juventus in second as they continue to to show that they are
a force to be reckoned with in this league. Let's talk about Lazio one Fiorentina nil this was a Monday night clash in the 10th round of SEA and it took up until the 95th minute for the game to be decided and it was absolutely beautiful the way it was decided because at one point late into the second half the fans in the Olympics started chanting Ciro Ciro basically summoning their all-time leading
gold scorer in Ciro mobile. Kind of unfair on Castellanus was having a great game but of course they want to see their talisman and the man who has exchanged so many games for them. Obviously Ciro mobile came on and Lazio were giving a penalty at the end of the game and he converted it
to win the game. You know football is all about these moments for me you know like Turam scoring in front of Lukaku the the contrast between Turam's night and Lukaku's night the fact that the fans have so much power they call for a player the coach brings him on and they empowered him so much that there was no doubt that Ciro mobile was ever going to miss the penalty and you can tell Patrick they didn't have to look away because Ciro mobile
hardly ever misses penalties. He's a fantastic penalty taker but yeah football is poetry and football imitates art which imitates life and that's just that's just beautiful man but yeah we should probably get into the lineups for Lazio it was the usual 4-3-3 formation with Providellingo, Lazari, Patrick, Romaniole and Maricin tried the back with Gwendozzi, Rovel and Luis Alberto in the middle Zacani was out on the left, Filippandesim was out on the right with Castellanios
starting up front the ever impressive Castellanios he's looking better and better. For Fiorentina it was Teral Ciano in goal and therefore 2-3-1 formation with Biraghi, Milenkovich, Martina, Squadra and Parisi at the back, Arthur and Duncan in the double pivot with Iqone Bonaventura and Gonzalez playing behind
Lucas Beltran. You know the home side started the game strongly of course being Lazio they had missed opportunity by Luis Alberto who was set up really nicely by Tati Castellanios you had Gwendozzi trying and playing the ball into the box you had Beltran actually in the 12th minute was scored offside he was playing a marvelous ball over the top but he controlled it with his arm he showed great technique though to take the ball down
with his arm and round the goalkeeper and scored the guvar for the referee to to call that goal off. He did hit the post later on he hit the post and then the ball ricocheted off Providell and back into play and at the end of the half there was a little bit of drama actually as Iqone seems to be dropped in the box however the ref seemed to think otherwise as he did not give the penalty.
Luis Alberto had a particularly poor game I feel this game Felipe Anderson displayed some good moments where he he got the ball at one point in the box and turned and shot so brilliantly forcing the goalkeeper into a reflex save but yeah Lazio were looking much better in this game and Salvi did comment he said that it's a shame that Kamada can't get more minutes with Alberto on the pitch because apparently the their characteristics do not complement each other and they are too similar
you know Luis Alberto is a fantastic player on his day Daishi Kamada you can clearly tell that there's talent over there but this is just the thing with Salvi you know I remember him saying that Milenko Salvić and Luis Alberto can't play well together and he ended up utilizing them until SMS went off to Saudi Arabia but yeah we'll see I'm sure he'll figure things out Daishi Kamada is too good to be kept on the bench and you can't obviously bench
Luis Alberto because he's become a leader in this team. At the end of the game it was Milenkovic who handled the ball the big Serbian defender in the box the referee pointed to the spot and it was a mobile who stepped up of course shot the ball low and hard to the left the goalkeeper went the wrong way and Lazio
took home all three points. Lazio seem to be on good form they seem to be recovering they've won four out of their last five matches and they have climbed up to seventh with 16 points as for Fiorintina they are in sixth one point ahead of Lazio with 17 points as now they've got two losses in a row they have a bit of they're going through a bit of a slump right now but obviously this tends to be the case both teams are trying to balance European football and the Serie A
they're both trying to play to their high standards and sometimes they come bite you in the ass like Fiorintina's loss last week was you know they in Maltese there's an expression there's a lot of inertia in Fiorintina you slip where it's dry and Fiorintina definitely slipped where it was dry last week I lost to Lazio it's forgivable and excusable granted perhaps it was a little bit harsh they had them they had many opportunities they had a goal that was ruled out they had a
penalty call they lost to a last-minute penalty they had seven shots on target to Lazio's three shots on target you know it's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow but but yeah I'm sure they'll bounce back the next game I'm going to be covering is Juventus one Verona nil Mjueva lined up with a 352 formation with Cesnien goal Rugani Bremerangatti at the back with Kostics out on the left and way out on the right with Robbio Locatelli and Mckeni in the middle
Moisquín and Duzan Vlaovic formed a striking partnership up front for Verona Marco Baroni's men lined up with a 3412 formation with Montipo and goal Terra Ciano Davidovic and Maniani at the back with Faroni out on the right Doig on the left, Hongla, Folloroune show and Duda playing in the middle with Juric and Bonazzoli up front in the 12th minute of the match Moisquín scored a fantastic goal but the goal was disallowed because he had been offside in the build-up play by a stud
harsh very very harsh over there and it drew a lot of attention should the goal have stood was it onside you know at the end of the day people are arguing that it was so close that the goal should have been given however where do you draw the line I feel like the offside rule could be one of those that's black or white you know pun intended let's just say it was intended because of you of course and it was it was offside you
know marginally and as close a call as it's going to get but we can't make exceptions like this you know unless the rule is changed entirely I do like the idea of the offside rule favoring the striker so that if the striker is in line with the defender it's onside regardless or if he's ahead of him or not however that is not the rule at the moment the rule states that if the defender is ahead if the striker is ahead of the
defender when the ball is played and that's offside and unfortunately with that being the rule this this is offside now maybe before the next game Moisquín will have to wear a shoe size smaller yeah you've got close again through Moisquín in the first half and Bonacoli had an opportunity and towards the end of the first off where he forced Shresny into a great save Moisquín scored again in the second half but this time it was ruled out for a foul and this was absolutely ridiculous okay
Juve were hard done in this game this was a very harsh foul to give as he barely made contact with the player yeah ruled off and it seemed like Juve were not going to get the three points over here however at the end of the game in the 96 minute gutty whipped the ball into the box Millik headed it into the bar and Cambiazzo scored the rebound to give Juve a dramatic 1-0 victory at the death against Verona victory that was well deserved Juve absolutely dominated Verona taking
30 shots to Verona 7 you've had six shots on target this game while Verona only had but one Bonacoli attempt and they deserved the victory it would have been extremely harsh if they didn't get all three points considering the nature of the goals that were called off but yeah Juve won and temporarily entered first place with inter's victory that sees Juventus in second place with 23 points while Helas Verona are in 16th with eight points
just one point outside the relegation pool I also forgot to point out that there was a penalty call on Chiesa as well so that would have made it even more controversial if it could get any more controversial than it currently was at the time Chiesa's influence of the bench was absolutely amazing adding energy and chaos and attacking the Verona goal on a multiple occasion for the Ampoli Nyl Atalanta 3 game this was a fantastic game to
to come home to after work on a Monday Ampoli lined up with a 4-3-3 formation with Berisha in goal this was of course a potential banana slip for Atalanta as Ampoli have got their shit together since the reappointment of Andrea Tsoley Ebuahi Walukovic, Luperto and Kakaccia were at the back with Marin, Grussi and Maleh in the middle with Kambiagi out on the right, Kanchileri out on the left and Kaputo up front for Atalanta in their new third kit which is red and lovely
Juan Musso was in goal, Colasinac, Jim City and Skalvini were at the back with Ruggieri on the left, Hans Hattaber on the right making his return he used to be a regular starter and that's how we remember him on the great Atalanta side. Ederson and Martin Derun were in the middle with Koopminers playing behind Skamaka and Lukmin.
The first half witnessed Atalanta's complete domination as evidenced by their overwhelming possession and attacking prowess quite frankly Skamaka's goal early on in the game set the tone for Atalanta's attacking intent with his creative back heel flick, nutmeg flick ensuring a well-deserved lead. Atalanta's overall superiority was underscored by Skamaka's attacking prowess the Italian was on fine form this game and played a
pretty much flawless game. He also went on to almost score again just near miss over there and scoring a goal which was chocked off for offside. Skamaka also went on to set up Tune Koopminers who scored with a well-placed finish and then scored another goal in the second half thanks when assist by Martin Derun
in the 51st minute. Empoli got close through Kambiagi but Atalanta's offensive onslaught was simply too much for them and at the end of the day it was quite an easy win for Atalanta who had 56% ball possession and 18 shots to Empoli's 9. 6 shots on target for Atalanta to Empoli's 2. As for the league standings Atalanta are in fourth place with 19 points while Empoli are in 18th place with 7 points despite their lowly standings there's a clear improvement over there.
Atalanta continue to push for Europe as they do look very good this year and they've got some some good depth and some quality players once they get ticking they might really be a force to be reckoned with and I do think they'll be a contender for top four and playing in the Champions League next season. We had Derby this matchday between Sasvolo and Bologna it was an Emelian Derby and this was where our goal of the week was scored of course.
Why did the inconsistent start for Sasvolo who have beaten Juventus and Inter but failed to pick up a single victory in the last three rounds? Their line-up this week was Andrea Consili and Goulinder 4-2-3-1 formation with Tolyon, Erlich, Ferrari and Vigniad the back, Bologna and Tordzvet in the middle with Berardi by Rami and Laurent playing behind Pina Monti.
For Bologna it was Skorupski and Goulinder 4-2-3-1 formation basically mirroring Sasvolo, Lico Giannis, Callofiore, Bonifazzi and the Sylvesteria at the back with Abishar and Froyler playing in the double pivot with Alexis Salamacar out on the left, Riccardo or Salini out on the right, Luis Ferguson
playing behind Joshua Zergzi. Sasvolo's offensive tactical configuration allowed them to maintain a strong presence in the opponent's half creating several goal scoring opportunities especially through the efforts of Berardi and Pina Monti. Sasvolo attempted to control the midfield emphasizing the importance of maintaining possession and creating cohesive attacking movements to penetrate Bologna's defense.
On the other hand Bologna took a more defensive approach, they were looking to thwart Sasvolo's attacking threats and minimize their goal scoring chances. Bologna strategically focused on keeping everything tight and players like Skorupski and Callofiore did very well to disrupt Sasvolo's rhythm and limit their ability to play sustained attacks. Despite Bologna's initial defensive posture they also sought opportunities for quick counter attacks to capitalize on any defensive lapses from Sasvolo,
an opportunistic approach over there from Mota. The game actually started with Sasvolo's attempts, many attempts for Sasvolo including a close transfer by Rami, however Bologna quickly took the lead through a brilliant trademark play by Xergyz, who skillfully evaded the defenders to score a stylish goal. His back heel control was to die for, you should totally go watch that if you haven't.
Despite Sasvolo's efforts the first half saw them struggling to convert their possession into concrete goal scoring opportunities. The second half witnessed both teams making strategic substitutions while Sasvolo intensified their attacks. Bologna also attempted to increase their tempo with the match continued with moments of back and forth action with Sasvolo's Bologna eventually scoring an equalizer with a well-placed shot from outside the box. Another potential goal of the week contender,
there were many this week. The game saw further attempts from both sides with Xergyz initially scoring another goal which was disallowed due to Orsallini's offside position. A few crucial saves by Skorupski saw the game and won one with Bologna in eighth with 15 points while Sasvolo are down in 15th with 11 points. Yeah, a draw here was I think the
the fair result. Five shots on target for each team. Bologna dominating the possession even though watching the game it totally didn't feel like that was the case. I mean how the hell did Bologna have 60% ball possession? It felt like Sasvolo were more involved than that. But yeah it was an interesting watch and yeah fair draw, fair draw over here. We'll be moving on to Monza Udinesi which ended 1-1 for Monza. It was Di
Gregorio Angol, Carbooni, Mardi and Calderola. The back with Chiro Coppolis on the left, Ciorio on the right with Pesina and Gagliardini in the middle. Viniato and Colpani played behind Colombo for Udinesi. It was a 3-5-2 formation with Silvestri Angol, Perez Biol and Cabalese at the back with Ebosele out on the right and Zamura out on the left with Piero, Wallis and Samaritan in the middle. Success and Pereira were up front.
Now Monza got an early lead orchestrated by Colpani and it aligned with the team's strategic approach to be honest. With the absence of Itza and D'Ambrosio in defense the inclusion of Carbooni was obviously necessary. The structured offensive head set up spearheaded by Viniato and Colpani posed a significant threat to Udinesi's defensive line and in fact the first half was all Monza as they had 57% ball possession and 3 shots on
targets to Udinesi's nil. However, however the second half saw Udinesi making a few tactical changes bringing on Camara, Love Rich, Lucca and Pereira and they easily grew into the game. Their substitutions brought in a lot of energy and as the game progressed both teams continued to make more tweaks in pursuit of a decisive breakthrough.
Monza's tactical adjustments included the introduction of Bondo and Carvalho sought to fortify their defensive strategies while Udinesi brought on of course offensive players dimensioned earlier. A ball over the top that wasn't dealt with by Monza so Lucca at the far post executing a perfect poachers finish over there the 6 foot 7 striker. Hardly ever scores with his head because his technique is just that good that he doesn't need to when you have a player who's that tall with so much
technique it's always fun to watch. Udinesi are one of the most selfish teams in the league and I hate watching them quite frankly because players like Love Rich for example towards the end of the game had a player wide open but he went for the shot absolutely disgusting there's a situation like this every single week
with Udinesi. I don't know if it's you know there's an expression that says the fish rods from the head a fish rods from the head down and this applies perfectly to be honest because Udinesi's ownership doesn't seem to be investing in the club and if they don't see any value in the club then I highly doubt the players do so the players might view this team as a stepping stone in their career or as an opportunity to stat pad a few personal stats and that seems to be the case with Udinesi
unfortunately at the moment and we all know that their owners also own
Watford so they do have other interests and priorities. Udinesi sit in 17th with seven points they have actually drawn seven games so they don't lose very often they never win they have zero wins they've lost three times but they've drawn seven times as for Monza who are way more impressive and their project is lovely compared to Udinesi especially they sit in 10th perfectly mid table with 13 points they've won three they've lost three and they've drawn four
so yeah despite Udinesi's lackluster start and the fact that they've sacked a manager already they're actually a very solid team when it comes to the defensive setup and teams are struggling to beat them so I highly doubt they'll get relegated and will keep seeing them slowly deteriorate until they do I predict within the next five years if it's the same ownership they will go down to Celia B. As for Lecce Torino where Torino beat Lecce away from home with a score of one nil thanks to
goal by Buongiorno on his return the lineups involve the Lecce's 4-3-3 formation with Falcone and goal Jean-Jé Pongratius Bascarrotta and Gallowed the back with Raffia Ramadani and Gonzalez in the middle with Al-Gvistambanda on the wings with Christovage up front for Torino it was Vania Milinkovic-Savage in goal in a 3-4-3-5-2 formation sorry with Ricardo Rodriguez Buongiorno and Voivoda at the back Lazaro in Bellanova on the wings Gili Netti and
Ginnatis in the middle Bellegri and Sanabria up front now the game started off and it was all Lecce with missed opportunities from Banda and Christovage and Al-Gvist they were really pushing to get the lead but in the 40th minute Buongiorno got on the end of a cross and smashed the ball into the roof of the net and the second half Torino seems to have settled into the game nicely and the defensive cohesion was clear to see they created the better
chances in the second half and Lecce slowly faded out and didn't have anything to answer to the Torino side these two teams are both very exciting we all know and we have discussed many times on this podcast that Urich is facing a few problems especially when it comes to getting the team ticking offensively maybe he should start playing Buongiorno as a striker yeah, as for Lecce of course you know that we are enamored by them over here we are big fans of Al-Gvist, Christovage, Banda,
Streffetza all these guys they're all so much fun to watch and they did put on a show at the beginning of the game before they kind of fizzled out Urich got sent off towards the end of a game for a foul on Bella Nova that seemed to injure him he got sent off for complaining of course as he's the manager I made that sound over there like Urich ran onto the pitch, fouled Bella Nova and got sent off trust me this was not the case
Torino currently sit in 13th with 12 points while Lecce sit in 11th with 13 points 10 matchdays in and this table is really taking shape curious to see what happens and curious to see what Matti has to say about this my co-host yeah I can't wait for him to be back because I must say that doing this alone is way less interesting than doing it with him the final game I'm going to be talking about was Genoa one Salernitana nil this saw Alberto
Gilardino facing Philipp Poinsagi two men who have won a Champions League trophy together Genoa lined up with Josep Martinez in goal under 3-5-2 formation with Dragosin, Bani and Vazquez at the back Sabele and Martin on the wings with Malinovsky, Badel and Fendrup in the middle Retegue and Goodminton were the striking partnership for Philipp Poinsagi Salernitana it was a 3-4-2-1 formation with Ochoa in goal, Piralag Yomber and Lovato at the back with brother Richa Matsuki on the wings,
Kulibali and Major in the middle with Cabral and Kandreva playing behind Dia. Genoa created several close goal scoring opportunities early on both Badel and Retegue hit the post in the opening minutes reflecting Genoa's strong offensive intent from the get-go however Retegue's performance was cut short as he had to leave the field due to a recurring knee injury. So sad to see over here I really hope we get to see him at his best as he's a very exciting striker.
Despite this setback Genoa continued to dominate the game with Goodminton eventually scoring a crucial goal exploiting an assist from Malinovsky which would have also been a potential goal of the week contender. In the second half the tactical adjustments made by both teams significantly impacted the game. Salernitana shifted to a 3-4-2-1 formation introducing Sambia and Bohinan to create a more balanced midfield. This change allowed Salernitana to take advantage of Genoa's slightly lower
tempo and exploit the absence of Retegue. However their efforts to equalize were hindered by Genoa's resilient defense led by the strategic substitutions of the brilliant and promising manager Alberto Geladino who brought on Kutlu and Strutman to reinforce the team's stability. While Salernitana attempted to push forward and create goal scoring opportunities their efforts were thwarted by a lack of creativity and
precision in the final third. Despite Matsuki hitting the crossbar later in the game Salernitana failed to convert their chances into goals and it reflected their struggles to find the right approach in the attacking phase under both Sousa and now under Insagi. In contrast Genoa although under pressure managed to withstand Salernitana's late surge emphasizing the importance of defensive solidarity
in this Genoa team. Alberto Gudmetsen is fantastic I will say this he is way too good to be playing at Genoa unfortunately for Genoa and their fans. I'd see him leaving as early as January. He's got a case going on in Iceland right now a case of abuse so I think big teams will want that to blow over before before signing him I believe that's the reason he's not included in the
Iceland national team. He tried to dribble the entire world in the 90th minute Gudmetsen so despite him being fantastic at the end of the game he had players open but he kept going and I did think that he was going to manage to dribble the entire team but he lost the ball and the counter
attacks so so Dia almost scoring at the end of it. He had he had Ekuban wide open and the fans have been booing Ekuban and that's very very tough to to watch as Gudmetsen had an opportunity to empower his teammate but he decided to almost cost his team the game instead. I do think that the booing of Ekuban is very unfair because he's a player who despite his lack of quality perhaps always gives his all
and that's what you need from your players. No you need your players to give their best I mean you can protest against the club signing the player but booing the player when he's trying his best leaves a bad taste in my mouth. At the end of the day his replacement is Puskas and Puskas I believe might be even worse than he is so be careful who you boo. The fans have an opportunity to lift their players and to fill them with confidence and a confident player will obviously make the difference.
Instead they're taking the approach of booing him when Ritegwi can barely stay fit to play they're gonna need Ekuban they better change their approach. So that is it for match day 10 and we'll be moving on to our questions segment. If it's your first time here welcome to our questions segment this is where we take listener questions and hot takes you can drop voice notes you can drop your opinions on twitter or on instagram you can find us at say a spotlight and
we will be sure to discuss them. Our first hot take comes from Alessio on twitter at am juve he says I don't know if this is a hot take but I'm loving the performances of Joshua Zergsi so far this season he's made huge steps to becoming a top striker in the league yes we've been singing Zergsi's praises since the start of this podcast saying that it's clear but Bayern Munich had seen in him because he is a Bayern Munich talent
however his finishing has always disappointed him and it seems that he's been taking a different approach when it comes to his finishing opting for precision and intelligence instead of power.
He's smart enough to move his body in a way to deceive the opponent and goalkeepers and he often leaves goalkeepers flatfooted as he just rolls the ball past them his development has been fantastic and he's having a fantastic season I do think that he would be a good fit at a big club for example a team like Milan who need a striker who thrives at hold up play he might be he might be perfect who knows but if he keeps scoring goals at this rate he's
definitely not gonna come cheap. Frank our loyal listener love you Frank he said based purely on form does Keane now start ahead of either Kierzauer or Vlava which if yes who drops out I think Keane's form is fantastic and I think he's putting Vlava which to shame I think a spell on the bench for Vlava which might not be a bad a bad thing for you right now with the form Keane's
in. Kea's impact of the bench is always very good he brings a lot of energy so maybe using him as an impact sub could be good for you however good luck explaining that to the player and trying to keep the player happy so I think in theory when you look at the big profiles of Vlava and Kea's it's gonna be hard to bench them I think they could play with maybe Keane alongside Vlava which for the time being. William on Twitter asks can you touch
on Mathias Soule. Of course we can't touch on Mathias Soule we often talk about him on this podcast he is a fantastic youngster he's only 20 years old and he's owned by Juventus. Juventus bought them nice and young from a team called Kimberley. Don't ask me anything about Kimberley I don't know anything about them but he is from Argentina and has featured for
Argentina at under 16, under 21 and under 20 level. Last season he scored his first ever goal for Juventus and his only goal for Juventus he's had 15 appearances for them and this year he's become a prolific player and the star
at Frostinone with eight games and five goals. I think his playstyle is quite similar to Domenico Berardi where he's got that kind of large rich frame he's six feet tall and he's very hard working and technical and has a certain amount of flair to his game which is always fun to watch. He's extremely exciting and I do hope that he continues to develop like this. The question is is Juventus the right environment for this guy to continue
developing. In a 4-3-3 he thrives Frostinone a player fantastic attractive positive brand of football and definitely contrasts Juventus's approach starkly. Leo Messi asks a question on Instagram I asked for his name but he preferred to not share it so he asked to be referred to as the cool mysterious Leo Messi. He asks did the furentina get robbed against Lazio? I don't think it was a robbery you know if you are referring to the penalty call
on Iqone I don't think there was enough in it for it to be given a penalty. Iqone seems to already be falling when the defender put his hand on his shoulder I wouldn't say they got robbed. They were unlucky but definitely not robbed. I would also like to give a shout out to Andy Chrétien who DMed us telling us that he had bet on keen to score over for keen to score and for Juventus to get over 1.5 goals against Hilas Verona if anyone's been robbed it was definitely Andy.
And also shout out to our boy Jake for showing us how to do viola celebration from the last episode thanks to you I have finally managed. Thank you for listening guys thank you for tuning in be sure to DM us to rate us to sign up to our patreon to support us and to be added to our whatsapp chat you know the drill goodbye