99.9: Goal of The Season? (Full Matchday 12 Coverage)

DiMarco early, early, oh my word! Well if he meant it, it's one of the goals of the season from DiMarco regardless. Hello and welcome back to Serie a spotlight, this is episode 99.9, not episode 100 as we are still waiting for Matthew's return who will be back next episode but until then I am joined once again

by the life saver, Luke Mintoff. The saver of lives, that is my name and I think the gesture to save your brother, the honours of the 100th episode is a good way to round off an anniversary of sorts. Yes this is a celebration in fact, it is currently 10am on a Saturday and we are drinking Moëchandan. I don't think I've ever started a day, first of all drinking champagne, I don't think I've ever started a day drinking such fancy champagne to be honest but cheers to that anyways. There we go.

So yes our goal of the week was DiMarco's goal from 56 meters out. Luke, did he mean it? I don't think so. Even the way he like after he crosses whatever, shoots the ball, you see his thumb is a bit, so I think he really misfires his cross to be honest. Very unlike him because he's got an absolute pitch of a left foot and usually he nails every... You don't always shoot on target. Yeah that's it and sometimes you don't shoot on target but you hit an even better target.

There you go, so sometimes you go for that seven and he ended up getting a ten. Exactly. Then you say how the hell did I pull that? Straight out of his ass that's how. That is still the hands down for the week, probably go to the air at this rate. Honestly it's a puss-kuss contender. It's just even the way the ball was built up, they were playing tiki taka football between each other and then he just finally just releases the crack in and just... He's told to Radhia, I'm sorry brother.

He is I think my favorite interplayer that that's ever been. He's so good, he's so lovely to watch as well and he's so no bullshit as well. Completely. He's just out here to wreck face and that's it. Such a direct player as well, he only goes forward notice. He's just, he just reminds me so much of a pit bull on steroids ready to just, I don't know, do everything that they need to get that goal. He's always ready. I have never seen him come on the pitch and not ready to play football.

Yeah totally. And that's a quality that you don't actually see so often nowadays in football. It's true. It's an actual older feature of the players we grew up with, the likes of you know, the Maldives, the Gattusos, the Pyrr Loss, the Del Pyrr, so they're just to play football, no nonsense. And he reminds me, he reminds me of this older generation in a new form as well because he brings the new type of football as well.

He's not a traditional type of football in the sense that he plays old school but his attitude I think is stirring. Yes and he has the perfect combination like he said, like he's a pit bull right? He's got this combination of being rough around the edges and aggressive but also so elegant when he strikes the ball and when he whips the ball and like he's a very technically gifted player, highly technically gifted. Absolutely. I have to say, I think he's, I'm gonna get hated for this.

Okay, let's see, better than Theo Hernández. I think he's the best left-back in the world right now. In the world? Well you know what man, with the form Theo's on right now, DeMarco is probably the best left-back in the league form-wise right? When they're both on top of their game, I'm not so sure though, however, because Theo Hernández can be absolutely unplayable when he's up his back. Sure dude, the skill ceiling, like how good someone can get, I think Theo's higher.

But Theo's very inconsistent as well. Yes, yes, nowadays especially. He'll have those slumps, he'll have those bad modes and for me as a person, I appreciate someone who's more consistent and more on his game, every game, more than someone who can be better overall. But this is me, I know other people might appreciate the flamboyancy of Theo, and it's very nice to watch as well. Yes, yes. I have, you know, I'm not going to say anything about him.

And the possibility that Ace I think he was overhyped, but I'm very wrong about that, I just haven't been wrong about Theo. So, but in my opinion, just what I prefer. Fair enough, yes. Two very different players despite playing the same position. I wouldn't say they're super different actually. I think that the way they play football is actually, the way, I think they conceptualize the game is very similar.

Okay. It's all about using their pace, using their strength and using their glit to go forward. That's the same. How they transition that into the game of football is very different then. Theo is more about using his pace, using his shooting ability, and using his intimidation, sort of, in the way that commas, to sort of then open up play for the likes of Leão, for the likes of, you know, Renders or Gorgie Lu, to then get that opportunity to score.

The Marco is more oriented to give those assists. He's more oriented to give that pass to Martiniz or to Ram, to then create the goal. But then he also has, just as Theo has the ability to score as well. Absolutely, yes, yes. Two very good players. Theo Hernandez obviously with a cheeky edge to his game as well, winning those fouls and kind of advancing, taking the play up little by little, like wins a foul at the halfway line against the ball against Reisner, wins a foul a little bit closer.

It's a bit of American football anyway. It is a bit. He drives the ball forward, just earns those fouls, and this piles up the pressure, just as an American football game, where you're constantly moving forward to the, a T-zone. I guess so, I'm not a big fan. Shame on you. I should love all kinds of football. All kinds of sports as well. What about European football, baby?

No. Other goal of the week, contenders, or a few peaches this week, Dragoussens' first ever goal and Seja was a brilliant volley that looked almost animated, the way he struck that ball so sweetly. That was the first goal of this match, the beautiful goal. Kovalenko's first time winner and at the time, I was very nice. Actually, I was a cut of the ball. And he had fallen off the face of the earth, Kovalenko.

He hasn't heard of him in ages, and then he just comes on and scores the winner against the defending champions. Absolutely amazing. Gets Garcia's act. Gets Garcia's act for the return of Madari. I have another take about that, but it's really late there. Okay, okay, okay. And Bonaventura's unsavable shot on the turn off the crossbar was a great one. It was a great goal for me as well, because it was great. It was a very nice goal. Don't get me wrong. I don't know.

I wouldn't say it's a goal of the week, contender. It's a very nice technique, very nice for a guy like him at his age to still be able to do such things with such ease. He makes it look easy. I don't know how the hell you can do that at his age. Like, how can his knees support that? But I don't know if it's going to be. It's a very good goal. Don't get me wrong.

Like the way he turns, the way he just manages to, without even looking at the post, have an ability to just strike it on goal with such accuracy. I think the other two goals, I agree, those are a bit of content. But this one, this one is just a nice goal. Fair enough, fair enough. Opinions like they're just like belly buttons. They are. Everyone wants to go. You're out here. Mine is an Inni. Mine is an Inni as well. I think you have to like dig deep to find mine. Must be filthy all the time.

Must be filthy. Yeah, good God. Give a clean you with the button. I do. Just yeah. When I shower. You put soap inside. Yeah. So I soap up my finger and clean it out. Finger belly button. Yeah, yeah, why not? You got to get deep, bro. If you appreciate our content, you can like, follow, and subscribe on all social media platforms. If you would like to support us even further, you can subscribe to our Patreon for $3.99 a month.

That's the same price as a chicken nugget meal at McDonald's, I believe. Wow, I mean, you know, give Jake those chicken nuggets, guys. He deserves them. Okay. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our patrons, Anthony, Luca, Gento, Matthias, Matteo, Mike, Lukmintov. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Jose, Lena, Andy, Allen, and Edward. Thank you very much for your continued support, guys. You guys are all legends. You are. Legends of the game. Love you all.

Your support drives us to stay consistent and improve our show. Thank you very much. So, yeah, let's get down to the nitty gritty. The menu for today's features, the Derby della Capitale, Lazio Roma, a boring, goalless draw, do you agree? I would call it boring. I would call it, I would call it expected, though. I wouldn't say it was a boring game. I think the first half was good. The second half almost plateaued a little bit, no? I don't know.

Actually, I think I'm more disappointed in Roma, but then again, I'm expecting them to play that way in big games. Lazio controlled the game from that definition in my opinion. And they had many chances. It's just a pity that they have the likes of Washed Up Immobile, I'm glad. Yeah, we'll get into the details shortly. Let's do the quick rundown. There is Inter 2, Frosunon, and Nill, a very street-smart performance by Inter over there.

And Frosunon, once again, showing that they have a bit of fight in them. Lecce 2, Milan 2, Milan just can't hold a lead. Juventus 2, Caliari 1, Juventus continue to win in very pragmatic ways. Their consistency is becoming a very powerful weapon. Nill and Polly 1, the upset of the weekend. Fiorentina 2, Bologna 1, Derby dell'Apenino, I believe is what it is called. Apenino. Yeah, Apenino. Fiorentina where the victor is over there. Udenes continue to prove that they are a side.

That is very tough to beat as they held Atalanta 1-1. Sassuolo 2, Salernitana 2, will you ever get to discuss Sassuolo victory on this podcast man? I cry. You cry. Yeah, for those of you who are listening for the first time in this segment is Sassuolo. Faithful. Number 9, Monza 1, Torino 1, another interesting game over there. I was surprised about that one. I really thought Monza would win that game. I thought they would too. But then again, Torino is also hard not to play.

They are, they are, they are, they are. I really am really liking Colpani man. I was thinking of buying his kit. Might be a good investment to his kit to Colpani. He's going to be a great player. Wait, let's wait. No man. Let's wait. It's clear. Let's wait. It's clear bro. Let's wait. He gives me that 90s fantasy stuff. Hold the phone. I know you want to ask that phone but hold it for just a bit longer. I agree with you. This year is looking fabulous. He looks great man. But... But... But what?

But wait. But wait a bit because you know why? I have a theory. I have a theory about Monza. I have a feeling like every year there's this player that they really put a lot of hype and focus on too. And last year was Chiria. And this year he has fallen off the place. Chiria never showed the Colpani show. Oh dude. Are you kidding me? Chiria was great with his positional awareness. Dude. It wasn't the technique.

He never displayed the technique and the skill set and the versatility that Colpani's displayed. Colpani's a natural. I don't know dude. The amount of go. I think he had scored five. Go's in a game like five or six assists last year. Yeah yeah yeah. His numbers were amazing. Now okay. One's more flesh than the other. But the technique, the ability is still there. Okay okay. One person can start doing long shots from outside the box as Colpani has done it three times this season.

But he's also got the IQ man. You know he's a very intelligent player. Sorry to say but Chiria has also been asked the IQ to give those pass and get those goals. So just because someone scores more flesh it goes. The IQ is still there. But it's not only about the flashing. It's the ability to pull off certain moves in certain situations. Which is fleshy. And they're very nice goals. It might be versatile more than fleshy.

Versatile if I see him playing more, the ability to try get a ball and give it to another player who then gets the goal. He's more of a goal scorer. No no. He played Colombo through at one point. He crossed it out with his out step. It was a fucking brilliant goal. He's always showing us more of what he can do this guy. Man that's what's exciting me. Every game I'm like I had no idea he could do that. I would wait. I agree with you. I think he's looking like a really exciting prospect.

Someone you can you know you can enjoy for years to come. But I would just hold up a bit. Because I just have this feeling that at Monza there's this I don't know how what is it? Galiadini. Galiadini plays but he I think I just have the theory that he really focuses on a player that year. And he really tries to hype them and build them. Like Paladino. Wait he's in Paladino. Okay I don't know why I don't want to Galiadini. That's what I think. Yeah. I could be wrong.

Maybe he does focus his system around one man. But Corpani is definitely showing that he's up to the task. I can't wait to talk about him more later on. Number 10 the final game will be discussing eventually is Genoa 1. Helos Veronanil where Dragouin scored that wonderful goal. But let's get into it with Lazio Roma. Sure. For me I was a little bit disappointed. I wanted to see a goal over here. When I looked at the lineup you know granted maybe they're not the strongest teams in the world.

But the slots you saw did feature Luis Alberto, Pedro, Immobile. Mobile came on second half right? No no he started the game. This year? Yeah he started the game. But he played a full game then. Yeah yeah yeah. And Roma on the other hand Lukaku, Debala you know. So you expect to see some goals man. The players quality was there. Yeah yeah. In the four in the attacking departments I think it was mostly there. Like these players are. I don't know. I would rate Munchin as a defender quite highly.

Ah yes not. And the likes of the goalkeepers involved. I think like for right now. I'm not a big fan of Rui Patucio despite him playing well this game. I don't think he's going to score. I think he had a bad start but I don't think it's fair to say that he's washed. He had a very bad start don't get me wrong. But as the games go on you can see that he's called Ely. It's just with life sometimes you have a lack of confidence and it shows.

And when you're a keeper like that in a team like Roma it shows way more. It shows way more. I could have a dud and play for Fosinone. But it's almost expected. I can't be expected to have a bad game when I play for Roma. Because all eyes on you. Especially a keeper of his caliber. I think maybe long term maybe the next two years. Let's just start thinking about a replacement keeper. But I think he said has two good years in him. I think it depends on what becomes available in the market.

Because there are some goalkeepers right now who would be an absolute bargain to get. To be honest if they would be able to snatch the Gregorio. Yeah for example. He would definitely have a run for his money next year. But again that's what I'm talking about. If they're able to snatch a good replacement the next few years. Then the reputation might have a bit of issues. It very much depends. I don't think if next year you start the squad with repression and goal.

You're going to be like oh god I have a right bit either. That's what I'm talking about. Personally I think that he often mannequin challenges. Where he doesn't quite move or track the ball. It happens sometimes I feel. It's happening less and less. Yeah it's true he's growing into the season. But last year I think it was a disaster personally. You know players don't have bad seasons. On and on I had a fucking terrible start this year. And he's recovering. He's recovering.

He won a game in the Champions League. To give United at least a fighting chance. Arguably they lost to the next turn. Why are we in that game? Both played well. One save. The penalty and one score the goal. So you know they both deserve their dues. But what's more about the game of Roma. To not go off on too much of a tangent. I feel as though I'll actually have some critique about Lukaku. Can you believe it? I just don't think he's a big game player. That's a very interesting point.

I think he's a great player to have in your team. I think he's a professional no matter where he goes. He's a great player to have in your squad. When it's not a big game. What do you think it is about big games that puts him off? I feel as though he's easy to if you study him well. He's easy to sort of figure out a way to contain him. He has no longer to pace the absolute speed to sort of you know beat his manners are going on a franco. Both are going on a counter-attack and score a goal.

So like turning on the halfway line and just destroy everyone. He'll be able to turn and keep the ball. But he has to give it to someone. He has to give it to the likes of the Bala. To the likes of Spinazzolo who had a very good game to see this game. Yeah, he played very well. But on his own he's not enough anymore. Again he's great in the box. Lukaku I think he still shows at his age at 30. He's able if you give him a chance he's going to score.

But I think in those games Morinio doesn't have many options. So the game plan is still built around Lukaku. And I think if you prep your defenders well enough. If you prep what he's going to do. If you prep your attackers in a way that Lukaku is going to do these certain moves. Which Lukaku does. Tries to muscle you off the ball. Turns quickly and has a great shot. Honestly double teaming him sometimes is what it takes. So yeah this double man marking and just basically suffocating him quickly.

Hopefully for Spici never know. He has the talent to develop a player and score a goal. He's seen it this year. Or he might be strong enough to out muscle you. But in these games I think they tend. Themes of that caliber tend to have defenders who can massive physicality. So in my opinion this is where my only critique of Lukaku is. Yes Lukaku used to destroy Romagnoli constantly in the Milan Derby. Back when he was at the form of his life. I think Romagnoli is a better player at Lazio.

Yeah he totally is 100%. Romagnoli used to do this thing where he would try to almost. He'd give Lukaku a yard or two. And you should never do that. Especially when he was at his best. You can't. You cannot. He'll just run at you and he'll just keep going. Like you can't. You have to fucking press him. And I think he dealt with him very well this game. And this is Lukaku's second vanishing act. Could it be difference of coach as well? Difference of coach perhaps. Yes it could also be the case.

But Lukaku against Inter for example. Vanishing. I think he vanished. The whistles. It's the whistles man. He vanished more in this game. Than in the intergame. In the intergame bro. He hardly. Can you believe the whistles are everything. The intergame was something specific. Of course. I think in this game where the quality is less on the Lazio side. And you still and you vanish even more. Now you kind of almost expected against Inter. Again it's not something you should be expecting at all.

From a player of his caliber. But Inter are the best team right now. In this moment in the league. So if you have a dud against Inter. You're not like absolutely shocked. Yeah. You know. When you have a dud against Lazio. Who are lower in the table than you. And have been shaky air over all. And where if you move Lewis Alberta from that squad. The team has really really. Regressed. Regressed. They have no ammunition. Then you know. Then you start to question a bit more. I think yeah.

These are the games where he should still be showing up. And in the likes of Milan or Inter or Juventus. You shouldn't be doing that anyways. You should find a way to figure it out. But in the likes of Lazio. The Fiorentina. Even now Polito is at a certain extent. To a certain extent. These are the games where you should still be showing up a bit. Yes. But what he does it. Yeah. Again. There's no disrespect to him. You guys know I love him as a player. I think he's solid.

But he's just not a big player. I think he suffers. Many strikers have this thing. Where they suffer with confidence. I think it's a talent thing. Sensitivity. Not necessarily. Because you remember he going in in the latter stages. Big moments were too much for him. In Italy though. But even in the World Cup final. For example. Was it the World Cup final? I think the World Cup's are totally different. I think they're so foreign to football. But there's so much. It's an isolated event.

I think it's too isolated to even compare them. It's so different almost. Even the way you play football. So you can't concede. You can't concede in the World Cup. It's too demoralizing. When as a team. I can't remember at least. When you go. At least in the final. When you concede. And you somehow get a comeback. It's very rare. It's very rare. It happens but it's very very very rare. And the Lost World Cup final was crazy. It was insane. It was insane. It was something. It was.

That's not a normal final. That's why we were so lucky. It was such an abnormal final. Two teams led by two aliens. Like two aliens of the game. Usually someone scores. The other team tries. And it says the other team defending. Yeah. It was insane. It was a lovely final. I think I'll watch it again today. It's been a while. I only watched it the one time. I think it will be a great watch. Me too. I don't usually replay football matches. But sometimes they are sometimes nice to do.

Yeah. Matt and I had watched the Nill Nill. Juve, Milan, Champions League final. And that was a fucking crazy Nill Nill game. Because Milan were all over Juve. The entire game. And Juve were like. It's like Allegri was their coach back then. Still you know the way they were. They remained in the game. Conte came on and almost turned the game around. Juve impressed me man. Juve impressed me in the way that they are so. They are so mature. In how to deal with pressure.

It's like honestly I wish it was a quality. I had as a person. Yeah. How to take all this pressure. Take all these punches. Take all this force. You know what it is. And somehow reflect it man. It's impressive. It is totally impressive. You can hate them. I don't like you as a club. It's the fact that. But it's impressive as fuck. Every time Juve make a mistake. Allegri removes an item of clothing. So they are only allowed in theory to make about 4 mistakes. Before he is naked.

I don't think anyone see my naked naked. Exactly. So the second he takes off his blazer. Takes off his tie. On buttons at the top button. They are like I had no more mistakes. Like. Holy shit dude. I was brilliant. Thank you. But yeah this derby. I think the first half was really exciting. It was kind of disappointed by the second. I really notice the momentum shift in the first half. First 15 minutes were all Roma. Yes. There was a goal by Cristante which was ruled out for offside.

The next 15 minutes were all Lazio. Luis Alberto as well took a fucking remarkable shot from outside the box. Honestly bro. I think it was all Lazio from after the first 15 minutes. Yeah and then they remained on top. And then they remained on top. And they really should have scored. In my opinion. Totally. It was it had the spirit of a derby as there were seven yellow cards in the game. Both teams did struggle to make the most of their opportunities.

But overall yes I thought it was played at a little bit of a low pace. And I looked at the statistics of matchday 12. And Roma were bottom tier in this matchday in all in pretty much every department. They had the least distance covered of all teams this matchday. They were tied from Europe from Europe or conference league. I think they were tied from Europa League to be honest. They were bottom four in key passes. Bottom two in goal scoring chances created.

I can't tell but feel like there's a lot of pressure on Dibala to link all those men to Lukako. He had a bit of a bad luck. He had a bit of a bad luck. I mean with Dibala it's always the same. You never know what you're going to get. To repeat him and I really like him as a player. I think it's. Too inconsistent especially physically. You can't quite keep up with it sometimes. It's a shame when their body doesn't quite let them do what they want.

Unfortunately I think with sports you just have to have the physical. You either have to be small enough and quick enough to just avoid the brunt of tackles. Or you just have to be strong enough to take them. There's no in between. You take a crunching tackle you're going to feel it. You take a look at for example Ruben Loftus-Cherry against PSG man. And it explains a lot like why the player experiences so many physical issues. His game is all about physical contact man.

You watch this guy the second he gains momentum. Players hit him and bounce right off him. The only way to stop Ruben Loftus-Cherry when he hits full stride like is by taking him out. And that explains a lot you know the play style of the player affects a lot. Like the ball you have to go in hard on the ball. I think that puts him off later on in the game. It makes him scared. Of course. When it comes to the league table Roma find themselves in seventh with 18 points.

While lots you'll find themselves in tenth with 17 points. That's a slow start for the Roman teams. It's a slow start however I do believe as the season progresses. At least for the likes of Roma. I think they have a more complete squad. You will see them pick up. They'll grow into it. And they are growing into it to be honest. They're not losing many games. So you can critique them as much as you want. And you can if you want. Maybe it's on the top of the body you want to see.

But Morinio still gains results. And you can critique him as much as you want. You can say he plays shit football. You can say it's too defensive. You can say they don't make enough chances. All very true. But they are relatively consistent. So what do you want in football? You know honestly as a player we're going to go just for two seconds to the Premier League. You can say as much as you want. It's nice to play good football. But if I fucking lose half my games. What the fuck's the point?

Of course yes. But in theory Roma have won five. They've lost four and they've drawn three. And that's not playing nice games. That's playing. This is all with an attempt of playing a pragmatic game where they take advantage of situations. Try to win 1-0. You know defend leads. Not create chances. Try to exhaust the team mentally and take advantage of a lapse in concentration. That's their entire approach. And it can get exhausting for fans when it doesn't go their way.

It's easy to turn on Morinio. It's easy to turn on them. But can we all agree that their team isn't fantastic? I don't know. I think everyone... They barely have a starting eleven in my opinion. Barely man. It's a rehabilitation centre at the end of the day. You look at players like Renato Sanchez. You look at players like Debala. You look at players like Lukaku. These are all players who need to kind of rediscover themselves in their career. And Roma is a place where they're trying to do it.

And unfortunately for these players Morinio doesn't really allow for the most creative and expressive brand of football. I think Debala is an exception here because he can in reality do what he wants. But he doesn't quite have the support that would make him thrive. I would wait a bit man. The way Spinazola played this game, I think he might be looking like he's slowly coming to the old stages of his career. It's always like this with Spinazola man. Wait three matchdays and he'll be injured.

Let's see. I think if he's able to stay fit he might be a key catalyst. Because when you have Spinazola, Debala in the team with Lukaku, then you have a good chance to then create quite a big tried-in up front to deal with for any club. So we'll see. I agree with you. I think your points overall do make sense. I agree why people can get frustrated at the same time. I don't know. I feel it's also a bit harsh at the same time. Two managers who are totally under fire right now, sorry Jan Morinio.

They play a total opposite brand of football so it's interesting to see. Lots of you do play nice football and they do try to connect to that. Like defence to attack, swift movements, passing patterns and all that. And it does nothing. It does nothing. Nowadays it's doing that. But it doesn't help that they're constantly replacing those midfielders every year. Sorry, they're constantly making bad buys. The thing is I like the Guendouzi purchase. I think it's been good.

No, it's not Guendouzi. It's actually a bad buy in my opinion. It's actually a bad buy. Catal DiMana, I think for example. Why haven't they both replaced him? Vecino is a bad buy. However, he has to show up in big moments to almost convince you otherwise. Those are eyes only. That seems very shallowly. Overall in the grand scheme of things, he's not a player to build the system around. He's not a player for Los. They need Maxim Lopez in that midfield. They need a Ben Osser type.

Los also need energy, which they don't have. They barely have energy up front. They have Immobler who looks half broken. Pedro on the other side. Pedro is also half broken. I think they're trying to make up for a room. I feel they made a mistake in the sense that they realized that Immobler, we can end this and move on. We spoke quite a bit on that. I feel like they really focused on finding an Immobler replacement to make him feel like he needs competition.

To make him feel like, listen, you are a legend, but you keep this up. We're going to find a replacement for you. They didn't realize that if Zakanya and Philippa Anderson don't perform game in game out, they also have an issue. They turn on vision, don't strike. Oh, we need a striker. They found Castellanos. You like him? I'm not particularly impressed. We'll see. I can't be wrong, as I have him many times.

But they then hoped and prayed almost that the two wingers would be consistent for the whole year. And they're not big. No, they're not. Zakanya has had an awful start. So, I mean... And I almost prefer them with Philippa Anderson as the false nine. I almost do, honestly. I think they play better. I don't like when Philippa Anderson is on the wing. I don't know why. I don't know how he changes so much in his game style, but he feels like a different player. It's true, it's true, totally.

But yes, we will move on now to Inter to Frostin on Nill. Frostin on Nill putting up a noble fight over here trying to stop Inter, but of course could not stop the inevitable force that was DeMarco from 56 meters out. And Thuram making the most of a player who had slid. I think it was really good play from Thuram. It was very smart. That's how you win a penalty. That's how you win a penalty. And there could be no doubt about...

The referee didn't even need more than four seconds to decide that. That's a clear penalty. The defender slid early and Thuram just ran into his legs. He ran into his legs. What are you going to do with it? I mean, it's cheap. Yes, it's cheap. But I mean, you're a striker. You have to. You're either going to slip into his legs or fall into his legs, sorry, or you're just going to take a crack and go. What better chance do you have to score?

At the moment, you're going to have a better chance with Karachan and Omgri striking a penalty. Yeah, yeah. And trial and error hasn't missed a single penalty since he's gone to a penalty. These have been so bloody good, man. You know, there's that. So he scored 10 out of 10 penalties in Italy. And he's also become the highest ever scoring Turkish international in Syria history. Congrats to Karhanoglu, man. He is stepping up this year. Well done to him. I don't like the way you say his name.

What should I say, bro? Charles. Charles. Filio Diput. No, man. Karhanoglu. Okay. Karhanoglu. For Inter's lineup, it was Bastogna, Trebi and Darmian at the back. Darmian has just been for me one of the most consistent, unsung players since his return to Winter. He's been fucking good, man, honestly. Like almost flawless. Even with the Italian national team, he's been good, too. Bastogna has fallen in injured since, so Inter are probably going to have to deploy Bissec in the coming days.

So we'll see how that goes because they have Pavard injured, too. Yeah, now the ages are picking up again. They are. And Inter aren't used to having many injuries at the same time. They've been quite lucky in the past few seasons. They were... I very... I like you with you, totally. It's going to be interesting to see how it is out in the news with that. Yeah. Because you look around, you look at you, Milan. You look at the likes of everyone, man.

Everyone suffers terrible injuries and at the same time, these crises, except for Inter, who tend to keep everyone fit. Now, I don't know if that's a whole thing with their advanced medical stuff or their coaching ideology. Could be. They don't want to be too rough on training. It could be as well the fact that Milan play a very pressing brand of football. High intensity press, like the Gagin press. Your muscles are giving them...

They're giving it all to you, man. You need to rotate aggressively to do it. Like Atalanta used to. Sure. Yeah. Oh, Gasperini at Milan. Oh my God. That would be... I would actually be very interested to watch Milan game in game out. But can you imagine Gasperini, like it's half time and he just takes out like Theo, Leo and like... What those are the balls you need to do, man? Yeah. You act as if that's a critique.

That's the kind of... If a player isn't performing, okay, yes, you can give him a little chat in a second half. You can shout at him and say, in half time and tell him, what the fuck are you doing? Man, the fuck up and do something. But sometimes the only response is to get subbed off. Go be a baby on the bench, go cry, see your teammates or the coach sub me off. And next time go to training and prove me wrong. Perhaps I might be a little bit... I might be wrong here, I don't know.

But I think Gasperini is too old to be hired by Milan. I don't think they would go for a profile like that. I think they would... They're more into these modern profiles, of course. So totally the opposite, man. I just always pride and experience, man. There are going to be games where you just need that street smart, that experience, that edge over an opponent, where usually it's only coming from an older coach who knows the game.

And he'll just find ways to create a system that will potentially fuck you in the game. And you'll win then, based off that. And Gasperini many times has created those situations where he has won. Yeah. With a lesser squad. What Gasperini has done is absolutely incredible. With a team like Atalanta, who have one of the lowest budgets in European football.

When you look at the Europa League, where they play the top of their group, they don't have a wage bill that's high enough for them to be top of the group and still competing for a top four spot in Serie A. But Gasperini is making that happen with all the tools at hand. And Atalanta's whole system is fantastic, the way they operate.

I just think that Milan need to, if they're going to move away from Piori, not saying they should, but if they will move away from Piori, I think they have to do whatever it takes to bring in Deserbi. Because Deserbi is, I don't know man, he's got fucking balls. He's got that fucking type of football that takes you off your seat. I think with the squad that Milan have, Deserbi might be a fucking good fit. Maybe. I'm not sure. Maybe. It's a similar style.

Maybe. But anyway, Inter back to Inter, Frost and Ona. So, they're first. Still they've got plus two on Juve. At the moment, who impresses you more? You look on the TV and you watch a Juve game and you watch an Inter game. Who looks better? Impress in what way though? Like, which team do you think, like this team is unbeatable? This team is difficult to get a point from? I guess it has to be. It has to be Juve, frustratingly enough. That's the Juve. Yeah. They killed the game perfectly.

They killed, there's this way, we'll speak about them later. Inter are more enjoyable to watch. They can be a noob, they can flick on the television and you can watch Inter. This is an interesting game. They play nice, aggressive, counter attacking football. It's nice to watch. Juve don't do that, but then Juve are more frustrating to beat. Yeah, totally, totally, totally man.

They're so difficult to score against and they'll get a one-nil lead and they'll just hold onto it and you can't do anything about it. Inter, towards the end of the game, especially the last ten minutes, there's always a way back in. Be it for Frasinone, be it for anyone. There's always that little, those chances you get at the end. You can get back into the game. Could it be an argument that still Alegrí knows the squad better than Insagi? That yes, I'm sure.

Insagi is growing into the roster, growing into the team still. He still has new players. It could be. And this is also Alegrí's entire brand. Yes. It's an area of expertise doing this. Pragmatism. Yes, for me, despite being the underdog, I thought Frasinone would put in an oval display. They tried, I mean it was to be expected that they'd lose, but they did push in. I really appreciate that they attack anyone. They don't care what they're up against, they're going to attack in numbers.

I agree, I like that kind of football. But don't be scared, you go and give your best shot. They increase the pressure, they try to pile the pressure when they were in possession. They try to disrupt Inter's passing lanes, they try to force them into mistakes, preventing them from getting the ball forward. They attack the numbers, they try to exploit gaps left when DiMarco and Don Fris advanced. They had high intensity counterattacks with quick breaks, and they pressed very aggressively as well.

I think Frasinone were put in a very respectable performance this game. And they have in every game to be honest this season, and they're quite versatile tactically as well. They lined up at 3-4-2-1 this game. We haven't really seen that this season at all, 3-3 at the back for Frasinone. So yeah, I really appreciate that by them. But yes, Inter on the other hand too much for DiMarco's goal. Absolutely fantastic, Throm winning that penalty, very clever, Chala Noglu flawless from the spot.

I don't know if there's anything else you want to mention from this game? I think we've covered it. I think that Inter again managed to win these games that Lassie struggled with. Lassie, they were shooting games we expected, but then somehow they come draw, they lose. And N'Zog is managing to find the way where they actually win. Again, different team, Martin is playing more... Maybe one time you can see Martin is playing a bad game, this game.

Yeah, he was very frustrated, despite the win at the end, he was so frustrated. He wanted goals. His mentality is next level. You know, Throm is playing quite well, although he's not scoring the amount of goals. He should be scoring, made argument to me a lot, but he's playing as a team player, which you always like to see. The likes of their defenses still solid, DiMarco is playing well. So with that being said, usually you expect them to win. Last season they had duds, they would miss fire.

And now you're seeing a much more consistent Inter. So I think overall we can end with that. I think Inter again proved that they're managing to overcome their inconsistencies. They are not as consistent as Juve. However, they are building up this run of form that no matter who they face, what I'm liking about Inter, and I think maybe it could be the key to them when the league is that no matter who they're playing, they're playing their game. And they're not playing an altered system.

They say we play the same formation, we're playing at the back, our five in the middle, our two up front, we have a relatively healthy squad. Luckily, let's say luckily, maybe it is luck in life. And we play our system, we play our concept of game football, we absorb the pressure and we come up at one go and we try and get that goal. And they are managing. Gaming, game out. Do you know what the next game for Inter is? Yeah, I'm not sure.

The next game on Sunday after the international break is Inter against Juve. Oh shit, son. You are very welcome to come to my humble abode to enjoy this game together. I would very much enjoy it with you. It is going to be a great game and it's going to be very telling and Bisec is going to probably have to start this game at the back for Inter. Are we going to see a Pella Green or Type W? That is... Or a Moosa right back type of game. Or a Moosa right back type of game. Or a Florincy Gambler.

Oh my God! Yeah, that's going to be a good game. That's going to be great and it's going to be very telling to see who, where these teams currently stand when they face off against each other. They are currently top two with two points between themselves. That's great. So the next game we are going to be discussing is Lecture 2, Milan 2. I just set the scene for this game. I had a wedding this day. A wedding, congratulations Tom and Christina.

I was watching the game, which by the way I was meant to miss because Sarah was meant to have been done and were meant to leave when the game started. However, I came home to find Sarah asleep on the sofa. Nice, was it a sign? Yes, and I realized, you know what? I'm going to let her sleep. Because if she sleeps, I'll get to watch the first half. So I let her sleep and I woke up, oh my God, babe, you're late. You're running late, you have to go get ready.

Okay, she's getting ready and I'm in my suit watching Milan from the start. And the first half is brilliant. Milan look amazing, it's a champagne football goal. He's got a Jiru scores on his 100th game for Milan. It's going for Reinders, finally gets the goal. Score the terrible goal. Score the terrible goal. I just fucking think that guy should pass, but purely apparently he's putting pressure on him to get his numbers up. But I'm thinking to myself, Milan have this in the bag.

Eventually the second half, I'm watching the second half, Sarah's not done yet, of course she's still doing her makeup. And if she's like, babe, can you book the taxi? I'm like, sure, I'll book the taxi. I book the taxi, taxi's here, put on my shoes, call the lift, go down, call the taxi again. Hello, like this is me, getting the taxi, getting to the back, pull up a stream on my phone, and it's two, two.

And I'm thinking to myself, how the fuck has it been five minutes and let you have equalised? And people say the shit doesn't affect it. Like when someone comes in the room and someone scores, they say, oh, that's just a coincidence. It's not a coincidence, man. No. It's not, man. There has to be something cosmic about it. You think that? I think if I hadn't left my living room, Milan would have won that game. You won 4-0. 4-0, honestly. I think you're totally right.

And I got in that lift, I fucked everything, man. All right? And that's just my... Jake, it's your fault, De Los. It's my fault, come on. Shame on you, man. And then when we were at the wedding, a friend of mine who supports Inter came up to me and said, three, two, three, two, pit-by-ada. Let's... It was three, two. Can we speak about that? Can we speak about that? Sure, let's speak about that. Can we speak about that? So, the goals... Soft. I agree.

No, no, no, no. I think... I mean, I'm shocked. You're shocked. There's no way to foul. There was a bit of a stump. And it twisted his nipple a little bit. So we can't touch players anymore? I know. It was extremely soft, extremely harsh, and they must feel hard done by. Was it a penalty? Controversial. Nothing, sir. It was the foul, yes. I don't think it's controversial, honestly. I think it's not a foul. I know you hate denying it. No, I'm all for speaking the truth, man.

I agree, but I just can't see it. I can't see it's a foul. I mean, I was shocked. Okay, yes, there's a bit of a stump, there's a bit of a push, and I'm going to grab his t-shirt. You know what to do. Some might look at that and think the game's gone. But if you literally had to look at the rule book and look at that and look at those images from VAR, slowed down especially. It looks worse than it is. You know, that's the problem, I think. When you slow it down, it looks so bad, man.

I saw the replay. It doesn't look like the top is even being pulled that much. It's barely being pulled. It's 50-50. It's barely being pulled. I don't know, man. It was weird. I wouldn't give let you a fan. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao Bella. He also makes it extremely flamboyant. Of course. He's being hurt. Like you're 6'4, bro. For me, as a person, I find it really a struggle to take it seriously. I can't help but feel that maybe lecture...

If lecture funds were to feel robbed, I wouldn't blame them, let's just say that. Fair. Okay. San Sonne. San Sonne, listen to this. Has scored seven goals against Milan. Insane. Okay. Yes. These goals were for four different clubs. Only one man has scored against Milan, representing more clubs than San Sonne has. And it's Keazah's father and Rico Keazah. Holy shit. Yeah. So that's crazy. That's absolutely crazy. Like, what is it about San Sonne?

I think you score once you score twice, you start believing, you know what I'm always going to score against these guys. And it's just mind over matter, man. I believe system. Yes. It's a belief system, totally. I need to say, man, that Milan being too nil up, they weren't playing like they were too nil up. No. They were going into, and they're playing the game like a basketball game. Just attacking constantly. Like, control the tempo a little bit, slow it down. You have a too nil advantage.

I don't think they chose a defense, dude. But the defense has been commendable, man. The defense has been alright. Like, Giaw went to Moria, formed a pretty good partnership, and Calabria has been fine. You know what the thing is, man, Calabria went off injured. And purely decided to put Musa as the right back. He made one mistake, and it's two-one. He made another mistake, and it's two-two. And then he took him out and brought on Florence. Like, where are you? That was weird. That's weird.

Like, you went to the games fucking... To be honest, to be honest, I have to say two glaring mistakes. I think he had like, Pellegrino fears. Honestly, I don't think that that decision was super out of the ordinary. I think he was fearing the loss of the game then. And purely is also on the front... But you should fear the equalizer, man, as well. You have a natural drive back where it presents Italy on the bench. You're gonna fucking play Musa as right back. Bring him on. Why not?

I don't get it. I can't understand it. There must be a reason that... Musa must be playing better in training, man. Maybe he doesn't gamble. You don't make decisions. Maybe you need experience. You're right. Someone who's experienced. I don't get it. I don't get it, honestly. They took advantage of a player playing in a new role, in a new league on his... Like, fucking... He hasn't even started 10 games for Milan. He was put on as a right back. And they took up absolute advantage of it.

They're not to mention that the Set Pied School conceded by Milan. This is like the antithesis of Juventus at the moment. When it comes to defending Set Pieces, Milan have not figured it out. They had improved for a while, but this... In one week, they conceded the exact same goal twice. Corner, flick on to the far post, goal. They conceded it against PSUG, and they conceded it against Leicester over here, with San Suona. Set Pieces need work, man, defensively. And it's always been an issue.

I think the team was tired again, man. I'm gonna say it. They gave a lot. They gave a lot against PSUG. That was a fantastic game. And I had a feeling... Fancy related, I had a feeling... What if I play Lecce? I had this feeling actually Lecce might win. Wow. Because I just thought that Milan gave so much in that game. There's no way, physically, you have enough energy to come up against a team like Lecce, who aren't too shy with the season, and be able to perform at the same level.

The thing is, they started the game so well, Milan. Sure, bro. They got an advantage. But Tyde, this comes in, Jake, dude. But you look at the players here, half of them didn't even feature. Not half of them, but we have... Okay, so you started with Kronech, Pobbega and Choukwes, who didn't even play against PSUG, right? You have three guys against them. Okay, three guys. But that's a midfield double pivot. And you managed to get a 2-0 lead. Yes. Can't you maintain that?

You don't have the fucking... That's three players, dude. Not the whole squad. Yes, right. Jiru was tired for sure. Leal got injured, which fucks you royally. Rain here was also, I'm pretty sure, tired. That's really three players out of six offensive players who are tired. You have also the defense, who also gave a lot in that game, who are also equally tired. Yes, that game took a lot out of the Milan players, man. That PSUG game was intense.

I don't label this as an excuse, but this is why the Champions League is difficult, because you need depth in your squad. And if you don't have it, and you succumb to injuries, I think it's very easy to blame the coach, in my opinion. Look, there are areas where you only need to be criticized, and it's as simple as that. It's evident that there are certain games, particularly his in-game management. His approach from the get-go isn't always bad.

It's actually usually very good, but it's the fact that he doesn't fucking adapt to the game. The changes he makes are so questionable at times. Against Yuvre, again, I've been saying this, Madonna, like you go a man down against Yuvre, take out a police officer who's running like a madman, and leaves Giroud on, who's 37 years old. You're a man down. You want that lucky cross, man? Yes, you want that lucky cross.

Sure, sure, but you also need to think about the fact that you need energy if you're 10 men. You know, you need energy. Okay, you're tuned up against Leicester, your captain's fallen injured, and right back, you've got five substitutions. Why don't you bring on Florenzi, who's literally called up to the national team ahead of the guy who's starting Calabria. Bring him on, what's the problem? And why would you put Moosa, I don't get it. I think he wants that energy there.

Florenzi should give you energy. He's a fucking athlete and his prime would barely plays. Maybe, maybe you're right. Yes, anyway. Yeah, I get so heated when it comes to this, man. I get so fucking heated. I think he needs some more more, man. I need some more. Do I? I think that might be the problem. It'll be usually very comfortable. You usually are, but I saw a passionate Jake. Yes, man. I'm surprised, I got aroused.

Yes, but I must say that PSU G game was absolutely fantastic and this was so disappointing. I can understand. I was very happy for Banda to see him scoring. Very good goal. He deserved the goal, very good goal. The shortest man in the league, standing at 5'3". For something that's not so short. Yes, second episode in a row, I mentioned that. We're going to keep mentioning it. We're going to keep mentioning it. Let the women know. Send them your DMs. Looks can be deceiving.

It's not a judge or book by its cover, right? Yes, Banda has an unmissable chance in the first half. Oh my lord, what a miss, man. What he made up for it. He must have been killing himself in half-time. Oh my lord. Yeah. Poor guy. I think, I think, dude, Benacer is back, apparently. That's going to be huge. I think that Milan right now have a problem with slowing down the game and controlling the tempo. I think right now as it stands, they seem to never know when to pass sideways.

They always go direct. Benacer is the perfect metronome. He's brilliant at that. I think he's the top tier in his role. I don't think there's a player better than him in Italy. Regista, as a regista. When he's back, I think it would help Milan massively, man. Massively, massively, massively. When it comes to a lead, you can't throw a 2-0 lead in Benacer's on the pitch. That's just my opinion. But yeah.

Move. Yes. As it, when it comes to the standings, Milan currently stand in third with 23 points. They've fallen behind Inter who are first with 31. Whereas Lecce stand in 14th, they've fallen. They have fallen. 14th with 14 points. Yeah, they've got zero wins in the last five games, but three draws. So the wins have stopped, but the draws have come in to replace them. The next game we're going to be discussing is Juventus 2, Calliari 1.

Juve once again found themselves temporarily in first place with another pragmatic display, piling the pressure on Inter to react. Because then Juve have been playing before Inter in recent times, and Inter have always had to react to jump and overtake Juve. Yeah, when it comes to line-ups, Keen has officially replaced Vlachovic for the time being. Do you think that's justifiable? I think it is. Absolutely. I think there's just no discussion.

Yeah. Keen's playing, but Keen at least is providing more for the team. Even if he's at scoring, he's creating those opportunities for other players, and you could see it in the first half, where he laid off the ball for McKenney, who unfortunately missed, but Vlachovic is not providing these kinds of dropping the ball down. And laying it off to another player. Do you think it's an issue of confidence, fitness, what do you think? Mindset? I think Vlachovic just wants to be there.

He doesn't want to be there? No. You think he's like Chelsea or something like that? I think he wants to go to the Prem. I think he's done with it. But why do you think this? Sorry. I feel like he's done his time in Italy. I had this feeling that he's quote-unquote proven himself in Italy for a C. And I think that now he feels like a move to a more dynamic type of football, something a bit more explosive, more physical, which is where I think Vlachovic thrives.

Physical in the sense of intensity, because I think the physicality of defence in Italy is unmatched. But the tempo is, I think, something probably all strikers want to experience. I think that you might have not been the right move for Vlachovic. I totally agree. Because Vlachovic was the type of player, man, that you play him in behind. And you were totally in that team, man. He would have been really good for Inter. He would have been strong.

Oh my God. So many teams you would have been good for. Can you imagine him at like, I don't know, at Lazio. Imagine him at Lazio. That was a nine for Lazio. That would have been... Diabolical. But the thing is, it's not much of a step up, right? No, it's not. It's a slight step up move. It's not a step up move. It's not uve, you know. Uve is a step up in theory. Uve is just too prestigious to just ignore. I don't think the team or the coach is the right one for him. Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Because I'll say, you're not performing, you're out. Simple as that. Yeah. And Italiano loves his babies. He likes to... And before Italiano there was... Yakinny. Yes. Yakinny. Also formed Vlahovic. Yeah. I think both of them really just... In a different way, totally. The club as well, also just cherished having Vlahovic. So they just wanted to basically idolize his player and keep him there based off their love for him. Yeah, totally. So, yeah, I agree.

I just don't think it was the right move. Yeah, same here. For now. We can be made wrong, but it's his third season. Vlahovic in Italy or with uve? With uve. I believe it's his third season, yes. I think it's his third season, I don't see him. He's had flashes more than anything else. Flashes where you're like this guy in a different system would thrive. That's not what I can't help but feel. But yeah. I don't... He's very hard to pinpoint what's the reason behind it.

What is causing such a big lack of consistency. Yeah. Because then you see other players in the team and they're motivated, man. They're fucking motivated. Kiezer. Kiezer was about to leave and he's fucking playing with his heart in his league. But there's a number of players who are there to play. Yeah, yeah. Even if they're not scoring, they're there to play. Kiezer missed a couple of chances. He was still playing till the end till he got subbed off. But that's what you get with Kiezer.

You know what, man? This is January from the Italians, man. Even Keen, man. There are a few hard workers. Even Keen, the same thing, man. He tried, he tried till the end. It's true. What you mentioned before about the Marco resonates with Kiezer. Tonali. Tonali, yes. Tonali, yes. He granted the betting scandal, yes, okay. Tonali to lesser extent. But on the pitch, Tonali leaves nothing behind, bro. I think when it comes to these Italians... They play with their heart on their sleeve, man.

No nonsense. No nonsense. I think it's a quality in football, which I think it's often underappreciated, to be honest. And that's such an important, as a sportsman, it's so important, man. So important. Because it just changes the game. Even if you're not the best player, even if you're not like the most talented, that changes something about you. For example, I could never get angry when Milan had Fabio Borini playing on the left wing. I could never hate him.

And every time I logged onto Twitter, when fucking Borini was playing and Milan were playing and Milan weren't doing well, Borini was always escape route. Oh my God, Borini, he's so shit, what the hell are we doing with Borini playing on the wing, whatever. I could never be mad at him, because that guy, man, left absolutely everything on the pitch.

He would limp off after every game, like... I think it shows a lack of footballing IQ when you call out these players, because you don't have a clue how important they are. Of course. It's the same thing as these players, like a short side topic, like Karek or Hargliffe's, who weren't very popular, who weren't stand out players, but the shift they put in, man, would just suffocate the team. Yeah, yeah. And you can't just think about, oh, my player scored, therefore good.

No, dude, if you're managing to tire out your opponent, if you're forcing them to focus on you, meaning that your, I don't know, your freaking Alakieza, your Leo, is given space to do his thing, that's all you need to do. You're describing Isaac's success right now. Isaac's success is the least successful person in football. I'm sorry to say, no disrespect, but... You can't score an open play, they can't penalty any misses. And Pereira was playing, dude.

And Pereira must have been like, you know what, you've got this, dude. You've been running, taking, so I get you, bro. You deserve this penalty, dude. Just don't fuck it up. I got this, boss. Could not even get it on target. I mean... Whatever. Whatever. Unlucky. No, it's unlucky. Just... No, what does it mean? He's not a serious up player. The way I look at Isaac's success is he's an athlete playing up front. We've got the football players in the back.

I think that's a fabulous way to describe it. Well done. So we can cross Isaac's success from ever coming on the podcast. Youva are undefeated in games in which Manuel Locathelli wears the captain's arm. And does that make a difference or is that coincidence? I think that's just a coincidence. Coincidence, right? I think Isaac's decision that they're playing, which is basically the pragmatic no-nances for the ball that they're playing, like we've been saying.

And I think Alec has a way to edge out these games. He loves edging, eh? He loves edging, bro. He hates coming, quite frankly. Youva's first half included misplaced passes out of the back, misplaced shots. They got the ball to the attack. It was an opening 45 minutes where they didn't play well at all. In fact, in the first 30 minutes, they only recorded two shots. I was particularly impressed by the defensive partnership of Bremer and Dragani, who scored with his fallies.

Absolutely brilliant goal over there. I think that has to be the worst goal I've ever seen in football. Because he tries to get to the end with his chest. And it hits the post, hits the crossbar. And then the keeper, Falcone, is just like, what the fuck is happening? No one's going for the ball. That's Koufé. That's Koufé, sorry. And then, sorry, I don't know why I told him to let you for a second. And then he just, it could be. And then he just drinks, and Rogan is trying with his hips.

Just the edge, the ball goes in so slowly as well. At the point, I thought the ball was going to stop on the line. He didn't even celebrate. He celebrated like, guys, I've scored the worst goal in the world. Let's go, Youva. Yeah, the only player who had the post success rate of over 80% was L'Occatelli. Oh wow, Mr L'Occatelli. Costich had as many key pauses as the rest of the Youva team combined. These are some fantastic stats over here. I love reading them out.

Some were Lilling Jr. who got the play. A player who had fallen off the face of the earth. Guess where Alec replayed him? As a medzala. I mean, sure. Midfield. Why the hell not, I guess. As long as he brought him one, I guess, that's a player who can really do some damage over here. As an impact sub, you bring him on the wing, you can do a lot of damage. Yeah, who's been? I don't know why he's not utilized as much.

But yeah, apparently, Alec re-challenged Gutty not to get a yellow card this game so he doesn't miss the intergame. Oh shit. And he managed. Yeah, I mean, fair enough. Well played. Good job to him. Well done, cats. So yes, that is it for the Juventus game. Juventus card is set in second with 29 points while Kallieri is set in 18th with 9 points. Just one point away from safety at the moment as things stand. Quite an oval display once again by Kallieri.

But you've approved to be too pragmatic for them to crack. The next game we're going to be discussing is Napoli nil, Ampoli 1. Napoli put up a brilliant display and Berisha's heroics kept them in the game until the very end when Kovalenko scored a peach over first time goal. This led to Rudy Garcia sacking and Walter Mazzari's second gig at the club. What do you think about that move, bro? Would you have sacked Rudy Garcia? You want my honest opinion? I would prefer it then if you liked me.

I liked you. You're going to like him. I really don't think it is a sack. No? No. The absence was too early. Listen, here's why I say that. If you were going to sack him, you sack him before the resurgence of Napoli, before they started winning again, before they had these three wins in a row against the club they should be winning against, against the Lexus and the Natana and so on. But you do it then.

If you do it four games later when they've almost solidified their Champions League spots, because they've won most of their games, they had a decent stint in the last three games. Yes, they lost to Empoli. They should not be losing to fucking Empoli at all, no way. But I feel it was just one of those freak occurrences because they didn't play bad. No, no. There was a god in this game, he made so many saves. And you know, Gvara had a couple of opportunities where he should have scored.

There were a few opportunities. And yes, yeah, okay, they conceded at the very end. They should have conceded arguably. Kovrenko had a very good goal, you know, no credit taken from him. But if you're going to sack him, sack him four games ago, not when he's returned to some kind of form, he's won three games in a row. He almost solidified the Champions League spot, which by the way, isn't as simple as it is. Okay, they have a relatively easy group, but so does the United. Look where they are.

They're about to get knocked out. They're about to get knocked out and not even have football. They don't have Europa League football. So I feel like why would you make the decision four games later, or five, how long it's been, and do it after one bad game again? I think De Laurentiis is very difficult. I've said this on the podcast before, he's a difficult man to work with. I think it's to be done. He downgraded by letting Spalletti go and making his life difficult.

Spalletti deserved the statue. And instead he got criticized by De Laurentiis who can't bear sharing the spotlight. He can't. He doesn't want the spotlight to be shared at any point. He wants all the attention to be on himself and all the accolades to be on his end. He doesn't like sharing that. And then he downgraded by bringing in a manager who hasn't done well since maybe that, Champions League round with Marseille back in the day, Rudy Garcia.

And he started, he was on his back from the get-go, man. Sure, sure. And now he's bringing in, he brought in Mazzari who's been at the club before, and seems to be like a safe kind of signing. I don't like Mazzari's football. It's not long term. No, it's usually three at the back as well, granted he's played, he's adapted, but it's very defensive usually as a style of football. It's a more linear type of football. They don't think that's good for Napoli. It doesn't suit Napoli whatsoever.

They were very close to signing two-door, but they failed to give them long-term guarantees. And that's another aspect as to where De Laurentiis failed as an owner. De Laurentiis, man, isn't great at running a football club. No, he isn't. I think this could be a real problem for the manager. Because if they go for a couple of bad managers in a row, they're going to cut this dain. Which is going to lead to a number of good players leaving. Yeah, yeah.

Don't be surprised if Ozyman and Gavarra both leave this year. Ozyman said he's been injured for a while and he's been talking about how, yes, for him the Premier League is the objective and his friends all support Chelsea. He likes United, but his friends support Chelsea and all that. Like, he's flirting with the Premier League already. I think he's off to United. When? It could be January. Dude, for him, this is the perfect...

But how can United do... How is it the same, bringing Hoylund for so much money and then bringing Victor Ozyman? They're going to sell, huh? Who? United are going to... There's going to be... Either the coach is leaving or half the club is leaving in January. Honestly, because the coach... Maguire is about to leave for about 30 million already, to West Ham. Apparently that's a handstone. If Maguire goes back on the bench, he's leaving apparently to West Ham.

That's going to be about 20-30 million already. There are a bunch of players, the likes of Sancheon, the likes of Anthony, who are close to leaving as well. So, you have some, you have some money back in the back end to sort of co-at least the wage gap. You never know with regards to if they can afford those women or not yet, but surely Chelsea can't. With the amount of players they've brought in this season and their wage will not be cheap either right now.

Yeah, but the thing is these Prem Clubs always seem to find a way to bring in who they want. They do. And apparently financial fair play never works there. Yes, it doesn't. There are certain exceptions when it comes to financial fair play. Classic. I was very impressed by and pulling this game, despite... Even if they just held them to a draw. It would have been a great result.

Honestly, man, even the fact that like, whenever there was a goal kick, you watch these two teams, they would compress into a tight circle in the middle of the pitch. The game was so tight, man, and they probably didn't allow Napoli any width whatsoever. They kept the game fucking tight and like that, they could actually have a hold of it. Napoli granted, wasteful. They did dominate, of course, at 65% ball possession. They had 18 shots to Mpolis.

Eight shots, but they stayed in the game thanks to Berisha mostly, who was absolutely amazing this game. I think we failed as well to address, by the way, before Manny on, pulled off a massive save on Banda on the first half. We should have totally given Miss Flowers, and I think we failed too. But here you are, Manny on. Here are your flowers. But yes, in the second half, Napoli stepped it up. They put their foot on the gas, but they couldn't quite penetrate.

And at the end of the game, Kovalenko, the super sub, who had just come on, who hadn't scored a goal, and what felt like ages, managed to get them all three points over here. And yeah, we'll see what Mazzari can do. Do you think he will do better or worse than Rudy Garcia? I think he'll do worse. Worse, yes. I have a feeling too. It would be bizarre if they had the sacrum as well before the end of the season. I can also see that happening. Wow. I can also see that happening.

We had an Instagram DM that said that Mazzari is the unsung kind of leader that Napoli needs right now. I don't see it. He also has a habit of raging at his players and getting extremely angry. And he has a lot of emotional devils there. So I think he's going to have to be careful. He can easily get on the wrong side of the likes of Kvara, of Osiman, of Raspidori, of Lobotka, and they can start to not play well. Again, it can lead to a resurgence.

You can see the likes of Zaninsky and other players coming back into the frame. I'm actually very curious how Poletano will play now. He has a very good spell with Rudy Garcia. I wonder if that's going to be reflected with this kind of defensive type of play. I wonder if that's simply a case of personal form or coach-in-used form. That's a very good question. We'll see. He's been absolutely brilliant this season.

It was interesting to see him starting with Simeone up front and Raspidori behind him. And Raspidori has been doing so well as a lone striker. And it didn't quite pay off, to be honest with you, at all. No. Simeone looked like a shadow of his former self. He needs a new club. Maybe. He said he wants to retire at Napoli. If he wants to retire on the bench, go for it. Perhaps that's his ambition.

I think we should move on to Derby della Penino with Fiorentina 2, Bologna 1. I must admit, I was quite disappointed by Bologna over here. What were your thoughts? I think this goes back to my point where I said that Bologna will eventually stay relatively where they are, just outside that European football spot. Exactly. And that's because I just feel like they don't have the number of quality players to trump the bigger teams.

Like the likes of Xerxes and the likes of Ferguson and the likes of... Who's the Swedish player right now? Froyle. Yeah. And there are a bunch of players who will definitely help them out in the smaller games. Froyle is Swiss. I'm not sure you said Swiss or Swedish. Swedish. There are some of the Swedish players in there. He plays as an attacking midfielder. An attacking midfielder who's Swedish for... Ah, you're talking about Christensen. There we go.

So these kinds of players could pose a huge threat against the likes of... Manza, Torino, Udinesis, Oswalio. Yeah, these kinds of players may get you that goal, that edge over at the end of my hand. But against a bigger club, I'm not totally sure. And I think the only person who can really pose a major threat against a bigger club, which in this case would be Furentino, is simply Xerxes. By the way, I love the way he's stuck with penalty. Oh my God. It was... It was stuck. So smooth, man.

It was stuck with... Like, if you wanted... If you said to somebody, strike that ball perfectly, if you said the grip of that penalty, it was stuck with such power. Too beautiful penalties this game. Holy shit. Even Nico's penalty. He laughed before he took it. No, but this one was another level, man. The way that Xerxes managed with a wheel's run up to smack it so high, it's impressive, man. And so accurately as well. The ball did not move.

The ball just literally transported from one side to the other. It was... Honestly? Lovely penalty. Honestly, if you're hearing this, bro, incredible penalty, please come to Mott and teach me how to strike a ball like that. I think that they can potentially ask for 40 million for Xerxes, the way he's been playing season to. Easy, easy, easy. What a player, man. What an absolute brilliant, technically gifted, smart player, man. And let's give credit to your favorite Bonnello.

Not Bonnello, your favorite Bambino. Bonaventura. Bonaventura. What a goal. What a goal. He's the Jew with Bellingham of Italy, bro. Slightly... A bit older. A little bit older, yes. A little bit more human because Bellingham's a freak, but Bonaventura's fantastic. And what a goal he scored. Parisi, do you think he had a steak deferentina after the game? Do you think I would, sir? Do you think he had a steak deferentina after the game?

Do you think the club that said, let me know, you deserve a steak deferentina? It's basically a really... Fancy steak. Fancy steak, first of all. It's basically almost rare. You cut the meat at like, a minute and a half. Fuck me. I can imagine the club's just given the best steak, part of this, getting that to go and bring it. You deserve the steak. God knows, man. I bet you Insola hasn't had a steak in years. I think he's getting a steak on his ass. I was surprised that Ferentina won this.

Insola was terrible and they took him off and they played with a false nine. Oh no, I'm so surprised. Because Beltran was injured. And they do play better without a nine, I feel. I think it's one of those situations where, where Insola, I don't think should be, should be starting every game. I think he's a very situational type of player right now. He's so streaky. There are some games where he looks unplayable.

There are some games where he looks, like he's useless and he barely touches the board. You're gonna, you and SME's looked unplayable at Ferentina. He hasn't looked unplayable at Ferentina ever. There we go. That was my point. Yes, yes. The only game I can think of in recent history where he looked unplayable was back when he was at Spetsia against Inter where they couldn't, they couldn't keep up with him. Just getting the ball holding it up there and he was doing what he wanted.

It's confidence, bro. It could be confidence. It's confidence. It could be. Yes. Parisi gave away the penalty by handling the ball. Xerxes celebration involved the bang bang. I like this one. Yeah, I love it too. The thing is he bang banged the Ferentina fans, right? Oh shit. And the referee told them off immediately and Xerxes had to apologize. And then Niko did the same thing. Not to mention.

And if he's getting told off for celebrating with a gunshot celebration, do you remember the Coppa Italia final when Benatio scored two goals against Milan? He took off fucking gunning down everyone in San Siro. Like you should be in prison for that in that case. What was the celebration by, what was the canio? The salute. The salute. Oh, that's fucking terrible. You shouldn't be throwing it out to bring it in. I saw one in a minnow league recently, a player did that.

And it was like the caption was something like player points to his grandma and the stands. I'm sure. That's not what he's doing. I think his grandma is being referred to Hitler. But anyways, I don't know if you're going to criticize celebrations now, I think we'll get into a point. I love celebrations. I love celebrations. Do what the fuck you want as long as your clothes are still on. There was a celebration against a swole or something. What was it? Who was it who scored the first goal?

He's celebrating in a really particular way. It was one second. The young, no, it was Iconwese. He was Iconwese. He got on the floor and crawls like a cat. Tiger. Like a scratch. Like a tiger, a cat, a lion. I'm not quite sure what he was trying to do, but that would irk me. If a player scored against my team and celebrated in that manner. Let's punch him. Yeah. Or if I'm going to be defended, he's going to get one in the chest afterwards. But I love provocative celebrations.

It's part of the game. It's just a way to trigger the opponent. If we're going to get told off for that, like... It highlights the competitive nature of the game. I don't know. I think the constant point we have to just literally be able to read with ourselves and see, you know, this is part of the game. We can't go off too far from what the game is. We can't utilize everyone. It's entertaining. It's boring. It's entertainment, man. You know, I know, I know it can trigger people.

I know it can be offensive to some things, but unless you're being raised, unless you're being homophobic, unless you're just blatantly being rude, we have to be a bit neutral. Yes, I agree. Like I don't mind the celebration where you shush the opposition fans. Of course not. Of course. It's basically putting them in their place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.

You know, if you've been harassed the whole game, go being called a shit player, whatever, score a goal, go shush them till the cause come home. My favorite, my favorite striker in recent history in the Premier League has been Jamie Vardy. Really? Simply because he plays with an agenda. He wants to shut everyone up constantly. He will mock anyone he scores against. He scores against fucking... Can you guess my favorite celebration? Your favorite celebration?

I'm going to give you an English striker. From an English striker. English. So I'm giving it... He's English. He's English. English striker, celebrate, can't think of a single one. He's retired right now. Is it Wayne Rooney? When he extends his arm? Oh, he's retired right now and he did not play for United. He didn't play for United and he's retired. I can't... It's a cringee. It's an iconic... It's a cringee. Is it Crouch the Robot? Yes, it is. I love it so much. It's so good.

I love it so much. I love it. He's so nice. I love it so much. That mold of player where you're too tall to be playing football and you're doing so well, I love it. It's shades of... Nowadays there's Lorenzo Lucca, who's kind of the same. We saw the return of Simi in Wankwo for Salernitano, 6'6", he was absolutely dreadful. Dreadful he was, but I must have... But in Easton. Yes, but I don't know if we'll get time after the display. He was fucking woeful, dude.

He couldn't even control the ball at any point. Like anytime the ball went him, he lost it. Crazy. I don't know. Not to mention he's so lanky he can't even win an aerial duel despite being 6'6". I love the guy and when he was at Crathon, I loved watching him and even in Serie B where he was fucking good. But nowadays I don't know, I don't think he's going for the text player, the highest level. Could be. Maybe in Serie B he needs some time there. Maybe.

But yeah, in the 28th minute there was a massive miss by Salah Makers with a left footed volley who was totally unmarked. I think he had time to take the ball down over there. I think he did, yes. I think he did. I think that's just Salah Makers' thinking. Always. Panics. Always panics and I think he gets nervous in front of goal. And it leaves the wrong decision most of the time. I think it's an experience thing.

He hasn't had many situations in big games where he gets big chances but he should be improving. Christian Stenloss, we had a question about Christian Stenloss about how if he's fallen out of favour with Wota and then all of a sudden Wota played him. He gave away a penalty. I mean, yeah. And then Nico Gonzalez smiling before the penalty. It's nothing like he's at the playground, like he's on a fucking picnic taking a penalty against a friend.

He just laughs and he takes it so casually with a slight hit. How he has blossomed this year is something else. Nico Gonzalez, he's amazing. He's amazing. And I don't know. Like him and Lautaro Martinez aren't even six feet tall and I think they're the two players in the league who are the most dangerous in the air when it comes to their head. Like potentially Jirou might do better than them but their headers are fantastic and they win them. They win their 50-50s and they win their headers.

Absolutely amazing. It goes to show you must have a great centre of gravity and a great determination to win the duo to do that. But yeah, do you think Fiorentina deserved this victory? Overall, I think they had the edge. Just enough but I think they had the edge. Bolonia dominated the possession at 61% more possession. But they buried it in the possession. I just feel like it was possession for possession's sake.

When you have a double pivot of Froyler and Abishor, you're going to have possession. But yeah, Fiorentina continue to, well, not continue to climb out here but they actually return off with three losses in a row. They have bounced back and they currently find themselves in sixth with 20 points. Solid place. Yeah, while Bolonia are in eighth with 18 points. Also, also, so many places. Yeah, they will be contenders for that conference league spot for sure both things.

The next game was Udineza 1, Atalanta 1 and I'm going to start off by asking you a question. Did you see Wallace's goal? I did. Long range shot? Yes. Deflected, I mean. That's terrible, right? I think it's unfortunate. It is unfortunate. At the point, when I watched the goals, did it count? I was wondering, it was going to be cancelled. Everyone was confused when he scored. He was like, what's going on?

And there was a whole confusion for Samaritan's picture, the poster and there was all that thing and then all of a sudden Wallace just has it. And I have never seen Wallace take a longer range shot in my life. I think he was like, you know what, Bolster the walls. I'm going for this. Sorry, guys, in advance. Yeah. Retrying it out. Apparently, he wasn't so sorry. Yeah. Slow start for Atalanta. Udineza's defensive setup will always cause problems. They are a tight unit.

They might not win many games, but they hardly ever lose, quite frankly. There are missed opportunities from Atalanta's end and Udineza have this ability to capitalise on their half chances and that is essentially what led to the draw over here. Ederson, we praised last week, scored an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game. It's nice when you praise someone and it works. It does work. The data show up in the next game.

I mean, again, it seems to be not an insane amount of quality, but he seems to be getting in the right place at the right time a bit more often this season. I can't believe what Gasperin has done to this guy. He's totally transformed him. He was never this type of player. He was a more offensive minded, kind of half-winger, like a mazzala type of player with a lot of offensive freedom. Nowadays, he's a system, he's a cog in this Atalanta machine.

He has a part of the double pivot with Coop Miners in this game, like playing so deep and doing so well and still having this kind of goal prowess about his game. I think at the point, he does have this slight flexibility where he can play a bit aggressively and go up front and at least try pushing to the box and be another man in the box to try to get a finish in the box. So there, I feel like you're right. He's way more systematic.

He's way more involved as a unit as a team, but he has a bit of liberty up front to get into a position to shoot. He had it on three separate occasions this season. So I feel like there is some form of liberty where he can kind of play the football. You're more known to him playing against, like with the likes of Sonarini Tana for example. Yeah, Atalanta love an adaptable player, man. You look at the likes of Coop Miners, Ederson and Pasalic, you can play them in any of the midfielders.

I think Pasalic is a bit washed to be honest. But Pasalic, yeah, hasn't been as good. I think he's going to believe in Sonarini. I thought Pasalic personally had all the makings for a player who had a long career. I really believe so as well. Because he's really intelligent. Yes. He's a player who's so intelligent and so aware of where he should be positionally and has the technique to has enough technique to score or give that final pass. That's a player can play up to 35 easily.

I think he has a lack of energy. That's, yeah, I think that's a real like a playing time as well. Nowadays it's better, but last season you barely think. Yes, I feel like I feel like for Gasperini, that lack of, let's imagine I'll stop for a second. Basically, I feel like as a player, I just don't think he's a Gasperini player in all of his, I know in the past he used to be. I know in the past he used to be very adaptable. He used to play anywhere he was needed and play his heart out.

What do you think it is? I think confidence is a major part. I think it makes confidence a major part of it. And I also feel like he's grown out of the system of it. I think Passelec might look at his career and think I have never cemented my spot in a team. That's a bit sad, but it is. It is, because he totally deserves it. He's 28 years old nowadays, man. That's crazy. He's our age, yeah. 28 years old. I really wanted to find a club, man.

I don't care if he goes to the club, you know, but I want to see him play every single game. I think he deserves it because he's not a type of player. I don't even know maybe if Lazy was the right word to describe him. He's never been Lazy, though. I feel he has a bit of lack of energy, though. Maybe it's a fitness issue. It could be. I don't know, man. It could be a Moriel, I think. For example, if you look, Moriel, by the way, has rejuvenated a little bit. He's looking way more eager nowadays.

He's actually pressing, man. I don't know. I think he's also a player who needs to leave the season as well. But he hasn't been as a ballast. He was last season definitely. My bro. To be honest, harder to get to. You need... I think he's a player. I think with the likes of Skamaka and Lukman on front, you need a third strike who's a bit younger on his feet to challenge these two players. Again, Moriel is a high IQ player, the same kind of player, right? But they're past, man.

I know you keep praising them. I know that they're good players. I'm saying that they're bad. They deserve to keep playing in Serie A. But not for this season. But not for Atalanta, I think. I think they've passed their points. I can see Pasalic playing instead of Castillo as the track where this starts as suolo. Sure. I could definitely see it. I could see the likes of Moriel playing as the main striker for Verona. All game, every game. Easily, yeah. Do they want to go to those moves?

Do they want to go towards some more club? Probably not. But at the point, you have to realize what you want to do with football as well. Do you want to sit on the bench and play 10-20 minutes? Maybe. Or go to Saudi, yeah? Oh, God. Don't get me started. I don't mind it. Yeah, no, not for me. So yes, yeah, we can move on to be honest with you. This was a 1-1. Atalanta lucky at the end to get a draw. Lucky at the end. Yeah, definitely. But who then is? Puskamak was misfiring a bit as well.

A little bit, yes. But they also had a good game. Lukman too. Lukman had a couple of chances that he really should have scored. And I think he tried to really impose himself to score a goal where he maybe didn't need to shoot at points. Sometimes you feel the pressure, right? Atalanta are in fifth with 20 points. They are still very much up there in contention for a Champions League spot while Udenes are all the way down in 16th. They have one victory, eight draws and three losses. That's wild.

They draw every game pretty much. It is very wild. The next game we're going to be discussing is Saswolo 2. Salernitana 2. Saswolo are your boys, bro. I'm going to let you go off. I'm just going to tell you that there was an Ikumezi goal. Ikumezi, I keep saying Ikumezi. It's Ikumezi goal in the fifth minute assisted by Pasquale Mazzocchi. Very nicely to be honest with you. Yes. In the 17th minute and then Boulayedia scored the youngster Chuna who is 20 years old and from Chad.

It's a very exciting youth prospect set. Boulayedia up perfectly who finished the move off well. And then Thordesvet came to life suddenly out of nowhere and got the equaliser for Saswolo by scoring two goals. One assisted by Defrel after a barra de ball when Defrel scored the cross goal and then Matias Vignas setting him up for the second one. What's your thoughts on this game? I mean, that expression shows how frustrating it is to see a team that needs to concede to start playing football.

I really can't understand. I blame the coach. Dionisi, right? I'm surprised he still has a job. I blame the coach and I've been saying, I used to not say Dionisi out. You used to love Dionisi. I used to love him but I think there's too many times where the team is just not motivated from the start and either it's a club issue, it's simply the point that you say they don't have enough fans to motivate them, which very much simply could be the case.

And sometimes it's the simple answer, which we try to find the complicated answer. And sometimes and in most cases in life, besides football, it's the simple issue, which we just ignore because ignoring the simple issue is easier. So it could be the fans case. So I'm going to leave it on the table. I can leave everyone to agree or disagree. I don't know. I definitely don't have the answer. But at the point, the coach also has to find a way to motivate the players.

I mean, how you do that as a coach, I don't know myself, but I think I do speak to the management and you try, you sit down and say, we have to fix this fans issue. It's improving. It is. It's improving. But you know, the club is not poor. You have to figure out ways. I can't tell you but Phil for Baradim and when he made that comeback and he scored and he went and he did the whole celebration, the Jude Bellingham celebration for that. Now there were like fucking seven people in front of him.

It's absolutely. It's going to happen. And you can't blame the guy anymore. It's going to be a very sad day, but it's going to happen. Honestly, I would make ticket prices free. Fuck it, man. If you don't have fans. If you don't have fans in the stadium, that's an issue that has to be dealt with. What are these players playing for? Nothing. Part of the reason is if you score a goal, it's meant to be a moment that you will remember for the rest of your life.

A moment that fucking fills you with so much adrenaline that you just can't forget it and use it to drive you to score again. How can it be? You score and there's barely any noise. You hear the size of the opposition fans louder than you hear your own fans fucking cheering. And it's not an exaggeration. We've experienced this together. Inter Saswolo at the Muppets Stadium. We had our Saswolo kids on. We were surrounded by Inter fans. It was fun. It's a swole of score.

You got up and started shouting. Mimmo, mimmo, mimmo, mimmo, because Baradim scored. They were all laughing at you. Tell you you calma, calma like. At the end they were right. And then triple substitution and they're back in it. Sure. Why the fuck not? Brant and Saswolo had a penalty. Oh my God, don't get me started. The Fred was literally pulled off his shirt and then somehow Pickles is afoul. Anyways, whatever. It's what it is.

But coming back to this game, I just find it so frustrating that Saswolo have to concede one or two goals to start, to be motivated to play. Because then they realize, oh we're losing, it's about time we start playing football then, then everyone starts to play. I don't fucking get it. How could it be, you have to concede a goal, you have to be on the back foot to start playing football. Come on, you're a professional. Even if there are no fans, you're getting paid.

God knows how much money to come play football. Motivate yourself at the end of the day. Absolutely. There are some players who lack that motivation from the get-go and some of them are older players. That seems to be the case. If you look at Salah and Netana's front, for example, the players who are criticized most are the likes of Kandreva, for example.

Kandreva is so heavily criticized nowadays and I don't blame fans because Kandreva can be a player that towards the end of the season, you've got five games left, you need Salah and Netana to survive, you put Kandreva in there, you motivate them a little bit to work for survival and he can come out as a hero.

But throughout the whole season, having him as your main man and he's not driven and he's not motivated and the players around him don't have quite the quality to keep up with him, it can be quite obvious that he doesn't quite want to be there. And it can be seen, to be honest with you. I think that, for example, Milan are looking to loan out Luca Romero. I think Salah and Netana should be all over that.

I think Salah and Netana are bringing in a player, a youth player from Milan who has shown that he is very much capable of starting in Serie A. He's shown it at Lazio, he's shown it at Milan. I think you bring that guy in and you play him and you trust him and you're like, alright, express yourself, help us, we will help you. We'll give you the platform to show what you've got, you will help us survive. I think that could turn Salah and Netana's season around.

Salah and Netana aren't strangers to making moves in January. I agree, that could definitely be a very good move. What I want to see, what I really, really get frustrated about with Donizzi, and that really frustrates me, is his obsession with playing a striker and never, ever, ever giving him a game off the bench. So like, we have Pinamonti here. He'll play Pinamonti every single game, game in, game out, and he will start. If your player hasn't scored since Game Week 4 or 5.

He impressed me this game. Pinamonti. I think letting the ball slide and that, wow. Sure. Like we criticize him for being too selfish. Yes, granted, granted, but there are players like Monateri who hasn't been given time. That's true. That guy has talent, we know about it, he has a crazy precision. He's not started a game. And the Coppa he played? He brought him on. Do fuck the Coppa. Fuck the Conga, fuck about the Coppa. Play him one game. Play him a game. What the fuck's gonna happen?

You're gonna concede anyway. With the way he's a swallower player. You're gonna concede a goal anyway. So it's not a striker's fault if Pinamonti or Monateri starts. Play him. Try one game with him in front. It's true. He's not the semblance that he has to fight for something. I keep criticizing him because I keep thinking, as Pinamonti, does it deserve to play game in game out, consistently, without any competition? And he played Monateri for 10 minutes and he goes, no, he's not good enough.

No, she's not good enough because you don't give him fucking time. Yeah. What are you gonna do in 10 minutes? You better have sex in 10 minutes. It's funny, but it's the case, dude. You're that lady. No, jokes aside, 10 minutes you have zero impact. You have to basically get the ball and score automatically to have any kind of impact. Who the fuck's gonna do that? Are they fucking little emissary? Can do that half the time? That's true. That's true. Or the other can do that half the time?

That's true. That was frustrating. He has an obsession. I have to play these players and he won't just not play them anymore. But could it be the fact that Pinamonti was such a big signing for a swallower that there's pressure from the top to get them up and running? Perhaps Dionysio requested him. Sure, but dude, it's been a year and a half. He scored. I don't think he scored 10 goals. Even Volpato. We've heard this in Volpato, for example.

Again, man, there have been a few moves which to me are quite random. Castillo as well. Castillo is a random one. Volpato is not the one. Pedestrian barely plays, who to be honest with you, Toalian wasn't a major problem. He needed a backup. It was more a roger. It was more a roger issue. You could see he made a number of mistakes. Boloca has been good. Boloca, by the way, has transferred his national team alliance.

He is no longer representing Romania and will be representing the Italian national team. Do you think he's good enough to actually introduce himself into the squad eventually? Eventually, yes. Not this year. I think it's another year to keep going. He's a hard worker. He's a hard worker. I think Italy could appreciate him in the future, but let's keep an eye on him and see what happens. Yes. Enzaghi was criticised in the second half for his management of the game.

Mazzocchi was making many mistakes and he left them one. He brought on Simeon Wankwo, who hadn't played in a while. You could see why. Kullibali and Mazzocchi have a similar problem where they drive too much. They get the ball and they advance and they don't release the ball early. They feel like they need to cover a certain amount of ground before they release the ball and that punishes Salernitana a lot.

The season especially, like the goal Napoli scored against Salernitana was all Kullibali's fault because he held it for too long and he just drove for way too long. They need to release earlier and that could be simply a management kind of thing, like punish them if they don't. It's as simple as that. How do you get a player to conform? Why not play them? That's it. Why not play them? I was scolding them. You go to training and you fucking tell them, you stop doing this shit.

You remember how Legri, Fajoli made that mistake, brought them right off. It was fucking embarrassing. Fajoli later said he was crying because of the whole gambling thing, but like, I don't know if that's the case because right after you make a mistake, the coach takes you out immediately. That's fucking, that hurts. But it had to be done, man. Daniel Bologna, fun fact about him, he covered the most ground of any player this matchday with 30 kilometres. Congrats. Yes, young and full of sprites.

Yes. Very good. The next game, wait, the standings first of course. As Jake always forgets. Yes, we are looking at Sasvolo who currently sits all the way down in 15th with 12 points while Salah Netana sit dead last with 5 points. Yeah, the next game we're going to be covering is Monza 1 Torino 1, a very interesting game of football with goals from Colpani and Ilic. What did you make of this one? There was a Ricardo Rodriguez goal as well that was ruled out controversially perhaps for 50-50.

You got goals ruled out this game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's many goals ruled out. This was a 50-50 between Zapata and Caldera. I feel it was another weird decision. I'm going to say it was another lecture weird. A pick-call decision. A pick-call decision where you're just a little bit confused at what's going on. I don't think it was a particularly offensive foul to not give the goal but it happened and that's football, that's how far it works.

You can criticize as far as you want but that's the way the system is. So I mean, you just move on. It did affect Torino of course. I think it demotivated him a bit to be honest with you. Yeah, yeah. I really liked Zapata's whole game. I was going to say, yeah, this game he had a particularly good game. He looked shakier. He looked less shaky than he had in previous matches. More involved. More involved. I think he had a bit of confidence about him this game week. Yes, exactly.

Which was nice to see because I was about to criticize him again this week. You're about to fuck him up. I'm just going to be like, I think he just needs to leave the league. But this game he showed some semblance of what he can provide as a player. He didn't score but he definitely held up the ball very well. He had his long range attempts as well as playing with a certain amount of flares. But I appreciate that.

More than the long range attempts, again, I repeated that his whole da player really helped Torino keep them in this game. And he set up Illich so well. Yeah, really good. Illich had a relatively easy goal to score. Of course you have to finish so that's never easy. But he, you know, he's a part of the da all the work and Illich stepped up and it's nice to see Illich get a goal. The girls won the first game thanks to the silly goal. Congrats to Karma man. See that they're first men.

Karma is my boyfriend. You know the song. No. No. You're not exposed to any Taylor Swift. No, you're so lucky. Am I? You're so lucky. There you go. I'm not worried. I'm lucky boys. It's borderline. Yeah. Next. Luckily he said this is the... Yeah, she doesn't. She doesn't. So you're safe. We're safe. We're safe. The other game by Colpani was absolutely brilliant. He had so much work to do when he received the ball he drove and he finished so calm. That's not a 90s vibe about Colpani. He beat...

The defender really thought that he had the ball easily and Copa just came out of nowhere like a fucking assassin. From stealthy, out of nowhere, just steals the ball and then just has such a lovely finish down the right hand side. He's a vintage player. He reminds me of a classic 90s Italian player. I don't know if I'm overreacting again. Could be. I'm very gassed about this guy. He's very good. Excuse me. But I feel like that one is... Have you finished yours?

We've drank an entire bottle of Moe Chandon. We've drank a lot. So many words. They're on a wine bottle. This guy just writes one word. One word. This champagne. On a simple paper. Just champagne. Champagne. Anyways, he's a very good player. I do feel you might be hyping him up a little bit too much. I do think he's very good. But again, I would just like to see what happens next year. Just to see if my theory is totally wrong or not.

Because if it happens to be that another player gets thrown into the limelight and starts to explode, I just think it's a way that Monsa plays. Every year they have this guy they want to really push. Could be to push them for potentially setting them or for potentially hyping them up to bring more... They're a very small and young club. So they need this kind of publicity and marketing.

They are so young that Colpani has equalled the highest all-time Serie A gold scoring record set by Carlos Augusto last season with six goals. Oh Lord. And Colpani has equalled it. He has to beat it. He has to beat it. He has to beat it. He has to beat it. He has to beat it. Yes, but you're right. Perhaps it's a little bit too early to be hyping him up. I might splash out on a kit. I think it might be a good investment to get a Colpani Monsa kit. He doesn't need a Monsa kit, man. Yes, I do.

I have a collection over here. But hold on. I have a collection of Caliari, Venetia. I think you're offending someone very greatly. Who are we offending? I think you're the DeGroGorio kit, man. DeGroGorio. Don't even... He's so good. He's so good, man. You're going to call the guy who's been so consistent for the last three years with Monsa. You're going to give it to this guy who should be cutting his hair. Call me, close-minded. I have never bought a goalkeeper kit in my life. Have you?

Probably not as well. Yeah, I've never bought one because it's not the club's kit, you know what I mean? It's not the club's kit. I don't think I'm following you. It's not the colors of the club. It's just a yellow kit, you know? It's an orange kit. It's a random... I draw... If I get a kit, I want to look at it and be like, ah, Caliari. Ah, sasvolo. Get a goal. You have the emblem. Yes, I know, I know, I know. But I don't know.

I've never actually considered getting a goalkeeper kit, but maybe DeGroGorio deserves one. You might be absolutely right. It's a nice black Monza kit. It's quite sexy. I have bought, actually, I bought Matthew on a Chowa kit, Salernitone. That's cool. That is cool. It's a collector's item. But yes, by the way, shout out to Matthew, respect. Matthew. Miss you, man. I'm stuck with this guy. He's stuck with this fucking Neanderthal. I must say, I've been enjoying the episode with you as well, bro.

I'm glad, I'm glad. Yes, when it comes to this game, other than that, I have a bunch of notes over here, but I can't really read them. So are the real important? No, there was an incident at the end of the game involving Gallardini and Lazaro in the 93rd minute. Gallardini made contact with Lazaro in the penalty area. Despite the contact, Lazaro didn't fall to the ground. The collision wasn't forceful, but there was contact between the foot and the left shin.

So the people were saying, that's a penalty. Do you think that situations like this might encourage players to make a meal out of the contact? Definitely, because of the fact that when you do make a meal out of it, you get a penalty. Simple as, simple as. There's just no point to not fall to the ground. There's no point. Absolutely, yes. You might as well, right? You might as well. If you don't get a penalty, no problem. Lazaro was not going to score, let's be honest.

So really and truly, what do you have to lose? You either win a penalty for your squad and you're the hero and you're going to get a blowjob at home or you're just not going to get anything. Yeah, let's be real, we all want the former. No, the next game we're going to talk about is the last game actually. Genoa 1, Helas Verona nil. Jurych almost scored, I would have rubbed that enough. If Boulayedia and Jurych both scored a week after you criticising them and tearing them in the face.

Up yours, Jurych. But I must say, Jurych looks so serviceable to me. Yes, so serviceable but it's not going to go. Keep on, keep on, keep on. Yes, my take on Jurych. He's so good, right? No, he's not so good but he has one thing he's good at.

When you have a team like Helas Verona whose ambition is to survive, having a player up front who stopped here in one department when it comes to winning garyldewels, you can design an entire system that will get you enough points to survive which includes this player knocking it out on the ball to a player who is particularly good at finishing like Bonazzoli. And how many goals have they combined together this season? Absolutely fucking none, I believe.

Bonazzoli scored one, I think I'm going to be sure to even score. In 13 matchdays, scoring one goal and winning one game. But this is Verona, this isn't a problem purely on strikers. You look at this team, it leaves a lot to be desired. Have you ever heard of Suslov? No, I haven't. He played in midfield this game for Helas Verona. Again, Hongla, the person who plays on the wing, he was in the middle for Verona this game, he was in the middle, next to Suslov.

The other guy, Followerunshaw, who's been on loan from Napoli for like eight seasons in a row now. How old is he? He's like 20 fucking seven years old, there's nothing to quote me. I think the best part of this Verona team of so many times is the defence, which isn't even that great, but it's, it's, it can be tough. The defence is paired with the keeper is tough, yes.

It can be tough to play against, particularly when everyone's fit and you have Davidovic, Hien and then one of Ami and Onero, Manjani, that's not bad. No. And then you have Montepo and Goal. But then the midfield is just a bunch of random names, to be honest, like Terak-Chan on the right. All right, not bad, not great. Faroni regressed a little bit. He's also nearing his end. Josh Doig struggling, struggling. I don't think it's a him issue though.

On the other end, you have Genoa, who are looking very exciting, who have a team that's looking very promising. However, however, however, with the absence of Ritigui, it's a lot of problems. I said this last week and you're absolutely right. And when Goodminton didn't score, they needed the heroics from a random defender to score a goal. Otherwise they would have had nothing this game. You're right. Honestly, honest to God, they got lucky this game.

One player who's absolutely unsung in this team is Frendrup. Frendrup is brilliant. He's attracting the eyes of many a Premier League club. I forgot who was interested in him. I can't remember right now. It was a big team though. And he is that type of midfielder that just can control the game so well. They rely on veterans like Strutman and Badeli to maintain as well, that kind of composure in the middle. I like this Genoa team because they were smart with their signings.

When they came to Serie A, they went for Serie A experience. The exact things that teams that have come up and gone straight back down didn't do. Venice, yeah. Both a bunch of players from different countries. Right? No Serie A experience went straight back down. Same thing I've been said about Kremoneza. This Genoa team are doing things in a very smart way. Goodminton is way too good to be there. He's way too good. He's way too good. He's way too good. He's way too good.

He's way too good at Napoli next year. You can see him anywhere to be honest. Yeah, I can. The guy loves to dribble and he's fantastic at it and he's like he was phenomenal. But then you look at the replacements for Red Eggby. So you've got either Ecuban or you've got Puskas. And both players are I think maximum Serie B level. If even. If even. Ecuban hit the post, he was very unlucky. But this is the same debate that we mentioned with Borini, right?

How can you criticise a player who leaves his fucking... Who leaves everything on the pitch like Ecuban? You can't. But then you can also understand that you want to replace him, which is fine. No problem with replacing players, but you can't criticise them to every then. You can expect more, which is fine. But you can't criticise them for not trying.

Yeah. Martinez had a good save to keep Genoa into this game, but eventually it was a 1-0 victory for Genoa, quite a clean victory, which saw them going up to 13th in the table with 14 points, while Jairas Virona sit in 19th with 8 points and that's 5 defeats in a row for them. And I can't see the 6th game that might have potentially been a defeat as well. That's definitely 5 in a row, at least.

Come back to our question segment, drop a question, you can find us on Twitter or Instagram at, say, a spotlight or a page in stake priority, but we usually discuss most questions that we receive. This week we posted late, so we've only got two questions to cover. The first one comes from Frank, who's a loyal listener and a very good guy, massive football fan. He can tell he's all over these podcasts. He loves it. From what you have seen, who will finish higher? Lazio or Roma?

I think my mind is on Roma this year. Because of the fact that I think, unless Luis Alberto simply carries that squad, I just can't see them. I can't see them winning so many games that they leave Pro-Roma. I think Roma, at full strength of a lot of potential, I think that they know how to get things done pragmatically. They don't necessarily need to score a lot of goals to win games, in theory. I think eventually it will take for them.

Yes, and again, regarding Lazio, I agree with all your points. I'm not going to really make more. I feel like they have a more complete squad. With that being said, I just don't see Castellanos fitting the gap that Imobre is creating. I mean, not to the point that he hits 20 goals a season, but definitely perhaps one for next season or the season after the next. His next question was, can Bologna get a European place? I think they can push for a conference. Conference is the max though.

I agree with you. I think Europe was a step too far, especially with the team that they have. McCleck was speaking about, Fiorentino was the game where they could have proven us wrong. And they didn't do it. And the only goal this squad was through a penalty. So even more so, it shows that the club is lacking that final 5% to leapfrog these bigger teams. They need time, maybe one more season, a couple of more signings and to keep their squad relatively intact.

Let's not forget that Orsulini was slightly offside and his goal was cancelled offside. So there were some chances, but they need a little bit more of a complete squad. They need more depth. Right now, if many of their starters are getting dreaded, you can't quite replace them. Exactly. Vanhouzzi Donk. That's going to be the guy to score your goals. Luca asks, what are some other hidden young talents in the league apart from Lovumbo, Zulez, Zergzi, Kristovic and Goodminton at the moment?

Good question. Well, that's actually a really good question to be honest. But the likes of Chumani from Salerniton. Yeah, you have started to mention his name a couple of times. 20 years old from Chad. Yeah, he could start to discover himself at this club. Especially where they're lost and you know, you can see Zaghi deploying more of a team where he's looking for consistency. And where he's looking for players who actually want to play.

So this guy is really the player and he's ready to put in a shift. He has a good platform for where to do it. Up next, Mullatiri, as you mentioned. I mentioned it a couple of times. He had a really good preseason where he scored a bunch of goals and the goals where you can see it's not just about scoring a tap in. He scored some really good, solid goals where he has a really strong shot as well. On loan from Inter, right? On loan from Inter with a loan to buy, I believe.

And the skill ceiling I think that this guy has could be really high, but he just needs time. He needs playing time, yes. There's Romero of Milan. People are quite versed on him to be honest. He was a breakout player in La Liga, went to L'Ozio, breakout player in Sierra, and now he finds himself at Milan on the right wing. Potentially on loan at the moment. Milan apparently want to loan him out. We'll see how he does.

He's a very hot prospect over there, particularly because of his footballing intelligence. There is an Ibrahimovic who is 17 years old, plays out wide on the left for Frosinone, who is a very young player as well. Baldanzi, for example, is a fantastic player as well, a three-quartista, very good player. Baloka, Sasvolo. I think Baloka could be probably the player to watch. Not for his flashiness, but his defensive capabilities can be so enjoyable to see. He can really just manage a player.

He can boss him around. He's really smart. I really like him. I think he has a real good ceiling to reach. I think if you want to watch a couple of players, these are all good takes. I really like Baloka. I think he has a really good future. I think of probably Sasvolo's best signing this season. For sure. No, he's the only good signing this season. Almost, yeah. Dragosin is good, center-backed. Okoali is good, center-backed. Frosinone on loan from Atalanta.

Colombo is a very good striker on loan at Monza. One player that we should all keep our eyes on and wait for is the return of Triore from Atalanta. Yes, we're all awaiting his return. He is a player who Atalanta broke the bank for, so I'm sure that he won't disappoint. We like goalkeepers. There are two Rati and Karnasekki as well. We've got 20 seconds, guys, so thank you for listening. If you like our content, follow us on social media. Reach out, rate the podcast 5 stars.

Thank you very much, Mintov. No problem at all. Thank you for listening. Thanks, guys.