This goal was scored by the Ghanaian Prince Kevin Prince Boateng in the Champions League
group stage of 2012 in a 3-2 home defeat to Barcelona.
That was probably my favorite goal of his bro, but the most memorable moment for me
is that game against Lecce.
Oh my god that hat-trick that he scored.
It was incredible bro.
He came on, he had come on as a half-time substitute while Milan were down 3-0 and he
scored three goals and then Yepes got the winner.
And he had two of them were absolute bangers man, he had that half volley with the out-step
into the top corner and then the second one was from distance as well with the out-step
and into the top corner again man.
Yeah man, absolutely breathtaking man.
Crudelli of course, we have to give a shout out to Crudelli, that was back when I was
really into his stuff.
Nowadays I find him a little bit annoying.
I still seek Crudelli and even Souma's commentary as soon as Milan win a game.
As soon as Milan win a game I want to watch shit with their commentary on it.
I'm upset that we couldn't find a commentary piece for this one, this one particularly
he was going, ba ba ba, ding ding ding.
We can put that at the end no?
I am gonna put it at the end, that was the original plan.
But for some reason when I was looking for Crudelli's shit, it all seems to be filmed
off an old big box TV that emits more background noise than it does sound man.
Yeah unfortunately we're not blessed with the technology we have nowadays.
But as I said bro, this is one of my favorite Champions League goals in the history of Milan
to be honest.
The way he extended his leg in mid-air to control the ball, chopping it on the landing
past Abidal and firing it bottom corner man.
And then the celebration, the trademark Cartwheel, incredible man.
He was an absolute showman man, this guy.
Everyone in the stadium would stand up as soon as he got the ball.
He just always seemed to have something different up his sleeve and fuck me was he great at
pulling it off.
For sure bro, for sure.
I remember seeing him in the World Cup with Ghana and thinking like how I wish this guy
played for Milan and then it actually went off.
You were saying that, I remember.
I couldn't believe it.
I remember in 2010 when there was the Ghana scandal, they were doing really well, there
was him and Gian, Gian had moved to Sunderland if I'm not mistaken.
But it did come in waves, his qualities.
It's true especially towards the end of his Milan stage.
Especially during his second stint, he had that second spell at Milan as well.
But even in his prime, he was never that consistent footballer.
He was often criticized for his carefree attitude, a bit of a bad boy reputation as well.
In fact, his sexy girlfriends, his tattoos he had, the fucking crown tattooed on his
neck as well.
But this attitude and this kind of reputation has led him to play for one too many football
teams.
It never seems like it settled down.
He had Hertha Berlin, Spurs, Dortmund, Portsmouth, Genoa, Milan, Las Palmas, Frankfurt, Sassuolo,
on loan to Barca from Sassuolo, Fiorentina, on loan to Besiktas from Fiorentina, Monza
and now he's back at Hertha Berlin at 35 years old where it all started.
Yes, he's really bounced around hasn't he?
To think, had he had some continuity he might have been able to develop a little bit better
maybe and achieve some more longevity.
But his 2011 season was good enough for me, I'll take that.
That was definitely his peak.
Like the World Cup in 2010 and then the following I would say three seasons at Milan, let's
say that three out of his four seasons at Milan were incredible.
And then he found himself to be part of the banter era, the start of the banter era.
And he was even benched during that period.
Which is weird because he went from playing with Nesta, Silva, Zambrotta, Pirlo, Seedorf,
Van Bommel, Pato, Zlatan, Robinho, Cassano, all those guys to playing with Montagio, Montolivo,
Honda, fucking Destro, Bonera, Balletta.
There was SCN at the end of his career as well.
You'd think he'd be a key player but he had dropped off.
Yeah he had dropped off at that point.
Not to him I wouldn't think it matters too much who his teammates are.
Because firstly his success with Ghana and secondly he literally chose to play for Ghana
over Germany.
If he wanted great teammates I'm guessing he would have chosen Germany, like his brother
Jerome by the way.
That center back and that guy as well.
But in reality it was a safe choice because he might not have played for Germany.
He wanted to rep his country as well.
But should he have tackled Balak the way he did in that final, Pompey against Chelsea,
F make up, he injures his brother's captain.
They were notorious for falling out and never speaking again basically.
Till today I think.
Till today I think they might not be on good terms but anyway.
One of them just got bailed out for 1.
Something million from prison.
In fact Kevin Prince Boateng had distanced himself from his brother after the scandals.
Yeah I heard that.
But anyway you know they were the first two brothers to face off in the World Cup.
In the history of the World Cup.
That makes sense.
They were two brothers who played on separate teams.
I can't really think of another case where that happened.
For some reason thinking shocker.
No there wasn't another case.
In the World Cup at least no.
I mean you're probably right, you're definitely right to be fair.
But fighting over, because you know one brother injured the other brother's captain so that
captain could make it to the World Cup.
Can't really ever imagine that happening to us bro.
It'll take a lot to get us off the sofa to injure each other's captains apparently.
Definitely not getting off the sofa man.
Not anytime soon.
Goal!
Hello and welcome back to Serie A Spotlight.
We are your hosts Jake and Matt here for episode 36 this time.
Are we going to do that thing where we react to the episode number every time we read it
out like oh my god 36!
It's crazy!
How are we here?
I remember like it was yesterday!
So follow us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter guys.
We post all of our content over there of course don't forget to rate the podcast anything
between 3 and 5 stars please that would be nice.
You know like we said do 5 stars like and it will make no difference to your lives whatsoever.
Unless you think we're shit then give us like 1 star.
Exactly or you're a little bit racist like these aren't English man.
We have to address the prediction series.
We do.
So we came draw for the first time ever it was like 8-8 I believe.
So Jake gets the correct score of Atalanta against Venezia which was 3-1 to Atalanta and
I guessed Spezia against Torino which was a 2-1 victory for Torino.
I also guessed the Genoa score 1-0.
You guessed the Genoa score?
And you guessed another one I believe.
Didn't you guess the Milan one as well?
Oh I did too yes actually.
Are we sure that we came draw?
Seems like a fucking 1.
Let's double check that.
So we're back after double checking Jake is just pulling shit out of his ass.
I am literally just making stuff up.
He guessed I guessed the Genoa.
I said 1-1 for Genoa.
He said Genoa draw like me 1-1.
But I said 1-0 on Twitter when I was talking to David that's why I got confused.
Big boy.
And then I guessed the Juve to Sassuolo 1 and you guessed Milan to Lazio 1.
So both of us guessing 2-1 away wins there.
Draw I'll take a draw right now.
You're desperate for the wins.
I am desperate for the wins.
Four games to go and it's all gonna be easy man.
It's all gonna be easy at all.
I'm not gonna need to owe you three kits.
I'm not gonna need to find a way how I could get out of it without tarnishing my reputation.
You're gonna have to make it really cool.
You're gonna have to get really cool kits.
That's the only way out of it dude.
I guess.
But hey guys this was a top weekend of Serie A football and a mental midweek.
Everyone was worried about you know there was the Champions League one and City took
on Real Madrid and the score was 4-3 to Manchester City and the quality of football was so high
and was so end to end and so explosive.
People on Twitter were like how the hell are we gonna watch Serie A now?
How the fuck are we gonna go from watching City to watching Goudinez?
Honestly just every fucking game was crazy.
Let's quickly leave.
We literally just watched Bologna Inter over Liverpool v. Real.
Exactly.
Over a Champions League semi-final.
I have zero fucking regrets man.
Especially with that outcome.
In fact it all started at 6 o'clock bro.
The madness.
I was still at work like.
I was driving.
Fiorentina at home to Goudinez.
And you would have said hmm can Fiorentina age it a little bit here?
Or is it gonna be a draw?
You know what I mean?
Yeah a draw at most.
Goudinez won 4-0.
Goudinez doesn't do that and then loses to Salerno.
Exactly.
Mare scored the first goal in the 12th minute, de Oliveira in the 36th and then Wallace in
the 91st and Udo G in the 95th.
My god till the end man.
Till the end.
We've discussed before that Goudinez have this flair about them.
They can absolutely demolish teams nowadays.
But I didn't think they could dismantle Fiorentina like that.
Especially away.
I am petrified to play Fiorentina this weekend as a Milan fan.
And Udineza just did that away against them.
That's fucking impressive shit by Udineza.
Man Fiorentina are no walk in the park man.
Not at all.
Udineza take on Inter, Fiorentina take on Milan.
Crazy.
That's crazy honestly.
Oof.
We'll see what happens there.
The next game after that was Atalanta 4-Torino 4.
My god the mayhem.
Goals from Sanabria in the 4th minute, Muriel in the 18th followed by a De Rhoon goal with
Muriel assist of course, Lukic scored a penalty in the 36th and then scored again in the 63rd.
Four goals in two games for Sasha Lukic.
These were both penalties as well.
And a penalty in the last game as well so there goes three of those.
He's a fucking fantastic rigorista apparently.
In the 67th minute Ramu Froiler scored an own goal and then Atalanta turned up to the fucking…
What's the expression?
The heat.
Sure turned up the heat.
And fucking Torino had to get out of the kitchen dude.
Passal…
Passal Ushun in the 78th minute.
Who is this Mozart?
Passal Ushun in the 78th and then Muriel once again in the 84th.
It seems like the Colombian is back.
4-4 of course Atalanta will be disappointed with this considering they still have European
aspirations.
A good result for Torino once again as they continue their good spell.
But I think ultimately Atalanta will be happy with the point considering they were down
4-2 in the 67th minute.
Yeah maybe.
But anyway bro the of course the big game the big Wednesday game that everyone was waiting
for.
You know what I mean.
That fucking infamous game in hand.
Let's do it.
Let's do it one last time bro.
Let's do it one last time.
Inter sit second with 67 points of course they have a game in hand against Bologna.
Milan first by 2 points ahead of Inter who have a game in hand.
There we go man.
Rest in fucking peace.
Ciao ciao Arrivaderci.
Bologna 2-1 Inter.
Oh my god.
That is genuinely so good.
I think we should tone it down a bit bro.
Let's keep it nice and neutral.
Of course Inter have taken a massive blow over here.
And a loss not even a draw.
They have literally put the ball once again in Milan's court.
They're just passing it to each other right now.
Milan gave the league to Inter.
Napoli gave it to both of them.
Now Inter are just handing it back to Milan.
And we'll see what happens in the next four games man.
We'll see because honestly Milan's comment is really fucking tough.
Very difficult.
Does that make them more ideal fixtures for Milan at the moment?
Some might argue the case.
We've discussed previously that the fact that they're going to be open games against teams
that attack you will actually play into Milan's favour.
So that might not be the worst thing in the world but let's keep our feet on the ground.
We shall.
The goals came through of course first Ivan Perisic in the third minute.
Things seem to be going really well for Inter.
The 3-0 Coppa victory against Milan now a goal in the third minute against Bologna in
the game in hand that Milan fans had been so hopeful about.
And what a goal it was by Perisic.
And then just one chance for Arnautovic that's all he needs of course.
28th minute across from Barrow found Arnautovic who converted it with the slightest touch
with his head.
What a goal though.
It was.
And you know Arnautovic has just been on recently.
He's really been on top of his shit.
And he's a big reason as to why Bologna have kind of turned their season around now I would
say.
Definitely.
26th minute blunder from the goalkeeper who replaced Handanovic, Radu.
He fucked up a back pass like let it go through.
It would have been an own goal.
It was heading in.
And then Sansona just came in and slotted it home.
He positioned his body to play the ball with the right away from goal but for some reason
he off balanced whilst off balanced he went with his left and he directed the ball towards
goal and Sansona was running in.
He got the tap in and probably the biggest three points for Bologna and the biggest three
points for Inter as well losing them.
For sure bro he ran straight to the curva you know celebrating it was fantastic to watch
to be honest with you.
But yes what an entertaining season we've had so far that was just the midweek we have
10 games to talk about now.
I would say that this has been the best Serie A campaign in ages bro since that Juventus
monopoly one.
It's been that entertaining man.
It has and it's crazy because this is the season we've decided to fucking start our
podcast and look what a season we've had.
You see it blessed us and we blessed them.
They made our content very easy to roll out.
So guys before we get down to talking about each and every game that happened in match
day 34 we'd like to read the results out to you in case you're going to work and you
want a full rundown before listening to fucking two hours no commute takes two hours.
Efficiency is key.
Efficiency is key we normally like to keep you guys on your toes but we're here to satisfy
you.
And you'd think that reading 10 scores in a row would be really monotonous and boring
but to spice things up I'm gonna give you a beat while you do it.
Thanks a lot dude thanks a lot.
So it was Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock and Torino kicked off the first match of the
weekend facing Spezia at home winning 2 goals to 1.
The next game which followed that was Venezia against Atalanta the Venetians at home.
Atalanta managed to get away with a rare 3-1 victory over there.
The same score followed in the Inter against Roma game where Inter got away with a 3-1
massive victory for them.
The next game was Verona against Sampdoria which was a stalemate at 1-1.
Salernitana managed to beat Fiorentina 2 goals to 1 crazy stuff.
Our last episode name was… could it be?
I think it can.
The next game we covered was Bologna vs Odinese that had a draw written all over it and in
fact the score was 2-2.
Empoli shocked the world by beating Napoli 3-2 getting the double over them this season
thanks to Amaret Blunder.
Genoa beat Caliari in a relegation 6-pointer making things look kind of better for Genoa
as well as them and Salernitana are level.
Lazio faced Milan at home at the Stadio Olimpico.
A late winner by Sandro Tonali leads Milan to a 2-1 victory and to the top of the table.
The last game which was on a Monday night was Sassuolo 1-2.
Was that difficult for you man?
No, I don't think I'll be doing that again.
I think it adds character but fuck it whatever let us know what you guys think.
So the first game we're gonna be covering is the Inter 3-Roma 1 game, obviously the
headline game of the weekend, the reverse fixture was Roma-Nil-Inter 3 in the Olimpico
goals from Cialnoglu, Zerco and Dumfries.
They also faced off in the Coppa where Inter won 2-2 goals to Nil goals from Zerco and
Sanchez.
So Inter are coming off a 3-1 win away to Spezia whilst Roma are coming off a 1-1 away
draw to Napoli.
So Inter are now unbeaten in their last 10 Serie A matches against Roma, they won 4 of
those and they drew 6 of those.
This is the second longest win streak that a team has against Roma, this is 10 and Milan
hold the record with 17.
So Inter replaced D'Ambrosio, Bastoni and Correa with Devri, De Marco and Lautaro whilst
Roma brought in Mkhitaryan and El Sharawi for Cristante and Zaniolo who are both out
injured.
So in the 30th minute it was a superb ball by Cialnoglu that put Dumfries clean through
on goal, the Dutchman finished cleanly past Patricio.
In the 40th Perisic played the ball to Brozovic on the side of the box, Brozo Cuttin passed
Mancini and cunted the ball into the top corner leaving Patricio rooted to the spot.
In the 52nd minute a corner by Hakan was headed in by Lautaro Martinez, obviously Lautaro
has just had a great run of form recently, and in the 85th minute Roma got one back after
Shimura played a cut back from the byline, Karsdorp fainted and let the ball run through
his legs, it landed to Mkhitaryan who smashed the ball in.
So Bro your initial thoughts on this game?
So I was surprised at how weak Roma looked to be honest from the get go.
They looked frail against Inter side.
And it makes sense I guess, just looking at their midfield we have a lot of technical
players in that department, you know what I mean, many players that do well in possession.
Against Inter you're not going to get much possession, you're going to have to do a lot
of running and a lot of dirty work.
Now the double pivot was Mkhitaryan and Oliveira.
Mkhitaryan has played well in the double pivot role before but of course that's not really
his natural position.
And Sergio Oliveira once again is a dead ball specialist, he's good with the ball at his
feet but out of possession he's very frustrating.
He's a bit weak in that department.
Same thing can be said about Pellegrini and El Sharawy of course not the best and even
Karsdorp and Zalefsky aren't the most physical players, they were pretty much out-muscled
in every department.
Even Lautaro and Zekko could hold their own against the very formidable Mancini, Smalling
and De Bonne is physically at his best.
And I think Roma had no answers in each and every department for this game.
I think Inter were just the better team, literally everywhere bro, from the defence to the midfield
to the attack to the goalkeepers as well.
I mean it was just a brilliant performance by Inter and they really managed to overpower
Roma.
If there's one way you can beat Roma you need to overpower them, they're going to bring
that firepower, they're going to absorb the game and they're going to come at you.
But Inter should get three goals, there was no way Roma were going to come back at them.
They came back at them, they got one goal through Mkhitaryan, that's the best they can
do.
They had absolutely no answers on either part of the pitch bro, they had no answers in the
offensive department, no answers in the defensive department of course.
And I'm completely completely out-clost.
Roma had two big games in a row in Napoli and Inter and one point is all they could
get.
Yeah, I mean coming into the games would you have expected any other outcome?
I think one point is somewhat of an achievement from these two games.
I mean you have Napoli who now in hindsight after the poor spell that they're on you
could have said Roma could have gotten the victory here.
But Napoli and Inter are two of the toughest sides to face and Roma were on the receiving
end of that.
We know their history against the top seven, actually they managed to get past Lazio convincingly
this year but otherwise they have struggled against the top seven teams.
They have, they have and this whole project with Mourinho is supposedly one that is long-term.
Yeah, well three years at most I would say.
This is only year one so we'll see, it was already a good thing that they managed to
push up to that top four spot and even challenge for it ever so slightly.
We'll see what year two can bring of course a few transfer windows on Mourinho.
Mourinho likes, he needs a powerful transfer every now and then.
He knows the players that will play well for him, you know what I mean?
He can bring him.
Yeah, the selection is like no other manager has.
He goes for the mentality, he goes for players that will die on the pitch.
Like when he signed Fabregas and Diego Costa, he told Fabregas look I'm signing Diego Costa,
I just want you to feed him and we'll win the league, like decide to win the league
and they won the fucking league man.
Fabregas had the record assists, Costa had the record goals, this is the eye that Mourinho
has and I'm sure one transfer market will get Roma potentially even back to the top
four man.
They had 55% possession in this game to Inter's 485, Roma had two shots, Inter had eight,
no shots on target for Roma in the first half, whilst Inter had four shots on target in each
half bro.
Yeah, that's you know again consistently good, you know determined, sharp experience,
it was a complete performance unlike the one against Bologna.
Yep, I think we do need to kind of shift our focus to that because we don't want to be
out of date as a podcast.
Inter have just lost to Bologna, two goes to one away from home, this was their game
in hand that they had you know from the beginning of the campaign when Covid had come again
and the people in charge of the health, I forgot what that's called for some reason,
the health authorities banned Bologna from travelling to the stadium and from the game
from happening so Inter were there, so Inter wanted the 3-0 walk over because they made
the trip and Bologna didn't.
They appealed and everything of course, it was an official trial like an official hearing.
Yeah and that didn't go through and they have now lost two goals to one and that goes
to show Seria, look at how much this shit matters, you would have given Inter the 3-0
walk over that perhaps they would not have deserved clearly and suddenly now they're
in second, two points behind Milan and equal on games, the league is now once again in
Milan's hands, have Inter bottled it in this or did they face a Bologna side that
are currently on hot form and they're obviously hungry as we've mentioned before?
I mean every team is facing sides that are on top form and hungry right now, you know
I mean Milan have to play a Fiorentina side, the best Fiorentina side in the past what
10 years?
Yeah something like that.
They have to face Verona, they have to face Atalanta, they have to face Sassuolo in the
last game away from home.
There are tough games for everyone right now so you need to win them and as we discussed
in the last podcast and we really praised Inter's maturity saying that they don't lose
that the worst they draw, in this case they were let down by an individual error of course.
And that is significant, I mean this guy hasn't played a fucking minute before this man almost,
you could pretty much say he hasn't played a minute this league and he comes on for 90
minutes and he makes that mistake and I feel incredibly bad for him honestly even as someone
that supports the rival team.
He'll never play for Inter again.
Yeah well we'll see what happens with his career obviously but incredibly difficult
for him to bounce back from that obviously on the big stage and if this goes to Inter
losing the league then his name is going to be dented for generations to come I'm afraid.
Do you remember Karius in the Champions League final?
What happened to him?
He lost to Besiktas, I don't even know where he is anymore.
Well he had a good spell and then had Besiktas but you lose 3-1 in the Champions League final
and two goals are clear goalkeeping errors that obviously ruined him and subsequently
he was forced out of the club and that could potentially happen to Radu because that is
literally a final.
Yeah definitely bro.
So Inter are now in second place, two points behind Milan whilst Rom are in fifth and they
are now a full eight points behind Juve in fourth.
The next game we're going to be discussing is Lazio 1-Milan 2.
The reverse fixture was a Milan 2-0 victory, goals by Liao and Zlatan and they had also
won in the Coppa Italia 4-0.
Everyone scored that game.
Yeah literally.
Lazio were coming off a 1-1 home draw to Torino while Milan were coming off a 2-0 home win
against Genoa.
One fact for you bro, Milan are unbeaten in their last 12 Serie A games.
Nobody talks about that, when Roma do it, when Inter do it, everyone's talking about
it, everyone seemed to have forgotten because Milan got a couple of draws, Milan are fucking
unbeaten in 12 games and that is an impressive run.
It is, it is and many clean sheets in those 12 games as well.
This is the first time since 2008-2009 season that Milan have done the double over Lazio.
Look at that, look at us.
Fucking crazy stat to be honest.
Fucking raw.
I wouldn't have thought so.
Hey man.
But anyway.
Lazio made one change from their previous line-up, they brought in Radu over Marisic,
not the Radu in goal for Inter today.
Not to be confused.
By the one that looks exactly like Samu Castillejo.
Milan brought in Calabria, Brahim and Messias in the places of Gabia, Benassir and Salamakers.
In the fourth minute Sergei Mlinkovic-Salvic breezed past Kessy and Theo with a single
touch of the ball and crossed to Giro Mobile who slotted it past Mike after getting round
Kalulu.
In the 50th minute Giroud managed to get a goal back after some high pressure from Milan.
Theo found Leo down on the wing who sped past Acerbi, he cut the ball back to Giroud
and slid in and finished into the near corner.
That was the first time Leo cut back that game.
It was and it came off.
There were a lot of shots from tight angles with way too much power.
Very frustrating.
His teammates around him tend to often be frustrated by him.
They show it.
But of course that's typically what you get from a player of that caliber.
You're going to get maybe six frustrating moments for one goal but that goal is going
to be important and it's every game pretty much.
At his peak maybe.
In the 92nd minute finally after everyone thought that Milan had bottled it, Sandro
Tonali scored thanks to some hard and heavy determination by Ante Rebic to win the ball
back.
He whipped it in, Acerbi made a mess of it in the box, Zlatan ended up heading it to
Tonali whose outstretched touch got into the back of the net.
Literally a toe poke.
He took it down on his thigh and then he was so outstretched to get that so determined
after 92 minutes.
He toe pokes it past Rakoša, just takes his shirt off instantly, runs to so many fans.
So many in the curve.
It seemed like Milan were homeless again.
Hey man, it was crazy.
And you know it's always funny when someone takes off his shirt in celebration and he's
wearing an under shirt.
What's the point?
I guess it's the adrenaline just wants to make you take your clothes off I guess.
Had he taken off both of them?
Is that two yellow cards?
Has anyone ever taken off his pants after scoring a goal?
I'm sure there have been.
I knew a guy at Melita.
There has to be someone that took his pants off.
But anyway fantastic scenes of course.
I watched the Tonali goal bro like a hundred times.
I watched it with...
That angle, that cameraman behind the goal post.
It's crazy.
It was recently posted on our stories guys.
It was absolutely fucking crazy.
The footage was unreal.
I've seen the goal with Rocky Balboa as a soundtrack.
I've seen it with the Titanic soundtrack.
I've seen it with Sumas commentary.
I've seen fucking everything really.
I've seen so many different versions of this goal.
Like the French one, the Arabic one, they're all equally crazy.
Like...
Tonali, Tonalissimo.
Thanks for leaving me all this, Jay.
No problem brother.
Possession, Milan had 53%, Stelazio's 47, Milan had 25 shots, Stelazio's 7, 8-2 on
target.
Bro what did you make of this game?
Milan were so good.
Milan, look, they conceded a goal because of, in my opinion, what was four players could
have done better.
In the opening five minutes, lapse of concentration for four whole players.
So Kessy was originally marking Immobile and Immobile controlled the ball and he's past
Kessy like he's not the strongest person in the league.
And then Theo had to adapt to, okay now I need to tackle him.
But in the meantime, Savage had taken a brilliant touch and he got past him as well.
So that's two lapses in concentration which got him to that position.
He crossed it in and Tomori didn't seem like he was in the ideal position to deal with
it and Kalulu seems like he was hard done by Immobile's movement.
Yeah, Immobile's movement in the box is a thing of the league.
Oh he's insane, he's incredible.
The way he attacks the spaces of the ball is nuts.
So you can't really criticize Kalulu too much there but you know, four players that could
have potentially done better.
And then Milan were incredible.
And it must be said that Kalulu barred that moment in the third minute, had Immobile in
his pocket for the rest of the game.
100% I would say so.
Latja didn't see much of the ball after that, not too much of it.
But yeah, Kalulu dominant performance, Tomori dominant performance, there's no complaints.
Nothing could really get past the high line.
It's like Milan every time kind of pinged back possession.
Because they can rely on tracking back as well.
They've got four pacey motherfuckers.
I mean Calabria's not the slowest, he's not the slowest at all.
He's not incredibly quick but he's not the slowest.
The annoying thing about Calabria is he keeps running.
He never really slows down.
Ryan Cummins with the effect.
The two centre backs in Tomori and Kalulu are quick as they come.
Four centre backs, 100%.
And then Teo is obviously the quickest man in the world.
This was the first match in a while for Milan, bro, where everyone seemed to play well.
Yeah, 100%, I would agree with you there.
And I think that was the difference between this game and the previous games maybe because
Messias was so good on that right hand side.
Messias was a baller this game man, he came so close at a point.
I've never seen a ball closer to hitting the back of the net without hitting the post.
And that would have been Messiasque that goal where he slipped it past Hisai was it or Radu?
He timed that shot perfectly, he hung on to it and he found the gap perfectly, just a
bit too wide man.
I don't think he could have potentially done better.
I think that was the best he could have done from that position.
Perhaps if you really had to criticise someone's performance, maybe you could go and criticise
Brahim's I guess, you know, you could always criticise Brahim's.
I don't think this is the game to do that man, I think he has so many games where you
could do that, let's not do it in this one.
Fair enough, fair enough, but I'm trying to think like was everyone really that good,
like because in reality in my memory everyone was pretty fucking good, there wasn't a disappointing
player like.
I'd say Tonali was great, Kessy was good.
Giroud I think for a striker who doesn't have pace and can't contribute in that area,
someone that relies on the ball coming to him and a lot of groundwork being done before,
I think his heading and his finishing should be better, he got a goal so this isn't the
right time to say it, but he did miss a couple of heading shots and you'd hope that with
his height and with the goals we've seen him score before in the air, we'd hope that he'd
be better at that one.
Yeah I know, I was surprised by a few of the misses, it has to be said as well bro that
there were 10 minutes that led up to the 80th I believe, the 10 minutes that led up to the
80th and so between the 70th and the 80th, absolutely terrible from both teams, like
Milan, they were giving it to each other, remember we were like what the fuck are we
watching, what is this, like those 10 minutes were awful, god awful, but after that of course
Milan managed to get back into it, built some momentum, brought Rebic on you know, and they
managed to go all the way.
I think a shout out and a discussion is to be held regarding Liao, I think all of Milan's
opportunities came through that wing, through his hard work, most of them obviously except
for the goal, but obviously he gets into those positions and then the output is a little
bit off, it's frustrating but what do you make of Liao's performance, was it more good
than bad?
No, it was definitely more good than bad, it was more good than bad but it was I think
more frustrating than good.
The thing about Liao is that we are currently witnessing a very very very fucking explosive
raw talent, the ceiling is so high but it doesn't mean that he's there just yet, he's
extremely young of course, hasn't been on the scene for too long especially not in Italy,
it's all about flashes for youth players and the flashes are happening more and more often
and that's exciting.
Bro he had like seven of them in this game.
Seven moments where he just destroys his man one on one then it's his decision making that
lets him down but in reality you know put yourself in that position once, twice, three
times that comes to experience you know, he's eventually gonna nail that final product and
if he doesn't he'll slip into oblivion like I'm by a fucking neon girl.
Exactly, I think like but no but there is you know players like Vinicius and then who
always had that raw ability, they were just quick, they were skillful, they could get
past anyone, anyone on top form they can get past them however and then the real improvement
point would need to be the output, the decision making, that is then what makes a world class
player that and we saw Vinicius get there and we're seeing it time and time again with
him I don't think there's a reason we won't see it with Léaul.
Is it more you know overconfidence or is it more what is the best option in this scenario?
No I think it's right now it's a little bit of youthful selfishness shall I call it you
know what I mean like it's weird because you look at as you mentioned Vinicius Junior who
plays at a higher level than Léaul basically because he's playing for Real Madrid like
he's probably a tough relief you can say yeah but yeah no no that's definitely not true
anyway Vinicius Junior has been so humble he said on multiple occasions I'm blessed
to play with these players I'm lucky to play with these players you know what I mean like
he's so humble about it and he works so hard on the pitch there are moments where I think
Léaul considering his age and considering the fact that he's not really won anything
yet I feel like he should be pressing more often than he does man and I know that it's
probably an instruction you know conserve your energy for when you're on the ball conserve
your energy for when you're going forward but there are moments at one point the goalkeeper
came out he could have fucking pressed him dude he could have definitely pressed him
and look and this is the same performance as the last game well not the same performance
as the last game but the same issue he had in the last game where basically he would
say he needs to be pressing more I want someone that's gonna get into the 50-50s and try
to win it's someone that's gonna bleed and get into a collision and try his hardest and
sprint and get us out that's not the guy man that's not the guy to do that that's the thing
he's the guy that'll destroy three players and like curl it in and leave you with your
jaw on the floor that's what you get instead you know what I mean so I guess we can't have
our cake and eat it hopefully hopefully hopefully he can develop into a player that does both
but I do think that if he does improve his final product he'll be bought instantly yeah
well nonetheless he's still one of the players that have gotten Milan to the position they
are today he was subbed out probably out of frustration of the decision-making it could
potentially be it's potentially that or fatigue quite right because he had been running all
games so it's one or the other yeah and Milan got that final goal without him so normally
Milan tend to struggle to find goals without Leao but this time you know breath of fresh
air when ante comes on gives you the opposite of what Leao was giving you and then that
works that is a substitution that has worked out a gamble that was worth taking and fuck
me did it pay off man really quick before we move on bro do you think Lazio were unlucky
to not go home with a point I think I go home sorry I mean stay home because they were home
yeah I think that Milan did enough to get away with a victory and I think Lazio did
well to hold their own for as long as they did and but they were at the end of the overpowered
you could see the shots you could see the pressure that Milan put on them and the overall
performance I think it was a deserved victory by Milan sure you could consider Lazio unlucky
because they got so close but it wasn't because of the quality that they brought yeah their
European dream is still on of course as they are currently in sixth with 56 points and
while Roma are in fifth with 58 points so they're very very close to that and they are
still in it yeah Milan are currently first with 74 points and no games in hand baby for
Inter so refreshing oh yes I get to cover this game fucking right the next game we're
going to be covering is Empoli 3 Napoli 2 the reverse fixture was actually Empoli's
last victory back in December of 2021 Napoli 0 Empoli 1 thanks to a Coutrone goal Napoli
were coming off a 1-1 home draw to Roma and a tight affair whilst Empoli were coming off
a 4-1 away loss to Odinezza because Odinezza do that nowadays Empoli have now won their
last three Serie A games against Napoli Napoli have only won one out of their last nine away
games against Empoli you know what is it about Empoli against Napoli?
Napoli made two changes bringing in Juan Jesus and Mertens in the place of the suspended
Colibali and Lobotka.
Empoli brought on Viti, Parisi, Zurkowski, Verre and Coutrone in place for Ismaily, Libby
Kakace, Benassi, Bayrami and Lamantia so for the play by play it took up until the end
of the first half in the 44th minute for Napoli to open the scoring as Lozano cut the ball
back into the box and Mertens arrived striking past Vicario who got a significant touch to
it and probably should have done better and kept it out but it went into the back of the
net and subsequently Napoli led into the break.
In the 53rd Insinia got what was just his second goal from open play this season so
Anguissa played him in and Insinia slotted the ball cleanly into the far corner on his
weaker left foot, a mature finish by him showing that he could be somewhat two footed as well.
In the 80th minute Liam Henderson scored after Rahmani's tackle on Bayrami guided the ball
to him, he controlled the ball and finished with power into the far bottom corner.
Like imagine something's gonna happen.
It was then 3 minutes later Pinamonti scored, Maret hung onto the ball for far too long
and finally his attempted pass was blocked by Pinamonti guiding the ball into the net,
we're talking about keeper blunders, this is as big as they get man, Alex Maret second
game in a row, first game was kind of good, this one terrible.
Three horse race but only one of those horses has a goalkeeper.
Two goalkeepers that has been brilliant man.
Fucking right bro.
Fucking right he's played a massive part.
Four minutes later in the 87th Bayrami carried the ball forward down the right flank during
a counter attack and opted to play a very early and low cross just ahead of the oncoming
Pinamonti who slid in and finished past Alex Maret making it 3-2 for Empoli.
Empoli with an incredible comeback in 10 minutes getting 3 past Napoli to end Napoli's hopes
of the Serie A and Empoli getting their first win in what was what like 15 matches bro.
I think the first win of the year for sure.
The first win of the year 100%, their last win was in December bro.
Exactly yes that's true.
That was fucking crazy but we'll hype Empoli up soon.
Let's talk about the embarrassing bottle jobs that Napoli are.
I mean you can't do this eh, you can't be fighting for the league and lose to Empoli.
Like at least as we discussed last week draw at worst, the worst case scenario you draw
you know, but a fucking loss that's a bottle job and a half right there.
And it's not the first time Napoli have gotten into a situation, Napoli have shown us how
good they are, there's no denying their quality but as soon as they get into these positions
where they need to show their stability and show their experience, they just don't manage.
It's true.
They just don't manage.
Why do you think that is?
Well so it's hard to say because it's happened to Napoli time and time again over the past
years that league against Juve, a couple Copas and all that.
This season in particular you could potentially bring up the argument that they have a top
four manager.
They do.
And a top four manager.
You know what I mean?
Period like?
Well he hasn't shown us anything more than that yet, yet.
I thought that this was the time but clearly not.
I mean.
It's their first season under him, they're coming off a season with Gattuso, they're
fighting for Champions League and they didn't get it.
So this is still a massive step into the right direction but just bottle after bottle gets
you thinking about what the team can do.
Sure definitely.
I mean bottle after bottle for the team, bottle after bottle for the coach.
But at the end of the day as you mentioned Spalletti is a top four specialist.
This is his first year at Napoli again as we discussed and many people had Napoli finishing
fifth and sixth.
Yeah I think I was one of them going into the season.
I had put them in the top four just because of Spalletti but nowhere near challenging
for the title.
Granted that that's over but they did it for the vast majority of the season up until the
last matchday they were there.
So I would say that this is a bottle job but it's nothing that's going to cost or that
should cost rather Spalletti his job.
No I don't think so.
I think his goal in the contract would have been to get Champions League and he's done
an incredible job of making the Napoli fans believe that this was possible.
A fun fact is that Spalletti actually started his coaching career at Empoli and Empoli have
done the double over him now.
Empoli is a really nice place for managers to like get their careers going.
So many people.
We've seen a couple there.
So many man.
We've seen a couple that have brought some players up as well.
So let's talk about it.
Meret was obviously a key reason as to why Napoli have bottled it.
That mistake we're just talking about Radu's mistake.
This is probably probably worse because he had time and space on the ball and he just
hung on to it for so long bro.
You're right and you know Napoli fans are saying that Meret's a young guy.
One mistake at this level, one mistake against Empoli shouldn't determine his future.
But then Radu on the other hand, people are already calling for his head.
You know what I mean?
Radu is 24 years old.
Meret is 25 years old.
You know what I mean?
So I don't know.
I don't think that this should be a detrimental moment for any goalkeeper in theory.
But in reality this is something that's going to be on their mind for the rest of their
careers.
Every time they receive the ball for the rest of their careers.
It could either be oh no what if it happens again or it could be I'm going to make sure
that that's never going to happen again.
And we'll see what kind of goalkeepers they are.
Like we saw Donnarumma had so many howlers and nowadays he still has a lot of howlers
when it comes to playing the ball out with his feet.
But that last year at Milan he showed a lot of maturity with that.
He improved on the ball and it did take a couple of howlers but he got there and Donnarumma
even though he's having a bad spell now he's probably going to go on to be one of the greatest
goalkeepers ever quite frankly.
So it takes these mistakes to grow.
The only funny thing is that they were comparing Maret to Donnarumma when Donnarumma was at
Milan and that was hilarious at the time.
I mean they're both error prone so I guess the comparisons are valid.
But anyway I think Caspina deserves to of course start.
Oh 100% he's had quite a season.
They should go on with him he's the goalkeeper and I think that if they can't keep him for
some reason they should actually bring in someone else because I wouldn't trust Maret
with a full season.
Just yet there's no rush.
Maybe a lone spell, you're 25 years old you should be playing regularly at this point.
I think he needs a lone spell I would definitely say he could do it alone not even in bird
just at a smaller team.
He could go to a mid table team but I think they need a lone one.
We'll see what they do about that.
So on another note about why Napoli might have bottled this.
So in the last game when Napoli drew to Roma late on you criticised Spalletti's changes
taking off Ozymane bringing on Mertens and so on so forth.
In this case he took off Lozano and Mertens for Zielinski and Poletano.
Now that isn't a… those aren't substitutions.
Those are particularly criticised.
Those are direct changes you know what I mean?
I mean he's bringing on an offensive player and he's bringing on a midfielder to contain
like you know what I mean?
It's nothing shocking, it's nothing negative.
He kept Ozymane on for the press and that would have been negative like he did last
game taking out Ozymane a player who can press the backline for the whole game.
So you bring on… they brought on who last game?
Petani Anselofi or someone who can't press?
No they brought on Mertens.
Ah Mertens yes not the best presser anyway.
He took him off in this game clearly for probably that reason and Poletano can probably press
in that case or Zielinski.
Well Zielinski because Mertens obviously played in that attacking midfield role which was
quite an experiment in itself.
But in that case he could be caught between two minds because they get that 2-2 draw.
You're gonna make a negative change.
You need to keep your goal scorers on the fucking pitch man to get the victory.
True bro but you know at the end of the day fatigue is a thing, the season is long, people
get tired.
There are players who might be performing well in training and you want to give them
a run you know what I mean?
But yeah overall Napoli seem down and out right now.
Yep they do, they do.
And they're out of the title race, subsequently it would take a fucking miracle for them to
get the title now.
They're just gonna want to seal 4th spot right, not serious, top 4.
They just want to get top 4.
Top 4, top 4 and less lapses in concentration because conceding 2-3 minutes is just terrible.
And Polis' balls look a tad larger after they were deflated for a while.
But let's see what else they can do, I mean they got the job done, they got the double
over Napoli and they stayed up.
I think that is job well done for them.
Sure they have been incredibly frustrating but look at that man, what a way to kind of
end the season for them.
For sure bro.
Napoli are currently 3rd with 67 points.
You know 5th has 58 points Roma so top 4 is pretty much safe, all they have to do is hold
out.
Exactly and they're capable of getting a result not with stuff like they're down and out.
So overall probably a successful season for them, just disappointing for them that the
3 horse race ended with a plane crash.
You know what I mean essentially.
And Polis are currently in 1437 points, vibing.
Just vibing.
Just enjoying life.
In no danger, they're ahead of Spezia by 4 points.
They're behind Bologna by 5 points.
Vibing.
So the next game we're going to be covering is Sassuolo 1-Uventus 2.
Another banger man.
Another absolute banger what a game this was.
The reverse fixture was a 2-1 victory the other way for Sassuolo of course with a Maxime Lopez
late winner.
Those were some nice scenes as well.
In the Coppa Italia, Juventus also beat Sassuolo 2-1.
Now coming into this game Sassuolo were coming off a 1-0 loss against Caliari in Sardinia
while Juve were coming off a 1-1 home draw to Bologna.
Now in the last 18 games between Sassuolo and Juve there have now been 13 Bianconeri
victories.
3 draws and 2 Nereverdi wins.
So Juve seem to find no problems against Sassuolo.
Unlike Inter and Milan.
Juve had scored exactly 3 in each of their away games against Sassuolo coming into this
match.
So typically they do give it to them.
And this game, if you had seen this game in black and white you would have thought that
Sassuolo were Juve and Juve were Sassuolo.
Sassuolo did look the bigger team.
They looked like much the better team.
With an ever-lengthening list of absentees, Allegri did not manage to fill the Juventus
bench today as Juan Cuadrado joins Arthur, Weston McKennie, Manuel Locatelli, Caio George
and Chiesa on the sidelines.
Due to illness, the lict is only fit for the bench.
Weird.
You'd think if he's sick like go home.
I mean I guess he's recently recovered.
But anyway leaving it to Rugani and Bonucci to man the defense while Vlaović was bizarrely
rested as Debala linked up with Morata.
Why would you rest Vlaović when this is the only competition you have apart from the final?
Fuck knows.
Honestly.
No idea.
You want to secure fourth.
Yep.
No midweek games.
But you got away with it so we can't criticize him.
That's how it works.
Sassuolo made three changes out with Toleon, Ferrari and Defrel in with Muldur, Kirikis
and Berardi.
It all started off in the 39th minute where a wonderful team move led to a sharp flick
on by Berardi into the path of Raspadori who finished cleanly from a tight angle.
In the 45th minute Morata dispossessed Kiriakopoulos on the wing and played it to Zakaria who teed
it up for Debala who executed it emphatically.
In the 88th minute Keane received the ball with his back to goal, turned explosively
and shot it low and hard, just hard enough to get the better of the bamboozle Concealy
who might have missed his daily shower wank.
But anyway that was it.
2-1 for Juventus.
Of course these are the impressive stats now, the possession stats.
Juventus had 36% ball possession to Sassuolo 64.
Sassuolo had 22 attempts to U-vest 10, 7-5 on target.
What do you make of this game bro?
So really weird how normally we see Juvent dominating possession, whether they win or
lose, normally we see them tend to dominate possession, they like to hang on to the ball,
they like to feel the game out and they like to play that negative football that we've
spoken about the allegory way basically.
Sassuolo looked far at the better team man, they looked more convincing which is hilarious
because they lost the game, they were playing the ball around nicely, they looked good,
they looked like a side that's genuinely in the top 4.
But Juve showed us that they could do this, they could get a comeback against teams like
Roma, they've showed us a couple of weeks ago as well with that late Vladovic header
and the Morata overhead kick and here they are again at least showing us that they have
grinta, when it all comes down to it they have grinta.
They know how to get the job done in a dirty manner man.
They have to revert to it and they revert.
How can you play like that and go home with 3 points?
That shows the growth of Juve and the mentality because when you don't deserve to win a game
and you win a game, bro, you must have pulled some shit.
That's stuff of champions typically.
It's crazy, you look at Guardiola's whole brand is about if we have the ball we are
not in danger, therefore we must make sure to keep the ball for as long as possible,
that's the whole Guardiola philosophy.
Then you have Jurgen Klopp who believes in the high press.
If we press as we lose possession our opponents will have no time to react to our mistakes.
Then you have Allegri, what the fuck is Allegri's game plan?
I mean pasto Zaccaria and then Shalando.
I mean it didn't look like, it's like I said about Milan recently where Milan didn't look
like they had a plan going forward, it's like let's see what's going to happen out of this
attack, let's see what combinations we can come up with.
Juve kind of looked like that at the end of the day.
And they looked like that when they were in full flow as well, you know, when they were
with for example Chiesa, you know when they still had their players available.
Chiesa would get the ball and start charging with no one around him.
With his head down.
His head down, no one's around him and he's just darting forward.
Long shot every now and then because he can't do it anymore, he's like I'm tired, just
let me shoot.
Anyway is there anything else you want to add from this game?
I mean not really, Juve did well to get away with the three points and I think Sassuolo
will be kicking themselves a little.
I mean they can't be too upset about a loss against Juve but it is normally a game that
Sassuolo, not against Juve in particular, but they do tend to thrive against the top
7 so a missed opportunity here for them and they are now three points behind Hellas Verona.
Especially because Sassuolo were so wasteful early on in the game as well.
Yeah that's true.
So that's quite frustrating for them but anyway, Juventus carry on in fourth with 66 points
over Roma who have 58 while Sassuolo are in tenth with 46 points still behind Verona so
I'm still owed a kit.
So the next game we're going to be covering is Salernitana 2 Fiorentina 1, another victory
for Salernitana, their third in a row and another loss for Fiorentina who bear in mind
today just lost to Udinese, 4 goals to nil at home in Florence.
Could it be we asked?
Fucking could.
It could very well be bro, the ghost of Davide and Nicola's past over there, Crotone's past
like you know.
There you go, it would be something if Salernitana could stay up.
They did lose 4 goals to nil in their previous encounter against Fiorentina when Fiorentina
were away from home in Salerno.
But moving on Salernitana are coming off a 1-0 away win at Udinese while Fiorentina are
coming off a 1-0 home victory against Venezia.
So Fiorentina have only beaten Salernitana in the first half of the season as now in
their last 3 they have lost this match 2-1 drew 1-1 in February 1999 and lost 2-0 in
March of 1948.
So for Salernitana they bring on Zortea and Verdi and take out Radovanovich and Bonazzoli.
Fiorentina on the other hand bring on Amrabat and Duncan for the injured Castrovilli and
Torreira.
So on the 9th minute Bohinen pinged a pinpoint cross to the forehead of Milan Juric who headed
it home with no problem whatsoever making it 1-0 to the underdogs.
Even someone in the league with a better header than Juric.
Not Giroud I would say.
Honestly I don't think I can think of one.
He's such an animal in the air.
I honestly can't think of one.
Best header in the league.
Fuck it.
In the 64th minute an Odriozola cross from the right wing was taken down well by the
wizard Ricardo Saponara who placed it home calmly glistening under the Salerno sand.
Honestly a goal for Saponara is a goal for Serial Spotlight.
Thank you.
In the 79th minute Igor got to the end of a cross and attempted to control instead of
clearing allowing Bonazzoli to slip in and smash it in to get the winner for Salernitana.
Scenes upon scenes upon scenes and another fucking goal for Bonazzoli.
Ratata ratatatatata.
I see machine guns away.
What a celebration that is.
Unfortunately it reminds me of Benatia and the four nil spanking at the Coppa final.
While we were on the cruise drunk on Aperol spritz.
That was the night.
You can read.
Was that the night I went on a solo adventure?
I don't know if it's ready but I think it's that time we both snuck out together.
We got to our rooms.
I have that video of you hunched over the toilet basically recharging and recharging
we did because we went out and we spent the entire night out partying with old women twirling
them around like they're 19 again.
That was fun.
Cruises are fun.
I'm just a bit embarrassed to say that they are basically.
So in my opinion bro Salernitana could really be experiencing that inevitable good spell
that teams tend to have.
So Salernitana hadn't had it yet and here we go.
They kind of had it when they drew like 2-2 to Milan and they looked a bit of a dread.
But this is the same kind of spell no?
That's true.
It's the same moment you know they're still going off that form.
Last quarter of the league.
Every team has a moment of good form in a season.
Salernitana seem to never have it there.
They finally have it now.
Could it be just enough to keep them in the league?
Maybe they seem so fired up right now.
It's honestly going to be difficult to keep them down.
Maybe if they can beat Fiorentina bro.
Yeah and watching them play you know granted they don't dominate for the vast majority
of the game of course at all.
They have 28% ball possession.
But when they do attack they're so organized.
They are man.
They're so spread but kind of like the midfield is still, they have many options you know
what I mean.
They're so organized that there always seems to be a passing option.
That along with the firepower and the confidence that they currently have man, they're there
for a reason.
They want to survive.
They have everything to fucking play for man and everything to lose as well.
And you see like the most, you know the player you'd expect to see the least working his
ass off trying to survive.
You see Vady.
You know you pop the highlights on.
You know turn them on.
Like you're going to see Vady.
Like the first two highlights are Vady trying to score.
Everyone's trying to keep these guys up you know.
They all believe because David and Nicola does bring that.
He's done it before.
And that's probably what he's saying.
He's probably so unbearable.
I've done it before man back in Cotonne.
Back with Cotonne man you have to listen to me if you do what I say.
It's worked before.
So you'd be the problem if it doesn't work now.
He must be absolutely unbearable.
The Salernitana players go back to their girlfriends.
Man it's good I know we're winning but this fucking guy.
This unbearable man.
I HATE HIM!
For sure.
Salernitana managed to get 8 shots away.
4 on target.
Whereas Fiorentina got 10 away with 3 on target.
So similar stats over here for these sides.
Similar apart from the possession of course.
It's the same thing.
You know Fiorentina lost.
You know they came in with Duncan and Malek this game no?
Instead of Castrovilli.
Duncan and Amrabat instead of Castrovilli and Torreira.
Exactly there we go.
And that's a lot less insertion.
That's a lot less creativity.
It is.
I would agree with you there and probably that is one of the reasons as to why they
couldn't get as many goals as they have.
Because typically they do create more opportunities than this.
It was quite surprising to see them dominate so much and not create anything.
72% to Salernitana's 28%.
That's fucking mental.
And then you lose.
That's a football manager.
No team with 28% ball possession wins a game man.
Let alone with 72 with 28 fucking winning a game man.
It's oh my god I just realized something.
What?
Juve are Salernitana's final form.
But anyway bro as we discussed before 3 goals and 3 assists for Saponara who looks like he
finally found some consistency.
He still misses the odd game randomly here and there.
He had a couple of bad performances recently straight up.
It's true.
He genuinely did have those.
But I mean he shows quality in every game.
He does exactly and that's what I was going to say.
He's been consistent at least appearance wise this season.
He always vanishes either for the first half or for the second half be it through injury,
through fitness issues.
Yeah he's not a man that has 90 minutes in him.
But he's finally found some continuity and it could be that Vincenzo Italiano is the
man to fucking reignite Saponara's career.
And I really hope they can continue together.
100%.
And I think they will because Italiano values him.
He values him as a player.
He values his creativity.
Yeah Tomat Spetsia as well.
Knows him very well.
And Saponara I think respects him a lot.
So to take him with you, to take a player from Spetsia with you to Fiorentina and actually
make him the key player.
That's good stuff for him.
Especially with Gonzales playing in the same position as him along with Sotil for example
and Liquone as well.
And all these guys, these wingers.
And Saponara is playing like no one on FIFA would ever do that.
I play Saponara on FIFA.
Respect respect.
Sometimes I pop him in on cam.
I'm not gonna lie.
But anyway, we spoke about Salernitana, let's shift our focus to Fiorentina who lost this
game because of the hype train that is Salernitana.
At the moment still bizarre as to how they managed to get 72% ball possession and still
lose the game 2 goals to 1.
But they have also just lost at home in Florence 4-0 to Odinese.
And they have fallen down to 7th because of that.
56 points of course, they are still fighting for an Europa League spot with the Roman clubs
of course and that one club in Bergamo.
You know, unfortunately they bottled an opportunity here to really separate themselves from the
rest.
Exactly.
So, and then on the other hand you have Salernitana in 18th place, they are now just 3 points
behind Caliari and Salernitana also have a game in hand against Venezia.
So this could literally be happening, Caliari having in this situation 3 points ahead with
the other team having a game in hand for so long before they had it with Venezia, now
they have it with Salernitana and let's see what's gonna happen.
If Salernitana stay in Serie A, I'm buying a Jewish kit.
A Jewish one?
I think I'd get a Jewish one.
Not a Simone Verdi for example.
No, no, definitely not.
Or one of the Colibale's.
No, it has to be Jewish I think.
I think De Tacchio has a really cool name but he's shit.
He is a bit shit.
He's not the fittest player I've ever seen.
No, he features a little bit like.
No, I think I'd get Jewish.
Jewish or…
That's a tough one with Salernitana to be honest.
It really is.
Or Ribéry.
Ribéry.
You know, that's a fun one to be honest.
You have a player who was nominated for the Ballon d'Or playing in Salerno.
That's a cool kit to have to be honest.
I might do that.
D'Hombre.
We'll see what I do.
God knows.
Bon Azzoli obviously.
That's a kit I'd get.
Bon Azzoli, bam.
Nice, good shout bro.
Thank you.
The next game we're going to be discussing is Venezia 1, Atalanta 3.
What's that bro?
Another banger?
Venezia Atalanta.
Right bro, another banger, 4 goals, another game with 4 goals.
Say, are you bored?
Premheads.
Head on over.
Come here, check it out.
Listen to our podcast.
It's really good man.
The reverse fixture was Atalanta 4, Venezia 0, the goals came through Pasalic who scored
3 that game and Kup Miners.
The inevitable Pasalic hat-trick.
Those two hat-tricks a season.
Atalanta also eliminated Venezia from the Coppa Italia after a 2-0 victory.
Venezia came into this game off a 1-0 away loss to Fiorentina, while Atalanta were coming
off a 2-1 home loss to Verona.
Atalanta have now won their last 5 games against Venezia.
Cernigo is scoring the only goal during this brutal process.
4 changes for Atalanta which is really low.
For Gasparini.
Out with Demiral, Froiler, Malinovski and Bogat, Malinovski of course is injured.
In with Gymsity, Kup Miners, Zapata and Pasalic.
For Venezia it was 5 changes, seeing Zwoboda, Ulman, Ampadu, Kuisance and Aramu entering
the fray instead of Kaldara, Haps, Cernigo, Tesman and Jonsson.
Bro, commentators call Cernigo a Cernigo.
Why haven't I corrected myself yet?
And we call Insam, Insame, I've called Jaiyalo, Jajalo which is by far the most embarrassing
one.
We have a few but then again everyone says them differently.
Think about how many names you have to say from different countries.
We own no shit.
We're incredibly well versed for this I would say.
Not bad to be honest, we kind of go off what the commentators say typically so if they
butcher something we tend to butcher something right after.
I guess, we can't watch that inevitable interview of everyone saying how do you actually say
your name.
Exactly, I'm going to be like it's actually pronounced Kurnigai.
It's Kurnigosh.
Kurnigosh.
Okay let's call him Cernigo if you know what.
So it all kicked off in the 6th minute when there was a goal check for Venezia.
Henry's goal was deemed offside shortly after the post was struck by Palomino after a clever
Muriel free kick.
He kind of tripped it over to Palomino who banged into the post.
In the 44th minute was Pasalic.
Muriel's deflected strike bounced off the crossbar and down to Pasalic who passed the
ball into an empty net.
In the 47th minute the return of Duvan Zapata.
Punky cock.
A long ball was played to Muriel who outmuscled Vabada to the actual ground, ran into the
box from the byline and squared the ball to Zapata who finished it into an empty net.
This was one of those El Fenomeno performances by Muriel.
Yeah Muriel even midweek.
He had honestly two great performances on the trot.
I wonder if he can keep this up.
In the 58th minute Muriel once again struck the post.
He hit the post from a far tight angle on a counter attack.
In the 63rd minute once again it was Muriel who scored, it's the Muriel show.
Muriel played the ball to Zappa Costa who carried the ball to the byline and tripped
it back to him who headed the ball comfortably and then he danced looking straight into the
camera and smiling.
He looks like an 11 year old when he smiles.
Sometimes.
He's kind of cute.
Kind of handsome.
Cute, cute, cute boy.
Love him, love him.
In the 68th minute it was Sernegoy's turn to strike the post.
Aram who was in swinging cross found the head of Henri who ended up basically spanking
the ball into the cross into the fucking post with his head.
And in the 80th minute Insame or Insam as we mentioned found Sernegoy in the massive
gap.
He received the ball and finished into the near post comfortably.
Sernegoy is a good player and when eventually we do discuss which of these Venezia players
can actually stay in Serie A, he's going to be one of my names bro because I do imagine
him at one of those lower tier teams just hustling it out and grinding it.
One of those teams that rotates players.
I can imagine him at Empoli for example.
I could imagine him at Empoli.
I could imagine him at a bunch of teams.
Maybe one of the newly promoted teams he could slot into well with that Serie A experience
fighting for survival which is probably where you know three newly promoted teams are going
to find themselves.
So it'd be a good coup for either one of them man.
I enjoy watching him and I love him for liking our message, our DM.
He's cool.
He's one of those players that doesn't have many followers so he can actually reply to
you if you send him some kind words guys.
Kind only please.
Kind yes.
Atalanta had 60% ball possession to Venezia's 40 of course if you got that match you wouldn't
have needed that.
Atalanta had 19 shots to Venezia's 8, 5 on target for Atalanta, 2 on target for Venezia.
Now, Atalanta have struggled but these are the types of games at the end of the day that
they win.
You won't see them slipping up to Venezia, Salernitana and those.
And Spezia like you always beat them.
It's true.
They win these games and they spank in these games.
It allows their players to express themselves.
One thing Atalanta have is they have a large variety of top quality players and the more
they can express themselves the more the Malinovskis, the Marancuk, the Bogas, the Murieles, the
Zapatas, the Pasalich, the Coupe miners can express themselves then the more they're going
to perform.
And that's what Atalanta have always been and that's why I enjoy watching them because
they're a very expressive side.
And they managed to dismantle Venezia here.
Venezia didn't go down without a fight.
To be honest they had a disallowed goal.
They hit the post, they got one towards the end.
So there's still a lot of brushing up to do for Atalanta.
Yeah, definitely bro.
You couldn't have said it better yourself.
I've seen some hot takes on Twitter recently that Atalanta in 3 years will be relegated.
No way in hell.
We're talking post-Gasparini era, let's say they move on from it.
They will not be relegated in 3 years, they'll be in the top 4 in 3 years.
They're just getting a financial takeover as well.
True, I think that that fucking statement is so irresponsibly reckless.
Weren't these the same people that said that Verona were going to get relegated this year
because they got rid of Zaccani?
Yeah, because they had Di Francesco.
But anyway, quite a bold statement we'll see.
But I do have a feeling that this person will be proven wrong.
So Venezia of course continue to struggle, no surprise against Atalanta over here.
They're looking rather raidable as we've discussed before bro.
They are looking raidable right now, Venezia.
They have some players right now that will be highly sought after.
Who do you think will be the top 3 names on people's shopping lists when it comes to Venezia?
So for the top 3 I think there's definitely Aramu that needs to stay in Serie A.
For the love of God, Aramu, please stay in Serie A.
He's been absolutely fantastic for them.
On the other hand aside from that, I would say that I think Ocareca has done enough
to show that he could bring some flair to any team even off the bench,
maybe for Atorino or something of the sort.
And then I think there's Ethan Empadu for sure.
Empadu, he's been fantastic.
I think he's on loan though so let's not count him.
Okay, let's not count him.
I would say Buzio for sure has shown that he's worth it.
You know, Quisans is a young guy as well.
Quisans is also on loan from Bayern so maybe we shouldn't count him.
No, he was bought by Venezia.
Was he bought?
He was bought for a couple of millis.
Okay, in that case then it's difficult to see him staying with Venezia.
Maybe going out on loan and then with an option or obligation to buy in Serie A.
I do think that the top 3 you've got them bang on, bro, spot on.
It's literally Aramu, Ocareca, Buzio probably in that order.
I'd say Aramu right now, I can imagine Aramu as a swallow, dude.
Oh, Aramu's good.
I can see it.
Aramu's good, when you play with an attacking midfielder and you don't have one right now,
just get Aramu, straight up deal.
Also Serenegoi, of course as we discussed before, can definitely put in a shift elsewhere.
Serenegoi seems like someone like Milan enjoy picking up, like they picked up Krunic, Ben Nasser and all these guys.
Maybe the old Milan.
Maybe the old Milan, not the rich Milan.
Jansen is an interesting player as well, that could be useful to be honest, but we'll see.
They've got good players, man, Venezia.
It's a shame, it's a shame, genuinely.
And they also have Romero, man.
They're not down and out yet, they're not down and out.
If they do beat Salernitana again, we'd be talking about them, could it be?
Just no one's gonna get relegated like I think of it.
The thing is, at a point everyone deserves it, now it seems like no one deserves it.
Well, Venezia deserves it.
Imagine, imagine, Caliari, Sampdoria, Spezia relegated, because everyone just keeps fucking winning.
Holy shit, bro.
That'd be crazy.
Now, following Atalanta's crazy 4-4 draw to Torino midweek, they are currently 8th in the league, 3 points behind Roma in 5th,
while Venezia is 20th with a game in hand against Salernitana with 22 points.
Caliari in 17th have 28 points.
And the next game we're gonna be covering is Verona 1-Sampdoria 1.
So the reverse fixture was a shocking 3-1 victory for Sampdoria, thanks to goals by Candreva, Egedal and Mourrou, and the singular goal coming from Taméz.
So Verona are coming off a 2-1 away victory in Bergamo against Atalanta, so an impressive win for them.
Sampdoria are coming off a 2-1 home loss to Salernitana, so a shit show from them.
Sampdoria had won each of their last 4 Serie A games against Verona.
In the 21st century, only against Odinese have they achieved 5 successive Serie A wins between the years of 2019 and 2021.
Verona field the same 11 that beat Atalanta, while Sampdoria replace Mourrou, Sensi and Qualiarella with Augello, Ronaldo Vieira and Sabiri.
Ronaldo Vieira.
So the man just...
Choose two footballers' names.
Ronaldo Vieira.
Anyone over 40.
So in the 44th minute, Caputo missed a penalty but converted the rebound, that's his 60th goal in Serie A.
So the foul looked kind of soft at first, but replays confirmed that he had been stomped on in the area by Gunther.
Montepod did well to save the penalty, but the ball fell perfectly to Caputo, who managed to atone for his error.
1-0 for Sampdoria.
In the 78th minute, the inevitable equaliser arrived after Gunther played an impressive defense-splitting ball into the path of Caprari, who scored after his deflected attempt.
He is currently on loan from Sampdoria and he managed to score against them.
That's a good way to prove a point.
That is a very good way to prove a point and something tells me that they will exercise their 4 million option to buy or obligation, I'm not even sure.
It looks like such a steal right now, bro.
Oh it does, Caprari is insane, man. He's been so good.
His numbers this season are impressive, like we have a note over here actually.
He's got 11 goals and 7 assists this season.
That's fucking nuts, bro.
It is, it is.
That is fucking nuts.
Especially for Verona.
18 goal contributions from Verona.
You know, he's basically directly replaced Zaccani.
Exactly, exactly. He has and maybe that's why they had the confidence to let Zaccani go.
So in this game you could pretty much guess how it went. It was 58% possession for Hellas.
They also had 12 shots to Sampdoria, 4.
Sampdoria only had 3 on target, while Verona had a mere 1 shot on target.
But how can that be when they scored the rebound of a penalty?
So probably 2 shots on target.
How weird, that's why it says 1 in the stats.
It says 1 in the stats, but they literally converted from the rebound of a penalty, which was obviously on target.
That's wrong for sure.
So yeah, 2 shots on target I would say for Verona.
So a disappointing result for Verona, especially considering their form.
They've proven that they're kind of a better side than Sassuolo.
Maybe it's still up for debate, but they're kind of proving that they're on the right track.
Sampdoria will take this point and run on the other hand, dude.
They will, they'll definitely take this point and run, bro.
Any point for them will do right now.
They're just like trying to stay away from the relegation zone right now.
And they have a tough run in, so this point is well earned by them.
Yeah, it is definitely well earned.
And they're still a bit too close for comfort.
They're only 5 points from the drop.
I think judging by, now I know that there's the argument that they've already done enough and that they'll probably stay up.
But Sampdoria are one of the sides that kind of judging by their performances consistently throughout the campaign, I can say I almost don't want them to stay up.
Now I love the club, I love the history that Sampdoria have, but just not worthy at this point.
Man, they've been fucking awful.
But this was a good point for them.
They have been awful.
This was a good point for them.
Everything you said is indeed factual.
I think they, as I've mentioned quite a few times, they have just enough to stay up in the league.
The players, Candreva, Caputo, Ferrari, these guys...
You know, Dammesgard has not featured.
Yeah, Augelo, these guys won't get relegated, man.
You know what I mean?
They have a bunch of senses there as well, man.
I mean, Ekdal and Thors, we have been doing this year in year out.
Granted, they're not fucking even Rincon.
Granted, they're nothing special.
But they're enough to get you over the line by the end.
They should be enough, rather.
So if they do get relegated, that's a massive failure on John Paulo's part right there.
And there'd need to be a massive reshuffle in Sampdoria.
They had a massive problem at the beginning of the season as well because the fans were unhappy about their transfer market
and their lack of ambition shown as they kept D'Aversa and didn't really reinforce the team at all.
Then three games in, I believe they brought in Caputo once Osuolo decided to sell.
And that was kind of their marquee signing.
And that's really their only signing, bro, to be honest with you.
And to be honest, it was kind of an odd signing from where I'm standing at least.
Because you'd think that Caputo has a direct replacement for Qualiarella.
What he was playing in a 4-4-2 for the majority of the season alongside Qualiarella.
And now even in the 4-3-1-2, he's playing alongside Qualiarella and there's a serious lack of pace up front.
Definitely.
And the players playing close to Caputo can't complement him the same way that they did when he played for Sassuolo.
You know what I mean?
So the link-up play has been a little bit lacking for them.
But he has recently picked up. He's hit double digits again.
You know, he always hits double digits, Caputo.
He's become a regular in Serie A. His 60th goal in Serie A.
That's exactly what I'm saying.
He's become a constant.
And he was a big bloomer.
Exactly. He was a Serie B player for a while.
Like everyone talked about Caputo and Serie B.
And then eventually he went to Sassuolo. No, to Empoli actually first.
Exactly.
And then to Sassuolo.
And now at Sampdoria, of course, 60 goals with those teams.
Exactly.
Verona on the other hand, it's a disappointing result for them.
But for some reason, they do tend to struggle against Sampdoria even in the past fixture in the 3-1 defeat.
So, you know, you know how these mental games play out.
It's a disappointing draw for Verona.
But I still think they've been a fantastic side.
I think they've recovered well from the change of coach that they've had.
Obviously losing Di Francesco, who they spent an entire preseason planning out with.
They brought on Tudor. Tudor has just been a superstar for them, especially after they lost Zaccani, bringing the best out of his players.
So I don't think Verona would be kicking themselves too hard, especially with Sassuolo dropping points.
Straight facts, Midri.
Verona are currently in 9th with 49 points, while Sampdoria are in 16th with 30 points, 5 points from the drop.
Facts.
Now the next game we're going to be covering is Torino 2-Spezia 1.
The reverse fixture was a 1-0 victory for Spezia thanks to a Salah goal.
Not Mo Salah, of course, this is the budget Salah.
Let's see why you guys would get confused though.
Torino were coming off a 1-1 away draw to Lazio and Spezia were coming off a 3-1 home loss to Inter.
Prior to this game, Spezia were unbeaten in 3 Serie A games against Torino thanks to 2 wins and 1 draw.
The Granata avoided becoming the second team to remain winless in 4 games against the Ligurians after Kaljeri.
Now for Torino it was Vanya Milinkovic-Savic who came back in goal.
Zima and Singo returned to the back while Piaka and Sek played up front.
Berisha, Itso, Aina, Pobega and Brekolo were sidelined for this one.
In for Spezia were Hirstof, Ferrer and Agudelo. Out were Reka, Maggiore and Bastoni.
Three important players there for Spezia sidelined.
100%.
In the 4th minute Lukic scored the penalty and then in the 69th minute he actually managed to score again.
This was his 4th goal in 2 games for Lukic.
Impressive.
What a moment for him.
And then in the 97th minute to give you the exact score and an equalizer in the prediction series of course Menai scored the 97th minute penalty.
You know the Albanian is a Barcelona youth product?
Oh is he?
Yeah.
That's interesting.
I mean you wouldn't guess looking at him watching him play.
And you're talking to me about that late goal that got me the correct score.
Atalanta-Venezia, Sengo is late goal. Hello.
Yeah I know but obviously that doesn't affect me directly like this.
It doesn't work directly against me.
It just affects your brother directly.
Exactly.
Torino had 56% ball possession. They also had 14 shots. 6 of those on target to Spezia. 7 shots, 2 of those on target.
Quite a dominant display by Torino.
Yeah Torino did enough but you know there's I don't think any side that kind of comfortably just comfortably dismantled Spezia and get a 2-3 goal cushion.
Especially you know Torino are a good side but they weren't going to do that either.
But it's a good, definitely a good 3 points for them. They're riding on some hot form at the moment.
And I do think we'll be seeing more of these results next season for Torino.
I do think that they'll pick up where they left off and actually improve.
Yeah if there's that continuity.
There can even be a conference league push maybe man. Who knows?
I mean I really rate Juric as a manager as you know.
And you know I believe in him.
I think if should he continue and they replace Bellotti well.
Obviously they're getting the results without Bellotti as well. He was out injured for this game again.
You know Sanabria is capable of getting goals. Clearly Lukic is capable of getting goals as well.
So it would be interesting to see how they directly replace him if they directly replace him.
And what next season has in store for them.
Definitely. This result set the foundation for them to go to Bergamo and score 4 goals.
So that was clearly good.
Spezia looked capable at times in this game. They didn't have a wardrobe malfunction.
This time as no player tried to come on with jewellery.
So you know overall there are victories for both teams.
So yes Spezia sit in 15th with 33 points.
While Torino sit in 11th with 44 points my brother.
Incredible. So the next game we're going to be covering is Bologna 2 Odinese 2.
The reverse fixture was Odinese 1 Bologna 1.
Thanks to goals from Berto and Baro. That was that game where Pereira had gotten sent off.
So two draws on the trot. Clearly two very even sides this year.
So Bologna coming off a 1-1 away draw to Juve. Impressive as always.
And Odinese coming off a 1-0 home loss to Salernitana. So out of character right now.
The last five Bologna Odinese games have ended in a draw.
This is the first time in their history that these sides have drawn five in a row in the top flight.
So for Bologna we saw a couple of changes with Bardi, Bonifazi, Binks, Desilvestri, Dominguez and Baro.
All coming in for the likes of Skorupski, Medel who was obviously suspended alongside Samo Moura.
Dykes, Schouten and Arnautovic who was picking up a small knock as well.
For Odinese it was Molina, Mackengo, Wallace and Saksess coming on for Sopi, Jajalo, Samardzic and Puseto.
So in the sixth minute what a goal by Bologna. Desilvestri crosses low, outwards and early.
Baro got attached to set the ball up for Svamberg who played the ball first time to Hickey who finished low and hard into the far post from a tight angle.
In the 25th minute Udodji scored after Pereira played the ball to Saksess who was inside the box and flicked the ball back to Udodji who finished cleanly.
That was his third goal of the season.
In the 46th minute Saksess and Delafoe linked up well with Saksess playing it to Delafoe who carried it forward then crossed it to Saksess who finished cleanly.
In the 59th minute Orsalini's low cross to Sansone led to Sansone finishing into an empty net.
So this leads me just to bring up something Sansone scored obviously in the 2-1 victory over Inter where he said
I hope Maldini or someone from Milan calls me at least for a loan so I can play in the Champions League.
So obviously he did Milan a favour.
Sign him up!
Well he did Milan a favour. He put good pressure on the goalkeeper to be honest to make that mistake but we'll get to that soon enough.
Yeah it was going in without you bro.
So Bologna had 55% ball possession in this game against Odinese. They had 10 shots to Odinese, 17.
Bologna had 3 on target, Odinese had 5 on target. Was a draw a fair result or do you think that Odinese edged it?
So I think that a draw was a fair result. Of course Bologna came into this game without their prolific goalscorer and Arnautovic.
We're looking at two teams over here who are mid-table. Two teams over here that needed a victory for mathematical safety.
Of course they have both achieved it thanks to their midweek results. Now they're both safe from the drop officially.
But yeah they're on good form. They fought it out. They both managed two goals each. It was a fair result at the end of the day.
A highly entertaining game.
A highly entertaining game and to be honest my hands were itching for this one. Two teams on hot form collide.
We both know what these guys are going to bring. They're going to bring physicality. They're going to bring speed.
They're going in for the 50-50s. It was a very exciting affair. It definitely did not disappoint.
With a lot of talent on both teams.
Exactly. Each demonstrated their strengths perfectly but none of them were capable of taking home the three points I would say.
I think they'll both be satisfied with this though especially now that they've achieved mathematical safety. They can just push for a high enough finish.
Exactly. So Bologna obviously are also coming off a 2-1 victory at home to Inter which was that game in hand.
Massive victory for them but it was a big win for them but it was a terrible loss for Inter. I think that seals the headlines.
For sure. For sure. People are going to be talking about Inter dropping points more than Bologna getting the victory of course as it affects the table directly.
But of course the people of Bologna are going to be very happy with it. You know, Mihailović is going to be very happy with it.
So, you know, pleasant vibes all around.
A lovely city, a lovely stadium, lovely manager, lovely team.
If you're ever around Italy, do visit Bologna. It's a nice student city. There's a nice university over there. The nightlife is really good.
You walk around the streets, everyone's just hanging around drinking.
It's very lively man. Everyone's outside. There's this element of trust. The food is just obviously ridiculous.
We enjoyed ourselves over there obviously when we went to watch Sassuolo play.
On the other hand, Odinese managed to beat Fiorentina away from home 4-0. Is there anything we could add about how impressive Odinese looked?
Not really. It's nice to see Deo Lefebvre finally getting his groove in as we've discussed in the last one.
We're finally seeing Deo Lefebvre we're used to at Milan. What for the exact same player?
They have some exciting players in Destinier, Dodri and Isaac's success over there. Molina. Molina's a fucking exciting player.
I don't remember a time when Odinese were this exciting. Before it was very much DePaul dependent.
Now they cashed in on DePaul. They actually made some solid changes. They're looking like a team and again a very entertaining team that has the ability to put four positive on their day.
On their day they also have Pereira on the starting eleven. They're bringing on players like Samardzic.
Their front line of success on Delefebvre doesn't simply end there. They could bring Posetto on as well.
It's looking promising for Odinese. They're not a highly ambitious team but it's always good to see them pushing up as much as they can.
This leads them to 12th place on 43 points. They're only one behind Torino now and they're actually one point ahead of Bologna who are in 13th on 42 points.
So the next game was between Genoa and Caliari and this was one that I had been looking forward to for a while.
Of course, relegation six pointer.
A relegation six pointer in the truest form, bro.
And it's the two classic Serie A sides that struggle. It's some of these new guys like Spezia, Venezia.
Two OGs. Genoa are one of the most of course historic clubs in the league.
Exactly. I know a guy at Melitta that used to support Genoa. I wonder if he still does now. Zynga.
Yeah, a good guy. He must be depressed. Shout out Zynga if you're listening.
The reverse fixture ended in a 3-2 away victory for Genoa. This was Genoa's only victory prior to the Blassin era.
And Fares had scored two and Destra had got one as well.
Oh, that was a game, bro.
It was a fantastic game, really. Genoa were coming off a 2-0 away loss to Milan while Caliari were coming off a 1-0 home victory to Sassuolo.
Everyone thought that, to be honest, Caliari would take this. No, people seem to think that.
It's difficult to say because Caliari have more quality individually, but then Genoa have the whole Gaggen press system and the Blassin era that just makes them better, to be honest.
That's what I thought would make the difference, to be honest. I was talking to David before, one of the guys who wrote an article for us.
He's a Nudinezza fan and an Inter fan, of course. He's an Inter fan primarily.
He talked about Caliari winning this one. I think Genoa would win it. But of course Genoa did edge it.
This was Genoa's fifth Serie A win over Caliari in a row. So there is something in the water over there.
They kept four clean sheets in the process, which is very impressive.
That wasn't the game before this one, that's for sure.
Genoa made two changes. They brought in Sturara on Portanova and they left out Hefti and Piccoli, while Caliari brought in Cepitelli over Lovato.
It was a very high intensity game, very entertaining, end-to-end stuff.
Pinball, man.
Pinball, a scrap but an entertaining one.
In the 48th minute, João Pedro struck the post and the winner came in the 89th minute after some confusion in the box,
leading to Lovato poking it to Milan Badel, who actually scored in the bottom left corner.
Crazy scenes. He's not a player who gets many goals and it's always the case with these players.
These guys who don't score often, when they score it means so much more to them.
I remember with Milan there was Lucas Biglia, who whenever he scored he would lose his mind.
Biglia reminds me of Lucas Leyva, because they're blonde and conservative and never score.
And underwhelming.
Exactly.
Genoa had 56% ball possession with 13 shots, 2 on target, while Caliari had 11 shots with 1 on target.
So it was a scrap of course.
Very even affair.
Only 3 shots on target in the whole thing.
Again, it was an entertaining game.
Caliari, most of their chances came through João Pedro.
There was one Marlin moment where he tried to chip it over the keeper from an awkward...
After some mix-up in the box and it went just wide, man, as well.
No, the difference is that Genoa got that moment where they had the guy in the right place at the right time.
The ball literally fell to him and he managed to slot it into the bottom corner.
Had that ball fall into João Pedro, I'm sure it would have been the same story.
So the momentum shifted into Genoa's favour.
I believe in Caliari, obviously now in some real danger, probably the most danger that they've been in since they exited the relegation zone.
Some teams like Salah and Netanah in Genoa are looking hot right now.
They're going to have to be careful.
I have Caliari going down, man.
I don't quite know who's going to stay up ahead of them, but I see Caliari going down as fuck, man.
I had said at the beginning of the season that Genoa will survive 100% simply because of their mid-season transfers.
Remember when I said they always sort everything out halfway through the season with their loans?
They brought in a decent manager.
They got a few draws in a row.
They brought in a few players with pedigree.
Looking at the team right now, there are a few players who can make the difference.
Like Milan Badel scored the goal.
He's been a player who's been playing in Serie A for a very long time now.
That's true.
Serigu came up big in this game.
He's another veteran in Serie A.
So they're being saved by these players who have experience.
All I want, bro, is that I want the best teams to stay up and I want the worst teams to go down.
I don't want there to be five teams next season that might as well be newly promoted sides.
Now, this is kind of the football that the Sampdoria, the Genoa, the Caliari, the Salernitana, the Venezias have given us this season.
But I certainly hope that towards that kind of last bottom five, there isn't so much of a discrepancy that there are higher quality sides, essentially.
I want the best teams to stay up and I want the best teams to come up and the worst teams to go down and stay down.
So we'll have the highest quality league as possible.
And who would that be in your opinion? Should we want to keep the best teams up? Who would they be?
Good question.
So, of course, recent C-Bias is going to play a massive factor in this, no?
Because the teams that are on hot form right now look better than the teams that were on hot form at the beginning of this season.
That's why I'm asking you, because I know you're smart and you look past that.
So overall, Genoa, I think it's time for Genoa to go down.
Granted, right now they're on good form and we're almost empathizing with them and want them to stay up.
They have a good coach and nothing else.
Exactly.
They have a good coach on Bellanova.
But finally, they have a new ownership. They have a new coach and they have a decent project going on.
They're playing decent football finally.
So I did want them to go down at the beginning of the season because of their lack of ambition, but now they're finally showing some.
So if it's rewarded, I wouldn't be too upset.
Cali already deserve to go down because they've been scraping the bottom of the barrel to stay up.
Yeah.
And they had a decent spine over there and they never actually managed to take advantage of it.
So they do kind of deserve it.
As we mentioned before, Venezia deserve to go down.
Yeah, Venezia are done.
As much as I like them, as cool as they are, as exciting as their project is, they don't deserve to be in Serie A right now.
So I'd say exactly, Genoa deserve to go down.
Probably Salah and Etanaz overall season warrants them to go down.
They've been worse than everyone else. You know what I mean?
But again, the story would be too good right now.
What I would want, bro, at this point, and I'm going to change everything, but I would take a Venezia, Genoa.
You know what? I'm going to say Venezia, Sampdoria, Spezia.
Those are the teams I want to go down.
I wish that's what I wish. That's what I wish.
Jesus. Jesus.
Okay. Well, I'd just like I said, I'd want the best teams to stay up.
So probably I would say I'd want the league to stay as it is because I understand that Caliari have higher quality than Genoa.
And Genoa were saved by a system, whereas Caliari were somewhat saved by certain individuals such as João Pedro and Keita Balde coming in and doing bits as well.
Myron being solid, Craniot, I'd like to see Craniot stay in Serie A, obviously.
But then these teams, if they get relegated, these players can finally leave to a better club and develop properly.
That's true. That's true.
But I would want, if I had to choose, I'd say the table stays as it is and we see Salah and Etanah, Genoa and Venezia going down.
I think they've been rubbish.
So welcome back to our question segment.
To drop a question, you can find us on Twitter or on Instagram.
We pretty much react to all of them because we don't get many as of yet.
At Serie A, spotlight, ladies and gents.
Yes, please come and pop us a question or a hot take.
We're interested to read your takes and debate with you.
We're eager to share our thoughts.
Our first question this week comes from Stinker on Twitter at Stinkerjen.
I'm sorry if I massacred your name.
Do we know him?
Yeah, he's a legend.
He's the guy who does the giveaways, bro.
Ah, yeah. Fantastic stuff. Albanian.
Great giveaways.
He says, thoughts on Brahim Diaz? Fun fact, he fucking hates him.
Okay. So yeah, I mean, I don't have a list of great things to say about his performances this season.
This is a guy with a high ceiling.
I think there's no question about his abilities.
The thing is, I still feel like he's very limited in certain departments.
I think that his overall size and his physicality is a bit of an issue because although it does make him quicker
and it does get him past players in its own unique way,
I also think that once he's faced with physicality, then he's just zoned totally out of the game
and he hasn't found a way to kind of own being up against these opponents.
And at the same time, I think the man just has a terrible shot and his output is very limited as well.
I mean, we saw that fantastic goal against Juve that he had scored and aside from that, you know,
the goals kind of came to him or there was a goalkeeper fumble or something of the sort.
So those are my thoughts. I think very easily replaceable.
Do I want him in the team? Yes.
Let's just not pay him that much, please.
Sure. It's not even a matter of let's not pay him that much because his salary is quite low.
You know what I mean?
He's coming from Real.
He is, but he's not a high earner at all.
I'm not sure what the numbers are right now, but they're definitely not astronomical to the books.
You know what I mean?
But if it means to keep him, you know, he needs to earn more money or something of the sort,
then that's something I might be out for.
Yes, yes, fair enough. Look, I've said it many times.
Shallanoglu leaving and not being replaced is not fair on Brahim Diaz.
Brahim Diaz isn't a player that takes on a starting role week in week out.
He's never had a full season prior to this one starting.
So how are we going to challenge for a title with a guy who's never actually played a full season playing camp?
Coming into the season, his only fucking replacement was Daniel Maldini.
Are you going to tell me that this is Brahim Diaz's fault? No, it's not.
It puts so much pressure on the man.
It puts too much pressure on the man.
How did he end up playing Madzala, man?
Yes, well, as a Czechoslavia player.
Oh, as a Czechoslavia player.
And we've seen, you know, we've seen Brahim Diaz coming off the bench.
He looks so much sharper coming off when everyone's tired.
He does, he does, man.
You know what I mean? That's how he should have been deployed all season, man, with the odd start.
And the thing is, you start him less frequently, he'll have more to prove, less pressure to play with, you know.
It's a shame. I feel like he's being ruined a bit with the pressure.
Yeah, I feel you. I mean, you know, the more game time, the more game time that the guy gets, essentially, the better for him.
But look, the stakes are high. Other teams have options in those areas.
It's not like they're shy of options. There are teams like Atalanta and Inter who have options galore, including Napoli as well.
So that's that's something that it's no essential fault of his own.
He's going through the process of growth and he was put in a certain situation that put a lot of pressure on him.
And he dipped in certain moments for that reason.
But look, there's a reason Piole loves him so much as well. He must bring something to the team.
And it's obvious, his talent is clear when he absolutely destroys a player with an unbelievable fucking skill move.
He does, man, he does do it. And he started winning fouls in good areas as well.
Exactly. That's the thing he has to focus on because of his size.
He needs to when he falls, he needs to win fouls. If he does that, he's fine.
Bring him on when teams are frustrated and kind of tired. That's when he fucking excels.
For sure, bro. That's what I think about Bruninho Dias.
Fucking whoops.
Anyway, our next question comes from our boy Steve, Steve758 on Instagram.
He was on our youth especially. You should go check that out. Quite insightful.
He also just got retweeted by Bologna.
Yes.
Quoted by Bologna.
He says, it might actually happen. Boys Napoli are bottling it.
Steve, honestly, mad respect to you, bro.
Steve deserves a round of applause.
You've been laughing in my face every time I said, Napoli, you know, Napoli can win the league years ago.
And I was like, what? They're doing well. Come on.
They're like, no, dude, they'll bottle it. Their mentality is fucking terrible.
He's right. They did bottle it. This was a bottle of the highest order.
Yeah. This was that San Benedetto fresh water from the fucking river of wherever the fuck it comes from.
It's fjords bottled water as well.
No, I mean, literally, they couldn't have done it worse if they tried.
I mean, conceding three in 10 minutes against Bologna in the last 10 minutes of the game, one through a good keeping error like that.
I know it's an individual mistake, but that individual is part of the club.
So that that subsequently affects you.
And sell him. So what are you going to do?
And, you know, I think Napoli had had overall a good season, but it's tough to say it's bittersweet, you know, to say that when they slipped up in the important moment.
But they put themselves in a good position early and hopefully for them, they'll see some more consistency.
They would have been happy with a top four finish and they're going to get it at the end of the day.
It's disappointing, of course, that they couldn't go all the way. But but you know, this will be positive.
I'm not disappointed. Yeah, for them, it will be it will be positive.
Now, I believe we received a piece of content. Yes, we did.
We received a video that is our podcast playing from my phone.
So our final question comes from our boy, Meagles.
You won't know him from Twitter. He's the guy with the massive Discord server, of course, for Milanese to get together.
And the banter must be next level. I don't actually use Discord very much.
I'm a bit of a boomer. Yeah, same here. Like I used to use it for the game, like League of Legends back in the day.
I downloaded it and never I think I used it. I never quite used it as like a chatting platform.
But anyway, it's a good tool, though. Yeah, he sends this video.
Of course, this is in light of Milan's new ownership deal, which is
which talks for have recently accelerated, of course.
Are you excited for that? Choo choo, motherfucker, choo choo, bro.
I just hope everything goes through. It would be nuts.
What a successful project by Elliot to inherit the club, make it profitable,
sell it for the highest amount a football club has ever been sold.
Fun fact, one point two billion. A club has never been sold for that amount.
Granted inflation, but like you take absolutely serious like, bro.
So this would be historic, you know, and they're a very powerful group of men.
As in from where I'm standing. I mean, surprise, surprise. Right.
To me, it just seems like these guys came in out of nowhere and suddenly are like,
yeah, we're serious about our offer. We want to pay one point one billion for your club.
And then like two weeks later and it's close to being finalized.
So they just came in and they meant business off the get go.
Now, this is from where I'm standing. It could be that they've been liaising for months behind.
And the public eye, it's a very new thing. You know what I mean? We all knew that Elliot wanted to flip the club.
There was no long term project. They just wanted to sell it for a profit.
That's how they run their hedge fund at the end of the day. So, so yeah, exciting, exciting times.
I'm very excited. And, you know, as fans, we need to treat ourselves with, you know,
like a satin robe of Milan or something to celebrate.
Something a bit, you know, a bit exotic. Something a bit naughty.
Something a bit pervy. Exactly.
Guys, this has been a fun episode. It has been a blast.
So we hope you guys enjoyed it. It's currently half past one in the morning here at Motta.
We're both working tomorrow, so we're in quite a rush to get back to bed.
We hope you tune in. We hope you give it a listen and we hope that you engage with us.
We hope you follow us, rate us, like us, love us, whatever.
Chastise us. No problem, guys. We'll take it.
We'll take it. A hundred percent.
So thank you very much, guys. Hopefully we'll see you at this time next week.
Oh yeah.