Milik!
Juventus advantage!
An angle!
Rik Milik!
90!
Perfect!
I watched 5 games out of 10 which isn't bad and while one game would be ending the next would be starting. It was like I was in heaven man.
Yeah and in fact I got home at around 6 o'clock and I watched 2 matches and one entire half.
Yeah.
And I finished work at 5.30 think I was still gonna watch 2 and a half matches. It's quite a beautiful thing.
Yeah not bad.
So as you guys heard from the intro our goal of the week was Milik's very late free kick against Cremona.
And that's it to give them the 1-0 victory. Now a beautiful goal, great hit by Arcadius Milik obviously.
But has to be said the wall was set up in a certain manner that made it a bit easier for him.
And maybe Karin Isekki knowing that at least there was a lot of space in the wall should have made ground earlier and pushed the ball past the bar.
But unfortunately that's not what he did and then Juventus got away with a victory. Fortunately for you obviously.
Nevertheless Arcadius Milik remains the man with the highest conversion rate in Serie A when it comes to free kicks with 33%.
He has scored 4 out of 12 free kicks.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Well we know he can hit them. We remember from his Napoli days in Serie A and even at Marseille we've seen him in the Champions League as well hit a couple.
He's very talented from that area and it's good that you have someone in those moments to step up and take a free kick like that.
Well he's become a regular starter but I don't think the plan was to bring him in as a regular starter originally.
No yeah I think he was meant to be like Vlauvić's backup.
Exactly.
But he has done very well and to be honest it's always nice to see a proper nine step up and blasting a free kick goal.
That's what you want to see.
Beautiful man. So in this day where you were laying on the sofa watching football of course you were looking after our bets.
Obviously with communication between us it wasn't just Jake's decision.
I called him and he was like bro to be honest man I see I'm kind of in the middle of something.
I was like shit what is the matter.
I'm like bro there's spezia at Atlanta.
I think I got my bum brother calling me.
What bet are we going to put? I have to explain to everyone this is work as well.
He's asking for bets because we have a podcast.
We're totally not just talking for fun.
This podcast is a front.
We're actually just having fun and this is just in the background.
We can use this as an excuse that we're working.
Exactly.
It's perfect.
And it gave us the perfect.
Babe you want to watch another one. It's work.
What? We're just going to sit on a podcast and not talk like.
I'm like babe you're stealing my youth.
It's been seven hours. It's a lot.
But the bets.
So we started off terribly.
Well Milan started in a time.
We said that Milan would win and we got that one.
All right. At the same time there was another bet that we lost.
Yes we said that Sassuolo would win or draw against Sampdoria.
Sampdoria by the way are the team against whom Sassuolo have kept the clean the most clean sheets.
Oh my god.
And Sampdoria lost their last four games before this without scoring a single goal.
So I thought that that would be a pretty safe bet.
No Sassuolo fucking draw or win.
But apparently not.
Apparently not.
So we lost the first round so that was 10 euro.
Scratched off from Serie A Spotlights bank account.
After that we also said that Atalanta would get past Spezia.
They would outright beat Spezia and they were held 2-2.
Against a team that they had beaten three times in a row scoring three goals in each match by the way.
And Spezia who were by the way at one point 3-0 up before the far call against Atalanta.
Hadn't beaten Atalanta since 1931 by the way.
So I'm like okay this is a pretty safe bet again.
Boom. Fucked.
Post World War I was the last.
That's mad.
We then said that after giving la to all the praise in the world for how they are defensively.
How lethal they are going forward with Serie A and three runs at Cagni.
And Felipe Anderson as well.
They lost the Lecce 2-1.
That was always going to be a risky bet.
That was going to be risky.
And I rose on the bet as well.
But the odds were good.
They were at like two points something.
This was worth it.
For that.
But you think if you're competing top four and I know obviously Milan were held to Cremona so on so forth.
But La Cie are going to want to be at least getting something out of a match like that.
Like sure it's a tough away game against a tough side.
But you should be really getting all three points over there.
At least a fucking point.
So yeah I was quite disappointed that that one didn't go over the line for us.
But then.
But then Juve in the last minute beat Cremona.
And Jake and I had a Juve victory with under five goals.
That's what we call a Posse bet.
It's like the odds are just two we take it.
Literally literally terrible gambling.
But we got our money back.
So we made 20 euros.
We broke even and then we're like wait so clearly we're cursed.
We're cursed.
Every bet that we're placing except for the Juve.
What's just happening the other way around.
We're just losing everything like Spezia held Atalanta.
Lecce beat Lazio.
We're like fuck it.
So let's put let's say Napoli are going to win the next game so that interbeat them and bam.
That's when that worked in our favor.
More competitive league thanks to us.
Exactly.
So we lost money.
Yes.
Quite a significant amount actually.
20 euros.
For our betting standards.
Exactly.
For our betting standards it's a lot of money.
But yeah we'll be back.
We'll bounce back.
Look if we stop like we're pussies.
We're going to keep going.
And even if it's a meme at this point why not why not keep entertaining it.
Exactly.
Remember guys before we get into everything follow us on Spotify.
Follow us on Apple Podcasts and rate us five stars wherever you're listening.
We're on social media as you know we're on Instagram.
So give us a follow over there at Serial Spotlight.
We're on Twitter as well.
We're on TikTok which is probably our biggest platform.
So have a look.
Engage with us.
Tell us what you think.
And this could be a beautiful beautiful relationship.
Yes it could.
Between podcaster and listener.
No bro you're very good at like thinking on the spot.
You know like you think.
Yeah really really good at adapting improvising.
Like so how about you take those listeners right now who are in a bit of a rush.
And need to know what happened this match day through a bit of a journey.
All right.
So I mean they started at 1230.
And the games and there were two fixtures as Salernitana against Milan.
Sasuala against Sampdoria.
So the champions managed to beat Salernitana two goals to one away from home.
While Sasuala shockingly lost to Sampdoria who were dead last.
Two goals to one.
They made a couple of signings Sampdoria and to be honest they looked much brighter than they previously had.
Spezia held Salernitana two goals to two with Spezia at home and looking much the better side for a lot of the game.
Torino won.
Verona won.
Another team in the bottom three that's you know really pushing at the moment.
Lecce two Lazio one.
Massive step up for Lecce.
Massive step down for Lazio.
Roma one.
Bologna nil.
Do it in classic more in your fashion.
They score a penalty and then they defend the whole game.
Cerminezza nil.
Juve won.
A late Arcadius Millec free kick gave the Bianconeri a victory.
Fiorentina won.
Monza won.
As I predicted in the last episode.
Inter won.
Napoli nil.
Thanks to our bet Milan now only five points under Napoli.
So two games solid and three games to turn it around.
And Odinese again being held by Empoli at home.
Obviously I think out of this match the highlight was the statement Inter made by handing Napoli their first defeat of the season.
Inter were previously struggling losing five matches out of their opening 15 in the first half of the season.
But here they really managed to turn things around.
They had a fantastic performance.
They beat Napoli who have been insane this season.
So I think that's definitely the main standout.
Yes sir.
I agree with you totally.
I think before we get into all the matches you have a few stats you'd like to go through of the matchday.
Yes sir.
We will start off with eight.
These were the total number of shots taken by Sassuolo forward Domenico Berardi who was first in matchday 16 classification.
Followed by Fiorentina number nine Arthur Cabral who got five.
Cabral together with Milan's Giroud is first in terms of number of shots at goal.
Three for both.
Guillermo Ochoa decided that he wanted to stop hibernating every four years and actually produce performances on the great stage on a weekly basis.
He was the goalkeeper who made the most saves in the last round on his debut actually.
Nine saves for the Mexican followed by Marco Carnesecchi of Cremona with seven and Michaela Di Gregorio of Monza with five.
Napoli and Sassuolo were the teams that completed the most dribbles with nine with the record holder being Armand Loriente with six followed by Rafael Leao of Milan with four.
Very interesting as always brother.
Your stats are my favorite stats in the world.
Thanks bro.
No worries.
Shall we get into each game?
We can start off obviously with Inter one Napoli nil.
So Inter lined up in their classic 3-5-2 formation on Anna in goal with a back line of Bastogna, Yacchie Erbi and Scrinia.
Di Marco on the left and Armian on the right as wing backs.
Cialanooglu obviously had to replace Brozovic in the register role due to his injury.
Mkhitaryan and Barela just ahead of him with Zéko and Lukaku up front.
For Napoli it was their classic 4-3-3 also.
Beautiful kind of dynamic over here. Classic 3-5-2 against a classic 4-3-3.
Maret in goal with a back line of Di Lorenzo, Rahmani, Minje and Olivera.
Anguissa Lobot-Gazielinski in the midfield with Poletano, Ossimen and Guevara up front.
So no real losses there for Napoli. None at all actually.
Yeah man and after 13 wins and two draws this season, this is the setup that gave them their first loss.
Their first loss by the way since April 2022 against Empoli.
Whoa, Jesus.
And it came to Zéko man by the way who has scored 20 goals for Inter in Serie A.
Each of them after turning 35 years old bro.
Crazy man.
He's honestly so underrated. I think for me it's him and Giroud when it comes to that generation of players are the most underrated.
Oh incredibly.
Of strikers especially.
Incredibly and I think Zéko when he made the switch to Inter, I think everyone thought he was past it at that point.
He wasn't getting, you know, he was being benched by Borja Majoral sometimes for a young energetic guy and everyone's like okay maybe he's falling off it.
Inter will take him now because they're broke. They got him and what a coup he was man.
The second Lukaku or Lautaro was unavailable. The man is there at 35 years old. Like you said very comparable to Giroud man.
In his last three games for Inter of course he has a goal and an assist against Bologna.
Two goals against Atalanta and a goal against Napoli. This season at 36 years old he's on 10 goals and four assists.
My God.
Yeah this is a guy who scored everywhere he's been. You know I mean you look at his stats at Wolfsburg 66 goals. City 50 goals.
Roma he's got over 80 goals like Inter 20 goals. You know for Bosnia 64 goals.
He's inevitable. He's inevitable Zerko. We watched him score live in that Sassuolo game.
Oh yeah of course.
And I saw him score for Roma as well. I think he's one of the players that I watched the most live.
Of what?
Zerko. But yeah it was a ball in from Di Marco in the 56th minute. Zerko got there headed.
It was a he was alone basically but it was a great run off the ball and to get into that position he very much attacked the header and he beat Maret.
Maret had a super game but I think Inter overall did exactly what they had to do and more to win this game.
And I think they were defending brilliantly obviously they were really keeping their shape and they constantly had 11 men behind the ball.
And everyone no one put a put a foot wrong in that process. However it was more their approach when they were defending in that manner they were really picking and choosing their battles.
They knew when they should counter they knew when they should stay disciplined and stay behind their decision making was perfect.
And because of their low block and their low defensive line it made it difficult for Guevara to do his thing for Ossimen to get in behind. Ossimen was getting bullied by that back three bro.
Yeah. Inter bro the second they were out of possession you're absolutely right they sat back they told Napoli you go take the ball come to us like.
No 50-50s.
No 50-50s nothing they just sat deep and the thing is Guevara at scale attempted a few moves on the left he tend to cut inside every time he just hit a wall.
Exactly.
Every time. Poletano couldn't get into the game he was invisible.
He never got started.
And Ossimen was isolated. In fact you look at the the movies of Napoli like you see Angus Salah, Botkan, Zelinski in the middle those were the guys who had the ball the most and of course the fullbacks.
They were just trying to penetrate this fucking Inter team like like passing the ball around and they couldn't they kept losing the ball and Inter kept countering.
It was a really smart set up by Nzaghi.
Definitely man and a very attacking outlet in DeMarco on the left hand side for Inter who sometimes in the final third his output was a little bit questionable and even the commentator was having a bit of a go at him in the beginning of the second half.
But you know he's in the right position whips the ball in Zerco's there he puts the ball into the back of the net another assist for DeMarco and he had the ball so much going forward.
I'm a massive fan of DeMarco and you know watching him do this at Verona was one thing but seeing him doing it at Inter in these big games in these big moments in the Champions League it's a good thing man.
His development is great. He's only 25 years old. I mean 25 years old he's on the right path you know he's a starter at Inter and he's displacing Gossens you know who in theory is a good player.
What did you make bro of this Lukaku comedy show?
Lukaku is funny man. At the moment in my opinion and this guy the beauty of Lukaku is he can prove me wrong very soon. He can prove me wrong very soon.
But right now to me it doesn't look like Lukaku belongs on a football pitch. It doesn't. He doesn't seem up to it. Now he had a few opportunities.
He tested Maret on a couple of occasions. He was a bit more lively than usual but you give him and he was putting the ball in the right positions to be fair to him. His link up play was good.
Yeah the great ball to DeMarco. He did. That's when Dharmian missed that opportunity. That was a brilliant play by Lukaku.
DeMarco missed the first one and then Dharmian missed another one after. Exactly that layoff by Barela. That was a beautiful long ball by Lukaku.
That was a layoff by Barela. It's better at playing the ball right now than he is at number one controlling it because it's hilarious how an aerial ball is played to this guy and he starts flailing his arms as the ball hits him and bounces away from his body.
He doesn't control the ball. It hits him. It just hits him. He's so not coordinated right now.
And his shooting has been off. We saw it this game too. It's carried on from the Belgium national team from the World Cup.
Of course. He was put on the biggest stage in the world and the poor guy was coming back from injury probably a bit out of shape.
The world saw him have a terrible performance and that must have knocked his confidence down a little bit.
We can see what Lukaku is like when his confidence is low. I think it's obvious that his confidence is low at the moment.
He does look fired up. He does look hungry. He seems like he can't do what he used to do for some reason.
But it's a mental block because this was two years ago. He's still a decently young guy. He can't turn it around and he can't do good. But at the moment he really doesn't look up to the task.
Lukaku don't let those intrusive thoughts win. There you go. Well done, Drake. Thank you.
But yes, Napoli never really looked to threaten. I can't remember a massive chance. I remember one particularly good save by Onana when he was tested.
It was a reflex save, a massive one after there was some fumbling in the balls. It was one of those with a very strong arm.
He dove but his arm stayed where it was. It was a great save.
But nonetheless, yes, super impressive by Inter. Disappointing return for Napoli. But this has resulted in a more competitive league as two match days can change everything around.
Oh, definitely. And now Napoli needs to play San Padovia away from home, which should be a good way to get back to winning ways for them.
But then straight after that, on the 13th of January, they play Juve in Naples. So that's going to be very, very interesting.
Napoli remain in first place, however, five points now ahead of Milan, so still a very good position to be for them.
Inter now enter the top four. They're on 33 points. They're three points clear of Lazio now and they're only one point behind Juve and three points behind Milan. Exactly.
Nice. The next game that we're going to be covering is Salernitana 1-Milan 2. Salernitana lined up with their usual 3-5-2 formation without Shoah in goal on his debut.
Fazio Radovanovic and Lovato at the back with Brotherich and Sambia on the wings. Villeneuve, Bohinen and Koulibaly in the middle with Piontek and Dier up front.
This is practically a full team without Matsoki, who's injured, of course.
Tatarasano was in goal for Milan as Mike Monion continues to cause many questions. What's going on?
I took him on. Fun time. He decided to get injured.
This is broken bone type. Like length.
He might as well. I'm glad he didn't, but he might as well have broken a bone.
It's true, honestly. He's been out for so long, but apparently he's rumored to be back for the Spurs game, the Champions League.
But yeah, Calabria is the right back. Hernandez on the left with Tomori and Calulo as the center back pairing with Ben Nasser and Tonali as a double pivot with Salah Makars on the right.
Leao on the left. Ibrahim Diaz as the Czech. Wartista and Olivier Giroud up front.
Safe to say Milan dominated this game, of course, and they got firing quite early on. They had a few chances.
Leao, particularly with a 1-on-1 on Shoah, was incredible. He made three world class saves in the first 30 minutes.
And then like six or seven as the game progressed. Amazing saves, like top quality.
But it only took the 10th minute for Leao to get round on Shoah and score from a really tight angle thanks to a beautiful ball by Sandro Tonali.
In the 15th minute, Sandro Tonali actually scored himself. So he had an amazing five minutes over there. Brilliant.
After Ibrahim Diaz layoff. And then Bonazzoli caused some worries for Milan in the 83rd minute when a Lassana-Kullibaly ball saw the Italian volley at home.
In a lovely fashion, to be honest.
It was a good performance by Milan. Milan forced a lot of saves out of a Shoah. They looked very dangerous going forward.
However, in the 83rd minute, there was a slight lapse in concentration for Milan towards the end of the game.
And that's how Salernitana threatened. If you allow Salernitana to threaten, they're going to threaten.
And towards the end of the game, that's what the story was. And it continues to prove that Milan's defense isn't perhaps what it used to be.
And the attacking outlet has become more prominent than the defensive one, I believe.
Yeah, that's true. Right now, they're an attacking, high-pressing unit.
In my opinion, you could clearly see that Milan became weaker when Charles de Quetelari came on along with Gabbia.
Not that they were bad, of course. Gabbia was pretty solid, to be honest. De Quetelari, of course, was quite rusty still.
He looks better at getting the ball and passing it than when he actually has a shot to take.
He's not going to score the chance. He's too low on confidence right now.
I just think you have to keep playing it simple, keep getting the simple things right, and eventually you'll pick up from their performance.
I'm sure he did that well enough. But Brahim Dias was having a really good game.
Yeah, Brahim Dias, to be honest, this season, obviously he's gotten so much criticism over the past three years at Milan.
I think the season in particular, but I think the season has been his best season thus far.
I think he's proven that even when he was being played on the right-hand side when Milan were struggling with injuries,
they had literally no right-wingers, he was playing there and he scored that goal against Juve as well.
He scored the goal shortly after. I forgot against who. But he's been really good.
Charles, I think he just needs to understand that at the moment, since he's low on confidence, less is more.
And the less that he tries to do and the more generous that he is in the manner in which he plays,
his confidence will slowly, slowly go up and nothing devastating will happen.
He'll just be feeling it out and getting a hang of it.
But when you see him in critical situations where he has to shoot and score, essentially, that's where you see him struggle,
like with a final decision, for example.
Yeah, kiss. Keep it simple, stupid.
Yeah, beautiful.
But yes, it was this substitution, I believe, that caused a bit of a turning point.
Salernitana did come out pressing and they are capable of that.
But when Cedic and Gabia came on, they pressed even more and they became very aggressive.
In fact, they got like three cards in six minutes.
And eventually, Colibali did pick out Bonazzoli and they did cause some concerns.
But then I feel like the substitutions of the introductions of Dest and Vrancs, for example, were quite good for Milan.
And they got over the line quite well.
Yeah, I can't highlight.
Obviously, I've said this before.
How much I like so far what I've seen from Vrancs.
I think naturally he looks very good.
And a couple of seasons at Milan with training with their squad and training with their defenders,
he's going to prove to be a real titan man and he can start pushing from then on.
Yeah, he's definitely good in that pocket.
What did you make of Milan overall in this game after the return, after the break?
Promising start created lots of chances.
If it weren't for the legendary Ochoa in goal, this could have easily been a comfortable victory for Milan.
The guy kept them in it and that goal at the end almost caused an unlikely upset.
But Milan by far the better team.
Yeah, now obviously.
In fact, one shot on target for Salernitana was the goal.
Yeah.
Bonazzoli, classic obviously Bonazzoli.
Bonazzoli, by the way, has equaled Marco Di Vio as the Salernitana top scorer in Serie A of all time.
How many goals is that?
Twelve.
Twelve?
Di Vio?
Ronaldo should have gone to Salernitana.
I'm sure he can get twelve goals for Salernitana.
No, but he thinks he's in South Africa, but he's in Saudi Arabia.
That was hilarious, by the way.
It was.
I agree with you basically about Milan now, obviously we're high and mighty, but there is a game against Roma this Sunday at 8.45.
A very, very tough fixture for Milan against, you know, Mourinho's Roma.
And we'll see what happens over there.
I'm confident that Milan can get it done.
But if there's anyone that can break down someone's play in this league apart from Inter nowadays, it's Roma.
Roma will stop you from playing your game.
So that's going to be interesting.
It's great to go. Roma don't score in the first half because it'll be the most frustrating game of football ever.
Definitely, man.
So Milan in second on 36 points, five points behind Napoli and two points ahead of Juve,
while Salernitana in 14th on 17 points, one behind Empoli and Lecce, same points as Monza.
The next game we're going to be covering is Crémoner's 250th match in Serie A,
as they almost held Juventus in a 0-0 draw, but Juventus managed to get a late victory thanks to an Arcadius-Mille goal and 1-1-0.
Crémoner's are lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation with Karnecek in goal and a back line of Losovskvili, Bianchetti and Ferrari.
Valeri on the left and Sernicola on the right with Castagnetti and Maite in the holding midfield roles.
Piquel just ahead of them with Dessers and Ocarecke up front.
Allegri's side lined up in a 3-5-1-1 formation with Cesni in goal and a back line of Gatti, Bremer and Danilo.
Sule on the right and Kostić on the left with a midfield three of Fagioli, Locatelli and McKennie.
Miretti just ahead of them, shouldering Millik, who played as a punta.
So, pretty much as I said, Crémoner's played so well during this game and they just looked better than Juve, in my opinion.
Why do you think that was?
So, this Juventus was set up quite defensively.
We saw the same problems that Juventus sides under Allegri or sides under Allegri in general tend to have going forward.
Juve didn't really threaten from the get-go.
And Crémoner's were extremely unfortunate not to get anything out of this game because they played really well.
They were amazing.
De Ceres hit the post at the point as well. They got awfully close.
I was quite sure Afenajan hit the post as well. In fact, he did.
Afenajan hit the post from a really tight angle as well.
Yes, of course, on the byline. He shot from the byline.
Crémoner's were looking dangerous. They were going forward well.
And this is quite a young Juve team. I mean, Sule, Fagioli and Gatti are very young players and Miretti as well.
Locatelli just took that next step in his footballing career as a regular at a big club as well.
And Keney is under quite a lot of pressure from the fans.
Kostić, granted.
Kostić is a standout for them because he was threatening as well from that left-hand side.
He had some shots, man, and some crosses that were fantastic.
He's super. You watch him charging up alone.
Can't help but feel bad for the guy.
The defense is solid, of course. The goalkeeper is solid.
Milleke wasn't particularly great before the goal. His hold-up play wasn't amazing.
He was often losing the ball.
But anyway, bro, all this said and Juve have made it seven wins in a row with seven clean sheets in a row.
Torino, Empoli, Lecce, Inter, Verona, Lazio and Cremonese.
They didn't concede a single goal and they beat every single opponent.
Yeah, no. Juve have now shown us that even when they're not having their best day,
they're still capable of getting a full three points.
And that's the most important thing. If you're looking to break into top four, then that's what you're going to have to do.
You're going to win even when you're playing like shit.
And they played like shit. Cremonese once again have looked really good against the big teams,
but once again failing to get anything out of this match.
It was a strong performance by them. They should leave with their chin held up.
And so should Juve because even though they had a very tough time,
and this isn't exactly a sustainable way to win games, they got the three points, man.
And now they move forward with their head held high.
Juve win ugly, but they win ugly often. That's true.
And that's why they're there. That's why they're always there, man.
And this game was about to be just summed up by Juve fans like screaming and queefing over that Sule Nutmeg.
There was an amazing Sule Nutmeg, like clips on Twitter were everywhere on it.
It's like, you're about to draw to Cremonese. Relax with the Nutmeg.
Leo had an amazing Nutmeg as well in the Milan game.
Fun fact, I just realised how biased that's a Sule Nutmeg.
Leo!
Sule looks like an amazing talent.
He does, man. I was going to highlight, we had a funny moment because I was at work
and you were watching Milan and I saw that one at Zouli, you scored, and I texted you,
are we in trouble? And you answered, yes.
Yes, we're in trouble, bro. It's always the case, man.
I'm sure Juve fans had the same thought, but here they are in third place on 34 points,
whilst their opponents, Cremonese, on the other hand, in 19th place on 7 points,
one point ahead of Verona and two points behind Sampdoria.
Yes, sir. All thanks to that wonderfully struck free kick by Arcadius Melik.
The next game we're going to be covering is the exact replica of the Juve game.
Roma 1-Bologna 0.
Not quite, not exactly the same.
There's a slight difference, being that they got the goal early on and they just shit house for the entire game.
Exactly.
But yeah, let's go.
Roma lined up with their usual 3-4-1-2 formation with Rui Patricio on goal,
Ibanez is smalling and Mancini at the back.
El Sharawi was on the left, Kčeljko on the right, with Tahirović, the 19-year-old Swedish player
that Mourinho decided to call upon for this game, playing alongside Cristante in the midfield.
Pellegrini was in the 3-4 position with Zaniolo and Deballa up front, assuming for the counter.
Yeah, probably. I mean, I do see Mourinho using this structure quite often moving forward with Zaniolo and Deballa up front.
Particularly with how Tammy and Bellotti have been playing.
Exactly.
A target man who can't really score, hold up play well.
Those two players on the bench is, you know, great for them, but also very disappointing for them at the same time.
I mean, going into the game where they need a goal, they have options and we know how their set pieces are.
You know, you bring on Tammy and Bellotti of the bench, at least you have bodies in the box for your well-worked routines.
Bologna lined up with their 4-2-3-1 formation with Skorupski on goal,
Posz on the right and Liko Džanec on the left with Sao Mauro and Lukumi as the centre-back pairing.
Lukumi was very good.
Ferguson and Medel were in the double pivot with Orsalini and Soriano out wide,
Dominguez in the treco at the start and Arnautovic up front.
Yeah, bro, 61% ball possession for Bologna, but they couldn't get over the line.
Roma were just too street smart.
Mourinho is really building a unit over here.
He is, man.
And I mean, if you could get a goal in the first six minutes and then play that out and win one at the end, it is impressive stuff.
It's just then there's also the having the ability to kill a game.
So not only did they play more in your system and they won by scoring one goal in the sixth minute,
but I also think there's a point to be made that they failed to secure it, to make it safe.
They were constantly on the edge while Bologna were charging forward in order to get that equaliser.
And Roma would have hoped that they were a bit more dominant in this game.
I doubt it's just more in your system.
I think they would have hoped to get a stronger foot in the game.
Two shots on target simply is not enough.
Bologna had doubled that this game, granted they were chasing.
That's not a choice, you know.
I mean, it's always more of a guarantee to push for another goal, extend the lead.
But of course, we know that coaches are different.
They have different philosophies.
Mourinho is extremely pragmatic.
We have the lead, all we have to do is defend it.
And they defended it to perfection.
Exactly.
Yeah.
A few stats here.
Lorenzo Pellegrini has scored a Serie A goal at the Olympico for the first time since March 20th, 2022.
No, sorry, 290 days ago.
Jesus Christ.
In fact, I read an article.
I like using, and you like using it as well because you sent me the article.
Piazza dei Totti, and they have fantastic, fantastic articles over there.
But this one was written by a hater, bro.
A Nimrod.
This guy just hates Lorenzo Pellegrini.
He can't stand him.
And to be honest, this article in particular, I couldn't read it comfortably because of the way it was written.
No disrespect to the writers and all that.
But I just did have a nightmare reading that both for the opinion and for the structure of it.
Yeah, shall I read a few quotes from it?
Oh, yes, please. Yes, please.
So here it goes.
Pellegrini plotted to overthrow Fonseca in his second year, with Roma still third on the table.
It resulted to Roma's collapse later that season.
So he's blaming Roma's collapse on Pellegrini, trying to force Fonseca out.
His injuries mostly come from training and preseason matches because he is avoiding real body clashes in competitive matches to prevent real injury.
Every time he injured, he must miraculously recover and get back to the squad in one or two weeks.
Lay on the pitch for every 90 minutes in order to prevent younger and more talented players to get played, overperform and eventually replace him.
So this guy thinks his injuries and his fucking he thinks it's all orchestrated to stop the younger players from breaking through.
This guy, this guy just rushes to conclusions.
I feel like he's constantly having a battle in his own head.
Like, that's why he's injured.
Just like trying to figure shit out.
Like Pellegrini out injured.
Motherfucker!
So when the baller shines in World Cup final and scores key penalty, he injured himself again just to get an excuse for a second half of the season.
My God, my God.
He says he's stat pads on penalties and free kicks, even though he's not that good at them.
No, he's disrespecting him to oblivion.
Obviously a good player.
And Pellegrini is one of the best players in Roma's team.
He's the leader.
He's the captain.
You know, he's a guy you have to get behind.
He's a guy you need to encourage.
And if you think your captain is being malicious, then you think there's a serious problem with your football club.
Like, for any captain to be to be doing anything on that level maliciously to hurt his teammates and to get the upper hand over them.
No, man, I think he's nuts.
This was Brian Christante's 100th win for Roma in all competitions.
More than any other teammates since he joined the club.
There's a reason coaches like him.
Yeah, there's a reason coaches like him.
And there's a reason we predicted that he'd be Mourinho's favorite favorite player.
And he's up there, man.
Definitely.
I remember taking the helm at Milan on FM like 10 years ago and Christante was a Primavera player.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, that was fun.
Shall we move on to the next game?
Yep.
Let's just say that Roma are now in sixth place on 30 points, level with Lazio on two points ahead of Atalanta.
Whilst Bologna are in 11th place on 19 points, just one behind Fiorentina and one ahead of Lecce and then Polin.
The next game we're going to be covering is Lecce 2-1 Lazio.
A 4-3-3 up against another 4-3-3 Falcone goal for Lecce with Gallo, Titi, Basquirotto and Gendre at the back.
Gonzalez, Hülmend and Blinn in the middle with Banda out on the left, Sefetza on the right and Milan Loni, Colombo up front.
Providel was in goal for Lazio with Lazari, Ciasale, Romagnoli and Marisic at the back.
Sergei Mlinkovic, Savic in midfield, apparently, even though I barely saw him.
Catali in the middle alongside Buzic.
Pedro on the right with Zaccani on the left and Giro Immobile up front.
Immobile opened the scoring thanks to a nice ball from Ciasale, scoring in the 14th minute.
Sefetza equalised in the 57th minute and then Colombo eventually got the winner after Di Francesco squared it to him after a lovely move, making it 2-1 to Lecce.
What the hell happened to Lazio here?
So I think obviously very good performance by Lecce.
The fact that they kept the pressure up even though maybe some people have said they should settle for the draw here and there, but they kept going out and they went for a victory and they got the victory.
So kudos to Lecce.
Lazio it almost seems like there's a lack of creativity.
Now, normally you have Zaccani who's being tricky on the left hand side.
You have Pedro showing good balance and experience and you have Savic feeding Immobile.
But when that doesn't work, there's normally Luis Alberto as well, who just gives them this brand new outlet to attack down from and he can assist Ciro very easily as well.
It's not just Sergei that can do it.
And I think the fact that there's all these rumours and all this gossip around him at a point even saying he was moving the opposite direction to Lecce didn't help.
We know how Sarri is.
He's not going to bring him on when there's that kind of behaviour as well because his behaviour is being criticised for Lazio and his respect.
So I think it was that, the lack of creativity for Lazio and not having Luis Alberto as well.
Yeah, I mean, definitely, bro.
When you look at Bazic, Cataldi and Milinkovic, Savic, it's solely up to Sergei to make something happen over here.
And he had a shocker at this game.
They closed him down really well.
I have to say I'm super impressed by Lecce, man.
They're such a unit, especially defensively.
Every player there is amazing.
Like Gallo, you see him in the opposition area, jibbling and attempting a cross and they're on the counter.
And Gallo clears it off the line.
How did he get there?
He's tireless over there on the left.
Umtiti and Basquerota are just two beasts.
And even Jean-Jer on the other side provides three lines.
Umtiti is back, man.
Umtiti is back.
They're singing his name.
He's intercepting the ball and charging forward without having a crack while everyone's singing his name.
He's getting hard and challenges.
He just had a brilliant performance, man.
Yes, Umtiti is indeed getting hard.
Challenges.
Getting hard and challenges.
Now that's a true story right there.
Exactly.
Life gives me a challenge.
I get hard.
But yeah, you look at the solutions off the bench.
They took out Pedro, who is a match winner.
They brought on Philip Anderson, who is Dr. Jacqueline, Mr. Hyde.
He had a few terrible moments where he kept the ball for too long, didn't release.
There was a point where the ball kept running until he lost it.
They brought on Vecino, who's not really going to do anything.
Maybe he'll get on the end of a cross, but who's going to play that cross?
Marcos Antonio, country leader, he's too young.
Romero is literally 17 years old.
Who's going to win you this game, dude?
If it's not going your way, you don't have options on the bench.
And that's a lack of investment.
And I mean, it's a waste having a player again.
I think Luis Alberto, because of the rumours, isn't playing.
I don't blame Sarri.
I don't think it's a spot.
It's just super unfortunate that the club is going through something like that.
And at this point, man, I would just say, let him go.
Let him go, because he brings so much and he's so good.
But not in this current situation, not as long as Sarri is in charge.
And there are these rumours.
So at this point, the best thing you can do is to let him go.
Yeah.
They simply needed someone like Di Francesco on the bench.
So he came on for Leggian and turned the game around completely.
Yeah. A brilliant performance by him.
Colombo keeps impressing me.
He's had a great run the past five games.
I don't know how many goals and assists he has.
He's scored a goal against Sudeneze, a goal against Atalanta,
a goal and an assist against Sampdoria and a goal against Lazio.
Amazing. Amazing.
I'm so happy for him, man.
Yeah, he's doing well. He's breaking out.
Immobile, speaking of scoring, because I forgot to address this,
has reached the ninth place of the historical Serie A scores.
He's overtaken Del Piero, Gilardino and Signori.
They have 188 each. Ciro Immobile is at 189.
That's incredible, man.
And to be honest, I'm not surprised because he's just been inevitable
for so long at Lazio, Ciro.
Yeah, I mean, he scores 20 plus goals year in, year out.
If you don't know what to do on fantasy football, you take Ciro Immobile.
Exactly.
Piola is the all-time Serie A goals scorer.
He scored 274 goals in Serie A, so Immobile needs another lifetime
to catch up to Piola.
It goes to show how mental he was.
And that was in 537 games.
That's impressive, man. That's super impressive.
And he's also just one letter away from having the same name
as the best coach in the world.
Just one letter, man.
And that's Piola.
Brilliant.
Classic racial incident at the end of this game.
Of course.
We stand with Umtiti, we stand with Sise, we stand with Gendre.
Was it Gendre?
Probably, bro. I mean, you know, Lazio fans.
It's not only Lazio fans, it's fans in Italy.
Fans in Italy. There was recently a situation with Vinicius Junior
as well in Spain, so unfortunately, guys, racism is everywhere.
And the strictest of measures should be taken, as we've repeated
ourselves, to keep this out of the stadium.
Stadium bans. Literally.
I think it's as simple as that.
They have the technology to identify, and the eyewitnesses,
to identify the abusers.
Exactly.
Ban them from the stadium. No one's going to do it.
If you know you're going to get banned from the stadium,
you're not going to do it.
If you can charge a football and track exactly what it's doing
and where it is, you can identify these people who are hurling
racial abuse and the people holding inflatable fucking bananas
and tossing bananas on the pitch, you should be able to identify them.
You know what I mean?
Fucking hell.
But, yeah, guys, Lazio in fifth place on 30 points, level with Roma,
and three behind Inter, whilst Lecce are in 12th on 18 points,
level with Empoli and one point ahead of Salernitana and Monza.
The next game we're going to be covering was one of the most
entertaining affairs that we had.
It was Spezia 2, Atalanta 2, massive upset there.
Spezia played in their 3-5-2 formation with Zouet in goal in the
back line of Nicolaou, Kiwior and Amian.
Reika played out wide with Holm on the other side.
Borabia, Ampadou and Bastoni formed midfield three,
Nzola and Giasi up front, classic.
For Atalanta it was a 3-4-1-2 with Sportiello in goal
and Toloi, Palomino and Scalvini at the back.
Meyli on one side and Ruggieri on the other side with Martin,
De Roon and Ederson in midfield.
I put so much effort into saying De Roon's name right that I
fucked up Ederson.
You've got one more, huh?
Kukminers and then just ahead of them with Lukman and Zapata up front.
In the eighth minute, Giasi opened the scoring for Spezia,
making it 1-0 after Animbala and Nzola assist in a counterattack.
Just a few moments later in the 18th minute,
there was a terrible collision between Zapata and Zouet that forced
Zouet out instantly and being replaced by their third choice goalkeeper,
20-year-old Petar Zofko, coming in with all the pressure in the world
facing Atalanta.
And 10 minutes later, Zapata was replaced by Hoyland after he couldn't cope
from the injury.
Yeah, Hoyland probably did better than Zapata, had been doing all game.
And Petar Zofko came in looking extremely young and nervous.
He looked like he could be in the in-betweeners.
That's how young this guy looks.
Every time he saved the ball or touched the ball or claimed a simple pass,
the crowd went nuts.
They were really riling him up and the fence was just playing for their
keeper, their young keeper.
They were protecting him, dude.
It was so nice to see.
Yeah, that is amazing to see.
And he was doing a good job.
We'll get into the rest soon.
A few moments later, Spezia made it 2-0, Zouet Zofko could rest for a little bit.
It was a long ball over the top by Borabja, phenomenal ball to Umbala and Zola.
Spezia did this quite often in Zola with a super clean finish.
And his record just continues.
He's on eight goals this season, just one behind Viktor Ossimen.
He's having a phenomenal season whilst not looking phenomenal.
But we'll get into that, I guess.
In the 77th minute, Rasmus Hueland improvised brilliantly with his back
towards goal and managed to get a shot away.
Zouet Zouet would have hoped to do better, but he did manage to sneak the ball
underneath him after a Davides-Apacosta assist.
And then it was then the 92nd minute where a ball wasn't collected after a
cross that seemed to, you know, just make its way through to the far post.
And Pasalic was there to fumble the ball over the line.
And that, you know, he scored many goals against Spezia.
And that one was a bit luckier.
But again, the man is just at the right place at the right time.
Chazamit Filder is excellent, man.
Five goals in four games against Spezia for Pasalic.
It's a joint record in this competition alongside Arnautovic.
Jesus, Arnautovic obviously has to be involved in most debates when it comes to forward.
So, yeah, what did you make of this game?
It was very entertaining, man.
Spezia came out to fucking play.
And at a point, one thing I didn't address is that Spezia were three in a lap.
But our goal didn't stand because it was offside.
It was the guy, Ethan Ampadu that scored.
And Ethan Ampadu, he was looking dangerous when he came on.
Man, he's a nice little, a little coop in this team.
He really is.
And it was his first ever Serie A goal.
So it's a shame because he looked so happy and he looked absolutely depressed when it was ruled off.
I think Atalanta committed a lot of men forward.
I think they surrounded the Spezia box well in numbers, but they didn't seem to have the striker to finish it off.
Zapata has been shaky, just came back from injury.
He was like, oh, 2023, new year, new me, I'm injury free.
No, that's not the case because he was, of course, subbed off early on due to the collision with Zoet.
But yeah, I think that's the problem.
They conceded early to Spezia.
And you know how Spezia are, when they score early, they're a nightmare.
You know, they'll sit back, they'll make your life hell.
They'll try to kill the game.
But then they actually got another one on the counter.
So like Atalanta are very naive.
And I feel like since they've become this more pragmatic team when it comes to overloading, they're not as efficient as they used to be.
It could be because of the personnel as well, of course, when you look at Zapata misfiring right now.
Luckmann didn't have a good game, but he has been OK.
But like Muriel and Zapata on form, trash is this.
Of course, a couple of seasons ago, literally two seasons ago, those two were a force, sorry, to be reckoned with.
But now I think you make a good point.
I think there's a reason that they became a more pragmatic side, perhaps because they realized they can't overload teams the same way that they used to.
And they don't have that much pace anymore, which is something that they had in numbers before with their wingbacks and up front with Muriel just terrorizing.
They had Papo Gomez back in the day as well.
And they're just simply not that side anymore.
They're slightly more static.
They position themselves well.
They counter attack well.
But in this game, again, it's not a choice to go 2-0 down.
Man, if you're going to be a pragmatic side, you can't be conceding two early on against Spezia.
Naive goals.
Literally, and being 3-0 down at a point.
And it seems like we're talking about them being a pragmatic side, but both Spezia's goals were on the counter, man.
Yeah, that's it, man. Naive.
You have to be naive to concede on the counter.
And the Atalanta we saw at the beginning of the season didn't look like they were capable of doing this.
No, not at all, man. Not at all.
And this puts Atalanta in a very different position to where they were a couple of match days ago, man.
But I think as much as this is a bad sign for Atalanta, it's a very good sign for Spezia.
The fact that we're saying they haven't yet adapted to Gotti's system after having two very different managers and two very forward-thinking managers.
Now they're playing under Luca Gotti.
But like we said, these smaller teams who stayed together during the break have been working together and they have come out looking very good.
And Spezia formed to be one of those sides, man.
Definitely, bro.
Rasmus Hoyland, bro, born in 2003, is the youngest foreign player to have scored at least two goals in, say, this season.
Granted, the striker department's a bit of an issue right now, but this guy does look promising.
Yeah, no, he does.
He does Hoyland.
I think it's his work ethic and his physicality that make him that good.
I don't think he has a particular eye for a goal that makes him better than most strikers.
But I think he knows how to play in the system.
I think he knows how to carry when the team isn't performing too well, doesn't carry the attacking side of the pitch.
But yeah, he had a good performance here and he managed to force a goal in under, obviously, Zofko, who had just come in.
And he was having a good game until I think he could have done better with that one.
Yeah, it went underneath him.
You know, granted great improvisation by Hoyland with the cheeky, what's it called, the R2 Circlex.
When you're going forward, not when you're attacking.
It's like a forward chop.
It's like you stop the ball and then kick it forward with your other, to beat the defender.
He'll smash it underneath the goalkeeper.
Very, very good.
Exactly.
So at the end, I think they'd be happy that they managed to get a point out of it, but that's really not where they want to be.
They don't want to be celebrating a point, man, against Betts.
Yeah.
Before we conclude, I just want to highlight Mjazi.
Congratulations, Mjazi.
You scored your first goal.
You were statistically the worst striker in Europe, top five leagues when it came to like XG.
So fortunately, he has scored and things will be looking up for him.
Now, Palomino played a really good game since his return.
He's been very good.
Obviously, he stopped playing.
He was good.
He's back.
He's good again.
Exactly.
João Moutinho debuted for Spezia coming off the bench in the 66th minute.
He looked quite decent, to be honest.
And he entered the pitch alongside Daniel Maldini.
Interesting.
When worlds collide, there's João Moutinho and Daniel Maldini coming on for Spezia.
Who would have thought?
But yeah, like I said, a very good result for Spezia.
They're in 17th place now.
That just gives them some breathing space from Sampdoria.
They're on 14 points and Sampdoria are on nine.
So a healthy five point gap over there.
Still not where they want to be, but it is an improvement.
And on the other hand, Atalanta have now moved down to seventh on 28 points.
And they're now two points behind Roma and Lazio.
The next game we're going to be covering was another upset.
So Swolo won Sampdoria two.
Sampdoria looking the better team with their new signings over here.
And the break clearly helping to their advantage, as we had discussed about the World Cup teams.
The teams, say teams, even the World Cup didn't have many players called up.
Yeah, the ones that stayed together for that two month break practicing.
Exactly.
So Swolo lined up with Consigli in goal.
Rogier on the left, Tullian on the right with a center back pairing of Ferrari and Rouen.
Their midfield three were Thordesved, Henrique and Frattesi.
Loriente played on the left.
Berardi played on the right and Penamonti played up front.
For Sampdoria was their 3-4-1-2 formation without their own goal.
Berezinski, Nuitink and Amione at the back.
Nuitink coming in of course from Udinese.
Leris was on the right.
Augelo was on the left.
The center back pairing, center mid pairing, sorry, of Rincon and Ronaldo.
Viera with Verri as the turquoise and Gabbiadini and Lammers up front.
Of course, Lammers coming in for the parting Caputo.
The first goal came in the 25th minute through Manolo Gabbiadini.
Bicycle kick, he showed amazing composure over there.
In the 28th minute shortly after,
Tommaso Augelo took the opportunity after Sassuolo to smack it from a distance,
doubling the scoring in a short amount of time.
Ferrari giving the ball away very clumsily over there.
A very failed clearance.
Both these goals, so you guys know, were contenders for our goal of the week.
Both astonishing goals.
Two amazing goals over there.
Sassuolo tried to come back in the second half in the 64th minute.
Pena Monti forced a foul and Domenico Berra de-converted the penalty.
But Sassuolo did not have anything left in the tank to deal with this.
We're going to pass you on to our residents, Sassuolo fan, Luke Mintoff,
who's going to go off on a rant about Sassuolo and their sticky situation.
Evening, gents.
Hope you're both doing well.
Happy New Year, of course, as well.
And the first episode of 2023.
Actually, never mind, there was really one.
So scratch right, I said, and I'm an idiot.
Anyways, this is going to be, well, I was going to say it was going to be a hot,
short take on Sassuolo's game, but I think it's going to be quite a rant.
So I'll just start speaking and at the point you can just clip me and yeah,
that'll be it.
But to actually start speaking about something of note.
Well, the game wasn't good.
I mean, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
However, the first 20 minutes didn't go too bad.
Sassuolo dictated the game more or less.
They had the better chances.
They were getting corners, albeit not the best finishing.
Berardi was shooting, felt like he was shooting at the football pitch with his
friends rather than at the football game.
But to his credit, he's not played too much and I'm sure he's still rusty.
So probably he was just, you know, trying his luck a little bit,
which for a player like him, some kind of excuse.
But after the first goal was conceded from a really terrible,
terrible defending, I mean, the corners, the man marking and actually how they
gave away the corner was just classic Sassuolo defense.
But it was a good goal from Gabiudini.
I mean, Samp played that set piece quite well.
So credit where it's due, of course.
And that you could instantly see that deflated the whole team,
so much so that Samp scored in two minutes' time.
Albeit it was a fabulous strike by Aguero, I think that's how you pronounce his name.
But just all this clearance was, I mean, it's like you take your kids to a
five-a-side football game and they're playing at a birthday party.
And the worst kid on the football pitch just tries to clear the ball because
he's hopeless and he plays in defense.
And it went right to Aguero and he just had a fantastic shot, which just had,
you know, there was no chance of saving it really.
But more on the first half, a lot of players were just below par.
Frattesi, I kid you not, it felt like he was playing for Roma in that game.
Defense was all over the place, clearances were really half-assed.
Rogério, I think that's the worst performance I've seen of Rogério in a while.
He looked, I don't know, the way he was just, he gave away so many balls
by under-hitting the pass to Lorienta that at the point I was on the train
and I was actually going to slam my phone against the wall.
That was frustrating to watch.
Then of course, you know, first half ended 2-0.
I think that Dionisi did give a really good pep talk in halftime because
instantly you could see the team changed their mentality,
they changed their focus and the way they played.
Torsvett was subbed off, which I don't fully agree with.
He was definitely not the worst man on the pitch in the first half.
He was at least trying.
Sometimes his control wasn't too great, so sometimes he lost the ball like that,
but other players were doing in my opinion way worse mistakes than he was doing.
Penamonte also was absolutely useless.
The weirdest thing which boils my blood the most is I've never seen him be that
back-to-the-wall striker.
Maybe I never paid attention to him in his games that much,
but he seemed way more full of sprites and a bit of finesse.
He just backs to the goal, holds up the play,
then it's just a pass which is either under hit or over hit,
or he just loses the ball, or he gets tackled and he starts crying.
That happened at least four times in the first half.
Anyway, second half, it was better.
Definitely it was better for Bessar Swolo.
Torsvett got subbed off.
Traore, in my opinion, changed the game quite a bit.
Traore and Laurenta on the left-hand flank was actually quite nice to see.
They linked up quite well.
The half Traore there, who seemed like he was playing with more confidence,
even the way he was switching the play to the other side, to Berardi,
that was something that they were missing for the whole season so far.
So it was good to see Traore back and Traore playing with decent confidence.
Of course, although I was bashing Penamonte,
he did get a penalty for the team, which Berardi scored.
There were a number of opportunities where Sassuolo could have scored a second,
but Audero made a few fabulous saves.
One was against Laurenta, where he was curling a shot from the outside of the box
or maybe kind of on the line of the box.
Great save. Traore missed a one-on-one.
Well, not missed, it was saved because it was quite central.
Berardi almost scored from a corner, which was really well taken.
It was like a free volley, but he was overhitting his shots quite a bit in that game.
So first half, I would literally give Sassuolo a one-on-ten.
It was absolutely shambolic.
Second half, I would say that they played much better.
I would have definitely subbed off Penamonte earlier than that,
but then of course the argument is maybe he won a penalty,
apart from that he was useless as usual.
I'm just very confused why Dionisi doesn't play Alvarez.
Even when he came on in the second half, he was playing as a central attacking midfielder,
and Defrel played as striker. You know my opinion of Defrel.
I think not to run too much more.
They need the centre back. Sassuolo need the centre back urgently.
I think it's urgent, and even a full back.
If I was the sporting director, Carnivali, I'd be very worried, to be honest with you.
I don't think Sassuolo is going to get relegated.
I would pierce my own balls if that happened, but it's not looking good.
I know from speaking with people on the Reddit group of Sassuolo
that he has this tendency to basically just have the club as a business rather than as a football team.
It shows, you know, barely any fans, a stadium which isn't even in the city,
where the team is generally located, and selling all your best players.
Albeit he has made replacement signings, which have been good.
Penamonte unfortunately wasn't, but of course, hindsight is great.
Back when he came in summer, he was a guy who scored 13 goals for Empoli, and he was looking quite hot.
Llorente was a fantastic signing. I think that he's a great addition for a position that Sassuolo urgently needed on the left wing, since Boga has left.
But there is money in the bank, and they have to spend it.
They have to spend it on a centre-back with an experience,
and hopefully with a full back who has some time to develop and get better, because Tolean is OK.
Tolean is bare OK, but for me, my pen Rogerio, he has like one good game in seven, and then he's hopeless the rest.
Kira Coppola, I think is better, but isn't always played. I think he has fitness issues.
And sometimes he's a very attacking player, which then leaves gaps in the back, in an issue where Sassuolo evidently are bad and defending.
So for you to have a very offensive left back in an area where you need help, I guess that's probably why Rogerio gets the upper hand most of the time.
But they have to go to transfer markets, and it can't be some risky centre-back.
To be honest, I don't even know right now who I would get. But they have to search and look for someone who can fill that gap.
Because even Ferrari isn't looking good. He's looking worse and worse.
Worse and worse each game, and it's sad because I actually rated him for a time, but now it's just not looking good.
Of course, Ehrlich wasn't playing. I'm not a fan of Tresolid at all. I think he's not the quality that Sassuolo needed at the back.
So I think it's urgent, honestly. And I think that things have to change.
And the only thing is, it has to be a bit more risky as well. You can't just play these players and hope they will get better during the game.
Frattese did do that in the game, granted. But the first half, it was a joke from Frattese.
I was shocked because this is their best player the whole season so far. He played like he didn't give any shits whatsoever.
I really hope that next game I see someone else playing instead of Penamonti.
It can be Antiste, it can be Defrel, even though I don't particularly like him. It can be who I think is their most promising striker, Alvarez.
But it would be a shame to see Penamonti play again because he's not jelling with the team.
And that's evident. And I'm not saying he should be sold. I don't want to be dramatic.
But he needs to know that that spot isn't his. And I mean, I'm way over the time I've decided to speak.
So if you want to just clip parts out and just take some parts which you find are the most interesting from my take, feel free.
Looking forward to the next episode. And well, Fort Samilan, you guys won yesterday. So congrats to that.
Thank you very much for your voice note, Mint. Amazing analysis as always. Happy to have you on board.
I want to start off by addressing the fact that this is in fact our first episode of 2023.
We're just terrible with formalities. So Happy New Year to everyone listening.
Happy New Year, you beautiful people.
Sasuolo may be of form, but Mintov certainly is on form. He compared Barardi to like a kid playing with his friends in a playground or something.
He called Augiello Augiello. What do you call Augiello? Augiello. Augiello. Like twice. That was quite funny as well.
Frattesi is already playing for Roma. That killed me as well. It's true. He was nowhere to be seen.
It's true. It was quite a tough outing for Frattesi.
I have to say we agree with Sasuolo's defensive woes. They've had the same back line for a while, one center back, and they've had the defensive issue for a while.
So Rogério and Ferrari, to be honest, can be replaced and the sooner the better for them.
I agree, man. I think that's clearly the place where they're struggling the most.
Obviously, this is ignoring the fact that up front they lost so many important players.
I think the back line continues to be an issue that hasn't only come about this year, but has been there when they did have a fantastic front line as well.
He makes an interesting point about Penamonti playing with his back against goal at Sasuolo.
Whereas Atempoli was more of a poacher kind of player.
It's a new role at Sasuolo. They do value the link-up play a lot.
Penamonti wasn't much of a hold-up striker at the time. He wasn't really involved in the build-up play.
He was just there to finish off the moves. I think he's got a lot on his plate right now.
And I think adapting to a team like Sasuolo, who's strikers, although Caputo was a poacher, Scamacca was also a poacher, but they're both very, very talented at laying the ball down to either Berardi or Raspadori back then, Traore.
So it's probably a requirement that Penamonti is taking that approach and is just taking him a lot of time to adapt to it.
And it's messing with his confidence and then that all becomes quite a cycle for him.
He wants him out though. What do you think about that?
I think Alvarez deserves some time.
I think so as well.
I think Penamonti maybe should spend a game or two on the bench to recollect himself.
Because at this point, it's like no matter how badly you play, you're still going to start.
And that's not a healthy thing to have with your striker.
Let's hope that Sasuolo gets relegated, bro.
Why?
So Mintov can pierce his ballsack apparently.
Hey, you should pierce your ballsack if they get Europe. It should be a celebration of your piercing your ballsack.
Never pierce your ballsack in vain, Mintov.
Fantastic. That's part of the wisdom we give you every week, guys. Never pierce your ballsack in vain.
But yeah, I think we can pretty much-
Sasuolo are in blank.
Exactly. We can pretty much conclude this just to highlight Sampdoria have had a-
You know, they looked much, much better than they did earlier.
They made those two signings straight into the side.
So that showed the situation that Sampdoria were in.
And I feel like Neuting brought a lot of stability in defense.
And Lammers just brought some additional pace up front, something that was lacking significantly.
I'll just take a point from you, if you care, to make one, bro, about the signings that they made.
And then we can conclude this game.
No, it all looked good over there. They got their first victory for a while.
Their new signings definitely stepped up.
You know, Neuting brought some defensive stability and Lammers brought something a bit different, something more energetic up front.
I feel like Sampdoria looked pretty good this game.
They currently sit in 18th with nine points while Sasuolo sit in 16th with 16 points.
The next matches all ended 1-1.
There was Torino-Verona, there was Fiorentina-Monsa and Udinese-Empoli.
For Torino, Mirancuk scored in the 64th minute.
For Verona, it was Milan Juric, who scored in the 45th minute.
For Fiorentina, it was Arthur Cabral in the 19th and Carlos Augusto equalized in the 61st.
For Udinese, it was a Pereira goal in the 70th to equalize after a Tomasso-Baldanzi goal in the third minute.
Akpa Akpro got his second red card of the season in the 79th minute.
Some key stats from these games.
Mirancuk is the first Torino player to score from outside the box since Josip Brejkalo in 2021 against Udinese.
Torino and Hellas-Verona have drawn eight of their last eleven matches played against each other in Serie A.
That was a bet.
Francesco Caputo has returned to play in Serie A with Empoli 1319 days after the last time.
The last time he played for Empoli was against Inter in 2019.
The four matches played on Wednesday between Udinese and Empoli in Serie A all ended in a 1-1 draw.
This was the first match played at 3pm in which Monza secured points in Serie A.
In the previous eight games of this type played in the competition, they always collected a defeat.
Gaitano Castrovilli was back and he also played his 100th match with Fiorentina in all competitions.
Respect.
So these are the games that unfortunately for us we didn't get to watch with so much care because so many games are happening at the same time.
We selected the other games to watch, maybe the bigger games, the games that we found more exciting.
One that I am in particular mad about not watching is Fiorentina Monza.
Especially because we had so many different predictions when we had Mintova and so on and so forth.
It's been interesting to see. But I believe we predicted a draw, you and I.
So that's cool.
Nice, that's going to win us money.
Cabral's goal, bro, was like prime but the stuta.
Man, Cabral is so hype.
He's so hype, he's a gas train. He would be one of Zlatan's adrenaline brothers.
Adrenaline brothers. Such a particular group of people.
Galiani, Gattuso and Zlatan are the adrenaline brothers mentioned in Zlatan's adrenaline.
But Caputo got back to not scoring ways, to assisting ways because he set up Bal Danzi on that goal.
Nice to see Empoli with a fluid striker over there, definitely interesting.
Interesting things all around. We predicted that Verona would start to pick up over here.
And they drew to Torino right now. Let's see if this is a sign of better things to come.
Ilici watch.
Exactly, Ilici watch. And Torino are a tough side to play against, especially away from home.
And for Verona to get one point from that outing. Now we've seen them get one point before.
Now it's about finally getting some victories. So we'll see what they can do.
Matias, if you're listening, by the way, do send me your take on Verona if you watch the game.
Or Empoli as well, because I know you love that team too.
Yeah, yeah, either or, man. It's great having someone like him who listens and takes interest in so many different teams.
And has so many good takes. So thank you for listening, brother.
But I think for this episode, we're pretty much done.
There's a midweek recap.
Exactly. We're going to be doing these a bit more often rather than grouping two match days together.
We're going to do shorter episodes recapping the midweek games in a bit of a faster pace.
You might start seeing that we'll still keep on giving you the same detail,
but we're aiming that the episodes are no longer two hours, 22 hours, 30.
And that they're a little bit shorter, just so they're more consumable.
Particularly these midweek episodes. Exactly.
Yeah, the ones off will still give you the extravaganza content.
Exactly. Exactly. But thank you very much for listening, guys.
Don't forget Spotify, Apple Play, Google podcasts, wherever you're listening.
Rate us however good you think we are. Follow us on our socials.
And we'll see you all very soon.