speaker-0: Alright, we are back. We have made it to week two of the Corva Show. We have not been canceled yet. Episode one, we got out the door. Super excited about that. And ⁓ I'm super excited to be back to talk about some games that actually happened over the weekend and into today. I think exactly what like we talked about on the first episode, Siria. We're back, a little bit more excitement. There's a lot that we're gonna react to today. But I'm gonna be honest, I'm not even gonna really waste any time. I know Matt, he came through with the Roma jersey on. He is hot to talk about what we saw this afternoon. ⁓ so Matt, I'm not even gonna waste time today. I'm gonna give you the floor and say what you need to say about the boys from Rome.

speaker-1: Pochi, I'm gonna sing a little song for you, and it goes a little something like this. Roma Roma Roma. That was a statement. That was a special, special performance in Match Week One. Pochi, I thought last year, I think we talked about this. That didn't look like a Gasparini team to me. And I think today that was a Gasparini team. Fluid in the attack, attacking from different areas of the pitch. The wing backs, Dybala, and even more ⁓ They looked like a threat to score every time they had the ball. I thought last year Gasparini didn't have his players yet, right? He had Ferguson up front, Dobik up front. But you saw really what I saw was that 2019 to 2021 Atalanta team with kind of Dybala in the Ilichitrol, Malin in the Muriel Zapata roll. You had three goals for Malin, three assists for Dybala, who looked, I gotta say, very rested, very fit. And for For Gasparini's system to work, it's it's become clear to me that and I think to everyone, he really needs his striker. He needs a high usage playmaker who can keep the ball in tight spaces. And you saw that link up from Malin and Dybala right away last year. And bro, it's the most potent two man step in the league. Like, I feel like I gotta ask, man, are we sure that Malin is not the best player in Serie A? They're calling my boy Ronaldo in the capital man.

speaker-0: Listen, I don't know. I I put out a video right before this show saying that I'm thinking he might be the the leading scorer for this year. Don't forget last year what was it, fourteen goals, eighteen games. So I gotta give you your respect, my G. I gotta give you your respect.

speaker-1: I mean that was I think there were some impressive performances over the weekend, but I think if we're gonna say against ⁓ what you know, what who you expected to be a really strong side in Fiorentina, and I think who a lot of people thought were gonna have a bounce back year, you look around the pitch at Fiorentina, they do have quality there. I think the most impressive thing about Roma today, outside of Malin and Dybala and I and the the attack was you could see that that Roma now is a real side. They have robust players that can defend. They have real men in defense and Indica and Hermoso and Mancini coming off the bench. And Kone picked up a little knock, hopefully not too serious. But the way he gets around the pitch, kind of picking up where he left off in in those World Cup games, they look a real threat. And I'm not saying they're gonna win the scudetto, but I do think this version of Roma with this amount of firepower can push Inter hopefully till the end of the season.

speaker-0: Yeah, and I'm not gonna lie, seeing Dybala bowling out like that, it always brings a tear to my eye. Obviously, the jewel of Juve for a a long time, I think forced out a little prematurely back in the day to make room for a certain Portuguese number seven, in my opinion. So it brings a tear to my eye, but every time he balls out, I'm I'm happy for him. Seeing Dybala happy, I think makes the football world happy. I gotta say too, the vibes in that stadium. I know that they just greenlit the new stadium for ⁓ A couple years from now, billion dollar stadium, which I'm sure we'll get into at some point, either today or in the future. But like that's what you want to see. I think that's what we came on the initial show talking about. Like, hey, there was another Premier League game happening ⁓ you know in in England today, but why should you be watching Roma? Why should you be watching Italy? So like the vibes look immaculate in there. It was really incredible. I'm happy for you. I know I'm I'm I'm happy for you. I'm crying on the inside. But seeing my partner who being being hyped up, and I think with good reason, you took the words out of my mouth. Gasparini, get him his guys. Juve, I hope you're listening to Spiletti, but get get your guys and ⁓ I think that that gives you reason to to turn around. So

speaker-1: think I think if we just just to pivot quickly and we look at at Fiorentina, we were I think a lot of people are really excited about the potential of Mats and Matsantono ⁓ coming over from Real Madrid. I thought today was tough for him and him and Arthur Ata. I I don't I don't know how much more he could have done in that type of game where Fiorentina didn't really have the ball that much. When he did get the ball, he was surrounded by three or four players right away. I think the guy doing commentary for Paramount Plus today was saying I thirty five minutes into the game, he said, you don't see Masantuono play one touch that much. And I think that's a fair comment in his first game in Serie Ab, but he's probably used to playing a different style in Madrid and then before that in in Argentina. I think he will take it will take some time to adapt to the league, but obviously you saw a few moments where there is a real player in there. He turned on the ball one time in the first half and then drove at the defense. He eventually lost it, but I was like, ⁓ that's like a high level player that I think You know, eventually we're gonna see something and today was today was just tough. But ⁓ I'm hoping in the in the future we see some more from Mass Antono and and Atta.

speaker-0: Yeah, and it's ⁓ it's a point two, right? Almost fifty percent of the league has new coaches. Fabio Grosso has taken over this team. Obviously, you know, they were able to save themselves a little bit of embarrassment last year. They weren't relegated, and now Grosso had an entire summer to to work with the squad, but it is a lot of new players. And I know that it's easy for us to come on here and we wanna make overreactions and we want to say, now Roma's winning the league. And ⁓ Malin is going to win the Capriconieri. And while I do think that they made a statement today, I'm not gonna lie, I wanna give the boys and Yorantina, my pick for most improved team, a chance to gel a little bit, to shake off the cobwebs a little bit from the summer, and to, you know, play Fabio Grosso's game. What I'm worried about is Moizekin obviously didn't start. There's a lot of noise. I was seeing transfer market news before the game even started of him in a Como ⁓ jersey. Which good news for Como, who was squandering a lot of chances today. But he came on and he made a difference. I feel like when he came on, they had somebody to direct the ball to. He was turning, he immediately, I think, had two shots on goal. He started becoming dangerous. He's a hold a great hold up player, playing with his back to net, and he can turn around and rip one on you in no time. So I hope that. If he does go to Como, they need to have an attacking option. And I hope that Messantono is able to take the lead. And the way you're talking about Roma having men on the field and having ballers and bruisers, they are gonna need that from some of their new players. So we'll see. A little bit disappointing from Fiorentina, but again, if you looked at the energy in that stadium, when you have that crowd behind you, the flags are flying, the drums are going. And the Italians are are raging. I think it's hard to go into a stadium like that and ⁓ you know, with a brand new team and some brand new players to Syria as well and try to to get a result. So for nothing is a statement, but more to come, right? One game down, many, many weeks to go.

speaker-1: And we have your boys from Fozy Frozy None next, so we'll see. ⁓ it'll be another test for the Jelly Rossi in ⁓ in the capital.

speaker-0: Listen, don't discount my boys in Frosinone. ⁓ I know I I got a t I got a text from one of my family members who was in the crowd ⁓ this week and I DM'd them and they were like, You like Juventus? We don't want to talk to you. So, you know. Shout out, maybe I'll let you guys get one more over Frosinone and I'll write home to the fam and see if ⁓ if they hate Rome a little bit more more than you. Anything more to say on on Roma or another song, another tune to take us out here?

speaker-1: I don't any more songs. ⁓ potentially, you know, just finished. We're recording this around seven, eight o'clock, New York time. I was thinking about making some of matrichana for dinner, a special Roman dish, but I decided to stay healthy with a salad. But I think ⁓ I think some Roman pasta will be in my future pretty soon.

speaker-0: Respect, respect, the Roman cuisine. There was another match that happened over the weekend, multiple matches actually, but I know the one that up until today, and it left for a a quick change of events and a change of order of how we're gonna talk about the games. We wanted to start off with Inter. Because I actually think and I can take the lead on this one, they exhib exhibited what I would call a championship mentality and effort, right? They came in, I know we texted each other. Monza won one at halftime, and you're thinking, all right, they're not dominating the way they did last year. The everybody picking them to win the the scudetto this year, maybe they're not going to roll over, you know, roll through the league and steamroll every team that comes across their path. You know, Hakan had that one screamer in the beginning of the match, but you didn't see too much after the fact. And then they came in in the second half and they absolutely dismantled. Monza. It was like they were playing a completely different team. It was like they were playing Boys Among Men and they didn't even have their all of their signings out there, right? I think it was an extreme showing of depth from the inter team of we're not even going to play Jed Spence, who was looking fly on the bench, getting content, being his best influencer self.

speaker-1: I gotta say, Jed Spence and Milan is is something special. I feel like the culturally, it seems like all the three English guys coming over kind of fit into the San Ciro vibe. It does seem that they're just kind of picking up where they left off, adding these three new guys and they fit in kind of seamlessly. And I'm interested to see how Jed Spence is gonna in ingratiate himself to the ⁓ the San Siro fans.

speaker-0: I did see one post on Twitter that said the guy made one tackle against Mexico and now you're thinking that he is ⁓ Prime Maldini. So I don't necessarily subscribe to to the hatred ⁓ on there. I think that he's gonna bring good energy. I said in the first show he's one of my my favorite defenders that I watched during the tournament. So more to come on him. But I know we were also really excited by the fact that one. Their goals came from four different players. It goes right back to what we were talking about in the first episode, which is they have insane depth. They're not gonna rely on Lataro Martinez, who had a you know relatively quiet game to score all of their goals. They have ⁓ exciting young Italian player in Esposito who had an insane back kill goal that I know we were both geeked out over. And ⁓ you know, there was aggression coming from the back, and then towards the end of the match, them bringing on all of these new players once again just showed. They're going to be playing in Europe. They're going to be playing a lot of matches. You talk about some of the fatigue that you might get from UCL. I don't really see that happening to this team. And it's making me a little bit concerned about my pick, obviously, ⁓ of Juve to come back and and maintain and and grab the scudetto over them because I do think that they said, This is ours. You're going to have to snatch it from us. And we're going to play incredible football along the way. So, you know, we'll see. But Curious what else you think and and what you were excited about watching Inter this weekend.

speaker-1: Yeah, I was really impressed with Disposito. I thought his holdup play and the way he brought other players, especially the wing backs, into play was really impressive. Obviously, he flexes muscles after that goal. He is a strong guy. And I think he he proved that ⁓ going up against those Monza center backs. And I think, like you said, Inter's depth, right? I think what a lot of teams in England talk about is having two players for every position. And I think you saw that with Inter, Angie Douf. on the wing also really impressed me. I thought he was physical, he's technically really strong. He was always looking to take his defender on, which as we know in Serie A, there are a lot of players that look to play backwards instead of looking to go forwards. And so I thought that they yes or Saturday really proved that they've done a great job kind of rebuilding while continuing to win, which I think has been a criticism of Juventus in the past and not being able to find players that are going to challenge the first team players. And so look, they didn't have Tarom, they didn't have Stones, they didn't have Spence, they didn't have Curtis Jones. And I'm really excited to see what Curtis Jones is like in that midfield. I think him replacing Mikatarian kind of down the road. ⁓ clearly he wanted the move. He's gonna be playing a lot of football. I I think Inter af I honestly in my notes I wrote down after the game, and this was before obviously we saw the Roma game, I said Inter's gonna win the league by twenty points. And I don't know if I feel that way anymore.

speaker-0: We're supposed to be over here telling people competitive league. Let's go. Come through and we got him winning by twenty points. Thank God Roma came through with the win today to bring you back.

speaker-1: I mean, yeah. But when you watch them, they do look like they're on another level than the rest of the league. I mean, Roma today I think can get they can get there. But like you said, four goals from four different players. They're not e they haven't even hit their stride yet. I d I think I think this is gonna be a really potent team. And I think not only in inside of Italy, but I think in Europe, I think this could be another deep run in the Champions League. Obviously last year Losing to losing to Bodo Glimped. ⁓ but I think this year they could really bounce back. This is a team that is gonna be able to score goals with some of the powerhouses in year.

speaker-0: I w that was gonna be my my question to you of how does that translate into going to Europe? 'Cause obviously we see these teams dominate in Italy and then they get out to the Champions League. And I think last year within maybe a week, I most of the Italian teams dropped out pretty quickly, crashing and burning. So I will we'll keep an eye on that. I'm sure we'll talk about that in in future shows. But I sometimes the great and the gruel of Syria I think can can have a toll in the reverse way. A lot of times we say Europe is gonna have a toll on the domestic league and they're not gonna be able to perform the same way. They talk about that a lot in in the the English leagues. It's almost as if it's the opposite for the Italian clubs. They're able to fly through the league with ease, they go to Europe and they, you know, whether they're putting so much effort and energy into winning day in and day out in the domestic league because there's so much pressure to win within, you know, the country, within Italy itself, you know. Well, it will be interesting to see the approach that they take to Europe. And I know that's why they went out and they secured so many players. It feels like that's the next step for them, which is all right, we've won the league. We don't even care anymore. It's like Juve a few years ago. I know I'm always gonna bring it back to my boys, but twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen, we were like, ⁓ okay, cool, cool, cool. We won the league, but we need to go and we need to win the Champions League. Obviously we're losing to ⁓ Barça and then losing to Madrid. It was a gut punch, but ⁓ I wanna see the Italian team. I'm I I I don't want Inter to do poorly in Europe. I want these teams to go out there and ball out. So I'll be rooting for all of them. I'll be rooting for Roma in ⁓ in Europe ⁓ in in the next coming weeks. So we'll see.

speaker-1: Champions League draw on Thursday. I mean, to that point, I think having a player like John Stones seeming ⁓ to potentially has the ability to really only play Champions League's game, Champion League, Champions League games, I think having being able to rotate in Serie A and then field your best team in Champions League is something we might see a lot from Inter this year because I I think against the more provincial teams, sorry, but the Frosinones obviously we saw against Monza. I I do think they could run up the score and and I don't I'm not sure they're gonna have to play their best team their best players against ⁓ up against those sides. And so I think they could really look to Champions League to kind of put out their best team.

speaker-0: Yeah, we'll s we'll see. I guess while we're talking about Champions League, we can talk about one team that won't be participating in the draw this coming week. And if music and song is the energy that we're bringing to today's show, like you brought at the beginning, I think I'm gonna have to whip out my violin. It's weird. The beginning of the season, Juve always seems to pick up points, and it always seems to be that the sky is falling down around us. I think there's a lot of people out here that are very nervous that we won one nil away to Frosinone in a small stadium. Yes, it was packed, but it was just an unconvincing result f from the boys. We got three points, but we have the coach coming out after the match essentially saying, Our striker is somebody that I don't want and hasn't been playing for the last two years. We have our center back in Bremer, who thank God he came back because he is Defending for his life. He's coming all the way to the front to score the goals. If I could have him for eleven positions, I would probably take him for eleven positions. The end of the match, our new goalkeeper in his very first game, comes out with a cramp. Perrin goes in, and now he is off to Palermo. So we are three points up, which is nice. But there is an outstanding amount of questions that we have to answer. I know we were talking about Dybala earlier in the show. And it pained my heart a little bit because the guy that I was watching on ⁓ Sunday afternoon was Wesson McKinney, who I love for the US men's national team. Obviously, I'm an American, but he's not a number ten. He's not there to create chances for the guys on the wings. He's not there to get the ball to Milani, who's usually is a pretty good holdup player. We are relying on Consey Sao, who I cannot stop singing his praises to Get the ball and basically become Arian Robin because we all know what he is gonna do every time. He's gonna get twitchy on the right hand side, he's gonna try to cut in, he's gonna hit it with his left, and he's either gonna try to hit it on net or he's gonna play one in, which is exactly how we scored, right? Nice ball into the box, Bremer with the header doing manly shit in the box. And then I'm worried about Yildis, because he seemed pretty non-existent throughout most of the match. There's a lot of chat going on about him going to Arsenal. And then just today we wake up and we see I came out with an injury. I might be out for two months with the surgery. So I'm having a lot to panic about right now and about Juve. And maybe it's because I'm too big of a fan. I need to take a step back. But I'm almost worried to ask you your thoughts on, you know, how you saw the boys this weekend. I know we were s shooting a lot of text back and forth about what they had going on.

speaker-1: I think you mentioned all of those problems, which are all valid, and I don't even think you touched on the biggest problem, which is the fact that your midfield was Locatelli and Douglas Luis. And when I watch those two guys in midfield and you look at some of the other midfields of the top clubs in Italy, even Napoli. I don't even we c we're gonna get to them later. But you look at who Napoli has in midfield, the legs they have, the ability to control a game.

speaker-0: He did alright, he did alright.

speaker-1: I think Juventus, I I s I picked it earlier. I do think they're gonna struggle this year, especially with Yildis. If Yildis is out for two months, Conce Sal, like you said, is a nice player, but Conce Sal has to go from a tricky winger to what what he is now to a guy who has serious end product. Last year, three goals, five assists in the league. Is he gonna be a guy that's gonna be delivering ten goals, ten assists? I like him too. I'm just not sure that that's his level this season. And like you said, Spoletti talking about they need another striker. He clearly is not happy with Cole Milani, similar to Gasparini not being happy last year with the striker they brought in. Is Xerxe gonna be the guy that fixes that? I mean, Xerxi does have the ability to kind of play that nine point five role where he drops a little bit off the center backs, kind of tucks in behind the six or the eight, and is able to play his football that way. I'm not sure anymore with Xerxy. I think that season at Bologna was really nice, but he hasn't really shown that much of United since that season. maybe coming back to Italy, he'll feel more comfortable. But do you think something I was thinking about tactically, with Yield is going down and maybe Xerxy coming in, does Spoletti they played a back four on Sunday. Does he have to go to a back three now and then go with Xerxes and Colomwani up top? And does Conte Sao move into a sort of different role? Does McKinney kind of is he gonna be more comfortable in that box to box eight role? I'm just not sure without Yield is how they how they even really you know, look to break teams down moving forward.

speaker-0: Yeah, it's ⁓ it's a big danger and it it's the beauty that the transfer window stays open through the beginning of the season because things like this can happen. Yield is going down. I'm not gonna say I'm suspicious either, but it's not like he was really balling out during the World Cup this summer, losing to ⁓ losing to some unformidable teams. Yeah, they beat the the Un United States, but I wasn't really convinced and I don't even know that he played the entire match. So yeah. Do I think Wes is a good box to box midfielder, get all over the pitch? Yeah, he doesn't he's one of those guys that doesn't have a position because he's like, all right, wherever you put me, I'm gonna go in and work. That doesn't mean that he's class, that doesn't mean that he's quality, that means he's a fucking dog and that he is going to go in there, get his job done, and leave the match. It's why every year, every new manager is the same story where he gets put on the bench, we are ass. He is asked to come back in. I think more because he just goes in there and does the job of whatever manager is is asking him to do. So sure, will will that be helpful? Yeah. But is that going to solve our problems? Probably not. Do I think that going to a back three and putting more attacking options up front is going to solve all of our problems? Not necessarily, because we're still talking about Muwani being in there. And I know I was high on him in episode one because I was excited. We had a new striker. Jonathan David, gone. Vlahovic, gone. You have Milek and who else is on the bench? Can't even remember his name right now. That's why it's so irrelevant. But the thing that happened with us is we just failed to finish our chances. We didn't not have chances. We had 20 shots, 46 tough touches in the box, and if you're an XG guy like me, we had a 1.99 XG. But we had Mowani skying it over the bar. I know Kanceo hit a couple over the bar. We hit ⁓ Kalulu struck the post. And I'm not a almost guy. Close only sh counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and I subscribe to that. So I don't know that putting two up top, having that link up play is gonna change stuff. I think it's being clinical, it's being a dog in the box, and it's having somebody, you know, respect to Holland. You don't see him, you don't talk about him for most of the matches, and I know I'm getting outside the realms of Serie A, but it's a respectable thing where you don't have to mention somebody's name, and then the second they score, it's like he doesn't have to do anything. He just is clinical. It's who he is. He scores and We haven't had that for a long time. We used to have it with Manzukic a little bit. Before that, we had Tevez. We just had heads who what they knew how to do was get in there, get that fucking ball, and score. So to get back to your point, does a change in the way that we're lining up help or hurt us? I'm I'm not too sure. What I do know is that we need a dog in the box and we need somebody to finish clinically when they get the chances to, because we saw Inter do it, we saw Roma do it, we saw good teams. finish their chances and that's how you win in this league, which is by opening up the gap and scoring goals.

speaker-1: think and just one more point on Juve and I think that's totally true. Like if Milani puts away a few of those chances or you know the Calulu one bounces off the post and goes in, all of a sudden the scoreline is four nothing and probably we're having a different conversation. I think the thing that is worrying to me is the performance just didn't look that good outside of the missed chances. Like today you saw Roma was basically camped in Fiorentina's half the entire game. And You think about the quality the Frozy None has in that side is lacking, right? And I think Juve should have been able to, even being on the road, should have been able to do something similar. And I just never saw the patterns of play that was like, okay, this is a thing they're gonna something they're gonna be able to go back to, whether it's playing through the middle with a guy like McKinney or Douglas Louise. I just that was the part that concerned me the most. The way that they developed their chances, either set pieces or kind of broken play. I'm not sure they're gonna be able to repeat against some of the bigger sides. And as we know in this league, the way you win the league is going away or you know, facing those big teams and getting results in those games. So we'll see. I I think ⁓ I think their their next test test is is this weekend against Parma and we'll see how they ⁓ how they do.

speaker-0: There. We'll see. One last time, the violin, Claude, hit me with one. We'll see. So we can move on. A lot of a lot of games obviously happen. We're we're not gonna be the type of show that's gonna go through each and every match and and break it down for you. Maybe if Matt is feeling it one night, he can't sleep, he's gonna hit you with a substack and break down the tactics of what Masamani ⁓ what what Allegory was doing ⁓ for for Napoli versus Genoa. But still wanna hit a couple of games here. I think ⁓ I do want to start with Como versus Udinese because I know it was a game that we were talking about them as a dark horse. We're talking about them ⁓ as a team that needs to step up th this year and and potentially could could win a scudetto. But aside from once again, Sas Fabergas coming to the touchline with immaculate pants, I think we need to talk to we we need to talk to his tailor because my man keeps coming correct with the pants. You know I'm a suit guy. You know, I am a guy who thinks that the manager should be wearing suit and tie, but you know, i i it was ⁓ it was the first test for Como and I think that they ⁓ gotta look at themselves in the mirror and say, ⁓ shit, we're the big dogs, we're gonna be came at like a big dog now. We want the respect, we wanna go to Europe and you saw a lot of that in in the game. So I have a couple of thoughts about Como, but curious how how you watched ⁓ that match and and what came to mind for you.

speaker-1: Yeah, a few things. One, Como's kits, really nice, right? Outside of even Sab Fabrigas's style. I I do like those Como shirts. Udinese, really nice place to watch a football game. I thought generally this was a a really good match of football. I thought going away to Udinese and drawing is not a bad result. Udinese is a good team. Really Udinese should have come away with a win. Zaniolo kind of beat two guys and then played that ball across the box and they had a really a sitter that would have won the game in like the in the eighty-sixth minute and then Como came back and and hit the crossbar later in the game right before the final whistle. I think Como has a few players that are still coming back into form and working their way back from the World Cup. Honestly, I I feel like one one away Duty Neze week one is is not a bad result for them. I think long term, Como's gonna be okay. Nico Paz was stifled a bit in this game, but I still thought he had some you know, did some really nice things and I think Como will be there in the end.

speaker-0: Yeah, it's ⁓ I had the same note about Nico. I think that he was swallowed up. They had two guys on him for the entirety of the match. It was hard to unlock him and and get him to create chances or even to get a an attempt on the ball. But one of the things that I felt like was a positive was new guys making an impact. I feel like Chalaba was directly involved in the goal that happened for for Como. So a net positive. Some of the other new guys making a great impact. To your point, it it it's A game that could have gotten away from them, right? I think Udinese almost had a chance around the eighty-seventh minute. They missed a wide open opportunity where they probably should have taken the lead. But then in extra time, Como hits the bar. So there were a l this game was actually much closer than I would have thought it was going to be. A lot of missed chances, which another match where if you want to be a big dog like Roma, like Inter, Juve, Como, you guys gotta score and fucking go. You can't be out here missing your chances, hitting the bar, and then going and saying, well, we came close enough because that is how that twenty twenty point gap that you mentioned is going to be opened up. And that's how we're going to have another year where Como and Milan and these teams are fighting just to get into the top four versus fighting to get the scudetto. So we will see. Obviously, going back to the top of the show, Moisekeen. On his way potentially to to Como. I saw all of the reports saying that it's done on personal terms with him and it's just now down to to the f to the teams. I think you you saw how excited I was about him and how important I think he was for Fiorentino when he came into the match today. A guy like him, his experience, a talent on the Italian national team as well, I think will give them quite a boost. Put a magnifying glass on him, take some of the pressure off of Nico and Now all of a sudden you got Nico dropping goals, but you also have Keen going there and and getting goals as well. Remember, he finished not too far away from Martinez last year in the ⁓ in in the race for most goals. So we'll see what comes of of Como still feeling high on them. Again, I think we have to keep mentioning the fact that it's just one game, just one match for these teams. But ⁓ don't want to get too crazy about the the sky is falling or you know, we're going to win the the the treble. So Another team that I know we were excited about. ⁓ well, that I was not so excited about, that I picked to be the the dis disappointment again, but you had them as the the most improved. Milan. Tell me about Milan. Tell me about Amarim and his fly fit that he came to the touchline with.

speaker-1: You know, Amarim and actually Gasparini, similar outfit today. ⁓ they went with a white shirt. White shirt, no tie, sleeves rolled up. Thought Amarim

speaker-0: Intellectual.

speaker-1: Yeah. I thought Amrim outside of his his fit, the the team he chose was a bit strange. the first half putting Loftus cheek in one of those two ten spots, really curious to me. Loftus cheek in that first half actually seemed more comfortable dropping in with the midfield two than playing in and around the box with the other ten. And no Pucich, no Modric, no Rabio, and no ⁓ Diego Moreira, the new signing. And I think what I was thinking in that first half was Amram's so rigid in the football he wants to play. He clearly went for runners, but there wasn't enough technical ability in the team until he made those changes about 60 minutes in to really start unlocking some of the talent that they do have. You saw the new signing CSA, that finish he had was really nice. And then once they did bring on Rabio and Modric, they really did start to control the game and create a bit more. And the second half turned and they scored two goals in pretty quick succession. I thought that second goal that Rabio scored that Chucaweze played into him was a really nice goal, was kind of like an and one. He's getting dragged down, still is able to finish. And I think as we know from Amrim's time, not only in sporting, but at United, the wing back spots are so important to the style he wants to play. He doesn't really play, he really plays a back three, not a back five, like some of the other coaches in Italy. And the the wing backs are really wingers, they're attacking players. And you saw with Amadiallo at United, they he did so well with Amrim because he had so much space to run into and start his dribble and gain that momentum. And I think you saw that with Chuquese too. He won man of the match. And I think for that second goal, that ball he played in to to Rabio was delightful. And I'm wondering, is Chukuze gonna take off under Amrim? Is this the kind of player that Amrim really needs? The guy that can kind of bomb up and down that right hand side. And so overall, I thought a good first you could see what Milan wanted to do. I think that was really important. It's clear they've taken to his tactics in a different way than they did at United when the players clearly did not want to play that system. And so are they going to be able to get enough goals out of out of these guys? We'll see. But I I I do think that this team is destined for at least a top five finish and I I think we're gonna see some some interesting play for them. I don't know if you saw Fochi Leao seems to be on his way to Aston Villa. Aston Villa is collecting seemingly undesirable wingers left and right. First Garnacho, now Leao. We'll see we'll see if that move actually comes to fruition, but

speaker-0: Got smacked four nothing this weekend and a red card. Yeah.

speaker-1: Really tough one. And so yeah, we'll see. I I think I do think Milan Milan showed me something. I think along with Inter and Roma, I their state their performance was impressive. The score line obviously only being two one, Che Adams with a really, really nice finish ⁓ to pull it back to a one goal deficit at the end. But ⁓ overall I I I really am impressed with what Amram's able been able to do in a pretty short time.

speaker-0: Scoring a goal like that in a losing effort, I know, you know, there's always a glimmer of hope, but that goal that he scored was wild. To not be able to like celebrate that to the full extent that you want to when you just are like blindly Zlatan style Taekwondo kicking the fucking ball into the net, I think ⁓ was was really, really cool. But I'm with you on YouTube.

speaker-1: see you could even see after he scored, he was like he had like kind of wry smile on his face. He couldn't really celebrate it, but he was like, yeah, I I don't even think he could un believe that he scored that goal. ⁓ Jay Adams, obviously a nice player. He's kind of been around the world, but yeah, a cool moment for

speaker-0: Yeah yeah yeah. Super nice and ⁓ in a losing effort, but I'm I'm with you. I think I was really impressed by Chukawese. He was balling up and down the right flank. ⁓ he was the one note that I had, which was not seeing too much in the first half out of Milan, but he is making things happen. He's creating chances, he's taking chances, so I think he deserved to be the man of the match. I want to see more out of Gonzalo Ramos, to your point. I know they had loft his cheek in there and There's going to be a shake up a little bit on the way that they set up. I think what once, obviously, Emerim made those substitutions to change the game a little bit. Rabio, he is like all reliable. I remember being ⁓ watching some of the World Cup matches this year, and you watch the game, and I'm like, man, Rabio is just still in there, still doing the dirty work, getting the ball, feeding it up to the boys up top and letting them do their thing. So it will be nice to continue to see him and see how Emerim uses him. And I think a guy like Cise, he just needs mentors out there, right? If this show is about also still putting a light on some of the younger Italians that are out there, Cisei, that goal was nice. The way that he hit it on the half volley, real quick footwork, didn't have any time to think about it. That was a really nice goal from a nineteen year old playing in a Milan shirt. So we'll see what comes of him. And then, you know, we'll see. We still have obviously you talked about Liao leaving. What becomes of Christian Polisic? I know I I feel like I'm the US MNT guy over here with my megaphone for those boys, but ⁓ you know, this podcast comes to you from New York. So obviously gotta give a little bit of love for the Americans that are playing abroad. But does he get back in? They're talking about him being shipped out to MLS. Was not really impressed with anything that he had going on this summer, at least when McKinney is in there, he's making things happen regardless of the position. So More to come for ⁓ from M's team. He's ⁓ he's somebody that I think I'm gonna talk about in the next segment a little bit just on the under and over reactions. But do we wanna talk about one former Milanese, which is our boy Allegri? We don't even have to spend too there's not much to talk about in this match, but man, I know that there was a controversial moment that I think we wanted to discuss.

speaker-1: Yeah, I mean the goal for me I don't know what how other people feel. I've kind of looked at social media a little bit. I'm not sure how that's not a foul. Like I I I'll grant that it is a little bit soft and that that he the d the defender probably should have should have done a little better. But if you look at the the replay he does go through his back and there's no way he gets that ball without fouling him. I I don't feel that strongly about it one way or the other, but I I when I was watching that in real time I was like, ⁓ that's gotta they gotta bring that back. That's there's no way that's gonna let that stand. But I don't know, you might feel you might feel differently.

speaker-0: I thought it would be extremely soft to have given that that to give him that foul. I think he was looking for it. And I think that when you are looking for it in the way that you are, especially as a defender in your own box, as a former keeper, that you should be punished. And he was punished letting a goal up for his team. I just think like it's extremely like you are back there to be the last line of defense, to to boss these tiny twitchy Forwards around. It's why we like the link up ⁓ and and holding holding strikers, right? Because they use their body, Lukaku, right? It's it's hard to to go and be diving when Lukaku is here having the hold up play, turning and getting shots on net. So I just think it's ⁓ it was a little bit soft. I know that there is a new director of the the referees whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think that's something to actually keep an eye on throughout the rest of the season is how that switch affects the rest of the league.

speaker-1: Agree. ⁓ I think a few other notes from this game, if we can just kind of go rapid fire. Allegry ball, slow, ugly, lacking any sort of aggression. Really, Genoa should have been up in the first first half of this match. 60% possession in the first half. Genoa, kind of same old problems, creating chances, can't finish them. They've bringing in Evan Ferguson. Last year, obviously at Roma, ⁓ owned by Brighton. Is he gonna be able to to finish off some of those chances? We'll Will Genoa and Daniela D'Rossi see some more goals from that side. I think other thing I had written down KDB is in fucking manager hell in Italy so far. Started it with Conte. Obviously, the two of them didn't get along. Now Allegri he w went from having Pep for the last 10 years to having two guys that want him to basically play as more or less a six. ⁓ So my guy's my guy is in the trenches with these coaches in Italy so far.

speaker-0: Facts and just one more point when you bring up coaches and who should not be upset about fouling ⁓ in the box or anywhere around it, Daniele Darossi, I don't want to hear it from you. I don't wanna hear anything about fouls from Daniele Darossi, one of my favorite Italian players of all time. ⁓ but watching him get mad over a soft foul is is always fun. ⁓ so

speaker-1: I don't know.

speaker-0: A few other games obviously happened that I think, you know, some some interesting results. Atalanta versas Wolo. Atalanta came away with a win for Sari's first match. ⁓ Venezia, even though they seem to look great all of the time, can't seem to get a win. They lost against Lecce, ⁓ who was ⁓ you know, a couple of points away from being relegated last season. But ⁓ I think what we can do now is get into a couple of just rapid fire over reactions and under reactions or things we're not overreacting to. Maybe take like one to two minutes tops, talk about the things that we are overreacting to first, and then we can talk about the things that we're not overreacting to. So cool.

speaker-1: Yeah, I have I have one thing from the Parma Kaghiri game, Alessandro Romano, amazing strike, put Kaghri up one one nil and they ended up winning the game one nil. He looks like a real player to watch. He's 20, has played for Switzerland at the U twenty level, but Mancini is actually at the game. And so potentially trying to bring him into the fold and the Italians men's men's national team. ⁓ it seems like he's currently deciding between those two nations. I don't have all the details about his background in terms of his mom and dad, but that was a really impressive goal and it seems like another kind of Italian midfielder that is kind of on the way up and ⁓ we'll we'll keep an eye out for him this year, Kyrie.

speaker-0: For sure, for sure. Super ho hopefully again this the system can keep him and Renieri and Mancini we trust at this point. So I think it's no surprise that I'm overreacting to Kolomoani. I think the red alert alarm bells are going off right away. And I don't know that I necessarily felt this way until Spelletti came out and was immediately kind of calling for his head. And it wasn't a I'm a manager, I'm gonna go publicly and I'm gonna get the best out of my player. It was some shade on the boy and talking about the fact that there's a reason that you didn't play for the last two years. There's a reason that you were not ⁓ not practicing with the squad when you were at PSG. And that was a thing that just set off alarm bells on me and it brought me right back to some of the past players. I mentioned Vlahovic who just never seemed to find his way. We had David who never seemed to find his way. So I know that I'm always over here talking about Juve. I'm trying to let my bias not get in my path. But this is a story within the league because again, the other teams, the teams competing for the scudetto, they have finishers. They have players that are putting the ball in the back of the net that are clinical and seeing red when they are in that box. And I didn't see that out of Milani. And it's a thing that as a Juve fan, you just have a trauma and you have this feeling creeping back over you that we are about to be in a situation of one-nil games where you can't seem to get out into the clear. So alarm bells going off. With Spaletti, the transfer window's not closed. Hopefully, hopefully we have a solution to this.

speaker-1: Yeah, I f I do feel bad for Cole Mulani. He's had a kind of tough career bouncing around. That move to PSG obviously didn't work out. The goal that almost was in the twenty two World Cup final, ⁓ that obviously I mean Martinez saved. But yeah, just quickly on him. I I feel like he he he needs a ⁓ a good run of scoring form for like three weeks. And I I do feel like there is a real player in there. ⁓ let's just see. ⁓ let's see if he's able to find that under split team.

speaker-0: sure. And then what are we not overreacting to? What are we remaining calm about and collect and need to see a couple more games before we can make a decision?

speaker-1: I think I need to see a couple more games of Marizio Sari at Atalanta. I think that was a really good match of football. And I think I was in Milan last year, or earlier this year actually, a few months ago, and I was talking to an interfan, and one thing he said that really stuck out to me was Atalanta always put fear in us. He said we always knew they could score a goal and they could score multiple goals. And I think the Atalanta fans are used to that kind of football and I'm wondering it did look like Sari was more the the play was more incisive than we've seen from the past from past Sari's team. I Sari's teams I think it'll be interesting to see how he's able to get that front three to kind of knit together with De Ketalari and Skamaka and and Smarjus potentially and Christovich. That's something I'm looking for. I'm not overreacting yet that it's he's changed fun who he is as a manager, but I'm interested, like is this a different kind of version now that he has these level of players at Adelante?

speaker-0: For sure. Yeah, Sari is an interesting fellow. When he's not swallowing cigarettes, w be be curious to see what kind of what kind of ball that he brings to Atalanta. And it's tough when a coach I know Napoli can speak to this, when a coach comes in and undone and undoes all of the hard work and dismantles the identity a little bit of the team that that was left to him, I think it can really leave a hole inside you as a fan. So hopefully he he s keeps a little bit of the energy that Gasparini left behind. So L loving that. I ⁓

speaker-1: So quickly, just quickly, Dan. The raspidori finish, one of my favorite kind of aesthetic finishes, bang the left foot off the off the crossbar and then in, just a beautiful finish. ⁓ and aesthetically it's just very pleasing.

speaker-0: I could not agree more. I hesitate because I had a things that I'm not gonna overreact to. And what I'm not gonna and I'm not gonna pick that one anymore. I was gonna talk a little bit about Milan, but we've done a l enough of that on this show. What we haven't done enough of is talk poorly about ⁓ Gennaro Gotuso and things that are happening at Lazio. They won today. I had the match on. I am not Going to overreact to them winning the first match of the season. I think that there is so much going on behind the scenes over there. They sold out the support the away section at Bologna and they had their fans singing songs in revolt against Claudio Lotito because of all of the drama that is going over ⁓ going on over at Lazio and all of the sort of turmoil that is happening between both the fans. And ownership. They are trying to uproot ownership out of Lazio. They're sick of the way that the club is being being run. They are refusing to attend home games outside of the the Roma Derby. They're canceling television subscriptions. They're not purchasing club merchandise. They're going with an all out boycott of the club. So while a win on the opening weekend might feel nice and three points might put you in a good position in the table, there is so much going on behind the scenes. And those are some of the stories that I know. That we want to talk about on the show and that we want to bring to people because it is a little bit of the drama. And for the fans who are looking for something that are saying, I don't understand what's going on on the pitch, but I do like the fact that this player is on Raya, or that these people are having trouble between fans. Why are the fans allowed to block the teams from leaving the stadium before the captain can go and talk to some 40-year-old man ⁓ with tattoos who's pretty scary before her he's allowed to leave the stadium. So, you know, again, a win is a win, but with all that stuff going on and bubbling up in the background, ⁓ I wanna see what goes on before we maybe see an entire you know, the bottom completely fall out of this thing over at Lazio. So we'll see.

speaker-1: Yeah, a lot of drama, Lazio. I will say that story that you quickly mentioned about the fans not supporting in the season tickets. Really, I mean, obviously, no, I don't feel bad for any Lazio fans. I think it'll be interesting to see how that gets how that gets rectified. ⁓ will they come back into the stadium? And just quickly, that game today was a such a bad game of football. I think obviously you did you mentioned they won one one nothing, but Bologna is without Jonathan Rowe, without Lukumi. without some other guys that are heading on the transfer w in the in the final days of the market. And so I wouldn't say that that's like you said, gonna save ⁓ Catuzo's job. I I think he's still in a bit of trouble.

speaker-0: More to come. The stat of the day is but I think it was out of all of the renewals for this season of season ticket holders, we had two thousand renewals compared to twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and eighteen season tickets last year. So I mean you talk about the financial blow that that brings to a club in an organization, it's ⁓ it's gonna show on the field as well as off it. So We're we're coming up at the end here. ⁓ you know, we we promised to bring not just what is happening on the pitch to some of the listeners, but if you are interested in the happenings that are are going on behind the scenes or or around the stadiums. We've mentioned a few of these already, but wanted to give a chance to double click to a few things that were happening just in terms of culture, things happening around Calcio. So we'll do a little bit of rapid fire here and then wrap up and talk about next week. But I wanted to start with some of the kits and some of the visual things that were happening around the pitches this weekend. Obviously, Jed Spence is coming for the crown of the flyest, coolest fucking player that is out there. He is moving a little bit like an NBA player. I know that there's a lot of times there is this duality between footballers looking to the NBA, and there is such a star power in the NBA. And I think some of that has trickled into in into the clubs and if you have somebody like a Jed Spence that players can look at, that is moving in his own way, that is leaning into fashion, that has a presence off the pitch that looks desirable, I think that might be something that can attract players to to to Syria in a way that you might not get in, you know, a player might not want to do it on a rainy night in Stoke, but they might want to do it ⁓ around Lake Como on ⁓ on a Sunday afternoon in the fall. So was w just thought that my man was looking fly. And then in terms of the fashion that we saw on the pitch, I am all in. I it's it it's hard for me to say it. The yellow numbers and the yellow badge on Inter's kits this weekend, I was texting you about it. I was getting hype about it. It's why I brought this to the fold. The second you put some yellow numbers on the back of a kit, I am bought in. I was going to lead with Juve's kits as being the the flyest kits that were on the pitch. The flames, very very reminiscent of Argentina's kits from ⁓ the Qatar World Cup. But I just thought, you know, it when you think about Jersey culture, obviously it's it's expensive, and there's a third and a fourth kit and a century kit and all of these different kits that are out there, obviously for the purpose of making money. It is bringing amazing attention to to the clubs. And I think that because of what we talked about in the past, how provincial the league is, all these teams get to lean into the local culture, the cities, the cities that you might not be as ⁓ that are not as recognizable when people are booking their trips to Italy. I'm excited to to to see these jerseys coming to light. So a lot of fun stuff visually on the pitch.

speaker-1: Yeah, I agree. I thought the inter shirts were were really sweet. One shirt that I always am a little bit biased towards, obviously Roma, but I ⁓ the Genoa shirts are always so nice. I thought the Genoa shirts that I think the Genoa shirts this year, the collar, the stripes, they always I think they always deliver. And so they're one of always one of my favorite shirts and and no different this year.

speaker-0: Super clean. And then just continuing with the vibes, ⁓ the the stadiums. One thing that we talk about a lot before we got into this show was man, the stadium looks empty. There doesn't seem to be a crowd in there or an energy. It's hard to go and explain day in and day out. Well, this one is under construction. Well, because it's such an old stadium, the the the fans are actually sitting pretty far from the pitch. But some of the places that did seem to bring the energy. For for all of the ⁓ for all the ways in which we talked a little bit poorly about Frosinone and how they're not necessarily ⁓ a club that Juve should have rolled over, the energy looked really great in that stadium. The flags were going, it was packed to the brim, which is not hard to do because it's not a stadium that really holds too many. I don't think it holds any more than, you know, sixteen, seventeen thousand fans. But you can feel an energy in there the same way that you do at some of the other ⁓ arenas around world football. I know we talked about and you mentioned that Atalanta looked really nice for from inside the stadium. Again, another small stadium. And then the big boys had it. We talked a lot about everything that Roma had going on today. It was a place you wanted to be with a a place that was filled with, you know, fifty, sixty thousand fans. There was still an energy and there felt to be like that provincial niche energy that wasn't bought. by fans who just wanted to kind of see what was going on at Roma. That was a stadium full of fans who were dying, bleeding, screaming for at the top of their lungs for a club that was bawling out. So it really jumps out 'cause right, this is not just what the product of play is on the field, but it is what you see on television and that makes it as well.

speaker-1: Yeah, agreed. ⁓ obviously agreed on Roma. And ⁓ going back to Genoa, I thought that the atmosphere at the Luigi Ferraris was incredible. They always seem to deliver there in Genoa. I've been to a game there. Sadly it was when they were in Serie B ⁓ three years ago. But ⁓ the Tifos on on Saturday were amazing. I think just generally the ⁓ the way the how close the fans are to the pitch there ⁓ makes that just an incredible place to To watch football, not only when you're in the stadium, but but on TV.

speaker-0: Absolutely. In interesting dynamic when you think about NFL stadiums and how far fans seem to be away from from the field. You saw that this summer during the World Cup where you're like, What what's going on during this game? And then you realize it's because there's a massive wall ⁓ behind the players and the benches before you actually get to seats and fans and stadiums. So it was an interesting dynamic to what we see in Italian football and how the stadiums are are built. I know it it takes a lot to get a new stadium built in Italy. These days compared to some of the other countries around the league, but hopefully with Roma ⁓ you know, getting the green light on their stadium, some of the others will follow suit. I think last but not least, one quick thing that I wanted to to touch on that you if you were watching Serie A for the first time this weekend, you saw right before the match started, your screen started with a bunch of static saying piracy kills football.

speaker-1: Definitely.

speaker-0: And you don't you don't really see that too much around the other leagues, but it seems to be something that Syria and Italian football deal with. It it's not unique to to Syria itself, but it seems that every time you're talking about Syria, we're talking about broadcast rights, we're talking about pirating football game put football matches. It was kind of jarring and it seemed to be a massive statement that was coming out of Syria. Do you think that this is gonna help? Or do you think that this is gonna hurt? moving into the season and especially when they might be welcoming new fans who are like, What is this? Well there's pirates in Italian football? What what's going on?

speaker-1: Hey, there are a lot of pirates in the region. But no, more s more seriously, I I don't I don't think see how it can help. I just think it's you don't see that in any other league or in any other sport really. One thing on kind of T V broadcast rights that I think is interesting, have you noticed that Serie A is now on Peacock in Spanish and it's also thirty eight matches per year will be shown on BBC's iPlayer. So I guess that's about Not about. That is one per week. I think those are two positive developments in terms of broadcast rights in ⁓ in Syria.

speaker-0: Yeah. It's all about T V, baby. As but as much as you want great vibes, as much as you want ⁓ a palpable energy in the stadium, it's all about T V. It's all about the broadcast deal. So I think hopefully all the things that we've been talking about today, right? Your your historic clubs doing very well, young players starting to pop off, young Italian players especially scoring some banger goals and starting to perform well in the league. English players seem to be coming back to Serie A, but not for their their Twilight and their Swan song. But you know, a guy like John Stone's coming in to to make some noise and do something in in Europe as well. So hopefully all these combinations start to to bring a little bit of positivity back to the world of broadcast for for Serie A. So we are just about at the end of the show for today. really excited by it. Started off with some singing from Matt. I'm very happy for him. We we're we're in this together. Hopefully some some positive developments happen for my club so I can sing some songs when we come on to the next show. But you know, a l a lot of really great stuff for for today and looking forward ⁓ to to getting into next week. So just before we sign off, next week, any games that you're looking forward to or or any storylines more specifically that you think that we should be watching out for?

speaker-1: I think the Champions League draw on Thursday will be really interesting. Where do the Italian teams where are they going for their eight games? ⁓ who are they matching up against? I think that's something we'll be watching pretty closely. So yeah, I will be locked in to to the Champions League draw on Thursday.

speaker-0: I ⁓ I am looking at the lineup of games on Sunday the thirtieth, and I think that is Lazio at home? Yes. So Lazio is at home. I want to see what that game looks like. If people are really going to be emptying out the stadium, not attending. I want to see the message that's going to be sent. I want to see if there's going to be a T foe left in the stands with the message to ownership because I think it's something that you do not see. Here in the States. You you're you're not seeing that in the NBA. You won't see an empty stadium because fans are not happy with what James Dolan is doing with the Knicks, or you're not gonna see an empty football stadium because of the way that ownership is is handling ticket prices. Americans go. It was the problem that we saw with the World Cup this summer, with ⁓ you know, there was all this talk of increased ticket prices, but at the end of the day, those stadiums were filled and people were vibing out. But you will watch this game over the weekend. And the stadium will be empty. So, you know, it's a story that I'm really interested in. It's a story that I think differentiates world football, Italian football, and the way that fans have an impact ⁓ on their ownership and vice versa. So, you know, maybe less of a lo of the product that's on the pitch, but a little bit more of what's going on in the culture and what's going on in the stands.

speaker-1: Yeah, definitely.

speaker-0: Well that's all we got for today. ⁓ really excited for us finishing our second episode. Really thankful for everybody who's given us kind words, positive positivity, and good energy over the last week. ⁓ we have a lot of great friends out there. I know we joke and we make ⁓ we make a lot of ⁓ fun of each other, but seriously, we have we have some really cool friends and they're the ones who are helping push us to to get out there and make this content. So appreciate everybody. Obviously, go to our social page, Corva Show. ⁓ all of our social platforms, follow us. I'll be reacting live to these matches. Matt's gonna be writing up everything that's going on ⁓ within the games and you know, excited to keep this thing going.

speaker-1: Awesome. See everyone next week.

speaker-0: See you guys later.