Derby d’Italia drama and Igor Tudor to Spurs

0:22Hello and welcome back to the Stadio podcast. I'm Isil Kwong Kwonga. I'm Ryan Hun. Ryan, how are you doing? Doing alright, thanks man. How are you? Not as good as Inter. I bet. Significantly better than some of these refereeing decisions. Yes. Yes. Where are we going? In which country are you talking about? I think it's got to be Serie A because that's still the most consequential decision of the weekend. Well, we'll talk about it, but did you see that the chief of the Serie A referees came out? Yeah, and apologised. Wild. Wild. Wild. Rightly so, actually. yeah it was kind of wild but I do have some sympathy with the referee to be fair I do because it's a good simulation it's a very good simulation sold very well anyway we'll get to that before we get into that we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are and a very quick bit of admin just two shows this week we're going to do a big Champions League show on Thursday rounding up the first legs of the playoff round and any other games that are happening this week oh you've got Arsenal going away to Wolves which is quite a big game in the Premier League a couple of other fixtures as well going on this week so we'll wrap all of those up on Thursday if you want to sign up as a stadio member on patreon and get today's episode ad free and in full and all of the extra episodes ad free and in full go to patreon.com forward slash stadio you can sign up as a podcast member where you get all the podcasts or you can also sign up as a stadio social club member where you get all of the podcasts plus some extra perks like stadio's social club discord discord hangouts like there is going to be one next saturday plus other bits some bubs and perks.

1:57Also, we've got a bit of an offer on four people. It's not an ad. It's just an offer from our friends at Scouted Football who have launched their new digital magazine and they're giving Stadio listeners full access to the website for a month for£2. So if you want to sign up for that, the link is in the description and you get everything on Scouted Football, including their brand new digital magazine, which is really good, by the way. I reckon that's all the admin. Oh, actually, a bit of admin. We almost finalised the new merch designs. Yes. Very excited by those. Can't wait. So hoping to drop those in the next couple of weeks.

2:40And actually, one of the perks of the Study of Social Club is you get a merch discount. So if you want to sign up for that, there you go. All right. So today, we're going to focus on Serie A today. We are indeed. Because there's some big games this week. Derby d 'Italia Derby del Sole and Milan had gone to Pisa on Friday night and made that Derby on Saturday evening a little more Consequential Yeah Good word You should write you know Ha ha No money in it Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Oh dear So we're going to talk about that mainly and we will also do a quick roundup. We're also going to talk about Igor Tudor.

3:30This is interesting. This is an interesting choice. Igor Tudor being announced as Spurs interim coach until the end of the season. We'll shout out a couple of other things as well. But there's only one place to begin. I'm not falling into this trap. I'm not doing it. You can't catch me. Go for it. Have your fun. Do you want to take care? No. No, no, no. I've been burned too many times. The only one place to begin is Strasbourg with a 97th minute penalty equaliser away at Marseille. Yes, that is actually... Oh, man, Marseille can't catch a break. De Zerbi leaves last week by mutual consent. Ultras are missing for the first 15 minutes of the game as a protest.

4:20And you think they've done it. they've managed to get a really crucial three points and oh my god like it was a penalty it was a really really unlucky one, I can't remember who it was initially but who it was actually defender just about to kind of swing it away attack and nicks it but he's got in so quickly that the defender basically just he boots him in the thigh it's like the back of the thigh is so unlucky I thought, it was definitely a penalty but it was very unlucky. Medi Benatia then leaves as sporting director. Marseille can't catch a break but they can catch a break up. I think it's fair to say listen I should write that down.

5:03Let's go to San Siro. Yes, let's do it. For what I thought was an absolutely brilliant David Zaglia. One of the games of the season. In terms of its import, in terms of the flow of it, in terms of how Juventus committed themselves so well throughout, despite one of the most unjust, one of the most consequential major decisions that they got wrong. They came out and said they got wrong. Now, the context, we'll get to that in a sec. Shout out the scoreline for those who missed it. Inter 3, Juve 2. Juve down to 10, Inter winning it very late on. But we'll get to all of that in a bit. The game itself didn't have the quickest start.

5:45Typical of games like this, actually. Typical of tight games at the top. I thought Juve started fairly quick. They had really good intensity. Weston McKinney, again, a standout. He was brilliant throughout. Playing really, really well at the moment. Yeah, he was really prompting everything and pretty much everything that was decent went through him and Locatelli. But then the early pressure being applied down that flank, the crucial pressure by Inter, who got the opener, and a strange concession. Di Gregorio just being wrong-footed by a ball that wasn't travelling that quickly. yeah you know like sometimes you see the keeper do the on deflections the keeper just does the from shots from distance on deflections keepers sometimes do that thing where they've been wrong footed and they just fall back yeah and then and actually that that's like one of my pet things in football that i'm like what are you doing you could totally get that you have like the best you have like the best reactions in football you could still get to that and i think that this one was really strange because it was a it was a cross in from the on the right hand side was it from Luis Enrique?

6:48Yes, yes. And it just got that, like, it was almost like a, I don't know, it didn't look like there was much pace on it, like you mentioned. Deflection of Cambiasso. It went off his wrong foot. He fell down and he was trying, he should have taken it to his left, but he hits it with his right foot and it goes in. And it's so weird, De Gregorio, because I think it's a classic example of, it would be like, you know when David Beckham was back in the day, when David Beckham was crossing, you would expect the ball to hit the far post. So there's no way in hell you'd be expecting him to hit it low and it catch a deflection.

7:18So Di Gregori, I think, had already made a choice in terms of where the ball was going. Like he was completely convinced that Luis Enrique was going to get that in front of the defender and maybe even towards the far post. So you see that he's made such a specific choice that when he's slow to react, you watch him and you're like, oh, he almost thinks the ball is, he almost thinks this isn't going to happen. Like he's still in doubt as it squirms towards him. So that goes in, but then credit to Juventus who completely fly back with an equaliser from Cambiasso. And Kalulu, before he went off, was brilliant down that flank.

7:52Really good. They didn't just lose a player. They lost someone who was affecting the game at a very high level in a dangerous area, combining really well down the flank. The ball breaks to Cambiasso, who gets a great equaliser at the far post. On commentary, they referred to Kalulu as almost like David Beckham-like. You mentioned Beckham before, but honestly, they were talking about Kaluuya with the he got an equally unjust rare to tell you that much that was a terrible this choice I don't like to sort of jump let's move on to that because I think like to be fair I think 1-0 after 20 odd minutes was pretty fair totally fair I thought the goals almost came in the reverse order that they probably should have done they should have come great great job Juve started really really well and probably deserved to be ahead early on but yeah I thought after that Juve again started pushing and were really really good for good value for that one all.

8:47The game in the first half I thought was really balanced and then Kaluuya gets booked on the half hour mark and then it's the second yellow 10 minutes later where Bastoni goes past him and it looks looks like he goes to have a grab of the shirt and what he actually does is I think he I think he does go to grab him and he remembers he's on a yellow and he pulls his hand away. Yeah. And in real time in real time to be fair to the ref in real time it looks like in real time it looks yeah it looked like, well, so there's two things. First of all, because of the pace that Bastoni was traveling at, it looks like he has a grab.

9:22But it doesn't look like it's as much of a grab, even in real time. I thought, that's weird. It looked like initially, you know, like when, you know, like when they're doing stunts in like, like a car needs to flip in a movie. Yeah, yeah. And there's the thing where it has like the hydraulic thing that basically shoots it up in the air and flips it. That's basically what Bastoni did. You just, totally vaulted over him yeah and you see it and you think the first sight i was like okay that that looks like a foul but there's no var for second yellows well this is interesting because they've been talking about introducing it in serrera and i mean that's going to be it's going to be the koulou rule because it was instant replay you watch the moment you watch the replay like my god this is terrible bastoni leaps his feet is asking for the yellow which the ref may amount of given and then when the yellow is given celebrates as if his team has scored i think it's a really bad look bastoni settled off at halftime by the way i wonder what kind of conversation happens there i mean he was on a yellow anyway but and maybe that was done to preserve the numerical advantage maybe i don't watch enough of him but that was it surprised me how much he went for that and it's funny because the commentator was like oh yeah he was doing anything that like a player in that situation you know it looks like a fair thing and then like the other commentator on comms was like, no way.

10:42I've never heard a commentator go to another commentator, like, take that back. That's unbelievable. Yeah, it was really interesting. The comms I was listening to, I was watching on DAZN. And the other commentator was like, no, no, no. Come on, man. Like, we're not doing this. It was really interesting. Like, there was some genuine outrage because it's affected, like, it's such a significant game for both teams in terms of Juventus trying to push for Champions League, in terms of Inter pulling further ahead, like you said, with Milan getting that win. and Juventus were looking really good in that game.

11:11Yeah, well, there's an interesting thing, right? So there's a piece on the Athletic saying that Serie A's referee designator has apologised for the clearly wrong sending off of Juve defender Pierre Coloulou against Inter, but then criticised those in the league who, quote, try everything they can to cheat. And there's a quote further down saying, we are very disappointed, both with Le Pen's decisions, which was clearly wrong, and with the fact that VAR could not be used to rectify it. This is Gianluca Rochi. La Pena is mortified and we sympathise with him, but I have to tell you the truth. He's not the only one who got it wrong because yesterday there was a clear simulation.

11:50The latest in a long series in a league where they try everything they can to cheat us. I kind of love this in a way. The ref is just like, this league, they try and cheat us everywhere. There's a line, isn't there? there's a line where like for example just quickly I thought it was really interesting like Haaland and Zoberslai's interaction for the Liverpool-Mansity game where they where Zoberslai got sent off and Haaland afterwards was like look I don't I don't really I don't think he needed to do that it's different though because they're friends I think yeah I know but I know you're right though you're right like even if they hadn't been friends I think you know we've seen cases where look Robbie Fowler back in the day saying like so and so wasn't a penalty I wasn't touched there's different ends of the spectrum unfortunately in a game of that significance and I don't think not every player tries to buy those fouls or tries to buy bookings and I think that the reason why it's compounded so much is is the dive and then the celebration that takes it into a different category actually that makes it something I think much uglier and look they prospered from it because they're now what eight points clear yes but I'm it's worth it's worth saying that I think Juve responded to it really well.

13:07They responded to it so well that you felt my goodness if this team had had 11 players I mean they brought it back to like 2-1 they only lost the game in the last minute. Yeah so I thought the first 20 minutes or so of the second half maybe half an hour until the goal was really interesting because Inter were reduced to quite a few they were decent-ish chances but they were felt like they were mainly like shots from Chalinalu who came on for Barella he had a couple in like Di Gregorio actually played like made a couple of really good saves and then there was that oh no it was actually at the end of the first half sorry I think where there was that chance where Turam had the header Di Gregorio makes the save and then someone follows up and it hits both posts and comes out.

14:02Yes. Yes. Oh, in fact, I think it was around, it was just before the goal. I think it was around the same time that whole, like that was, because that was the whole, that was it. It was a kind of wild few minutes of play. But yeah, I thought Juve dealt with the majority of the inter threat fairly, fairly comfortably. And they showed a couple of like moments of danger on the counter-attack as well. I thought they were. I think what's interesting because of their formation, this sort of 43-1, like, and because David drops quite a lot into the midfield to play. Like he does a lot of sort of like combination play.

14:34Actually, if a team was going to go down to 10 players, Juventus are one of the ones you'd favour more to do that because I mean, even their kind of like attacking line, they all like to get into, what's the word? They all like to get into... Oh, they drop into shape like very, very... Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're really, so actually out of possession, they were really, really good, I thought. And also, I just think they look fitter. Yeah, yeah. There have been times where I've watched Inter, sorry Juve in the last couple of years where you're just a bit like these guys look a bit sluggish and I think there is a big what if here as well with the addition of if they've had someone like Dusan Vlajevic fit who I know can divide opinion and he's not exactly run as hot as everyone had expected him to when he moved there especially after his stint at Fiorentina where he was kind of like he was cooking everything he was the next big striker to go right I would have loved to have seen him in this game especially when they were down to 10 totally you know because he just runs everything by himself and actually he's a genuine threat with 10 I think again we mentioned McKinney but he was a huge factor in I mean I've said before what I think of Konsei Sao as a player I thought Konsei Sao was really really strong in the first half he got subbed off but looked good in the time he showed but McKinney just threw out two assists two assists and was just like just running things yeah yeah yeah he and the oldest and to be fair I think player of the game even though he was on the losing side Juve captain Locatelli Locatelli was just like absolutely incredible and I mean after Esposito gave into the lead on 76 minutes which was a really good header by the way also Esposito is an absolute unit have you seen this guy?

16:20not up close thankfully also quite nice that it came from a DeMarco assist as well they mentioned it on comms but it was two Inter Youth Academy graduates. Oh, really? Oh, it's lovely. Well, the Locatelli goal was so, so good. Such a great finish, great strike. Loan across the keeper. And at that point, just... I won't be critical of Juventus because I think the goal, the winning goal was so good. It wasn't like they switched off after the goal. No, no, not at all. Inter had to pull that out. Inter had to pull that out of the top draw, the bottom draw, as it turned out being. the goal itself is as they say worthy to win any big game Zielinski getting the ball and Cech back inside the first touch to bring onto his left foot and just the drive with the left foot the little Cruyff inside to set it up and then Di Gregorio by that time was fully locked in so it had to be an exceptional strike to beat him and there is no there is no way he's stopping that the power on it because I think he's hit it through traffic but he's hit it clean and it's not hit anyone clean, early, powerful and it's not in the corner but it just shows you how how much I don't yeah I don't think you can criticise Di Gregoria there yeah no no he went in a bit of an arc in that game but he wasn't he wasn't to blame by the end no by no means yeah and Christian Kivu doing serious work at Inter what a great appointment that has been he also had a couple of moments though he tried he had one missed control but then he brought it back later on with this kind of casual he kind of like half-volley cushioned with the left foot and the ball just like span and like it was actually like it was quite it was pretty gangster actually there's a bit of a referendum isn't there on like managers first touches it wasn't a thing before but like a few managers have made it it's now become a kind of beauty parade Seedorf did one a few years ago when he was that's still the greatest one it's just yeah it's still the greatest one because it's you know the guys in the dugout yeah yeah they're like well that is still the guys in the dugout this sucks our manager's got a better touch than any of us the guys that I got they're like oh yeah he really is that guy and Seidov does a little smile over his shoulder going yeah keeps his arms folded I'm about that life that's the thing it's wild about that do you know who else was that one popped up because of obviously the Liam Resenia thing unfortunately against Arsenal I know the one you were going to say the Ancelotti one no the Daniel Farker one oh that's what the spin do you know what do you know what like there was there was a Zidane video going viral.

18:53Zidane like on a training ground and someone's going, oh this is super basic. Look at this. And I was like, look how the ball spins after he touches it. These aren't normal. Can you imagine calling Zidane basic? Do you know what? Do you know what? It's youngins. Do you know what it is? People are out here just saying words. I do genuinely think and I don't want to go all Florentino Perez, Andrea Agnelli, the kids. They only watch TikTok and play Fortnite and they only want the final 15 minutes of games. Two things. This game, even though there were three goals in the final 15 minutes was a great advert for why you need to watch the whole game because the whole game was great but secondly i do think fifa slash now ea sports fc is it's walked expectations in reality i think for actual football not a knock on the game by the way because i love the game it's a slight tangent there's a guy who um he used to play basketball recommend now he does like fitness lifestyle stuff and he saw um a basketball player like these these youtubers like and he said they never upload like when they miss shots they only upload the tricks they're successful so he challenged one of the guys to a game and then like posted the entire video on instagram to be like look this is actual basketball and he just cooked and it was like i think there was an element of he was like he just got he was like he felt enraged and it's so funny because all these like ex-nba players are like writing beneath going yeah good work buddy that's wild but there's an element of i think there's a bit of pushback against like whether you can integrate certain things into a game of football and whether you should and look in this is one video if you've ever seen leo messi do a step over right it's like a collector's item messi has got a killer step over and and and never used it is one of these painters that's like we took painters chefs or like you know pianists i'm using through like you know but musicians producers that only use three chords i'm only gonna use three chords I'm making EDM I can make any style but actually for this specific thing I'm just going to use this this this or as a painter I'm just going to use like two brushes three shades because I don't need the others I know how to use them but I don't need the others and that's fine and I think there is a thing in football with like over elaboration where it does reach a tipping point of like you don't need to do that trick there like how many times do you see a player get the ball I mean let it call man by the poor dude found out the hard way.

21:18Do you know what? Even Lennart Carl, he's a great example actually because Lennart Carl is only 17. If you're doing that at 27, which is what some of these people are encouraging you to be doing late in your career, like by all means say here is a move that I'm trying. But also bear in mind this is an immature way to beat a defender because an elite defender will be like, oh thank God he's doing stepovers like everyone can get back. And then you look up to make the cross and he doesn't beat the first man. Yeah, it's interesting because you look at someone like, someone who's not known for being massively skillful or whatever, but someone like Leandro Trossard, who is just movement.

21:57It's just movement and wrong-footed. The amount of times he wrong-foots defenders or gets them on their heels, but he's great in those tight spaces. That's why he's quite wriggly. But you rarely see him do the flash stuff, the real kind of... Well, do you know what? Do you know what? Actually, I love you mentioned Trosser because Trosser technically is a beast. The thing about those things, the thing about those technical abilities and the stepovers is the balance of the defenders you're up against is incredible. Yeah. Like most defenders have a stepover. Like if you ever see like Rio Ferdinand, the famous clip of Rio Ferdinand at West Ham when he was like really hot dogging with the ball and just going wild.

22:37Rio Ferdinand technically was a monster. Like, and... I don't know why it always tickles. Sorry to cut in, but it always tickles me when you say hot dog in. Yeah. It's one of my favourite agwongarisms. And you see, like, if they, if they can do that, you don't have that in your arsenal, right? So, someone like, Carlos Puyol, Carlos Puyol didn't get the technical props but Puyol had quick feet at a certain level, right? If Puyol played a division lower, like... Yeah, he couldn't play in that side without being... Yeah, totally. Also, you have like, now in the Premier League specifically, you have defenders that are like Mickey van der Ven who went all like full-blown Mickey van der Maradona early on in the season.

23:18That's the level. Yeah, that's wild. So it has to be momentum and body position and like sharp cuts because the only way you're going to beat an elite defender consistently at that level is your ability to wrong-foot them, to check their balance and just to sniff for when they're off charge. And like, look at Messi. Messi dribbles the ball in the air now. There's a thing you don't see before. You didn't see it that regularly. Köln used to do that all the time, mate. I don't know. You know, one thing you did not see until, you didn't see it consistently, and you see it a lot more now, is players chipping the ball over tackles and then taking it before it's bounced, after the tackle.

23:54These aren't things you saw regularly before because it's like they've decided, actually, there's no room on the ground, we've got to go at Schinhait to get the ball anywhere. Then also, there's something I saw the other day, it was incredible. It was a player, this is how good defenders are getting now, a player who chips the ball over the tackle and then at Barcola. Barcola chips the ball over and then he jumps over the trading leg. I think, I think, yeah, Barcola's sick, man. Like, honestly, like there are a few players in that position in the world that I enjoy watching more than him. You know what's amazing about Barcola, right?

24:25There's a thing about him. So, Barcola's fascinating because he raised the ceiling of the PSG attack. They had to buy Quarrett Scalett. The only player that could have come and started over Barcola, I think, in that position at that point was actually like, was Quarrett Scalett and he had Dewey on the other side. That is how good. Barclay was like, this is the level. You know how back in the day a lot of people used to say Pogba plays football like he's a basketball player, right? Yeah, yeah. But actually I think Barclay is the biggest example of that in the modern era. The guy's got handles. Isolation, yeah.

24:56He's unbelievable. Monster in isolation. But his whole balance, the way that he shifts his balance, it reminds me of someone just driving in the lane. It's really wild. I love that you mention this because we've talked about Eden Hazard and the previous generation as being one of the few players that can run into multiple coverage and escape with the ball. Actually, Anthony Martial, early Anthony Martial could do that. Mo Salah, Pete Mo Salah could go into a crowd. We saw it in Man City time and again, would go up against three players without a plan and figure out. Barclay is the same. The thing about Barclay is his running motion is fascinating.

25:30There is something of, he's obviously not Zidane, but there's something of Zidane in the sense that Zidane had quite an awkward gait, right? Zidane's balance was weird. It would throw you off because it's like we talk about the drunken master in kung fu where the running style seems a bit like off like you know everything's a bit scruffy you see Barclay but the actual the actual technical if you see how the ball is actually deviating it's it's like right on his foot it's like the closest it can be to his foot or he's just like brush stroking it and just watching the balance really just nipping it past the tackle it's just again there's a it's funny because Barclay is a player who has all the skill but can also be like super minimalist when he needs to.

26:11Like his actual dribble selection is like, yeah, anyway. Connoisseurs of the dribble. His PSG side lost 3-1 to Rennes on Friday ahead of their Champions League game on Tuesday against Monaco, which is very interesting. But, and that meant actually while we're there, Lons beating Paris FC 5. No, it meant that Lons go back top. If Lons win this, yes if Lance win this it's going to be wild yeah yeah definitely how did we end up talking about oh we switched timelines yeah yeah because Christian Kivu controlled the ball that was where we started yes I think there's a little bit more on this discourse on this very quickly while we're talking about managers trapping the ball because it's it's interesting to me anyway that Resenia came out and said I didn't help myself with that miscontrol against Arsenal and it's so interesting the power of social media the power of social media that wouldn't have been a thing no you could have like laughed that off before social media someone could have been like great trick the other day and he would like ha ha then he carries on the fact that it went fully viral the fact people were probably laughing about it in the dressing room and the thing about rosenya specifically is that he had done a video where he hit a really cool shot i think in true i think he hit like um oh it was the corner the corner that goes in the corner challenge so he was like this was a thing that he was um trading on right i've got technique as well and that's great he does have technique so actually he kind of he created unnecessary unnecessary referendum on his first touch with that and it's really sad but it's just another thing that managers have to be aware of alongside like managerial outfits on the touchline you know like nagglesman that year that nagglesman the it was the champions league the covid champions league when he just kept changing he turned up in the waistcoat there was too much happening see when it becomes that when the mask eats the face then it's a problem and I think on the managerial like you know touchline control there were other coaches that watched that and they were like I'm staying well away from that yeah yeah I think it's I think there's a time and a place it was interesting because Kivu missed the first one and made a point of like just letting the ball bounce then going again like getting it with his hands but then he did the second one it's fine you know anyway the funny thing is here's the thing when's the last time you saw Pep do it oh Pep's not going anywhere near that now and Pep and Pep was I mean for those who don't know Pep was one of the best first touches you'll ever see in a football advert it's mind-blowing the one that he does in the Nike advert where the ball drops and Pep has his foot on the floor it's the most gangster Pep has his foot on the rooted to the floor and the ball like pops up off Pep's laces it's almost impossible it's it's such an incredible first touch because it's one of the few things that like I have not seen a skilled person do like put try it this way if you're in an area where you know where you can't like crack any windows get a friend of yours to drop a football from like the first floor window and try and trap it with your foot like on the ground try and make it like try and bring it under like your influence it will it will probably just spin off somewhere it's almost impossible and Pep just does it at such ease.

29:19It's wild. But you never catch Pep doing the, I'm a football on the sideline because he's in a different space. He's like, my aura is, I'm a professor, I'm a genius of coaching, and I can't break that spell. And Resenia broke that spell. And look, I think I really like him as a coach, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that he, man, I'm rooting for him, but he didn't do himself any favours, you know? Yeah, it was unfortunate. Yeah, it was really unlucky. and the moment it happened he saw his face he was like oh no I know yeah anyway back to the football back to the actual football well I was going to say going back to the Zielinski goal that's his third goal in his fourth Derby Ditalia that is wild he doesn't get that many Zielinski and he got two penalties in his first Derby Ditalia which was a four-all draw and this was the other thing I was going to talk about the last few Derby Ditalias have ended well apart from the 1-0 at Juve last season 4-0 4-3 and 3-2 but yeah just a great goal a great goal great winner just really really big for Inter because took them 8 points clear of Milan who play Como on the 18th so that's Wednesday was that the oh that wasn't it was the Como Milan game that was the one that was supposed to be in yes yes Como Milan yeah I'll never I'll never forget that so he put some pressure on more so Napoli than Roma who were three points further back but a game ended two all in that before we move on by the way sorry I meant to say did you see Roberto Baggio and Adriano sat next to each other no I didn't yeah at the Davitalia sat next to each other stop yep two goats the level of goated in that in those two seats that's ridiculous Baggio's just like I played for both of these the swag is ridiculous ridiculous it's too much it's too much it's actually too much wild um so yeah let's go to napoli romer to all spin it solo against his old old side yeah yeah the thing i like most about this game is that all the people ducking for cover when donnell they're like donnell marlin you're not a nine including me of course it's an interesting thing that though because that was one of the major reasons why he left villa right was because he saw himself where he wanted to play as a nine Roma are offering him that opportunity I think in Villa's defense I think the type of um the low blocks are not as tricky present I think you just a different game in Serie A you just get more space yeah more space in behind just the nature of the game so I think in terms of that his skill set so I think look I think he I think two things can be true I think he is a wide forward in um the Premier League and he's a very good wide forward in the Premier League and in the Champions League, by the way, I think his skill set in terms of like breaking down players, the byline off the shoulder of a primary striker is exceptional.

32:19But I know he also works as a nine in the more wide open spaces of Serie A. He was exceptional here. He was a huge problem for the Napoli backline throughout. Two very good goals. Penalty just hit with such confidence. And just, yeah, I thought he was, I thought he was tremendous. And Napoli without McTominay, stumbling to a draw and not to be too critical of them because they've got this vast injury list. Yeah, big old injury list. Yeah, Stolz was at Neres, De Bruyne, Anguisa. Fran Jesus was suspended. Di Lorenzo's out. McTominay's out. All starters. To be fair, Roma also fairly hefty. Dybala, Kone, El-Sharawi, Dovrick and Ferguson all out.

33:04Big old scorer, yeah, yeah, yeah. But some of those, some of those, yeah, I mean they're not absolutely right Roma had their absentees but you look at the Napoli ones and those are those are needle shifters like every single one of them I think Ferguson obviously struggled a bit since arriving there and hoping he catches fire at some point but Napoli were you know Roma made they made the running in this game Can I just send out genuine sympathy for Amir Rahmani because the poor guy for the second goal he's chasing down Wesley and his hamstring goes which causes him to slightly change his running pattern, which means he clips Wesley, takes Wesley down for the penalty, and the pair of them have to go off injured.

33:47Awful. Awful. Literally insult to injury. Insult to injury. Absolutely gutting. Santos scoring on his debut, by the way, for Napoli, which is a big deal for him. He looked great ever since he came on. Had a close effort, played 20 minutes, and just was really amongst it, and a beautiful finish too. he looked like he was going to score from the moment he came on actually very much a sense of a sense of vacation also I forgot to add as well Romani got booked for that as well no way yeah oh no the triple crown just an all time just like what the injury booking and penalty so wild very much proving that when it rains it pours I know right what the hell elsewhere Atalanta beating Lazio 2-0 to go above Como who lost 2-1 at home to Fiorentina big win for Fiorentina so close the gap so they're level on points with Lecce now Lecce face Cagliari tonight and then there's a three point gap between them and Genoa and Cromenese so very very very big win three points in the last two games for Fiorentina kind of staying on I was going to say he's not Italian but he's you know managed in Italy played in Italy for a long time Igor Tudor announced as the Spurs interim coach until the end of the season came out of nowhere i thought it came out of nowhere and there is a certain logic to it um you know what you know how there are actors that are typecast i he he is he's he's he's he's the managerial version of like a typecast actor isn't he well james horncastle referred in referred to him as um the wolf the wolf which is kind of it right it's like if you're in the amount of times that he's apparently he's only been hired i think for two jobs at the beginning of the season or something this is nicky bandini said this in the guardian he's earned his reputation as a man who people turn to when they see the ship taking on water taught him the seventh club to hire him during a season he has not allowed any of the previous six to sink i mean maybe that's all they need for the and I think the interesting thing about Tudor is that first of all he's not going to be intimidated by the atmosphere Spurs dude was at Marseille and had to some of the stuff he had to put up with at Marseille was wild if you've coached there yeah you can coach anywhere he had that amazing line that I sent to you didn't he where he said working at Marseille is like working at another club for two or three years it's absolutely wild isn't that what Pep said about Barcelona simile intense something like that yeah semi-intense yeah it wasn't someone i was expecting it wasn't anyone that was on the the quote-unquote favorites list now also some of those favorites are in jobs i wonder if this is good for spurs in a sense that there's a certain thing that i think harms people like thomas frank sometimes when they go they make that move to a quote-unquote bigger club fans are very familiar with that manager because there's someone in the league i do wonder if the sense of the unknown about Tudor is in his favour yeah it's going to be in his favour and as soon as Spurs start picking up points you'll see the shift and it's one of those it gives them flexibility in the summer where if he puts in a really really good performance as manager and he turns stuff around and they start getting players back in March April May and they finish the season strongly then the job's his yeah I think it's quite a shrewd appointment to be honest I think it's all things considered my first reaction was it was just weird it just felt weird that Igor Tudor was going to Spurs do you know what I mean because I just didn't expect it as an appointment I think it's shrewd it buys Spurs time it's sensible I mean then again the appointment to Thomas Frank was sensible I thought it was really sensible yeah just maybe too sensible I think what the one thing you realise quite quickly in the Premier League now I think is managerial fit or lack of it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly actually you can kind of if you look back at the things that haven't worked it's not like when they when they end it's like oh it's not like we cannot see that coming like look at even you know you can say like maresca and all the rest of it like the volatility was there i think from quite early on even when things started well um and we're in you know these the signs are clear quite early so whether or not this works i think it will be it'll be clear from the first few games and that will be how the players respond not just i mean and again the caveat of injuries but in terms of like work rate on and off the ball i think will become clear too it's also the first big big decision not decision because they fired Thomas Frank, but big appointment or sign of where they're at of the new hierarchy, right?

38:46Since Daniel Levy's gone. So look, I think because Igor Tudor has gone into clubs many, many times as an interim and got them out of bother, it makes a lot of sense as an appointment. And if they finish the season strongly and you know they climb up the league a little bit which I think they will naturally do anyway as they start to get players back yeah I think the thing that helps Tudor is that he's had to navigate certainly as a player and as a coach some of the biggest egos in world football yeah and some of the wildest situations he's been in a dressing room with every there is not there's not an ego in football that Igor Tudor hasn't seen or had to navigate so from that perspective it's going to be like he won't even have to flex actually he won't even have to flex because the ones that have heard of him will be like yeah okay that guy knows and for the younger ones that don't I think his aura will help him this will come down to if he can get his messages across his methods across and here's the thing as well that's in his favour if these players are as proud as some of them may be they don't want to go down I don't think Spurs are going to go down I think people will rally pretty well I think I think it's a sense I think it's the best possible kind of appointment they could have made i would have been more concerned by a deserve because i think it's just too combustible it's just too much because the last thing you need is going in there and telling people that you don't yeah you don't yeah sell this guy he threw it in wrong yeah and don't get wrong maybe maybe tudor could go in there and they could wrap badly tim but i think just given that he's been in these situations before that's not the kind of energy that he's with this group of players.

40:38Three of them he would have coached when he was at Juve with Pirlo, Kulsevski, Bentancur, Dragosin. So that gives him like a footing straight away, I think, which is really cool. I'm not sure, off the top of my head, I can't remember if he has coached anyone else. Oh, Colin Warnie would have been there as well. So he knows Colin Warnie. So he knows, do you know what? I hadn't actually thought about that, but knowing four players in the squad straight away is quite a big deal. But also, some of the stuff that he can tell some of those players from back in the day. You know? It's like, oh, let me tell you what Pirlo used to do.

41:13Do you remember that amazing thing that Steve Kerr did? That was that thing where he used to just tell stories about... Michael. Michael Jordan. And he's just... What Michael used to do. And it's just like, he'd just casually do it in like a timeout or if a player came down and sat on the bench. Didn't he do it once to Kevin Durant? And he did one to Steph Curry as well. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just like, the flex that you see with stuff like that. Like, he can just be like, Let me tell you this thing that Alessandro used to do. And it does make a difference because I think Igor Trudor was a very, very good footballer.

41:42Very good. And I think the authority that you have working with young players, I think, you know, it does help to have that. I mean, this is, I mentioned the Resenia thing, but I wasn't trying to have a go. Having been a footballer at an elite level like Trudor was. Yeah, it gives you more gravitas than. It does. When you're explaining your methods, you're explaining how things can work. Yeah. Yeah. That's why Zidane and Ancelotti have been the only two real people in the last decade or so, over a decade, who've kind of kept Real Madrid in check. Because the players actually look to, I think Ancelotti with a different kind of awe, but with Zidane you could see it when he came in.

42:25All of those players were like, whoa. ironically because he'd never coached it because of his like youth connections but Fabregas at Real Madrid he's one of the few that could actually I think just get that team but oh and again they're kind of doing their thing again but like there are certain there are certain coaches at Fabregas Fabregas really the ability to be like the knowledge that again and I think Real Madrid are a special case to be honest so I actually you know Xabi Alonso doesn't need any forgiveness for that but I think it's a free hit for him but the ability to have something like Fabregas on a pitch going, yeah, that guy has played some of the greatest passes of all time.

43:01And we've all seen them. Like some of the greatest assists of all time. Imagine Fabregas turning up around Madrid just being like, I used to cook here. Yeah.

43:12After this podcast, I'm going to go and just sit watching like Fabregas highlights. We need to do, I mean, I know we've done an episode in The Art of Passing, but at some point we just have to sit down and watch like a load of like Fabregas like reruns and just like talk about that. we should do actually yeah because because there's things that he did that I'm still I mean like I said I've said this many times before when I saw that guy play when I saw Fabregas play for the first time in the whatever it's called community shield against United and was hitting these like perfect 20 yard passes diagonal across the ground like ripping them like like Varon like like prime Juan Varon but he was 17 I was like it's like this ability of Arsene Wenger to do like to bring players in and he'll watch them and thinking, this is like science fiction.

43:59Like I hadn't, genuinely watching Fabregas play for the first time, I was like, I don't know. I don't know what this is. I haven't seen this from somebody like this. And it's more impressive. And I love, I love the young tricky wingers. I love Lamine Amal. I love Lennon Kahl. But doing it in the middle of the pitch. Yeah, nothing beats a central midfield, I'm sorry. At that age, at that age. I don't know, yeah. It's, yeah. Yeah, just the best, like the best in my opinion. It's the hardest place to play. Yeah, I agree. It's the hardest, the centre circle. I told you that time, didn't I? I played there once in like a game.

44:37I was playing like, I had to stand in and play. My friend Dan was playing in there. And Dan was like tall, thin, like not an ounce of fat. And I had to come along and play alongside him. And it's like 4-4-2. It was like we had to like hold on to a lead. And honestly, it was like my brain. You know, like you've ever like woken up, your brain is like sweating because it's been thinking anxiously all night i was i think my brain was like sweating standing there and i'm there like dan wanted dan was like super chill and he was only he only moved within i think like five yards the entire game didn't move and was the best player on the pitch i don't think he played a pass longer than five yards and he just like he ran the entire thing and that's a rhymes like yeah sounds like a guy is to know

45:32all right man any other shout outs you want to do quickly should we do a quick roundup yeah very quickly should we have a quick look at La Liga yeah let's do La Liga very very quickly we're recording this ahead of Girona Barcelona so it's a little bit out of context but first defeat as Real Sociedad coach for Pellegrino Matarazzo 4-1 away at Real Madrid The news I suppose here is the assist from Trent for the opener Yes And that is interesting watching him be integrated into that Real Madrid team like we knew he'd find his feet eventually such a great player and also Fede Valverde was happy because he got to play inside and he scored an absolute banger his first this season Vinicius earning a couple of penalties Madrid just earning gaining a couple of penalties and Madrid just looking really quite assured.

46:21Just a casual 4-4-2. Nice. Yeah. Madrid, the only club that if it ain't broke, they try and fix it. Going into that game against Benfica, there's a lot worse shape they could be in. That's a nice little lineup they've got there. A 4-4-2, very conventional. But if you look at it, it's pretty solid. Got good defensive depth on either flank, Valverde and Trent. well Valverde supporting Trent Carreras, Camavinga and then through the middle Goulet and Chiromene it's I don't know I kind of like it and got to rest Kylian Mbappe as well which I think was key ahead of the midweek stuff pretty solid a lot of rotation going on in La Liga this weekend Atleti rotated quite heavily as well and lost 3-0 away at Vallecano if Barcelona beat Girona tonight they go back top quick shout for the Bundesliga it's very much as you were the Bundesliga not too much drama there so Bayern beating Werder 3-0 Vauvbay Stuttgart 3-1 over Köln Augsburg Heidenheim 1-0 Heidenheim in trouble as we know nothing new there RB Leipzig 2-0 draw against Wolfsburg Leverkusen 4-0 over St.

47:31Pauli that's demoralising because St. Pauli have been showing some decent signs Go to Union next week as well Leverkusen which is going to be interesting Haas Vau beating Union 3-2 Yeah Haas Vau now up to ninth Super impressive that Yeah back-to-back wins and and they are doing extremely well indeed. Dortmund halted BuzzFisher's run. They beat minus 4-0 on Friday night to kick the weekend off. And yeah, the bottom three all losing this weekend. Yeah, just the last couple of results there. Frankfurt 3, Gladbach 0 and Hoffenheim 3, Freiburg 0. Hoffenheim. Back to winning form after a chastening experience against Bayern.

48:17Anything you want to shout out from the FA Cup? Yeah, Manitouville beating Burnley 2-1. Shout out to them. Great result that. Burnley very much in the mud, not finding joy or respite in the cup competitions. Elsewhere in the cup, I suppose the controversy of the Newcastle game. Yeah, do you want to touch on this? Because it was just a wild refereeing performance. I think it was giving a red for that up on the halfway with so many players back. I thought was, it was wild for the keeper to be that far off the line. Well, it was quite high though, as well. It was like knee high. I think it was a combination of a lot of things.

48:54I wonder if it's given for, if it's given for the clear denial of goals for an opportunity, I thought that was a bit harsh. Whoa. I mean, if he goes around him, he can still roll it into an empty net. It's basically a DM though. There's a lot of work to be done, yeah. Was it Newcastle giving the free kick outside the box that should have been a penalty? Yeah. And just like, there was just so many of them. It shows you what's happened to referees making decisions who have had the benefit of leaning on VAR for so long. There hasn't been VAR for a lot of the FA Cup so far and in the League Cup, right?

49:29But yeah, there was like, you know, one or two maybe, but it got to like three, four, five, and you're a bit like, whew. I think it's just, but here's the thing though, we've all had, who among us has not had a day at the office where everything just goes badly? Terrible days. You know, you spill the coffee, you miss the train by you miss the train before by like two minutes uh there was one day i was like traveling and it was like i thought i'll get the next tram you know and the next tram turns up the first tram i miss but i don't jog for it i miss the tram and it's like empty i'll get the next one get the next one dude the floor was covered in slush and it was packed and i'm like i'm such a clown this could have been like a half an hour that was blissful instead i'm like we're in each other's armpits now.

50:14And that was my, there are days at work like that. And I think this ref had a day like that. I just think it's one of those ones where you look back and you're like, do you know what? I'll just admit it. It was, it was a bad one. It was a bad one. And actually, even, even with the free kick outside the box, justice was done because Tonali did score in the end. So the football gods were kind of like, you know what, actually, you're going to make a couple of mistakes in this game, but we won't make them consequential. Because in the end, I think the balance of play, the balance of, but Newcastle a good value for it yeah I think Newcastle deserves a win and they had the chances and it was yeah I think they and even the Tammy opener like you can kind of say that Tonali cancelled it out kind of you know and actually shout out to Tammy spiritually onside we literally saw a spiritually onside goal it was allowed it would happen it's the first it's one of the few spiritually onside literally offside goals that has actually stood it's great it's great to see one in the wild very much so Arsenal beat Wigan 4-0 amid quick work of this yeah just great to get it done and move on yeah definitely definitely Liverpool can we shout Liverpool quickly because Liverpool is brilliant against Brighton it's really good Mo Salah looking very happy it's what the Mo Salah thing happened this year yeah it's fine now it's all fine Mo Salah I think is for the content he needed to feel something he was absolutely yeah guys look don't worry hey look podcasters.

51:42I got you. I got you. I know what it's like out here, man. Like, let's get that ad money. I would love it if he came out and said, look, everybody ate. Everybody was eating. Look, just doing, doing my bit for the people. I would actually love it if a footballer came out and said, I've given you content. Look, we know. I was fine. I wasn't going to leave. I was actually fine. I just spoke to the manager and we agreed that, you know, you guys deserve some content and that's, that's how we do it. You know, it was leading up to Christmas. We're going to have a footballer who streams from like the sidelines.

52:11at some point. We're going to have someone who just comes off and starts doing a little twitch down the tunnel. I've said this before. One of the saddest things was that Luis Enrique did not win the World Cup while streaming because that would have changed everything. But because he didn't win the World Cup, it then became like, oh, that was the reason. But actually, that would have been the one. That would have been it. It's still one of my favorite things. You, Victor, favorite mister? Use boxer or slim? Use tanga.

52:44The way he laughs afterwards. So good. Anyway, back to the FA Cup. Anything else you want to shout out from the FA Cup? We were talking about Liverpool. Liverpool beating Brighton 3-0. Yeah, they look really, really good. Really strong. Curtis Jones doing work at fullback. Mo Salah, just a great touch for the Sobbersly goal. Oh, so good, yeah. The weight on it, yeah. He was feeling himself. Then earning the penalty, which he put away. Yeah, great stuff. nice and comfy for Man City even though the scoreline suggested it was more difficult against Solford City Mark Gay with his first goal for City yeah yep yep very well and Chelsea beat in Hull 4-0 on Friday in the Resenia derby hat-trick for Pedro Neto one of my favourite players I know he has his critics but I'm a big fan wins for Wrexham West Ham as you mentioned Mansfield Norwich beat West Brom Southampton beating Leicester great result for Southampton Leeds going through on penalties against Birmingham.

53:41Wolves knocking out Grimsby. Sunderland beating Oxford away. Fulham going past Stoke. And we mentioned Arsenal-Wiggin. And we've got two more games. Macclesfield host Bremford tonight, which I imagine will be amazing. That's the actual, there's only one place to begin. Yeah, absolutely. Final game, Port Vale, Bristol City in the FA Cup. Quickly, in the Scottish Premiership. Wow. Rangers beating Hearts 4-2 at Ibrox coming back from a goal down yes to make the title race very very interesting because Celtic had a 97th minute winner at Kilmarnock as well so Celtic are 3 points behind Hearts with the game in hand however Hearts do have a superior goal difference currently Rangers close the gap to two points on hearts lad damn absolutely wild scenes Ibrox was absolutely rocking oh my god it was so loud it went off yeah alright man I reckon that'll do us for today yes yes we hope everyone's staying safe and well wherever you are don't forget if you want to come and sign up to Stadion Patreon patreon.com forward slash Stadion you'll get a big Champions League podcast on Thursday this week you'll also get ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, all kinds of stuff.

55:09Patreon.com forward slash Stadio or if you want to sign up to the Stadio Social Club, you'll also get the Stadio Social Club Discord plus extra perks, including we're having a Discord hangout this Saturday night. They're pretty fun, the Discord hangouts. I really enjoy the Discord hangouts, so if you want to come along to that. Patreon.com forward slash Stadio. Also, don't forget to check the Stadio Archers players on Spotify and we're playing out on Archie James Cavanagh. Track called, take it easy. Anything you would like to add, Moose Hawk Wonga? Nothing further. Alright everyone, much love.

55:39We'll be back with you on Thursday. See you then.

55:57I'm going to take it easy, yeah I'm going to leave on the next plane home I'm going to let out my worries Ain't going to hurry Kiss all the rest goodbye I'll get up and get down, down, down And take it easy I'll get up and get down, down, down

56:27Where the skies and the waves keep a-rollin' And the birds are singin' every day, yes I can listen to the willers callin' Callin' to the secrets that they have to say hear them say i'll get up and get down down down and take it easy i'll get up and get down down

56:56there's not a sound to be heard except the waves on the shore the people that are friendly no need to lock your door i heard a luring call that the wind and waves had sound but duty changed my gypsy heart when my old dreams were young

57:29I'll get up and get down down down and take it easy I'll get up and get down, down, down

57:44Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Heading for the Northwestern wave