JJ wearing that awesome Fiorentina shirt while not knowing what's happening in Serie A is the same as me buying those nice Venezia shirts this season and watching like a handful of games.
Edin Dzeko is much better at running the channels than people give him credit for. Any Inter game i watch with him in it you see Dzeko pop up on the wing and carry the ball much better than his profile suggests .
Honestly agree, I think most people who watch football get desensitized to simple fundamental actions on the pitch they don't actually realize how technically and tactically proficient a player has to be to so the simple stuff at the highest level. Dzeko is a great example, first touch and combination play is excellent, drops deep to receive and allow lautauro to run in behind and drags full backs out with wide runs
As an Italian, let me praise you for this excellent analysis of our national top flight! 😊 If I could add just a couple of things: - Despite their mixed results, Roma are experiencing what is possibly the best youth intake in the league: their U19 team is threatening to run away with the national title, while Mourinho has given massive support to the youngsters, especially Calafiori (who will now go out on loan to Cagliari), Bove (a very nice midfielder) and Afena-Gyan (who scored a brace in just his second Serie A game ever). - Salernitana's new owner, Danilo Iervolino, founded the "Pegaso University", which is open and completely online. Aside of Atalanta, I would have included Lazio in the mix, too, but that journalist definitely knows his stuff. Thank you!
"Roma have a habit of losing 6 or 7 - 1 every two to three years". They really do and its bizarre. The 7 - 1 defeat to Fiorentina in 2019 was the most recent prior to Bodo Glimt this season. To add to James's comments on Inter, Denzel Dumfries has been a great replacement for Hakimi. The club really did great business last summer. Would've been nice to hear James's thoughts on Atalanta's top 4 prospects as well as his early assessment of Sarri at Lazio. Great video, though, Serie A is my favourite league
Nothing the same... those 7-1 were the best Roma team... Bodo was a conference league game where the C team played in snow... Mourinho finished top and the useless players are being sold as they failed to be humble and improve... Reynolds, Villar, Diawara, Mayoral... Kumbulla an example that one can be redeemed by submitting to the manager...
@@azac9627 I agree. I don't think anyone cared too much about the Bodo/Glimt result. It was bad but not suggestive of deeper problems. Di Francesco was sacked not long after the Fiorentina thrashing as it was a serious defeat.
@@sarahjessicafarter7383 Get through this season... add Spinazzola huge upgrade no cost + First Team Regista and 5th CB as Mancini, Kumbulla, Ibanez + Smalling with many injures will miss games... DM -> CB then if more budget upgrade bench -> backup ST - - - - - Next Season 11 Starters: . Abraham . Felix Pellegrini Zaniolo . Oliveira [...DM...] Spina [...CB...] Mancini Karsdorp . Patricio 14 Finishers: ST - 1st) [...CF...] -> 2nd) Shumorodov FW - 1st) El Shaarawy, 2nd) Perez AM - 1st) Mkhitaryan, 2nd) Bove CM -,1st) Veretout, 2nd) Cristante LB - 1st) Vina, 2nd) Calafiori RB - 1st) Maitland-Niles CB - 1st) Smalling, 2nd) Kumbulla, 3rd) Ibanez That 25 with New DM + CB + ST for injuries + Primavera can realistically compete with Inter, AC, Juve, and Atalanta to break 4th for UCL
Honestly, I've always preferred Serie A, I think it's under-appreciated especially by Prem fans. Who don't actually watch it, but judge. It's been so so exciting in contrast to City walking the Prem. Also, James on BT is a better pundit than most, if not all on BBC.
Well the the reason some people don’t watch it is because it’s never been this competitive before because if you think about it juve had an 11 year run winning the league no one in the prem has ever had a 11 year winning streak
@@gnello3713 yea but we never had a team win 10 titles in a row like Bayern or 7 in a row like Lyon the longest streak we had was Man U and it was from 2006 to 2008
Great content, often neglects Series A footy. To say Giovanni Simeone's goals this season are 'worldies' seem like a bit of an understatement, unbelievable goals!
Serie A has been by far the most entertaining league this season, and has been on a steady upward trajectory the past few years. Definitely worth more attention. PS. James giving off serious Matt Berry vibes here
I thoroughly enjoyed JJ as more of an interviewer than as the person that gives us his ready-to-hand information. I also really enjoy the Serie A this season, so yeah, great video!
@@1886Joel You totally missed the point. There have been many big changes at other clubs. Atalanta have remained the same and continue to play the way they have for the last few years so there's nothing new to talk about.
I always thought City were mad to let Dzeko go. Problem is, he looks like a target man, but really he's one of the most technically gifted poachers around. If he had a decent amount of pace fast we'd be putting him in the same bracket as Lewandowski.
Every time i see James i remember my assistant manager on Football Manager. He has this NPC-swag i admire a lot. In other words, I think he is a good looking guy but also a great journalist.
I love the vibe of the video - James as the kindly, experienced and well versed expert very politely tutoring his young ward JJ, who brings enthusiasm but has plenty that needs correcting his schoolwork while we learn alongside him as well - Belissima 🙌🏼
Kind of disrespectful to omit them in my opinion, they are the second best team in Italy,- the only team that actually comes close to inter in terms of quality imo
@@cavalry6782 Ah I missed that one.. but still tho, they also made two vids dedicated to AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli in the recent past (5 and 2 months ago)
I miss the guardian football weekly podcast with James Richardson, Raf honegstein, James horncastle, Sid Lowe, Barry Glendening, Nick Bandini, et al. I used to listen to it every Monday and Thursday through university.
JJ, please.....adjust your screen power off time on your laptop. Was it the best team of all time video where it kept turning off after 3 minutes and you had to keep turning it back on?
Just out of curiosity why was Atalanta not in the title challengers category? Their xG is second in the league and their goals for are are fourth and they're in the top 4!
Great video guys. Only suggestion is that it'd be nice to have an xPts column in that league table graphic to see who's underperforming/over performing
To be fair, they've made lots of videos covering them already and they've not drastically changed this season so it makes sense to talk about teams where there's been a change/shift from previous seasons
@@urso_livegood point, but at the start of the video they explicitly say that this video is also for people who have not followed the serie A and want to know what's going on. And not talking about Atalanta in the title contenders section in favor of Roma and Juventus is just wrong.
Couldn't get out of a Europa League-level group in the CL. At some point they are going to have to do it with consistency to be taken seriously. I can understand Milan and Inter failing to quality from tough groups after many years of missing CL football, but Atalanta had an easy group and can no longer use inexperience as an excuse now.
Honestly, James' statement on Morata being remembered for the chances he misses is very Apt. Him and Rahim Sterling... Would have beaten every goal record ever if the majority of their first strikes went into goal. Amazing to watch, great work ethic, but....they always seems to miss... And that disappoints.
Tbf I hope Tifo do a deep dive into Bologna, a lot of interesting young talent, a few old interesting players returning and a character of a coach. It would also be interesting to see why they seem to struggle to really progress up the table, they seem to be stuck getting mid and occasionally being stuck in a relegation battle.
Apart from mentioning Gasperini’s name once, what about Atalanta? They have a decent chance of actually challenging for the title this season and have qualified for champions league for the last few seasons in a row.
Bodo was a conference league game where the C team played in snow and first team was rested lmao... 2 competent players El Shaarawy and Ibanez started... - Mayoral, Villar, Perez - Darboe, Diawara - Calafiori, Kumbulla, Ibanez, Reynolds Mourinho finished TOP of group and the useless players are being sold/loaned out as they failed to be humble and improve... Reynolds -> MLS level club, Villar -> Elche Getafe level club, Diawara -> Valencia level club, Mayoral -> Getafe level club... Kumbulla is an example that one can be redeemed by submitting to the manager...
Rabiot is just not an elite player. He's a squad player in a top team and has been lucky to play alongside Kante and Pogba when they were at their best. Would argue even Matuidi was more important to Les Bleus than Rabiot. Rabiot is an adequate surfer and nothing more. One has to create the wave first for him to ride on it.
Of course Matuidi was more important, he played a key part in the 2016 and 2018 teams even though I don't like his style of play. Rabiot first featured for France in a tournament at Euro 2020 and did nothing of note. He was not part of the better-performing France squads of 2016-18.
