7/10: North London Derby Preview, Juventus vs. Atalanta, Pulisic on Fire, & More

Martino Puccio and Davis Mattek are here to breakdown all the top matchups in soccer as they preview the North London Derby, Juventus and Atalanta. Plus they discuss what teams are in form to bet your money on this coming weekend! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot Com Betting insides and entertainment at your
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grid sports grid dot Com. Hello everybody, and welcome on

(00:26):
into the free kick. Here Martino Puccio and Davis Mannic
alongside me here. Soccer keeps rolling. We keep rolling here
with the show. Davis um, there's still so many games
left every like, I'm not getting tired out by it,
but it's just it's really just kind of like a
sprint and a marathon at the same time, with every
game being like pretty much every single day, and all

(00:47):
the top teams were playing every three or four days,
and and you just like have to be on top
of everything. I love it, and it's like a very
very long World Cup or euro Cup tournament, and it's
just it's still the best. So how have you been doing.
I've been doing absolutely terrible with a lot of my
best I've been doing some parlays I've hit I'll do
like three or four bet parlay's I hit on three

(01:09):
of them, and then I'll just lose on on one
of them, and it's just been frustrating. I try moving
to the two of them. I had Fuve and lot
CEO on Monday. I believe it was for money line parlay,
and they both lost and I couldn't I couldn't believe it,
and I just felt so positive about it and I
just defeated at the moment. Yeah, I mean it is,

(01:31):
it's been so. The thing is is when you are
when you're in a losing streak and it never it
feels like it never stops, because, like I mean literally,
as you and I are broadcasting right now, there are
two major leagues playing games, you know, the Italian Syria
and the English Premier League. And then you know that's
not to mention that we have the f A Cup
still going on, we have the MLS Tournament. We had

(01:53):
one game that was on this morning, another game that's
gonna be on tonight. Like it feels like there's a
never ending stream of things to be wagering on. And
so when you're when you're cold, uh, it's it's a
pretty miserable feeling because it feels like, you know, I
should be getting close to even here, but nothing is
going my way. Yeah, no, I absolutely nothing. Even even
the teams that I felt kind of positive about look

(02:15):
and I think it's just catching up to some of
these teams too. Um, the Lazio one, for me, I
was I I kind of thought there would have been
a result on the fourth of July when they played
Milan because they didn't have their two forwards in that
but they got completely embarrassed. It's not like they couldn't
even cover in that one either, and then they lose again.
To letcha, you don't say it's you know, it's just

(02:38):
something that they're just free falling. And that even affects
the future because like I was saying, I wasn't really
on them to continue what they were doing because they
don't have the squad depth for it. And it's showing
because they just they just look like they're fading and
they're fading fast. And the funnier part is at Atalanta,
if they beat Juventus this weekend, something we'll talk about
later on, they could be within six points of the title. Now,

(02:59):
I don't think they're gonna win it, obviously not. Um,
we're all on Huba all the way. Hua had a
couple of suspensions, and that's kind of the reason why
they got throttled. But that game was wild. I but
I couldn't believe it. I'll be honest with you, I
haven't seen anything like that in a while. We don't
get a lot of wins like that these days because
we've been really poor the past seven years or so.

(03:19):
But to score four on Hub. Hub hasn't been scored
on four times in any competition since I lost the
Champions League final. Man hasn't scored on Hua four times
in a single game since nine So at the end
of the day, Like, you can't get to beat up
over it, Um, because it just happens, especially when they
go up to nothing. Everyone thought it was done. No

(03:41):
one really thought anything could could change there. All of
a sudden, a penalty and Hua conceded three times in
six minutes. That doesn't happen. Ever, it's probably not gonna
happen again for a long time. Um. I mean that
whole back for alignment. Like I I saw the second
that guy Um tweeted out, I was like that there's
potentially a result to go my on his way, just
because of the way Hua has been playing. No tabla,

(04:03):
no delict they're playing Danilo at left back. It was
just disastrous and they were asking Um to give up
some points there and you know what, like they're still
they're still a sizeable gap for them. But you know,
at the end of the day, if they could, they
could have been a lot more relaxed if they win
that game and they go up ten points clear, because
at that point then you rest a lot more and

(04:23):
you get ready for that Champions League return. Like well,
you know what's crazy is they actually after scoring the
second goal, they sub Slatan Ibrahima vidj Off you know,
far and away they're they're most like prolific per minute striker,
and they bring in Raphaelio, who, like, you know, he's
just a very anonymous center forward, you know, not not

(04:45):
going to be a guy who the Milan fans are
going to remember or whatever. He's only he's only twenty one,
he just turned He's very young. From Portugal, so he's
one of their times. He's produced. I thought he was
I thought he was Brazilian. I'm wrong. No, no, yeah,
he came from Portugal. They they signed him over from
legun and he's one of the guys that they like

(05:05):
moving forward Um and I look, he's scored in his
past three games that he's gotten a shot, and so
I mean, look, it's it's something there. It's you know,
Rabbitsch is on fire. It's ten goals in thirty good.
He's insane. He's insane. And that's just one of those guys.
He's one of those failed Sarita players as well. He
was a Fiorentina and then he went back to Germany

(05:26):
really kind of refound himself. And again he's just one
of those players that really is just paying off because
of his pace in this league. And and that's really
just where I always kind of look towards nowadays in Seria,
whoever is got a fat pace here side more physical
athletes is is going to be looking really good. Um, So,

(05:47):
I mean, kudos to them. I don't think things are
going to be changing that much there. But let's move
on over to another team that used to be great
in the mid two thousands as well, like Milan his
Manchester United. They're probably been playing the best soccer football
in Europe right now. I mean it's actually insane that
we could talk about them making into the Champions League
because as of right now, this is it's kind of

(06:08):
more of a likelier scenario the way Lester has been
playing as of late. I mean Manchester United. Well, first
of all, I guess let's let's start here. Do you
do you believe? Are you? Are you a buyer in
this version of Manchester United that has uh since the return?
They have crushed uh, Sheffield United, they beat Norwich in

(06:31):
the f A Cup, they crushed Brighton and they laid
down five goals on on board with Do you believe
see that right there? Of the teams you rattled off
isn't enough for me? I need to see it against
the better sway. This is a very favorable favorable fixtures
as of late, and they're gonna go be up against
Villa I believe next. Um so there, I mean yeah,

(06:55):
so look at the end of the day, like they're
taking advantage of the points that are given to them.
Lester is not Wolves are not um and you and
you've seen that Sheffield has kind of bounced back after
a little bit of a rough start since the return.
For me, I'm kind of hard to say no, because
we they didn't have the opportunity of having Paul pogbro
this whole time. They have Bruno Fernandez, Rashford's healthy, Marciall

(07:15):
seems like he's a little bit reborn. Mason Greenwood has
been phenomenal. It's just they're getting everything they need. And
this is still without Harry McGuire that they thought would
play to the level that his fee was at, which
was around eighty million pounds. David Deahy is still not
the same guy that he was a couple of years ago.
So if they get those guys on track, I I

(07:36):
see no reason why they can't create a lot of
these goals and and do a lot of these things. Look,
let's just not playing well. They're really not. And and
you know what, out of all these teams that are
in the hunt outside of the top four right now,
Manchester United for sure, for me, I think they could
definitely do it. And you know what, they still have
the fixtures on their side. Look, they keep on taking

(07:57):
up these three points. It doesn't look like they're slowing
down either because they've been playing all those guys. I
thought they would have had a little bit of difficulty,
but the hundred and twenty minutes played against Norwich and
the f A Cup money gotten bite them back in
the behind. But it hasn't like it's it's very impressive
for them, and I I'm not going to apologize to
only yet, but I might if they make the Champions League. Uh,

(08:19):
I mean, it'll be very impressive if they make the
Champions League. I think this is what Manchester United has
going for them, which is that the front three seems
terrifying because now they're they're not playing old guys anymore.
They are Rashford on the left, Greenwood on the right,
Marcia all up top. Then they're using Mata, you know,

(08:39):
behind Bruno and Pogba, you know, kind of like a
four one two three. Bruno is a little bit more
of the attacker. Pogba is more of the transition guy,
where you know, he is taking the ball from Wan Basaka,
taking the ball from the center backs and initiating the offense,
which was what Pagba did so well for those teams
and you been to that's what Pogba does for the

(09:02):
French national team, you know, really he is one of
the best players in the world at transitioning defense to offense.
Now the defense sucks, you know, McGuire, Lindeloff, want to soccer,
Luke Shaw, even even Taya you know no longer is
one of the best goalkeepers in the world, so all
of that is true. But I think the midfield and well,
they need a new defensive midfielder. You know, Mattich not

(09:23):
going to do it. They just so yeah, you know,
they kind of need like a they need a Conte
you know, uh type player back there for sure, you know,
pretty much simple passes, but a lot of energy, you know.
I I think they're going to be looking towards the

(09:44):
center back position. I think they need more depth up
top as well. Um with Igo there because they never
fully replaced Lukaku. As we remember, they just slid martial
in that position and for over a thirty eight game
season with multiple competitions. You just need more than that,
especially if they want to get back to where they
used to be. Um. I agree with the center backed
position as well. I think they're gonna be um transitioning

(10:07):
Dean Henderson into in between the pipes and kind of
slowly fade out David de Head. There's no real opportunity
for him. Maybe if you want a PSG to come
calling for him. I don't think Real Madrid that ship
is sailed. Obviously, Barcelona aren't going to do it, and
considering the wages that you you only got a handful
of teams that would be interested in him. Um so

(10:28):
PSG from me. If I could think of any off
the top of my head that could maybe want to
use one, UM would take a flyer on him. But
even then, um, you don't know. They're so so look
I mean, if they get Jaden Sancho in here, it's
very hard to to not see them being a competitor
for the top four next year. Because as of right now,
if you get all those guys fully healthy, Bruno Fernandez

(10:49):
full season, Rashford full season there again, Greenwood's a year older,
you get Plug Buffully healthy again, you know, had a
little bit more depth around in general that that team
can be area because they've shown already with limited amount
of time with all these guys with the amount of
like they really haven't been playing together this set of
eleven for more than ten games. So it's really impressive

(11:11):
for me because you can only imagine how much more
time they get, how much better they'll be. And even
if they don't make UM Top four, they could still
win the Europa League, which their favorites for right now.
On FanDuel, so that's another avenue they could go down.
So for Manchester United, I think this is kinda not
the turning point, but it's one of the signals that

(11:31):
things are changing there in my opinion, because PUBBA is
now also open to contract extensions, which we kind of thought, Hey,
is he going to Real Madrid? Is he going back
to Juventus? So now you know, the whole vibe and
culture is slowly changing there. So I'm gonna wait and
see before I declare anything like that, but it's looking
pretty good for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I

(11:53):
it's always fun when United is good, Like I think
it's better for world soccer when they're good and in
the Champions leg again everything, and uh yeah, some people
might owe some apologies, you know they we might we
might owe some apologies to to Gunner Solcier. Yeah, I'll
probably be at the top of that. Um. I just
always thought he got that extension too early because they

(12:16):
did great. They knocked PSG out of the Champions League. Um,
they were doing well there. Um I just thought it
was too soon, too hasty of a decision. But hey,
kudos to them for sticking by him, because there's not
a lot of teams and clubs out there that really
like to stick with a with a guy they like
a lot of the turnover all the time. Um, so
kudos to them real quick before we head out. Our boy,

(12:38):
Pula Sitch is just on fire. He's he's probably he's
probably been one of the three best players in the
Premier League since it returned, one of the five best
players in Europe since all the leagues have returned as well.
He's just amazing and it's so great to see him
advanced like this this stage at Chelsea because not a
lot of youngsters really thrived there. He's shown that he
can and uh for an American nonetheless, yeah, yeah, I

(13:02):
I mean I I think Polasitch is gonna be a
guy who has the ability to make soccer famous in
the US. Absolutely. I already think he's the greatest of
all time. But but that but that's for me. Some
people think I'm a little too hasty with that, but
we'll discuss that more when we come back here on
the free kick sports grid dot Com. Betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most

(13:24):
important topics in sports wagering. Real time, odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot Com. All right, everybody, welcome
back into the free kick here on the Sports Grid

(13:45):
TV network. Davis, we're getting into so many top games
they don't stop. As we mentioned every single week here,
the MLS is finally back. Um, what are your thoughts
so far? There's been so many moving parts going on.
Carlos Vela not owning there, um FC Dallas obviously not participating.
We've got Nashville not participating as well. We've got a
group of six teams. We've got a group of three teams,

(14:07):
and then the rest are four teams. It's just totally bizarre.
Were seeing games at nine am and then eight nine
o'clock at night. Um, so it's really twelve hour gaps. Uh,
I mean, what have you thought so far? Everything has
seen the little bit sluggish, the camera angles. I mean,
by the way, I don't know if you were watching
the game last night between Orlando and Miami, but the

(14:27):
Adidas logo in the middle of the field was probably
the weirdest and dumbest and most unnecessary thing that I've
ever seen. Um in a broadcast. Yeah, very very weird,
you know that. What I what I want to say
about MLS is I I really like the MLS And

(14:47):
a lot of people who are really into soccer, don't
you know, People who watched the ep L, people who
watched the German budeis Lega, people who watched the Seria.
They think it they think it's bad, and it is.
I mean it's like championship level soccer, maybe even a
little bit worse. But I mean the first thing is
as Americans like, you gotta the product that people have
available that they can go and watch. You gotta you

(15:09):
gotta support it. And some of my best sporting memories
ever of going to games. I've been to loads of
games of all different you know, all all the major
sports I've been and uh, you know, going to sporting
Kansas City games. I literally think one of my best
memories ever of of sports. It was a game where,
uh it was it was a playoff game. They were

(15:29):
winning one zero. The other team was going, you know,
all out attack. They had the goalkeeper up and everything.
They cleared the ball down the field and uh, you
know literally as time expires, you know, as the referees
blowing his whistle, sporting scores a goal, Josh Shallow, we
you know scores or Daniel Daniel Shallow, we scores a
goal immediately as as time expires. And it was just

(15:52):
like those sorts of moments. You don't get it in
any other sport. And I would I would encourage people
to be involved in the MLS because it is really cool. Yeah,
I think it's about the face value. Then you have
to take out it. You can't go in expecting, you know,
Premier league level of quality. You can't. You can't expect
that from the top five leagues. That's what kind of

(16:12):
That's just kind of the American stubbornness though, like they
just assumed, like the men's World Cup team, men's national team, Sorry,
he's gonna win a World Cup within the next like
ten years. That's just being unrealistic. The expectations are just
so bizarre for them. For me, I just I'm not
a fan of the rapid expansion. I think thirty teams
is way too much um for where the league is

(16:33):
right now. It's not even thirty years old, the rebirth
of this new league, So I just I just think
it affects the quality a little bit. I do like
how a lot of like NBA stars are kind of
invested in the sport um more and more people are
kind of getting into it. I love what the Red
Bulls did, um with having their own stadium, and they

(16:53):
didn't go for something where it's like fifty sixty thousand
seats there, right, you know, it's a it's a nice,
decent sized arena where you could fill it up, You've
got a nice atmosphere in there, and you kind of
move forward. Um. I do love where they're kind of
moving towards the younger, you know, Latin American types, where
you get a lot of pair of Lian's come in
the league and and they're producing as well. And and

(17:15):
the thing is, I think they just need to follow
the model of Argentina and the Brazilian leagues, where you
might not be as good as those other leagues, but
you could have some really good teams that can compete
against you know, one of those top teams if it's
like the FIFA Club World Cup on any given day,
or you could just sell all your top talents to
all these really massive clubs in Europe and kind of

(17:38):
you know, just develop your youth systems, because some of
these clubs have done a really nice job of that
UM and there are really great atmospheres and some of
these stadiums as well. Sounders do a great job. Kansas
City in general, they always have a great atmosphere UM
with any of their sports too. I mean Atlanta United,
we talked about it a few weeks ago, Like the
atmosphere there for those games is just it's insane considering

(18:02):
how some of the Braves games go. That was kind
of the conversation we were talking about. So, yeah, I
think you have to kind of take it at face value,
But what what was your initial reaction to the product
of this tournament so far? It's it's sluggish, it really.
I mean, I'm I'm expecting it to be pretty bad
for the first couple of weeks because these are they
didn't get a long time to train the you know,

(18:23):
the training camps were very quick, right, and in general
the soccer being played by these guys is of a
lower quality anyways, It's it's kind of thrown together. The
pitches aren't great, like, but you know, one thing that
does make the MLS fun is the defenders are terrible.
Teams are not spending money, Like when you're when you're like, oh,

(18:45):
you know, how can we get fans come, how can
we make our team better? You're not going to go
buy you know, five million dollar defenders from the championship.
You go by Nanni, you go by Chierrito, you go
by Johnny Russell, you go buy his Laton, Like you're
you're buying guys to score goals, not to stop the
goals from coming in. So that actually is a cool
part about the MLS, Yeah, because it goes in hand

(19:07):
in hand with all the other leagues over here. Now
it's just high scoring, high pace games. You know, the NBA,
there's a ton of threes, threes and dunks. You know,
it's just it's pleasing towards the casual fan in the eyes. Um,
same thing with the NFL. So many other guys are
throwing the ball. Now with baseball, it's really a ton
of home runs. There's not a lot of you know, bunt,

(19:27):
hit and run. We're gonna steal a base here and there,
all the little things that takes to win. Those things
still matter, but at the end of the day, it's
what the casual fan wants, right, And a lot of
these teams are starting like you have to put down
like three million dollars just to get a team in
the MLS, so it's not cheap either, So so good
on them for finally trying to get this tournament together.

(19:48):
I know it's been a kind of a rocky start
for them, but hopefully after the first week or so,
if they can keep the positive results down for COVID,
I think it'll be a positive sign and they and
hopefully finish out the tournament for them. But we're gonna
move back over to Europe. Davis Arsenals playing pretty well
again too. Um they had that rocky start. Um when

(20:10):
when when the season first started back up again, Look,
Manchester City throttled them. I wasn't really expecting a lot
out of that, but it was the David Louise game
when when they're losing a brighten the way they did
um late into the game. But now they're finally moving
towards that youth movement. They're playing more of their young guys.
Bacca youth SOCCA. They finally resigned him and extend him.

(20:31):
Gabrielle Martinelli one of these guys who came out of
nowhere for them this season. They resigned him as well.
Obama Yang is still scoring all the goals like he
usually does. We know, we don't have oat Sale in
this He's just you know, kind of fading away slowly
into relevancy unfortunately for him. Yeah, I don't know. Arsenal
is one of these teams that you could kind of
hop on and feel positive about because you know they

(20:52):
haven't had the easiest of fixtures as of late. You know,
they're kind of playing up to their competition. They look
a little bit more organized and you know mckello Arteta
he arrived in a very difficult situation. You know, this
isn't This isn't something that's just you know, easy quick
fix overnight kind of what happened with United with their
transfers in this year. It's gonna take a little bit
longer than that. Yeah, it is UM. I I like

(21:16):
what they have going on there though, you know we've
talked about I. I really like soccer. I think that
UM playing young players who are attackers. You know, they've
spent a ton of time practicing as attackers because you know,
when you're playing under eight teams, when you're playing under
twenty three's, when you're playing in the academy, the really
good players are going to play forward, right, they're gonna pay,

(21:38):
They're gonna be playing striker, or they're gonna be playing winger,
because you know that that's just the natural progression of things.
And then as guys progressed to the senior team. You know,
we've seen this with Zenchanko with Manchester City. We saw
this with Geordi Alba with Barcelona. You know those guys
who are Marcelo with Real Madrid. You know, good attackers,
skillful on the ball, great at cry but maybe you

(22:01):
know they don't have the best finishing product. Maybe they're
they're not, you know, the most perfect striker of the ball.
Those guys get pushed to left and right back. And
I actually think playing there as a young player, even
if you do end up playing as an attacker, which
I think is still Arsenal's play in long term with him,
I just think it makes you better at the game.
It makes you you understand what's going on better, you

(22:22):
read things better, You're able to see things progressing a
little bit better. And h you know, really would not
surprise me at five years from now. Soccer is like,
you know, the best Arsenal player, and he just is
one of those guys who can really dictate the pace
of play for the whole team. It might even be
two years for now, considering if a Pomiang leaves. I mean,
they have some options. They're gonna have to get some

(22:43):
wages off the books, um spend a little money there.
I think Upakabenko from RB Leipzig would be really like
a home run of a transfer for them. I think
that that's where they're definitely going to be looking at.
Center back is one of the areas. But I think
it's important that they at least get that foundation in there,
kind of like what Manchester United did, kind of like
what Chelsea did, um so for them really quick with

(23:06):
Chelsea too. KaiA have urts he might be going there.
That's that's that's insane. Mean, so yeah, the weird thing
about him going there is they're not signing him to
play striker or winger, like he would just be signed
to play straight up like midfielder, like that spot that
Mateo Covid Sitch plays now. And I you know, if

(23:27):
I'm him, you know, if I am KaiA have verts,
I'm like, why am I going to go play in
the midfield, you know, and and for everyone to be
mad at me all the time because I'm making Angla
Conte's life harder. You know, I'm making Mason Mounts because
because Chelsea fans love Mason mount and he would, he
would basically be going to go play Mason Mounts position, Like, uh,
you know if I if I'm him, I'm saying I

(23:49):
don't want any part of this, like give me, I
don't I don't want this to take me out of here. Yeah,
I don't know. Well, that's the beauty of it, though, right,
because he has time to think about it, because there's
ultimately his choice of where he wants to go. Um. So,
at the end of the day, I really do think
it's just gonna be a Chelsea, Real Madrid or a
Byron to do this. Um I don't really see any
other scenario in which this goes down. I think he's

(24:11):
definitely gonna be sold this summer because I don't think
Lever Cluson really have a choice. I don't think they
should be messing around like that. We'll see if he's
still gonna be playing in the Europa League though, because
that that would be a huge boost to them. That's
really their only main competition. Then again, that's like another
avenue for a team to explore of getting back into
the Champions League. Like that matters. If they get back
into the Champions League again, then you're kind of sitting

(24:34):
there saying they don't absolutely have to sell him. Um,
but I do think he's going to be out there
because again you don't want a disgruntled player to keep
over there. UM. So it'll be something around like the
ninety million euro range because he's that talented. UM. I
don't know, if you saw boond is like a Team
of the season, Thomas Mueller is not well, you know

(24:56):
it is. It is hard um with with these this
record it's crazy. Yeah he did, he set the assist record. Um,
but you know, at the same time, do we really
think that he is, you know, one of the best
eleven players in the Buddhist laga. I don't know. I
think they put Holland. If you put Holland in that

(25:17):
striker when he joins in January, I think that's like
a little unfair to him, especially when you're breaking an
assists record. They could have moved it around that you
put in the eleven. They put Holland and Lewandowski up
top and then have Ward's dropped like right behind him
as kind of the formation that they ran with. I
don't know, like give to attacking midfielders, Like how could
you just break the assist record and do that? That
was like when Marcus Soul won Defensive Player of the

(25:39):
Year but he finished all second team defense. It just
doesn't make much sense to me. Um. But yeah, I mean,
that's amazing job for Holland. By the way, I mean,
how many players can you see out there that will
come up for like five six months and then on
the team of the season for their first ever time
being in the league. There um only a matter of
time before he heads out of Doorman as well. Um. Yeah,

(26:02):
Byron one the double. Now they have a chance at
this trouble. I wish there was a futures bet that
you could take for a team winning a trouble because
right now that's actually very doable for them, um and
and it's probably going to be the only team that
would be up for the trouble as well. So I mean,
let's see if Byron is able to do that, they're
still the favorite there. Atalanta moved up to plus so

(26:25):
that's some more stuff you could look at because they
keep changing as these teams keep playing. But when we
come back, we're gonna be talking about the top matchups
throughout Europe. Sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on

(26:47):
the grid sports grid dot Com. All right, every buddy,
welcome back into the free kick here on the sports
grid TV network. Martino Puccio on Davis Maddick here with
your final two segments of the day, always the most

(27:07):
entertaining and for for my money, the favorite segments of
the day for me. This is where we get into
all the top matchups this weekend across the top leagues
in Europe. You know, Bundesliga is over, obviously League isn't
going to be starting up until late August again, so
we just have the three main leagues to go by.
We're gonna stick with England this weekend. We've got a
couple of good matchups we want to get into here,

(27:29):
Davis Sheffield United versus Chelsea. Let's call it what it
is here. Chelsea is a pretty big favorite in this
one when you consider the triple money line minus one
seventy there the draws at plus two eighties, sheffields plus
five hundred on the money line. We know they had
their issues struggling. Are you enticed by it a little bit?
Because Sheffield has been in a pretty decent run of form.

(27:50):
Chelsea didn't play that great against Palace that they're still
picking out the points like they need to. They're not.
They're not. They don't have that reliable goal score up
top with Tammy Abraham and Olivier ja Rue. They've kind
of been relying on their winger kind of guys. William
has been playing well. We know how great Pulasitch has been.
But is there a scenario in which you want to say, hey,
plus five Sheffield United? Why not? So? If I was

(28:15):
gonna bet one side of this game, I would prefer
at the plus five ten for sure. Um So, I
think you know, one of the one of the issues
Chelsea is gonna have is they are just not a
deep team at forward right now. You know, I guess
they could play Callum Hudson ADOI more minutes, but you
know he's not fully recovered from his A c L injury.
They have been getting decent minutes from Tammy Abraham and

(28:37):
Olivier ja Rue, but those guys, you know, I think
part of the reason why they want to sign tiamo Verner,
they want to sign KaiA Verts as they don't believe
in those guys long term at striker. And if William
and uh at the same time, Pula Sitch need to
take a day off, you know, they need some rest,
they need to come off at forty five minutes or whatever.
You know, I think that becomes a lot easier. And
also Sheffield United has a great system with their three

(29:00):
center backs to defend against that attack. You know, the
three center backs and the two wing backs, like they
are set up perfectly to defend that four three three.
You know, that's that's why the three four three or
the three two kind of depending on how they are
working things that day. It was invented to destroy the
four three three. And you know, like I really think,

(29:22):
I really think Sheffield can hang in this game. Yeah,
I think so too, And you definitely look at their
runner form. They're still giving up the fourth the fourth
least amount of goals in the league. They're still tied
with Manchester United right now with only thirty three this season.
So look, they can be had. Chelsea in this scenario,
and especially when you don't have that reliable goal scorer
Dean Henderson is very good and and to be honest

(29:45):
with you, look you mentioned it, that formation does favor them.
They have really good defensive organization as well. And the
thing that I love about Sheffield too is that kind
of when they lost these first couple of games and
they add poor results when they first came back, a
lot of teams, a lot of clubs could have spiraled
out of control, especially a newly promoted side that really

(30:07):
hasn't been up here with that experience. But they haven't
wavered at all. They've really stayed the course. And for me,
I kind of like that because right here, when you
when you get such a massive underdog like that, this
isn't We're not talking about Borne myth here, this isn't
Norwich City. This is a pretty good team that has
a chance at the Europa League spot. That's plus five
hundred against a team that has tendencies to play down

(30:30):
to the competition. So for me, they might be probably
the best underdog bet of this weekend out of all
the top matchups that you're gonna be seeing across all
these leagues. I don't know if you agree with that, No,
I I definitely, I definitely agree with you if this,
if there was an underdog that I was betting, I
think we we've highlighted, you know, why this would be
the one which so Chelsea. Now we'll talk about the

(30:52):
Chelsea side of things. Minus one seventies a lot. Are
you only taking that if that's kind of even a
parlay or do not even feel because for me this
is like we said, I love Sheffield as an underdog,
but I don't love Chelsea in terms of a favorite
here at that number, I just think that's a little
too high for me. Yeah, you know, I think that

(31:12):
the favorites I would be betting this weekend, you know,
and putting them in a parlay. In terms of the
e PL, you know, obviously Manchester City against Brighton, you know,
not scared at all there. I actually think Wolves are
way better than Everton. I think plus one oh nine
is probably you know a little bit too generous on
the Everton side, And uh, you know what North North

(31:35):
London Darby, gimme gimme Arsenal. Right now, Spurs are terrible.
They they suck. Let's get into it. Let's get into
it then, right, this is this is one of the
more fun and banterist rivalries because there's been a lot
of you know, sorrow and losing between these two clubs
for a while. They've had high quality players, They've had
really good teams that compete at a high level in
the Champions League over the years, and even Europe the

(31:56):
league helped Premier League. I know they to a fault,
neither of them have won anything in the past ten
of twelve years, especially Spurs. But yeah, right now, how
could you not love Arsenal in this because because of
the way they've been playing. They just drew against Lester,
Like look at this run of form here, Lester they
grab a point, beat Wolves another three points. Norwich City,
a team that they should absolutely beat, they smacked them

(32:18):
for nothing. Sheffield United, a team that we just talked
about that we like, they grabbed three points there. Southampton
they beat them. So for me, this is just something
that you have to love seeing from Arsenal because it
just takes a few games for a team to get
confident like that, and the history surrounding Spurs, there's always
that you know, want waiting around for Jose Marinos teams

(32:41):
to just like pop and explode from the inside out. Right,
You just you always feel it. You just kind of
knew it was coming, and especially with their history over
there and that culture. Harry Kane's not scoring all the time, Like,
they don't even score against Bournemouth. They had an extra
twelve minutes of stoppage time and they couldn't do anything.
So it's just for me, it's I can't I can't

(33:02):
put it on them. I can't put on Spurs anymore.
I'm fading them back. Uh no, no, I mean so
since since the return, they just they they seem terrible,
right they They they drew against United. They they're one
you know, convincing effort was the win against west Ham.
But even you know that game against Everton, it's not
like they it's not like they were crushing Everton. They were,

(33:24):
you know, pretty much even in terms of possession, twelve
shots to eleven shots. You know, they just happened to
they just happened and and actually I believe it was
even an own goal. Um, uh yeah, it was. It was.
It was an own goal by Michael Keene in that
game against Everton, and then they pretty much sat back
and let Everton, you know, get after them. So you know,

(33:46):
I I think Josh obviously should be fired after this season.
And you know, this is one of the games where
because the market is viewing Arsenal and Tottenham similarly, I
I totally disagree with that analysis. I think I think
our SMaL has shown us way more since the return. Yeah. Absolutely,
And the funny thing is the way we were just
describing and talking about it. See you know on the

(34:08):
screen now Spurs of the favorite at plus one fifty,
Arsenals at the plus one seventy five. And again this
is another dog here in the pl that I like
a lot more than the favorite. And look it's not
it's the oddsmakers here are very confident that there is
a clear cut winner in this either way, because when
you're a plus one fifty favorite, that doesn't say much

(34:28):
about you to begin with, um, plus one seventy five Arsenal. Yeah,
and you know what the over two and a half.
I know how Marino sides play and all that stuff,
but I just I just kind of love the vibe
around Arsenal Right. Now we know their goal scoring output
that they can put out there. This is a rivalry though,
so we have to take that into account. There's a

(34:48):
lot of bad blood here. Do you kind of go
near the under two and a half or because I
would feel confident for sure at the under three and
a half. I I know that's that mineus to sixty.
But again, something you could put in a parlay if
you have your Manchester City stuff going on there, if
you want over two and a half in Juventus and
Atlanta that we will get into after. Like it's it's
stuff like that where you could just like kind of

(35:09):
find value and you feel confident in because there's no
I have a hard time seeing four goals in this matchup. Um,
I like I like this straight up under because Spurs
are not going to be trying to score goals and
they're gonna be trying, you know, obviously to play defensively.
You know they're not that great at it. But you
know when one team pretty much just wants to win
one zero, you can chalk it up as a game

(35:30):
where you know, maybe even even even losing one zero.
I kind of think at this point that I, you know,
just the Spurs are gonna take you know, basically not
getting embarrassed at Also, I am in on I'm in
on this one for sure. I I like the under
on two and a half on the Fantol Sports book
for this one. Yeah, I really like that too. Um. Look,

(35:51):
it's it's something I do see one of those things
where it's just like a really sloppy goal and you're
just like, what the hell of Spurs do in there?
And they just let one in. Um. There's friction in
the locker room too. I don't know if you saw
the Hugo Loris and Son fighting as they were headed
to the locker room at halftime at their other game.
So it's just like, I can't bet on a team

(36:11):
that's just you know, destroying themselves. And it's and it's
been like this for a while and and now it's
just they play. They paid Jose Marino so much money
and this is just really you know, this could be
a long term thing because there's not going to be
European football being played there next year. That's disastrous. They
go from a Champions League final to finishing outside the

(36:34):
top eight as of right now their ninth when we're
recording this. That's disastrous, that's embarrassing. They fired their best
manager in the past thirty or forty years and they
bring in Jose Marino, a guy who isn't his old self.
He's past it to me, It's just Spurs is just
such a diabolical situation. They're not worth spending your money

(36:55):
on unless you're betting them to lose. No, yeah, I
would be. I would be betting against them pretty much
all the time. Yeah. And this is and this is
also against teams like Bournemouth to like literally literally yeah,
Bournemouth doesn't care and they couldn't beat Bournemouth when they
have every reason to be caring. There was actually a

(37:17):
goal taken back that Bournemouth was up one nothing and
then vary Like, I don't know, it's just I feel
I feel badly for Spurs fans. You know, I root
for a lot of awful teams that are comfortable to
Spurs here over here in the the US, So I
kind of get where you're coming from. But I'm sorry,
I'm not betting my money on your team. So, um,

(37:38):
any other matchups in England that you want to look
towards this weekend before we head on out for the
last segment. No, I mean I think the uh you know,
I think I I always like to watch Liverpool versus
bad teams because it's kind of fun to watch them panic.
But I I think Curtis Jones will get to start
in this game, and maybe maybe RhE and Brewster as well.

(38:00):
And I like watching the young Manchester or the young
Liverpool guys. Maybe Harvey Elliott to Harvey Ellis one of
their other very talented youngsters. I mean, look, it's just
Mena Mino as well that they that they acquired over
in January. I just think there's like a few guys.
This is like key and important stuff. This is because
Liverpool literally have nothing to play for anymore. They won
their league. They're out of these other competitions. So so

(38:23):
now how about that though, So like say they put
out a weaker lineup. I know they could start out
with like Amane Sala for Mino trio up top. But
would you take like a Burnley to cover in this
because we're asking Burnley to cover plus two? Is that
plus one? That's not? No, I I think you you
only would bet against Liverpool if Van Dyke sits, and um,
you know if because he's their best player. Van Dyke

(38:45):
might have even been over the last year, you know,
the most impactful player in the world, more so than well,
not more so than Messy, but more so than pretty
much everyone else. So I went and definitely definitely not
a Phovd is not in. Yeah, who knows if they
if they give him a US or something. It's critical
for player development. So we'll see for the Champions of
England there. But when we come back, we're gonna be

(39:07):
talking about some of the top matchups seeing Italy. Who
are the favorites, who aren't the favorites? Do we agree
disagree on all these topics and more when we come
back here on the pregad sports grid dot com, Betting
insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers

(39:27):
the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, expert picks and more. Want the edge
than get on the grid sports grid dot Com. All right, everybody,
welcome back into the compete here on the sports gred
TV network. We got our final segment of the day
here Martino Puccio Davis Maddock. We're back to Italy. Yeah,

(39:49):
I know, we talked about it often, but there aren't
that many other games going on that we love here.
So we're taken in two of the bigger name matchups
in this league. As far as things, oh, huve Atalanta
will have to start here, Davis, Look Cube again, they
pretty much won the league over the weekend. They had
that awful loss against Milan four to two. They weren't

(40:10):
playing all their main guys. We talked about the lickt
and Baa not being in there, but we know how
big of a deal that is for them. They're pretty
heavy favorites going into this hu a best team in
the league going against South Atlanta by far the best
team in Seria since Covid play has returned. Atlanta's plus
two sixty on the money line, Hub said even plus

(40:31):
one hundred. Do you agree with this because I'm kind
of scratching my head. No, I I scratching my head
as well. I mean, I think after watching some of
these you vent his performances. I mean, at Atlanta has
just been, you know, the way more like swashbuckling team
right like they just they're playing on the front foot
way more. And if Ronaldo is not gonna be the

(40:55):
open play god that we have come to associate with
him over the years. You know, I don't really know
how Juventis can be considered to be one of the
best teams in football because you you look at their
team and you go, okay, so where where's the strength.
You know, it's not it's not a goalkeeper anymore. You know,
very average goalkeeping. Uh, it's not its center back anymore.

(41:16):
Bernucci is way past it. RUGANI never got there, you know,
he he's young. Um. And then and then you look
at the midfield and you go, okay. You know, Adrian
Rubio he is awesome, he is legit, he is legit,
really really good. But then they're their rotation of other midfielders.
I mean, Piano very overrated and now you know, thirty

(41:36):
years old. Yeah, Ben Tenker is like okay, but this
is a guy who you know never is going to
get ep L bids or anything like that. Uh, Matweetie again,
you know, past past his best. I mean, I think
Atalanta just might straight up be the better team right now.
I think so as well. I think they're the best
team in the league. And I don't even think it's like, yeah,
I don't think he could second guess it. Um, we

(41:58):
know that they're behind right now because they had that
rough stretch. I think their defense is still horrific for
all things considered for a team at that level. Um,
but there's still like the goal scoring out. But it
just doesn't matter who they're putting in there. They're just
creating so many chances that at the top of the
league for expected goals, expected assists, it's just they turned
to so many guys they fill into this system like

(42:21):
and they just plug them in and it just works.
For hu A. They need all these guys like right there,
that Hu hu A performance was the worst I've seen
since they returned back in Seria after they got replated
for the for the match match fixing scandal. That was
really bad and they're just missing two players, Davis. At
the end of the day, if you wanna compete for

(42:42):
the Champions League, you want to win all these trophies,
and they might as well win this league again for
like the eight or ninth time in a row. But
when you have two guys go down like that, that's
very concerning for me. And then one of them is
a twenty year old and one of them is in
their mental late twenties in his prime. You have one
of the greatest players of all time in Christiano Ronaldo,
like Bonucci is supposed to be one of the greatest

(43:03):
defenders in the world. He's not even close to that.
He hasn't been in a couple of years, probably since
they lost that Champions League final. It's just stuff like that,
and sorry makes me like he's putting Quadrado and Danillo
at fullback. Danilo's natural right back, as we know, he's
not that good in the first place. They put him
at left back. Alexandro comes in, he gives up a
free goal like that. Again, it's just kind of like

(43:24):
this vibe that I don't understand the direction they're going in.
They made a couple of good purchases. They're gonna have
Kluzewski who's over at Parma, who has been one of
the better players since play has restarted. But for me,
when we're talking betting again, Atalanta again definitely the best
underdog by far in Italy and I think all of

(43:45):
European football this weekend, and you know what, go with
the cover as well. Plus one at minus one thirty five, like,
give it to me, give it to me, Like come on, now,
I think this is like, this is something I can't
really go against the over under two and a half. Look,
it's really just um the over two and a half
isn't that low of a number. Minus one seventy two

(44:06):
is kind of high. But I feel pretty good about
it considering the way hu has looked defensively, and you know,
still at the end of the day, when you have
Christiano Ronaldo and Apollo Apolo Diabolos of the world, they're
gonna be able to get theirs too. So I'm comfortable
on that. And would you entertain in over three and
a half at plus one forty six? Um? Yeah, I
mean I think the way I think the way that

(44:28):
Juventus is playing right now there, I think a game
that they would uh, you know, a game they would
be planning on winning, would probably be a high scoring game.
You know, I don't I don't really know if um,
I don't really know if they have it in them
at this point to win a you know, a defensive battle,
because that's I mean maybe the way they could win
literally it would be a one zero with a Ronaldo

(44:49):
p K that would be the game I would see
them winning. That was low scoring. I don't think any
other any other way they win. So interesting about this, right,
we know and we agree that this league is pretty
much wrapped up. We don't see ve slipping their seven
games left as of right now, they'll be six after

(45:10):
this actor Lanta win there within six points. We don't
see them slowing down. We could see huve A potentially
slip up, and we'll run through Huveas fixtures right now
really quick after this game, so swallow. Not the easiest matchup,
but should be a win. Latiolat Ceo stumbling, but they've

(45:30):
played them extremely well. But they you know, they have
guys who are hurt and suspended and everything. You know,
it's so it's it's just like you know, it can change.
It just it seems unfair for them though. It seems
like unfair for Lotsio to have this great season. And
you know, I I UM I. I listened to some
you know, great soccer podcasts, one of them being The

(45:51):
Guardian Football Weekly Extra and they have some really good
Syria content on there, and the panelists from Italy were
making the point that perhaps no team was hurt worse
by the stopping of the season than Lazzio, who was
undefeated at home. You know, they had not lost in
front of their home fans, and they had all this
momentum and now they don't get to play in front
of their fans, and they were they were having this

(46:12):
great season that that got cut short essentially. Yeah, and
that was something I was saying to write when everything happened,
and I believe it might have been one of the
first shows when we came back on here. They suffered
the most by far. It wasn't even close, Like when
you're writing a hot hand like that. Getting to play
every single week with a thin squad doesn't it doesn't
hurt them. But now when you're playing every three to

(46:33):
four days, and I've said this on my Twitter account,
set it on a few other spots too, that doesn't
help them. They're very thin there and that was part
of the reason why they stunk so bad last season
was that they couldn't participate in the Europa League when
they're playing every three to four days, trying to go
deeper into the competition, where they're falling down to a
lower standard match week in Seria and we've seen it

(46:55):
again because they didn't even play that great from the start.
They were lucky, like they blew that tune nothing lead
against Atlanta where they came Atlanta came back one, three
to two. Then they were lucky enough to win against
you know, Fiorentina. They get smacked against Milan when they're
losing two of their best players, and you know what,
they were relying on Tiro Andmobile a lot. It's difficult
to doe goals. Now. Look, if he gets one more,

(47:19):
by the way, it's a it's a crazy note to
think about. He would become the third player since to
score thirty goals in this league. That's I mean, that's
the type of season he's having and they still didn't
have enough. So for me, they're also someone to kind
of fade for next season, by the way, So it's
that's just like a little especially if they don't if

(47:40):
they don't add guys and they kind of just run
back like the same grouping of players. That, yeah, I
I couldn't agree with you more because at the end
of the day, you you'll get some money, but Champions League,
but how much are they going to be able to
get because they also have a lot of a lot
of things that people don't know. A lot of their
fans are banned from going into the stadium because they
bring the pitchforks, some fly airs, and a lot of

(48:01):
other crazy stuff that goes down there. If you want
to look up on how the Ultras are over in
Italy and UM all those other places. So for us
at Atlanta, probably best bet of the week in Italy here,
But we're gonna be moving on to my team ac
Milan Versnopoly. This was probably our best week in years UM,
beating the top two teams in the league we've played.

(48:23):
We haven't lost to Human in the in the three
matches that we played him, the copy Italian matches, we
drew them both and then we came back to beat him.
In this UM. We played Napoly very close often. The
last time we lost against them was three to two,
but they had to do nothing lead in that. That
was just one of those matches where it notably very
difficult to beat at the San Paulo UM. Looking at

(48:43):
it here, Nopoly, I think they deserve to be the
favorite in this. I think there was extenuating circumstances for
why Milan one those two games that they did, even
though they are playing well. For me, I think Napoly
is the favorite here. But do you agree with how
big of a favorite that they are in this because
at the end of the day, when we're looking at
a line that has plus one oh five to Napoly

(49:04):
and the way Milan is playing, in the way they
play against Napoly, I don't know. I feel like it
should be a little bit closer around the one thirty
range for Napoly, maybe my plus one forty. I mean,
I do think Napoli is is a good bit better
than uh Milan though, though you know, I do. I
do think that just like kind of historically speaking, Hakan

(49:25):
Chillonaglu is like a really underrated player. If he was
playing in the Premier League, you know, he would be
considered similar to like James Madison, you know style player,
like he really is that good. You know, I think
Milan's problem it's just been goal scoring, you know, just
just finding guys to put the ball in the back
and then and maybe you know, maybe its Latan and
Rebbis playing this well, you know, maybe that's not the

(49:47):
problem anymore. Yeah, well we'll see Rebbish is rubbish, is
playing really well, but he's more of an out wide
kind of guy. They still need that up and out
kind of player. They've been linked to Luka Yovich because
that hasn't really been working out in Madrid. But for me,
with Napoli, the biggest story here is Chucky Lotsano is playing,
finally playing well. He's been one of their better players

(50:08):
since the return. We know he's a huge Mexican star.
This was supposed to be. You know, there's Magic Johnson,
Larry Bird, the new age of American Mexican soccer was
supposed to be Pulastitch first. Chucky Lotsano, Um, you mean
that big move over the summer from PSB to Napoli.
Struggled for a while, Gotuso kicked him out of training
for lack of effort and all that jazz finally comes

(50:29):
back coming off the bench producing at a pretty good level. Davis,
is that someone you're actually gonna be targeting, um in
terms of DFS potentially because I think he might get
the start year after how well he's been playing. Oh Lozano.
When he starts, he is amazing for DFS because he
wants to make something happen every time he gets the ball,

(50:49):
he wants to cross, he wants to shoot, he wants
to pass the ball to his teammates in goal scoring opportunities.
He is all action all the time. Yeah. Um, it's
It's really been fascinating to see them. I think Merton's
in senior all their work rates in general have been
so good. They are deeper team than Milan, so this
kind of favors them going into this. It's a little

(51:10):
bit of a revenge game because Ctuso is a manager,
not Napoli. He left Milan after at the end of
last season as a legendary player for them as well,
so I think there will be extra motivation for these
Napoly players. For me, I will be taking Napoly money
line in this. Um. I do think as well. The
over for two and a half is something I like.
I do think both teams to score is something that

(51:32):
we'll see as well. Milan has been one of their
better goal scoring stretches in a while. Napoly just has
so much firepower in my opinion, that's somewhere UM I
feel comfortable going with as well. UM any any other
things that you like in this matchup? Do you like
Napoli to cover at at minus one, that's at plus
I like I like the over for these teams. You know,

(51:52):
Napoli plays that really open attacking style. You know, we
just saw the four goal game from a C. Milan,
you know, of course with with Laton in there. So yeah,
I'm I'm loving I'm loving the over in this one. Yeah,
And there's been a lot of overs in Sariah has
actually just been insane because again we talked about at
the reputation all the time is, oh, there's a very
defensive league. They don't give up a lot of goals.
But if you've been paying close attention in these past

(52:14):
couple of years, I know you have. With DFS, there's
a lot more goals than you would like to think
in this league. So we'll go through all those matchups
and review when we come back here next week on
the free kick. Thank you guys so much for watching Davis.
Thank you again for all the great advice, and we
hope everyone wins a lot of money this weekend playing
soccer DFS Sports grid dot Com betting insights and entertainment

(52:42):
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