Italian Serie A 2018-19

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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Roma remind me of Arsenal so much. They usually play well, never compete at high level and they get absolutely thrash sometimes.

They are good enough to finish 4th overall.
 
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B & W

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Roma remind me of Arsenal so much. They usually play well, never compete at high level and they get absolutely thrash sometimes.

They good enough to finish 4th overall.
Difficult to say. In this moment there are many sides fighting for this position, and perhaps for the third position, too. If Inter does not change something, there will be a war between Inter, Milan, Roma, Lazio and Atalanta for two positions, and it is impossible to know who will win. All of them are teams that are not able to continue to perform constantly
 

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It's incredible the amount of chances Napoli manage to miss per game
Mertens gone back to a normal scoring level (think he has 8 in Seria A) so last season was a bit of a freak scoring season from him which really helped Napoli push Juve so much.

Napoli are still doing good. 11 points clear of Inter, 14 clear of Roma and 16 clear of AC Milan so comfortably Italy's next best which is pretty good as they don't spend as much as Milan clubs.

Not going to be 90 + points good though. ;)
 

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Mertens gone back to a normal scoring level (think he has 8 in Seria A) so last season was a bit of a freak scoring season from him which really helped Napoli push Juve so much.

Napoli are still doing good. 11 points clear of Inter, 14 clear of Roma and 16 clear of AC Milan so comfortably Italy's next best which is pretty good as they don't spend as much as Milan clubs.

Not going to be 90 + points good though. ;)
Probably not with them going for the Europa League but they have a fairly easy schedule from now on, losing only 7 more points until the end of the season is doable. They'll probably go on to finish in the 85-90 bracket though.

I like the job Ancelotti has done so far, hopefully only one of their key players leaves in the summer.
 

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Is Hamsik leaving? Apparently some move to a Chinese club was about to be done but fell through.

Will be odd not to see him in Napoli's midfield anymore. Been there since 2007 and played over 400 games and I'm sure rejected many offers from the leading european clubs in that time.
 

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Fantastic atmosphere at Parma, fight for the Champions League spots will be insane this year.

Inter, Milan, Roma, Lazio and Atalanta fighting for two spots.
 

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Inter in big trouble if they don't win this...have Sampdoria, Fiorentina, Milan derby and Lazio in their next 6 games.

Disaster for them if they miss out on top 4 unless they're planning to win europa league.
 

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Gervinho-Inglese is such a classic partnership. Parma are fun to watch, lots of interesting players and they play decent football.
 

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Should have really beaten such a sad, crap and poor Inter side. They were here for the taking.
Actually I've seen a decent second half for Inter, I mean Parma is just a Serie B club (with Gervinho in it) and is too soon to say that the crisis is over but better performance than the last 3 awful games.
 

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Parma 12 points clear of relegation zone is brilliant achievement by them.
 

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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Actually I've seen a decent second half for Inter, I mean Parma is just a Serie B club (with Gervinho in it) and is too soon to say that the crisis is over but better performance than the last 3 awful games.
Despite dominating the whole second half, they barely created any chance. Just a counter that fecked us up.
 

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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Atalanta being rampant in the second half again. Their stamina level is just amazing and if they can keep it up until may they are gonna finish in the Champions League for sure.
 

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Juve playing terrible football, Rugani-Caceres CB pairing very shaky and once again trying to assist the opposition but Sassuolo made one mistake so naturally Juve are 1-0 up.

I’d love to know why Cancelo keeps getting benched and Alex Sandro and De Sciglio who add nothing offensively start. Only explanation is that Allegri wants more defensive fullbacks to cover for the absence of Chiellini and Bonucci but this is painful to watch
 

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I'm wondering about that penalty decision in the 4-5th minute in Sassuolo-Juventus. To me it looked like a penalty, Sczcesny got the man slightly before he got the ball. We see the ref getting called over to make the decision himself and we watch him watch the replays from all angles. Just as he leaves the camera they start doing slow-mo replays, something which he hadn't seen.

My thinking is that he didn't give the penalty in real time and he wasn't 100% sure by watching the replays that it was a penalty and therefor he didn't give it. Had he given it in real-time and then watched the replay he might not have overturned it.
 

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Juve playing terrible football, Rugani-Caceres CB pairing very shaky and once again trying to assist the opposition but Sassuolo made one mistake so naturally Juve are 1-0 up.

I’d love to know why Cancelo keeps getting benched and Alex Sandro and De Sciglio who add nothing offensively start. Only explanation is that Allegri wants more defensive fullbacks to cover for the absence of Chiellini and Bonucci but this is painful to watch
You are probably right. De Sciglio is better than Cancelo defensively. But is not a bad player offensively. Today he played very well. If Cancelo can rest a bit is not bad.
 

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You are probably right. De Sciglio is better than Cancelo defensively. But is not a bad player offensively. Today he played very well. If Cancelo can rest a bit is not bad.
He's been continuously left out though, at first I thought it was injury problems but now I don't think so. Hopefully it's just a tactical decision because of the injuries.

It's true that De Sciglio has been very good though. Not just today but all season. Juve just become way too defensive when they play him and Alex Sandro at the same time, a top team should have at least one of the fullbacks be offensive minded.
 

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I'm wondering about that penalty decision in the 4-5th minute in Sassuolo-Juventus. To me it looked like a penalty, Sczcesny got the man slightly before he got the ball. We see the ref getting called over to make the decision himself and we watch him watch the replays from all angles. Just as he leaves the camera they start doing slow-mo replays, something which he hadn't seen.

My thinking is that he didn't give the penalty in real time and he wasn't 100% sure by watching the replays that it was a penalty and therefor he didn't give it. Had he given it in real-time and then watched the replay he might not have overturned it.
I am watching a TV show where all journalists and normal people are extremely against Juventus, as usual in Italy. At first they screamed and barked like crazy saying that it was a scandal, as they do everytime, and this was a clear penalty and so on. After a minute they could speak to a former referee that is their expert, to confirm to the whole planet that he was a penalty. Their expert said it was not a foul. Some other referees confirmed that, I have seen. They had to admit it was not a penalty, and for them that is worst than admit to be idiots. So you can be sure that it was the right decision.
 
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B & W

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He's been continuously left out though, at first I thought it was injury problems but now I don't think so. Hopefully it's just a tactical decision because of the injuries.

It's true that De Sciglio has been very good though. Not just today but all season. Juve just become way too defensive when they play him and Alex Sandro at the same time, a top team should have at least one of the fullbacks be offensive minded.
He has been injured for a month, indeed, from half december to half january. A problem to the knee. I think that Allegri will prefer to use De Sciglio in Serie A for the moment, and will use Cancelo for the Champions League.
 

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Great goal by Paqueta for Milan, watched quite a few of their games this year and think they could finally breakthrough back into the Champions League with Paqueta and Piatek, a great couple of midseason signings
 

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Calabria is such a good crosser. Milan need to upgrade in the wing positions and left back but other than that they’ve got a good team.
 

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Calabria is such a good crosser. Milan need to upgrade in the wing positions and left back but other than that they’ve got a good team.
They have an exciting core of young players, Donnarumma Calabria Cutrone Piatek Kessie Paqueta all 22 or younger, with Romagnoli and Caldara both 24 in center defense.
I hope they become a Champions League regular again, always had a soft spot for Milan and would be cool to see madman Gattuso succeed as manager too :lol:
 

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They have an exciting core of young players, Donnarumma Calabria Cutrone Piatek Kessie Paqueta all 22 or younger, with Romagnoli and Caldara both 24 in center defense.
I hope they become a Champions League regular again, always had a soft spot for Milan and would be cool to see madman Gattuso succeed as manager too :lol:
I’d love them to be successful under Gattuso cause he always looks on the verge of tears on the touchline and feel like the guy deserves something to really celebrate as manager :lol:
 

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I am watching a TV show where all journalists and normal people are extremely against Juventus, as usual in Italy. At first they screamed and barked like crazy saying that it was a scandal, as they do everytime, and this was a clear penalty and so on. After a minute they could speak to a former referee that is their expert, to confirm to the whole planet that he was a penalty. Their expert said it was not a foul. Some other referees confirmed that, I have seen. They had to admit it was not a penalty, and for them that is worst than admit to be idiots. So you can be sure that it was the right decision.
It's understandable that football fans in Italy are against Juventus. It's the 7th season in a row without anything exciting at the top. TV people especially want to keep it interesting because it's surely costing them some numbers of subscriptions.

I'm still not going to take the word of the expert. If it was as clear cut as you make out his opinion to be then the VARs would just have called it and the ref wouldn't have needed to look at it. I still found it very strange that the match ref left the VAR booth before the slow-mo replays came on. You really needed the slow-mo to make sure. As an unbiased spectator I'm fine with the verdict. It was a tough call, Szczesny got the ball and it's a matter of centimeters the moment when he did. However the rules don't state that a goalkeeper is allowed to tackle a player in that manner more than an outfield player is so strictly speaking he should have conceded a penalty considering how much he got the man along with the ball.
 

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For anyone who recalls the horror show that was Bakayoko in a Chelsea shirt, he's been a completely different player for Milan this season. In fact, most Milan fans agree that he's probably been their best player this season.
 

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For anyone who recalls the horror show that was Bakayoko in a Chelsea shirt, he's been a completely different player for Milan this season. In fact, most Milan fans agree that he's probably been their best player this season.
Yeah he seemed like he improved a lot in the super Cup game against Juventus I saw in January. He was one of their best players on the day. It seems that Chelsea was just the wrong move at that time for him and maybe he couldn’t handle the pressure of playing for a bigger club in the premier league.
 

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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Milan seem to have found their feet thanks to the january signingns. Piatek and Paqueta has been outstanding.
 

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It's understandable that football fans in Italy are against Juventus. It's the 7th season in a row without anything exciting at the top. TV people especially want to keep it interesting because it's surely costing them some numbers of subscriptions.

I'm still not going to take the word of the expert. If it was as clear cut as you make out his opinion to be then the VARs would just have called it and the ref wouldn't have needed to look at it. I still found it very strange that the match ref left the VAR booth before the slow-mo replays came on. You really needed the slow-mo to make sure. As an unbiased spectator I'm fine with the verdict. It was a tough call, Szczesny got the ball and it's a matter of centimeters the moment when he did. However the rules don't state that a goalkeeper is allowed to tackle a player in that manner more than an outfield player is so strictly speaking he should have conceded a penalty considering how much he got the man along with the ball.
Football fans are not against Juventus. 40% them are Juventus fans (recent poll) and another 10% is fan of other sides but pro Juve, too (probably fans of small sides that usually do not play in Serie A). Against Juventus are mostly fans of Inter (nothing to do with football) and of Naples. The problem is that all TV and newspapers are full of people that hate Juventus, but not only for the last 8 years. It was the same in the past. To hate Juventus and say a huge amount of rubbish about them is an easy way in Italy to find a job as journalist or as manager.
 

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Milan seem to have found their feet thanks to the january signingns. Piatek and Paqueta has been outstanding.
All they've done is beat Cagliari and Spal at home and Genoa away, teams 13-15th in the table. 3 wins in last 9 Seria A games which is pretty mediocre. Yes Piatek has settled in nicely and scoring but so was Higuain first half of the season.

Now Milan in next 10 fixtures have very inform Atalanta away (up next), Lazio away, Milan derby, Sampdoria away, Juventus away and Lazio at home so that is the time to step up and show they're on way back by actually beating some decent top half teams.

Had to double check this but Milan have only beaten two top half teams all season, Roma 2-1 at home in second game and Samp 3-2 at home. Nobody away from home. Amazed they're actually 4th with that record.

It's a great club but people get too excited when they beat a couple of relegation strugglers.
 

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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All they've done is beat Cagliari and Spal at home and Genoa away, teams 13-15th in the table. 3 wins in last 9 Seria A games which is pretty mediocre. Yes Piatek has settled in nicely and scoring but so was Higuain first half of the season.

Now Milan in next 10 fixtures have very inform Atalanta away (up next), Lazio away, Milan derby, Sampdoria away, Juventus away and Lazio at home so that is the time to step up and show they're on way back by actually beating some decent top half teams.

Had to double check this but Milan have only beaten two top half teams all season, Roma 2-1 at home in second game and Samp 3-2 at home. Nobody away from home. Amazed they're actually 4th with that record.

It's a great club but people get too excited when they beat a couple of relegation strugglers.
Fair point, but they would have struggled to beat them one month ago. There are some signs of improvement.
 
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B & W

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Inter sold Zaniolo to Rome for 4.5 millions this summer as part of the acquisition, for 40 millions, of Nainggolan (a real failure). Now, after a few months, he is worth about 10 times more. Another great success of the most pathetic side in Italy, the same that sold in the past, for peanuts, players like Pirlo, Seedorf, Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos...
Congratulations!!!
 

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Inter sold Zaniolo to Rome for 4.5 millions this summer as part of the acquisition, for 40 millions, of Nainggolan (a real failure). Now, after a few months, he is worth about 10 times more. Another great success of the most pathetic side in Italy, the same that sold in the past, for peanuts, players like Pirlo, Seedorf, Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos, Coutinho, Bonucci, Mutu...
Congratulations!!!
 

Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87

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Inter sold Zaniolo to Rome for 4.5 millions this summer as part of the acquisition, for 40 millions, of Nainggolan (a real failure). Now, after a few months, he is worth about 10 times more. Another great success of the most pathetic side in Italy, the same that sold in the past, for peanuts, players like Pirlo, Seedorf, Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos...
Congratulations!!!
So true. They just don't know how to use a youngster.
 

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At least selling Bonucci was useful to buy legend players like Milito and Motta that won the treble and btw the real value of Bonucci was seen at Milan, average player with no character. Adding Mutu is pretty laughable too, his career went to nothing.
Cannavaro went to Juve in a vile way and after all he didnt win nothing at Juve, actually he got even relegated.
But sure ad I said we are ashamed about the mistakes made about youngsters over the years, there are many responsables about this situation.