From 88 till 98 Serie A had 9 EC/CL, 13 UEFA cup, 3 CWC finalists for a decade. They truly dominated Europe at the time.
And as someone who grew up with that league it really was..
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
And as someone who grew up with that league it really was..
During that time England didn't get a single team to the final of any of them. The ban killed the 1st Division/Premier League but Serie A really was miles ahead of everyone in the 90s.
Serie A was the place to be in the late 80’s & 90’s. Most of the major stars from that era appeared there at some point.
Arguments can be made for and against here. I would still have 94/95 shearer in my team over Batigol though.
As good Shearer was on that era and he was the level of players Batistuta faced on Serie A at the time was miles ahead. And yes the gulf was huge, just look at the first years of the new format of the Champions League and compare the difference between Italian teams and from England. I mean just look at the names of the defenders who played on that era. Sorry no discussion on that, even if Shearer was really great.
VVD let Gnabry cut in on his stronger foot to shoot, the same scenario happened again late in the game but fortunately for VVD, DeLigt came over to cover Gnabrys right foot thereby forcing Gnabry to go back on the left and shoot weakly
They just did a "who is better Rio or Van Dijk" question to the panel of BT Sport. Then started discussing "potential" for a 28 year old in his prime. fecking morons.
VVD being made homeless by Ole, he wants his rental property back now that he is back full-time
Thought his positioning was brilliant on the 2 v 1 counterattack. Knew that Son was the threat there and forced Sissoko to go to his left. Played it perfectly. Deserves the PL player of the year accolades he's been getting.
cnut seemed to come out of nowhere when Kane was pretty much through on goal in the first half too. Wish he'd feck off and we could laugh at them conceding 2 or 3 goals in loads of games again.
It was absolutely awful, as usual, by Sissoko.
Any professional footballer needs to at least be hitting the target in that position when they get the shot away.
Yup, pathetic from Sissoko. At no point there did he look like he actually wanted to shoot.
It was pathetic football by Sissoko, than great defending from VVD. Any other footballer hits the target from there
Sissoko hit target, scores and VVD looks like a bum
Sissokho should have done better but that was top notch defending by Van Dijk. He did everything he was supposed to do in that situation. Reduced the angle and closed the blind alley as much as possible. Kept it on Sissoko's left as well.
He is great defender but positioning there was awful. He gave Sissoko free shot from 11m, ffs. Yes, it was tough situation for defender but his reaction was bad.
He was absolutely perfect in that situation. 2v1 with half the pitch for the attackers. He did everything he could to make sure the pass to son was not on whilst being close enough to sisoko to put him off. That's absolutely top class defending. What else could he of done?
He gave professional football player free shot from 11m. It is not a good job.
He could try to attack him while protecting pass to Son. He could try to put Son in offside while pressing on Sissoko. I don't know, lots of options there but at end he did what? He allowed free shot. How is that good defending? It is good defending because Sissoko missed and he is Van dijk.
If it was Lovren and Sissoko scored, it would be different story
What is the difference giving Sissoko free shot or Son? People reacting like Son is Messi and he would score that 100% and Sissoko is some amateur who can't shoot the ball.
I'm amazed how well he's recovered from his injury at Southampton that had him out for ages - I don't think he's a league match for Liverpool since joining.
I love the guy but the hype around this Sissoko thing is ridiculous. He literally allowed a player to have a free shot at goal from dead centre inside the box. Instead of focusing on VVD the real talk should be why a professional footballer can't even hit the target in that situation.
It was great defending. He blocked the pass to Son and forced Sissoko to move onto his weaker foot for the shot. He couldn't have done it better.
He offered the Spurs player a free run in on goal straight through to the keeper.
It's only considered great defending because of the end result but thats now how it should be judged. Son is too wide in that position, if he gets the ball he's not even through on goal.
Sissoko doesn't even have to shoot from where he was, he can take another touch and get even closer to goal
It's only considered great defending because of the end result but thats now how it should be judged. Son is too wide in that position, if he gets the ball he's not even through on goal.
Sissoko doesn't even have to shoot from where he was, he can take another touch and get even closer to goal
It was good defending regardless of the outcome as Van Dijk is clearly playing the percentages there. If he closes in early on Sissoko, then Sissoko passes to Son who likely scores. Finishing with composure clearly isn’t one of Sissoko’s strengths and Van Dijk knew this.
Forced Sissoko onto his weaker foot?
Sissoko hasn’t even got a strong foot.
He is absolutely useless when it comes to anything remotely relatated to composure and shooting.
The fact is, Sissoko got a shot away and any professional footballer should at least be hitting the target in that situation. Literally any other attacking player on the pitch would have been able to hit the target, but not Sissoko.
Sissoko hasn’t even got a strong foot.
He is absolutely useless when it comes to anything remotely relatated to composure and shooting.
The fact is, Sissoko got a shot away and any professional footballer should at least be hitting the target in that situation. Literally any other attacking player on the pitch would have been able to hit the target, but not Sissoko.
Agreed. Did the best he could with some quick thinking and it worked out well.
Even more impressive from this angle.
That angle makes what Sissoko done look even worse. All that space to run into, ran towards VVD, then dragged the ball out wide almost unbalancing himself and taking it away from goal, before smashing it high over the bar. Wow 
VVD is one of the best defenders in the world but that was poor defending for the Sissoko chance. He was in a difficult position but letting Sissoko have a free shot from 8 yards out wasn’t good. Very fortunate he missed.
He did the right thing though feinting enough to put Sissoko off, if he closes in on Sissoko earlier, Sissoko slots in Son and he's scoring on his right foot and VVD knew that risk.
I think it worked out well because Sissoko was telegraphing for the world that he wanted to play the pass to Son.
If he charged Sissoko there Sissoko lays it off to Son, so Van Djik read that and took the less of the two evils to force Sissoko onto his left, but still kept him close enough to not give him too much time for the shot.
Sissoko really should be getting that on target though. If it was Kane and Son I think Van Djik charges there.
If he charged Sissoko there Sissoko lays it off to Son, so Van Djik read that and took the less of the two evils to force Sissoko onto his left, but still kept him close enough to not give him too much time for the shot.
Sissoko really should be getting that on target though. If it was Kane and Son I think Van Djik charges there.
It was 2 vs 1, van Dijk wouldnt have looked bad wither way, unless he would have committed too early or tried a stupid tackle. You cant defend a 2 vs 1 better, people make it sound like it was a 1vs1. It was a good move to let Sissoko take the shot, Son is the better player and finisher. That Sissoko missed was much likelier than Son and thats why he gave him more space and focused more on Son.
Son is wide. The percentage play is to let it wide since any Spurs player is favourite to score 1v1 from 8 yards out. Son is a lot less likely to score from where he is
Sissoko had a piss easy chance here, VVD isn't rainman running the fecking math in his head.
He should have kept running straight at VVD and forced him to commit. Very poor decision making from him.That angle makes what Sissoko done look even worse. All that space to run into, ran towards VVD, then dragged the ball out wide almost unbalancing himself and taking it away from goal, before smashing it high over the bar. Wow
He played it as well as you can. Sissoko's poor decision making helped though
It wasn't particularly great defending, he just blocked son and allowed Sissoko through on goal as he was less likely to remain composed taking the shot off. It was more shit finishing than anything.
that goes down as a poor finish for me and not great defending
the plan there for VVD is to block the angle of the pass to Son whilst driving Sissoko wide
Sissoko had time to come inside and it was just a poor finish
I think the 2 v 1 thing is getting blown out of proportion. VVD obviously did well considering he was 2 v 1, but ultimately it was just a monumental feck up from sissoko in a 2 v 1 situation. The outcome wasn’t due to what VVD did. Also why the feck was sissoko trying to blast it from 10 yards with his weaker foot. You literally could have passed it into the net.
All that being said, he was pretty monstrous again today. Hell of a defender, I’m extremely envious they have him.
All that being said, he was pretty monstrous again today. Hell of a defender, I’m extremely envious they have him.
They hype around this was way OTT in my opinion. He defended the situation well but like others have said it was more shocking finishing from Sissoko. VVD essentially let him have a free shot at goal. Granted, Sissoko being useless in the opposition box probably played a part in that decision.
To make things worse, Alderweireld did something similar with Salah on the break and even managed to stop a shot on goal but he didn't get a quarter of the praise VVD got.
From this angle looks even worse from Van dijk. Clear shot from 11m, through the middle. With minimum pressure. You can't get better chance.
This was bad defending. Again, he had excellent game, he is best defender in PL but lets not pretend that he does everything perfect
it was an impossible situation to defend perfectly, he took the safest option (IMO) and got a bit lucky because Sissoko fecked it up
would've been risky to bum-rush Sissoko there but I reckon it would pay off because he'd screw up the pass instead
would've been risky to bum-rush Sissoko there but I reckon it would pay off because he'd screw up the pass instead
What are you on about?
What's the difference between giving son or sissoko the chance? Are you kidding?
There is a reason why son is a striker and sissoko isn't. They had half the pitch available there's is absolutely no way he could protect the pass and block the shot.