You know, Klaus, I have been told that Balotelli is barely better than Giroud. 🙂

17 days later

No comments on Milan vs Juve ? 😉

FT Milan 0-2 Juve

Switched it off after Juve's 2nd goal, the scoreline was so undeserved at that point. Conte is a coward, still parks the bus against the big teams despite having a far better team than everyone else.

Pirlo had a mare, but to be fair to him, Milan had Poli (very good at pressing) on him for most of the match. It was a good tactical move by Seedorf; Poli normally plays on the right but he moved him to the AM role to man mark Pirlo (Juve's chief conductor) and Juve really struggled in midfield.

Juve were very effective, they sucker punched Milan with a well worked 1st goal. Tevez had a hand in the 1st goal (he's quite good at playing those sort of passes in the box) and scored from a cracking long range strike.

I'm still baffled why we never even attempted to sign Tevez in the summer. We were short of quality in attack and one of the best forwards in the PL was available for peanuts - twas a no brainer . We could have easily signed him and have enough money left for a top striker (Suarez) or a playmaker (Ozil).

City wouldn't have sold him to us.

I missed the game but saw the highlights afterwards. Not much to add really; Juve excel at this type of football. I find it dull and boring personally but you gotta admire their defence. I think I like what Seedorf is doing with Milan though. If he can sell some of the duds and bring in a couple of players in the summer they will be back in the top next year.

Taraabt has looked really good for them from what i've seen. They have a pretty decent midfield to work with although its held together completely by Montolivo. Their central defence is shambolic though. Need 2 centre halves and a keeper too maybe.

@[deleted]

Do you think City saw us as a threat before we signed Ozil?

Yeah also like what I have seen of Milan since Seedorf took over despite results not always going their way. Question is though, will Milan back him in the summer? Their current squad is nowhere good enough to compete at the highest level.

Taarabt seems to have taken the move really well - understands that its not all on him as there's other WC players in the squad, but provided freedom to express himself due to Seedorf's management.

Oddly always like him as a player so I'm excited its working out.

Armor wrote:

Taraabt has looked really good for them from what i've seen. They have a pretty decent midfield to work with although its held together completely by Montolivo. Their central defence is shambolic though. Need 2 centre halves and a keeper too maybe.

He was boss last night. Rami is decent, no? But I agree with you they should bring in 2 good CBs.

What about the fullbacks? Emanuelson is decent going forward but he's very suspect defensively. Never been a fan of Abate. De Seglio is talented but he isn't developing well. Still very young though

Rami isn't great but ye they need a left back a lot more. Think Abate is off (?) so De Sciglio can play on that side.

Inter have confirmed Vidic is joining. Thought Mazzari did a great job at Napoli but his Inter team are a weird side. Vidic should be a good signing though.

12 days later

12 points ahead of Roma, ridiculous. Another Bundesliga

Told you chaps 4/5 on Juventus was brilliant value.

The other 2 bets i advised look certainties as well - Arsenal for top 4 and Chamberlain to go to the world cup at 7/4. And i didn't even get a word of thanks, pfft

16 days later

Di Natale is one goal behind Alessandro Del Piero and Giuseppe Signori in the all time top scorer's league for Serie A, by the way. They're both joint 8th. The smart money is on him surpassing them in the next few weeks.

I'm not sure people appreciate how difficult that kind of feat is when you're playing for a two-bob team like Udinese.

Yeah but he's been playing in a shite league for 37 years

He didn't start playing when he was zero years old tbf.

Didn't even become a regular goal scorer until his 30's.

He's good yes.

I was just pointing out what a pony league serie a is

16 days later

Comfortable win for Milan against Livorno. Their 5th victory on the bounce, which is their longest win sequence since 2011 (I think).

Balotelli was the man for Milan with a goal and 2 assists, the nutter does have an eye for a pass. I reckon he could be great playing off a striker.

Luca Toni with another goal today, that's 18 in total, which is a goal less than the leading scorer Immobile.

Fair play to Klaus for tipping Toni as a potential top scorer at the start of the season. I personally couldn't see it at the time (even though I didn't respond to his post).

11 days later

One of the greatest ever, no doubt.

6 days later

Sassuolo with an impressive 4-3 away win against Fiorentina. Domenico Berardi scored a hattrick. He's the 19 year old lad who scored four goals on Milan a couple of months ago. Have to say, this guy looks like the real deal to me.

Let me guess, he's owned by Juventus?

They own half his license. They also own Sassuolo's other forward. It shouldn't be legal to do business like that.

😆 Seriously?

It was actually meant as a tongue-in-cheek comment.

Ridiculous.

They're vultures.

I wonder if Juve would sell him for big money though... He's got no experience, he won't start for them in the foreseeable future and he's very young. As long as the affair represents great value for them I reckon they're happy.

Yep, think they would cash in on him too. They are more interested in bringing Immobile back I reckon. Too many forwards on their books now, and also out on loan.

Reading Vidal might miss the World Cup due to knee injury, they are hoping he will be back just in time but cutting a bit fine!

If anyone's interested, Zanetti's ceremony:

Beautiful.

The most impressive thing with Zanetti is that he could probably have carried on for another couple of years if he really wanted to. The guy stopped aging at 29.

Kovacic's 2 assists today was brilliant.

17 days later

Juventus are so screwed. 😆

This is fabulous news. Arsenal, act quickly for once and put in a bid for Berardi.

So what happens to all the players currently co-owned? Does one club have to buy the other out of the contract?

Might sound weird, but they're saying all those players will have to be chopped in half. But then who gets what half? The whole thing is a mess.

Juve will be all: "Fine, chop Berardi up, whatever." while Sassuolo are: "No! Don't hurt him! We'd rather Juventus have him than kill him." and then the Italian FA will give him to Sassuolo because they proved that they cared about him the most.

Timothy wrote:

Might sound weird, but they're saying all those players will have to be chopped in half. But then who gets what half? The whole thing is a mess.

We should go for Balo's legs and Pirlo's head while the market's new. Maybe put Rex's banana in there somewhere too.

Balotelli wouldn't be able to run with that sort of luggage.