Dybala is really the real deal. Watched the match yesterday, his touches were fantastic and he has everything in his locker.

There was a moment in the 2nd half where Pogba opened up the Roma defence with an amazing backheel. Is there anything this guy can't do?

Bryant wrote:

I remember hearing about him because he was recommended by Javier Zanetti for Inter when he played in the Argentine 2nd division. I think what really helped him grow was playing in Serie B and the fact that Palermo are more patient with youngsters (12m euros was spent on Dybala). It's all been a metoric rise since. 

Palermo (or rather their owner Zamparini) are actually not exactly known to be very patient with youngsters. It was more luck than anything that he made it there, they paid big money for him and so were unable to cut their losses quickly after he looked like flopping. It was only until Vazquez returned to the first team after playing with the reserves for half a year that their form picked up again.

It's quite the incredible development for a kid who's younger than the Ox, 12 goals and 8 assists in 20 matches plus many of them game winning strikes. Juventus are in serious form at the moment, at the moment I reckon they're at least on par with last season's team and I can see them cause some damage even against Bayern if they continue to play like this.

Clrnc wrote:

Dybala is really the real deal. Watched the match yesterday, his touches were fantastic and he has everything in his locker.

The lob in the first half where he was flagged off for offside was magnificent. One touch to bring the cross down, then another to dink the ball over Szczesny. Effortless. It hit the bar unfortunately but Mandzukic would have converted the rebound if the referee hadn't called the offside.

Klaus wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Dybala is really the real deal. Watched the match yesterday, his touches were fantastic and he has everything in his locker.

The lob in the first half where he was flagged off for offside was magnificent. One touch to bring the cross down, then another to dink the ball over Szczesny. Effortless. It hit the bar unfortunately but Mandzukic would have converted the rebound if the referee hadn't called the offside.

At 0:23, outrageous stuff.

Pogba is showing that he's the real deal this season too. He used to be a Yaya type that would show a flash of brilliance now and then and decide a game but he's running and dominating games for 90 minutes these days. Frightening to think what kind of player he'll become if he continues at his current trajectory.

Pogba's still too Hollywood for me but yeah, he's got monster potential. What he has shown this season, imo, is that he should just give up any illusion he'll have of ever running a midfield. He's a power player if I've ever seen one. He'll never be able to do what Marchisio does but he could dominate on the ball if he only worked harder. He needs to fill Vidal's shoes this season. That's the guy he should model himself after. He's got enough talent to be one of the defining players of his generation if he puts himself about more.

I agree that he's not Marchisio, and it should be said that the latter has been very impressive in taking over from Pirlo this season. But I reckon if we still give Ox a chance to turn it around we can also expect 22 year old Pogba to mature, especially given the signs so far this season. He's putting himself about but has improved his distribution to a much higher level, can't really compare him to Vidal but then again there's barely anybody with his skill set.

The power player at Juventus is Khedira by the way, if he can get to his old level and they manage to keep him fit it'll look like a very shrewd piece of business to sell Vidal for 40m and get his replacement on a free. He's been in better form than Vidal has been for Bayern, and unlike Vidal Khedira is actually playing in a new league.

Not exactly a fan of Juve but Allegri and especially Marotta are doing an incredible job.

jones wrote:

Klaus wrote:

The lob in the first half where he was flagged off for offside was magnificent. One touch to bring the cross down, then another to dink the ball over Szczesny. Effortless. It hit the bar unfortunately but Mandzukic would have converted the rebound if the referee hadn't called the offside.

At 0:23, outrageous stuff.

:drool:

Klaus wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Dybala is really the real deal. Watched the match yesterday, his touches were fantastic and he has everything in his locker.

The lob in the first half where he was flagged off for offside was magnificent. One touch to bring the cross down, then another to dink the ball over Szczesny. Effortless. It hit the bar unfortunately but Mandzukic would have converted the rebound if the referee hadn't called the offside.

At 32m euros, it seemed like a risky transfer but now after just half a season it's already a bargain. Sometimes I wish we do more of such risks with regards to potential young superstars. He has been involved half of Juve's league goals this season with 7 goals and 12 assists. He is not quite a number 10 but also not a true number 9, a bit like Berardi to me. It's Juve's perfect Tevez replacement though.

Speaking of Berardi, we should be all over him now. I don't think he will play much at Juve next season and Juve can't activate their clause until the summer.

So - it turns out that Sarri got banned for two games in the cup that Napoli have already been knocked out of for his homophobic slur.

Apparently it's not homophobic since Roberto Mancini isn't gay, so they gave him a small ticket to keep up appearances and a pat on the shoulder. Oh Italy. What an absolute shithole you are sometimes.

ESPN just published an article about Higuain and Dybala and the incredible seasons they're both having. It's a good read for people who don't watch Serie A much: http://www.espnfc.us/italian-serie-a/12/blog/post/2790606/higuain-of-napoli-and-dybala-of-juventus-in-scudetto-chase

Higuain, at 28, is entering his peak. Now 22, Dybala still has his entire career in front of him. Both have defenders quaking in their boots but for different reasons. Higuain has scored 20 goals in 20 league games. He leads the scoring charts in Europe's top five leagues this season. To put his exploits into context, only five players in history have been more prolific at this stage of a season in Serie A and the last one, Antonio Angelillo, did it at the end of the 1950s.

At this rate, Higuain will finish the season with more than 30 goals. Luca Toni is the only player to do that in Italy since Angelillo in 1959. The former River Plate and Real Madrid striker could even break the record for most goals in a single season, 36, which was set by Gino Rosetti almost 90 years ago. Higuain has scored 12 braces in the last calendar year, including five in his last seven league appearances, and matched Diego Maradona's record for goals in consecutive games (eight) at the San Paolo.

[...]

Sarri told Higuain he was "lazy" and that so far he had realised only "70 percent" of his potential. Just last month he added that "if he doesn't win the Ballon d'Or, he's a d-------." Crudeness aside, it's a measure of Sarri's belief in his talent, a talent that is commensurate with being the best centre-forward in the world right now and of doing what many Argentines of his generation only dream of: emulating Maradona by winning the Scudetto with Napoli.

It's a bit incredible that Agüero is, at best, Argentina's 4th best striker at the moment.

Injuries aside, I'd much rather have Aguero than Higuain at Arsenal, that's for sure.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Injuries aside, I'd much rather have Aguero than Higuain at Arsenal, that's for sure.

Of course you would. Imagine how many goals he'd get in Serie A.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Injuries aside, I'd much rather have Aguero than Higuain at Arsenal, that's for sure.

Think it's pointless to speculate what players would or wouldn't do if they could only stay fit. Agüero is never fit for an extended period of time, that's part of the issue with him. Higuain in the form he's in this season would have seen us well ahead of any other team in PL at this stage. It's a complete no-brainer.

Injuries aside Agüero would be on Ronaldo, if not Messi level and not a notch below like he currently is. This guy had his league debut in Argentina (hardly a pushover league) when he just turned 15 ffs, if it weren't for all the injuries who knows where he'd be now.

Klaus' ranking is pretty accurate by the way. Higuain this season is as deadly as Agüero is in absolute peak form, the way he's playing he'd score 40 league goals for us.

Klaus wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Injuries aside, I'd much rather have Aguero than Higuain at Arsenal, that's for sure.

Think it's pointless to speculate what players would or wouldn't do if they could only stay fit. Agüero is never fit for an extended period of time, that's part of the issue with him. Higuain in the form he's in this season would have seen us well ahead of any other team in PL at this stage. It's a complete no-brainer.

Sometimes he is. And then he's much better than Higuain. I agree with your "ranking" this season, although Higuain doesn't find this form any more often than Agüero stays fit for an extended period of time.

Klaus wrote:

Pogba's still too Hollywood for me but yeah, he's got monster potential. What he has shown this season, imo, is that he should just give up any illusion he'll have of ever running a midfield. He's a power player if I've ever seen one. He'll never be able to do what Marchisio does but he could dominate on the ball if he only worked harder. He needs to fill Vidal's shoes this season. That's the guy he should model himself after. He's got enough talent to be one of the defining players of his generation if he puts himself about more.

I think he's far better on the ball than Vidal. He used to do the Pirlo role about 2-3 seasons ago, but the guy is too much of a goal threat to hold back. His 1st outing for France was in that role too, put in a MOTM against Spain (who were out of this world at the time). 

But I sort of agree with you, he's not a Pirlo or Xavi.He's a more tactically switched on Yaya Toure and I'd say he's more joga bonito/entertaining to watch/flashier. His touches are Zidane esque - see his ridiculous touch preceeding his shot that hit the bar in the dying seconds the other day.

Here it is.

El Shaarawy has had a good start to his Roma career. Two goals in two games since he signed. He's starting to look like the player he was before the injury again.

Clrnc wrote:

Here it is.

Meh Neymar does that all the time

Barkley, potentially. Not in terms of current level but I think he'd get the most out of his talent in that role.

Higuain's bossing it up among Europe's elite: https://www.whoscored.com/Articles/b_poln3zzkscxyin5pvdma/Show/Player-Focus-The-Race-to-Finish-Top-Goalscorer-in-Europes-Top-5-Leagues

12 months left on his contract in the summer and refuses to renew. He'll win Napoli the league, repeating what no one has done since Maradona, and then he'll leave for a bigger club.

We need to be ready. This is probably going to be our only opportunity to pick up a top class striker in the next couple of years.

He has 12 months left? We should be all over this.

My bad, his current one is ending in 2018. He's got 2 years left in the summer. He doesn't want to sign an extension though. He's well aware that the next one will be his last huge deal, and Napoli just doesn't have the money to compete with the top tier clubs.

He's gotta force a move then. If he lets Napoli run down his contract he will be 31 by then. Hardly any top club will be in for an old striker unless his name is Zlatan.

I reckon there is a chance Wenger will go for him this summer. He was interested in him previously and he has signed someone as old as Arshavin before so it's not impossible. That said, he's not someone special and needs a functional team behind him. We are still looking for that someone special since Henry left. Could and should have been Suarez for us.

I still don't understand why we didn't get him from Madrid...

Too expensive. Madrid raised the price all of a sudden when we already agreed to a much lower fee previously.

I would be worried if we paid a hefty sum only for him to struggle to adapt due to age like Shevchenko who was Ballon D'or quality in Serie A.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/2402526/hleb-sheva-move-doomed

Shevchenko was never this good to be honest. He's one of the least deserved ballon d'or winners ever. He wasn't even the best player in his own team at the time. Higuain this season is better than Sheva ever was.

That's not to say Shevchenko shouldn't have been prolific in England considering his talent, but he was past 30 and Chelsea were ill-suited to the attributes that made him successful in Milan. There's less risk of that happening with Higuain imo, who's two years younger and a quicker player, better on the dribble.

Sure he wasn't that good in the season they gifted him the ballon d'or but he was the best player in, at least, one of his first 3 seasons at Milan.
He had big boots to fill coming after Weah and he definitely impressed me by top scoring in multiple seasons.
I may be wrong but i considered his dribbling as one of his strong points then.
BTW i hated AC Milan, because of Berlusconi, and wanted Inter to win the Scudetto at the time.

Mello wrote:

I still don't understand why we didn't get him from Madrid...

Cos we got Suarez instead, he had a clause it was a no brainer.

What an interception by Bonucci. Superb piece of defending to stop Higuain from scoring.

And then now Buffon with a really good save for Albiol.

Zamparini just re-hired Beppe Iachini three months after sacking him.

It's Palermo's 5th managerial change in 3 months:

Palermo have incredibly announced the re-hiring of Beppe Iachini as Coach, three months after he was fired.

The Rosanero have been having a ridiculous season of changes on the bench and Goivanni Bosi has been replaced after only one game in charge.

Iachini was originally sacked on November 10 to be replaced by Davide Ballardini, who was then fired on January 11.

Guillermo Barros Schelotto was brought in but didn’t have the right paperwork, so Bosi and then Giovanni Tedesco filled in on the bench.

Schelotto then left on February 9 after having his paperwork refused by UEFA and Bosi was appointed a day later.

However, a 3-1 defeat to Torino at home in Bosi’s first game has led the fiery Palermo owner Maurizio Zamparini to bring back Iachini.

“Palermo announces that Giuseppe Iachini has been reinstated as Coach of the first team with all his staff,” read a statement on the club’s official website.

“The club thanks head of the youth sector Dario Baccin and Primavera Coach Giovanni Bosi for their availability shown in this difficult moment of transition.”

He's as mad as a bag full of bats.

It's not that incredible in Italy, happens every now and then that managers are rehired couple of months after being sacked. Zamparini tried to resign Iachini just five or six weeks after sacking him by the way, took him another six weeks to convince him to return.

I'd be seething to have a man like Zamparini run the club I support but as a neutral I like reading about the antics guys like him or Becali at Steaua Bucharest are responsible for. They all seem to follow the same pattern, serious delusions of grandeur, absolutely classless behaviour in public combined with genuine but somewhat twisted love for the clubs their own

He'll probably try to hire Guidolin again soon. I think Zamparini has sacked the poor sod four times at this point, including twice in one season back in 2007.

Couple of youngsters to keep an eye on in the coming seasons in Serie A.

Mattia De Sciglio: 23 year old Italian full back. Most will know of him, hit the ground running 2012/13, since then each season has been hindered by injuries.

Alessio Romagnoli: 21 year old Italian Centre back playing for Milan. He was purchase from Roma in the summer for a tidy sum of €25m. Massive potential.

Manuel Locatelli: 19 year old Italian central midfielder. He has been penciled in as the man who'll finally resurrect the Milan midfield post Pirlo era. Some of his passing ability is pretty tidy. Starved of creativity and missing that drive to win the ball back, the Rossoneri midfielders have been caught trying to fulfill both roles; largely unsuccessfully. Definitely one to watch.

Gianluigi Donnarumma: Milan's new GK at the ripe old age of... 16! yes 16. While mos of us were picking spots and worrying about GCSE's, aged 16, Gianluigi is now Milan's starting keeper.

Daniele Rugani: Juve young CB. With Juve's current trio of CB's not getting any younger, Juve invested heavily in the Empoli CB who has been touted as one for the future.

Domenico Berardi: 21 year old Sassuolo Striker. A quick and hardworking left-footed player with an eye for goal, Berardi is capable of being deployed in several offensive positions on either side of the pitch. Goals have somewhat dried up in 15/16.

Berardi's the one to watch in my opinion. He did this today against Empoli:

He had a nice assist for Defrel's first goal too.

Riccardo Saponara was really good again in the Empoli side. He's such a clever player. He kept running things even when they were down to ten men. I wonder where he'll play next year.

Berardi somehow reminds me of Quagliarella. Scorer of good goals but don't score enough.

Anybody saw Dzeko's miss yesterday? Probably worse than Giroud's miss of the season contender.

Meanwhile, Salah scored a Kanu-esque goal with an incredibly clumsy first touch. Such a shit goal

That chest control.

Awesome finish though. He's lucky that football is mostly played with your feet.

Clrnc wrote:

Berardi somehow reminds me of Quagliarella. Scorer of good goals but don't score enough.

That's because he's playing on the flank.

He's still not scoring at a top rate tbf, but goals are hard to come by at Sassuolo. He's more active in the buildup this season from what I can tell, playing half as a winger and half as some sort of auxiliary midfielder. It's widely accepted that he'll end up as a centreforward at some point, but how many strikers show that kind of range deeper in the field? I think he's a really interesting talent.