Watched about 20 minutes of that match, there's this guy called Saponara that's pretty impressive for Empoli.

Anyway, the more interesting match is the Rome derby. Felipe Anderson and Gervinho both running the shows for their sides respectively. Gervinho is unrecognisable from the guy who plays for us, he's so good for Garcia's counter attacking system.

Yeah, Saponara is quality. Milan are idiots for letting him go, he's a level above anything they have in midfield.

Agree about Gervinho too. He's playing the best football in his career now, some of the goals he scored this season were Agüero like in composure and quality of the finish. Happy for him, he was complete houseboat for us but you could never fault his effort.

Starting to have a suspicion Brazil's FA have started some new steroid program after last year's WC fiasco, can't be a coincidence that Costa and Anderson start tearing shit up with Henry-like pace and Adriano'esque shotpower around the same time

Also throw 50m at Lazio for him

They both seem to have benefited from the personal growth that comes from having to stand on your own two legs for a while. Costa had a tough time initially in Ukraine and Anderson similarly flopped in Italy. He has to be the first person who has gotten fat because of poor language skills. He was all alone when he arrived in Rome and didn't know how to cook, so he ate at restaurants every day and kept ordering the only thing he recognised on the menu - pasta carbonara - and went up several pounds as a result (this is actually true! ).

I sometimes think that if Robinho had experienced Manchester before he went to Real Madrid he would have had a far better career.

Palermo owner Zamaparini has sacked Beppe Iachini and has had more than 25! managers during his ownership. Not sure what he's thinking but I bet he'll hire and sack two more coaches and bring Iachini back. He's been the manager that's rebuilt Dybala and Vazquez, not sure what's there to gain to sack him.

Well...perhaps a player revolt!

Palermo pledged to “punish” Enzo Maresca after he joined a player revolt on social media against Beppe Iachini’s sacking.

The Coach was surprisingly dismissed this morning, under 48 hours after a 1-0 victory over Chievo, and replaced by Davide Ballardini.

Players have lined up on social media to express their frustration and anger at the decision.

Franco Vazquez dubbed it “an injustice” on Twitter and goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino wrote “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Midfielder Maresca took the strongest line on a Facebook post.

“Together since January 2014 we dominated the Serie B championship by breaking every possible record, got almost 50 points in the first Serie A season and would’ve got 50 this year…

“As well as bringing more than €60m into the club coffers! You’re not the one saying it and neither am I, because everyone knows the reality of the situation.

“It has been a pleasure LION!”

Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini reacted angrily to this latest outburst.

“Clearly a player like Maresca was talking bull and he will be punished. It’s not even true that I earned €60m the last two seasons, because being in Serie B cost me €40m.

“Vazquez is fond of Iachini because, based on my intervention, he got him back on track in Serie B. I want to take Palermo to European levels and that means more pro-active football. I removed Iachini because the team was no longer playing football.”

In today’s Press conference presenting Ballardini, President Zamparini also confirmed this wasn’t his first choice.

“I asked Francesco Guidolin to return, but it was not possible. I chose Ballardini because he knows the environment around the club, having already worked here.

“He has the enthusiasm that is currently missing in the squad. I am convinced he’ll bring it back.”

Zamparini insults Palermo stars
By Football Italia staff

Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini gave an expletive-filled interview insulting Enzo Maresca, Franco Vazquez and sacked Coach Beppe Iachini.

The patron did not hold back when speaking to Radio 24 about his controversial decision to fire Iachini, bringing in new tactician Davide Ballardini.

It was particularly contentious as players Maresca and Vazquez complained publicly on social media.

“I am the President of the club and they must respect the club,” said Zamparini. “In Italy thanks to a stupid law the players are considered to be employees.

“Maresca was talking bull****. I still care for him, but I’ll give him a telling off and warn he mustn’t talk rubbish anymore. He’s ignorant and should get informed before talking ****. It’s not true that Iachini helped me earn €60m.

“All the team is behind me, except for a player and a half. Maresca is the one, Vazquez is the half. From now on, before talking about the club, these players must ask for my authorisation.

“Maresca should be thinking about the €500,000 he earns net at his age. Vazquez gets €800,000 and last season our books read -€23m, so we only balanced them thanks to Paulo Dybala’s sale.”

Why did Zamparini sack Iachini even after the 1-0 victory over Chievo?

“After that match I sent Iachini a message. I told him: ‘That was your worst line-up since I’ve known you, but at least you got back one valuable thing – blind luck.’

“My family wants me to leave football and this sport really is breaking my balls now. If I find someone who will buy the club, I’m ready to sell.”

this guy is crazy!

He's a complete buffoon and I'd be mightily irritated if he owned my club but part of my love for the sport are crazy fuckers like him or Bucharest's Becali.

I'll take Silent Stan over a guy like this any day.

Juventus-Milan just wrapped up. Dybala won the game for Juve with the only goal. Good assist from Pogba.

I must admit I was wrong about Dybala. I didn't think he'd jump up a tier so quickly, but he's been magnifique. What a player. Single bright light in Juventus's rather dark season.

Berardi got sent off against Genoa today. He has picked up 30 cards (27 yellow, 3 red) in 70 Serie A appearances - as a forward. Absolute nutter.

Kla you like Niang or you not like Niang?

Good assist for the goal, and especially so the turn. Not sure he intended that as a pass, or if it was a shot dragged wide.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Kla you like Niang or you not like Niang?

Can't say I have an opinion either way. I've seen way too little of him. I literally just remember the goal against Barca and a classy backheel skill against Marseille (?).

He feels like the kind of player who'll either become a very good striker or a pretty mediocre winger though. I don't believe in the practise of moving central forwards to the flanks just because they can't cut it up front. There are a few notable exceptions to the rule, but most of the time it just means someone misjudged their real level.

Fuck me what a save by Pepe Reina right at the end. 10 man Inter hit the post twice in the span of seconds at the last minute.

That was some game. Two world class finishes by Higuain, not many would have scored those against the best defence in the league and possibly the best goalie in Europe atm.

Said it before but we should really sign Napoli's stadium announcer

Been great for Inter lately.

Juve has gone right back into the mix. Considering their start, this is an incredible recovery.

Not sure it's particularly incredible, didn't they win their last two seasons by 20+ point difference with second place? They could always afford to piss about for half the season and still be in it.

People who make so much money shouldn't be allowed to dress themselves.

And her attire isn't even the worst one in that picture.

Well, yes, it is.

At least you can see where it went wrong for her. Szczesny looks like something that has no right to exist in the public space.

Szczesny's look is so much worse. Chinos, royal blue sports jacket with coordinated basketball sneakers … seriously, what the fuck was he thinking? Be better off wearing his training gear out.

Vazquez playing like a boss today for Palermo. I'd love to take a punt on that guy. His technique is just sublime.

Udinese doing their absolute best to just hand the game to Inter. Two absolutely ridiculous mistakes on their part for both of Inter's goals.

Klaus wrote:

Vazquez playing like a boss today for Palermo. I'd love to take a punt on that guy. His technique is just sublime.

I'd love him here too (he only costs 30m euros). It's crazy that he has become the best out of the Argentinian playmakers that came to Serie A when he arrived (along w/ Lamela and Ricky Alvarez). 

Not sure about him playing for Arsenal, he'd probably frustrate the living hell out of us. When he's in form there are maybe five footballers who I enjoy watching as much as him, love his brazen arrogance to go out of his way to nutmeg and humiliate opposition players just to make a point, but sometimes it's counterproductive.

He's better off staying away from the Prem, some talentless cunt with a Phil Neville mindset would probably try to break his legs for you know, being good at football.

Rex wrote:

Udinese doing their absolute best to just hand the game to Inter. Two absolutely ridiculous mistakes on their part for both of Inter's goals.

That Domizzi guy was hilarious. He gave Inter like 3 assists!

Looks like Icardi found form again...Mancini benching him must've got his head out of the gutter. I think Inter would sell him though, they're looking at Calleri as his replacement.

Not sure how it happened but Juventus are back in the title race, winning 3-1 vs Fiorentina. Good title race shaping up in Italy.

Dybala is singlehandedly turning them into league winners again. The little shit is not supposed to be this good.

Cuadrado has quietly had a very good month too, even though it looks like he's still rebuilding himself after suffering the Mourinho experince. I think it was really nifty business by Juve to bring him in.

Klaus wrote:

Dybala is singlehandedly turning them into league winners again. The little shit is not supposed to be this good.

I mean, he is supposed to be that good as he's the highest rated youngster out of Argentina.... :doh:

Think Klaus means more that he himself didn't rate him that highly

Yeah, he was good at Palermo, but never close to this good. I thought he'd struggle for a season or two without Vazquez to create all his goals, but he has really kicked it up a gear or two.

It begs belief how many great strikers Argentina are producing, by the way. Correa looks like capital for the future, and Agüero is still only 26. Messi is 28. Even lower-talent strikers like Icardi have made big waves in Europe. At this stage they will be clear favourites to pick up the next World Cup.

And then one wonders why we don't sign more South American talents.

Argentina has had brilliant strikers for a while now without winning internationally. It's in midfield and defense they have struggled, and when Mascherano calls it quits I reckon they'll struggle further.

Good goal but why does it look like the entire stadium is empty?

It's the state of Italian football unfortunately. Highest unemployment ever in Italy, coupled with the big teams having most of the fans, and a large chunk of those fans favoring tv subscriptions. People have no money. Plus the first few rounds of Copa Italia are generally not more interesting than the first few rounds of the FA Cup.

There are other reasons too, like fan culture and outdated stadiums, but the biggest factor is economical. It's been a crisis for a while now. Which is a little ironic, because the football is more fun to watch than it's been in a decade or so.