Klaus wrote:

I think Bentancur's been bossy tonight. Mature beyond his years, but also not above the occasional flashy dribble:

Bentancur hasn't taken a bad touch all night.

Higuain completely loses his shit and sees red. Bit harsh for the original yellow but you can't shout in the ref's face like that.

Higuain is appalling in big games.

Bentancur is a talent that's for sure. Not the flashiest player as you allude to Klaus but excellent at carrying the ball forward.

El Shaarawy scored this yesterday, eerily reminiscent of Mertens last season vs Lazio

Possibly not even the best goal in that game though

Happy to see El Shaarawy get back there....seemed like he refound it last year after floundering for a year or two. Can't imagine how challenging it is as a professional player to break through, stall out, and then get back to the next level (albeit he's still well short of the top tier).

Sicario wrote:

Higuain is appalling in big games.

He's got a great big game record. It was just one of those nights when nothing worked out for him.

jones wrote:

El Shaarawy scored this yesterday, eerily reminiscent of Mertens last season vs Lazio

I love me some El Shaarawy. Lorenzo Pellegrini was impressive on that goal too. I would have loved to sign that bloke in the summer when we were linked. There's magic in them boots.

Klaus wrote:
Sicario wrote:

Higuain is appalling in big games.

He's got a great big game record. It was just one of those nights when nothing worked out for him.

"Those nights" is quite a collection to be fair.

I think it just appears that way because he's missed a couple high-profile penalties. On the other hand casual viewers fail to notice that he scored a brace for Juve in the same Milan fixture last season, or that he scored the winner away against Napoli, or singlehandedly dismantled Inter last season in the game that won Juventus the title. He turned the last-16 tie against Tottenham around for Juve with a goal and an assist within three minutes when it looked like they were crashing out of the competition. He has an insanely good record against every top side in Serie A.

Higuain's reputation is an effect of people tuning into a select few games more than anything. He has bottled some important penalties and it's funny when he steps up yet again and misses, but every striker out there will screw up from time to time. The big difference is that they don't call Henry a bottler for botching the Champions League final, or Messi for looking just as bad as Higuain for Argentina, because they've seen these guys regularly.

You could tell that Higuain was desperate to prove himself against Juventus, that he wanted to show them how wrong they were to send him away just so they could cope financially with Ronaldo's astronomical wages. People talk about the missed penalty, but not that he won it in the first place. They blame him for costing Milan points, but they say nothing about Donnarumma who released a rebound straight into the path of Ronaldo to lose Milan the game. It's all a bit meh now, but I think there are certain narratives in football that write themselves for the lazy, and after a certain point it doesn't really matter whether they're true or not because people keep repeating them.

True. Thierry would have the same accusation thrown his way by outsiders.

Klaus wrote:

I think it just appears that way because he's missed a couple high-profile penalties. On the other hand casual viewers fail to notice that he scored a brace for Juve in the same Milan fixture last season, or that he scored the winner away against Napoli, or singlehandedly dismantled Inter last season in the game that won Juventus the title. He turned the last-16 tie against Tottenham around for Juve with a goal and an assist within three minutes when it looked like they were crashing out of the competition. He has an insanely good record against every top side in Serie A.

Higuain's reputation is an effect of people tuning into a select few games more than anything. He has bottled some important penalties and it's funny when he steps up yet again and misses, but every striker out there will screw up from time to time. The big difference is that they don't call Henry a bottler for botching the Champions League final, or Messi for looking just as bad as Higuain for Argentina, because they've seen these guys regularly.

You could tell that Higuain was desperate to prove himself against Juventus, that he wanted to show them how wrong they were to send him away just so they could cope financially with Ronaldo's astronomical wages. People talk about the missed penalty, but not that he won it in the first place. They blame him for costing Milan points, but they say nothing about Donnarumma who released a rebound straight into the path of Ronaldo to lose Milan the game. It's all a bit meh now, but I think there are certain narratives in football that write themselves for the lazy, and after a certain point it doesn't really matter whether they're true or not because people keep repeating them.

Very good post except for the bold part where you're close to doing the same as others do with Higuain. Messi has carried Argentina so many times and was let down badly by his team mates almost every time, Higuain was one of the worst offenders but Agüero has been just as bad in that respect.

I actually meant to write Agüero. 😆 I think it carries some truth as far as Messi is concerned too though - and I'd add that it's not really his fault. They limit him a lot in that team, just like they limit most other good players they have. At the end of the day football is a team game with 11 footballers who execute roles they're being told to play. When people are blaming one of them specifically for not being flawless they're usually doing it wrong.

Yeah, there was an 19 month period where no other player, aside from Messi, scored a goal for Argentina.

Klaus wrote:

I think it just appears that way because he's missed a couple high-profile penalties. On the other hand casual viewers fail to notice that he scored a brace for Juve in the same Milan fixture last season, or that he scored the winner away against Napoli, or singlehandedly dismantled Inter last season in the game that won Juventus the title. He turned the last-16 tie against Tottenham around for Juve with a goal and an assist within three minutes when it looked like they were crashing out of the competition. He has an insanely good record against every top side in Serie A.

Higuain's reputation is an effect of people tuning into a select few games more than anything. He has bottled some important penalties and it's funny when he steps up yet again and misses, but every striker out there will screw up from time to time. The big difference is that they don't call Henry a bottler for botching the Champions League final, or Messi for looking just as bad as Higuain for Argentina, because they've seen these guys regularly.

You could tell that Higuain was desperate to prove himself against Juventus, that he wanted to show them how wrong they were to send him away just so they could cope financially with Ronaldo's astronomical wages. People talk about the missed penalty, but not that he won it in the first place. They blame him for costing Milan points, but they say nothing about Donnarumma who released a rebound straight into the path of Ronaldo to lose Milan the game. It's all a bit meh now, but I think there are certain narratives in football that write themselves for the lazy, and after a certain point it doesn't really matter whether they're true or not because people keep repeating them.

The narrative is obviously overstated, but without being close to having the motivation to check myself, I honestly and quite strongly believe that Higuain misses more against the so-called "big clubs" than against others. He's such a good player that he'll story many goals regardless though.

Klaus wrote:

I think it just appears that way because he's missed a couple high-profile penalties. On the other hand casual viewers fail to notice that he scored a brace for Juve in the same Milan fixture last season, or that he scored the winner away against Napoli, or singlehandedly dismantled Inter last season in the game that won Juventus the title. He turned the last-16 tie against Tottenham around for Juve with a goal and an assist within three minutes when it looked like they were crashing out of the competition. He has an insanely good record against every top side in Serie A.

Higuain's reputation is an effect of people tuning into a select few games more than anything. He has bottled some important penalties and it's funny when he steps up yet again and misses, but every striker out there will screw up from time to time. The big difference is that they don't call Henry a bottler for botching the Champions League final, or Messi for looking just as bad as Higuain for Argentina, because they've seen these guys regularly.

You could tell that Higuain was desperate to prove himself against Juventus, that he wanted to show them how wrong they were to send him away just so they could cope financially with Ronaldo's astronomical wages. People talk about the missed penalty, but not that he won it in the first place. They blame him for costing Milan points, but they say nothing about Donnarumma who released a rebound straight into the path of Ronaldo to lose Milan the game. It's all a bit meh now, but I think there are certain narratives in football that write themselves for the lazy, and after a certain point it doesn't really matter whether they're true or not because people keep repeating them.

Great post Klaus.

Henry used to be called a big game bottler quite often back in the day and accused of not being able to perform on the day. They always seem to mention that he never scored in big games and used to use his record in finals to back that up.

Thing is, although he may never have scored in a final, he was France's top scorer at the Euro 2000 and the WC98 (the latter of which he was only 21), or that he would have scored to win us the 2001 FA Cup final if not for handballs not being given, or that he single handedly took us to the CL final amongst other FA Cup finals.

That's without saying how many goals he's scored for us to win us the title or the numerous goals he's scored against United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter, Real, Valencia, Deportivo, Juve, Roma, Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen and probably others I have missed.

But that did not stop the haters who even tried to claim van Nistelrooy was the better player and big game player.

12 days later

Lazio - Milan just kicked off for curious folks. Let's see if Cutrone and Suso can make-up for that suspended Higuain

6 days later

Bentancur opened the scoring for Juve today with a classy goal:

Great run from Ronaldo to drag away the defender and open up the space too.

Juve have a real gem here. It's been a long time since I saw such a versatile midfielder.

We should have thrown some money at them for him. After seeing him and Toreira at the WC I wanted us to get them both playing for us. Too late now I think, wish we could do a Ramsey + cash deal for him.

Uruguay really have some crop of midfielders at the moment haven't they? Torreira, Bentancur, Vecino, Valverde.

6 days later

Inter-Juve in for those staying on Friday night. Don't worry if you're out inhaling hippie crack

i feel bad for Inter. they are successful club at continental level, but they continue to have a Spursy air about them. Should've won this game, but Juve stayed professional and should see this out.

Sassuolo-Fiorentina ended 3-3. Incredibly entertaining game. Six goals, two red cards. Sassuolo led 3-1 with just a few minutes to go. Fiorentina scored twice in injury time. Kevin Mirallas of all people grabbed the late equaliser. I had no idea he still existed.

13 days later

Juventus Roma game on in half an hour for those into Italian tings

4 days later

It’s a gutter league

Classless league with gutter Clubs and gutter FA.

Scummy league.

flobaba wrote:

It’s a gutter league

Classless league with gutter Clubs and gutter FA.

Scummy league.

Classless league or difficult country?

Italy is stuck in the fucking stone ages when it comes to a wide range of issues, including (but not limited to) racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny. I think Serie A reflects that perfectly, and to great shame.

Claudius wrote:
flobaba wrote:

It’s a gutter league

Classless league with gutter Clubs and gutter FA.

Scummy league.

Classless league or difficult country?

To be fair it's both. The league does not exist in a bubble after all. However, you would think the increased influx of foreign superstars and the exposure and global nature of the game at this point in history would help ameliorate the issue. Instead it only seems to be getting worse. Now don't get me wrong England isn't exactly a trot in paradise either, see Aubameyang's experience with the banana. But it's definitely more widespread in the Italian league/society.

I believe it is the responsibility of the FA to step up and take action against the miscreants - they are usually a minority of the gen pop, and by utilizing heavy fines and stadium bans make it clear to all that racism in all forms is unacceptable.

I also think principled people with good will can and SHOULD take a stance against the league by refusing to watch games Italian teams are involved in at all levels (including the national team), costing them financially until the FA shows by the strength of the punitive rules it adopts and enforces, that they are serious about eradicating this cancer that has eaten so deeply into the fabric of their society and football that the refs can just choose to get on with the game. They should all be ashamed of themselves. It's just infuriating to me that players can be made so upset and confused that they are crying and humiliated for simply showing up to do their jobs and entertain others, while black or gay or trans or whatever.

If principled people should boycott Serie A because of racism they should quit football altogether. Matter of fact they should probably quit the whole continent because there are racists everywhere.

It's pretty simple actually. People convicted of racism should get community service tending to only the offended community.

I'd go even simpler, anyone caught making monkey noises gets thrown into a cage to elaborate on their chants with actual monkeys. Not punishment but communication is always the solution.

Thought I saw something about a fan being killed as a result of being stabbed during either the Napoli v Lazio game or the Juve v Roma game?

If so then they've got far bigger issues than racism as it seems there are deaths almost every season,
and not just domestic fans but even visiting fans in the UEFA comps, and also Police / Security outside the venues.

18 days later

Backheel goal from Patrik Schick in the italian cup tonight. Good assist too from Arsenal target Cengiz Under:

Schick also had a backheelish assist to Marcano's 2-0 goal:

Klaus wrote:

Good assist too from Arsenal target Cengiz Under:

Well, he'll have to get in line won't he