Kulusevski with the debut goal for Juventus. Looks like he is going to be a smart pickup for Juve.

Plays like a seasoned midfielder despite only being 20.

Something very satisfying about seeing Ronaldo try to take on the entire defence by himself only to end up on the ground while Kulusevski scores with one touch.

Good start to Pirlo's managerial career as Juve won by 3-0 against Sampdoria.

Apparently both Rabiot,Ramsey (both who were rumored to be sold)had very impressive games along with debutantes McKenny,Kulusevki and Frabotta (left back from Juve academy).

Based on Understat Rambo and Cronaldo were their most influential players.

Zlatan gives Milan an early lead against Bologna.

The man is showing no signs of slowing down.

2-0 Milan now. Zlatan scores from the penalty after Bennacer decided to go down easily in the Bolgna box.

Don't rate Zlatan as highly as some but one think cannot deny is how professional he is and how well he looks after himself. Even at his age he's in great shape.

Classic Ibra right here!

It's like he's a parody of himself at this point.

Atalanta seem to have started the new season in their typical fun finish.

Currently they are 3-2 up at Torino and it is not even half time yet.

Ribery still has got it. Has been very good tonight against Inter and has set up two goals.

To be honest Ribery did well to hold up play to create space for that shot but yeah, that was a great pass to start the move jones. Then he ran another 50 yards to catch up with the play to finish the chance. This guy is going to be Italy's next big thing. Only a matter of time before Juve et al start chasing him.

Big Willie wrote:

To be honest Ribery did well to hold up play to create space for that shot but yeah, that was a great pass to start the move jones. Then he ran another 50 yards to catch up with the play to finish the chance. This guy is going to be Italy's next big thing. Only a matter of time before Juve et al start chasing him.

Yeah he did. 
I'm not sure you can call him 'the next big thing' when he plays on the same squad as Chiesa who will probably fetch more money though. 
The Castro goal was reminiscent of Ramsey. Just beautiful running into the box and smooth finishing. 
That said, the most impressive guy yesterday had to be Ribery. Still so silky on the ball. And the quality of his passing for both of his assists was top tier. 

Good game Sassuolo - Spezia. Sassuolo really good at building through the middle through Locatelli and Durcic/Berardi looking dangerous up ahead. They're proper protagonists, full control of the game and should be further ahead. You can see why Fiorentina and other clubs were interested in De Zerbi. He's a young manager whoo coaches a really attractive style

Brief Serie A roundup from today -

Milan continued their good run (unbeaten in 17 games in all competitions) with a 2-0 win at Crotone.
One big concern is Ante Rebic, who went off injured.
On the other hand, Real Madrid loanee Brahim Diaz looked quite good today on his debut and scored.

Napoli with a very impressive 6-0 win against Genoa.
Osihmen has looked very good (despite not scoring), providing a focal point with his strength, speed and movement for the likes of Insigne, Mertens and Lozano.
Credit to Gattusso for reintegrating Lozano (has scored in both games this season so far) into the team who looked lost and seemingly on his way out last season.

Very entertaining clash between Roma and Juventus so far.

Roma are leading by 2-1 with half hour left. Juve are down to ten after Rabiot got a red card.

Roma is poor beyond hope. bunch of hopeless over the hill footballers

mentalvortex wrote:

Ronaldo levels it for Juve with a towering header.

How this guy went from a pacy winger to guy who’s regularly able to deliver these hang-time headers is one of the great transformations

Napoli next. Should be fun.

10 players and 4 coaches have tested positive for covid-19 in Genoa. There are discussions right now about whether they should postpone the whole Serie A or just Genoa's games. There's an international break in two weeks and one suggestion is that the league would restart after that point. Of course there will probably be new cases by then.

I wonder how much longer football leagues are going to keep on going if this becomes a regular occurrence.

They need to kill the international breaks.
The football leagues should put pressure on the associations to condense international football to later in the season. I’m not even sure Covid-19 will be anywhere near under control by Q1 but target then. Having players disperse is going to be the biggest catastrophe.

What’s testing for teams like over in Italy?

The PL clubs, at least for now, seem be doing quiet well limiting infections with regular testing. Often it’s just a couple of players who test positive rather than half the squad, suggesting it’s picked up early.

I think they're testing at the same rate as Premier League, but I'm not sure.

There were 10 PL players and staff who tested positive in the last week for reference. Thiago was out against us last night because he had tested positive for covid. So as you say not half of someone's squad yet but still fairly high numbers, especially from people who are meant to take extra precaution, and we've barely entered fall. What is it gonna be like in two months? And how would another lengthy covid break impact football clubs? I imagine there would be some that'd go bust this time, and not just lower league clubs.

Claudius wrote:

They need to kill the international breaks.
The football leagues should put pressure on the associations to condense international football to later in the season. I’m not even sure Covid-19 will be anywhere near under control by Q1 but target then. Having players disperse is going to be the biggest catastrophe.

I don't think there's any more risk in having them travel. Footballers rarely travel with commercial airlines anyway, there's no audience, etc. There are procedures in place to ensure they don't meet a lot of people. Can't think they're much more likely to be exposed while they're on national duty than they would be in normal training in the vast majority of the cases, and in any event they get tested regularly everywhere they go. There's just a risk involved when you play football, full stop.

There’s massive discrepancy in policy response amongst African countries. The resources deployed, ability to track etc. When players leave their European bubbles and come to Africa, some countries will be highly capable of replicating those bubbles. Others will have no chance. It’s a crazy risk for leagues everywhere.

Either way they get tested when they come back. Thiago hasn't been in Africa and he contracted covid within a week of arriving in England. Genoa were in Naples, not South Africa, and now half their squad is ill. Can't blame or worry about international travel too much when there are widespread infections in every European country.

Klaus wrote:

I think they're testing at the same rate as Premier League, but I'm not sure.

There were 10 PL players and staff who tested positive in the last week for reference. Thiago was out against us last night because he had tested positive for covid. So as you say not half of someone's squad yet but still fairly high numbers, especially from people who are meant to take extra precaution, and we've barely entered fall. What is it gonna be like in two months? And how would another lengthy covid break impact football clubs? I imagine there would be some that'd go bust this time, and not just lower league clubs.

It's 10 people out of 1,595 or 0.6%. I think the Prem have been hitting around that mark since July so not high numbers just yet.

Fair point, mate. We all live with Covid.

jones wrote:

Atalantas wing backs are ridiculous. Looking like 2016 Real Madrid wingers out there

They’re dynamite, mate. Total domination. But it’s an all out attack. They’re very very direct through the middle with Malinowski. Creates so much jeopardy

As good as Hateboer and Gosens are, look at Papu Gomez. What a star he is. Easily one of the 3-4 best players in Italy. 2 goals and 3 assist in the opening two games.

Edit: Make that 3 goals and 3 assist.

That’s an absolute stunner by Gomez.

Someone please send Arteta Atalanta DVDs

jones wrote:

Atalantas wing backs are ridiculous. Looking like 2016 Real Madrid wingers out there

Its the system. Their wing backs get more goalscoring chances and are more dangerous than our winger.