I caught about the last 30 minutes of that Juve/Napoli on my phone as my wife was driving us back from lunch with friends. I don't think I've ever seen Juve blow a three goal lead like that. When I screamed NOOOOOOOOO after the Koulibally own goal it scared the hell out of my wife and now I'm not allowed to watch soccer on the phone in the car when she is driving anymore.
Man, I'm still catching my breath from the Derby Della Capitale yesterday. SEVEN hit posts (5 for Lazio and 2 for Roma). A 1-1 draw. And just exciting great attacking soccer throughout. All in all, it's a good result for Roma. It's week two of Fonseca's project. Lazio had to be favorites coming into this one with them being "home" and the results in week one. In week two of Fonseca's project he sorta lived up to his words after the Genoa draw, "I'll never prepare for a game by concentrating on defending..." The man has concrete offensive ideas and wants to see Roma execute these. Even at 1-1 after Lazio tied it up and seemed in control and most managers would look to see out the draw Fonseca brought in Pastore as his first sub. A man who offers next to nothing defensively. The game was on the edge to the final whistle, and Roma definitely have something to build on. The match was as Fonseca claimed after the whistle, "an anthem for football." Now, Roma has the two weeks of the international break to work Chris Smalling, Mkhitaryan, Diawara, and Veretout into the side. With all the pieces at his disposal I'm thrilled to watch Fonseca's Roma for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Italy Romelu Lukaku was berated with monkey sounds at Cagliari before a PK because people are terrible. And the FIGC will almost surely do nothing about it because we live in the worst timeline. ********in disgusting.
Among all the great matches over the weekend, Arsenal-Tottenham was marred by the ill-fitting suit worn by Unai Emery, whom I will now think of as the 'European Caleb Porter'. Also, speaking of racism, professional asswipe Graeme Souness was on Sky over the weekend pontificating that Juventus sold Moise Kean to Everton, not because he was out of contract next year, not because they needed to lighten their wage bill, not because they have too many forwards already and he wouldn't be getting much playing time, and certainly not because Kean had been subject to racial abuse in nearly every match he'd played. No, it was because, for no other reason than the voices in his feeble head telling him so, it much be because Kean has an attitude problem. Other players Souness thinks have an attitude problem include Raheem Sterling and Paul Pogba, but not Christian Eriksen. Hmmm....
Just saw in Kicker that Eintracht Frankfurt will be having their winter training in January 2020 in Florida again. Looks like Hertha BBC Berlin may be over as well--as they are planning a friendly at Al Lang Stadium in St. Pete.
Right. FotMob got it wrong. At least Abraham and Mount started, although Mount was hurt early and Pedro subbed in. Blues losing 0-1 late with Barkley missing a PK. Edit: Final 0-1. Not a good start to CL play for Lampard.
Champions League thoughts... Benfica got screwed by Lage playing it too cute. Seferovic and Rafa HAVE to start that match and not come in at the 70th. They were also screwed by a VAR call. Brutal opening. Jesse Marsch is 10x better than any American manager. Really happy for him. I’ve come a long way from hating him as a Fire player. Chelsea. Jesus, what a disaster. If Sarri or Conte lost to a Valencia team in total crisis like that, with the PK fiasco between Barkley and Willian the xenophobic fans and English press would be deriding the weak leadership of the manager. But, it’s Lampard, so it’s okay. Tactical genius Juergen Klopp hasn’t won in Italy since 2008. He’s lost 3 out of his last 4 competitive matches vs Italian teams. It’s no wonder he lacks the courage to coach in the world’s most tactical league.
You are correct, if Conte or Sarri, in their individual situations with the club, had this result there would be an uproar. But, as usual, you completely fail to put things in context. Congrats on your consistency!
Inter cruises through their derby with AC to remain perfect on the season. Another goal from Lukaku, who tallies his third of the campaign. Verona gas a goal on the wildest series of events in front of a net this season to stun Juve with a 1-0 lead. Ultimately, the bad guys pulled it out handedly, 2-1.
Kane had a very nice goal vs Leicester yesterday. I thought Tottenham's second goal should have been allowed since it was only Son's arm that was offside.
If we're going to complain about every goal this season that ended up being disallowed by VAR we might as well have a thread dedicated to just that topic. Besides, it's Spurs, so I'm glad it didn't count.
VAR calling back a Chelsea goal agains Liverpool by inches. Is this what was intended? I don’t think so.
Really fun weekend in Serie A, and honestly the Milan Derby was probably one of the most dull games mainly because Giampaolo seems so out of his depth at Milan. Piatek has been neutered, Suso is NOT a trequartista, and they have no idea what their best 11 is. If not for Donnarumma that would have been 4 or 5-0, and I don't even think Inter was particularly impressive. I just think Milan was that bad. Roma has yet to lose in all competitions this season. They had an excellent victory over Bologna yesterday scoring the winner on the final touch of the game after going down to 10 men. It was Bologna's first loss at home in 9 games, and another great stepping stone for Roma. The offense looks fantastic and has so many options. The defensive phase is coming around especially with Veretout sitting in front of the back 4, and we haven't even seen Smalling in a game yet. I think this Roma team could be something special. But, we have to deal with @Alneri's Atalanta midweek. An Atalanta team that came from 2 down to draw Fiorentina, even after having a goal waved off in the final minutes. What an insane match. Atalanta and Roma had two 3-3 draws last season, and the way both managers play this match could be insane. Mancini saw red yesterday, so he is not available to face his old team. The idea of Zapata, Muriel, and Illicic running at Juan Jesus, Fazio, and Florenzi makes my pants brown. I've actually scheduled a dentists appointment Wednesday am, which will have me working from home in the afternoon and ready to watch this one. Somebody hold me...
Atalanta is making me crazy right now. I will admit that I haven't seen as much as I would like. The back and forth with Torino, the deserved but thrilling win against Genoa, and the complete demolishing by Dinamo in the CL. I'm not sure what to expect from this midweek game, but it could be a very exciting one. Curious what kind of lineup we put out and just hope we can put together a complete 90.
Jorginho masterclass for Chelsea today. That game would have finished 5 or 6 nil if he was surrounded by players even at half his level.
Not his best game tonight, though there were loud whistles when Simeone subbed him off. Llorente really didn’t do much to replace him, but he helped free up Thomas Lemar a bit, he looked better than João.
I don’t mind seeing the kids play. I would rather they grow for us than let them go somewhere else to become world class like DeBruyne. Love Lampard giving them the chance.