I watched that game. Gerona thoroughly deserved that win. They went straight at Real. Also don't kid yourself. The Catalan stuff had a lot to do with their effort today.
I looked up Girona's players and many of them are from Catalonia.. Do you think that is the reason why they won because they played above their heads for the flag? Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane blames 'bad day' for loss to Girona Girona 2-1 Real Madrid Immediate Reaction: Girona 2 - 1 Real Madrid Real Madrid losing ground in LaLiga Girona 2-1 Real Madrid: La Liga New Boys Shock Spanish Giants ...
Yes it had an impact. Girona played their asses off and it was good to see team totally unafraid of Madrid and taking it to them. The Catalonia situation definitely had an impact. That stadium was rocking.
Playing against Real Madrid I'm sure would give teams to give it their all. You would think though, players in general would play hard on a weekley basis regardless of nationalistic pride.
If Girona can play near that effort most weeks, they will have a good season. That was a highly entertaining game to watch.
I did and I am just about to say that this is more proof that Tiki Taka is never the way to go against the bigger teams. Its been proven time and time again pretty much since the start of the 2011-12 season that Tiki Taka will make you look great against smaller teams but will eventually fail you when you come up against teams same level or better than you. Also going back to two seasons ago, its one of the reasons Napoli failed against Villarreal in the Europa League. One season later, Roma probably were not much better than that Napoli side, however they managed to smash Villarreal 4-0 in their own home. Tiki Taka doesn't work. Napoli will look great against small teams but will never get anywhere against the bigger teams unless they completely change their way of playing. I believe if Roma played Man City at the Stadio Olympico they could have at least gotten a point, just because they're style mirror's Man City's more like defensive/pressing tactics.
Napoli's problem is that they don't have enough quality on the bench. So Sarri has to play the same 11 every game.
ESPN be like- yellow jersey- balding guy named Higuain- we good pic.twitter.com/ZPeZ8VQV8t— NateGPT (@JustNateLoucks) November 1, 2017
That is my point. he is their first serious injury of the year. Can they cope? We shall see. Even if they crash out of the CL they will prolly be in the Europa so they will still have 2 competitions to play in plus the Coppa with a very thin bench. A couple more injuries to key players and they could be in trouble.
Most Serie A sides have been shit this season. That's why Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter have got so many points so far. Napoli can win against most of them without Ghoulam and Mertens.
Not Inter. Inter is a real team. Spaletti is a great manager. Sampdoria you are probably right, although Lazio have become a real serious team as well. Lazio I wouldn't say are as good as Napoli, and I believe Napoli can beat them without Ghoulam, but considering Inter got a draw against Napoli at home with Ghoulam and Mertens, I sincerely doubt Napoli would beat Inter at Inter's stadium without those two players.
Imagine if Juve tried to do this? http://www.football-italia.net/112253/lazio-get-around-ultras-ban-again
Second serious injury* and to answer your question, The only way we stay in the title race is if we make it to January within a reasonable points gap of 1st place. (3-5 points). By that point we have the market open and we'll be bringing in a striker and full back (I hope).