I really liked Hamsik today. Fabian is still raw but the talent is there. Mertens needs to rediscover his form. Not sure what to say about Hysaj and Milik. They both suck every game.
Hysaj had a good second half after a bad first half. Milik and Mertens were garbage plain and simple. Constant giveaways and couldn't string two passes together.Those two up front with Zielinski playing behind them is something I don't want to see too many times. On a positive note, K2 and Allan are both in brilliant form, meanwhile Ruiz and Malcuit are looking better and better every appearance.
A very good result, a mature performance, almost like Lisa Ann, ehm ehm... Okay, enough of that. I do not want to panic, as the games that Juventus have often had and many have often called 'the games that show maturity' are very similar, if not identical, to what we did yesterday. So the situation is positive, because I am aware of the fact that even Juve could often have conceded even in 'those' games. But no matter what, the fact that they have gotten the result over and over always erases the fact that they have been lucky sts. And to be honest, we had a bit of luck yesterday, where we allowed Udinese unnecessary chances after some poor moments of inattention. But this happens even to the greatest of teams, presumably on account of the fact that the competition is professional, though the levels of quality often differ. Still, no team in any of the top leagues is utterly toothless and no defense of the top teams is absolutely perfect, and I guess that's why the necessity of finishing the games off sooner arises, which is sth we should have done sooner yesterday... Now to assess the individual players, I will have to resort to some criticism, including words towards those whose quality I have protected in many posts. Mertens was bad, but he has shown his quality and ability to change the game over and over, so I can easily forgive him and the result helps me by letting me be calm. However, he needs to do better if he wants to play from the beginning, as Carlo stated in one of his interviews that Mertens seems to do better as a sub, which is something that he showed yesterday, unfortunately. He did not contribute much and he lost a multitude of balls, and possession is very important, calm possession. MILIK, dear God, I have protected you so many times, but wtf, I guess "now's the time to either step the fu*k up or step the fu*k off", citing a character from The Wire, which one I can't remember. He did not show anything at all, nothing and nada, and on top of that he could have cost us the game with that primitive challenge. I think it was a yellow, but you never know what the referee will do. Many have doubted the captaincy of Hamsik because he does not appear to be a very fiery element in our squad, but I still think that he has other qualities that still warrant his position as the captain of Napoli. He is used to the position, he is humble, reliable, faithful, and full of love for Napoli. I really like Callejon and I am thankful for what he has done for us, as he is surely thankful to Napoli for giving him a chance to shine, yet yesterday we could plainly see that him being the captain was not so good, as he tried to show sth too much and not even once did he show it, though one shot was pretty close, I guess, if my memory serves me well. But he was definitely thinking too much about his responsibility as a captain, and it showed negatively, at least in my eyes. Damn, Carlo and the subs, what a good combination. This is sth that I missed under Sarri. To be honest, I was kind of thinking about how Hamsik will do when I saw him getting ready to jump onto the field, yet damn was I surprised. We were terribly out of pace and we also had a lot of difficulties with the transition from midfield to attack, and as soon as Hamsik got the ball he provided the right passes to speed up the play and quickly become dangerous, damn his passing was superb. And Rog, we were talking about his precision from distance, and we finally got to see it wearing the shirt of Napoli, it was pretty bjutifl. Overall, I think we can be satisfied, but the work must needs be continued, and the team still showed room for improvement. I am not sure if that handball necessitated a penalty, and the English commentator who had shown some quality and who had also stated wisely that the challenges of Milik and Albiol were reckless, but not dangerous(especially Milik's, as Albiol's was more usual, I'd say), doubted the penalty as well. The arm was not in an unnatural position and there was not much that the player could do to prevent it, yet then again, handballs such as that one are usually given, I think, though they also almost always bring about discussion and dissent. Conclusion: Some of our players have a lot of work to do = Milik especially. Also Hysaj wasn't that bad yesterday, mostly in the 2nd half, but his contribution to attack was non-existent, especially in comparison with Malcuit, who's been doing surprisingly well so far and I am kind of very happy we have actually chosen him as our reinforcement! Good job. Additionally, we need to finish the games off sooner as a team, and put less responsibility on individuals, as without Fabian we might have run into trouble yesterday. But thank God we have the individuals nonetheless! Forza Napoli!
Mertens still had a goal and an assist yesterday even though he wasn't very good. He deserves to start over Milik when Insigne is present. If Amin Younes performs well, I would like to try Verdi as the center forward with Younes, Insigne and Callejon behind him. The role of Milik should almost always be as a sub. Hysaj deserves some leeway when he plays on the left. I would argue that he damages us more on offense than defense when he plays there. The injury to the more offensive Verdi hurt the chemistry when he went off. Inter's late goal was unfortunate for us. There only 2pts behind us and we both face Roman teams next week. Brozovic is in great form.
You speak the truth, brother. However, I still think there is room for improvement even for Mertens, a fact with which I think you agree. The assist was there, but it wasn't a proper one into a 100% percent chance, it was rather the shooter's merit, and moreover, Mertens didn't even look like he wanted to pass, but rather move more into the box, but Rog's position was better so he took over. Still, good play, but we need(should expect) more from the little guy. The penalty is about who takes it and I am sure we had more players than just one ready to do it, though by this I do not want to take anything away from his goal. However, I would give the most of the credit for the 2nd goal to amazing Malcuit, who just stormed into the box and took over. This also underlines the fact that although I agree that the chemistry might have gone awry, yet the 2nd goal happened after Malcuit just decided to create a chance out of nothing, just because he felt like it. He did sth like that before, and he seems to have a knack for moves of this character. Hysaj hasn't done that for a long time, with or without Verdi... I would try sth like that as well, we will see how Younes does, but qualitatively he should be up to the challenge, but injuries are often akin to nightmares. Unfortunately, I agree that Milik probably is not the solution, which is probably why we have bid for Piatek, probably also hoping that our good relations with Genoa could get us a discount, though I think that if there are some teams ready to offer astronomical numbers, our offers will amount to nothing in the end. I have this slight hope that perhaps we just need to work a little bit, for to be honest, we didn't really put Milik in too many chances the last game, and he's the striker who needs them. I am just not sure if he's the striker worthy of forcing a team to adjust their game because of him. Then again, his positioning was not very good as well... Inter really do seem to be doing well, but damn, they got lucky again and managed to earn the two points in the last minute... Damn those bastards! But still, I would gladly deliver these words to all Juve people, for they are much more impressive still, though Inter cannot be underestimated: "To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."