Couple of things from Europa League today... Pisili from Roma scored his first senior goal. He features with the under 19's Pagano and 19 year old Mattia Manini also got some run. I have seen Pagano before and he always looks pretty comfortable. For Atalanta they started CB Giovanni Bonfanti who scored and Tommasso Del Lungo. Bonfanti plays on their Under 23 team in Serie C (they and Juventus the only two clubs with an Under team) and he seems to have risen up the ranks in the Italian under national teams (currently U20) Kid has good size , hopefully he is the next in the Atalanta pipeline. Tommasso DiNipoi promptly came on and picked up an assist on a nice move in heavy traffic.
@Rossonero23: What's your assessment of Pobega? He was a sub the other day for Milan, and I recall he used to play more than he does, these days. Is he someone who's regressed, or is Milan just a bad place for him to be, at this stage in his career? Seems like Italy could benefit from another big, physical option in the middle of the field.
i'll take it. The talent is there. Maybe it takes being left off the Euro squad from Spalletti to make him realize he needs to wake up. He'll be 26 I think at the time of the next world cup. That's prime time for him to wake up.. and help us in the next 2 world cups.
It's not a Pobega problem, it's a Pioli problem. I'm sure there's pressure from Cardinale to play the American boys I.E Musah
Not to pile on but does Gigio have this in him like Vicario does? 1735127128918638691 is not a valid tweet id
In my endless effort to praise Giacomo Raspadori, here's another one: He sparked Napoli today when he came on in the 60th. His willingness to move the ball quickly is a great quality. For example, when Raspdori got the ball on the right and passed it to Osimhen (who proceeded to juggle it and then cross it to Kvara for a goal), I think Politano may have sized the situation up for a few moments and tried attacking the left-back one-on-one. As it happened, Raspadori quickly found Osimhen and let him cook (as the kids say). No disrespect to Politano, who is a pure winger, and tends to hold the ball and attempt to dribble-past at every opportunity. In the same area Politano tends to operate, Raspadori just puts the ball into a posting-up Osimhen who's in a dangerous area. Rasp has good instincts, generally. And he plays off the starters well, instead of clashing with them, and despite often playing out of position (at 10, 8, or replacing Politano on the wing). With Scamacca out, Retegui out (and seemingly not in Spalletti's favor), Kean on a perpetual drought, it's good that Raspadori continues to get (limited) minutes with Osimhen back and usually impacts the game. Chiesa on the left, Raspadori in the center, and hopefully one of Berardi or Politano has a good second half of the year. That's not a bad front line.
Kept close eye on Colpani. Didn't see much, he was subbed off. Bullied entire match. Did you know that Rudolph has a shiny nose??
Serie A of basketball perhaps. EDIT: which is only fitting seeing as how the 4 best players in the NBA are not American.
Bologna just dominated Roma. Tough to watch Roma, with its plethora of Italian players, be so mediocre. Calafiore looks like a good CB of the future, though. Maybe of the very near future.
Lorenzo Lucca adds to his tally. Berardi with two more. Good to see some production when a lot of guys started off hot, and have since cooled.
I love it. I named Riccardo Calafiori in one of my very first posts as one to watch out for in my return to these boards. This is credit to the player and some credit also to Thiago Motta for getting the best out of him. The kid can play both RB and CB and has full trust. This is what PROPER coaching and development get you. At Juve you have that fossil Allegri sapping the development of Miretti with each passing Minute. To name just 1 player. Inter and Roma supply most players to the current Italy team under Lucio as shown by the numbers. I'd say Juve and Lazio and 3rd/4th in no particular order. This is one in the very few times I am thankful for Inters existence!
Moro scored for Bologna yesterday, Pasalic has just scored for Atalanta. Shades of 2002 with Ahn of Perugia. Why do I get the feeling that with all these cheap Balkan players that Serie A clubs give preferential treatment to, instead of Italians, will be the cause of Italy's demise in June?
Gazzetta Dello Sport for the second time in less than a month have an article out (probably the same article, just Refreshed) where they bemoan all the players that will leave their Italian clubs to go play AFCON and the Asian Cup. I maintain this is absolutely fantastic news. If clubs want to starve out Italian players in favor of imports than this is their just rewards when they are left high and dry by these same players. Hope the ones that have the most absentees lose the most Points during this period. Serves them right
https://www.goal.com/it/liste/coppa...calcio/bltad286f46ac9d0eac#cs895989120f61f1b9 Perdonatemi, ma i giocatori persi per la coppa d'Asia sono 4 su 20 squadre di serie A (5 se ci vogliamo aggiungere Volpato almeno secondo le voci di non so chi) e tra l'altro non stiamo certo parlando di super campioni insostituibili per le loro squadre Forgive me, but the players lost for the Asian Cup are 4 out of 20 Serie A teams (5 if we want to add Volpato at least according to the rumors of I don't know who) and among other things we are certainly not talking about irreplaceable super champions for their teams
Also, what about Volpato? Is this because months ago I posted to Indestructible that there was a report out that he accepted Australia?