Champions League 2018/19 | Group C

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Unique wrote:shows how strong the EPL is when liverpool played the group games at 50% and still got through.

lmao nice try, you barely made it through while getting owned even by Red Star.
Next round, all English teams will exit. Except if one of them meets Schalke, of course. Everyone progresses vs Schalke.

thats what i said. we were at no more than 50% and still went through

sportsczy wrote:Arqi... I think you have to see how the teams are made up.  You have almost all WC players on PSG and several on Liverpool.  As you well know, in WC years, teams with players in that tournament almost always start slow.  The key is to get results.

That's why i don't necessarily draw huge conclusions in the early months after a WC for the teams with such players.

Fantastic point but this is a mere reflection on the mental disposition of teams in Europe out of their league that they have and Ligue 1 has their own examples in bottling in Europe due to their loser mentality from Lyon to ASSE and the common suspects for Serie A are usually, well everyone.

For someone who is vastly experienced in all things Riviera to the North of Italy, you will know why henceforth the ease of predicting these results.

It'll make one look smart to come out right, but in fact its one who just pays attention.

I don't know about the almost all players are WC at PSG there Sports. Their forwards are WC, their back line and midfield are good footballers who I don't think anyone would put as WC. Probably Verratti or Di Maria but that would be generous at this point.

Oh yeah... i mean there's no doubt. It's the difference between teams that expect and have pressure to win as opposed to those who HOPE they can win... but it's not the end of the world if they lose. St Etienne was not like this historically... Lyon, for sure. PSG pre-Qatar as well.

To your point, the ownership has to put pressure on the team to perform. The expectations have to come from there.

Doc wrote:I don't know about the almost all players are WC at PSG there Sports. Their forwards are WC, their back line and midfield are good footballers who I don't think anyone would put as WC. Probably Verratti or Di Maria but that would be generous at this point.

WC meaning World Cup in this case... not world class.

Veratti being injured along with Silva didn't help either. Neymar, Mbappe, Meunier, Di Maria, Cavani, etc. all went relatively far in the tournament. Kimpembe also had a long summer although he didn't play much. Only Buffon, Bernat and Rabiot had normal summers (and Rabiot is benched now)

Yes St Etienne is a harsh call and have just been respectable in all areas historically.

And we all know how Serie A owners are. Short term changes expecting long terms victories. Impulsive, emotional, self destructive.

De Laurentiis a prime example. Clueless.

Carlo Ancelotti deserves better than Napoli. He is a great manager.

sportsczy wrote:Carlo Ancelotti deserves better than Napoli. He is a great manager.

is it not his job to make the team better

Oddly enough Napoli were the best team in the group if you look at the results and performance throughout.

Which result was the could of one?

Napoli's first game in Belgrade.

To put down league versus league in such a spectacular group story is just low IQ.

Went way beyond that.

Arquitescu wrote:Yes St Etienne is a harsh call and have just been respectable in all areas historically.

And we all know how Serie A owners are. Short term changes expecting long terms victories. Impulsive, emotional, self destructive.

De Laurentiis a prime example. Clueless.

I'm curious of the substance behind this show.

What has ADL done in his management of Napoli to suggest this short term-ism?

Unique wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Unique wrote:andy robertson take a bow son you are now the best LB in the world

wait a minute keep your dick in your pants now

I love the kid to death but best in the world is a bit steep

allow it my emotions are high and its a very close call anyway

of course allowed ! He is an inspiration to all kids playing football somewhere at some corner. He is just unbelievable.

Btw PSG have great players . I am so dead sure they are going nowhere with that poor mentality.

Arquitescu wrote:
And we all know how Serie A owners are. Short term changes expecting long terms victories. Impulsive, emotional, self destructive.

De Laurentiis a prime example. Clueless.

How is DeLa a prime example of any of these? He's the opposite of "short term changes for long term victories." They don't have a plan for a stadium yet, but other than that, he's been a very good owner, much better than the zombie pig has ever been for Inter. Historically, Napoli were nobodies before Maradona and they became nobodies again when he went away. DeLa brought them from Serie C to title challengers.

As for mentality, depends how you look at it. They don't have the money that City, Juve, Pool and PSG have, but they almost came from two down at City (they missed a pen), they were dominating and winning versus City until Ghoulam tore his ACL, they pushed Juve hard for the title year and they were the better team in 3 out of 4 games against PSG and Liverpool. OTOH, they gave up a goal in min 91 at PSG and another late goal versus Red Star.

sportsczy wrote:Carlo Ancelotti deserves better than Napoli. He is a great manager.

Yeah,well, he fucked up his tactics tonight.

He just picked a random name for his rant.

ADL stuck with the same director from Serie C to CL and sacked 1 manager in a decade of football. By far a top 2 president in the league.

I think that must have been the craziest 1-0 game I'll see in my life.

This is the same logic provinciale bumpkins use to defend Iachini or Serse fucking Cosmi who save teams from relegation yet always are a shambles the next season bringing teams up or saving them does not qualify you for top level football stewardship.

For all he has done for Napoli he reached his depth years and ago and now only has senile rantings typical of an old man from a bygone film industry and no future plannings bar complaints. Its gotten old.

yes so random rants

Arquitescu wrote:
And we all know how Serie A owners are. Short term changes expecting long terms victories. Impulsive, emotional, self destructive.

De Laurentiis a prime example. Clueless.

What is the connection?

Salah cooked Koulibaly like parmesan chicken, goddamn provinciale CB worth 100 mil

I do not expect one who shares the same provinciale mentality, blinded by unanimous Serie A support, to actually comprehend the core nature of the problem here.

The problem is a long standing one and has been for decades.

So nothing

Carlo Ancelotti ladies and gentlemen

“Now let’s think about the Serie A game at Atalanta on Monday, which will be more difficult than Liverpool.”

ADL is the Italian version of Aulas. Talks a very big game, very loudly... often ostracizing everyone. But all the best players are absolutely for sale. That's the business model at Napoli and Lyon. Big difference is the approach. Lyon builds via its youth academy and fills out the squad with mid level transfers while Napoli looks to recruit its talent... Napoli will splurge once in a while (like Higuain transfer); but the transfer market has moved past its ability to compete at that level.

Like Lyon vis-a-vis PSG, Napoli aren't competing to win. They're looking to be 2nd even if it's never said. Players/managers aren't playing for their jobs if they don't qualify for the knockout rounds of CL... that's the problem.

I have no problem with the policies... but the expectations at both Lyon and Napoli. It's ok to lose as long as you give your best. Instead, it should be about setting the tangible goal and then assessing effort after the fact.

That's just my opinion.

Besides, Lyon and Napoli fans seem perfectly content it seems so who am I to talk lol.

Sports has articulated what my point masterfully.

Aulas an interesting comparison but in ADL you have a total megalomaniac and it is just insipid to think just because he has brought them back from irrelevance therefore it qualifies him to lead them to the absolute top, to which he has shown such traits are not available in his increasingly senile disposition.

Owners in Serie A who take front stage in their vocality, will lead by example in how they run, spend, speak and persevere and this is not a man to lead the needed phase Napoli have been stuck in for years, but one whom has reached his limit and is complaining of things out of his control and just does not shut up.

This is why they will never win the Serie A no matter what Neapolitan hype campaign they use through their current roster, marketing, atmosphere because when it truly matters most they fall short. ADL on the other hand has no succinct business plan for a team highly running on fumes.

Please be relegated again.

Well, you also have to consider that Napoli has been punching well above their weight for nearly half a decade now due in part to their own great infrastructure and the ineptitude of the Milanese clubs that have let it happen despite having significantly more resources.

Napoli not being able to kick it into the next level is hardly a fault. They’ve already done so. They’ve been the only team thats come close to Juventus and have consistently put together great seasons domestically. In Europe, you see them more for what they are: out of their depth but rest assured, what they’ve been able to do over these years deserves respect. This is Napoli, not Inter or Milan, you should temper your expectations accordingly

@Sports @Arq

This is the description of Lotito, not ADL.

ADL talks like a clown in the radio to play the show but runs his club in a totally opposite manner. You are stopping at the rhetoric and not looking at the actions.

He is the president who has only sacked 1 coach in 10 years and that was after a regular 3 season cycle. There is not short term impulsive decision. They have grown the club each year, progressively, in the table and in profile.

Everyone is for sale except Hamsik and Insigne, yes, but for huge prices. We should ask Hysaj's agent how "available" ADL makes players on the market. He priced Koulibaly out of the market these years.

Compare the term of Napoli players to how long players spend on other similar clubs. Everyone that succeeds is kept. Which protagonist has left Napoli in the last few years? Jorginho for big money and Higuain for his release clause. Other than them no players since Cavani left in 14. 100% sure everyone here that watches Serie A is able to write down Napoli's starters in recent years more easily than any club but their own. Because Albiol, Koulibaly, Allan, Hamsik, Insigne, Mertens, Ghoulam, Hysaj have been there forever.

They kept Hamsik after many offers from everyone, including us. They replaced Cavani with Higuain in a brilliant move. Every summer they sign young players for the first team while also looking for players in their prime.

It's a sustainable model that is clearly working.

In terms of coaches too. 4 years of Reja, 4 years of Mazzarri, 2 years of Benitez (resigned to join Madrid), 3 years of Sarri, Ancelotti. These were at least appropriate choices, in most cases brilliant. Stability and nothing impulsive about it.

Spending the bulk of the budget on young players is not short term. Fabian, Verdi, Milik, Ounas, Zielinski, Diawara, Meret, Rog, etc. this is long term.

Working with the budgets they've had, they have grown the club faster than anyone could have predicted and they reached a sustainable level.

We are talking about a "crisis" after a 1-0 loss in Anfield where they exit the CL with the same points, GD, and H2H in a group with Liverpool and PSG. Out of here. That is a testament to their work.