Calcio Saga 20/21

"You're winning the league"

"NO WAY, we aren't winning the league, YOU are winning the league"


"NO WAY, we aren't winning the league, YOU are winning the league"


"NO WAY, we aren't winning the league, YOU are winning the league"


"NO WAY, we aren't winning the league, YOU are winning the league"


"NO WAY, we aren't winning the league, YOU are winning the league"

...

/thread

We’re winning the league

I'll get bashed for being negative but I wouldn't be so optimistic just yet.

Our play a bit too chaotic. Defensively, we look the most fragile we've ever been. We commit too many players forward leaving massive gaps at the back. In both the Fiorentina and Milan games, it was way too easy to cut open our defense. Milan just couldn't capitalize because of their lack of quality.

Pirlo has some good attacking ideas but it's all too much gung-ho football without any defensive organization. Maybe this is what Agnelli wanted but it is weird to see us transition into that sort of team.

We have by far the best squad in the league which is why we are able to recover from that early slump. Even yesterday,  we won because we had too much quality, not because of coaching. There were periods in the game where our midfield was being bossed by fucking Calabria ffs.

We have too many soyboys in midfield. Maybe it's time to ditch the Bentancur project. Too inconsistent to become a starter level player at Juventus. Same with Rabiot. Too timid and weak mentally. Jury's out on Arthur. We need to give him more time. It's no wonder that someone like Mckennie looks like prime Vidal in our midfield. He looks like the best among our bad/inconsistent midfield bunch right now.

On a sidenote, our mercato is shaping up to be a good one. Almost all our purchases have made instant impact with more to come. Hopefully Chiesa continues playing on the right even after Cuadrado comes back. His offensive output on the right is much better than compared when he's cutting in from the left.

We look the most fraglle defensively that we have ever been, yes. But who is better?

Its amazing that we have the best defensive record in the league even this season. For as bad as we might defend compared to the past, we are still conceding less than everyone else (level with Napoli iirc).

We are still the best team and if the league started today I'd bet on us winning it.

The problem is to overcome a 7 point deficit. More than vs Milan, its vs Conte. Conte>>>>any depth stories Robes wants to tell.

We had a must win match vs Milan, next week we have another must win vs Inter. Its the problem with our situation. No room for mistakes.

My only doubts on Juve depth are about the fact it seems a bit dysfunctional
Surely the best on if we look at Fifa Player Ratings, but it has many doubles or players who don't associate each other.
You have Kulusevski who can't play with Chiesa and Dybala , but Morata is the best partner for Ronaldo, Rabiot is useful on the physical plane but as playmaker...

The first 15 games of Pirlo's Serie A campaign
8 wins, 6 ties, 1 loss

Our 6 draws
@ Roma 2-2 (red card to Rabiot)
@ Crotone 1-1 (red card to Chiesa)
Verona 1-1
@ Lazio 1-1 (bossed the game only to let a Caicedo 90+ minute equalizer)
@ Benevento (red card at the final whistle not detrimental to the result)
Atalanta (1-1)

Our loss
0-3 vs. Fiorentina with a 18th minute red card

We have lacked discipline with 5 red cards in Serie A (+1 in CL for good measure). I don't see an issue with our attacking play, we can be stagnant in the midfield due playing a two-man midfield and those two men have been hit and miss, with us not finding a consistent two to be locked in starters. It makes me miss someone like Pjanic, who even though looked finished last season, is better on one leg than our current set. With that being said, when Bentancur and Rabiot feel like it, they are incredible players. McKennie is young and aggressive but he needs to settle down and Arthur needs to grow a pair and be a bit more adventurous rather than doing 100 turns a game to find Bonucci (the mega cuck he is)

As for our attacking play. Chiesa in 20 games has more goals than Douglas Costa AND Bernardeschi have had in the last 2 seasons - this is a real statistic (lets take a moment to take that in)

We have Cristiano Ronaldo, the best goal scorer in the modern era

We have Morata who has contributed already above what anyone predicted

We have Ramsey finally contributing consistently and looking like he fits in

Finally, we have Dybala who played well against Udinese and better against Milan and finding some chemistry with Chiesa, which is frightening with everyone else. A motivated Dybala really solves a lot of our attacking "issues", he's a game changer when he's on

This squad is also young with new additions that will take a little time to settle but the talent is there with Kulusevski and McKennie for example and I even appreciate how Pirlo is using them as substitutes with Bernardeschi coming into games in the last 20-30 minutes to press and attack

Juventus has the highest ceiling in Serie A and honestly, it's not even close. Pirlo is just inexperienced and the squad is young and not disciplined, which make the results make much more sense

Inter has experience and Conte, they're second favourites

Then there is Milan, who I rate above Napoli and Roma, because I don't think that run was a fluke and I watched many of their games. When you defend as well as they do, results follow. Roma is no joke and I'm glad everyone is taking notice because the 2-2 @ Roma was in my view one of the toughest matches Juventus played this season (partially because of the red card though)

Kaladin wrote:

Casciavit wrote:Some awful 1v1 defending by our defenders today. Maldini needs to sit them down and make them watch his tapes on how to defend 1v1. Absolute shambles.

Romagnoli is really starting to get on my nerves this season, i was hopeful that he would shore up his personal defending. The guy ball watches 90% of the time and doesn't commit to a tackle, i hope Leonardo picks him up for 70m or something. We really need a solid guy for Theo's flank, besides Kessie, a CB should bolster it as well.  Who's a good left footed CB nowadays? Is Upamecano on the market?

Yup with Theo venturing so far forward it requires the LCB to play wider. This means they'll likely find themselves in more isolated defensive positions. You need an athletic CB who's comfortable in wide areas and can defend 1v1. Romagnoli despite being a former LB looks like a deer in headlights defending against transitions.

Upamecano certainly has the athleticism, but he'd probably cost +60M. I can't see us spending that much on a CB. Kounde is my favorite CB out there right now, but he's more likely to go to Madrid than Milan lol.

Luca wrote:

Then there is Milan, who I rate above Napoli and Roma, because I don't think that run was a fluke and I watched many of their games. When you defend as well as they do, results follow. Roma is no joke and I'm glad everyone is taking notice because the 2-2 @ Roma was in my view one of the toughest matches Juventus played this season (partially because of the red card though)

I almost agree with your entire post, but your reading on Milan is a bit off. We are defensively very weak, but we get the ball through our high press. Once a team breaks through the press, we are very vulnerable, which is why we conceded easily against Chievo, Parma, and now Juventus. In effect, we are creating the most chances in the league, but the quality of our players means we don't convert as much.

To be fair, the same can be said regarding Juve's defense, which doesn't look the most solid this year, but they make up for it with their lethal attack and superior player and bench.

The next few games are crucial to every team's chances, and we might get a breakthrough Scudetto candidates. In my opinion, the top 4 spots are highly competitive with six teams vying for it, and that won't be decided until the end of the season. However, I think the title race will clear up in a few weeks.

P.S: If Juve wins this title, then they will go on to win the next decade as well.

M99 wrote:

If you're gonna cry about these why not also mention that Bentancur should have been sent off?[/quote]

Because these happened long before that. If the ref had done his job, then maybe he wouldn't felt the need to compensate for those mistakes. And because he compensated again by giving a yellow to Danilo for a legit tackle

S wrote:
Our play a bit too chaotic. Defensively, we look the most fragile we've ever been. We commit too many players forward leaving massive gaps at the back. In both the Fiorentina and Milan games, it was way too easy to cut open our defense. Milan just couldn't capitalize because of their lack of quality.

Pirlo has some good attacking ideas but it's all too much gung-ho football without any defensive organization. Maybe this is what Agnelli wanted but it is weird to see us transition into that sort of team.

We have by far the best squad in the league which is why we are able to recover from that early slump. Even yesterday,  we won because we had too much quality, not because of coaching. There were periods in the game where our midfield was being bossed by fucking Calabria ffs.

We won yesterday because of coaching. Isolating Chiesa on Hernandez, putting Rabiot on the right and the subs are all coaching moves that won you the game.

We're fragile only during the defensive transitions and it's not even because we commit too many players forward. At Milan's goal we had 5 players versus 3 of them, but they all ran back into the box, leaving Calabria free. For the rest, when the defense is set, it looks good. All Milan managed during their 15-20 minutes of dominance were a bunch of long shots. We got bossed because it's fucking difficult to win the ball when you play with 8 men.

McKennie with another goal.

Puts some respect back on that man's name. He's been great since joining. He's only going to get better too.

McKennie is well respected by now, he is our best midfielder

He' s legit, personally I didn't expect it

Yeah, he is coming through. Less errors and more decisiveness. Not our best midfielder of course, but a really useful one. Hope he keeps this trajectory.

No regrets, remaining players played valiantly with decimated squad. We had chances we didnt take them, didnt have usual intensity that allowed Juve to organize back quick and contain any threats easily.

They did well all these 27 games, and defeat like this is needed to spur team to acknowledge what it means to play as highest levels.

Also add Calhanouglu to that list of injured players ...

I have already said from the get go that our team is not a team of quality and depth that inter, and juve and many other teams whom they can afford with the blind eye and team did what they could with what is available and they did well.

This is why games that we should have won like Parma, Genoa, Verona is a loss for us because we didnt captalize on those while the rival teams did. This will be ongoing thing for all top 9 teams taking off points off each other

That wasn't a very good Milan win despite the flattering 2-0 score against Torino. We wasted the chance to create chances too many times in the second half.

Great to see Cala and Ibra come in at the end, although Ibra looks VERY rusty.

As for bad news, it looks like Tonali is going to be injured, which means another outing for Calabria in midfield against Atalanta (gulp!) and Leao misses the next match after an incorrect yellow for a dive in the middle of the field. The ref gave us 6 or 7 yellows, which is ridiculous.

Hauge has been terrible after his encouraging start (worse than Samu). Diaz is an overall more effective player and I wonder if he can work in the right or the left.

i think m99 said it that we have been a hauge fanboy and often cut him slack lol i have to admit, hauge has lost his way, so has tonali. both of them i am convinced that is very limited to playing 4-3-3 (tonali did with 4-1-4-1)
while i still believe both will come good, unfortunately due to some dire circumstances we needed them now asap to turn up.


i agree game was a mess, even though it was 2-0. i am tired of these ref with their guilt over giving pk on us and brandishing us yellows. i would rather not get pk and just get to play the game as we know it.

lastly, tonali got injured by verdi no yellows, last time cornelius injured gabbia no yellows wtf!

also its reported that tonali may have some serious injuries, while diaz was taken off but he was reported that he could even walk back to dressing room.

we are TRULY F...!

bennacer
diaz
saladmaker
tonali
gabbia
rebic
krunic

Ibra, Calhanouglu just had ONE group training after their injuries. i think we have spent our team guys ...

Coppa Italia we couldnt care less - put the entire B team or even primavera

Roma vs Inter in a bit, big game this early? Anyways, tough to call this one

Roma: Pau Lopez; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Karsdorp, Villar, Veretout, Spinazzola; Pellegrini, Mkhitaryan; Dzeko

Roma bench: Farelli, Fuzato, Cristante, Juan Jesus, Mayoral, Kumbulla, Perez, Bruno Peres, Diawara, Ruben, Podgoreanu

Inter: Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, A Bastoni; Hakimi, Barella, Brozovic, Vidal, Darmian; R Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez

Inter bench: Padelli, Radu, Gagliardini, Alexis Sanchez, Kolarov, Sensi, Ranocchia, Perisic, Young, Eriksen

GOOOL Pellegrini

1-0 Roma

Roma scores against the run of the play with what is honestly a tame shot. Inter missed several early chances with some excellent goalkeeping from Roma.

Very mature performance from Roma after the first 15 minutes. Neutralized Inter since those early chances and scored.

Pretty much the opposite match as the end to end Milan Juve.

I can't remember the last time Inter started the match with a lead. Even against Crotone they conceded first and proceeded to score 6 goals. If they scrape a draw thats the best case scenario for us with how Roma also have been creeping up the table. Best to worst is draw, Roma win, Inter win.

Pathetic 2nd half from Roma

Inter now in cruise control

Great goal from Hakimi

Roma was pathetic in the second half. They didn't have a single meaningful attack until Inter scored two goals.

Roma are now attacking like they should have in the second half and they get a draw.

I don't know why they didn't do this from the start.

2-2 now.