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Oct 27, 2017
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De Ligt has been great so far this season, yesterday the entire team played badly, not just him.
Well, my impression was that he had been questioned for his bad form, mistakes, and for having bad physical shape for the intensity that his position needed, that he had been touted as an improvement over Chiellini but that this had not been the case.
 

INST

Member
Nov 2, 2017
2,641
This is beautiful, man.


Also, it's January. This is Ronaldo season. Whoever's going to play Juventus in the Champions League should be very afraid.

He can be pretty clutch, but not convinced by Juve. Dunno if they can get past the likes of Liverpool, PSG or City. Think they'll go out in like the semi-finals.
 

Deleted member 2254

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He can be pretty clutch, but not convinced by Juve. Dunno if they can get past the likes of Liverpool, PSG or City. Think they'll go out in like the semi-finals.

Juventus' form is often extremely hard to pinpoint. Serie A is nothing like the UCL, and this has been one of Juventus' strengths and weaknesses alike. They've been playing a lot of not-too-convincing matches in the championship against smaller teams, but then made extremely strong perfromances against Napoli (the first time around, not yesterday), Inter, Roma, and so on. Points-wise they're only narrowly behind where they were last year at this point. In UCL they got 16 points in a group with Atletico and Bayer - not a hell group but definitely a great performance, especially considering that the only draw they got was a 2-0 win against Atletico they threw away with two individual defensive errors in the last minutes.

Their attackers are in a great form, yesterday's match didn't go well but for Napoli it was an "end of the line" match, not so much for Juventus. At San Paolo Juventus didn't win a whole lot these past years despite winning 8 consecutive titles. Allegri's Juventus also had tons of 1-0s and 2-1s like Sarri this year. Again, it's very hard to put Sarri's Juventus on the map so far. The championship form is slightly under last year's (but a lot better than Allegri's second year for example), they lost the Supercup (they won some of those and lost others), they advanced in a convincing manner in the national cup so far (many wins the past years), their European campaign so far has been stellar. It's also Sarri's first year so it's clear that a lot of things are still WIP.

Looking at the teams right now, I think we have a great, great UCL ahead of us. I didn't see a single unbeatable team, really. Barca, Real, Atletico, Bayern, Borussia, City, PSG, Juventus... they all seem capable of excellent matches only to then disappoint in others. Various "smaller" teams like Lyon, Napoli and Atalanta that seem to have it in them to fight against any team if they tackle the match right. Liverpool is doing a near perfect run at home but they were a bit less convincing in Europe. Tottenham fell apart, Chelsea nothing too exciting. I'm probably biased but I don't really see many teams that are necessarily ahead of Juventus right now. Perhaps only Liverpool as a whole team at the moment, and even they crashed into Napoli pretty hard this season (just like Juventus last night).
 
Oct 27, 2018
701
Yesterday I noticed one of the games in the Champions League round of sixteen is Atalanta (5th in Serie A) versus Valencia (7th in La Liga). Whoever draws the winner of that tie has basically got a free pass to the semi-finals.
 

Bersi

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Oct 25, 2017
876
Well, my impression was that he had been questioned for his bad form, mistakes, and for having bad physical shape for the intensity that his position needed, that he had been touted as an improvement over Chiellini but that this had not been the case.
He made a couple of mistakes in the first matches, but he's been really solid since mid October i'd say, he was benched for 5-6 games 'cause he picked up a shoulder injury and we have the luxury of having someone as good as Demiral on the bench.

Is he already an improvement over the best Chiellini? probably not, but there's no doubt in my mind that everyone at the club is happy about his performances so far.

Go look up his match against Atleti in Turin, he saved us multiple times in that game.
 

whatsinaname

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,054
Yesterday I noticed one of the games in the Champions League round of sixteen is Atalanta (5th in Serie A) versus Valencia (7th in La Liga). Whoever draws the winner of that tie has basically got a free pass to the semi-finals.

That same Valencia who just beat Barca 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Madrid?

Valencia will be rather tricky opponents. I wouldn't bet on them to win CL but they could definitely knock out anyone else over two legs.
 

Deleted member 2254

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Oct 25, 2017
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Don't you mean half of Man United? Haha

That true. Lukaku, Young and Sanchez from Man United (although the latter is on loan). Moses from Chelsea. Lazaro from Newcastle. Now Eriksen from Totenham. Conte didn't stay long in the PL but he sure set his eyes on a lot of players, with some who are performing way better than they were (see Lukaku, a whole new player basically).
 
Oct 27, 2017
5,618
Spain
He made a couple of mistakes in the first matches, but he's been really solid since mid October i'd say, he was benched for 5-6 games 'cause he picked up a shoulder injury and we have the luxury of having someone as good as Demiral on the bench.

Is he already an improvement over the best Chiellini? probably not, but there's no doubt in my mind that everyone at the club is happy about his performances so far.

Go look up his match against Atleti in Turin, he saved us multiple times in that game.
I see, I hadn't been following the team all that much.
That same Valencia who just beat Barca 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Madrid?

Valencia will be rather tricky opponents. I wouldn't bet on them to win CL but they could definitely knock out anyone else over two legs.
Yeah, and the same Valencia who beat Ajax and put them out of the Champions League when everyone assumed Ajax would be first in the group phase and Valencia and Chelsea would have to fight for scraps. Underestimating Valencia has been a big mistake this season so far.
 

timeforsana

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,214
Arteta must really not rate Ceballos.

1UWm1toU
 

Firemind

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,529
Pretty funny that Mou gets a winger who can't score. I wonder if he wanted Bergwijn or the board just picked random players as attacking options to replace Eriksen/Kane. Hopefully he won't end up as Depay at Utd.
 

gutterboy44

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,592
NY
Expecting United to sign zero players and somehow sell one more player to make this squad as thin as possible. Cause you know...rebuilding.
 

Vault

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,594
The Ronaldo effect. Bigger TV fees, bigger sponsor money, more people at the stadiums, higher ticket prices because they can sell 'em anyway, better chances of grabbing quality players from other leagues... the entire league benefited big time from CR7's arrival.
Tax breaks are the main reason players are moving to Italy again.
 

Rainy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,622
Look what my father in law sent!!!! He's been like a father to me over the past two decades. The message is in relation to my brain injury, recovery, and the "You'll never walk alone" means so much. He knows I've loved Liverpool all my life.

Liverpool_Blanky1.jpg



Liverpool_Blanky2.jpg
Dude this is amazing. What a gesture. Hope all is well.
 

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jan/28/bruno-fernandes-manchester-united-signing-sporting

Manchester United are close to agreeing a deal for Sporting Lisbon's Bruno Fernandes that will cost a basic €55m (£46.5m) plus a possible €25m in add-ons.

Although personal terms are yet to be agreed there is an expectation this will be a formality.

United's stance in refusing to meet Sporting's €85m valuation of the midfielder proved successful, the Portuguese club having raised this from an initial €75m, it is understood.

The first €15m of add-ons is for domestic and Champions League appearances, and the remaining €10m for bonuses triggered if Fernandes achieves exceptional personal incentives.

Is he any good?

No need to worry about those add ons, lol.
 
Oct 27, 2017
5,618
Spain
And apparently Barca is close to signing Rodrigo.
I don't know how that move benefits anyone involved. Valencia cannot afford to lose him, he's not nearly as good as Suárez or really good enought to be a starting player at Barcelona, and he will absolutely want to be a starter. This reminds me of Neto signing for Barcelona (Perma-benched) , and Valencia ending up with Cillesen on the bench as well and a worse goalkeeping situation all around.
 

RocknRola

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,191
Portugal
Bruno Fernandes saving himself from the sinking ship that is Sporting....

Best of luck to him, hope he improves even more! We're gonna need him in the national team!
 

RocknRola

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,191
Portugal
Not accounting for any adaptation issues that may or may not be a thing, he'll easily become United's best midfielder. He can attack and defend with ease and he still has quite a bit of speed to him.

Of course, things don't always work out but he should impose himself before the end of this season. And unlike Pogba he is actually a team player.
 

jbug617

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,900
A group of Utd fans went to Woodward's house. Luckily no one was home. I believe he has 2 small children

 
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