Serie A 2018/2019

[YNWA14]

In today's day and age where physical abilities can be stretched longer as long as you are open minded and willing to learn you certainly can improve later in your career.

 

[StevenF1919]

He's still a tank out there , and if his mental side has improved (along with his body) because of being at Juve (like he said --very specifically, I might add) , you can absolutely 100% have your best season at age 31 in the modern game.

Hell , look who just won player of the year as a CM. Aged what? 33? Has Modric become better between the ages of 30-33? Yeah, he likely has. This is what modern science provides you.

There's no one-size-fits-all to a player's career arch.

If this is just another PSG vs the world argument , or you feel France is being slighted, I'll just end it there. Because it's sure as hell feeling that way, and that's not something I want to partake in.

Don't even bother with him. The French/Ligue 1 bias is ridiculous.

 

[Evilo]

He's still a tank out there , and if his mental side has improved (along with his body) because of being at Juve (like he said --very specifically, I might add) , you can absolutely 100% have your best season at age 31 in the modern game.

Hell , look who just won player of the year as a CM. Aged what? 33? Has Modric become better between the ages of 30-33? Yeah, he likely has. This is what modern science provides you.

There's no one-size-fits-all to a player's career arch.

If this is just another PSG vs the world argument , or you feel France is being slighted, I'll just end it there. Because it's sure as hell feeling that way, and that's not something I want to partake in.

No, it's another "hey I have seen 5 games of player X in my life, but now that I do every week, boy has he progressed to a great level" BS.
I'm used to it here. People don't watch L1 and suddenly become aware of players once they reach their league. And magically, they "progressed".
Back in the days, I had the exact same debate about Essien, Cech and Drogba.

 

[Evilo]

Don't even bother with him. The French/Ligue 1 bias is ridiculous.

No, your ignorance is ridiculous.

BTW, I guess Matuidi isn't french since he's... black?

 

[Il Mediano]

No, it's another "hey I have seen 5 games of player X in my life, but now that I do every week, boy has he progressed to a great level" BS.
I'm used to it here. People don't watch L1 and suddenly become aware of players once they reach their league. And magically, they "progressed".
Back in the days, I had the exact same debate about Essien, Cech and Drogba.

Yeah, I get that. Trust me, as a Roma fan, I know all about it. Good players no one knows much about leave my team every season. Maybe now people can finally understand why Alisson starts over Ederson for Brazil.

We're all victim of bias , I just don't understand how you can't even leave yourself open to the possibility of it occurring.

I mean, I openly say Serie A isn't the best. It's really not that difficult. The national team is pretty crap, the culture isn't conducive to the progression of youth, the fandom borders on insanity , and the terrible ownership/corruption is brutal.

Italy is sooo stuck in its ways , and the bureaucracy is so questionable that teams can't even get their own stadiums to increase their revenue. It's total a sh!t show , and we need to be able to attract better players to the league. That's just the damn truth. If anyone doesn't believe me, go visit the San Paolo in Naples sometime, and then think about the fact that Napoli don't even own that dump outright. They actually have to pay rent for that thing.

....But what I can say is, that almost 100% of all players who've come to Serie A from elsewhere will say it's the most tactical league they've played in. To a man.

Is Dzeko a better player now than he was at City? I would say yes, and he would tell you the same. He's an immensely more complete player than he was when he joined. Roma forced him to develop parts of his game that he'd ignored for years. And what age was he when he joined? Age 29.

And that's not a slight on City , they're clearly a superior side/club , but he did objectively improve in Rome. To suggest it's impossible to improve in your late 20's/early 30's is just flat-out wrong , imho.

 

[StevenF1919]

Yeah, I get that. Trust me, as a Roma fan, I know all about it. Good players no one knows much about leave my team every season. Maybe now people can finally understand why Alisson starts over Ederson for Brazil.

We're all victim of bias , I just don't understand how you can't even leave yourself open to the possibility of it occurring.

I mean, I openly say Serie A isn't the best. It's really not that difficult. The national team is pretty crap, the culture isn't conducive to the progression of youth, the fandom borders on insanity , and the terrible ownership/corruption is brutal.

Italy is sooo stuck in its ways , and the bureaucracy is so questionable that teams can't even get their own stadiums to increase their revenue. It's total a sh!t show , and we need to be able to attract better players to the league. That's just the damn truth. If anyone doesn't believe me, go visit the San Paolo in Naples sometime, and then think about the fact that Napoli don't even own that dump outright. They actually have to pay rent for that thing.

....But what I can say is, that almost 100% of all players who've come to Serie A from elsewhere will say it's the most tactical league they've played in. To a man.

Is Dzeko a better player now than he was at City? I would say yes, and he would tell you the same. He's an immensely more complete player than he was when he joined. Roma forced him to develop parts of his game that he'd ignored for years. And what age was he when he joined? Age 29.

And that's not a slight on City , they're clearly a superior side/club , but he did objectively improve in Rome. To suggest it's impossible to improve in your late 20's/early 30's is just flat-out wrong , imho.

He knows better than Matuidi does obviously.

 

[Evilo]

He knows better than Matuidi does obviously.

I know Matuidi better than anyone here, that's for sure

Just to let that sink in for you. I talked about Matuidi here on this very website when he was just a Troyes prospect in 2004.
I've followed his career all those 14 years. Many times (old time posters can attest this), I've told everyone how great a player he was when some posters insisted on his poor ball control and stopped there.

So yes, I'm more qualified than anyone here to talk about Matuidi's level. And just because a couple of posters say he's suddenly progressed after a MERE THREE games this season doesn't mean I'm wrong.
He had good games for the french NT in the WC for instance but far from his best level from a couple of years ago (his real prime) under Blanc.

 

[StevenF1919]

I know Matuidi better than anyone here, that's for sure

Just to let that sink in for you. I talked about Matuidi here on this very website when he was just a Troyes prospect in 2004.
I've followed his career all those 14 years. Many times (old time posters can attest this), I've told everyone how great a player he was when some posters insisted on his poor ball control and stopped there.

So yes, I'm more qualified than anyone here to talk about Matuidi's level. And just because a couple of posters say he's suddenly progressed after a MERE THREE games this season doesn't mean I'm wrong.
He had good games for the french NT in the WC for instance but far from his best level from a couple of years ago (his real prime) under Blanc.

Matuidi said it himself. You know Matuidi better than he knows himself?

 

[Evilo]

Plenty of players say things like that.
I could give you a hundred quotes if I wasn't too lazy.

 

[StevenF1919]

Milan throws away another lead after dominating. I love the way Gattuso has them playing and he's my favourite player ever but I'm not sure how long he's going to stick around if they can't see games through, especially with Conte available.

 

[Cassano]

Milan throws away another lead after dominating. I love the way Gattuso has them playing and he's my favourite player ever but I'm not sure how long he's going to stick around if they can't see games through, especially with Conte available.

He is wasting Higuain's greatness. Milan have no excuse to be dropping these many points.

 

[Albatros]

Rape Allegations: American Woman Files Complaint against Cristiano Ronaldo - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Some pretty damning stuff in there, especially this part:

In the second one (from September 2009) which was send from a lawyer of Osório de Castro's chancellery to Osório and his colleagues, Ronaldo answers the question if she did scream or got loud during sex as followed: "She said stop or no several times. She said that she doesn't want to, but she has made herself available. Afterwards I apologized. But she never screamed."

 

[Live in the Now]

So Ronaldo admitted to rape.

 

[YNWA14]

How is this only coming out now anyway and no major publications are picking it up? Seems weird.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

How is this only coming out now anyway and no major publications are picking it up? Seems weird.

It’s gaining traction, atleast going by twitter. Der Speigel actually reported on this earlier last season but they now have more information at hand.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

How is this only coming out now anyway and no major publications are picking it up? Seems weird.

Wouldn't be the first time allegations come up much much later... I mean after the year we've had you'd think people would understand this by now.

 

[YNWA14]

Wouldn't be the first time allegations come up much much later... I mean after the year we've had you'd think people would understand this by now.

That's not what I meant. This story was already reported on before. These aren't new allegations, but okay.

I know we live in the 'guilty until proven innocent' age, but I still think it's important to allow for due process. If those documents are real though it's definitely pretty damning.

 

[les Habs]

How is this only coming out now anyway and no major publications are picking it up? Seems weird.

Because apparently she has a new lawyer who said that the agreement she had with Ronaldo's attorneys isn't valid due to her psychological state at the time.

 

[Cassano]

Sadly that POS won't get jailed.

 

[maclean]

Yeah, they will end up framing it (and many people will view it) as her just wanting more money, and he has enough that at some point a settlement is inevitable. Maayyyybe at least something will leak through that thick skull of his and he'll think twice about it next time??

 

[gary69]

So, all is forgiven for Roma after their win against Lazio. Somewhat lucky bounces in the first goal, don't understand the large cap in the wall for Kolarov's free goal and finally Fazio making good of his height with a bullet header after a good run.

 

[Il Mediano]

Fantastic win for Roma.

Pellegrini with his best game in a Roma shirt by a mile.

 

[maclean]

hate to say it, but Juve really deserves to be punished playing like this a man up. napoli is running the play like nobody's business and they're just letting them

 

[Juve]

hate to say it, but Juve really deserves to be punished playing like this a man up. napoli is running the play like nobody's business and they're just letting them

I agree. Napoli looks like they have the man advantage.