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The Real Football Thread

Page 162 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
If they can't create anything it's not good for Kean, from what I've seen last year he's not someone technically gifted that can create himself chances and he's error prone when he tries to score from farther than the penalty spot and from a side angle, basically he needs to be launched in a counterattack where he can use his speed or served deep in the box where he can use his goal scoring instinct close to the goal to be effective.

IMHO he could have done very well at Juventus in case Sarri would have been able to apply a play style like in Napoli with dozens of chances creates but looks like Sarri wants only technical players and also other players that are more phisically than technically gifted like Matuidi and Mandzukič are on the way out or risk to be left out of the lists for the entire season.
 
Yes, he can beat defenders but using the speed not technical skills, i checked his stats in last year's Serie A and confirm the impression i had watching, only 0.7 dribbles per game, 6.5 passes, 0.4 key passes, zero cross, zero through ball, zero assists, he did almost nothing except scoring. Potentially he could become a very good striker because he has the goalscoring instinct but he really needs to be assisted to score.
 
That's because he was playing 15/20 minutes in most those matches. Already for Everton he has quite a few dribbles in the space of forty minutes of play, and at Hellas he was averaging 1.5 dribbles a game despite playing half of them as a sub. I think you're doing him a big disservice - for sure, he hasn't really shown any thing to be an assistman yet, but he is certainly technically skilled
 
I think only in Italy can happen something like that, probably you have read that Lukaku was given the "welcome to Italy" with a load of racists buuu and people screaming like monkeys in Cagliari but the people from the procura federale that have to watch and report what happen during matches said that nothing happened and only because there are clear videos the persecutor asked for a "supplemento d'indagine" that usually leads to nothing. And that despite Cagliari is probably the worst stadium in Serie A when comes to racism and almost every match happen the same.
But the most incredible thing is that Inter fans instead standing by Lukaku side yesterday issued a statement defending Cagliari fans and saying that racially abusing a black player should be a right of the tifosi because in a stadium is only "tifo contro" and instead of complaining black players should be honoured of that because means they are feared on the pitch.
 
Horrible match from Milan. The first half was OK, Inter obviously superior but there were some chances but the second miserable (for the fourth match running). I'm willing to give Giampaolo time but Milan look worse now than in pre season, no shape, no ideas and no confidence. Needs to buck up his ideas, fast, work out the best formation/starting xi and start playing some of the talented youngsters: no more biglia I pray, he's clearly worse than bennacer in every department. The team currently is playing at a lower midtable or even relegation standard (least shots on target per match of any team) but clearly has the squad to be top 6. With Fonseca looking good at Roma, despite a genuinely poor defence, top 4 looks to be extremely difficult again.
 
France Football has published the 30 men shortlist for the Ballon d'or, will be interesting to see if there will be some changes compared to august when van Dijk won the journalists vote before being trashed by fanboy biased public vote and the ridicoulus players vote (Marcelo and Modric in the best XI say hi), theoretically the prize is for the solar year to be differenced from the FIFA the best that is for the season but i think van Dijk and Alisson should still be the favourites.

 
Liverpool set to win the league - could they go through undefeated this season? After all, they only lost once last season (against City, a game they could have won).
If they can avoid longer term injuries to their key players (front trio, Fabinho and Van Dijk) they probably will win it. Thus far they have been remarkably lucky on that front, but there's no guarantee things will stay that way. In the end it is still November, and the lead has been built by Liverpool themselves being near-perfect. It takes a lot things to fall into place favourably to emulate last season's points total, and if at some point between now and May they no longer will, an eight-point lead in November means almost nothing.
 
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If they can avoid longer term injuries to their key players (front trio, Fabinho and Van Dijk) they probably will win it. Thus far they have been remarkably lucky on that front, but there's no guarantee things will stay that way. In the end it is still November, and the lead has been built by Liverpool themselves being near-perfect. It takes a lot things to fall into place favourably to emulate last season's points total, and if at some point between now and May they no longer will, an eight-point lead in November means almost nothing.

Of course an 8 point lead anywhere in the season matters a lot!!

And for the remainder of the first half of the season they don't have any particularly difficult opponents except for Leicester on Boxing Day on the 19th match day.

This season is over.
 
Of course an 8 point lead anywhere in the season matters a lot!!

And for the remainder of the first half of the season they don't have any particularly difficult opponents except for Leicester on Boxing Day on the 19th match day.

This season is over.

Too early to say this, there's far too much time left for things to go wrong. Right now they look like potential champions , but injuries to couple of key players, some bad luck with key refereeing decisions , deflections etc, and those 8 points can be gone very quickly.

Also, its Liverpool, with all the extra pressures due to its history, specially when it comes to winning the league. They didn't slip up during the run in last season (although had some significant lucky breaks going for them along the way), but didn't also have to defend a clear lead and deal with the pressures that come with being an out-and-out favourite.

All in all with an 8-point lead they are now clear favourites and I believe they will win it, but it's still only November and the title race is far, far from over.
 
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Ronaldo's goal yesterday against Sampdoria was something ridiculous, look at the jump (and then he was floating in the air a la Jordan), even more impressive than the highly celebrated bicycle kick two years ago.

ronaldo.png


View: https://twitter.com/drinsanchez/status/1207372435374387201
 
Well, as nobody seems to want the League title in Spain anyway, they might just as well cancel the race for it.

Yet, I'm still eager to know the outcome of Barcelona-Napoli. I like Napoli, but love B.
Anybody around here interested in the Champions League matches tonight?

Hopefully two good games tonight. Atletico did a great job in frustrating Liverpool in the first leg, I think they need a bit more in front of the famous Anfield crowd.

PSG will fancy their chances against an exciting Dortmund side, but they have some bad memories from last year to banish and an empty stadium takes out home advantage.
 
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Well, as nobody seems to want the League title in Spain anyway, they might just as well cancel the race for it.

Yet, I'm still eager to know the outcome of Barcelona-Napoli. I like Napoli, but love B.
Anybody around here interested in the Champions League matches tonight?
There won't be Barça-Napoli, it's just a matter of time before they'll announce it, Sevilla-Roma and Inter-Getafe have already been cancelled and competitions can't go on with both Italian and Spanish teams refusing to play.
 
So Netherlands and French Leaugues are pretty much cancelled.

I am not sure if any leagues will be completed, the effect of Coronavirus looks like it will effect next years european competitions as qualification can start early

Because National Leagues (thats fifth tier and below are cancelled) then those above in England should be, one of the football govening bodies mantras is the game is the same at all levels, a shame for Liverpool but that is sometimes how it is
 

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