Bergamo (Atalanta) were very good with a great contropiede. Gomez is very good and they hustle. Some of those goals were from a distance and beuties. I also watched the Spurs against Leipzig and the penalty by the Spurs was fully deserved, but they were lack luster ... ..is it Morihno's fault?
Football espresso 2019 - 20
- Thread starter Insidious Von
- Start date
I don't think so, I have major respect for "Lo Speciale" for his tactical brilliance back in 2010. The Hotspur are banged up, credit to Mourinho for deflecting blame on to himself instead of the club. The English Press can be brutal.
In other news, there are cracks in the rampart of Club Bourbon. Naymar is running his mouth and Mbappe is getting moody. I hope Kenny Blankenship's suggestion happens, PSG need to go get eliminated!
Two supposed journeymen defensemen have come up huge lately Gio Di Lorenzo negated Mane's pace in the CL and the even more improbable Frankie Acerbi shut down Romalu Lukaku to bring Lazio to within a point of top spot.
De Ligt's problem at Juve is Bonucci has gotten too slow. He's now resembling Tommy Smith's famous saying about Laurent Blanc, "Leo Bonucci has deceptive speed, he's slower than he looks". At the Euro, anyone other than Romagnioli holding the line would negate the Azzurri's chances. He hasn't missed a second of action in over two years with AC Milan. They withdrew from the Europa League to avoid FFP penalties, which would have meant selling him. Acerbi has earned the right to line up with him.
If there was any confusion: Atalanta (Atlanta) means Promised Land. Party animal Claude Debussy spent his summers in Bergamo, his loft is now a museum - it's improper to just play the Clair de Lune.
Martin Braithwaite is now with Barcelona, following in the footsteps of Alan Simonson and Michael Laudrup. Many are sceptical about his abilities, but he may grow by playing with Messi et al.
If Braithwaite falls in with the plan, he will be a serviceable pawn. If he wants to play his own game, he'll be sold off in the summer. This is why Greizmann isn't working out as planned. He only knows what he knows. He's not comfortable going outside of that.
Braithwaite is a "place holder" (to use a music studio term). The real aim for Barca is to obtain Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan this summer. If Suarez rebounds from injury, he has one good season left.
Barca is on damage control until end of season.
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Sure, he will be traded in the summer, but he gets to play beside Messi for a season. Looks good on his resume.
And he may surprise. If Messi &Co send him some good balls, he can score goals. And Barcelona gave him a contract to 2024.
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Marichal Don, Lautaro Martinez, really?
You do now that Inter are now a blood money club under the umbrella of Ali Baba. Just like PSG and ManCity - except they have legacy. You do know that a second San Siro is being built in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics, right. And even if Lautaro requests a transfer, Inter are not going to play nice, give them 260 million Euros. Mauro Icardi is on loan to PSG, he's a home wrecker but Club Bourbon is still going to need to pony up.
Ouch... Suarez is so good. I don't like him as a person, but as a player he's excellent. Martinez is also very good, not as good as Suarez but good.
Talking about Inter I watched the game against the Bulgarians, they were mediocre even the won 2-0 . One was a penalty. So they sucked a bit.
Roma did better against the Gents, the first period they were dominating...the second period the Dutch picked up and it was quite exciting.
Roma did better against the Gents, the first period they were dominating...the second period the Dutch picked up and it was quite exciting.
Not sure why they called themselves Gent, isn't it supposed to be Ghent? Easy to confuse with Genk. Nice to see the Canadian come off the injury list, with Zaniolo gone long term they need him more than ever.
Inter did what they had to do, Bulgaria is a hardscrabble place to pick up points. Eriksen got the start and scored, Conte didn't think he was fully integrated beforehand, he took his time. The more urbane Young has had a better time of it. It's actually an important moral victory, Inter reserve their energy for the league.
Inter did what they had to do, Bulgaria is a hardscrabble place to pick up points. Eriksen got the start and scored, Conte didn't think he was fully integrated beforehand, he took his time. The more urbane Young has had a better time of it. It's actually an important moral victory, Inter reserve their energy for the league.
Indeed, I am aware.
As we all have suffered this from time to time, we don't always agree with what the Board of Directors of our respective teams chooses to do.
Messi and Lautaro are simpatico with each other (both being from Argentina). The school of thought is that if Lautaro and Messi can create a "Romario/Bebeto" relationship, Argentina can win the 2022 WC which would likely be Messi's last shot. Very doubtful he'll play in 2026.
Lautaro has already spurned even basic conversation from EPL clubs. He's been quoted as saying "Spain would be a good place to play". He's been wisely advised as to how to phrase his words in public.
Now, I'm a fan of building from within La Masia (the Academy). Abel Ruiz, Ricky Puig and Ansu Fati are the future of the club. I'd rather see more time and effort put into developing these young players. After all, this is how we ended up with Puyol, Iniesta, Pique and Xavi. Spending millions and getting into a pissing contest with a club like Inter has the same appeal of root canal work. However, if the Board of Directors wants to go this route (and they think they can with that first step being selling Coutinho) then I'll have to stand by and watch.
Messy doesn't play well with younger players, look at how many have come and gone, now Coutinho will be next. Argentina would be better served with Lautaro and Papu Gomez leading the attack. I'm loving Atalanta playing David.
This is the 4th year that Inter have been owned by Suning, they bit the bullet and spent the money on the Primavera. This is the first year they started spending on outside talent. They will be a force in the coming years, Lautaro may want to be a part of that.
This is the 4th year that Inter have been owned by Suning, they bit the bullet and spent the money on the Primavera. This is the first year they started spending on outside talent. They will be a force in the coming years, Lautaro may want to be a part of that.
Braithwaite is going to play this Saturday already.
He came on at 72 min and had an assist to Messi and another shot that resulted in a goal. He did better than anybody expected.
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Barcelona's emergency signing Martin Braithwaite joked he "won't wash my clothes after I hugged Lionel Messi" after setting up one of the Argentina legend's four goals in a thumping win over Eibar.
Barca were given special dispensation to sign former Middlesbough man Braithwaite this week, and he came off the bench to play a part in late goals for Messi and Arthur that put the pressure back on title rivals Real Madrid.
"Messi congratulated me, he's a great guy and tried to make me feel comfortable on the pitch by passing to me often," Braithwaite, 28, said.
"I'm very happy to have given my first assist to Leo."
'We've made an extraordinary signing'
Messi scored three goals in 26 first-half minutes before adding a late fourth from Braithwaite's saved attempt as Barcelona moved two points above Real Madrid, who face Levante later.
After a slow start, Messi scored a sensational opener when he rounded off a brilliant solo run by chipping the ball over Eibar's Marko Dmitrovic after 14 minutes.
As half-time approached, another quick burst of pace culminated in Messi firing a second low into the corner, and the Argentina forward converted from a loose ball three minutes later to kill the contest before the break.
Messi is La Liga's top scorer with 17 goals this season
Eibar continued to battle in the second half as both sides had goals ruled out for offside, but the hosts finished with a flurry as Messi capped a wonderful individual performance with his fourth three minutes from time and Arthur completed the rout.
Coach Quique Setien admitted he was surprised by the impact made by his new signing.
"Braithwaite did more than I expected, much more," said Setien.
"Honestly, I think we've made an extraordinary signing. He will adapt perfectly to what we want to do, he was involved in two goals and he understands the game so well."
Barca were given special dispensation to sign former Middlesbough man Braithwaite this week, and he came off the bench to play a part in late goals for Messi and Arthur that put the pressure back on title rivals Real Madrid.
"Messi congratulated me, he's a great guy and tried to make me feel comfortable on the pitch by passing to me often," Braithwaite, 28, said.
"I'm very happy to have given my first assist to Leo."
'We've made an extraordinary signing'
Messi scored three goals in 26 first-half minutes before adding a late fourth from Braithwaite's saved attempt as Barcelona moved two points above Real Madrid, who face Levante later.
After a slow start, Messi scored a sensational opener when he rounded off a brilliant solo run by chipping the ball over Eibar's Marko Dmitrovic after 14 minutes.
As half-time approached, another quick burst of pace culminated in Messi firing a second low into the corner, and the Argentina forward converted from a loose ball three minutes later to kill the contest before the break.
Messi is La Liga's top scorer with 17 goals this season
Eibar continued to battle in the second half as both sides had goals ruled out for offside, but the hosts finished with a flurry as Messi capped a wonderful individual performance with his fourth three minutes from time and Arthur completed the rout.
Coach Quique Setien admitted he was surprised by the impact made by his new signing.
"Braithwaite did more than I expected, much more," said Setien.
"Honestly, I think we've made an extraordinary signing. He will adapt perfectly to what we want to do, he was involved in two goals and he understands the game so well."
The future didn't look too bright a few weeks back when my beloved Burnley dismantled Utd 2-0 at Old Trafford
:encouragement:
Thanks. It’s an annual struggle to reach the mythical 40 point mark for survival, always will be for Burnley, relegation is inevitable at some point. Other clubs shop at Harrods, we shop at Value Village! Dyche is a Godsend, even has a local pub named after him, formerly “The Princess Royal”, now “The Royal Dyche”. He names Brian Clough as an influence, another no- nonsense type manager. Apparently Dyche is the highest paid employee, period…… and rightly so! I doubt any other major sports team can say that, typically the players are paid more, much more than the manager/coach.
BTW, one of our best players, 20 yr old Dwight McNeil, was released at age 14 by Man Utd, came to Burnley and blossomed. That kids going to be a superstar if he continues to progress, and the ‘big boys’ will come a calling, we won’t be in a situation to refuse a huge offer.
I watched both games today. Chelsea had a lack luster defense. Napoli -Barca 1-1 was good, lots of yellow cards and a red Card for Vidal. I find Vidal to be scum of the type of Ramos or Pepe ..dirty. He deserved the yellow card he fouled Mario Rui openly and then he started scream at the empire and against Rui ..he lightly head bunted him and he was out. Busquets got a yellow card too for hitting Dries Mertens with a gamba tesa ...straight leg...Mertens had to leave the game. But Napoli did good and survived Barca a much stronger team.
Serie A games this weekend postponed until May: https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1233719347270574081
