well he does seem to get dropped for most of the big games(Arsenal, United) so you can't base everything on the stats.
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well he does seem to get dropped for most of the big games(Arsenal, United) so you can't base everything on the stats.
Rodwell rumour is a bit nonsensical, wasn't he a 'certainty' to join Manchester United for the past 3 windows?
The problem with him is no one knows how good he can be exactly or gage his best position yet alone his strongest attributes and he's far from consistent at the moment.
Pinto Da Costa has said today that ''no important players will leave in January - that includes Alvaro Pereira''. He said the same about Falcao/AVB in the summer, nevertheless even if he is being truthful after recent comments by Vitor Pereira it looks like Guarin isn't one of those 'important players'...
Carlo Ancelotti said on Italian TV that ''English football is unwell at the moment'' and said he thinks Chelsea/Arsenal will struggle a lot against the two Italian teams. I happen to disagree, a lot of people in England are over hyping Naples at the moment as some kind of 'great' team. They are a selling - 'profit driven through sales' - club who are far from consistent and lack the bottle to win a major honour.
I wouldn't put money on them to beat Chelsea or on them to beat Norwich, not as good as everybody thinks. Milan don't have the depth of quality in wide areas and half of their team doesn't understand the concept of defending. Even Arsenal will look at them and shake their heads at how defensively inept they are.
Milan vs high tempo = Milan loss 9 times out of 10, can't handle the speed of games that aren't played sideways.
The problem with him is no one knows how good he can be exactly or gage his best position yet alone his strongest attributes and he's far from consistent at the moment.
Pinto Da Costa has said today that ''no important players will leave in January - that includes Alvaro Pereira''. He said the same about Falcao/AVB in the summer, nevertheless even if he is being truthful after recent comments by Vitor Pereira it looks like Guarin isn't one of those 'important players'...
Carlo Ancelotti said on Italian TV that ''English football is unwell at the moment'' and said he thinks Chelsea/Arsenal will struggle a lot against the two Italian teams. I happen to disagree, a lot of people in England are over hyping Naples at the moment as some kind of 'great' team. They are a selling - 'profit driven through sales' - club who are far from consistent and lack the bottle to win a major honour.
I wouldn't put money on them to beat Chelsea or on them to beat Norwich, not as good as everybody thinks. Milan don't have the depth of quality in wide areas and half of their team doesn't understand the concept of defending. Even Arsenal will look at them and shake their heads at how defensively inept they are.
Milan vs high tempo = Milan loss 9 times out of 10, can't handle the speed of games that aren't played sideways.
But thats got nothing to do with his defending lol
It does! The further away from goal he is, the less chance he has of causing grief in his own box!
It does! The further away from goal he is, the less chance he has of causing grief in his own box!
David Luiz: just a **** James Perch.
There is no hyping Napoli, they are a very good team, and brilliant on the counter. People here didnt watch much of them last season, and were taken by suprise by the way they have played. Tipped them to go through in the group stages, and if Chelsea play a high line against them, i tip them in the knockouts.
Selling has nothing to do with the quality of the side, they havent sold their 3 most lethal players, and strengthed this summer. Not really sure what lacking the bottle has do to with anything, they are on their way up as a side, if you remember just how far they have come. If Chelsea approach them the way City did, they will come unstuck
With regards to Rodwell, he's pretty much going to be a midfielder, and not a CB. Moyes himself said that Rodwell wouldn't suit being a CB and is much more suited to being a CM/DM. And a bid of AT LEAST £25 million will be needed for the club to accept.
Napoli only have 1 win in their last 5 games. They draw far too many, and only have one more win than loss in the domestic league. In reality, sure they have a fantastic attack, but their defence is far from amazing, and with the players at Chelsea's disposal, they should be looking to go through.
They have good first team but **** squad. Their lack of depth in squad will hit them big time in league. They are lucky that none of their star players have missed much this season.
Still around 3 years back they were 3rd division team, now in last 16 in Champions league. Awesome progress they have made, looks like they are front runner to sign Vargas, Lavezzi is rumored to leave in summer, surely they will sell him for big money. Vargas is the ready replacement and they can use cash to strengthen at least one more position.
25 Million is way way too much for Rodwell, but knowing how English players are rated he would be sold for that amount only.
Seriously you could tempt Barca to sell Thiago for around that amount. Sooner these prices drop, better and lesser pressure on players.
What the two games where we conceded 8 goals in????
Of corse it does, we concede less when he plays its as simple as that.
the point i'm trying to make is that you might have conceded more. you never know.
Of corse you never know but the facts are he didnt play and we let in 8 goals in the two games he was missing.
I disagree for 2 real reasons.
1. That attacking Tridente is pretty magnificent to watch. Inler is also a really good player and he's doing almost as well this season as he did in the last (when he was superb imo)
2. I think a lot of people are hyping them as a great team for reasons other than pure potential for success. They're not great in the same way that Milan or Juve are, they're great in the way that they play. To a lot of people in England, 3 at the back is an amazing, anachronistic novelty. The kind of play Napoli produce down the wings is pretty exhilarating and they can play some good football, El Matador in particular is especially fun to watch as he shrugs off defenders and somehow buries the ball from the tightest of angles. It's also quite rare to see a team play almost entirely on the counter without it being a defensive measure here, so watching them bomb forward like Tottenham on crack is rather enjoyable.
Can't entirely agree with that. They have been quite inconsistent but a lot of their problems come from teams that won't overextend. Napoli's entire gameplan is pretty dependant on them stretching their opponent and then abusing the space that leaves, they struggle to pass through a packed defence.
Neither would I but they're most certainly a major threat for these 3 reasons (I like lists today ^^)
1. Our tendency to play a high line early in the season has led to the assumption that AVB won't play with anything else. That is of course incorrect but it did show how vulnerable our defence is when they're trying to clear through balls/ stop forwards running into space. I feel to really get the edge over Napoli, we're going to have to sit very deep.
2. Cavani is tricky. He likes to drop back from the frontline and towards the flanks to receive the ball. That would be ok if we had the sort of clever centreback who can make the right decisions about when to follow him and when to stay in position but we have Luiz (who I think would have a terrible time vs Napoli and cost us at least one goal) Terry (who's very good at what he does but less so at dealing with these types of threats) and Iva (who's been erratic at the moment imo). Chuck in Cech's rather shaky form this season and we see that Napoli's biggest strength (their front 3) is up against our weakest (our back 4). We're also in a rather crappy situation if we don't get our new RB in January because that either leaves Bosingwa on the flank (please god no, not vs Napoli...) or Luiz in the middle (again please god no, not vs Napoli...)
3. Unless Drogba puts in one of rare vintage performances I can see him struggling. Torres, I feel, would probably get swamped.
All that being said, I think we have a good chance. Despite them having Inler, I think our Midfield of Ramires+Meireles/Lampard+Romeu/Mikel is vastly superior to theirs and we have an extra man. Bossing possession shouldn't be especially hard, we just have to create more chances. If AVB brings in a RB and a creative AM (I want Mata to stay on the left, if Torres is going to return to his best he needs more than just 1 player supplying him) I think we have a very good chance but as we have no idea what will happen in the window, I don't want to jump the gun: if we played them tomorrow I'd be very worried.
^ The first few paragraphs is precisely what I mean by some people over playing them massively.
Roma beat them at San Paolo at the weekend, with Roma playing without a recognised defence (Rosi, Heinze, Juan, DDR) against a full strength Napoli lineup. The misconception that the SSP is some kind of colossal stage is being overplayed,
How you can say Napoli are consistent when they can beat City one week then go and draw at Novara, that's without mentioning the past 4 seasons of uncertainty. This team isn't lying in the top 4 of Serie A, they're 6th with the same points tally as Roma who - if you follow Serie A - you will know have had major issues with injuries/Enrique's system and somehow they're level with Naples on points.
I assure you that their losses to Catania and Chievo were far from undeserved, Walter is basically carrying the torch of Reja who played an identical system with slightly weaker personnel. They are vulnerable as long as you keep the ball and have patience, packing a deep defence against them would frustrate them but the easiest way to beat Naples is to go out at them. They have goals and attacking talent but they aren't a consistent performer by any means domestically and European wise they haven't exactly got immense pedigree.
Roma didn't pack their defence, they went at Naples and kept the ball well enough that the counter attack didn't work at all. Napoli will not be winning silverware any time soon not in my opinion anyway, the most inconsistent 'chokers' in Serie A.
Don't get me wrong Gargano/Inler/Hamsik/Zuniga/Campagnaro/Maggio/Cavani are great players, but Hamsik rarely steps up in big games and he's capable of missing the easiest of chances; Cavani is a top player providing the service is there from Lavezzi; Lavezzi will rarely score but is capable of assisting and the rest of the team are solid players.
But rule one of Serie A is you never put money on Napoli to win, they may be capable of beating any one but they're just as capable of getting beaten by anyone.
Roma beat them at San Paolo at the weekend, with Roma playing without a recognised defence (Rosi, Heinze, Juan, DDR) against a full strength Napoli lineup. The misconception that the SSP is some kind of colossal stage is being overplayed,
How you can say Napoli are consistent when they can beat City one week then go and draw at Novara, that's without mentioning the past 4 seasons of uncertainty. This team isn't lying in the top 4 of Serie A, they're 6th with the same points tally as Roma who - if you follow Serie A - you will know have had major issues with injuries/Enrique's system and somehow they're level with Naples on points.
I assure you that their losses to Catania and Chievo were far from undeserved, Walter is basically carrying the torch of Reja who played an identical system with slightly weaker personnel. They are vulnerable as long as you keep the ball and have patience, packing a deep defence against them would frustrate them but the easiest way to beat Naples is to go out at them. They have goals and attacking talent but they aren't a consistent performer by any means domestically and European wise they haven't exactly got immense pedigree.
Roma didn't pack their defence, they went at Naples and kept the ball well enough that the counter attack didn't work at all. Napoli will not be winning silverware any time soon not in my opinion anyway, the most inconsistent 'chokers' in Serie A.
Don't get me wrong Gargano/Inler/Hamsik/Zuniga/Campagnaro/Maggio/Cavani are great players, but Hamsik rarely steps up in big games and he's capable of missing the easiest of chances; Cavani is a top player providing the service is there from Lavezzi; Lavezzi will rarely score but is capable of assisting and the rest of the team are solid players.
But rule one of Serie A is you never put money on Napoli to win, they may be capable of beating any one but they're just as capable of getting beaten by anyone.
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