ponsaelius

Pickford & Keane good signings in isolation. Problem is they've got nee balance or pace. They're shite, it's quite funny. Aye. One of the weirdest transfer windows I've ever seen from a team. None of their signings are ostensibly bad, but as a collective it looks aimless.

So apparently the reason Atalanta can't play in Bergamo is because one of their stands doesn't have numbered seats

That said you really wouldn't be surprised if they were still knocking about in that scaffolding set-up in 5 years time

That's actually a rare example of some real progress though. They have a temporary stadium set up for next 2 years, to finally get a club owned stadium built after years of renting off the council. Historically Cagliari have been the archetype example of the Italian club with stadium problems.

Bit shit that Atalanta are having to play 120 miles from Bergamo. Shows how outdated some of the stadiums are in Italy.

Definitely a harder game than the last two in terms of personnel and form. Like fuck should we ever fear a Mark Hughes side though.

I don't think our CBs are that great. They just have been well coached and drilled. Perhaps this lot do the fundamentals a lot better than some of the others in recent years, but Rafa is clearly the main difference.

He's both a good defender and a footballer. Can't really believe it's the same bloke that played for Villa.

Good post. Bit in bold is something I think some need to realise, we've got one of the youngest squads in the league. Youngest average XI of all the teams this season I read before on twatter.

3rd goal was ridiculous football.

Was a bizarre performance. He was basically their best player and their worst. Always on the ball and wanting to do things, but his passing was fucking horrendous.

Pretty much exactly what he's doing. Jesus Gamez mugging Swansea off today ffs

Sanches looked like Edgar Davids, except his glaucoma has worsened to a complete loss of all vision

if you don't believe there's a massive, elaborate conspiracy against your club then you're not a real fan imo

Gamez playing in the PL. Last season's 3rd choice RB. What a cracking summer window we had.

Being able to constantly break up the flow of games in small incremental amounts by time wasting every time there is a break in play, but not being punished for it, would be a huge boon for negatively minded sides. Particularly teams who play a strong defensive cage who don't want the game to flow and be stretched. It'd become almost an art form in itself. At the moment if they do it they're at least having yellows dished out every time they take the piss.

Aye I made this point recently too. It's something Vickery will be all too well used to watching South American club football. What would it consist of? Passing around at the back? I don't see what could be done to slow the game down that the other team could not react to, if the ball is in play. The same as it does now. Players don't feign injury, kick the ball away etc to waste time. I mean they do, but it's hardly the only reason, considering that time is (usually) added on at the end anyway. It's done to interrupt the momentum and flow of the game. This problem is still there even if you stop the clock, and in fact becomes an even greater weapon if players aren't being punished for it anymore because 'time wasting' doesn't exist.

Hellas losing 0-3 at home to Fiorentina who have sold their entire team. Not surprising after seeing them at SJP.

Aye I made this point recently too. It's something Vickery will be all too well used to watching South American club football.

I actually rate Wood and think £15 million is about right for him, he'll do well for Burnley. That said I wouldn't have been sold on him here as he's not the kind of striker I wanted us to sign.

I still am convinced there is an inherent and unworkable contradiction to the entire concept when applied to a sport like football. At the moment in Serie A they are spending a huge amount of time on multiple decisions during a game. This last one was a free-kick given at the edge of the box that was reviewed by the ref under pressure from Inter players. 5 minutes was spent as the video ref reviewed a very close call. Obviously multiple angles needed to be watched as it was very marginal and difficult to tell. Eventually the decision was changed and given as a penalty instead. Perhaps - from watching it - the correct decision was made. However it was extremely close, and still could be debated. Then they added 2 minutes on at the end of the half, despite wasting at least 4 minutes on this decision. The argument is that these problems of time waste will be ironed out as the actors become more used to the system. I'm not convinced, but I will admit it's likely to improve. This is not my major issue though. My issue is that there is a continued unfairness to the choice of decisions that are being reviewed. If you only review certain decisions in a match then there is an unfairness in the decisions which don't get reviewed. You may correctly call a 'big' decision in favour of a team on review, but this counts for little if you don't review one for the other team. Or what is more likely is you correctly review a big decision in favour of one team, but then don't review numerous small decisions against the opposition. Small decisions which are not judged suitable for a review, but cumulatively are just as damaging to this team's efforts. Basically, there is an inherent problem whatever you try to do. Review too little and there is a risk of unfairness, review too much and you destroy the flow and momentum of a sport where the clock doesn't stop. I'm not sure this can ever be fixed sufficiently.

2 minutes added time

I've not hated anything in football more than I hate VAR. They've just spent 5 fucking minutes on one decision in this Inter game.

It's a completely new structure internally, they've just retained the facade and cover for architectural value. Brilliant effort.

I thought mid-table.