Yeah, agreed. Rewind from last season basically

Always said they don't worry me, not unless they fix their midfield and change coach. Thankfully the Rabiot deal to Man U seems to be stalling. Hopefully they're stuck with him and don't get Paredes. Not that he'd fix all their problems but he's better than all their other current mids. So he'd improve them slightly. How Juve keep getting lucky enough to offload all their deadwood for actual cash always amazes me.

Still think Inter are going to be the main threats this season. Nothing from the first matchday has changed my thoughts on that

I actually think this season the league if going to be poorer than last. The gap between the top 6/7 sides has increased even more. Teams who have been thorns in the big clubs' sides for a while now have really gotten weaker this season. Sassuolo, Verona, Torino, all significantly weaker

Di Maria got injured, could be out for 3-4 weeks. Both their marquee signings already out.

In other news, Tonali trained with the group today. Fully recovered.

Yep, they've went for the instant fix this summer, and while it could work, I think their issues are bigger then just Pogba and Di Maria, who have their own issues. Don't get me wrong, I'd have taken Di Maria in a second. But he's old and what he was demanding was never going to fly for us, and with good reason. Pogba not doing the surgery imo is also going to be a big issue. Don't think he'll be effective for them.


Great news about Sandro. Don't want to jinx it, but I feel relaxed going into the Atalanta game. They might have had our number in the past but now we have theirs.

Probable line-up is the same as vs Udinese but with Tonali instead of Krunic.

I assume CDK will start against Bologna at home next week.

I think Pioli will ease him in, especially with Brahim playing so well

For me, he should just play them both when CDK is ready, Brahim can play wide as well, so they can interchange positions, anything other than Messias or Alexis starting at RW in every game

I'm still waiting for the day when I'll see the following attacking line on the pitch:



Oh, what a glorious day it will be... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Rade Krunic is not among the squad for the match against Atalanta. The Rossoneri midfielder has in fact suffered a strain in the rectus femoris of his left thigh: recovery times are still to be defined, but it is difficult to see him again before three / four weeks.

Great, here we go again. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Pioli just confirmed in his press conference that CDK will not be playing RW. I think we can forget about that

He also made some other troubling comments re the transfer market. Last week he seemed to be positive we'll bring 2 more players in, now he's saying the squad in competitive as is and we'll only make a signing if the right opportunity comes up...

We now have Krunic injured so basically we have no one to cover for Benna and Tonali. Pobega and Bakayoko are an accident waiting to happen. I'm really starting to see how big of a mistake it was to keep Pobega. To me it is pretty clear that he cannot play in the double pivot. At Torino last season Juric used him higher up the pitch to create overloads and press, but in that double pivot, you could clearly see against Udine that he would get walked over. Bakayoko trips over his own feet. So that basically leaves us with just Krunic as cover and he's not even a defensive mid

I don't see him as a winger for the moment. In the future we will see, because he is a very smart player.

Never say never. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



There's no money at the moment. With the news of Elliott about to sell 100% of their shares, it explains why Maldini was given such a small budget to work with. Why invest for something you're about to sell? Even those 50m were probably agreed upon between RedBird and Elliott as part of their deal.

We're in a tough situation, no doubt. Let's see what will happen.

PS: I doubt Bakayoko is even considered as an alternative anymore. I read Pioli won't even bench him for tomorrow.

He also said that they've analyzed a lot of footage from his time at Brugge and he always starts in the central areas even if he can drift. I just don't think he'll use him there, just like he can play Brahim or Rebic RW but never does, even if the alternatives there are worse.


We'll see, something could have easily been agreed between the parties to actually have a proper transfer budget, but that was not the case, I'd hazard to say that we didn't even have that 50m, the 10m being quoted that we have to play with also seem far-fetched. I really hope RedBird make up for this in January and next summer. We really have not improved our chances for the Scudetto this season, with the rest of the top 6 sides improving their teams we've basically stayed in the same place, we weakened some areas and improved others.

If Baka isn't considered, then I really don't see how he can say that we're covered there. Pobega and Krunic does not make a good rotation option FFS

I disagree. I think we have improved. I won't even count Romagnoli's loss. The guy was mediocre, almost Gabbia level. And we might still make a signing there.

Kessie, sure, a big loss. A player I wasn't particularly fond of, but with Tonali-Bennacer I actually think we have a better duo in midfield. Obviously whoever is going to replace Kessie doubtfully will be as good, but it's a small price to pay I'm willing to accept.

Attack has been hugely improved, which was our biggest flaw last season. So, overall I see an improvement from last season. The other teams have also improved but not more than we have. Only Roma probably have had the best mercato thus far.

Horrible performance thus far. Sterile possession, long balls, zero creativity.

Yep...

Rebic clearly not working against the 3 CBs imo. The rest have not helped anything either

Lol, how was that not a red btw?

BENNNACERRR

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