We need more people involved in the attacking midfield (the LW-AM-RW line). That's the key. Only Diaz is the one who's always inspired. Leao is just there jogging and occasionally doing a trick or two. He's very detached. The work Rebic does as LW is incomparable. And on the other side Saelemaekers/Florenzi are too mediocre. Heck, maybe we should give another chance to Castillejo at this point.

Not signing that Faivre kid in the last day really screwed us. I reckon he would have proven to be a very valid RW alternative. Hopefully Messias doesn't disappoint, whenever the hell he's going to be available. What did this guy do the entire summer to be so out of shape? Play video games? Jeez...

I want to see Bennacer-Tonali against Venezia, and Ballo-Toure for Theo. And maybe Pellegri as CF if Giroud or Zlatan are not available. Rebic on the left, please.

None of which will happen. Ballo-Toure is horrible and won't play for sure, only if Theo gets injured or super tired. Pioli won't start Benna-Tonali because he wants and muscle man and will always prefer one of Kessie, Bakayoko and Krunić. Rebić will once again start as CF.

Oh, and I'd really keep Ibra fresh for bigger fish to come.

How do you know Ballo-Toure is horrible? He impressed me a lot in pre-season. Theo also has to rest.

And Bennacer-Tonali is very doable, especially against sides like Venezia or Spezia. Let's not forget that both are very aggressive players. In fact, as of right now I'd give as many minutes as possible to Bennacer so he can get back in form. Kessie can warm the bench.

Impressive stat: from 95 minutes of game time, only 48 minutes were effective play. The rest were all pauses and interruptions. Goes to show how little the intensity in Serie A is. I doubt in England it would be anything below 70.

Yeah, I'm not surprised, the game was so frustrating to watch. To think the ref barely gave 5 minutes of extratime in total.

Looks like Kjaer's injury wasn't serious, so he'll be out for a few days. Probably gonna miss the next two games and return for Atletico I assume. Same for Calabria.

Zlatan has started training by himself again, whereas Giroud could return with the group tomorrow and might be called up for Venezia.

Messias will start in these days the final stage of his personalised training to regain full athletic fitness.

Source: Mediaset

Again, I am very perplexed as to why Messias is so out of shape. I can only assume he never really trained for the whole summer, which is mind-boggling.

Alexis was good in the first games. Liverpool and Juve were both difficult games for him, but he's still my starting RW for now as there is no one better than him. Samu is not even an option and this Messias guy is imo a wasted signing as he's not going to do what Pioli needs from the RW.

The thing with Leao is that he's the only one who can really burn players with pace. Rebic isn't slow but he doesn't have the acceleration that Leao brings. And yes, he was mediocre yesterday, but he's been pretty good all season, even against Liverpool, the little he got on the ball, he showed quality imo, especially with that assist to Rebic.

With Rebic I just like the chemistry he has with Theo. I just don't know why we can't play one of them on the right and the other on the left... It isn't rocket science. Last season Pioli iced out Hauge because our left side is more stacked than our right side, but he's been scoring regularly for Eintracht while playing as a RW. There is no rule set in stone which says both Leao and Rebic have to play on the left.


Fillipo, you are too quick to judge. You also said Maignan was nothing special, but so far he's been as impressive as Donnarumma, if not more considering the work he does with the ball at his feet and how quick he is to release it into play.

Ballo-Toure looked good in pre-season and in the game against Cagliari. There is no reason why he cannot start against Venezia or Spezia. Let's see what he can do before we rush to judgement.

The least thing we need is running Theo into the ground and having him out long term.

And I agree that Pioli prefers a more physical profile next to a ball player in the double pivot, but Tonali is no slouch. He is a bit of a hybrid player in the sense that he can play a good ball but also impose himself physically. Bennacer is our best player in terms of someone who can turn and advance the ball forward, plus he's our best playmaker. And if Kessie is no signing that contract, then I don't want to see him on the pitch tbh


This game in particular was bad yes, too much play-acting, players throwing themselves on the ground, bickering, just terrible nonsense throughout.


Some decent news

This Messias situation gets even more facepalm worthy by the day. Why did we even bother with him?

But let's be honest, even when he did well against Lazio and Liverpool, it was through flashes rather consistency. And if those flashes don't produce anything, like last night, then Leao's overall contribution becomes null.

I just don't like the guy, he looks very disjointed and detached from the rest of team. And even when he does burn the opponents like you say, in most cases he just kicks the ball forward and beats them via speed rather than technique.

I don't think he has that great of a technique anyway. At his age if he was any good he should be imposing himself throughout the entire match. Guys stinks of Dembele, Niang and similar players if you ask me. Never gonna become any good.



Let's not jump to conclusions yet. I believe he will surprise us all. It's just this waiting and waiting that's really irking me. A professional football player shouldn't be out of shape when the season starts unless he's been out injured.

Unseen images of Messias recovering:

A few months ago I would have totally agreed with you but I do believe that we're seeing progress from him this season.

That's the thing with young players, one season you want to strangle them the next they make the leap forward.

The reason we're currently one of the best sides in the league is because a majority of the young players on the squad have made that leap under Pioli's guidance. Calabria, Bennacer, Theo, Kessie, Tonali, Alexis and Brahim have all shown big improvements ever since Pioli took over. Tonali in a completely different player to the one he was last season. Same with Brahim, he's made a huge leap imo. The only thing I'd want further correction on from him is his tendency to hold onto the ball a bit too much. Leao has made improvement compared to last season imo and I do value that turn of pace from him because it's a good outlet for us.

That being said, I love Rebic and what he brings, so if you'd want me to make a static, back to the wall decision, I'd go with Rebic atm


I just don't think he'll give us what we need on that right side.

We could and should try Rebic as RW like you said before, especially against sides that like to park the bus.



But isn't what we're lacking on that right side a player who can dribble past opponents, score goals and provide assists? Because that's what type of player Messias is. Set aside this getting back in shape "incident", he's always been very fit. Like I mentioned in a previous post, he played 36 games with Crotone last season and only in 2 of them he didn't play the full 90 minutes.

He has a very decent work rate and stamina, plus he's only 30. It's not like he's 35 or something. I think he can provide what Pioli asks of his wingers.

But obviously the pitch will speak for itself, so we'll just have to wait and see. The guy could very well prove to be a dud.

Agreed re Rebic. Leao used to play on the right in the 19/20 season. Don't know why that seems to be impossible now...


Re Messias, I'm just not a fan of the move at all and think it was made simply because we couldn't get anyone else. His fitness probably comes from the fact that he hasn't been running his body into the ground since he was 16 as is the case with most of the players today. I don't understand the issue with his conditioning though. He was not a player that was out of the project with Crotone. As you pointed out, he was one of their most used players. So I would assume that he was training with the rest of the Crotone team before he joined us

Fiorentina-Inter and Sassuolo-Atalanta tonight. Some important matches

Hopefully some dropped points. We absolutely have to take advantage of these next 2 games coming up

Inter losing 1-0

Atalanta winning 2-1 against Sassuolo

No, that has nothing to do with it. This is matter of preparation. He either wasn't training at all with Crotone because he was going to be sold and thus not part of their project, or he just didn't put much effort. As La Gazzetta wrote a few days ago, "the Brazilian attacking midfielder is still behind in condition as he is doing his athletic training almost from scratch".

Fiorentina started very strong and could have scored another, but then Inter started slowly to emerge. I can see them drawing this.

And inter score...

No I meant him having a pretty good injury record (rarely gets injured)

1-2

Inter are really good.

Probable line-up: Maignan; Kalulu, Gabbia, Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez; Tonali, Bennacer; Florenzi, Diaz, Leao; Rebic.

Again with this Florenzi on the wing! He?s becoming the next Krunic for Pioli. Guy adds absolutely nothing to our game, he even looks out of shape. Just play Rebic there and Pellegri in attack FFS!

Well, they are the champions...

Thought they were really struggling in the 1st half though. Fiorentina's fitness level really dropped off in the 2nd half which allowed them back in.

Wow. Gabbia... Our depth basically got eaten up within a few weeks


I can't watch this tonight, But I'm hoping we can get it done and dusted in the first half. Then we'll probably see guys like Pellegri and even Samu get some minutes.

In all honesty Gabbia-Romagnoli should be more than enough to handle a team like Venezia. Tomori needs a rest and this is the perfect game to do so. I would also rest Theo.

PS: Giroud wasn't called up, by the way. Here's to hoping he can get a few minutes against Spezia so then he can start against Atletico next week.

Yes, he still has some lower back pain

These are the 2 games we can do without him and Ibra (even though they would have most likely feasted). So I'd rather not risk it, Rebic is finally playing well as a CF so we can do for now

And yeah, I agree re Theo. But with the changes in the centre, I can understand why Pioli wouldn't change him as well. Our entire backline would be changed if he doesn't play

Juventus are losing against Spezia 2-1.

Well, lo and behold, Ballo-Tour? is starting.



Unbelievable if they don't win this. Currently at 2 points in 5 games. Fun fact: Juventus are the only side from the 5 main leagues that have conceded in 19 consecutive league games, ever.

Everytime I say a team is losing, they turn it around. I should just shut up.

Florenzi is useless.

We're so sterile. 30 min and 0 shots on goal.

Indeed.

We have great intensity. But, lacking the final ball.

So little created. We should be walking this. It doesn't help that these mofos have parked their bus, but it's no justification.

The difference between us and Inter is that Inter have amazing end product, whereas we are severely lacking in that regard.

Hopefully we can turn this in the second half cos otherwise it would be embarrassing.

Diaz not cutting it for me...

Agreed. He's just not good enough.

Finally.

Diazzz!!!

Beautiful series of passes from Tonali/Bennacer/Theo leading to the goal

What the **** does Romagnoli do in the attack so often.

That dribbling Saelmakers... very nice

Saelmakers... excellent

Finally, a goal from theo!

So nice to see and hear the fans.

Bruh, the f*ck did Alexis smoke tonight? He was on fire.

We really came out in the second half, especially after the triple change. Theo showed character.

I think we should keep Tonali-Bennacer as the starting pair in the double pivot. So much more dynamism and pace as opposed to when Kessie plays there.

Leao was also really good with his dribblings, but his end product is still horrible. The guy has no clue how to pass and shoot.

I see we had a difficult time breaking them down

That being said, we ca all complain, but we were forced into heavy rotation today, so the fact that we got the W and the clean sheet as well is still very good

Inter have not had any injury issues if I am not mistaken, so the situations are not comparable

Kessie when he's on is a force though. you can play Benna and Tonali is games like this, but against bigger teams Kessie is still the first choice for me, no matter how p!ssed off I am about his contract. Having both Tonali and Bennacer finally performing is just a great luxury. Kessie last season was unplayable and not having him in the big games would be a big problem

They parked the bus (possession 71%-29% in the end, so go figure), but we barely created any chances in the first half. And after the first 15-20 minutes in the second I honestly thought we weren't going to win. But the moment we scored (with a great combo Bennacer-Theo-Diaz) Venezia completely crumbled mentally, and we pretty much walked over them for the remainder of the game.

Sometimes these games are more difficult than against teams like Lazio for example, because their main goal is to basically stop you from playing

I would venture to guess that a couple of years ago we would not only have drawn this, but probably lost due to sheer frustration and panic to try to score. (Benevento a few years back screams to mind). I'm happy to see that the team is confident in their abilities.

How were the subs today? Guys like B. Toure, Gabbia, Kalulu? It's important that they all get game time and are ready to step in when needed. Having quality like Theo coming off the bench though is always great

Ballo-Toure was average, nothing to write home about but no worse than Theo's latest performances. Gabbia was fine, didn't have very tough opponents. Kalulu was great. This kid is developing into something very interesting.

Btw, I don't understand why we're playing Florenzi at RW. I thought he came in to be a sub for Calabria... Doesn't make sense to use him like this. I'd actually prefer an actual RW there, even if that is Samu

Was he good in the attacking phase? Because defensively I think he has great potential but once he crosses that half way line he doesn't know what to do