Jase

Not sure what's more annoying these days - stupid transfer rumors or journalists putting timeline in their stories but when that time comes, nothing happens and they forge more BS!

Inclined to agree with your overall view but I don't think Sarri is as gung-ho as you might have painted him out to be. He does know how to forge a balance team. The biggest worry, IMO, about Sarri is his lack of Plan B. His mindset is always to play on the front foot but if the opponent is able to withstand that, he doesn't quite know how to change things around. Napoli's home game against Juventus this season (which they lost) is a good example. They tried to play their football but Juve parked the bus and they couldn't find an alternative to break them down. Only hope is that, with better options available here than at Napoli, he would find ways to have backup plans.

It's Mundo Deportivo. It's a Barcelona publication. It's one day before Real Madrid's biggest game of the season. Go figure.

Fake account?

Raul Albiol...

Unless Inter and us agree to a swap deal, I don't see how they and Milan can afford to buy Morata outright. They're both under FFP constraints.

Only in one-off matches though. We all know Benitez doesn't have the stomach to sustain a league challenge over 38 games. Pretty sure he's always finished far behind the champions since he last won the league with Valencia.

Did you even read what I said?!

Yes but the point was about his league titles, not his win record.

He's won only 4 league titles in 20+ years of management. Hardly a great record for a supposedly world class manager. Napoli basically hired another cup manager a la Benitez.

You know what's the sad thing about the Conte situation here? It's that he used to be a coach who emphasizes on improving the players at his disposal, focuses on making sure everyone work as a collective unit and strives to achieve victory at all cost. Maybe he's still that same coach but somewhere this season, he completely lost it. He lost the interest to do so. Sure, he has reasons to be pissed that he wasn't given enough backing by the board but you only have to look what he did with players like Alonso, Moses, Luiz (who many thought was a joke signing and wouldn't fit in) etc. Didn't receive full backing in the transfer window but he improved the players, made them play better than anyone was expecting. He motivated the entire team to play at a high level. Every time when problems appeared, he often found solutions or at least tried to fix them, be it during matches or for the next ones. In fact, I still remember his press conference after that debacle at Arsenal last season. He was pissed, he looked like someone who had taken a physical beating and it had hurt his pride. He was determined to fix the problems in the squad and he did. No excuses, no stupid complaints. He was just ready to get onto the training pitch and start working on solutions. Compare to this season? It's like literally day and night. Suffered a bad result? Moaned about the board, complained about the lack of spending, made indirect jibes about the players not being good enough etc. He became opposite of himself. Instead of finding solutions to problems, motivating the players, there were excuses ready. Every single time. He became detached from the team and didn't operate like a serial winner he claimed himself to be. Would have liked him to stay but his demeanor and decision making in 2018 have been diabolical on so many levels, with that spineless approach at Man City being the worst of the lot. Not sure if Sarri is the absolute right man for the job (then again, with the options available out there, who is?) but if Conte is no longer invested in achieving success week in week out, like in 2018, then he has to go.

Can't believe Napoli have given up on winning the league...

Done.

Well...

Fair point, I'll give you that. But would you say his performances have been as impressive as his goalscoring record?

Not talking about his quality but rather his effectiveness. He's great in the Bundesliga but not so much in the Champions League. Why is that? First it's Man City and now PSG. Make up your mind! Suspect the wages might have something to do with that. In those leagues you mentioned, there are a number of good sides - besides the usual suspects - with proper quality players in them. There aren't many in the Bundesliga, apart from Dortmund.

Indeed. He's been wanting to leave Bayern and this is probably just some agent's work to get things rolling for him to go elsewhere. Also, what's the logic in spending big money for a 30-year-old striker and then having to replace him in 2-3 years time? And for all the goals he's scored in his career, think there has to be some question marks over how good he is. Bundesliga isn't a great barometer given it's a one team league and apart from THAT game against Real Madrid couple of years ago, can't remember Lewandowski really setting the world alight in the Champions League.