The European Competitions Thread

[LAM09 7,056]

Personally I don't like Messi but he deserved award today imo. This season VVD and Liverpool have barely any clean sheets. Also I have no idea what is Ronaldo doing in top3. 

A shame Mane didn't go all the way with Senegal. It would have been a certainty had he done so.

[Vesper 30,186]

‘Some sour grapes’- Inter could be regretting midfield star’s exit

https://footballbh.net/2019/12/06/inter-regret-nainggolan-exit/

Radja Nainggolan is enjoying his life once again. He isn’t doing that in Milan. He is doing that at Sardinia- the place that gave him the platform to impress about nine years ago. He’s back at Cagliari and has been crucial to their standout season, making Inter regret letting him go.

The Nerazzurri were very intent on pushing two players out this past summer. One was Nainggolan. The other was Mauro Icardi. While the Argentine was keen on staying until the very end of the transfer window, Nainggolan was quicker in packing his backs.

Nainggolan’s wife was continuing her cancer treatment in Sardinia and that moving there to be closer to his family was the reason for the Belgian’s return. And being the club that gave him the thrust to go onto bigger clubs, a move to Cagliari made sense.

Under Rolando Maran, Nainggolan has become the Isolani‘s most productive midfielder. He has racked up four goals and five assists, allowing Cagliari that flair in midfield. Around him, he has grafters in Marko Rog, Nahitan Nandez and Luca Cigarini. In the club’s 3-4-1-2 shape, he has been thriving and playing with freedom.

He is the central creator of the side, playing 1.5 key passes per game- the second-highest at the club. He is completing one dribble per game- the fourth-highest in the side. Because of that freedom, Nainggolan has been attempting 2.5 shots per game. All four of his goals have come from long distances out- something one can always expect out of him (via Whoscored).

The last few years haven’t been the best of his life. He was not included in the Belgium World Cup squad for the FIFA World Cup 2018. The move to Inter was spoilt by consistent injury problems, even though his goal against Empoli was crucial to helping them seal Champions League football. He was then pushed out by Antonio Conte, as the club prepared for regeneration.

After leaving the club, Nainggolan told La Repubblica in an interview (via Calciomercato):

“I TOOK INTER INTO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WITH A DECISIVE GOAL, BUT THE CREDIT BELONGS TO EVERYONE. I AM GLAD THEY ARE REALLY STRONG THIS YEAR, I WISH THEM ALL THE BEST. I WOULD NOT MIND IF THEY WON THE SCUDETTO THIS SEASON, BUT THERE IS SOME SOUR GRAPES ON MY PART.

“I THINK I COULD HAVE STAYED IN THAT TEAM. THE CLUB HAD MADE A DECISION ABOUT ME. CONTE ASKED THE CLUB FOR NEW PLAYERS. IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING, YOU ALSO HAVE TO GIVE.”

As things stand, Nainggolan has come off better in the loan deal. While Inter do top the league over Juventus, Conte has been vocal about a lack of depth in many parts of the pitch.

Since Stefano Sensi sustained an injury in their loss to Juve, things haven’t been as smooth. They have been winning games, but they haven’t been as comfortable. The recent knee injury to Nicolo Barella has brought out more weakness about a lack of quality depth.

While Roberto Gagliardini, Matias Vecino, and Borja Valero have been playing in recent times. There is no player in that trio who can be what Nainggolan is. Sensi’s ability to control games in attacking midfield was missing when he got injured.

While Sensi was a defensive midfielder at Sassuolo, so was Nainggolan up until the 2015-16 campaign at Roma. It was from the 2016-17 campaign that he began playing as the attacking midfielder. That was where he played for Inter last season too, scoring six times and assisting thrice.

He would have added much-needed depth and quality to the Inter midfield. He is now injury free, after having got rid of issues early in the campaign. But the key for Inter now is that he is still only on a loan deal in Sardinia. Getting him back in the summer could be an option. But if they have a better option in mind, they can let Nainggolan leave permanently.

One thing is for sure- Nainggolan would be making many at the San Siro think. That could include Conte himself.

 

[Vesper 30,186]

Inter  v Roma  HD Streams

http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2019/serie-a-internazionale-vs-roma-s1/

https://www.ronaldo7.net/video/bundesliga-live/bundesliga-live-stream.html

 

[Vesper 30,186]

Lazio v Juve  HD Streams

http://www.sportnews.to/sports/2019/serie-a-lazio-vs-juventus-s3/

http://4kstreams.net/embed/soccer5.php

http://enjoyhd.live/hd/hd9.php

https://myoplay.live/op-play-hd1-e/

https://www.ronaldo7.net/video/juventus-live/juventus-live-stream.html

https://www.totalsportek.com/highlights/bayern-munich-vs-atletico-live-stream/

[Jase 43,479]

Sarriball lost for the first time this season, going down 3-1 at Lazio.

Conteball still top of Serie A then, despite the draw with Roma.  

[killer1257 3,282]

Messi aka the goat with another goat Performance. But Suarez with one of the best goals of this season

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[Vesper 30,186]

2 hours ago, killer1257 said:

Messi aka the goat with another goat Performance. But Suarez with one of the best goals of this season

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Messi broke CR7's record for La Liga hat tricks, BUT it took him 174(!) more games

[Vesper 30,186]

Lazio vs Juventus – Highlights

https://yfl.evideohat.tk/player/html/jFZTwr4eKT?popup=yes&autoplay=1

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13 hours ago, Jason said:

Sarriball lost for the first time this season, going down 3-1 at Lazio.

Conteball still top of Serie A then, despite the draw with Roma.  

Smalling was a BEAST in that Inter game, Lukaku (who somehow has now developed decent touch though) was OWNED by him

[Vesper 30,186]

Barcelona vs Mallorca – Highlights

https://yfl.evideohat.tk/player/html/7PR1QtXn7b?popup=yes&autoplay=1

[Atomiswave 6,117]

Conte is just class. INter has been utter shit for so many years and as soon as he comes in they are flying. One of the best we will ever have Conte.

[Vesper 30,186]

Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling respond to Corriere dello Sport’s ‘Black Friday’ headline

Italian football has been plagued by incidents of racism already this season

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/chris-smalling-as-roma-corriere-dello-sport-black-friday-headline-romelu-lukaku-a9234661.html

[Alabama 1,992]

Poor Sarri....

[Atomiswave 6,117]

Conte proving he is a far superior manager than Sarri......Juve have a much much stronger squad yet Inter are ahead.

[Vesper 30,186]

CIES Football Observatory
n°277 - 09/12/2019

Weekly Post

Performance

InStat Index: best players across Europe

The leading sports data company InStat has developed an exclusive Index to assess the performance of football players on an objective basis. Issue number 277 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the top 10 rankings for 35 European competitions. The highest InStat Index overall was recorded for the recent Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi (401).

Per position, the top three ranked footballers are Frederik Rönnow, Wojciech Szczesny and Marwin Hitz among goalkeepers, Virgil van Dijk, Joël Veltman and Willy Boly among centre backs, Andrew Robertson, Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chilwell among full backs, Kevin de Bruyne, Papu Gómez and Marco Verratti among midfielders, as well as Lionel Messi, Hakim Ziyech and Kylian Mbappé among forwards.

The values for all players from the 35 European leagues covered are available in the exclusive InStat Index tool on the CIES Football Observatory website. This unique tool allows users to filter footballers per league, position and age. It is thus possible to focus on specific players’ profiles, as extensively done by club representatives from a scouting perspective.

InStat Index Ranking

Date: 05/12/2019

[Vesper 30,186]

wow

Hakim Ziyech blowing up yet again

I just hate the fact that he plays in a farmer league

but perhaps he IS worth rolling the dice on (for a fair price)

 

[killer1257 3,282]

wow
Hakim Ziyech blowing up yet again
I just hate the fact that he plays in a farmer league
but perhaps he IS worth rolling the dice on (for a fair price)
 

Suarez played in that same Farmers league just like Ronaldo 9.

Ziyech is just Magic for my eye. Insane passing, insane Crossing and very good dribbling. Shooting is also very impressive.
He can also shoot set pieces. Complete package, but he is right now transitioning into an AM. He still comes from the right most of the times. Lamps has to find the right guy for us

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[LAM09 7,056]

Suarez played in that same Farmers league just like Ronaldo 9.

Ziyech is just Magic for my eye. Insane passing, insane Crossing and very good dribbling. Shooting is also very impressive.
He can also shoot set pieces. Complete package, but he is right now transitioning into an AM. He still comes from the right most of the times. Lamps has to find the right guy for us

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

Ziyech is still playing in that league at 26 going on 27.

To put it straight, why has no one taken a chance at him for even £25m~ (rumoured clause before)?

[killer1257 3,282]

Ziyech is still playing in that league at 26 going on 27. 

To put it straight, why has no one taken a chance at him for even £25m~ (rumoured clause before)?

It is not like he is playing world class since he was 19. He is only on my radar for 2 years. 

 

According to German Media, Bayern wanted him as an alternative if Sane transfer did not happen. But when Sane got injured and Bayern came to ask for him, Ziyech already signed a new contract couple days before. Ziyech also said in an interview that he could have left if Bayern would have made a move faster before he signed a new contract, but was Happy to sign a new contract at Ajax where he feels home.

So basically Bayern fucked up like they fucked up the CHO Situation. Their Transfer Policy nowadays sucks just like ours.

 

So you now probably want to say that if Ziyech is so good, why did Bayern go so hard for Sane and not go Harder for Ziyech? To answer that question to you, Sane is a big name in Germany due to the fact that he is German and he is also in many Advertisements, so pretty good also for Marketing reasons. Moreover, Sane is younger and was pre injury also a top class player. Perfect attributes for Bayern.

 

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[Vesper 30,186]

1 hour ago, killer1257 said:

Suarez played in that same Farmers league just like Ronaldo 9.

Ziyech is just Magic for my eye. Insane passing, insane Crossing and very good dribbling. Shooting is also very impressive.
He can also shoot set pieces. Complete package, but he is right now transitioning into an AM. He still comes from the right most of the times. Lamps has to find the right guy for us

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk
 

Tottenham Hotspur reportedly facing Chelsea competition for Hakim Ziyech

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2019/12/07/tottenham-hotspur-reportedly-facing-chelsea-competition-for-haki/