2-1 Torino! Meggiorini with 2!

Torino are playing a fantastic match.

Cambiasso, 2-2. Nice run and pass from Zanetti, the old guard getting it done.

Inter are gonna win this with how things are going. Torino seem to have lost the magic.

Almost now Torino again!

This is a really exciting game.

2-2 FT

Meggiorini so unlucky not to get a ht-trick today. Great game.

Regarding the Juve penalty saga, here are the official FIFA rules on this matter:

“Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee must take the following into consideration:

- The movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)

- The distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)

- The position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement”

So they're saying an accidental handball on the line shouldn't be a penalty? I can't buy into that.

That's a specific situation that needs particular attention. We're talking in general here, and taking into consideration the rules and common sense, there's no way in hell that of last night was a penalty.

Good week for us. 3 points from Inter, 6 points from Lazio with 16 games still to go. Doable.

I too don't think every hand ball is a penalty. I also think it's easy to solve this stupid thing. Just award a free kick for an involuntary handball. For some reason though the football heads prefer it this way, controversy overshadowing every other football game.

By the way I think a red card should not be given in case of a penalty. A penalty is more than half a goal if you take the defending player out too it kills the game. If he's the last man outside the area though then it should be red.

I don't think every handball is a penalty. I think if the players hand is away from the frame of their body then it should be given. It doesn't matter if it's accidental because most fouls are accidental, players don't attempt to foul, they attempt to get the ball. But if it hits your arm when its away from your body and that stops a chance, you're illegally stopping a chance, it's a penalty.

I think it depends. You have to award the card for what it is. If a player goes through and a keeper fouls him when he's 1-on-1, it should be a red card too. If you don't send him off and the penalty is saved then the team is essentially unpunished.

I was not referring to anything you said when I said that. In my view it depends on whether the handball blocks a pass to a player in a good position to score. It should never be a penalty in my view if it's just a cross in a packed area with all attacking players marked. It should be a free kick in the area in such cases.

Yeah if a player goes through the keeper and then is brought down and he had a clear path to the goal (meaning he was not heading towards an angle at the edge of the box where he could not have taken a shot) it should be a red cause the keeper in that case in essence takes away a certain goal and a penalty is not a certain goal. But if it's the last defender then it should not be a red cause the last defender "only" takes away a one-on-one chance which is "equal" to a penalty and so to give the defender a red card too means the team penalized is penalized for more than it should.

So its 12 points off of 1st place and 6 points off of 3rd place, with half a season to go ... With the transfer window almost closed and deals with Balo (and Kaka?) being ironed out, we have a very good chance of obtaining 3rd place.

Not too shabby for a depleted squad to-date, very proud of my Milan, given the squad we have on hand and our position on the table.

I feel we're not going to sign anyone of note and we will stupidly risk finishing 3rd because of that.

I think Balotelli is more yes than no at this point. As for Kaká, I don't think he'll come, even if Karanka admitted that Madrid are still negotiating with us.

Balo has talent and I like him, but I'm not convinced he can help us much in our bid to finish 3rd, unlike Kaka. I really hope we can bring Ricky back, even if it's a loan deal until the end of the season.

Chievo vs Juve...

Common Paloschi!! Sink them for us!!!

I see I'm not the only one that thinks Maggio > Abate.

Try actually playing Maggio at RB, he's a hopeless case there.

Maggio is a WB, he's simply not a defender.

Abate and Lichsteiner are the natural choices if you really want a RB and not a RWB

Nah I think Maggio is a very good defender. Doesn't surprise me at all that when he got injured against Chelsea they collapsed defensively.

I really don't see it that way

They collapsed becasue of Maggio?? Come on! Talk about exxagerating! They collapsed because Napoli have always had the mental strength of a fly. They could never handle the pressure.

To asses how Maggio plays at RB you have to look at his games for the Azzurri (since Napoli never play with a back 4) and he was terrible when Italy played with a back 4, thus Abate being the current automatic choice when playing such a formation. You can't really say he's a good defender when he's playing at WB as it's far from the same to when playing as a FB

The WBs (Aside from Lichsteiner) at Juve illustrate this perfectly as none of them are good defensively and you would never risk playing them as FBs but they work extremely well as WBs

We'll just have to disagree. Football isn't played with formations. Defensively a wing backs reponsibility isn't that far different from a full back. The main difference is offensively when a wing back becomes a winger with the ball, whereas a full back isn't able to as he has to be wary of the counter. In general play when a team is set up, it's really not all that different.

Next you'll be telling me the only reason Napoli are better than us defensively is because they play with more defenders!

Sorry Kurt, but han is right. Maggio is a terrible defender. I mean, his screw-ups with Italy were embarrassing. Why would Prandelli otherwise play Abate when they switched back to 4-3-1-2? Maggio never saw the light of day after the first two games.

I disagree 100%. As for a managerial decision, why would Allegri play MDS over Abate? By your logic MDS > Abate.

Man, you are so stubborn! First of all, Allegri played MDS because the kid needs to gain experience. Abate was injured for a month earlier in the season, plus he was on his way out to Zenit before the club changed mind. Now that we know Abate will stay, he regained his position as regular in the last two games and has been really good. Yes, there were moments when Allegri played MDS over Abate for sheer preference, but that's because Allegri is an idiot. So there you have your answer.

No man, seriously, Maggio is really bad at defending. You can't disagree on something like this because it's a fact. I mean, did you even watch him with Italy?

EDIT: I'll just leave it at 'I disagree'.

Napoli are as shoddy as us at the back, always have been!

Seriously though, how can you compare the 2 situations as being the same? Aside from the different role they play in how they attack and defend, a WB has the piece of mind of having a CB covering his side as well. While a FB has to be in control of his area at all times.

I seriously think you need to watch Maggio more at FB to understand how truly bad he is at defending when he's put under the pressure of taking on the role of a FB and not a WB where your defensive responsabilties are very different to those when playing at FB.

If football was as simple as saying "oh you're just playing slightly further up the pitch it's basically the same thing" then we should all be allowed to coach teams and so on

As for DS. I think it become ABBUNDANTLY clear that Abate far surpasses DS. Even DS's biggest supporters have reluctantly ackowledged that DS is no where near ready right now. Why Allegri played him ahead of Abate in recent months can be attributed to many things, especially the Zenit link which x-off pointed out. But we're also talking about a coach who plays Niang on the wing, leaves Bojan on the bench, played Urby as an AM and then as a RW, played Boateng in every position aside from his own until recently, continues to insist on El Shaarawy on the wing, played Acerbi, Bonera and Yepes over the much better Zapata, etc. And these are just the faux pas of THIS season, let's not even get into the terrible decisions which he made throughout his time here because the list would be endless


This!

Indeed, it's very complex, as I said. Unlike you seem to think.

What was there before: "GO **** YOURSELF!! "

It said han has a fat head and he has a poster of Maggio on his wall. This is why he acts so critical of Maggio, it's just tough love.

Actually I presented a very detailed view of why I think Maggio is a bad RB and you're the one that reduced it to being something that is similar and we shouldn't overthink it.

Like I said, watch a couple of games where Magio plays at RB and you'll be easily swayed. The mishaps for Italy are quite bad




Don't get me wrong, I think Magio is a very talented WINGBACK, but he's a not a RB and to say that he's a better RB than Abate is a crime.

If we were playing with a 3-man defensive system then sure, Maggio would be a great asset to have as he's a very intelligent player, but in terms of judging both players as RBs Abate is the more complete product.

I felt the opposite. I said why I think a wing back is still crucial defensively and you put it down to basically he plays further forward so he has less to do. We'll just agree to disagree then.

Think I might watch the Coppa game tonight. I can't put myself through another Villa game, not one this big. Makes me literally feel sick. Be interesting to see how Lazio-Juve line up given they need points in the league.

Oh, completely forgot about the game tonight.

Good god, also forgot about it. When is it scheduled?

75 minutes from now.

Agreed

Was going to watch the City game, hear the commentators mourn the entertainment factor which has been lost from England thanks to us

Juve Lazio will be interesting too but I'm thinking Juve will shade it at the end

The EPL will miss him. The whole sporting media basically went into mourning when Jose left, the same will probably happen with Balo!

Wow, Juve denied a blatent penalty. Vucinic beats Marchetti to the ball clearly and he takes him down.

Yeah, that should have been a penalty.

Agreed.

Though, Vucinic is paying the price for his (deserved) reputation as diver.

Same happens to Klose.

Klose has a reputation of being a diver?

He's German