Juventus V Bologna

A dramatic end to a wonderful game in Turin. Juventus remain unbeaten and this time they managed to do without causing any controversies! Both goals came in the second half, the first on 54 minutes by Fabio Quagliarella and the second on 92 minutes by Paul Pogba and in between Bologna got a goal to give them some hope after a slack pass by Paolo De Ceglie, but he hasn't played much so far in the season, so it is not too surprising that some mistakes were made- thankfully they were not costly!
Juventus and Bologna had an even share of possession, but one does have to admit that it was mostly The Old Lady in the first half with so many chance to go ahead early on. Juve were taking the shots when they could, in total they had 25 shots with 12 on goal and forcing the keeper to make 10 important saves. While Bologna had 9 shots with only 1 on goal, but not testing Gianluigi Buffon at all, yet after Bologna got that one goal they grew in stature and began to really attack Juve and if they had some better quality upfront they could really hurt the Bianconeri.
Bologna were so close to snatching a point but the never say die attitude that is in this Juve side prevailed and they came out 2-1 winners. Now for the big game against Inter, who look to be getting better with each game and were victorious against Sampdoria and are now secon behind Juve as Napoli lost their game against Atalanta!

Well, it's never boring in the Italian peninsular that's for sure!

Why always me?

We are only in week 9 of the new Serie A season and already there is enough mystery and conspiracy theories to fill a Harlen Coben novel! Yet again Juventus have managed to be at the centre of it, it's as though they thrive on being the most hated club in Italy? It was all ignited by the game against Catania on Sunday.

Juve went into the game a little full of themselves and a with a touch of entitlement about them.
They were shocked to find out that Catania were not going to just roll over and give them the win, the Sicilian side put up a strong fight and would have gone ahead in the first 1/4 hour if the referee didn't make a mistake and wrongly disallow the goal. The Juve subs were the first to protest and this I found utterly distasteful, it was as though they bullied the referee into making that decision. The Old Lady eventually got their goal, and to rub salt into the wounds of the Catania players. it seemed as though it was offside... yet we didn't get crowds of Catania players surrounding the ref or his assistance, they looked disappointed but they just continued to fight as I would have like to see from the Italian Champions.

After the match Beppe Morrata came out and declared that even if the goal stood, it wouldn't have made a difference! This is the most unclassy and arrogant thing you could have said, he has shown no respect to the opposition that put up a real fight. This kind of attitude is why when anything does go there way that the papers start screaming conspiracy!

Everyone in authority can make a mistake, all Morrata had to do was acknowledge that the ref made a mistake and that happens in football and sometimes they benefit from them and sometimes not. All he has done now is put fuel on the fire and has put the word conspiracy and Juventus together, and Agnelli wonders why everyone is demonising them, when your director general is saying things like this it is no wonder why everyone hates you.

Juventus went through a horrible time after Calciopoli in 2006 and after some rather poor seasons have managed to regain some of their credibility and during that time they were humbled, now that they are back on top, you get a sense that they have lost that humility and have replaced it with arrogance and no one roots for the person who are always rooting for themselves, maybe they need regain the warrior spirit and stop whining like wimps!

Catania V Juventus- lunchtime controversies!

Another victory to maintain Juventus' unbeaten run... but was it the right way. As much as I would have hated them losing the game, I found it slightly distasteful how they won. Juve may have had over 50% possession yet it was Catania who struck first, the ball hit the back of the net in the 25th minute but it was chalked off, wrongly or rightly doesn't matter, what gets to me is the behaviour from the boys in black and white. They were surrounding the ref and complaining, they did not show any class that I would have associated with the club, they were acting like spoilt kids- that behaviour will put you in the same class as Inter.
 Before that goal they had an air of entitlement about them and dare I say it.. a touch of arrogance. Juve have become so accustomed to winning that they are starting to believe that they just have to turn up. This kind of behaviour will lead to complacency and will stop them from improving their game. Also they will start to regain the reputation that they have tried hard to get rid off... this notion that the referee is in their pockets. They have done their time in Serie B for the alleged match fixing and they struggled to regain their credibility, I would hate for them to lose it.
What Juve don't want is to be the most hated club in Italy nothing good can come from it. And they will soon discover that the decisions are not going their way and that the opposing players are being a little too aggressive!

Juve had only 8 shots the entire game that troubled the Catania keeper Andujar, which is cause for concern and the mere fact that they only by 1 goal should bring them some sense of humility. Even when Catania went down to 10 me they still had that " bite" about them and showed Juventus that they deserve their respect.

Juventus V Napoli- Fight for numero uno..

 A game that has become rather heated over the years, more so after the Coppa Italia in Beijing where Napoli had two players sent off. Juventus were with two crucial players: Mirku Vucinic and Gianluigi Buffon, but they weren't missed too much as Juve went on to win 2-0 thanks to goals from Paul Pogba and Martin Caceras, the two second half substitutes got their names on the score sheet not long after coming on. The Bianconeri has a 47 game unbeaten run  can they continue this form into the Champions League? One can only hope!
The scoreline may give a false impression that this was an easy game, it certainly wasn't! Napoli edged ahead in the possession stats with 53% but with only 4 shots and 1 good enough to trouble Marco Storari, they didn't put it to good use. The one shot on target was a stunning free kick in the first half by Edinson Cavani, there were talks about him being tired after he had to take 5 flights back from his international duties, yet he was working hard all over the pitch even giving Sebastian Giovinco some trouble.
Juventus looked fired up for this game as there's no doubt that is all the Italian papers would have been talking about throughout the week. Juve had 14 shots but only 5 were on target and only 3 were good enough to force a save out of Morgan De Sanctis, which is a cause for some concern especially if they want to be competive in the Champions League. Juve had their first real chance in first half stoppages when a screamer by Claudio Marchisio was tipped over the crossbar by the keeper. In the 66th minute Alessandro Matri could have broken the deadlock if he had been able to get onto the beautiful weighted pass by Andrea Pirlo, but it took them till the 80th minute to break the deadlock when Caceras came on for Asamoah who couldn't shake off the knock he received earlier. It took a whipped in corner from Pirlo for Caceras to get his head onto it and see it hit the back of the net.  Two minutes later tragedy struck ( for Napoli at least!) when a looping clearance from Paolo Cannavaro met the Teenager Paul Pogba and he struck the ball with such power and precision from 25 yards out that he made it 2-0 in two minutes. There were some scares late on and some inevitable changes but it was too little too late as Juve continue with the theme of winning!

Footballers as role models?

As a child my role model was my brother, he had gone though soo many hardships and is a truly brilliant man, the whole notion that footballers should be role model is rather troubling and was sparked by Man City's Brian Marwood and his comments about Balotelli. A role model should be someone you admire and has a positive influence in your life, I'm not saying that footballers are terrible people and shouldn't be admired, all I'm saying is that the big name players that get payed the big bucks are the minority and no one should kid themselves into thinking they will get to the top immediately.
Footballers are people who are so focused on the game and extremely disciplined when it comes to their job, but one thing kids would be wise to remember is that it is a fairly short career and it could disappear with a bad injury, so they should not spend all their time playing as education is always needed. The thing that worries me the most is this whole obsession with fame, even if you become a footballer there is no guarantee you will be famous. And even if by some miracle, you do become famous, is that all you want?

Surely you would want to do more with you life then appear on the cover of magazines? Frightening as it is some kids just want that, and it is not the footballers fault but the media's and it isn't helped by the rise of social media!The media portrays the sportsman as glamorous and with super model girlfriends and high end sports cars, maybe they should show the struggles of the lesser known footballers and show the kids it's not all glamour but alot of hard work. The English media is guilty of showing a little too much of the players personal lives, now everyone has done some stupid things in their personal lives, the difference is that not everyone is on the front page of the papers the next day!

 If all you saw about your favourite footballer was how hard he worked and how disciplined and focused he was on his work, I don't see how this isn't a good role to follow...

Misunderstood Mario...

It makes me so mad when people make snap judgements without knowing the bigger picture or putting it into context. I am alluding to how obsessive the english media is when it come to the goings on with Mario Balotelli.People have to keep in mind that he's a talented footballer with a bit of a temper problem on the pitch. But instead the media like to point out the fact that he crashed his car or was playing with firework in his home, for God's sake he is just 22 and he makes an insane amount of money, so what do you expect, him to be a saint?
At the end of the day he is an amazing talent, surely we should be focusing on that! I admit that at Man City he may be a slight problem, but that's because he has Aguero and Tevez amongst others to try and get ahead off. Footballer are slightly ego centric, they need someone to sit them down and tell them how great they are, at his club his manager is spoilt for choice and doesn't need him that often, that feeling of not being appreciated could be a contributing factor to many of his outburst.
Unlike  his time in the Azzurri blue jersey has be a different story, he was wonderful and well behaved in the national team and helping out with a few goals like tonight against Denmark. The main difference is that this particular Italy squad doesn't have the " star" names, instead they focus on the collective energies and skills coming from everywhere. The fact that the Azzurri don't have the heavy hitters of Del Piero and Totti mean that they have a greater appreciation when the goals do come. And don't forget he also has players that hug him occasionally i.e Marchisio in the game against Germany in Euro 2012 and sometime they need a minder for him like Leonardo Bonucci!
So all you Mario haters should back off and try to understand that he has come though a tough upbringing to become one of the future stars for Italy!

FORZA AZZURRI!

torino a sorpresa

Lamborghini Aventador in Rome - director's cut

Milan V Inter

A night of missed opportunities to say the least! This derby has always been a heated affair,but with some help from the referee it was also a controversial one. He had let some things go, that often benefited Inter and came down heavy on Milan for any little infringement, just as we all thought the Rosonerri were going to get the equaliser that would have saved the face and maybe give Allegri a stay of execution, he disallows the goal because Urby Emmanuelson bumped into the Inter keeper, to be fair he was trying to go for the ball and when he saw that it was beyond him, he did try to stop.
We mustn't forget that Inter's goal came from a free kick that never should have happened, Antonio Cassano duped the ref into thinking he got fouled, on further viewing it looked as though he had just lost his balance, but it fooled the ref and Walter Samuel got ahead of the young defender Mattia De Sciglio and Abbiati came out because it looked as though he had no confidence in the Milan defence and the ball just flew right over him. The Milan defence that used to be so impenetrable looked amateurish at times, not hard to understand why after the cull over the summer where all of the experienced defenders retired.
Milan had most of the possession over the 90 minutes with over 60%, yet they couldn't make it count, with the 20 shots they had only 5 were enough to trouble the keeper. In the second half things were looking to finally favour the red half of Milan when Nagatomo got sent off for a second bookable offence, this was Milan chance, yet they were restricted to long range efforts and were susceptible to quick counters by Inter.

It ended with Inter winning with that 1 goal scored in the opening 3 minutes ans Milan stay in the bottom half of the table while Inter climb closer to the top.

Free speech is a wonderful thing...

What is wrong with this society? It's as though they don't realise that they are being screwed, and you know what's the sickest part.. they think it's normal!! I have a friend who will not be named, she believes that we must spend half our lives at work, doing things that cause us stress and frustration and ultimately lead to more and more people having mental disorders or eating disorders, the point is that you sacrifice your health and for what??? Peanuts!!! You get taxed like anything, your pay has been frozen and is even getting lower in some jobs, at the end of the day your "pay" is not enough to cover the cost of living. While the rich get away with not paying any tax and they don't have any real jobs, all these myths that they create jobs are untrue.. who the hell is getting these jobs, their friend's maybe.
Also they have made it harder for  anyone to get decent jobs by hiking up education and to get into any job you need qualifications because no one looks beyond that, so if you can't get the right certificates you wont get the job. What the hell is wrong with the government,I wouldn't mind all these taxes if I actually saw something..just look at out outdated transport system!!! And the same friend defends that, For God's sake, OPEN YOUR EYES. The gap between the train and platform is so big that I have to take a run up just to get on the frekkin train. No wonder London got slammed for it during the Paralympics, of course no one heard about it because no one has the time to watch the news because they're all working the mines and when they get home they are too zombified to watch anything that requires any brainpower and the media makes sure that everything is dummed down and that people are so distracted by the audacious headlines, that they don't bother looking deeper.

What kind of life is that, people are quick to call Europeans lazy because they shut the store in the middle of the day due to the extreme heat and close on Sundays because some things are still sacred to them. This whole myth that the anglo saxons promote that working all the time is good for everyone couldn't be more wrong! People who have to be at work by 8am are not productive for a few hours, so why not make it so that people go in at a reasonable time, they'll get more work done. And also when they are forced to work long hours, they end up making more mistakes and hating their job- no matter how many team meeting you arrange! And the worst thing is that they're bringing that slave mentality to Europe. Italy will lose it's charm and people will lose the nations traditions all to be the same like the anglo's, someone must stop the contagion from spreading, their are many protest in Europe against all the austerity measures which is in essence screwing the people and making what little money they have utterly useless because taxes on everything else has quadrupled. People in the UK may turn their noses at people protesting, that's because they've never been free! Some beauties you can't put a price on and must appose anyone who tries to take it away.

Cities - the Real Rome 2 of 2 - BBC Travel Documentary

Cities - The Real Rome 1 of 2 - BBC Travel Documentary