21 minutes ago, Bonzodog29 said:

TBF the Italian teams were all in a bit of the doldrums at that time, not the same draw as the other leagues mentioned certainly not their 80/90's highs. They have only really come back into the glamour lights over the last few years (only my opinion of course) 

I can't argue in depth on this as I was not a follower of Serie A back then.

However I have reviewed the CL winners and see that Inter won in 2009/2010 and Juve made the final in 2015 and 2017. Inter was Mourinho's team and started the final without an Italian on the field and in 2015 Juve fielded Evra, Pogba, Tevez, Vidal and in 2017 fielded Dani Alves, Pjanic, Khedira, Dybala, Higuain and Mandzukic. 

So I certainly see the top Italian clubs were interested in signing talented players then.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

I can't argue in depth on this as I was not a follower of Serie A back then.

However I have reviewed the CL winners and see that Inter won in 2009/2010 and Juve made the final in 2015 and 2017. Inter was Mourinho's team and started the final without an Italian on the field and in 2015 Juve fielded Evra, Pogba, Tevez, Vidal and in 2017 fielded Dani Alves, Pjanic, Khedira, Dybala, Higuain and Mandzukic. 

So I certainly see the top Italian clubs were interested in signing talented players then.

I agree, and I think Arsenal and Liverpool would have counted as top sides in 2010 as well ... they were joint 4th on the UEFA Team Ranking that year ... Inter Milan were 8th and AC Milan 9th.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

I can't argue in depth on this as I was not a follower of Serie A back then.

However I have reviewed the CL winners and see that Inter won in 2009/2010 and Juve made the final in 2015 and 2017. Inter was Mourinho's team and started the final without an Italian on the field and in 2015 Juve fielded Evra, Pogba, Tevez, Vidal and in 2017 fielded Dani Alves, Pjanic, Khedira, Dybala, Higuain and Mandzukic. 

So I certainly see the top Italian clubs were interested in signing talented players then.

Serie A was the best league in Europe during the 90's and it was still strong during the early 2000's, their teams were also signing talented players but they still had a good generation of domestic players, our club signed a few big players from the Serie A during the 90's for example, Vialli,Zola,Cudicini(late 90's) and Serie A teams were decent in the Champions League as well, their last legendary generation won the World Cup during the early 2000's as well. 

Their teams stopped producing domestic world class players at the same rate as before though, but to be fair Inter (Internazionale=International) is that one team that never really cared about domestic talent they always wanted to sign players from outside so it doesn't matter that they won the Champions League without a single Italian player, the Premier League has had mostly players from the outside as the best players in the league anyway.

31 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I agree, and I think Arsenal and Liverpool would have counted as top sides in 2010 as well ... they were joint 4th on the UEFA Team Ranking that year ... Inter Milan were 8th and AC Milan 9th.

Agree on Arsenal (RVP and Nasri -at this time) yet Liverpool not so sure - Gerard, Kuyt and Carroll just pre Suarez.

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I can't argue in depth on this as I was not a follower of Serie A back then.

However I have reviewed the CL winners and see that Inter won in 2009/2010 and Juve made the final in 2015 and 2017. Inter was Mourinho's team and started the final without an Italian on the field and in 2015 Juve fielded Evra, Pogba, Tevez, Vidal and in 2017 fielded Dani Alves, Pjanic, Khedira, Dybala, Higuain and Mandzukic. 

So I certainly see the top Italian clubs were interested in signing talented players then.

Inter won it in 2010 but had prime Jose and a solid built team, serie a was torn apart by the match fixing scandals then so there wasn't the draw of the league anymore. Top players were not considering going to Italy instead of Chelsea at that time. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Inter won it in 2010 but had prime Jose and a solid built team, serie a was torn apart by the match fixing scandals then so there wasn't the draw of the league anymore. Top players were not considering going to Italy instead of Chelsea at that time. 

Forgot about the match fixing.

No analysis to follow the graphs?

8 minutes ago, evissy said:

13 hours ago, Gol15 said:

No analysis to follow the graphs?

We are playing more direct, conceding more goals, with less possession and more pressing. I think.

I luv graphs but the art of a good graph is to tell the story with no words needed. Those graphs are not much good at simplifying things really. Often  when a thing is analyses perfectly the resulting graph is very simple. My favourite all time graph not yet surpassed, even in todays era of animated graphs, remains Napoleons retreat from Moscow. 
 

http://scu2.anu.edu.au/core/Hgraphs/graphs6.html?backgroundColor=ffcc99&language=en&nextPageType=2

17 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Edited February 8, 20206 yr by Kev56

1 hour ago, Kev56 said:

5 hours ago, evissy said:

19 hours ago, Gol15 said:

No analysis to follow the graphs?

Playing badly now, playing badly this time last year, one had a world class Hazard to bail him out and the other didn't. Don't need all that to tell us.

On 02/02/2020 at 12:54, enigma said:

I blame the board for the majority of our issues. Never supported previous managers after we won the league, unlike City who strengthened immediately after winning the league.  

When?

They weakened after both Mancini and Pellegrini's title wins and Pep has only had three first team signings across his two title defenses with his biggest need (CB) neglected on both occasions, something that's proved fatal this time round.

5 hours ago, ozboy said:

I luv graphs but the art of a good graph is to tell the story with no words needed. Those graphs are not much good at simplifying things really. Often  when a thing is analyses perfectly the resulting graph is very simple. My favourite all time graph not yet surpassed, even in todays era of animated graphs, remains Napoleons retreat from Moscow. 
 

http://scu2.anu.edu.au/core/Hgraphs/graphs6.html?backgroundColor=ffcc99&language=en&nextPageType=2

 

1 hour ago, Argo said:

When?

They weakened after both Mancini and Pellegrini's title wins and Pep has only had three first team signings across his two title defenses with his biggest need (CB) neglected on both occasions, something that's proved fatal this time round.

Stop ruining whining with facts Argo, just accept were the worst club ever and do everything wrong.. 

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

 

Enjoyed that as history glosses over the retreat didn't realise the number of battles he had to fight retreating.

I read an interesting story about Napoleon, long before 1812 an apparition appeared to him in the form of a red Imp and warned him never to invade Russia and his empire would be preserved.

Obviously we see he did not respect that though from our perspective we do not know how the continual Russian intrigues against him by sending armies into Western Europe annoyed him or damaged his alliances.

Another thing we do not hear about is a century before with the Swedish invasion of Russia which resulted largely in their destruction yet of course we do know of the German losses a century later.

This is interesting too and covers the huge battle of Leipzig in 1813 as Napoleon cobble together another army yet struggle to find enough war trained horses. 

 

Apparently Eddie Newton left the coaching team to join Trabzonspor as assistant head coach on the second and I completely missed it. I wonder what his role actually was under Frank. 

On 03/02/2020 at 13:28, Valerie said:

Just read that Eddie Newton has left our staff for a position at Trabzonspor. Did I miss anybody posting about it here?

 

45 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Apparently Eddie Newton left the coaching team to join Trabzonspor as assistant head coach on the second and I completely missed it. I wonder what his role actually was under Frank. 

You mean you don't read everything I post  ?

Anyone seen Eddie lately? 

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

You mean you don't read everything I post  ?

Who are you again?

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Anyone seen Eddie lately? 

Niedzwiecki? He’s probably living next door to Sparky waiting for the phone to ring!

Edit: Apparently he’s assistant manager at Reading. Bring him home Frank, one Eddie for another. Balanced, as everything should be. 

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by Munkworth
Got Eddies name terribly wrong.

On 07/02/2020 at 17:57, Gol15 said:

If I'm reading these right, under both Sarri and Lampard we average just 1.2 crosses into the box per game. 

That stat is utter bollox. Even though we are sh*t at them, we still hit several corners into the box every game. And since Reece James has come into the side, he hits several crosses into the box every game on his own.

10 hours ago, Backbiter said:

If I'm reading these right, under both Sarri and Lampard we average just 1.2 crosses into the box per game. 

That stat is utter bollox. Even though we are sh*t at them, we still hit several corners into the box every game. And since Reece James has come into the side, he hits several crosses into the box every game on his own.

Might be successful crosses into the penalty area maybe.

Reece hits a few good ones but we're pretty rubbish at it otherwise. How many games has Reece played?  Figure might be higher when he is in the team.

Either way as with all stats a hefty grain of salt is needed.

I guess it's officially the first signing for Sir Frank Lampard, a real steal in today's market for sure.