Summer Mercato 2011

[shegs]

It is amazing Brazil couldn't score even from 4 penalties! I wonder if Robinho was the adviser for the coach when it came to penalties.

I thought the team was filming a documentary titled "Who Can Miss More Spot-Kicks Than Martin Palermo?" but different players had to take the kicks cos it would have taken too long for one player to take 4 penalties!

[Gabriel426]

You can't judge a player by one tournament or a few games. On top of that Ganso is coming back from injury.
I do admit that people all over the world tend to hype youngsters from Brazil and Argentina more than any other countries, but you can't fault the players since it is their clubs and medias who loves doing that.

[ACMILAN1983]

Good news for us, Columbia and Brazil out of Copa, meaning our South Americans come back early ahead of the Super Cup. As for our players in the tournament go, Yepes was generally excellent throughout, Thiago Silva was mixed and generally not at his best, Robinho was mixed too with poor and great moments and Pato was generally sound, but struggled in a system without any real structure and lacked his usual clinical finishing.

Brazil may were actually improving as the tournament went on, but ultimately their finishing was terrible and they never really found the balance and structure they needed in the tournament. Biggest flop was no doubt Neymar, whose talent is incredible, yet he's so immature and selfish it's untrue. Honestly, if Pato is criticised for his immaturity on the pitch, then Neymar takes it to another level. Unless he improves this, then he'll never reach the very top, but at 18 he's got more than enough time and I doubt this tournament hasn't dampened the enthusiasm around him. There's plenty of criticism of Ganso too, which is fair given he never really got going in the tournament either. However, like I said yesterday, let's not only look at the negatives, as he was still one of the key players in what Brazil created during the tournament. Even in yesterday's match he played key roles in many of the best Brazilian plays. For me though, Mano Menenez was the biggest flop of the tournament for Brazil. Like Batista for Argentina, he never really had a proper system in place with any real team play, which made the team was too reliant on it's individuals.

Ultimately, I think this Copa is going to be one to be forgotten. None of the big teams are performing and all lack the cohesion and unity to really make big impressions.

In other news, Allegri has again praised Montolivo and Nainggolan has said Allegri likes him and apparently Napoli are after him. I like Nainggolan personally, his work rate and pressing are a little like Gattuso but he's better on the ball.

[Aficio]

Gianluigi Buffon reveals frustration of waiting for Juventus 'project' to bring trophies

http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusiv...r-juventus

That's goal.com, but there is some truth.

Poor guy. Despite being labeled as the best GK for 10 years, he won only a Serie B title.

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For me though, Mano Menenez was the biggest flop of the tournament for Brazil. Like Batista for Argentina, he never really had a proper system in place with any real team play, which made the team was too reliant on it's individuals.

I agree. Menenez had the best players at almost every position, but failed to deliver result. So there is no excuse for him.

[fLame]

Biggest flop was no doubt Neymar, whose talent is incredible, yet he's so immature and selfish it's untrue. Honestly, if Pato is criticised for his immaturity on the pitch, then Neymar takes it to another level. Unless he improves this, then he'll never reach the very top, but at 18 he's got more than enough time and I doubt this tournament hasn't dampened the enthusiasm around him.

Seriously, the same thing struck me yesterday as I was watching Coppa. Pato and Neymar are amazingly similar players.

Ancelotti, Leonardo and Allegri all said that Pato needs to learn to play for the team, and he has made significant progress in that regard.

That said, Neymar is still a very raw talent and needs a couple of year at the top club with proper development to become one of the worlds best.

[Pato Milan]

Biggest flop was no doubt Neymar, whose talent is incredible, yet he's so immature and selfish it's untrue. Honestly, if Pato is criticised for his immaturity on the pitch, then Neymar takes it to another level. Unless he improves this, then he'll never reach the very top, but at 18 he's got more than enough time and I doubt this tournament hasn't dampened the enthusiasm around him.

Seriously, the same thing struck me yesterday as I was watching Coppa. Pato and Neymar are amazingly similar players.

Ancelotti, Leonardo and Allegri all said that Pato needs to learn to play for the team, and he has made significant progress in that regard.

That said, Neymar is still a very raw talent and needs a couple of year at the top club with proper development to become one of the worlds best.

Hopefully Neymar wont go to a big club like Real or Barca anytime soon, he needs to mature in Brazil. Plus in those 2 teams he wont mature as a person, *insert sarcasm-they are full of great examples! C.Ronaldo is an arrogant fool, so is Mourinho, and Barca is full of divers and actors, Neymar already dives a lot imagine if he goes to Barca lol! I just hope he doesnt ruin his career by coming to europe too young and getting the reputation of a diver and a bad person, which he already has thx to the media. I dont want him to come to europe to play in Ukraine or Russia I just want him to get sorted out in Brasil.

[ACMILAN1983]

I agree. Menenez had the best players at almost every position, but failed to deliver result. So there is no excuse for him.

His excuse could be he's barely had a chance to train with these players before the Copa, which is fair. However, what surprises me is how little team ethic there was in the side, and he didn't make the necessary changes to address the lack of balance (he tried in the second match by starting Jadson instead of a forward, but Jadson isn't good enough imo).

Seriously, the same thing struck me yesterday as I was watching Coppa. Pato and Neymar are amazingly similar players.

Ancelotti, Leonardo and Allegri all said that Pato needs to learn to play for the team, and he has made significant progress in that regard.

That said, Neymar is still a very raw talent and needs a couple of year at the top club with proper development to become one of the worlds best.

Yeah, I think mentally both players are immature, but Pato developed under Ancelotti (and now Allegri) and plays a lot more for the team now. However, he still has a way to go but I have little doubt Allegri will get him to the top. Neymar to me seems more arrogant and difficult to develop, and it doesn't help his club coach makes comments that Neymar should be given a chance to just play and not work for the team, making it difficult for him to work under a coach like Mourinho.

Technically, both are different, while Pato drifts to the left, he's natural in the centre with freedom to move, while Neymar is definitely a wide left forward. Technically, Neymar's also got quicker feet, while Pato's physically stronger and relies more on pace.

Hopefully Neymar wont go to a big club like Real or Barca anytime soon, he needs to mature in Brazil. Plus in those 2 teams he wont mature as a person, *insert sarcasm-they are full of great examples! C.Ronaldo is an arrogant fool, so is Mourinho, and Barca is full of divers and actors, Neymar already dives a lot imagine if he goes to Barca lol! I just hope he doesnt ruin his career by coming to europe too young and getting the reputation of a diver and a bad person, which he already has thx to the media. I dont want him to come to europe to play in Ukraine or Russia I just want him to get sorted out in Brasil.

Imo he needs to work under a coach who will help him develop, and understand requirements of the modern game. Personally, I think a coach like Allegri or Villa Boas would do good for him, probably even Guardiola. Mourinho's personality may clash with Neymar, it's difficult to say but I do get the impression Neymar likes to play with his freedom while Mourinho's wants utmost discipline in his systems.

[LebRN]

nah flame.... the truth is.. they had PATO there to destroy their chances one after the other

yeah right, unlike YOUR Neymar who was absolutely brilliant

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Seriously, the same thing struck me yesterday as I was watching Coppa. Pato and Neymar are amazingly similar players.

Ancelotti, Leonardo and Allegri all said that Pato needs to learn to play for the team, and he has made significant progress in that regard.

That said, Neymar is still a very raw talent and needs a couple of year at the top club with proper development to become one of the worlds best.

maybe that is true if you are basing it on the 18 yr-old Pato in terms of wanting to dribble everybody all the time (which was something Pato was still doing up to midway through this season) but in terms of personality and character, Pato at 18 was light years more mature and grounded than Neymar is.
However, if you are basing your comparison on the current Pato, i totally disagree...he looked like a veteran compared to Neymar

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Back to the mercato, it seems the Montolivo link is getting very strong and for some reason, the Bastian link as well which seems a bit weird given that both players are mostly known as LCMs although both are verstaile (especially Bastian)...anyway if we sign Schweini, i don't really care who else we sign

[Jay Crisp]

Schweiny rumor where is the like button.

I heard because Neymar is so young the other players are not allowed to mention any 4 letter words around him...like PASS or TEAM..haha

[Siregar]

Montolivio and Schweinsteiger is great move. Montolivio could play also as CAM and he did well in the last game of Italy NT playing there. With this move El Shaarawy could also benefit from it, he needs only to compete with Montolivio or Boateng, both are not super CAM.