I agree with this observations. I didn’t see the game in question though . Niang is really looking the part, taken him a long time to settle but he’s still very young and finally putting it together.
Kucka is industrious, needs to continue to polish his game up but his energy and forward runs are very good. Milan need more quality in midfield though.
Abate has seriously regressed since the last Euros, has had quite a few injuries and seems to have lost a good deal of pace which was his biggest asset, take that pace from him and he’s pretty ordinary.
Bonaventura is turning into a vital performer for Milan and I think Mijhalovic is doing a good job, they’ve been unlucky with injuries so far.
Leaving aside Cooper and Joyce would you agree that John McEntee had the best citeog of the last 25 years. I’m not all anti-Nodie as this post affirms…
I would say yes to the first one in terms of his prime years but we never really got to see him at his best for long enough, even though he was still the best player in the world after wrecking his knee and carried Brazil to a World Cup, he was not the same Ronaldo.
Both of those lads for me define football, I remember watching every game in the 98 world cup and Ronaldo lit it up right from the start against Scotland.
Ronaldinho was an exceptional talent, pity he was so fond of the women/beer but on his day no defence could stop him. Would love to have seen him for a couple of years in Old Trafford back in his prime.
He’s the only player comparable with Maradona since. It’s hard to explain but he had that instinct that Maradona had, nothing seemed to be by design with him everything was an on-the-whim instinct. We never even got to see his best.
Ronaldo’s defining moment for me is the UEFA Cup final against a very good Lazio side, he destroyed them, he terrorised Nesta, the best defender in the world - absolutely shredded him that night. Players would kick absolute lumps out of him but that couldn’t stop him. It annoys me the way people put Messi up higher than the real Ronaldo, he is/was a million miles off him.
Ronny should be sacked and under no circumstances should Lickspittle Lennon come back. We need some mad cap manager who’s not going to be a company man. We need Paolo Di Canio in.
He’s very highly rated by those who played against him and was paramount to Limerick when they were putting it up to Cork and Kerry so he was clearly a very good player but I didn’t see enough of him to give a definitive judgement.
Cool story (bro) about Ronaldinho in Iniesta’s upcoming autobiography
A few days before the Clasico against Real Madrid, ‘Dinho’ called me at home at night. I answered and he told me 'Andrés, I know it’s 3am, but I have to confess something. In June I will be leaving Barca. My brother has an agreement with Real Madrid. It’s an incredible amount that I can’t refuse.
You’re young, you can understand…But please do not tell anyone in the locker room or the club, do not betray me, I trust you more than anyone. Andrés, good night’.
He didn’t give me time to say anything. The next day, we were in training camp and I felt an awkward atmosphere around me. The whole team was silent and they were all greeting Ronaldinho like never…
When the day of the Clasico came, in the locker rooms of Santiago Bernabeu 'Dinho told us: 'Guys, today is a very important game, they are strong, but these days I discovered that we were like a family. I called each of you during the night and I told you that I was leaving in June, but none of you spoke.
After that I realised that we were ready to suffer in silence rather than betray each other. I’ll stay here again for a long time…now let’s go into the field and give a lesson to these players of Madrid!