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Thought this was quite interesting: New Bologna Coach Roberto Donadoni had dinner with his predecessor Delio Rossi to discuss the squad. http://www.football-italia.net/75061/donadoni-dines-delio-rossi Can't imagine all that many situations where it could/would happen.

I like Hernanes and think he should be useful for Juve, but he shouldn't have been signed if Allegri didn't think he'd be useful. That general idea of Allegri's preferences is fair, but he hasn't spent much time playing like that with Juve. We aren't dealing with three defensive midfielders...

No question Marchisio is key to Juve's ability to function just now, but I think that has more to do with the tactics than the formation. I would also suggest that if Juve were to continue the low-tempo play, Hernanes should be viewed as Marchisio's primary backup. I would argue that Juve...

Well that's a refreshing change to Conte's stubborn refusal to use anything other than 3-5-2, surely? Or were you furious at Allegri's tactical flexibility last season?

Are those players good? Romagnoli is/should be. De Sciglio hasn't developed as hoped. All I've seen Ely do is get sent off stupidly. Donnarumma has played two games and made big errors in both - on Sassuolo's goal and missing a high ball in the last minute against Chievo that should have...

Well that game has to go down as a huge collective failure. Juve made no effort whatsoever to adjust to the very difficult conditions. You aren't going to win in those conditions by trying to play the ball out slowly through defence and midfield and then rely on precision play in the final...

I am a big fan of coaches who punch players.

I think either Zaza or Mandzukic could do quite a lot of damage playing up against Cannavaro and imposing themselves physically. I'd play Dybala. Morata plays if you think there is going to be space for him to influence the game. Zaza/Manzukic plays if you don't think there is going to be...

Focusing with ten men or shitting it when playing against ten men? I commented the other day, after watching Lazio beat Rosenburg, how I frequently find myself approving more of a team's style of play and mentality with ten men than with eleven.

Bologna played very well until the red card. Bologna then seemed to freeze as they realised there was now some pressure on them since they had a great chance to beat Inter. Inter also became much more focused once they went down to ten men.

Wasn't really a serious suggestion. On a semi-related note, and of no particular relevance to Juve, 3-4-2-1 has really grown on me as a system in the last few months.

His passing isn't as good as you'd expect of a deep midfielder for Juve. He would also have to stay in a more fixed position, rather than being able to roam around and win the ball. Does he have that awareness and discipline? That is, of course, if he was to play as a lone deep midfielder...

Gasperini has the solution: Buffon Bazagli-Bonucci-Chiellini Cuadrado---Machisio-Pogba---Alex Sandro Berardi-------------Dybala Morata

Napoli still have key weaknesses, though. Jorginho, not being properly accustomed to playing regista, is frequently getting himself too high up the pitch and leaving Napoli looking very vulnerable if they lose the ball in midfield. He also doesn't react quickly to the ball being played beyond...

Clearly that's because they ship all their rubbish to Poland.

Some pretty impressive stuff from Lazio to recover their own rank incompetence. When I see teams playing properly with ten men, I do wonder why more sides don't play with that level of focus and patience when they have eleven men. Lazio would be so hard to play against if they were usually...

“In short, don’t blame the players or Allegri. If anything it’s proof of how a top-level player can change your team. “Look at other examples. When Roma had [Medhi] Benatia at the back, they hardly conceded a goal, now [Coach] Rudi Garcia is being criticised for the defending. “[Antonio]...

Are they mutually exclusive?

Spanish football faces a potentially huge match-fixing scandal after an unnamed linesman alleged that he had been told to favour Real Madrid in next month’s clásico against Barcelona. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/22/real-madrid-barcelona-linesman-clasico-match-fixing

BVB, Lazio, Fiorentina, Sporting and Basel to win tonight.