TheUNInterrupted:A Sports Odyssey

THE TOP 10 TEAMS IN THE WORLD  (RIGHT NOW)  PART II 5.  JUVENTUS            There's been almost nothing redeeming about watching Juventus trip over the first quarter of the season .. . if you made it through a full match, I congratulate you on your ability to smash yourself over the head with nonstop back-passing, Blaise Matuidi used as an attacker, manager Sarri drunkenly unaware he doesn't have the personnel for his tactics, Miralem Pjanic displaying the roughest edges of his game (and little else) all while a rotating cast of egos disguised as world class players fray the perspective of their careers by the minute (Can, Khedira, Rabiot, Bernadeschi, Douglas Costa, need I continue?).               Juventus has only scored 9 goals in their last 6 matches , indicating a complete lack of understanding in the final third and although Ronaldo hasn't been at his scorching best (as he is vs L...

UNINTERRUPTED SPORTS ODYSSEY'S TOP 10 TEAMS              Just before the much-maligned international break interrupts the European football season, we saw a pivotal weekend play out all across Europe as multiple giants collided, some falling, some rising and others simply looking like Robert Downey Jr in 1998.           Bayern Munich defaced Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Juventus escaped v AC Milan thanks to a morale-boosting winner from De Ligt, Marseille beat Lyon in Ligue 1 play thanks to the reincarnation of Dimitri Payet and Manchester City traveled to Liverpool for a harsh defeat, the unblemished Merseysiders frustrating City with two early goals and never looking back.             It wasn't a weekend that'll decide the EPL or Bundesliga title race, as much as Liverpool fans hope and feel that it should (9 points between City and EPL leaders Liverpool); instead, this weekend is ...

      MADMEN ACROSS THE WATER: HOW  VALVERDE & BARTOMEU  INFECTED BARCELONA              After the events of Saturday where Barcelona were humbled 3-1 by Levante (a match many fans described as like "watching two trains colliding in slow motion from the first minute on") Barcelona have been exposed...not just Bartomeu or Valverde: but the players themselves.              It wasn't just the horrifyingly askew, tactically aloof XI Valverde threw out there on the chessboard, nor was it the criminally awful back-line Valverde continues to select...the problems were deeper issues that took root ever since the conservative Spaniard's first season in charge.               Before 2017, the players always spoke to each other on the pitch and the manager always emotively directed them.              Before ...