Philippe Mexes is a dirty cheat. He’s a walking red card and a thuggish scumbag; an explosion waiting to happen like that quiet, inevitable interval in between lighting a firecracker and waiting for it to go off. Philippe Mexes is a tremendous defender. Sure, he has a dirty side, but what centerback doesn’t? His expulsions tend to be a bit exaggerated, and what he gives to his team far outweighs his overstated lack of discipline. Loyalty, passion, and aggression are [...]

Lazio, perhaps more than any other Italian side, have made some tremendously interesting moves in the summer mercato. “Interesting,” that is, because acquiring two strikers and swapping fullbacks and potentially goalies is quite the gamble, a roll of the dice that could see the club challenge for the top or fall apart into a mess of distraught egos and poor decisions. On paper, at least, it seems as if the capital side have acquired two top-name strikers to lead them [...]

Truth in football is dead. The internet killed it. Well, perhaps maybe not dead. But “truth” as it was once known is seemingly disappearing. It should be a rather simple, black-and-white concept: X is true, therefore Y isn’t. Circumstances can change but what is simply is, simply should be. However, this week in football saw quite a few challenges to such a rigid definition. Take, for example, the case of Erik Lamela. The Argentine is hotly sought at in the [...]

It may not seem so now, but Parma was once a major protagonist in Italian football.  After financial turmoil and relegation a short few years ago, it may seem that the club is a far cry from the likes of Inter and Milan, but the truth is quite the opposite. As recently as 2002 the side won the Coppa Italia as well as the UEFA Cup: two competitions in which Parma were regulars in between the late 90s and early [...]

Sergio Aguero: Striker, surely. Argentine, indubitably. Statement of intent? Quite possibly. After putting himself on the transfer market, via Twitter of all places, the Atletico Madrid striker has become one of the hottest strikers available, albeit with an immensely high price tag. If Juventus can somehow scrape the money together however, the move may pay off immensely. Sergio Aguero’s much rumored move to Juve would not only be a coup for an Old Lady in desperate need of a facelift, [...]

Can a man’s work be separated from his personal life? Movie-watchers must ask themselves if it is possible to enjoy the works of Roman Polanski knowing of the sexual allegations directed towards the director, or if Mel Gibson’s bigotry should lead them to boycott his films. Cesena fans find themselves faced with a similar dilemma this season, as the club brings in Adrian Mutu to help an anemic attack. Can the oft-troubled player’s past be forgiven if he can deliver [...]

All week we will be unveiling the winners of our Team of the Year voting with a mixture of regular and guest writers. Good things tend to come in two: Bert and Ernie, pairs of socks, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini. Following in the footsteps of the later this season have been two outstanding centerbacks for AC Milan, Thiago Silva and Alessandro Nesta. Like Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore, the former has taken to the Azzurri legend as a student [...]

Thomas Di Benedetto is a stranger in a strange land. As an American in charge of an Italian football club - Italy being infamously insular when it comes to calcio - the Bostonian needs to make a strong and favorable impression immediately upon the minds of Romanisti. The club’s most noticeable problem is a leaky defence, the likes of which is prone to spectacular mistakes in judgments and awful concessions. Yet with so much transfer talk centered around attacking players, [...]

Episode 22, Greg and Julian return to talk about the new look Roma under Thomas Di Benedetto. Luis Enrique has been brought in as well as Walter Sabatini, and the two co-hosts spend much time discussing transfers, direction, and the possibilities with the new coach. Is Enrique a gamble or the start of a dynasty? Is Sabatini as good as his reputation suggests? Podcast Powered By LaLigaWeekly.com Standard Podcasts: Download

Alexis Sanchez has somehow become one of the hottest names in the transfer market this summer, with perhaps no club linked as strongly to the Udinese frontman than Barcelona. However, Sanchez’s transfer would be, at best, premature and at worse, a total disaster. Taking into account the player’s lack of Champions’ League experience, enormous price-tag unbefitting of a player who has done relatively little, and Barcelona’s recent transfer history, there’s little to suggest that Sanchez would be a smart move [...]

Before trying out Puma’s PowerCat 1.10 cleats, I had only ever used cheap cleats to play football. They were functional and quite inexpensive- and thus got the job done without much fuss. However, I had long been wondering how big a difference a true pair of cleats would make. When offered to try out these cleats from SoccerPro.com, I jumped at the opportunity and found the answer to that long asked question of, what if? First off, the step-up in [...]

It’s finally official. After weeks and weeks of waiting and speculation, Luis Enrique has signed a contract to take over the position of coach of AS Roma from the outgoing Vincenzo Montella. It’s a two year deal with an option for a third, worth approximately 1.6 million Euros a season. The signature was about the only thing that was missing from the agreement. Enrique had been very vocal in recent days, claiming that he would become Roma’s new coach and [...]