#and compliance is the best thing you can do against your opponents cause not everyone w I’ll agree

[mothboyhalo]

Just imagine if they pass the furniture law. And arrest him for past actions and still blame him for the mass furniture theft incident. ( despite you know it’s being wrong since that retroactive punishment) He dosent resist just silently complies. He gave up. Once released he just vanishes. At some point the true culprit comes to light and people realize that they messed up.

As much as I want a full on villain arc I kind of want an isolation arc for q!Bad if he is actually being framed. Like once more making an isolated house really far away with a stasis chamber given to dapper, like they still go and work on the main base (cause cool project river of souls) but like he lives someplace else deep underground again no signs of entry from outside, like nothing or no one is there. Having his location turned off. Truly isolated but Qbaghera’s visits. Showing up occasionally to vote or do an egg quest but more then likely just doing his own thing. I want him to be quiet when he runs into someone and like throw some items in a chest (having that his worth is tied to what he can give) and walk away quickly so no one accuses him of something. I want him not to feel safe going to the museum and quietly wait for the eggs to look around maybe bring him pictures. I want foolish to expect bad to prank him but it dosent happen. I want the island to truly feel the absence of him being gone.

[elatedmarvel]

Shadow: Part 3

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Natasha and Bucky rescue someone from their past. Being hunted down, they bring you to the Avengers. Will it be enough to keep you safe?

Warnings: Tiny bit of violence

A/N: Thank you all so much for the kind comments!!! It really means a lot to me! Let me know of you would like to be tagged! ~J

Masterlist   Part 1  Part 2  

The room was dark and cold, as it always was. You moved to the right, trying to keep an eye on your opponent, but with the little light, you couldn’t see much. You could hear the whispers of the handlers behind you, but you paid them no attention. Sure you were broken and bloody, but you wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The shadowed figure finally emerged and lunged at you. Dizzy from fighting for so long, you miss your mark as you try and punch him. He uses your momentum against you and easily swings you around, dropping you onto the mat. The breath is knocked out of you and everything hurts, but you can’t find it in yourself to be anything but amused.

The more you and the soldat spared, the more confident and cocky you both got with each other. Which resulted in harder sessions, and you started to become more enraptured with the soldat every time he beat you.

You stood up and faced the handlers, waiting for instructions. The asset came to your side and did the same. Your breathing labored and you tried to tell yourself it was because you got knocked down, not because of his close proximity to you.

“Good job today Y/N” the oldest handler said, “You are becoming quite the fighter. The soldat was not wrong to choose you.” He smiles and waves a hand, dismissing you both.

As you walk down the hall, you couldn’t help but wonder why the soldat did choose you. So wrapped up in your own mind you didn’t see him catch up to you until his fingers brushed gently over yours, by accident of course. Your lips twitched slightly upwards, but it was enough for him to know you felt the jolt when he touched you as well.

Both of you remained silent until you arrived outside and started to move back towards the forest. The compound they had taken you to was surrounded by acres of land. You and him were allowed to roam freely as long as you did not cause any trouble. Come to think of it, the handlers encouraged as much association with the two of you as possible. You had heard whisperings that he was becoming more compliant and malleable when you were around. You also guessed that it had something to do with the final mission the two of you needed to complete.

Reaching the small clearing where wild flowers grew, you laid down and gazed up at the clear blue sky. One redeeming quality of this arrangement was that you could see the sky freely now, feel the wind on your skin, and the tickle of the grass beneath you. That and the warmth of the soldat as he laid next to you.

It was silent for a while before your curiosity got the best of you.

“Why?” you spoke in a small voice, not wanting to disturb nature.

You feel his head turn to look at you, but you keep watching the sky. He sighs for a minute, knowing what you were asking. He debates whether or not he should tell you the truth before he realizes he has nothing to lose. Not with you.

“You lost on purpose” his voice rough from underuse.

You felt your body tense. He knew. Would he tell your handlers what you had done? Would it make a difference though? They were all pleasantly shocked when you decided to stop holding back and they seemed pleased at your skill. Until you began to come to your senses. The asset would never do anything to hurt you purposefully.

“I can hear your thoughts from here Y/N”.

Now you roll over to get a good look at him. You start with his body, toned and muscular and drag your eyes from his chiseled jaw to his luscious lips and perfect nose until you stop at his eyes. Everyday you can see the light gradually come back to them. They seemed brighter and brighter every time you looked in them.

You stare at him for several moments, seeing a small amount of amusement but also fear in his eyes. He was scared he had said the wrong thing, upset you. He was shocked when you smiled brightly at him and chuckled.

“That obvious I was faking huh?”

He almost grimaced, the closest he had gotten to smiling in a long time and confesses. “I read your file. I read everyone’s file, and watched the footages of you training. I knew that you and your friend, Natalia, that you two would be the best. When you threw your chances something snapped in me and I knew you were the one.”

Your heart skips a beat at the last statement before you demanded it to calm down. He meant as a mission partner and nothing else. Before you can think, you reach your hand out to tuck one of the loose strands of hair into place. He surprises you when instead of stiffening, he relaxes into your touch. You keep your hand close to his cheek. Feeling bold, you caress it and watch the emotion in his eyes.

“You’re soft” he whispers and you realizes this is the first time in years he’s been touched without intention of hurting. Maybe with love you think before you can shove the thought out of your head. You both lay there in the quiet as you tentatively stroke down his face and body, trying to memorize every curve and plane as he does his best not to show emotion.

You wanted to remember this when you were far away from Hydra and the Red Room. Though now the thought of leaving makes your heart ache the same way you used to think of freedom.

He would never tell anyone how he was starting to feel again, starting to see flashes of a life that seemed so familiar. He would do anything to keep you safe and if that meant compliance, than so be it.  

Present   

It had been a week and a half since you moved into your new room at the tower, and it all felt like a dream. You would make breakfast with Steve. Morning sparring with either Steve, Natasha, or Sam. Lunch would be spent down in Tony and Bruce’s lab, making sure they ate and keeping them company. You would go out and explore New York with Wanda in the afternoons, and be back in time to help with dinner. It seemed like the perfect life and you could feel yourself becoming more carefree and happier with every new day.

Nights were a different story. You would make an effort every night to sleep, but somehow end up on the balcony just looking out over the city until it was time to run with Steve. But being around people that you viewed as friends and maybe even family, it rejuvenated you.

Everyone had made an effort to include you, and you were starting to feel at home. Which sickened and delighted you.

Everyone but Bucky. It seemed like you were some virus he would do anything to avoid. He would speak when talked to at dinner and training, but never even glanced your way. You had never been someone to crave a man’s attention, but Bucky got under your skin and you began picking yourself apart. Even when the asset was unacquainted with you, he was never as cold as Bucky.   

1 AM on the dot you woke up from you nap, faces and fear fading as you stepped onto the balcony. You pulled up a loveseat lounger and simply just looked out into the illuminated world. Usually you would be wide awake, but tonight the exhaustion was hitting hard as you struggled to keep your eyes open and sit upright.

Suddenly there was a blanket being tossed around you and looked up to see the last person you would think standing over you. Bucky looked down at you with guilt in his eyes. Without thinking you slid yourself to one side of the lounger and lifted the blanket, silently asking him to join you. You saw the internal fight he was having with himself, but the darker side won as he sat down and re-wrapped the blanket around you both.

You hadn’t been this close to him since your panic attack in the hospital and being pressed against him in the small space did nothing to calm your nerves. You could feel heat as his side connected with yours and you had almost forgotten how warm he could be. You took in a breath and immediately regretted it, he smelled different from the soldat. Instead of sweat and gunpowder, he now smelled like his cologne, but there was that same underlying smell. Distinctly Bucky, and all this wrapped together made you want to pull your knees to your chest and cry.

Both of you were faced towards the view, but you could see him stealing glances your way. The feeling of desperation came up as you finally had enough.

“What are you doing here?” you whispered and mentally kicked yourself for sounding so weak. You had thought that he wouldn’t answer you before he cleared his throat.

“This is the spot I come to when I can’t sleep”

“Me too, obviously” you nervously chuckle.

“I know. I see you here every night”  he states, still faced forward.

“I never see you?” you were confused, you were pretty out of it at night, but you were sure you would have remembered his presence.

“I see you out here and I go back to my room. You look like you wanted to be alone.”

This revelation shocked you, he had seen you. He had seen your tears and you messy hair every night.

“Why tonight?” it was like every other one. He didn’t have to come sit next to you.

“You looked cold. You forgot your blanket tonight” he states and you almost lose it. He had observed you for nights on end, knew your routine, and everything but still stayed away. But now he chooses to turn up? Tears were forming in your eyes before you could stop them.

“Why do you hate me?” you breathed out so small you were surprised he heard you.

He turned to finally and a look of shock and sadness were painted on.

“I don’t.”

“Don’t lie to me. You can barely be in the same room as me. And when you are you never even look my way Bucky. You do everything in your power to avoid me and you never ever talk to me” by the end of your rant you had tears streaking down your face.

“I know you don’t remember me, or maybe I bring up bad memories. I get it. But what did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?” and your voice broke.

Bucky quickly wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to his chest as you continued to sob into him. You had sprung a leak and your dam was slowly crumbling.You were exhausted, running on little to no sleep. You were on the run from an organization trying to kill you, and they had almost succeeded. And the one person that made you feel safe and felt like home couldn’t even look at you. You were livid and heartbroken all at once.  

Part 4

Tags: @bexboo616 @sebstanwassup  @buckyb4rnacle​ @captainbuckyreid @demoncrypt1066  @elaacreditava  @writing-soldiers  @aroyaldarknessblr @cumberbabe92  @tearsandbloodofmyenemies  @oceanshockey @astronomyturtle   

[gadgetsrevv]

Pressure grows on Tottenham, while Abraham faces his biggest test yet

All you need to know about this weekend’s Premier League action, all in one place.

Jump to: Is Tammy the real deal? | Winless Watford face wounded City | Tune in to the battle of the south | The Premier League team that needs some luck | Why everyone needs to avoid Harry Kane | Good old reliable Burnley | The man with the most thankless task in football |   ESPN’s fearless predictions

THE WEEKEND’S BIG QUESTIONS

Are the Tottenham players listening to Pochettino anymore?

It’s an age-old maxim in football that, eventually, players simply stop listening to a manager if they stay at one club for too long. Jurgen Klopp always said that about his latter days at Borussia Dortmund, when his instructions simply were not getting through to his squad as they once did.

Is the same thing happening at Spurs? Mauricio Pochettino’s declaration that his players didn’t “respect the plan” in the first-half of their 2-2 Champions League draw with Olympiakos on Wednesday was worrying, and did suggest that some of the players who have been there for the duration of Pochettino’s six-year tenure have started to switch off. Perhaps that is the root cause of the slump and modest results that have spilled from the back end of last season to this.

“I can see why the manager is frustrated because he’s been here for six years now and we’re still making similar mistakes to the ones we were in his first year,” said Harry Kane after the game.

This weekend they travel to face a Leicester team who will almost certainly approach this match in a more proactive manner than they did against Manchester United last weekend: A test for sure, but a win for Spurs will, if nothing else, be good for the perception that Pochettino can still make himself heard.

Can Abraham score against a “big” team?

This will inevitably sound dismissive and even patronising to Wolves, Sheffield United and Norwich, but this weekend sees Tammy Abraham‘s biggest test as Chelsea’s No. 9. The English forward has seven goals against those three opponents, which is hugely impressive but you could easily dismiss those as merely strikes versus teams new to the Premier League or in terrible form.

On Sunday however, Abraham will come up against Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk, arguably the best team and central defender in Europe at the moment. Should he score goals against the European champions, then it won’t be as easy — impossible, even — to dismiss his feats as that of a flat-track bully.

What will Manchester City’s response to last weekend be?

Five games in, and Manchester City are five points behind Liverpool having already dropped more points than they did in the whole second half of last season. Last weekend’s defeat at Norwich could easily turn out to be a freak result, the sort of scoreline that inevitably happens in a world with human fallibility and luck. But that will only really be determined by what happens in the next few games.

They probably couldn’t have asked for a better next game, on paper at least. Watford are the visitors to the Etihad, a team without a win thus far this term, who they eviscerated in the FA Cup final and scored 11 times against in three games last season. But the Hornets have a new manager whose remit was to tighten their defence, so it will be interesting to see how City’s attack approaches that particular challenge.

If we see a repeat of the corresponding games last season, we can safely assume that Norwich was a blip. If not … then who knows what the coming months could have in store?

THE GAME YOU’RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH … BUT SHOULD

If you’ve got room on your DVR or in your busy schedule for one match this weekend away from the title race, we’ve got you covered.

Southampton vs. Bournemouth

Sure, you’ve probably got better things to be doing on a Friday evening, but forget your friends, never mind going to see a film, cancel those drinks: Watch Southampton vs. Bournemouth instead.

Not only is this a derby (of sorts), but it’s a game between two teams who are pretty good fun to watch. Ralph Hasenhuttl has injected new life into the Saints, while the Bournemouth forward-line featuring Harry Wilson, Josh King and Callum Wilson is certain to provide something to remember.

Stay in, feet up, have some fun.

A TEAM THAT NEEDS A BIT OF LUCK

Luck is everything in sports. Get acquainted with ESPN’s Luck Index as we pick out the team most desperate for good fortune amid a difficult run. Here are the big takeaways from the 2019 edition as explained by Gab Marcotti.

Aston Villa: There’s been a sense that Aston Villa are slowly building towards a really impressive result. Their one win this season has been against Everton, but they’ve narrowly lost to Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, while on Monday they drew with West Ham.

It was always going to take a little time to integrate their new signings, but that’s happening gradually, and when they click you sense something special could happen. Or, possibly, they just need a bit of luck: Could they get that when they visit Arsenal on Sunday?

FANTASY TIPS

Kieran Darcy has some tips for the weekend action. Read his full preview here and set your team line-up!

Must-have player: Sergio Aguero (Tier 1 forward)

Aguero has scored in each of Manchester City’s first five Premier League games, and is tied for the league lead with seven goals in total. And he was rested for their Champions League win on Wednesday, so should start against bottom-of-the-table Watford on Saturday.

Worth considering: Richarlison (Tier 2 midfielder)

Everton lost 3-1 at Bournemouth last week, but Richarlison followed up his brace against Wolves with an assist, four shots and three chances created, and one of his shots hit the woodwork. Now he’ll be at home against Sheffield United.

Avoid at all costs: Harry Kane (Tier 1 forward)

Kane scored two goals and took eight shots in Tottenham’s season-opener against Aston Villa, but has scored just one goal in four league games since, and that was via a penalty kick. Worse yet, he’s only taken six shots combined in those four games, and now faces a tricky away fixture against Leicester City.

ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN

Norwich will crash down to earth against Burnley: If we’ve learned one thing down the years, it’s that football will take a big run up and kick you in the groin, just at the point where everything seems to be going well.

So Norwich City, fresh from their exhilarating victory over Manchester City last weekend, will inevitably be brought right back down with the bumpiest of bumps against Burnley.

There’s logic to back that up too: Sean Dyche’s side are solid and Norwich still have a raft of injuries, and ultimately they probably won’t have the fine play and luck they needed to win last time out.

MAN TO WATCH

Kepa Arrizabalaga: Or perhaps this should be “man with the most thankless task in football this weekend.” Under Frank Lampard, Chelsea are yet to keep a clean sheet: A combination of their gung-ho style of play, inexperienced defenders and changing systems meaning that there’s been no consistency and no solidity in their back-line

Perhaps things will be a little less porous if N’Golo Kante returns, but against the myriad attacking talents of Liverpool, it could be a long old Sunday for nominative determinism’s favourite keeper.

OUR BOLD/RECKLESS PREDICTIONS

Southampton 2-1 Bournemouth: The Cherries blow hot and cold. We’re picking cold this weekend. Leicester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Plenty of goals but a share of the points. Manchester City 5-0 Watford: It’s the Hornets that will be stung by a wounded Man City. Burnley 1-0 Norwich City: Sean Dyche to teach Norwich a Premier League lesson. Everton 1-1 Sheffield United: This is a game Everton should win … which is why they won’t. Newcastle United 0-1 Brighton: Everyone will jump back aboard the Graham Potter hype train. West Ham 3-1 Manchester United: Every weekend there’s an upset, but don’t expect one here. Hammers to win easily. Crystal Palace 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Wolves will rock up to Selhurst with shades on and telling everyone to shush. Classic Europa hangover. Arsenal 3-1 Aston Villa: Three goals for a rampant Gunners front-line and a own-goal at the back for (insert any Arsenal defender here). Chelsea 2-4 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp’s side will continue their perfect start, but jeez didn’t Chelsea’s young lads play well?

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[dareread]

What is the purpose of government? I believe it is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense of his/her person, liberty and property.

This is where we usually agree, left, right, centrist, apolitical… no matter who are.

Government is a flawed, yet needed entity to maintain social order. It is not, however, a tool with which to promote our lifestyle or personal ambitions. This is what often drives those political divisions.

Over the years, I’ve talked about the writings of French philosopher Frederic Bastiat. His seminal, and final notes can be found HERE, in a booklet called, “The Law.” The one quote of his I treasure above all, and needs to be read by everyone is this:

“We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life—physical, intellectual, and moral life. But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course. Life, faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it is the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”

At a coffee shop or in the halls of your local church, most will agree that the purpose of the law and government is to protect individuals, and those protections are agreed upon by the majority of us; Government is to be the enforcer of those protections, nothing more. If we stuck to this, most of us would have no political labels.

But, as humanity is flawed, any entity of power can and will be prone to corruption. The tendency of government will always be toward centralization of power and corruption of those who run it.

Of all places to find wisdom, a quirky, entrepreneurial hacker named John McAfee once provided a good summary of the state of mankind:

“As a hacker, I know as well as anyone, the impossibility of the human mind creating a flawless system. The human mind, itself, is flawed. A flawed system can create nothing that is not likewise flawed.”

In other words, government will always be flawed, because you and I are flawed. My best hope is in my faith in God to perfect those flaws, but our best protection is in a government that allows our greatest virtues to flourish. Which usually means as little of it as possible.

Yet, for some of us, that’s not good enough. The corruption makes us want to react. Therefore, when some of us have perverted the law to our benefit, others of us predictably feel we must use the same tool to react to that original perversion, and occasionally it is no less a violation than the first. Instead of winning minds, we want to only win elections. Thus, we become divided: conservative vs. liberal; union vs. businessman; police vs. individuals; and socially, even pastor vs. layperson. There is the point of division.

Too often, we seek out confirmation of our principles or ideas, and seek to protect our position by walling ourselves off from those with differences. We don’t realize that the existence of their principles doesn’t mean extinction of our own. We can coexist without conforming. But, most of the time, we go too far in promoting our own ideals – and focus on winning – that we fail to persuade our neighbor of the idea, or worse, try to force compliance, or “fairness” through our own laws.

Imagine a scenario:

A business group seeks out a subsidy in the tax code, providing credits to help them expand their business. As a result, they do expand, but some bad actors violate the common trust and appear to abuse their position, their money, and behave in a destructive manner.

In response to this, a citizen group lobbies the same government to change the tax code, and provide refundable tax credits for low income families and children. To be “fair,” the government acquiesces to their demands, and now, two common entities – citizenry and business – are adversaries in the code, each vying for their own best interests. And it was motivated with good intentions, to boot.

And who can blame them? None of us wants to be short-thrifted. But, the initial violation that was the core problem. If the purpose of the law is to protect the God-given, natural liberties of each person to create, attain and preserve what they wish, why do we violate someone else’s liberty with our own? Too often, we answer secularist laws with religious ones; someone else’s success with subsidies for us; their tax deductions with our own.

Today, I feel that too many of us seek to carve out special treatment in the law to counter what we see as an affront to our way of life. We create an opponent in our mind, and publicly. Then, we fight to defeat that opponent, using the very tool that was supposed to protect them and us. We become as bad as the perpetrators when we use the law against them, for our purposes.

That is why the American Founders saw fit to knit together a country with a government that dispersed power (the literal definition of “federal”), and sought to make those decisions as locally as possible, where people are closer in agreement on the majority of things. Most decisions cannot and should not be decided by someone hundreds of miles away, affected by the interests of someone even further.

Yeah, I know I’m sounding pretty libertarian at the moment, but maybe that’s one of the reasons I lean that way. In any society, “live and let live” is more than a cheap cliche. In government, it protects the common good, while allowing us as much freedom as possible. In our churches, it let’s us share a common faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while allowing us to have churches with varying secondary theologies. Across the country, it gives us a common place to call home, while allowing us to have our own families, faiths, cities, and states that are so different than others, 3,000 miles away.

Yes, we’re going to disagree on so much, and of all people, I’m not known for backing down on what I think is right. But, we’ve gone astray. The internet has increased our contact with those we disagree with, and sped up our conversations and conflict. Perhaps no human being is equipped to deal with this in a peaceful way, but we must try.

For ultimately, as John Adams said, “we are a nation of laws, not of men.” We share far more in common than we realize, and that’s why government was created: to preserve the greater good, which is peace. Peace that is reached not by isolation or segregation, but in acceptance. Civility doesn’t happen in a vacuum, but in our interaction with others… and winning them over, not winning over them.

If the way we live is right, then we should focus on being what we want the world to be, making sure government only preserves our right to do so. If that life is right, others will begin to see what that life does for us, and want the same thing. But, will they ever see it if we only sit online, type furiously when someone objects, and only break bread with those who agree with us?

[gadgetsrevv]

Juventus vs. Napoli suggests Serie A will be fun, wide-open and wild this season after epic seven-goal battle

TURIN, Italy — Maurizio Sarri’s predecessor at Juventus, Massimiliano Allegri, liked to say “if you want to be entertained, go to the circus.” To him, the result tended to be all that mattered. How Juventus arrived at it obviously held an importance. Allegri never wanted the team to put in a bad performance as they catch up with you in the end, but winning ugly never bothered him.

By contrast, Sarri goes into games wanting to experience exactly what many supporters buy tickets to see. He demands that his team excite and captivate. Saturday’s 4-3 win against Napoli certainly delivered in that regard. It will live long in the memory, as this rivalry hadn’t seen a game like it in more than a quarter of a century. The last seven-goal thriller between Juventus and Napoli came in 1993.

Still recovering from pneumonia, you’d think Sarri left the Allianz Stadium content with what he saw. But Sarri and Allegri are more alike than people think. The 60-year-old is not a wild card manager like Zdenek Zeman. He likes to attack, attack, attack, but balance and control figure more highly on his agenda than they ever did to the Czech. That much became clear when Sarri’s assistant Giovanni Martusciello revealed what his boss thought of the game. “He says you lot will be pleased with the seven goals. He wasn’t at all, though. He would have preferred to win 4-0.”

– Report: Roma, Lazio split points in derby – Where it went wrong for Alexis Sanchez at Man United – The untold stories of Maurizio Sarri

Sarri’s opposite number Carlo Ancelotti did not give the impression he’d had much fun either despite watching his team come back from 3-0 down to be level at 3-3 in a stunning 15-minute spell in the second half. Losing in stoppage time did not explain his glum demeanour. “I would have been disappointed even if we’d drawn,” he said afterwards.

The reactions of both coaches offered a reminder that what we find pleasurable to watch isn’t always a joy to them.

Juve’s dramatic win over Napoli, thanks to the Koulibaly own goal, was a fortunate conclusion for a tired champion that’s still working into peak fitness.

Sarri was “ticked off” last week because Juventus should have taken more than a 1-0 lead into the break in Parma, and the same was true on Saturday. The Old Lady could have been 4-0 up at the interval. Sami Khedira failed to take advantage in a 1-on-1 with Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret and hit the bar shortly afterwards. As at the Ennio Tardini, Juventus faded fast after an hour. For some it’s a concern, but it’s still early in the season and not everyone is up to speed yet from a physical perspective. The heat is a factor despite the late kick-offs and besides, Martusciello also put it down to Juve’s new approach.

“The initial idea we had of this team [from last season] was one based on defending deep and then hitting teammates on the break while also having the ball. It’s one thing playing a possession game in your opponent’s half, and another in your own. We’re shifting towards pushing up and defending [not backing off]. It’s not something that catches on in a month.”

The team is pressing higher for longer than under Allegri. Lasting 90 minutes at this stage of the season at that intensity is not easy, and so tiredness and a sense the game was over allowed Napoli back into the game.

Unusually for them, Juventus conceded twice from set-pieces. Matthijs de Ligt, Juventus’ €75m signing from Ajax, also had a debut to forget as he stood in for the team’s captain and last week’s match winner Giorgio Chiellini who tore his ACL on Friday. In consolation, the Dutchman was not the only highly regarded centre-back to suffer.

Two years after scoring a dramatic stoppage-time winner at the Allianz Stadium, Kalidou Koulibaly was at it again. Unfortunately for him, the outcome was different this time around as the reigning Serie A Defender of the Year quite incredibly scuffed a routine clearance, under no pressure, into his own net. Turned inside out by former teammate Gonzalo Higuain for Juve’s second goal, the Senegal international’s uncharacteristically poor display was excused by Ancelotti, who alluded to the little time-off Koulibaly had had over the summer and the difficulties he is experiencing after missing and losing the African Cup of Nations final.

On paper, Napoli have two of the best defenders in the league now that Kostas Manolas, the €34m summer signing, is partnering Koulibaly. In practice, though, it hasn’t shaken out quite as expected. So far the team has leaked seven goals in two outings, making it Napoli’s worst start to a season from a defensive point of view in 57 years.

Guilty of starting slow in Florence last week, Ancelotti lamented the absence of “ferocity” in his side when Juventus were on the attack. He questioned his players’ sacrifice. Napoli could and should have made it harder for Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s goal: they had enough bodies back and around them to shackle and block. Instead, it was too easy and the passivity Napoli showed while Khedira set himself to fashion a shot against the crossbar was damning. The electric Douglas Costa would also have an effort tipped onto the woodwork by Meret, an exceptional save, which was more or less Juve’s final attempt on goal until Koulibaly’s miscue.

That final goal was one of a host of jaw-dropping moments that turned this game into an instant classic and The opener serves as a case in point. Napoli thought they had scored, only for Wojciech Szczesny to turn Allan‘s curling attempt brilliantly around the post. Mattia de Sciglio hobbled off before the corner was taken, replaced by Danilo. A routine that Ancelotti had worked on in training came off insofar as it was supposed to lead to an open shot from the edge of the box, which it did, only for Leonardo Bonucci‘s face to get in the way. Pouncing on the loose ball, Danilo started and finished a counter-attack, scoring his first goal for Juventus just 29 seconds into his debut.

In a blink of an eye, Napoli were 2-0 down. The trickery from Higuain to get around Koulibaly and create an angle for a shot showed him at his very best. A bigger story than Pipita scoring against his old team though is how much we had become used to thinking of Juventus as his old team too.

Juventus got a lot of production out of formerly maligned squad players like Douglas Costa, left, and Blaise Matuidi. Sarri’s style is still taking root, too.

The same goes for Costa. Last weekend was his first start since February. Suspensions, car wrecks and partying with Neymar all seemed to spell the end for him in Turin. And yet Costa has been Juventus’ most creative and decisive player under Sarri.

World Cup winners Blaise Matuidi and Khedira didn’t strike observers as natural fits for the new manager, either. It looked like their time at Juventus was up but rather than sidelining them, Sarri and his staff have decided to coach them.

“There were preconceived ideas about some of the players and we’ve been working on their game,” Martusciello revealed. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well three or four of them have done in doing what we’ve asked of them.”

Matuidi, for instance, spent the end of warm-up working apart from everyone else, polishing up quick one-touch passes — a shortcoming of his game — while his teammates ran through a shooting drill. Ancelotti identified him as the key to Juve’s win, particularly in the first half. The combination of his energetic pressing and the spaces he kept dashing into behind Fabian Ruiz caused the visitors no end of problems.

For Napoli, there were positives too. As in Florence, they showed character to come back from so far behind. Hirving Lozano came on and made a double impact. Not only did Napoli’s record signing continue his remarkable record of scoring in every debut he’s ever made, he allowed Dries Mertens to get into the game by drawing attention away from him.

On the eve of the match, Ancelotti argued that no matter what happened in Turin, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn at this stage. Even so, he believed it would still be “indicative.” The biggest indication the league has given us over the first couple of weekends though is that this season could be be pure, crazy fun.

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