Originally posted on 12/18/2012:

First of all: To cover the guy that is standing in perfect postion to place a shot on goal. Second 48, between Tevez and the Referee. Nasri isn't making even more room for the ball to come through, he's just a little pus.sy that was afraid to get the ball in his face.
Second: The opposite is the case: A beginner thinks that the shot will be most likely directly on the target and THAT is one reason why these guys are professionals. Because THEY know that not every shot goes directly on the goal, but the teams have multiple scenarios for a freekick in every single position.

But to come to the point here:
Are there fixed matches? HELL YEAH!
In every league? Maybe possible.
Is Italy known for match fixing? YES!
Even in the Seria A? YES!

I LOVE fixed matches.
Why? Because it is damn fcking easy to see which match is fixed and I can use this to my advantage. The EL-Qualy every year f.e. is a veritbale goldmine for me. Every single year.
I can show you 91 sites full of fixed matches that I know from, only in the last 2 years. Last example I remember was from Malta, Mosta - Sliema Wanderers (Premier League, monday a week ago). Sliema went from +0.25 underdog to a -0.25 favourite @1.72 in the first 15 minutes. Why? Because there were MASSIVE amounts of money bet in Asia. And you can learn and understand how it works to SEE which games are fixed.
Man Utd - City wasn't.
And IMHO, Napoli wasn't either. I didn't watch this game live and saw the line movement, but I checked it, and there where NO signs at all. (Just btw.: guys that are fixing a match are making their money INGAME, not before game start, and there are good reasons why)
I am not saying that this was def. 100% sure NO fix. But at least there were no obvious signs for it. And you do have these signs.
IMO what happened here is: Guy comes in, tells about a match that he thinks/knows/pretends to be fixed. We have 3 possible outcomes, 1, x or 2. Guy threw Darts and this time it hit. Chances are 33.33%. Happens. We see these kind of threads in every internet forum about sports betting at least once a week. And guess what: In at least 66.66% of the cases they are completely wrong. (Well, honestly more like 90%...)
I love talking about fixes matches, but only with guys who know how to recognize such a case. Wild conspiracies are not what I like. I can show you thousands of football scenes from youtube that would look fixed if you want to see a fix in them. Easy to see the things one wants to see. Some guys believe in NWO, secret nazi bases in the Antarctic, Bigfoot, creationism etc etc etc. And I could show you things that make you believe: Hey, he's right, this seems strange/fishy/interesting/true. But in the end it is nonsense. I'm out