Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Serie A is here!!

Got Inter-Bari, and Juve-Chievo today. Next week, some huge games.

Really hope to see a matches from Napoli, and Genoa, two sides who've signed fantastic players. Think Serie A coverage is much better here in India. I normally go by having to watching the likes of Atlanta, Udinese, Palermo, Sampdoria, Roma etc etc etc, rather than the Big 3. Lucky me :P
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

very impressed with Bari. The whole team gave a man of the match performance... as for Inter, well, it's back to the drawing board for us I'm afraid :(
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Mourinho's still got that luck, eh?

His unbeaten league home record should have been shattered.

Inter, unconvincing, as usual.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Bari played much better football than Inter, but all in all it was quite a dull match. Inter's penalty was debatable and Rivas was unlucky at the end, I think the other guy was offside which is why he didnt pass.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Ibra is a totally different caliber from Eto'o. You will get to see that as the season goes.

Out of the duo, Milito played a better game than Eto'o. Lucio looked very solid. Attacking CB and very useful in corners. Should have got a handball which I think should have been called a penalty for Inter.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Milanista said:
He should've gotten sent off for that foul on Alvarez. Here's a random fact - Alvarez is the fastest man in Serie A.
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Had to be, the way he gave JZ4 so much trouble.

Anyone watching the Palermo-Napoli game? What a miss by Cavani :LOL: :LOL:
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Inter were very poor. Eto'o missed a sitter to go 2-0 up.

Queresma was shocking when he came on.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Zeem said:
Ibra is a totally different caliber from Eto'o. You will get to see that as the season goes.

Out of the duo, Milito played a better game than Eto'o. Lucio looked very solid. Attacking CB and very useful in corners. Should have got a handball which I think should have been called a penalty for Inter.
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they just need time mate. i reckon inter is gonna get better and better throughout the season. ibra's departure forced mourinho to abandon is schemes (and it took almost 1 year to mou to figure out wich were the best schemes for inter last season).
now he has to start over again.

but i wouldn't say inter is weaker. they definitely lost something (a lot) in terms of flair and creativity with ibra's departure, but with 2 world class strikers like milito and eto'ò, they gained a lot in terms of finishing and killer instinct.
last season, ibra was pretty much the only inter scorer.... for some reasons i'll never understand, jose didn't seem to like cruz :? ..... balotelli spent most of the season in punishment on the bench.... the result is ibra was the only "goal source" for inter..... now they have 2 of the most lethal and versatile strikers in the world.... they just need to find a new tactical formula.

as for Lucio, Bergomi's comment about his performance perfectly pictures my idea about him....
bergomi talking about lucio said:
"they should nail his feet to the defensive line"
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:APPLAUD::APPLAUD::APPLAUD::APPLAUD:
jesus he's so undisciplined, i can't believe it (even though i know he's like that since 2001, it still amazes me every time i see him playing). u can't even call it "lack of positioning" because it's not like he can't find the right position.... he leaves his position on purpose!!!
cordoba yelled at him so many times it was ridiculous... he just didn't care.
i say follow bergomi's suggestion... for real.... a hammer 2 nails..... and maybe that idiot will eventually realise what's the difference between a midfielder and a centre back.
it's such a shame, because, apart from his total unawareness of the duties of a cb, he might actually be a pretty good cb. i mean his timing and his tackling technique is definitely good...
it's his stupidity that makes him pretty much USELESS.
anyhow hopefully cordoba and samuel will teach him the basics of defending..... and MAYBE he will listen and learn.

as expected the genoa-roma game and the napoli-palermo game were amazing... i recorded the genoa game so hopefully i'll find some free time this week to watch it.... but from what i already saw... it must have been a hell of a football match. :))

as for palermo-napoli... wow!. i'd say we were pretty good, but napoli were simply on another planet. jesus, at times i had the feeling we were playing against chelsea and not napoli. the high pressing, the passing game, the personality they showed, playing the first match of the season versus a pretty good side like palermo... in palermo, against such loud stadium....
they played with the same confidence top clubs show when they meet newly-promoted teams. simply scary.
the 1st half was played pretty much entirely in palermo's midfield, near to our box.... napoli hit the post 4 or 5 times, i even lost the count.
if that's a sign of things to come, then i can definitely see napoli fighting with the likes of milan, fiorentina, roma, genoa, udinese (and probably lazio too) for the 3rd and the 4th spot.
however i'm very happy we were lucky enough to "steal" those 3 points yesterday :P
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Exactly. It's not a lack of positioning, he does that on PURPOSE. Otherwise he's actually pretty good! It's his style of play. Has been since his Leverkusen days years back. He darts forward on purpose VERY frequently. Too often for a CB! Most defenders come up for corners and free-kicks but not so much during open-play. Admittedly, he is at least decent at getting forward. Better than most defenders. So on few occasions, his runs do actually create something and I seem to recall Bayern having scored goals because of this 'tendency' of his. Then again, I seem to remember them conceding even more goals because of it. :lol: Nonetheless, those moments are rare and he should be more concerned with his primary duty which as a defender is to 'defend' :lol:

As for him 'listening' to Cordoba or Samuel or whoever... I don't know.. Lucio has a pretty 'strong' personality, plays with so much passion and has big ego, I don't see him as one to really take much 'advice' and with a bad temper as well, he might easily explode on you and have a fight/argument. Not the easiest guy to give 'advice' to. I'm not even entirely sure, he listens very well to the instructions of his coaches. Let alone other team-mates!

In fact, I could see 'The Matrix' lol and Lucio having a bust-up or two at some stage of the season in the many training sessions to come. Or who knows, maybe these two passionate lunatics will end up friends. :)
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

PLF said:
Admittedly, he is at least decent at getting forward
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he's done the same mistake for ages... the least we can expect is that he can do it well :D

anyhow it doesn't really matters how many times he leaves the line. u can do it 2, 5, 20 times per match, the point is: do it when there's an opening. do it when the rest of the defenders are all "on the same line", and well behind u... give the line the chance to react to your rush, to slide the markings and to reassign the coverage zones.
if u don't coordinate your runs with the rest of the defensive line (and lucio NEVER does it) it doesn't matter if u do it often... even 1 single run is a mistake....
and it doesn't matter if the opponents won't take advantage of your mistake.... still remains the fact that u made a mistake and left your teammates in troubles.

here in italy youth team coaches do a simple exercise to teach the basics of zonal coverage to kids.
they line up 4 young defenders against 3 young attackers and force the defenders to protect the box without running.
they say "u kids have a numeric advantage. the whole point of zonal marking is to take advantage of this situation. it's a matter of timing, positioning and coordination. and to improve those aspects, u'll have to walk while the attackers will run".

this is a great exercise, coz since u're not allowed to run, every wrong step can mess up the whole line; and u won't be able to recover and make up for your mistake by running back and regain the right position. each mistake can be fatal coz the opponents can run while u have to walk, so make a step in the wrong direction, move a little too early or a little too late and u won't be able to get back in the right position in time.

this way the kids learn to coordinate their movements (the only way to avoid the attackers to reach the box is by having a perfect coordination, as they can run while u can't), they learn to talk each others.... they practice their vision (defend with your eyes and not with your legs!).

it's extremely frustrating for those kids at the beginning, but that's a great way to teach the kids how important is coordination and vision in zonal coverage, how important is to be exactly where u're supposed to be in each and every second (since they can't run they got to continuously adjust their position with little side-steps).
and it also teaches the kids that "leaving the line" is something that can be done just when the situation allows u to do it.

if i where mourinho, i would send lucio to the youth team training sessions for a couple of weeks. i don't care if u think u're a superstar.... if the rest of the world think you're a superstar... if dunga thinks u're national team material, or if u have a huge ego. someone must teach u that defending is not an individual act. it's a collective act.

and if i where leonardo instead, i would tell ambrosini and abate "guys sunday u'll have to keep an eye on lucio. everytime u see him leaving the line, throw yourselves into the whole he leaves behind himself. u will force cordoba and a sideback to slide the marking in order to cover u, and that will leave another whole that pato might use"

btw, speaking of centerbacks, dare i say Nesta is back?!?? :OH:
i never thought i would have said that.... but honestly sunday he was beyond perfection.
YouTube - Nesta Vs. Siena - 22/8/2009
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

He certainly seems to be back.

That power of anticipation of his is amazing. Almost seems like he already knows how the attacker will move and kick the ball. World Class CB.

At last some1 is actually representing the european historic AC Milan club. Lets see if he stays injury free.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

lo zio said:
i must be the only one in the world who doesn't know how it works
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Don't worry.. I play in a small league against friends: we are 5 friends playing. Well, me and other two of them spent the whole afternoon of last tuesday (the day we built up our teams) trying to explain our girlfriends how it works. The other two just didn't need it, well, because they still haven't got a girlfriend to explain it to :D
So don't worry, you're not the only one. You're just the only MALE one ;)

lo zio said:
btw, speaking of centerbacks, dare i say Nesta is back?!?? :OH:
i never thought i would have said that.... but honestly sunday he was beyond perfection
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He's been off for a lot of time but yes, I must say he was impressive.. Let's just hope he's ok now, we seriously missed him during the last season..
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

*aLe said:
So don't worry, you're not the only one. You're just the only MALE one ;)
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:II


:LOL::LOL::LOL:
i appreciate your effort ale, but to be honest, this really doesn't make me feel any better :LOL:

anyhow ale, u spent an entire afternoon explaining your girls how fantacalcio works?.... well i don't know much about fantacalcio, but i can think of at least a couple of much better ways to spend time with your girls :D

bella ale, tiribocchi, acquafresca and barreto... la Dea has quite an offense this season ;)
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

That video is AWESOME!!! :D LOVE it! LOooove it!

If anyone has other great 'defensive' compilations, I'd love to see it.

And yah it's too early to say but I HOPE Nesta is back!! Somehow I'm not too hopeful though. :/ soon to struggle with injuries again I think... hopefully not though!

p.s. That defensive line (walking) training exercise you mentioned is an AMAZING one! I wish as a kid, my parents would've put me in a football school like so many kids in Europe (Italian kids included) had the opportunity to go to from an early age. :/
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

lo zio said:
anyhow ale, u spent an entire afternoon explaining your girls how fantacalcio works?.... well i don't know much about fantacalcio, but i can think of at least a couple of much better ways to spend time with your girls :D
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Well we were on holiday in Sardinia, so we had no girlfriends around.. That's why we spent the afternoon at the phone trying to explain them how it works :P
If they had been there with us, probably they still wouldn't have known how fantacalcio works still now (and most probably we would not have played fantacalcio at all) ;)

Anyway, Atalanta has some big attacking players, that's true.. Acquafresca didn't meet the expectations during the first match, but I hope he gets back to his standards (and anyway a single match is too little to judge)..
Anyway, I'd expect a series of performances from Barreto rather than expecting them from the attackers. If Barreto manages to play like we know he can, Atalanta can achieve a great result this year..
Maybe not an Europa League placement (your post about how Italian teams consider the Europa League is spot on) but at least a mid-table finish with a certain ease..
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

ale said:
Well we were on holiday in Sardinia, so we had no girlfriends around.. That's why we spent the afternoon at the phone trying to explain them how it works
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u're telling me that your missus allows u to have a trip in Sardegna with your friends!?! wow! what a trustful woman!!
for those who have never been in sardegna, that region is the closest thing to heaven for a man. u can spend an entire month rambling around the entire island, and u won't find 1 single female who is less than stunning!! i know most of u won't find this possible.... infact i didn't believe the hype around sardegna girls myself.... until i experienced it with my own eyes... it's just unreal....
i don't know, maybe they hide every girl who doesn't look like a model somewhere in the island.... i just know that region is fucking unreal!

PLF said:
That video is AWESOME!!! LOVE it! LOooove it!
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and the craziest thing is that is not a compilation about an entire carreer, or an entire season..... that's what he did in 1 single match! :SHOCK:
oh well, they don't call him legend for nothing :)

however moving back to the lucio discussion, just take a look at that video. i'm not trying to compare lucio to nesta of course... that would be just unfair, as nesta's skills are just beyond human understanding, as neoexodus remarked.... but just look at when he rushes out of the box.
nesta represents the epitome of zonal defending. he never sits back on the edge of the box. actually his runs have always been kind of a trademark of his.

take a look at any time he leaves his spot in the line (watch the vid at 8 seconds, 17 seconds, 37 seconds, 54 seconds, 58 seconds, 1 min 8 seconds).... every time he ventures foward (to anticipate the play or to go on pressure) he knows he has 2 teammates behind him + 1 tracking back.

he actually plays further ahead than lucio himself and ventures to midfield even more often than lucio does. but the point is, he never does it "at random", when he "feels like" pushing. he does it when he sees an opening.

what i'm trying to say here is that i don't blame lucio for venturing foward, i criticise him for how he does it. one of the good aspects of zonal coverage is that it allows u to detach yourself from the line (from time to time) to go on pressure on the ball carrier.
but u can go on pressure on the ball carrier just as soon as he gets into "your" zone. and u can do it just when u're sure there are still enough men behind u to slide the marking and reassign the zones, so that your zone remains covered.
otherwise it's just a mistake.

dom said:
Not just Nesta. Cannavaro suprisingly showed a man of the match worthy performance at the weekend as well.
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yeah, i didn't see the match, but i heard he was great :)
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

lo zio said:
u're telling me that your missus allows u to have a trip in Sardegna with your friends!?! wow! what a trustful woman!!
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Well, when we first met I had already planned these holidays so she just *had* to allow me.. but I guess this is the first and the last time I'm allowed doing so :)
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

*aLe said:
Well, when we first met I had already planned these holidays
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or (more likely) u told her u had already planned the trip.... :P
nice trick buddy! :DD

if i can give u an advice, leave alone the fantacalcio, turn off your cell phone and don't even bother accessing the internet.....
just enjoy heaven, as long as u can! :)

where are u? costa smeralda? or maybe u settled for the south of the island, like villasimius?
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

lo zio said:
where are u? costa smeralda? or maybe u settled for the south of the island, like villasimius?
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I were in Alghero, unfortunately I'm already back..

But, to be honest, talking about our islands.. your Sicily has nothing to envy to Sardegna.. You have the Valley of the Temples for example, you have the Mediterranean Sea, and most of all you have the most wonderful girls in Italy ;)

But this is a little bit off-topic :P
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Yup Nesta back! Hopefully for good. :D No wonder he gets injured so much. He basically kills himself for each ball.

These kind of defenders don't just lose it. The way he reads his opponent and covering abilities are outstanding. WC call up maybe? especially if Cannavaro keeps it up. :)

Also, congrats to Viola on reaching group stages. Hopefully an easier group this year.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

They reached the group stage but honestly, is they keep playing like this, they won't go farer then the next stage.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Antonio did it again! twice didn't he?!! :D

Saving Udinese! And I remember there were talks of him leaving earlier this summmer....
 
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