Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
rfu said:
I just don't understand the hype. I understand that the 50 million valuation is based on potential rather than currently ability, but 50 million and talks of a golden ball award Sneijder has done more in a season than most players could ever hope to in a lifetime and he's not even a shoo-in for the golden ball award nor is he worth 50 million (maybe 25-30 million).
and who ever talked about ballon d'or
man, some foreign journalists are really nuts.
anyway mate, when u put it like this, i certainly understand your point.... there's a ridiculous hype around this kid....the thing is theese unnaturally talented kids (say, giovinco, cassano, messi, rivera, baggio) are always surrounded by this crazy hype. as u can understand from the names i mentioned, i'm not talking about "potential world class players" (that label would suit the players u mentioned before: ozil, kroos, marin)... i'm talking about kids who might potentially become all time legends. pastore falls into this category.
of course some of em don't live up to this hype, some for their own faults, some for circumstances which are out of their control (that's been the case with giovinco and cassano)... some others instead, despite the ridiculous hype and the huge pressure, manage to keep improving and delivering.... they prove that insane hype isn't actually that insane.... that has been the case with messi, baggio, rivera..... and so far this is the case with javier.
i mean this kid keeps playing to a "god-like" level week in week out. yesterday he had to deal with a very tight double marking for the entire match, and yet his markers managed to stop him and get the ball only once..... this is not potential... this is actual, current skill. he's been pretty much unmarkable, he's painted some crazy passing trajectories... and he keeps scoring more than any other trequartista in serie a. and he's been doing this for more than 1 year now (ever since he came in italy). so what i'm talking about is not his potential. i don't know what kind of player he will turn out to be in 2, 3 years.... maybe he will actually keep playing at this level and become an all time praised legend like zidane.... or maybe he won't keep this up and just become a great talented player, who knows.
i'm not amazed by what this guy could potentially do in 2 or 3 years... i don't even think of that, as i don't like to judge potential.... i'm amazed by what this kid is doing right now.
right now this kid would be a starter in every team in the world except barcelona.... and he's gonna be an unquestioned starter in argentina too. i agree with u, banega would give much more structure and would be a more logic choice for argentina's midfield.... but when u have the luck of having such an insanely talented kid, u don't care about balance. if necessary, u rebuild the entire team, trying to fit him in. and that's why this kid is so special, that's the reason of this crazy hype. u don't rebuild a team from scratch just to fit in ozil or giovinco or even cassano... u don't do it for diego and u won't even do it for snejder (who already is a world class player).... but u certainly do it for pastore.
rfu said:
quite simply really, Palermo are getting results, yes. Palermo scoring more goals, yes... BUT you have not played entertaining football. You yourself said, you have four new players in your starting 11 so clearly time is needed to gel. What's more you're playing without a regista. Or maybe you're basing "playing well" on goals scored. In which case Inter were the most entertaining side to watch in serie a last season (ok, we both know that isn't true, we were dreadful to watch, painful, but we're european champions )
no, i don't base my opinion on the ammount of goals scored.... but on the way those goals actually arrive. we score with every player. both our sidebacks are heavily involved in almost each offensive play, our "defensive midfielder" nocerino spends most of the time on the edge of the opponent's box and his passing accuracy could well be compared to a regista's one.
we don't just score a lot. we shape breathtking plays. and it's not just about the goals we score... it's also abut the chances we produce without scoring. yesterday we had 14 shots on goal.... and against a bologna team wich actually played some good football. u'll hardly see a player holding the ball for more than 3 touches... u'll hardly see a player standing on his position.
i haven't really seen a team playing more entertaining football so far this season.... and that also includes the likes of arsenal and barcelona.... like i said before, if u watched us playing yesterday and didn't find that absolutely an amazing show, then i really don't know what could possibly entertain u.
and the fact that we're managing to play such a nice and productive football without 3 of ours most important assets (miccoli, liverani and hernandez) makes our display even more impressive.
u say such a "new team" needs to gel, to find the right chemistry, the right balance, wich is definitely correct... i mean look at genoa.... it's gonna take some time to see them playing at their best, as there are just to many new players...... and the same should apply to palermo.
but for some reason it clearely doesn't.... rossi still has to find the right balance (we're still a bit to naive and shaky in defence) but the players are already playing like they knew each others for years..... there's a very simple way to test the harmony of a team, to understand if the players are on the same page. passing accuracy. palermo right now has some of the most free flowing football in europe (at least from what i've seen so far). u'll hardly see an intercepted pass, the players, all of em, are always well aware of their teammates position at any moment, our gameplan is based on a network of first\second touch passes and off the ball movement, and yet our accuracy is stunning... and this is a fact anyone can notice just watching us playing.
rfu said:
To be frank I haven't enjoyed serie a much this season. The derby d'italia was a snooze, Roma-Inter which is usually end-to-end was a bore, Genoa haven't been a joy to watch as was usually the case last 2 seasons, Udinese are a mess at the moment (missing D'Ago just a bit), Cagliari are no longer tough beat (Canini and Astori in defence... oh dear), Fiorentina are usually one of the better, more entertaining sides but this season they have been dreadful... I have enjoyed Napoli, Lecce, Cheivo, Sampdoria, and especially Cesena.
well top clubs are definitely not the main feature in serie a. and yeah fiorentina and udinese are having a hard time right now, but every season there's always an underperformer in serie a. last season lazio and udinese failed to deliver.... this season it's probably gonna be fiorentina and udinese (although i'm confdent fiorentina will get better).
napoli is playing brilliantly, samp is playing on the same highest standards of last season, palermo is doing great, chievo is playing really well, bari is playing some amazing football despite the departures of ranocchia and bonucci. brescia and cesena are very good to watch and have lots of talent. and i disagree with u about cagliari.... maybe yesterday against inter they didn't deliver, but they're still playing that quality football they've been playing in the last few years (and don't knock astori, i'm really impressed by this kid). cagliari gave palermo a very hard time and completely tore apart roma... i know roma is having a bad period right now, but man, we're talking about a 5-1 result!!!
i really enjoyed this season so far.
rfu said:
Nagatomo has been the signing of the season so far for me, he came from nowhere on the cheap, no top flight experience, doesn't speak a word of the language, yet he's one the more consistent performers this season.
nagatomo.... really
i hate to talk like the usual biased fan, but come on... ilicic too came from nowhere... actually he was even more "unknown" than nagatomo, as nagatomo was also followed by arsenal, while palermo was the only club who showed interest on ilicic.
ilicic was very cheap... infact he was even cheaper than nagatomo (2.6 millions for nagatomo... 2.4 millions for ilicic).
ilicic too has not top flight experience and doesn't speak a word of the language.
ilicic played 4 matches as a starter so far, and he's scored in each of those matches.... and it's not like he faced small time opponents... he scored against inter in his first match, against juve (in torino) in his second match, against fiorentina (in firenze) in his third match, and now against bologna... and all of his goals (except the inter one) were absolutely stunning.....
not to mention all the woodwork he hit, or the dribblings, or the rabonas....... have u ever seen such a tall guy (1.90 cm) with such a technique and touch?? have u ever seen a guy tall 1.90 cm performing rabonas and first touch backheel passes??? yeah there's ibra and berbatov.... and then... who else?
and u're trying to tell me nagatomo impressed u more than ilicic.... oh get out of here u killjoy
just be honest with me mate, u're a catania fan in disguise, aren't u?
i mean u said u should be worried about palermo's performances... u really think i should be worried about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKFHhT-nAU
... coz honestly, i am a lot of things (thrilled, happy, amazed).... but sure "worried" isn't one of em
I'm the same way with Mariga (the new patrick vieira apparently 
). I just don't understand the hype. I understand that the 50 million valuation is based on potential rather than currently ability, but 50 million and talks of a golden ball award 
)
that was during his years in maiorca, right? i guess i became a fan of samuel that day 
