Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

There were rumours that Galliani and Allegri held a meeting to decide between Taiwo and Balzaretti. I am guessing they went with Taiwo, especially if he gets his EU passport or the federation decides to get the 2 non-EU player rule back.

In other news, I think Mexes is a done deal. Galliani confirmed the Boateng deal was fanalized for months and there was a meeting in Milanello with Ganso's agent today. What a market before it even starts! As Allegri said, CL is the main goal next season.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

can't say i'm surprised. baldini and sabatini..... wow that's a great management they're building up in roma. if they will hand them enough money, they might build a great squad :))
shame we let sabatini go.
Milanista said:
Ben, I'm feeling pretty confident that Palermo will hold on to most of it's stars, including Rossi, this summer. I think departures will be due to big offers rather than players wanting to leave. Also, Parolo will be yours, I can feel it :D
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i really hope so stef, i really do. :))
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Damn it! Every single journalist in Italy is convinced Pirlo is not going to renew. :( This will be the bossman of the decade. When was the last time a player of his caliber was there for free? Galliani wants to put him down to 4 mill a year but Pirlo wants the 6 but can Juve pay him 6 mill a year? I guess it is a risk they'll take.

Rumours we might replace him with Montolivo or Aquilani but Pirlo is just levels ahead. Clearly showed in the WC when Pirlo rushed from an injury replaced Montolivo and did in 20 min what Montolivo didn't do the whole cup.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

yeah, montolivo and alberto are special players (alberto especially), but pirlo belongs to a different category.
besides what's the point in letting pirlo go and signing one between monto and aquilani.... i mean they might not ask a 6 millions contract.... but they sure won't ask much less than that..... plus there's the transfer fee to consider..... i can't really understand the logic behind this.

btw guys, if u got a chance to watch napoli-genoa tonight, don't miss it. it's gonna be a great match and the atmoshpere is gonna be something special.... trust me on this :))
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

They're gemmelati aren't they? I think Pirlo just doesn't to settle as a sub. I hope Seedorf does, or I think we should let him go. He's been good in the last 3 months, but prior to that he had a very poor season.

Nice to see that over 10,000 voters on Gazzetta see Thiago Silva as the best centre back in the world right now.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Milanista said:
I think Pirlo just doesn't to settle as a sub.
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well that would be a good reason to let him go indeed... or at least it would make much more sense than the "financial reason".

as for thiago silva, the guy is quite simply a MONSTER! i don't follow european football like i used to do years ago, so i can't very well comment on wheter he's the best or not.... but he's certainly among the very greatests out there today. :))

about napoli and genoa, yeah, they're gemellati. and i heard the fans on both sides might be preparing something special for tonight :))
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

lo zio said:
as for thiago silva, the guy is quite simply a MONSTER! i don't follow european football like i used to do years ago, so i can't very well comment on wheter he's the best or not.... but he's certainly among the very greatests out there today. :))
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He is easily my favourite player right now. I feel so confident with him at the back, and will be looking forward to seeing Mexes-Silva. I bought today's Gazzetta - it has a full front page article about Thiago Silva, and interviews with players like Vierchowood and Maldini talking about TS and what they think he should do to become the best.

Don't forget we have Cesena-Inter coming up, I think it will be very open.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

From what I've seen, the general consensus in the Italian media see Pique, Vidic and Thiago Silva as the world's best center backs.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I agree on Thiago Silva being the best CB in the world right now, he's embarassingly strong, in some movements and positioning even reminds me of Baresi. (Yes, I said Baresi. Let the crusade begin.)

On a completely unrelated note, reading user's comments on Gazzetta online is always delightful.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I'd like to see him play at this level for a couple of seasons before we rush into declaring him as the world's best.

Don't know how to feel about Milan, while they deserve the title, I'm still disappointed they failed miserably in the Champions League.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

well to be fair, thiago has been on the same insane standards for 2 full seasons now. i think it's quite reasonable to label him as a proper world class cb at this point. :))
hey there, i think i'll just pretend i didn't read the baresi bit :JAY:

speaking of defending, check out this hilarious display from palermo yesterday...... italian defending.... and goalkeeping at its best :LOL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mTNQvmWAnM
:DOH:

i don't know what's more weird: watching sirigu making 2 mistakes in the same game... or the fact that zamparini hasn't gone nuts yet.... seriously it's been almost 24 hours since the match and he hasn't talked to the media yet... i'm actually a bit worried :P

jokes apart, ever since jannuary, cassani just hasn't been the same player... i really hope he will get back to his standards as soon as possible, coz this current version of cassani is everything but world class.
and as for munoz, the kid is very good and has huge margins for improvement, but he desperately needs to be paired up with bovo. the partnership with goian just doesn't work.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Oh, I do think he's "World Class", Ben. Just not the outright best CB in the world.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Another HUGE fan of Thiago Silva here!

Yeah I don't know about the world's #1, he might be... might not... but he's definitely one of the world's VERY best and among top 5.

I love watching him play. Easily my fav Milan player too. The guy is very special!
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I think Thiago Silva is a great player and definitely amongst the best CBs out there right now. Though we still need to see him a bit more in big matches to see if he has the mentality needed to grow bigger.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

It's strange the way the other Thiago from that Fluminense side in 2008, Thiago Neves, never really made it in Europe. I remember watching Silva keep them tight at the back and Neves scoring an away goal in the final in Ecuador and then a hattrick back in the second leg in Brazil... but he still missed his penalty in the shootout.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Yeah, the two are very technically gifted also. What a pair Thaigo and Luiz are.

And lots of conflicting declarations about Delio Rossi's future. I heard Napoli have lined him as a potential replacement. That would be cool.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I hope not.

I hope everybody just f'n stays where they are! Lol

Stability is the key word! EVEN for Juve though I'm not a fan of Del Neri.

La Viola on other other hand are going to bring in a new coach aren't they? Who would that be.....
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Zeem said:
And lots of conflicting declarations about Delio Rossi's future. I heard Napoli have lined him as a potential replacement. That would be cool.
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yeah, that would be as cool as a kick in the crotch! and btw delio rossi wouldn't be a "replacement" for napoli... he would be an enourmous upgrade from mazzarri! :SMUG:

anyway, that's the story. mazzarri is a clever man and knows very well u gotta leave the table when u're winning, in order to build up your reputation. that's what he's always done. he did this in livorno, he did it when he was coaching reggina.... and now he might just do it again.
u know what casanova used to say about women; leave your woman satisfied, but never completely satisfied, give yourself to her, but never give all of yourself, u always gotta leave them asking themselves "what more could he possibly do?".
and that's mazzarri. after a great season he always leaves his clubs. why? because he knows he couldn't possibly repeat himself in the following season.... and he realises, that after setting such a high standard, expectations on him will grow and everything less than what he just achieved in his last season will be seen as a failure. so he just packs his stuffs and goes away.
that's why he's considering to leave napoli. and the fact that those nutcases at juve are even just considering the idea of sacking del neri to get mazzarri.... well i won't even comment on that... let's just say not even zamparini would do something this stupid.

but even if mazzarri would stay in napoli and del neri would remain in torino, that still wouldn't give hope to palermo fans. fiorentina will definitely look for a new coach this summer.... aswell as sampdoria. and delio rossi would be for both clubs an obvious fist pick :((
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I'd like to see Rossi in Florence if he can't stay and continue his work with Palermo because of freaking Zamparini and conflicts, etc.

Perhaps he can pick up where Prandelli left and help La Viola become a force again. Though it's also a question of investment. They have a very good squad already but it all depends on what the 'ambition' as well as how deep Della Valle's pockets are. Seems like they're running a bit out of money in last couple years having invested a lot earlier to rescue club and help it establish etc. How much would new Fiorentina manager have to invest in squad? And what is their realistic goal? All those things have to be taken into account. But I would really like to see Delio Rossi there. And given the beautiful football he likes to play, La Viola certainly have players capable of doing that.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I would love to see clubs like Palermo but also Udinese and napoli make that next step on the ladder.
I'm also disappointed by Genoa. A couple of years ago, it seemed that this was the club that would threaten the likes of Inter and Milan. But now they are rather mediocre.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

They signed too many new players last summer Gerd. They invested in players like Rafinha, Miguel Veloso, Eduardo and Toni, but performances were very mediocre.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

A pity because I thought they'd made some shrewd signings and would push for a Champions League place this season.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

PLF said:
I'd like to see Rossi in Florence if he can't stay and continue his work with Palermo because of freaking Zamparini and conflicts, etc.

Perhaps he can pick up where Prandelli left and help La Viola become a force again. Though it's also a question of investment. They have a very good squad already but it all depends on what the 'ambition' as well as how deep Della Valle's pockets are. Seems like they're running a bit out of money in last couple years having invested a lot earlier to rescue club and help it establish etc. How much would new Fiorentina manager have to invest in squad? And what is their realistic goal? All those things have to be taken into account. But I would really like to see Delio Rossi there. And given the beautiful football he likes to play, La Viola certainly have players capable of doing that.
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yep Sina, the Della Valle brothers kinda decreased their investments in the last couple of seasons... but that's because they're having some troubles with the new stadium. it's the electoral season right now in firenze so authorizations, building permits, everthing is on hold. red tape is a killing machine in italy, and even moreso during electoral campaigns.

and without the money coming from the new stadium and the other facilities (fiorentina project is HUGE, it includes not only the stadium, but also a "cittadella sportiva" just take a look at that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ-SOgogm_w ) the growth process of fiorentina itself is on "hold".

having said that though, from a professional point of view, fiorentina would be a step up for delio rossi. i mean fiorentina might have calmed down a bit in the last couple of years..... but they still spend way more money than palermo.... it's just that they had a pretty rough season, that's all. but afterall, also udinese and lazio had a terrible season last year.... and look at them now!
Gerd said:
I would love to see clubs like Palermo but also Udinese and napoli make that next step on the ladder.
I'm also disappointed by Genoa. A couple of years ago, it seemed that this was the club that would threaten the likes of Inter and Milan. But now they are rather mediocre.
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it would be impossible for palermo, udinese and genoa to make that "next step" u're talking about, Gerd. that would be extremely difficult for "bigger" midclass clubs like fiorentina, lazio and napoli... but for palermo, udinese, genoa and samp that would be absolutely impossible.

to make that step u need more money. it's really that simple. each club's annual incomes set a precise limit to its ambitions, and there's no way around this.
u might overachieve for 1, 2 seasons tops, but eventually the situation will balance itself.

take napoli for instance. they've done great this season, their placement in serie a and the champions league spot will give them around 30 millions euros.... so u might think this is a good financial boost that could help them improve the team and decrease the gap with the top clubs... and that this sort of results, in the long term, might allow napoli to join the "top club gotha".
but that isn't the case. u see, half of those 30 millions will be burned to renew the players contract. after such an outstanding season, cavani, lavezzi, hamsik, maggio, cannavaro will inevitably ask for a renewal in order to stay in napoli. and de laurentis can't just raise the wage of them. if u raise cavani and hamsik contract, then u also have to raise pazienza's and gargano's contract (to avoid problems in the dressing room). this sort of butterfly effect drains an enourmous ammount of money. napoli will have 15, 20 millions tops to spend on the next transfer campaign..... and that means 1, maybe 2 top class signings, nothing more than that.

and if next season napoli won't repeat this season's result (and since they'll have to play in champions league too, u can be absolutely SURE they won't repeat this season's results), then they won't have enough incomes to hold their most expensive players.

long story short, performance related incomes don't allow to grow as a club. what allows a club to really grow are structural incomes, steady incomes, like the ones coming from tv-rights deals and the stadium. and for italian clubs those sort of incomes are very "light". italian clubs don't own their stadia, so they don't make money out of them. and speaking of tv-rights money, a club like napoli gets pretty much the same money a relegation contender club gets in england.
this is just not enough to allow u to grow, to develop into a top club.

so wich are the real ambitions for italian midclass clubs?
the most realistic ambitions are to stay out of debts, and to compete for a 4th\5th spot for a couple of years. then u'll have to sell your best players and start over.

and in order to do that, in order to build a good squad and don't get eaten by the banks, u need to be absolutely perfect.
u need a great academy (coz u can't afford to buy your entire squad... some of the players have to come from the academy).
u need a top notch scouting network and a great general manager (to be able to sign great young players for reasonable prices).
and u need a great coach who can always get the best out of your players.

u can't afford any mistake at all. everton, aston villa, newcastle can actually afford to make a bad investment... to spend 5, 8 millions on a player who eventually doesn't turn out to be that good.... because they have much more steady incomes than us. in italy instead there's no room for mistakes, there's no margin for bad signings. never

think of palermo. despite zamparini's dramas, palermo is one of the best clubs in the world in terms of management. we have a team filled with amazing players who came in here for very little money. bovo is a fantastic cb and we payed only 3 millions euros for him. munoz is a very promising youngster and yet he costed only 4.5 millions euros. we bought hernandez for 3.7 millions!! miccoli came here for 4.3 millions. balzaretti and cassani are among the very best sidebacks in europe today... and yet we payed only 3 millions for cassani and 4 millions for balzaretti!!! we payed 2.2 millions euros for ilicic!!! 3 millions for pinilla. and only 4.5 millions for pastore!!!! not to mention those who come from our academy like sirigu.

and it's not just about this current squad. we've always been one of the very best clubs in the world in terms of management, ever since zampa bought the club. we bouth kjaer for 3 millions euros and then sold him 2 seasons after for 13 (wich means a 10 millions capital gain). we bought amauri for 4 millions euros and sold him to juve (2 seasons after) for 25 millions. we bought cavani for 5 millions and sold him to napoli for 17.
and i could continue like this for hours, mentioning lots of great players that we bought for very little money and then sold for tons of millions (toni, barzagli, barone, grosso).

it's hard to find a better management then palermo. so u would think "hey, with all this huge capital gains, they must have a lot of money!"
but we don't. u see we need all those money to pay for our current expenses. we have to pay to use our stadium and our training ground, and we can't count on all the money everton, fulham or newcastle make from their own stadia related incomes.
we need all those money to survive without recurring to debts and to be able to compete with the likes of napoli udinese, fiorentina, lazio, genoa, samp and so on.
and also theese other clubs have to do the same thing.

bottom line, in order to survive in serie a u have to be perfect. perfect on the pitch (the coaching aspect) and perfect off the pitch (the financial aspect).
and u have to mantain theese crazy standards, to come out with "perfect performances" (both on and off the pitch) every single year....... and not to join the top clubs..... u have to do that in order to survive and mantain your current "midclass" status.
u can't afford any false steps........ ever!

as u will easily understand, it's impossible to be perfect on a year basis... and as soon as u make a mistake, your season is fucked up, as all the other midclass clubs will inevitably overtake u.

so theese sort of ups and downs are absolutely normal for midclass clubs in italy. every season there are at least 2 clubs who make 1 or 2 mistakes. and since the competitiveness in this league (especially concerning midclass clubs) is huge, 1 or 2 mistakes can make all the difference in the world.

last season lazio and udinese made a few mistakes and weren't able to "keep up with the rest of the pack" this season instead samp, fiorentina and genoa failed..... next season it might well be palermo's and napoli's turn.

but we shouldn't feel disappointed when midclass clubs have a bad season... we should instead be amazed when they have a good season. because given the little financial resources we have to deal with, it's amazing that we can build such good squads and play such good football (especially when u compare italian midclass clubs with their english, spanish and german counterparts). :))
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Beautifully said my friend.

In regards to Fiorentina, perhaps they should get Gasperini. I think that'd be a good move for both!
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Good post lo zio.

Also in serie a, the co-ownership system is very helpful for small and mid class teams to get potential players from big clubs youth academy.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Is there any movement towards making that reserve league idea presented happen? It is very important.

In other news, Del Piero just renewed his contract at Juve for one year and is now maybe the 4th least paid player at Juve. How classy is that!
 
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