Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Very easy to get carried away.......but didn't we look good ? *

You have to take your hat off to Conte who got everything right. He knew it was better to start with Barzagli at the back instead of Bonucci - He knew Giaccherini and Pepe would provide more than just an attacking threat *- He knew Lichtsteiner and De Ceglie would be the best options at FB - He knew Pirlo and Marchisio would be the best option in midfield. Put simply, HE KNEW.

Substitutions were spot on, Vucinic for Matri who was looking tired by the end but provided an excellent target man.

Vidal's entrance was timed to perfection, setting up the change to 4-3-3 to really stretch Parma and to dominate that midfield.

Krasic for Pepe allowed Milos to simply run and run and cut in when required.

The best thing of all was the total confidence shown by the players - Really dominant but each and every player knew his role in the line up - They worked so hard to maintain possession and when they lost the ball, the pressed well to get it back.

The whole team moved as a unit, the defence looked so well drilled and you could see them maintaining their shape throughout.

Marchisio and Pirlo was just an inspired midfield pairing - Principino would rob the ball, pass it to Pirlo who would distribute it - He was a conductor of the highest order today, pinging ball's all over the place and he created 2 fantastic goals - Marchisio's was just sublime.

Another fantastic element of our game was how quickly we countered - last season we were slow and sluggish - Today we have 4 or 5 player's all in support- We could easily have scored at least 6 goals today without getting carried away.

De Ceglie's sending off was stupid and unecessary but at least sorensen,El Chelo, Vidal and Chiellini can play there if required.

All in all, really impressed and more confident than i have been in a long time.

The crowd really played their part, intimidated Parma and as Conte said, made the place into a 'cauldron'

I think a win like this does wonders for the team as a whole - confident and assured - the next 3 games will be vital and are, IMHO, winable - Lead's nicely into that tricky patch against Milan, Napoli, Fiorentina.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Man, what a game. Palermo - Inter was quite something. Mangia was so happy that he forgot to go over and shake Gasperini's hand.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Yea I hate his hair too, several players are using this crappy haircut actually, disgusting. :TTTH:

Pinilla is a totally different player from what I've seen during Sporting days. Glad to see the Chilean guy making impact in the game. :)

I enjoyed a lot today's match, it was very very entertaining. Like bebo said, they played very "emotional" and that was the key to beat Inter. :))

Man, I can't believe I missed the best part of the game. :RANT: I was watching the final moments of Marítimo-Rio Ave game so I missed that incredible first quarter of the second half. :(
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Napoli is a team to watch too ! Lavezzi is clever I saw them on Saturday too. SerieA had a good week... Cant wait to seee Napoli in CL (dark-horse along w. Dortmund? )
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Over the moon with Palermo's result...Ben might have been too pessimistic (or Inter are in trouble).

Milan-Lazio was a good match too, great comeback from Milan.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Before watching the Palermo-Inter match I was quite confident of getting a result against them knowing that they just had their manager sacked and having 4 key players sold in the summer.

Only to realize that our team is also in trouble. The players just simply look clueless on the pitch, the defense was simply a disaster, it seems that they still aren't used to this 3 man defense system. Resting Ranocchia for this match was a mistake I think, while Zanetti did save us on a few occasions he's no CB. Samuel has become very slow after that injury he got and I doubt he'll be back to his usual best at this age.

While I agree that 3-4-3 won't work with the players Inter have, its the board's mistake for hiring Gasperini in the first place, they already know that he always uses the 3-4-3, didn't they think of how the current crop of players will fit in, especially Sneijder? They should have atleast at least brought in players that suit this formation, I'm sure Gasperini didn't ask for the players that were bought. I mean look at our left wingback slot which is a crucial position in this formation, Nagatomo is going to be our starting player? He's good but not starting material for Inter !

I think it will now come to what Gasperini is going to do, he should give the 3-4-1-2 a try with Sneijder behind the strikers but he must find a solution for the weak defense. Otherwise I think Moratti will start asking him to use a 4-man defense, then if it still doesn't work I guess Gasperini will be gone when it's too late and everything will be blamed on the Coach rather than the board for hiring him in the first place.

In the end, it's just the first match of the season so I hope that the bad display was only because that the players weren't fit and still learning a new system, but the question is will Moratti be patient?
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I see I missed some great matches. I simpathise with Palermo since they wear a pink shirt (a reason as good as any), so nice to see them strong even if they lost Pastore.

Great to see la vecchia signora coming back. It was about time...
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

gerd said:
Over the moon with Palermo's result...Ben might have been too pessimistic (or Inter are in trouble).
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it's the latter one Gerd. as Interista said, inter were a complete disaster, and i believe every team in this league would have won against them sunday. Like bebo and andre said, we displayed great focus and heart sunday, but speaking of football, we certainly didn't light the pitch on fire, as we used to do in the last 2 seasons. credit goes to mangia for realising the team was in going through a difficult moment and displaying a plan and basic 4-4-2. that was a very good call by him, and also a bold move, as we never played that formation before.

it's quite ironic when u think of it. over the last 2 seasons, palermo has tore apart (also on back to back occasions) all the italian top teams. milan, juve, roma, napoli, u name it, we've beaten them all... and not just in palermo (we beated milan in san siro and juve in torino for 2 consecutive seasons).... under rossi, palermo has displayed some of the most entertaining football i've seen in europe in the last decade (and, for those who didn't follow rossi's palermo, trust me, i'm not being biased on this)..... but we never managed to beat inter.
we came pretty close to beat them on some occasions... like the coppa italia final played a few months ago (when e outplayed and outclassed inter for the entire match... and yet came away with a heartbreaking 3-1 loss)..... or like the jannuary match in milano wich was just unbelievable (we were winning 2-0 at halftime... hit 2 posts and missed a penalty... then in the second hald, pazzini came from th bench and litterally tore us apart single handedly for a 3-4 final result.
it was like a curse... we just couldn't beat inter. and now that palermo has hit rock bottom.... team director gone, delio rossi gone, a newbie coach at his debut and a completely different line up and starting 11 (btw interista, we lost 5 key players, not 4: sirigu, cassani, bovo, pastore and nocerino)... we somehow managed to beat the nerazzurri.
i'd love to say that i was thrilled by our display and that this is sing of things to come..... but honestly i don't think that's the case. and after 2 seasons of high quality football, an "emotional display" isn't enough for me. truth is i've been spoiled by palermo in the last 2 seasons... and now "playing your heart out" is simply not enough.
interista said:
While I agree that 3-4-3 won't work with the players Inter have, its the board's mistake for hiring Gasperini in the first place, they already know that he always uses the 3-4-3, didn't they think of how the current crop of players will fit in, especially Sneijder? They should have atleast at least brought in players that suit this formation, I'm sure Gasperini didn't ask for the players that were bought. I mean look at our left wingback slot which is a crucial position in this formation, Nagatomo is going to be our starting player? He's good but not starting material for Inter !
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completely agree with u mate. and u can be absolutely sure gasperini didn't ask for any of the players inter signed. i'm sorry but there's branca written all over inter's market campaign this summer.
they needed wingers to play gasperini's football.... and they signed forlan and zarate :DOH:
they needed to add some quality and strenght to the midfield, and they only signed a promising youngster, whose shoulders are certainly not big enough yet, to carry this team.
they needed to bring in some options for the sideback spots.... instead they sold santon.
i just can't find any logic in inter's market campaign honestly. and on top of that, this team is still absolutely not suited to gasperini's football (and sunday's debacle proved it).
of course gasperini isn't a "1 formation only coach". the man knows football and will eventually figure out a way to line up a logic formation. but not letting him play his football and forcing him to improvise and fumble his way to a decent formation was a terrible move by inter.
i'm inclined to believe he will keep trying to play this 3 men defensive system for 2, maybe 3 more weeks... if by late october\november this new defensive setup will cost them more points (and i really believe it will) he will line up a 4 man defensive line and reshape the rest of the lineup accordingly.
bebo said:
Napoli is a team to watch too ! Lavezzi is clever I saw them on Saturday too. SerieA had a good week... Cant wait to seee Napoli in CL (dark-horse along w. Dortmund? )
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the special one said:
Don't think so bebo. They are, undoubtedly, good teams but their groups are very tough.
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yeah i also don't think napoli will impress much in europe (i'm slightly more confident about borussia though). but not because of their opponents, andre. sure that group is quite scary, but over the last 5 years napoli has kicked the shit out of all the italian top teams, so they might aswell do it against foreign top teams aswell.
BUT theese european clashes come with a completely different atmoshpere than league games, anf if u've never experienced that tension and pressure before, well your legs might get "shaky".
bayern, villareal and man city already have champions league experience. even man city, who is a bit of a newbie on the european stage, can line up several players who already have great CL experience.... nasri, tourè, aguero, dzeko, silva, they've all already heard the CL music on the pitch before a game.
none of napoli players instead has ever heard that music before. and having to deal with that tension for the first time, on an away match and against a team wich is in a much better shape (let's not forget napoli just played its first official match of the season, while man city is already at full throttle, as the epl kicked off a month ago)..... all thos factors will have a huge impact on their mental approach to the game.
of course i'd love to be proved wrong though :P

oh and btw, i only watched some extended highlights of the juve game, but man, that was impressive!! pirlo was absolutely on fire. obviously it's just the first week of the season and it would be unappropriate to judge the bianconeri already.... but they certainly started off on the right foot. :))
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Dortmund are struggling in the Bundesliga Ben..they have a great team, but thing went too fast for them last season (at a lower level the same can be said about my favourite Belgian team Genk, they will suffer this evening against Valencia).
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

i know dortmund didn't have a great start gerd, but, being both napoli and dortmund newcomers on the european scene, i would put my money on the germans.... not because i believe they're a better team than napoli... but because i believe germans have a much better mindset than italians. they're cooler, more "stable" than us, they have a better control on their emotions and don't tend to let tension and pressure get the better of them, as we italians do..... or at least not as much as we italians tend to do.
of course i'm not saying i belive borussia will look confident and smooth on the pitch on their european debut..... but i believe they will look a little less scared and confused than napoli players on the pitch.

i'm inclined to believe napoli players will let their emotions for the debut dominate their performance. they will give up their usual football and come up with a very scared\defensive tactical approach.... but like i said, i hope i'm wrong (and it certainly wouldn't be the first time :D ).
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

lo zio said:
none of napoli players instead has ever heard that music before. and having to deal with that tension for the first time, on an away match and against a team wich is in a much better shape (let's not forget napoli just played its first official match of the season, while man city is already at full throttle, as the epl kicked off a month ago)..... all thos factors will have a huge impact on their mental approach to the game.
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Really ? I'm sure Pandev has scored in the CL for both Lazio, and last season Inter, you never know he might have even played 80 mins of a Champions League Final? De Scantis played in the group stage for Udinese back in 2005/6, Dossena played a few CL games for Liverpool including scoring vs Real Madrid, Donadel played for Fiorentina in 2009/10, including the knockout stage vs Bayern.

Dzelmi and Inler both played for Zurich in the CL playoff vs Saltzburg in 06. I dont expect Lucarelli to feature at all but for what it's worth he also played in the CL for Shakhtar.

Gargano, Cavani and Hamsik have all played in the knockout stages of a World Cup, which in terms of pressure is on a par with the CL.

That group is very hard, but I don't see any reason why they can't think of finishing 3rd as a minimum target. They should have enough in their squad to beat Villareal at home and draw with them away. And I think Bayern and (to a lesser extent) Man City will be more likely to drop points in Naples than in Spain.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I think Dortmund are more likely to do well in the CL than Napoli too, but not because of mentality nor ability. Simply because Dortmund's group is much easier than Napoli's.

Dortmund have:

Arsenal - can probably expect between 2 points (2 draws) or 3 points (lose 1, win 1)
Marseilles* - can expect between 3 (1 win, 1 lose) or 4 points (1 win 1 draw)
Olympiacos - should really expect 6 points


Napoli have:

Man City - maybe 1 point
Bayern - maybe 1 point or 3 if lucky
Villareal - can expect 3-4 points.

If you swap Napoli and Dortmund (which I know is impossible since Dortmund and Bayern couldnt be in the same group) I would expect Napoli to advance behind Arsenal but just ahead of Marseilles, and Dortmund to finish behind Man City and Bayern (I think Dortmund would take points of Bayern as Dortmund-Bayern is a special derby in Germany, but Bayern would probably get more points against the other teams).

*Marseilles have been very bad this season in France so far.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

yeah u're right, but of all the players u mentioned, the only ones who will be starters tomorrow are inler, dossena and de sanctis. lucarelli, donadel, and dzemaili are not starters and i don't think mazzarri would risk any newcomers into the formation in such an important match as a CL debut. i also don't think pandev will play as a starter (but there's a chance he might enter as a sub). as for gargano's, cavani's and hamsik's experiences with their national teams, the CL is something very different imo.

bottom line, even though a few of them have already played in cl, the entire starting 11 napoli will line up tomorrow will have less CL experience than even just nasri.
and although every team will have a hard time getting a good result at the san paolo stadium, dortmund isn't exactly an easy venue to play in either.

anyway, i understand what u mean edmundo. and yeah, napoli certainly has what it takes to deliver and even beat bayern and man city (afterall they proved they can beat milan and inter).......
but u know italian football and u know italians.... therefore u must know italian midclass team have a history of undeperforming on the european stage.
just think of napoli's europa league campaign last season. they met liverpool at the perfect time: when liverpool was playing some awful football and they were on fire. yet the napoli we saw against liverpool was a completely different team from the napoli team we were used to see. in a "league game" napoli would have simply dismantled that liverpool team... yet, preciesly because of the (european) stage and the tension comes with it, napoli played one of the worst games of the season and only came away with a draw.
and as for vilareal, yeah, i agree napoli cetrainly has a squad good enough to beat vilareal...... and yet last season vilareal eliminated napoli in europa league.

mind u, i really hope u'll turn out to be right. i would love to see napoli playing "their football" in champions league..... and if they would actually play their football, they certainly would have a chance to even go through the next stage..... but i just can't see them playing their usual football in CL.
i guess we'll have to wait and see. :))
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Yes OM are awfull at the moment.
But i agree with Ben too...Germans players seem to have something extra: their winners mentality. I was just reading about of a Leeds United fan and the love for his club...he talked about the infamous 1976 ECI final in Paris between a Leeds United (Bremner, Lorimer, Giles,...fantastic team) and the big Bayern (Beckenbauer, Muller, Hoeness, Breitner, Rumenigge, Maier). Leeds dominated that match, the ref did not validate a perfectly good goal by Lorimer and somehow Bayern won that match..it was the second of 3 consecutive "realistic" titles. IMO it all started then and there...
Italian teams had that too under Herrera (Inter), Rocco (Milan) and Trappatoni (Juve)...since Sacchi, this disappeared more or less (until Mourinho).
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

OM got the result against Olympiakos in Greece though and that's all that matters at the end of the day! 3 very valuable points.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I would think that both Dortmund and Arsenal would fancy their chances of winning in Pireaus. Unless on the last game (Olympiakos - Arsenal), if Arsenal are already in the next round then I could see them sending the reserve team to Greece and losing.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Fancying your chances is one thing though, getting the job done another.

We'll see if Arsenal and Dortmund can manage to come away with 3 points from Greece! I highly doubt both will.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Great match from Napoli against City...the draw was a fair result, but when City equalised Napoli were the better team. Of course City were better in the first half, but Napoli had thier chances too. It was a joy to watch Cavani, Lavezzi and Hamsik (but why did he took those 3 players off?). Zuniga also played a very good match (and Maggio too). In central defense there is one weak link (not Cannavaro, can't remember the player's name, i think he got a yellow card).

This was a very good and entertaining match...more of the same please.

A litle bit disappointed by Inler...but maybe my expectations were too high.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Aronica? I think he had a good match. Little reckless but had to keep up with Aguero and did really well. Dzeko was the real headache out there. Huge player.

Nice they got some points out of this. Any team can drop some in this group which so anything is possible.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

gerd said:
It was a joy to watch Cavani, Lavezzi and Hamsik (but why did he took those 3 players off?). Zuniga also played a very good match (and Maggio too).
Click to expand...

Could be because there is Napoli-Milan this weekend, and they want to show their strength as title contenders.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Oh yeah, De Laurentiis complained that every time after they have to play a midweek CL match, Napoli face a difficult club in Serie A.

I know that there are lots of big club fans in this thread, but i hope Napoli can win Serie A...that would be great for Italian football. And i truly liked the way they played yesterday.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Delighted to see some of that tactical acumen that Italian coaches are famed for being displayed by Mazzarri against an English side.

Allegri, take note.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

quite an impressive start by milan and napoli! i curious to see if they can keep up this pace in the second half aswell (wich would be surprising, since this is just the 2nd match of the season and both clubs played in CL this week).

btw very solid display by napoli against city! i didn't see that coming. u were right edmundo, they cetrainly didn't feel any pressure or tension whatsoever. sure they didn't look as sharp and bold as they usually do, but that's absolutely understandable, given serie a just started and they were playing on the turf of a team wich is on fire lately (and wich is already in a much better fitness condition).
very impressed with napoli so far :))
 
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