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Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Their squad isn't the best Dom but they do still have some very good players and should be doing a lot better than they are right now. It's been a poor start to the season and with Mihajlovic, I couldn't see it get much better. Delio Rossi however can do a lot better even with these very same players and I'm confident he will.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

cfdh_edmundo said:
I think one of the major issues players might have is getting medical / life insurance if they have cardiac problems. Most players and clubs have insurance on their players to protect their value (for the club) and their wages (for the player). I'm not sure if companies will underwrite this cost if there is a cardiac issue, even if it's been resolved. Cassano is probably insured so if he retired now he could walk away with say 1-2 years worth of wages. But if plays on he might invalidate this insurance. In that case he could play uninsured (where he will have no financial protection if has another problem and needs to retire after that) or he could try and agree new insurance (which would probably cost a lot more in terms of weekly premium).
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that's a very good observation. i didn't consider that. that sounds like it could be a problem indeed.

about fiorentina's coaching change, i think it was a good move by the della valle brothers. mihajlovic earned my respect in the last 2 years.... i think he was treated very harshly by fiorentina fans (to say the least) and that he handled such a tricky situation with a class and dignity i honestly didn't expect from him, so hats off to him. but having said that, the team was just not delivering and a change was needed.
like i said months ago (talking about inter), rossi is not a "fixer", so he probably won't be able to make such a big impact during this season (but then again, at this point, just some damage control would be fine for la viola). but if the della valle family will support him next summer and if he will build a good chemistry with corvino, then good times will come for fiorentina fans.
the fans in firenze already love him. they've been screaming his name since this summer, chanting for him and exposing banners at the stadium to show what man the curva wanted to be the coach (wich was imo very unfair and disrespectful towards sinisa). there was actually so much hype and joy when delio was officially presented as fiorentina's new coach that he felt the urge to point out "i'm absolutely flattered and delighted to see how much passion and emotion there is around this team and what a high opinion u people seem to have of me.... but i'm not the messiah, so let's not expect any miracles. we have a lot of work to do".

as a neutral, it's a good thing to have rossi coaching again. this season hasn't been particularly exciting in terms of football quality so far (as i expected) and seeing rossi unemployed was such a shame for the league (it's like having cristiano ronaldo on the bench).
the mere presence of delio is a reason to raise more interest around the entire league this season.
dom said:
Hm the problem is that their squad just isn't that good.
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yep, they're certainly not as good as they were a few years ago.... but actually they're not that bad either. the squad is paper thin (even for an italian midclass club's standards) and they have basically no backups at all. but the first team is actually pretty good on paper. their offensive setup is pretty amazing (gila, jovetic, cerci). their defense sounds quite good aswell, when i think of the names (gamberini and natali on the centre, cassani and de silvestri on the right, pasqual on the left.... that doesn't sound bad at all).
and their midfield is absolutely filled with quality passers and highly talented players (lazzari, kharja, montolivo, vargas). if there's something wrong with this midfield imo is the lack of "beef".... too many lightweight, technical passers and not enough muscles. (corvino should have replaced donadel this summer).

i know the lack of a defensive midfielder (or even a metodista) is a big problem...... but, apart from that, i honestly think the team is much better than the league table seem to suggest right now.
and when u consider the absolutely unreal record of delio rossi, who has lead ALL his teams to overachieve (salernitana, lecce, atalanta, palermo... this man hasn't failed once in his entire carreer!), to play great football and to get great results... well i think la viola fans actually have something to be optimistic about..... finally :))
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Ben, i have a question for you about Zamparini.
I've heard that he claims that he was forced/conned in to selling Pastore to PSG. Is this man mad? Or is there some kind of truth in this claim (if i remember well he siad he was conned by "Jewish lawyers"...no offense to jewish people from me...).
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

:LOL:

I will never believe ANYTHING Zampa says!

As for La Viola, that's what I meant Ben. You've summed it up nicely. I think this is a time for optimism. They have to be patient though. It'll take time but Fiorentina will now be moving upwards and that's where they should be.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Me neither, Zamparini is mental. :LOL:

Seems like forver ago that I've seen Juve play. Can't wait for Sunday. Got my kits yesterday so finally will be watching Juve with a lot of pride.

Forza Juve!:APPLAUD:
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

gerd said:
Ben, i have a question for you about Zamparini.
I've heard that he claims that he was forced/conned in to selling Pastore to PSG. Is this man mad? Or is there some kind of truth in this claim (if i remember well he siad he was conned by "Jewish lawyers"...no offense to jewish people from me...).
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I don't know, but I also think something fishy was happening around that deal, not because of Jews, obviously.

I also read this interesting article about how Pastore, who started the season with smiles (and his whole Palermo career), is always looking sad, or just not happy.....
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Considering the amount of $$$ they got for him, how could he have been conned or worse yet "Forced"?!
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

about the pastore deal, zamparini accused javier's agent of extortion. when palermo signed pastore, they didn't buy the 100% of the player's tag.... i can't remember the exact figures but the ownership of the player was something like 80% palermo 20% javier's agent (as u probably know it's very common in south america for an agent to own a certain percentage of the player's tag. this gives the agent huge leverage, makes it quite difficult for the player to get rid of the agent and, most important, allows the agent to make a huge capital gain, once the player is entirely sold to another club). so about the 20 percent of psg transfer fee was supposed to end in javier's agent's pockets.
according to zamparini, once the deal with psg was final and the only thing left was javier's signature on the contract, his agent told zamparini he wanted the 40% (twice the money he was entitled to), threatening zamparini to blow the entire deal up, had zamparini refused to agree on those terms. by all means, that would be extortion.

the question is... did it really happen? normally i would agree with Sina and Damjan here, zamparini is a major asshole and i usually don't pay any attention to what he says as he's probably the most untrustworthy son of a b*** in football right now...
...but in this case i don't know. i just can't think of any valid reason why he should be making this up. he even pressed charges and now the italian authorities opened an inquiry on this episode. and mind u, extortion charges are usually quite difficult to prove in a court.... so my question is, why going through such hassle?
my personal opinion (mind u, it's just a hunch) is that zamparini is telling the truth. he got ripped off by pastore's agent.... he just couldn't do anything about it when the extortion occurred (the risk of losing psg's money would have been unacceptable), and he also knows he has almost no chances to win in court, so he decided to make the whole thing public, in order to ruin the agent's reputation (wich is quite a weak revenge, but also the only revenge he can possibly get).

i also believe theese sort of blackmails are very common in players' negotiations today... especially when the agent owns a percentage of the player... but again, that's just a personal opinion.

anyway if zampa's claims were true, i'd be thrilled.... anyone who rips off that bastard gets my wholehearted support :APPLAUD:
besides it's not like zampa spent any of the pastore money on the club... he put everything in his pockets. so if those pockets turned out to be "lighter" than we expected, i can only rejoyce at such news :P
Dominic said:
Who's going to stop Conte's machine?! :)
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i couldn't watch the game Dom.. was juve's performance as impressive as the result seem to suggest? also what are your feelings about conte and his juve? i've only watched a couple of juve matches this season, so i can't quite figure it out on my own just yet. :))
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

What a performance by Napoli yesterday against Man City. Of all the group stage matches, this was the one i was looking forward most of all and i wasn't decepted. Napoli were great and the end of the match was very good. Both clubs had scoring chances, but were denied by two good GK's and bad luck. IMO Lavezzi, Maggio and Dossena were absolutely fantastic...and of course Cavani is a class forward...he scored to very good goals (although i'm not sure if the first one wasn't defelcted by a Man City player).
But yesteday you could also see Napoli's weakness. Until now i've seen all their CL matches and IMO Aronica simply isn't good enough. I'm not sure if Campagnaro is that good too. This might become a major problem if they reach the knock-out stages. There you want to avoid goals in home matches...and that could turn out to be a huge problem for this team.

But boy did i enjoy that match...congratulations Napoli.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Huge Huge win for Napoli. Yes they could use better defenders but that's the sweet part. They beat Money City who is one of the most talented squads in the world, the team who crushed Utd and most of the PL sides, with players like Aronica. :P They could have scored more with three 1-1 chances with Hart.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

lo zio said:
i couldn't watch the game Dom.. was juve's performance as impressive as the result seem to suggest? also what are your feelings about conte and his juve? i've only watched a couple of juve matches this season, so i can't quite figure it out on my own just yet. :))
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Palermo did have some chances early on to make it a different game entirely. Having said that, the game was all about juve. Every Juve game this season has been all about Juve, the current Juve has me really excited, Ben. I haven't been this positive about my side in ages. We've been the upper side in such a convincing, menacing and dominant way in every single match. We've dropped a few poitns, but no opponent has managed to pressure the side or give us serious problems. We press very high up the pitch, win every one on one duel and every loose ball seems to be for juve. We move the ball around so easily and purposefully and the movement is excellent. We always seem to have a man extra on the pitch; which has a lot to do with the crowding of the midfield by Lichsteiner, the wingers and having three great midfielders. We're playing so well, that í'd say Juve is the best Serie A side at the moment and i'd even go as far as to say they are one of the top form teams in Europe at the moment. More than the results, the performances is what makes me optimistic. If the performances are there, the results are set to follow. Football is fickle of course and one bad result could turn this around in no time. The way we're playing at the moment, that seems unlikely though.

Conte? Like Gerd pointed out earlier, i'm not a fan of his sideline antics. He's very contagious though and you can't help but feeling this enthusiasm, the fitness, the confidence and discipline of the side is mostly his work. More tangibly though, the key seems to be he found the right system to bring out the most of the players, with the midfield trio of Marchisio Pirlo and Vidal being the strongest part of the team. As they seem to bring out the best in eachother. Just watch how this goal shows the best of Marchisio

YouTube - JUVENTUS Vs Palermo Goal Marchisio 3-0

All in all, this could be a special year for Juve and a shame you have been missing out Ben ;).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ex2xVWGzM-s

Monster


Oh and your boy Barzagli hasnt set a foot wrong this season.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

A fighting performance typical of the old Juventus. Lazio caused problems at times, particularly 2nd half when they changed formation, but the team stood firm, and held out comfortably towards the end.

It was a great counter attacking goal, with Matri showing his all round quality with the assist, and Pepe showing his outstanding movement to time his run and get in the position.

Buffon had a great game as well. Some great saves, and reliable handling proving crucial.

Marchisio is a loss, but I wouldn't play Napoli with a 4-4-2. I'd stick with this system, bring in the more defensive Pazienza to shore up the central area, and try to stretch them down the flanks. Regardless it's a tough game though. *Mazzari is clever, our form in Naples is dreadful recently, and they have a strong team which never gives up.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

It sure will be interesting in Naples. Shame Marchisio won't play. :(
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Not our best performance, but i'll take the three points. Before the Lazio game, you'd have almost forgotten we have Buffon in goal. :)
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Aboutreika18 said:
Think Napoli will bring Juve back down a notch or two at the San Paolo.
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Don't take your wishes for granted.
If Napoli plays like against Man City, then it will be a hard match for Juve. But Napoli are suffering in Serie A, they are not used to combine both Serie A and CL.
I would like Napoli become champions, but i think Juventus will get a good result at the San Paolo...
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

gerd said:
Don't take your wishes for granted.
If Napoli plays like against Man City, then it will be a hard match for Juve. But Napoli are suffering in Serie A, they are not used to combine both Serie A and CL.
I would like Napoli become champions, but i think Juventus will get a good result at the San Paolo...
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They've done well in all the big games this season, both Serie A and CL.

Their biggest problem this season has been dropping points against mid-table and lower opposition, which is the opposite of last season, where they dropped too many points against the top 7-8 teams.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

First choice for next captain for me:

134166987.jpg
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

very nice game yesterday. i didn't expect juve to comeback like that... especially during a night match at san paolo.
Dom said:
All in all, this could be a special year for Juve and a shame you have been missing out Ben .
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yep, i know dom. but finding enough free time to watch football is turning out to be a harder than ever this season. and to think that till just a couple of years ago, i was able to follow multiple leagues (serie a, bundi, epl, la liga, ligue 1)..... now i'm lucky if i can watch a game every now and then....
glad to hear about barzagli.... it would be great to see him back to his palermo days standards :)).....
and as for marchisio.... you're preaching to the choir, bro! ;) i've been a major fan of claudio since day one.

concerning napoli's defense, Gerd, yeah aronica is definitely the weak link of the team, but that not really a big deal.
first of, because we're still talking about a midclass team (and for a midclass team, to have only one weak player.... that's already an amazing result).
and then because the rest of the team can easily cope with that. the other 2 cbs are good enough to cover for aronica's mistakes most of the times (btw Gerd, have no doubts on campagnaro. he's a fantastic cb. one of the best and most reliable in the entire league... infact i believe it's ridiculous he isn't a starter for argentina right now). plus their formation (specifically the positions and tendencies of dossena and gargano) make aronica's lapses even less relevant (most of the times).
sure they might well go out at the first knockout stage in CL (IF they actually get there), but then again, just reaching the kockout stages is already a sensational (and unexpected) result for napoli, especially if u consider what group they ended up in.
milanista said:
I also read this interesting article about how Pastore, who started the season with smiles (and his whole Palermo career), is always looking sad, or just not happy.....
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yep. it looks like whenever he gets the chance (interviews, twitters and so on) he takes the opportunity to remark how much he misses palermo and the palermitani..
http://www.mediagol.it/articolo.asp?idNotizia=207004 http://www.ilovepalermocalcio.it/notizie-generiche/3691-pastore-qtifosi-psg-non-saranno-mai-come-a-palermoq http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/palermo/?action=read&idnet=dHV0dG9wYWxlcm1vLm5ldC00MDcxMw
"i really miss palermo people...... even tough paris is beautiful, it just isn't palermo......psg fans just don't compare to palermo fans.... even if the stadium is always full it never feels like it did in palermo".

javier is really a lovely guy, and i'm sorry he feels this nostalgia, because he should be considering this as a step up in his carreer. and as much as i like to see he hasn't forgotten us, i really don't think he should vent his emotions like that. he's a psg player now and i don't think his "paris fans" would love to hear such comments.

btw this whole thing is becoming quite weird. why everyone who leaves palermo always feels so miserable? because this seems to happen only with palermo players and coaches. pastore, simplicio, amauri, grosso, guidolin, toni, rossi..... all people who stepped up in their carreers, who left palermo for greener pastures (roma, juve, inter, psg), who got to play in CL, and who moved to beautiful cities (like roma, milan and paris). :CONFUSE:
sure palermo is a nice city, but it's not the only nice city in the world (paris and roma are absolutely amazing).and although i agree it's not easy to find people as warm and caring as the palermitani... come on, is it really a good idea to rub it on your new fans' faces?

speaking of "former palermitani", delio rossi came back in palermo this sunday. his first visit to palermo as an opponent since his goodbye. boy it was heartbreaking to hear the entire stadium chanting for him after the referee's match ending whistle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or-3Dn9Ap_k
man, do we miss u Delio! :((
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I've been watching some Serie A matches lately, and enjoying them a lot. From my ignorance of the competition and many of the squads, here's my impressions:

I liked a lot Roma winning 2-1 against Novara, but then Udinese showed their shortcomings. I think Luis Enrique can build (and is building) a great team. But right now he has some elements that clearly doesn't fit together. Osvaldo is at the same time a potential problem and a short-term solution. Bojan offers a lot more movement and danger but his lack of skill is damning the boy, as it happened here at Barcelona. Gago is getting the reigns, but he needs a little help. Lamela is a great prospect and one of the best players everytime I watch roma, he only needs to mature a bit and take better decisions. That said, I doubt fans and board have enough patience with Luis Enrique. Having to treat with Perrotta and Totti in the bench is hard. De Rossi seems lost in the team, and could be the key to finally click.

Napoli and la vecchia signora are playing quite well and their match was one of the highlights of the whole european season. Both teams are a joy to watch most fo the time and I'm glad they're there at the top.

But if I have to pick a single team, I would pick Udinese FROM WHAT I'VE WATCHED. They're amazing at counter-attack, Armero is an absolute beast, and Isla is quality. And Di Natale.... oh, god, this guy is one of the best strikers in the world, his ability to move through lines and finish is stunning.

I haven't seen much of Palermo, Ben, but when I had the chance they really underachieved. I think that squad could perform much better. A pitty!
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Big problems at Roma, they lost 3-0 at Fiorentina and had 3 men sent off (Juan, Gago and Bojan). They've won 5, drawn 2 and lost 6 - not a great record, with Juventus at home and Napoli away up next I dont see things improving a lot for them before the winter break.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Yup I agree!

Anyone notice how Aquilani seems to be much better in the AIR and also generally more aggressive than before?

I don't know if it has anything to do with having experienced EPL and different training methods, etc. but to me he's definitely somewhat of an aerial threat now and seems to head the ball quite well which is something I never attributed to him before in his Roma days. He also fights for the ball more and is just more aggressive which is great because before he was a talented player but often a wussy one like Montolivo type and fairly passive.

I love the steal from Dario Dainelli in Milan vs. Fiorentina game for example or the header that hit the bar a couple weeks ago and those are two instances of things we didn't used to see from Alberto before.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

i don't think development is really a problem with aquilani. i mean he's already developed into an amazing football player. when he's in the right mood he can literally blow your mind with his passing game...the real issue with alberto has always been consistency... but than again we also gotta say he's never played in his natural role since his roma days (wich obviously makes it harder to perform well on a constant basis).

actually i had high hopes about his new milan experience this summer, coz i thought in this milan team, he would have been line up as a mezz'ala (finally!). unfortunately i haven't been able to follow milan closely so far this season, so i have no idea which role alberto ended up playing into.
stef, zeem, gengis, milanisti, what can u tell us about alberto? has he been given a starting role? in wich position? and how is he delivering?
one thing that worries me about alberto is that i hear everyone talking about how well nocerino is doing at milan, whereas i never hear anything about alberto. and since nocerino plays in the same position (although not in the same role) of alberto, that is not a good sign.

oh and btw Sina, i had your very same feeling a few weeks ago. i saw him performing such a well timed header and i thought "wow, has he always been this good with his head and i never noticed it... or has he improved this aspect of his game?"
edmundo said:
Big problems at Roma, they lost 3-0 at Fiorentina and had 3 men sent off (Juan, Gago and Bojan). They've won 5, drawn 2 and lost 6 - not a great record, with Juventus at home and Napoli away up next I dont see things improving a lot for them before the winter break.
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ouch!! juve and napoli coming up? that doesn't sound good at all.
drekkard said:
But if I have to pick a single team, I would pick Udinese FROM WHAT I'VE WATCHED. They're amazing at counter-attack, Armero is an absolute beast, and Isla is quality. And Di Natale.... oh, god, this guy is one of the best strikers in the world, his ability to move through lines and finish is stunning.

I haven't seen much of Palermo, Ben, but when I had the chance they really underachieved. I think that squad could perform much better. A pitty!
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yep guidolin's udinese is really impressive. they might not look as smooth and entertaining as last season (when they had inler and sanchez), but they're still a very good team with a fantastic coach and several good players (i like isla too and armero and asamoah are FREAKS!)... not to mention di natale, of course....

as for palermo, i don't know alexis... i don't really think they're underachieving... infact i actually believe they're overachieving so far. this team is just not as good as it was in the past 5 years and our current 5th place in the table seems very "flattering" to me.
and, about our current position in the table, palermo's results are confirming my worries...serie a is poorer than it was till last season. i'm not gonna call it a decline of course, because theese situations can be correctly evaluated only after 5,6 years.... but i feel this is the weakest serie a in the last 10 years.
mind u, that's just a feeling, and probably not even a reliable one, as i hardly have time to follow serie a theese days.
kanoutè said:
OMG, Zanetti seen a red card! What's going on in Inter!?
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crazy i know. i couldn't believe it either... what's next, is he gonna change haircut!!?? i have no certainties anymore :CONFUSE:
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

I do think development is the problem, maybe lack of consistency is the cause of it. But I think Aquilani has not developed at all since his Roma days, I'd even argue he's regressed. He's not near the player most of us expected him to become anyway and he's been unable to become a vital player for any of his teams. He's been decent this season, but rather underwhelming. Although he's been playing in his own role now.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season

Juve - Bologna in 40 minutes. Anyone know the line-ups?
 
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