Re: Serie A Thread - 2012/13 Season
on the other hand, the biggest surprise is lazio to me. I know they've always been a team on the upper side of the mid-table but how did they really manage to reach there now? I really don't get it. they don't have any leading force whatsoever either. weird, it's maybe because of serie a got really that weaker over the years after scandals or maybe just down to the success of their technical stuff.
not sure what u mean by "leading force". if u're referring to stand out players, they have a bunch of them. their midfield is probably one of the most creative in europe (and the only reason i'm saying "probably" is because i don't follow european football as much as i used to).... ederson, ledesma, hernanes, mauri, candreva, lulic... it's insane. man utd, chelsea, milan and inter could only dream such depth and quality at midfield.
they have a very solid defense (biava is arguably the most underrated cb in italy) and one of the very best goalkeepers in europe (so often nowadays i hear the word "world class" used to label goalkeepers who are nowhere near as good as marchetti... it just baffles me).
lazio is, along with fiorentina and napoli, all that's left in serie a of our midclass teams... since all the other midclass teams (samp, genoa, palermo, udinese, cagliari, parma) are in a transitional phase of their rebuilding process, and the big clubs (milan and inter) are on some sort of a "hiatus", it's only normal to find theese 3 clubs right behind juve.
so, long story short, both your reasons are valid. yes, lazio is a very good team... and yes, they're doing so well because most of their competition disappeared.
kanoutè said:
weird, it's maybe because of serie a got really that weaker over the years after scandals
actually the scandals (calciopoli and the betting scandal) had nothing to do with serie a's decline mate. the causes of serie a's current state are partly conjunctural, partly structural.
the structural order of causes is pretty evident. the lack investments (both foreign and domestic) dragged the league into some sort of recession. our sugar daddies got tired of wasting dozens of millions every season and that, combined with our inability to attract money from abroad, made it impossible for italian teams to compete on the market with their european counterparts. it's also worth mentioning that italy's main "hunting grounds" (brazil and argentina) got much more expensive in recent years. till a few years ago the brazilian market was very cheap, so with a good scouting network, it was possible to build a good team with some homegrown talents and some talented southamerican youngsters, without having to spend a fortune. today brazil is much richer than 10 or 5 years ago, and some of their clubs are actually richer than many serie a clubs, so we can't afford that market anymore.
another structural issue is obviously the lack of clubs-owned facilities.
as for the conjuncture instead, that comes down to a very curious coincidence. as u know, the main difference between midclass clubs and top clubs is that midclass clubs have to organize their strategies thinking to the "long-term" (whereas top clubs can afford to only care about the present). that means that every midclass club has an expiration date. u can build a top team, but, unlike the top clubs, u know u're gonna have to dismantle that great team in 2,3,4 years tops (because as your talented players grow in terms of experience and exposure, so will their ambition and desire to join bigger clubs, which can afford higher wages).
of course each midclass club follows its own 5 years strategy and they're never in sync. take the epl as example; right now newcastle and everton are on the peak of their "curve of growth" while aston villa is in a transitional phase.
well, what happened in serie a over the last 8 years is a huge coincidence. the calendar, the curve of all the midclass clubs was perfectly in sync. so for about 4 years u had an absolutely amazing league, with fiorentina, napoli, genoa, palermo, lazio, roma, udinese, samp and cagliari all displaying their best teams and playing their best football at the very same time....
but of course, since their strategies had the exact same timing, they also had to dismantle their teams and start rebuinding at the exact same time..... wich is why today serie a is such a dull, weak league.
the scandals had really no part whatsoever in serie a's decline. infact serie a's best period came exactly after the biggest of the scandals (calciopoli) and the team wich got most deeply involved in that scandal (juve) is now doing extremely well (whereas clubs like palermo and udinese, which were never involved in any scandal whatsoever, are facing a very rough patch).
LFC Albania said:
guys i'v seen a bit of Udinese vs Inter and after i start watching it was 1-0 and like 5 min later Luis Muriel scored than he got sub. and t was 1st match of him I saw since his Lecce days .... any of you guys can tell me more how he's doing at Udinese ? I loved this guy at Lecce !
yeah, i'd like to know how he's doing aswell. he looked like a terrific prospect at lecce, but i haven't followed udinese at all this season, so i can't really answer your question.
) on the other hand, goicoechea is having an outstanding game so far, motm to me. the save against cuadrado's header was just buffon-esque.
