Re: Serie A Thread - 2008/2009 Season
ok, i'll be very brief (for my standards, i mean) as i just have a couple of minutes...
PLF said:
You're right about Cagliari and how it may be hard to judge certain individual players' merits but Biondini first caught my eye (and not just because of his appearance ) a couple years back in Reggina I believe. Yah his stamina seems impressive as are his commitment, teamwork and work-rate. And the good thing is, on top of that, he has good enough other attributes to make him a very useful midfield player.
I believe he was part of U21 set-up for Italy at one point but never did quite enough to make the full step-up to senior squad. At least not yet. But hey... who knows what the future holds... he's still not old. Probably around 25 so maybe he will one day represent Italy. I wouldn't mind seeing that day! A ginger Italian!
LOL, a ginger italian
by the way i completely agree with u about biondini. stamina, work rate, commitment and pretty decent technical qualities. u summed him up perfectly... i'd also add a pretty good "tactical sense".
and u're right about his previous brilliant reggina experience (damn mate u got a keen eye and a hell of a memory!). infact in a few weeks he became one of the most important assets in that reggina team.... he was a bit underrated though... at least until this season. his qualities got better and better since he joined cagliari and today he's finally getting that appreciation and consideration he deserves.
i definitely share your opinion about him. an extremely useful midfielder... but good enough for our national side? honestly i don't know...
our starting midfield duo is pretty much unquestionable... pirlo and de rossi... it's hard to find anything better in europe (actually it's probably impossible) the playmaker spot is obviously out of reach for davide, as he's not a playmaker (besides d'agostino and cigarini are on their way to get that spot, once pirlo will get old) so it has to be de rossi's spot.... but right behind de rossi, fighting for that spot there are quite a lot of players already (gattuso, palombo, ambrosini, brighi, nocerino).... will davide ever be good enough to get into that list... i don't know honestly, maybe one day...
PLF said:
Does Gourcuff have happy memories of his time in Milan, well probably not too many but I don't know Ben... if a new coach was brought in... someone who believed in Yoann and re-assured him of his faith in him and made certain promises, I don't know too many players who would turn down AC Milan even if not off to the best first stint/start with them. But of course this is all lots of IFS and Buts and chances are, no one can assure Yoann that he'll play an important part should he come back to Milan, so yah he probably won't be keen to.
yep, that's actually a very good point... with a new coach, the situation might be very different.
Younggun said:
Cassano's currently tearing through teams, Inter last night, Milan the other week. What do you lot think of him? We all know he's a nutcase but apparantly after that infamous incident last season he's been keeping quite and been playing class, does he have it in him at 26 to get a chance at a big club and perform on the big stage?
that's a good question mate... honestly i think he is. he eventually grew up (at least that's what it seems) and i have to say his attitude has been pretty good since he joined samp (last season he made some little silly things, but then again nothing serious).
mind u he's still an idiot cunt... but this doesn't seem to effect his performances anymore... and in the end that's the only things that matters...some of the greatests players in the world were idiot cunts, but no one really cared about it, as this didn't effect their performances (did anyone say maradona?)
cassano is a very special player.... there are a few players in europe with his technique, his dribbling, his passing game, his vision... and most of all his effectiveness.
i can see him leaving sampdoria in 1 or 2 seasons tops... and that's a shame to me. coz honestly, one of the most beautiful things about this league is that even mid-class and low-class teams have their share of high quality players, and it would be a shame if cassano would leave genova.
Gerd said:
I also hope he stays at Samp...
About Roma, i don't know ifit's true but i read somewhere that the players were fed up with Capelli and that he had discipline problems. And that of course Cassano was one of the most difficult players.
lol! discipline problems? trust me gerd u have no idea... i'll tell u just one little story about cassano.
he said "screw u" to franco sensi, the old president, a nice old man, who used to love roma as much as his own daughter (who is the current president)... and when the general director of roma (it was pradè if i remember well) told him to apologise, he replied "
i might consider to do it just if u will get on your knees and beg me to do it"
and that's just one of many stories i could tell u (and mind u, not the worse).
I also have the image of Roma as a brilliant team with disciplinary problems on and off the field: Totti, Cassano, Zebina, De Rossi, Mexes....they all had problems when they were (or are) playing for AS Roma.
that was true... since spalletti came in. the season before spalletti came in charge was a mess, roma changed 4 coaches in 1 season... no one was able to control the dressing room.
in 1 month spalletti completely changed this situation.
today roma is one of the most tight-knit teams in italy.
anyhow zebina, cassano and panucci were the biggests pain in the ass... totti, de rossi and mexes never created any problems...
de rossi and mexes especially.. they have a very unfair and undeserved image, as they're really nice guys.
like Roma they are not in the same league as the rezlly bigclubs in Europe
of course they're not. roma's annual incomes are 1/4 of barcelona's annual incomes.
with man utd midfielders global wages u could pay the whole starting formation wages at roma.
today roma's global annual wages are just 10 millions more than genoa.... 40 millions less than inter and milan!! and i'm not even mentioning the likes of chelsea or man utd... even arsenal spends way more money than roma in terms of wages and transfer fees.
what roma achieved in the last 5 years is just amazing. with an extremely penny wise strategy, they were able to compete with some of the richests clubs in the world... and often they did even better than them.
roma represent the whole idea of "sustainable football" today. they proved u can build a top class team, compete with some of the greatest clubs in europe, and play the most attractive football in europe, without spending crazy money.
it's all down to a great management and a top class coach.
As for Sampdoria, my god even Standard humiliated them...
samp is a hell of a team gerd. they're just having a bad season, it can happen.
and by the way do not consider the Standard match. first of, it was just a single match, and as Phat correctly pointed out (talking about the game between liverpool and standard earlier this season), everything can happen in a single match.
plus, it was a uefa cup match... and italian clubs never give a damn about uefa cup.
sampdoria especially didn't care about uefa cup those days, as they had to focus on the league (since they had an awful start).
and, most important, 3 days after that match against standard, samp was meant to play the most important game of the season: the derby with genoa.
as u said it was a one sided match... but that was because just one of the "sides" did care about that match... the only thing samp players were concerned about was trying to avoid injuries, and trying not to get tired.
i can tell u samp is on the same level of palermo... actually some might even say they're a little better than us..... and they would probably be right.
ok, i wasn't really "brief" afterall
edit:
just to give u an idea of how important the genova derby is for genova people.... if u would hask to 100 genovesi (genova citizens) "what would u prefere... italy to win another world cup, or samp (or genoa) to win the next derby?
i can guarrantee, they would ALL pick the derby.
