Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Pirlo seems to have woken up and is beginning to realize that Borriello is capable of receiving the ball to his head and chest, as well as feet.

i'd rather put it this way: they finally gave pirlo someone to pass the ball to! u can even have the most accurate sniper in the world, it doesn't matter if u don't provide him a target.
as for borriello, he definitely became one of the best italian strikers. it's 3 years now he rolls this way, and he even had to deal with 3 major (+ 4 months) injuries, wich are usually form-killers.
got a huge respect for marco. by working hard, he turned his potential into actuall skill... and with all the serious injuries he had to deal with, it's never been easy for him
and about ronaldinho, he's just happy he doesn't have to (even) bother running anymore
anyhow we gotta give credit to leo indeed. this milan might well be something weird from the tactical point of view (although this late version, with beckham and gattuso instead of seedorf and pato looks more "normal" and balanced), but he managed to revitalize milan.

True, I was wrong. But he's a "palazzinaro" that's even worst.

bankers and "palazzinari" are pretty much the same scum.
speaking of owners, it looks like Cellino (cagliari president and owner) is about to buy west ham..... a 70 millions deal, they say.....
now, the first question that pops into my mind is: will he actually pay those money?
coz recent history taught us u don't actually need to pay a single penny to buy an english club.
just create a newco and put on a bootstrap transaction.

i think it's gonna be interesting to see what cellino will do now. will he act as a "big time" (paraphrasing the expression terry buthcer used in a conversation we had years ago about the premiership)? or will he act like a "stupid" and pay what he could get for free?

and also how would the fa respond to such a situation? i mean, if such a thing would occurr again (and i don't think it will, coz i believe cellino will pay real money) they couldn't just sit and watch once again....
and how about uefa? i'm all with platini in his crusade against theese kind of financial policies, but i think it's about time he stops talking and start doing something.... fans and journalists can criticize as much as they want, but those who are in charge (like platini), they can't afford to criticize anything or blame anybody.... as they have the power to change the things.
sure platini has no saying on what should be considered legal and what not in UK...... but he has enough power and influence to put some pressure on the governments.
i mean just explaining clearely what a leveraged buyout is or why man utd is about to issue bonds for 500 millions..... just having people know what's behind theese moves would already have an enourmous impact on the public opinion.... that alone would probably have more influence on a government than any banker lobbies.
if english fans were told who they get to bed with, they would probably stop labelling platini as an hater, and see things for what they are.

on a different note, word on the streets is simplicio won't renew his contract and will join roma this summer

 

[Zeem]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Simplicio has been linked a lot to Milan this years as a backup for Seedorf. Plus, if he is free I am 100% sure taht Galliani will get him as he said he is after free players.

Hope you keep Kjaer though. He will not get the time he deserves at Manchester.

Derby next week Can't wait. Milan's best ability this season is their ability to keep the ball and possesion. Beckham also takes Milan to a better technical level which can kill the smaller clubs and Juventus . Hoping the Scudetto race kicks off again Sunday.

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Ben, about Platini.
I think he deserves some credit.
I like his ideas but people who are opposed to those ideas, present them as being Anglophobic, which is bullshit of course...i hope the fans of Man Utd will begin to see the light with everything that has happened since the take over of the Glazers.
I heard an interesting opinion on that takeover in James Richardson's podcast. I think it was David Conn who said that Ferguson is (also) to blame for that takeover.
I don't know if you remember all the fuzz about "Rock of Gibraltar" a couple of years ago. Rock of Gibraltar is the name of a race horse that Ferguson got as a gift from two of Man Utd's biggest shareholders (John Magnier and JP Mac Manus). Ferguson fell out with both shareholders over the breeding rights of this famous race horse. Ferguson also wanted the breeding rights, but Magnier and Mac Manus refused.
In the podcast someone argued that if Ferguson would have been less greedy Magnier and Mac Manus wouldn't have sold their shares that easy to the Glazers...
Interesting (sorry to be off-topic).

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

it comes a time Gerd, when u have to stop talking and start dooing something to turn your ideas into something real. Platini's comments have indeed generated an hatred reaction by the english media, but we got to admit that the way he handled this situation made it easy for them to label him as an "anti-english".
he's been way too generic in his comments, he never really touched the core of the issue. he talked about debts but he never talked about how those overdraft were born, wich circumstances allowed those overdrafts to grow without any control, and, most important, where this situation might lead to.
if he would have pointed the finger at the heart of the problem, if he would have ever talked about the consequences of quoting football clubs on the stock market, about the consequences of (ab)using leveraged buyouts as "tools" to get the control over football clubs, about the importance of having an impartial body checking out the financial situation of european clubs.... if he would have talked about the problems, instead of making those generic accusations, it would have been impossible for the english media to reply with those nationalistic bullshits.

platini won the elections thanks to a very specific program and a "socialist" electoral campaign. his aim was not to reduce the gap between rich leagues and poor leagues. his aim was to prevent rich leagues to artificially increase that gap with strategies that could be proven "fatal" long term.
this program guarranteed him the consensus of the poor leagues he needed to win. now it's time to turn that program into a reality.

and btw, i took manchester just as an example (my main topic concerned Cellino, the upcoming owner of west ham), but there's nothing that can be done about the man utd situation anymore. at this point we can just hope this situation won't degenerate, won't get to the point where it seem to be going (and from where i sit, this really is nothing more than a "wish").
besides this is not a club issue, neither an english issue (what is happening in england could happen anywher in europe).
this is a law issue. it's about our conception of football clubs as public companies. so there's nothing sir alex could possibly do.
infact even platini's and FA's options are rather limited. the only thing the FA (or any other national football association) could do is to put some pressure on the governments to change the legal regulation of football clubs.
and the only thing platini could possibly do is to force the FA to take cognizance of the situation, to force the FA to face epl's issues and address them.

and clearely the strategy he adopted so far isn't working.
and mind u, this is said by a man who agrees with platini's ideas and who shares his worries.
i gotta say i'm really curious to see what will happen now with this west ham ownership change

Simplicio has been linked a lot to Milan this years as a backup for Seedorf. Plus, if he is free I am 100% sure taht Galliani will get him as he said he is after free players.

well leo could certainly use a player like simplicio, as he would be the perfect replacement for seedorf in this new milan system.

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

on a different note, word on the streets is simplicio won't renew his contract and will join roma this summer

with what money will they pay him?
Also in Roma brazilian are not having good time. Doni is criticized, Cicinho wants to leave, J.Baptista can leave, Arthur was criticized after few matches he played...it seems the magic about "brazilian players" is gone, now only Juan and Julio Sergio are appreciated, the others are normal players.
Plus if it's true Milan is searching him, in his paints I will not have doubts: better to be a reserve in a worldwide club, than a maybe-starter in a high rated club

 

[Jumbo_]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Ben, about Platini.
I think he deserves some credit.
I like his ideas but people who are opposed to those ideas, present them as being Anglophobic, which is bullshit of course...i hope the fans of Man Utd will begin to see the light with everything that has happened since the take over of the Glazers.
I heard an interesting opinion on that takeover in James Richardson's podcast. I think it was David Conn who said that Ferguson is (also) to blame for that takeover.
I don't know if you remember all the fuzz about "Rock of Gibraltar" a couple of years ago. Rock of Gibraltar is the name of a race horse that Ferguson got as a gift from two of Man Utd's biggest shareholders (John Magnier and JP Mac Manus). Ferguson fell out with both shareholders over the breeding rights of this famous race horse. Ferguson also wanted the breeding rights, but Magnier and Mac Manus refused.
In the podcast someone argued that if Ferguson would have been less greedy Magnier and Mac Manus wouldn't have sold their shares that easy to the Glazers...
Interesting (sorry to be off-topic).

Gerd, that's total bullshit. Why does it have to be Ferguson that was being greedy? He thought he was owed money and in the end they gave him it and they patched up their differences. During the dispute, Magnier and McManus tried to remove SAF as manager of the club (they had around a 25% stake) and tried sabotaging him and were rumoured to want to replace him with Martin O'Neill. The would have sold up to anyone who offered enough money, just like all the other shareholders did. If anyone's greedy it was them.

You have admitted you are not a fan of SAF so it doesn't surprise me that you'd cling to an opinion like that as if it was true without thinking about what actually happened. You're a good poster it's a shame you let yourself down with posts like this every now and again.

David Conn (a Man City fan I think) is one of many journalists really enjoying this opportunity to stick the boot in on Ferguson and United and that is why we're subjected to all these articles going over the debt.

United fans want the Glazers out. There were chants and flags about it at Old Trafford on Saturday and there will be more tonight. It's moronic to blame Ferguson for the problems.

Sorry for the offtopic.

Ben, West Ham were bought out by David Gold and David Sullivan (ex-Birmingham owners). There was no mention in the British press about the Italian guy? They mentioned they are looking for further investment so maybe he will buy a large stake in the club still?

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Cellino said to Italian press something like this "Why the hell they sold 50% of club, rejecting my offer about 100%?"

 

[Milanista]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Strange that Cellino didn't get it. I saw interviews where he said he was very close to sealing the deal.

Anyway.. no Nesta for the derby..... Huge loss.

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

You have admitted you are not a fan of SAF so it doesn't surprise me that you'd cling to an opinion like that as if it was true without thinking about what actually happened. You're a good poster it's a shame you let yourself down with posts like this every now and again.

David Conn (a Man City fan I think) is one of many journalists really enjoying this opportunity to stick the boot in on Ferguson and United and that is why we're subjected to all these articles going over the debt.

It's not my opinion, it's David Conn's.
Aren't you deluding yourself about me and David Conn. Yes, i don't like Ferguson. But what the hell ? And i'm not sure if David Conn is a Man City fan (could be), but as a professional journalist he surely is objective and professional enough to stick to the facts.
Fans are funny people Jumbo, you claim that David Conn can't be objective because he is a City fan, yet you (who are not a professional journalist i suppose) as a Manchester United fan (implicitly) can claim to be objective in all this...that doesn't seem very logic to me.
I had an uncle who was an owner of race horses and i can assure that if you receive a price horse (stallion) as a gift, that it is extremely greedy to claim the breeding rights of that horse. Rock of Gibraltar was a symbolic gift (an perhaps a stupid one): Manier and Mac Manus gave Ferguson one of the most acclaimed race horses of the time...allowing the breeding rights would have harmed them since they were in the business of breeding race horses. Ferguson may well be a great manager, but he made a mistake in this case and i can assure you that he has been extremely greedy. What he did is not done in the world of horse racing, and Ferguson is not a stranger in that world.

Don't take this personal, because i have nothing against you...but David Conn is one of my journalistic heroes since i read his book "The beautiful game"...the man is a specialist in take-over's of football clubs...that does not mean that he can't be wrong, but to me it's rather cheap to say that he's biased because he's a Manchester City fan.

I'm sorry to be off-topic.
Maybe we should continue this discussion in PM's.

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

if i may add my 2 cents, before we move back on topic...
Gerd, i believe being a professional reporter doesn't automatically makes u an objective, impartial and unbiased man. and it's not about being a man city fan or whatever.... it's about the nature of the job itself.
i know personally dozens of journalists (and i'm serious) and one thing i learned about journalists is that, no matter how good or famous they are, they tend to repeat the same mistake: first they decide what story to write, then they start the research. this approach pushes them to make an "artificial selection" of the sources they find. they will tend to mention those sources which corroborate their theory (their story) and omit those sources which confute it.

in this case, for instance, Conn (if i got it right) implied there was a connection between this "racehorse gift" and man utd's buyout.
now this horserace story is definitely interesting, and i'm sure no one would make such an important and expensive gift without a hidden agenda........ but whatever that hidden agenda was, it didn't concern man utd buyout. and i need just 2 words to prove what i'm saying (2 words that apparently mr. Conn refused to consider): hostile takeover.
when u quote a company on the stock exchange, that company is on the market... that company is there for u to take it, if u have enough funds.
and that's something u have to accept when u quote your company (and it's also a very good reason to think carefully before deciding to quote your company in the first place).
the glazers didn't need ferguson's permission to steal man utd (seriously let's stop saying they "bought" man utd: lbos are unanimously considered as a "legal form of stealing", so let's just call things with their real name), hence no need to "bribe him". the only authorizations they needed were the FA's permission and the FSA (financial services authority) authorization.
once they got the green light from FSA, there was nobody that could possibly stop them (the only possible way would have been to start a "takeover fight", offering a higher price per stock).

so, even if i didn't read many Conn's articles (i haven't bought the guardian in ages) and i'm pretty sure u know him much better than i do, if he really implied ferguson had something to do with that takeover, then he wasn't "intellectually honest". they call it "hostile" takeover, for a reason: and that reason is u can't do anything to stop it (most of the times).
they "grabbed" man utd and then they delisted it, so that no one could possibly do to them what they did (and that's probably the most unethical aspect of the whole deal).

as for our friend jumbo here, although i can't really say i know him, i realised he's a very clever and open minded person, not the kind of fan who tend to see everything concerning "his club" from a partial perspective.
besides, if becoming a "professional journalist" can't suddenly change u into an objective person, vice versa, being a football club fan can't turn a clever guy into a biased person. and i remember jumbo expressing clearely unbiased views over some man utd concerns several times.

Ben, West Ham were bought out by David Gold and David Sullivan (ex-Birmingham owners). There was no mention in the British press about the Italian guy? They mentioned they are looking for further investment so maybe he will buy a large stake in the club still?

really? no mention at all? that's weird. i haven't checked out any foreign media lately, bit it surprises me to hear that english media didn't write about cellino.
according to italian media, he was in competition with this Sullivan lad (who happens to be the king of british porn industry, according to the italian media).
he presented a 70 millions offer (wonder if they were euros or pouds though).

anyhow, from a certain point of view, it's a shame this deal didn't go through, as if Cellino would have overtopped sullivan's offer, the italian media would have covered the whole buyout story, and that would have given us some great feedback about the FA role in theese buyouts.... now that the englishman won instead, italian media won't care anymore, and that leaves only the british media ( ) covering the story.
from a different point of view instead, this is a good news. first of, for cagliari fans. can u imagine how pissed off they were about this deal? their owner had 70 millions to waste and he wanted to buyout a foreign club rather than invest those money in his club..... if i were a cagliari fan, i'd be fuming. He was born in cagliari, he's always been a fan and a president very passionate with his club... what the hell was he thinking? cagliari is already a very nice small team, with a very promising young coach (who has being doing wonders so far) some very talented players and a clever management (they ended the last financial year with a profit and have no debts at all)....
with even just half of those 70 millions (assuming they were euros) he could have turned cagliari into a member of the midclass italian elite (samp, lazio, palermo, napoli, genoa, udinese).....

Plus if it's true Milan is searching him, in his paints I will not have doubts: better to be a reserve in a worldwide club, than a maybe-starter in a high rated club

milan, or roma, who cares.... the only thing that matters to me is that palermo is gonna lose him
besides, i believe he would be a starter straight away in this milan formation (in the seedorf\beckham spot). he would be the perfect choice to interpretate that role, he has the passing quality required and he could also add that dynamism both seedorf and beckham lack of nowadays.
seedorf is a legend and when he has a good day he still is a monster, but he's 34 and in an entire season, i believe simplicio would play more often than him in that role (therefore simplicio would be handed the starter's role).

breaking news: juve seems to be very close to get candreva!
this is madness. at this point we can clearely say tat juventus management not only lacks of a long term project, of a plan. they lack of logics, of any possible rationale.
this is gonna be another disaster for juve (good luck finding a place for candreva in that messy formation)... but also a very shortsighted move for livorno.... a 7.5 millions deal for the 50% of candreva? they could have easily asked 18 for the entire player this summer.... plus, without candreva, livorno's chances to stay in serie a go deeply down.
and i'm afraid this might well turn out to be a bad move for the player himself.

 

[Jumbo_]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Sorry one last post on this

It's not my opinion, it's David Conn's.
Aren't you deluding yourself about me and David Conn. Yes, i don't like Ferguson. But what the hell ? And i'm not sure if David Conn is a Man City fan (could be), but as a professional journalist he surely is objective and professional enough to stick to the facts.
Fans are funny people Jumbo, you claim that David Conn can't be objective because he is a City fan, yet you (who are not a professional journalist i suppose) as a Manchester United fan (implicitly) can claim to be objective in all this...that doesn't seem very logic to me....

Don't take this personal, because i have nothing against you...but David Conn is one of my journalistic heroes since i read his book "The beautiful game"...the man is a specialist in take-over's of football clubs...that does not mean that he can't be wrong, but to me it's rather cheap to say that he's biased because he's a Manchester City fan.

Sorry gerd I was a bit wound up I probably sounded a bit sharp. I'm just getting fed up of reading all these articles about us and how it's the beginning of the end and we are doomed etc. I don't think I've read one positive piece on Manchester United for weeks and the broadsheets (Times, Telegraph, Guardian) are becoming more and more sensationalist and knee-jerk every week. At times the only difference between an article in The Sun and The Guardian is the more advanced vocabulary in the latter.

One thing I will say is, journalists are still fans and are are offering their opinions, which by nature will be biased one way or another. The best journalists will be able to offer a counter to this bias and present a balanced opinion. However neutral Conn wants to be there is a fair chance he is not fond of SAF and he is probably one of the many Guardian journalists who predicted us to come 3rd or 4th this season and that is why they have been so quick to write about how badly we're doing as they dont want to be proved wrong. As Ben said, journalists can use facts to fit their argument without lying, but they are not necessarily right.

as for our friend jumbo here, although i can't really say i know him, i realised he's a very clever and open minded person, not the kind of fan who tend to see everything concerning "his club" from a partial perspective.
besides, if becoming a "professional journalist" can't suddenly change u into an objective person, vice versa, being a football club fan can't turn a clever guy into a biased person. and i remember jumbo expressing clearely unbiased views over some man utd concerns several times.

Thanks Ben I'd like to think I don't permanently have red tinted United glasses on, I'm just passionate about the club and I hate hearing the bullshit myths and one-sided opinion all the time to appease the majority who don't like us because we're succesful.

really? no mention at all? that's weird. i haven't checked out any foreign media lately, bit it surprises me to hear that english media didn't write about cellino.
according to italian media, he was in competition with this Sullivan lad (who happens to be the king of british porn industry, according to the italian media).
he presented a 70 millions offer (wonder if they were euros or pouds though).

Maybe I just missed it as I haven't read too deeply into the West Ham takeover stories and I actually saw the quote from Cellino in the paper this morning about him being annoyed. It does seem stupid that they let them buy only 50%.

I dont know if he still does but in the 70s Sullivan owned nearly all the porn magazines in Britain and filmed a few low budgets movies. He's certainly not famous for it though, I only found that out by accident yesterday when looking on his wikipedia page!

BACK TO SERIE A!

Borrielo, Beckham, Ronaldihno, Nesta & Thiago Silva.... It's not a good time for us to have drawn Milan with the form they're in is it!!

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

You don't have to excuse yourself jumbo...i've sent you a PM, that's end of this off-topic...and sorry for that.

 

[Aboutreika18]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Juve are going to buy Candreva? Deary me.

 

[Hey there]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Juve are going to buy Candreva? Deary me.

They did, it's official.

http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Calciomercato/20-01-2010/mercato-tempo-reale-602712300804.shtml

What they will do with the guy is a mystery.

 

[DeFrenZ]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Well, I think they'll use him as a Camoranesi replacement... that's the only thing that makes sense to me with that player.

Btw, for Cellino, I think he should not use that money in Cagliari... I'm of the opinion that a team should make money, not get them from deep-sockets chairmans... and everything they spend should come from their own earnings... I'm sick and tired of fans who wants billionares to buy their club and buy random pricy players :\

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

why is Livorno giving the only creative midfielder away? I was talking about the need of an offensive midfielder months ago and now they let candreva go. sometimes, I really want to punch spinelli in the face.

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Well, I think they'll use him as a Camoranesi replacement... that's the only thing that makes sense to me with that player.

7.5 millions for a backup? with a position still to fill in the starting 11? nah i don't think so.
sure they already did something that stupid (when they spent 12 millions to get poulsen, who was supposed to be a backup from the very beginning).... but this time those 7.5 millions will give juve just the 50% of candreva.... the total value of this investment will be over 14 millions.... and that would be really too much of an investment for a backup.
besides juve's management is already talking about candreva as the saviour, hence they clearely don't see him as a backup.

Btw, for Cellino, I think he should not use that money in Cagliari... I'm of the opinion that a team should make money, not get them from deep-sockets chairmans... and everything they spend should come from their own earnings... I'm sick and tired of fans who wants billionares to buy their club and buy random pricy players :\

yeah i agree with that. infact i wasn't suggesting cellino should have spent those money to strenghten cagliari.
i was just remarking how tough it would have been for the fans to accept such a situation (their owner spending that huge ammount of money on another team, rather than using them to strenghten cagliari).

Borrielo, Beckham, Ronaldihno, Nesta & Thiago Silva.... It's not a good time for us to have drawn Milan with the form they're in is it!!

yeah, the timing couldn't be worse indeed, as milan hasn't been so fired up in years. however there are still a few weeks before that draw so everything might happen (not trying to jinx u, milan fans ).

sometimes, I really want to punch spinelli in the face.

u know, i feel the same urge whenever i see spinelli on tv

 

[Aboutreika18]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

So Toni's back and scoring again.

He's still Italy's most clinical finisher but I wonder if he and Totti were to form a useful partnership, would Lippi consider calling either up?

 

[gigimarulla]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

half candreva for 7.5 mln is another great Udinese's affair

 

[DeFrenZ]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

7.5 millions for a backup? with a position still to fill in the starting 11? nah i don't think so.
sure they already did something that stupid (when they spent 12 millions to get poulsen, who was supposed to be a backup from the very beginning).... but this time those 7.5 millions will give juve just the 50% of candreva.... the total value of this investment will be over 14 millions.... and that would be really too much of an investment for a backup.
besides juve's management is already talking about candreva as the saviour, hence they clearely don't see him as a backup.

Sorry, I didn't explain well... my tought is that he was a replacement meaning he'll replace Camoranesi as the latter is often injured and growing old... if Candreva explodes he's gonna be before him in the coach choices and right now with the lack of available midfielders he'll probably have space (heck, Paolucci has space up there too!)

Yeah, Paolucci (even though they paid almost nothing i think) was not a smart move... there are plenty of better young strikers. Marilungo for example

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

u know, i feel the same urge whenever i see spinelli on tv

really strange fella this spinelli is.

so, how much will livorno get from candrevas transfer? (if anything)

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

why is Livorno giving the only creative midfielder away? I was talking about the need of an offensive midfielder months ago and now they let candreva go. sometimes, I really want to punch spinelli in the face.

I read somewhere Cosmi didn't like him too much. Candreva is too offensive for Cosmi's ideas

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Sorry, I didn't explain well... my tought is that he was a replacement meaning he'll replace Camoranesi as the latter is often injured and growing old... if Candreva explodes he's gonna be before him in the coach choices

hmmmm i didn't think about that.... that might make sense, altough it's still a very weird move.
btw how often has camoranesi been out for injury in the past 2 years? coz i just can't seem to remember if he's become an injury prone player or not... and that's obviously pretty important, if that's the reason why candreva was brought in torino.

coz if candreva will actually get to play (at least) 30 matches (as a starter) per season, then that might actually turn out to be a pretty good move by juve.
candreva would have definitely been the most wanted piece on the market this summer (even more than kjaer). he's been considered as one of the hottests italian prospect in the past few years, and this season he pretty much set serie a on fire with is performances, showing a coolness and a consistency u certainly wouldn't expect from such a raw, unexperienced and young talent.
i can't really tell if he's got what it takes to take camoranesi's place. he's definitely unbelievably skilled and he really knows how to put his talent to good use for the team..... but what makes camoranesi unique is not just his skill or his technique. there are tons of skilled wingers around europe, but no one has camoranesi's tactical awareness, no one has his sense of position and no one has his vision.
now candreva is a stunning mezz'ala, but we just can't say yet if he's got those features that makes camoranesi irreplaceable... it's just too early.

in the end a lot will depend by how often camoranesi is injured. coz honestly, that will be the only window for candreva, as there's no chance he might end ahead of camoranesi in the coach's mind..... candreva is an amazing young player (after what he showed this season, the vague expression "hottest prospect" doesn't suit him anymore), but juve has some serious balance issues right now and an offensive player with the tactical awareness of camoranesi is pretty much irreplaceable by anybody, even a stunning young mezz'ala like candreva.

and that's the real concern. we might have a new "gourcouff situation here" a youngster who is unbelievably talented, being forced on the bench by the "legendary" starter.

besides it still makes no sense that, with ledesma available on the market, juventus is spending 7.5 millions for another offensive player.

So Toni's back and scoring again.

He's still Italy's most clinical finisher but I wonder if he and Totti were to form a useful partnership, would Lippi consider calling either up?

lippi definitely would.... and that would be another mistake. when totti is fit (wich doesn't happen very often), he's still one of the very best players on the planet and if toni is really back to his standards (but after just 2 matches, it's still way too early to say) he's definitely starting formation material, for every team in the world....... but there is an important factor to take into account: totti is 34 and toni is 33.... we got to move on!!

we keep complaining about the fact that we have plenty of talented youngsters who just can't seem to get any international experience at all..... but how are they supposed to get any experience if we keep hanging on over 30s senators?

i mean come on, we certainly lack of a game, we don't have a footballing plot right now, but it's not like we lack of talented fowards. with gilardino, cassano, borriello, pazzini, rossi, iaquinta, balotelli..... we certainly don't need to hang on totti and toni.......
but yes, as soon as they'll get a decent streak of good performances, lippi will call them for sure

I read somewhere Cosmi didn't like him too much. Candreva is too offensive for Cosmi's ideas

now i feel like punching both spinelli AND cosmi! oh boy.

anyhow another crazy week end with lots of highly anticipated matches.
juve - roma (ranieri gets back to torino for the first time and candreva will play his first match as a bianconero in one of the most intense matchups in serie a)
palermo - fiorentina
udinese - sampdoria
and tomorrow night inter - milan, the match that might change the history of this season

and finally some serie a market speculations:
- real madrid is preparing a 40 millions bid for de rossi. roma already said they will reject the offer (afterall they already rejected a 60 millions offer from chelsea this summer)
- spurs offered 13 millions for kjaer and apparently bayern munich and man city are right about to present 2 offers (wich should overtop tottenham's one)... as i expected, man utd isn't showing much more than just an "interest" on simon (they don't really need him and all thse rumours about united didn't really make sense).... i'm quite surprised instead that liverpool isn't joining bayern, spurs and city in this auction.
zamparini said chelsea asked about pastore's price, but he replied javier is not on sale (phew! that's a relief!)

 

[Milanista]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

I can't believe its not been mentioned. Chevanton joined Atalanta. I always rated him highly in Serie A. He was a, imo, better and more consistent version of Miccoli.

Anyway... DERBY TOMORROW. I think having Nesta back is key... will help us contain Milito.

About Lippi - I've lost interest in his selections... I'm still too happy about 2006 and right now we are showing far too much confidence in the senators.

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

I've heard somewhere that Livorno are considering buying Freddy Ljungberg (who is now playing in the MSL if i'm not mistaken) as a replacement of Candreva.

About Totti and Toni and the squadra Azzuri. If both are still among the best players on their position, then i think Lippi should play then in South-Africa. You don't begin to swap generations at a World Cup. Now i do agree that Lippi should have brought lots of younger players earlier, but right at the moment it's too late.

Fot what's it worth (nothing really, but it is fun mentioning it). FourFourTwo wrote an article about a World Cup simulation done with the latest issue of Championship Manager and Italy won the World Cup (typically Davide Santon was the player of the tournament).

Like always the team with the best full back will win the WC...

 

[Milanista]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

I don't think Santon will make the team at all. Especially since he has barely played this season and because of his age too. If anything, it will be Zambrotta-Grosso again.

 

[Abhishek]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Ben, Liverpool can't afford Kjaer.

 

[Milanista]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Poor poor Juve....

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

i'm quite surprised instead that liverpool isn't joining bayern, spurs and city in this auction.

Liverpool have some financial problems

zamparini said chelsea asked about pastore's price, but he replied javier is not on sale (phew! that's a relief!)

He's a fox, why sell him this year for X millions when he can sell him in 2011 for double price than this year?

About Lippi - I've lost interest in his selections... I'm still too happy about 2006 and right now we are showing far too much confidence in the senators.

We did exactly the same in 1986: we won in '82, but in '86 we called all senators as "prize" about 4-years-before win... And we all know what we did in '86

 

[DeFrenZ]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

well, Candreva played too little today and he didn't show actually anything, but he gave me the impression that being a starter he would have made the game go quite differently... he played really calmly and simple, just what is needed right now in that midfield (apart from a regista... :\ )... Sissoko too today made the difference, with all that work and mostly being available for passes... every single time he did a pass he went for a run! That was really impressive...
Too bad Chiellini did that mistake going out on dribbling

Oh and Candreva has the chance of becoming like Camo just has to "get" there, yet and Camoranesi lately is getting a bit more injury prone, and even worse inconsistent... the times he's playing good are decreasing. Well he's still quite world class and not SO old, but age is starting to knock... and on a winger it gets quite noticeable

edit: oh, and they didn't pay for Candreva (well, they did but only 0.5M€), since it's on loan with chance for buying half (at 7.5 M€ iirc) so i DO hope they get Ledesma... or if they can even Cigarini or D'Agostino.