Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

[YoungGun_UK]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Disgusting from Totti, Should get a lengthy ban for that I'd say. If Inter win the treble surely we have to give them the same credit as Barcelona as being and labeling them a "Great" side.

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

What I really hated from this match are DIVES!
Damn, I believe in Stadio Olimpico there are snipers!! Someone shot to Materazzi, Motta (a proof is in the video below), Vucinic, Toni, etc.! It's not possible, a so muscular man can't fall so rude after a light foul, there are snipers, of course...

Seriously, I'm really hating these things who killed nowadays football, not it's not the only thing it happened tonight.....Totti's kick was only the cherry on the cake, but what also about Perrotta's angry attitude during all the match? Or Materazzi's fiction after every freekick (especially when he was slighty touched)? Or green laser on Mourinho face? Or Taddei vs Muntari riot just few second before final whistle? Or Mexes who pretended to punch Balotelli (who, incredibly, LAUGHED!! Maybe the first time this year...). Plus the crazy man who was trying to hit Cambiasso (BTW why Cambiasso? I believe Materazzi and Balotelli are much hated, maybe he wanted to hit the first Inter players he saw...if yes, he's really crazy).

Now also "Rosetta" Sensi have something to be ashamed. If Lazio fans didn't respected sports values and sports ethic, Roma players (and a fan) 4 days after didn't do better.

P.S. anyone catch the lazio fans from the Lazio-Inter game with the "SCUDETTO GAME OVER" banner

Me

BTW it seems tonight there were Lazio fans in Stadio Olimpico, supporting Inter I believe it's not a fake image

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

lazio fans just prove that they are a bunch of fascistic idiots who want to see roma fail rather than their own team succeed. what a pity that the ref stole atalantas 2 points last sunday. I would really love to see those racist guys in curva nord celebrating inters goals with only 3 points ahead of atalanta.

 

[PLF]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Not the first time Totti has done such a thing:

YouTube - ROMA-INTER 0-1 ESPULSIONE E FALLACCIO DI TOTTI SU BALOTELLI - FINALE COPPA ITALIA

Captain leading by example!

I hope he gets a good ban for this!

 

[fishball]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

no he wont, he's FIGC's golden boy

 

[cfdh_edmundo]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Wow, that was very bad by Totti, I didnt see the replay of it til now. He's let himself down and his team down, such a needless thing to do with his team 1-0 down, so irresponsible.

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

What I really hated from this match are DIVES!
Damn, I believe in Stadio Olimpico there are snipers!! Someone shot to Materazzi, Motta (a proof is in the video below), Vucinic, Toni, etc.! It's not possible, a so muscular man can't fall so rude after a light foul, there are snipers, of course...

I think Motta was trying to get Taddei sent off. Note how high Taddei's feet went up (he was on a yellow already!) and how high Motta had to jump to evade the challenge. Materazzi is Materazzi (see WC 2006 final), although he did get punched by Mexes the second time round (with a cheeky right hook).

You forgot about that diving-cheating-twat Menez by the way. He should tryout for the french diving team in time for the 2012 olympics. What a joker. And so talented. If only he realized how many goals he could have notched up by now if he just decided to stay on his feet.

what also about Perrotta's angry attitude during all the match?

I've said it all along, he's a dirty trickster, as bad as Materazzi only he wasn't always like. Was once one of my favorite Roma players.

lazio fans just prove that they are a bunch of fascistic idiots who want to see roma fail rather than their own team succeed. what a pity that the ref stole atalantas 2 points last sunday. I would really love to see those racist guys in curva nord celebrating inters goals with only 3 points ahead of atalanta.

Just put yourself in their shoes

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Lol, check this video for Balotelli's first 2010 laugh. It's a mini collection of yesterday's fouls.

YouTube - Inter-Roma Fight Club - tutti i falli della partita - Finale di Coppa Italia 2010

I've said it all along, he's a dirty trickster, as bad as Materazzi only he wasn't always like. Was once one of my favorite Roma players.

To be honest, I believe after yesterday the only Roma player who yesterday deserved respect were De Rossi, Juan, Riise and the goalkeeper.

no he wont, he's FIGC's golden boy

only FIGC?
Check this video, on 0:46 you can see Rome's Mayor who gave a pat on the shoulder of Totti. Did he give that pat on other players? No...
I already wrote a post months ago about Totti and political friends.

YouTube - Inter - Roma 1-0 - Premiazione Finale Tim Cup HQ Rai Sport 5/05/2010 FINALE COPPA ITALIA

@Ernestito
You are from Berlin. If you were from Livorno, you would have done the same against Pisa. It wasn't only "laziali supporting Inter", it was "laziali who HATE romanisti", after romanisti kidded them for 2 weeks. I repeat, Livorno fans would have done the same against territorial rivals like Pisa. After all, Livorno ultras aren't saints, they even criticized Italy NT when they played in Livorno in 2006 (first Donadoni match), “Prima tutti corrotti, poi tutti campioni…esultano i Fratelli d'Italia mentre si riciclano i papponi” do you remember it?
BTW, I believe that image was from Lazio-Inter match, and a Roma fan put it in internet saying "it's from tonight match!". Thinking better, The camera whatched many times Inter supporters and never saw these person with Lazio shirt. I believe they uploaded an old gallery, maybe.

 

[Aboutreika18]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Meh, like the Inter/Barca match, both sides were as bad as each other in terms of gamesmanship.

I felt nearly embarassed watching the match, almost not wanting either team to win.

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

@Ernestito
You are from Berlin. If you were from Livorno, you would have done the same against Pisa. It wasn't only "laziali supporting Inter", it was "laziali who HATE romanisti", after romanisti kidded them for 2 weeks. I repeat, Livorno fans would have done the same against territorial rivals like Pisa. After all, Livorno ultras aren't saints, they even criticized Italy NT when they played in Livorno in 2006 (first Donadoni match), “Prima tutti corrotti, poi tutti campioni…esultano i Fratelli d'Italia mentre si riciclano i papponi” do you remember it?

I know the rivalry between livorno and pisa very well but I would never ever celebrate (lets say) juventus' goals when they play against livorno at the armando picchi and even less when we are not saved from relegation yet. there is a difference between celebrating and "celebrating". If you dont want to see roma as champions then celebrate at home, in the cafe or somewhere else but NOT in your own stadium. this is really poor and I surely wouldnt do the same. anybody who puts the hate towards a rival above the love for the own team should look for a psychologist. rivalry is about kidding so that shouldnt be an excuse. and if the Livornesi would do the same I would criticise them as well.

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

@ Ernestito and Aboutreika18, it's as if the both of you just stumbled upon serie a. Lazio and Inter fans have a lot of history, they were even cheering for us in the infamous "maggio 5" game all those years ago. Is it so difficult to understand that Lazio fans don't want their closest rivals to win Serie A? I mean really. It's not as if by losing to Inter, Lazio would automatically be relegated. If that were the case, then believe me, Lazio fans would be urging their players on.

Nothing extremist or radical took place in these instance, no one was hurt, injured or even killed, so what's the beef? Why do you have nothing to say about the Roma fan who tried to assault Cambiasso? Instead you're mad at Lazio fans for reacting to Totti's thumbs-down gesture (in Totti's defence, Baronio started the whole thing earlier in the season when Roma were in the relegation zone). Just a bit of fun too complement the wonderful game. Harmless.

Although, I bet no one can wait until the next Roma derby I can see a flurry of goals and red cards in that one

Meh, like the Inter/Barca match, both sides were as bad as each other in terms of gamesmanship.

I felt nearly embarassed watching the match, almost not wanting either team to win.

Too each his own. Although, what did Inter do wrong, in either instance?

 

[Leo Bax]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

According to unofficial rumors, it seems Balotelli said Totti "romano di mer*a" or something similar. And today Raiola said Balotelli told him that Totti said to Mario "negro di mer*a".

So Totti accused Balotelli to be racist against Rome people. And Raiola (Balotelli's spokesman) accused Totti to be racist against Balotelli's skin colour. Tonight Totti on his website "wrote" (I doubt he know what "affine" means...) he was never racist and never will be.

My opinion about Totti-Balotelli story is that this seems a poor mans war. The paladin of Roma supporters against the paladin of antiracism in football. The very very bad thing is that the post-match controversy would never be born if Totti had admitted "I was wrong, excuse me, I'm sorry". He didn't do it and now, instead of be ashamed, he's trying to accuse the Roma fans' enemy Balotelli to regain the trust of fans (Moggi-style), but unfortunately Balotelli can let speak Raiola, who is also able to say false things, provided we will talk about Balotelli (I said it in last page). An unfortunate war between poor men.
Last thing, Rosella Sensi didn'y say a single word about it. But she opened his mouth after Lazio-Inter.

EDIT:
rfU check this, Inter (or Lazio ) fans with "OH SIII" banner in match against Roma. There is also the guy with "Scudetto Game Over" banner, who is the same guy with Lazio scarf in the image I posted above

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

this one is much better

 

[Milanista]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

!!!!

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

this one is much better

you wanna tell us non-italians what it says?

 

[Jumbo_]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Something like 'You say oh noooooo, your mother says oh yes' I think.

 

[PLF]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season



Brilliant!

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

exactly, Jumbo! "while you say oh nooo, your mother says oh yeeees"

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Something like 'You say oh noooooo, your mother says oh yes' I think.

quality. Was that at the coppa game?

Just got done reading an article from footballitalia.net titled, "How good is Prandelli?" . A couple of excerpts:

Fiorentina have lost 16 times in Serie A this season and the campaign isn’t over. They lost 12 last term and 10 before that. He [Prandelli] ‘only’ lost 11 with a very modest Verona side in 1999-2000... Of course this Fiorentina was not built to battle for the championship, but Prandelli’s sides in recent times haven’t given the impression that they are hard to breakdown or difficult to beat... With 180 minutes of the campaign remaining, Fiorentina are a massive 17 points behind fourth-placed Sampdoria and out of European football altogether next season. Such an outcome arguably makes them, along with Juventus, the biggest under-achievers of the campaign. And while it may be correct to argue that last term’s Fiorentina was a stronger outfit, they should have more points in the bag than 46 – the same number as promoted minnows Bari and Parma.

Some interesting points, I wonder if Fiore fans feel the same way. It's difficult pin pointing where Prandelli went wrong. Maybe injuries to key players like Gamberini and Zanetti. Then maybe Mutu's ban from football. Could be just bad luck (vs Bayern in the UCL). The unfortunate thing is it may lead to their top players seeking success elsewhere. This is where it get tricky for comparatively small teams in serie a with wafer thin squads, when playing in europe, you will have to forgo a top 7 finish in order to at least reach the group stages.

 

[PLF]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Yeah it's been a season to forget for La Viola.

Things just haven't gone their way. I think 'unlucky' is a term that can be used to describe about 50% of their under-achievement this season. Of course not a 100% of it though, you can't blame bad luck for everything. But yeah it's been a tough season for them and Prandelli.

exactly, Jumbo! "while you say oh nooo, your mother says oh yeeees"

Love it!

Which match is that from?

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

LOL!
yeah in english it would sound pretty much like this "while (at the very same time) u were screaming oh no! your mothers were screaming oh yeah!"

concerning the fiorentina situation, i think Sina used the right word; it's been a tough season.... but tough doesn't mean "bad".

first of, u don't have to consider this season per se. that'd be extremely deceptive. put it into context (namely consider the whole team life cycle). let's take a look at the stages of this growth process.
1st season - reach the 4th spot to get a champions league qualification. that's where palermo is right now in this process.... obviously this is not really the 1st step.... u need to build a team which can get u to the 4th place first (and that's a terrfic feat already).
2nd season - now u have to deal with 3 competitions for the very first time (national cup, league and CL). forget about reaching the 4th spot again... that's almost impossible. your goal for this season will be to have a decent safe season, far enough from the relegation zone. even a 5th or a 6th place is a non realistic goal. i'm telling you, reaching the 7th\8th place during this season is a more impressive result than reaching the 4th spot in the previous season (when u just had to take care of the domestic league).
if u manage to reach a 7th\8th\9th place and avoid to embarass yourself in CL (even tough your team might be better than many other champions league teams, having to deal with midweek matches for the first time, will make it hard for u to beat even teams like cluj or debreceni), then u can be satisfied with your season.
3rd season - since u didn't reach a champions league qualification spot last season, now u just have to worry about the league, so u should try to reach the 4th spot again.
4th season - this time u should try to go through the group stage in champions league, AND, fight to get a 4th place in the domestic league (i'm not saying u have to reach the 4th place, but at least u gotta be in the race for the 4th spot).

that's the ideal growth path of a midclass team. if u manage to achieve all theese seasonal goals, then u've done an amazing job.
fiorentina has always achieved its goals until this season. but to be fair, there's not much u can blame prandelli or the team for. because playing in champions league and remaining competitive in serie a is extremely difficult (and it gets every season more difficult as the other midclass teams get better and better each and every year).
it's already hard enough to compete with so many ambitious clubs (palermo, samp, genoa, napoli, udinese, juventus)........ but it becomes almost impossible to compete with em when they have such a huge advantage on u (teams like palermo, napoli, samp and genoa don't have to worry about european cups).
let's take palermo and samp as examples. this season both teams have been outstanding.... but u can be damn sure next season the team that'll reach the champions league will have an awful season (and by awful i mean ending the season in 12th\15th place and losing against weaker teams in champions league aswell).
so when u compare sampdoria's season so far (4th place) with fiorentina's season (9th place and eight-finals in champions league), well fiorentina's season has been even more impressive than sampdoria's season. we might say that teams like palermo and sampdoria are high-school promising students, while fiorentina is a college (university) student. palermo and samp are doing great, but they shouldn't be considered better teams than fiorentina (regardless what the league table says), coz fiorentina is on a higher stage of the growth process and is dealing with much more difficult challenges than palermo and sampdoria. i wish, in a few seasons, palermo will be right where fiorentina is right now... but it's not gonna be easy.

and finally there's another factor to take into account. fiorentina played without their key asset (almost) all season long. prandelli had to deal with mutu's absence and rebuilt the team on the jovetic-vargas axis. and vargas himself missed part of the season.... not to consider gamberini's injury, which deprived prandelli of the leader of fiorentina's defensive line for more than half of the season.
can u imagine how chelsea would deliver without drogba (mutu) malouda (vargas) and carvalho (gamberini)? and consider also that fiorentina has not the backups and the depth chelsea can count on.

so when u consider all theese factors, u can see fiorentina's season from a correct perspective. and btw let's also remember what a glorious champions league experience fiorentina had this season. they were in a very tough group, with lyon and liverpool and managed to end the group stage in 1st place. they beated liverpool (twice) they beated lyon (a team which beated real madrid and got to the semi-finals) and faced the finalist (bayern) in the eight finals..... and to be honest, many people would probably say they even deserved to win the double matchup versus bayern.
i wouldn't really say fiorentina underachieved this season.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Ben, fantastic post!

And that's EXACTLY what I was hoping for when I wrote my last post. To bait you into writing a description of Riccardo Garrone who I wasn't at all familiar with but now know a lot about thanks to you.

yeah i kinda figured that out wich is why i wrote that post. as for your question (where garrone's money come from), as zeem wrote, they come from oil. garrone is the president of one of the biggest oil companies in europe (erg is the name of the company).

Also, Hernanez is astonishing. Is it true Zamparini was able to "stole" him to Manchester Utd?

as far as i know arsenal was the club competing with us for hernandez (while man utd were competing with us to sign pastore).
---------------------------------------------------------------

moving on TODAY IS THE BIG DAY! palermo-samp is gonna take place in a few hours! it's gonna be a very intense match. palermo has the field advantage (nobody beated palermo in our stadium this season, not even inter or roma)....
but samp has a results advantage. they can draw or win, while we must get the 3 points to get the 4th place. we have what it takes to kick the shit out of any team in the world (in a single match, i mean)..... but then again, samp proved they have that coolness, that composure, that balance required to contain any attack in the world (the coolness and composure they showed against roma last week freaked me out!)
we have pastore and miccoli... they have pazzini and cassano. we have liverani, they have palombo. we have sirigu, they have storari. man, even though our football philosophies couldn't be more different, it's hard to find a more balanced matchup.
FORZA PALERMO!!!!!

rfu, i didn't forget about your pms bro. but i gotta go now.

 

[Ernestito]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Love it!

Which match is that from?

coppa final against inter.

 

[*aLe]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

moving on TODAY IS THE BIG DAY! palermo-samp is gonna take place in a few hours! it's gonna be a very intense match. palermo has the field advantage (nobody beated palermo in our stadium this season, not even inter or roma)....

Too bad it ended this way. You retained your record of not being defeated at home, but now things get really really hard.
It's true that Atalanta won't be much of a trouble for you (they're already relegated unfortunately, and anyway there's no match between Palermo and Atalanta) but it's also true that Napoli hasn't much to fight for anymore either as they are 4 points above Juventus.
Good luck, guys.. I wish you could make it anyway!!

On a different note:

There are teams (e.g. Genoa) that already are on holiday.. This doesn't mean that they'll lay back for sure (well, Genoa did it but it's not like EVERY team is doing the same), but that they're not willing to give 110% and maybe risk injuries or bans for nothing.. [...]
Still, I think that the likes of Genoa [...] are a little laid down currently and are already looking forward to the next season.

The last famous words. Milan managed to LOSE against Genoa today, what a disgrace Milan has become!!

Talking about the fight for the Scudetto, Roma today showed clearly they have nothing more to give: today they struggled against Cagliari which seemed nowhere near being the good team they were until 3 months ago. Indeed, Cagilari didn't win any of their last 12 matches.
Roma reached the end of their run and will probably be in deep trouble against Chievo (that managed to scare also Inter fans today).
Inter, unfortunately, apart from some defensive blackouts seemed in a much better form than Roma.

As I said before, 12th match in a row without a win for Cagliari. This must hurt!!

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

i wouldn't really say fiorentina underachieved this season.

From the point of view of a mid-table team, perhaps, but it was Prandelli who said he was trying to build a championship winning team (remember his seven year plan to win the scudetto?). Could be he was a tad too naive but perhaps that's the problem. Prandelli needs to decide, and quickly, what is realistic for Fiore. IMO they should emulate Roma, aim for a top 4 finish, a group stage finish in the UCL, and a coppa final. And they need fill their squad with more quality to complement their star players. You're not going to get far with Gobbi and Kroldrup in your starting 11. They could make more of an effort to get quality players on loan deals (Iaquinta and De Cegile from Jugay) and one or two star players from serie B bound teams (Maccarone and Ekdal from Siena, Guarente and Padoin from Atalanta). No more injury prones and unknowns (Mario Bolatti, Felipe, Ljajic, Keirrison and Harris Seferovic) who can't even make the bench.

As for today's results... I only managed to watch 20-25 minutes of the Palermo-Samp, as the inter-chievo match up was too good to pass up, especially with Roma down 1-0 (up until the 70 minute). Chievo always give us a hard time:

2006/07 Inter - Chievo 4-3
2008/09 Inter - Chievo 4-2

So this result is hardly a surprise. We played some good football, scored some nice goals (check out our 2nd goal), we completely dominated but as we often do, we wrote off Chievo too soon. They're even deadlier at home, I wonder how Roma will manage.

Oh, and thanks for ruining 18th scudetto party Totti, you little...

The Palermo-Samp was kind of boring, unless you're a fan of either I suppose. Too tense. That Samp penalty was avoidable, if only Sirigu stood his ground and allowed Pazzini to run into a tight angle. What of Miccoli's injury (knee/ankle)? Would be a shame to lose him on the final day. Going back quickly to Fiore, and what lo zio was saying in the above post, perhaps nabbing that 4th spot isn't so ideal for either team. I don't know how much money there is to be awarded compared with finishing 5-7th, but in my opinion neither team is equipped to handle champions league football. Sampdoria really lack the quality (lucchini and gastaldello as your starting CBs... forget it!) and Palermo (in Pastore, Hernandez, Cavani and Kjaer) the experience. For me it's the equivalent of deciding to ride a bike before you've even learnt how to walk (or even crawl).

if u manage to reach a 7th\8th\9th place and avoid to embarass yourself in CL... then u can be satisfied with your season.

I agree, but we've seen what happened to Fiore and last season, Udinese. Was it worth it? For me no, I would rather make a serious go for the UEFA Cup, try and win it even because right now, I don't see Palermo losing to either Fulham or Atletico Madrid. I still haven't figured out why you're so anti-Uefa Cup, Ben. It's a good way to build up experience, capability and competence. You see, I'm a Dortmund fan (my 1st love) and this is what I wished for, 5th spot and a uefa cup place, and I see us making a lot of progress in the following seasons (we have a good mixture of youth and experience). For me, this is the ideal way to go for any mid-table team. Rather than taking the plunge and losing 10-0 to Barcelona at home in the group stages.

The last famous words. Milan managed to LOSE against Genoa today, what a disgrace Milan has become!!

haha, that'll teach you to underestimate serie a. Even us today vs Chievo, Roma with Cagliari, Juve with Parma I try to only celebrate after the final whistle because I know these mid-table teams don't fuck about

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Too bad it ended this way. You retained your record of not being defeated at home, but now things get really really hard.

yeah, it's almost over now. samp is gonna play at home versus napoli next week. napoli is a fantastic team and they could definitely beat or draw with samp, but not now, not at this point. samp is one heartbeat from champions league now, they'll play their last match at home and they're just too good, focused and determined to screw this up. oh well congrats to them. they managed not to lose in palermo so, if they will win next week, they will deserve the 4th spot.

The Palermo-Samp was kind of boring, unless you're a fan of either I suppose. Too tense

yep. it was our worst performance at home this season. i've never seen my kids so scared on the pitch. they just couldn't play their usual football. but that shouldn't really be much of a surprise, to be honest. if anything, we should be surprised such a young and unexperienced team showed such consistancy till today. if we think about our goals at the beginning of the season... well we were supposed to be a very nice team to watch; entertaining, unpredictable, but definitely not consistant. and yet look at where we are right now, fighting for a place in champions league.
however it would be unfair and extremely disrespectful to sampdoria to say we lost just coz we didn't play our usual football. that's about the lamest thing a fan may say (and lots of fans usually say that whenever their team lose). the truth is, if we weren't able to play our usual football it was also coz of sampdoria's stunning performance. they were simply perfect (rfu, why don't u like lucchini and gastaldello? they've been great all season long!). so hats off to sampdoria.

From the point of view of a mid-table team, perhaps, but it was Prandelli who said he was trying to build a championship winning team (remember his seven year plan to win the scudetto?).

but fiorentina actually is a midclass team mate. nevermind the "long term proclaims" about fiorentina competing for the scudetto. that's never gonna happen. fiorentina adhere to the same "economically sustainable football" philosophy i mentioned when i talked about samp and palermo. their only way to reach inter would be by spending as much money as inter does. and (fortunately) that's never gonna happen. fiorentina's REAL project is to become something in between: more than a midclass club like palermo and less than a top club like inter (wich is exactly what u said when u remarked they should emulate roma) and they already managed to achieve this goal.

Going back quickly to Fiore, and what lo zio was saying in the above post, perhaps nabbing that 4th spot isn't so ideal for either team. I don't know how much money there is to be awarded compared with finishing 5-7th, but in my opinion neither team is equipped to handle champions league football.

neither team is equipped to win CL.... but both team deserve to be there. if i had to name wich teams all around europe played better than palermo and samp this season, i would come up with 8, 9 clubs (tops). and that's definitely enough to earn u a place in CL. plus most of the teams that will play in the next champions league are nowhere near as good as palermo and samp (let's be fair the only teams which are clearely better than palermo and samp are EPL's first 3 clubs, la liga's first 2 clubs bundi's first 2 clubs, bordeaux and lyon).
playing in champions league would obviously mean screwing up our domestic league performance, but that happens to most of the clubs which play in champions league (except the top clubs)... just look at what happened to bordeaux this season.
besides having a disgraceful season is a sacrifice u're willing to face, in order to get CL related money.

I agree, but we've seen what happened to Fiore and last season, Udinese. Was it worth it? For me no, I would rather make a serious go for the UEFA Cup, try and win it even because right now, I don't see Palermo losing to either Fulham or Atletico Madrid. I still haven't figured out why you're so anti-Uefa Cup, Ben.

of course it was worth it. the visibility and the money u get from champions league easily makes up for the bad performances. u see, for a midclass club, it's not about winning a cup (if that would be the case, then europa league would be much better for us).... it's mostly a financial matter. let me make an example
palermo gets the champions league spot. we get kicked out of it at the group stage (not coz we're not good enough, but coz we're not used to deal with multiple competitions). we get 35 million euros! that's what a champions league group stage is worth (tv rights, sponsorships, uefa money). of course we wouldn't be able to cash all of it. about 6 millions would go in our players pockets (benefits for the 4th place), that would still leave us about 30 millions to spend. that would allow us to keep all our stars and to raise their value. right now kjaer is worth 14 million euros.... if we would play those group stage matches, the whole world would see what kjaer is about and his value would easily jump to 18. and the same goes for the likes of pastore and hernandez, of course.

but what happens if we end in 5th place? europa league. how much is europa league worth? from 3 millions (if u get out at the group stage) to 10 millions (if u win the damn cup)! that's it. 3 millions will vanish in benefits for the players.... then we should buy more players to increase our depth and allow us to face both the cup and the league. but of course we will not be able to get another pastore or another kjaer or another miccoli. our new players won't ever be as good as our starters (wich means we'll have a bad season anyway) and they will also cause us a whole new set of dressing room problems. coz if u reach the final, then u'll play enough midweek matches to have some rotation and make everyone happy. but what if u don't get that far? u won't be able to give the new players the playtime they need (and they'll obviously complain about it), u will still stress your starters much more than u would have done if u would have had to play the domestic league only..... u will still have an awful season..... and u won't even get a cent (coz u'll burn all those few millions u get from being in europa league in signing players u wouldn't even need if u wouldn't be playing that fucking competition!!!

oh, and of course u should also consider the fact that we wouldn't be able to raise our players value (europa league's visibility is ridiculous) .... not to mention the fact it would be much more complicated to hold our stars in the first place (pastore and hernandez are definitely gonna stay, but kjaer may leave if we won't make it to the champions league).

i guess that's enough reason to hate this damn cup. infact u know what really pisses me off? it wouldn't be the end of the world if we wouldn't reach champions league... i mean it's been a great season and i'm really happy i got the chance to watch palermo this season as we were a marvel. i could accept not to play in any european cup at all. yeah it's a shame to come so close to champions league and miss it, but hey i certainly can't complain after such a glorious season. we were able to put some very good clubs like napoli, genoa and fiorentina behind us... and having to deal with the league alone would allow us to have another great season next year.......
but no, since we ended up 5th we must play in europa league.... wich means we'll get no money at all, no real visibility, and still face the same troubles we would have faced if we would have reached a champions league spot. damn i can't stress enough how much i hate europa league! it's not just worthless, it's a disgrace.

sorry for the longest post guys. i didn't realise it was THIS long until i finished to write it

 

[rfU]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Hmm, hadn't realized there was that significant a difference between champions league money and UEFA cup money. I see your point now. You're also right about the level of exposure. I think I've watched 3 Uefa cup games this season (I will watch the final though, my first in many years). But it all seems rather short-sighted. You're already preparing for life after Kjaer and Pastore (it is the most likely of outcomes, I guess) but it would be great to see one of these mid-table teams formulate some kind of strategy, kind of like Fiore (minus the "scudetto winning" part). Rather than settling on being a B-team, 'feeder' club, but show some ambition. Is a UEFA cup final unrealistic for Palermo? I think Dortmund can manage as much and then build on its successes, maintain its position in the standing among the top 4 or 5. But that's a just a preference. It would probably be better to play for the money but so long as it isn't wasted (see Fiorentina )

(rfu, why don't u like lucchini and gastaldello? they've been great all season long!).

Too many Doh! moments for me. If it wasn't for Castellazzi... Where is Accardi by the way? He was quality, a bit light, but an assured presence at the back.

By the way, I've given up predicting, and thrown my crystal ball out the window. It's just to difficult. Shame about Palermo, but great news is you may end up facing Dortmund in Uefa cup

What happened in the Juve-Parma match in the 1st half? I was watching a highlight and saw Del Piero having a word with some fans. What was that about?

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Too bad

 

[gerd]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Too bad Palermo couldn't win that decisive match.
Very fair comment from Ben (as always)....when their team loose a match most fans will point out that their team "wasn't as good as usual". Of course if their team is not as good as usual this is most of the times the merit of the opposing team.

 

[fd1972uk]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Hope Roma do it, but can't see it, although not sure of the final fixtures.


FD

 

[lo zio]

Re: Serie A Thread - 2009/10 Season

Too bad Palermo couldn't win that decisive match.

yep, it's a shame to get so close to champions league and miss it in the final week of the season. i can't complain about anything anyhow... this has been an amazing season and even just competing for the 4th spot made me experience feelings that, being a palermo fan, i never experienced before. it's been a great ride.
besides, as they say, it's not over until it's over, samp still has to beat napoli next week, even a draw between napoli and samp would allow palermo to snatch the 4th place back
the atmosphere at the stadium was just awesome yesterday.... i don't know how many of u watched it, but it was great even from the tv (i recorded the match) my uncle came from napoli and i brought him to the stadium... he was amazed by the crowd (he said he never saw an entire stadium in pink.. LOL!).
that's the pre-match video. the coreography shows up after a few minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErME18VCjYY
pazzini said the crowd was so loud he couldn't even hear cassano, who was standing right next to him
the post match was great aswell, with the samp fans applauding to palermo fans and palermo fans applauding to the samp fans... when u think how important the match was for both sides, it's really nice to see such fair play.

but it would be great to see one of these mid-table teams formulate some kind of strategy, kind of like Fiore (minus the "scudetto winning" part). Rather than settling on being a B-team, 'feeder' club, but show some ambition

we do have a long term project mate. and a good one! u don't get to build such a team, play such football get a 5th place in serie a without a project.
i can understand that from an "inter fan perspective" it doesn't seem to be such a big deal, but this is certainly not a feeder club or a b-class team. we've done better than many great teams this season and that's something we should be proud and grateful.

keep in mind that i (like any other palermo fan) spent half of my life supporting a serie c\serie b team. it took years of work from palermo to get where we are right now

Is a UEFA cup final unrealistic for Palermo?

of course not, we're certainly good enough to get there (in theory). but europa league (or uefa cup), like champions league, is a cup competition, wich means the luck factor is huge: u can kick the crap out of a much better team, and then lose against a weaker opponent at the very next stage, just coz you're worried about your upcoming serie a fixture.
to be honest, i can't see us getting far in europa league, simply coz we couldn't care less about it. at the end of the day, getting a 4th place in serie a is much more important (and profitable) than winning the cup, so we'll obviously focus on the league rather than the cup.
btw let's stop talking about palermo in europa league. it's not over yet!!!

on a different note, totti got a 4 matches ban for that disgusting kick to balotelli. fair enough.