Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread

milan - napoli was really a nice match to watch. a good display from both teams..... but also many mistakes...(but afterall mistakes are vital, talking about entertaining).

milan's tridente was quite weird, actually, but, what the hell, they scored 5, so it must have been a good idea, afterall.:mrgreen:

many teams in italy are playing with a tridente lately; palermo, fiorentina, catania, udinese.... but all those tridente are very "mobile", very dynamic, with the wings continuously moving backwards to give a helping hand at midfield..... wich is something u would never expect from ronaldo and kakà (and after seeing the match i'd say from pato too, as this guy has to stay deep)...
and in fact it didn't happen.
So, during non-possession phases, milan played with 3 men less. that's the reason why they suffered so much at midfield, imo. Sure Ambrosini was under his standards, but we also have to say there were just 3 of them (him, pirlo and seedorf), dealing with hamsik, bogliacino, gargano, cupi and garics..... not an easy game :)

another difference is that all the tridente formations in italy are composed by 2 wings\advanced midfielders and 1 foward. wich of course guarrantees a bit of coverage at midfield....
while this tridente is composed by 2 pure strikers and an advanced midfielder.

imo milan can't afford this formation at the moment. maybe if they would play with 3 pure defensive midfielders down there (something like gattuso, emerson and ambrosini)....
but i don't know how fit is emerson.. and btw who could ever be so crazy to put out of the starting 11 pirlo? and seedorf? (who was great sunday night!).

with this formation ancelotti can open the opposite defences pretty easily, creating holes and openings for kakà annd seedorf (and i have to say i loved to see ronaldo and pato staying so wide)...... but, talking about balance, this solution won't work....... unless milan will score 5 goals every week (coz playing this way i can see many teams scoring twice against milan, as napoli did yesterday).

with those 3 guys upfront milan can keep the opposite defences deep in their own territory.... but they also encourage the opponents to play a counter attack tactic.... and sunday night we saw how deadly counters can be against this milan.

About Maldini, u're right Ste, he was poor..... but we can't expect anything more from him nowadays. i guess he kept playing for another season just to lift the supercup and the world cup. Neither i think we'll see him very often (i would be surprised if he would play more than 6 matches, from here to the end of the season).
Moreover Lavezzi sure is not the easiest opponent to face, considering paolino's knees and back problems.
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little note about lavezzi:
he has been very, very good so far this season. but i don't know if he is the best "new player in serie a" this season. There are many rookies in serie a who are doing great, like halfredsson (reggina), Inler (udinese), Martinez (catania), marchisio (empoli), rubinho (genoa), cigarini (parma)..... and we also can't forget about 2 lavezzi's teammates: gargano and hamsik.
if i would have to pick the best one among theese guys, i'd go for cigarini and hamsik. Lavezzi is a nice player, but also a bit inconstant. moreover since the italian coaches started to strategize against him, his impact on the matches dropped off a bit.
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getting back to the match, the most beautiful surprises sunday night were probably ronaldo and pato.
ronaldo was just unbelievable. he played 2 matches in past 8 months. he had so many injury problems that not even milan-lab was able to heal him. he was able to join milan's training sessions just 10 days ago!!!! i wonder what will he do when he'll be fit!!! 4 goals in 2 matches, with almost no trainin and after being out for 8 months. just unbelievable.
he became a legend for his speed, for his acceleration, for his agile legs, his dribblings and his brutal changes of pace.
today his legs don't allow him to do the same things he used to do years ago. Another player would still try to do those things btw (with no success, of course). he instead realized it; he understoood his body is not the same anymore and he changed his football consequently to his body change. and he's now showing us he also has an unbelievable ball control, a great touch, an awesome vision (:shock:). he's not a striker anymore, he's a ss... a great ss!
i didn't watch pelè enough to properly rate him, but i honestly can't imagine how he could have been better than ronaldo.

talking about Pato, i'd say we should wait to express a fair judjement about his potential. at the end of the season we'll probably know what he's really about.
but 1 thing is for sure: u can't do the things he did sunday, if u don't have something special. and i'm not talking about "potential abilities". i'm talking about actual, already existing abilities; touch, positioning, awareness. really impressive.
i honestly didn't expect him to do anything special sunday. there was too much pressure on him.

afterall he's just an 18 years old kid who never played in serie a. he has been waiting for sunday for 6 months. Milan fans waited him for 6 months. there were 70.000 people at san siro waiting to see him playing (for those who have never been inside an italian stadium, 70.000 italian fans are like 200.000 english fans, talking about presence, passion and noise.....even if milanese fans are probably the most "british-style" fans in italy).
moreover in the past 6 months everybody, from berlusconi to ancelotti, from tassotti to the players, talked about what a great player he is, increasing the hype around him and the pressure on him.
nontheless he looked totally cool and confident on the pitch. he didn't look scared at all. sure he has a great personality for a 18 years old kid!

Don said:
I also want to point out that Napoli were a walkover yesterday, their offensive play made it too easy for Milan.
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i'd say napoli looked pretty balanced and "short" till milan's third goal. then the team got "stretched", trying to score one more time, and this helped milan a lot.
u have to understand Don, that there is an historic rivalry between milan and napoli. this match is a "classic". napoli fans had huge expectations from this match and so, when the team was loosing 3-2 the players HAD to show they were doing their best to get a draw.
but "impetus" is the first enemy of "balance", so...:roll:

Moreover sunday napoli was missing Blasi, who is the most important piece of napoli's puzzle. Bogliacino and Gargano push a lot and without blasi behind them, napoli looses a "benchmark player" at midfield.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

lo zio said:
i'd say napoli looked pretty balanced and "short" till milan's third goal. then the team got "stretched", trying to score one more time, and this helped milan a lot.
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I can't agree.
There was a reason, why Napoli already conceded thrice, and it wasn't just due to Milan's brilliant attack. My man of the first half was Pirlo. He could just stroll right through Napoli's midfield and he had all the time and space in the world to supply the forwards. Seedorf as well had so much space to manouver in, e.g. his assist for Ronaldo's second. Look how easily Seedorf came to the ball when he scored that rebound, despite being surrounded by so many defenders. In that same move, where Pato got the ball twice, while being completely outnumbered. Same thing when Ronaldo scored. A brilliant assist by Pirlo(who for me is perhaps Milan's best player, despite those big names upfront), but again.. acres of space to do his thing.

Napoli's pushing forward made for a great match, but it was also suicidal.

If you look at the teams Milan struggled to beat this season, it was against opponents who came to the San Siro with a defensive attitude. Teams kept the pitch small and closed down the spaces quickly. Nullified the midfield support.

If look at Milan vs Siena, Parma, Empoli, Torni, Juventus.. They all went wrong for Milan, because the latter teams managed to keep it tight. Napoli did the exact opposite like Lazio and Sampdoria and subsequently got their asses handed to them.

lo zio said:
u have to understand Don, that there is an historic rivalry between milan and napoli. this match is a "classic". napoli fans had huge expectations from this match and so, when the team was loosing 3-2 the players HAD to show they were doing their best to get a draw.
but "impetus" is the first enemy of "balance", so...:roll:
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Yes sure, but sometimes(quite often actually) a coach should choose cynisicm and realism above sentimentalism.

lo zio said:
Moreover sunday napoli was missing Blasi, who is the most important piece of napoli's puzzle. Bogliacino and Gargano push a lot and without blasi behind them, napoli looses a "benchmark player" at midfield.
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Yes sure, but that's even more reason why Napoli's gameplan was foolish.



I agree about Hamisk by the way, incredible youngster.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

wow Don, u should write theese kind of posts more often! it was a pleasure to read it, many good points :D;)

actually u're right about napoli leaving too much space to milan players. in fact what i meant to say is that till the 3rd goal napoli was still trying to play "reasonable football" (maybe the word "balanced" was a bit too much).
after the third goal they totally lost control.

Napoli's pushing forward made for a great match, but it was also suicidal.

If you look at the teams Milan struggled to beat this season, it was against opponents who came to the San Siro with a defensive attitude. Teams kept the pitch small and closed down the spaces quickly. Nullified the midfield support.

If look at Milan vs Siena, Parma, Empoli, Torni, Juventus.. They all went wrong for Milan, because the latter teams managed to keep it tight. Napoli did the exact opposite like Lazio and Sampdoria and subsequently got their asses handed to them.
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absolutely agree with u mate ;)


Yes sure, but sometimes(quite often actually) a coach should choose cynisicm and realism above sentimentalism.
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i'd say always! and reja is a very cynic coach. but u also have to think about the fans going at the training ground during the week complaining about the defensive attitude during th match.
The supporters are a very influent factor in napoli :roll:

moreover many napoli players are still pretty young and not really tactically disciplined (i'm thinking to hamsik, gargano, bogliacino, etc...), so i guess they just let passion overwhelm them and stopped following reja's directives.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

lo zio said:
wow Don, u should write theese kind of posts more often! it was a pleasure to read it, many good points :D;)
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Thanks mate, but you're not the only one who has a life now and then ;).

lo zio said:
actually u're right about napoli leaving too much space to milan players. in fact what i meant to say is that till the 3rd goal napoli was still trying to play "reasonable football" (maybe the word "balanced" was a bit too much).
after the third goal they totally lost control.

absolutely agree with u mate ;)
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Fair enough, I suppose. The timing of Milan's third goal was very lousy for Napoli. It was naieve to immediately go all out, trying to fix it though. And they indeed lost control. Which ties in to:
lo zio said:
moreover many napoli players are still pretty young and not really tactically disciplined (i'm thinking to hamsik, gargano, bogliacino, etc...), so i guess they just let passion overwhelm them and stopped following reja's directives.
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lo zio said:
i'd say always! and reja is a very cynic coach. but u also have to think about the fans going at the training ground during the week complaining about the defensive attitude during th match.
The supporters are a very influent factor in napoli :roll:
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I understand. The napoli fans were great though in Milan, especially in the first half. The chunk of supporters were the loudest in San Siro.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

Don Domenico said:
I understand. The napoli fans were great though in Milan, especially in the first half. The chunk of supporters were the loudest in San Siro.
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This is to be expected. Napoli is the most energetic city in all of Italy, the place has a wonderful history, passionate proud people with a love of football, and great fans who really know how to support a team! You know Rome, Milano, Venezia are all great places with nice people and lots of culture, but Napoli is the true beating heart of Italy.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

cfdh_edmundo said:
This is to be expected. Napoli is the most energetic city in all of Italy, the place has a wonderful history, passionate proud people with a love of football, and great fans who really know how to support a team! You know Rome, Milano, Venezia are all great places with nice people and lots of culture, but Napoli is the true beating heart of Italy.
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\\:o/
amen brotha! ;)
 
Re: Serie A Thread

ok, so Toni now plays for inter and changed his skin colour....
but why he has got "balotelli" written on his shirt?:-k
:lol:

hope u guys are watching juve - inter. what a hell of a match!!!
 
Re: Serie A Thread

I think Pato-Gilardino can work. Pato seems to enjoy dribbling out wide or moving wide, so he attracts defenders, especially because he is creative, so they mark him more, opening more space for Gilardino. I think Pato's arrival means Gilardino has more space to shine, and might be able to start scoring again.
 
Re: Serie A Thread

The problem I have with Ranieri is that he doesn't try anything new. Anyone can put the players in the positions that suits their most prominent foot. Everyone is just put in their places. We soak up the pressure and try to hit on the break, the opposition has most of the possesion.

Why not try Iaquinta in right midfield like when Lippi played him for Italy, this would push Camoranesi into the center so we can try create through the middle. We always just play the wings because we have no creative player in the middle.
Iaquinta on right wing, Camo in the middle, Trez up front with Ale. Drop Nocerino and Salihamidzic.

Anyone can do what Ranieri does, pick the players for their positions and the strength of the club will have us hopefully finish third.
I acknowledge he's doing the job he was asked to do, get us into the CL, but Ranieri will never win the scudetto in the future, he lacks the tactical vision.
Pay him his 2m in the summer, get Lippi in and spend some cash on big players, Del Piero can't carry us forever.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread

italia - portugal...... what a great match by both teams!!!:D
a real pleasure to watch.
hope u guys 'r watching it ;)


Milanista said:
Ben - Rai is rubbish in terms of international coverage.
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:(
i can't stand those rai bastards, Ste!


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Martin my friend, if i have to be honest, i don't share your feelings about ranieri. actually i think he's doing a great job, guiding juve beyond any expectations. u say that ranieri was asked to reach a champions league qualification spot for this season. but i don't think this was the minimun target for juve management this season. juve's aim was to fight for that spot, not to reach it.
now it seems that juve will be able to mantain their position till the end of the season. but this 3rd place is a big "overachievement", wich was due to ranieri's abilities and to some other circumstances (like fiorentina's and milan's unconstant results).

anyway ranieri deserves credit for what juve did so far. we have to keep in mind that this juve is almost a brand new team. Almost the whole "spine" of the team has been changed (the cbs couple and the central midfielders couple). There are some players who came from another league, there are many youngsters who are experiencing serie a with a top club for the first time. Andrade and tiago didn't even speak italian till a couple of months ago.

moreover during theese months ranieri also had to face some serious tacitcal challenges, coz of the injuries (andrade, marchionni and camoranesi missed many matches)..... and it must have been really hard for ranieri to find a solution to theese problems, coz, honestly juve roster doesn't have the same quality and depth inter, roma and fiorentina have ;).

let's face it, the real value added in juve are buffon, trezeguet and del piero. if u take them off and compare juve roster to milan, fiorentina, inter and roma, u'll realize theese teams are simply stronger.
moreover theese teams have a very solid football imprint. inter, milan roma and fiorentina play with the same coach since years, their starting 11 core is composed by players who have been there for many years, and they are improving each year by making slight adjustements...... well except milan maybe.

a couple of weeksa ago Ranieri said something very true. talking about the top teams he said "we can be compared to teams like milan, inter, roma, fiorentina (but i'd say also to teams like lazio and palermo), because they're working on their project since many years. we instead are still creating that project. it's like building a house. Milan, inter, roma and fiorentina are putting the flowers over the balcony, while we are still raising the foundations"

so watching juve fighting with theese teams, despite the big gap between juve and them, can give u a pretty good image of the great job ranieri did so far.

u say that ranieri isn't trying anything new... but there are many reasons for this.
first of all juve is still a new creature... and, as they say, first u have to learn how to walk, the u learn how to run.

everybody is giving mancini credit for his tactical inventions (chivu as internal left midfielder, zanetti as internal right midfielder, cambiasso as advanced midfielder, the growth of jimenez, rivas etc...)
but those inventions were allowed by the fantastic roster mancini has. he has 2 top class players for each role, and many of them are really versatile, they are good with both foot and can play in different roles.
ranieri instead does't have such a rich and versatile roster.

u talk about lining up camo as central midfielder and putting iaquinta on the side...... but this would mean putting 2 players out of their natural roles!.

Iaquinta is a very versatile player (one of the few versatile juve players) and sure he can play in that position.... but just in some situations... coz he's not a side player.... neither a wing. he's a striker who can cause havoc in the opposite defense, when the opponents are getting tired (and that's why lippi put him in that role just when the matches were about to end), but he will always tend to cut on the centre, stealing vital spaces to trezegol and del piero, and leaving big holes oon the side behind him.

Camoranesi too is a pretty versatile player and he can play at the centre. but if u line him up as cetral midfielder, then he will have to take care of the defensive phase too (wich is not exactly his strong side). when he plays on the side instead he's free to do what he does best, dribbling the opponent, creating "3 vs 2" situations and providing assist. his "assisting ability" would be very limitated if he would have to play on the centre (wich means 10 meters behind his usual position).... and sure he couldn't provide the coverage zanetti and nocerino provide.

u complain about the lack of creativity juve is showing this season... and that's true. but we also have to consider that camoranesi has been injured for quite a lot of time. And we also have to consider the 2 big flops, tiago and almiron. they were supposed to bring quality in juve's midfield, but they failed. Honestly ranieri gave them their chances bit it just didn't work.

so, having just 2 other central midfielders in the roster, ranieri didn't have many choices. he could have put camo on the centre, but, as i said, this would have mean loosing a lot of quality and unpredictability upfront.
afterall juve has never been a "silky football team". they have always been a "muscular team", even during platini and zidane days. But nowadays u don't have a platini, neither a zidane... and that's pretty normal, as last year u were playing in serie b. in a few years juve will strenghten the team, by making those slight adjustements teams like roma, inter and fiorentina made in the past few years, and juve will fill the gap....
but as ranieri said, u have to raise the foudations, before putting the flowers at the balcony ;)

juve is building a new legacy now. give them time (and by time i mean "yearS"), they will get back to the top of europe with ranieri in charge.
ranieri is a master in "building lagacies". just look at what he did in valencia and chelsea.... look at what he did in parma last season ;)
 
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Re: Serie A Thread

Milanista said:
Anyone watch the Italy game? I heard it was a great performance by the Azzurri.
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it was FANTASTIC! pirlo, amelia, quagliarella, di natale, oddo, gamberini.... they were simply amazing!!!!
the coolness the team showed was stunning

90 minutes of pure entertainment :)
 
Re: Serie A Thread

How did the non-regulars play? Gamberini was great against Milan last week. Quagliarella has already proven to be a good scorer for Italy, did you see him against Lithuania???
 
Re: Serie A Thread

Milanista said:
How did the non-regulars play? Gamberini was great against Milan last week. Quagliarella has already proven to be a good scorer for Italy, did you see him against Lithuania???
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yep. actually i think this is one of the strongests sides of italy. our "b-team" is as strong as our regular starting formation.

Di natale, quaglia, ambrosini, barzagli and amelia were simply fantastic and they proved they deserve a spot in our formation. theese guys would be starters in almost any other national team in the world :applause:

and most of the credit goes to donadoni, who always changed the game system, according to the players he lined up. he gave us confidence and courage, and by watching our guys u can clearely see they know how good they are.

i knew donadoni was a great coach, talking about the tactical aspect, but i had some worries about his "leading abilities", till a couple of months ago....
well he proved me sooo wrong! :D

and when u think to all those youngsters who will join the starting team in the next few years..... palladino, pazzini, montolivo, gamberini, marchisio, giovinco, cannavaro junior......
the future is bright for this team \\:o/:8):
 
Re: Serie A Thread

Milanista said:
Giuseppe Rossi :D, and soon pallone d'oro Paloschi ;)
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yeah, i forgot rossi... but afterall there are so many promising youg guys :)

paloschi and balotelli too look quality... but i think it's still to early to say what kind of players thy will become ;)

OUCH I ALSO FORGOT AQUILANI, PASQUAL, RAGGI and ROSINA!!!!!!
 
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Re: Serie A Thread

Milanista said:
Oh, I almost forgot, how was Borriello?

TG5 say that Pirlo was man of the match... I just saw his cancelled goal!
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Pirlo was on another planet! he played 10 meters ahead his usual position.... but he was everywhere spreading his "magic" all along the pitch for the whole match. fantastic.
he really deserve to be considered one of our best central midfielders ever!
and sure he deserves a mention as world's best, among with kakà, c, ronaldo, sergio ramos and ibra.

Borriello too was really good. he almost scored :)
if i was galliani, i would call him back to milan next season... if he will keep playing like he did so far this season, he might coming really handy to ancelotti ;)
 
Re: Serie A Thread

Milanista said:
...and soon pallone d'oro Paloschi ;)
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well i don't know if he'll become balon d'or worthy..... but soon he scored!

20 seconds to score his first goal in serie a... sticazzi!:shock:
and it was a very beautiful shot too :D
 
Re: Serie A Thread

that goal was crazy! almost spat out my food while eating dinner lol...

maybe he was too fired up playing along side his idol pippo! hehe
 
Re: Serie A Thread

Don Domenico said:
Napoli's pushing forward made for a great match, but it was also suicidal.
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But this is Napoli, they play a great cavalier system. It's always push push push. They go for the knock out every time, it's great football to watch. Lavezzi and Hamsik are great players. They are like two massive engines pushing a cosmonaut to the edge of space - noone knows where it will go or if it will work but it's great to watch. What a team !! What players!!! Some players and teams are born with greatness and Napoli is one of those teams, it's one of those cities!
 
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