Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
yeah, to be honest, i'm not that fired up about roma aswell. i'm not saying they're gonna disappoint, i'm just saying i can't find many reasons to be optimistic SO FAR.
the squad is definitely not improving... at least not yet. i hope this new owners are gonna spend some money to raise the level of the team, but so far that level went down if anything.
as promising as those 3 new signings might be (and as Sina remarked "promising" can be a nasty and dangerous word), what we know for sure is that roma lost
menez, mexes and vucinic (vucinic's deal is almost official). that means they already lost 3 of their most important players.
i mean let's be honest, in last year's roma (borriello, totti, menez, vucinic) bojan would have never been a starter. actually nevermind being a starter, he would have never even set foot on the pitch, not even as a sub. the fact that he might become a starter in this roma gives u an idea of how weaker this team is, compared to last season's roma.
and then there's all the fuss about luis enrique. now i understand a new coach who is coming from nowhere (this is his first "serious" working experience) is something that generates some excitement and curiosity. but there's a difference between being excited and curious... and being enthusiast. and i just don't see any reason to feel such enthusiasm.
i mean we know nothing about this guy, except that he's never coached a professional team (i know barcelona b playes in segunda division, but let's be honest, this is gonna be his first professional experience), and that he wants to
bring barcelona's football in italy!?!?!?! 
now i really don't wanna rain on anyone's parade, but that statement doesn't excite me at all. it actually scares me. i sincerely hope that's just a silly comment he made to fire up the roman crowd.... coz if he really believes he can pull that of, then i think we should seriously question this guy's football understanding.
there's a reason if no coach in europe has ever imported barçelona's football. because that football CANNOT be imported, unless u can count on the very same players barcelona has.
u see there's a reason if the english school has never been able to showcase the same quality the italian and spanish school display.... and it's the same reason why the italian and the spanish school have never been able to produce athletes as good as english footballers. and that's because u quite simply can't have it all. u gotta choose what u wanna focus on, and then make your choice. if someone could mix italian and spanish technical skills with english phisycal skills, the end result would be something absolutely frightening......
what happened to barçelona in this generation is something unique and never-to-be-repeated. they've been blessed with a generation of extremely gifted players (wich is something normal for a school wich values technique as much as la masia) but also outstanding stamina. and then they've completed their youth team squad by looking for some players who had that very same (rarest) mix of technique and stamina.
and that's what allows barcelona to be such a striking force to deal with. people are amazed at the sheer quality of barcelona.... and rightly so, they have some fantastic players.....
but let's be honest that's not what makes barcelona unique... we've seen plenty of team with as much quality as this barcelona over the years.... sticking with roma, well spalletti's roma, in terms of pure technique, quality passing, understainding between the players and exciting plays..... well they were almost on the same level of this barca (and i'm serious here).
what makes all the difference between spalletti's roma and this current barca is that
guardiola's players press like maniacs for 90 minutes!!! and not just in their own midfield, but all over the pitch. they press for the entire match, right from the opposite 3/4 till the edge of their own box.
it's an insane mix of english style pressing and spanish style passing (now u understand why i mentioned the italian, the spanish and english school before) wich is quite simply not conceivable.
u have to consider this current barçelona as an
anomaly. maybe in 20 years that football will be a standard, but today that is an anomaly that cannot be replicated in any way.
not only roma doesn't have the players to display barcelona's football, they don't even have the players to display spalletti's football (wich was the second most exctiting and productive football we saw in europe in the last decade).
infact when ranieri got the job in roma he made it clear "this team cannot play spalletti's football anymore". he didn't say the reason, because that would have been harsh on his players, but i'll tell you. ranieri couldn't play spalletti's football because aquilani wasn't there anymore. because riise is not tonetto. because cassetti had lost his form (just like tonetto). because taddei and totti weren't getting any younger. and finally because, even though ranieri is a very good coach, he is not spalletti.
so i can't see luis enrique displaying barcelona's football with roma, and if he really thinks he can, well that's worrying.
and if u deprive barcelona's football of his atlethic component, what u're left with is spanish football...... and playing spanish football in italy is a very bad idea as no one can counter spanish football like italians can. now one can deal with spanish football like the italian school. we're like kryptonite for the spanish school (just like english style football is like kryptonite for italians). for futher informations, just ask johan crujff
Younggun said:
With regards to Pastore, he could quite easily play on the left of a front three and add the "fantasy" Chelsea have been missing. Lampard's position isn't in threat.
nah mate, not really. no one would ever spend 40 millions on a trequartista, only to line him up as a winger or a supporting striker... that would me madness. if that's what you're looking for, then pick someone like menez, or ribery or mata... u'll spend less and u'll end up with a player who will perform much better than pastore in that position.
pastore is a pure trequartista. it would be a huge waste of his skills (and of money) to line him up out wide.
Gerd said:
Good post Ben, but i still think PSG is not the right club for Pastore. I'm quite convinced that this new team will not fullfill his promises (one could compare it with Genoa the last seasons). I'll give you a prediction: PSG's coach will be sacked before the end of the season (is it still Kambouare, who is a very good coach by the way).
well, they're definitely gonna make a few false steps along the way. afterall we're talking about a bunch of noobs who are approaching football for the very first time... so it should be normal to expect them to make some mistakes, just like man city, liverpool and before them, chelsea.
but when u have such financial resources at your disposal, then u can afford to be dumb, u can afford to make mistakes.
u see i wouldn't compare psg with genoa. presiosi has invested a lot in genoa indeed, but this psg is light years distant from genoa. genoa would never spend more than 20 millions on a single player, nevermind 45 millions. and they would never pay any of their players more than 1.5 millions per year, nevermind 4.5 millions.
no this psg doesn't belong to genoa's category. it doesn't even belong to napoli's category, neither to roma's category.
it belongs to the same level of man city, liverpool, chelsea. chelsea made some laughable mistakes, but they spent so much money that eventually they still made it to the top. the same is happening with man city. and i believe the same will also happen with psg, liverpool and juventus.
3,5M€ for an outstanding goalkeeper like him (imo the best Italian keeper after Gigi) its just a steal! Sorry but I gotta say Zamparini is a dumbass! Always selling his players in the media, he told the press that Pastore was close on Málaga and PSG, but then, at the end of the day, he sold a classy goalkeeper for a bargain price. Ridiculous. (
I tried to sign him for my FM Milan but seems that the virtual Zamparini is smarter than the real one 
