Serie A: The Return

godtabh

Preview

Serie A: Football returns but old demons remain

MILAN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Serie A was gearing up for an uncontroversial start before AC Milan fans were barred from Sunday's opener at promoted Genoa because of fears of violence.

Last season was damaged by the fallout from a match-fixing scandal and stadium restrictions imposed following the death of a policeman in riots outside a Catania match in February.

The beginning of this campaign was meant to be scandal-free with no teams starting with points deductions, Juventus back after their match-fixing demotion and stadiums open to all.

However, the fear of revenge attacks for the stabbing of a Genoa fan at a match with Milan in 1995 has prompted authorities in the port city to ban away supporters for their own safety.

Genoa, back in the top flight for the first time since that season, were looking forward to a full house but at least they can be consoled by the fact Ronaldo and new signing Emerson are unlikely to start for the European champions.

Ronaldo has yet to play a pre-season friendly after battling back from a hamstring strain.

Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti has said the Brazilian striker will be fit for Sunday and club officials say Emerson is looking sharp, despite being snubbed by former club Real Madrid in pre-season, but the duo are likely only to make the bench.

Milan captain Paolo Maldini, who retires in May, will not be back until late September following knee surgery.

Inter Milan open their league defence at home to Udinese on Sunday, with manager Roberto Mancini facing a tough dilemma of who to pick from a vast squad swelled by close-season recruits David Suazo, Cristian Chivu and Luis Jimenez.

He selected close to his best team in last Sunday's Super Cup clash with AS Roma but they lost 1-0.

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti told reporters: 'The wind is changing, Roma can come to the San Siro believing calmy that they can beat the number one candidate for the Scudetto (title).'

Spalletti's side visit Palermo in Sunday's late game but he has injury doubts over Francesco Totti and new Brazilian defender Juan while midfielder Simone Perrotta is suspended after being sent off before entering the pitch as a substitute in the Super Cup.

Juventus return to Serie A having spent millions on new recruits, who have failed to gel fully in pre-season.

Claudio Ranieri's side though have a relatively gentle reintroduction on Saturday with a home game against Livorno, who lost attacking threat Cristiano Lucarelli to Shakhtar Donetsk in July and replaced him with former Spain striker Diego Tristan.

Lazio also play on Saturday when they host Torino while promoted Napoli entertain Cagliari on Sunday's main matchday.

Fixtures

Saturday, August 25, 2007
TIME HOME AWAY VENUE
17:00 UK Lazio v Torino Stadio Olimpico
19:30 UK Juventus v Livorno Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino

Sunday, August 26, 2007
TIME HOME AWAY VENUE
14:00 UK Fiorentina v Empoli Stadio Artemio Franchi
14:00 UK Genoa v AC Milan Comunale Luigi Ferraris
14:00 UK Inter Milan v Udinese Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
14:00 UK Napoli v Cagliari Stadio San Paolo
14:00 UK Parma v Catania Calcio Stadio Ennio Tardini
14:00 UK Reggina v Atalanta Stadio Oreste Granillo
14:00 UK Siena v Sampdoria Artemio Franchi Di Siena
19:30 UK Palermo v Roma Renzo Barbera

The season is gona be a lot hard for Inter. They have signed some good players but from what I've seen so fat the team hasnt geled yet.

AC Milan will be playing for 3rd place as I dont think they have the squad to compete with Roma and Inter.

Roma are going to push Inter a lot harder this season and when it comes down to it I reckon there will be down to the last game or two of the season.

Juve will struggle. When I say struggle I mean they wont win the league and wont be going for a CL place. I reckon a EUFA spot would be there best out come. There pre season from is all over the place.

Would like to see Napoli do well but havent seen the rest of the new boys play (except Juve) so gona hold judgement before seeing who might go down.

I backed them last year to do well but they only came good at the end of the season but I'm gona back Parma to get into Europe

_blank_

Is Bravo showing Serie A this season?

Jazzy

I think AC will be right up there with inter and roma. if i was to bet, id go for inter to land the title but I think AC milan have the right mix in their starting XI to really put the willies up any team in the league. their problem is depth and as we have seen countless of times before, this counts for alot during a season. dunno how roma are shaping up but they have some extremely talented players.

and yeah, is bravo showing serie a?

eirebhoy

DesF wrote:

Is Bravo showing Serie A this season?

Five have the rights now. This is the host:
http://www.lauraesposto.it/

godtabh

DesF wrote:

Is Bravo showing Serie A this season?

It better be. Got digital so I could watch the games as Setanta dont seem to be showing them this year.

godtabh

eirebhoy wrote:

Five have the rights now. This is the host:
http://www.lauraesposto.it/

Ah crap. Is 5 on NTL?

_blank_

eirebhoy wrote:

Five have the rights now. This is the host:
http://www.lauraesposto.it/

:eek:

Is five available on a sky dish?

My jaysis.

Feck the eL, Pat Dolan isn't a patch on her.

DerekD Goldfish

Indeed has to be some way of gettng C5 on sky watching via asian streams just isnt the same.

edson

i tried to get five on sky digital
got all the right frequency settings etc but no signal
i get the message "channel not available" or something like that
you can watch serie a games live on www.bet365.com

i was on five website as well, they indicate no coverage for the republic

godtabh

So is there any serie A games on NTL or sky?

Drag00n79

To view Five on Sky Digital you need a UK FTV (Free to View) card. They're readily available on eBay for about €35. An Irish subscription itself won't receive it. It's handy for the odd UEFA Cup match and live NFL too.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

yeah yeah funky yeah! Juventus 5!!!!!! livorno ......1....

3 trezegols and 2 mr brand spanking new Iaquinta goals! it was an exciting game, even though juve still looking shaky in defence with andrade and criscito zebina and chiellini . it was nicew to see tiago gain some confidence as he did not perform well in pre season friendlies. lovely juve! top of the league where you belong. lazio drew with torino 2-2...

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ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV wrote:

lovely juve! top of the league

Top of the league after one game?

lol

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

yes, nobody wil beat 5 goals or 4 goals+ tommorrow so its a good start to the season

Gileadi

DesF wrote:

Top of the league after one game?

lol

Less of the auld lol's there Desmond, we both know how i feel on the matter!

godtabh

Gileadi wrote:

Less of the auld lol's there Desmond, we both know how i feel on the matter!

Not being smart but do you reckon they have a chance. Inter Ac and Roma are top dogs in this league now. Juve have a while to catch up and I reckon its gona take a year or two to do it for them.

I place them 6th come the end of the season.

Forza Inter!

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

you can place them wherever you want! but they are going to qualify for the champions league whether you like it or not young man. top 4 finish

Bubs101

Excluding Totti, Juve's squad is about the same as Roma's. And We have Gigi Buffon who is probably the best player in the league. Trez, Del Piero, Iaquinta, Camoranesi and Nedved give us plenty of attacking flair while Tiago is a good safety net. Haven't seen much of Almiron but he looks good and this could be the year when Chiellini bursts onto the national team. Hopefully

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

juve can score many goals, roma always struggled to find good strikers over the years and since the batistuta and montella years it hasn't been the same

OhNoYouDidn't

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV wrote:

juve can score many goals, roma always struggled to find good strikers over the years and since the batistuta and montella years it hasn't been the same

Yeah, last seasons Golden Boot Totti is really struggling to find the net...:rolleyes:

godtabh

OhNoYouDidn't wrote:

Yeah, last seasons Golden Boot Totti is really struggling to find the net...:rolleyes:

Can you imagine how many goals he would have scored if he wasnt struggling!

Inter off the mark after 9 minutes.

godtabh

Disaster in the end for Inter

Bubs101

OhNoYouDidn't wrote:

Yeah, last seasons Golden Boot Totti is really struggling to find the net...:rolleyes:

He was talking about strikers, which Totti isn't and they're next top scorer got 8 measly goals. Roma are too one dimensional

OhNoYouDidn't

Bubs101 wrote:

He was talking about strikers, which Totti isn't and they're next top scorer got 8 measly goals. Roma are too one dimensional

He said Roma are struggling to score, which is a bizarre thing to level at the side with the golden boot who had the second best attack in Serie A last year.

eirebhoy

1-0 Roma. Mexes.

evad_lhorg

kearnsr wrote:

Disaster in the end for Inter

delighted.

what's up with Adriano? is he injured?

Mossy Monk

edson wrote:

you can watch serie a games live on www.bet365.com

i was on five website as well, they indicate no coverage for the republic

Quality of the streams are great. Five is not available officially in Ireland so don't see why they would have coverage for us.

eirebhoy

2-0 Aquilani.

godtabh

evad_lhorg wrote:

delighted.

Come back to me at the end of the season

evad_lhorg wrote:

what's up with Adriano? is he injured?

He is well down the pecking order. There are better strikers ahead of him at the movement.

Gileadi

Kearnsr i reckon if juve can get a CL place that would be a v.successful season but im sure that they can have some influence on the title, it's very hard to predict the head to heads with the top teams in italy at times

As much as i hate to say it, its pretty likely one of the milans (inter in my mind) will ultimately lift the scuddeto though

Bubs101

Juve definitly have at least the 4th strongest team in the division. It'll be a battle between the Milan's, Roma, Juve and Fiorentina for the CL spots

Drag00n79

evad_lhorg wrote:

what's up with Adriano? is he injured?

He's going out on loan before the transfer window closes. There were even rumours this morning Man City might be a destination.

godtabh

Shamrok wrote:

He's going out on loan before the transfer window closes. There were even rumours this morning Man City might be a destination.

Man City? DIdnt hear that at all. I heard Parma as he's played there all ready. Madrid were thinking about it but I dont think they need him

dor83

Cant see Adriano moving to Parma or City, he would want Champions League football and Valencia are looking at him too(He would be a good buy for Arsenal). I thimk its time for him to move coz Mancini does'nt like him and he'll probably never get his chance at Inter again, at the moment hes 5th choice behind Ibra, Suazo, Cruz and Recoba.

Dont know why Suazo did'nt start yesterday, he looked very good in pre-season and he seemed to play well with Ibra in the game against Man Utd.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

Bubs101 wrote:

He was talking about strikers, which Totti isn't and they're next top scorer got 8 measly goals. Roma are too one dimensional

at least somebody understands me. also in yesterdays game, a defender and a midfielder score for roma, typical.

godtabh

dor83 wrote:

Cant see Adriano moving to Parma or City, he would want Champions League football and Valencia are looking at him too(He would be a good buy for Arsenal). I thimk its time for him to move coz Mancini does'nt like him and he'll probably never get his chance at Inter again, at the moment hes 5th choice behind Ibra, Suazo, Cruz and Recoba.

Dont know why Suazo did'nt start yesterday, he looked very good in pre-season and he seemed to play well with Ibra in the game against Man Utd.

Cant see him going to Valencia. The two clubs hate each other.

Its not a mater of Mancini hating him its a matter of having better in form strikers infront of him

PHB

I'm kinda hopeful United make a cheeky bid for him

godtabh

PHB wrote:

I'm kinda hopeful United make a cheeky bid for him

He wont go on loan

I'd like to see him stay. Its nice to have the back up

dor83

PHB wrote:

I'm kinda hopeful United make a cheeky bid for him

He would be a great signing for Utd if we could get him for the €15m-€20m that Inter were supposed to be looking for(heard that was the amount they were willing to accecpt at the start of the summer), especialy now that Solskjaer ha retired.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

i hope arsenal get him tbh. he'd bit in there with his brazilian friends. a little friend for super van persie.

cobijones

Is there anyway of seeing Serie A this year in Ireland without viewing online. I miss gazetta!

estebancambias

I loved Bravo's coverage. It was really worth watching. I'm so excited about this season, Roma lost Chivu which is bad, but they got Juan who is a great defender.

cobijones

I think it could be Juves year - is it on bravo?

dor83

cobijones wrote:

I think it could be Juves year - is it on bravo?

No, theres no channel showing it in ireland this year. Juve will get UEFA Cup or Champ Lge if they are lucky this year. I think the top 4 will be Inter, Milan, Roma and Fiorentina.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

juve having a great start, 5-1 and then 3-1 away from home!

www.seriea.tv 109 dollars a year or is it euro, very very good streaming and good quality. worth it if u can afford it!