Serie A Superthread 2011/2012

Seaneh

RichTea wrote: »

How did I forget Boban? What a legend. Rui Costa has to be in with a shout as well.

Yeah, Rui Costa would be up there, more for his Fiorentia Days than his Milan days if I'm being honest too, Him behind Batigol was just an amazing combo.

Seaneh

Milan 'Very Close' To Signing Japan Star Keisuke Honda From CSKA Moscow says goal.com

The Italian giants made an offer of €13m on Thursday, to which the Russian club responded requesting an increased bid of €15m, and now sources from within the Rossoneri are confident of securing the Japanese star's signature imminently.

"We are very close to signing Honda, the clubs are very close to finding an agreement," said the source." [Milan coach Massimiliano] Allegri likes him a lot and wants to see him playing alongside [Alexandre] Pato and Ronaldinho."

Honda, 24, has been the subject of widespread attention and admiration for his impressive performances for CSKA Moscow in the 2009-10 Champions League, followed by a superb World Cup campaign for Japan, in which he scored two eye-catching goals.

The attacking midfielder - who is best known for his lethal left foot - has been linked with Arsenal, Liverpool, Birmingham City, Everton, Atletico Madrid, Deportiva La Coruna and Valencia, among others.

Both clubs have refused to confirm negotiations.

Oh, please let it be true.

There has been rumors that emirates have offered to pay his wages as part of the deal because they are trying to expand their brand in the far east and see Honda in a Milan short with their logo on it helping this.

Raskolnikov

Tiago didn't take it too well when the Juventus club president tried to loan him out.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Juventus-stuck-with-unwanted-players-a17986

Things got worse for Tiago as the President of the club at the time, Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, tried to loan him out but in an attempt to change the President’s mind, Tiago locked him in a toilet from where Juventus legend, Alessandro Del Piero had to rescue the President by breaking open the door.

Only in Italian football

RichTea

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Tiago didn't take it too well when the Juventus club president tried to loan him out.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Juventus-stuck-with-unwanted-players-a17986

Only in Italian football

I love this league.

Seaneh

Amazing!

Pinturicchio

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Tiago didn't take it too well when the Juventus club president tried to loan him out.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Juventus-stuck-with-unwanted-players-a17986

Only in Italian football

That was months ago.

dor83

Serie A fixtures are out, here are the first and last games for all teams:

Week 1: 29/8/10
Bari-Juventus
Bologna-Inter
Chievo-Catania
Fiorentina-Napoli
Milan-Lecce
Palermo-Cagliari
Parma-Brescia
Roma-Cesena
Sampdoria-Lazio
Udinese-Genoa

Week 38: 22/5/11
Bari-Bologna
Catania-Inter
Cesena-Genoa
Chievo-Palermo
Fiorentina-Brescia
Lazio-Lecce
Milan-Udinese
Napoli-Juventus
Parma-Cagliari
Sampdoria-Roma

Just over 4 weeks left until the season kicks off and I for one can't wait, looking forward to a good opening round with Fiorentina v Napoli, Udinese v Genoa, Samp v Lazio and obviously the Inter game being the games I'm most looking forward to that week. For the rest of the fixtures check here.

Seaneh

Cesare Prandelli announces his First Italy Squad;
Italy call Balotelli, Cassano & Amauri
Friday 6 August, 2010

From Football-Italia.net

Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano and Amauri have all been named in Cesare Prandelli’s maiden Italian national squad.

The Azzurri face the Ivory Coast on Tuesday at West Ham’s Upton Park in a friendly and the new tactician has named 23 players.

Inter’s Balotelli and Juventus hitman Amauri receive their first call-ups, while Cassano returns to the fold for the first time since Euro 2008.

While Balotelli and Cassano were expected to be included, Amauri’s selection may come as a surprise to some.

Amauri, born in Brazil, only received his Italian passport less than six months ago.

Of the six attackers named by Prandelli, only Fabio Quagliarella is a survivor from Marcello Lippi’s 2010 World Cup squad.

Alberto Gilardino of Fiorentina and Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini, players who Prandelli has worked with in the past, haven’t been selected.

Bologna’s Emiliano Viviano, another debutant, is one of the three goalkeepers given the absence of the injured Gigi Buffon.

There are new and internationally inexperienced faces in defence too as Luca Antonini, Davide Astori, Mattia Cassani, Stefano Lucchini, Cristian Molinaro and Marco Motta are picked.

Given that Buffon and Milan’s Andrea Pirlo have not been selected, Roma’s Daniele De Rossi is likely to captain the side.

The players will meet up on Sunday at Coverciano in Florence, with their flight to London scheduled for Monday.

Italy kick off their Euro 2012 campaign in Estonia on September 3.

Goalkeepers: Marchetti (Cagliari), Sirigu (Palermo), Viviano (Bologna)

Defenders: Antonini (Milan), Astori (Cagliari), Bonucci (Juventus), Cassani (Palermo), Chiellini (Juventus), Lucchini (Sampdoria), Molinaro (Stuttgart), Motta (Juventus)

Midfielders: De Rossi (Roma), Lazzari (Cagliari), Marchisio (Juventus), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pepe (Juventus)

Attackers: Amauri (Juventus), Balotelli (Inter), Borriello (Milan), Cassano (Sampdoria), Quagliarella (Napoli), Rossi (Villarreal)

Lots of players have been rested/not picked after the world cup.

Great to see Fantantino and Balo in the sqaud, a front 3 of Cassano, Balo and Quagilarella would be extremely exciting and creative but I reckon it will be Borriello in the central role with any two of Cassano, Rossi, Qua and Balo behind him/wide. which would still be very exciting stuff. I honestly don't see Amauri playing for Italy all that much, This could be a call up just for the sake of getting him one cap so that Brazil can't pick him in future incase he does eventually refind his form or Italy go through a striker injury crisis.

The midfeild looks fierce like he is set on using a core of 3 center mids to with two "holding" players and a deep laying playmaker (most likely Montolivo) but he has thrown and Pepe as back up incase he has to switch the formations around.
I would actually see being competing more with the forwards than the midfeilders in all honesty.

I am genuinely surprised to see Luca Antonini int he team and I don't see any real future for him in Azzuri unless he steps up this year, while he is a solid pro and will get game time at Milan, he isn't Azzri stanrard, or atleast, he shouldn't be azzuri standard.His game time at Milan is more to do with the decline of Jankulovski than anything else and if we could afford to sign a top tier left full he will be a bench warmer again. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Luca ended up on the bench this season anyway with Zambrotta playing left full and Papa on the right for Milan being used quite a bit in preseason. but we shall see.

The Keepers are pretty much expected, Most people probably would have had Storari ahead of Vivano but it's not much of a surprise when you consider that vivano is 10 years younger and has more of a future.



all in all, not a bad squad, gives him a chance to look at a lot of players, I expect them to play a drastically different game to Lippi and Prandelli will be looking to make his stamp on the team.

DerekDGoldfish

Myself and a mate have decided to head over to Italy during the Irish off-season and see a few games. The weekend of the 5th December is the one that best suites time wise and as ive been a Milan sympatister for a number of years we are going to see Milan v Brescia, while we are over there were want to go see another game as well Fiorintina V Calgari and Lazio v Roma being the most obvious choices.

Now I know there is usualy a saturday night game, sunday afternoon games and then a sunday night game, when are these anounced? as it will make it easier to book flights into whatever city has the saturday game and travel to the other city on the sunday.

Mr. Presentable

SDTimeout wrote: »

Roma have always been my team in italy and i was delighted with ESPN's coverage of Seria A last year got to see a good few games.

Does anyone know if they have picked up better coverage / more games for this season ? Since they are losing a package of PL games

Announced TV coverage today

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/38525.html

Irishrossoblu

DerekDGoldfish wrote: »

Myself and a mate have decided to head over to Italy during the Irish off-season and see a few games. The weekend of the 5th December is the one that best suites time wise and as ive been a Milan sympatister for a number of years we are going to see Milan v Brescia, while we are over there were want to go see another game as well Fiorintina V Calgari and Lazio v Roma being the most obvious choices.

Now I know there is usualy a saturday night game, sunday afternoon games and then a sunday night game, when are these anounced? as it will make it easier to book flights into whatever city has the saturday game and travel to the other city on the sunday.

Be aware that they only announce the Saturday/Sunday night games about 2-3 weeks in advance. Lazio v Roma is not on that weekend but Lazio v Inter is. That will be a night fixture, guaranteed. Prob Sunday night. Cesena v Bologna could be a good match, as its a derby and they hate each other. I would imagine Napoli v Palermo will be another evening game. There is 2 saturday games, one at 6pm and one at 8.30pm. The 6.30pm game is usually a small game, and it may be the Milan game. You may get lucky and get 2 good games in.

DerekDGoldfish

Thanks,

Its a pity its so little time before, I may just chance it and book flights into Milan for the Friday and out of Rome on Monday, even if Milan v Brecia doesnt turn out to be the saturday game hoprfully it will be a northern italian game and I can head anyway.

Ive heard of stricker regulations on ticket sales but I assume as long as I have a passport I can get tickets on the day of the game.

Irishrossoblu

DerekDGoldfish wrote: »

Thanks,

Its a pity its so little time before, I may just chance it and book flights into Milan for the Friday and out of Rome on Monday, even if Milan v Brecia doesnt turn out to be the saturday game hoprfully it will be a northern italian game and I can head anyway.

Ive heard of stricker regulations on ticket sales but I assume as long as I have a passport I can get tickets on the day of the game.

Yep, should be no probs at the Milan match. Passport is what you need. You cannot buy tickets for the away end on the day of the match. That is the regulation.

dor83

Trofeo TIM starts in about 40 mins with Inter v Juve, the losers of the first game will play Milan at 8:45pm and the winners of the first will play Milan at 9:45pm. All games last 45mins only. I'm hoping to get a good stream of this and will post it if I do, if anyone else is interested that is.

dor83

Inter won the first game 1-0 with a good goal from Sneijder, meaning Milan v Juve is the next match and should be starting in the next couple of mins. I could only find this on sopcast, channel 98660 if anyone is interested.

godtabh

dor83 wrote: »

Trofeo TIM starts in about 40 mins with Inter v Juve, the losers of the first game will play Milan at 8:45pm and the winners of the first will play Milan at 9:45pm. All games last 45mins only. I'm hoping to get a good stream of this and will post it if I do, if anyone else is interested that is.

I never really got the TIM Cup. Half a match and then sit and wait. Then play another half. Must be hard for the players

Still remember Robbie Keane and Adriano scoring in these. Adriano scored a cracker on his debut if my drunk state remembers right

dor83

godtabh wrote: »

I never really got the TIM Cup. Half a match and then sit and wait. Then play another half. Must be hard for the players.

I like the format, it's a good way for the 3 teams to play each other in a pre-season but not have 2 full matches each.

godtabh wrote: »

Still remember Robbie Keane and Adriano scoring in these. Adriano scored a cracker on his debut if my drunk state remembers right.

Adriano's first goal and debut was in a friendly against Real before he was loaned out.

Here's a link to a youtube vid of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aie0CJ7vH7M

EDIT: Milan won the second game 4-2 on pens after it finished 1-1, Ronaldinho scored a very good goal. Milan v Inter up next with the winners taking the trophy.

Seaneh

Keep an eye on Alexander Merkel in this game, very good young player.

dor83

It finished up 0-0 in the last match with Inter winning 3-2 on pens, It was more a lesson in how not to take pens than anything else.

Irishrossoblu

Anyone know of a website where I can get a season pass for Serie A this season. Pay site of course, but one that offers live games.

speedboatchase

Boateng to Milan today. Technically he moved to Genoa but has been loaned to Milan, he's the third Genoa signing this summer to be loaned to Milan - anybody shed some light on all that? Seems very odd.

Also regarding TV coverage, anyone know if ESPN are removing the hopeless Serie A round-up show they had last year with something a bit more substantial?

Irishrossoblu

speedboatchase wrote: »

Also regarding TV coverage, anyone know if ESPN are removing the hopeless Serie A round-up show they had last year with something a bit more substantial?

By 'Serie A Roundup' I presume you mean 'Inter/Juve/Milan/Roma roundup'. ESPN never seem to mention any other team. Maybe Palermo got a mention with Viola, but nothing else. It really gets a bit annoying. Evan the old Channel 4 site only bangs on about the top four clubs, and Napoli. Very little mention of other clubs.

speedboatchase

Irishrossoblu wrote: »

By 'Serie A Roundup' I presume you mean 'Inter/Juve/Milan/Roma roundup'. ESPN never seem to mention any other team. Maybe Palermo got a mention with Viola, but nothing else. It really gets a bit annoying. Evan the old Channel 4 site only bangs on about the top four clubs, and Napoli. Very little mention of other clubs.

What I mean is that they had an hour-plus weekly Bundesliga review show that was fantastic but for Serie A they had a half hour show that didn't have any English commentary (it had a weird europop soundtrack over all the goals) so you couldn't realise who scored, didn't show any actual footage bar replays, and rushed through all the matches so they could do a '10 goals of the week', which seemed completely pointless. No analysis whatsoever either, it was muck. I want to get a bit more interested in Serie A this year but bar live matches (which as you said feature one or two of those four teams only) it's very difficult

Leiva

Sorry I can't resist it .....,


Gooooooaaalllllllll Laaaaaaazzzzzzzioooooo .

Irishrossoblu

mixednuts wrote: »

Sorry I can't resist it .....,


Gooooooaaalllllllll Laaaaaaazzzzzzzioooooo .

Golaccio is the word you are looking for I think. Last heard on the Channel 4 coverage. Great programme!

Seaneh

speedboatchase wrote: »

Boateng to Milan today. Technically he moved to Genoa but has been loaned to Milan, he's the third Genoa signing this summer to be loaned to Milan - anybody shed some light on all that? Seems very odd.

He will actually be the second Genoa player loaned to Milan, the other being Marco Amelia. I don't know the ins and outs of the Prince deal but the Amelia thing is pretty straigh forward, Genoa didn't want him and Milan released Dida and sold Storari to Juventus so they needed backup/competition for Abbiati, Amelia is still pretty highly rated in Italy despite having a crap season but Milan didn't want to risk paying 4/5 million incase that dip in form continues so thye did a one year loan with option to buy deal, which is pretty clever of them.

Also Milan have loaned or sold half the rights of three players to Genoa this summer. Rodney Strasser, Gianmarco Zigoni and Nnamdi Oduamadi will all be at Genoa this year.


I have no clue of the ins and outs of the Boatang deal and I have no idea what the logic behind it is, but I am pretty happy Milan are going to have his as a squad player this season.

Mr. Presentable

Seaneh wrote: »

I have no clue of the ins and outs of the Boatang deal and I have no idea what the logic behind it is, but I am pretty happy Milan are going to have his as a squad player this season.

Could it be a way around the new one foreigner rule?

speedboatchase

Seaneh wrote: »

He will actually be the second Genoa player loaned to Milan, the other being Marco Amelia. I don't know the ins and outs of the Prince deal but the Amelia thing is pretty straigh forward, Genoa didn't want him and Milan released Dida and sold Storari to Juventus so they needed backup/competition for Abbiati, Amelia is still pretty highly rated in Italy despite having a crap season but Milan didn't want to risk paying 4/5 million incase that dip in form continues so thye did a one year loan with option to buy deal, which is pretty clever of them.

Also Milan have loaned or sold half the rights of three players to Genoa this summer. Rodney Strasser, Gianmarco Zigoni and Nnamdi Oduamadi will all be at Genoa this year.


I have no clue of the ins and outs of the Boatang deal and I have no idea what the logic behind it is, but I am pretty happy Milan are going to have his as a squad player this season.

You're right about two players being loaned, but Boateng is still their third Genoa player this year - Milan bought Sokratis Papastathopoulos off them too

Seaneh

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Could it be a way around the new one foreigner rule?

He is German so he doesn't count.

Seaneh

speedboatchase wrote: »

Milan bought Sokratis Papastathopoulos off them too

Paid handsomely for him too.
Great investment.

Mr. Presentable

Seaneh wrote: »

He is German so he doesn't count.

Oh, I thought he was the Ghanaian one.

Mr. Presentable

Seaneh wrote: »

Papastathopoulos. Paid handsomely for him too.
Great investment.

Do you still pay by the letter for replica shirts?

Irishrossoblu

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Oh, I thought he was the Ghanaian one.

He plays for Ghana, but still holds a EU passport, so they can have him and more like him.

Irishrossoblu

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]http://www.football-italia.net/aug17q.html

Kevin Prince Boateng “is still a Genoa player,” as President Enrico Preziosi explains why his team could afford the Ghanaian and Milan couldn’t.
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“Boateng is a Genoa player who, awaiting the finalisation of an agreement between Milan and Genoa over the next few days, has been given permission to train and play friendlies with the Rossoneri,” read a statement on the Rossoblu website.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]This is a bizarre transfer with minnows Genoa paying around €6.5m to take him from Portsmouth and immediately loan the player out to Champions League contenders Milan.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“Genoa were following Boateng before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It was a good shop window for him, but one cannot rely on a World Cup alone,” President Preziosi told the Corriere dello Sport.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“Milan have an unusual situation, as they have many players on the last year of their contracts and are keeping an eye on the balance sheet.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“Instead we had more of an opportunity to move for Boateng. For now he is joining the Rossoneri on loan.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“Will he return to Genoa? He could do, but in a way I hope he doesn’t. If Milan buy him outright then it’ll mean we both saw this is a great player and Genoa will have made a healthy profit.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The transfer deals continue, as Giuseppe Sculli is on the verge of joining Inter as a replacement for Mario Balotelli.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]“You’ll see what Sculli can do at Inter. Someone might’ve underestimated him, but he is an excellent player.”[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Hmmmmmmmmm
[/FONT]

Seaneh

Yeah, lots of high earners on the last year of their deals at Milan.

Oddo and Zambrotta halved their wages in exchange for a 1 year extension during the season but a few other players are refusing to do so and are willing to ride out their contracts and leave next summer because they know they won't get close anywhere else.

Jankulovski has publicly said he refuses to leave and doesn't care that he is 4/5th choice at left full.

Next summer when Janku, Seedorf and a few others leave I can see Milan signing younger players on lower wages to replace them, hopefully.

I hope Prince comes good this season, by the sounds of this there is an option to buy at an agreed price already.

Pinturicchio

Only in Italy are transfers made this complicated.

Press release:

13 August 2010 - Agreement with Bologna F.C. for the disposal of the registration rights of the player Albin Ekdal

Turin, 13 August 2010 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces the disposal to Bologna F.C. S.p.A. of the registration rights of the player Albin Ekdal for a consideration of € 4.8 million to be paid by Bologna in 3 years. At the same time, Juventus and Bologna signed a player sharing agreement (ex art. 102 bis N.O.I.F.) related to the same player for a consideration of € 2.4 million to be paid by Juventus in 3 years.

The operation generates a positive economic effect for about € 2.2 million in the current financial year.

Irishrossoblu

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Only in Italy are transfers made this complicated.

Add to the mix that Ekdal has said that his dream is to go back and play for Juve! Our fans werent well pleased when they heard that, but if he plays well this season we will forgive him. He looks very strong in training this week.

Seaneh

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Only in Italy are transfers made this complicated.

If they signed a normal co-ownership he would have stayed on Juves books and been a Juventus player loaned to Bologna, so they officially transfer him to Bologna and then Juve buy 50% of his contract so that they retain an interest in him but he is officially a Bologna player.

Raskolnikov

I still can't believe that Giovinco has ended up at Parma.

Anyway, I think Genoa could be could for a top 4 position this year. Rafinha and Veloso are definitely improvements to the team. Jury is out on Luca Toni, but I think they might be able to squeeze one last good season out of him.

Pinturicchio

Milos Krasic has signed for Juve.

population

Happy with this signing for sure. http://www.sscnapoli.it/client/render.aspx?root=707&fwd=3479&content=0

If the defense can get an injection of pace I would be confident of a Champions League spot next year

AIR-AUSSIE

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Milos Krasic has signed for Juve.

Link

Happy about this signing and also that it looks like we'll be keeping Diego for the moment.

Pinturicchio

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Link

Happy about this signing and also that it looks like we'll be keeping Diego for the moment.

It looks like he's badly needed after a highly unconvincing 2-1 win away to Sturm Graz tonight.

Juve desperately need a left-back. De Ceglie is cack.

Amauri and Pepe almost got into a fight, Jorge Martinez had to step in to stop it.

Peyton Manning

population wrote: »

Happy with this signing for sure. http://www.sscnapoli.it/client/render.aspx?root=707&fwd=3479&content=0

If the defense can get an injection of pace I would be confident of a Champions League spot next year

He nearly scored a cracking bicycle kick tonight!

Pinturicchio

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.tuttomercatoweb.com/juventus/%3Faction%3Dread%26idnet%3DdHV0dG9qdXZlLmNvbS0yNzc0NA&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=ISO-8859-1

I hope something comes of this for once.

speedboatchase

Aquilani on loan too. Hope Juve do well this year, especially if they hold onto Diego

Pinturicchio

speedboatchase wrote: »

Aquilani on loan too. Hope Juve do well this year, especially if they hold onto Diego

Apparently Aquilani's loan will have an option to buy for about €15m at the end of the season. Good deal for Juve.

It looks like Diego is definitely staying.

AIR-AUSSIE

Pinturicchio wrote: »

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.tuttomercatoweb.com/juventus/%3Faction%3Dread%26idnet%3DdHV0dG9qdXZlLmNvbS0yNzc0NA&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=ISO-8859-1

I hope something comes of this for once.

Thats a fairly badly translated article. Do you have the gist of it?

Slightly off topic question - Anyone know a good site for Serie A Fantasy football?

Pinturicchio

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Thats a fairly badly translated article. Do you have the gist of it?

The bottom line is that Maxwell seems to have used a fake passport. FIFA are investigating.

dor83

Supercoppa kicks off in about 15 mins, line-ups are:

Inter: 1 Julio Cesar; 13 Maicon, 6 Lucio, 25 Samuel, 26 Chivu; 4 Zanetti, 19 Cambiasso; 27 Pandev, 10 Sneijder, 9 Eto'o; 22 Milito.

Subs: 12 Castellazzi, 2 Cordoba, 5 Stankovic, 17 Mariga, 23 Materazzi, 29 Coutinho, 88 Biabiany.

Roma: 1 Lobont; 77 Cassetti, 5 Mexes, 4 Juan, 17 Riise; 20 Perrotta, 7 Pizarro, 16 De Rossi; 94 Menez; 10 Totti, 9 Vucinic.

Subs: 32 Doni, 8 Adriano, 11 Taddei, 25 G.Burdisso, 33 Brighi, 87 Rosi, 89 Okaka.

EDIT: 1-0 to Roma, Riise with the goal.