Serie A Superthread 2012/13

Jelle1880

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Milan vs Roma might be suspended due to racism chants from the Roma Ultras. Looks like the ref will give the game one more chance.

That's the new rule.

Stop the game, make an announcement over the tannoy, end the game if it continues.

dfx-

Terrible niggly, bitty game at the San Siro

Smithwicks Man

Jelle1880 wrote: »

That's the new rule.

Stop the game, make an announcement over the tannoy, end the game if it continues.

Out of interest, would the game have been continued at a later date for 45 mins with 11 men vs 10 men or what would have happened?

Jelle1880

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Out of interest, would the game have been continued at a later date for 45 mins with 11 men vs 10 men or what would have happened?

Not a clue, that wasn't mentioned during the game.

I'd say the game would be abandoned and Milan awarded the three points, but I'm not sure.

batistuta9

Jelle1880 wrote: »

batistuta9: It's mainly Napoli, since the city of Napels is (perhaps unjustified) seen as a mix of crime, dangerous areas, low education,...

i heard that after Hamsik arrived he was mugged & they stole his watch, word got around and a few days later it was returned :pac:

Pinturicchio

batistuta9 wrote: »

i heard that after Hamsik arrived he was mugged & they stole his watch, word got around and a few days later it was returned :pac:

Several of the Napoli players and their families have been robbed in the city.

batistuta9

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Several of the Napoli players and their families have been robbed in the city.

Hamsik's been robbed at least twice

looked up that story about the watch being gave back but it's not true, he said in an interview to a slovak magazine that the media made it up, he never got it back. it was an 11.5k rolex. He's lost another rolex since

this is all his personal life section on wiki, usually stuff about parents, girlfriends, children, etc. (well the gf & child are mentioned :pac:)

In December 2008, Hamsik was the victim of an armed robbery while he was driving his Mini to go Christmas shopping.[39] On 22 November 2011, Hamšík's pregnant wife, Martina Franova, was stopped while driving her BMW by armed men.[40] Franova was forced out of the car and police later found it in Ceselle, near Naples and returned the car to Hamšík.[40] Following Napoli's 0–0 draw with Sampdoria on 17 February 2013, Hamšík was stopped by three masked individuals on a scooter as he was driving on the Via Cinthia[39] heading for the Naples International Airport.[41] One of the individuals smashed one of his car window's and then pointed a gun at him, demanding the Slovakian hand over his Rolex Daytona, worth upwards of €10,000;[39] Hamšík obliged and called the police after the three individuals fled.[41]

Moneymaker

http://udinesecalcio.portals.twww.tv/video/051d303303633b1170f57d451b552c96.html

Looks great, best of luck to them. Always had a soft spot for Udinese.

grenache

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Several of the Napoli players and their families have been robbed in the city.

Lavezzi's wife had her watch and bag stolen while out shopping in Naples. She was the main driving force behind his move to Paris.

Smithwicks Man

They don't half make it hard for their players around Naples :pac:

Jelle1880

Hellas Verona are promoted to Serie A.

Moneymaker

That should be some craic next season ^^

Mental fans.

Jelle1880

Napoli police will be cancelling all leave months in advance :pac:

Rekop dog

Va 'fa Napoli

Rekop dog

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmm

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXEEEEEESSSSS

mitosis

Well that was a freaking disgrace. Fiorentina robbed of a CL place by the Milan ref. Milan have been benefiting for the past few years from soft penalties - to an extent Inter used to.

Rekop dog

mitosis wrote: »

Well that was a freaking disgrace. Fiorentina robbed of a CL place by the Milan ref. Milan have been benefiting for the past few years from soft penalties - to an extent Inter used to.

The hate is strong in this one.

mitosis

Rekop dog wrote: »

The hate is strong in this one.

You wouldn't agree?

Smithwicks Man

mitosis wrote: »

You wouldn't agree?

I'd agree that the penalty was soft but that's all it was. Milan got 11 penalties this season, the same as Napoli and Juventus and only one more than Fiorentina. Balotelli is arguably the best penalty-taker in world footballer and whenever he gets the ball in a non-shooting position in the box he tries to draw fouls and win penalties and contests every tackle on him looking for a penalty.

Similarly, Milan players such as El Shaarawy and Robinho are good dribblers and look for penalties because they know Balotelli will convert.

Balotelli was "fouled" several times in the box yesterday but none of them were really penalties and were waved away, however, he was still pulled down and if pull and push an attacker over and over and they keep going down in the box looking for a penalty, eventually they'll get one, and he did.

Speaking of soft penalties, Fiorentina should go and have a look at the 2 "penalties" they were awarded against Milan to get them a draw a few weeks back, had the referee not gifted them the penalties that day (one was a complete joke) then Milan would've gone way ahead of Fiorentina and the battle for 3rd place would not have gone down to the wire.

It evens out over time. Call it soft if you want but a foul is a foul and Balotelli was fouled last night. Whether those types of fouls are given all the time is irrelevant.

Seaneh

mitosis wrote: »

Well that was a freaking disgrace. Fiorentina robbed of a CL place by the Milan ref. Milan have been benefiting for the past few years from soft penalties - to an extent Inter used to.

L to the O to the L when a Juve fan complains of refs giving bias to any team.

Juve had as many penalties as Milan this season by the way, as did Napoli, Fiorentina had 1 less. 2 of them given against Milan just a few weeks ago, one of which was a blatant dive and one of the worst penalty decisions I've ever seen in Serie A from a referee and kept Fiorentina in touching distance of Milan.


In short, get the boat.

grenache

Man City to offer €40m + Dzeko for Cavani. De Laurentis has sent Napoli's chief executive Bignon to Manchester, so it looks like they are willing to do business.

Not happy

Seaneh

That's not a bloody bad deal at all for Napoli.

Dzeko is a lot better than anyone else you lot have been linked with, getting him and €40 to spend one the rest of your team will improve you massively over all.

Rekop dog

Yep agree, great deal for Napoli. I mean he's gonna be sold at some stage so getting a quality striker + 40 million to improve the squad is hard to turn down.

I think Cav could potentially under achieve at City, he needs to be played week in week out to get the best from him, they won't give him too long to settle if he doesn't hit the ground running.

carlop

I'd be happy with that too, apart from the fact I don't like City and it would pain me to see Cavani play for them. Dzeko would be a great replacement, and the 40m left over should give the new manager a great chance to mould his own team.

Pinturicchio

That would be a very good deal for Napoli. They could probably end up with a better team overall after it.

Festy

Roma reveal their new badge.

grenache

Seaneh wrote: »

Juve had as many penalties as Milan this season by the way, as did Napoli, Fiorentina had 1 less.

.......from OptaPaolo:

AC Milan have been awarded 49 penalties in Serie A over the last 5 seasons, a record across the top-5 European leagues.

Rekop dog

We just missed out on the half century, pity.

Seaneh

grenache wrote: »

.......from OptaPaolo:

I said this season. Sheesh.

Smithwicks Man

Sure somebody had to have the most penalties! Funny how nobody accuses Madrid of foul-play when they have only 3 less.

On a lighter note, look at Napoli's penalty conversion rate! 22/38 :eek: :pac:

grenache

Seaneh wrote: »

I said this season. Sheesh.

Oh ye Milanistas are so touchy

Seaneh

grenache wrote: »

Oh ye Milanistas are so touchy

We get it from our owner.
He's constantly touching things (people).

:pac:


Bungabunga!!!

grenache

Seaneh wrote: »

We get it from our owner.
He's constantly touching things (people).

:pac:


Bungabunga!!!

Referees are within his touch too

snowblind

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Sure somebody had to have the most penalties! Funny how nobody accuses Madrid of foul-play when they have only 3 less.

Did someone accuse Milan of foul play?

The refs have definitely been more prone to give penalties to Milan, especially the kind that seem a bit harsh or downright bs. The way Berlusconi and Galliani & Mediaset play the media game is unsurpassed by any other team, and definitely has an influence. So has the calciopoli been a constant (but less each year, it seems) problem for Juve. That said, crying conspiracy is ridiculous, it is more of a psychological thing for refs working under high pressure and expectations. But this is also why I think Milan's media manipulation machinery is hurtful to the sport, even if it is legal. (it would be naive to think anything Berlusconi is involved in would be completely legal, even if there is no conspiracy!)

Smithwicks Man

snowblind wrote: »

Did someone accuse Milan of foul play?

The refs have definitely been more prone to give penalties to Milan, especially the kind that seem a bit harsh or downright bs. The way Berlusconi and Galliani & Mediaset play the media game is unsurpassed by any other team, and definitely has an influence. So has the calciopoli been a constant (but less each year, it seems) problem for Juve. That said, crying conspiracy is ridiculous, it is more of a psychological thing for refs working under high pressure and expectations. But this is also why I think Milan's media manipulation machinery is hurtful to the sport, even if it is legal. (it would be naive to think anything Berlusconi is involved in would be completely legal, even if there is no conspiracy!)

mitosis wrote: »

Well that was a freaking disgrace. Fiorentina robbed of a CL place by the Milan ref. Milan have been benefiting for the past few years from soft penalties - to an extent Inter used to.

The above highlighted bit is accusing Milan of foul play.

I agree Milan have got a few soft ones but to be honest, there's been plenty of soft ones gone against them as well (Fiorentina x2 in one match to keep them in contention for 3rd).

When you say the Calciopoli has been a constant problem for Juventus, do you mean that referees are afraid to give them penalties in case they were accused of being bribed or something? Because I'll call bull**** on that straight away if that's what you're implying.

Yes, Mediaset's favouring of milan may make life harder from referees as they may come under more scrutiny for making mistakes in Milan games but I guarantee you this is no more the case than it is in England with Manchester United and the untouchable manager that was Ferguson.

It happens, referees make mistakes. I'm a firm believer that it balances out over time(Gerrard diving for a penalty in the 2005 CL final has never been balanced out though). To be honest, I can't believe referees get as much right as they do with the speed of the game and the play-acting that goes on these days!

Cienciano

Why is this even an argument? At this stage can we all just admit:
Bad decisions for my team = good. if it's against our biggest rivals, even better!
Bad decisions against my team = a disgrace, conspiricy against my team.

Smithwicks Man

Cienciano wrote: »

Why is this even an argument? At this stage can we all just admit:
Bad decisions for my team = good. if it's against our biggest rivals, even better!
Bad decisions against my team = a disgrace, conspiricy against my team.

I don't agree to that :pac:

Well said :cool:

snowblind

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

When you say the Calciopoli has been a constant problem for Juventus, do you mean that referees are afraid to give them penalties in case they were accused of being bribed or something? Because I'll call bull**** on that straight away if that's what you're implying.

Why do you call bull**** on that? I don't think it's far fetched at all psychologically speaking. Belongs to the same scope as the media pressure claim. It happens, refs are human beings and they fear for their reputation, and fear giving calls that might put them on the spot. And looking at the years following the promotion back to Serie A, it was even relatively clear.

I'm not saying Milan's situation is different than ManU's under Ferguson. I mean - speaking abstractly, the situation bears similarities, for sure. There are differences too, the Muntari ghost goal badge is a ridiculous one, especially seeing how that once was balanced out later on by the dubious penalty call on Isla "hand ball". Still before the spring matchup, Galliani brought the Muntari ghost goal again! That is some bitter and naive stuff, beyond Ferguson. But in general, I agree.

I also agree about the "refs make mistakes" take on things, balancing out does never truly happen, big clubs are always favoured a bit more by refs in my opinion. But on a seasonal basis there can definitely be differences.

Smithwicks Man

snowblind wrote: »

Why do you call bull**** on that? I don't think it's far fetched at all psychologically speaking. Belongs to the same scope as the media pressure claim. It happens, refs are human beings and they fear for their reputation, and fear giving calls that might put them on the spot. And looking at the years following the promotion back to Serie A, it was even relatively clear.

I'm not saying Milan's situation is different than ManU's under Ferguson. I mean - speaking abstractly, the situation bears similarities, for sure. There are differences too, the Muntari ghost goal badge is a ridiculous one, especially seeing how that once was balanced out later on by the dubious penalty call on Isla "hand ball". Still before the spring matchup, Galliani brought the Muntari ghost goal again! That is some bitter and naive stuff, beyond Ferguson. But in general, I agree.

I also agree about the "refs make mistakes" take on things, balancing out does never truly happen, big clubs are always favoured a bit more by refs in my opinion. But on a seasonal basis there can definitely be differences.

Well Juventus got the same number of penalties as Milan this season, soe of which were equally as soft as Milan's so I if they both get 11 with the referees favouring Milan and going against Juventus then I wouldn't like to see things the other way around :eek:

That goal was important though in the sense that in most people's opinion (mine included) Milan would have won the league had that goal stood. Juventus were all over the place, that second goal would have killed them off in that game. But yeah I agree with you, Galliani shouldn't have brought it up again at that stage.

The "big" clubs are likely to be involved in more of these incidents but I don't mean that each club will get the same no. of penalties etc, I mean that teams will (generally) get some contentious decisions for them and some contentious decisions against them. It's only ever the contentious decisions that favour the bigger teams that are discussed however. Same goes for Juve!

snowblind

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Well Juventus got the same number of penalties as Milan this season, soe of which were equally as soft as Milan's so I if they both get 11 with the referees favouring Milan and going against Juventus then I wouldn't like to see things the other way around :eek:

That goal was important though in the sense that in most people's opinion (mine included) Milan would have won the league had that goal stood. Juventus were all over the place, that second goal would have killed them off in that game. But yeah I agree with you, Galliani shouldn't have brought it up again at that stage.

The "big" clubs are likely to be involved in more of these incidents but I don't mean that each club will get the same no. of penalties etc, I mean that teams will (generally) get some contentious decisions for them and some contentious decisions against them. It's only ever the contentious decisions that favour the bigger teams that are discussed however. Same goes for Juve!

I didn't claim anything about this season, AND I mentioned that the calciopoli influence has lessened every year! Wouldn't count it as much of an issue anymore.

Claiming Milan would have won the title if that goal would have stood is ABSURD at least. EVERY decision changes the course of EVERYTHING. You can't just makes such assumptions, or...well, legally you can but the can of worms opened contains EVERYTHING. Like, if the Isla "hand ball" was not called incorrectly, maybe it would have triggered a series of events that would have led to a Juve CL win. You cannot know! That's why we can go by "mistake is a mistake". Refs make mistakes. Those are facts. Alternate futures are not facts. They do not count.

Yes, I do know Juve is one of the bigger teams that are favoured, and I still stand by that statement. Again belongs to the same topic of ref pressure.

Smithwicks Man

snowblind wrote: »

I didn't claim anything about this season, AND I mentioned that the calciopoli influence has lessened every year! Wouldn't count it as much of an issue anymore.

Claiming Milan would have won the title if that goal would have stood is ABSURD at least. EVERY decision changes the course of EVERYTHING. You can't just makes such assumptions, or...well, legally you can but the can of worms opened contains EVERYTHING. Like, if the Isla "hand ball" was not called incorrectly, maybe it would have triggered a series of events that would have led to a Juve CL win. You cannot know! That's why we can go by "mistake is a mistake". Refs make mistakes. Those are facts. Alternate futures are not facts. They do not count.

Yes, I do know Juve is one of the bigger teams that are favoured, and I still stand by that statement. Again belongs to the same topic of ref pressure.

It is absurd to say it but that's my opinion, I just think that it would have changed everything. The way Galliani went on about it though was as if they gave a penalty to Juventus for absolutely nothing. The referee missed it crossing the line, I fully accept that. Galliani shouldn't have brought it up again after so much time had passed.

Agree with you about the ref pressure. The thing that really bugs me though is people (EPL fans especially) saying that every example of a refereeing mistake in the Serie A or involving Milan, Juventus, Roma etc. is because of match fixing or corrupt officials, as if the referees in other leagues don't make mistakes as well :rolleyes:

Boils my blood!

carlop

http://www.calcionapoli24.it/primo_piano/ufficiale-de-laurentiis-conferma-ho-preso-benitez-sara-il-tecnico-del-n127619.html

Looks like it's Rafa. His last spell in Italy didn't go well, but the man is a proven top-level manager so I suppose I'm happy enough. I'd have preferred Montella, but Benitez would be well ahead of most of the alternatives mentioned.

I can't really picture prosaic, dull Rafa living in the madness that is Naples but I guess the same could have been said of Liverpool. He'd better not go and do anything crazy like sign Torres though.

Moneymaker

Well that's going to be interesting. He'll either sink or swim very quickly I think.

I don't know how much you can blame him for the Inter debacle seeing how its well, Inter. They tend to implode.

Rekop dog

His task was impossible at Inter, I'd place very little blame on him.

Think he'll do fine at Napoli, can't see anyone threatening Juve's dominance for the next few years baring some billionaire taking over somewhere, but Napoli do spend which immediately puts them ahead of most Serie A teams so can see them being similarly competitive as they've been in recent years.

Smithwicks Man

Good appointment for both parties imo. I'd expect him to do well.

Moneymaker

I give it 3 months til he's mugged.

opr

Surely he'll have a huge budget in the summer after they sell Cavani? It's official now that he has signed a two year deal.

Opr

Rekop dog

opr wrote: »

Surely he'll have a huge budget in the summer after they sell Cavani? It's official now that he has signed a two year deal.

Opr

Yeah, very ambitious to think they'll replace Cav(if he leaves) with similar quality but the money may help improve the overall quality of the team. Still won't be enough to challenge Juve who are currently miles ahead in terms of strength and have already and look to be further strengthening their weakest area up front with class players.

Rekop dog

Mazzarri officially Inter boss now. *insert manager musical chairs cliché*

Festy

Moneymaker wrote: »

I give it 3 months til he's mugged.

I give it three months till he's sacked.