September 16, 2011
The Ruler’s Back.

Week 3 of Serie A is coming up with some great matches. Last weeks Serie A round saw some excellent games and ilcalcio really made a exuberant and promising comeback. I hope by now, everybody have seen through the myth that Serie A is boring.

Fabrizio Miccoli. You just have to love a guy like Miccoli. The Palermo captain wears his heart on his sleeve and is the perfect ambassador for Serie A. He had an excellent evening game against Inter and scored two well deserved goals(on of them a beautiful free kick) that led his club to a fantastic 4-3 win.

Up north, in Genua, another player introduced himself to the Italian football audience. Atalantas new boy Maximilliano Moralez scored two goals against Genoa in his Serie A debut and that surely bodes well for the future.

Enough said. Serie A is back with a bang.

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Cagliari - Novara

Cagliari took an impressive 2-1 win in Rome against Roma (yes, Daniele Conti scored as usual) and it gave new coach Massimo Ficcadenti the perfect start, while Novara came back from being 2-0 down to earn a dram away to Chievo in their first Serie A game in 55 years.

Inter - Roma

This game smells anxiety. Both teams lost their opening games and a win would mean much to both teams. Inter coach Gasperini is in desperate need of a win after loosing to Trabzonspor in Champions league and has started his Nerazzurri adventure with 3 straight defeats and if things doesn’t change he is soon the be unemployed. Romanisti’s patience with Luis Enrique is bigger and he will be given more time but a loss wouldn’t be in his favour.

Atalanta - Palermo

Atalanta look to reduce their minus points with Maxi Moralez leading the attack. They host Palermo who confidence will be on top after beating Inter last weekend. Keep an extra eye on Miccoli.

Bologna - Lecce

Two teams that  comes from a defeat. I think Bolognas offensive line with Di Vaio, Aqquafresca and Diamanti will settle this game in favour of the home team. Hopefully allenatore Bisoli gives Gaston Ramirez the chance to shine after missing out on the first game.

Catania - Cesena

Montella and Catania earned a point in their first game but they need to win the home games if they want to avoid relegation. Now taking on Cesena who played a good game against Napoli but didn’t get any points. Though, good news for the seahorses is that start Adrian Mutu looked good and surely will be vital for them.

Lazio - Genoa

Lazio earned a well deserved point against Milan with some nice attacking play. Now taking on a Genoa side that no one knows the strength of. Lazio had a Europa league game(2-2 against Vaslui) this week but will surely want to shine at their first home game of the season.

Parma - Chievo

After being trashed by Juventus, Parma will look to bounce back and earn their first points of the season. Chievo had the lead against Novara but in the end only got a point from their first game.

Siena - Juventus

Siena got a point from their first game away to Catania but will face a tough challenge when facing la Vecchia Signora who started their campaign brilliant with a home win to Parma.

Udinese - Fiorentina

Two team that won their opening matches. Udinese beat Lecce away(Di Natale scoring) whereas Fiorentina took an important 2-0 win over Bologna. Di Natale vs Gilardino/Jovetic.

Napoli - Milan

Biggest game of the weekend. The champions travel to Neapels to face Napoli who have started their campaign with a 3-1 win away over Cesena. Also got a draw away to Manchester City in their first Champions league match. After two straight draws(2-2 v Lazio and 2-2 v Barcelona) Milan will do everything to get a good result against their Scudetto contenders.

5:53am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Zu-u1x9aIk9g
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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: calcio serie a miccoli moralez juventus inter milan napoli roma lazio udinese 
September 12, 2011
Right My Wrongs

It’s well-known that Gian Piero Gasperini was not Massimo Morattis first choice to replace Leonardo as new Inter manager. A lot of names were being talked about, among them former Palermo manager Delio Rossi and Argentinian tactician Marcelo Bielsa, who reportedly turned down the Nerazurri and instead later joined Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. 

There is no secret that president Moratti is a big admirer of Pep Guardiola. The Spaniard have repeatedly declared that he’s not intend to stay at Camp Nou forever. When he decides to take on a new challenge, and that’s likely to be sooner rather than later, Inter will be one of the main contenders for his signature.

Eventually the 53 year old Gasperini was introduced as new Inter manager. The former Genoa coach is a strong advocate of the 343 system and prefers his team to play offensive football. But Inter, since the days of Roberto Mancini, have always used four men at the back. Even if different manager have used different formations there has always been a back four. Hence one can question the appointment of Gasperini. Why appoint a manger with such different football philosophy when he is likely to act more as a caretaker than a long term solution.

Wesley Sneijder is one of the best players in the world, but against Palermo he found himself of the bench. It could well have been that Gasperini wanted to give to dutch play-maker a rest ahead of Inters Champions League game this week, but during pre-season, Gasperini have struggled to find the right position for star. Both Mourinho and Benitez built their teams around Sneijder and used him as an offensive midfielder. Why not use a formation where your biggest star has a natural position? In Gasperinis 3-4-3 he is almost compelled to use two hard working midfielders to defend his 3 central defenders.

Moratti has said that he welcomes to tactical revolution Gasperini brings to Inter, but he also pointed out that he believes his coach is smart enough to change his tactics if things doesn’t go as planned(read; change to a back four.)

I wonder why Moratti didn’t appoint a manager who favoursthe 4-3-3 system. The squad already knows the system by heart. Then, even if the coach weren’t great, the team could still play for each other on the pitch(e.g. like Chelsea did when managed by Avram Grant).

I think president Moratti did a big mistake in the recruitment of Gasperini and he will soon realise it. The fact that Gasperini wasn’t first choice, I dont expect Moratti nor the fans to be very patient with the new coach. If Gasperini don’t swallow his pride and change to a back four, I predict him to be out of work by new year.

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(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: inter gasperini nerazzuri moratti 
September 11, 2011
And so it began.

The crowd were eager to finally see the fighters up in the ring after a long, long wait(even longer with the strike).

And so, when the bell rang for the very first round, the defending champion didn’t look even close to be ready for the challenge. Milan looked slow and static and it felt they were taken by the speed, creativity and movement of the challenger.

Lazio’s first 25 minutes was brilliant. Two great Mauri assists with cool finishes by Cisse and Klose and Lazio were up 2-0 at San Siro.

But slowly the the recurrent attacks from the energetic challenger started to fade and the defending champion started to retrieve the power and strength that earlier this year once gave them the scudetto. Conducted by Alberto Aquilani and Antonio Cassano with a little help from Luciano Zauri, the champions had leveled the scoreline.

The second half, whether it was Edy Reja’s decision to pull his team deeper and gain more control to defend the point they had or if it simply was the quality that Milan possess, saw the hosts get complete control and push for a winner. But with brave defending from a conducted defence and a sublime performance by Bizzari denied the Rossoneri that third goal and the opening game of the season ended in a draw.
 
* * * * *
In a midfiled with the likes of Hernanes, Mauri and Ledesma, the grinta of Brocchi is inavaluble.

Milan’s midfield may not be the most beautiful to watch and the lack of creativit can at times be frustrating. But the work effort they put in for 90 minutes, each and every game is completely in line with Allegris philosophy(last year he prefered Marc van Bommel over Andrea Pirlo) and has already earned them a scudetto so who can really complain?

Thiago Silva is a brilliant defender. Enough said.

Lazio’s attack with players like Hernanes, Mauri, Klose and Cisse have the ability to rock any Serie A defence. The questionmarks is over Bianconeris defence . Djibril Cisse and Miroslav Klose both showed their quality and will surely be great signings.

Ibrahimovic looked way better than the games against Hungary and San Marino, but he’s still got a bit left until he reaches top-form.

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7:38am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Zu-u1x9Ohq5S
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(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: milan lazio serie a calcio ibrahimovic cisse klose 
September 9, 2011
Final thoughts on Serie A, part 7. Parma, Roma, Siena & Udinese.

As i haven’t had the time to write previews of the four remaining teams, I´ll just write some short thoughts on each and one of them.

Parma

I think we all can expect Sebastian Giovinco to be vital for Parma this season. Offensively it looks good with Giovinco, Crespo, Palladino and the new signings of Biabiany and Floccari. Blerim Dzemali will be a big loss though. Parma’s defence don´t look that impressive but I expect them to be mid-table and safely will avoid relegation.

Roma

I’m almost ready to crown them mercato winners. Some busy last days saw them sign Gago, Kjaer, Pjanjic, Osvaldo and Borini. Add to that the earlier signings of Lamela, Heinze, Bojan, Stekelenburg and José Angel, and one can easy realise that it’s a completely new Roma side we will see this season. Thumbs up do Walter Sabatini for bringing in quality players to a low cost.

I don’t expect them to challenge for the scudetto as early as this season, but qualify for Europa league should be a realistic goal.

New coach Luis Enrique will need time to put his touch on this team and this project. Biggest question this season will be if fans will have the patience to do that.

Siena

Two most important signings: Midfielder Gaetano D’Agostino and coach Giuseppe Sannino. Much of Siena’s hopes of avoiding relegation lies in the hands of D’Agostino. Once one of Italy’s best midfielder, now in Tuscany to try to recap that form he had in Udinese. I will also watch coach Giuseppe Sannino closely after his remarkable work at Varese.

I predict a tough season for Siena. They will surely be involved in relegation battle. Keep an extra eye on Mattia Destro who might have his breakthrough this season.

Udinese

New season, same Udinese. A couple of key players(Sanches, Inler and Zapata) have left and will be replaced by some knew unknown ones. Udinese has been working like this for years and will rely on their scouting network to have found the right players to step up to the challenge. You can expect club talisman Antonio Di Natale to challenge for his third consecutive capocanonieri title. They won’t qualify for Champions League again but tactician Guidolin will guide them to a place on the upper half of the table.

6:45am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Zu-u1x9JXRLx
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(Notes: 1)
  
August 25, 2011
Serie A thoughts, part 6. Napoli, Novara & Palermo.

Napoli

In south Italy, President Aurelio DeLaurentiis, sporting director Riccardo Bigon and coach Walter Mazzari have an interesting ongoing project. Last years third-place finish was an impressive achievement and hopefully an indication of what we can expect from Napoli in the years to come.

This year will be an even bigger test. Fans will expect them to repeat what they did last season. Looking at their investments this summer one might even expect them to improve from last seasons 3rd place-finish. Napoli are one of the teams that have spent most during the mercato so fans will have huge expectations on the team this season. Though, this year will be different when opponents will be more aware of their quality and what to expect from them. The approaching Champions League football at San Paolo will be another great challenge for Napoli but they should be aware that throughout the years, many teams has struggled to combine Champions league football with playing in Serie A.

Coach Walter Mazzari will do his third consecutive season on the bench for Napoli and the Tuscany based tactician will continue to work with 3-4-3, the system that proved to be so successful last season.

Looking at the mercato, most notable players to leave the Napoli-camp is Michele Pazienza who have signed for Juventus after his contract expired. Defender Fabiano Santacroce have signed for Parma while midfielders José Sosa has left for Metalist in Ukraine and Hasan Yebda has signed for Granada in Spain.

A lot of players have been signed, and the squad definitely look stronger than last season. Both Mario Santana and Marco Donadel have been signed from Fiorentina after their contracts had expired. Both of them will add depth to the squad and give Mazzari more options. Gökhan Inler finally signed for Napoli from Udinese after a lot of speculation and will likely be one of the first players Mazzari puts down on the team sheet. Along with him, midfielder Blerim Dzemaili haven joined from Parma. The defence have been strengthened with the signings of Manuel Britos from Bologna and Federico Fernández from Estudiantes.

Questions will be asked if Mazzari’s 3-man defence will work against the best teams in Europe. Last week they were trashed 5-0 against Barcelona in the Trofeu Johan Gamper. Napoli fans will also hope that the fantastic trio from last season, Lavezzi-Cavani-Hamisk, will lead the Napoli attack in pursuit of glory.

Now that Italy only have three Champions league spots (have lost on spot to Germany), qualifying for CL will be a tough task for Napoli. Not impossible, but while competing in both Italy and Europe this season, a Europa league spot is more likely.

Novara

After an absence of 55 years, the north-Italian club is finally back in Serie A. 2009/10 they won the Lega Pro Prima divisione and last year they gained promotion to Serie A after beating Padova in the Serie B playoff.

Club is still owned by the De Salvo family and the biggest difference from last season is that sporting director Pasquale Sensible is replaced by Mauro Pederzoli. The former played a major part in Novara’s recent promotions but now he’s joined newly relegated Sampdoria in Serie B. Mauro Pederzoli will be the man replacing Sensible and he arrives from Milan’s organisation.

Coach Attilio Tesser have guided the team through Lega Pro and Serie B but now stands before his biggest challenge yet, to save Novara from relegation. He doesn’t have the best squad around, but some interesting signings have been made. Novara, along with Cesena will be the only teams with synthetic pitch, hence some teams will possibly encounter some problems at Stadio Silvio Piola.

The attacking duo of Cristian Bertani(Sampdoria) and Pablo Andrés González(Palermo) have both left the club and will be missed. They produced a major part of Novara’s goals last season.

Novara will try to replace the duo of Bertani/González with Takayuki Morimoto(Catania), Pablo Granoche(Chievo), Jeda(Lecce) and Riccardo Meggorini(Bologna). Young promising midfielder Andrea Mazzarani have joined on loan from Udinese after having a good loan-spell with Modena last season. Defenders Massiomo Paci and Pablo Hernán Dellafiore have arrived from Parma and will add much needed Serie A experience to the defence.

A player to watch this season is goalkeeper Samir Ujkani, who has been great in goal for Novara. The Albanian international is co-owned by Palermo and should be vital for Novara’s defence this season.

President Massimo De Salvo has shown that he has a long term vision for the club by building Novarello, a high-tech training ground. During the summer they have reconstructed their arena that now will host nearly 18.000. Add to that their synthetic pitch and one can understand why Novara is such an interesting project.

Surely, it will be a difficult year for Novara. Playing Milan and Juventus is not like playing Crotone or Cittadella. But with the synthetic pitch at Stadio Silvio Piola playing a part and if one of the strikers can step up and score around 10 goals, then maybe Novara can avoid relegation.

Palermo

Palermo didn’t exactly get the start of the season they wanted after they surprisingly were knocked out of Europa league against Swiss side FC Thun. Absolutely not the start new coach Stefano Pioli wanted, after having joined Palermo this summer, arriving from Chievo.

Last year Palermo finished in 8th place but they did reach the final of Coppa Italia, where they lost to Inter. Through that, they got their place in the Europa league.

President Mauro Zamparini still owns the club, even though he lately has threatened to sell the club. New sporting director is Sean Sogliano who have replaced Walter Sabatini. Sogiano signed for Palermo after having made a remarkable job with Varese and it will be interesting to see what he can do in an bigger club.

Palermo have been really busy during the summer. Wonderkid Javier Pastore finally signed for PSG after lots of rumours throughout the summer linking him with top-clubs around Europe. Goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu joined him and also signed a contract with PSG. Cesare Bovo have joined Genoa while defender Mattia Cassani recently joined Fiorentina. Other players that have left are Andrea Raggi(Bologna), Moris Carrozzieri(Atalanta), Dorin Goian(Glasgow Rangers), Pajtim Kasami(Fulham) and David Lanzafame(Catania).

Sogliano and Pioli have made some key aquisations in the defence with the signings of Matia Silvestri from rivals Catania and Andrea Mantovani from Chievo. Other players in are Mauro Cetto (Toulouse), Eros Pisano(Varese), Carlos Labrin(Huachipato) and Ádám Simon(Szombathelyi Haladás). Striker Pablo Gonzalez was bought earlier this year but stayed the season and played a big part in Novara winning promotion from Serie B.

The most interesting signing together with Matia Silvestri is Erhan Zahavi from Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel. Playing as an attacking midfielder, Zahavi has the potential to be of the most interesting players in Serie A this season.

The Rosanero fans will hope that 23 year old Slovenian midfielder Josip Iličić continues where he left off last season. 8 goals in 34 games in his first Serie A season made a lot of clubs looking closer at him, but he opted to stay at Palermo and have recently signed a new 5 year contract. If he can continue to develop and deliver like he did last season, the loss of Pastore won’t be as big as many have expected.

The attack with captain Fabrizio Miccoli, Abel Hernandez, Mauricio Pinilla and Pablo Gonzlez, backed by Iličić and Zahavi looks interesting and is by far high Serie A standard. But the biggest challenge for new coach Stefano Pioli is to get that defence to work. If so, Palermo will look for a better position than last years 8th.

The biggest question is what happens if things start to go bad and the team looses a couple of games. How much patience has president Zamparini? How soon will he fire Pioli? And what about Sogliano?

Grande Zamparini. Can’t wait for Serie A to start.

6:59pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Zu-u1x8loJI1
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(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: napoli novara palermo calcio italy serie a 
August 23, 2011
Serie A thoughts, part 5. Lazio, Lecce & Milan.

Lazio

Lazio had a great season that almost led to a top 4 finish and Champions League qualification, but they fell on the goal-line against Udinese and finished 5th, which means Edy Reja and his Lazio will play in the Europa League this season.

Competing at two fronts this year will demand a stronger squad with more quality and that’s exactly what Igli Tare and president Claudio Lotito has been working on this summer. Lazio has done a promising mercato adding many players who has the potential to contribute straight away. Something that they need if they’re going to give both Serie A and Europa League an honest chance.

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(Notes: 11)
  
Filed under: lazio lecce milan acmilan ibrahimovic galliani calcio serie a football 
August 23, 2011
Serie A thoughts, part 4. Inter & Juventus.

Inter

After dominating il calcio for the last couple of years, last season ended their superiority with city rivals AC Milan bringing home the scudetto. Last season, Rafa Benitez replaced treble-winner José Mourinho. But Inter and Rafa Benitez, a clear miss-match from the beginning, ended with Leonardo being appointed new Inter manager in late December.

This summer, Leonardo, uncertain whether he wanted a career as a coach or not, ended up as sporting director in PSG. Moratti again had to go on a manager hunt, and the choice fell on Gian Piero Gasperini, after many had been approached, among them Marco Bielsa.

Finally, one of the most surprising transfer-sagas seems to be coming to and end, with striker Samuel Eto’o set to join Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. Enough has already been said on this particular transfer and I can just say that Inter looses a striker of absolute world-class while Serie A loose out on one of it’s biggest profiles.

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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: inter juve calcio italy serie a football 
August 18, 2011
Serie A thoughts part 3. Fiorentina & Genoa.

Fiorentina

An important season is approaching for Fiorentina. After having played in the Champions League the year before, last years unimpressive 9th place mean that they won’t participate in any of the European cups this season. Another year without qualifying for Europe will likely see Sinisa Mihajlovic sacked from Fiorentina, and it doesn’t look good for the former free-kick specialist from Serbia. His squad definitely looks weaker than last season and sporting director Pantaleo Corvino has struggled to bring in the big names this summer.

Troublemaker Adrian Mutu has left Firenze and joined Cesena. Even though he didn’t have one of his best seasons last years, he was still a major force when playing. Goalkeeper Sebstien Frey has left for Genoa, Mario Santana and Marco Donadel has signed for Napoli, while Gianluca Comotto has signed for Cesena. The three latter has left on a free transfer and and will see Fiorentinas payroll reduced and in better condition ahead of incoming FFP rules.

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(Notes: 33)
  
Filed under: serie a calcio fiorentina genoa 
August 16, 2011
Serie A thoughts, part 2. Cesena & Chievo.

Cesena

One of the clubs that’s aspire on the title “mercato winners”. Cesena is arguably one of the teams to keep an extra eye on this season. Great offensively acquisitions has made Cesena dream of a better position than last years 15th place.

Massimo Ficcadenti did a great job as coach last years and his team played an attractive attacking football with much speed and good wingers. Sadly he’s left the club ahead of this season and been replaced by the former Catania coach Marco Giampaolo.

Dino Manuzzi is one of the most fascinating stadiums in Serie A and its compact structure creates a perfect atmosphere, despite holding “only” 24,000. Expect many teams run into problems when they visit Dino Manuzzi.

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(Notes: 10)
  
Filed under: serie a calcio cesena chievo 
August 15, 2011
Serie A thoughts, part 1. Atalanta, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania.

Atalanta

Will start this season with -6 points and captain Cristiano Doni won’t feature this season after given a a 3.5 year ban all due to clubs involvement in the calcio scommesse. Last years winner of Serie B will face a tough challenge to avoid regulation this year. They have kept pretty much the whole squad from last years campaign. Stefano Colantuano is ready for his second year as Atalanta coach.

The Bergamo club has strengthen their defence with the signings of Stefano Lucchini (Sampdoria) and Andrea Masiello (Bari). Ezequiel Scheletto returns to Bergamo after a loan spell with Catania and will provide another attacking option. Atalanta’s paid the the buyout clause of Maximiliano Moralez from Vélez Sársfield. The 24 year old Argentinian playmaker has every chance of becoming one of the main attractions this season, having led his old club to two league titles.

A hard working midfield and some high expectations on Moralez to provide the flair in attack, I still think they need a better prima punta than Tiribocchi if they are to avoid regulation.

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(Notes: 23)
  
Filed under: Serie A Atalanta bologna cagliari catania calcio 
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