Italian Serie A 2007/2008

[shahz_nerazzurri]

Here are some of the reasons behind my prediciton.

Inter - We are the strongest team in Italy period. While Roma have really increased their depth this season, they still have a tedency to drop points against mid table teams, specially away from home.

Milan are wrose than last season, for one simple fact- Their average squad age has grown by a year, and they havent really bought in any decent players. Pato wont be able to play till Jan, and he will only be 18 then, he will need a few years in SERIEA to establish himself. Emerson . Milan's starting line consists of Ronaldo and Gilardino, both of them are big gamble's in my opinion. And they havent done any thing about their ageing defence. I predict a 3rd place finish for them.

If Fiorentina could have kept Toni, I would have bet everything that they would have finished about Gobbi's, but still they have bought in some good players. While the over all Viola team is pretty strong, they have made a mockery of their attack, by selling Toni, Reginaldo and Bojinov all in one season. Still I have heard a lot about Vanden Borre, the most talented of all the young signings that Viola have made, with Hable and Mazuch being among them. And also Semioli is a decent signing. Lupoli and Vieri are hardly gonna do anything.

Juventus, they wont be title challengers by a long shot, but they may beat Viola for the 4th spot. Players like Delpiero and Nedved are extremely old and will hardly do anything in SERIEA. Juve, though did a good job of keeping Trezaguet and Buffon with them. At the beginning of the transfer market I expected them to sign much bigger players, than they actually did. Andrade is a quality defender though. Salihamidizic, Iaquinta, Almiron, Tiago, Grygera and Cristico are all nothing more than average players.

Palermo, I put them before Lazio, as I think they have a better squad than LAzio. Caracciolo didnt impress much with them, so they sent him pakcing to Sampdoria. They did get Mariano Gonazalez back from us, and also signed Miccoli. More importantly for them, they managed to keep Bresciano, Barzagli and Zaccardo. And ofcourse the next Brazilian in town- Amauri. Amauri is a very underrated player, who was about to explode on the SERIEA scence before getting injured, now he will have a chance to do that. And I do expect him to get around 20 goals this season.

Lazio-Very dissapoiting Mercato. Despite being in the CL, they couldnt get any decent signings, and infact lost Jimenez to us. Scaloni and Meghni probably two of their best signings, says a lot about their Mercato. They did manage to get a good kepeer Carizzo from Riverplate, but their is still doubt surronding his transfer, as he needs to get an Italian passport, since all of Lazio's non-eu spots are taken.

Rest of the clubs, I'll do later.

 

[M.Adnan]

They did get Mariano Gonazalez back from us, and also signed Miccoli.

Mariano Gonzalez plays for Porto now. good post btw.

 

[snake]

shaz... milan will win Serie A and Ronaldo will finish with 25+ goals.

 

[Alex de Large]

2. Roma
3. Milan
4. Fiorentina

5. Palermo
6. Torino

7. Lazio
8. Sampdoria
9. Napoli
10. Udinese
11. Reggina
12. Genoa
13. Atalanta
14. Parma
15. Livorno
16. Siena
17. Cagliari
18. Juventus
19. Catania
20. Empoli

 

[minterke]

I hope man...except I hope Lazio does better than Roma.

 

[bennyblanco]

I hope man...except I hope Lazio does better than Roma.

Lazio will go good this year on the field,of the field it might be volatile

this season should be a cracker,first time its going to be clean and fair for all
but you never know with gobbi,anything is possible

Serie A is definatley the best league in the WORLD:star:

It might not have the "showcase" look the Premier League and La liga have but pound for pound its the best,

if only the Italian media would go stir crazy for the promotion of the Coppa Italia and the Serie A itself,like the English for example,and broadcast everything including the colour of Mancini's underwear and who has current AVO'S in the squad



marketing is our downfall:wallbang:

 

[rockball]

I am amazed how you guys are counting Ronaldo out...he is still among the best in the world and his fitness I am sad to say has improved by leaps and bounds since coming to Milan

 

[Diavolo]

Richardson's season opener.

Nothing special. Can't agree on DP with him. I wouldn't count him out yet.

 

[Stefan]

I am amazed how you guys are counting Ronaldo out...he is still among the best in the world and his fitness I am sad to say has improved by leaps and bounds since coming to Milan

When Ronaldo is fit he will do well but even at the end of last season he had an injury and he hasn't been able to play one minute of pre season football because of injuries.

He won't stay fit through out a season.

 

[Alex de Large]

Serie A will miss a lot of players, bianchi, g.rossi, luca toni...
and lots of stars are going to premier and spain, babel, sneijder, yaya toure, mavuba, tevez, malouda, ....

 

[Freh]

Serie A will miss a lot of players, bianchi, g.rossi, luca toni...
and lots of stars are going to premier and spain, babel, sneijder, yaya toure, mavuba, tevez, malouda, ....

What about Tiago, Andrade, Cassano, Juan, Cicinho, Pato, Giuly, Emerson, Jankovic, Miccoli, Costinha, Tavano, Grygera, Lavezzi, Salihamadzic etc arriving? not to forget the players player in B last season.

Overall, I think Serie A has strenghtened itself despite the loss of some players.

 

[Alex de Large]

I think: Tiago, Andrade, Lavezzi, Juan, Cicinho, Jankovic and Miccoli are good signings, the rest are crap or are finished. Costinha? LOL.....

 

[Thug_Paco]

Well alex u are wrong big time. I can guarentee u that Serie A's quality and talent, with the players that have been bought and the players that have returned from Serie B is much much better than that overrated epl shit. Serie A and La Liga are at the same level in my view and I think the upcoming season will show us wich league could be called the better one.

bennyblanco bro CLASS post. the epl is nowhere close to Serie A.

 

[Hasan]

Serie A is the strongest, and English league is so overated, What I like in England is that every player must play 100% without acting and simulating, Totti would be booed in England after one game with all that acting.

I watched game Hajduk Split-Sampdoria in UEFA cup last week and after every foul Samp players was injured and than after 15 sec they running like crazy. I think FIFA must bring new rule and give cards for that stuff.

Back to the topic, Italy have the strongest teams, the best fans and If referies make one step forward serie A will be on the top again.
Kaka and Ibrahimovic played the best football in the world last season and that's mean something.

Fukc the league where bigest stars are Lamard,Terry,Rooney,Bent etc.

 

[shahz_nerazzurri]

Back to my SERIEA preview. (Okay yeah, so I am really excited).

Napoli- I put them at 8, not because they have a big name, but because they have made some really good summer signings, while the other mid table Italian clubs have considerably weakend themsevles. They got Hamsyk, one of the stars of SERIEB last season, and everyone knows about Lavezzi(I really hope he turns better than Tevez), plus Zayaleta and Blasi from Gobbi's. Zayaleta is very good player, he has been pretty good for Gobbi's at the bench, I wonder why they sold him.

I put Atalanta at 9, because they have a pretty strong team from last season, which finished 8, and they have gotten some good players in as well. Muslimovic, Costinha, and a couple of guys from River Plate as well.

Sampdoria at 10, they lost Quagliarella, and have compeltely changed their attack, with signings of Cassano, Montella and CAracciolo.

Udinese have gone considerably weaker than last season. They have lost three of their best players, Iaquinta and their midfield general Muntari and their best goal keeper De Santics. The only noteable signing is of Quagliarella, and probably Floro flores, from a SERIEB team. The good news for them is Di Natale is staying with the club. It would have been horrible for them, had all four of their biggest stars left the club in one season.

Livorno, also gone considerably weak. We got Cesar back from them(for some reason), Kuffour also ends his loan spell and goes back to Roma(and is probably gonne be shipped off Blackburn or some EPl club. Lucarelli, their captain gone. Fiore gone to some SERIEB club via Valenica (remember last year we were intrested in Fiore??). But they have got some decent players in. Ex-Milan player Dhorasso comes in, Gianniccehda(spll) comes on a free transfer from Gobbi's, after his contract expired. Our boy Ribas is also there, plus they got Tavano( I am not sure if they got him on loan or permenant)

Parma at 13, after they survived a relegation cat fight, thanks to Ranieri and Rossi last season. They lost Rossi and Muslimovic(not that he had done anything for them). Noteable inclusion is probably only Reginaldo.

Torino at 14, I dont think they have that strong of a squad. Good work in keeping Rosina at home. Milan got Abbiati back from them. Torino have made some good signings like getting Natali from Udinese (the defender, not Di Natale), Di Michele (eventhough he cant play for 3 monhts), and Ventola.

Empoli at 15. I think Uefa cup will be a distraction for them. They never really had any stars in their squad, with Almiron being the closest thing to it, whom they sold to Juve. Good news for them is Gigi Cagni is still incharge, that man is a miracle worker.

REggina at 16. They have got some half decent players from Super Liga. But lost their most prized asset in Bianchi. They did pretty well last seaosn with 11 point penalty, and have managed to kept the otehr two stars Amarouso and Modesto at the club. The loss of Walter Mazzari as their coach, and his replacement with some unknown coach is gonna prove very bad for Reggina.

Genoa at 17. Lost Azzurri under 21 Cristico to Gobbi's. noteable inclusions are Paro from the Gobbi's and Boriello from Milan. (yes the same Borriello who got herpes from his girlfriend). I think Genoa will suceed in avoiding relegation.

Siena at 18. Gobbi's little sister. I really wanna see them relegated.

Catania at 19. Thier fans usually make much more of a headline than their players.

Calgiari at 20. Were lucky to avoid relegation lst season. Lost two of their best players in Suazo and Esposito. Plus their goal keeper Chimenti as well. Cant see much from them.

 

[shahz_nerazzurri]

Serie A is the strongest, and English league is so overated,

Fukc the league where bigest stars are Lamard,Terry,Rooney,Bent etc.

Dude everyone knows how much I hate anything that has to do with England, but player quality wise, their league is far superior than ours. Mailny because they have so much money, and it just keeps on getting wrose, with new billionaires, buying another EPL club regularly.

Still, I like SERIEA's style of play much better than EPL's. This is how true football was meant to be played, and not the crap way the English's play it.

Anyways, check out what Roma have done this summer!!. They have spent around 36mill Euros uptil now this summer. (Less than what Tottenham or NewCastle have spent, but still Roma have gotten really quality player, really cheap.) Plus they are still in for DelHorno.

Cicinho Real Madrid €9m D Full-Ownership.
Marco Andreolli Inter €3m D Co-Ownership.
Ludovic Giuly Barcelona €3.2m M Full-Ownership.
Ahmed Barusso Rimini €1.7m M Co-Ownership.
Mauro Esposito Cagliari €2m M Co-Ownership.
Juan dos Santos Bayer L. €6.3m D Full-Ownership.
Mirko Vučinić * Lecce €3.75m F Co-Ownership.
David Pizarro* Inter €5.75m M Full-Ownership.
Marco Cassetti* Lecce €900k D Full-Ownership.

The last three players were already at Roma last season. Vucinic's loan option has been excercised and now Roma co-owns him. Pizzaro was co-owned by Roma last year and now he is fully owned by Roma, after Roma agreed to pay 5.75mill for his half-ownership to Inter. Samthing with Casetti.

 

[Alex de Large]

U don't understand my point Thug, i have always defended Serie A and i still believe it's the best and most competitive league in the world, the problem is those ****ing billionaries of EPL, see, that moron of Eriksson now wants Amelia from Livorno and said he wants even more players of Italian league to go there, I DON'T WANT THAT FUTURE, even small teams of Serie A should start looking for a future, why do G.Rossi leave to ¿VILLARREAL? (wtf!), for only, 12 millions? why didn't fiorentina, palermo or someone get him? believe it or not, EPL have the ****ing money, and i hate that fact but it's true.

 

[bennyblanco]

Fukc the league where bigest stars are Lamard,Terry,Rooney,Bent etc.

100% with you Hasan,what a post

just compare their wages,Bent 16 million pounds,Palermo hasnt spent that much on their whole aquad

noone in their right mind would pay Lampard 250000 pounds a week

or Terry 220000 pounds a week,Rio Ferdinand 250000 pounds a week

these players would be struggling to get that anywhere in the world except England,


but how the fukc is Mr Abramovich going to launder money if he cant do it like this,?

 

[Hasan]

Dude everyone knows how much I hate anything that has to do with England, but player quality wise, their league is far superior than ours. Mailny because they have so much money, and it just keeps on getting wrose, with new billionaires, buying another EPL club regularly.

You're right but I don't really like criteria where Bent worth more from Henry.

And that instant bilioners won't be rich forever, I watched one documentay about the richest man in Russia before 6-7 years when Jelcin was a president, that guy is now in jail and all money is gone. Who can garanty that same thing won't happen to Roman too?

Too bad that Crangoti is gone(Lazio was rich club), Parmalat olso missing in Italian footbal, but like you said I rate Italian style much much more.

And Benny that paychecks of Terry and Rio are so crazy, guys can jump and make decent foul, so overated. Caragher is the best England defender and that new guy from Man. City is better from Tery and Rio together.

 

[Tanel]

EPL is what Serie A was years at around millenium, money-wise, but with much less quality. I predict lots of clubs going bankrupt after some chairman gets bored of it or falls into crisis himself.

shaz, I don't agree that losing Bojinov and Reginaldo is huge hit for them. Bojinov is shit player whose only rated high because he scored 10 goals for ultra-attacking Lecce. Reginaldo was just average.

And even if I don't like Juventus, Criscito is huge addition to them. He is at the moment the only young Italian defender who has showed that he can reach the level of Nesta or Cannavaro. Besides, they didn't really add him, he was under co-ownership I think. Atleast he had played for Juve before. So should be Tiago.

I'm wondering what will Tristan do in Livorno though, doubt anything, but just if they could get him close to what he was in Deportivo when they were a top club in Spain, then it'd be awesome for A. Though unlikely that he'll do much.

Besides, Di Natale left Udinese yesterday after contract dispute.

I've written a huge Serie A preview for Estonian football site so I am quite familiar with what Serie A clubs have done over the summer and who should do good, but you never know.

Actually I'm quite happy that Genoa hasn't really changed too much. Torino last year made huge changes, see where they ended up.

I think the toughest is to predict place to Parma though, they've changed coach and have made no significiant improvements in their squad - just Damiano Zenoni and Reginaldo. But they have very young squad and they may have developed vastly over the summer. But depth just doesn't seem to be there just like last season.