Season 2010/2011 expectations for Rafa

[RossCanGetMeTheTickets]

With the squad we are giving him, QF's and Scudetto would be an overacheivement.

Why? Isn't this the same squad that won the Champions League last season beating Chelsea, Barcelona, and Bayern in the process? People are so pessimistic for christ's sake.

About Roma's mercato, is it just me or have they really bought shit players? I mean, Adriano? C'mon, we all know how he struggles. Not to mention how fat he become. Last season he had a stinker in Brazil and again was involved in trouble with some weapon dealers and shit.... they are only gambling on him because they, quite frankly, have no other option. Stripped of cash and looking for someone to lead the lines. Adriano is a far shot and hopefully a gamble that won't pay off. Also, Ranieri, c'mon, the guy builds great teams but he's almost 60 and won jack all, all his career so don't expect miracles. With the Champions League distraction I think they'll finish 5th.

Now on to Juve......another retarded transfer campaign. Pepe? Lanzafame? Really?! Ok, Marco Motta is good, but who did they get for left back, oh yes De Ceglie....what an upgrade over Grosso lol Their squad just got worse.....look at their strikers, Amauri, Iaquinta... hideous. And led by Delneri who's again close to 60 and yet Roma was the biggest club he ever coached for a mere 6 months... this club is so badly managed that it's not even funny anymore lol They're linked with Krasic, Dzeko, and Bastos but they'll only sign one of them, and I think it's Bastos. They can't have a season like the last one, but I think their best shot is 3rd.

Moving on to Milan......god Berlusconi is so damn cheap! Allegri is a good coach but he has no players. Just look at that squad.... what scares me is that Huntelaar might leave and then they'll get Ibra on loan, which to me means, gurantueed second spot. Ronaldinho needs to get back to shape, but hopefully he won't. They've done soem smart moves like Papathouspofuckles and they're linked with Bocchetti and Boateng. Granted, there squad is old as fuck so they'll win nothing. But if Ibra returns to Milano then I'm afraid they won't fail as much as we want them to.... Sad but true.

Now Genoa and Napoli are the closest to the fourth spot for me. It all depends on how their new signigns are going to fare. But I have to give them the edge over Roma.

Anyway, to the topic - Benitez has to win the Serie A no excuses. I don't give a rats ass about the Coppa but it would be nice if he won it again. All the other bonuses like Super Coppa Italia and Europe's Super Cup and the TIM Cup and World Club Cup have to be landed as a bonus, and honestly, they're not that hard so failure won't be tolerated. Champions League is a tricky business but we have to reach at least the semi final. Benitez is an expert in knockout games, as tactics are his strong point, so he is master in those games. Anything less than a semi final for the treble winners would be a dissapointment. After that, anything could happen, so we'll see.

 

[CafeCordoba]

With the squad we are giving him, QF's and Scudetto would be an overacheivement.

Well IMO Scudetto and QF are realistic target and should be a requirement for Benitez for the next season. Our playing system perhaps don't work that well in his first year, that's why I left only QF there. Why "only" QF? Because it's expected we will win our CL group -> easier opponent in Round of 16 so we should be able to get to QF phase without facing any elite teams. When facing elite team, the playing system must be adapated already if you want to win, and I'm giving Rafa some slack in his first season if he's really inteding to get us playing more faster and more ball possession.

So, Scudetto + QF is realistic. Semi-phase could be overachievement or not, depending on the draw (remember we got CSKA in QF last time).

 

[Alessandro]

LOL at the people that actually voted for the Coppa Italia and TIM cup... We are European champions. Just winning a coppa Italia this season is not satisfactory... It would be dissapointing to say the least.

The Scudetto and a strong effort in our CL title defense is bare minimum for me...

 

[Luka]

LOL at the people that actually voted for the Coppa Italia and TIM cup...

If I'm not mistaken, it seems you didn't read the manual mate

The poll is created for multiple choice, so that you can pick more than one[...]

 

[Alessandro]

If I'm not mistaken, it seems you didn't read the manual mate

lol Figures...

 

[Universe]

LOL at the people that actually voted for the Coppa Italia and TIM cup... We are European champions. Just winning a coppa Italia this season is not satisfactory... It would be dissapointing to say the least.

The Scudetto and a strong effort in our CL title defense is bare minimum for me...

It's clear that the TIM Cup should be our primary focus.

:thumbsup:

 

[Big Willy]

Serie A
Uefa Super Cup
Coppa Italia
Champions League (Quarter finals)
FIFA Club World Cup

 

[Luka]

Seems the poll is done. Hardly anyone more will vote, so lets see:

54 out of 58 want Scudetto to be won as part of succesfull season.

TIM Cup was won so 10 people will be happy

Champions league should be won according to 6/58 (10%) if they have to consider the season succesfull. IMO, a bit exagarated considering nobody won CL twice recently, not even mighty Barca, but everybody has a right to have an opinion.

1/4 of the people involved in the poll wants Coppa Italia to be won, and 50% of the forum wants SuperCoppa Italiana.

Domestic cups ain't that important as much as the international ones. The fact we have the opportunity to battle for those, quite a few people consideres them fundamental. 75% wants both European SuperCup and International cup.

Basing on some majority rationalisation, most people (3/4 or more) consideres Rafas season as succesfull when he wins:

- Scudetto
- EuropeanSuperCup
- International Cup

which in my opinion is a fair assessment, of what Rafa should do next season.

Next year probably the CL votes will rise considerably, which also shows that people are very rational about our CL campaign this season, which is a very good thing imo.

Anyways, big thanks to everyone who took their time and voted for the poll, and see you next year

 

[Coasterfreek]

I want the two supercups and the club world cup. If he wins Serie A as well, I'd be satisfied. I don't expect them to win the coppa italia or CL instantly.

 

[Sassuolu]

Everybody wants the 6th consecutive Scudetto, wow, 6 in a row that would be nice

 

[Dylan]

Feck, didn't read the bit about multiple choice. DAMMIT!

 

[Luka]

Feck, didn't read the bit about multiple choice. DAMMIT!

 

[Dylan]

Everything bar the CL and TIM. They're the extras

 

[Coasterfreek]

This is my take on Inter Milan this coming season. I typically cover my American teams, but Inter Milan will always get one video pre-season and one post-season when it ends. I include my expectations and recapping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW9ehhWvl00

 

[dynasty27]

Won't give any predictions, but bottom line is this season is gonna be a heck of a different story. Years over years we were the ones who had to suffer on international stage, not only the club but the entire Inter family all over the world. But then last season we won them all, crowned with the clean sweep of the UEFA individual awards yesterday. The expectations have always been high, this time it's the same but from another angle. The most difficult thing is to maintain at the highest level. We become more from hunter to hunted. That's why I'm eager to see how we deal with this new old situation.

 

[J zanetti]

It would obviously be foolish to make any serious season prediction just based on this 90 min horrid show.

What we can however conclude to a degree is that our bench is not adequate to challenge in 3 fronts. If / when our 1st eleven fail to produce there is not enough quality players who can come in and do the job. We need 1 or ideally 2 quality players (midfield and upfront). Unfortunately it could be too late for such acquisitions.

Some say Wesley’s substitution was because of fatigue. IMO however he was all over the pitch even right before he was substituted. I sincerely hope he was tired because I can not see any other reason why Rafa (tempted to say the Fat one but I will wait a good few more weeks for that) would substitute him.

Finally contrary to popular opinion in here I think we will struggle big time defending our Scudetto. It won’t certainly be a walk in the park as not only we haven’t improved our squad but also have been forced into a significant downgraded in our coaching department.
I think Rafa should focus on Serie A and leave the rest to bigger and better coaches! Another scudetto and he should be given the green light for at least another year!

 

[Suneet]

The potato has failed this season already for me. It was a dream to win all the 6 trophies.

 

[Besnik]

The potato has failed this season already for me. It was a dream to win all the 6 trophies.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[Alex de Large]

Benny "Fail" Hill

 

[Ziyad]

While we had 180 minutes of competitive football from him i would say they were aweful..Completely sucked.I mean we did win the Italian supercup but if you think about it we had two goals come out of Roma mistakes.I also think this Cambi going up top alot is a BS move.I like it when he is there but we suffer alot when we lose the ball and he has to chase back.I would keep him at his strenght and only allow him to go up rarely.Most serie A teams survive on the counter attack and with Cambi up high they will get more points off us than ever.

As for the Atletico game,we didnt have any decent moves from our players.I dont know if there was a game plan but sure didnt look like it all game long.It seemed we were depending on individual brilliance to come from Sneijder or Eto.Both tried but to no avail.Whats worse is that he didnt think of changing anything.He kept his stupid formation until they scored and didnt think of a way to unleash Sneijder more or get Milito the ball.Was he happy that Chivu was struggling while we could have moved JZ in his place and got Mariga in???

I wouldnt have minded losing if we played decently,however we played piss poor.If you remember we lost to Lazio last year in the Supercup.We dominated that game however and created lots of chances.At least you could take something out of that game.Unlike this which just makes it seem to me like its foreshadowing of whats to come.