SerieAForums

Last night i sat and watched Match of the day in my bedroom on which they showed the highlights of Manchester City vs. Chelsea at the City of Manchester stadium a game where City went on to win 1-0 which afterwards prompted Gary Linkers opening gambit to be "a typical Italian game of football, very defensive and not wanting to give anything away" or words to that effect

How long will these old fashioned prejudices be carried on for? It now seems to be an easy thing to say for all "pundits" when talking about Calcio, if these masters of the game even cared to sit down and do a little research before speaking they would realise that Calcio is no longer all defence, catenaccio and tactical master classes.

Chelsea lined up with a 4-3-3 formation, a formation used often by those total football crazy Dutch, yes i know very Italian and defensive! and Man City with a 4-5-1, probably because they did not want to sacrifice the midfield as they knew that’s where the game would be won or lost for them, not negative just smart tactics from Mancini i feel.

If we look away from the Premiershit and to our very own Serie A we will see that many teams do not line up with the 5-4-1 formation and grind out nil-nil after nil-nil, Udinese and Genoa been two who come straight to my mind who try to play an open attractive brand of football lining up with the audacity to start a 3-4-3 formation, something you rarely see in the modern day game to my knowledge, Milan lining up with the 4-3-3 formation with a plethora of Brazilian samba stars throughout the team then we have Inter who with the help of Jose Mourinho went on to win the treble last season usually lining up again with a 4-3-3 formation with a front line of Eto'o, Pandev and Milito that’s not a team who look like they are going to play for the draw, Roma with their 4-2-3-1 Formation when all players are fit and healthy signals intent to go out and win games granted with varying results but the intent is ...

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After winning their 18th league title Milan have opened a new cycle with shrewd deals for Mexes and Taiwo. After which they let Andrea Pirlo leave for Juve.After recording their joint highest points total in a 38 game season, Milan will start as many people's favorites to win their 19th title. Milan have grown from the side that played Europa league in 2008/9 including their Brazilian centre back Thiago Silva who is one of the best in the business. Milan look like the team to beat.
Inter after sacking two coaches last year have gone for the attack minded Gasperini as they third manager in 12 months. Leonardo had an awful week in April losing the Derby della Madonnina and then a Champions league quarter final to Schalke and living under police protection was too much for him to take so he moved on to Paris Saint-Germain. Samuel Eto'o and Wesley Sneijder look to be on their way out and so more pressure will be on Inter's new wonderkid Ricky Alvarez. Inter still have the strongest squad in Italy but their managerial situation costed them last year and may do like wise this year.
Napoli never do things the easy way. Walter Mazzari was sacked in the summer but then President Aurelio De Laurentiis brought Mazzari back within the space of 24 hours. Napoli can look forward to Champions league footbll this year and expect a hostile atmosphere. Napoli's forward three of Hamsik,Cavani and Lavezzi should mean that Napoli are chasing champions football again.
Udniese who shocked everyone to fourth spot have lost key players notably:- Sanchez, Inler and Zapata. Therefore targets are set to be lower than last year and the news that they will face Arsenal in the next round of champions league qualifiers will not improve things.
Roma have seen a change of manager and owner. The American owners have caused a stir in Italy. The new manager is Luis Enrique comes highly regarded and may be the next Pep Guardiola. Roma have brought young players this summer including:- Lamela,Angel and Bojan....

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PORTIERI
De Sanctis / Lobont / Julio Sergio / Skorupski (4)

DIFENSORI
Burdisso / Benatia / Castan / Romagnoli / Balzaretti / Torosidis / Dodo / Maicon / Jedvaj (10)

CENTROCAMPISTI
De Rossi / Pjanic / Florenzi / Bradley / Strootman / Marquinho / Taddei / Lucca (9)

ATTACCANTI
Totti / Destro / Gervinho / Ljajic / Caprari / Borriello (6)

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PLAYERS IN
- Vasileios Torosidis (full ownership, Olympiacos, €0.4m, )
- Mattia Destro (full-ownership, Genoa, €4.5m, )
- Gianluca Caprari (full-ownership, Pescara, €2m, )
- Giamm...

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From East Kilbride in Lanarkshire. Supports Alloa and Fiorentina. Also likes Roma, Brechin City, Rimini and Pro Patria.

Pre-season can be a strenuous time for football fans. Not only can the anticipation of wanting the football to start be quite torturous (or maybe your dreading the start, depending on your point of view), but the silly season, or mercato madness, can test the limits of any patient soul. Some love all the rumours and gossip while others simply choose to ignore it. With that in mind, I've done up a Roma squad list and record of all official mercato dealings and transactions which I plan on updating every now and then when players arrive or leave, so do check back for future updates.



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PORTIERI
Stekelenburg / Lobont / Goicoechea (3)

DIFENSORI
Burdisso / Castan / Piris / Balzaretti / Dodo / Romagnoli / Marquinhos (7)

CENTROCAMPISTI
DDR / Perrotta / Pjanic / Taddei / Marquinho / Florenzi / Bradley / Tachtsidis (8)

ATTACCANTI
Totti / Lamela / Osvaldo / Destro / Lopez (5)
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UNKNOWN
Julio Sergio - Returning from loan at Lecce, likely to leave
Guberti - Returning f...

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