Lega Serie A – General Discussion

[RomaShield27]

I think thats a bit harsh on Genoa, Carlo. I believe they are good enough for the Champions League, not just the Europa league, and have enough quality and strength in depth in there squad already to achieve that. Not to mention the amount of very promising young players who are capable of maturing into top-class players. All they lack is a bit of experience at the top end of the table and that, naturally, will come with time.

As for the game yesterday, great game and great entertainment, as you would expect (available to download if anyones interested). As a football match it wasn't perhaps champagne football throughout but that it to be expected with a Derby, and it was littered with niggly fouls etc. which obviously boiled over several times. Genoa were very good and dominated throughout, even though they played with 10 men for over half the game, while Samp were disappointing, no doubt, and do seem to be suffering from the expectations of being so far up the table earlier this season. Cassano was terrific though, I have to say, he looked like a real leader of the team out there, controlling the play and setting things up, but was stopped by double (or sometimes triple) Genoa defending, which was cynical at times. In the second-half Papastathopoulos had him in his pocket and effectively played a large part in winning them the game.

[Carlo Romano]

Ed, I meant to respond to you yesterday. Perhaps I've been recently watching too many film clips of true world class acts of the past like Sandro Mazzola, Falcao, etc while setting up the Roma art gallery and the Inter legends pieces...

But it's not just that. Seeing Messi deservedly win the Ballon d'Or only serves to remind me that in contests such as these, the Italian presence has dropped most alarmingly. At the minute, we only have Buffon, a goalkeeper! Certainly we have good players, but not one other fuoriclasse!

Now I'm not suggesting Genoa would have players who'd be known world wide even by non calcio fans but what I mean by a stronger presence is simply that for example, when a provincial side like la Samp makes a real impact as they did in the early 1990's, it's because there were guys in the roster like Vialli and Mancini who had enough quality to be household names. It made a difference.

That said, let's hope Genoa can take the right result from Slavia Prague this Wednesday...

[vtec]

[marco]

[juventino_italiano]

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

[marco]

AQUILANI si affida alla placenta
22.12.2009
Alberto Aquilani si affida alle cure di Marijana Kovacevic, ormai soprannominata la "dottoressa della placenta". Stando al "Daily Mail", l'ex centrocampista della Roma e' volato domenica a Belgrado dove, ieri, si e' sottoposto agli ormai noti massaggi con placenta umana che accelererebbero i tempi di recupero. Aquilani, arrivato al Liverfekkin'wankscum ad agosto, e' stato a disposizione di Benitez solo a meta' ottobre perche' reduce da un infortunio alla caviglia ma da allora ha collezionato solo qualche apparizione e una sola presenza dal primo minuto, in Champions contro la Fiorentina. Il suo debutto da titolare sarebbe dovuto avvenire la scorsa settimana contro il Wigan ma per un problema al polpaccio Aquilani ha saltato sia la sfida con i Latics che quella col Portsmouth. Visto l'intenso programma che attende i Reds e le assenze di Mascherano e Gerrard, il manager spagnolo ha cosi' deciso di mandare il giocatore a Belgrado visti i brillanti risultati ottenuti dalla dottoressa Kovacevic con diversi nazionali serbi e altri giocatori della Premiershit, come i "Reds" Johnson, Benayoun, Riera e Fabio Aurelio, ma anche Van Persie (Arsenal) e Lampard (Chelsea).

____________________________________________________________

i bet pauly numbnuts is giggling to himself reading this news on aquilani.

[San Paolo]

[RomaShield27]

The Serie A revolution
The Friday match experiment starts in February. The Football League is also planning a few matches for Mondays from next season

– MILAN, 13 January 2010 – Get ready for a football revolution. A first taste of it is coming on Friday with the match between A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. The Football League now resembles a building site rather like the new Lombardy Region offices behind its Via Rosellini headquarters, which is open 24/7. The aim of Maurizio Beretta and the Football League, which from 1 July will become Lega A and Lega B (a revolution in itself), is to create an ultra modern football structure, up to date with the times and competitive with modern European structures. They want to create a very different sort of football culture, one that takes account of technical requirements, of the promotion of Italian football abroad, and of competition with European opponents who are already more successful than us in terms of results, income and innovation to the structure of the game. This new system must take account of the needs of fans, television and sponsors: the people who pay the wages and demand a better and more user friendly product, offering media exposure for all clubs. The stadium law is also crucial to this, but the chairmen also believe it essential to create a new context. This is why they are considering a new more spread out championship schedule: to make it easier for fans at the matches or watching on television, to give all clubs a live and exclusive TV appearance, so people won't have to choose between watching one game or another.

Champions League places The starting point is the Champions League and the need already mentioned by Lega A chairman Adriano Galliano to help Italian teams in European competition and to keep Italy's four places in the Champions League. If Italy as a whole doesn’t perform well in Europe, we could lose a place to Germany. So the first innovation is to bring forward games to Friday when they involve teams due to play in the Champions League the following Tuesday. This competition has always more or less coincided with the beginning of the domestic season. They are discussing whether to play two games in tandem at 8.45 pm or to split them between 7.00 pm (so people can catch them both either at home or at the stadium) and 9.00 pm, also to meet the demands of television. One current of thought is to still play a match on Friday evening even when there is no Champions League game.

Milan and Inter It is very likely that the Milan-Udinese game (before the Milan-Manchester match on Tuesday 16 February) will be played on Friday the 12th at 8.45 pm and Catania-Inter (before the Chelsea-Inter game on Tuesday 16 March) will be brought forward to the evening of Friday the 12th. The two teams who play their Champions League games on Wednesday will still play the League matches on Saturday (6.00 pm and 8.45 pm). There will be one match at 12.30 pm on Sunday tailored for the Asian market where people will be able to watch it while they have their evening meal. Then there will often but not always be a Lega A game on Monday evening. This option has already been included in the TV rights tender.

Antonello Capone

[juventino_italiano]

Maxi Lopez explains Catania move Thursday 21 January, 2010

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Maxi Lopez reveals why he chose to turn down Lazio in order to join Catania. “This is a strong team and club.â€

[Messinterista]

2010-11 kicks off on August 29

The 2010-11 Serie A season will kick off on August 29 and end on May 22 with four midweek rounds.

The Lega Calcio outlined the dates for next term in a meeting on Friday held by all the Serie A clubs.

As is tradition in Italy, the final Sunday of August marks the start of the campaign, something that was brought forward in 2009-10 because of the World Cup.

The winter break will last from December 19 to January 6, as clubs voted against shortening this Christmas spell.

There are four midweek rounds planned on November 10, January 6, February 2 and March 2.

January 6 – which is the Italian version of Boxing Day, La Befana – is a Thursday and marks the start of football in 2011.

The Serie A campaign terminates on May 22 2011.

The Coppa Italia has also been planned with a similar system to this season, as the Serie A teams enter the fray in September.

That Final is set for May 29, but is subject to change for June 11 if either of the two sides are involved in the Champions League Final.

Source: http://www.football-italia.net/feb06a.html

[juventino_italiano]

[Carlo Romano]

Only in Italia!

Quite how that little fat bastard crook Vittorio Cecchi Gori could even be in a position to say he would like to buy Livorno is beyond me! After the truly shocking Fiorentina affair back in the 1990's he shouldn't be allowed near a football club again...

http://www.football-italia.net/mar1r.html

[red]

It's not only in Italy, though.

It astonishes me that Peter Ridsdale, the guy who wrecked Leeds Utd, is now at Cardiff City and well on the way to getting them into difficulty.

The whole 'fit and proper person' test seems to be conveniently overlooked all too frequently in football.

[Carlo Romano]

So nothing changes, it's the old story of "money talks!" I just wish it would raise its voice a little more in my direction!

BskyB News today was talking about the way the Glaser family have run Man Utd into heavy debt and how this rumoured new syndicate the Red Knights or some similar name has finally manifested itself and is promising the fans what they want to hear. The Glasers won't want to go but they may eventually have to.

[maro]

[red]

[RomaShield27]

[Messinterista]

Yeah pretty much all of the above a sred said. But also, he's always getting injured!