At the end of last season, a legend said goodbye to professional football forever (bye Signor Zola, and thanks for all the fish). The silliness and nonsense of the EPL must all end now, because the Italian league is about to kick off...

By now most people know that it was nice guys Juventus who won Serie A last season, helped by the spectacular AC Milan collapse. In reality the championship was only ever between those two sides. This time it could be different though, because it seems that Inter are maybe, just maybe, getting their blue and black striped backsides into gear. After years of buying the wrong players for him every summer, the directors are finally letting their manager do the shopping, and luckily for the club, the manager is a very good one.

Last term Mancini’s team looked solid and competitive, but not quite the finished article. In recent weeks he has bought very well, including Serie A title winner Walter Samuel from Real Madrid to partner Ivan Cordoba in defence (is this the end for hapless hacker Marco Materazzi?). He has also snapped up lively midfielder David Pizarro from Udinese, and the criminally-underrated Santiago Solari and Luis Figo (you may have heard of him) to dazzle on the flank. The wage bill has also been trimmed as well, with Christian Vieri shown the door.

Expect beautiful football and drama from the Nerazzurri this season, but remember that they probably won’t win the title, because like those lovely old men in the Last of the Summer Wine they always find a way to cock it up. Second place and the Champions League quarters are a possibility.

In football, Milan is a city of two tales, and the 04-05 campaign was unforgettable for the red-and-black half. Their disintegration in the league and of course Stevie G’s big night in Istanbul showed just how beatable the team actually is. There has been suspicion over manager Ancelotti’s quality for many years now. He is still seen by many as a glorious loser (that is why Juventus sacked him a few years ago). The advancing age of the Milan defence was shown up hideously in the latter stages of the Champions League, and as soon as Andriy Shevchenko and Dida lost their form, the team looked ordinary.

The Rossoneri have signed left-sided defender-come-midfielder Marek Jankulovski, and the talk is that they will switch to a three-man defence. Alessandro Nesta, Jaap Stam and Paolo Maldini look great on paper, but could well struggle week in, week out. The youngest of those guys is Nesta, at a youthful 29 .

Further up the pitch, Johann Vogel’s arrival from PSV has strengthened the midfield, but he is probably nothing more than cover. One can’t see him having an Earth-shattering impact at the San Siro.

The area that has had the biggest overhaul is up front. Crespo has returned to the King’s Road and Jon-Dahl Tomasson has gone to play for Stuttgart. In their places have stepped two interesting characters.

First up is Mr Christian Vieri: big, moody and in the twilight of his career. He came for free, which is a good job, because his powers do appear to be on the wane. It is unlikely that he will shift Sheva from the first eleven, so he will probably do his damage in the Coppa Italia (i.e. B team).

The other new striker is Alberto Gilardino. There are two schools of thought about the new Milan number 11. One says he is 2005’s Paolo Rossi- a super predator who will fire his team to glory with every type of goal under the sun - headers, scuffers, blasters, acrobatic efforts and so on. The other school says he is another overpriced, overrated Italian striker, just like Corradi, Di Vaio and Miccoli before him. He could even be described as Italy’s answer to James Beattie if one wanted to be a bit naughty.

Most likely the truth lies somewhere between the two. He certainly cost far too much, but that is modern football’s financial problems taking over, and not his fault. A partially re-invigorated Milan will not get to the Champions League final this season, and even the semis would be a miracle. It is even plausible that this could be Ancelotti’s last season in charge. Prediction: third in Serie A in what could be a lean old time.

And what of champions Juventus? We steamrollered our way to a 28th title in May with some vintage gritty performances that left pulses unchanged. Our summer shopping has been very telling indeed. Instead of buying flair, excitement and fun we have plumped for three men who like a foul: midfield spoiler Giuliano Giannichedda, the prickly defender Robert Kovac and of course ex-Gunner leader Vieira. Not very mouth-watering really, is it?

It may turn out to be a gamble to expect the forwards already at the club to spearhead a double assault on the scudetto and the Champions League, because David Trezeguet will get injured for part of the season (his f*cking glass leg), and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will get suspended somewhere along the way (his f*cking temper!).

However, as always with this club, we won’t do our transfer dealing to anyone else’s timetable (mi bello amore Moggi ). So we could surprise you all and announce a big shiny signing on deadline day like last year when we got Fabio Cannavaro and Ibrahimovic. Regardless of any potential new recruits though, we still have enough quality and know-how to win title number 29 next May...but should it is in Europe that I worry.

believe me......if u did a review of the premiership u would get a lot of replies.....

if u do this kind of review u would get u and codec doin the analysis....

trust me on that......

by the way how was the taribo west article

good to see that there are people who follow serie A. I'm a Giallorossi supporter and although I now don't love Capello i still have mad respect for him. I hope we do well i.e. 4th and 5th but it seems like FIFA & UEFA are out to see that we are decimated with their bans. Spatelli looks a capable replacement. If only the players act like a unit and are commited especially Cassano
Yeah Milan weren't impressive last season. 'Still think Juve will win it. And like you said, Inter are finally buying the right players. Hopes Obagoal does well for them and Nigeria.

yeah inter are buying the right players.........i suggest they buy a new coach too....mancini was not up to the task last season........i neva liked his tactics why does he have to wait till the final stages before putting up the correct substitutions.... how many times have they come back from behind to win games.....countless..

ac and juve... well its between d two and lets hope inter have the guts to upstage them both

forza juve. somehow, deep down i believe cassano might just be juve's surprise signing this season. apart from zalayeta, it'll be a pity for Mutu or DP to leave (one of them would have to leave) just like what happened to miccoli last season (that was really disappointing for me).

this scudetto is between juve and inter. inter has a lot of promise this season; just like previous seasons but this time, it justs feels different.

anyway i can only see a juve double.

i wonder what the surprise teams will be this season. last season, it was new boys palermo and messina. lecce were full of promise last season with a performance that would have won them the EPL.

this season, i think the viola will get back to their old days. roma now don't have any excuses. parma? can't tell. lazio? i expect the same sh*t from last season.

Some people talk of Chelsea's domination of the English game last season. You want to see domination? Look:

Is Mutu still in Juve?

I'll pretend I didn't hear that...

Hmnnn... nice review by chxta the only sad thing about the seria is that the same set of teams always mount the challenges and there are hardly ever any surprises, even for a short while. Alls been said about inter and the strenght of their squad. Although i still fancy the old lady(or bianconeri) for the title (juve actually started with pink jerseys they switched to the newcastle black and white stripes after they neede emergency jerseys for a game and one of their directors ended up buying some old newcastle black and whites from a sport shop and they later felt it was more masculine than the feminine pink). I think the inter squad still needs some help. Upfront theres a bit o bother for me theres martins and Adriano which is the first choice good attack when their fit but without Adriano and against a physical defence martins will be up against it as was evidenced last season in the c-league first leg against stam and Milan. Julio Cruz is the more skillful kind of attacker who avoids the physical side of the game and prefers operating around the box and not in it. Also with cambias so in central midfield there little or no cover and i am not sure hes the finished article yet. Now Samuels back , good for him as hes more suited for seria A football as he proved himself too clumsy for la liga with Cordoba as support inter should expect more cards except if these too can watch themselves ,materials still there and hell play a part. I think inter payed too much money acquiring wingers with kily,van der meyde-(both rumored to be on their way out ) now with solari and figo they've gotten enough wingers for two teams the only issues that figos not getting any younger and this tends to show once in a while and solari for once has to show hes first team material. i predict a second or third finish as usual for them with this present squad but i think Mancini should scout around for a good centre forward and probably some midfield cover and then maybe.......they could challenge for something

you say they are hardly ever surprises. i don't know what u mean by that. if u mean surprises as in italian champion, OK. but if u mean league positions (1st, 2nd, 3rd), there are always other teams threatning. for most of last season, inter was in 4th position behind sampdoria. twe seasons ago, roma finished second. roma, BTW won the scudetto not too long ago.

you say inter spent a lot of money acquiring wingers (just 2). well they could afford it for the ff reason:

van der myde (one of my favorite wingers) left for monaco over a month ago.
stephen dalmat too left.
emre also left.
it's no news, that big-money vieri left.

Streams for the Juve-Inter Supercoppa Italia match:

mms://freetv.88ball.com/free-tv

mms://61.90.149.194/ubcsort?WMContentBitrate=2048000

I'm off to watch.

FORZA JUVE

missed the game. saw the highlights though.

we were denied a valid and splendid trezeguet goal. vieira hit the wood work. we had the best chances but this is football. our hapless chimenti let a cheap veron goal in. 

congratulations to inter and their fans but that'll be their last silverware this season.

i hope abbiati will do a better job till buffon recovers.

FORZA JUVE

c0dec:

missed the game. saw the highlights though.

we were denied a valid and splendid trezeguet goal. vieira hit the wood work. we had the best chances but this is football. our hapless chimenti let a cheap veron goal in.

congratulations to inter and their fans but that'll be their last silverware this season.

i hope abbiati will do a better job till buffon recovers.

FORZA JUVE

AMEN!!!

Roma’s fans made it clear Antonio Cassano’s days at the club are numbered and it’s reported Juve reached an agreement for the player today.

There are claims that Bianconeri director general Luciano Moggi met with his opposite number Daniele Prade’ in Rome this morning and agreed to exchange Cassano for Adrian Mutu, Giorgio Chiellini and a cash sum. It’s suggested that an official announcement will be made on Friday.

The former Bari starlet has rejected terms for a contract extension with the Olimpico outfit and his current deal expires at the end of the season.

To prevent him leaving on a free transfer, the Giallorossi hope to sell him off now and at least make back £13m of the £20m they paid for him in 2001.

Roma have threatened to leave Cassano on the bench for the entire campaign if he doesn’t “confirm his status as a member of the squad by signing a new contract,” but the final straw came last night.

During the team presentation at the Stadio Olimpico, Cassano was roundly insulted by the crowd and only came on for the second half in the 2-0 friendly victory over Arab side Al Ain, with goals from Vincenzo Montella and Rodrigo Taddei.

The fans also hurled abuse at the Italian international when he attended teammate Francesco Totti’s wedding earlier this summer and the rapport with the notoriously fiery Roma supporters is at breaking point.

I saw this happening when i heard about cassano's contract hold-up but i also feared mutu would leave. we can afford to sell off chiellini since we got balzaretti (though i prefer chiellini cos i don't know how good balzaretti is and i don't even know if he has serie a experience). but mutu?!? moggi has done it again. i was furious last season when miccoli left on the last day of the transfer window but this isn't as bad though cos i expected it.
personally, i would have preferred it if del piero left. but where? he is literally married to the club till death do them part. well, i happy cassano is coming. good news for juve.

let's just wait and see what will happen

Did you download the highlights of the match against Barca? Balzaretti's a good player, and will be adequate cover for both Zambrotta and Zebina (he may even bench Zebina).

As for Mutu, sad to see him go if this deal goes through, but we all saw it coming for the better part of a year since he signed...

Phew! Can you believe we're close to the Serie A actually, definitely, really kicking off, after the horrible 'summer of sin' which dragged the name of football in the mud and football itself through an endless stream of tribunals, lawsuits and impossible logic, turning all of us into legal experts once again?



[size=1]Carlo Ancelotti: The entertainer?[/size]

So, is the excitement of real football, not its political version, back? Well, Udinese's spirited win over Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night, dodgy opening penalty and all, was a great curtain raiser, coming so close to the Serie A kick-off, but the free-flowing football witnessed that evening at the Stadio Friuli may not be duplicated by many throughout the top flight.

An abundance of great strikers in Serie A means Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti may have got it right when he said the team who will give up fewest goals will win it all, but may we add that avoiding defeat against lowly sides would also help? Juventus won the title last year despite losing to Reggina, Palermo, Sampdoria and Inter, and Milan themselves left all three points behind in places like Livorno and Siena and at home to Bologna.

It's also, of course, the campaign which will end with the World Cup in Germany and a lot of players will be worrying about earning a squad place for their national team and getting there with minimum damage, so some interesting scenarios may arise.

As for the favourites for the scudetto... did you expect anybody else than Juventus, Inter and Milan, perhaps in that order?

Juve may be dull to watch and Fabio Capello's recent assertion that he only gets fun out of winning, not of playing well, does not augur well in that respect, but the additions of Patrick Vieira and Adrian Mutu, and the increasing influence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, last year's best signing in the Serie A, mean Juve have all they need to defend their title.

However, the claim made by one newspaper that Vieira, by playing well in preseason, has already fully justified the huge €20m plus fee Juve paid Arsenal for his services deserves to rank among the most outrageous of the summer so far, and that's saying a lot given the amount of drivel we've heard from the assortment of publicity-seeking lawyers, directors, judges and fans' representatives.

And watch out for the developments regarding Alex Del Piero, who seems to be stuck in an unwelcome role as a people's hero without a starting place.

Capello took him off 28 times last season but Del Piero still ended up being Juve's top scorer and his overhead-kick-cum-cross which allowed Trezeguet to head past Dida in the title decider in Milan stands out in the memory of many... but memories may be all we have of Del Piero, who does not seem to be able to hold down a place in Juve's best XI, not with Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet ahead of him and, as Capello added dryly this week, Alex himself maintains he's a striker and not a midfielder, as if to say he won't be deployed behind the striking duo as he did for Italy against the Republic of Ireland two weeks ago.

Juve may have a shortage of able-bodied defenders if one of the regulars goes down, and in midfield Vieira will be asked to provide a goal or two, as Juve have always received little in the way of scoring from that part of the pitch, unless you count Nedved.

Inter have looked great in the preaseason, and coach Roberto Mancini appears to have a better, more versatile squad than last year, not to mention previous seasons.



[size=1]Del Piero: Rumours surround him.[/size]

One potentially unsettling situation is the one of goalkeeper, where incumbent Francesco Toldo, who's now used to hearing scepticism around him, seems to be losing out to Julio Cesar, the Brazilian who may staging a personal derby for the number one shirt in the next World Cup with crosstown rival Dida.

Midfield looks loaded with talent and substance, while Adriano and Martins form the perfect attacking partnership, backed up by Julio Cruz and owner Massimo Moratti's pet project, Alvaro Recoba, but the Nigerian's involvement in the African Cup next winter means Mancini may feel a little more secure with another addition.

One can just sense a different, better aura around the nerazzurri, who have famously been after a scudetto since 1989, but their reputation as underachievers is such that no one is actually going to believe they're serious title contenders until February comes along and they're still in the leading pack at the time.

As for Milan, Ancelotti has had to endure owner Silvio Berlusconi's jibes about his tactical choices, but that's nothing new and Ancelotti has apparently developed a thick skin and, better yet, a way of doing whatever he wants anyway.

His pre-season experiments have centered around the employment of a three-man defence which could help create and exploit better options on the flanks, where the only real options before had been reserve Serginho and the evergreen Cafu on the right.

Paolo Maldini has persistent knee pain and cannot be counted on for a full season - but wasn't he stylish picking up the green balls at the Champions League draw - and newcomer Marek Jankulovski, not surprisingly, is better going forward than defending.

The arrival of Gilardino and Vieri, the latter one of the summer's more surprising moves, means Shevchenko will have a new partner. With either of them on the pitch, for the first time in years Milan will have an old fashioned centre-forward so watch out for how Ancelotti pairs the Ukrainian with whoever will partner him - Shevchenko, by the way, has looked a bit uptight this summer, though his loyalty to Milan has apparently been strengthened by the club's decision to bring his father over to Italy for expensive medical care a few months ago.

And it also seems he asked Berlusconi to be his kid's godfather at his baptism next month, so there can't be too many bad vibes between them anyway.

Milan's top priority is to start brightly: they gained just one point from last season's opening two home matches, drawing with Livorno and losing to Messina, and that meant they immediately fell behind Juventus.



[size=1]Gilardino and Vieri: Odd couple lining up to partner Shevchenko.[/size]

Once you get past the big three, anything goes, between a group of teams who will aim for a Champions League place.

Udinese will be expected to repeat despite losing coach Luciano Spalletti to Roma and Pizarro and Jankulovski to the Milano clubs: new coach Serse Cosmi, the hot-tempered man with the perennial baseball cap covering his balding head, missed out on a return to the Serie A with Genoa - he'd have left them anyway - and has a good squad led by international forwards Iaquinta and Di Natale, the latter a trickster supreme with the ball, likely to be used 'in the hole' supporting Iaquinta and Di Michele.

Fiorentina may be dark horses here: after a disappointing first season back and managerial upheavals, they went out and lured Cesare Prandelli out of the self-imposed sabbatical he'd taken last summer in order to be with his ailing wife.

Prandelli, who'd done well at Parma, has one of the Serie A's most intriguing sides from a tactical standpoint: his plans for a 4-3-3 means newcomer and striker supreme Luca Toni will be supported by talented but raw Bulgarian star Valery Bojinov and Dane Martin Jorgensen, who's trying to get over the fact he was valued at &euro:500 ($615) last June when Fiorentina and Udinese had to win the rights for his registration.

Stefano Fiore, another on the long list of Italian players who do not travel well, is back in his country after a lacklustre spell at Valencia and is expected to provide good distribution from midfield, and Prandelli will also be expected to get more out of a defence which last year was porous.

The arrivals of Pancaro, Gamberini, Pasqual (watch out for him on the left side) and of goalkeeper Frey, who'd been with Prandelli at Verona and Parma, may help, too.

Sampdoria, who just missed out on the last Champions League spot last year, will again be well coached in their 4-4-2 by Walter Novellino: despite 11 arrivals for a meagre outlay of a little over €300,000, the backbone is the same as last year's and the defence will again be expected to carry the team.

Palermo and Roma appear to be the remaining two contenders for the fourth Champions League spot, despite huge question marks hanging above both.


[size=1]Cassano: Not a fans' favourite.[/size]

Palermo are now coached by Luigi Delneri, who mercifully took himself out of the Roma mess last year and brought his 4-4-2 and exciting wing play to the Pink Ones: 'I'm looking for the 55 goals my teams usually score' was Delneri's statement at the beginning of training camp, but top marksman Toni is gone and his replacements Caracciolo and Makinwa, a little and large combination, needs constant service from the said flanks, but schemer Corini will still be at the heart of Palermo's every move.

As for Roma, Spalletti has had them playing well in the pre-season, but unless the 'Cassano Code' is solved the giallorossi will be unsettled; the talented Italian international's contract is up in a few months, Roma have been trying to get his signature on a new one but they're also wary of the constant nuisance Cassano seems to be to everyone, although his team-mates have denied he's a distraction.

Not so Spalletti, who could do with his talent but is less than impressed with the impact he has on everyone around him, including referees.

Cassano was booed by the fans at Roma's only home match of the pre-season the other day, and this has stoked the fires of a rumoured, huge three-way trade which would send him to Juventus with Del Piero and Mutu joining Milan and Roma respectively. Sci-fi B movies from the Fifties had a more plausible script than that, but having seen Vieri join Milan we know anything can happen in the transfer market. So stay tuned.

And what about the no-hopers playing mainly to avoid relegation, you might say? Watch this space next week then. Some of them were admitted to the Serie A so late, because of the legal wrangles going on, that they barely had time to adapt their squads for the superior standard of competition they're now going to face, and this spells trouble.


Source

Inter completely thrashed newcomers Treviso 3-0 today at the San Siro. Adriano scored three world class goals past a rather weak looking Treviso defense, and right now it's obvious who the favorite for top scorer would be....with all the weapons the Nerazzurri have in attack, Adriano could very well hit 30 goals in Serie A this season. He recieved the ball in scoring position only three times, but put every single chance away. Absolutely scary finishing. Inter controlled most of the match with Veron and Pizarro in the second half passing the ball around the pitch easily, and Treviso only had a few opportunities to score.

Inter has all the weapons they need to mount a serious challenge for the Scudetto.....Figo had a very good Serie A debut, and Veron was conducting proceedings in midfield like his usual world class self. Pizarro came on the pitch in the second half for Veron, and I must say I will never forgive Capello and Moggi for passing up on the Chilean. Pizarro would add so much to Juventus in terms of creativity and passing range that would elevate our play to unforeseen heights. I guess Juventus likes to pass up great midfield talents nowadays.

It's still too early to tell how this season will go, and it goes without saying Inter can impress one week then fall apart the next, so I would not be worried just quite yet. However, I do expect Inter to have a better season than last term, so expect a challenge from perhaps the best "squad list" in the world. I would say it's about time from Inter.

yeah man, inter look scary. i missed the first half. adriano, a true finisher. pizarro was amazing when he came on, taking the whole treviso defence. but as u said, treviso really looked weak and i'm sure they'll be going back to serie b.

as i've said earlier, this scudetto is between juve and inter. and maybe inter might just do it this time. they have the right players.

didn't see the juve game but i just download the highlights from the link Chxta gave. off to watch it.

HT Empoli-Juventus (0-3)

Good display by the Bianconeri, solid, good passes, total awareness and total domination. This is not a reference as Empoli is very weak team but the good thing is our almost starting elven were able to take advantage of this and just convert almost everything to goals.

Trezeguet's finish was pure class coming from a very smart through ball from the long Swede who himself missed lots of opportunities, I see him scoring in the second half if he stays on the pitch.

Vieira is an amazing player that is excellent at gaining the ball bac, helping the defenders as well as an incredible passing range, he did some penetrations as well that left the opponents dazzled. Emerson is as good as always and Nedved seems to be on form serving Vieira a nice header for our second and Camoranesi is as good as ever scoring a goal and being involved in the game play.

Trezeguet and Zlatan seem to understand each other pretty well and I only see them improving.

Kovac was good and there is not need to speak about the others in the back line as their reputation is ahead of them.

Abbiati was never tested.

Full time Report...

As expected, the second half Juventus defended, slowed Empoli's pace and relied on fast counter attacks. One can notice one difference from last season is that we are able to create something from counter attacks, thanks for Vieira mainly and Nedved partly gaining his form back.

Key substitutions from Capello by including the young Balzaretti who played a decent second half. He runs up the flank and has some good long balls, he is aware when it comes to defending and I can only see him improving.

Mutu came in for Zlatan just to rest him for Wednesday's CL game. He seemd involved in the game and did some nice passes with Nedved on the left, had a few shots but I expected more of him against a very weak side like Empoli.

Zalayeta came in as well to rest Trezeguet and came close to scoring at a couple of opportunities, his moves are getting better and personally he made a better impact than Mutu.

The others played as well as they did in the first half and our defenders dealt so well with Empoli's attacks who came closer to scoring in the second half. Kovac and Cannavaor seem to understand each other and Blazaretti is a good sub, I would include him more often.

Vieira is defintely our biggest signing and his presence is amazing in terms of defending as well as in terms of passing and flair.

We seem to have an amazing midfield line that is capable of creating as we could have ended the game with a few more goals.

Great match... Great Team...
MY rating !
Abbiati = 6 (didn't have much to do)
Pesso = 6
Kovac = 6
Canna = 6.5
Zambro = 6.5
Camo = 7
Emerson = 6.5
Vieria = 7.5
Nedved = 6.5
Trezegol = 7.5
Zlatan = 6.5


So it is on to go and slaughter Brugge on Wednesday

FORZA JUVE

c0dec:

FORZA JUVE

hehehe.
Forza Milan. All these Milan playerhaters . Whatz up guyz. We are behind in the scudetto but with the january transfer window, the backline will get all right. If Juve does not win this scudetto, then i don't know what to make of them (am i hating on them ) anyway its not Juve i blame, its my almighty Milan with its shaky defense. its time for Maldini, Stam, Cafu and Costarcuta to be replaced. i am a core Milan fan but i speaketh the truth. ( did i hear Codec laugh )

ha ha ha. sage, whats up? your time is up man. even inter is getting the best of your old defense. it was obvious, they needed defenders but they went for strikers (gila and bobo). bobo has been the worst player this season and gilardino hasn't found his form from last season.
anyway i hear milan will be going for as much as 5 new defenders in january but know what? you can't catch up with us. 

FORZA JUVE 

It's been a while since I played into these parts, but I hope that I'll be back for a while (if Seun doesn't annoy me again that is)...

Who the hell is this sage fellow?

Chxta:

It's been a while since I played into these parts, but I hope that I'll be back for a while (if Seun doesn't annoy me again that is)...

Who the hell is this sage fellow?

Sup. A Rossoneri in da house. All these Bianconeri fans get on my nerves (maybe b/cos i am playerhating there position on the table ). @Chxta r u another juve fan?, i think one is more than enough

Some people think life is white
Some people think life is black
We all know that life is
Black and White
Forza Juve
La Vecchia Signora
Campionato lo scudetto
La scudetti anni 28

I've been a Juve supporter going on 20 years now!

Chxta:

Some people think life is white
Some people think life is black
We all know that life is
Black and White
Forza Juve
La Vecchia Signora
Campionato lo scudetto
La scudetti anni 28

I've been a Juve supporter going on 20 years now!

Damn , another Bianconeri in da house. Anyway

FORZA MILAN

Someone called me yesterday after the Palermo-Juve game to tell me that Juve are worse than -*spit*- Ch€£$k¥!

This is getting boring and predictable. It's the same I hear almost every week. The same negative crap, just for the sake of it. I'm talking about the way people tell me that we are boring! Why do I get the feeling some journalists have written their match reports before the match has even started? Why do I get the feeling that some people have made up their minds before a ball has been kicked?

Capello no gameplan? That's laughable. No one plays as tactically cold and effective as Capello does.

My friend says that we win only because we have superiour players, and that we should try and play like Barcelona does! Oh yes, we only win because of superiour players! Think to yourself for one moment, ' how does Barcelona win'?


That's right due to their superiour attacking players. If there's someone who isn't tactically astute it's Rijkaard, with his Ajax tactics of simply throwing everbody forward. Teams like that get caught out against tactical teams, like Ch€£$k¥ in 2005. And if they aren't careful, it will happen again this season.

Now I know Capello hasn't been great every match, but you can't argue with his winning ways. His record speaks for itself! Did you see the game against Palermo yesterday? He has created such a stable winning team. Look at how 'easily' we turned around the match yesterday, where's the credit for that?

It's almost as if people are blaming Capello for winning!

Yes we lost two games in an ugly fashion this year, but those are only two games. The one against Bayern we turned around the following matchday. Face it, Milan did not tacticaly outclass us. They scored a weird goal (Seedorf's) and the other two came from set-pieces and you know who was our guard, Chimenti! The only problem we made in this game was not creating chances and it can be excused to being surprised, being lazy or Milan just knowing how to shut our attackers.

The game against Bayern was immediately corrected in the following matchday. The law of minimum effort applies again here. The team did not want to make an effort to get the three points in München!! Their goal was to qualify from the group and that's it.


Back to Capello's gameplan. I for one think it's very effective, they way he organises the team. Bla bla, predictable 4-4-2. That's not true. For starters it's more of a 4-2-2. With Mutu(normally Nedved) and Camoranesi as offensive midfielders, not as wingers. They play in the middle much more than they play on the side, Mutu and Camo cut in more then they cut out.
The sides are being occupied by the backs, they offer our width. It's what (normally) allows zambrotta and Chiellini some space, but most people do not want to see that. IT doesn't work like that always, but you've got to keep in mind that Palermo for example play with offensive wingers, you can't let your backs run forward and neglect the defence in such a situation..

Anyway, people should stop with this anti-Capello (generally anti-Italian) bias and be less spoiled and watch the games more objectively. I know this post won't make me popular, but I hate these silly comments.

FORZA ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!



Pinturicchio scored a hat-trick against Fiorentina to help Juve qualify and become the all-time top-scorer of the Bianconeri.
186 goals with more to come.

Forza Alex!

He beat Boniperti's record. That record had stood for almost 50 years. That is so that people will understand the impact of what Alex acheived yesterday!