Serie A 2014/2015

[Leo_Messi]

Derby still holds charm for me. Maybe it's because I remember those teams from the 90s. You can still appreciate it eventhough it's not what it used to be. For some of us, not everything is about big names or trophies.
If you don't like it-don't watch it. Simple.

Who told you or anyone else what to watch and what not to watch? I am just stating facts here. For your information then AC Milan is my second team outside of FC Barcelona and my mother is Italian. I appreciate Serie A as well regardless of the current level and will always do that.

Not sure why you are talking about trophies out of a sudden either.

I suggest that you take a look at page number 29 and number 30 in this very thread before writing such posts with this attitude out of nowhere.

 

[Ode to Django]

Decided to catch the last 20 minutes of the Milan derby just for old time sake more than anything and its so depressing to watch. AC has always been my second favorite club behind Barca and there just so sad right now. No drive, no imagination.

The fact that Galliani is still running that club virtually is very sad, he should have been swept out like five years ago.

Inter could be something maybe in a season or two but they still need a few more pieces, namely defensive measures. AC is the opposite, their defense isn't bad (especially if they ever get De Sciglio really going and healthy) and Lopez was actually the first piece of good business AC have had in the market in years lol, but building your offense around the likes of Destro and Menez is never going to set the world alight.

Not sure if its just money or just being in need of an overall rebirth but Italian soccer is on like life support right now compared to how it used to be. Sad.

Italian soccer coefficient wise is having it's best time in a few years, it doesn't have your outstanding team in Bayern. Barcelona or Madrid, but from top to bottom there is minimal difference between the top leagues.

Inter were the better team today, I loved Pippo as a player, but he is a serie b coach at best.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Italian soccer coefficient wise is having it's best time in a few years, it doesn't have your outstanding team in Bayern. Barcelona or Madrid, but from top to bottom there is minimal difference between the top leagues.

Inter were the better team today, I loved Pippo as a player, but he is a serie b coach at best.

Soccer? You are a yank are you not?

Fun aside then that's mostly due to the performances in the Europa League. You are being too kind in regards to the current condition of Serie A. As much as I don't want to admit it then the average Serie A team is considerably inferior compared to the average La Liga and PL team. Playing wise, in terms of talent work etc. Even the defending is vastly inferior compared to earlier periods. Just look at the best Italian defenders of today and compare them to the likes that played just 10 years ago. A huge difference.

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Italian soccer coefficient wise is having it's best time in a few years, it doesn't have your outstanding team in Bayern. Barcelona or Madrid, but from top to bottom there is minimal difference between the top leagues.

Inter were the better team today, I loved Pippo as a player, but he is a serie b coach at best.

That's a bit misleading though. Compare 2004-2005 to 2014-2015. At this time ten years ago there were three Italian teams competing in the CL, one of which would go on to the final while the only Italian team in the UEFA Cup still made it to the semi-finals. Now, there is only Juve in the CL and being brutally honest, they have gotten good draws to make it this far and only Napoli in the Europa. Ten years ago, Italian soccer had all four of their teams who qualified for European play still in the tournament while now only 1 and 4 are in it now.

My point being that I think their improved coefficient has mainly to do with Juventus and Napoli's Europa League run, which is a thing only because they can't compete in Serie A. People round on and on about Bayern dominating Budesliga and not preparing them for European play while Juventus has an even bigger lead in Serie A. There is a lack of true quality and competition in Serie A right now. Salah, a player who didn't see the light of day for Chelsea, came in fresh from the window and single-handedly destroyed the third placed team in Serie A right now in Roma. That for me says it all.

Italian football lacks identity right now because key clubs who represent it are doing so badly right now due to maniacal management. Too many selling clubs, even Juventus are going to off load Pogba this summer. If Conte can organize Italian soccer as a whole a bit, somewhat like what Klinsmann is doing with the US team, maybe they can have an identity and some passion to build off of going forward but it sounds like even he is getting disillusioned with that job...calciopoli wrecked Serie A.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Italian soccer coefficient wise is having it's best time in a few years, it doesn't have your outstanding team in Bayern. Barcelona or Madrid, but from top to bottom there is minimal difference between the top leagues.

Inter were the better team today, I loved Pippo as a player, but he is a serie b coach at best.

Except that Juve are way better than any team in the league right now .way better
But yeah ,this year is a better than the last couple of years.Roma/Lazio/Fiorentina/Napoli are good teams .Genoa/Sampdoria aren't doing bad either

 

[Ode to Django]

Soccer? You are a yank are you not?

Fun aside then that's mostly due to the performances in the Europa League. You are being too kind in regards to the current condition of Serie A. As much as I don't want to admit it then the average Serie A team is considerably inferior compared to the average La Liga and PL team. Playing wise, in terms of talent work etc. Even the defending is vastly inferior compared to earlier periods. Just look at the best Italian defenders of today and compare them to the likes that played just 10 years ago. A huge difference.

He said soccer, i said soccer.

John Cleese is my favorite, genius.

I don't think there is a difference at all, and if there was it's not big. Serie A doesn't have a top team, but again it does have pretty good strength in depth, if the Milan clubs pulled there head out the sand ( which they will ), we would be talking about a very good league again. It's hit it's worse period.

Of course the defending is vastly inferior, i can name you one world class defender, and that's as far as we go. weak period for defenders, all top teams are on the look out for a top CB, problem is, there are none. Goalkeepers however, looks very strong around at the moment.

Shouldn't judge a league on a game i know, *does it anyway* but Napoli just thumped 2nd place Woflsburg at there place as if it was nothing, and even we completely dominated Napoli, i wouldn't even have them in my top six in terms of squads. But again my point, they still have a strong team.

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Inter were the better team today

 

[StarLord]

That's a bit misleading though. Compare 2004-2005 to 2014-2015. At this time ten years ago there were three Italian teams competing in the CL, one of which would go on to the final while the only Italian team in the UEFA Cup still made it to the semi-finals. Now, there is only Juve in the CL and being brutally honest, they have gotten good draws to make it this far and only Napoli in the Europa. Ten years ago, Italian soccer had all four of their teams who qualified for European play still in the tournament while now only 1 and 4 are in it now.

My point being that I think their improved coefficient has mainly to do with Juventus and Napoli's Europa League run, which is a thing only because they can't compete in Serie A. People round on and on about Bayern dominating Budesliga and not preparing them for European play while Juventus has an even bigger lead in Serie A. There is a lack of true quality and competition in Serie A right now. Salah, a player who didn't see the light of day for Chelsea, came in fresh from the window and single-handedly destroyed the third placed team in Serie A right now in Roma. That for me says it all.

Italian football lacks identity right now because key clubs who represent it are doing so badly right now due to maniacal management. Too many selling clubs, even Juventus are going to off load Pogba this summer. If Conte can organize Italian soccer as a whole a bit, somewhat like what Klinsmann is doing with the US team, maybe they can have an identity and some passion to build off of going forward but it sounds like even he is getting disillusioned with that job...calciopoli wrecked Serie A.

Remember a few years back when fans of rival European leagues would always talk La Liga down for being noncompetitive and being a two-horse race and the rest of the league being piss-poor and cannon fodder and blah blah blah and yadda yadda yadda???

Well, let's see how things have turned out:


UEFA Coefficient:


1. Spain - 96.999
2. England - 80.391
3. Germany - 78.558
4. Italy - 68.510
5. Portugal - 61.382


So, complete and utter pawnage from La Liga over the rest of Europe.


Titles won over the past 5 years:


Champions League:

1. Spain - 2
2. Italy - 1
= England - 1
= Germany - 1

Again, Spain in front.


Europa League

1. Spain - 3
2. Portugal - 1
= England - 1


The last 10 years:


Champions League


1. Spain - 4
2. England - 3
3. Italy - 2
4. Germany - 1


Europa League


1. Spain - 5
2. Russia - 2
3. Ukraine - 1
= Portugal - 1
= England - 1


UEFA SuperCup


1. Spain - 6
2. England - 1
= Italy - 1
= Russia - 1
- Germany - 1


Let's also have a look at this season's standings in all the major the leagues to see how "competitive" each one is:


Spain

1. Barcelona - 78
2. Real Madrid - 76
3. Atletico Madrid - 69
4. Valencia - 65
5. Sevilla 63


So, 2 points between 1st and 2nd place. 6 points between 3rd and 5th and two points between 4th and 5th. 15 points between 1st and 5th.


England


1. Chelsea - 76 (32)
2. Arsenal - 66 (32)
3. Manchester United - 65 (33)
4. Manchester City - 64 (33)
5. Liverpool - 57 (32)


So, ten points from 1st to 2nd. 19 points from 1st to 5th. 7 (potentially 4) points from 4th to 5th.


Germany


1. Bayern Munich - 73
2. Wolfsburg - 61
3. Bayer Leverkusen - 54
4. Borussian Monchendgladbach - 54
5. Schalke - 42


So, 12 points from 1st to 2nd. 31 (!) points from 1st to 5th. 12 points from 5th to 4th.


Italy


1. Juventus - 73
2. Lazio - 58
3. Roma - 58
4. Napoli - 53
5. Sampdoria - 50
6. Fiorentina - 49 (with a game in hand)

So, 15 points from 1st to 2nd. 5 points from 3rd to 4th (the CL cut-off point in the case of Italy) and 23 points from 1st to 5th.


And virtually none of these people who were so critical of La Liga come out to admit they were horribly mistaken. In fact some continue to repeat the same inanities.

 

[Morten]

For me, la liga seems like the strongest league by some distance and has been for some time.

 

[Vlom]

And virtually none of these people who were so critical of La Liga come out to admit they were horribly mistaken. In fact some continue to repeat the same inanities.

Next year La Liga might have 7 teams in Europe, and at least 5 of them are very serious contenders, I can even imagine 4 teams in quarters..

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

Yeah @StarLord, your post reflects the same point I was making. Personally I think Bundesliga is just a tad more competitive (Dortmund's weak start made it easy for Bayern, as did them losing two of their key players to Bayern) from top to bottom but the quality of La Liga's top 4 is why I'd say La Liga is a very close 2nd.

Reason being, La Liga only got this competitive until AM really started doing well 2.5 years ago. They brought some much needed parity to La Liga with a team who can challenge us and Real. Three seasons ago, I think Dortmund surprised everyone and won Bundesliga while Bayern, Schalke and Leverkusen were all competitive.

I'd say right now it's neck and neck between La Liga and Bundesliga for top league. Wolfsburg performance in CL next season will be a big factor, imho, on which league is better.

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Inter fans coreo for the derby:

Curva Nord spent 4 months making that and it came out great. One day I want to participate in one of these.

 

[instinct]

Kova with some nice nove, hope is there

Sport says that he indeed attended the game to watch Kovacic.

 

[XaviMessiGirl]

Gazzetta actually gave Kova the worst rating of all the Inter players yesterday. I didn't notice him being particularly poor though (at least comparatively).

 

[Vlom]

Damn Fiorentina taking a goal at 90' ..

And Salah (who was subbed in pretty/too late) everywhere again creating danger, definitely a revelation this year!