Italian Serie A - 2020-2021

Bepi said:
Levelled, sure. Strongest? Surely not. Juventus, Atalanta and Napoli are, quality wise, well ahead of Milan (overperforming right now) and Inter (monodimensional and lacking creativity). Pirlo is a rookie and his tactical mistakes are costing Juve a lot of points. Atalanta are just inconsistent, but they are the best team in Italy by far. And Napoli is lost into their own negativity and victim attitude as usual. All this, without considering the enormous pressure at any level to have a different Serie A winner this year, in spite of Milan (owned by a fund with shady connections) and Inter (Suning is phasing out because the Party closed the gates for investments abroad) being both zombie clubs right now, from an ownership point of view.
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A load of nonsense and wishful thinking.

When was the last time so many of the Seven Sisters were competitive?
The smaller teams may have regressed, but these top teams are also consistenly beating smaller teams in Europe as well, which couldn't be said a few years ago. Well, apart from Inter, but that says more about Conte than anything else.

In 2013-2018 there was only Juve and one or two great seasons from Roma and Napoli.
Inter was a joke. Milan was an even bigger mess. Lazio and Fiorentina were on current Sassuolo level. Udinese disappeared with Di Natale.

In 2009-2012 Inter fell off hard after the treble. An aging, underwhelming and injury-ridden Milan had two pretty good league runs at the start of the decade, which was enough to win one league title and almost win another. Juve were tragic until Conte. The Roman teams were a mess. Napoli had a great trident in Hamsik-Lavezzi-Cavani and a mediocre supporting cast.

Currently, Juve aren't as strong as under Allegri or Conte, but it's still one of the best squads in club football.
Napoli have a squad which they could only dream of back in 2011.
This is the best Inter since 2010, despite their embarrassing CL eliminations.
Roma are flat-track bullies, but it's the best Roma since they lost Alisson and Salah.
Lazio haven't been the same since the COVID-break, but the key players are still there and they're still a very good team that are capable of beating any side on a good day.
Atalanta are perhaps better than ever.
Sassuolo are better than previous overperforming midtable clubs like Donadoni's Parma or peak Palermo.
Verona are like Donadoni's Parma.

Fiorentina is the only one of the Seven Sisters that are far below their usual levels.
 
It is on Pirlo, really, to field a diverse midfield: with all the three of Rabiot, Bentancur and Ramsey, he is asking for trouble. Then again, if you want to stifle a counter-attacking team like Inter, you need to let them the ball while fielding speed and quality to by-pass their midfield. Pirlo is a rookie and almost all Serie A coaches know more than him. The most comical aspect of the season is all the media muppets announcing Juve dead after a bad game... the likes of Sconcerti, Padovan, Tancredi etc. are just utter cretins and more partisans than their partisan audience.
 
wrepdrep said:
A load of nonsense and wishful thinking.
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i can’t say what you are trying to prove over here, on a foreign forum where a lot of people just write for banter and almost nobody follows Serie A? In any case, you are a bit too hot for normal conversations, so good luck.
 
Bepi said:
i can’t say what you are trying to prove over here, on a foreign forum where a lot of people just write for banter and almost nobody follows Serie A? In any case, you are a bit too hot for normal conversations, so good luck.
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I didn't expect a normal conversation or a serious reply from you. You've already made it clear that you're not interested in giving or hearing honest takes.
 
wrepdrep said:
A load of nonsense and wishful thinking.

When was the last time so many of the Seven Sisters were competitive?
The smaller teams may have regressed, but these top teams are also consistenly beating smaller teams in Europe as well, which couldn't be said a few years ago. Well, apart from Inter, but that says more about Conte than anything else.

In 2013-2018 there was only Juve and one or two great seasons from Roma and Napoli.
Inter was a joke. Milan was an even bigger mess. Lazio and Fiorentina were on current Sassuolo level. Udinese disappeared with Di Natale.

In 2009-2012 Inter fell off hard after the treble. An aging, underwhelming and injury-ridden Milan had two pretty good league runs at the start of the decade, which was enough to win one league title and almost win another. Juve were tragic until Conte. The Roman teams were a mess. Napoli had a great trident in Hamsik-Lavezzi-Cavani and a mediocre supporting cast.

Currently, Juve aren't as strong as under Allegri or Conte, but it's still one of the best squads in club football.
Napoli have a squad which they could only dream of back in 2011.
This is the best Inter since 2010, despite their embarrassing CL eliminations.
Roma are flat-track bullies, but it's the best Roma since they lost Alisson and Salah.
Lazio haven't been the same since the COVID-break, but the key players are still there and they're still a very good team that are capable of beating any side on a good day.
Atalanta are perhaps better than ever.
Sassuolo are better than previous overperforming midtable clubs like Donadoni's Parma or peak Palermo.
Verona are like Donadoni's Parma.

Fiorentina is the only one of the Seven Sisters that are far below their usual levels.
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Think this season is an outlier due to covid and no preseason.
Look at the other leagues.
EPL 3 teams in it
Ligue 1 also 3 teams in it
Bundesliga probably already decided (bayern 7 points clear with today's win) - 3 weeks ago we still had a proper race with 3 teams in it
La Liga - both giants in massive decline - Atletico most likely to win it
And then you have Serie A
 
Definitely COVID (plus Pirlo) effect but also milan and inter are the best they've been in 10 years, Napoli are still really good (if only they could finish their dinner they'd have the title in the bag :lol: ) Atalanta are as good as any of juve's challengers over the last decade and you have very good Roma and Lazio sides as well

Serie A *is* the strongest it has been since pre-calciopoli i'd say. Just lacks that juggernaut-level side(s), which is where COVID(and Pirlo) come in
 
Really impressed how much Verona have improved over last 18 months, vibes of us.

Comfortably dispatched Napoli today and they've drawn away to Juve and Milan this season and also won 2-0 at Atalanta and 2-1 at Lazio this season so some outstanding results despite not having that good a team.

Juric doing great there so assuming he'll get a higher job in near future, looks way older than 45 though. :lol:

As for Napoli......way off the 90 point seasons they used to churn out 3-4 years ago. Who's this Petagna guy upfront for them? Feels like their forward planning has gone a bit wrong lately.
 
giorno said:
Definitely COVID (plus Pirlo) effect but also milan and inter are the best they've been in 10 years, Napoli are still really good (if only they could finish their dinner they'd have the title in the bag :lol: ) Atalanta are as good as any of juve's challengers over the last decade and you have very good Roma and Lazio sides as well

Serie A *is* the strongest it has been since pre-calciopoli i'd say. Just lacks that juggernaut-level side(s), which is where COVID(and Pirlo) come in
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Think Napoli were way better at many points in last decade tbh. The wonderful magic triangle of Hamsik-Lavezzi-Cavani that won Coppa Italia and got to CL knock outs at least then got to europa SF under Benitez (although they underachieved in league in that time) and then the very consistant league finishes under Sarri with Mertens scoring a billion goals, Juve were just too strong in those times.

Now they're just a 4th-6th place team, very much mirror Spurs over last 5 years I think.
 
GifLord said:
Think this season is an outlier due to covid and no preseason.
Look at the other leagues.
EPL 3 teams in it
Ligue 1 also 3 teams in it
Bundesliga probably already decided (bayern 7 points clear with today's win) - 3 weeks ago we still had a proper race with 3 teams in it
La Liga - both giants in massive decline - Atletico most likely to win it
And then you have Serie A
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COVID has certainly had an enormous impact on football.
But the Milan resurgence started months before the COVID-break.
The Inter hype was even stronger pre-COVID.
Lazio were even better pre-COVID.
Rino turned it around for Napoli before COVID.
Juve didn't exactly become competitive just now.
Roma became flat-track bullies last season.
 
FootballHQ said:
Think Napoli were way better at many points in last decade tbh. The wonderful magic triangle of Hamsik-Lavezzi-Cavani that won Coppa Italia and got to CL knock outs at least then got to europa SF under Benitez (although they underachieved in league in that time) and then the very consistant league finishes under Sarri with Mertens scoring a billion goals, Juve were just too strong in those times.

Now they're just a 4th-6th place team, very much mirror Spurs over last 5 years I think.
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I don't think Napoli underachieved in the league in 2010-2015.
They just didn't have the depth to compete on several fronts. They were good in the league when they had failed to qualify for UCL, and good in UCL when they neglected the league games.

The current Napoli is obviously not as good as the one coached by Sarri. The squad is great though and they have more depth than ever. They're only missing a prime Higuain and perhaps a better tactician than Gattuso.
 
giorno said:
Serie A *is* the strongest it has been since pre-calciopoli i'd say. Just lacks that juggernaut-level side(s), which is where COVID(and Pirlo) come in
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“Strong” definitions, Cambridge Dictionary from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/strong

1- powerful; having or using great force or control ...... yes, Serie A is more physical and drilled than 5 years ago

2- effective; of a good quality or level and likely to be successful .... nope, recent valuable CL runs only by Atalanta

3- skilled or good at doing something .... more noes than ayes, with a mix & match of past-it top players/coaches and a number of incoming, not yet fully developed players/coaches


Just to give a reference, Markolan wrote about very good players in the current EPL being inconsistent or indifferent in the Serie A a few years ago... notably Bruno, the current talisman of the current PL table leaders?
 
Inter and Juve fans like to live in denial by pointing at the makeshift Milan teams of last rounds to say "see, I told you they're nothing special".
All sorts of "explanations" have been used to downplay Milan's performances and results, many of which contradict eachother.

"it's only 3 games against relegation teams"
"it's only Roma and Lazio"
"they'll crash when Ibra picks up an injury"
"they have zero depth"
"they will collapse when they experience the first loss"
"it's not them, it's the refs!"

Milan have proven to have quality, depth and a high morale that's hard to break.

Atalanta proved to be too much for the makeshift team last night, but this is the best team in Italy and still undefeated:

Ibra/Leao
Rebic - Hakan - Saelemaekers/Casti
Kessie - Bennacer
Theo - Romagnoli - Kjaer - Calabria
Donnarumma
​
It ripped apart Sarri's Juve, Lazio and Gattuso's Napoli.
A less good version of it beat Conte's Inter.
A decimated version, that at least had Hakan and Rebic from start was unlucky to only get a draw against Atalanta in July.
 
Milan have only beaten Inter out of the top 4 and face Juve and Atalanta in the last 4 games of the season. They still have a long way to go.
 
joi_division said:
Milan have only beaten Inter out of the top 4 and face Juve and Atalanta in the last 4 games of the season. They still have a long way to go.
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That sounds worse than it actually is.

Current Top 4

1. Milan
2. Inter (Milan won)
3. Roma (draw in the worst refereed game this season which Donnarumma missed due to a false positive test just hours before the game)
4. Atalanta (Atalanta won)

For comparison, Inter lost to Milan and drew against Roma and Atalanta. They're yet to beat any of the Top 4.

Every team has the same amount of remaining games and will face the same opponents, except Napoli and Juve who'll face eachother twice.
 
joi_division said:
Milan have only beaten Inter out of the top 4 and face Juve and Atalanta in the last 4 games of the season. They still have a long way to go.
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Milan - 4 points 1W 1D 1L
Inter - 2 points 0W 2D 1L
Roma - 2 points 0W 2D 1L
Atalanta - 7 points 2W 1D 0L

Extend it to the top 7 and you have:
Atalanta 11
Milan 10
Inter 9
Lazio 8
Juventus, Napoli 6*(one game to play)
Roma 3
 
Think I heard lukaku say 'don't speak about my mother'

Could be wrong
 
Apparently Lukaku lost his head about something Ibra told him
 
Never seen Lukaku so wound up, Zlatan really got under his skin there
 
Lukaku lucky not to get a red card really - had clearly lost it there, much to Ibra's amusement.
 
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