Serie A Superthread

irishguitarlad

I see where juve are buying gaya.

FCIM

Tylerdurex wrote: »

Where.most of the signings.milan.made in the summer duds ?

I don't think so, Id say more they're being poorly trained. There are some who possibly wouldn't have been signed if Milan were hitting the Champions League every year as you would expect of a club of their stature but you could also say the same of the players Inter bought and look at the difference.

FCIM

Huge weekend ahead which will really give an indication of where we are. I see four possibilities; we nick a win which will really give us confidence, we get a draw which again would be confidence boosting, Juve nick the win (which I hate to say I think is the most likely) or Juve hammer us (which I'd like to think isn't going to happen). The last option would make Spalletti's work much harder, trying to bring the players back up. The third could shatter confidence too but shouldn't. Juve are a hard team, particularly in Turin, I believe we go there with a good chance of a result but if we put in a performance and lose it should still be taken as a step forward as it would be another good team we had put it up to.

ERG89

Tylerdurex wrote: »

Where.most of the signings.milan.made in the summer duds ?

The biggest disappointments for me have been Bonucci & Biglia. Both used to the league & have been absolute poison. Cahlanoglu has been poor but is basically what we already had with Suso & Bonaventura. Kessie & others have been underwhelming.
Like some of the players who turned up at Inter (and had to be turfed out) there seems to be a real attitude of not really giving a f*ck. Started well in the Europa League for a game or 2 but went to pot. League form is shameful, failed every single test against a good side.
Ownership situation is the most worrying part the Chinese seem to be about as rich as myself. Borrowing here & there to get anything done. It was obvious Gattuso got the job cause he's cheap rather than qualified. Apparently UEFA aren't satisfied with our FFP situation either for blatantly obvious reasons.

FCIM

ERG89 wrote: »

The biggest disappointments for me have been Bonucci & Biglia. Both used to the league & have been absolute poison. Cahlanoglu has been poor but is basically what we already had with Suso & Bonaventura. Kessie & others have been underwhelming.
Like some of the players who turned up at Inter (and had to be turfed out) there seems to be a real attitude of not really giving a f*ck. Started well in the Europa League for a game or 2 but went to pot. League form is shameful, failed every single test against a good side.
Ownership situation is the most worrying part the Chinese seem to be about as rich as myself. Borrowing here & there to get anything done. It was obvious Gattuso got the job cause he's cheap rather than qualified. Apparently UEFA aren't satisfied with our FFP situation either for blatantly obvious reasons.

Gazzetta are saying ownership could easily pass to the group the Chinese have leant off. Presumably that group doesn't want to own the club so it leaves questions about what would happen there. Over the summer a lot of Interisti were frustrated that our Chinese owners weren't spending like Milan's but it seems Suning are far more serious about putting a real project together.

dor83

Not sure what to expect from the match tonight, if Inter score first then I think it could end up being a high scoring game but I'd settle for a draw right now.

Line-ups:
Juve: Szczesny; De Sciglio, Benatia, Chiellini, Asamoah; Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Higuain, Mandzukic
Bench: Pinsoglio, Loria, Barzagli, Rugani, Alex Sandro, Marchisio, Sturaro, Bentancur, Douglas Costa, Dybala, Bernardeschi

Inter: Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Santon; Vecino, Borja Valero; Candreva, Brozovic, Perisic; Icardi
Bench: Padelli, Berni, Ranocchia, Joao Cancelo, Nagatomo, Dalbert, Joao Mario, Gagliardini, Karamoh, Eder, Pinamonti

Rekop dog

Quite conservative of Allegri leaving The Jewel and Douglas Costa on the bench opting for more energetic/hard working options.

They'll probably get their 1-0

FCIM

dor83 wrote: »

Not sure what to expect from the match tonight, if Inter score first then I think it could end up being a high scoring game but I'd settle for a draw right now.

Line-ups:
Juve: Szczesny; De Sciglio, Benatia, Chiellini, Asamoah; Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Higuain, Mandzukic
Bench: Pinsoglio, Loria, Barzagli, Rugani, Alex Sandro, Marchisio, Sturaro, Bentancur, Douglas Costa, Dybala, Bernardeschi

Inter: Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Santon; Vecino, Borja Valero; Candreva, Brozovic, Perisic; Icardi
Bench: Padelli, Berni, Ranocchia, Joao Cancelo, Nagatomo, Dalbert, Joao Mario, Gagliardini, Karamoh, Eder, Pinamonti

Gagliardini out, Epic in - means Spalletti believes it's winnable.

FCIM

Brozovic is playing terribly, take him off and throw Gaglia in and maybe push Vecino forward because Borja is having a brilliant match.

dor83

FCIM wrote: »

Brozovic is playing terribly, take him off and throw Gaglia in and maybe push Vecino forward because Borja is having a brilliant match.

Yeah, but I'd probably take off Candreva too and put Eder on.

Rekop dog

Not a single shot from Inter all half despite 57% possession.

Nervy match so far, still see Juve edging it.

dor83

Rekop dog wrote: »

Not a single shot from Inter all half despite 57% possession.

Nervy match so far, still see Juve edging it.

Juve finished the half stronger and have had the better chances, I can see them getting a goal so Inter need to do something to improve the attack.

FCIM

dor83 wrote: »

Yeah, but I'd probably take off Candreva too and put Eder on.

Perisic is playing worse but you'd stick with him because he could suddenly do anything. I'd stick with Candreva, anything we're getting is coming from wide. The Juventini are diving all over the place, Chiellini who fell because D'Ambrosio put his hand on his arm is ludicrous given the size of him, I just hope the referee doesn't give a bad decision.

dor83

FCIM wrote: »

Perisic is playing worse but you'd stick with him because he could suddenly do anything. I'd stick with Candreva, anything we're getting is coming from wide. The Juventini are diving all over the place, Chiellini who fell because D'Ambrosio put his hand on his arm is ludicrous given the size of him, I just hope the referee doesn't give a bad decision.

You're right about Perisic but I'd like to see Karamoh at some point, think he'd give them something different to think about in the wide area. on I can't believe how easy they are going down and the ref is buying it, not suggesting he's biased or anything just that he's been bad.

Mr.Nice Guy

Cuadrado's crossing has been excellent.

Rekop dog

Pjanic running the show now. Looks a matter of time.

FCIM

Big match to put Dalbert into. Why not Nagatomo?

Rekop dog

Inter have been embarrassing going forward considering they were league leaders coming into this.

Headshot

Brilliant result for Inter.

Really showed a lot of steel to come away with a draw

FCIM

Rekop dog wrote: »

Inter have been embarrassing going forward considering they were league leaders coming into this.

In fairness, Juventus weren't a whole lot better. It was a game where defences ruled. We need to offer more going forward against the better teams and hopefully someone who can do that will come in in January but we weren't that far off Juventus tonight and whilst they could argue they could have nicked it a draw isn't unfair either.

dor83

Headshot wrote: »

Brilliant result for Inter.

Really showed a lot of steel to come away with a draw

There was a bit of luck to get the draw, Juve were the better team and on another night Mandzukic would have scored at least one. I'm happy with the draw but not the performance, very negative football and a few of the players had poor games.

Mr.Nice Guy

Good result for Inter and the other title-chasing teams. I would have expected Mandzukic to take one of his chances on a normal day. Cuadrado impressed.

FCIM

dor83 wrote: »

Headshot wrote: »

Brilliant result for Inter.

Really showed a lot of steel to come away with a draw

There was a bit of luck to get the draw, Juve were the better team and on another night Mandzukic would have scored at least one. I'm happy with the draw but not the performance, very negative football and a few of the players had poor games.

I'm not disappointed to be honest. I knew Juventus would have had the better of it and I recognise that we didn't play particularly well going forward but Juventus really didn't offer all that more than we did which is a sign the team is at least solid. Also, whilst I'd have loved to win, it's possibly better at this stage we didn't. Win and it would all be about how we are going to win the scudetto and we'd be in danger of getting ahead of ourselves. Truth is we need two possibly three players in January and just falling short keeps that in mind.

dor83

FCIM wrote: »

I'm not disappointed to be honest. I knew Juventus would have had the better of it and I recognise that we didn't play particularly well going forward but Juventus really didn't offer all that more than we did which is a sign the team is at least solid. Also, whilst I'd have loved to win, it's possibly better at this stage we didn't. Win and it would all be about how we are going to win the scudetto and we'd be in danger of getting ahead of ourselves. Truth is we need two possibly three players in January and just falling short keeps that in mind.

Like I said, happy with the result but Mandzukic had two chances in the box, the first he didn't control and the second he slipped, plus hit the bar at the end of the first half. With regards to the scudetto, I don't think we'll win it but so long as we finish top 4 and get CL for next year I'll be happy with this season.

Rekop dog

dor83 wrote: »

There was a bit of luck to get the draw, Juve were the better team and on another night Mandzukic would have scored at least one. I'm happy with the draw but not the performance, very negative football and a few of the players had poor games.

Yeah that would be my thoughts on it too, i thought it was more down to poor finishing that it remained level rather than an overly impressive shut out. People can be very results based with their analysis, had that ended 2-0 to Juve which it could well have you'd not be hearing much about the defensive performance.

Also perhaps a little worrying from an entertainment point of view across Europe this season, super negative tactics seems to be the blueprint for away sides in big matches.

FCIM

dor83 wrote: »

Like I said, happy with the result but Mandzukic had two chances in the box, the first he didn't control and the second he slipped, plus hit the bar at the end of the first half. With regards to the scudetto, I don't think we'll win it but so long as we finish top 4 and get CL for next year I'll be happy with this season.

Our aim this year is a Champions League place, not the scudetto. Don't mind what the media says. The players and Spalletti are all saying fourth place is the target this season.

dor83

Rekop dog wrote: »

Also perhaps a little worrying from an entertainment point of view across Europe this season, super negative tactics seems to be the blueprint for away sides in big matches.

I think too much has been made of this, like Jose is always said to be very negative but against Arsenal last week it was a great game to watch, people choose to focus on the negative games because they expect more from the games.

dor83

FCIM wrote: »

Our aim this year is a Champions League place, not the scudetto. Don't mind what the media says. The players and Spalletti are all saying fourth place is the target this season.

Yeah, the media has gotten ahead of themselves like they did a couple of years ago when we had a great first half of the season but finished fourth.

FCIM

Rekop dog wrote: »

Yeah that would be my thoughts on it too, i thought it was more down to poor finishing that it remained level rather than an overly impressive shut out. People can be very results based with their analysis, had that ended 2-0 to Juve which it could well have you'd not be hearing much about the defensive performance.

Also perhaps a little worrying from an entertainment point of view across Europe this season, super negative tactics seems to be the blueprint for away sides in big matches.

Just seen the highlights on Rai. Juventus had three chances where if their players had been on a better day they may well have scored. Inter had two, one that Brozovic is more than capable of putting in on a good day, and the potential penalty for handball (which I don't think was a penalty but it did clearly strike his hand). Juve weren't that much better, a lot of shots from outside the box which aren't going to beat Handanovic which Inter didn't have but in terms of clear chances of goal there were three. Even the panelists said whilst Juventus could have won the defences dominated and a draw wasn't unfair.

In my opinion, Juventus aren't what they were and I think Roma will win the league this year. They've been on an upward trajectory for the last few years and whilst Spalletti is an excellent coach I don't believe he's a scudetto winner and isn't the man to get a team over the final line. He's brilliant at dragging a team out of the doldrums and leading them back up but I think this season will show Roma needed someone else to get them the final yards and I think in time the same will happen at Inter. Roma also have more grit about them than Napoli which is another reason I think they're the most likely to stop Juventus. I would say the finishing positions will be 1. Roma; 2. Juventus; 3. Napoli; 4. Inter.

ERG89

dor83 wrote: »

I think too much has been made of this, like Jose is always said to be very negative but against Arsenal last week it was a great game to watch, people choose to focus on the negative games because they expect more from the games.

No offence to them but are Arsenal still a big game now?
I'd have them 6th best in England now. A way off challenging for the league this season.
Similar spot to where Milan are now