Italian Serie A Megathread

Would be a good signing for Fulham. Napoli should have signed Wanyama :icon_mrgreen:

 

Wondering what system Benitez will employ. At Chelsea he kept Di Matteo's 4-2-3-1 for the most part, but I'm not sure what he'll do here.

Mainly that's because they are a ballhair away from signing Jackson Martinez as well - that's another quality forward who would need to win the one starting striker spot. Higuain, Insigne and Pandev also play around the forward area and Mertens and Callejon as well. Not forgetting the seemingly forgotten man of Napoli - Marek Hamsik, who is a frighteningly effect player over the course of a season.

Further back in the midfield they've signed Josip Radosevic (who some might know from FM). He seems a real prospect as a defensive midfielder. They also have Inler, Behrami, Dzemaili, Donadel and a returning-from-a-pointless-loan-spell Walter Gargano.

I don't see Benitez sticking with three at the back. At all. Nevertheless they have kept the mainstays of their previous back three (exception being Campagnaro, the oldest of the regular three, who has went to Inter). Four at the back is far more likely with Rafa, and quite frankly the addition of Albiol will either prove very shrewd or end up a waste of over €11m. I actually suspect the former. A back four of Maggio-Albiol-Cannavaro-Zuniga is as good as there is in Serie A, offensively if not defensively.

Add in the almost-confirmed capture of Pepe Reina (someone I really like and rate, unlike a lot of people over the last couple of years) and this Napoli squad is finally looking far from the one-man-dependency it became during Cavani's brilliant few years.

Thoroughly deserved second place last term, in fact they only really missed out on a proper title challenge due to Cavani falling out of form and the team being so dependent on him alone. Fully expecting them to push it all the way with the squad at their disposal this year. With Milan getting ready to strengthen further and showing what they can do the second half of last season, as well as Fiorentina purchasing Gomez, Joaquin and Ilicic makes me really excited for the coming campaign.

Marky - Roma will do OK. :smiley-laughing002:

Couple of prospective line ups for Napoli:

Reina

Maggio - Albiol - Cannavaro - Zuniga

Dzemaili - Inler

Callejon - Hamsik - Mertens

Higuain


(And that's not even including):
Rafael
Britos
Gamberini
Armero
Dossena
Radosevic
Behrami
Gargano
Insigne
Pandev
Martinez

Astonishingly deep compared to last year. Good luck to them to be honest - I fully expect to see some very good football from that team
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I never used to like him either when he played for West Ham, they used him more as a winger though. Last season though he had a great season, was one of Napoli's best players and one of the best defensive midfielders in Italy.

He actually won more tackles than any other player in Serie A, Premiership, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 or La Liga last season.

 

Serie A should be top class this season. I enjoyed it last season anytime I watched it - most games were very open. I think it will be a battle between Juve, Napoli and Milan for the title with the likes of Fiorentina, Inter, Roma and Lazio in a good battle for the European spots. Looking forward to it

 

Napoli have a very good team and could easily challenge for the title, but I don't think their defence is good enough at the moment. I'm not at all impressed by Albiol and Cannavaro simply isn't good enough to lead a top class defence. Maggio, while great as a wingback, has always struggled in a 4 man defence.

I don't really understand why they're going for Martinez instead of trying to sign some better defenders.

 

Napoli in my eyes has not enough quality for the title. Second place battle with Milan again. La vecchia signiora again in the title :icon_mrgreen:

But i really want some change in our central defenders, thath barzagli, bonucci and peluso are really low for me...

 

Fiorentina signed the Slovenian international midfielder Josip Iličić from Palermo for 9 million euros.

 

Fiorentina is getting a real decent team there.

 

http://serieaworld.com/seriea/jacopo-sala-signs-for-hellas-verona/#.UfJrAhK9KSM

My article on Hellas veronas new signing from hamburg. They also bought donati and Toni.

 

Are Hellas Verona, the same Verona that used to play in Serie A years ago? were they always known as that or did they change their name? I can remember a team called Verona from when I was younger but im pretty sure they werent called Hellas Verona and I dont recognise their badge?

 

Chievo are also from Verona. But as far as I know Hellas are the bigger of the two and growing up chances are it's them you remember.

 

Donati AND Toni?! Really hope they do well now, loved those two guys back in the day

 

Yes, its the same Verona from the old days.

 

Well, Juve have just signed Ogbonna, probably the best young Italian defender around. They also have Caceres who is very good and Marrone who played well when deputising for Bonucci last season. I think defence is the least of Juve's worries.

 

Its not about Serie A. As i said i beleive the level of striking force is lower now in Italy than the past so for the championship of course you dont need something better but for Europe i hardly give us any chance in going far in CL.

 

Juve had one of the best defensive records in the CL last season. They only conceded 3 goals in the group stage (2 in the first match against Chelsea, where one was a deflected shot from outside the box and the other a wonder goal - two goals that the no defence in the world could possibly have prevented).

Again, I don't think Juve's defence was a problem at all in Europe. The problem was up front and in the squad's depth and limited tactical options. Hopefully these are problems that have been resolved this summer.

 

I cannot disagree with that statistics but I strongly believe thath the good midfield is the cause of the clean sheets in the most of the occasions. I will enjoy any success being brought to the club but i will never like that CB's. I just cant.

For example against Bayer, we have quite a lot of injured players like Vidal, Lichsteiner, Pepe etc etc but i think the goals conceded was defences errors. Bayern were going into the area quite easily. Whatever that'ss the past. I hope the show me wrong this year

 

Supercoppa Italiana tonight, Italian equivalent of the Community Shield.

Juventus v Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome

 

http://thefirstrow.biz/soccer/juventus-lazio-frs90dgb juve v lazio cup final

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see Lazio take this tonight. Juve very much still look in pre-season mode.