Mental how far the two Milan clubs have fallen. Neither in the top 7, both have been way off challenging for the title for years.

Serie A has been hopeless in recent years. The standard of football have dropped massively.

Even Roma, a team I really like can't get anywhere close to Juve despite having some decent players.

It's sad when i remember their hey day when they were the aristocrats of Europe and you could almost guarantee an Italian side winning every club competition.
Don't know how they lost it as the rich clubs could have taken advantage of the decade when berlusconi was in charge as that was a period when they had no real government meaning no tight regulation. There was the blueprint of either the premiership or la liga to copy but they spent the whole time with their heads stuck up their own arses so much so that Juve, a team that had been relegated through the "calciopoli" scandal, organised itself and took over to such an extent that they have not had a real competitor at home for going on 5 (?) years now. None of the other teams are relevant anymore and Juve own almost all the best Italian players and use the lax loan system to full advantage in order to keep them strong. The league is now so weak, you got guys who are almost 40 years old still competing at the highest level and, still, being the best performers.

It's really odd.

You just have to look at the Parma team of 1996 and then look at what state they are in now. Really feel sorry for them.

Had a look and it's far worse than i imagined it could be.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31588196

Gutter league

Salah just scored an absolutely wonderful goal against Juve. Dribbled from one end to the other end tearing their defence apart.

It's amazing how much an upgrade he is for Fiorentina compared to the ineffective Cuadrado.

Still enjoy this league contrary to the posts on the last page. What Juve is doing now isn't much different to what United did at times in the PL, Barca under Pep or possibly what the current Chelsea team will do over the next few years.

The standard of Serie A is much better than it gets credit for. Its much closer to the PL than the PL is to Spain for example. Take Chelsea out of the equation and look at what English sides have done in Europe over the last few years. If Juve and Roma played in England i'd bet good money that both of them would be currently in the top 4. Its much stronger than the Bundesliga imo.

Of course part of the problem is that Serie A has a reputation of being boring and weak and so people don't watch it much and just go along with the myth of it being a poor league.

Friendly fire?
Mauro Camoranesi: “I was convinced that Pirlo could play until he’s 40, but given the current level of Italian football he can play until he’s 50 or 53."
http://www.football-italia.net/63702/%E2%80%98pirlo-key-dortmund-game%E2%80%99

Luca Toni 2 off the highest scorer in Serie A. He turn 38 in May and has 33 in 60 league games for Hellas Verona.

He is a special guy.

It's ridiculous that Juventus have something like 60 players, some co owned, out on loan.

this might be the worst hat ive ever seen

Juventus lost to Parma, who is bankrupt and can't even afford a team bus to the stadium.

Very suspicious.

Speaking of insane stats, I believe Samir Handanovic has saved 7 of the last 8 penalties he has faced!

@[deleted] Parma doesn't have a bus as well? I thought it was only Milan that sold their bus

Super Mario wrote:

Speaking of insane stats, I believe Samir Handanovic has saved 7 of the last 8 penalties he has faced!

@[deleted] Parma doesn't have a bus as well? I thought it was only Milan that sold their bus

Not only that, they don't have hot water in their ground Basically they are dead bankrupt.

What happened to Serie A? They never got past the idea of teams being a rich man's plaything. All the great 90s clubs were billionaires' toys. Once billionaire's became broke or disinterested, there was nothing to fall back on. Beyond Italia 90, there was no investment in fan friendly stadia in neighborhoods or aggressive commercial endeavor. They need to rethink things. Get investors in. Build new stadia in Rome and Milan, impose strict financial rules on clubs including guidance on investment in academies, and then be more aggressive commercially. This is at least a 5 year journey

Juventus potentially 15 points clear if they win today. Ridiculous.

The whole match they just sat back and hit Lazio on the break. The Bonucci goal was criminal defending from Lazio, just let him run and shoot without any pressure.

Anybody watching the Milan derby now? No longer a big match at the top nowadays but still an intense match so far. Plenty of young players in both teams, don't even know some of them.

Just tuning in. Not really expecting much though.

Mexes scores an own goal. Despite playing quite well. He really is one of the most unfortunate players in football.

edit: overruled by the referee.

Still 0-0

that Atalanta goal. yes!
is it just me or does Serie A seem to have the most bicycle kick goals? i used to think this 10 years ago, but it still feels the same

Klaus wrote:

There's no way I'm watching another Milan game without someone pointing a gun at me.

I thought you hate the Milan under Allegri. I tell you what, ever since he left they are even harder to watch. Horrible footballing team nowadays, no clear game plan in most games.

Milan derbies have been really boring in recent years. Inter made it interesting in the final 10 minutes but overall as a spectacle it's really poor. I think I am going to keep clear of it till they are both back in the big time.

Kovacic is a real talent, one to watch certainly.

Claudius wrote:

that Atalanta goal. yes!
is it just me or does Serie A seem to have the most bicycle kick goals? i used to think this 10 years ago, but it still feels the same

Serie A always have some exceptional goal. There's one goal that always come to my mind, think it was Illcic for Palermo few years back.

Watched parts of it and it was worse than you'd imagine. Might be harsh but Inzaghi seems completely clueless to me, his Milan side plays some disgusting football, only player worth watching is Menez who had a huge season to be fair.

Still think it was unfair on Seedorf to not even give him a full season last year, Milan looked better and won more games under him.

I think Allegri gets more blame than he deserves.

Yes, his teams play a boring brand of football but he did not do too badly when you take the league positions that Milan achieved with him into account.

He was totally shafted by Fester's transfer dealings and lack of financial support from Berlusconi.

Klaus wrote:

Because they are poor (as in economically bankrupt).

If I am not wrong, there's this filthy rich China guy who is going to buy over Milan. Let's see if things will change.

FWIW, the Indonesian Billionaire pumped money into Inter but they are still pretty poor despite making quite a number of signings.

Klaus wrote:

Matteo Darmian with a really cool goal against Juventus:

Atrocious defending from Bonucci though.

I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on this guy in the summer. He's been going really strong for two years now and could play on either flank. Reckon his value is about to shoot through the roof soon. Sell Gibbs and get him in.

Yeah, Darmian has been linked with every big team so far (Barca, Utd, Bayern, etc.). I wonder why we didn't look at him instead of Debuchy after his strong World Cup showing.

Think Allan from Udinese might be someone to look out for, should take a punt on him too!

Super Mario wrote:

Klaus wrote:

Matteo Darmian with a really cool goal against Juventus:

Atrocious defending from Bonucci though.

I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on this guy in the summer. He's been going really strong for two years now and could play on either flank. Reckon his value is about to shoot through the roof soon. Sell Gibbs and get him in.

Yeah, Darmian has been linked with every big team so far (Barca, Utd, Bayern, etc.). I wonder why we didn't look at him instead of Debuchy after his strong World Cup showing.

Think Allan from Udinese might be someone to look out for, should take a punt on him too!

Haha was thinking of starting a 'players that have caught your eye' thread and he was one of the names I had in mind.

He 1st came to my attention against Juve, he was boss that day (dominated Pogba and co) and have seen him twice since. Looks a good passer, skilful and hard in the tackle but lack of height is his downside. Reminds me a bit of Mauro Silva (one of La liga's  top DMs in the 90s). Will keep an eye on him.

Clrnc wrote:

Klaus wrote:

Because they are poor (as in economically bankrupt).

If I am not wrong, there's this filthy rich China guy who is going to buy over Milan. Let's see if things will change.

FWIW, the Indonesian Billionaire pumped money into Inter but they are still pretty poor despite making quite a number of signings.

Yeah, its been due to mismanagement after winning the CL. Most of the players Inter have bought during Thohir's ownership have been underwhelming (other than Icardi) and they've cycled through managers like changing clothes.

Mancini has made some crazy decisions such as benching Handanovic in the Europa League, but they're stuck with him as they're paying Mazzari and Strama. They are playing better now after beating Roma.

Kovacic with a nice tackle:

Klaus wrote:

Matteo Darmian with a really cool goal against Juventus:

Atrocious defending from Bonucci though.

I wouldn't mind us taking a punt on this guy in the summer. He's been going really strong for two years now and could play on either flank. Reckon his value is about to shoot through the roof soon. Sell Gibbs and get him in.

That defending.       

The dedicated man to man marking by the centre half makes it funnier.
TBF there is no way anyone could have predicted that touch.
I'm not even convinced he did it deliberately.

Didn't watch too many Serie A matches this season but Empoli have been a breath of fresh air whenever I've seen them.