Winter Mercato

But higher then Cannavaro and has technique similar to Nesta. And is able to play at a RB if needed!

But Im 99% sure that Napoli will not sell Santacroce! Anyway, he is the best Italian defender for future, and if we are to spend we should at least try for him. It was clear even last year he is a special player. Even more special then Chiellini was at that age.

For winter mercato we know our player: Becks

How about the CD from Argentina that Serginho recommended (according to the football news)? I read that he is still 18 years old but already play for U-20. His height is 185 cm if I remember correctly.

Anyone has seen him play? Or any clips about him?

On another note, Mourinho is melancolic and he's starting to feel the pressures of Serie A. Another evidence that training here is very difficult.
You find coaches of lower teams that stay awake at night to study videos, trying to block your game.
Mourinho's approach to Italy hasn't been very appropriate. As someone on tv said, he wanted to be leading protagonist of a corrida, but he's finding out that in the arena of Serie A, many are able to fight.

As i said when it was much more difficult to say: Carlo for life. Carlo aka the Normal One.
__________________

for years.. i often read in media that journalists or football fans from various countries stated that premier league more competitive than serie a. they said in premier league lower team has bigger opportunity to beat upper team than in serie a. By that thought there must be an opinion araised that even a lower team of premier league can compete in european competition. But the facts didnt prove that.

Based on that reality, I think in EPL lower team could beat upper team in many occasion caused the upper team ain't more tactical or strategical. They are used to beat the lower team because the players are better indeed in technique & skill aspect. Management bless coach with decent players

In serie a, i think it's different. Yes, you need decent players. Beyond that, tactic & strategy play big part in every game and also to count how you dive to seek freekick, penalty, cards or just to delay the game for some breath taking or waiting the final whistle. Sometimes it's ridiculous seeing a man down on the field then pretend suffering alot but nothing caused him seriously. But then you have to agree it's an evidence that Serie A more tactical and more difficult than other league

My fantasy transfer campaine for next summer.

1 Bring back abate and gorky
2 Get santaccroche,zhirkov,adebayor(by the way,Does anyone knows our NE status)

That will cost about 60 mil euros,quite reasonable to strengthen weak spots on current squad and rebuild a core for next 8 years at the same time.

Everyone who is interested in football market, should tell us not only how to buy players and what players, but, more importantly, how to SELL players.

If you list 5 new players, you should tell us who you are going to sell and for what price, looking at his original price in order to avoid minusvalences.
This is real market, not just a list of fantasy names.

Im sure Milan doesnt have any plaers to sell for some serious money, just Yoan is there to go for possible 15mln. Maldini, Favalli, Emerson, $heva, Dida, Kalac, Oddo - those are palyrs you cant sell for big money.

But this year we have made big profits from Dinho and soon from Beckham, so that is also a part of club's politics, economical.

Originally Posted by Giovanni

On another note, Mourinho is melancolic and he's starting to feel the pressures of Serie A. Another evidence that training here is very difficult.
You find coaches of lower teams that stay awake at night to study videos, trying to block your game.

This is a reason why i think Benitez would probably be quite successful in Serie A. He has an incredibly studious approach to the game, when he's not training players he's repeatedly watching videos of the opposition to find weaknesses and videos of his own team to find out where to improve. He often says he lies awake at night thinking of tactics and line-ups, you don't get that impression with Mourinho. With Jose i think he does some studying but not much and relies on his man management skills to make his team more positive.

Originally Posted by Peachtot

for years.. i often read in media that journalists or football fans from various countries stated that premier league more competitive than serie a. they said in premier league lower team has bigger opportunity to beat upper team than in serie a. By that thought there must be an opinion araised that even a lower team of premier league can compete in european competition. But the facts didnt prove that.

Based on that reality, I think in EPL lower team could beat upper team in many occasion caused the upper team ain't more tactical or strategical. They are used to beat the lower team because the players are better indeed in technique & skill aspect. Management bless coach with decent players

In serie a, i think it's different. Yes, you need decent players. Beyond that, tactic & strategy play big part in every game and also to count how you dive to seek freekick, penalty, cards or just to delay the game for some breath taking or waiting the final whistle. Sometimes it's ridiculous seeing a man down on the field then pretend suffering alot but nothing caused him seriously. But then you have to agree it's an evidence that Serie A more tactical and more difficult than other league

If people are saying that the EPL is more competitive than the Serie A, there's something wrong. In England there's four teams capable of winning the league, and it's the same four every year. To think that a team outside the big four could win the league is crazy as even cracking the top four is impossible (unless Man City really get a trillion £s from their new owners!)

In Italy there's also a sort of big 4, but then there's Napoli, Lazio, Fiorentina and even Udinese who at least have a shot at finishing in the top 4. And in Spain there's always Barca and Madrid, but this year Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla and Atletico each have the quality to get in to the top 4, and the first two could definately win the league.

Really you can just look at the points amassed by the top teams in each country. The English top 4 in last 5 years always have the highest score (with the exception of Inter's post-calciopoli season), followed by Italy and Spain. Usually when a top team in England face a team from the bottom they win easily, in Italy upsets are much more frequent and in Spain they happen every week. Madrid just drew with Almería, you wouldn't see Chelsea do that with, say, Sunderland (who like Almería are in their second season in the top division), would you?

Conclusion: England is the least competitive big league when it comes to top vs. bottom games.

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

This is a reason why i think Benitez would probably be quite successful in Serie A. He has an incredibly studious approach to the game, when he's not training players he's repeatedly watching videos of the opposition to find weaknesses and videos of his own team to find out where to improve. He often says he lies awake at night thinking of tactics and line-ups, you don't get that impression with Mourinho. With Jose i think he does some studying but not much and relies on his man management skills to make his team more positive.

I thought Mourinho apply the same method too. I read somewhere that he has an assistant who provides him the statistics of the opponents, it's so complete that it includes players' personal tendencies to act under certain circumstances. Then Mourinho analyze it. I think he just need to get used to the serie-A atmosphere

-Zhirkov
-santacroce/Zapata
-Hamsik/Moutinho/Gourcuff(if he will play with regularity and will get as much as playing time like Seedorf and Ambrosini does)
-striker(we should find the continuity in attack department,Borriello cant find it thanks to injuries,you know Pato,Pippo will be 1 years older,Sheva still didnt prove anything yet)

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

This is a reason why i think Benitez would probably be quite successful in Serie A. He has an incredibly studious approach to the game, when he's not training players he's repeatedly watching videos of the opposition to find weaknesses and videos of his own team to find out where to improve. He often says he lies awake at night thinking of tactics and line-ups, you don't get that impression with Mourinho. With Jose i think he does some studying but not much and relies on his man management skills to make his team more positive.

I think Mou gives as much time as Benitez for tactics and understanding the competition.And he is a great tactician. however he made some crucial judgmental mistakes.

1.He though he would be accepted with the same enthusiasm as in england.and everybody will love him.

2.He thought the media would be his best friend as in england( normally because reporters love individuals like Mou).read the latest article at goal.com,it describes it perfectly what I want to say.

3.He decided for the 4-4-3 tactics even before steeping in Italy,and then tried to adapt the squad to the tactics, its the other way around.

4.Hi transfers were bad. MAncini and Quaresma are never gonna be Joe Cole and Robben.And he misses a Lampard and a Drogba in his team, cuz Ibra is no Drogba,(meaning, he cant play with his back to the goal, and he will never pass you, instead he will shoot even though he didnt have the enough space to do so.

5.As Gio pointed out earlier, in England you have one Manager who is tactic driven(Benitez) and Mou always struggled with him.In italy you have 20 tacticians always searching for a way how to stop you,regardless how destructive they are. And he underestimated them, (Ranieri case).

Last but not least is "MILAN" hopefully we can be the reason he dosnt succeed in Italy. and of course he is the manager of inter, itself is a major reason to fail.

Originally Posted by kastriot

I think Mou gives as much time as Benitez for tactics and understanding the competition.And he is a great tactician. however he made some crucial judgmental mistakes.

1.He though he would be accepted with the same enthusiasm as in england.and everybody will love him.

2.He thought the media would be his best friend as in england( normally because reporters love individuals like Mou).read the latest article at goal.com,it describes it perfectly what I want to say.

3.He decided for the 4-4-3 tactics even before steeping in Italy,and then tried to adapt the squad to the tactics, its the other way around.

4.Hi transfers were bad. MAncini and Quaresma are never gonna be Joe Cole and Robben.And he misses a Lampard and a Drogba in his team, cuz Ibra is no Drogba,(meaning, he cant play with his back to the goal, and he will never pass you, instead he will shoot even though he didnt have the enough space to do so.

5.As Gio pointed out earlier, in England you have one Manager who is tactic driven(Benitez) and Mou always struggled with him.In italy you have 20 tacticians always searching for a way how to stop you,regardless how destructive they are. And he underestimated them, (Ranieri case).

Last but not least is "MILAN" hopefully we can be the reason he dosnt succeed in Italy. and of course he is the manager of inter, itself is a major reason to fail.

Excellent post. Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Culturally, Italy and England are very different, and while Mou was a source of entertainment in England and treated as a celebrity, in Italy he's viewed as a professional, and so his obnoxious behaviour is frowned upon.

Tactically, I also agree he's too set in his 4-3-3 ways, and we know (especially at Milan during times when Ancelotti was stuck with a single system) in Italy you have to be able to change things around when needed in matches.

He's an excellent coach and his teams are always dangerous, but up until now he's dropped the ball on many occassions. If he is to succeed in Italy he needs to look to change some of his ways, most notably how he acts (otherwise he'll dig himself into such a deep hole he'll never get out) and his ideas on how to approach opponents.

what do yall think about Rene Adler, Bayer 04 GoalKeeper who won the german goal keeper of the year.

Originally Posted by payne

what do yall think about Rene Adler, Bayer 04 GoalKeeper who won the german goal keeper of the year.

Abbiati made so far 5 clean sheets, i wouldn't consider another keeper not before the end of the season, to see an overall evaluation. one more thing our defence is playing good for how long only god knows. i read somewhere that nesta is leaving again to USA just like 2006 that means another 2,3 months . what we need in winter mercato a world class central back . thats our priority Favalli played good but we need safety we need something like nesta, Kaladze is not safe too and il capitano is doing more than what we expected. sendros i dont know if the guy is gonna start sometime soon but from what i saw in arsenal this guy has nothing special .

by the winter break we will be playing 10 games at home that leave us with only 9 games and 10 but luckly the toughest matches will be at home so we need a brand new defence and with the defence we have you can only rotate with zambrotta,janku and antonini.