Serie A

I believe it would serve a good purpose to have a place where one can express views about the finest level of Italian football.

Therefore this can be a place where you can discuss about Serie A in general.

All matches have been completed of the first round. Here are my visions;

- Juventus will not win Lo Scudetto.

- Juventus despite their impressive result at home vs. Livorno have grave problems. The defence is new and during the first 10 minutes you could see the positioning problems.

- The Old Lady also need to work on the tightness of the chains, this however is something that can be improved on the training pitch.

- Inter are strong and will be even stronger once Chivu and Suazo will be integrated into the side.

- Roma have a more complete squad this season. It is the best squad Luciano Spalletti has had since he arrived in Rome.

In honesty i thought Inter looked weak today against Udinese, they left too much space and looked tired and out of shape and lacked concentration in the last 30 mins

Inter were so poor today it was unreal. Maybe someone should tell them this was the start of the season and not just a practice match! Yes, it's the first game but it's clear they lack any kind of pace in midfield. Figo & Stankovic are just old slow men now and if you close them down it stops them dominating.

Both teams were just so slack at closing down it was a joke, talk about space ... you could have driven a bus through some of those gaps! Samuel & Maxwell look the best players to target as both seemed uncomfortable dealing with the ball. Likewise for Udinese, the whole of their left side seemed completely open and easy to exploit. Also if Quagliarella doesn't improve i'll be glad we didn't get him, he has to have the slowest step over in the world.

Both teams were poor in most areas of the field, though as i said at the top, it's the first game so a lot of leway has to be given at this stage.

IMO Mancini fielded a lineup that was too offensive. Udinese created too many chances because the Inter side did not close Udinese down.

i think even if they had a more usual 4-4-2 with Cambiasso & Vieira in the middle, they still wouldn't have closed them down ... they were just completely laxidasical in their approach today. Plus a more defensive line up would have surely limited their forward play even more.

For me it was audacious to field a 4-3-1-2 lineup vs. Udinese. Frankly I think Roberto Mancini underestimated Udinese. It's not like they were facing a bottom side.

i don't think it was the formation, but the players. Udinese's midfield was almost non existant in the first half ... and like i said, down their left they had huge gaps. Their left-back was particularly poor. So had Inter exploited that more they could have been at least 1 more goal up at half time.

However, where i think they failed was with their midfield and defence. Daccourt did his best but he wasn't offering much protection the back 4, neither was Stankovic or Zanetti. Plus the Inter defence were so slack to close people down, it gave the Udinese front 3 (which were quite dangerous, well Asamoah & Quagliarella were, Flores was a bit of a waste really) alot of confidence to attack them. Inter invited the pressure on themselves. Had they had a stronger mind set, they should have steam rollered Udinese by 3 or 4 goals.

In other news...I heard Grimi tore up the left side for Siena today

Should never underestimate the younger side of our team; they can easily earn a place in a second-tier to almost top-tier team. Think about this: If the average age of the MIlan squad is about 28/29, how do you expect to play when you are 22/23 (unless you have the finest skill of Kaka?) J

One thing is for sure. We saw a lot of answers during Saturday and Sunday. Many more than I'd expected.

In case someone didn't see it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUKh0RzDeDU

Catania coach Silvio Baldini hitting the "culo" of Parma's coach Domencio Di Carlo

Any news on what will happen to Baldini? Surely he should have some action taken against him against what was a violent act

All serie A goals of round 1

Lazio-Torino 2:2 ( beautiful goal by Rosina)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yGeS...elated&search=

Juventus-Livorno 5:1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzMeh...elated&search=

Napoli-Cagliari 0:2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDjD-w5lKu0

Genoa-Milan 0:3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feyuBWyBR2Q

Inter-Udinese 1:1 ( Ibrahimovic, classy assist)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeELZPAF3oI

Fiorentina-Empoli 3:1 (super goal Montolivo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oucyvw5TaU

Parma-Catania 2:2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8U3Nga8pnA

Siena-Sampdoria 1:2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7HiLvflFoU

Reggina-Atalanta 1:1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZJUkqWcF54

Palermo-Roma 0:2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzGL-GWVt8Q



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Weekly awards (according to me )

Goal of the week : Rosina (Torino) vs Lazio and Montolivo (Fiorentina) vs Empoli
Assist of the week : Ibrahimovic (Inter)
Player of the week : David Trezeguet (Juve)
Clown of the week : Julio Cesar (Inter)
Teams of the week : Udinese, Juventus, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Milan and Roma

Tony, figure out a way to win in the prediction league already? If not, just put any team playing against inter that week to be the 'team of the week' and for the next 38 weeks you are on the money lol.