[ITA] Serie A 2008/2009 (23 Viewers)

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sateeh

Day Walker
Jul 28, 2003
8,020
"I did have an offer from Barcelona but Zenit were not happy. I try not to think about what could have happened and at least at Arsenal I am playing. At Barcelona I think I would be sitting on the bench, like Aliaksandr Hleb,"

"Which player could I replace? Thierry Henry? No, he is too good and I think Messi will be the World Player of the Year. If I could vote it would be for Messi. Even if you just count the goals and the beautiful passes and look at it statistically, Messi would win over Ronaldo.

"It has been close but Messi has been better. So where would I play at Barcelona?

"Last season, once I knew I was leaving St Petersburg, the choice was always England or Spain, never Italy. I think the English league right now is the best league there has ever been, whereas in Italy it is very defensive, very closed football. I do not like it.

"I enjoy the honesty of English football, because nobody gives up, and almost all the best players are here. Italian football is at the bottom because of all those scandals. Their league is not very interesting.

"I love Barcelona for the same reasons I love Arsenal. It is as if they do not even think of the result, they just want to play and score and if they lose, OK, then they will go out and do it again and win next time.

"At Arsenal, all we think about is how to attack, how to score, how to dribble, how to make a pass. We do not think so much about defence. Probably, for results, this is no good: but I like it.

"That is why I hope Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League final. United look very solid but they play like machines, whereas Barcelona are dreamers, they are more creative. Sometimes United kill everything and I like Barcelona's football more."

- Arshavin


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Very flattering stuff he has to say about the Calcio :D
Funny he has so much to say about Italian team considering that an Italian team completely schooled his team this season :D.

but he has some valid points nonetheless.:alen:
 

BillyG

Caribbean Ultra
Nov 25, 2006
4,151
yeh cuz u can predict the italian league standing in august like u can in EPL and la liga :disagree:

& italian football is quietly on the rise again in my opiniion......teams like napoli, lazio, firoentina and even samp & genoa this season are getting gradually closer to the supposed "big 4 of italy" (now "big 3")

if those teams are able to maintain their current squads and are able to build on them then we are goin to gradually see the rise of the penninsula's football as a force in europe again IMO.
 

BillyG

Caribbean Ultra
Nov 25, 2006
4,151
-rep for hnakyo for receiving a +rep from snoop. never accept +reps.
:rofl2:


in other news...

Blog: Second place scrum

With the Scudetto deservedly won by Inter, Giovanni Spinella points out that the race for second, third and fourth is still wide open

Milan, Juventus and Fiorentina are all within four points of each other. Two of these teams will directly qualify for next season’s Champions League and the fourth placed side will face a more problematic preliminary round than in previous years.

The difference between third and fourth is millions of pounds of transfer market funds, allowing a club to properly plan for next season or waiting until late August before getting crucial players as the budget can’t be signed off.

On recent form, Fiorentina are actually poised to take the runners-up spot. They have won the last four games, including a 4-1 hammering of Roma, and have an away game against a virtually-relegated Lecce before a make-or-break match against Milan.

That game will be the big clash of Week 38. Milan have been inconsistent this season and their 2-1 defeat to Udinese embarrassingly handed the Scudetto to their rivals at Inter.

Before Fiorentina, they will welcome a wounded and angry Roma at San Siro. The result is anyone’s guess.

Roma are in the midst of a storm of speculation that involves the club’s ownership [will Rosella Sensi sell], the Coach [is Luciano Spalletti on the way out?] and the players [will Alberto Aquilani, Philippe Mexes and Daniele De Rossi stay at a club without Champions League football in World Cup year?]. Roma could collapse or their wounded pride might spur them on to become the spoilers of Milan’s ambitions.

Juventus are in freefall, unable to win a game since the end of March and with their morale in tatters. They have an away game to Siena and a home tie against Lazio who hammered them at the Olimpico in the Coppa Italia semi-finals. If Juve can remember who they used to be, as opposed to what they have become, they might scrape a few points but right now that looks unlikely.

The beauty of football is that no result is pre-ordained. Lecce, for example, have a history of spoiling dead-certain results. Juventus might pull out a win and Milan may want to end their season – and Carlo Ancelotti’s time as boss – on a high note. But based on form, look to Fiorentina to finish in this season’s No 2 spot, with Milan in third and Juventus treading the pitch in August.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
yeh cuz u can predict the italian league standing in august like u can in EPL and la liga :disagree:

& italian football is quietly on the rise again in my opiniion......teams like napoli, lazio, firoentina and even samp & genoa this season are getting gradually closer to the supposed "big 4 of italy" (now "big 3")

if those teams are able to maintain their current squads and are able to build on them then we are goin to gradually see the rise of the penninsula's football as a force in europe again IMO.
It could be argued that the same can be said about Italy.


It could be argued that the only reason for that is, that Italy's big teams with the exception of Inter are rather poor anyway.
 

only-juve

Senior Member
Jan 5, 2008
7,451
It could be argued that the same can be said about Italy.


It could be argued that the only reason for that is, that Italy's big teams with the exception of Inter are rather poor anyway.
Even with the state of italian top clubs (roma, juve) is pretty poor but both of them almost made it against arsenal and chelsea. There was some reallity in what he said though.......
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
Even with the state of italian top clubs (roma, juve) is pretty poor but both of them almost made it against arsenal and chelsea. There was some reallity in what he said though.......

Yes and Porto were close to going through against Man Utd too. Arsenal isnt better off than the Italian teams, i'd actually say we're on a par with Juve and Milan. But we're definitely better than Roma. Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd however are a level above the Italian teams.
 
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