Juve last minute move.... (4 Viewers)

[V]

(1) I dont think serie B is easy, but i think we should be shining and i dont think that is as crazy as you seem to think it is, your real ambitious arent you?

As a matter of fact I am, but am also more realistic, which you, obviously, are not. Teams never shine in second divisions, there's no reason to "shine", they fight for one objective, to get back to the top flight. Once we get there we can start playing some Joga bonito or whatever, or there's always Barca for you.

(2) Right your confused let me help you out..... I dont expect us to end the season with a perfect record, not only would that be impressive, it would be impossible. But if you ask me before each game whether or not i expected a Juve win i would reply with the word 'yes' meaning that i expect nothing less than a win and a draw or loss will disappoint me. Are you following? clear enough for you?

I'm not confused pal, you're the one that contradicted yourself in one single sentence; "I don't expect us to win always but with the team we have we certainly should". Ok, so now before every game you expect a win, than when we draw, or god forbid lose, you're out of your mind as how can this happen, we are stronger, we should have / must have won?!

(3) See above, its called ambition just to remind you, i dont settle for 2nd best because no one remembers the loser, if you dont mind losing then there is something wrong with you.

Coooooorrny.

(4) Hmmm.... valid point, i regularly mentioned champions league success in my posts evaluating our poor showing in serie B

It was a perfectly valid point. We were stronger last season still we managed to pluck away few points against mediocre opposition. Unfortunatelly those things happen.

(5) They are not a good team, they are 5th and they have lost 7 games and drawn 6 and in my opinion we are better than them, you seem to think that we couldnt compete with them

Wow, you managed to look at the table. I am impressed. Don't twist my words, I have not said anything about how we would compete with them. I simply challenged your obvious ridicule of them, based solely on their name, as it is obvious you know jack-shit about them and therefore you are simply not able to comment on them and how we would compete with them.

(6) Woohoo

You made me laugh, sorry if it bothered you. Stop getting so upset pal.

If your happy with the way we are playing then fine be happy, enjoy yourself pretending that everything is rosy.

Twisting my words again, never said I'm satisfied with the way we're playing, I haven't been satisfied with the way we're plaing for a number of years already, but the fact is we were always top of the table and that is what counts. Even more so know when our whole future depends on this one season. So excuse me Mr. Ambition while I'll be satisfied if we just achieve promotion and get 0 style points.

we are not playing well, we must perform better, we must pick up better results and the fans must push for bigger and better things, the sooner you wake up to reality the better.

although continue to live in your dreamworld if you trully think the performances/results have been satisfactory so far.

You have us confused, I'm the one in reality, you're playing PES, FM or whatever.

 

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[HelterSkelter]

You've become good friends with Jun-Hide.no?

 

[V]

You've become good friends with Jun-Hide.no?

Of course, Jun is the man.

 

[denco]

The most ironic part of this discussion is that serieA has been weakened with the point deduction and relegation of Juventus, with Inter taking full advantage whilst to serieB teams it must be unfair to them as well, (taking away the opportunity of meeting Juve for financial reasons) as they are to play against a side like Juventus with world cup winners, world cup finalists, cl winners but with all these players in our side we have not been able to dominate serieB as some people would have thought we would have. On here Inter have been given serious stick for taking advantage of a weakened serieA but we as big fish in small pond have not been able to do so, hence the restlessness amongs the natives

 

[V]

The most ironic part of this discussion is that serieA has been weakened with the point deduction and relegation of Juventus, with Inter taking full advantage whilst to serieB teams it must be unfair to them as well, (taking away the opportunity of meeting Juve for financial reasons) as they are to play against a side like Juventus with world cup winners, world cup finalists, cl winners but with all these players in our side we have not been able to dominate serieB as some people would have thought we would have. On here Inter have been given serious stick for taking advantage of a weakened serieA but we as big fish in small pond have not been able to do so, hence the restlessness amongs the natives

Personally I never expected us to dominate Serie B, not even without the -9 point penalty. There could be a lot of reasons for that, but i think it's mostly because the morale of the squad is very low.

We have quality but I think each and every one of our players is not playing to their full potential, it is clearly evident on the performances of our star players. I think it was you Denco who said you would have expected DP to be on 15 goals already and Trezeguet on 20. Theoretically that makes sense as their class is clearly a level above the rest of Serie B. But I don't believe it works so easily. I mean one day they're in the top flight, the next day in the second division, IMO that's one mental blocade that isn't broken so easily with just 15-20 games under the belt.

Surely they are all professionals and it is expected from them to overcome that with ease but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. To me it seems like this is still some sort of a sureal reality for most of our players, hence the sub-par displays. Of course the rest of the Serie B putting in performances of their lifetime against us surely doesn't help either..

 

[Jun-hide]

Of course, Jun is the man.

Haha cheers.int:

I guess it will pretty soon spread like a malaise on this board. (BTW Salman, I have kept things pretty short by my standards of late, and I am blaming things on Mark83 ).

Anyway, I pretty much agree with most of what Vlatko said. What people under-estimate the calibre of lower divisions. After all, last time I checked we are still a clear for-runner in our division.

Pts P W D L
Juventus 39 21 14 6 1

Napoli 37 21 9 10 2

Bologna 37 21 11 4 6

Mantova 36 21 9 9 3

Genoa 36 21 10 6 5

Piacenza 35 21 10 5 6

Rimini 34 21 9 7 5


Things are pretty tight at the top, and I am sure a lot us are concerned with our recent form whereby we couldn't pull away from our rivals. But the matter of fact is our rivals haven't been that impressive either. And taking into consideration that we have all the opposition listed above in their home ground, and lost majority of our points against top 7 (2W 3D 1L), I expect our second half record to be far better than the first. In another words, we probably had tougher schedule than our rivals. So if you factor in both injury crisis, and the difficulty of schedule, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect us to start pulling away from the pack.

Personally, I think DD hasn't done too bad a job. Of course, he could have chosen an easy route and bought some Serie B hardened veterans for a year and obliterate the competition. But the issue is not only to gain promotion, but we should also build some foundation for better prospects. I can't comment too much on our youngsters since I haven't seen live, but we must give chance to likes of Marchisio, De Ceglie, Palladino, Paro before declaring them not good enough. That is what DD has done, and kudos to him for trusting youngsters and doing what is right instead of taking easy path. The matter of fact is, I highly doubt we will put in Serie A winning squad in a matter of year or two. Realistically, we should assemble a competitive team which can battle for CL place, and look for improvement through internal development and quality signings through CL money.

 

[Marc]

Good post, Jun (though I would get rid of un-neccesary parts ).

However, my point is something completely different: Poor away performances.

I am very satisfied with Juventus performance at home, but a team with Juventus calibre cannot let themselves to be outplayed by a team called Spezia, even though we are playing away.

P.S. Ajax have the best youth academy in the world.

 

[denco]

Personally I never expected us to dominate Serie B, not even without the -9 point penalty. There could be a lot of reasons for that, but i think it's mostly because the morale of the squad is very low.

We have quality but I think each and every one of our players is not playing to their full potential, it is clearly evident on the performances of our star players. I think it was you Denco who said you would have expected DP to be on 15 goals already and Trezeguet on 20. Theoretically that makes sense as their class is clearly a level above the rest of Serie B. But I don't believe it works so easily. I mean one day they're in the top flight, the next day in the second division, IMO that's one mental blocade that isn't broken so easily with just 15-20 games under the belt.

Surely they are all professionals and it is expected from them to overcome that with ease but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. To me it seems like this is still some sort of a sureal reality for most of our players, hence the sub-par displays. Of course the rest of the Serie B putting in performances of their lifetime against us surely doesn't help either..

I am not judging them at all as i have not seen them play but i have to say your account that they have now found themselves in an environment they did not bargain for and thats why they are underperforming is kinda weak. For 10 games , of cos you have to find your feet and all of that but not when you have gotten to 21 games. Its not as if its 1 player leaving to another country or division and he needs time, its a squad of players who won the biggest prize in Italian football , 2 years in a row. Yes, some of those that helped win have gone but some are still there and i dont like reading stuff like they were unconvincing in serieB. I guess if you add 9 points to our current total we would be streets ahead but if we are still winning badly in serieB how are we gonna start playing convincing football in the future. Capello was blamed for poor play and all that with Moggi by me, but these guys are no more there but aparently we are still playing the same way
On another note, i don't know how well you follow la liga but i do like Gaby Milito as a defender, highly underated but very good. His overrated brother seems to take the headlines but i think he is a far better player in their respective positions

 

[Jun-hide]

Good post, Jun (though I would get rid of un-neccesary parts ).

However, my point is something completely different: Poor away performances.

I am very satisfied with Juventus performance at home, but a team with Juventus calibre cannot let themselves to be outplayed by a team called Spezia, even though we are playing away.

P.S. Ajax have the best youth academy in the world.

On away form, I agree. I expect our players to beat likes of Spezia whether it is on home or away. Thankly for us, Genoa, Napoli et all, failed to do so too.

Now, on youth system, I think Roma produces the best talents these days. Of course, Ajax churn talents on quantity that can rarely be matched, but beside VDV, I havent seen them producing quality of Aquilani, De Rossi, and Totti. I would kill to have those three in our team via transfer never mind coming through the youth system.

 

[V]

Personally, I think DD hasn't done too bad a job. Of course, he could have chosen an easy route and bought some Serie B hardened veterans for a year and obliterate the competition. But the issue is not only to gain promotion, but we should also build some foundation for better prospects. I can't comment too much on our youngsters since I haven't seen live, but we must give chance to likes of Marchisio, De Ceglie, Palladino, Paro before declaring them not good enough. That is what DD has done, and kudos to him for trusting youngsters and doing what is right instead of taking easy path. The matter of fact is, I highly doubt we will put in Serie A winning squad in a matter of year or two. Realistically, we should assemble a competitive team which can battle for CL place, and look for improvement through internal development and quality signings through CL money.

With a few more cheap, free transfers, and 2 world class signings I think we can pose a pretty good challenge for the title. We have already signed 2 very good, most of all very versatile players in Hasan and Grygera, along with Criscito. If we can sign 2 more centre-backs, maybe Metzelder for free and Samuel for some peanuts, plus another midfielder that can make a difference, meaning someone creative, we could be serious contenders for the title. We are linked with a lot of quality free players, if we manage to snatch few more of those free-bies and spend some cash on a few established players we would be set. Surely Inter will have the upper hand because of their huge squad depth but they're Inter, they're afraid of us.

I don't put too much faith in our youngsters who are playing atm, excluding Palladino and Paro, I have high hopes for them. The rest of them won't get much playing time in Serie A, we need signings and we need a lot of them. When I look at our defense at the present all I see is players that would normally fill up rotational spots if we were in Serie A, none of them I see as starters apart from Chiellini. Defense is a priority, then a fantasista because even though Nedved is tireless we're gonna need someone new there. Another striker, Pizarro or Saviola on a free, wouldn't hurt also.

There are a lot of options for next season, we just need to be quick because most of the squad we have now is average for Serie A standards. These youngsters serve their purpose now but let's not kid ourselves, most of them will return to being pawns for loans and co-ownerships. What we must do is replace that class we lost in the summer with players of the same class. I feel it's possible but with a lot of effort, I sincerely hope Secco is on the job.

 

[Marc]

On away form, I agree. I expect our players to beat likes of Spezia whether it is on home or away. Thankly for us, Genoa, Napoli et all, failed to do so too.

Now, on youth system, I think Roma produces the best talents these days. Of course, Ajax churn talents on quantity that can rarely be matched, but beside VDV, I havent seen them producing quality of Aquilani, De Rossi, and Totti. I would kill to have those three in our team via transfer never mind coming through the youth system.

Not only Spezia. We struggled against the likes of Albinoleffe, Triestina, Treviso, Mantova and that cannot be called a coincidence anymore.

 

[Badass J Elkann]

Good post, Jun (though I would get rid of un-neccesary parts ).

However, my point is something completely different: Poor away performances.

I am very satisfied with Juventus performance at home, but a team with Juventus calibre cannot let themselves to be outplayed by a team called Spezia, even though we are playing away.

P.S. Ajax have the best youth academy in the world.

id say boca or river have a better accademy

 

[V]

I am not judging them at all as i have not seen them play but i have to say your account that they have now found themselves in an environment they did not bargain for and thats why they are underperforming is kinda weak. For 10 games , of cos you have to find your feet and all of that but not when you have gotten to 21 games. Its not as if its 1 player leaving to another country or division and he needs time, its a squad of players who won the biggest prize in Italian football , 2 years in a row. Yes, some of those that helped win have gone but some are still there and i dont like reading stuff like they were unconvincing in serieB. I guess if you add 9 points to our current total we would be streets ahead but if we are still winning badly in serieB how are we gonna start playing convincing football in the future. Capello was blamed for poor play and all that with Moggi by me, but these guys are no more there but aparently we are still playing the same way
On another note, i don't know how well you follow la liga but i do like Gaby Milito as a defender, highly underated but very good. His overrated brother seems to take the headlines but i think he is a far better player in their respective positions

I believe players like DP, Trez, Camo....will never get accustomed to a second division, it's just not them. When a player like that leaves a club for a different leauge, nation, he has still left to pursue his career on higher levels, it's still a step forwards, of course not always but you get the point. This is something they can't adapt to. That's what I see when looking at our games, highlights or whatever.

I have heard good things about him but have seen very few Zaragoza matches tbh, la liga in general. He was once supposed to go to Real but that deal collapsed, don't know why he's still in Zaragoza if he's so good.. Though if the price is right I wouldn't mind him.

 

[Jun-hide]

With a few more cheap, free transfers, and 2 world class signings I think we can pose a pretty good challenge for the title. We have already signed 2 very good, most of all very versatile players in Hasan and Grygera, along with Criscito. If we can sign 2 more centre-backs, maybe Metzelder for free and Samuel for some peanuts, plus another midfielder that can make a difference, meaning someone creative, we could be serious contenders for the title. We are linked with a lot of quality free players, if we manage to snatch few more of those free-bies and spend some cash on a few established players we would be set. Surely Inter will have the upper hand because of their huge squad depth but they're Inter, they're afraid of us.

I don't put too much faith in our youngsters who are playing atm, excluding Palladino and Paro, I have high hopes for them. The rest of them won't get much playing time in Serie A, we need signings and we need a lot of them. When I look at our defense at the present all I see is players that would normally fill up rotational spots if we were in Serie A, none of them I see as starters apart from Chiellini. Defense is a priority, then a fantasista because even though Nedved is tireless we're gonna need someone new there. Another striker, Pizarro or Saviola on a free, wouldn't hurt also.

There are a lot of options for next season, we just need to be quick because most of the squad we have now is average for Serie A standards. These youngsters serve their purpose now but let's not kid ourselves, most of them will return to being pawns for loans and co-ownerships. What we must do is replace that class we lost in the summer with players of the same class. I feel it's possible but with a lot of effort, I sincerely hope Secco is on the job.

I agree with you that a few quality signing can make all the difference. And I like your list as well. I am not sure whether Del Piero, Camoranesi, and Nedved can be the difference maker against equally competent rivals such as Simplicio, Amauri, Mutu, Pasqual. And our rest of squad isnt too much upgrade either. Not having CL competition in our minds will be an advantage though

The vision I have is that, whilst it isn't entirely impossible for us to win Serie A, I still believe we are up against it. Hence, what I do not want to see is our management buying some old players good for one or two years in order to challenge for the title. That means no thanks to Luca Toni, Lampard and to lesser extent Klose. As you have said, we should ot miss out on quality free signings that require very few commitment like Pizarro, Metzelder or Saviola, and invest resources when things become more clear. If we are to sign expensive player, get an young one, so if you don't win immediately, we will still have solid base to build. By young, I am not referring to 17 year olds, becasue I agree with you totally, kids are just kids, but at an age where you have ideal balance between immediate contribution and potential. Van der Vaart, and Robinho are two players immediately come to my mind.

In meantime, we should loan youngsters out and see what they have. I have high hopes for Marchsio - after all he was the captain of all conquering youth side that included Cristico. I am not too down on loaning system. If they are good enough they will eventually contribute like Albertini, Boban, Pirlo.

 

[Jun-hide]

Not only Spezia. We struggled against the likes of Albinoleffe, Triestina, Treviso, Mantova and that cannot be called a coincidence anymore.

No, the discrepancy are so big, it really can't be attributed as a co-incidence. And add in the away from against the big teams, the record becomes even worse. I think the intensity of teams with home crowd behind them probably played a large role in such a record, but still with gulf in class I expect better from our players.

But still, I am not too down on our team. It seems we got interesting talent to groom, and still have key parts that we know can succeed in Serie A. With the current squad, I expect us to finish at mid-table in Serie A, seeing how difficult Fiorentina and Viola are finding to move up the table, but as Vlatko said a few quality signings can make all the difference.. Now, I wouldnt go as far as Vlatko, but I think we can compete for CL, and we can certainly improve our form away from home.

 

[V]

I agree with you that a few quality signing can make all the difference. And I like your list as well. I am not sure whether Del Piero, Camoranesi, and Nedved can be the difference maker against equally competent rivals such as Simplicio, Amauri, Mutu, Pasqual. And our rest of squad isnt too much upgrade either. Not having CL competition in our minds will be an advantage though

The vision I have is that, whilst it isn't entirely impossible for us to win Serie A, I still believe we are up against it. Hence, what I do not want to see is our management buying some old players good for one or two years in order to challenge for the title. That means no thanks to Luca Toni, Lampard and to lesser extent Klose. As you have said, we should ot miss out on quality free signings that require very few commitment like Pizarro, Metzelder or Saviola, and invest resources when things become more clear. If we are to sign expensive player, get an young one, so if you don't win immediately, we will still have solid base to build. By young, I am not referring to 17 year olds, becasue I agree with you totally, kids are just kids, but at an age where you have ideal balance between immediate contribution and potential. Van der Vaart, and Robinho are two players immediately come to my mind.

In meantime, we should loan youngsters out and see what they have. I have high hopes for Marchsio - after all he was the captain of all conquering youth side that included Cristico. I am not too down on loaning system. If they are good enough they will eventually contribute like Albertini, Boban, Pirlo.

Well to win a title straight from comnig back would be quite a feat, I'm not holding my breath but I do feel it's possible, a serious challenge for the title anyway, CL spot is a must though.

I agree on not buying "instant succes" old players, but we still must buy a few quality players, like Robinho or VDV, which will ultimatelly convince Buffon, Treze and Camo to stay. That's the first step, fill up our squad depth and add players that can make a difference. As for them being younger players, I'm optimistic in that regard as DD seems like a coach who really appreciates young, upcoming players, except inexplicably Bojinov... :irritated

 

[denco]

Well to win a title straight from comnig back would be quite a feat, I'm not holding my breath but I do feel it's possible, a serious challenge for the title anyway, CL spot is a must though.

I agree on not buying "instant succes" old players, but we still must buy a few quality players, like Robinho or VDV, which will ultimatelly convince Buffon, Treze and Camo to stay. That's the first step, fill up our squad depth and add players that can make a difference. As for them being younger players, I'm optimistic in that regard as DD seems like a coach who really appreciates young, upcoming players, except inexplicably Bojinov... :irritated

Okay I may be in minority here but i regard these 2 players as highly, no, scratch that, grossly overrated. Robinho always seems to excel when he comes on as a sub and then you start him in the next game and he plays crap. Vdv is another 1, after impressing a bit when he came out of his funk and went to Hamburg, he has consistently failed to impress me at all when i see him play for Holland. You can add D'alessandro to this list. I just cannot see these guys thriving at all in serieA. I don't know whats going on with Riquelme at Villareal at this point in time, but we should be monitoring that situation, if he still the same Roman as he seems to be fighting against the world at the moment. Bojinov is another player whom I have not been overly impressed with either but i tend to agree that he has not been given a fair shake at Juve
I do like Martin Petrov of Athletico madrid , though he is injured at this point in time, he does have pace

 

[Jun-hide]

Well to win a title straight from comnig back would be quite a feat, I'm not holding my breath but I do feel it's possible, a serious challenge for the title anyway, CL spot is a must though.

I agree on not buying "instant succes" old players, but we still must buy a few quality players, like Robinho or VDV, which will ultimatelly convince Buffon, Treze and Camo to stay. That's the first step, fill up our squad depth and add players that can make a difference. As for them being younger players, I'm optimistic in that regard as DD seems like a coach who really appreciates young, upcoming players, except inexplicably Bojinov... :irritated

I like your positive attitude, though I can't admit to be same for me. But signing a quality player is a must in order to persuade our senators that we can still challenge for the title. And obviously nobody should build on squad rotation before filling in important aspects of the team. Now, to further expound your position, I think gaining CL place isnt that far fetched idea. I expect, Palermo, Roma, Inter, Milan/Fiorentina to make CL. I don't think Palermo has the squad depth to be competitive in both CL and league, which means, assuming Milan strenghten their side, which they inevitably will, the 4th place is there to be taken. Lazio has some nice players, but Lottio is hardly the most enterprising person in the world, and thus leaves us and Viola as the main competitors for CL birth. I think we should watch out what they do with their squad this year. It may have big percussions for our standing at the end of next year.

On Bojinov I agree. The boy has the talent. There is no doubt on this part. I am somewhat baffled why DD hasn't taken the kid into his heart.

 

[Mike-e-y]

(1)As a matter of fact I am, but am also more realistic, which you, obviously, are not. Teams never shine in second divisions, there's no reason to "shine", they fight for one objective, to get back to the top flight. (2)Once we get there we can start playing some Joga bonito or whatever, or there's always Barca for you.


(3)I'm not confused pal, you're the one that contradicted yourself in one single sentence; "I don't expect us to win always but with the team we have we certainly should". Ok, so now before every game you expect a win, than when we draw, or god forbid lose, you're out of your mind as how can this happen, we are stronger, we should have / must have won?!


Coooooorrny.


It was a perfectly valid point. (4)We were stronger last season still we managed to pluck away few points against mediocre opposition. Unfortunatelly those things happen.

Wow, you managed to look at the table. I am impressed. Don't twist my words, I have not said anything about how we would compete with them. (5)I simply challenged your obvious ridicule of them, based solely on their name, as it is obvious you know jack-shit about them and therefore you are simply not able to comment on them and how we would compete with them.

(6)You made me laugh, sorry if it bothered you. Stop getting so upset pal.


Twisting my words again, never said I'm satisfied with the way we're playing, I haven't been satisfied with the way we're plaing for a number of years already, (7)but the fact is we were always top of the table and that is what counts. Even more so know when our whole future depends on this one season. So excuse me Mr. Ambition while I'll be satisfied if we just achieve promotion and get 0 style points.


(8)You have us confused, I'm the one in reality, you're playing PES, FM or whatever.

(1)Ok if you say so

(2)Thats plain and simply offensive, we could play the worst football on the planet and i'd still support Juve, there is absolutely no reason for you to make such a statement, if i wanted to support Barca i would do and i would be in a Barca forum, that comment is just childish and uncalled for, why cant you just simply say i understand that you want to see better performances but all i want to see is the result or something along those lines. Im not telling you to support another club so i would appreciate it if you could have the respect to not do so to me.

(3) It may sound a contradiction but it actually isnt, let me try again to explain it to you. I do not expect a perfect record but every game we play i expect a win, i never think that a team can beat us or hold us to a draw, when we played napoli, bologna and genoa away i expected us to win, this does not mean that i will kill myself if we lose, it just means i will be disappointed.

(4) and i expected us to win those games too

(5) well i dont go to the stadium to see them play unlike you but yes i watch highlights and yes i know something about them, my reference to them was mainly a criticism of the whole of Serie A at the moment as a team like them really shouldnt hold such a high position and i am more than entitled to comment on them, as i am entitled to comment on anything i want to comment on.

(6) You havent upset me, i like a debate, but i've never heard anyone laugh saying woohoo before, it seemed like sarchasm to me, and it certainly was sarchasm.

(7) I agree, and i would take results over performance any day of the week, but i also would like both and if i think it is possible then i think it should happen. You just said yourself satisfied and not pleased or delighted, excuse me Mr. 'Realistic' for wanting to be delighted

(8) Hmm real mature comment, i am actually in reality, and if you dont honestly think that we should be looking good on the pitch then thats your opinion, i dont agree with it because i think we have a lot more technical ability than the whole of Serie B and this is undenyable, we have world cup winners, players that can make a difference in one second but something doesnt seem to be working atm, i dont know what it is or why its happening, it may be because of injury, but you cant deny that there is significant room for improvement and this is my main point, i am not happy with how things are going at the moment.

 

[Jun-hide]

Okay I may be in minority here but i regard these 2 players as highly, no, scratch that, grossly overrated. Robinho always seems to excel when he comes on as a sub and then you start him in the next game and he plays crap. Vdv is another 1, after impressing a bit when he came out of his funk and went to Hamburg, he has consistently failed to impress me at all when i see him play for Holland. You can add D'alessandro to this list. I just cannot see these guys thriving at all in serieA. I don't know whats going on with Riquelme at Villareal at this point in time, but we should be monitoring that situation, if he still the same Roman as he seems to be fighting against the world at the moment. Bojinov is another player whom I have not been overly impressed with either but i tend to agree that he has not been given a fair shake at Juve
I do like Martin Petrov of Athletico madrid , though he is injured at this point in time, he does have pace

With VDV, I believe the issue is more injury related than finding consistent form, as Erik pointed out in the past. He has been half almost 1/3 of the time, I believe, and for any professional it is difficult to build consistent form being out so often.

I don't follow La Liga too much, but what I like about Robinho is his electrifying penetration when he has his A game on. It reminds me of young, smaller, Henry terrorizing teams down the opposition flanks in CL playing for Monaco. I think he is a risk worth taking.

D'Allesandro, is vastly overrated, I agree on this. He comes up with most use-less ball trickeries I have ever seen. I think he and Nelson Cuevas should have competition as to who can play best 1 vs 11.

I like Riqueleme mentioning. He is one player too good to turn down, and perhaps affordable at reasonable price. Imagine how many goals Trez will score with Riquelme spreading the ball.