Greetings, gobbi.
I suppose I don't need to ax you whether all is fine with you in view of the recent streak of impressive results. Me, Im not doing too bad either : we're officially a scudetto contender too after that tragic start, and the plan to get Paolino to lift the only trophy absent from his case - the once prestigious UEFA Cup - is still topical. So thanks for asking, but this isn't about me : it's about you, so you may refer to the next paragraph now.
Cheers. So why am I posting here after a long absence? Well, first off to welcome back a long-standing enemy to the football that counts. Secondly, more broadly and most crucially, to thank you for providing me with a few reasons for optimism, as I will now illustrate.
You have come a long way since the days of Dr Agricola and Herr Ventrone and, obviously, since the Waterloo of Calciopoli. And you have done this in a far shorter time than I could have imagined. Personally, I was expecting a good 5 years if not a decade in the wilderness, similar to the period stretching between the end of the Platini era and the advent of the Triad. But no, you're clearly back already, and in a way that, if that means anything to you coming from a milanista, has earned you my respect.
In the wake of Calciopoli, your stellar team was gone, as were the bandits at the helm. While the demise of gangsters should be positive news for polite society, it did leave you rather vulnerable in the cruel and savage world of serie A. Secco, Blanc and the fresh-faced John Elkan looked ready - or so I expected - to be dismembered like Vietnamese rent boys by the Jeffrey Dahmers of the day. However, bar for a few retributive calls last year, which were bound to happen, that hasn't been the case. And this is what has actually given me a first dose of hope. It led me to think that, maybe, Italian football isn't all that rotten. Or at least that it is in a better state than it was 3 years ago. Maybe it is still possible for a team with character and a sound plan to succeed. Maybe the era of the Untouchables is behind us. Ok that's taking it too far but maybe, somewhere along the line, a fairy tale will be written again, reminiscent of those of Hellas Verona, Roma, Napoli or Sampdoria back in the golden days.
At any rate, when I look at the present Juve, I must admit that I quite like what I see. Here is a team whose only real stars are not there following a senseless shopping spree à la Inter, Real, Barca, or *insert EPL squad overflowing with petrodollars here*. Buffon, Nedved, Del Piero, Trezeguet. These guys play for Juve for the simple reason that they have no desire to play anywhere else. They can rely on some otherwise excellent colleagues (Amauri, Camoranesi..), a band of solid gregari (Iaquinta, Sissoko, Chimenti, Legrottaglie 2.0) and a good handful of Italian players, generally young and with varying abilities. All these three categories of players know their place, and the resulting equilibrium of the team is the main key to the justly celebrated 'spirito Juve'. One mention must also go to Del Piero, who I have so often (rightfully) castigated for his NT performances but whose eternal rebirth with Juve leaves me quite speechless. As a passionate club fan who nonetheless CAN recognize the enemy's beauty, I guess there was also frustration on my behalf for his showing me possibly the greatest football displayed by an Italian in my lifetime during that epic 1997/98 season, only to never come close to that level of brilliance in the following seasons (the infamous wait for Godot).
Now I want to spend a few words on those Italian players of yours, because they constitute another note of cautious optimism for me. The Juventus teams that wrote the golden pages of your history have always depended on an established group of Italian players. The first Juve of Lippi had the various Peruzzi, Ferrara, Torricelli, Pessotto, Di Livio, Ravanelli, Vialli and the young Del Piero. Trap's Juve could rely on Zoff, Scirea, Gentile, Cabrini, Furino, Tardelli, Rossi, Bettega & Co. My theory is that, before finding the right mixture between the aforementioned three categories of players, the secret for longevity in serie A starts with the ability to create a 'zoccolo duro', a hard core of Italian players, who incidentally will also often end up forming the spine and trademark character of the national team. History has taught us this repeatedly, most notably at World Cup 1978 in your case, where a first team made up of 9 gobbi out of 11 produced arguably the most interesting football played by the Nazionale in the post war era, thereby laying the foundations for our 1982 triumph. Obviously, the current crop of Italian juventini is still a far cry from those past legends, but the path has been traced and that is what matters.
Now, apart from the obvious reasons that make it my duty to detest Inter, the biggest beef I have with them is that by creating a squad that looks like a mini UN they are helping deprive serie A of its nature and thereby threatening the competitiveness of Italian football at the international level. Not because Italian players are in any way fundamentally superior to their German, Spanish or French counterparts, but because it is my opinion that, unlike those nations (or definitily unlike France anyway) Italian players need to be surrounded by at least 3 or 4 compatriots at club level if they are to preserve their peculiar strengths in the international arena. It is no coincidence that the only current good Italian defender that isn't over 30 (Chiellini) plays for Juve. If the new Baresi, Maldini or Nesta are nowhere to be seen, it is first because zone football has virtually eclipsed good old man-marking and secondly because there hasn't been an all-Italian backline in serie A for a decade. Given that even Milan now seem to be opting for a Star United concept (where are the future Gattuso, Pirlo and Ambrosini?), Juve and to an extent Roma are the only big teams that still seem to understand the importance of that model.
That is my take on this subject, and while hoping that these good words from a rival won't jinx you, I am looking forward to new marvellous battles and bantering sessions.
Respectfully etc.
I suppose I don't need to ax you whether all is fine with you in view of the recent streak of impressive results. Me, Im not doing too bad either : we're officially a scudetto contender too after that tragic start, and the plan to get Paolino to lift the only trophy absent from his case - the once prestigious UEFA Cup - is still topical. So thanks for asking, but this isn't about me : it's about you, so you may refer to the next paragraph now.
Cheers. So why am I posting here after a long absence? Well, first off to welcome back a long-standing enemy to the football that counts. Secondly, more broadly and most crucially, to thank you for providing me with a few reasons for optimism, as I will now illustrate.
You have come a long way since the days of Dr Agricola and Herr Ventrone and, obviously, since the Waterloo of Calciopoli. And you have done this in a far shorter time than I could have imagined. Personally, I was expecting a good 5 years if not a decade in the wilderness, similar to the period stretching between the end of the Platini era and the advent of the Triad. But no, you're clearly back already, and in a way that, if that means anything to you coming from a milanista, has earned you my respect.
In the wake of Calciopoli, your stellar team was gone, as were the bandits at the helm. While the demise of gangsters should be positive news for polite society, it did leave you rather vulnerable in the cruel and savage world of serie A. Secco, Blanc and the fresh-faced John Elkan looked ready - or so I expected - to be dismembered like Vietnamese rent boys by the Jeffrey Dahmers of the day. However, bar for a few retributive calls last year, which were bound to happen, that hasn't been the case. And this is what has actually given me a first dose of hope. It led me to think that, maybe, Italian football isn't all that rotten. Or at least that it is in a better state than it was 3 years ago. Maybe it is still possible for a team with character and a sound plan to succeed. Maybe the era of the Untouchables is behind us. Ok that's taking it too far but maybe, somewhere along the line, a fairy tale will be written again, reminiscent of those of Hellas Verona, Roma, Napoli or Sampdoria back in the golden days.
At any rate, when I look at the present Juve, I must admit that I quite like what I see. Here is a team whose only real stars are not there following a senseless shopping spree à la Inter, Real, Barca, or *insert EPL squad overflowing with petrodollars here*. Buffon, Nedved, Del Piero, Trezeguet. These guys play for Juve for the simple reason that they have no desire to play anywhere else. They can rely on some otherwise excellent colleagues (Amauri, Camoranesi..), a band of solid gregari (Iaquinta, Sissoko, Chimenti, Legrottaglie 2.0) and a good handful of Italian players, generally young and with varying abilities. All these three categories of players know their place, and the resulting equilibrium of the team is the main key to the justly celebrated 'spirito Juve'. One mention must also go to Del Piero, who I have so often (rightfully) castigated for his NT performances but whose eternal rebirth with Juve leaves me quite speechless. As a passionate club fan who nonetheless CAN recognize the enemy's beauty, I guess there was also frustration on my behalf for his showing me possibly the greatest football displayed by an Italian in my lifetime during that epic 1997/98 season, only to never come close to that level of brilliance in the following seasons (the infamous wait for Godot).
Now I want to spend a few words on those Italian players of yours, because they constitute another note of cautious optimism for me. The Juventus teams that wrote the golden pages of your history have always depended on an established group of Italian players. The first Juve of Lippi had the various Peruzzi, Ferrara, Torricelli, Pessotto, Di Livio, Ravanelli, Vialli and the young Del Piero. Trap's Juve could rely on Zoff, Scirea, Gentile, Cabrini, Furino, Tardelli, Rossi, Bettega & Co. My theory is that, before finding the right mixture between the aforementioned three categories of players, the secret for longevity in serie A starts with the ability to create a 'zoccolo duro', a hard core of Italian players, who incidentally will also often end up forming the spine and trademark character of the national team. History has taught us this repeatedly, most notably at World Cup 1978 in your case, where a first team made up of 9 gobbi out of 11 produced arguably the most interesting football played by the Nazionale in the post war era, thereby laying the foundations for our 1982 triumph. Obviously, the current crop of Italian juventini is still a far cry from those past legends, but the path has been traced and that is what matters.
Now, apart from the obvious reasons that make it my duty to detest Inter, the biggest beef I have with them is that by creating a squad that looks like a mini UN they are helping deprive serie A of its nature and thereby threatening the competitiveness of Italian football at the international level. Not because Italian players are in any way fundamentally superior to their German, Spanish or French counterparts, but because it is my opinion that, unlike those nations (or definitily unlike France anyway) Italian players need to be surrounded by at least 3 or 4 compatriots at club level if they are to preserve their peculiar strengths in the international arena. It is no coincidence that the only current good Italian defender that isn't over 30 (Chiellini) plays for Juve. If the new Baresi, Maldini or Nesta are nowhere to be seen, it is first because zone football has virtually eclipsed good old man-marking and secondly because there hasn't been an all-Italian backline in serie A for a decade. Given that even Milan now seem to be opting for a Star United concept (where are the future Gattuso, Pirlo and Ambrosini?), Juve and to an extent Roma are the only big teams that still seem to understand the importance of that model.
That is my take on this subject, and while hoping that these good words from a rival won't jinx you, I am looking forward to new marvellous battles and bantering sessions.
Respectfully etc.
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