An Interesting Article: Two-horse race for the Serie A title
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2006
The 2006/07 Serie A season gets underway this weekend. The demotion of Juventus to the Serie B leaves only two teams - Inter and Milan - as the likely contenders for the scudetto.
In line with past campaigns, Inter's Massimo Moratti again spent big in the transfer market.
Milan were very cautious though in the summer bargaining after losing the services of prolific striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Outsiders Roma do not seem well-equipped to mount a serious challenge for the championship.
Inter were declared the 2005/06 champions in July after Juventus and Milan were docked points due to their involvement in the match-fixing scandal that has seriously risked compromising the image, and credibility, of Italian soccer in general. The Inter clan was divided following this decision.
Moratti insisted Inter really deserved the scudetto because they were not involved in the scandal. According to him, Inter were rewarded for their fair play and commitment on the field of play.
However, there was another line of thought within the club.
For instance, Dejan Stankovic felt that the league title was not deserved in full.
The former Lazio midfielder reckoned it is one thing to win the scudetto on the field of play and another to be given the mantle of champions on the table.
But this season Inter have a golden opportunity to be confirmed champions on their own merits. They start favourites for a number of reasons.
First, Roberto Mancini's side has been bolstered with the arrivals from Juventus of Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Besides, Inter have signed a number of utility players among whom Fabio Grosso, Olivier Dacourt and Hernan Crespo.
Second, Inter's bitter rivals - Juventus - are no longer in Serie A and therefore out of contention for the championship.
This year, Mancini can rely on reserves of strength, which makes Inter competitive on more than one front.
One must also take into consideration that Milan will start with a handicap of minus eight points.
However, a final decision on the number of points to be docked from the four teams - Juve, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio - involved in the scandal is expected at the end of this month.
From an extensive conversation I had last weekend with current Lazio acting president Felice Pulici, whilst on a private visit to Malta, I was given the impression that the likelihood is that all four teams will be given back some of the points docked so far. If this happens, the gap between Inter and Milan would be very minimal.
Milan failed to replace Shevchenko in attack. Perhaps the return to fitness of striker Filippo Inzaghi is the best antidote to leave the Ukrainian's absence pass unnoticed.
At first, Milan gave the impression that they were moving for an acclaimed and established striker to replace Shevchenko, who in the meantime had joined English champions Chelsea.
At the end, the Rossoneri could only sign Ricardo Oliveira. The former Real Betis striker, however, does not have the same pedigree of Shevchenko even though he is determined to leave his mark in Italy.
Other than Oliveira, Milan's only other signings of note were Daniele Bonera from Parma and Giuseppe Favalli from Inter.
Bonera was lured to replace towering Dutch defender Jaap Stam, who signed for Ajax. With the acquisitions of these two players, Milan have done little or no effort to rejuvenate an ageing defence.
Roma will still be a force to reckon with next season.
It took quite some time last year for coach Luciano Spalletti to mould a winning team that functioned as a unit. But once the players got into the groove, Roma started flying high and finished in a creditable fifth place. They also reached the Coppa Italia final for the second season running, only to go down to Inter as happened in 2005.
For this season, Spalletti can count on a fully-fit Francesco Totti besides the arrival of two quality signings in David Pizarro and Mirko Vucinic.
Spalletti knows Pizarro after they worked together at Udinese. Roma were at pains for a striker... Vucinic should be a valuable addition.
Lack of strength-in-depth is a drawback for Roma especially in the first few months, a time when the team will have to survive the double challenge of the Serie A and the Champions League.
Needless to say that an eventual prolonged run in the European Cup will have an adverse effect on Roma's prospects to make any headway in the Serie A.
By Antoine Dalli, from Rebel's blog
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so, the eternal question; can and will inter screw it up again??
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2006
The 2006/07 Serie A season gets underway this weekend. The demotion of Juventus to the Serie B leaves only two teams - Inter and Milan - as the likely contenders for the scudetto.
In line with past campaigns, Inter's Massimo Moratti again spent big in the transfer market.
Milan were very cautious though in the summer bargaining after losing the services of prolific striker Andriy Shevchenko.
Outsiders Roma do not seem well-equipped to mount a serious challenge for the championship.
Inter were declared the 2005/06 champions in July after Juventus and Milan were docked points due to their involvement in the match-fixing scandal that has seriously risked compromising the image, and credibility, of Italian soccer in general. The Inter clan was divided following this decision.
Moratti insisted Inter really deserved the scudetto because they were not involved in the scandal. According to him, Inter were rewarded for their fair play and commitment on the field of play.
However, there was another line of thought within the club.
For instance, Dejan Stankovic felt that the league title was not deserved in full.
The former Lazio midfielder reckoned it is one thing to win the scudetto on the field of play and another to be given the mantle of champions on the table.
But this season Inter have a golden opportunity to be confirmed champions on their own merits. They start favourites for a number of reasons.
First, Roberto Mancini's side has been bolstered with the arrivals from Juventus of Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Besides, Inter have signed a number of utility players among whom Fabio Grosso, Olivier Dacourt and Hernan Crespo.
Second, Inter's bitter rivals - Juventus - are no longer in Serie A and therefore out of contention for the championship.
This year, Mancini can rely on reserves of strength, which makes Inter competitive on more than one front.
One must also take into consideration that Milan will start with a handicap of minus eight points.
However, a final decision on the number of points to be docked from the four teams - Juve, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio - involved in the scandal is expected at the end of this month.
From an extensive conversation I had last weekend with current Lazio acting president Felice Pulici, whilst on a private visit to Malta, I was given the impression that the likelihood is that all four teams will be given back some of the points docked so far. If this happens, the gap between Inter and Milan would be very minimal.
Milan failed to replace Shevchenko in attack. Perhaps the return to fitness of striker Filippo Inzaghi is the best antidote to leave the Ukrainian's absence pass unnoticed.
At first, Milan gave the impression that they were moving for an acclaimed and established striker to replace Shevchenko, who in the meantime had joined English champions Chelsea.
At the end, the Rossoneri could only sign Ricardo Oliveira. The former Real Betis striker, however, does not have the same pedigree of Shevchenko even though he is determined to leave his mark in Italy.
Other than Oliveira, Milan's only other signings of note were Daniele Bonera from Parma and Giuseppe Favalli from Inter.
Bonera was lured to replace towering Dutch defender Jaap Stam, who signed for Ajax. With the acquisitions of these two players, Milan have done little or no effort to rejuvenate an ageing defence.
Roma will still be a force to reckon with next season.
It took quite some time last year for coach Luciano Spalletti to mould a winning team that functioned as a unit. But once the players got into the groove, Roma started flying high and finished in a creditable fifth place. They also reached the Coppa Italia final for the second season running, only to go down to Inter as happened in 2005.
For this season, Spalletti can count on a fully-fit Francesco Totti besides the arrival of two quality signings in David Pizarro and Mirko Vucinic.
Spalletti knows Pizarro after they worked together at Udinese. Roma were at pains for a striker... Vucinic should be a valuable addition.
Lack of strength-in-depth is a drawback for Roma especially in the first few months, a time when the team will have to survive the double challenge of the Serie A and the Champions League.
Needless to say that an eventual prolonged run in the European Cup will have an adverse effect on Roma's prospects to make any headway in the Serie A.
By Antoine Dalli, from Rebel's blog
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so, the eternal question; can and will inter screw it up again??
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