World Cup 2010 Best of round 1: First team

No the list isn't dead but any hope of finishing it before the World Cup obviously is...

Right now I'm living and breathing the World Cup 24/7 so realistically I don't know how likely new list entries will indeed be. Probably not all that likely to be honest.

I might write something about the World Cup though, but already do plenty on forums or blogs...

But what I will and can do (right now) with every country having been in action is put down my 1st round of fixtures all star team. A first and a second team of the players and coaches I think have been performing the best.

I'll compile these teams for each round of fixtures right till the very finish with the final itself and the 3rd place game.

By then of course there won't be many performers left to choose from but hopefully at the end, if nothing else just by looking at who has the most Long throwins all star entries, we'll have a very good idea of who (according to me!) the real stars have been this World Cup.

It also goes without saying that the accompanying writeups will be a nice excuse to put some thoughts down on both players, teams and matches that have been played.

FIRST TEAM:


Goalkeeper:

Vincent Enyeama - Nigeria



A number of keepers made bad errors these opening matches. Enyeama made none and then quite simply, and quite clearly I think, was the keeper with the highest number of spectacular and difficult saves to keep his team in a match were they were under a lot of pressure.

The Nigeria team recently taken over by longterm Sweden national coach Lars Lagerbeck didn't really yet look like one of the rigid 4-4-2 Sweden teams. One those that put a stop to Bielsa's exciting 2002 Argentina team. Something for which Lagerbeck rightly feels proud.

This however was a far cry from that and there were plenty of holes between the Nigerian defensive lines to exploit for the Argentinian attackers, and more than anything it was down to Enyeama that Nigeria stayed alive in the match right until the very end.

Unfortunately for Nigeria though that didn't result in them getting a point, but that's no fault of Enyema who was outstanding.

Left-back:

Phillipp Lahm - Germany



Contrary to the right-back position I had enough trouble finding excellent left-back candidates, that I'm going to cheat and put the best right-back in the first round, on the left instead.

On that note I've always felt Lahm was more excellent on the left anyway.

I'm not sure why exactly but it could be that I don't really see Lahm as the type of fullback who is relying on being dynamic or athletic limiting himself almost to the type of play where the great fullback-life objective is to deliver crosses into the box from his natural right side, not that there is anything wrong with that, but Lahm is more than that.

I like him more getting lots of touches, including cutting inside more central, and with his excellent technique and intelligence be very involved in possession. Then good things happen.

That can happen on the right as well of course but I just feel he is more of a standard fullback out there, while on the left his craftsmanship makes him unique.

With all that being said though, playing on the right he definitely had a very good start to this World Cup.

He defended with his usual class (when it comes to defending actually I do think it's safe to say he is more comfortable on the right) and in true Lahm style he was consistently able to occupy the right-midfield and there, like I just talked about what I love from on the left, with skills and intelligence make great (or simply very constructive) contributions whenever Germany were in possession.

Centreback:

Antolin Alcarez - Paraguay

Italy didn't really have trouble getting the ball in and around Paraguay's box area in the sides 1-1 draw and I thought clearly won the midfield battle in front of a defensive line pushing high up.

Where they didn't win however, despite wide forwards moving central to increase pressure further, were the individual matchups against the Paraguay defenders.

Alcarez in particular was good and while scoring a good goal, which he also did, isn't a qualification itself, it certainly doesn't hurt!

Centreback:

Isaac Vorsah - Ghana



In Ghana's match against Serbia he completely matched giant opposing striker Zigic in strength and outplayed him in all other areas, taking completely out of Serbia's game what playing with two strikers was perhaps the only getaway for their outnumbered - under pressure midfield.

From early on it was apparent that feeding Zigic with longer passes was going to get them nowhere and instead Zigic was forced on an uncomfortable mission seeking passes further back in midfield, away from where his true strengths are, trying to help out his midfield in different ways.
Predictable to no avail though and Ghana could control most of the match. When Antic finally acted and brought on Lazovic a player providing different movement than big Zigic and potentially able to help out the outgunned midfield, it proved too late with a red card soon after and then Ghana scoring with Serbia not able to come back.

All in all then a clear effect on winning the game by a centreback. I like it.

Right-back:

Maicon - Brazil



Many good candidates here and I'm gonna mention them when I get to the 2nd. team.

Lahm was probably the best but like I said I'm cheating and placing him on the left, which then leaves Maicon as the right-back prime candidate.

There really isn't a more dominating right-back in world football and after a slow start to the season he has been back to his best for a while now, marauding up and down the right wing, with not least power, but good skills as well.

In a largely uninspired Brazilian performance against a North Korea team showing exemplary team work it was from Maicon's qualities that Brazil were at their most dangerous throughout and eventually where they broke the deadlock as well through an extraordinary goal.

I have a feeling this won't be his last appearance.

Midfielder:

Sebastian Schweinsteiger - Germany



The versatile midfielder has played a new deeper central role all season and with Ballack missing out on injury it was "Schweini's" time to take control.

In midfield for Bayern he has helped control games all season and predictably enough Australia were not the team who was going to put a stop to it.

Hard working, disciplined combined with decent skills from his attacking midfielder background and then that very good range of passing means this probably won't be Schweinsteiger's last appearance either.

Midfielder

Ji Sung Park - South Korea :



Fantastic trademark two-way performance. Park controlled central midfield outworking and outplaying any nearby Greeks and then in his usual relentless style managed to contribute just about everywhere else both attacking and defending. Can't ask for more and don't need to.

Attacking midfielder:

Mesut Özil - Germany



Already a star in the Bundesliga and just like that, one World Cup match performance doing what he usually does, and now a star everywhere!

Supremely gifted playmaker who creates and scores goals.

Right-forward:

Alexis Sanchez - Chile



He did all the things I was hoping to see for Chile and with a striker presence around him which was lacking in Chile's first game, unfortunately Suazo was out injured, I think Sanchez can be even better.

Like I said in the profile of him in that "2oo best players in the world entry, this is a cannonball of a player. Very explosive and skilled making him a persistent danger in Chile's dynamic attacking game.

He is also very hard working and therfore also a real defensive asset in Bielsa's high pressing game where he'll often win the ball back quickly.

Left-forward:

Lukas Podolski - Germany

As always he is coming of yet another terrible club season but as soon as he puts on the Nationalmannschaft jersey he becomes great. Go figure!

No I don't really think it's some strange psychological effect. Overall he is just a great fit for the way Löw wants to play and many of the players surrounding him. Not least Klose of course.
Though that doesn't explain then, as I remember it anyway, that when they were together at Bayern, Podolski still wasn't able to perform.

So yeah, maybe after all this born Pole is just a great German patriot saving himself for national duty!

Forward:

Lionel Messi - Argentina



This was Messi's best performance in an Argentina shirt for a long time.

Probably the best ever for Maradona, by some distance, and while it may not have been anything extraordinary by Messi's own godly standards, I think it's fair to reward him for finally getting over that very frustrating hurdle.

With two other forwards in the Argentina lineup (both Higuain and Tevez) there were finally somewhat similar conditions to Barcelona with people around Messi making runs, being threats, being dynamic with their movement, creating space so that Messi himself could work himself into positions where he was fronting the goal.
Messi consistently with his back to the goal is just something that should make everyone who loves football sad and it seems finally Maradona (or Bilardo) had seen enough.

Now unlike at Barca there isn't a Xavi to find him like that almost anywhere no matter where he is, in comparison Argentina's passing game is much slower (thank you Veron), so sometimes he had to come quite deep before he would get it. The truly amazing thing though was that almost where ever he would receive the ball, just as long as he was fronting the goal, with skill and pace, he was able to create a dangerous situation for himself or someone else. Time and time again. From out wide or some way back central, it somehow never failed. No one else in the world could have done that. He has to be on the team.

Coach:

Ottmar Hitzfeld - Switzerland



We just saw Switzerland pull of a great upset by beating Spain. I don't really know if what we saw were true defensive greatness or just the day where everything went well for the Swiss and the final touch never for Spain.

No matter what though, it was a very good defensive performance and no doubt organized by the veteran master on the sidelines.

Stopping the World Cup favorites who have gone from victory to victory and doing it with exactly the same tactics that so many have tried yet in the end failed with, IS an achievement. No matter what.
Therefore it just has to be Hitzfeld then, who steals the 1st team coach spot on the last day.

I'll post the perhaps more interesting 2nd team tomorrow.

The 200 best players in the world: 148 - 144

Another update featuring not least 5 Argentinians sharing one ranking, and no that won't happen again.

There will be a couple of more spots shared by two players and then in the top 100 it's all one player per spot. I swear!

That five player shared spot took quite a bit of time to write and it also includes all kind of talks about Argentina and Messi, so the following writeups are a little shorter.

I've also decided that either when the list is done or maybe when I get to 100, to fix the 200-144 order. For reasons already touched upon, and perhaps already predicted back in the introduction, the lower ranked order has become pretty messed up.

The list so far:

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France
154-152
154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina
153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay
152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina
151-148
151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy
150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France
149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy
148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain


147:

A bunch of veteran Argentinian playmakers + a young one.

Juan Roman Riquelme - Boca Juniors



Juan Sebastian Veron - Estudiantes

and

Pablo Aimar - Benfica




Lucho Gonzalez - Marseille


Filming, not Aimar and Veron, but someone's finger!

And finally the kid

Javier Pastore - Palermo



Riquelme and Lucho have been on the list all along. Then one after another (of the others) entered the picture and I had to stop when I suddenly found myself researching "El Burrito" Ariel Ortega as well! Who I haven't seen play in years and these days apparently have alcohol rehab clauses in his contracts...

The biggest reach of this group could be Juan Sebastian Veron and incidentally he is the only one likely to play for Argentina at the World Cup.

When I first saw that he was an integral part of Diego Maradona's Argentina at 35 years of age I had a difficult time seeing any positives and I'm still very skeptic thinking it's a huge step backwards when considering the superior Argentinians out there, players who are still to come on this list, but to be fair to Veron he is actually playing pretty well.
Likely he is still too high on this list though and something of a reach but when I felt Pablo Aimar had to be included Veron just had to come along too. Otherwise he would feel left out!


As I remember it, back in the day for Sampdoria, his first club in Europe, Veron was quite the attacking midfielder and very dynamic one at that (completely unlike now) making great forward runs and looking very strong while doing it. I remember one of the very first descriptions I read of him in an old Goal magazine was that this guy was like a powerful race track horse with all his running.
Behind that description must have been tireless Serie A fan Kristian Borrel who was the only worthwhile thing about it in and who I just want to add on a further sidenote I will always be grateful to for his massive Serie A previews where he went through the defense, midfield, attack and coaching on every single team. I definitely didn't agree with everything but it was rare (and still is in a language I can understand anyway) to see something so thorough that also offered opinion and ambitiously tried to analyze tactics,coaches and players.

Anyway those early Veron impressions didn't really offer much of a glimpse of any great passing or playmaking coming coming from him but it's possible Sampdoria at the time played very direct mostly counter attacking and that's the reason the game he since became so known for got masqueraded.
Interestingly I think to a lesser extent it could be argued that there were similar circumstances at play years later when he was seen as something of a flop at Manchester United.

At his next club Parma (where he was a key player in wining a back then very strong UEFA Cup. Sometimes arguably stronger than the Champions League) and certainly the following seasons at Eriksson's Lazio (where he was perhaps THE key player in winning the Scudetto) and for the national team at the same period, was where we saw the "real" Veron.
A player with a very good work-rate who was a great distributor in midfield.

I think the best description I can come up with of my impression of him at the time was that due to his running he was always in good position to get the ball and when he got it he would always make some kind of good pass. I think if you compare him to prime Riquelme or Pablo Aimar it wasn't as much in the final third where he would consistently create or dictate, that's what Manchester United was looking for him to do and he could do that some but not enough at a high enough level like those other two and definitely not dribbling at great speed like Pablo Aimar, or anything like that, but conducting possession in midfield, the longer the possession (and from deeper) the better almost, that's where he would excel.

Now when I see him, though he has slowed down some, I still see decent work rate and movement making sure he is an passing option and the passing skills and ball control is obviously still there.
There is just less pace, and there wasn't even that much to begin with, and generally his play just isn't very dynamic. Maybe that wouldn't be a problem if he was still playing from deep in midfield and just covering ground there but from what I've seen his current role for Argentina is very much as an attacking midfielder and he just isn't much of a threat there at all, himself, when space is tight.
I think it's great in theory that whoever the skill players for Argentina will be up front (of the many still to come on this list only Messi is certain) can have Veron as an ever present wall almost that they can play against and have the ball bounce back, but it does leave them with huge responsibility to make great runs and create almost any dynamic themselves.

Apparently in South America these days Veron does a lot more. He's been South American player of the year twice while in his 30s and I can see he has a pretty good goal scoring record for his club team, but from what I've seen so far on the national team there isn't much more than solid passing coming from him.
No decisive passes or runs in narrow space and I'm not sure that's enough from an attacking central midfielder for a wannabe World Cup contender.

Not helping is that Messi for Maradona's Argentina is more of a second striker operating centrally than he is for Barcelona, paradoxically resulting in fewer goals. For Barcelona Messi has space to create on his own. There are two more forwards and there are dynamic midfielders. For Argentina the midfielder is non dynamic Veron and there is only one more forward. Instead there are a couple of wingers, one of those Di Maria on the left could be a good forward in 3-forward line but on the right (English first division star!) Jonas Gutierrez spends way too much time occupying the space Messi could fill so much better.
Basically the less Messi finds himself playing with his back to the goal, the better. It's when he is facing the goal that virtually anything is possible! Taking away any amount of time Messi is facing the opposition goal just can't be a good thing.
20 something years ago similar was the case with Maradona himself, now here he is messing Messi up, WHY?


Unlike Veron, one that was always very dynamic, and I'm largely guessing still is (or he wouldn't be on the list) is Pablo Aimar.
In his heyday he was the important creative spark for Rafa Benitez Valencia side that won two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup.

Then darker times followed struggling with fitness but he still had at least one season for Zaragoza where together with compatriots Diego Milito and Andres D'Alessandro under the attacking guidance of Victor Sanchez, where he once again was spellbinding.

Still only 30 a lot of indications suggest that Aimar is having one of those spells or close to it at least once again (but sadly maybe for the last time so this is kinda a reward) at Benfica, this time with players such as Di Maria, Ramirez and Saviola, who currently are showing some of the best attacking football in Europe.

With his great speed and ball control even in the tightest of spaces Aimar is exactly the kind of player who can make such an attack click.

As far as more traditional playmaking ability goes when it comes to passing he is different than Riquelme and Veron, in that he has so much better acceleration and is such a dribbling threat, that his passing is mostly short and direct in quick combination attempts with others meant to take advantage of just that.

His obvious weaknesses are everything physical. At similar height Messi for an example is a powerhouse compared to Aimar.

That's not a problem that Lucho Gonzalez has. He is probably the least talented of these Argentinian playmakers. So much so that you could say when comparing him directly to them actually calling him a playmaker is a stretch.

He can't be the flashy spark that is Pablo Aimar at his best or control a team like Riquelme or Veron, but he is more of a complete player who is a very good attacking midfielder.
He has good technical ability including great passing skills plus the very good work rate (that puts the others to shame) and pace that makes him a threat without the ball making runs coming from behind. He also has a really good shot.

This season is his first at Marseille and with probably more defensive duties than what he was used to at Porto where he was El Comandante leading them to league glory, it's not like he has taken everyone at Stade Velodrome by storm through (the perhaps anticipated) attacking contributions, but unlike the others where if that didn't happen they wouldn't have much value at all, with Lucho Gonzalez you still get a really good team player.

Joining these veterans is 20 year old Javier Pastore . He is the rare extremely talented Argentinian player who IS NOT getting the new Maradona tag thrown at him or even the latest disturbing trend, the new Messi tag. No instead, and I'm not really sure if it's any better, Pastore is often referred to as the new Kaka!

They're similar in build and one can hope it's only a matter of time before Pastore starts using that better and adds more physical elements to his play. The potential is certainly there and there really is no reason to play like you're 170 when you're actually just short of 190!

More good news for Pastore is that when it comes to passing and general creativity he is actually showing things that Kaka mostly doesn't have in his game.
From standing still positions he can actually make plays and shows many signs of good vision.

Standing still is also a problem though. To become a great player he needs more tempo in his game and has to make better runs both with and without the ball. He will probably never be the fastest of guys and it's not realistic to expect that he can somehow add the burst of speed that a big guy like Kaka somehow has (or had uh oh) but simply by becoming stronger and get better balance, I think could do wonders if added to his extraordinary technical skills.

In many ways it's extremely impressive what he can do standing still while under pressure and again it's the size/skill combination that does it but it's when he hopefully starts doing it more while on the move that he'll become a great player.

He was actually called up for Argentina's recent friendly against Germany but didn't get to debut and isn't likely to go to the World Cup either. Nor do I think he should but with Maradona you just never know.

Last but not least we have Boca Juniors legend Juan Roman Riquelme.

They really don't make them like Riquelme anymore. He is an old school passing maestro number 10 80s style who doesn't do anything when his (and in Riquelme's case I really do mean HIS) team isn't in possession and when they have the ball lots of the play will go through him and his impulses on the given day.

He's been back in Argentina for a few years now and it's a long time since I've seen him play so I really don't know what his level is currently. It's possible he should be even higher and it's possible he should be much lower.

What I do know is that his game relies less on athleticism than almost anyone and even if he's declined in those areas it's not the greatest loss.

I do think it's important that he at least has a work rate meaning good movement when his team is in possession.
When at his best for Villarreal that added a good goalscoring dimension to his game. It wasn't just awesome free kicks and penalties and before their fallout he was like a fish in water (not just making it better) but benefiting from Pelligrini's flexible possession system.

Riquelme is pretty slow, lazy and not strong at all. But he is a superb technician with great passing skills and radar vision to go with it making him one of the best playmakers of his generation and in many ways the last one of his special kind standing.
He was never willing to make any tactical sacrifices, change his role or playing style or try to improve even to fit in with how the game has been changing. A unique player.

146:

Alexis Sanchez - Udinese

Winger - Forward

Chile


Sanchez despite great displays here and there hasn't really made his mark just yet in Serie A. Partly due to injuries and partly having to adjust. In South America though, even at only 21, he has already been a sensation and star for quite few years, and could if things go well for Chile become one of the stars at the World Cup.

It's for Chile you really see the best of him and occupying the right wing where he fits right into coach Bielsa's tactics.
With his explosiveness (few are faster on the first meters) and skill (in Sanchez case cannonball of a player is a very fitting description) he is a constant threat going forward in their fast paced passing game and through his strength and great energy he is a very needed weapon defensively in a pressing game so high up the pitch, featuring tons of individual defending, that it can sometimes look like full court pressure in basketball!

It's possible that's something that will get punished at the World Cup but it's definitely fun to watch and so different from what you usually see in Europe. Perhaps especially from national teams not as fine tuned (very needed to even attempt this I think) as club teams.

Sanchez playing for Chile is one of the things I'm most looking forward to at the World Cup and hopefully in Serie A as well next season Udinese will have a better platform for Sanchez to really take the league by storm like he's so been threatening to do for a while.

145:

Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham

Midfielder

England



Huddlestone is someone who I didn't notice until this season and hopefully I'm not getting fooled in putting him on the list. My instinct actually says put him higher but I'm gonna show some restraint.

In short what I'm seeing is someone who can become a very good midfield general, if he isn't already. That is an extremely valuable thing to have in your possession if you're a football team.

Huddlestone is very strong physically and his passing, especially if you were to hand out style points, is nothing short of majestic.

With Huddlestone and Jack Rodwell for Everton (not slow like Huddlestone and who I would also have liked to include but he just hasn't played enough yet) the England central midfielders still to come on the list face serious competition very soon.

144:

Gerard Pique - Barcelona

Defender

Spain



Ranking the Barcelona defenders is pretty hard. The team concedes fewer goals than anyone but most of that of course is through the (ball!) control they have of almost every single match they play.

Their defenders don't even have that much defending to do, or at least less than everyone else, and when you finally do see them actually defend it can easily be them struggling to defend with most of the team caught forward. Or themselves since they push up so high.
As much as that can make them look worse than they actually are, the superb defensive record on paper on the other hand can make them look better.

Pique is big and strong with superb technique, good passing is a must for a Barcelona defender of course.
I think he is strong man to man, with still a little way to go positionally, and good health and lack of blunders (+ in some ways starting for both the best club and national team in the world) is what seals the deal in making him the top ranked central defender so far!

Serie A 2009/10 preview. Final installment (finally!)

Finally the final installment! Meaning I can now, in hopefully not too long, proceed to talk about some of the games I watched this weekend.

Here are the previous parts:

Part 1: Milan, Atalanta, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari and Catania
Part 2: Chievo, Fiorentina and Genoa
Part 3: Inter
Part 4: Juventus
Part 5: Lazio, Livorno, Napoli and Palermo

The Roma part of this preview was written some days ago and of course now there have already been some drastic change.

Spalletti is gone and in comes Ranieri!

It's always interesting when a coach takes over a team very much created by another, and what exact fingerprints Ranieri will leave only time will tell.

I have a feeling I'll be watching Roma again in not too long so hopefully there will be some intersting things to talk about there.

But first things first, here is thefinal part of the Serie A 2009/10 team by team preview:



PARMA:

One of the best teams of the 90s featuring many great players, Parma has struggled a lot in recent years.

It began with the "Parmalat scandal" in late 2003 which caused their ownership to collapse and saw them under controlled administration for a while.

Following that the club basically went from top team to midtable and finally to fighting relegation which they then succumbed to in the 2007/08 season finding themselves in Serie B for the first time since that first ever promotion, the start of their great run, back in 1990.

This turned out to be a much shorter stay however and after finishing second in Serie B to Bari, Parma are now back in Serie A.

Their coach is very proven Francesco Guidolin who is finally free (for now at least) from his on and off, getting sacked, getting rehired relationship with Palermo, and who in the past has done wonderful things for smaller clubs. Which Parma incidentally is now.

Last season he brought immediate improvement after Parma disappointingly had not started Serie B all that well, with just 6 points from a possible 18.
Under Guidolin's guidance they eventually ended up with the best goal difference in the league. Scoring the most and conceding the least and losing just four games. Also the lowest total in the league.

So what about the squad? Could this be the start of another run ala what followed their last promotion to Serie A in the beginning of the 90s, winning an impressive 8 trophies in 14 years?

No of course not. There is no Sensini, Asprilla or Zola here. Or likely coming up one great future signing after another, like the ones the club used to specialize in back then.
Instead we have a curious mixture of experience and very young that's pretty hard to predict, but at least I think there is some upside to be found here. Maybe a lot even.

Livorno hero Lucarelli who played for Parma last season is now back where he belongs.
And he for an example has been replaced by some upside.
Extremely unlucky Bulgarian forward Valeri Bojinov has arrived on loan from Manchester City.
He is still only 23, has Serie A experience and should have a good season hopefully rebounding from his terrible injuries.

Possible even more upside lies with young 19 year old striker Alberto Paloschi. Co-owned by Milan but staying where he can get playing time. It will be interesting if it will be baby steps for Paloschi or the big breakthrough that some people will (already) expect.

He could have his own little scoring duel with Atalanta striker Acquafresca (now too old) who took most of his playing time for the U-21 team.

As outsiders for the starting spots there are even more young talent. Unfortunately for Parma, if they turn out really good. They're on loan from other clubs.

Former U-21 national team player Davide Lazafame on loan from Palermo, and on loan from Inter 21 year old french forward Jonathan Biabiany.

The midfield also looks quite intriguing:

Captain Stefano Morrone I quite frankly haven't seen play for some time now but I'm assuming he still isn't exactly setting things on fire with his play.

More interesting is Daniele Galloppa who is yet another player stolen from Siena. There have been quite a few of those already.
Galloppa even recieved an Italy cap recently which he commented wasn't a highlight in his career but rather a starting point from where he could do better. Ambition! Nice!
As the holding midfielder we find a guy who I've never seen play and considering he used to play just 30 minutes from where I live, that's pretty sad, IF reports about how good he is are really true.

So is Kenyan midfielder McDonald Mariga the man who'll make me forever regret that I haven't been paying any attention whatsoever to the Swedish Allsvenskan since the days of Zlatan Ibrahimovic toying with it for Malmö?

Reportedly Mariga is a tough tackling marathon man with the stamina you usually only see from his long distance running countrymen. He is, it's been said, now arguably the best african player in Serie A! Hmmmm.

Worth watching: Christian Panucci: How much does he have left and will it be enough to make a positive contribution to this team.
From what I understand Roma simply did not want to renew his contract. He will likely play in central defense and will likely want to prove Roma wrong.

Since forever, dangerous on set pieces, scoring a header against them from a corner would be just about perfect. I full expect this to happen now.

ROMA:

Without a doubt the biggest underachiever from last season.

From 2nd places to 6th place. From goal differences of +35 and +40 to just +3 last season.
And that with a largely unchanged team from the previous good years.

The easy and most obvious answer was that the team failed to still be effective when talisman Totti wasn't present or not a 100 percent.

This is after all a team where coach Spalletti uncompromisingly has made everything about Totti.
Constructing flexible and sometimes quite unique attacking systems aimed to get the best out of Totti who would then get the most out of the players around him.

What makes the answer to the cause of their failure a little more tricky is that Totti actually only played one less league game than the year before.

Having said that, overall from what I can remember, he did have more fitness worries, something sadly for Roma, that could easily continue this season.

Then there is the issue of mental collapse. A collective mental collapse even. Something that's probably used way too much as an easy explaination for a team's failure to live up to whatever expectation but in this case it kind of makes sense.
Led by still not in control of his temper, midfield general Daniele De Rossi, the whole club (including the Sensi ownership) did suffer some epic meltdowns, resulting in them blaming everyone but themselves for their poor results.

The squad once again have not seen many changes and spending has pretty much been suspended amidst various rumors of takeovers.

Gone for a good amount of money is talented but sadly often injured Alberto Aquilani and of course veteran Christian Panucci who didn't have his contract renewed.
He has been replaced by Nicolas Burdisso on loan from Inter.
Of Inter's willingness to plant Burdisso at what I guess is still a potential rival, I'm sure some interesting theories can be made.

Mostly in have come a bunch of people returning from loan and it can never be entirely ruled out that maybe one of those will have some kind of breakthrough season, even if it's difficult to see who exactly that should be.
23 year old defensive midfielder Ricardo Faty I haven't seen for some time now but out on loan he did just play a full season in Ligue 1, for eventually demoted Nantes.

Another could be 22 year old Alessop Cerci who would either steal a lot of games from someone like Taddei (not that likely) or just a game here and there from veteran Esposito (more likely).
Finally there is 20 year old striker Stefano Okaka. And Roma doesn't have a lot of those. But realistically he probably still has some way to go.

No, more likely to make a positive impact is what I think is their only actual real signing, Stefano Guberti who has been an ever improving wing that I think could help fill roles in systems that so far, and especially last season, haven't been all that effective when Totti wasn't playing.
Elsewhere in attacking midfield Jeremy Menez needs to have a breakthrough season.
17 of the talented frenchman's 29 appearances last season were as a sub and though potentially more of a forward type of player, a wonderful thing for Roma that could really provide them with a lift, would be if Menez would become the Aquilani who never quite materialized.

One who did have a breakthrough season was Matteo Brighi. Always talented and always a good allround player, last season he was consistently good. Hopefully for Roma that will continue.

A player who could have a better season is the always underrated Simone Perrotta who like many others struggled with fitness and rarely was at his best.

When he has been that he is an excellent two-way player with a great workrate who defends his position well defensively, plus who just about as good as anyone can makes great runs in and around the penalty area, complementing someone like Totti perfectly.
For Roma and maybe even for Italy it would be a great thing if he, on the wrong side of 30 now, has at least one more good season left in him.

Up front there is still not a lot of strikers making this team still very much geared for the systems where Totti is the closest to being that.
But hopefully now with the arrival of Guberti who can play the leftwing, whenever Totti isn't fit, Mirko Vucinic often playing that wing-role, and very well it should be said, can take the place as a striker.

4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 with Totti and Vucinic up front could also be an option, Menez would then be a backup, if Spalletti feels the more attacking systems, for whatever reason (players older? Not the same workrate?) have become too vulnerable to opponent's counter attacks. Arguably that was the case last year but most players on this team are still better in more flexible systems.
For an example someone like David Pizarro. The at times very good deep lying Chilean playmaker is not someone I imagine is very ideal on a two man central midfield.

In the back Roma has one of the best partnerships in Mexes and Juan. On a very attacking team they have a more difficult job than most, yet have consistently done a good job of holding things together.
While Mexes is a beast, one worry is the fitness of Juan which could mean quite a lot of playing time for the alternatives.
Last season one of those, Simone Loria, was a disaster. It's now Burdisso's job not to be!

On the fullback positions John Arne Riise had a good first season in Italy.

Brazilian Cicinho probably due to injuries, mainly a terrible ACL one suffered for Real Madrid, sadly confirmed he will never be the excellent player that he started out looking like when he first came to Europe.

Instead the right-back position saw the emergence of Italian U-21 captain Marco Motta who's performances earned him rave reviews from just about everyone.
While he is already a complete player without any real weaknesses and that iself is a good thing, I do think there are some areas where there is room for improvement if we're talking becoming elite at his position.
Some of that will mainly come with more Serie A experience. Like taking the right decisions under pressure.
Other things like his technical ability can definitely be worked on. Not saying he is bad but something like his one touch passing could improve.

Worth watching: Daniele De Rossi: I sometimes feel like when I'm complaining about De Rossi that I'm nitpicking, being too negative and unfair, so lets look at the positives.
He is a very complete midfielder who does just about everything imaginable well.
He is good in the defensive areas of the game and he is good in the attacking areas of the game.
He can work hard. Run for an entire game. Pass well. Has a great shot and make tackles.

And when he is on a team that is functioning, he consistently does all those things to the best of his very good ability, making the team even better.

The problem that's still there is when the team isn't going great that he is a player who'll make things even worse.
Not just what's the standard, which is have your game affected by the team.
That's obviously the case with everyone.
But Rossi, one of the best players on every team he is on, he can become one of the worst if things aren't working and bring teammates down with him.

Even if the idiotic dirty play and bad temper thankfully is more rare these days, he is still at 26 year old a player who doesn't react well when things are going bad.
With time running out for Francesco Totti, this will, even moreso than what's been happening already, increasingly become De Rossi's team.
And with that he needs to become a reliable leader. One who will do everything for his team to win throughout a season, not lose focus at the first signs of trouble.


SAMPDORIA:

Arguably another great underachiever from last season, Sampdoria followed their 6th place from the 2007/08 season up with a disappointing 13th place finish.

Those poor results cost Walter Mazzarri his job and in to replace him this season, leaving Atalanta, is former Chievo miracle man Luigi Del Neri.

What everyone talks about when it comes to this team is of course the duo upfront.
The undisputed number one badboy of calcio Antonio Cassano and his newfound partner in crime Giampaolo Pazzini.

There are even misguided comparisons to the legendary Sampdoria "twins" Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini.

Vialli and Mancini led Sampdoria to a Scudetto and European glory. They had great careers on great teams where they won domestic and European titles. At the height of their careers they were among the best players in the world.
This current duo aren't even close to making Sampdoria anywhere near that good and Antonio Cassano has never contributed anything to any winning team ever and never even been good enough to actually play for a great team.
Comparing him of all people to great champions such as Vialli and Mancini is ridiculous.

He is a talented attacking player who is creative with a lot of flair, but also someone who through sheer unprofessionalism throughout his career has been unwilling to even try and improve other areas of his game.
That's why he is playing for a midtable Serie A club and not a big one. European or Italian.

27 years old now having wasted many years of his talent, he does still have time to improve, or mature if you will, but even last season while being praised by the media, there were many games, especially early on, where he didn't even seem fit, slightly overweight like in the Madrid days and when without the ball was probably consistently the worst player on the pitch, hurting his team with his lack of work/movement/effort.

As absurd as it is, while hysterical voices for Cassano being selected for the national team grew louder and louder, his team where he had been made the most important player, was slumping and slumping, flirting with relegation!

It was when Pazzani arrived from Fiorentina that things started to improve and if anyone in this duo deserves lavish praise, it's actually him.
Fast, hardworking with good technical ability he is a very effective striker who when he was giving the chance to be what he couldn't be at Fiorentina, the main striker, shone brightly.
You could say he does a lot of the things that Cassano doesn't while of course Cassano does things Pazzani can't and never will. And in that sense they complement eachother very well and give Sampdoria a forward duo on a high level.
Even if they're not Vialli/Mancini.
Those two of course also had a much better team around them than what we're seeing now.

Worth singling out however are players such as former U-21 regular talented midfielder Daniele Dessena. He has a nice passing game and should continue to improve further in other areas this season in order to establish himself at Sampdoria.

Also worth keeping an eye on is Lithuanian international Marius Stankevicius who has had a long solid career in Italian football.
He can play anywhere on the right and contribute well both to attack and defending. A good complete player.

Worth watching: Angelo Palombo: For many years not really noticed by anyone.
In recent years, he has started to get recognized as one of the best defensive midfielders in the league.
He has very good physical ability resulting in a very impressive workrate as well as good strenght man to man when it comes to tackling where he can be tenacious.
When it comes to technical ability he isn't great of course but certainly capable when things are kept simple.
He will of course be aiming for a place in the World Cup squad and with constant questionmarks surrounding someone like Gattuso's fitness, Palombo must like his chances.


SIENA:

From underachievers to perennial overachievers Siena.

Every year they're tipped to go down. Every year they survive. Last season quite comfortably ending up in 14th place.

Then they were robbed.

I've almost lost count of the number of teams I've gone through so far who have strengthened their teams with some of Siena's best performers from last season.

The two best midfielders Houssine Kharja and Daniele Galloppa have gone to Genoa and Parma respectively.

One of the best fullbacks last season, Zuniga is now at Napoli and solid defender and key player Daniele Portanova to Bologna.

To some extent this was the case following last season too and some of the replacements then are some of the players right there above.
So you could say perhaps they "just" need to have similar success with the relative unknowns brought in this year!

The real star of the team might be manager Marco Giampaolo.
Previously best known for a chaotic reign at Cagliari and before that guiding little Ascoli to Serie A survival.
Last year he created a well balanced side with a good defense who provided a tough test for just about anyone.
This year his job looks to be even harder and if Siena once again have a good season, look for Giampaolo to get the chance at a bigger club.

Worth watching: Albin Ekdal: The 20 year old Swede is on loan from Juventus and they'll be hoping he gains some valuable experience.
Ekdal is someone who has great potential as an allround player since even if he is considered more of an attacking player his defensive qualities are already sound.

And it's mainly with that beginning defensive ability where I think the cause for his significant upside can be found.
Cause even just developing that, alone would make him a good player.
Likely someone in the complete central midfielder player mould, but versatility too.

The question is then how much things like his already good technical skills can improve.
If THAT could somehow get even better too, then we have, not just a good, but a very good player.


UDINESE:

One of best run teams in Italy, Udinese are well known for their ability to find and/or develop young talent. Then integrate them into their flexible tactical systems.

Under very promising coach Pasquale Marino that has mostly been a 4-3-3 and it's also mostly been some quite attacking football.

However with some real questionmarks surrounding the Udinese three man frontline, and that for the first time in a while, the strenght of this team is now definitely the midfield.

In midfield we find one of the real revelations from last season Gaetano D'Agostino.
Last season he was fully transformed into a deep-lying playmaker and went from a just good player to a very good one, who had several big clubs interested in his services.

A move to Juventus especially was very close but a last minute high price tag by president Giampaolo Pozzo, kept D'Agostino at the club.

D'Agostino is very good at set pieces and his accurate deep ball is a something of a special gift to pacy forwards drawing comparisons to Andrea Pirlo.

Also on the midfield is Gokhan Inler who quite simply is bad at nothing. Which is great!
He works hard defensively, as well as being sound technically and rarely make any mistakes.
A complete player who can contribute well in both ends.
I think it's only a matter of time before he will take a central midfielder role on a bigger club.

To complete a Udinese midfield that could be right up there with the best in the league is 20 year old Kwadwo Asamoah from Ghana.

A great physical talent who is also good technically with some impressive looking ball-control. He has seemingly endless stamina and can move from box to box without much trouble at all!
Add to that his great strenght when tackling and explosive pace and you have one of the most interesting midfield talents in world football.

Like already touched upon though, unfortunately it gets less great if we look at the forward line this year.
Not that it isn't good, BUT for the first time in quite a few years for Udinese there is some uncertainty.

For starters top scorer Quagliarella was sold to Napoli.
And what looks like his direct replacement, veteran targetman Bernardo Corradi, I'm just not convinced by at all.
He is miles behind the departed Quagliarella when it comes to ability and pace,
meaning that at least in open play he won't complement D'Agostino all that well, and won't he likely be so dependant on service that he requires the other parts of the front line, to be just that, servicemen, instead of consistent goalscoring threats.

One of those other parts of the forward line, is captain Antonio De Natale.

Now normaly he would be far from a questionmark but a serious injury at the wrong side of 30 is always worrying. Especially for a player so dependant on his great pace.
De Natale missed most of last season with that injury, and how he comes back this season will be key for Udinese.

On Udinese's attacking right side coach Marino has some interesting decisions to make.
There is Simone Pepe who both Marino and Marcello Lippi for then national team really likes to use in that right forward/wing spot. He works really hard and while rarely spectacular, he definitely has something to offer both ways.

His rival, who will also be our player "worth watching", on the other hand IS quite spectacular.
From Chile, 20 year old Alexis Sanchez. He has been hugely impressive during Chile's so far great World Cup qualifying campaign.
Taking fans by storm with his technical ability and exciting dribbling trickery, he also seems quite strong and with good stamina, especially for Chile, where he does very well in their high pressure game when not in possession.

Could he turn into more of a striker? Play on the left? I think to replace Quagliarella's attacking contributions, it's someone like Sanchez who needs a bigger role. Not someone like Corradi.